User:Dr ishmael/Rune

This is a temporary page for an overhaul of the Rune article. Feel free to edit this page and leave any comments on the talk page.

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. Runes are similar to Insignia in that they are armor upgrades - each armor piece can hold one rune and one insignia. They differ in that the effect of an insignia is generally localized to a single piece of armor (with a few exceptions), while the effect of a rune is applied to the character regardless of which armor piece it is attached to.

Potency
Runes can come in three different levels of potency: Minor, Major and Superior. A Rune's potency is easily identifiable by its appearance: a minor rune looks like a small scrap of parchment, a major rune is a large parchment square, and a superior rune is a large scroll. Condition-reducing runes do not have a potency, but have the appearance of a Major rune. Vitae and Attunement runes also do not have a potency, but they count as Minor runes for all purposes (meaning they use the Minor icon, are obtained from blue armor, and cost 1,000 faction to unlock from a Priest of Balthazar).

Usability
Some runes can be used by all professions, others are profession-specific. The usability of a rune can be identified by both it's icon and its name. Runes usable by all professions have the unique icon shown in the top row of the table on the right, and are named simply "Rune"; once identified they will display their function and potency, i.e. "Rune of Clarity" or "Rune of Minor Vigor."

Profession-specific runes are indicated by a different symbol for each profession. Unidentified profession runes will show their associated profession in the title ("Necromancer Rune"); identified ones will also show the function and potency ("Necromancer Rune of Superior Soul Reaping").

Tip: Because a rune's potency and profession can be known simply from the icon and the unidentified name, many players prefer to salvage runes before identifying them - if the player already has all runes of that level and profession unlocked on his or her account, he or she can sell it to another player who still needs those unlocks.

Function
There are four distint rune functions, each providing a different inherent effect. The four functions are:
 * Attribute Runes
 * Absorption Runes
 * Stat Bonus Runes
 * Condition Reducing Runes

Attribute
These runes provide a bonus to a single attribute such as Fire Magic or Strength. Major and Superior attribute runes also lower your maximum health.
 * Usable by: Primary profession only. For example, a Ranger/Monk could use a Ranger 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)

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

Stat bonus
These are the Vigor, Vitae, and Attunement runes, which provide a bonus to Health or Energy. As said above, Vitae and Attunement runes do not have a potency, but are equivalent to Minor runes for all purposes.
 * Usable by: All professions
 * Campaign: Core

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 a potency, but they count as Major runes for most purposes (they use the Major icon and are obtained from purple armor), except that they only cost 1,000 faction to unlock from a Priest of Balthazar.
 * Usable by: All professions
 * Campaign: Nightfall

Availability
Runes are found as components on Salvage Armor 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 be unlocked on your account for use in PvP Equipment creation.
 * White armor contains no special components
 * Blue armor contains a Minor Rune, an armor Insignia, or one of each
 * Purple armor is guaranteed to contain a Major Rune** (and may also contain an Insignia).
 * Gold armor is 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 the 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 unidentified after being salvaged.

In PvE, 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 runes that are in high demand 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.

In PvP, runes can be unlocked by trading in Balthazar Faction at a Priest of Balthazar. The Minor level of a rune costs 1,000 faction, Major 1,500, and Superior 2,000, and you must unlock them in sequence from least to most powerful: Minor->Major->Superior. 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 PvP armor using your unlocked runes.

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 armor. The % chance of retaining the armor after salvaging the rune will be lower than that for salvage armor, 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
Runes of Vitae and Attunement are stackable, meaning you receive cumulative effects from wearing more than one at a time. All other runes are non-stackable within their own type: you can only receive the benefit of the highest potency rune equipped. However, health penalties from all equipped runes will stack.

Stacking Example: If you attach a Rune of Vitae (+10 health) 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. (Adding a second Minor Vigor will not increase your health further, because Vigor runes are non-stacking.)

Non-Stacking Example: If you attach a Rune of Minor Curses (+1 Curses) to your chest armor and another to your head armor, you will only gain a bonus of +1 Curses. If you then attach a Rune of Major Curses to your hand armor, you will only gain a bonus of +2 Curses; the two minor runes will effectively be overridden by the higher-potency rune. If you replace one of the Minor runes with a Rune of Superior Curses, it will override the Major rune to give you +3 Curses; however, you will take the health penalties from both the Major and Superior runes, for a total of -110 health.

Runes stack with most bonuses from other sources, including inherent armor bonuses, armor Insignias, weapon upgrades and Inscriptions, Blessings, and skill effects.
 * 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 Necromancer wearing a Wicked Scar Pattern (+1 Curses) with a Rune of Superior Curses applied to it would have total of +4 Curses. Using Awaken the Blood would boost this to a total bonus of +6 Curses.
 * 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 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 necessarily 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.

Prior to the November 2, 2006 Update, the Condition-reducing runes used the icon for a Minor rune, even though they were only found on purple salvage armor. Runes that existed before this date keep the Minor icon and cannot be sold to Rune Traders.

Trivia
(possibly don't include this in the final article, but just for fun...)
 * An Elementalist with Energy Storage at 16 (using All-Seeing Eye and Rune of Superior Energy Storage; Energy +48) a full set of Radiant Insignia (Energy +8), four Runes of Attunement (Energy +2 each), a spellcasting weapon with the "Seize the Day" inscription (Energy +15, Energy regen -1), and a focus item (Energy +10) with the "Live for Today" inscription (Energy +15, Energy regen -1), while under the effects of Chaotic Power (Energy +10), Disciple of Energy (ES +1 = Energy +3), and a 10% Morale Boost (Energy +7) would have a bonus of +134 energy for a total of 154 energy. This is believed to be the maximum possible energy that a character can have as of the release of Nightfall.