User blog comment:Lykrast/Runes: why I hate them/@comment-4481326-20140327181041

I have two really basic rune pages: one AD (arpen reds, armor yellows, magic resist blues, AD quints) and one AP (mpen reds, same yellows and blues as AD, AP quints). These have cost me 21,245 IP. I agree with you they are awfully expensive. Because I bought all these runes I had only 10~12 champs at lvl 30 where a friend of mine had 25 (partially because of the price differences of our champs, partially because I had 21k IP less to spend). Now that I have 20 enjoyable champs I play regularly I must say I don't regret buying these runes at all. They give a nice benefit mostly during laning phase (last hitting, taking minions hits, Sona Q), which mostly are QoL improvements imo.

In short: first priority is to get a good, solid and mostly fun set of champions. I do recommend getting runes once you have an enjoyable champ pool - they are there and they are nice. Might want to wait for the upcoming 30% off sale though.

PS I'm quite sure I'm not the first to say this (haven't read the comments below), but runes can in fact alter your play style. More accurately: your play style alters which set of runes fits you most. Prefer late game play and late game champs? Get scaling runes. Want your laning phase a little safer? Lifesteal runes. Want to dominate top lane early on? Flat AD and resistance. There are choices to runes, mostly on a strategical level, it is not just a mindless bonus. But they are indeed way too expensive to get 10 full pages imo...