Riot have recently announced every single Rune arriving in League of Legends’ upcoming preseason. There are 60 in total, and we’ve broken every one of them down for you, so you can get your theorycrafting hat on in preparation for the November 8 release.
Keep up to date with everything else happening in League of Legends with the 7.20 patch notes.
The new Runes come in five different paths; Precision, Domination, Sorcery, Resolve, and Inspiration. Each path offers you a choice of three major ‘keystone’ runes. After that, you’ll have to pick one rune each from three groups of three runes. Overall, that means you’ll pick six runes per game, four from your choice of primary path, and two from the minor runes of your secondary path.
Your combination of paths will also offer you bonus stats. For example, taking a Domination/Resolve combination grants you 10 AP or 7 AD, while an Inspiration/Precision page offers 20% longer potion duration and an additional 18% attack speed.
Precision
The precision path is based around improved auto-attacks and sustained damage. It’s been built very clearly with marksmen in mind, and there’s almost no reason to take it in any other role.
Major runes
Press the Attack
Hitting an enemy champion with 3 consecutive basic attacks will deal 30 – 120 bonus adaptive damage (based on level) and make them vulnerable increasing the damage they take from all sources for 6 seconds.
Lethal Tempo
1.5 seconds after damaging a champion, gain 30-80% Attack Speed (based on level) for 3 seconds. Attacking a champion extends the effect to 6 seconds. Lethal Tempo allows you to temporarily exceed the attack speed limit, and has a six second cooldown.
Late-game hyper carries like Kog’maw and Tristana stand to benefit significantly.
Fleet Footwork
Attacking and moving builds Energy stacks. At 100 stacks, your next attack is Energized. Energized attacks heal you for 5 – 50 (+0.10 Bonus AD, +0.30 AP) and grant 30% increased movement speed for 1 second. Fleet Footwork deals no damage to Monsters. Healing is 60% effective when used on a minion, but is increased by 100% of your critical damage modifier when triggered by a critical hit.
Currently a sustain-focused variation on Warlord’s bloodlust.
Minor runes
Overheal
50% of excess healing becomes a decaying shield, for up to 10% + of your total health +10. Shield is built up from 40% of excess healing from self, or up to 300% of excess healing from allies (based on level).
Slightly empowered version of The Bloodthirster’s passive.
Presence of Mind
For 7 Seconds after gaining a level-up or takedown the mana you spend on abilities is fully restored.
Triumph
Takedowns restore 12% of your missing health and grant an additional 25 gold.
A lot like a more powerful version of the current Dangerous Game, but with a little gold boost.
The following three masteries build from new ‘Legend’ stacks, which are gained as follows:
Gain Legend stacks for every 30 points earned:
- 20 points for champion takedowns
- 20 points for epic monster takedowns
- 4 points for large monster kills
- 1 points for minion kills
Legend: Alacrity
Gain 5% attack speed plus an additional 1.5% for every Legend stack (max 10).
Legend: Tenacity
Gain 5% tenacity plus an additional 1.5% for every Legend stack (max 10).
Legend: Bloodline
Gain 0.8% life steal for every Legend stack (max 10).
These are all intended to benefit late-game marksmen, but I don’t think Legend:Tenacity will see much popularity in that regard, as attack speed and life steal will be more beneficial for ADCs. Meanwhile tanks, who would normally opt for tenacity, won’t build precision.
Coup de Grace
Deal 9% more damage to champions who have less than 40% health. Additionally, takedown on champions grant 9 AD/15 AP for 10 seconds. This effect stacks.
Cut Down
Deal up to 8% more damage to champions based on how much more health they have than you.
Last Stand
Deal 5-12% more damage to champions while below 60% health.
These are all pretty similar, and based on how much health you have compared to your opponents. The best one is definitely Coup de Grace, although Cut Down will be an interesting replacement for items like Lord Dominik’s Regard and Blade of the Ruined King.
Domination
Domination is arguably the strongest path of the lot. It’s all about buffing up assassins, making it easier to get to your targets and them burst them down, but to be honest, there’s a little something for everyone in here.
Major Runes
Electrocute
Hitting a champion with 3 unique attacks or abilities within 2 seconds deals 50 – 220 (+0.50 bonus AD, +0.3 AP) bonus adaptive damage, with a 50-25 second cooldown.
