Do Great Runes last forever in Elden Ring?

Great Runes are made out to be such a big deal in Elden Ring. Many NPCs will talk to you about them and for good reason. Each rune you equip provides some sort of beneficial effect, from giving you bonus stats to allowing you to restore health with each attack. The big question about Great Runes is if the effect will run out or not. Most stat effects in Elden Ring have a duration or are lost on death. Since you have to use an item to activate a Great Rune it would make sense that the effect runs out at some point. Let’s go over if Great Runes will expire.

Will A Great Rune Last Forever in Elden Ring?

Since the Gret Rune system for Elden Ring is similar to the Lord of Cinders system in Dark Souls 3. Many players will figure that they both work the same. In Dark Souls 3, you could use an Ember to obtain the power of a Lord of Cinder which would give them increased stats and allow you to summon other players and you would lose the effect on death. However, the Great Rune system works a bit differently.

Once you have a Great Rune equipped and consume a Rune Arc to activate it, you will gain the benefits of the Great Rune until you equip a different Great Rune. Fast traveling, being summoned to another world, even death won’t deactivate the Great Rune. Even if you close and re-open Elden Ring, you will still have the effect of your Great Rune on. This will allow you to challenge some of the more difficult bosses of the game with a slight advantage.

This is quite useful since Rune Arcs are not the most common resource. You can find a decent amount of Rune Arcs as you play the game and some merchants have a few to buy. The only other way to get Rune Arcs is to be summoned into another world and successfully kill the boss that the player is trying to kill.

As long as you are not changing Great Runes with every death you should be fine with the amount of Rune Arcs you will passively find through the game. You probably won’t change your Great Rune unless you get a new Great Rune and you think you will benefit more from its effect. If you need any more help with Elden Ring make sure to check out our other guides.

Elden Ring is out now for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, and PC.