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This post was last updated on April 1, 2026
Elden Ring is not a short game for the average player. The world is massive, and there are lots of hidden secrets to uncover. You are going to need to spend a good amount of time increasing your rune level so that you may stand a chance against the standard enemies you’ll encounter, not to mention the bosses.
That is not to say that you will need to reach the max level of 713. To do so you would need to have collected well over a billion runes over the course of playing and unless you are spending most of your day farming Albinaurics.
In this article, we will look at the max level of Elden Ring, some good places to farm runes, and the soft caps each stat has to help you get the most out of Elden Ring without dedicating your life to it.
What Is The Max Level in Elden Ring? How Many Runes Are Needed To Reach it?
To level up in Elden Ring, you must spend runes to purchase stat points. Each of the eight stats caps at 99, so the absolute maximum level in Elden Ring is 713. This is not as simple as it sounds; each level you purchase increases the number of required runes, making reaching max level extremely expensive.
At level 1 the cost is only 673, level 10 costs 829, level 20 costs 2,857 runes, and so on until level 713, which requires players to spend a whopping 8,879,348 runes. To progress from a level 1 wretch to max level, you must spend 1,692,566,842 runes solely on leveling at sites of grace.
This is especially difficult as you lose runes obtained on death, unless you have specific items equipped. This is fine when you are at the start, but at higher levels, you can easily lose millions of runes due to one rot dog.
Soft Level Cap
While the 99 max level for the eight stats in Elden Ring there are several soft caps. This is because the levelling system was designed so that once you reach a certain point in any given level, you’ll see diminishing returns.
Everything but Mind, Vigor, and Endurance have soft caps at levels 20, 55, and 80.
Tips To Get Runes Fast
In order to reach the level cap in Elden Ring you are going to need a lot of runes. Thankfully, there are several great ways to collect runes.
- Find the Gold Scarab Talisman in Caelid’s Abandoned Cave. It increases rune acquisition by 20% when equipped so can make even the smallest of enemies worth killing.
- Eat Gold Pickled Fowl Foot. Similar to the Golden Scarab Talisman, consuming one of these will boost Rune acquisition, and it stacks with the Scarab.
- Help others defeat bosses you have already killed. Drop a summon sign outside some of the boss rooms you have already cleared as you get a share of the runes when you help.
- Killing Enemies with glowing eyes will give more runes on defeat than normal.
- Use your Golden Runes. They can be easily forgotten about in your inventory and worth up to 10k.
- Kill Elder Dragon Greyoll in Dragon’s Barrow for an easy 50k. Attack from behind to stay safe from its dragonlings.
- Go into New Game +. As players reach NG+ you’ll find that you will earn more runes than the first time around. Granted the difficulty will also be higher.
- PVP will net you some runes if you are successful at invasions. Note: it will often be two against one when you try this way.
Rune Farming Locations
There are several places you can kill enemies to farm experience to aid your journey to reach higher levels and hit the level cap in Elden Ring.
1. Dragons Barrow
There are several Vulgar Milita strewn about Bestial Sanctum in Dragons Barrow; for the most part, they are easy to kill with a sneak attack, even at lower levels, and each one is worth over a thousand. You can even get to this area by going through Caelid via the portal behind the Third Church of Marika.
2. Windmill Village
In the North of the Altus Plateau and you’ll find Dominula, Windmill Village. It’s full of creepy dancing women who won’t really attack unless provoked. If you clear out the village, you can make about seven thousand runes in a few minutes. Returning to a site of grace will then reset it.
3. Mohgwyn Palace
The best rune farming location in Elden Ring is Mohg’s underground region. Unfortunately, there are several hoops you’ll have to jump through to arrive. The most direct way is to follow Varre’s quest line, as he will give you an item to teleport you there. Otherwise, there is a portal in the Consecrated Snowfield, which is a very late game area.
In the region you need to get to the Palace Approach Ledge Road site of grace in the east of the region. From the cliff beside the grace you will be able to snipe a crow, which will jump off a cliff and net you over ten thousand. If you are online you will see many signs from many players showing how popular the spot is for farming.
The Albinaurics are also worth a fair amount, so the runes obtained in a single run can easily be forty thousand. If your character has attained the rank of Elden Lord and you have the Sacred Relic Sword, farming runes here will be much faster because you will be able to kill them without moving too far from the grace.
Final Thoughts
It is no easy feat for Elden Ring players to hit the level cap in Elden Ring. You are going to need to save millions of runes, fight the same enemies multiple times, and farm the hell out of Albinaurics to level up your character’s skills to hit max level. Just remember that the game doesn’t require players to hit the cap.
