Bloodborne Runes Guide: How to Find, Use and Combine Caryll Runes

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Candela Maldonado

Candela is an industry-veteran, specializing in game localisation. However, she still finds time to moonlight as an accomplished and insightful gaming journalist here at RPG Informer. She's a huge JRPG fan with a particular soft spot for the Final Fantasy series and just about anything Atlus creates.

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Bloodborne’s designer Kazuhiro Hamatani puts players in a difficult strategic position. This time, the challenge does not arise from confronting nearly impossible-to-beat, hugely monstrous bosses. Instead, a decision has been made to design 27 equippable runes with in-game perks while only allowing players to equip four at a time. Thus, a player must choose: do I want to get more gems per kill, or should I give myself a plus when confronting this creepy slug-squid lady with tentacles growing out of her back?

I am, of course, talking about Caryll Runes, the items with beautifully designed symbols that will help you throughout the game. They can be found on the game map or dropped by some baddies. Oh, and some kind NPCs can give them to you too!

In this guide, I will review the lore, location, and buffs of each Caryll Rune. I’ll also share my opinion on them because if I spent over +25 hours gathering them all, my thoughts deserve to be listened to.

My Bottom Line Upfront

Caryll Runes are special drops or loots that grant passive bonuses. I strongly suggest you review this guide to find out which suits your playstyle better and where you can find them. However, if you’re not a fan of long reads, I have got you covered as well:

Clockwise Metamorphosis, Anticlockwise Metamorphosis, and Great Lake

Rune that boosts your stamina, health, and resistance is always a good choice.

Sea and the other Lake runes

They boost your resistance to specific types of damage. Read about the guy you’re against and equip these runes accordingly.

Clawmark + Blood Rapture

Have you mastered the art of Visceral Attacks? These two runes maximize the rewards.

The Lore Bit

The Caryll Runes are words uttered by the Great Ones that are incomprehensible through human language. They are symbolic concepts elevated to an inhuman state, which can only be transcribed into symbols.

These symbols were transcribed by the Caryll, rune-smith of Byrgenwerth, who could hear these words and write them in strange markings. Those who could memorize those runes could take advantage of its benefits.

The Fine Print

Before you go out into the wild to get your runes, you’ll need to set up your Rune Workshop Tool to memorize them.

Don’t worry; you get it as part of the main story. Right after the Witch of Hemwick boss fight in Hemwick Charnel Lane, you’ll find this essential item on a corpse. Once you do so, it will unlock the Memory Altar in Hunter’s Dream. Now you can memorize the Caryll Runes and acquire their benefits.

Not 4, but 3+1

Though math has never been my forté, the previous statement does not showcase a lack of skill.

Earlier in this guide, I said that you could use four slots for the runes. It’s not a lie, but it’s not the whole truth.

You can fill up three slots with regular runes and one slot with covenant runes. Covenant runes are Hunter, Radiance, Impurity, Beast’s Embrace, and Milkweed.

Getting to Know The Runes

Now that everything is explained, let’s see each rune, its location, and the buff it provides.

Beast

This rune is particularly remarkable when used with beast blood pellets or the Beast Claw rune. It fills your beast meter faster and boosts damage inflicted and taken. That means that, yes, you do more damage, but you also take more.

This rune is even better because it reduces fall damage, and they stack up. Will you be able to jump down the Cathedral Tower? No, it’s an improvement.

Moon

These runes stack, which makes them ideal for farming Blood Echoes in the Chalice dungeons.

Communion

Going up against a demanding boss you know will crush your health bar? Then this rune is the perfect guy for you.

Corruption

As a loot-focused player, I think this one is easily the best Oath rune. For each Blood Dreg, you can get one insight, which can later be used to buy items.

Impurity

The benefit of this rune speaks for itself. It’s the only covenant rune that will come in handy during co-op.

Radiance

 The fact that there is only one rune here just means that it cannot be stacked up to another 3 or 4 other runes. So when compared to other runes, Radiance does next to nothing.

Blood Rapture

 I rely on visceral attacks a lot, so this is one of my go-to runes. It is especially good with bosses who are easily staggered.

Clawmark

Clawmark is another fantastic rune to boost your visceral attacks. However, if you pair it up with Blood Rapture, you have a recipe for absolute destruction.

Eye

Good for fighting regular enemies, but not bosses. Will you have more discoveries? Yes. Will it change your life? No. It’s a meh for me.

