How to get Swarm of Flies, farm runes with it in Elden Ring

The Swarm of Flies incantation is a powerful ability in Elden Ring that builds up blood loss and it can be used to farm a massive amount of runes.

The Swarm of Flies incantation requires 16 arcane and 11 faith, and summons a swarm of bloodflies that attacks nearby enemies. The incantation is useful in normal play because it can be used to apply the bleed effect from a safe distance. Bleed is a top-tier status effect in Elden Ring because it deals significant percentage-based damage, including 10% for bosses. However, the Swarm of Flies incantation can be used for one of Elden Ring’s best rune farms.

Where to find Swarm of Flies in Elden Ring

The Sword of Flies incantation is found in Mohgwyn Palace along the east wall of the bloody lakes in a cave. The quickest access point to this is from the Palace Approach Ledge-Road Site of Grace. The item is on a fallen corpse in the cave, and can be freely used once picked up. This incantation is best used to continually damage an enemy while making space for yourself to use more incantations or heal up.

There are plenty of other incantations you’ll want to spend your time on during a fight, so unless you’re set on spamming the spell, it’s a great situational rotation to add to your kit. It also doubles as a tool to procure some of the most effective rune farming in Elden Ring. By abusing Swarm of Flies’ continual damage, you can repeatedly make a dragon die and respawn in order to gain a wild amount of experience to spend on levels and upgrade. YouTuber Mill Gaming was one of the first to discover the method.

In Greyoll’s Dragonbarrow, there is an enormous sleeping dragon that can be farmed for a great number of runes. Repeatedly casting Swarm of Flies will steadily begin to kill it. Once it begins to get low enough that the Swarm of Flies killing it is imminent, mount onto Torrent and sprint back to the Site of Grace directly above it near the walls of the fort. Resting at this Site of Grace after the dragon has died but before its souls reach you will reset the zone, giving you the souls but leaving the dragon alive to repeat this process.

To earn more, pair this combination with the Golden Scarab talisman and the Gold Pickled Fowl Foot consumable, both of which boost the number of runes you farm with each kill.