Rune (Historical)

For the list, see List of runes (Historical).

See also: Rune.

		"You belong in a museum!" This article or section may contain obsolete information, but exists here for historical purposes.

Summoner Runes

A rune was an enhancement that the summoner provided for their champion before a match on a Field of Justice began to augment the champion's abilities. In lore, they were magical artifacts of immense power.

Runes could only be purchased from the Riot Store with Influence Points. Runes could not be purchased with Riot Points. Each rune granted a small bonus in a specific category, which stacked upon each other to grant larger bonuses.

Glyphs, marks, and seals stacked up to 9 for increased effect, and quintessences stacked up to 3.

Purchasing the maximum number of every type of available tier 3 rune (9 of each glyph, mark and seal, and 3 of each quintessence) would have cost 388,071.

The number of runes a player can have was limited to approximately 720. Note that getting the appropriate maximums of each tier 3 rune came out to 684, however, this amount can be exceeded if you purchased either special event runes or purchased more than the maximum usable amount (i.e. 9 quintessences) of a specific rune before patch 1.59.

Additional Rune Pages may also been bought from the Riot Store with Riot Points or Influence Points, up to a max of 20.

Lore

A Thousand years ago, magical artefacts called ‘World Runes’ have been rediscovered. Over the following decades after such event, 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 later related to these magical artifacts were known as the Rune Wars.

Skins

• Rune-related skins:
  • Original Brand
  • Original Galio
    • Enchanted Galio
  • Infernal Nasus
  • Pharaoh Nidalee
  • Original Riven
  • Rune Wars Renekton
  • Original Ryze
  • Earthrune Skarner
  • Runeguard Volibear
  • Tundra Hunter Warwick
  • Volcanic Wukong
  • Original Xerath
    • Runeborn Xerath
  • Shurima Desert Zilean

Types

There were four kinds of Runes, with three tier's of each:

• Mark: Offensive.
• Seal: Defensive.
• Glyph: Magical.
• Quintessence: Utility.

It is also important to note that some runes were "primary", while others were called "secondary" and provide lesser bonuses. Given a certain kind of rune, it would be primary in either marks, glyphs or seals, and secondary in the other two rune types. So, all kind of runes had one primary type for them and two secondary types. The aura shrouding a rune of a certain effect would denote which rune type it is considered primary - for example, ability power runes would have a blue aura showing that it is Glyphs that specialize in them.

Marks

These Marks had the strongest effect among non-Quintessences thus making them primary.

• Armor Penetration (+1.28)
• Attack Damage (+0.95)
• Attack Speed (+1.7%)
• Critical Chance (+0.93%)
• Critical Damage (+2.23%)
• Hybrid Penetration (+0.9 Armor Penetration & +0.61 Magic Penetration)
• Magic Penetration (+0.87)
• Scaling Attack Damage (+0.13 Attack Damage per level, +2.43 at level 18)

Seals

These Seals had the strongest effect among non-Quintessences thus making them primary.

• Armor (+1.00)
• Energy Regeneration (+0.63 Energy Regen / 5 sec)
• Health (+8.00)
• Health Regeneration (+0.56 Health Regen / 5 sec)
• Mana Regeneration (+0.41 Mana Regen / 5 sec)
• Percent Health (+0.5%)
• Scaling Armor (+0.16 Armor per level, +3.00 at level 18)
• Scaling Energy Regeneration (+0.064 Energy Regen / 5 sec per level, +1.15 at level 18)
• Scaling Health (+1.33 Health per level, +24.00 at level 18)
• Scaling Health Regeneration (+0.11 Health Regen / 5 sec per level, +1.98 at level 18)
• Scaling Mana Regeneration (+0.065 Mana Regen / 5 sec per level, +1.17 at level 18)

Glyphs

These Glyphs had the strongest effect among non-Quintessences thus making them primary.

• Ability Power (+1.19)
• Cooldown Reduction (+0.83%)
• Energy (+2.2)
• Mana (+11.25)
• Magic Resist (+1.34)
• Scaling Ability Power (+0.17 Ability Power per level, +3.06 at level 18)
• Scaling Cooldown Reduction (+0.09% Cooldown Reduction per level, +1.67% at level 18)
• Scaling Energy (+0.161 Energy per level, +2.89 at level 18)
• Scaling Mana (+1.42 Mana per level, +25.56 at level 18)
• Scaling Magic Resist (+0.17 Magic Resist per level, +3.00 at level 18)

Quintessence

Quintessences had the strongest possible effect from a single rune and they also have couple effects that can't be found among other rune types.

