If you've been playing Elden Ring, you probably already encountered one or several dragons in the game. The earliest dragon you are most likely to find is near the starting area at Dragon-Burnt Ruins, or maybe you were unlucky and got trapped by a chest and teleported to the Sellia Crystal tunnel near Dragonbarrow where you spotted a dragon.

When you eventually slay a dragon, you obtain a Dragon Heart, which can be exchanged for powerful incantations at the Church of Dragon Communion. To reach this church, enter the Coastal Cave near the starting area at the beach, and follow the tunnel underground until you reach the off-shore island. Alternatively, you can also exchange Dragon Hearts at the Cathedral of Dragon Communion in the Caelid region in the East.

In this guide we'll show you how to easily obtain 5 Dragon Hearts along with a quick buck of 70k runes, even during the early game.

How to obtain easy Dragon Hearts

When you reach the Dragonbarrow area in the East part of the map, you'll come across several dragons throughout the area, but all much too powerful to slay until the later part of the game. There is however, one easy trick to obtaining a few early Dragon Hearts.

When you reach Fort Faroth, you'll notice a huge white elder dragon called Greyoll laying on a hill, surrounded by several other dragons sleeping around it. The elder dragon is so old and huge, it is not able to move anything besides its head anymore, but will alarm the other dragons around it when it spots you.

Sneak around the big dragon towards its tail, where the other dragons can't spot you. You can then start slashing away at its tail, slowly but surely taking down its health bar. Because it's so old, it won't fight back anymore and the other dragons won't see you. After a minute of slashing you'll be rewarded with 5 Dragon Hearts and slightly over 70k runes. A bit anticlimatic for such a large and powerful beast, which makes me wonder if FromSoftware had maybe not anticipated this approach or wanted to reward more stealthy players. Either way, I'll take it.

How to reach the giant elder dragon

Early on in the game, you can find a place called Dragon-Burnt Ruins near the starting area where the lake is. If you follow the stairs underground and defeat the enemies there, you'll be rewarded with a treasure chest. Only this treasure chest is actually a trap teleporting you to Sellia Crystal Tunnel located in a much harder area of the game. If you make a run for it, you'll eventually reach the end of the tunnel and enter the Caelid region, close to Fort Faroth.

Alternatively, you can also just ride East to the Caelid area once you've unlocked your Spectral Steed mount. Just go up to Stormveil Castle and then take a right turn eastwards in front of the gates. You'll eventually end up in a barren wasteland which is Caelid and make your way to Fort Faroth that way.

Enjoy the easy Dragon Hearts from taking out Greyoll and don't forget to exchange them at the Church or Cathedral of Dragon Communion for some powerful incantations.