There are a few great rune farming locations you can find in Elden Ring, but two really stand out. The first is best for early game players, while the second is a bit more involved and works better at levels 50+. There’s also an area near the early-game spot where you can get an easy 80k Runes if you feel like getting your hands dirty.
Best Elden Ring rune farming locations for the early-game
Caelid
The best early game rune farm in Elden Ring is in Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow, which is a higher level area you can access via a portal from near the start of the game. First, head over to the Third Church of Marika Site of Grace in the northeast of Limgrave. In the bushes just to the north of the church is a portal to Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow - specifically the Bestial Sanctum. When you arrive, turn around and get on your horse, riding straight past the intimidating enemy in your way. At the bottom of the hill is a Site of Grace, Farum Greatbridge, you can rest at. From here, crouch and sneak back up the hill, sneak attacking the little ninja guys wandering the area. Caution is advised since they can and will kill low level players they catch, but once you get the knack of getting right behind them while they’re unaware and sneak attacking, they’re very easy to take down. Each one nets you a chunky 1,000 Runes, which quickly racks up in the early game.
Limgrave
Up among the cliffs in Limgrave, there’s an area called Stormhill. Here, you’ll find five trolls roaming around with nothing better to do than let you kill them. Once you’ve explored The Lands Between enough and have no qualms about killing trolls, make your way to the Warmaster’s Shack Site of Grace. From here, head southeast, then down the cliff slightly. Each of the five trolls will net you 1000 runes. Then, you can simply reset at a Site of Grace and slay them all over again.
Best Elden Ring rune farming locations for the late-game
The best higher level rune farm in Elden Ring is in a mysterious place called Mohgwyn’s Palace. This later game rune farm involves completing some of a simple, but very high level quest. Return to The First Step and there should be a sign where the guy you met right at the beginning of Elden Ring was, assuming you didn’t kill him. This tells you to go to the Rose Church in Liurnia of the Lakes. It’s just south of Raya Lucaria. Once there, you can speak to him again and say “they didn’t seem right”. He then tasks you with invading three other players using the festering bloody finger items he gives you. After you’ve been squished three times by internet gremlins, speak to him again and he’ll ask you to collect the blood of a maiden. To do this, go to the Church of Inhibition on top of the mountain in the north of Liurnia of the Lakes. This area builds up the madness status, which does a load of damage, but you just have to top up your health with your flask and be as quick as possible. Just before you reach the church, you’re invaded by Vyke, an NPC invader. You can either defeat them fair and square, or just run past them to the church. Interact with the dead maiden there and you have what you need. Return to the Rose Church a final time and you’re given the Pureblood Knight’s Medal. Use it from your inventory and you’re transported to a very high level area. Walk forward and around to the left and there’s a Site of Grace to rest at and grab a respawn point. Next, turn around and head back to where you were teleported in. There’s another path this way filled with dangerous enemies, but if you follow the path around to the right, you find another Site of Grace. From this Palace Approach Ledge Road Site of Grace, look at the passive enemies overlooking the cliff edge. Killing them grants you a hefty 2000 each. So while there are a couple of tougher knight-style enemies mixed in, you can just kill a couple, run back to the Site of Grace and repeat. If you fancy your chances against the knights, you only really need to dodge roll when they go spikey. This run can net you hundreds of thousands of Runes very, very quickly and you can shoot up through the levels faster than you can wonder how long it will take FromSoftware to nerf this. If you’re having trouble with particular bosses, this is a great way to smooth out the difficulty spike - we’re looking at you Radahn…
How to get 80,000 runes easily in Elden Ring
If you follow the road south, take the Spiritwind behind the Minor Erdtree, and continue following the path, you’ll eventually reach Fort Faroth, where half of the Dectus Medallion resides. The giant white hill in front of the fort is actually a dragon. It won’t attack you, and you can just keep hitting it until it dies. It takes several smaller dragons with it, giving you 80,000 Runes and five Dragon Hearts for your trouble. These Dragon Hearts can then be used for Incantations.
How to get more runes in Elden Ring
So, you know where the best rune farming locations are in Elden Ring, but is there another way for you to earn more runes? Simply put, yes. The Golden Scarab talisman is an equippable accessory that will increase the amount of runes you acquire each time you slay an enemy by a whopping 20%. You can grab this talisman by felling the two Cleanrot Knights at the end of the Abandoned Cave in Caelid. Good luck with that though, as the place is ridden with scarlet rot. You can also use the consumable, Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot, which will boost your rune acquisition by 30% for three whole minutes. This also works in combination with the Golden Scarab talisman, meaning you can earn 50% additional runes from killing enemies! The Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot can be crafted after acquiring Missionary’s Cookbook 2. For more on the best ways to conquer The Lands Between, here’s our Elden Ring guide.