Riot reveals the path system for Runes Reforged

About a month ago, Riot unveiled plans to completely rework the pre-game systems. This new feature, called Runes Reforged, combines the old runes and masteries into one, fluid system that will massively impact your gameplay. In a recent post by Riot Fearless, more details were unveiled.

When choosing your runes, you will enter into one of five separate paths: Domination, Inspiration, Precision, Sorcery and Resolve. The paths determine which runes you can use. Whenever you select your path, you will be prompted to slot several runes into place from that specific category. At the top of the docket? The Keystone Rune.

Each path comes with its own stat benefits to help your character along. The post gives the example of the Precision tree granting some attack speed. After you have slotted everything into your primary tree, you will be prompted to pick a secondary path.

In the secondary path, you will be given two rune slots. These slots can be filled with any non-Keystone Rune from the selected secondary path. This path is meant to help you shore up your weaknesses or push an advantage. The post details a situation where you may want to take tankier runes to survive an early game match-up.

A few examples were shown from the Resolve path:

Stone Skin

Gain 5 Armor, +2 per nearby enemy champion. Range: 800 units

Fortified Mind

Gain 5 Magic Resist, +2 per nearby enemy champion. Range: 800 units

Discipline

After 10 minutes gain 10 Armor and 10 Magic Resist, +2 of each per nearby enemy champion. Range: 800 units

The post goes on to say that you may be able to find strange combos that fit your playstyle, such as the Keystone Rune:

Ruined King’s Tribute

Every 4 seconds in combat your next attack deals damage to nearby champions and large monsters equal to 3% of your max health and heals you for [20 -75]% of this amount based on level. Ranged Champions: Damage and healing are halved.

If you wanted to amp up Ruined King’s Tribute, you could take the Inspiration path as your second and choose:

The Third Path

+100 Health (permanently). -10% Damage to Champions until 10 minutes

To finish off the post, two more runes were detailed:

Intelligence

+5% Cooldown Reduction. +5% Max Cooldown Reduction. +5% Summoner Spell Cooldown Reduction. +5% Item Cooldown Reduction. +5% Runes Cooldown Reduction.

Store Credit

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.

Finally, a few concerns are addressed. Fearless talks about how they are building the system to still allow for off-meta builds. Players who are afraid that they will be unable to play that unconventional pick without their precious early game stats should rest easy, as the team is apparently confident that they will be able to address the issue.

The new player experience is also getting a buff. Everyone, regardless of level, will have access to all the same runes. No more sub-20 players coming into games without a keystone. Don’t worry, new friends, help is coming soon.

Riot plans to reveal more details about the upcoming Runes Reforged over the next several months, leading up to the full release in November.