Elden Ring is finally here, and The Land Between is as glorious as most of us had imagined. The FromSoftware title borrows heavily from the Souls formula, and as you may expect, currency in Elden Ring is still important for progressing with your adventure.
Currency in Elden Ring is known as Runes, and can be used to level up your character, upgrade your gear, and to generally purchase new items. Runes can be found all over The Land Between, sometimes just laying on the ground, and primarily from defeating enemies that you come across.
When it comes to farming for Runes, you want to select your tactic carefully. Taking on Trolls is undoubtedly a great way of filling your pockets, but it is a challenging one, nonetheless. Make sure to have your Spirit Calling Bell to hand when up against a tough crowd. Without further ado, here's how to farm for Runes effectively and (somewhat) safely in Elden Ring.
Glowing Skulls
Around The Land Between in Elden Ring, you'll often come across skulls littered around the place. On occasion, the skull may even be glowing white. If you find a glowing white skull, hit it with a melee attack until it is destroyed. For every glowing skull, you'll get a Golden Rune.
click to enlarge
+ 2Fight at Night
At night, the amount of Runes a slain enemy will drop is increased slightly. However, their strength is also increased, so ensure you're prepared if you're thinking of a long night of combat.
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Golden-Eyed Enemies
On occasion, you'll encounter an enemy with glowing gold eyes. When this is the case, be sure to try and combat them (unless you're completely unprepared, of course) and they'll drop more Runes than usual. Specifically, the amount they drop will approximately be four times more than their usual Rune drop.
click to enlarge + 2Fight Trolls
For every Troll that you manage to successfully slay, you'll gain 1000 Runes. There are a few areas in Elden Ring where multiple trolls can be found, and thus, with some skilled combat, many Runes can be acquired. The areas where Trolls can be found are as follows:
- Waypoint Ruins Cellar - two Trolls will be manouvreing a carriage around here.
- Secluded Cell in Stormveil Castle - a Troll guards the cell.
- Stormhill - by following the cliff face along the east of Gatefront Ruins, Torrent can jump to reach the top of Stormhill using an air current and find five Trolls here.\
We're sure there are plenty of other spots around Elden Ring where Runes can be found in masses, these are the safest methods we have found so far. Ultimately, most enemies will drop Runes for you, so take on fights when you can!
For more on Elden Ring, take a look at what we think the best Keepsakes are, and each Boss that you'll encounter around The Land Between.
For more articles like this, take a look at our Elden Ring and Guides page.