A billion Runes and 300 chicken feet couldn't satisfy this Elden Ring player, so they are still farming
Reaching the max level of 7💦13 in Elden Ring is no joke

Like the game worlds 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:FromSoftware creates, the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Elden Ring community is full of eccentrics. There are level one diehards who take pride in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:bea𒁃ting the game without leveling up, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:no-hit challenge runners who will restart their entire playthrough if they so much as stub their toe, speedrunners using absurd glitches to defy 𓃲space and time, and streamers beati🐲ng the game with anything𓄧 but an actual controller. Then there are the grinders, arguably the most deranged of the lot. Grinders conquer Souls games through sheer𒐪 repetition, turning their characters into demigods not by acquiring story MacGuffins but by stuffing them with so much XP that they become functionally invincible, over-levele🥃d to the point of deification. Demons run when a grinder goes to war.
One such grinder recently appeared on the Elden Ring subreddit. A few days ago, brave Tarnished shared an impressive achievement: hitting the 999,999,999 Rune cap through the sheer force of farm. A billion Runes. A billion Runes. I don't know if I've accumulated a billion Runes and Souls combined across the entire FromSoftware library, and I've been here since the three-four Black Phantom Soulsucker farm in Demon's 💮Souls.
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Elden Ring has been out for a year, so VahnNoaGala certainly isn't 𒐪the first person to amass a billion Runes – they're still only level 639 of 713, and we've seen plenty of maxed players before – but I've never seen someone hit the Rune cap 👍without actually spending any of them. I was intrigued by their tenaciousness, so I flagged them down to talk about The Grind.
Responses were edited for clarity and length.
GamesRadar+: What made you want to grind out and save up a billion Runes at once?
VahnNoagala: I've always been a completionist in games. At first, I did💙n't intend to get the whole billion, but o🌺nce I hit 200 million I was like...hell with it, let's cap this bottle.
Did you ever die with your massive Rune stash and come close to losing it all?
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, an♈d more
I fell off the cliff's edge by the Grace twice, asꦦ happens naturally when your brain glazes over—neveꦍr tiptoed toward my Runes so slowly in all my life. After the second one, I started equipping Sacrificial Twigs for a third layer of anti-doofus.
After that I might go outside, unless꧅ the DLC has dropped by then.
VahnNoaGala
You commented that this took about 50 hours over three weeks, right? Were you able to optimize things at all and improve efficiency, or did you stick to the same method the whole time?
Yep, that's about right. I just tweaked where I stood to ensure I killed the first three Albinaurics with the Wave of Gold – any after that were up to RNG, but one of the first three is missable if you stand to☂o close. I occasionally broke up the monotony with farming materials for gold൲-pickled fowl feet, which is also monotonous.
What playthrough are you on?
I am on NG+4.
Did you automate or macro anything, or do it all by hand?
No macros, ♎I'm on PS5 🐎and it was pure manual labor.
The real question is, what were you watching on another screen while grinding this out?
Lots of Last Podcast on the Left, also StarCraft 2 tournaments, Seinfeld, Aggretsuko, and VaatiVidya's mellifluous Soulsborne content on YouTube. I thought I could watch his whole channel before I was done. I was extremely wrong. Thank you Vaati for all that ღyou do, especially that latest Miquella video.
And you still aren't max level, with a few hundred million Runes to go, right? How much longer do you think it'll take you to reach level 713?
Not max yet, amazingly. The cost per level scales upward significantly. This billion got me from lev🗹el 353 to 639, and people have said it takes about 700 million more to get to 713 from there❀. I am... gonna need a farming break before I go for almost-billion number two.
What are you going to do after you're maxed? Go bulldoze The Lands Between on New Game +5?
Since I am an insane person, I want to have literally every item in the game. I got all the weapons, tools, Spirit Ashes, and Ashes of War. I am currently working on the helms, then onto the rest of the armor pieces. Long-term goal is to beat the game enough times to get every weapon to +25/+10. You can only get 21 final upgrade smithing stones per playthrough, and there are like 300 weapons, so it'll take a few runs. After that, I might go outside, unless the DLC has 🀅dropped by th🌜en.
You said you've put about 500 hours into this one character, not accounting for AFK time. Is that all the time you've put into Elden Ring, or do you have any other characters?
Just the o☂ne character, now on over 600 hours. I do plan to make more, but probably not till after this one is maxed. Then maybe I can do the opposite and try a Level 1 run.
Have you received any complaints from the Albinaurics about the whole genocide thing?
I haven't heard a peep from them. They must🐓 like it, because they keep coming back♏ for more.
I understand you ate around 300 gold-pickled fowl feet to boost Runes in the process of this grind. Wild card: have you ever eaten chicken feet in real life?
No chicken feet have been in or around my mouth. I don't even ꦡhave a good story for the strangest thing ever eaten. But I 𒅌have a family member who dips Oreos in chip dip, so stay blessed out there because it's cursed in here.
Don't panic if a giant turtle invades you in Elden Ring – they're "just taking a walk" and give free Runes to chill hosts.

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and 🅷more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news a😼nd the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.