Difference between revisions of "Skill Runes"

Latest revision as of 05:07, 3 July 2012

Runestones is the old name for Skill Runes, which provide five different functions for every skill in Diablo III. All rune forms offer some sort of upgrade over the original skill, and there are virtually no scenarios when a character is better off using the base skill than one of the rune effects.

The five Runes.

The rune effects become available gradually, as a character levels up. All of the basic skills are available by level 30, but a character must reach level 60 to gain access to all of the rune effects, with at least 1, and usually 2 or 3 added each level up from 6 to 60. There is no set pattern or regular system to when the rune effects become available. Characters do not get another rune effect in a skill every 6 or 8 levels, for instance.

The name "runes" is something of a remnant, as there's no real reason the final game system should use that term at all, since the different "runes" are simply graphical icons attached to each of the five different forms of each skill. Originally, the skill runes were called "runestones" which were small items that characters found and socketed into their skills to grant the bonus effects. The item style of runes evolved repeatedly during development, and was eventually removed in early 2012, when skill runes lost their random effects and rune levels, and were integrated completely into the skill interface.

See all news related to runestones in Diablo III.
Rune Archive -- Runes evolved greatly during the development of Diablo III. See the archive page for a detailed history lesson.

Players once assumed that a sixth rune would be added in the Diablo III expansion, but with the final game system this seems unlikely, as all the rune effects are now customized to each skill, rather than each runestome type adding a semi-predictable effect to any skill it was added to.

Rune Basics[edit | edit source]

The final game rune system was introduced in early 2012 in Beta Patch 13, where players were first able to try them out for themselves^[1]. Runes are now effects in skills, can be switched between freely, and are entirely divorced in organization from the old runestone items system.

Socketing a rune.

Runes are now a component of the skill system that allows a player to alter a skill. Some runes, such as the Bash rune Unleashed, do not change the basic functionality of the skill, simply increasing the damage or duration, or lowering the resource cost. Other rune effects do much more, entirely changing the function of skills from offensive to defensive, or changing the function greatly, such as the Witch Doctor's Rain of Toads rune for Plague of Toads. That rune takes a short range, slow, erratically-moving projectile attack and changes it to a ranged attack with almost full screen range that deals heavy damage to a targeted location.

The five rune effects lost their individual, unifying names during development, and there is no longer any way for players to refer to something like, "the Crimson Rune effect in Cleave." All the rune effects are simply referred to by their own names now, such as Cleave's rune effects, Broad Sweep, Gathering Storm, Scattering Blast, Reaping Swing, and Rupture.

Attaining Runes[edit | edit source]

Runes are automatically unlocked at predetermined levels. Each skill lists what levels each rune unlocks at, and players receive notification of the new runes that have become available each time they level up. Runes can be changed at any time, but changing a skill or rune while not in town will trigger a 10-second cooldown, during which time the skill or spell will not be available for use or further modification.

Skill Rune Videos[edit | edit source]

In May 2011 Blizzard released a set of five videos, one for each of the classes, demonstrating various runestones in a single skill each. These show early versions of teh rune effects, and do not correspond exactly to what we see in the final game.

The Barbarian's Whirlwind.

The Demon Hunter's Cluster Arrow

The Monk's Sweeping Wind

The Witch Doctor's Acid Cloud

The Wizard's Ray of Frost

D3 Runestones vs. D2 Runes[edit | edit source]

Diablo III's Runes are nothing like the 'runes' found in Diablo II. In D2 there are thirty-three kinds of runes, which are small items that have no use on their own, but can be placed in item sockets to add various bonuses to those items, and in certain combinations produce RuneWords, which add powerful, predetermined sets of bonuses, provided that the item has precisely the right number of sockets.

Diablo III's runes are "socketed" into skills, not items. See the Gems and Sockets articles for more details about item socketing in Diablo III.

Media[edit | edit source]

Various images of Runestones and Rune Effects.

Rune Socket]
The since-renamed Hydra Rune.
Crimson rune, August 2010 design.
The old rune stones.
Level-up rune unlock notification.
A socketed rune.

