Elden Ring's Great Runes, Ranked | Screen Rant
Elden Ring's main story revolves around the Tarnished's quest to collect the Great Runes, pieces of the Elden Ring that also grant unique buffs to the player, but some of these buffs are noticeably better than others. Although there are a grand total of seven Great Runes in the game, the player is only required to collect three of them to finish the game, with two required to enter Leyndell and the third obtained from the boss in the area. Players are given the freedom to approach collecting these Runes in any order they wish thanks in part to how big Elden Ring's open world is.
[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Elden Ring.]
The Great Runes are important story items in their own right, but they also offer a secondary effect to players once they have been charged at their respective divine towers, providing the player has used a Rune Arc, a consumable item that works similarly to Dark Souls 3's Ember system. Players will retain this buff until their next death, at which point another Rune Arc can be used to regain the boosts. Although these items are fairly rare, with a finite amount located throughout the Lands Between and most merchants only carrying limited quantities, players can also earn these items from both PvP combat and assisting other players to defeat bosses, meaning there are always ways to get hold of Rune Arcs to use in Elden Ring.
One important thing to note is that although there are seven Great Runes obtainable by the player, the Great Rune of the Unborn functions differently from all of the other Great Runes in the game. Unlike the others, this Great Rune cannot be equipped, and as such also does not need to be recharged at a divine tower to be utilized as the player receives it in an already charged state. This Rune unlocks the ability to be reborn, which essentially equates to allowing the player to respec their builds via the use of a rare item called the Larval Tear, at which point players can talk to Elden Ring's Queen Rennala in Raya Lucaria to change their stats or even appearance.
Ironically, one of the last and toughest Great Runes that players have the chance to obtain is also the worst one in terms of utility. Malenia's Great Rune not only lowers the effectiveness of the Flask of Crimson Tears, but also of all other forms of healing by around 25-30%. In exchange, players are given a window of roughly 5 seconds after taking damage in which they can regain health by hitting the enemy, although only as much as was lost in the attack.
Players who are familiar with earlier FromSoftware games may recognize this mechanic. And in fact, the best use of this rune would be for Elden Ring players wanting a Bloodborne experience. It won't be the same as going back to Yharnam, but it's a benefit to those who may prefer Bloodborne's gameplay.
Similar to Malenia's Rune, Mohg's Great Rune is also more trouble than it seems to be worth, as its effects are very situational and seem more suited to certain playstyles over others. Mohg's Great Rune will grant summoned spirit ashes the blessing of blood buff, which will restore 10% of the player's health each time they kill an enemy in close proximity. It can also buff their attack for around 20 seconds if the bleed status effect is inflicted nearby them.
These effects also apply when invading in Elden Ring, giving the buff instead to the host's enemies. This is providing the player can get close enough to them to use the Phantom Great Rune item given to them from invading. Invading in Elden Ring can be a high-risk game, and Mohg's Great Rune adds an interesting new wrinkle to those encounters.
Elden Ring's Morgott (Or Margit) is the only Runebearer that all players must face to finish the game, as he guards the Erdtree itself. His Great Rune offers a 25% boost to the player's HP stat, which will be very useful for a lot of players as many of Elden Ring's later bosses are capable of dispatching the Tarnished in a single hit. The only problem with this Great Rune lies in the fact that, due to it being a fixed 25% boost, players with a lower Vigor stat may actually get more benefit from using one of the other Great Runes.
Rykard's Great Rune is another that can be highly situational, but it can be extremely useful for players who wish to explore Elden Ring's vast world without having to constantly rest at sites of grace and reset enemies. Rykard's Great Rune restores players' HP by 7% + a fixed 80HP, meaning that even at lower Vigor levels players will still get some utility out of this rune. The other big advantage this Rune offers is that it also works on Elden Ring's passive wildlife, meaning players can restore their health with almost no risk without having to waste a Flask charge or FP on a healing spell.
Radahn's Great Rune works similarly to Morgott's, with the difference being that whilst the HP buff is only 15% compared to Morgott's 25%, it also buffs FP and Stamina by 15%, which in turn offers more utility to a wider variety of builds, as whichever of Elden Ring's classes the player picks, they will be using either FP or Stamina to manage their attacking output. Radahn's Great Rune can also be obtained earlier on in the game when compared to the likes of Malenia and Mohg's Great Runes, which also serves to make it more useful. Radahn's Great Rune could even be argued to be the best of them all, as it actually outperforms Godrick's Great Rune's raw stat boosts once players reach the respective stat's soft caps.
Ironically, the Great Rune that most players will pick up first is actually Elden Ring's most useful. Giving a flat +5 boost to all stats, Godricks Great Rune will outperform both Radahns and Morgott's respective boosts for a good portion of the game, depending on how the player distributes their stat points gained from level-ups. Elden Ring's Godrick the Grafted is the Runebearer that the game's narrative pushes you to challenge before any others, and as such this Great Rune will likely be the first that players restore and use. It is also the most versatile of the Great Runes, as by boosting every stat it also effectively boosts whatever build the player is using, meaning that it will never be entirely redundant.
Ultimately, the usefulness of the Great Runes will vary depending on what sort of Tarnished build the player has, but it would still seem that some are objectively better than others. Another important factor to take into consideration is that the Great Runes do not carry over into NG+ cycles, as they are also key items, meaning that the Great Runes obtained later on in the story - such as Elden Ring's arguably toughest boss, Malenia's - are even further limited in their usefulness. Ultimately it will be up to players to experiment with the Runes and decide for themselves which one fits their character the best.