Prologue

It's coming up on a year since I last played Elden Ring. I played for a little while on release, but I didn't make it all the way through the game.

Part of this definitely was the result of my build. In my first playthrough I was doing a Faith build, but I ended up feeling really weak for most of time.

This time around I want to beat all of the main bosses, and do it with ease.

Meet Leona: the soon-to-be tankiest unit in all The Lands Between. Her namesake is the eponymous champion from League of Legends; a favorite of mine from when I used to play.

⚠️ Warning: Spoilers for Elden Ring to follow.

Starting out

Going into character creation I hadn't completed decided on a build. But with the knowledge that I wanted to be tanky and an inkling of giving colossal swords a try, I ended up choosing Vagabond as a starting point.

I went into the opening Grafted Scion fight ready to give it my best shot, but mere moments into beginning the fight the screen faded to black and I progressed past it. Still not sure if I accidentally rolled off the ledge or what.

I picked up Torrent, doubled back to the Church of Elleh to grab the Spirit Calling Bell from Renna, and then proceeded to ride off to start the run.

The first stop was the Third Church of Marika. Here I picked up the Flask of Wondrous Physick before going out the back and using the gate to teleport over to the Bestial Sanctum in Dragonbarrow.

From here I made my way down towards Lenne's Rise to start farming some runes.

First rune farm

For my first rune farm I used the "boulder farm".

The method is fairly straighforward:

1. Mount up at the Site of Grace and ride west
2. When you see a flash of light behind you, pull a sharp U-turn to the right to dodge the boulder
3. The boulder should roll off the edge of the cliff
4. Ride back to the Site of Grace, rest, and repeat

If you are successful in avoiding being flattened by the boulder and having it roll of the cliff, you're rewarded with 1,952 runes.