References[edit | edit source]

↑ New Skill Interface and Rune System -Diablo.incgamers, 20/2/2012

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer primary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer secondary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer corpses

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer bloodandbone

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer reanimation

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer curses

[1] New Skill Interface and Rune System -Diablo.incgamers, 20/2/2012

[1]

Fan-made Classes			Fan-made Skills [e]
• Alchemist • Arcane Warrior • Artisan • Aurian Mage • Bard • Channeller • Dragon Warrior	• Flagellant • Giant (U) • Hollow Man • Nomad • Onaga Manji • Phase Knight	• Ranger • Slayer (U) • Techpriest (U) • Telepath • Untainted (U) • Zealot	Dragon Warrior Skills • Bow and Throwing Skill Tree • Dragon Disciplines Skill Tree • Martial Arts Skill Tree	Untainted Skills • Divine Skill Tree	Aurian Mage Skill • Holy Power Skill Tree • Shadow Spells Skill Tree • Nature Forces Skill Tree
(U) = Unfinished				Untainted Skills • Divine Skill Tree

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Runes''' in [[Diablo 3]] are small items that are socketed into [[skill]]s, not [[item]]s. The runes grant special bonuses to the skill. There are many types of runes, all found in various quality levels, and they work across skills; each rune will (in theory) work in every skill, adding something similar to the skills.
+'''Runestones''' is the old name for [[Skill Runes]], which provide five different functions for every skill in Diablo III. All rune forms offer some sort of upgrade over the original skill, and there are virtually no scenarios when a character is better off using the base skill than one of the rune effects.
+[[File:New_runes.jpg|thumb|125px|The five Runes.]]
+The rune effects become available gradually, as a character levels up. All of the basic skills are available by level 30, but a character must reach level 60 to gain access to all of the rune effects, with at least 1, and usually 2 or 3 added each level up from 6 to 60. There is no set pattern or regular system to when the rune effects become available. Characters do not get another rune effect in a skill every 6 or 8 levels, for instance.
-==Runes==
+The name "runes" is something of a remnant, as there's no real reason the final game system should use that term at all, since the different "runes" are simply graphical icons attached to each of the five different forms of each skill. Originally, the skill runes were called "runestones" which were small items that characters found and socketed into their skills to grant the bonus effects. The item style of runes evolved repeatedly during development, and was eventually removed in early 2012, when skill runes lost their random effects and rune levels, and were integrated completely into the skill interface.
-[[Image:Rune-minor-hydra1.jpg|frame]]
-The most recent look at a rune came in a screenshot released on March 30, 2009. This is a minor hydra rune, with "minor" being a modification of "[[Hydra Rune]]." All that's known about this one can be seen in the caption, that it "Increases skill quantity." It was previously revealed that the hydra rune was previously known as the "multistrike" rune, and the function appears to be the same, with a bit more evocative a name. Hydras, besides being a [[Sorceress]] skill in [[Diablo II]], are the multi-headed dragons of Greek mythology, creatures capable of regrowing two heads in the place of each head that was chopped off.
-Hydra runes are known to add bounces to a [[Witch Doctor]]'s thrown [[Skull of Flame]] spell and to increase the Chain of the Wizard's [[Electrocute]] spell. Since each rune is (as best we know) going to work with every active [[skill]], the hydra rune would presumably add extra hits to all sorts of other skills.
+* See all [http://diablo.incgamers.com/categories/category/runestones/ news related to runestones in Diablo III].
+* [[Rune Archive]] -- Runes evolved greatly during the development of Diablo III. See the archive page for a detailed history lesson.
+Players once assumed that a sixth rune would be added in the [[Diablo III expansion]], but with the final game system this seems unlikely, as all the rune effects are now customized to each skill, rather than each runestome type adding a semi-predictable effect to any skill it was added to.
-==D3 Runes vs. D2 Runes==
+==Rune Basics==
-Runes in [[Diablo III]] are nothing like the {{iw|Runes Runes}} found in [[Diablo II]]. In D2 there were 33 kinds of Runes, which were small items that had no use on their own, but that could be placed in item sockets to add various bonuses to the item. Certain combinations of runes could also be used to create {{iw|Runeword RuneWords}}, very powerful items with pre-set stats.
