In Elden Ring, one of the rewards you’ll get after taking down each major boss is a Great Rune. There are several Great Runes to collect throughout the game, each offering a different bonus to your abilities after consuming a Rune Arc, but you have to activate most Great Rune before they’re actually viable. It can be annoying to get a new one and then realize it’s not actually doing anything. You might be struggling to find them or not realize how to activate them–at first, the majority of them are useless.

In order to use a Great Rune, you will need to equip them at a Site of Grace and use a Rune Arc, which is a rare consumable item to ensure you can’t always reap the rewards. After using the Rune Arc, the Great Rune will be active until you die or switch Great Runes. Before doing any of that, you will need to activate the Great Runes by heading to the corresponding Divine Tower. Like a lot in Elden Ring, it’s a complicated, deliberately unclear process. Before we dive in, understand that this guide contains spoilers related to mainline boss battles. Here is where to find each Divine Tower.

Godrick’s Great Rune

Godrick’s Great Rune is obtained from defeating Godrick, who is located in the heart of Stormveil Castle. This is likely the first Great Rune you will obtain in Elden Ring. In order to use Godrick’s Great Rune you will need to activate it by heading to the nearby Divine Tower.

Godrick’s Great Rune is activated in the Limgrave Divine Tower, which is connected to Stormveil Castle by a massive bridge. To get there, start at the Liftside Chamber Site of Grace located in the northwest section of the castle. This will place you behind the multiple fire turrets and archers guarding the final gate that leads to the main gate. Go past these archers and to the left, taking the path toward the main entrance. Unless you want to clear out a ton of enemies here, it’s recommended that you just sprint through.

After heading left through the gate you will come to a skinny path, where enemies with crossbows are firing explosive rounds at you. Again, keep sprinting. After going through the next gate, there will be a grassy area on your left leading into a building. There is a lion enemy there, which won’t follow you into the building. Head through the building and up the stairs to find the Limgrave Tower Bridge Site of Grace.

From here, you will need to head across the bridge in front of you, which has three massive golems on it. The first two are equipped with axes, with the third one wielding a bow. Behind the third one is a teleport gate, which will send you to the front door of the Divine Tower. Here, you can enter the Divine Tower of Limgrave. The door will only open if you have the unactivated Great Rune. Once inside take the elevator up, head through the open archway, activate the Site of Grace, and head up the stairs. On the top of the tower are two dead fingers and the Great Rune should be floating above its corpse. Interact with it and it will activate Godrick’s Great Rune. While activated, Godrick’s Great Rune gives +5 to all attributes.

Great Rune of the Unborn

The Great Rune of the Unborn is awarded for defeating Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon. Rennala is located in Liurnia, at the Raya Lucaria Academy, which is located in the center of the lake. The Great Rune of the Unborn is different from the others, as it cannot be equipped and does not need to be reactivated. Instead, the Great Rune of the Unborn allows players to « perfect rebirth, » which is a fancy way of saying it lets you respec. If you speak with Rennala in the Raya Lucaria Grand Library, you can redistribute your attribute points, as long as you have a Larval Tear.

Radahn’s Great Rune

Radahn’s Great Rune is dropped by General Radahn, the shardbearer located in Caelid, which is east of Limgrave. Radahn can be challenged by navigating through Redmane Castle, located on a small island south of Caelid. After obtaining Radahn’s Great Rune, you will need to head to the Divine Tower of Caelid, located on the northern coast, in the center of Caelid.

To access the Divine Tower, you will need to approach it from the south, with the closest Site of Grace being Dragonbarrow West. After reaching the tower, head to the left side and jump down onto the massive tree branch. Follow the branch towards the tower and jump down to the outside of it. Head to the ladder, which is blocked by an enemy. At the top of the ladder there will be a second ladder directly in front of you. Ignore it. Instead, head right where there is an enemy holding a torch in front of another ladder. You will need to jump onto the stone arch and jump across the broken parts of it to do this.

After climbing the tower head left, and platform across the stone arch that is a part of the tower. There will be an enemy around the corner to the right. After dispatching them, navigate across another stone arch, where you will find another ladder. Head up the ladder and head to the left, where there is a Site of Grace on a balcony. Jump over to it and head into the right corridor, which will take you up a couple sets of stairs. You will eventually come to the elevator room.

Once the elevator reaches the top, head to the balcony outside and follow the stairs to the top of the Divine Tower. There you will find Radahn’s Great Rune, which will now be activated. While active, Radhan’s Great Rune gives a 15% boost to health, 12.5% boost to stamina, and 12.5% boost to FP.

Morgott’s Great Rune

Morgott’s Great Rune is obtained from defeating Morgott, the Omen King. Morgott is found in the Altus Plateau, located in Leyndell, Royal Capital. Morgott is fought at the Elden Throne, located in the southeast part of the city, right next to the Erdtree. After obtaining Morgott’s Great Rune, you will need to head to the Divine Tower of East Altus. In order to access the Divine Tower of East Altus, you will need to navigate to the elevator to the Forbidden Lands.

You will want to get back down to ground level by picking a Site of Grace on the eastern side of the city. From there, you want to continue heading northeast until you come across a part of the city that has a ton of dirt everywhere. Continue east through there, until you come to a spiral stone staircase. At the top you will find an elevator. Head up the elevator and head straight until you come to another building with an elevator. Take the elevator up and hit the Site of Grace–there is a boss fight coming up–and head back down the elevator. Go to the other bridge and begin traveling across.

