The Tarnished Edition has pulled a whole new wave of players into the Lands Between, and Switch 2 owners are jumping in for the very first time. With the 1.17 patch changing what still works and what has been stamped out, rune farming in 2026 looks different than it did even a year ago. This guide walks you through the best rune farms and glitches for early/mid/late game in the 1.17 Tarnished edition on Switch 2, PS, PC, and Xbox, from your first hour on Torrent all the way to New Game Plus grinds pulling millions of runes per hour. Follow along, and you can go from level one to a fully built character faster than ever.
Elden Ring Best Rune Farms for Early/Mid/Late Game (2026)
Patch 1.17 arrived alongside the Tarnished Pack and reshaped the rune meta in a few key ways. FromSoftware patched the classic horseback swing method in the Dynasty area, but a new Golden Vow stance-lock glitch has taken its place and still drops enormous rune totals per attempt. Meanwhile, PvE staples like the Greyoll dragon reset at Fort Faroth, the Palace Approach Ledge, and the Vulgar Militia loop near Bestial Sanctum all still function perfectly in 2026. Add in the PvP invasion farming meta, which quietly became the top rune-per-hour method in the entire game, and there are more viable options than ever before.
To keep things organized, this guide splits the top methods into three sections based on when you can access them: early game, mid game, and late game. Let's start with what you can do the moment you step out of the graveyard. Btw, if you don't like any grinding, the fastest and easiest way is buying cheap Elden Ring runes from MTMMO.COM!
Elden Ring Best Early Game Rune Farm & Glitch 2026
Early-game farming in 1.17 revolves around routes you can reach at level one and simple loops that do not require boss weapons or deep questlines. The three methods below cover a range of difficulty levels, so pick the one that matches your comfort with combat. Every option here can be started within the first hour of a fresh save.
1. Waypoint Ruins Convoy Farm
A no-fuss beginner loop right next to the First Step. Great for players still learning the controls.
Location: East of the First Step Site of Grace, up the path to Waypoint Ruins in Limgrave.
How to farm: Head inside and clear the mini-boss, which activates a Site of Grace you can use as a reset point. Then step outside where a convoy of enemies spawns along the road. Most of the enemies are near one-hit kills, and the giants cannot follow you on horseback, so ride in, swing, and pull back out. Once you have been to Caelid, buying the Rotten Breath incantation from the Dragon Communion Altar clears the whole area much faster.
Runes per run: 10,000 to 20,000 runes in roughly 2 to 5 minutes.
2. Third Church of Marika Boulder Farm
A very hands-off loop that works even for level-one characters. All you do is dodge a boulder.
Location: From the First Step Grace, follow the road forward, right at Gatefront Ruins, over the bridge, left, and forward to the Third Church of Marika. Behind the church is a teleporter that throws you to the top-right corner of the map near Bestial Sanctum. Ride down the hill and left until you reach the nearest Grace and rest at it.
How to farm: From that Grace, ride down the hill on Torrent. A giant boulder spawns behind you. Loop around so the boulder gets pushed off the map edge. Once it falls, pick up your runes and teleport back to the Grace to run it again.
Runes per run: Solid early-game payouts with almost zero risk. Takes 1 to 2 minutes per loop.
3. Vulgar Militia Farm at Bestial Sanctum
A step above the beginner loops in payout, but requires slightly better combat awareness.
Location: Same teleporter route from the Third Church of Marika in Mistwood. Ride down the hill from the Bestial Sanctum area to the nearby Site of Grace.
How to farm: Hunt the Vulgar Militia scattered around in groups of five or six. Each kill drops 1,200 runes, and backstab animations shred them quickly. Around 20 to 25 enemies are spread across the area. Summon a friend and split up to speed things up. Both of you get the full rune amount, then dismiss and resummon to run it again.
Runes per run: 25,000 to 75,000 runes in 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Greyoll Dragon Reset Farm (Fort Faroth)
The top-value early farm in Elden Ring, and one FromSoftware has never patched. You can pull this off at level nine with zero boss fights along the way.
Location: Fort Faroth in Greyoll's Dragonbarrow, Caelid. Reach it by teleporting from the Third Church of Marika, then riding south past the dragon on the bridge and hugging the right cliff until you see the roofless stone fort.
Prep along the route: Grab the Uchigatana from the Samurai starting class or loot the flail from a caravan corpse northwest of Gatefront (50 bleed build-up, higher than the Uchigatana). Pick up the Gold Pickled Fowl Foot from the ledge below the First Step Grace by riding off the cliff onto the spirit spring. Take Radagon's Scarseal from inside Fort Faroth so you can meet the flail's stat requirements at level nine.
How to farm: Ride west from the Fort Faroth Grace and you cannot miss Greyoll. Two-hand your bleed weapon and swing into her tail. Every blood loss proc rips a huge chunk off her 88,000 HP bar. Around the 5-minute mark, watch her bar closely. When she is almost dead, pop the Fowl Foot, keep swinging, and the moment she flinches into her death animation, summon Torrent and sprint east back to the Fort Faroth Grace. Rest before the death animation finishes and the game hands you the runes without registering the kill. She stays alive for another loop.