-In Diablo III, Runes are still small objects that must be placed in sockets to take effect, but in D3 the sockets are in [[skills]], not items. (Items may also have sockets, but runes won't be used in them if they do.) Active skills have sockets in the skill tree interface, and when a valid rune is placed into the socket, the skill gains an appropriate bonus, depending on the type and quality of rune used.  Bonuses vary greatly, depending on the skill and the type of rune used, and include such things as extra hits, extra damage, increased spell duration, and many more. In addition, Diablo III will have fewer runes, with a final number somewhere around 5 different kinds.
+The final game rune system was introduced in early 2012 in [[Beta Patch 13]], where players were first able to try them out for themselves<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/video-journal-3-new-skill-interface-rune-system New Skill Interface and Rune System] -Diablo.incgamers, 20/2/2012</ref>. Runes are now effects in skills, can be switched between freely, and are entirely divorced in organization from the old runestone items system.
+[[File:Rune_ui.jpg|left|thumb|400px|Socketing a rune.]]
+Runes are now a component of the [[skill]] system that allows a player to alter a skill. Some runes, such as the [[Bash]] rune [[Unleashed (rune effect)|Unleashed]], do not change the basic functionality of the skill, simply increasing the damage or duration, or lowering the resource cost. Other rune effects do much more, entirely changing the function of skills from offensive to defensive, or changing the function greatly, such as the [[Witch Doctor]]'s [[Rain of Toads]] rune for [[Plague of Toads]]. That rune takes a short range, slow, erratically-moving projectile attack and changes it to a ranged attack with almost full screen range that deals heavy damage to a targeted location.
+The five rune effects lost their individual, unifying names during development, and there is no longer any way for players to refer to something like, "the [[Crimson Rune]] effect in [[Cleave]]." All the rune effects are simply referred to by their own names now, such as Cleave's rune effects, [[Broad Sweep]], [[Gathering Storm]], [[Scattering Blast]], [[Reaping Swing]], and [[Rupture]].
-==Rune Function==
+===Attaining Runes===
-[[Image:New_Rune_Socket.png|thumb|Rune Socket]]Skill Runes in [[Diablo III]] improve a character's active [[skill]]s in various creative ways. Runes don't just add damage; they modify the skill in some way, making it more powerful and fun to use, as well as allowing for character customization. Runes can be used very strategically; different runes in the same spell will do things. For example: the [[Wizard]] skill [[Blizzard]] would gain different benefits from different runes. A few hypothetical Blizzard bonuses: more falling projectiles, longer duration, more damage per projectile, longer chill time, better to/hit, better chance of critical hit, and so forth. Also, each of those types of bonuses would be increased in power by the quality of the rune used, allowing for a huge variety of potential bonuses and play styles.
-As of the [[BlizzCon 2008]] demo:
+Runes are automatically unlocked at predetermined levels. Each skill lists what levels each rune unlocks at, and players receive notification of the new runes that have become available each time they level up. Runes can be changed at any time, but changing a skill or rune while not in [[town]] will trigger a 10-second [[cooldown]], during which time the skill or spell will not be available for use or further modification.
-* Active Skills had sockets for runes
-* None of the Passive skills had sockets.
-* No skill had more than one socket.
-It is not known if any of this will remain that way in the final game.
+{{Clear|left}}
-Runes can be removed from sockets at any time and without any penalty.  Theoretically, players could juggle their runes around constantly, sticking in a multi-strike rune to deal with big mobs, changing to a power rune to up the single target damage before a boss battle, and so forth.  It's likely that Blizzard will take steps to limit this "rune juggling", perhaps forcing players to return to town before they can change the rune socketed in a spell, putting a cool down time on resocketing the same skill, limiting the number of times a particular rune can be socketed, or even causing runes to lose quality when unsocketed.
+==Skill Rune Videos==
-As of BlizzCast episode 8 (30th of March, 2009) [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/blizzcast-8-live-with-diablo-iii-goodies/] Runes and Rune Sockets have become Horizontal Rectangles, as seen in the image on top and in the image to the right.
+In May 2011 Blizzard released a set of five videos, one for each of the classes, demonstrating various runestones in a single skill each.  These show early versions of teh rune effects, and do not correspond exactly to what we see in the final game.
+<center>
+{|
+| <youtube>uASjbyfo3eo</youtube><br>
+The Barbarian's [[Whirlwind]].
+| <youtube>V0C_15IzneY</youtube><br>
+The Demon Hunter's [[Cluster Arrow]]
+|}
+</center>
-===Function Examples===
-The [[D3 Team]] gave several examples of rune functions during a panel at [[BlizzCon 2008]] when Skill Runes were first revealed as a game feature. ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouYP1zGfd0s Watch the demonstration] on YouTube.)
