Rune

You may also be looking for Rune (Historical), a retired feature of the game.

Runes add or enhance champion abilities and statistics. Players can use them to customize their champions before the start of a game.

Runes are combined in Rune Pages. Each Rune page includes a Keystone Rune and five Secondary Runes. Keystone Runes are the most powerful. Before each match players choose the rune page they want to use. Rune pages can only be edited while outside of matches and during the champion selection lobby.

It is not possible to enter a match without an active, valid rune page. If a player selects a rune page that is not valid the game replaces it with a pre-made page.

Runes Reforged were introduced in Pre-Season Eight. They replaced Runes and Masteries, hence the adjective Reforged.^[1][2][3]

Lore

The Rune Wars

Centuries ago, magical artifacts called "World Runes" were discovered. In the decades that followed, knowledge of the Runes began to spread as more were unearthed. The world's brightest minds studied the ancient glyphs, attempting to determine the powers they possessed. Few could even begin to understand the importance of their origins, or the sheer power held within them. Some surmised that the Runes were integral to the creation of Runeterra itself. The first use of these mysterious artifacts proved catastrophic, as they reshaped the landscape of entire nations. Mistrust quickly grew as those who knew of the Runes imagined such “Makers' Might” being used as a weapon. Conflicts related to these magical artifacts were known as the Rune Wars.

Open warfare raged across Runeterra. The first horrors of the Rune Wars sparked fear and aggression among those who now realized the power at their command. Ryze and his master, Tyrus, sought to lock away every World Rune beyond the reach of man for the protection of Runeterra. Some complied with their pleas, while others dismissed them due to their newfound powers and influence. After an incident with Tyrus, Ryze alone continued on his journey in gathering all Runic artifacts so as to prevent another Rune War from starting and possibly destroying the world.

Rune paths

Runes are divided into five paths:

• Precision (Improved attacks and sustained damage)
• Domination (Burst damage and target access)
• Sorcery (Empowered abilities and resource manipulation)
• Resolve (Durability and crowd control)
• Inspiration (Creative tools and rule bending)

Each rune page contains runes from two paths: one primary and one secondary. The primary path has one keystone and three lesser runes. The secondary path has two lesser runes. There are also three Shard slots alongside the Primary and Secondary paths that follow a path separate from the five. Each individual slot can be filled with one selection.

Paths	Keystone	Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3
Precision Edit Become a Legend	Press the Attack Lethal Tempo Fleet Footwork Conqueror	Overheal Triumph Presence of Mind	Legend: Alacrity Legend: Tenacity Legend: Bloodline	Coup de Grace Cut Down Last Stand
Domination Edit Hunt and Eliminate Prey	Electrocute Predator Dark Harvest Hail of Blades	Cheap Shot Taste of Blood Sudden Impact	Zombie Ward Ghost Poro Eyeball Collection	Ravenous Hunter Ingenious Hunter Relentless Hunter Ultimate Hunter
Sorcery Edit Unleash Destruction	Summon Aery Arcane Comet Phase Rush	Nullifying Orb Manaflow Band Nimbus Cloak	Transcendence Celerity Absolute Focus	Scorch Waterwalking Gathering Storm
Resolve Edit Live Forever	Grasp of the Undying Aftershock Guardian	Demolish Font of Life Shield Bash	Conditioning Second Wind Bone Plating	Overgrowth Revitalize Unflinching
Inspiration Edit Outwit Mere Mortals	Glacial Augment Unsealed Spellbook Prototype: Omnistone	Hextech Flashtraption Magical Footwear Perfect Timing	Future's Market Minion Dematerializer Biscuit Delivery	Cosmic Insight Approach Velocity Time Warp Tonic

Shards

	Option 1	Option 2	Option 3
Slot 1 Offense	5.4 bonus Attack Damage or 9 Ability Power (Adaptive)	10% bonus attack speed	1% − 10% (based on level) cooldown reduction
Slot 2 Flex	5.4 bonus Attack Damage or 9 Ability Power (Adaptive)	6 bonus armor	8 bonus magic resistance
Slot 3 Defense	15 − 90 (based on level) bonus health	6 bonus armor	8 bonus magic resistance

Substitutions

Some runes are useless for certain champions or game modes. When a player starts a game with a useless rune the game substitutes that rune automatically with another one:

• In modes without the river, Waterwalking is exchanged with Scorch.
• In modes where wards are disabled, Zombie Ward and Ghost Poro are exchanged with Eyeball Collection.
• In modes without minions, Minion Dematerializer is exchanged with Future's Market.
• In modes without structures or structures are impervious, Demolish is exchanged with Font of Life.
• For champions without mana, Manaflow Band is exchanged with Nullifying Orb.
• For champions without immobilizing effects, Aftershock is exchanged with Grasp of the Undying.
• For Cassiopeia:
  • Predator is exchanged with Electrocute.
  • Magical Footwear is exchanged with Perfect Timing.
• For Elise, Jayce, Nidalee, Shyvana and Udyr, Ultimate Hunter is exchanged with Relentless Hunter.
• In ARURF:
  • Cosmic Insight is exchanged with Approach Velocity.
  • Ingenious Hunter is exchanged with Ravenous Hunter.
  • Ultimate Hunter is exchanged with Relentless Hunter.
  • Manaflow Band is exchanged with Nullifying Orb.
  • Presence of Mind is exchanged with Triumph.
  • Lethal Tempo is exchanged with Press the Attack.
• This list may be incomplete.

