Elden Ring - Runes

Rune items such as Golden Runes turn into runes when used. A rune item in the inventory is not dropped on death, which makes it a safe way to carry runes. Saving them for a Site of Grace or a merchant keeps a hard-earned level from being lost.

How Runes Work

Runes are both experience for levelling and money for merchants. Carried runes drop at the spot of death. Touching that spot reclaims them, but a second death on the way loses them for good. Rune items are not lost on death, so they can be kept until the runes are needed.

A rune item sells to a merchant for the same number of runes it grants when used. The Sacrificial Twig talisman breaks on death instead of losing runes.

Golden Runes

Golden Runes come in rising grades, from 200 runes at the lowest to 10,000 at the highest. Low grades lie in Limgrave, the Weeping Peninsula and Stormveil Castle. Higher grades appear in later areas such as Leyndell, Royal Capital and Crumbling Farum Azula. Many sit on corpses or in graves, sarcophagi and caves.

Skulls with glowing eyes in Limgrave hold low-grade Golden Runes. Balloons in the flooded part of Liurnia of the Lakes carry Golden Runes.

Hero's and Lord's Runes

Hero's Runes grant from 15,000 to 35,000 runes. They lie in late areas such as the Consecrated Snowfield, Mohgwyn Palace and Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. A Tree Sentinel drops one of the lower Hero's Runes. The Lord's Rune grants 50,000 runes.

Erdtree Avatars in Leyndell, Royal Capital and near the Elphael Inner Wall drop Lord's Runes.

Realm of Shadow

Broken Runes grant 500 runes and turn up in Belurat, Tower Settlement, the Fort of Reprimand and the gaols. Shadow Realm Runes grant from 7,500 to 30,000 runes. Marika's Rune grants 80,000 runes, the largest sum of any rune item. One Marika's Rune lies at the entrance of the Scadutree Base, next to the Tree-Worship Sanctum Site of Grace.

Rune of an Unsung Hero grants 50,000 runes and lies in the Shadow Keep. Needle Knight Leda drops Leda's Rune when she is fought and killed before Enir-Ilim.

Safe Use

Using rune items at a Site of Grace keeps the runes safe from an early death. Using a large rune just before levelling or shopping avoids carrying a big sum through danger. Memory of Grace loses all runes held, so rune items are best left unused before that trip. The Lands Between Rune is a starting keepsake worth 3,000 runes.

The keepsake is the only way to get it, so it is best kept until levelling up is possible. Up to 99 of each rune item can be carried, with more in storage.

Essential Runes

Name	Image
Lord's Rune
Marika's Rune
Hero's Rune [5]
Golden Rune [13]
Rune of an Unsung Hero
Leda's Rune

All Runes

The table below lists all Runes in Elden Ring.