What do we even need Runes for in LoL?
Runes In League of Legends Explained
Runes in League of Legends can be pretty confusing, especially if you're a beginner in LoL. I'm sure you've asked yourself at least once, what are all those different symbols, and which ones should you choose? What do they even do?
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Stay calm people, while it may take some time to learn about Runes, they're not as confusing as they may seem in the beginning! Riftfeed has got your back!
LoL: What Are Runes
Runes have been around ever since 2009, but they've undergone quite a few changes since then. But the gist of runes is that they allow you to customize your champ's powers and enhance your champ's abilities through other means than just by buying items. They can be a pretty strong addition to your gameplay, if you know how to use them properly.
If you don't already know, Runes can be picked during the champ select phase of a game. You can either choose your own custom Rune paths, pick a pre-build that LoL recommends to you, or use one of your Rune Pages. Don't worry, we'll get to all of this later.
During champ selection, you'll get to pick your runes down at the bottom of the page, right below the champ lock in button.
If you forget to pick Runes, LoL will pick a rune page for you automatically, so don't worry if you're stressed during a champ pick because all your fav champs were banned. While this may not be ideal, at least you won't be going into your game empty-handed.
Depending on which champ you want to play in LoL, you'll want to take different Runes for your champ. The tricky part about Runes is that whatever is currently meta for a champ like Jinx might be absolute trash next patch. So always try to stay up to date and don't use the same Runes for years, ok?
If you're ever lost and don't know which runes you should run at the moment, sites like probuildstats show you what many people are currently playing and how well their builds are working for them.
LoL: How To Use Runes
Whenever you pick Runes for a game, you'll be picking two types of Rune Paths out of five. The first rune is known as the Primary Rune and the second as the Secondary Rune, pretty easy to remember, right?
These are the five different types of Runes:
- Precision
- Domination
- Sorcery
- Resolve
- Inspiration
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Now, here's where it can get kind of overwhelming. Each Rune can take different "paths" for players to choose from. So, for your Primary Rune you'll be picking your Rune, a Keystone and three "slots".
When you pick your Secondary Rune, you'll pick a Rune, two slots and three "Shard slots". Depending on the rune that you use, you'll be able to pick different Keystones and slots.
When choosing which runes to take, one of the key elements is which Keystone you choose. Picking the wrong Keystone can make or break a game for some champs. That's why we'll not only tell you what each Rune type does, but we'll also quickly go over what their respective Keystones can do.
So whether you're handpicking your own Runes or using the recommended Runes offered by LoL, pay attention to the Keystones!
Speaking of recommended Runes, just so you know, after you lock in your champ during the selection phase you're able to access the Rune Recommender at the bottom of the screen. LoL automatically recommends you runes here based on your champion pick and which role you want to play. You'll be offered up to three different recommended Rune Paths.
While you can just click on one of the recommended paths and use that for your game, you'll also be able to change up the pre-built rune path according to your liking.
Now, let's get into the different types of Runes, so you'll know which ones you might want to pick next game!
Precision
The Precision rune helps you "become a legend" by improving champion's attacks and their sustained damage.
We'll give you the gist of what each Keystone does, but since the stats can be changed at anytime with a new path, it's best if you check the current stats in LoL for yourself.
Precision's Keystones are:
Press The Attack: Hitting an enemy champion with 3 consecutive makes them vulnerable, dealing bonus damage, causing them to take more damage from all sources for 6s.
Lethal Tempo: Gain attack speed when attacking an enemy champion, stacking up to 6 times. At max stacks, gain Attack Range and remove your Attack Speed limit.
Fleet Footwork: Attacking and moving builds Energy stacks. At 100 stacks, your next attack heals you and grants increased movement speed (MS).
Conquerer: Gain stacks of adaptive force when attacking enemy champions. After reaching 12 stacks, heal for a portion of damage you deal to champions.
Domination
Domination lets you "hunt and eliminate prey" by dealing burst damage and target access.
Domination's Keystones are:
Electrocute: Hitting a champion with 3 separate attacks or abilities in 3s deals bonus adaptive damage.
Predator: Add an active effect to your boots that grants a large boost of MS and causes your next attack or ability to deal bonus adaptive damage.
Dark Harvest: Damaging a low health champion inflicts adaptive damage and harvests a soul from the victim.
Hail of Blades: Gain a large amount of Attack Speed for the first 3 attacks made against enemy champions.
Sorcery
Sorcery "unleashes destruction" by empowers abilities and helping with resource manipulation.
Sorcery's Keystones are:
Summon Aery: Your attacks and abilities send Aery to a target, damaging enemies or shielding allies.
Arcane Comet: Damaging a champion with an ability hurls a damaging comet at their location.
Phase Rush: Hitting an enemy champion with 3 separate attacks or abilities grants a burst of MS.
Resolve
Resolve lets you "live forever" by giving you durability and crowd control.
Resolve's Keystones are:
Grasp of the Undying: Every 4s your next attack on a champion deals bonus magic damage, heals you, and permanently increases your health.
Aftershock: After immobilizing an enemy champion, gain defenses and later deal a burst of magic damage around you.
Guardian: Guard allies you cast spells on and those that are very nearby. If you or a guarded ally would take damage based on level, you're both granted a shield.
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Inspiration
Inspiration lets you "outwit mere mortal" with creative tools and rule bending.
Inspiration's Keystones are:
Glacial Augment: Immobilizing an enemy champion will cause 3 glacial rays that slow nearby enemies and reduce their damage to your allies.
Unsealed Spellbook: Swap Summoner Spells while out of combat. Swapping to unique Summoners Spells will increase the rate at which you can make future swaps.
First Strike: When you initiate champion combat, deal 9% extra damage for 3 seconds and gain gold based on damage dealt.
LoL: What Are Rune Pages?
If you feel confident about your Rune knowledge, then you can customize your own Rune Pages to fit your playstyle. This way, you won't have to hand select your favorite Rune Paths each game anew.
You can select and create Rune Pages once you've reached level 10. Each player starts off with 3 Rune Pages. If you want, you can expand your selection of Rune Pages to up to 25 Rune Pages. But, you'll have to buy each further Rune Page.
A single Rune Page will cost you either 590 RP or 6300 BE.
Personally, I find that too pricey, especially if you're a beginner and you're still unlocking new champs. But if you want to customize a bunch of new Rune Pages, then hey, go for it!
Hopefully this gave you at least a bit of clarity in LoL! If you have other questions to basic game mechanics in LoL, check out or other articles on Riftfeed!
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