Early Game Rune Farming in Elden Ring

Well hello there weary traveler. I see you’re looking to do some good, honest grinding and get all the runes you can get your grubby, tarnished hands on. The Elden Ring economy revolves around runes (and “but” jokes) and you can get them by defeating enemies, selling items, or smashing Golden Runes. Your early time in Limgrave, the game’s starting area, is full of ways to make some rune moola, so let’s break down some easy ways to level up quick.

Runes are used to level up and to purchase perks, weapons, spells, and well, everything your character will need. If you die fairly or die unfairly (which you will do, both, a lot) you’ll drop your runes, but have a chance to retrieve them. Unless you die before you can pick them up, in which case, they’re gone forever. The abundance of rune getting opportunities (oppor-RUNE-ities?) makes Elden Ring the most accessible FromSoft game ever. Boss too hard? Just go grind until you are a stronk enough boi. Here's how:

Crack skulls! Some players have been over a dozen hours into the game before they realized you could crack the glowing skulls to get the sweet golden runes inside. Use a weapon, unarmed strike, or satisfyingly crunch them beneath your steed Torrent’s hooves. Once they’ve popped, pick up the Golden Runes, which can then be accessed from your inventory. Use one (or multiples at a time) to gain a large amount of runes. 

But a word to the wise gamer: definitely wait until you’re ready to level up and next to a Site of Grace before popping the Golden Runes, or else you could lose everything when some errant, knife footed bird drops onto you from the sky.

Pick flowers. If you’re looking for a low conflict grind while you contemplate why you’re so addicted to video games, the Lands Between are littered with tons of items used in crafting… but you can also sell that ish. This may seem obvious but I’ve talked to some very experienced FromSoft players who didn’t even think to grind it out like that. But, as Master Yoda once said “Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is,” and us baby brains here at Cracked know the true path to level 80 is just pickin’ mushrooms and selling them to your favorite merchant.

Team up. Use summon sites to get called to other player’s worlds. You’ll beat the big bads together and get tons of runes in the process. Not only will you be getting rich off of the most lucrative enemies in the game (aka area bosses), you’ll be helping a gamer in need. UWU indeed.

If you’re going to beat Elden Ring, like we know you can, you’ll need all the runes you can get. Which brings us to our final tip. This is the most questionably sportmanslike of all, but won’t be exploitable by all classes. In the hallway leading to Godrick the Grafted, one door leads to him and the bossfight, and the other archway has a big ‘ol troll. If you have a ranged offensive weapon, like a staff, you can ranged attack that troll to death from the safety of the hallway. Then interact with the Secluded Cell Site of Grace, and the troll will respawn. They’ll drop a little over 1200 runes each time. Like we said, it ain’t honest, but it gets the job done. 

Good luck Tarnished.