Hunter

Hunter should help you recover stamina faster, but the improvement is barely noticeable as it’s not stackable.

Lake

 This is an excellent rune for characters who need a physical defense boost. However, you won’t see much impact until stacking the tier 3 rune.

 An absolute must if you want to get through the most challenging bosses while having some room for error. If you get the tier 3 Great Lake rune, you will have a fantastic defense boost for all kinds of damage.

Arcane Lake

 Going up against an Arcane-based boss like Lady Maria Of The Astral Clocktower? Well, you might want to spend some time farming your Arcane runes. They will come in handy when they decide to blast their arcane damage toward you.

Dissipating Lake

Just as with Arcane Lake, Dissipating Lake is useful against bosses that deal this type of damage. Again, I’m not asking you to go on a farming trip down the Ailing Loran Root Chalice just for these runes if you’re going to face regular enemies, but if you’re about to go up against the likes of Loran Silverbeast, it’s worth thinking of.

Fading Lake

Just as with previous Lake runes, the Fading Lake rune is worth considering if you are about to face a fire-type enemy.

Heir

This rune is insane. You can get a significant boost on the number of Blood Echoes you get per kill even if you don’t stack them up to tier 3. 11/10 would recommend.

Sea Runes

Like Lake runes, Sea runes are worth farming for difficult bosses that deal that type of damage. However, if you are a baddie and feel that you don’t need help against them, the only one worth considering is the Great Deep Sea rune, as it boosts your resistance to all types of damages. This rune is a true gem.

Deep sea

Stunning Deep Sea

Clear Deep Sea

Great Deep Sea

Oedon Writhe

If you are going for an Arcane Build or a build that uses firearms, you simply can’t pass up on Oedon Writhe. It’s a must-have for those that need Quicksilver bullets.

Formless Oedon

 This is a good complement for Oedon Writhe. If you plan to exploit the QS bullet recovery rune, then you should make some room for them with Formless Oedon.

Clockwise Metamorphosis

In a game where one wrong step will get you obliterated by most bosses, runes that give your HP even the slightest boosts are worth considering.

Anti-clockwise Metamorphosis

Do you feel that your weapon is eating up all of your stamina? This rune should be at the top of your list, then.

Old Hunters DLC runes

Beast’s Embrace

This thing is only helpful if you are using Beast Claw. After that, all it does is add to the whole beast combo and give you an excellent appearance.

Milkweed

 Again, just for the looks.

Guidance

If you are raiding very often, consider using this rune together with other gems that boost raiding. This combo + a fast weapon will be instrumental.

From Solo Artists to successful Boy bands

Or girl bands, whatever you’d like. You already know them as individual stars; now, you should check them out as a group. In this second section, I’ll share some of the best rune setups in the game.

For Heavy-Weapon and Skill-based builds

• Recommended setup: 2 Clawmark runes + 1 Anticlockwise rune
• Reason: Clawmark runes will allow you to boost your visceral damage, and the anticlockwise rune will help you catch your breath by giving you a bit more stamina.

For PvP-oriented players

• Recommended setup: 2 Clockwise runes + 1 Anticlockwise rune
• Reason: Any PvP-oriented player will agree that top-tier contenders deal nearly as much damage as in-game bosses. It’s nice to have a solid HP boost and a bit of a stamina increase to catch your breath.

For Damage dealers (aka suicidal people)

• Recommended setup: 3 Clawmark runes + 1 Hunter rune.
• OR: 2 Clawmarks + 1 Blood Rapture + 1 Hunter
• Reason: With 3 Clawmark runes, your visceral damage will be buffed by 60%. The Hunter rune will help you recover some much-needed stamina. The alternative is just for less suicidal players who also would like to recover some HP from the visceral attacks. So you go, less suicidal players.

FAQ

Conclusion

It’s easy to get carried away in the pursuit of finding the next biggest and coolest-looking weapon in Bloodborne. I mean, the stats and visuals don’t lie. Runes, however, are pretty in design but are not as visually appealing outside your inventory. I think this is the main reason why so many players overlook them.

However, as soon as you pick up your first rune, you’ll realize they can make a vast difference, making them vital in the game. If you take a moment to analyze your playstyle, you will be able to find a rune setup that complements it and ultimately boosts your performance in the game.

Looking for more interesting readings? Check out:

• Amygdala Bloodborne Guide
• Alfred Bloodborne Guide
• Ludwig Bloodborne Guide
• Ebrietas Bloodborne Guide