Runes per run: 70,000 runes on a fresh save, 100,000 on New Game Plus. A full loop runs about 2 minutes once you know the ride back.
5. Fort Faroth Dragon Bleed Farm (Standard Version)
If you cannot pull off the reset timing, the same dragon still pays out well as a one-and-done or slow reset loop.
Location: Fort Faroth, Caelid.
How to farm: Same setup as above, but instead of racing the death animation, you simply kill the dragon, collect the 70,000 runes, and let it respawn on the next visit. Nothing on the route attacks you, so even a level-one character with a bleed weapon can pull this off safely.
Runes per run: Around 70,000 runes in 3 to 5 minutes.
Elden Ring Best Mid Game Rune Farm & Glitch 2026
Once you have cleared a few main bosses, worked through Varre's questline, and picked up your Golden Scarab, mid-game farming opens up a lot more efficient loops. The methods below combine PvP invasion farming, the working Dynasty out-of-map glitch, and PvE routes that scale with your Golden Scarab and Fowl Foot stack.
1. Dynasty Area Golden Vow Out-of-Map Glitch (1.17 Working)
The old horseback swing glitch got patched, but this replacement still works after the Tarnished update and drops massive rune totals per attempt.
Location: Mohgwyn Dynasty area, reachable through Varre's questline (start it at the First Step when he calls you maidenless). If you killed Varre by accident, restart your save because the alternate route arrives much later.
Items needed: Golden Vow incantation (found on a corpse in a shack in the volcano area on the top-left of the map), Golden Scarab talisman (from the boss at the bottom of the Abandoned Cave in Caelid), and either a Gold Pickled Fowl Foot or Golden Horn Tender for stacked rune boosts.
How to farm (tree route): From the Dynasty Grace, drop down and ride left to a large tree. Run up the roots, jump around the tree, then double-jump onto the ledge above. Chain double-jumps left and up across the rocks until you reach the drop-off point overlooking the void. Walk slowly to the edge, push forward off, then a split second later cast Golden Vow. The stance-lock animation freezes you mid-air and drops you through the map without dying. Hold the button so the cast never ends. You get an instant rune drop, teleport back to the Grace, and repeat.
How to farm (alternate rock route): If the tree parkour keeps failing, ride past the tree and go forward to a large rock pile at the edge of the area. Run-double-jump up onto the first ledge, then higher, then right along the tops of the rocks. This route keeps you on the map during setup, so you cannot accidentally fall off. Reach the same drop-off point and perform the Golden Vow cast the same way.
Runes per attempt: Around 140,000 on a base save with Golden Scarab and Fowl Foot active. 500,000 to 600,000 on New Game Plus depending on the cycle. If you fail mid-glitch, your runes drop where you last fell, so you can always recover them.
2. Dynasty Bird & AOE Enemy Farm
The classic Dynasty island farm most players already know, and still one of the top PvE loops in the game.
Location: The second Dynasty Grace, slightly forward from the first one on the island.
Items needed: A bow, an AOE-damage weapon (Sacred Relic Sword is top-tier here, but any AOE Ash of War weapon works), Golden Scarab, Gold Pickled Fowl Foot.
How to farm: From the Grace, shoot the bird sitting at the cliff edge with a bow so it drops off. Turn to your right and use your AOE weapon to wipe the group of Albinaurics in front of you. Once most are down, rest at the Grace and repeat.
Runes per run: Steady 30,000 to 100,000+ per loop depending on your Ash of War and rune boost stack.
3. Invasion Farming "No Maidens" Method
Solo players without a full Discord squad can still hit millions of runes per hour by invading random hosts and killing their over-leveled phantoms.
Location: Anywhere in the world where you have activated Sites of Grace. Bigger areas like Stormveil Castle, Castle Morne, Liurnia Lakes, and Raya Lucaria all give more possible invasion spots.
How the system works: Invade with a finger and you get matched with a host in your level bracket. Because password summoning lets hosts pull in max-level phantoms, most worlds have an over-leveled phantom running around. Phantoms summoned outside their bracket get downscaled in health, damage, defenses, and resistances, so you can actually beat them. Killing a max-level phantom pays 355,173 runes.
How to farm: Keep the host alive at all costs (if they die first, you lose the phantom's runes). Focus the phantom, drain host healing flasks with parries to cool their aggression, and steer the host back to the Grace so they resummon the phantom. Alternate between two invasion fingers to shorten the matchmaking recheck cycle from 20 seconds down to instant.
Gear that helps: Starscourge Greatswords or Ringed Finger to knock phantoms off ledges. Antspur Rapier with Poisonous Mist for stacked poison and rot. Spiral Horn Shield plus status resistance talisman to survive bleed builds. Boiled Crab for 14% physical absorption. Bestial Vitality and Flame Cleanse Me for sustain. Assassin's Gambit to shut down mages.
Runes per hour: Up to 15 million runes per hour depending on how many worlds are running over-leveled phantoms.
