A new Resolve Keystone Rune is on the way

In Friday’s Quick Gameplay Thoughts, Andrei “Meddler” Van Roon showed up to post about a brand new keystone rune coming to League sometime in the future. While we aren’t necessarily sure what the rune itself will be, we do know the rewards that the team is thinking about giving players: percentage based magic and armor penetration.

Some aspects of it are still in flux, one thing that’s looking promising (though also not yet guaranteed) is having some of its reward be some dual percent pen (both some % armor pen and some % magic pen). That makes it appealing on champs with mixed damage types, helps out its users against tanky front lines and helps distinguish it from other sustained damage keystones.

One problem Van Roon and the team is acutely aware of is the likelihood that offensive ranged champions (read: marksman) will take advantage of the free magic and armor pen. The current thought is having this bonus trigger on proximity to enemy champions.

While it sounds difficult to balance, the idea of extra magic and armor pen on tank hybrid champions sounds pretty promising. The Resolve tree certainly feels lacking in terms of worthwhile runes, hence why some tanks just take Fleet Footwork instead of actual tank runes. While this particular problem won’t be solved by an offensive tank rune, allowing tanks to bust other tanks certainly seems like a useful bonus.

While we don’t know when this rune will arrive (or if it ever will), we know the team is interested in adding even more runes over the next several years. Whether this new Resolve keystone will make Resolve the first tree to have four runes or this will replace an existing rune is currently unknown.