A more powerful version of Thunderlord’s Decree, but on a much longer cooldown at early levels. It also requires you to get off three unique attacks extremely quickly, making it viable on a much smaller group of characters.
Predator
Enchants your boots with the active effect ‘Predator.’ Channelling for 1.5 seconds out of combat gains you 45% movement speed for 15 seconds. Damaging attacks or abilities end this effect, dealing 60 – 180 (+0.4 bonus AD)(+0.25 AP) bonus adaptive damage. It’s on a 150-100 second cooldown, and it goes on cooldown if interrupted while channeling.
At the moment, this looks like it might be the strongest rune in the game, with viability across multiple roles. Supports can take this to avoid buying mobility boots, assassins to close down their targets and deal more damage, and fighters can get to fights quicker. Even an ADC could take it, getting them back to lane faster and making sure their first attack packs a punch. Combined with an item like Stattik Shiv or Dead Man’s Plate, Predator could be a real threat across the board.
Dark Harvest
Champions, large minions, and large monsters drop soul essence on death. Collecting souls, causes you to become Soul Charged, which in turn causes your next attack on a champion or structure within 20 seconds (or 300 seconds after 150 soul essence) to deal 40-80 (+0.25 bonus AD) (+0.2 AP) + soul essence collected bonus adaptive damage. Champion souls grant 6 soul essence. Monster souls grant 2 soul essence. Minion souls grant 4 soul essence.
Easily the weakest of the Domination tree, Dark Harvest is built for the late game, but could very easily see you punished in lane if you step out of position to gather souls. It might work better in ranged vs melee matchups, however.
Minor Runes
Zombie Ward
After killing an enemy ward, a friendly Zombie Ward is raised in its place. If you already had a ward in the brush where the Zombie Ward would spawn, it instead replaces your trinket for up to 30 seconds. Zombie Wards are visible, last for 180 seconds and don’t count towards your ward limit.
Ghost Poro
Enter a brush to summon a poro after a brief channel (channel interupted by damage and casting other spells). The poro will stay behind to give you vision until you summon a new one.
If an enemy enters brush with a poro in it, they scare it away, putting this effect on a 30 seconds cooldown. Poro channel is interrupted if you take damage.
Eyeball Collection
Gain +1 Ability Power or +0.6 Attack Damage, Adaptive permanently on champion kills, and half of that on assists and ward takedowns, up to a total of 20 eyeballs. Upon completing your collection, gain 10 AP and 6 AD.
These three are all based around vision. Ghost Poro is the least effective, as all it lets you know is if there’s someone behind you, which you’ll likely already know. Eyeball collection might net you 60 or so AP if you have a really good game, but the extra vision from Zombie Ward makes it easily the best choice, and it’ll likely see an awful lot of pro play.
Cheap Shot
Damaging champions with impaired movement or actions deals 12 – 30 bonus true damage (based on level). Four second cooldown, apploes to damage occuring after the impairment.
Taste of Blood
Heal for 18-35 (+0.20 bonus AD, +0.1 AP) health when you damage an enemy champion. 20 second cooldown.
At low levels, this will be helpful, but it’ll rapidly lose viability later in the game.
Sudden Impact
After exiting stealth or using a dash, leap, blink, teleport, damage a champion to gain 10 Lethality and 8 Magic Penetration for 5 seconds. 4 second cooldown.
Ideal for pretty much all assassins, this is definitely the strongest of the bunch.
The next three runes all focus on ‘Bounty Hunter’ stacks, which are earned for unique champion takedowns, so all of these runes stack up to a maximum of five.
Ravenous Hunter
Heal for 2.5%, plus an extra 2.5% per Bounty Hunter stack, of the damage dealt by your abilities. Healing is reduced to one third on AoE abilities.
Ingenious Hunter
Gain 10% cooldown reduction on your active items, plus an additional 6% per Bounty Hunter stack (includes trinkets).
Relentless Hunter
Gain 8 out of combat movement speed plus 8 per Bounty Hunter stack.
Calling what’s more powerful between Ingenious Hunter and Relentless Hunter is tricky, but pairing Relentless Hunter with Predator gives a boost of up to 48 movement speed, plus a later increase of a further 45%. While the bonus vision that Ingenious Hunter offers will be important, that kind of mobility is not to be sniffed at.
Sorcery
Sorcery is built for mages. That should have been reasonably obvious from the name, to be quite honest. It’s all about empowering your spells and helping you manage your resources.
