Elden Ring is the most accessible FromSoftware title in quite some time, but even so, it can still be a serious challenge to veterans and new players alike, featuring some of the most challenging bosses designed in a FromSoftware game to date. Because of this, it’s important to seek out any edge you can find for the tough battles ahead.

While you always have the option to go grinding in lower-level areas, that’ll take ages, and you don’t have unlimited time. In this guide, you’ll find three methods for Rune acquisition: minor Rune farming, a large single Rune boost, and major Rune farming--all accessible fairly early in the game.

Updated March 7th, 2024 by Emma Ward: This guide has been updating to include an additional farming route in Mohgwyn Palace as well as a video to show the exact rune farming routine.

Get The Gold Scarab Talisman

For anyone interested in leveling up fast, the first thing you should do is prioritize getting the Gold Scarab Talisman. This Talisman will grant a 20% bonus to all Rune acquisitions. You’ll find the Gold Scarab in a pretty hidden minor dungeon in Caelid. The entrance to the Abandoned Cave minor dungeon is found high above the trench running north out of the Swamp of Aeonia.

Approaching from the west, you’ll find a mess of roots and branches running across the trench. If you successfully navigate to the other side (and avoid the Giant Dogs along the way), you’ll reach the Abandoned Cave entrance safely. If approaching from the east side, you can drop down onto the ledge, but it’s a little more difficult to recognize where to go.

In the Abandoned Cave minor dungeon, you’ll earn the Gold Scarab Talisman after defeating a pair of Cleanrot Knight bosses. This fight can be pretty tough—especially if you’re trying to collect the Gold Scarab early—so you might consider some jolly cooperation. Make sure to go in prepared to deal with Scarlet Rot. It’s everywhere. You can buy three Preserving Boluses from a nearby merchant found by the Astray from Caelid Highway North site of grace, located near the western shore of the Swamp of Aeonia.

Vulgar Militiamen In Dragonbarrow

If you’re interested in a decent Rune farming location, but you aren’t interested in becoming too over-leveled, hunting the Vulgar Militiamen around the Bestial Sanctum in Caelid's Dragonbarrow is a great option. The Vulgar Militiamen drop about 1,000-1,300 Runes each, and they’re scattered around far enough that you can usually take them on one at a time.

• To reach the Bestial Sanctum early in the game, you’ll want to travel to the Third Church of Marika in Limgrave.
• Northeast of the Third Church of Marika, you’ll find a small teleporter hidden in the bushes at the edge of the water.
• This teleporter will transport you to Bestial Sanctum in Caelid.
• Grab the Bestial Sanctum site of grace, then ride south to the Farum Greatbridge site of grace. A dragon will spawn on the bridge, but you don’t need to engage with it.

You’ll want to ride along the road and surrounding countryside between the Farum Greatbridge site of grace and the Bestial Sanctum, picking off any solo Vulgar Militiamen. These enemies hit pretty hard—especially if you’re farming Runes at a lower level—but they also stagger easily and are easy to kill if you sneak up for a critical attack. This Rune farming location is great for when you’re close to leveling up and you just want to add a few thousand more.

Be careful navigating this area; Black Blade Kindred guards the entrance to Bestial Sanctum, and he can be quite the challenge even at higher levels. His aggro range is fairly small, however, so if you can keep your activities between the Bestial Sanctum entrance and the Farum Greatbridge site of grace, you’ll have free reign to hunt Vulgar Militiamen.

Elder Dragon Greyoll In Caelid

Deep into the wilds of Dragonbarrow in Caelid, just outside of Fort Faroth, you’ll come across a massive creature: Elder Dragon Greyoll, the mother of all dragons. While this is considered a boss, it’s very different than any other boss in the game. She has become so poisoned and tainted by Scarlet Rot that she can no longer move. Instead of a pitched battle, you will find 5 smaller dragons patrolling the area in front of her, protecting her from unwanted visitors (you). Defeating Elder Dragon Greyoll will grant a single large boost of Runes. If you’re just hoping for a massive one-time Rune boost, but don’t want to get too over-leveled, this is an excellent option.

How To Reach Elden Dragon Greyoll

• Take the teleporter at the Third Church of Marika in Limgrave to Bestial Sanctum, then follow the road south, riding past the Black Blade Kindred and Dragon on the Farum Greatbridge.
• Continue following the road as it turns westward, then take the fork south and follow this path back southeast.
• Following this road, you’ll eventually come across the 5 smaller dragons protecting the massive Elder Dragon Greyoll.
• Continue riding past them and around Elder Dragon Greyoll to reach the Fort Faroth site of grace, located just behind Elder Dragon Greyoll.

