Great runes are shards of the fabled Elden Ring, and they possess enormous powers. To use a Great Rune, you need to restore them atop a Divine Tower, equip them in a Site of Grace, and activate their power by consuming a Rune Arc.
When the Elden Ring shattered, the powerful demigod children of Queen Marika inherited the powers of the Great Runes. These demigods were hailed as Shardbearers, the ones who possessed the shard of the Elden Ring.
One of our primary tasks as the Tarnished warrior is to unify the Elden Ring and become the next Elden Lord. For that, we have to kill the shardbearer demigods, claim their shards, and turn them into Great Runes.
The Great Runes then are to be brought back to the base of Erdtree in an attempt to reunify the Elden Ring.
There are 8 Great Runes you can find in the Elden Ring(v1.08), of which 6 can be used to receive powers. You can only bear the power of one great rune at a given time.
To claim the power of these 6 Great runes you need to find the corresponding Divine Towers allotted to each Great Rune.
At the top of these Divine Towers, you will have the option to receive the power of a Great Rune. Once that is done the Great Runes will be added to your inventory in its activated form.
Below is the map location of all the Divine Towers and the names of the Great Runes they activate alongside them.
So now, let’s learn how to use the Great Runes.
- Defeat the Shardbearer boss to get their Great Rune. When you initially get the Great Rune it is grayed out and unusable.
- Restore the power of the Great Rune in its Divine Tower. Each Great Rune has its own Divine Tower, you can check the map above for each Great Rune’s designation.
- Once the Great Rune is restored, you can find it in its new form inside your inventory.
- To make a Great Rune usable, go and rest in a Site of Grace and choose “Great Runes” from the menu.
- Once inside the menu, put the Great Rune over the empty slot to equip it.
- Once the Great Rune is equipped, you will see its Symbol on the top left corner of the screen, aside from the HP, FP, and Stamina Bar.
- Consume a Rune Arc from your inventory to activate its effects. Once the Great Rune is activated, it will glow where the symbol is.
What is a Rune Arc?
Rune Arcs are those consumable items that are vital to reap the benefits of a Great Rune. Without consuming a Rune Arc, the Great Rune will remain inactive and cannot be utilized, although it will still appear on the HUD.
You can notice the difference by seeing if it is glowing or not. Glowing means it is activated.
Note: Great Rune is activated temporarily, and it only remains effective until you die. Once you respawn, you need to consume another Rune Arc to re-activate the power of the equipped Great Rune.
How to Farm Rune Arc?
You can farm Rune Arcs in both the Multiplayer Mode and the Single-player Mode of the Elden Ring.
Farm Rune Arc in Multiplayer Mode
The best way to farm Rune Arc is by playing multiplayer. There are multiple ways to obtain Rune Arcs while playing with friends,
- You can get them by helping someone defeat a boss in multiplayer, this is done by using a Furled Finger.
- You can also get a Rune Arc each time you defeat the host of the world by playing the role of a bloody finger or an invader.
- Finally, you can get a Rune Arc if you successfully help someone defeat an invader by playing the role of hunter. This uses a Blue Cipher Ring.
Farm Rune Arc in Single-Player Mode
You can find a lot of Rune Arcs as lootable items in the overworld. As you can purchase them from merchants, you will not run out of them easily.
If you are playing single-player and still want to farm Rune Arcs, you need to hunt Rats. Reminds me of Dark Souls 1, “farming humanity by killing the Rats“.
The best place to farm Rune Arcs in single-player mode is in the Earthbore Cave. This is a very early game location on the edge of Weeping Peninsula. There are 8 rats here, which can be quickly killed and reset again in the cave’s Site of Grace.
The second ideal farming location would be in Castle Morne. Go to the Rampart Gaol, there are 4 Rats there. Kill them quickly and reset by resting in a close by Site of Grace.
