Rune System#
Caryll Runes are the passive buff system engraved onto the hunter’s own body in Bloodborne: weapon slots take Blood Gems, while the hunter side holds memory-engraved runes. The two have clearly separate jobs and do not replace one another. The game has 27 regular runes in total (most split into three tiers), plus Oath Runes engraved into a dedicated slot - the “40+ runes” figure circulating online does not exist, and every value on this page is measured in-game.
Memory Altar and the Rune Workshop Tool#
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Engraving location | Memory Altar in the Hunter’s Dream |
| Unlock condition | Defeat the Witch in Old Yharnam |
| Rune slots | 4 slots in total: 3 memory slots + 1 oath slot |
| Swap cost | Free; you can re-engrave at the altar at any time |
The unlock process is only three steps:
- Push the main story to Old Yharnam (Hemwick Charnel Lane) and defeat the boss at the bottom of the area, the “Witch” - she is mandatory, her body is not the hard part, the difficulty is that this area has no map and the route twists around;
- Return to the Hunter’s Dream, where a “Rune Workshop Tool” appears on the Memory Altar; picking it up unlocks engraving;
- Use the tool from the menu, and you can engrave any runes you own into memory slots at the altar interface.
Before you get the tool, any runes you pick up just sit in your inventory looking back at you. So do not skip the Witch when you pass through Old Yharnam mid-game: unlock it early, benefit early.
Complete Rune Table (True Values)#
All regular runes are listed below in five categories by purpose. The three-tier value column runs in tier one / two / three order, and runes with fewer or more tiers are noted in the value column.
Stat Type#
| Rune | Effect | Three-Tier Values |
|---|---|---|
| Clockwise Metamorphosis | Maximum HP increase | +5% / +10% / +15% |
| Anti-Clockwise Metamorphosis | Maximum stamina increase | +10% / +15% / +20% |
| Guidance | Rally potential increase (proportion of HP recovered by counterattacking right after taking damage) | +10% / +20% / +30% |
| Beast | Temporary bonus while transformed (fixed value, not a percentage) | +20 / +50 / +100 |
Defense Type#
The Deep Sea family governs abnormal status resistance and the Lake family governs elemental damage reduction. Do not mix the two up.
| Rune | Effect | Three-Tier Values |
|---|---|---|
| Clear Deep Sea | Slow poison resistance increase | +100 / +200 / +300 |
| Deep Sea | Frenzy resistance increase | +100 / +200 / +300 |
| Stunning Deep Sea | Rapid poison resistance increase | +200 (one tier only) |
| Great Deep Sea | All abnormal status resistance increase | +50 / +100 / +150 |
| Dissipating Lake | Bolt damage reduction | +5% / +7% / +10% |
| Fading Lake | Fire damage reduction | +5% / +7% / +10% |
| Arcane Lake | Arcane damage reduction | +5% / +7% / +10% |
| Lake | Physical damage reduction | +3% / +7% (two tiers only) |
| Great Lake | All elemental damage reduction | +3% / +4% / +5% |
Visceral Attack Type#
The full mechanics of Visceral Attacks are covered in Combat System. This category of runes turns the execution from a finisher into a core loop: damage, HP recovery, bullet recovery, and echoes each have a dedicated rune.
| Rune | Effect | Three-Tier Values |
|---|---|---|
| Clawmark | Visceral Attack damage increase | +10% / +20% / +30% |
| Blood Rapture | HP restored after landing a Visceral Attack | +200 / +250 / +300 |
| Oedon Writhe | Quicksilver Bullets restored after landing a Visceral Attack | +1 / +2 / +3 bullets |
| Heir | Echoes gained when killing an enemy with a Visceral Attack increase | +20% / +40% / +80% |
Carry Capacity Type#
| Rune | Effect | Tier Values |
|---|---|---|
| Communion | Blood Vial carry limit increase | +1 / +2 / +3 / +4 / +5 (five tiers) |
| Formless Oedon | Quicksilver Bullet carry limit increase | +1 / +2 / +3 / +4 / +5 (five tiers) |
Farming and Echoes Type#
| Rune | Effect | Three-Tier Values |
|---|---|---|
| Eye | Item discovery rate increase | +50 / +70 / +100 |
| Moon | Echoes gained from killing enemies increase | +10% / +20% / +30% |
Acquisition Locations (Directional Notes)#
Most basic runes are scattered in corners along mandatory main-story paths and can be picked up as you push forward; higher tiers are more common in Chalice Dungeons, and the deeper you go the more complete the drops get; special runes come from NPC quest lines and the DLC - Beast’s Embrace drops from Laurence in The Old Hunters DLC, and Milkweed is obtained at the end of Saint Adeline’s quest line in the Research Hall; all Oath Runes come from joining the corresponding faction, as covered in the next section.
