When you first get an Elden Ring Great Rune, you’d be forgiven for not having a clue what you’re supposed to do with it. Main bosses drop them, alongside Remembrances, though Great Runes are seemingly useless as they are. Luckily, once you activate them, they can offer a handy boost to your Tarnished.
You can swap between activated Great Runes and their passive bonus effects, though you’ll need to use an Elden Ring Rune Arc to do so. As you can only have one equipped at a time, it’s likely that you’ll want to swap them out for different bosses or encounters.
A word of warning: boss names appear in this guide, so click away now if you’d rather avoid potential spoilers. Otherwise, here’s what you need to know about Elden Ring Great Runes, including where to find the Rune Arc items needed to activate them.
How to use Great Runes in Elden Ring
Whenever you pick up a Great Rune from a boss, you’ll need to restore it before it can be equipped. To do this, head to the Divine Tower in the region of the boss that dropped the rune. As an example, Godrick is the first boss that drops a Great Rune, so you need to make your way to the Divine Tower of Limgrave.
The good news is that once a Great Rune has been restored, you won’t have to do it again. If you’re planning on switching them often, however, you should make sure you have plenty of Rune Arcs.
Elden Ring Rune Arc: Where to find them
Restoring a Great Rune isn’t enough to actually see its benefit. To make use of the passive effects a rune offers, you’ll need to equip it, then activate it using a Rune Arc.
Rune Arcs are fairly rare drops from enemies—mostly from rats, though still not often—and they can occasionally be found in chests. The most reliable way to get your hands on the item is from the vendors at Roundtable Hold and Liurnia of the Lakes. Each Rune Arc item will set you back 4,000 Runes.
Elden Ring Great Rune list
Here are the Great Runes we’ve found so far, along with the effects they offer and where to restore them:
Godrick’s Great Rune
- Boss: Godrick the Grafted
- Effect: Raises all attributes
- Where to restore: Divine Tower of Limgrave
Great Rune of the Unborn
- Boss: Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon
- Effect: Used to perfect rebirth
- Where to restore: N/A as it automatically allows you to respec
Radahn’s Great Rune
- Boss: Starscourge Radahn
- Effect: Raises maximum HP, FP, and Stamina
- Where to restore: Divine Tower of Caelid
Morgott’s Great Rune
- Boss: Morgott, the Omen King
- Effect: Greatly raises maximum HP
- Where to restore: Divine Tower of East Atlus
Rykard’s Great Rune
- Boss: Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy
- Effect: Restores HP upon defeating enemies
- Where to restore: Divine Tower of West Atlus
Mogh’s Great Rune
- Boss: Mogh, Lord of Blood
- Effect: Grants a blessing of blood to phantoms
- Where to restore: Divine Tower of East Atlus
Malenia’s Great Rune
- Boss: Malenia, Blade of Miquella
- Effect: Attacks dealt after taking damage recover HP
- Where to restore: Isolated Divine Tower