4. Fort Faroth Continued (Mid-Game Scaling)
The Greyoll reset loop keeps paying strong returns well into the mid game, especially once you have the Golden Scarab equipped and can dump time into consecutive loops.
Location: Same Fort Faroth Grace as the early-game version.
How to farm: Same reset trick as before, but now with the Scarab and Fowl Foot stacked you push each loop higher. On New Game Plus the dragon is worth 100,000 runes flat, and with rune boosts active you can pull well past that per cycle.
Runes per hour: Around 2 to 3 million per hour on repeated loops once your ride back is dialed in.
Elden Ring Best Late Game Rune Farm & Glitch 2026
Late-game farming in 1.17 is about maximum rune-per-hour output. If you have the Sacred Relic Sword from beating the Elden Beast, the top PvE farms open up. If you have friends in your PvP bracket, invasion farming becomes the top method in the entire game with numbers no PvE loop can match. Here are the top options for endgame Tarnished.
1. Palace Approach Ledge (Sacred Relic Sword Farm)
The most well-known farm in Elden Ring, and it still works perfectly in 2026.
Location: Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace in Mohgwyn Palace. Reached by finishing Varre's questline or through the late-game portal in the Consecrated Snowfield.
Items needed: Sacred Relic Sword (drop from the Elden Beast), Golden Scarab, Gold Pickled Fowl Foot, and a bow for the bird.
How to farm: Spam Wave of Gold Ash of War from the Site of Grace to wipe every Albinauric frogman in a huge radius. Then turn around and shoot the bird at the bottom of the cliff with an arrow, which tricks it into jumping off for extra runes. The Site of Grace is right next to you, so reset instantly and repeat.
Runes per run: 60,000 to 150,000 per loop (up to 100,000 from one Wave of Gold plus 15,000 for the bird). Takes 30 seconds to 2 minutes per cycle. Around 3 to 6 million runes per hour on optimal loops.
2. Land of the Hinterlands DLC Farm
A less repetitive alternative to Palace Approach with similar payouts and bonus smithing stone drops.
Location: Land of the Hinterlands in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Reached with a specific gesture through a very specific area, and you need to have beaten Mohg to enter the DLC.
How to farm: Use Wave of Gold Ash of War again, but this time you actually move up the hill through the enemy waves. Two Sites of Grace sit at either end of the run, so you can reset at the top and run the route in reverse for variety. Great if Palace Approach has burned you out.
Runes per run: 90,000 to 150,000 runes per run. Takes 2 to 4 minutes per cycle. Bonus: enemies drop stacks of smithing stones along the way.
3. Invasion Farming "I Have Friends" Method
The top rune-per-hour method in the entire game. Nothing else comes close if you have four people ready.
Location: Any world you can invade. Larger, later-game areas offer more invasion points.
Players needed: One host near your level (within 0.9x to 1.1x your level +20, and within +3 regular or +1 somber weapon upgrade), two max-level friends at level 713, and you as the invader.
Items needed: A finger for invading (Bloody Finger from Varre or Recusant Furled Finger from Tanith is best). Host needs Furlcalling Finger Remedies (craft with two Erdtree Flowers) and the Taunter's Tongue (drop from the NPC summon in the great hall of Roundtable Hold). Max-level phantoms need the Tarnished's Furlcalling Finger from the First Step Grace.
How to farm: The host password-summons the two max-level phantoms, then enables Taunter's Tongue. You invade locally to match with them. The phantoms jump off the nearest cliff to their death, followed by the host, which resets the resummon timer. Taunter's Tongue lets you reinvade instantly. Rinse and repeat.
Runes per kill: 355,173 per max-level phantom base. With Golden Scarab plus Gold Pickled Fowl Foot stacked, up to 532,705 per death.
Runes per hour: Up to 29 million per hour on basic loops. Up to 42,616,400 runes per hour with rune boosters stacked. Phantoms lose nothing on death (no runes dropped, no levels or durability lost), so there is no cost for their sacrifice.
4. Optimal Rune Boost Stack for Late Game
Regardless of which late-game farm you run, always stack the following before starting:
Golden Scarab talisman (+20% runes) from the boss at the bottom of the Abandoned Cave in Caelid, reached by crossing the root just below the Smoldering Wall Site of Grace.
Gold Pickled Fowl Foot (+30% runes for 3 minutes) which is craftable and stacks with the Scarab. Do not activate it too early because the 3-minute timer does not pause for menus.
Golden Horn Tender (+40% runes) which is DLC-exclusive and limited per playthrough. Use these on your biggest kills only. It does not stack with the Fowl Foot, so pick one per cycle.
Between the Greyoll reset for level-one characters, the Dynasty Golden Vow glitch for mid-game grinding, and invasion farming for endgame players with friends on Discord, the 1.17 Tarnished patch has more working rune methods than any previous version of Elden Ring. Pick the farm that matches your progression, stack your rune boosts, and you can go from a fresh Switch 2 save to a fully built character in a single afternoon.
