As you progress through Elden Ring's vast open world, you'll naturally accrue a large number of runes (experience points) from defeated enemies that you can use to level up your character and improve their stats. Leveling up is a crucial part of the game since you'll struggle to survive against difficult foes without enough HP, mana, stamina, and damage, and if you're having trouble against a boss or the enemies in an area, leveling up is one of the best ways to improve your combat efficiency and give you a better chance to succeed.
However, if you don't have many runes when you feel it's time for an upgrade, you'll need to go farm for some. There are many ways to do this (for example, you could repeatedly kill groups of certain enemies that drop lots of runes) but the fastest and most efficient rune farm in Elden Ring is one that can be accessed fairly quickly in Elden Ring's early game — and all it requires is a bow and some arrows. Here's how you can easily begin farming for millions of runes in Elden Ring.
The best way to farm runes in Elden Ring
The best way to farm for runes in Elden Ring is incredibly easy and doesn't require you to fight enemies at all, though you will need to have unlocked your mount, Torrent, by finding and using at least three Sites of Grace in the open world. Additionally, you'll also need to have progressed through Stormveil Castle, defeated Godrick the Grafted, and begun exploring the Liurnia of the Lakes region.
To begin, head to the Rose Church in western Liurnia of the Lakes, directly south of the Raya Lucaria Academy. There, you'll find the NPC White-Faced Varre standing next to the entrance. Speak to him until he gives you several Bloody Festering Fingers. You'll need to use three of these to invade other players' worlds. After you do this, return to Varre and accept his offer to be a member of the cult of Mohg, the Lord of Blood.
Next, Varre will ask you to soak a cloth in the blood of a maiden as a final trial. This can be achieved in several different ways, but the fastest way to do it from the Rose Church is to travel to northeastern Liurnia and take the blood of the corpse of the maiden in the Church of Inhibition. Once you've soaked the cloth Varre gave you in her blood, return to him and he'll give you a Pureblood Knight's Medal. Go in your inventory and use this item, allowing it to transport you.
You'll arrive in the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum area. Run up the nearby stairs and rest at the Site of Grace there, then run back down the stairs and begin riding southeast on Torrent, following the natural pathway and avoiding all of the enemies. Eventually you'll come across the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace on the edge of a cliff overlooking a large pool with a massive bird enemy in it. Rest at it, then equip a bow or crossbow and some arrows or bolts.
Walk a few steps north towards the sleeping enemies on the road (don't wake them up). Then, aim and fire an arrow at the bird enemy. It will aggro to you but will (ironically) fall off the edge of the landmass it's on into the abyss, giving you a whopping 11,038 runes. From here, rinse and repeat, using the Site of Grace to respawn the bird each time.
This farm is extremely efficient, as you can get the bird to fall off the edge several times per minute. It's possible to get over three million runes per hour, which is a staggering amount of experience for leveling up your character or purchasing items. And the best part is, it practically costs you nothing to use this method outside of the occasional trip to an NPC vendor to stock up on arrows or bolts.
If you're struggling to reach this farming location and would prefer something easier, another effective way to farm runes is to kill the five giant trolls found just south of the Warmaster's Shack Site of Grace in the Stormhill area (shown above). The trolls drop 1,000 runes when killed and aren't too difficult to take down, making this an excellent alternative farm.
Elden Ring is finally here, and it's available for $60 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC. It's one of the best Xbox games you can play right now if you're a fan of challenging RPGs, and we strongly recommend it.
Elden Ring ... oh, Elden Ring!
Elden Ring is FromSoftware's latest fantasy epic, featuring a focus on open-ended design in a universe created by both FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki and A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin.