Major Runes
Summon Aery
Your attacks and abilities send Aerie to a target, damaging enemies for 15-40 based on level +0.1AP or +0.15 bonus AD, or shielding allies for 30-80 based on level +0.25AP or +0.25 bonus AD. You can pick up Aerie to reduce this rune’s cooldown.
This is a lot like Lulu’s passive and E, but all in one rune. Aerie doesn’t do as much damage as other Sorcery options, but has much more versatility, and could be a good pick for supports like Janna and Lulu.
Arcane Comet
Damaging a champion with an ability hurls a comet at their location (or if Arcane Comet is on cooldown, reduces its remaining cooldown), dealing 30 – 100 based on level (+0.2 AP and 0.35 bonus AD), on a 20-8 second cooldown. While on cooldown, damaging a champion with an ability reduces Arcane Comet’s cooldown by 20% for single target spells, 10% for AoE spells, and 5% for damage-over-time effects.
This is a little like the long-forgetten item Deathfire Grasp, offering a little extra burst to your targets. It’ll be nice on champions like Syndra and Xerath.
Phase Rush
Hitting an enemy champion with 3 unique attacks or abilities within 3 seconds grants 15-40% Movement Speed based on level for 3 seconds. Melee champions will also gain 75% Slow Resistance for the duration. 15 second cooldown.
This is a lot like the current Stormraider’s Surge mastery, but should be easier to proc as it’s not based on the damage you need to deal, just on the spells you can land, which will mean you can still activate it if you fall behind.
Minor runes
Nullifying Orb
At 30% health gain a magic damage shield blocking 40 – 120 damage based on level (+10% AP or +15% AD). 60 second cooldown.
This will be handy in a pinch, but the long cooldown and reasonably low early game shield will mean it’s not worth relying on, as Barrier will remain far more useful.
Manaflow Band
Every 60 seconds, your next ability used has its mana or energy cost refunded, and restores 8% of your missing mana or energy.
This will help mana-hungry early game champions, and might help out junglers too, as mid-laners will be less reliant on blue buffs to hold onto their mana.
The Ultimate Hat
Your ultimate’s cooldown is reduced by 5%. This number is increased by 2.0% each time your ultimate goes on cooldown. Stacks up to 5 times.
Your ultimate starting with a bonus 5% CDR is useful, but this should mean you’ll be able to boost your overall ultimate cooldown to 55%. For characters like Lux and Blitzcrank, that’ll mean seriously low cooldowns, and Kassadin will be leaping around the map to his heart’s content. To be honest though, there’s not a character in the game it won’t benefit, making this the obvious pick in this group.
Transcendence
Gain 10% CDR when you reach level 10. Each percent of CDR exceeding the CDR limit is converted to +2 Ability Power or +1.2 Attack Damage.
10% CDR for free is a pretty good deal, worth about 400 gold in monetary terms. The bonus AP/AD is basically useless though, as it should never be worth more than 10-20 AP if you’re building efficiently.
Celerity
Gain 3% increased Movement Speed and add 8% of your Bonus Movement Speed to your AP or AD.
4% movement speed is nice, but it’s not worth as much gold as Transcendence. Most mages are slow and immobile, though, so you won’t get that much out of the extra AP/AD.
Absolute Focus
While above 70% health, gain up to +40 Ability Power or +24 Attack Damage.
These are just stats, and ideally you do want to be staying above 70% health, so this might be the one to go for out of this group.
Waterwalking
Gain 25 Movement Speed and up to +30 Ability Power or +18 Attack Damage, (based on level) when in the river.
A slightly odd choice, as the river is a relatively small area of the map. This does, however, offer boosts to players fighting around Dragon or Baron automatically, offering a boost to objective-focused teams.
Gathering Storm
Every 10 minutes, gain AP or AD. At 10 minutes you’ll have an extra 8 AP or 5 AD, at 30 you’ll have 48 AP or 29 AD. At the 60 minute mark, you’ll have an extra 168 AP or 101 AD.
Ideally, you want to have closed your games out within an hour, but the free stats on offer here make Gathering Storm extremely powerful, and likely the best choice of these three.
Scorch
Your next ability hit sets champions on fire dealing 20-60 bonus magic damage based on level. 20 second cooldown.
This is a lot like the current Deathfire Touch mastery.
