Havent seen much discussion on runes, so thought I would chip in my two cents. If you are like me and max out your altar spins and individual duels you've probably accumulated your fair share of runes. Here is my take from most to least valuable. Although the value is class and skill based I think it holds true for the most part. This is also based on 40/45+...at lower levels the healing rune heals a much higher % of your hp so its value increases...likewise brutality increases your damage at lower levels by a high percentage than at higher levels. Both are runes that devalue as your base stats increase.
1. Rage Rune. I was surprised to realize how valuable any rage rune is. Unlike all the others even the level 1, 30 rage rune is valuable. Granted I use the 45 PVP set. If you put together a PVE set in longer fights you probably wouldn't find this as valuable, but in PVP my rune of choice is Rage. Without rage you are left using your most basic, least valuable skills...with it you can easily turn the tide of a fight. Best of all this loses zero value as you level. Hey, you can argue with the cata rings you always have plenty of rage. Congrats, they never seem to proc at the right time for me or I've already hit a low rage cost skill before I realize it activated. For me the rage rune is the MVP of the runes. Always keep a supply on hand even if it means keeping level 1s and 2s around.
2. Gaurdian. A close second. In both PVP and PVE a well timed guardian rune can save you A LOT of damage. Once I realize it applied to each individual attack I was hooked. Against very common skills like Whirlwind, Multi-shot, ROF, Lunatic, Meteor, Thrasher it has multiple activations. Facing a team with three mages? Pop one to start the fight and you just saved six times the damage prevention of the rune...although I prefer to wait until the 3rd turn when they can generally rotate Meteor then ROF again. With a level 5 against that rotation you just prevented 12K of damage. Sure one will often open with damnation, but at some point all three will be casting a double hit spell...when you see that coming pop this little life saver. Because of the multiplication factor even low level runes have decent value if used in the right situation, but that situation is mostly for the multi hits in Cata and MPDs versus PVP where only level 4s up really make a difference (yes lower levels are better than nothing, but point being save the 4s and 5s for PVP).
Huge Gap...huge, the follow runes scale very poorly in my experience. While I always have rage and guardian equipped any of the following 4 might make the cut depending on the situation, but I generally take the Healing rune as the third with the exception of Brutality for a Mage where beefed up AOE could make the difference.
3. Healing Rune. Really only the level 4 and 5s are valuable at all and then not much. Compared to how much damage a well timed Gaurdian rune can prevent healing runes are a poor cousin. Sure the gain versus prevention might make a difference in some cases, but if you are that low on life you probably missed a chance to use a gaurdian rune.
4. Thunderer*. One shot use and damage is fairly minimal once you are 40+ it still is free damage and can be useful to to finish off troops or do that little extra damage in PVP. The damage doesnt scale well so generally this doesnt make the cut for me unless I dont have any of the first three types. As a result I generally have a big pile of these in my inventory. One area I dont mind burning up this rune is in BGs. Against stronger opponents who farm you fire off one of these every time they attack you. Combined with either AOE, reverse damage (if you have this it should be activated in every unwinnable fight, the idea being to chip away at their life totals so you might make a future fight winnable) and lucky archer hits you might, just might be able to take them down once you have some blessings.
*Five for mages with Brutality moving up to 4
5 Tie Group Regen and Brutality. Okay in reality Brutality should be five and regen sixth, but I'm already tired of writing...which is probably why I'm not a writer. I can see the responses now blasting me for the time brutality won someone a fight or regen saved all three teammates from an AOE. Great. On a one time basis any of the runes can make the difference and seem more valuable than any of the others. My opinion is based on my experience in multiple situations. Suntoria...awesome life saver, if Regen gave life over even two turns I would rate it higher, but one time it just doesnt do enough. Flip brutality and thunderer for mages since AOE hits everything in effect making Brutality a better thunderer. Even a low level mage can start chipping away in a BG if they open with Brutality, Damnation, Thunderer (the rune), ROF...or Brutality, Damnation, Rage Rune, ROF, Thunderer (the skill hoping that your beefed up damnation and ROF cleared the troops). Granted that will use up your runes quickly, but lets face it, sometimes you have to take some action when getting farmed repeatedly.