Primary

Although Quintessences had the strongest possible effect from a single rune, you may only have had three instead of the nine marks, seals, or glyphs. This means one quintessence should have provided statistics that equaled to or exceeded 3 minor runes in order to be a Primary Quintessence. The following Quintessences had an effect equal to or greater than three primary runes:

• Ability Power
• Armor
• Cooldown Reduction
• Gold
• Health
• Health Regeneration
• Mana
• Mana Regeneration
• Percentage Health
• Scaling Cooldown Reduction
• Scaling Mana Regeneration

Unique

These abilities were only found in Quintessences thus they could be called as Primary:

• Experience (+2%)
• Life Steal (+1.5%)
• Movement Speed (+1.5%)
• Revival (-5% Time Spent Dead)
• Spell Vamp (+2%)

Tiers

The Tier of a rune represented its relative power (i.e. the extent of the bonuses it offers), and was visible in the top-left of the pop-up when mousing over it.

• Tier 1 or "Lesser" runes were dark and faded with visible scratches and chips except for Quintessences, which were simply purple.
• Tier 2 didn't have prefixes, they were slightly brighter and are not tattered; Quintessences now had gold faces and purple backgrounds. You could buy them starting at level 10.
• Tier 3 or "Greater" runes were brightly lit; Quintessences were completely covered in gold. You could buy them starting at level 20.

It is important to note that you could not buy a Tier 3 rune before you reach 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.

Rune page, with numbers added to indicate what level is required to unlock each slot.

Possible Combinations

For the purpose of estimating the runtime of search algorithms in the space of possible rune pages, it may be interesting to enumerate the number of unique possible combinations of runes. Since the position of any particular rune on the rune page does not influence its statistics, the order within the rune page can be disregarded and it only matters how many of which types of runes occur on the rune page. In the mathematical sense, this means we are looking for the number of combinations with repetition (since any type of rune can occur multiple times, in fact as often as there are slots) of length 9 from the sets of marks, seals and glyphs and of length 3 from the set of quintessences, respectively. The problem can be solved with binomial coefficients. Assuming only Tier 3 runes are chosen and no slots may be left blank:

• 19 different T3 Marks constitute c(19+9-1, 9) = 4,686,825 combinations of marks.
• 24 different T3 Seals constitute c(24+9-1, 9) = 28,048,800 combinations of seals.
• 22 different T3 Glyphs constitute c(22+9-1, 9) = 14,307,150 combinations of glyphs.
• 33 different T3 Quintessences constitute c(33+3-1, 3) = 6,545 combinations of quintessences

The number of unique combinations of entire rune pages is the product of those:

12,309,936,280,199,112,555,000,000 or ~1.23*10^25 or 12.31 septillion.

If an algorithm was to evaluate one billion of these combinations per second, it would still require ~ 390.08 million years to evaluate all of them, making exhaustive approaches practically impossible.

Either preselections of eligible runes or heuristics have to be employed instead.

Patch History

V7.22 - Removed

• Removed from the game.
• Replaced by Runes Reforged.

V5.19

• Greater Mark of Attack Damage:
  • Reduced price from 205 IP to 102 IP
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration:
  • Reduced price from 410 IP to 205 IP
• Greater Seal of Armor:
  • Reduced price from 205 IP to 102 IP
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist:
  • Reduced price from 205 IP to 102 IP
• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage:
  • Reduced price from 1025 IP to 512 IP
• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power:
  • Reduced price from 1025 IP to 512 IP

V4.5

• Greater Seals
  • Armor reduced to 1 from 1.41.
  • Scaling Armor increased to 3 (at level 18) from 2.7.
  • Health increased to 8 from 5.35.
  • Scaling Health increased to 24 (at level 18) from 19.44.
  • Health Regeneration increased to .56 from .43.
• Greater Glyphs
  • Scaling CDR increased to 1.67% (at level 18) from 1.11%.
  • Scaling MR increased to 3 (at level 18) from 2.7.
  • Mana Regen increased to .33 from .31.
  • Scaling Mana Regen increased to 1.2 (at level 18) from 0.99.
• Greater Quintessences
  • CDR increased to 2.5% from 1.67%.
  • Scaling CDR increased to 5% (at level 18) from 2.5%.
  • Attack Speed increased to 4.5% from 3.4%.
  • Life steal reduced to 1.5% from 2%.