Resolve
The Resolve path is all about staying alive in teamfights, so it’s perfect for tanks. It also offers a few support options, as well as helping you and your team capitalise on your crowd control.
Major Runes
Grasp of the Undying
Every 4 seconds in combat, your next basic attack on a Champion will:
- Deal bonus damage equal to 3% of your max health
- Heal you for 1.5% of your max health
- Permanently increase your health by 5
For ranged champions, damage and healing are halved, and you’ll gain 2 health instead of 5.
This is a more powerful version of the current Grasp of the Undying mastery, and offers it more relevance into the late game. Sion, who already gains health in-lane for killing minions, should do very well off this.
Guardian
Right clicking an allied champion places a guard on that ally for 3 seconds. Before you or that ally would take damage, you’re both granted a shield of 110 – 250 +(0.15 AP) + (+10% bonus health) for 2.5 seconds. 45 second cooldown, 6 seconds if the shield doesn’t activate.
This is a solid choice for tanky supports like Alistar, Leona or Braum who don’t have shields built into their kits, although the AP scaling isn’t particularly useful.
Aftershock
After immobilizing an enemy champion, increase your current Armor and Magic resist by 20 + 30% for 2.5 seconds. Then, after 2.5 deal 40-140 (+3.5% of your maximum health) damage to nearby enemies. 20 second cooldown.
The damage on this is nice, but the value of the health from Grasp or the utility of Guardian makes Aftershock the weakest major Resolve rune.
Minor Runes
Unflinching
Increase your Tenacity and Slow Resistance by 10% for each Summoner Spell on cooldown. After casting a Summoner Spell, gain 15% additional Tenacity and Slow Resistance for 10s.
This is an odd one, given the length of most Summoner Spell cooldowns. It’ll likely work best on tanky junglers, who use Smite far more often than any other spell is used.
Demolish
Charge up a powerful attack against a tower over 4 seconds, while within 600 range of it. The charged attack deals 125 (+30% of your max health) bonus physical damage. 60 second cooldown.
This is a powerful tool for sieges, and it’ll work very well with tanky characters who can already empower their auto attacks, like Garen or Nasus.
Font of Life
Impairing the movement of an enemy champion marks them for 4 seconds. Ally champions who attack marked enemies heal for 5 + 1.0% of your max health. Healing is reduced to a third for your own attacks.
This won’t be very effective as a laning tool, so it’ll be limited to high CC team fighting champions, like Leona or Nautilus.
Iron Skin
Gain 5 Armor. Whenever you heal for at least 20 health or from a consumable’s effect, increase your Armor by 5% for 3 seconds.
Mirror Shell
Gain 6 Magic Resist. Whenever you heal for at least 20 health or from a consumable’s effect, increase your Magic Resist by 5% for 3 seconds.
These two are basically the same, but offer boosts to different stats. Mirror Shell seems very underpowered, given that the majority of the time tanky champions have to deal with physical rather than magic damage, especially in earlier stages of the game.
Conditioning
After 10 minutes gain 8 Armor and 8 Magic Resist and increase your total Armor and Magic Resist by 5%.
This seems the best of these three, although it requires players to rush resistances in the early game.
Revitalize
Heals and shields you cast or receive are 5% stronger and increased by an additional 10% on targets below 40% health.
This is a lot like the current Windspeaker’s Blessing mastery. It’s strong, but it’s in the wrong place – it’ll serve supports like Lulu and Janna well, but I’d guess they’re better suited to the Sorcery tree. It could work as a secondary pathway though.
Second Wind
After taking damage from an enemy champion heal for 6 + 4% of your missing health over 10 seconds.
This might work in long fights, but most characters will deal too much damage for the health regeneration to make much of a difference.
Overgrowth
Every 10 monsters or enemy minions that die near you permanently increase your max health by 0.2%.
This seems like another very nice one for tanks that build around health, like Sion and Cho’gath.
Inspiration
The Inspiration path is the weirdest of the five paths, and to be honest, feels the least effective. There are some interesting ideas here, and some stuff that’s fun to play with, but only one or two runes that are worth considering.
Major Runes
Glacial Augment
Basic attacking a champion slows them for 2 seconds (6-3 second per-unit cooldown). The slow increases in strength over its duration. Ranged attacks slow by up to 25% – 40%, while melee attacks slow by 40% – 50%. Slowing a champion with active items shoots a freeze ray through them, freezing the nearby ground for 7-4 seconds, slowing all units inside by 50% (max 3 rays per item use).
