This guide explains the best method to farm Runes in Elden Ring. With this exploit you can farm runes infinitely to level up quickly. Runes are basically the Experience Points in Elden Ring, used to buy level ups. Each level will cost more than the previous one. Having a high level will make the game much easier. Depending on how far you are in the game there are different farming places available. Even in the early game you can get 300,000+ runes per hour. The general trick is to find some enmies near a site of grace that give many runes and can be defeated quickly, then fast travel back to the site of grace to make everything respawn, and repeat the cycle as often as needed.
Early Game Rune Farming Method (300,000 Runes per Hour)
This method is available from the beginning of the game. It can be done with any character build, doesn’t matter if using a melee build or ranged/mage build.
This farming spot is at the Farum Greatbridge in the north of Caelid. This is actually a late-game area but due to the game being open world you can go there from the start.
Step 1: Start by going to Limgrave – Third Church of Marika. North of this church is a little lake. Behind the bushes in the east of the lake is a portal, interact with it to be teleported to Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow in the north of Caelid. See the exact location of the portal below:
Step 2: From where you spawn, head down the stairs to the south where the big bird enemy is standing. Follow the main path down the hill until you reach a big bridge with a dragon on it. Before the bridge is the Farum Greatbridge (site of grace). This is from where we will start farming. See the location below:
Step 3: Farm the tiny black enemies in the area. This is what they look like:
They give 937 runes per kill. They are relatively easy to dodge and they get interrupted by every attack or spell you land on them, thus you can keep them stunlocked. This makes them very easy to kill. As you level up your damage this will go faster and faster. At Level 50 I was able to kill them in 3 hits (about 5 seconds per kill). With the path from one to the next it took me 2 minutes to kill 11 of them per run for 10,307 runes consistently, see the video. This works out to about 5,000 per minute or 300,000 per hour. They are everywhere north of the Farum Greatbridge, you find some every few meters. Focus on the ones that stand by themselves. If playing a mage use a horse to ride between them quickly and allocate all flasks to mana to kill more of them per run. If playing a melee character allocate all flasks to health to stay alive longer. Always try to land the first hit from behind for more damage.
After you killed as many as you can per run, fast travel back to the Farum Greatbridge site of grace. This immediately makes all of them respawn. Fast travel is faster than going back to the site of grace yourself. The more you can kill per run the more runes per minute you can make. See the video above for the optimal path. It’s best to focus on only the ones north of the Farum Greatbridge, not the ones east and west. Do the 11 shown in the video because those are all standing around by themselves and close together. Use the mount to ride from one to the next to save time. If you are just starting out it will go a bit slower. Prioritize putting all your attribute points into increasing more damage, whatever attribute your weapon scales with (e.g. for a mage using a staff that would be Intelligence attribute).
Bonus: Get +20% Runes with the Gold Scarab Talisman. This will greatly boost your runes earned by giving you an extra +20% runes on each kill. See How to Get Gold Scarab Talisman (it’s also found in Caelid not far from the farming spot).
Duplication Exploit (Online)
You can duplicate a stack of 99 high-tier runes with a 2nd player (or 2nd console by yourself) online. You can also dupe any endgame armor, weapons, talismans with this method. Because the save is stored offline and not on online servers you can simply back up your save, drop all items to a 2nd player, copy back the save to get your items back, repeat infinitely. Build up some nice stacks of runes until you can drop them in batches of 99 runes at a time. There is PS4 & PS5 crossplay, so if you have a PS4 and a PS5 you can simply do this by yourself (using two different accounts). Otherwise you will have to ask a friend to help out. It’s best to get some high level runes first. At the start of the game you can already go to Dragonbarrow (an endgame area), ride around there to grab some high level runes. See How To Get To Dragonbarrow.
- Before beginning, back up your save game.
- On PS4/PS5: Console Settings > Saved Data Management > Saved Data > Console Storage > Upload your save to PS+ Cloud [PS5/PS4] or USB flash drive [PS4 only]. If using PS+ cloud (only option on PS5) make sure you have automatic save sync uploads disabled or else it could automatically overwrite your cloud save (PS5 Settings > Saved Data and Game/App Settings > Saved Data PS5 > Sync Saved Data > Auto-Sync Saved Data = Disabled).
