The open world of FromSoftware's award-winning RPG is vast, but it takes a lot of runes to level up your Tarnished and take on some of its most dangerous enemies. Here are some tips on how to make the most of them.

This one's a little out of the way early on, but once you unlock your horse Torrent, head to Dragon-Burnt Ruins and use Torrent to ride along the cliffside. Shoot the bird enemy with an arrow, and it'll instantly die, netting you elden ring runes for your trouble.

Farming

One of the best ways to earn a lot of runes quickly is through farming. Slaying enemies and creatures nets you XP and runes, which can be used to level up your character or improve its stats. There are several good farm spots in Elden Ring, including the Dragons of Elden Ring dungeon that gives you a jaw-dropping 12 million runes per hour if you're able to get through without dying.

Another great option is the early game rune farm shown off by YouTuber PowerPyx. This method requires you to have unlocked Torrent, the trusty steed, and progressed past Stormveil Castle and defeated Godrick the Grafted, but it's well worth the effort. From Limgrave, head up the road north to the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace. Rest here, and a sphere enemy will spawn and give chase to you. Fire an arrow at it, and the enemy will run into and fall off the edge of the map, netting you a massive amount of elden ring runes.

Combat

Runes are both currency and character experience points in Elden Ring, and are needed to upgrade your weapons, purchase equipment and level up your character. While there are plenty of ways to earn both by fighting enemies and completing quests, players seeking to maximize their efficiency in combat can use a few tricks.

One of these tricks involves the Great elden ring runes that are rewards from bosses in the game, which can provide powerful abilities once activated. While most Great Runes are fairly easy to find, activating them can be a bit tricky.

To make this method a bit more efficient, the player will want to be around mid-game, and will want to equip a Golden Scarab Talisman, which boosts rune acquisition by 20%. The player should also be able to teleport, as this will save them the cost of riding their horse back to the palace approach ledge sites of grace. From there, each bird death will net them over 17,000 runes on NG.

Stealth

While it's recommended you pick up a Gold Scarab Talisman as soon as possible, boosting rune rewards by 20%, there are other ways to speed up your acquisition of the world's currency. For example, in the early game you can use consumable items like the Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot to instantly increase your reward from enemies killed for a short period of time.

Another method, shown off by PowerPyx on YouTube, involves a bit more combat and requires you to be fairly high level. Ride Torrent to Limgrave, activate the site of grace, and then head up the slope toward the Palace Approach Ledge-Road site of grace.

Towards the top of this slope you'll find a group of sleeping albinaurics that can be killed for 2000 elden ring runes each. They don't react to your presence and only wake up once they're attacked. This is a great spot for magic builds as they'll have a much easier time killing these creatures, but melee will still do well here as well.

Crafting

Many enemies and even some flora in the Lands Between will drop crafting materials, making it possible to create ammunition and consumable items. Players will need a Crafting Kit to enable this, purchasable from Merchant Kale for 300 Runes.

Crafting is an interesting addition to the From Software formula, adding a new way to make use of your Runes. It allows you to activate Great elden ring runes , which offer unique bonuses to your character when consumed.

While there are a number of spots that can earn you a stack of runes quickly, they all involve some level of risk. One of the most effective farming routes in the game can be found in Caelid near the Dragon-Burnt Ruins south of Lake Agheel, where there is a Site of Grace that you can return to repeatedly. On the slope leading up to it is a group of sleeping Albinaurics worth 2000 Runes each, which will not react unless attacked and can easily be backstabbed or hit from behind.