Elden Ring runes: How to get rich quick with money-farming cheat

By Rob Leane

Published: Friday, 04 March 2022 at 12:00 am

Runes are by far the most important resource in Elden Ring. You need them to level up your character, you need them to buy items from merchants, and you also need them for most of the upgrades you’ll try to unlock in the game.

You’ll earn a modest allowance of Runes just by following the main story — basic enemies drop a handful of coin every time you kill them, and you can always rely on boss battle wins to reward you with a very healthy pile of Runes.

However, levelling up gets more expensive every time you do it, and your head is sure to be turned by increasingly dear weapons and gear as they begin to appear in stores. Before long, you might find that your ambitions outstretch your means, which is certainly something many of us can relate to in the current financial climate (let’s hope they don’t patch inflation into the game in a future update).

The good news is this, though — by a pure fluke of happenstance, we and several other players have stumbled onto something of an Elden Ring money cheat. It doesn’t break the rules of the game, per se, but it does have a certain naughty thrill to it.

Long story short, there’s an area you can visit very early on where even the most basic enemies around drop over 1000 Runes apiece. Keep on reading and we’ll tell you how to visit this magical place were money may as well grow on trees.

Elden Ring rune-farming location

You may have already noticed that there are several locations in Elden Ring where opening an innocent-looking chest will teleport you to a totally different part of the game’s vast world. Sometimes, this feels like a cruel trick where you have no option but to die at the hand of a boss you’re not ready for. But some of the Elden Ring portals can actually help you out in major ways.

One of the more handy portals can be found at Third Church of Marika in Limgrave (the very first open-world area you’ll get to explore in the game), and this is where our Elden Ring Rune-farming hack begins. The steps you need to follow are below.

"The
The Elden Ring money hack starts at the Third Church of Marika.
Map Genie

Head to the Site of Grace named Third Church of Marika, which is shown in the image above with a white bullseye in a grey in a grey label (over on the right-hand side of that screenshot, which comes courtesy of Map Genie).

There is a lake just above this point of interest on the map. Go there and look for the portal, which is hidden in some bushes on the eastern side of the lake (that’s the right-hand side if you’re looking from a map perspective).

The portal will take you to a ruin-like Site of Grace named Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow, which is in the region Caelid, a fair distance further east than where you just were. Tap into the Site of Grace and don’t worry about the big boss that is guarding the door. Sneak around him while crouched, or speed away from him on your spectral horse if you’re feeling particularly bold.

Follow the road in front of that boss until you find another Site of Grace named Farum Greatbridge. It’s just to the left of a bridge that has a big dragon on it. Again, don’t worry about the dragon. For the money-making scheme to work, you don’t need to go anywhere near it! You’re exactly where you need to be to make an unlimited amount of Runes in Elden Ring.

How to do the Elden Ring money-making cheat

"Between
Between these two Sites of Grace, the money-making magic happens in Elden Ring.
Map Genie

If you’ve been following this guide correctly, you should now have two Sites of Grace marked on your map, matching the ones you can see in the screenshot above (our thanks again to the interactive map at Map Genie).

The area between those two Sites of Grace will not be invaded by the boss at the top of the road or the dragon on the bridge, unless you go and rile them up, which we really wouldn’t recommend until you’re at a nice high level and itching for a fight.

Instead, work your way around the space in between those points. You should find a number of guards wearing black-ish armour, all of whom are spread out a fair distance away from each other. These lonely soldiers are your best way to make as much money as you want in Elden Ring.

To make a limitless amount of Runes quickly in Elden Ring, this is what you need to do: get up on your horse and take out these goons, one at a time, using ranged weapons or magic if you have those at your disposal (melee will work, too, but you’ll want to be careful to dodge their attacks).

As long as you’re not at a really low level, you should be able to take out each of these guards in turn. And here’s the good bit — they’re all carrying over a thousand Runes each, which will fatten up your coinpurse nicely as you take them out, one at a time, carefully and quietly (so as not to attract a crowd of their mates).

Looking at the map above, we’d particularly recommend the right-hand flank of that space between the two Sites of Grace. On that right-hand side, you can double-jump with your horse onto a mountain ledge where there’s a bunch of these suckers, loitering about on their own, just waiting for you to come and nab their Runes.

And the real beauty of this Elden Ring Rune-farming system is this: whenever you run out of soldiers to whack or FP to spellbind them with, you can just return to the Site of Grace by the bridge. Your flask will fill up, the enemies will respawn, and you can keep on taking their money until you have all the Runes you desire.

Whether you’re levelling up for a tough boss fight, trying to save up for a weapon you really want, or putting money aside for upgrades and unforeseen expenses, this technique should allow you to comfortably make all the money you need in Elden Ring (that is, unless the developers patch it out at some point).

If at any point we’ve lost you during this guide, the video below shows exactly what we’re talking about! Take a look and you’ll soon be getting richer than your wildest dreams in Elden Ring.