Elden Ring: How to Equip and Use Great Runes

Elden Ring asks you to kill the various shardbearing demigods in The Lands Between. Upon doing so, you’ll be rewarded with their Great Rune. Each can, when equipped, confer immense additional power onto the Tarnished that use them. 

Each Great Rune has a different effect based on the demigod that carried them, but equipping and using their powers follows the same process. We’ll go over exactly how to use them in this Elden Ring guide.

How to Equip and Use Great Runes in Elden Ring

The first one you’re likely, but not guaranteed, to acquire is Godrick’s Great Rune, which you get from defeating Godrick the Grafted of Stormveil Castle.

You won’t be able to use Godrick’s or any other one you find until you empower it at a Divine Tower. The Great Rune exists as a Key Item in your inventory but is initially inert and unable to be equipped. There is one such tower per item in Elden Ring, and you have to find your way to the top of each to unlock the ability to equip it.

The Limgrave Divine Tower keyed to Godrick is across the bridge leading east from Stormveil.

Once you’ve restored power to any Great Rune, rest at any Site of Grace on the map and scroll down to the Great Runes tab. Open it, and you’ll arrive at the Great Rune menu. Any of these items you’ve acquired and activated will be listed here, and all you need to do is select them from the menu. You can only have one equipped at one time, so choose them based on your current need.

One final note: the Great Rune itself won’t confer its effects until you use a consumable called the Rune Arc, at which point the Rune symbol to the left of your health, stamina, and FP bars will begin to glow. You can usually tell one is active by the change in your stats.

Godrick’s Great Rune, for instance, increases all of your stats by five, upping your health, damage, and everything else by a commensurate amount. Other Great Runes do different things depending on who they came from.

And that’s all there is to equipping and using Great Runes in Elden Ring. There are at least half a dozen such items scattered throughout The Lands Between, held by demigods of ancient power. Take them on easier with our guide to some of the best spells in the game, or bring some friends with our cooperation guide. Our Elden Ring hub always has more, too, so check it out.