- On PC: Find wherever the save game is stored, this can vary but for Steam it should be C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata. Copy and paste it into another folder where you can find it later.
- On Xbox One / Xbox Series – It’s not recommended doing this on Xbox, this method is known to mess up save files, so proceed at your own risk (there’s a high chance of losing your save or messing up your cloud backup, so you could lose all of your progress). Only ever try this on Xbox if you tested it on an alternate account before: to force a cloud save where you want it to occur, disconnect yourself from the internet > move around in-game whilst disconnected from internet for a few seconds > reconnect yourself back to the internet > now it will force a cloud save > (double-check that it really uploaded to the cloud) > Drop the dupe gear to the other player in co-op as in Step 6 without exiting the game (exiting the game may overwrite cloud save) > as soon as 2nd player picked up your gear, press Home-Button > scroll down to Elden Ring > press Options > Manage Game > Saved Data > click Gamertag > Delete Saved Data > Delete from Console > if it still shows the save, delete it again until it’s gone > press Home-Button and restart the game > it will now sync/download your backup save from cloud to get your gear back.
- Both players must go to Menu > Multiplayer > set the same Multiplayer Password for both players (not Group Password). Make sure it’s identical for both players, use something unique other players wouldn’t use. This will let you find each other. Also in System > Multiplayer > select “Cross-Region Play = Perform Matchmaking” & “Send Summon Sign = Enable”. Make sure both players are connected to online servers, if not reboot the game and make sure you are connected to the internet.
- Player 1 must go to a boss that wasn’t defeated yet (any boss with a yellow mist gate). Player 2 must go to that same place (must coordinate with each other where to meet up).
- Player 2 goes to Multiplayer > Tarnished’s Furled Finger > to place a yellow sign in front of where the boss gate is. It doesn’t matter if Player 2 already defeated the boss, all that matters is that Player 1 hasn’t defeated it.
- Player 1 goes to Multiplayer > Furlcalling Finger Remedy > this will make the yellow sign visible. If you don’t see it, have Player 2 send you a screenshot where exactly it was placed. Player 1 interacts with the yellow sign on the ground to summon Player 2.
- Player 1 drops all runes from inventory, Player 2 picks them up. You can drop all tiers of runes.
- Player 1 exits the game, copies back the backup save to get all gear back. Because your items are stored on your offline save and not on online servers it can be exploited by copying back the backup save each time you dropped the items to your duping partner, restoring the save, dropping them again.
- On PS4/PS5: Console Settings > Saved Data Management > Saved Data > Cloud Storage / USB Drive > Copy to Console > Overwrite console saves.
- On PC: Overwrite the Dying Light 2 save with your backup.
- On Xbox: Follow the steps outlined in Step 3 for Xbox, it’s recommended to test on a second account first if you’ve never done this before.
- Repeat Steps 2-7. Meet up at the same place each time, drop items to 2nd player. After the other player has a stack of 10 items, have them traded back to you and make a new backup save where you hold a batch of 10 items. Then you can drop 10 each time to build up a stack of 99 faster than if you dropped only a single one each time. Drop all your tiers of runes, not just your highest tier of runes. This way you can dupe multiple runes at the same time. After you have a stack of 99, make another backup. Then simply keep dropping stacks of 99 runes and have Player 2 back up their save and do the same for you. You can redeem all 99 runes from inventory simultaneously by clicking “Use Selected” and picking the maximum amount. You can only hold 99 runes but any additional ones go in your chest, which you can browse from the Sites of Grace. So you can drop some extra ones for later use or redeem them immediately after being dropped to quickly reach Level 100+. It just requires some preparation work but once you got a stack of 99 it goes super fast. You can also dupe any items, weapons, armor this way.
