Elden Ring: How To Farm Runes & Best Rune Farm

This article is part of a directory: Elden Ring Guide Hub: Weapons, Items, Tips, Tricks, Bosses, & Builds

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At some point in Elden Ring, players are going to want to grind and level up to be prepared for the challenges ahead. There are plenty of areas to gather a lot of XP at once in Elden Ring, such as the Giant Sleeping Dragon, and there are plenty of enemies to farm for a couple of levels.

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The problem is, many of these come with inherent risks such as potentially losing runes in Elden Ring. Luckily, there is one farming location in Elden Ring that can take players to level 99 in a matter of minutes without any serious risks. Indeed, it’s an easy process should players choose to follow it, but it does require a little legwork to unlock.

Updated June 6, 2024 by Erik Petrovich: Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is right around the corner, and the number of people jumping back into the Lands Between to prep for the DLC keeps rising by the day. It's recommended to be a very high level to enter the DLC, so it's not a bad idea to take advantage of the best Elden Ring Rune farms to speed up your preparation. This particular Elden Ring XP farm is arguably the best Rune farm in Elden Ring, and it's relatively easy to access. With the right buffs to your Rune Gain, and the right AoE spells or Ashes of War to use on the enemies found here, it's easy to farm millions of runes in no time at all – this guide has been updated to more clearly explain how to get here, how to farm these Runes, and why you might want to take a detour to this out-of-the-way best Elden Ring Rune farm.

Elden Ring: Rune Farm Tips & Tricks

Before players attempt this Rune Farming Method in Elden Ring, they should at least be level 40. It’s relatively easy to get to this Elden Ring rune farm location around the mid-game and serves as a good way to prepare, stat-wise, for the endgame.

Players should go ahead and spend their runes PRIOR to attempting to get to this farm. The reason is not the farming method itself, but simply getting to it is difficult and you will likely die, especially if you try to get here at early levels.

If players want to make the process even more lucrative, look for the Golden Scarab in Elden Ring. This boosts Rune Gain by 20%. You can also use the Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot consumable, which further boosts Rune Gain for three minutes and stacks with other Rune Gain effects.

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This farming method is much easier for spellcasters, as well as any class with an AoE attack. This shouldn’t discourage pure melee builds, however, as it only takes a little more time than other methods, but the rewards are just as sweet.

How To Get To The Best Elden Ring Farming Spot

Elden Ring Palace Approach Ledge Road Farming Location Explosion

The best Elden Ring farm location is relatively easy to access, and actually doesn't require you to beat any bosses to access. You will, however, have to engage in PvP, either by invading other players or invading NPCs whose invasion signs can be found around the Lands Between.

Travel to the First Step Site of Grace to speak with White Mask Varré and begin his questline. This is the location where you walked out into Limgrave at the very start of the game.
If the character is not there, which will happen after defeating Godrick the Grafted , there will be a message telling the player to go to Rose Church in Liurnia.
Find Varre at the Rose Church, to the southwest of the Academy of Raya Lucaria. There is no Site of Grace here – travel to the Academy Temple Quarter Site of Grace and travel southeast.
After initiating dialogue with Varre, choose the top dialogue option, questioning the Two Fingers. He will give you three Bloody Festering Fingers.
Use the Bloody Festering Fingers to invade other players three times. You can also invade Magnus, the Beast Claw, in the Writheblood Ruins in the Altus Plateau, or complete Volcano Manor contracts. It does not matter if you win or lose each PvP encounter.
After using all three Bloody Festering Fingers, talk to Varre at Rose Church again to receive the Lord of Blood’s Favor Item. He will instruct you to soak it in the blood of a Finger Maiden.
Go to the Church of Inhibition, above the Lift of Dectus and behind the Frenzied Flame Village, to find a dead Maiden by the Site of Grace. Interact with the Maiden corpse there to bloody the Lord of Blood’s Favor.
Return to the Rose Church and talk to Varre again. He will perform a ritual on your finger, and turn your eyes Red as you commit yourself to Mohg, Lord of Blood . This decision does not actually matter, and the eye effect can be turned off.
After getting the Bloody Finger, talk to Varre again to get the Pureblood Knight’s Medal. Use this item to teleport to the footsteps of Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum, in Mohgwyn Palace
After lighting the nearby Grace, immediately turn around, hug the wall to the left of the skeletal spirit summons, run through the river of blood, and climb the hill, ignoring all enemies along the way. If you die, they can simply use the Medal to teleport there again.
Once at the end, light the Palace Ledge-Road Approach site of grace.

Once you have made it to the best Rune farm in Elden Ring, it will quickly become your go-to source for quick Rune farming when you need to upgrade a weapon, level up, or just need Runes. Each enemy here is easy to kill, and clearing every enemy here will net players anywhere from 40 to 80K runes in a single run, depending on what Rune buffs you have active.

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Best Rune Farming Methods At The Palace Ledge-Approach Site of Grace

Either kill enemies one by one, or use a powerful spell or Ash of War to defeat several at once and be more efficient.

If you are at the end of the game, and have defeated the Elden Beast, the weapon skill on the Sacred Relic Sword can almost kill every Albinauric in one swipe.
If you have not beat the game yet, use the Starscourge Greatsword Ash of War to kill everything here in two or three uses.

Once satisfied with the number of Albinaurics slaughtered, head back to the the Site of Lost Grace at the top of the hill to reset the enemy spawns.

The only difficult enemy in this area are the Red Albinaurics, as they will jump around and sometimes grow giant red spikes, turn into a ball, and charge the player to deal constant Bleed buildup at near-endgame damage levels.

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If you do die here during any run, mount Torrent and pick up your Runes before attempting to farm it again. None of the resting creatures will draw aggro, and the Red ones take a moment to react to the player’s presence, allowing you to dip in and out.

Elden Ring Best Farm Location Results

As a katana-wielding Samurai in Elden Ring, far from the optimal approach or weapon loadout, we were able to farm around 500,000 Runes in less than an hour. Optimal builds with AoE spells and abilities will slash this time, and be able to farm millions of Runes in the same amount of time – especially with the Gold Scarab and Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot active.

The Albinaurics drop around 2,000 Runes each, and with both bonuses active, this sharply rises to around 3,500 each. There are anywhere from a dozen to about two dozen Albinaurics in this area (depending on how far down the hill you decide to go each run) and it's most efficient to kill them in groups and reset instead of trying to catch stragglers.

Spending these 500,000 Runes to level up in Elden Ring took us from level 61 to level 78, which made it super easy to beat Starscourge Radahn. Overall, for those looking for the fastest leveling method in Elden Ring, it’s hard to beat this farm location based on its rewards, low-risk factor, and speed.