In the vast and mysterious world of Elden Ring, runes are more than just currency—they are a symbol of growth, strength, and survival. From upgrading your gear to enhancing specific character builds, runes play a central role in how you interact with the game world. While many players focus on acquiring powerful weapons or armor, understanding how certain runes affect your gear can give you a serious edge. This guide highlights 7 must-have runes in Elden Ring and explains how they influence your equipment, helping you choose the best and safest path forward.
1. Godrick’s Great Rune – Versatile Stat Boost
Godrick’s Great Rune is often the first Great Rune players acquire and is notable for its universal stat bonuses. When activated with a Rune Arc, this rune grants +5 to all attributes, making it ideal for hybrid builds or players still discovering their playstyle. While it doesn’t directly improve gear, the increased stats allow you to wield higher-requirement elden ring items like powerful weapons and heavy armor.
Effect on Gear: Unlocks access to more advanced weapons and armor, especially those with high Strength or Dexterity requirements.
2. Radahn’s Great Rune – Enhanced Health, Stamina, and FP
Radahn’s Great Rune is a favorite among aggressive players who prefer to stay in the fight longer. It boosts your HP, Stamina, and FP significantly, allowing you to perform more actions before needing to recover.
Effect on Gear: Synergizes well with stamina-hungry elden ring items like heavy weapons and shields, as well as FP-based tools like staves or sacred seals. It’s a reliable rune for both melee and magic users looking to push their builds to the limit.
3. Morgott’s Great Rune – Boosted HP Pool
Morgott’s Great Rune offers the highest flat HP increase among the Great Runes. For tank builds or anyone venturing into high-risk areas, this rune is invaluable for survivability.
Effect on Gear: Greatly complements gear with high damage absorption or HP-scaling effects. Use this rune when equipping elden ring items that benefit from sustained combat or require strong defense.
4. Mohg’s Great Rune – Bloodlust and Life Steal
A more niche but powerful rune, Mohg’s Great Rune enhances your ability to leech HP from enemies when you successfully land blood loss attacks. For bleed builds, this rune is transformative.
Effect on Gear: Best used with bleed-based weapons such as Rivers of Blood or Reduvia. It’s perfect for players who want their gear to do more than just deal damage—it heals too.
5. Rykard’s Great Rune – Power Through Death
This rune grants HP restoration for every enemy defeated, rewarding aggressive and high-risk gameplay. It’s ideal for solo adventurers who need to stay alive in long dungeon runs or during invasions.
Effect on Gear: Encourages the use of AoE weapons and elden ring items that deal with crowds. Ideal for builds centered around clearing mobs quickly and efficiently.
6. Rune Arcs – Temporary Rune Activation
Though not a Great Rune, Rune Arcs are essential for unlocking the true power of runes. They safely activate your equipped Great Rune without any drawbacks, making them among the most valuable elden ring items in your inventory.
Effect on Gear: Indirectly enhances all your equipped gear by activating stat bonuses from your rune. Especially critical in boss fights or PvP encounters.
7. Safe Rune Farming Tools – Multiplayer and Talisman Support
While not a single rune, this entry highlights safe Elden Ring items used in farming and rune collection. The Gold-Pickled Fowl Foot boosts rune acquisition by 30% for a limited time, and multiplayer co-op allows for more efficient and lower-risk farming in dangerous areas.
Effect on Gear: These support items don’t modify gear directly but help you accumulate runes safely to upgrade and enhance your weapons and armor without repeated deaths or wasted time.
Runes in Elden Ring aren’t just a means to level up—they’re a strategic resource that ties directly into how you equip and enhance your gear. Whether you’re pushing through the Lands Between solo or seeking out the safest elden ring items for your journey, understanding the synergy between runes and your loadout is key. Choose wisely, and may your blade—or spell—strike true.