What do you do with the Lords of the Fallen rune tablets? These special items are required by Gerlinde, the blacksmith NPC, whom you’ll meet on your travels. There are three of these LotF rune tablets in total, and they offer unique rewards.
Our Lords of the Fallen blacksmith rune tablets guide discusses where you can find these items, as well as an important decision that you need to make: should you give the rune tablet to Gerlinde or Sparky? You can find out whether this is a decision to be made with friends in our Lords of the Fallen multiplayer guide, or if you’ll be spending some time on it in our answer to how long Lords of the Fallen actually is.
Where to Find the blacksmith rune tablets in Lords of the Fallen
You can find the Lords of the Fallen rune tablets in the following zones:
- Fitzroy’s Gorge
- Upper Calrath Mining District
- Tower of Penance
Prior to this endeavor, be sure to rescue Gerlinde in her prison cell near the Bellroom vestige waypoint. She’ll then move to the Skyrest hub, offering new functions such as weapon upgrades and rune socketing.
Then, once you’ve found the three rune tablets, speak with Gerlinde and she’ll tell you that you need to give them in order. Keep retrying the “talk” option until you’re able to hand over the Cracked Rune Tablet, followed by the Chipped Rune Tablet. As for the final rune tablet, we discuss the choice that you need to make later in our guide.
Fitzroy’s Gorge: Cracked Rune Tablet
The first Lords of the Fallen rune tablet can be found in Fitzroy’s Gorge, which is just past the swamplands where you fought the Hushed Saint, as well as the Hamlet vestige waypoint. Upon reaching the fork, head to the right and continue onward to the caves.
Eventually, you’ll meet up with an NPC named Drustan. Just a short distance away down a sloping path, you’ll see a shiny loot orb. That’s the Cracked Rune Tablet, waiting for you to collect it.
Upper Calrath Mining District: Chipped Rune Tablet
As for the Chipper Rune Tablet, you’ll need to head to the District vestige waypoint. It’s well past the burning slums of Calrath and the Spurned Progeny boss fight.
As you go through the alleyways of the ruined city, you’ll come across a ruined house. You’ll see a loot orb in the fireplace. You should pick it up to obtain the Chipped Rune Tablet.
Tower of Penance: Rune Tablet
The last item that we need is appropriately named as just the Rune Tablet. You’ll find it in the Tower of Penance, which requires you to take a long trek from the upper section of Pilgrim’s Perch and the Belled Rise, all the way until you exit the Manse of the Hallowed Brothers.
The Tower of Penance can be seen just across a bridgeway, and the dungeon itself requires you to gingerly walk across wooden planks and beams to reach the lower areas. Eventually, you’ll reach a part that has several loot items, such as an Umbral Stigma with the Perception Wisp item and the Infernal Guardian spell. The Rune Tablet is inside a chest in the same area.
Cracked Rune Tablet and Chipped Rune Tablet rewards
As mentioned earlier, the Lords of the Fallen rune tablets should be given to Gerlinde in the proper order. Make sure you recheck the “talk” option until the Cracked Rune Tablet appears as the first option. You can then purchase the following runes for 700 vigor each:
- Ativ – Increases Strength scaling (weapon) or attribute (shield).
- Velox – Increases Agility scaling (weapon) or attribute (shield).
- Devoth – Increases Radiance scaling (weapon) or attribute (shield).
- Anarkos – Increases Inferno scaling (weapon) or attribute (shield).
As for the Chipped Rune Tablet, Gerlinde will offer upgraded variants of the above runes that cost 3,500 vigor each. The key difference is that these items will increase one stat while lowering another:
- Oritix – Increases Strength scaling/attribute; lowers Agility.
- Hix – Increases Agility scaling/attribute; lowers Strength.
- Orimon – Increases Radiance scaling/attribute; lowers Inferno.
- Berlam – Increases Inferno scaling/attribute; lowers Radiance.
Should you give the rune tablet to Gerlinde or Sparky?
Lastly, you need to make a choice: should you give the Lords of the Fallen rune tablet to Gerlinde or Sparky? Gerlinde wants it to increase her knowledge of the craft. However, Sparky has been enslaved for long, and he needs it to finally be free.
We advise you to keep a backup save at this stage so you can test both outcomes. You can go to the save file directory: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\LOTF2\Saved\SaveGames.
Then, copy the following files to another folder:
- GeneralSave.sav
- GeneralSaveBackup.sav
- Save00.sav
- SaveBackup.save
What happens if you give the rune tablet to Sparky?
Giving the Lords of the Fallen Rune Tablet to Sparky nets you the following benefits:
- You may now use vestige waypoints to upgrade weapons and socket runes.
- You’ll earn the “Travels Resumed” achievement.
Unfortunately, Gerlinde will be irate, though she admits that working with you is still good for business. The only downside is that all purchasable items now have double the cost. For instance, the Ativ rune will cost 1,400 vigor, and the Oritix rune will cost a whopping 7,000 vigor.
What happens if you give the Rune Tablet to Gerlinde?
Giving the Rune Tablet to Gerlinde will get you the Crafter’s Essence rune which lowers your weapon and shield weight and stat requirement to zero.
Gerlinde will be ecstatic if you give her the Rune Tablet. She tells you to come back a bit later as she’s still working on something. In our case, we return to Skyrest after a few minutes have passed and once we’ve fast traveled to other areas.
By the time we returned, Sparky has been sacrificed and you’ll receive the Crafter’s Essence rune. This is one of the best items in the game since it completely lowers a weapon’s or shield’s weight and stat requirement to zero. That means you won’t need to worry about encumbrance or the extra stat point allocation if you have your eye on a particular armament.
Bear in mind, however, that the Crafter’s Essence is a diamond-shaped rune. That means it can only be socketed into certain items that also have diamond-shaped slots upon upgrading. Examples include the Rosamund’s Sword, Bartholomew’s Hammer, Bell Staff, Orian Preacher Shield, and Trinity Shield. There’s also a chance that the diamond-shaped slot will only appear upon reaching the item’s tier two or three upgrade level, so you really need to be careful on how you’ll spend your materials.
In any case, that’s everything you need to know about the blacksmith rune tablets in Lords of the Fallen. Since you’re already roaming around in the land of Mournstead, you might want to know about the best weapons. Likewise, you could learn about how to upgrade your Lords of the Fallen Umbral Lamp, since we touched on the topic of upgrades.