V3.04

• Cooldown Reduction and Cooldown Reduction per Level runes have been increased at all Tiers (varying from 2-35% increase)

V1.0.0.152

• Runes have been renamed to be more representative of their actual function (e.g. Mark of Desolation renamed to Mark of Armor Penetration).
• Lesser Mark of Armor Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 0.72 from 0.93.
• Mark of Armor Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 1 from 1.29.
• Greater Mark of Armor Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 1.28 from 1.66.
• Lesser Mark of Magic Penetration:
  • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.49 from 0.53.
• Mark of Magic Penetration:
  • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.68 from 0.74.
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration:
  • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.87 from 0.95.
• Lesser Glyph of Magic Penetration:
  • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.35 from 0.38.
• Glyph of Magic Penetration:
  • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.49 from 0.53.
• Greater Glyph of Magic Penetration:
  • Magic Penetration reduced to 0.63 from 0.68.
• Lesser Quintessence of Armor Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 1.42 from 1.85.
• Quintessence of Armor Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 1.99 from 2.59.
• Greater Quintessence of Armor Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 2.56 from 3.33.
• Lesser Quintessence of Magic Penetration:
  • Magic Penetration reduced to 1.11 from 1.21.
• Quintessence of Magic Penetration:
  • Magic Penetration reduced to 1.56 from 1.69.
• Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration:
  • Magic Penetration reduced to 2.01 from 2.18.
• Lesser Mark of Hybrid Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 0.5 from 0.56.
  • Magic Penetration increased to 0.34 from 0.32.
• Mark of Hybrid Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 0.7 from 0.74.
  • Magic Penetration increased to 0.48 from 0.44.
• Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 0.9 from 1.
  • Magic Penetration increased to 0.61 from 0.57.
• Lesser Quintessence of Hybrid Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 0.99 from 1.11.
  • Magic Penetration increased to 0.77 from 0.72.
• Quintessence of Hybrid Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 1.39 from 1.55.
  • Magic Penetration increased to 1.09 from 1.01.
• Greater Quintessence of Hybrid Penetration:
  • Armor Penetration reduced to 1.79 from 2.
  • Magic Penetration increased to 1.41 from 1.3.

V1.0.0.139

• Added an indicator to show owned rune content when attempting to purchase a new rune in the store.
• Rune purchases past the usable limit will now be prevented.

April 20th Hotfix

• Fixed a bug with Greater Quintessence of the Piercing Present to match Greater Quintessence of Insight.

V1.0.0.138

• Marks:
  • Warding: magic resistance reduced by 20%.
• Glyphs:
  • Insight: magic penetration increased by 20%.
  • Potency: ability power increased by 20%.
  • Warding: magic resistance reduced by 10%.
• Quintessences:
  • Insight: magic penetration increased by 15%.
  • Warding: magic resistance reduced by 11.1%.

V1.0.0.129

• Rune page cap increased to 20 pages from 10.

V1.0.0.123

• Fixed a bug where some Energy runes were giving less energy than their tooltip stated.

V1.0.0.114

• Fixed a bug where Greater Mark of Might's tooltip was incorrect.

V1.0.0.110

• Clarity runes reduced in effectiveness by about 33%.
• Quintessence of Fortitude reduced in effectiveness by about 20%.

V1.0.0.107

• Glyph of Acumen, Glyph of Sapience, and Seal of Lucidity increased in effectiveness by 10%.
• Seal of Meditation increased in effectiveness by 5%.

V1.0.0.105

• Quintessence of the Headless Horseman armor penetration reduced to 3.08 from 3.62.

V1.0.0.103

• Marks:
  • Desolation: armor penetration reduced by 15%.
  • Strength: attack damage increased by 200%.
  • Might: attack damage per level increased by 35%.
• Glyphs:
  • Strength: attack damage increased by 200%.
  • Might: attack damage per level increased by 35%.
• Seals:
  • Strength: attack damage increased by 200%.
  • Might: attack damage per level increased by 35%.
• Quintessences:
  • Desolation: armor penetration reduced by 15%.

V1.0.0.94(b)

• New Energy runes:
  • Greater Seal of Meditation: +0.6 energy regen per 5 seconds.
  • Greater Seal of Lucidity: +1.05 energy regen per 5 seconds at level 18.
  • Greater Glyph of Acumen: +2 energy.
  • Greater Glyph of Sapience: +2.64 Energy at level 18.
  • Greater Quintessence of Meditation: +1.5 energy regen per 5 seconds.
  • Greater Quintessence of Acumen: +4.9 energy.

V1.0.0.87

• Runes can now be added and removed from the rune book by right-clicking.

