Reaching level 80 in Elden Ring is a significant milestone, but it’s only the beginning of more strategic decisions regarding how to spend your hard-earned runes. At this stage, it becomes crucial to invest your runes thoughtfully to maximize your character’s potential for late-game content and challenging encounters. Whether you’re focused on PvE or PvP, here are 17 effective ways to allocate runes after level 80 that can help you optimize your build and gameplay experience.
1. Prioritize Vigor
Survivability is key in Elden Ring, especially at higher levels. Investing in vigor increases your health pool, allowing you to withstand heavy hits in boss fights and PvP duels.
2. Balance Endurance and Stamina
Endurance not only boosts your stamina but also your equip load, letting you wear heavier armor without sacrificing mobility—a valuable balance for many builds.
3. Focus on Primary Damage Stat
Whether it’s strength, dexterity, intelligence, faith, or arcane, doubling down on your main damage stat enhances your weapon scaling and spell potency.
4. Invest in Mind for FP Management
For magic users, increasing mind improves FP, letting you cast more spells or weapon skills without frequent rests.
5. Upgrade Weapons and Ashes of War
Spending runes on smithing stones to upgrade weapons and enhancing Ashes of War effects can sometimes be more impactful than leveling stats alone.
6. Improve Utility Stats
Certain builds benefit from secondary stats like arcane or faith, especially those relying on status effects or buffs.
7. Equip Rune-Boosting Elden Ring Items
Items that increase rune gain can make farming more efficient, letting you accumulate more runes to spend wisely later.
8. Adapt to Playstyle Changes
As you level, you might want to tweak your stats to suit a new weapon or playstyle discovered during your journey.
9. Use Runes to Unlock Talismans
Investing in exploring and acquiring key talismans can greatly enhance your build’s power and survivability.
10. Build Around PvP Needs
If you’re entering PvP, consider stats that improve poise, agility, or stamina regeneration.
11. Upgrade Flask Efficiency
Allocating some runes to increase your flask charges or their effectiveness can be a lifesaver in tough encounters.
12. Experiment With Hybrid Builds
Late-game allows you to try hybrid builds, blending magic with melee for versatile combat options.
13. Don’t Neglect Status Resistances
Investing some points in arcane or other stats can improve resistance to poison, bleed, or frostbite.
14. Plan for Late-Game Scaling
Certain stats have soft caps, so knowing when to stop investing in one and start in another is critical.
15. Save Some Runes for Future Respec
Keep some runes on hand to afford respecs if you decide to overhaul your build later.
16. Optimize for Boss Fights
Consider gearing and stat choices that counter specific boss weaknesses.
17. Avoid Over-Leveling Early
Sometimes, buying Elden Ring runes or farming excessively can tempt you to over-level, which might make the game less challenging and enjoyable.
Spending runes effectively after level 80 involves a careful balance between offense, defense, utility, and adaptability. Combining thoughtful rune allocation with the right Elden Ring Items will help you carve out a powerful and resilient character build tailored to your preferred playstyle. Whether you’re grinding through dungeons, exploring the open world, or facing off against other players, these strategies will ensure your runes are well spent.