Best places to farm runes in Elden Ring

Farming runes is an important part of Elden Ring, especially if you've found yourself in the position of being underpowered for bosses or unable to grab a new stat upgrade. I struggled at some points to progress through the game without taking the time to build up a Rune supply, so it's likely you are too.

Below, you can learn all about the various ways you can farm a bunch of Runes across The Lands Between.

Caelid rune farm

One of the best Rune farming locations is in Caelid, and you can do this from quite early in the game.

Firstly, you'll want to venture to the Third Church of Marika in the Limgrave region, and head north-east through the water to find a portal in some bushes. Activating the portal will teleport you to Greyoll's Dragonbarrow in the northeast of Caelid. 

• Next, activate the Lost Grace next to you, and outside there will be a large boss at the bottom of some stairs
• Avoid them and travel down the hill toward the large bridge and another site of Lost Grace
• Now it's time for the rune farm, as between both of the Lost Graces you've just activated, there are lots of small enemies that can be killed for between 600-1000 runes depending on if you have the Golden Scarab

These enemies can hit hard, but staying on your horse and swinging on them as you run past should ensure you kill them quickly and avoid dying yourself.

There should be a dozen or so around the area that you can kill, and once they're dead, head back to the Lost Grace to reset them, and repeat the process.

Over the course of an hour, this should net you hundreds of thousands of runes, letting you get a lot of levels earlier than usual. Remember that while you'll be more powerful stats-wise, you'll still want to upgrade any weapons you have to start taking on tougher enemies consistently.

Liurnia rune farm

Another great spot for farming can be found early into the Liurnia region. It's worth noting that this method won't net you as much as some of the others on this list, but it's still a useful option nonetheless - especially due to its location.

• After finishing Stormveil Castle (or before if you take the hidden pass around the back) make your way up the road to the east and come to the Liurnia Highway North Lost Grace
• In front of this area is a battlefield where you'll find spirit soldiers and a giant caught in eternal warfare
• For this rune farm, all you need to do is to walk forward enough to hit the trigger for them all to spawn, and then just stand back as they kill each other and net you a few thousand runes

You won't really be playing the game for this one, so you can do something in the background while intermittently coming back to regenerate the enemies. 

Moghwyn's Palace bird farm

The most bountiful rune farming location in Elden Ring is an end-game area, but it can be accessed a lot earlier by following the Varre questline to completion.

This particular farming spot has been named the bird farm by the community due to the fact you will need to kill a specific crow over and over.

• Firstly, speak to Varre when you first come into the open world, as he will be standing just in front of you. After this, you'll have to track him down at his new location in Liurnia, but first, you'll have to defeat Godrick at Stormveil and then speak to the Finger Reader at the Roundtable Hold
• Once this is done, head toward the Rose Church to the south of Raya Lucaria Academy in Liurnia, and you'll find Varre again (marked on the map below)

• Speak to him and select the dialogue option, "they didn't seem right." He'll hand over some Festering Bloody Fingers which you need to use to invade three players, and once this is done, head back, and he'll ask you to join his order. Say yes and receive the Lord of Blood's Favor item for the next step
• The next step is to find a Maiden to use your new item on. The easiest way to do this is by heading to a place called the Four Belfries in the west of Liurnia, where it's located on top of a hill. Just run up there on Torrent, avoiding the enemies along the way, and then activate the Lost Grace at the top
• There will also be a chest at the top belfry with an Imbued Stonesword Key inside, and you'll need to use this to activate the teleporter of the second-highest belfry. Both Varre and the Four Belfries are marked on the map above
• This will take you to the area where you began the game, giving you the chance to get revenge on the Grafted Scion boss. Defeat them, head across the bridge, and then go up the stairs to get the Maiden's blood from a nearby corpse
• You can then head back to Varre at the Rose Church and receive a Pureblood Knight's Medal by talking to him a couple of times. This will allow you to teleport directly into Moghwyn's Palace

• From here, head up the stairs and activate the Lost Grace before turning around and jumping down
• Summon Torrent and ride around the edge of the area, making sure to avoid any enemies completely
• This will take you to the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Lost Grace (marked on the map above), which is where the Elden Ring bird farm will take place. Look over the edge of the nearby cliff, and you'll see a large crow enemy
• Shooting this with a ranged weapon will aggro the enemy, causing it to fall off a cliff as it tries to reach you, which nets you about 13,000 runes

This is the most valuable farming spot in the game, as you can then reset at the Lost Grace before repeating this to earn millions of runes per hour. 

Golden Scarab Talisman

While not necessary to the rune farming process, the Golden Scarab Talisman will improve your rune hauls as it provides a 20% boost to the amount you receive from all sources.

This can be a hard item to get though, as it requires you to travel to Caelid (a very difficult region) and beat the two Cleanrot Knight bosses in the Abandoned Cave location. Its difficulty means you'll have to wait a little while to attempt it, but it will make the rune farming much quicker later on.

Check out our Elden Ring homepage for more guides. We've also covered all Legendary weapons, Legendary talismans, Legendary ashen remains, and Legendary Sorceries.