Elden Ring Rune Arcs guide – How to use and locations

Throughout their journey in Elden Ring, players will have to level up their character, uncover map fragments and upgrade their gear to defeat every fearsome boss. Defeating all six will reward you with Runes and a Great Rune.

These special items require Rune Arcs to be bound to them, awarding its users buffs to HP, Focus Points and Stamina. This guide details everything about Rune Arcs, including where to find them and how to use them in Elden Ring.

What are Rune Arcs in Elden Ring?

A Rune Arc is a special consumable item that players can bind to their Great Rune to activate its effects. If you’re not using a Great Rune during gameplay, your rune slot remains inactive and unable to receive buffs from the rune effects.

Rune Arcs can be used on their own to replenish your HP; however, to gain maximum benefits, it’s best used on a Great Rune. On the other hand, Great Runes are pretty hard to come by as you’ll need to defeat the six main bosses to acquire them.

Once you have acquired a Great Rune, you must activate them at its corresponding towers before binding them with Rune Arcs. You can activate the runes at any of the following towers:

All rune upgrade locations in Elden Ring

• Godrick's Great Rune: after defeating Godrick, the Grafted can be activated at the Divine Tower of Limgrave
• Malenia's Great Rune: after defeating Malenia, Blade of Miquella can be activated at the isolated Divine Tower in Leyndell, the Royal Capital (use the Divine Tower Site of Grace as a fast travel point)
• Radahn's Great Rune: after defeating Starcourage Radahn, can be activated at the Divine Tower of Caelid
• Morgott's Great Rune: after defeating Morgott, the Omen King, can be activated at the Divine Tower of East Altus
• Rykard's Great Rune: after defeating Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy, can be activated at the Divine Tower of West Altus
• Mohg's Great Rune: after defeating Mohg, Lord of Blood, can be activated at the Divine Tower of East Altus

Where to find Rune Arcs in Elden Ring?

Acquiring a Rune Arc in Elden Ring is relatively straightforward since they aren't well-hidden and don't require the main quest for completion. Rune Arcs are dropped when summoned to defeat a boss or as a Bloody Finger when beating a Host of Fingers during multiplayer.

Secondly, rats and Giant Rats can frequently drop Rune Arcs, which you'll encounter inside underground and cavernous areas like Limgrave Tunnels, Tombsward Cave and Dragon-Burnt Ruins, to name a few. You can also find Rune Arcs at some of the following locations:

All Rune Arc locations in Elden Ring

• Locate a room guarded by a Great Sage to find a chest containing a Rune Arc at the Academy Crystal Cave
• Beneath a set of stairs at the Cliffbottom Catacombs
• Inside a chest found in the first room to the right at Altus Tunnel
• Find a corpse further up the path east of the gardens at Caria Manor
• Locate a corpse inside an enemy outpost west of The Four Belfries
• On a corpse at the bottom of a cavern at the Sealed Tunnel
• Found on a corpse towards the edge of a cliff, past the Nomadic Merchant at Bellum Church
• Near the sword table inside the Fortified Manor at Leyndell, the Royal Capital
• On a corpse near the Lion Guardian boss at Fort Gael

Lastly, if you haven't acquired enough Rune Arcs by farming and looting, you can purchase them from vendors at three various locations. These vendors will only sell one Rune Arc at a time, except for the last vendor, who has three Rune Arcs in his inventory.

• Nomadic Merchant at Bellum Church, Liurnia of the Lakes for 4,000 Runes
• Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold for 4,000 Runes
• Nomadic Merchant east of the Mountaintops of the Giants for 8,000 Runes

How to use Rune Arcs in Elden Ring?

Once you have Rune Arcs and a Great Rune in your possession, travel to any Site of Grace you've uncovered. Then, equip the Great Rune by accessing the Great Runes menu. Next, navigate to your inventory and find the Rune Arcs and bind them to the Great Rune for the rune's effects to be activated.

Since each Great Rune can be effective for every playstyle, it's essential to know what effects you can gain from each rune. With a Great Rune equipped, you will be able to use the effects effectively when battling enemies, mini-bosses, bosses and clearing dungeons.

We want to thank the YouTube channel Maka91 Productions for the complete walkthrough on getting Rune Arcs and activating a Great Rune in Elden Ring.

• Read more: What to do after killing Godrick boss in Elden Ring?

Featured image courtesy of FromSoftware.