Runes?

FalsettoSonata·May 3, 2015·1 votes·405 views

Hi all im level eight and i see that there are "runes". What do these do and should I buy them or buy champions. Thanks fam.

8 Comments

yellowbricksMay 3, 20154 votes

Runes are basically a tax you have to pay in order to be able to play this game in any reasonable capacity. Everyone else spent tens of thousands of IP on these little hexagons that make a number slightly higher, and you have to as well to not be at a huge disadvantage from the start. Riot calls it customization, but I'm much less inclined to experiment when each test makes me spend thousands of IP on runes. It's absolute drudgery, but if you have any interest in this game, you'll have to go through the horrendous grind to be able to be on an even playing field. Good luck.

FalsettoSonataMay 3, 20151 votes

Dang this game is complex lol.

ValyrianBladeMay 3, 20152 votes

Runes are incredibly important. Tier 3 runes are only available after level 20. Lower Tier runes should be really cheap now if you want to try, but unnecessary.

On your profile, there are currently 2 rune pages (you can buy more). Runes are what make your champion strong, what's the point in owning every champion if they're all weak?

I only started last year. I opted to save a lot of ip for runes, so at level 20 i could buy Tier 3 runes immediately, and each time i leveled add in a rune to each page.

From my experience, it sort of sucked not having champions. I'd recommend you buy a few champions you really want (only ever buy 1 champion at a time to be sure you get chances to play them), and start saving for runes close to level 20.

You'll want a standard ad and ap rune page. Ad: Marks: attack damage seals: armour (flat) Glyphs: scaling magic resist quintessence: attack speed

Ap: Marks: magic penetration seals: flat armour glyphs: flat magic resist, or scaling, or flat ap, or scaling cdr Quintessence: flat ap

That should be a pretty standard set. Feel free to calculate how much it will cost for a full page of Tier 3s (it will be astonishingly high).you'll have more fun getting a few champions for now and worrying about runes a bit later (and in steps at a time).

One final note: There are occasionally 2 for 1 rune page sales - never buy pages at full price. Runes also went 30% off in January, so that may happen again and may be a good reason to delay buying runes.

FalsettoSonataMay 3, 20151 votes

Ight thanks fam. My bro says they are having a sale in May for 2 for 1 rune pages. Should I buy that. Sorry i dont trust my bros judgement Kappa.

ValyrianBladeMay 4, 20151 votes

It depends on a few factors:

How much do you play? How long does/will it take you to gain IP (specifically, 6300 IP)
What roles/champions do you play? You should get used to playing everything, but there's no harm in playing teambuilder and focusing on specific roles/champions at lower levels. If you have a pretty standard champion pool you'll only need the two rune pages above, just use the AD pages on your AD scaling champions and your AP page on the AP scaling champions. If you play some more unique picks, e.g. Tank Supports (they'd want armor marks and quints), Hybrids (they want Hybrid penetration marks), melee ADCs or Assassins (e.g. Tryndamere, Fiora, Zed, Pantheon) (they typically prefer armor penetration marks over attack damage), etc... then you could actually make use of the extra rune pages (assuming you can afford to fill them with runes).
How long do you typically enjoy playing just 1 champion? Do you think you'll get bored going months without buying any champions?

Honestly, you said your level 8. I would STRONGLY recommend you don't buy extra rune pages right now. You'll get WAY more out of buying a few good champions. Try free rotation champions and if you find someone you REALLY like then save up and buy them. Once you hit around level 14 start saving up IP for runes. From 14-20 occasionally reward yourself with a new champion, but aim to have at least 10000 IP when you hit 20 (I had about 18000) so you can instantly buy 2/3 of the runes for each of the above pages and start getting them together. 2 rune pages is more than enough through to level 30. There should be another 2 for 1 rune page sale at the start of 2016 (there are typically 2 per year) and you can worry about getting extra rune pages then.

AMYS GRAVEMay 4, 20151 votes

you get two pages and you should fill them with greater runes when you hit level 30.

an AD page armor pen marks armor seals MR glyphs AD quints

and an AP page magic pen marks armor seals MR glyphs AP quints

That will get you started.

you can check what runes high elo players prefer here

http://lolbuilder.net/runes/popular

and decide which you want when you get more rune pages based on which roles you enjoy playing.

Drunk RummateMay 4, 20151 votes

Yes, 2 for 1 sale on rune pages is pretty much the only time you should be buying rune pages at all. They are extremely important to your progression and versatility as a player.

I'd shoot for 6 pages total (including the 2 free ones you get) if you can get them while they're on sale. Otherwise 4 is fine and will be a good start for you. Filling them up with runes takes a lot of time and IP but it's super worth it.

KMannnnn1May 4, 20151 votes

Definitely avoid buying runes until you can get tier 3. Low tier runes are fairly cheap, but that's still IP you're never going to get back for stuff that won't be useful after you buy the next level. Once you hit level 20, just go ahead and buy the standard AD/AP rune pages and you're good to go until you have all the champions, when you can buy more runes just to have fun with different setups.