Runes (Historical)

A Rune is an enhancement that the player provides for his champion before a match on a field of justice begins to augment their champion's abilities.

Runes can be purchased with Influence Points from the Riot Store. Each rune grants a small bonus in a specific category, which stack upon each other to grant larger bonuses.

Runes that have already been purchased can't be sold back to the store, but can be combined in the Rune Combiner for a new rune of random stats. Tier 1 and Tier 2 runes do not grant as high bonuses as Tier 3 runes and a player may end up just combining the lower quality runes for Tier 3 runes anyway. Therefore it is wise to save up Influence Points for Tier 3 runes. There are two ways to combine:


 * Five lesser runes combined to create one random rune of greater quality; or,
 * two runes combined to create a random rune of the same quality. Note that it is possible for this to result in creating a rune of the exact type as one of the input runes, sacrificing one rune and gaining nothing.

It is also important to note that you may not buy a Tier 3 rune before you reach level 20, and that you can aquire random ones for less IP than buying them outright by using the Rune Combiner.
 * Ex: 5 "lesser seal of replenishment" costs 75, where one "seal of replenishment" costs 80 ;
 * thus in order to get a tier 3 would cost 375 which is cheaper than most tier 3, costing 410 or higher.

Types
There are four kinds of Runes a Summoner will use and each of these types of runes have three tiers:
 * Mark: offensive runes,
 * Seal: defensive runes,
 * Glyph: magical runes,
 * Quintessence: utility runes.

It is also important to note that some runes are "primary", while others are called "secondary" and provide lesser bonuses. Given a certain kind of rune, it will be primary in either marks, glyphs or seals, and secondary in the other two rune types.
 * Primary marks:, , , , , , ,.
 * Primary seals:, , , , , , , , , , , ,.
 * Primary glyphs:, , , , , , , , ,.
 * All the quintessences have the max possible effect, and the followings are only found in Quintessence:, , , ,.
 * Although quintessences have the max possible effect, you may only have three instead of the nine marks, seals, or glyphs - this means one quintessence should be equal to three or more runes in order to qualify as a "Primary" Quintessence. The following Quintessences have greater effect than three primary runes:, , , , , , , ,.

Tiers
The Tier of a rune generically represents its power (i.e. the extent of the bonus' it offers), and is visible in the top-left of the pop-up when mousing over it.


 * Tier 1 or "Lesser" runes have dark and faded with visible scratches and chips except for quintessences, which are simply purple.
 * Tier 2 don't have prefixes, they are slightly brighter and are not tattered; Quintessences now have gold faces and purple backgrounds. These are available at level 10.
 * Tier 3 or "Greater" runes are brightly lit; Quintessences are completely covered in gold. These are available at level 20.

Usage
Summoners are able to use a rune per level of power in League of Legends, and they keep their Runes in a tome called a Runebook. Before a match begins, a Summoner will be able to choose from up to twenty different rune configurations they have previously set in their Runebook. This allows the Summoner to have quick flexibility in choosing a Runebook configuration best suited for whatever champion they might use in any of Valoran's Fields of Justice.