What is a Rune Arc in Elden Ring?

The central premise of Elden Ring is that, after the titular artifact was shattered, the scattered shards each took shape as a Great Rune, within which are unimaginable, often uncontrollable power. As you obtain these Great Runes yourself, you can make use of a small piece of their powers, but to do so, you need a special item known as a Rune Arc. So, what is a Rune Arc in Elden Ring?

What is a Rune Arc in Elden Ring?

Rune Arcs are special, very rare consumable items that can be found here and there in the world, purchased from merchants, or looted off of certain defeated enemies. If you use a Rune Arc on yourself, you’ll gain a few miniscule buffs to your stats, but nothing really worth writing home about, and when you die (not if, when), those buffs will be lost. The real purpose of Rune Arcs is to bring out the true power of the Great Runes.

Whenever you defeat a major demigod boss in Elden Ring, you’ll obtain their respective Great Rune. The Great Runes are dormant, however, so you’ll need to find their corresponding Divine Tower in the overworld to properly activate them. Once the Great Rune is properly juiced up, visit a Site of Grace and you can equip them to your character. However, on their own, they won’t confer any benefits upon you.

This is where the Rune Arcs come in. Once you’ve got an activated Great Rune equipped to your character, using a Rune Arc will bestow your character with whatever buffs are attached to the Great Rune. For example, equipping Godrick’s Great Rune and using a Rune Arc will give you a passive buff to all of your stats. Again, these buffs will be lost when you die, but the Great Rune will remain equipped to you, so you just have to use another Rune Arc to call upon them again. Remember, though, Rune Arcs aren’t exactly plentiful, so you might do well to hold off on using them until you know you’ll need the extra strength, at least until you’ve gotten better at the game.