About halfway across the bridge, everything will turn black and you will have to fight a set of twin bosses, the Fell Twins. One wields a flaming ax and another wields a flaming sword. After defeating them, continue towards the Divine Tower. There is a Site of Grace outside the front door, head inside, take the elevator up and continue to the top of the tower. There you will interact with the symbol on the roof, which will activate Morgott’s Great Rune. Morgott’s Great Rune significantly boosts your health stat by about 25%.

Rykard’s Great Rune

Rykard’s Great Rune is obtained by defeating Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy. Rykard, who is located on Mt. Gelmir at Volcano Manor, in the western part of the Altus Plateau, can be reached two different ways. If players explore Volcano Manor and work their way up and through the castle, they can find their way to the Audience Pathway, which leads to the boss fight. The other option is to speak with the people in Volcano Manor and join them. After that they will give you three letters, one at a time, tasking you with invading and killing NPCs across the Lands Between. After completing all three, Lady Tanith will give you the option to be teleported to the Audience Pathway.

After defeating Rykard, you will need to take his Great Rune to the Divine Tower of West Altus. This Divine Tower is located south of Lyndell and can be accessed via the Sealed Tunnel, just outside the capital city’s walls.

The Sealed Tunnel is a mine with a series of illusory walls that you will need to either attack or roll into to reveal the path. The first one is found after entering the first section of the mine on the right side, behind a chest. After that you will take an elevator down farther into the mine. Head forward and over a tree branch to reach the next fake wall, hit it, and continue forward. After that you will enter a room with a massive tree branch going across it, with an area below. There are items down below, but the way to progress through the mine is to navigate across the tree branches to the opening on the left. If you do fall down, there is a ladder that will bring you back to the start of the room.

Through that door is a staircase blocked by some tree branches. Drop off the platform down to the right and continue heading straight. There are some stone cluster enemies that will explode if you get near them in this area. At the end of the room you will find a cliff edge with a bunch of tree branches down below. Use them to navigate your way to the bottom of the hole. Head through the opening and you will find yourself at the boss door for the dungeon. If you get stuck at any point during this dungeon, start swinging at the walls or looking for notes left by other players indicating where the fake walls are.

The boss for the Sealed Tunnel is the Onyx Lord. It is a tall looking enemy without any armor wielding a massive sword and gravity magic. This enemy is found a few other places as just an elite mob. After defeating the Onyx Lord, head through the archway in the back of the boss area, which leads back outside. Do not use the return dungeon’s entrance option.

Same as before, head inside the Divine Tower and take the elevator up. Once at the top follow the path to the top of the tower where you can activate Rykard’s Great Rune. While equipped and activated, Rykard’s Great Rune restores health whenever you kill an enemy.

Mohg’s Great Rune

Mohg’s Great Rune is dropped after defeating Mohg, Lord of Blood, in the Mohgwyn Dynasty Mausoleum. Finding your way to Mohg is a bit complicated. The good news here is that Mohg’s Great Rune is activated at the Divine Tower of East Altus, the same as Morgott. Mohg and Morogott are twins, so they share the Divine Tower. Mohg’s Great Rune when activated grants a blessing of blood to summons. This means whenever a summon kills something–either a spirit ash summon or another player–you gain HP.

There are two ways to get to Mohg, who is located in an underground area beneath Caelid. The first is to advance through White-Faced Varre’s NPC questline. Varre is first found at the very start of the game, where he dunks on you for being maidenless. After that he can be found at the Rose Church, in the southwest part of the lake in Liurnia. There, he will give you some Festering Bloody Fingers. After invading other players three times, he will give you the Lord of Blood’s favor item, which he wants soaked in the blood of a maiden. The closest location to do this is at the Church of Inhibition in the northeastern part of Liurnia.

Return to Varre and he will give you a reusable Bloody Finger. Speak with him again and he will give you the Pureblood Knight’s Medal. Using this item will take you to Mohg, although if you do this early in the game, you will likely struggle to beat Mohg, as he is a very tough opponent.

The second option is available after reaching the Grand Lift of Rold and using the Secret Haligtree Medallion. The first half of the Medallion is found in the Village of the Albinaurics, given by an NPC hiding in a pot. The second half is found in Castle Sol in the northern part of the eastern section of the Mountaintops of the Giants. It is found in Castle Sol after beating the boss there, Commander Niall.

With both halves, head to the Grand Lift of Rold and select the option to use the secret medallion, which will take you to the western part of the Mountaintops of the Giants. In this area, head to the western cliff in the middle section of the area, just north of the Yelough Anix Ruins.

Here you will find a teleport gate, which will take you to the underground section where you can find Mohg.

Malenia’s Great Rune

Malenia’s Great Rune is acquired after defeating Malenia, Blade of Miquella. She can be found at the Great Haligtree, specifically at the Haligtree Roots, in the northernmost part of the map. This area can be accessed via a teleport gate after solving the puzzle in Ordina, Liturgical Town. This is found in the north after using the secret medallion at the Grand Lift of Rold.

After defeating the Malenia, you will need to make your way to the Isolated Divine Tower. This can be accessed from the Divine Bridge in Leyndell, Capital of Ash. If you have not been to the Divine Bridge yet, the fastest way to get there is via a teleport trap chest at the top of the Tower of Return, located in the Weeping Peninsula.

That chest will take you directly to the Divine Bridge. From there you will see a golem sleeping on the ground. To the left of the golem is a teleport gate, which will send you directly to the Isolated Divine Tower. Head inside, take the elevator to the top, and continue along the path until you make it to the roof of the Divine Tower. Here, you can activate Malenia’s Great Rune.

Malenia’s Great Rune allows players to recover health lost to damage by attacking enemies. This window is short and the amount of HP recovered from the Flask of Crimson Tears is reduced while this is activated.