I welcome some discussion, especially if I'm unaware of a trick with the runes to get more mileage out of Brutality and Thunderer. So in summary save all those Rage and Guardian runes, but I dont ever want to see the level 1 or 2 regen/thunderer/heal get popped in the 40+ bracket in BG or Group Arena...it just screams noob and you are better than that.
1. Rage Rune. I was surprised to realize how valuable any rage rune is. Unlike all the others even the level 1, 30 rage rune is valuable. Granted I use the 45 PVP set. If you put together a PVE set in longer fights you probably wouldn't find this as valuable, but in PVP my rune of choice is Rage. Without rage you are left using your most basic, least valuable skills...with it you can easily turn the tide of a fight. Best of all this loses zero value as you level. Hey, you can argue with the cata rings you always have plenty of rage. Congrats, they never seem to proc at the right time for me or I've already hit a low rage cost skill before I realize it activated. For me the rage rune is the MVP of the runes. Always keep a supply on hand even if it means keeping level 1s and 2s around.
2. Gaurdian. A close second. In both PVP and PVE a well timed guardian rune can save you A LOT of damage. Once I realize it applied to each individual attack I was hooked. Against very common skills like Whirlwind, Multi-shot, ROF, Lunatic, Meteor, Thrasher it has multiple activations. Facing a team with three mages? Pop one to start the fight and you just saved six times the damage prevention of the rune...although I prefer to wait until the 3rd turn when they can generally rotate Meteor then ROF again. With a level 5 against that rotation you just prevented 12K of damage. Sure one will often open with damnation, but at some point all three will be casting a double hit spell...when you see that coming pop this little life saver. Because of the multiplication factor even low level runes have decent value if used in the right situation, but that situation is mostly for the multi hits in Cata and MPDs versus PVP where only level 4s up really make a difference (yes lower levels are better than nothing, but point being save the 4s and 5s for PVP).
Huge Gap...huge, the follow runes scale very poorly in my experience. While I always have rage and guardian equipped any of the following 4 might make the cut depending on the situation, but I generally take the Healing rune as the third with the exception of Brutality for a Mage where beefed up AOE could make the difference.
3. Healing Rune. Really only the level 4 and 5s are valuable at all and then not much. Compared to how much damage a well timed Gaurdian rune can prevent healing runes are a poor cousin. Sure the gain versus prevention might make a difference in some cases, but if you are that low on life you probably missed a chance to use a gaurdian rune.
4. Thunderer*. One shot use and damage is fairly minimal once you are 40+ it still is free damage and can be useful to to finish off troops or do that little extra damage in PVP. The damage doesnt scale well so generally this doesnt make the cut for me unless I dont have any of the first three types. As a result I generally have a big pile of these in my inventory. One area I dont mind burning up this rune is in BGs. Against stronger opponents who farm you fire off one of these every time they attack you. Combined with either AOE, reverse damage (if you have this it should be activated in every unwinnable fight, the idea being to chip away at their life totals so you might make a future fight winnable) and lucky archer hits you might, just might be able to take them down once you have some blessings.
*Five for mages with Brutality moving up to 4
5 Tie Group Regen and Brutality. Okay in reality Brutality should be five and regen sixth, but I'm already tired of writing...which is probably why I'm not a writer. I can see the responses now blasting me for the time brutality won someone a fight or regen saved all three teammates from an AOE. Great. On a one time basis any of the runes can make the difference and seem more valuable than any of the others. My opinion is based on my experience in multiple situations. Suntoria...awesome life saver, if Regen gave life over even two turns I would rate it higher, but one time it just doesnt do enough. Flip brutality and thunderer for mages since AOE hits everything in effect making Brutality a better thunderer. Even a low level mage can start chipping away in a BG if they open with Brutality, Damnation, Thunderer (the rune), ROF...or Brutality, Damnation, Rage Rune, ROF, Thunderer (the skill hoping that your beefed up damnation and ROF cleared the troops). Granted that will use up your runes quickly, but lets face it, sometimes you have to take some action when getting farmed repeatedly.
I welcome some discussion, especially if I'm unaware of a trick with the runes to get more mileage out of Brutality and Thunderer. So in summary save all those Rage and Guardian runes, but I dont ever want to see the level 1 or 2 regen/thunderer/heal get popped in the 40+ bracket in BG or Group Arena...it just screams noob and you are better than that.
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