User:Dr ishmael/Rune

''This article is only about rune as applied to armor. Information on the rune for bags is in the Rune of Holding article.''

A rune is a kind of upgrade item that is applied to a character's armor.

Availability
Runes are found as components on Salvage Armors obtained from defeated foes. The rarity of the item indicates what type of rune the armor holds: The armor can be identified to determine exactly which components (Rune and/or Insignia) it contains. Once you identify a rune, it will unlocked on your account for use in PvP.
 * White items contain no rune
 * Blue items may contain a Minor Rune, an armor Insignia, or one of each
 * Purple items are guaranteed to contain a Major Rune (and may also contain an Insignia)
 * Gold items are guaranteed to contain a Superior Rune (and may also contain an Insignia)

To extract a component from the armor, an Expert Salvage Kit or Superior Salvage Kit must be used. A dialog window will allow you to select which component you want to salvage, as well as inform you of the % chance that the rest of the armor will be retained after the salvage. If the armor survives, you can then salvage a second component from it (if it has one) or salvage it into crafting materials. If you salvage the item before identifying it, you will not be able to select a specific component, and the component will be un-identified after being salvaged.

Runes can be sold to and purchased from rune traders in cities. The traders only sell runes that other players have sold to them, so high-demand runes and runes from newly-released expansions may not always be in stock. Also, traders only deal in already-identified runes, so you will not be able to unlock runes by buying them from the rune trader.

For PvP-only players, runes can be unlocked by trading in Balthazar Faction points at a Priest of Balthazar. Note that this only unlocks the rune; you will not receive an actual rune in your inventory. You can then use the PvP Equipment interface to craft armor using your unlocked runes.

Attribute
These runes provide a bonus to a single attribute such as Fire Magic or Strength.
 * Usable by: Primary profession only. For example, a Ranger/Monk could use a Rune of Minor Marksmanship, while a Monk/Ranger could not.
 * Campaign: Same as profession (i.e. Ranger runes are Core items; Dervish runes are Nightfall items)
 * Stacking: Non-stackable (See below)

Absorption
These runes provide damage reduction against physical damage. (See Absorption for more details.)
 * Usable by: Warrior only
 * Campaign: Core
 * Stacking: Non-stackable

Stat-bonus
These are the Vigor, Vitae, and Attunement runes, which provide a bonus to Health or Energy. Vitae and Attunement runes do not have Minor/Major/Superior levels, but they count as Minor runes on Salvage Armor drops, i.e. they are obtained from blue armors.
 * Usable by: All professions
 * Campaign: Core
 * Stacking: Vigor runes are non-stackable. Attunement and Vitae runes are stackable.

Condition-reducing
These are the Clarity, Purity, Recovery, and Restoration runes, which reduce the duration of conditions suffered by your character by 20%. These runes do not have Minor/Major/Superior levels, but they count as Major runes on Salvage Armor drops, i.e. they are obtained from purple armors.
 * Usable by: All professions
 * Campaign: Nightfall
 * Stacking: Stackable (There is currently a bug where the first rune applied actually reduces durations by 35% instead of 20%; subsequent runes correctly reduce the duration by a further 20% each.)

A rune's icon is a piece of parchment with a symbol on it. Runes linked to the same profession have the same symbol, while common runes have a different symbol. The shape of the parchment varies with the potency of the rune (single-valued runes all have the shape for a Minor rune). Linked runes have their profession noted in their name, even if not identified. For example, an identified "Mesmer Major Rune of Fast Casting" or unidentified "Necromancer Rune." So, if a rune is not identified, you can still tell which profession it is for (or if it is a common rune) and its potency.

Use
To use a rune, double-click it and then click on the piece of armor you want to apply it to. Each armor piece can only hold a single rune. You can replace a rune with a different one by applying the new rune to the piece of armor that already has one - a dialog will ask you to confirm the replacement.

You can expert salvage armor that you have attached a rune to in order to recover the rune, in a process identical to that for obtaining runes from salvage armors. The % chance of retaining the armor after salvaging the rune will be lower than that for salvage armors, however.

Note: As with all other items obtained from character creation, starter armor and PvP armor cannot be salvaged, so runes applied to them cannot be recovered. However, collector's armor can be salvaged, so runes applied to collector's pieces can be recovered.

Stacking
Vitae, Attunement, and Condition-reducing runes are stackable, while all other runes (Vigor, Absorption, and runes affecting attributes) are non-stackable within their own type. You can only receive the benefit of the highest potency rune from each. However, health penalties from all attached runes will stack.

Stacking Example: A Rune of Vitae adds +10 health. If you attach one to your chest armor and another to your head armor, you will receive +20 health. If you then attach another to your hand armor, the bonus will increase to +30 health. If you then attach a Rune of Minor Vigor (+30 health) to your leg armor, the total bonus will be +60 health.

Non-Stacking Example: A Rune of Minor Vigor adds +30 health. If you attach one to your chest armor and another to your head armor, you will only gain a bonus of +30 health. If you then attach a Rune of Major Vigor to your hand armor, you will only gain a bonus of +41 health; the two minor runes will effectively be overridden by the higher-potency rune.

Runes stack with bonuses from other sources, including inherent armor bonuses, armor Insignias, weapon upgrades and Inscriptions, and skill effects.
 * A Wicked Scar Pattern (+1 Curses) with a Rune of Superior Curses applied to it would add a total of +4 to your Curses attribute. Using Awaken the Blood would boost this to a total bonus of +6 Curses.
 * A Warrior equipped with a full set of Knight's Insignia (damage reduction -3) and a Rune of Superior Absorption will have a total damage reduction of -6.
 * A full set of Survivor Insignia (Health +40), a Rune of Superior Vigor (Health +50), four Runes of Vitae (Health +10 each), and a Hale Winged Staff of Fortitude (max. Health +60) will give a total bonus of +190 health.

Historical Notes
Prior to the April 26, 2006 Update, purple and gold dropped salvage armor did not indicate the magnitude of the rune (Superior/Major/Minor) they contained. Because of this, be aware that purple and gold salvage armor created before this date does not necesarily contain a major or superior rune. To protect yourself from this when trading, insist upon trading for the expert salvaged rune instead.

Prior to the June 1, 2006 Update, Major attribute runes had a -50 health penalty. Runes that existed before this date keep the higher penalty, and cannot be sold to Rune Traders.