+<center>
+{|
+| <youtube>R8gfPFuWs6g</youtube><br>
+The Monk's [[Sweeping Wind]]
+| <youtube>rWJhV31TY8U</youtube><br>
+The Witch Doctor's [[Acid Cloud]]
+|}
+</center>
-====Wizard's Mirror Image====
-* '''[[Mirror Image]] Skill:''' This skill, from the [[Conjuring Skill Tree]], creates a duplicate of the [[wizard]], which is capable of moving around and using spells to attack monsters. (It's not just a decoy or an illusion.)
-** '''Hydra/Multistrike Rune: '''Socketing this rune would increase the number of duplicates. Higher quality levels of the hydra/multi-strike rune would presumably add more duplicates.
-** '''Force/Power Rune: '''Socketing this rune would increase the hit points of each duplicate, and increase the spell's duration.
+The Wizard's [[Ray of Frost]]
-====Wizard's Teleport Skill====
+<youtube>k2Uo2X8iF0U</youtube>
-* '''[[Teleport]] skill:''' This skill, from the [[Arcane Skill Tree]], teleports the Wizard to the targeted location. The spell isn't quite as quick as it was in Diablo or Diablo 2, since the Wizard leaps up into the air before vanishing, and appears in the air, then falls down to earth.
-* With '''Striking Rune:''' Adds damage to targets near where the Wizard appears, functioning something like the Barbarian's Leap Attack skill.
-[[Image:teleport_striking.jpg|center]]
+===D3 Runestones vs. D2 Runes===
-* With '''Hydra/Multistrike Rune:''' Creates a temporary duplicate of the Wizard that will attract enemy fire and will fight and deal damage as well. (This seems to be basically a free way to cast Mirror Image when you Teleport.)
+[[Diablo III]]'s Runes are nothing like the '{{iw|runes runes}}' found in [[Diablo II]]. In D2 there are thirty-three kinds of runes, which are small items that have no use on their own, but can be placed in item sockets to add various bonuses to those items, and in certain combinations produce {{iw|Runeword RuneWords}}, which add powerful, predetermined sets of bonuses, provided that the item has precisely the right number of sockets.
+Diablo III's runes are "socketed" into [[skills]], not items. See the [[Gem]]s and [[Socket]]s articles for more details about [[item]] socketing in Diablo III.
-[[Image:teleport_multistrike.jpg|center]]
-====Witch Doctor's Skull of Flame====
-* '''[[Skull of Flame]] skill:''' The Witch Doctor lobs a flaming skull, grenade style, which explodes on impact, dealing substantial fire damage to nearby targets.
+==Media==
-* With '''Hydra/Multistrike Rune:''' Socketing this rune causes the flaming skull to skip along the ground, like a stone over water, bounding and creating multiple explosions. Higher quality runes would allow additional bounces.
+Various images of Runestones and Rune Effects.
+<gallery>
+Image:New_Rune_Socket.png|Rune Socket]
+Image:Rune-minor-hydra1.jpg|The since-renamed Hydra Rune.
+File:Runestone1.jpg|Crimson rune, August 2010 design.
+File:Runes5.jpg|The old rune stones.
+File:Rune notification.jpg|Level-up rune unlock notification.
+File:Rune_socketed.jpg|A socketed rune.
+</gallery>
-[[Image:skullofflame_multistrike.jpg|center]]
+==References==
+<font size="-3"><references/></font>
-* With '''Force/Power Rune:''' Socketing this rune adds a firefield property to the Skull of Flame, creating a small patch of flame on the ground that persists after the skull's explosion and damages any monsters that cross over it.
-[[Image:skullofflame_power.jpg|center]]
-====Wizard's Electrocute====
-* '''[[Electrocute]] skill:''' This skill, from the [[Storm Skill Tree]] creates a strand of lightning that locks onto an enemy like a beam weapon, dealing steady lightning damage.  It will chain to a second enemy if one is in range, dealing damage to both.
-* With '''Hydra/Multistrike Rune:''' Socketing this rune allows the lightning to chain to multiple targets.
-[[Image:electrocute_multistrike.jpg|center]]
-* With '''Viper/Lethality Rune:''' Socketing this rune causes some of the monsters killed by Electrocute to explode in a nova, dealing damage to other nearby enemies.
-[[Image:electrocute_lethality.jpg|center]]
-==Rune Types==
-Skill Runes will be found in a variety of types. Known runes:
-* [[Energy Rune]]
+{{Skill_navbox_Diablo_III|Barbarian}}
-* [[Viper Rune]] (named Lethality before)
-* [[Hydra Rune]] (named Multistrike before)
-* [[Force Rune]] (named Power before)
-* [[Striking Rune]]
-(Players have spent a lot of time [http://forums.diii.net/showthread.php?p=6871952 thinking up other types of runes], and discussing their potential benefits.)
-More runes will almost certainly be added during development as the team thinks of useful types to include in the game. The team won't be adding a lot of odd types of runes, though; D3 Lead Designer [[Jay Wilson]] has stressed that runes must add a useful function to multiple types of skills. The [[D3 Team]] wants all the runes to be useful to all [[class]]es, so they won't add runes that just boost one type of skill, or one character's skills. They have to think up rune bonus properties that work across the board, so there are probably not going to be 50 types of runes. (Utility doesn't equal equality, since not every skill can receive exactly the same level of improvement from every rune.)