When the game starts the chat informs of these substitutions.

Rune Pages

All players have five preset rune pages that cannot be edited. Players of levels 1 to 9 cannot create nor edit rune pages. From level 10 they can create rune pages and can customize the whole rune page. New accounts have three empty rune pages. Players can purchase additional pages in the store for 590 or 6300.

Any Rune Pages the player owned in the previous system were transferred across to the new system, in addition to the compensation received.

Each account can have a maximum of 25 rune pages. The preset rune pages are not counted toward this limit.

There is an option to hide preset pages.

Presets and Example

Trivia

• During development, Precision and Sorcery were originally going to be Primary path only.^[4]
• Runes and their surrounding areas have distinct visual appearances which bear similarities to certain Runeterran factions. This may be intentional in order to reflect the location of the World Runes:
  • Precision - Golden cityscape of Demacia
  • Domination - Noxian fortification
  • Sorcery - Mountains of Icathia
  • Resolve - Riverlands of Southern Freljord
  • Inspiration - Beneath the heavens atop Mount Targon
• The following statements generalize the changes made to compensate the loss of AD from Marks and Health/Armor from Seals, which were almost unanimously used due to the lack of options (and thus the game has been balanced, for example, around most champions having +9 Armor from Seals). The exact values may vary for specific cases, as Riot also took this opportunity to better distinguish classes (e.g. tanks from non-tanks; ranged from melee), as well as buff/nerf specific champions.
  • AD champions had the base damage on their abilities increased by 5.
    • Ranged AD champions also had their  base attack damage increased by 8.
  • Most champions had their  base armor increased by 9.
    • Most mages had their  base health increased by 12 (+12), instead. Primarily excepting junglers.
    • Melee supports had their  base armor increased by 20, instead.
• Every rune that gives bonus Adaptive AD or AP, will always grant about 60% of the amount of AP as AD, or about 166.6% of the amount of AD as AP.
• More runes and paths may be added in the game.
• In Year in Review 2017 a joke phrase was added to each champion. A list with all phrases can be found over here.
• The number of all rune combinations can be seen below.

Calculation of rune combinations
Count	Paths		Calculation
	Primary path	Secondary path	Primary path	Secondary path	Total Combinations
1	Precision	Domination	4*3*3*3=108	3*3+3*4+4*3=33	108*33=3564
1	Precision	Sorcery	4*3*3*3=108	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	108*27=2916
1	Precision	Resolve	4*3*3*3=108	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	108*27=2916
1	Precision	Inspiration	4*3*3*3=108	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	108*27=2916
1	Domination	Sorcery	4*3*3*4=144	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	144*27=3888
1	Domination	Resolve	4*3*3*4=144	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	144*27=3888
1	Domination	Inspiration	4*3*3*4=144	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	144*27=3888
1	Sorcery	Resolve	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	81*27=2187
1	Sorcery	Inspiration	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	81*27=2187
1	Resolve	Inspiration	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	81*27=2187
1	Domination	Precision	4*3*3*4=144	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	144*27=3888
1	Sorcery	Precision	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	81*27=2187
1	Resolve	Precision	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	81*27=2187
1	Inspiration	Precision	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	81*27=2187
1	Sorcery	Domination	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*4+4*3=33	81*33=2673
1	Resolve	Domination	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*4+4*3=33	81*33=2673
1	Inspiration	Domination	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*4+4*3=33	81*33=2673
1	Resolve	Sorcery	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	81*27=2187
1	Inspiration	Sorcery	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	81*27=2187
1	Inspiration	Resolve	3*3*3*3=81	3*3+3*3+3*3=27	81*27=2187
Total
20					55566

• Prior to the introduction of Shards, players received a bonus based on the combination of their sets (e.g. Sorcery + Precision). These combinations had specific Titles, which are shared with the corresponding presets. The following is listed for archive purposes:

Secondary ►	Precision	Domination	Sorcery	Resolve	Inspiration
Primary ▼
Precision	—	The Merciless Elite	The Brazen Prefect	The Eternal Champion	The Savant
Domination	The Twisted Surgeon	—	The Aether Blade	The Immortal Butcher	The Wicked Maestro
Sorcery	The Incontestable Spellslinger	The Calamity	—	The Ancient One	The Cryptic
Resolve	The Imperious Behemoth	The Leviathan	The Arcane Colossus	—	The Enlightened Titan
Inspiration	The Elegant Duelist	The Ruthless Visionary	The Stargazer	The Timeless	—

• 'The Perfect' preset was originally called 'The Prefect', as with the Set Title. It is unknown why this was changed.

Media

Patch History

References