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]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Runestones''' are small items that can be applied - one each - to any [[skill]], but not to [[passives]] or [[item]]s. Diablo III's skill runes grant special bonuses to the skills with which they are used, altering their effects and generally enhancing them, although the changes that a rune makes to a skill may dramatically alter its utility.
+'''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.
+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 [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 history lesson.
+* [[Rune Archive]] -- Runes evolved greatly during the development of Diablo III. See the archive page for a detailed history lesson.
-<div style="float:right; clear:right; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px;"><br><br>
+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.
-__TOC__
-</div>
 ==Rune Basics==
-[[File:New_runes.jpg|left|thumb|115px|The five Runes.]]
+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.
-The runes changed drastically after the [[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>.
+[[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.
-Runes are a component of the [[skill]] system that allows a player to alter a skill, whether that alteration is major or minor. Some runes, such as the [[Bash]] rune [[Unleashed]], won't change the basic functionality of the skill, and offer a bonus such as increased [[resource]] generation, or increased damage. However, other runes can drastically change the way a skill operates, such as the [[Witch Doctor]]'s [[Rain of Toads]] rune for [[Plague of Toads]], which instead of having a few frogs hop across the ground in an erratic pattern, the frogs then fall from the sky in a directed assault.
+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]].
-The five runes, currently, do not have individual names.  This can make communication with other players somewhat confusing.  However, each rune's effect on a skill is named. For example changing the Barbarian's skill [[Cleave]] into Broad Sweep, Gathering Storm, Scattering Blast, Reaping Swing or Rupture by activating the appropriate rune will apply additional bonuses.
-{{Clear|left}}
 ===Attaining Runes===
-[[File:Rune_ui.jpg|left|thumb|400px|Socketing a rune.]]
+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.
-Runes are automatically unlocked upon a pre-determined level. Each skill will list what levels each rune will unlock at, and after the level requirement is met, the skill can then be altered by activating the rune. Runes can be changed at any time, but changing a rune will trigger a 15-second cooldown, during which time the skill or spell will not be available for use.
-===D3 Runestones vs. D2 Runes===
-[[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.
+{{Clear|left}}
 ==Skill Rune Videos==
-In May 2011 Blizzard released a set of five videos, one for each of the classes, demonstrating various runestones in a single skill each.
+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.
-===Barbarian's [[Whirlwind]]===
+<center>
+{|
+| <youtube>uASjbyfo3eo</youtube><br>
+The Barbarian's [[Whirlwind]].
+| <youtube>V0C_15IzneY</youtube><br>
+The Demon Hunter's [[Cluster Arrow]]
+|}
+</center>
-<youtube>uASjbyfo3eo</youtube>
+<center>
+{|
+| <youtube>R8gfPFuWs6g</youtube><br>
+The Monk's [[Sweeping Wind]]
+| <youtube>rWJhV31TY8U</youtube><br>
+The Witch Doctor's [[Acid Cloud]]
+|}
+</center>
-===Demon Hunter's [[Cluster Arrow]]===
+The Wizard's [[Ray of Frost]]
-<youtube>V0C_15IzneY</youtube>
+<youtube>k2Uo2X8iF0U</youtube>
-===Monk's [[Sweeping Wind]]===
-<youtube>R8gfPFuWs6g</youtube>
+===D3 Runestones vs. D2 Runes===
+[[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.
-===Witch Doctor's [[Acid Cloud]]===
+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.
-<youtube>rWJhV31TY8U</youtube>
-===Wizard's [[Ray of Frost]]===
-<youtube>k2Uo2X8iF0U</youtube>
@@ Line 99: / Line 90: @@
 {{Template:Items navbox}}
-[[Category:Runes]]
+[[Category:Skill runes]]
-[[Category:Items]]
+[[Category:Classes]]
 [[Category:Featured articles]]
 [[Category:Lore]]

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