Stacking Three Tiers of the Same Rune#
Different tiers of the same rune can be equipped at the same time - filling all three memory slots with tier one, two, and three of the Moon rune is a legal setup. Stacking resolves multiplicatively rather than additively: equipping all three tiers of the Moon rune actually yields 110% × 120% × 130% ≈ 171.6%, not the intuitive +60%. The same applies to the Lake and Deep Sea defensive families; multiplied across tiers, the total return beats any single tier.
Typical scenarios where multi-slot stacking is worth it:
| Scenario | Recommended Engraving |
|---|---|
| Farming echoes for fast leveling | Moon rune tiers one, two, and three |
| Farming materials and drops | Eye rune tiers one, two, and three |
| Exploring high-damage areas | Great Lake tier three, all damage reduction multiplied |
| Execution-focused build | Oedon Writhe tier three, execution loops rarely run dry on bullets |
Oath Runes (Fourth Slot)#
The fourth slot can only hold an Oath Rune, each of which is bound to a faction and obtained by joining the corresponding oath. Faction stance, how to join, and hostile relationships are fully broken down in the Covenants Guide; this section answers only “what goes in the fourth slot”.
| Oath Rune | Effect | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Corruption | Continuous HP recovery +1 while near death | Cainhurst Vileblood oath |
| Hunter | Stamina recovery speed +6% | Hunter of Hunters oath |
| Radiance | Blood Vial healing additionally restores 2% of total HP | Executioners oath |
| Impurity | Maximum HP +2% while online | League oath |
| Beast’s Embrace | Transform into beast form, linked to beast-type bonuses | The Old Hunters DLC, dropped by defeating Laurence |
| Milkweed | Transform into a kin (tentacle form) | Research Hall, completing Saint Adeline’s quest line |
The criterion is plain: whichever Oath Rune you want to use, return to that faction first. Switching oaths does not destroy runes you have already earned, but faction stance directly affects invasion and co-op behavior, so think it through before engraving.
Common Misconceptions (These “Runes” Do Not Exist)#
- “Recovery Rune: turn HP +10/20/30%” - Bloodborne is a real-time action game with no concept of turns, and no rune named “Recovery” exists. The rune that actually restores HP on Visceral Attacks is called Blood Rapture, with fixed values of +200/+250/+300.
- “Beast Rune: beast meter +10/20/30%” - the real Beast rune does not raise the beast meter; its effect is a temporary bonus while transformed of +20/+50/+100, a fixed value, not a percentage.
- “Hunter Rune: physical attack +5/10/15%” - no Hunter rune adds attack. Hunter is an Oath Rune whose effect is stamina recovery speed +6%, occupying the fourth slot.
- “40+ runes in total” - there are 27 regular runes (mostly three tiers, with Communion and Formless Oedon at five tiers), plus 6 fourth-slot Oath Runes.
- Star ratings and “acquisition difficulty” - no rune rarity star ratings exist in-game. The ★ ratings in older versions of this page were unsourced and have all been deleted.
- “Fear resistance +X%” style notation - Deep Sea resistances are calculated as fixed values (starting at +100), not percentages; any table that lumps abnormal status resistance together with damage reduction into one set of percentages is wrong.
How to Choose Runes#
While farming, prioritize Moon and Eye for echoes and drops at once; when pushing into a boss, swap to the Lake family based on the boss’s damage type, and add Deep Sea in areas heavy on Frenzy; execution builds are built around Clawmark and Oedon Writhe, with Blood Rapture adding a healing line. Passive bonuses ultimately have to land in a finished build; for the full picture see Builds.
Related Pages#
- Blood Gem System: the weapon-side socketing system, with a role clearly separate from runes
- Combat System: mechanic breakdown of Visceral Attacks and rally potential
- Covenants Guide: the full guide to the factions behind the Oath Runes
- Chalice Dungeons: the main source of high-tier runes and high-rating gems
- Builds: the full approach to folding runes into a finished build