-==Rune Quality Levels==
-It's been stated that runes will have various levels of quality, in a fashion somewhat akin to the different quality levels of {{iw|Gem gems}} in Diablo II. At [[BlizzCon 2008]], [[Jay Wilson]] said there were 5 or 6 quality levels of runes (Minor being the lowest quality), but that the number could go up or down during development. Higher qualities of runes will (of course) be dropped by higher level monsters, and the higher qualities will be much rarer. The function of each type of rune will not change at higher quality; instead the bonuses will be increased.
-The D3 team hasn't yet revealed much information about how item [[crafting]] will work in D3, other than to say that they won't have any {{iw|Horadric_Cube Horadric Cube-style}} converting items. We therefore know nothing about the potential for runes to be upgraded by type, though it's certainly possible that something along those lines could be implemented.
-==BlizzCon 2009==
-[[Image:Rune Explanation.png|thumb|250px|If any of the first six steps are changed, (and they will be) then the outcome will be fully scrapped.]]
-During the BlizzCon 2009 Diablo 3 panel on August 21st, Jay Wilson "The Mad Overseer" talked about skills runes, why aren't they in the GamesCom demo or in the demo at BlizzCon?, where are they now? and the process of creating a rune.
-They stated that while runes are a very important system to them and that they are a key element in their customizing goals, they have disabled them from demo builds because not all skills can be customized with skill runes, causing confusion to the players. They want players to experience the rune customizing system "in its entirety".
-Then they explained the creation process of making a rune, and how making any changes at all to the first steps will scrap the end results entirely, as can be seen in the image on the right.
-==Rune Storage==
-At the [[BlizzCon 2008]] demo, runes were stored in an [[inventory]] grid on the skill tree menu; not in the normal inventory. There were 10 rune slots below the skill trees. It's not known if they will still be stored there in the final game, if there will be ways to increase the number of slots, or if they can be stored in the inventory instead.
-==Further Reading==
-You can find out more of the essential information about Diablo I and Diablo II runes in the {{iw|Main_Page Diablo 2 Wiki}}.
-=== Diablo II Runes ===
-* {{iw|Rune Runes}} - The main page for D2 runes.
-* {{iw|Rune_FAQ Rune FAQ}} - All your questions about runes are answered here.
-* {{iw|Rune_List Rune list}} - All the runes in Diablo II, and how you can create a {{iw|Zod Zod}} rune from a fourteen trillion {{iw|El Els}}.
-* {{iw|Runewords Runewords}} - See how runewords work.
-* {{iw|Sockets Sockets}} - Get to know more about the socket mechanic.
-=== Diablo I Runes ===
-[[Diablo I: Hellfire]] had runes, and you can read more about that on the {{iw|D1_Hellfire_Runes Diablo I Runes}} article.
-==Trivia (Rune History)==
-What do you really know about runes? The ones from our world come from the ancient Vikings, and their "futhark" (equivalence of our 'Alpha Bet(a)'). They allegedly hold magic powers, and the magicks of the 'runa' are still practised today. These practices, called "Seden", are of course done mostly as a pastime, but some forms of the old runes were used in proper form as late as early 20th century in the 'Dalarna' area of Sweden...
-[[Image:Runes.jpg|center]]
-In [[Sanctuary]], however, runes are magically inscribed symbols. Though their use has changed slightly in the last 20 years, they used to grant (sufficiently prepared) [[items]] magical properties. For sages of these runes, magical {{iw|Runeword RuneWords}} would be created to remake a mundane item into a Runic Item, with powers competing with magical artifacts.
-Besides the fact that these supposedly ancient runes hold great and mystic powers, we know little about them. Who created them or how they are created is unknown. They seem to attract [[demon]]s of different kinds, as they are often found on their corpses. If the runes are of demonic origin is not known either. They could have been the simple writing language of the first inhabitants of Sanctuary, who themselves were more powerful than Demons or [[Angel]]s. Whatever the origin, they are of great use to heroes wishing to dethrone [[Diablo]] or [[Baal]].
-==References==
-* [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/blizzcast-8-live-with-diablo-iii-goodies/ BlizzCast #8]
-* [[BlizzCon 2008]]
-* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQBtkJ97Fbo&feature=related The Diablo 3 panel which deals with Fury issues]
+{{Template:Items navbox}}
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+[[Category:Skill runes]]
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+[[Category:Classes]]
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