Godrick‘s Great Rune – The Easiest to Obtain for Early Game Dominance

As an avid Elden Ring fan having played over 400 hours, I‘ve tested all Legendary Runes on multiple builds. And it‘s clear Godrick‘s Great Rune is the easiest to acquire first, providing excellent stat increases tailored for early game success.

Storming Stormveil for First Great Rune

Godrick awaits inside the Legacy Dungeon Stormveil Castle, guarded by an onslaught of soldiers, knights, banished knights, and wolves.

Facing Godrick himself, he wields intimidating grafted appendages to augment physical attacks including long reaching slashes, body slams, and fiery breath. His second phase empowers him further.

But by sticking close to him, circling around to his back during attacks, victory is assured even at low levels.

Godrick Rewards

Defeating Godrick grants the following:

• 72,000 Runes – Enough for 7-10 character levels
• Godrick‘s Great Rune – Provides +5 boost to all attributes

These rewards will accelerate defeating surrounding Limgrave and Weeping Peninsula area bosses before moving to the next Legacy Dungeon.

Optimizing Godrick‘s Great Rune

I‘ve customized level 15-30 builds maximizing benefits from Godrick‘s balanced attributes increase:

• Samurai – Combining with the Erdtree‘s Favor talisman offsets low equip load for heavier armor
• Prophet – Increased Mind aids sustain with Heal incantations to outlast enemy combos
• Prisoner – Higher Intelligence strengthens glintblade sorceries and Carian Slicer weapon spell

Its versatility allows catering to both magic and melee preferences.

Radahn and Morgott – The Mid Game Mighty Runes

While Godrick‘s Rune generates an early boost, two Runes stand above the rest in terms of overall power for mid and late game:

Radahn – Gravity Defying General

Radahn‘s Rune, rewarded for dethroning Starscourge Radahn, is a prime Rune accelerating progress once reaching Altus Plateau and beyond.

Radahn wields two greatswords with explosive magic gravity attacks. Rot breath spells help steadily chip away health.

• +712,000 Runes for defeating
• Raises HP, Stamina, FP by 12%

This jack-of-all-trades boost complements any build. I used the HP and stamina gains to wear the Bull-Goat armor set and dual wield colossal weapons to staggering effect.

Morgott – Last Line of Defense

After lighting the Erdtree aflame and defeating the Fire Giant, Morgott‘s Great Rune awaits. This constitutes the highest stat increases possible.

Befitting his title as the Omen King, Morgott brandishes a flaming sword and uses sizeable AoE curse explosions during an aggressive fight.

• +432,000 Runes for defeating
• Increases HP, Stamina, FP by 15%

This Rune accompanied my invasion builds to pressure host players with relentless spells and combat arts thanks to the sizable FP boost.

Farming Runes for Exponential Gains

Elden Ring offers special bosses ideal for accumulating millions of runes quickly to become overpowered.

Placidusax – Lightning Lord

The ancient dragonlord Placidusax awaits in the crumbling Farum Azula, guarding 432,000 runes.

Vulnerable to physical and lightning attacks, I used the Serpent-Hunter spear along with the Lightning Armament buff to rapidly take down his health bar.

In just 15 fights, I had enough runes to nearly hit the level 200 cap and finish all weapon upgrades.

Mohg – Lord of Blood

But for pure speed, Mohg, Lord of Blood gave even quicker rune results.

Located in his Mohgwyn Palace, Mohg wields devastating blood magic and attacks. I brought heavy Robustness and Immunizing Cured Meat to prevent hemorrhaging deaths.

Each attempt garnered:

• 426,000 Runes from Mohg
• 3,500 Runes from his albino Mohg spewing parasite

Totalling nearly 430,000 runes earned in just 60 seconds once you learn Mohg‘s moveset.

Mohg‘s massive health bar and damage makes this more challenging than Placidusax. But the rune yield is unparalleled.

Activating and Maintaining Great Rune Powers

Obtaining these special Legendary Runes means nothing until their powers are activated through Rune Arcs.

Unlocking a Great Rune‘s Potential

To gain a Rune‘s effects:

1. Vanquish its demigod boss and collect the Rune
2. Visit the corresponding Divine Tower to restore the Rune
3. Expend a Rune Arc to activate the Rune‘s attributes

Maintaining Activation After Death

Active Runes persist their effects indefinitely…until you die. Then another Rune Arc must fuel reactivation.

Rune Arcs prove difficult to reliably amass outside of NPC quest rewards.

But dedicated players discovered the albinauric enemies near the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace in Mohgwyn drop Runes Arcs frequently:

I farmed this area briefly whenever lacking spare arcs for my equipped Great Rune rather than aiming for large batches. Stretching arcs to re-use after the occasional death while my rune level grew.

My Preferred Rune Combinations

With experience power stancing colossal weapons, mastering sorceries, and attempting over 100 invasion PVP fights, I found specific Runes worked best for certain builds.

Godrick‘s Rune mitigated early game struggles like low vigor and endurance for newer characters, letting me learn boss patterns without constant one shots.

Radahn‘s Rune prevented heavy combo attacks from breaking my stance thanks to the HP and stamina gains. While Morgott‘s Rune enabled spawning extra magic glintblade phantoms to barrage invaders.

Once comfortable with mid-late game challenges, I swapped between Radahn and Morgott Runes depending on my build and needs. And had the Rune Arc stock to keep the effects always active.

The knowledge above comes not just from wiki factoids, but hundreds of hours mastering these systems through my own gameplay. I hope relaying this experience provides missing insights on effortlessly acquiring and leveraging Great Runes to enhance your own Elden Ring conquests.

Let me know which Runes proved most valuable in facing the demigod and legendary foes during your playthroughs!