Great Runes are powerful magic in Elden Ring that lets you steal the attributes of demigods that you have killed. This ranges from increasing your stats by five levels each to giving some of your health back when you take specific risks. Player.com can spot the similarity to Dead Cells’ mutations because you must meet a requirement to use them too.
However, some perks will straight up bless your character, granting you more stamina or vitality without the need to meet any requirements. To that end, we have compiled the seven best Great Runes in Elden Ring.
Also Read: How to Get to the Tornado Area (Crumbling Farum Azula) in Elden Ring?
7 Best Great Runes in Elden Ring
Elden Ring’s Great Runes can only be obtained after beating shard-bearing bosses. Afterwards, you can unlock their powers at Divine Towers and then trigger their effects by breaking a Rune Arc. The best one include Godrick’s Great Rune, Morgott’s Great Rune, and Radahn’s Great Rune.
#1: Godrick’s Great Rune
FromSoftware designed Elden Ring bosses to be larger than life. Godrick’s Great Rune can be obtained after defeating Godrick’s the Grafted in Stormveil Castle. Despite popular belief, he’s one of the easiest bosses in the game, especially if you have equipped Ashes of War such as Bloody Slash. Our favourite part about this perk is that it increases all your attributes by five levels each.
So, you can fight for longer, soak up more enemy attacks, and cast more magic spells. To activate Godrick’s Great Rune, head to the Divine Tower in Limgrave. Most of our reviewers didn’t unequip this perk through their playthroughs, which is a testament to its popularity. It’s perfect for beating anything from Selia Town bosses to demigods like Radahn in Elden Ring.
#2: Morgott’s Great Rune
Morgott’s Great Rune is a lifesaver because it buffs up your health by 25%. If you’re a seasoned Elden Ring player, you’ll agree that 25% could help you escape many sticky encounters. For example, some shard-bearing bosses just deal way too much damage and this perk may tip the scale in your favour.
Luckily, Morgott’s Great Rune can only be acquired towards the game’s ending. So, your vitality should already be high enough for a 25% boost to be effective. You can activate this rune at the Divine Tower of East Altus. That said, this is purely a defensive rune and it doesn’t offer any damage boost whatsoever.
#3: Radahn’s Great Rune
Starscourge Radahn can control the stars and all heavenly bodies. So, it was only his death that opened the gateway to Nokron, allowing players to loot all of its treasures and weapons. That said, Starscourge Radahn rides a fragile horse that runs only because of his mastery over gravity. So, the fight against him is tough, fast-paced, and destructive; Especially as he can turn into a falling asteroid.
You can activate his Great Rune at the Divine Tower of Caelid, after which, your Health, Stamina, and FP will be boosted by 15%. In total, you’re getting a 45% boost spread across three attributes. Astrologers will love this build because their Vigor and Endurance are usually low. So, soaking up more attacks will give them an edge in battle.
#4: Malenia’s Great Rune
Malenia’s Great Rune isn’t as memorable as our fight against her. She’s a master swordsman who can dish out attacks faster than you can dodge them. The only exception is to predict those moves and dodge away to her blind spot. That said, Malenia’s rune is potent because it heals you as you attack enemies. So, make sure you’re familiar with your weapon’s combos. To pull off smoother combos, a keyboard and mouse may be better than a controller.
This is the best Great Rune for melee combatants who don’t mind taking damage while fighting. You don’t want to be smooth with your dodges. Rather, you’re looking forward to tanking as many hits as you can to bring enemies to their literal knees.
Our rule is to deal at least four blows in exchange for one hit. Master this ratio and you become a god yourself. You can activate it at the Isolated Divine Tower. Having said that, your HP will get a 30% rebuff once this rune is active.
#5: Mohg’s Great Rune
Mohg’s Great Rune is an extremely powerful rune that’s based on blood magic. For one, you gain the perk, Blessing of Blood, with it activated. All you then have to do is summon your Spirit Ashes and you’ll gain a 10% health buff when they kill enemies. Besides that, your Spirit Ashes also gain a damage buff whenever enemies are inflicted with the Blood Loss status.
Players who have dumped resources in their Spirit Ashes collection will enjoy this perk. Simply put, you and your wolves can tear through enemies simply by activating this perk. At the same time, every kill heals you so it’s great for both offence and defence.
#6: Great Rune of the Unborn
Many gamers are sure of their builds until they encounter a stronger build online. This perk is perfect for players who want to redistribute their points. Perhaps you focused too much on a Stamina build and you would rather trade that for higher Intelligence, this rune is perfect for that. You can only unlock this buff by defeating Rennala, and sure, that means you can’t kill her.
Killing Rennala means that you can’t use her Rebirth option anymore. Additionally, unlike other runes, which you must activate at Divine Towers, you only have to visit Rennala. You’ll need a Larval Tear to respect your character and to acquire one, you must defeat Mimic Tears that can be found in the Eternal Cities.
#7: Rykard’s Great Rune
Rykard is extremely tough even with a hefty HP bar. To kill him, you need the Serpent-Hunter which boasts an incredibly long range when Rykard is near. However, outside of the combat against this serpent demigod, it’s practically useless. Even then, Rykard won’t go out without a fight so it took us around 12 tries to kill him (No stress, right?).
His rune is effective against multiple enemies, not bosses or mini-bosses. This is because the perk only grants a 7% HP buff after defeating foes. So, it’s nice to clear dungeons until you reach the dungeon boss’ area. If you do use it against a boss, the rune’s effects are entirely passive and you won’t gain any buff until an Elden Ring boss dies. That said, it’s a great way to save up on health potions since 7% stacks quickly.
Our Final Say: The Effects of Great Runes Are Temporary
Players will lose all of the effects of a Great Rune and will have to reactivate it with another Rune Arc. However, perks such as Godrick’s Rune are too useful to ignore. So, the solution is to keep reactivating the buff after death if you want to stay ahead of the curve. Thankfully, you can purchase Rune Arcs from different merchants in Elden Ring including the Hermit Merchant’s Shack.