Elden Ring players face numerous, hard-fought bosses throughout the course of the game. Some of them are required to move the story along, but many of them are optional bosses. They’re all notoriously difficult, even if some are more so than others. Some of the most difficult bosses are the demigods who wield a piece of the Elden Ring, the Shardbearers like Godrick, Radahn, and Rykard, and players can snag a Great Rune from them after beating them.
These Great Runes can have game-changing stats and abilities, depending on a player’s build. The first Great Rune players can get, for example, is from Godrick, and it increases all of their stats in Elden Ring by 5. The impact of such a boost at low levels cannot be understated. However, it seems the language surrounding Great Runes has confused some players, per a recent discussion in the community.
Over on the Elden Ring subreddit, user pentarion has seemingly stirred up this conversation, posting a screenshot from the game that has over 15K upvotes as of this writing. The message is pretty simple. Fans have to use Rune Arcs to gain the benefits of a Great Rune, but the game implies that there are passive influences—when there are not. Specifically, the post shows where the game states that “you can use a Rune Arc to give even greater benefits to your equipped Great Rune.”
The wording here would imply a Great Rune has some benefit when equipped, but that a Rune Arc would improve said benefit. That’s not the case in Elden Ring. This seems to have confused many players, who’ve equipped it for any passive bonuses that don’t actually exist. In hindsight, many of them say that they should’ve noticed that Godrick’s Great Rune didn’t impact their stats, but there is something to it when fans believe it buffs them and it doesn’t.
Elden Ring does not hold players’ hands, and this has been praised by many in the gaming community. It does have some bite back, however. For example, many players may not have realized that Fia’s hugs in Elden Ring give them a debuff at first, never realizing what the little red block was. This works similarly. The wording here is confusing, and if players aren’t paying close attention, their exact uses and benefits can be overlooked.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
