Off-Meta Rune Pages (How to Build)

Tentacle Advisor·Jul 18, 2016·1 votes·1,871 views

I'm curious to know when is it ever necessary/viable to build off-meta Rune Pages? And when and/or if you ever do make an off-meta Rune Page, how would you go about making them? What factors would you consider when building such a page?

For example, I once had a Rune Page for Morgana, back before the Keystone masteries came into play, that had SpellVamp quints in it, rather than AP Quints. And the reason for that was to take advantage of her passive. The increase wasn't truly noticeable til later on in the game(s), but it was definitely noticeable once that point came.

So, yeah, what do ya'll have to say about this?

17 Comments

Zero ShingetsuJul 18, 20162 votes

I run LeBlanc with move speed quints, mana regen reds, AD yellows and mana regen blues. The point isn't to rack up a huge score, but to frustrate the other team with jukes and be capable of distracting them off any objective at any time.

I also often run gold runes on ADCs to give myself a slight edge over the other ADC in the long run. Though I may stop doing that now that I've run the math, gold runes are almost worthless...

Tentacle AdvisorJul 18, 20161 votes

I've enjoyed using Move Speed quints on my immobile mages. Much like you said, it's mainly just for being a distraction, on top of being a bit more mobile. I used to run Gold runes on my support pages, but then I realized that, with the Gold gen support items, they are no longer noticeable enhancements. :(

Now I use Move Speed quints and Armor/HP/HP Regen Quints on my supports.

Anyway, even though you no longer do it, I love that you used to use Gold /10 quints on your adc page. That's an interesting way to play. :3

Zero ShingetsuJul 18, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I've enjoyed using Move Speed quints on my immobile mages. Much like you said, it's mainly just for being a distraction, on top of being a bit more mobile. I used to run Gold runes on my support pages, but then I realized that, with the Gold gen support items, they are no longer noticeable enhancements. :(

Now I use Move Speed quints and Armor/HP/HP Regen Quints on my supports.

Anyway, even though you no longer do it, I love that you used to use Gold /10 quints on your adc page. That's an interesting way to play. :3

Sometimes I'll take a thornmail on ADC too. Just to win the late duels. :D

Tentacle AdvisorJul 18, 20161 votes

I've done similar by building Frozen Heart on my ADC's. :p

III BAKURYU III Jul 18, 20161 votes

I was never a fan of the Gold runes or the old mastery gold for supports etc. I felt like if you don't die and are tanky enough to survive you will get gold no matter what especially nowadays as the games are much shorter you only need so much gold and items to win games as most games finish around the 31 min mark.

L Psy KongrooJul 18, 20162 votes

Old-school BankPlank with gold gen quints and yellows.

Move speed quints on champions that don't really need the extra move speed (e.g. Nunu/Shaco when counter-jungling, Rammus when doing Rammus things)

Full crit damage boost page, crits deal 33% extra damage. I run this sometimes on Jhin, Ashe, and Tryndamere.

Full HP regen page, for infinite sustain Mundo.

Full armor pen page for assassins, or Jayce.

Tentacle AdvisorJul 18, 20161 votes

I used that same page for Jhin, myself, once or twice. :p

I've once placed 4 AP scaling glyphs on Ashe, to make her ult sting a little bit.

Haven't played Jayce before, but I'm interested to try this full armor pen build on someone.

bleufromageJul 18, 20162 votes

off meta runes are pretty much useless these days because they have been nerfed so much and are less effective when used against a meta rune set. There are a select few of champs that can make some of them useful. Mundo and shyv do well with dual pen runes. Garen, aatrox, and mundo can use health regen runes but you will have to alter your play style because you wont do as much dmg but you will be able to stay in lane longer if you are passive. CDR runes can be done on lucian along with the 45% cdr mastery and murmana but im not sure that a set of cdr runes is really "off meta". I have used spell vamp on fiddle but I found his abilities scale with ap so well he will be better off with ap to get health back on his w.

The biggest factor is; does the champion have it built in thier kit to abuse that set of runes? Mundo and garen have health regen built in thier kit so buffing that with runes makes sense. Shyv and mundo do both ad and ap damage. With CDR on Lucain you can spam spells to make up for the damge you would be losing on ur autos.

What you have to realize is if you are running off meta runes then you have to play and build the champion differently. You basically have to relearn that champion from the ground up. One of the most important factors to doing well in league is knowing what exactly your champion is capable of at any given moment and making decisions accordingly. So do think that meta breaking= OP. It means you have to play smarter.

Tentacle AdvisorJul 18, 20161 votes

I've always been told that no one builds off-meta rune pages, because "early game" is too important to not have free damage added to your base stats.

My personal playstyle has never involved aggressive play because I'm more of a passive-reactive player, rather than an aggressive-proactive player. That being said, early stats don't necessarily mean much to me. However, I do see where you're coming from with the whole "you have to alter your playstyle" point.

bleufromageJul 18, 20161 votes

its not just the early game that people dont build off meta its because they are not gold efficient. for instance AP quints are 100% gold efficient but spellvamp quints are about 60% gold efficient (thats being generous).

Tentacle AdvisorJul 18, 20161 votes

That phrase "gold efficient" really makes the cool-sounding runes, not worth picking up. Like, why are they even in the game still if they aren't viable, let alone close to being viable? It's very disheartening that all my pages are REQUIRED to be a certain way in order for them to be viable or close to it.

bleufromageJul 18, 20162 votes

Exactly, it really irritates me and i made a really long post about it a while back. Why let players waste thier ip on these things when they arent viable. Why even have them in the game when there is so little to actually chose from. Either buff the runes or get rid of the ones that no one uses and make the rest free.

RamRanchDressingJul 18, 20162 votes

I ran %HP seals and quints on Cho'Gath w/Strength of the Ages.

At full build and with Elixir of Iron, I had just over 7k HP. (7006 I think?)

Nobody even tried to hit me at that point.

Tentacle AdvisorJul 18, 20161 votes

[sees 7k HP Cho'Gath] "Wait, you shouldn't be h--....Oh, it's just you Cho'Gath. Please, feel free to push this wave as you see fit."

[sees a squishy champion] "Hey, stop right there!" throws all abilities at once

III BAKURYU III Jul 18, 20161 votes

SILVER 3 Talking so take what I say with a grain of Salt PLEASE.......

HP/Regen runes are nice in LANE only and even then you can get item 3065 to help against the AP mid lane so its HP/Regen runes are ok.
Lane isn't what it use to be now its just a quick warm up for the game now as no one stays in lane for more than 5 mins before roaming and trying to end the game by 20mins as this game length is much shorter these days.

The HP/Regen can work if you can get 200 cs by 20 mins to really make it work if not your Seals could be used for Armor or HP-per level to help out for the mid(20-25) and Late(25-35) game.

The spell vamp is ..ok.. but not great per ability you get like 4 hp back so its not that great again for lane, its also clear that Riot is trying to leave out Spell vamp and sustain outside from Damage sustain, so its better to go with Damage to kill the enemy lane to be able to sustain in lane when their dead.

Tentacle AdvisorJul 18, 20161 votes

I hate that off-meta Runes simply sound cool, but if math is involved, they aren't worth anything. It's pretty disheartening that my Rune Pages "have" to be the same basic stuff in order to be "viable". = (

III BAKURYU III Jul 18, 20161 votes

They don't "Have" to be but its recommended. I don't mind some weird runes here and there as long as not tier 1 and 2.

So many times after games I look at the player's runes to find out the Shen was using Mana regen runes and Crit chance seals as they go 0-10 in game and complain on boards about bad players when in fact their the ones that are bad.