More Guides:
- Elden Ring Wiki & Strategy Guide
- Elden Ring – Boss Guide (All Bosses)
- Elden Ring – All Sites of Grace Locations
- Elden Ring – All Spells Locations
- Elden Ring – All Weapon Locations
- Elden Ring – All Armor Locations
- Elden Ring – All Talisman Locations
- Elden Ring – All Golden Seed Locations (Flask Amount Upgrades)
- Elden Ring – All Sacred Tear Locations (Flask Strength Upgrades)
- Elden Ring – All Ashen Remains Locations (Spirit Summons)
- Elden Ring – All Ashes of War Locations (Weapon Skills)
- Elden Ring – How to Use & Equip Skills
- Elden RIng – How to Summon Ashes
- Elden Ring – Where to Bring Great Runes
- Elden RIng – Best Starting Class Guide
- Elden Ring – Best Starting Keepsake
- Is Elden Ring Harder or Easier than Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro
Abadeon2811 says
I went there right at the start… I was level 3 and I got murdered big time… so I would suggest be at least lvl 10-15 (I’m guessing) because they one-shot kill you otherwise 🙁
Nice spot tho 🙂
Jacobs says
What I was doing was just sneaking up behind them for a quick back stab. This takes off most of their health, then a couple swings and they’re dead.
Matt says
Yeah I was level 17 when I went to this spot. Stealth back stab plus 4 hit combo killed them for me
Charlie says
Phenomenal find I have boosted my build considerably I wasn’t really struggling but I do love grinding and being OP looking forward to that tree sentinel when I return!
PhantomFear94 says
Tree Sentinel is the hardest early game boss (Limgrave/Stormveil Castle), in my opinion, including Margit and Godrick. Even after levelling up, I struggled. As a mage build you dneed to wait until it attacks, then use magic, otherwise he’ll constantly deflect your attacks back. Best to wait until you have 7-8 flasks, and circle the area closer to the Church. If you stick by ‘The First Step’ its very difficult to get an opening. Only boss I haven’t enjoyed so far, when its in an arena, I feel more in control.
PhantomFear94 says
This method is outstanding, currently Level 62 and I got through Shardbearer Godrick first time. Will just go back if and when I feel I’m hitting another wall, or may do 10 Level ups every time I sign on to minimise the boredom.
I’m personally getting a few more runes than you – 1094. Not sure if this is a glitch, or because of my build (Astrologer) but I’m getting 160-ish more runs than you per kill.
Oscar says
I have same thing and im Prisoner. I think its patch or something?
Jonathan says
Under the bridge by the site of grace is a giant ball that spawns. Make it spawn and dodge it to get almost 2000 runes every few seconds. It’s a much safer start to the farming.
Kellz says
The giant black statue got up and killed me. 🙁
Damko says
Searching for somebody dropping me some runes for free. Be kind. PSN: Adamsandstrom
Helpful Tarnished says
It’s best to summon a duelist’s furled finger instead of a tarnished furled finger to dupe. You can’t get invaded with a duelist present, while with a co-op partner chances of invasion are very likely.
You don’t need a boss available and do it at a boss gate. Just meet at the church in the starting area.
PhantomFear94 says
For Xbox Series/One — and the person dropping the items to dupe for a friend — it’s best to never go offline for duplication. The guide isn’t wrong in its advise but it’s less consistent from experience.
For “the item dropping” player you should instead quit out of the game (forces the cloud save every single time) > drop your items and get Player 1 to collect > go to manage save data and delete console save ONLY.
Do NOT delete save from everywhere!!! You would lose everything!!!
This should auto quit the game. When you resync, you’ll re-sync at the home menu and should then revert you to pre-dupe state (this works for endings, can confirm). Once you know you’re good, I’d recommend quitting out again to force another blank save to be safe. Takes longer but safe is better than sorry.
P.S. Also, do NOT quit the game yourself a when you’re about to delete console only save. This will create a new cloud save where you don’t have your things any more.This should auto quit the game for you.
If you’re nervous test on another game you’ve only just started or don’t care about losing data for, it works for anything. I use it If I know story achievements are glitchy.
Hazekaya says
Don’t use co-op sign when duplicating/trading stuff.
Use a PvP sign, you can’t get invaded that way.
Even if you use a password during co-op you can still get invaded, but not if you use a password and PvP.
You can still trade in PvP multiplayer.