V1.0.0.75

• Fixed the PVP.net rune list to allow for larger quantities of runes to be displayed.

V1.0.0.63

• Fixed a bug with renaming Runebook pages.
• The effectiveness of attack damage per level runes increased by 11.1%.
• The effectiveness of attack speed runes increased by 150%.
• The effectiveness of magic penetration runes increased by 13.6%.
• The effectiveness of flat health runes reduced by 17.6%.
• The effectiveness of armor per level runes reduced by 10%.
• The effectiveness of magic resist and magic resist per level runes reduced by 10%.
• Clarity seals of all tiers can now be obtained through the store and the combiner.

V1.0.0.58

• New shop features:
  • Buy Runes - buy individual runes with Influence Points.

V1.0.0.52

• Summoner Runebooks have been significantly optimized and should perform much better.

V0.9.25.34

• The effectiveness of ability power and ability power per level Marks increased.
• The effectiveness of mana per level Marks increased.
• The effectiveness of mana per level Seals and Glyphs reduced slightly.
• Mana regeneration per 5 and mana regeneration per 5 per level are now primary stats for Seals instead of Glyphs; stats have been adjusted accordingly.
• Magic penetration is now a primary stat for Marks instead of Glyphs; stats have been adjusted accordingly.
• Magic resistance and magic resistance per level are now primary stats for Glyphs instead of Seals; stats have been adjusted accordingly.
• The effectiveness of armor penetration runes reduced by 15%.
• The effectiveness of critical damage runes reduced by 10%.

V0.9.25.21

• New rune tabs:
  • Tabs for each rune type (Mark, Glyph, Seal, Quintessence).
  • Each tab can be expanded or collapsed.
  • Each rune now has the description of what it does on the right of the icon.
• Health rune values reduced by about 4%.

V0.9.22.16

• The effectiveness of health regeneration per level runes reduced.
• The effectiveness of health and health per level runes reduced.
• The effectiveness of attack speed per level runes reduced.
• The effectiveness of ability power and ability power per level runes increased.
• Fixed crit modifier runes.

V0.9.22.15

• New colored glow around runes as they are placed in the Rune Book or in the Rune Combiner.
  • This glow is color coded on what type of stat the rune has.
  • Example: You have a Glyph that gives critical chance. Crit is a primary stat for Marks. Therefore, this blue rune will have a red glow.

V0.9.22.15

• Armor penetration runes improved.
• Attack speed runes improved.
• Critical damage runes improved.
• Cooldown reduction by level runes improved.
• Magic penetration runes improved.
• Health regeneration Quintessence effectiveness reduced.
• "Per level" Quintessences improved.
• The effectiveness of mana Marks and Seals reduced.
• Critical chance runes slightly improved.
• Increased the drop rate of attack speed, critical damage, and critical chance runes.
• Attack speed per level runes no longer drop.
• Critical damage per level runes no longer drop.
• Critical chance per level runes no longer drop.
• Health regeneration Marks no longer drop.
• Added death timer and experience tier 3 Quintessences.
• Increased drop rate on armor penetration and magic penetration runes.
• Increased drop rate on dodge runes.
• Reduced the effectiveness of health regeneration runes.
• Reduced the effectiveness of mana runes.
• Fixed a bug with crit modifier runes causing them to deal too much damage.

V0.9.22.7

• Fixed a bug where you could manipulate the runes in your Rune Book while on the rune combiner page.
• Fixed a bug where users could get over the maximum amount of runes from the grab bag.
• Fixed several tooltips.
• Rebalanced rune stats: nerfed HP5/MP5 level 1 stats, rebalance armor and magic penetration.
• Removed armor penetration per level and magic penetration per level runes from the grab bag and combiner.
• Increased the effectiveness of flat armor penetration and magic penetration runes.
• Removed tier 1 and 2 gold per 10 runes from the grab bag and combiner.
• Changed tier 3 gold per 10 rune to tier 1 gold per 10.

V0.8.22.115

• Fixed a rare bug causing errors with runes.
• Increased the overall value of runes by approximately 30%.
• New stat per level runes are now available.

V0.8.21.110

• Fixed a memory leak in the rune combiner.
• Fixed a bug where multiples of the same rune would not stack.
• Fixed a bug that caused some accounts' Rune Books to lock up.
• Fixed some bugs where the stats on the Rune Page did not display or add correctly.

July 10, 2009 Patch

• New Summoner Rune system.

Runes

See also

• Store
• List of runes
• Summoner Mastery