A key element to being successful in Elden Ring is earning as many runes as possible and then spending those runes to level up one's skills. Doing so will make conquering Elden Ring's many challenging bosses significantly easier, though getting runes isn't always the easiest thing in the world. Luckily, there are ways that Elden Ring players can farm for runes and level up fast, though one of the best methods does take some footwork.
YouTuber RageGamingVideos has uploaded a helpful tutorial explaining how Elden Ring players can farm nearly 5 million runes in just one hour. Those that have the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace unlocked in Mohgwyn Palace can head there immediately, but others will likely have to do some prep work first. As explained in the video, the first thing players will want to do is speak with White-Faced Varre after defeating Godrick the Grafted.
When that conversation is done, Elden Ring players should head to the Church of the Rose, located in Liurnia, where they can speak with White-Faced Varre again. White-Faced Varre will give Elden Ring players three Festering Bloody Fingers, which can be used to invade other players' games. Elden Ring players should invade three times and then speak with White-Faced Varre yet again to get the Lord of Blood's Favor item.
With this in tow, head to the Four Belfires Site of Grace in Liurnia and use the Imbued Sword Key to activate the nearby portal. The key is located at a chest at the top tower in the area, for those who don't already have it. Go through the portal to return to Elden Ring's starting area. Defeat the enemy located here and then in the area where Elden Ring players very first start out, there should be a maiden's corpse leaning against the wall. Examine the corpse to dip the Lord of Blood's Favor in blood, and now return to White-Faced Varre.
Assuming Elden Ring players completed the questline correctly, White-Faced Varre will reward them with the Pureblood Knight's Medal. Use the Pureblood Knight's Medal to be transported to the "audience grounds," aka Mohgwyn Palace.
Elden Ring Best Rune Farm Location
Move around the outer-edge of this area to eventually reach the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace. There are about 20 enemies or so hanging around here, which has made this a popular Elden Ring rune farm spot already. However, for this particular rune farming strategy, players can ignore them completely. They are certainly welcome to kill these enemies while rune farming as well, but the real important enemy is actually off in the distance.
If Elden Ring players look off the nearby ledge to the northwest, they should see a large bird-like creature roaming around. Hit the creature with a ranged attack, preferably with a bow and arrow, and that should get its attention. The monster will then charge at Elden Ring players, but it will wind up falling in a cliff and dying. This will get Elden Ring players a whopping 11,000 runes every time they successfully do it.
The best part about this Elden Ring rune farm strategy is that players don't even have to wait for the bird to die for it to work. As seen in the video, players can immediately go rest at the nearby Site of Grace, and they should still get credit for the runes from the bird-like creature dying. Elden Ring players can repeat this process as much as they want to vastly improve their character's stats, though it does take some time to complete the necessary steps to reach the location in the first place.
There are ways that Elden Ring players can make the rune farming go even faster. For example, if they use a Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot, Elden Ring players can increase the number of runes they're getting even more for every time that the bird dies. Getting the Golden Scarab in Elden Ring will also give players a rune boost, in turn making the farming method that much more efficient, though neither is necessary for players to still get a lot of runes very fast.
It's possible that FromSoftware will eventually release an Elden Ring update that does away with this rune farming method, so anyone interested in using it should act fast. That being said, it's possible that this rune farming method could be considered an "exploit" and so some fans may want to avoid it entirely. However, anyone that's not concerned about abusing exploits in the game can feel free to use this method to significantly increase the number of runes at their disposal.
Using this farming method or any others that have been found in the game, Elden Ring players can greatly improve their character's stats and in turn make themselves far more formidable while taking on bosses and exploring the open world. Since Elden Ring's open world is so massive, it's possible that even more farming methods are waiting to be discovered, so fans should keep an eye out.
Elden Ring is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.