While the auto-attack slow here is good, the active item part of this mastery is weird. There are too few relevant items to make it worthwhile, and plenty of non-active items that offer similar effects.
Unsealed Spellbook
Gain 25% Summoner Spell cooldown reduction and you can swap one of your Summoner Spells to a different one at the shop for 1 Summoner Shard. Gain your first Summoner Shard at 2 minutes, and another every 6 minutes after. (Max 2 shards).
(Buying a Smite won’t grant access to Smite items, and you cannot have two of the same Summoner Spells).
The Summoner Spell cooldown here is strong, and while it’s a bizarre mechanic, gaining access to a late-game Teleport or Smite at a time when Ignite has become less relevant could make for some interesting tactical decisions.
Kleptomancy (Work in Progress)
Kleptomancy is the name for the one remaining unconfirmed Rune. After using an ability, your next attack grants bonus gold. There’s a chance you’ll also gain a consumable.
Minor Runes
Hextech Flashtraption
While Flash is on cooldown it is replaced by Hexflash. Hexflash: Channel for 2.5 seconds to blink to a new location. 20 second cooldown, goes on a 10 second cooldown when you enter champion combat.
Having not seen exactly how this works, I’m not sure quite how I feel about Hextech Flashtraption. It feels like there are very few situations where it’ll work, but it could allow for some handy objective steals.
Biscuit Delivery
Gain a Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will every 3 minutes, until 12 minutes. Biscuits restore 15% of your missing health and mana and increase your mana cap by 40 mana permanently. Champions without mana restore 20% missing health instead.
If this proc’d more than four times, I’d think it was better, but while it helps sustain, it’s not particularly powerful, and there are plenty of better healing tools.
Perfect Timing
Start the game with a Commencing Stopwatch that transforms into a Stopwatch after 6 minutes. Stopwatch has a one time use Stasis effect. Reduces the cooldown of Zhonyas Hourglass, Guardian Angel, and Gargoyle’s Stoneplate by 15%.
Taking this forces you towards certain build paths to get the most out of it, and there are plenty of situations in which you wouldn’t want to build the relevant items. The stasis tool is nice, but it feels like a cheap ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card.
Magical Footwear
You get free Slightly Magical Boots at 10 minutes, you cannot buy boots before then. Slightly Magical Boots give you an additional +10 movement speed and upgrades for 50 gold less.
This simply isn’t a better deal than normal boots. Don’t take it.
Future’s Market
You can enter debt to buy items. The amount you can borrow increases over time.
Debt limit: 150 + 5/minute. Lending Fee: 50 gold per item.
This will only ever grant you around 300-400 ‘bonus’ gold. Late game it won’t matter that much, but it could help you get important items quicker in the early game.
Minion Dematerializer
Start the game with 6 Minion Sojourners that kills and absorbs lane minions instantly. Minion Sojourners are on cooldown for the first 155 seconds of the game. Absorbing a minion increases your damage by +4% against that type of minion permanently, and an extra +1% for each additional minion of that type absorbed.
This basically lets you kill a minion wave in one go. It could help you get a quick lane advantage, but it actually feels like it’ll be better if you use it to clear waves to get to towers faster a little later on.
Cosmic Insight
+5% Cooldown Reduction, +5% Max Cooldown Reduction, +5% Summoner Spell Cooldown Reduction, +5% Item Cooldown Reduction.
Easily the best of the bunch. The cost associated with these stats makes Cosmic Insight a complete no-brainer.
Approach Velocity
Gain 10% Movement Speed towards nearby allies that are CC’ed or enemies that you CC, within 1000 units.
Good, but not as good as Cosmic Insight.
Celestial Body
100 Health permanently, – 10% Damage to Champions until 10 minutes.
Why are you still reading this bit? Take Cosmic Insight!
That’s it for all the new runes. Remember that these are very much a work in progress, and while the runes themselves should stay the same, the numbers can and will be tweaked at any time over the next six weeks. If you want to keep tabs on those tweaks, you can check out this community-managed document.
I’d also strongly recommend checking out the theorycrafting kit Riot have produced. That’ll let you build your pages in advance, and show you what stats different page combos will net you. If all of this seems like an awful lot of information to take in, this Reddit user has put together a useful list, charting the best runes for every champion.