Elder Dragon Greyoll has an enormous health pool, but if you position yourself behind her, near the Fort Faroth site of grace, you can attack Greyoll’s tail with impunity. Even though Elder Dragon Greyoll will roar, calling for the smaller dragons to help, her body is so large that the smaller dragons cannot reach you so long as you remain behind her. Defeating Elder Dragon Greyoll will reward you 50,000 Runes, plus an additional 3,470 Runes for each of the 5 dragons, granting a total of 67,350 Runes. With the Gold Scarab equipped, you should gain about 80,820 Runes.

Note: Elder Dragon Greyoll has a massive health bar, so it’ll take an agonizingly long time to actually kill her through normal methods. A weapon with Blood loss buildup can dramatically shorten how long this process takes. Reduvia Dagger can be acquired very early in Limgrave, and you can use it even if you don’t meet the requirements.

Mohgwyn Palace Rune Farming

Mohgwyn Palace is a hidden late-game area of the game, and you normally wouldn’t come across it until very late in the game—but there is a way to access this end-game location pretty early. It’s part of a somewhat involved quest with White-Faced Varre. It takes some work up-front to complete his questline, but it’s well worth pursuing if you’re interested in leveling fast. You can easily earn 2 million Runes in an hour if you’re determined and efficient at this method. If you’re wanting to achieve an end-game build early on in Elden Ring, this is the fastest way to do it.

White-Faced Varre’s Questline

• Speak with White-Faced Varre early in Limgrave by First Steps site of grace.
• Defeat Godrick the Grafted in Stormveil Castle.
• Return to First Steps site of grace and speak with Varre.
• Travel to Roundtable Hold and speak with Finger Reader Enia.

• Visit Varre again, but now in Rose Church in Liurnia of the Lakes, South of Raya Lucaria Academy.
• While speaking with Varre, select “They didn’t seem right” when given a conversation choice.

• He will give you 5 Festering Bloody Fingers.
• Use the Festering Bloody Fingers to invade other players’ worlds three times. You don’t need to defeat players you invade; just use the Festering Bloody Fingers to invade three times.
• Return to Rose Church and speak with Varre.
• Select ‘Anoint me’ in the conversation choice.
• He will give you the Lord of Blood’s Favor item and command you to soak the item in the blood of a maiden.

• Travel to the Church of Inhibition.
• Warning: You will be invaded once you reach the church. Grab the site of grace to respawn there more quickly in case things go south.
• A dead maiden is sitting by the site of grace; loot the items she is carrying, then select the ‘Dye cloth with maiden’s blood’ option.

• Return to speak with Varre at the Rose Church.
• Offer your finger to Varre, and he will remove it.
• Speak with him one more time, and you will receive the Pureblood Knight’s Medal.
• Using the Pureblood Knight’s Medal will teleport you to Mohgwyn Palace, a hidden late-game area found deep underground.

• From here, you’ll need to ride through some very dangerous enemies, but it’s well worth it. Ride northeast, then turn south/southeast, hugging the eastern wall the whole way up until you reach the Palace Approach Ledge-Road site of grace.
• From the site of grace, turn northwest. Far below you, you’ll see a chasm and a lake of blood beyond that with a Giant Crow patrolling the area.

• Equip a bow and shoot at the Giant Crow. It might take several tries to find the best time to shoot and best spot to shoot from, but when you hit the Giant Crow, 9 times out of 10 it will run toward you and fall into the ravine, dying. If it stops at the edge and slowly retreats, best to reset by sitting at the site of grace.
• Every time you kill the Giant Crow, you will earn 11038 Runes (13245 Runes with the Gold Scarab equipped). You can then rest at the site of grace next to you, rinse, and repeat. The whole maneuver, when done correctly, takes less than 15 seconds.

Repeat this process, leveling up as many times as you wish, until you feel suitably prepared to take on the world.

If you’d like to see how to pull off this rune farming loop, as well as the second Mogwyn Palace route below, check out the following video:

Mohgwyn Palace Rune Farming (Option 2)

Although repeatedly farming the runes gained from the Giant Crow is most likely the easiest way to quickly level in this area, if you so happen to get bored of the process, you can always choose the second farming route, which is thankfully right next to the first one.

From the Palace Approach Ledge-Road site of grace, simply head down the slope and you’ll see 15 enemies. With the exception of the red versions, all the enemy mobs here are initially immobile, making it easy to sneak up and get a critical attack off without taking any damage. Just be sure to keep your eye on the red mobs so they don’t take you out while your back is turned.

If you are running through this spot, killing each enemy one at a time, you’ll be able to net about 40,000 runes every two minutes. And if you so happen to have an overpowered area spell or wide-sweeping ash of war handy, you can drastically cut this time down by killing half or more of them all at once. Furthermore, since the Giant Crow is so close, you can easily add it to your routine, meaning you’ll bring in around 50,000 runes in about 2 minutes.