THREAD OUTDATED NEW GUIDE:
HERETitan Quest Ragnarök: Rune Skills for Beginners
Content
I] Intro
II] Rune Presentation
III] Rune Class Combinations
IV] Rune Skills
V] Rune Build Compendium
VI] Hall of Contributors
VII] Conclusion
I] Intro Finally the Croc has come back to Sparta!
Hello, dear Community! I felt compelled to write this guide since I couldn't find a faq on the Net giving a simple rundown of the Rune Skills. It's high time. I know I can count on the dedicated players of this friendly Community (Edit: Oh Yeah! They did answer the call^^). So when needed I will edit this thread and credit you, folks. If you smell what the Croc is cooking…
II] Rune PresentationRune, the new Mastery available with the Ragnarök DLC, is like no other. It is a beautiful breath of fresh air in Titan Quest. But Rune being so original, you might sometimes scratch your head trying to figure out the use of some skills. Fear not, friend! This is what this guide is all about.
What makes Rune stand out from other Masteries?
- Rune is the only class that grants you bonuses to Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity and Health. When the Mastery is maxed (32 Skill Points) you earn:
# 32 STR
# 64 INT
# 48 DEX
# 640 HEALTH
- Rune gives you NO bonus to Energy,
- Rune has no Energy Reserved Skills. This may be a choice in game design to address the fact that Rune does not increase your Energy Stat (when climbing up your Mastery),
- Despite what I said above, Rune is a surprisingly efficient Mastery as far as Energy Consumption goes, go figure,
- Runemasters have no living Familiars, but they have Summons: friggin' Stones!
Yeah! Me too I miss the good old Familiar that you could rub behind the ears. But last I checked sane people don’t speak to stones nor do they play fetch with them. ^^ Unless you:
- Croc: "Go fetch my Olive Branch, Menhir! Go!"
- Menhir: "BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM!!!"
- Croc: "Well done, Menhir! You’re a good puppy!"
Joke aside read my comment below about the 2 Stone skills. They’re quite unusual.
III] Rune Class CombinationsFirst there is a Titan Quest Ragnarök Calculator available at kirmiziperfect:
Titan Quest AE + Ragnarök Calculator- Runemaster (Single Class)
- Rune + Defense = Runesmith
- Rune + Earth = Stonespeaker
- Rune + Rogue = Trickster
- Rune + Storm = Thunderer
- Rune + Warfare = Berserker
- Rune + Nature = Skinchanger
- Rune + Spirit = Shaman
- Rune + Hunting = Dragon Hunter
- Rune + Dream = Seidr Worker
IV] Rune Skills Rune Weapon > Magical Charge > Energy Drain > TransmutationRune Weapon: this skill tree is a charge type ability that you can assign to your LMB (left mouse Button) or RMB. It works like Onslaught from Warfare Mastery. As a whole Rune Weapon is an essential skill tree.
Magical Charge: increases your Elemental Damage and Damage Retaliation in flat numbers (not %),
Energy Drain: grants you Energy Leech (in flat) / Attack Damage converted to Health in % (Yummy!) / Reduced Offensive Ability (debuffs Monsters in % too) / Slows Monsters (in %).
Transmutation: converts a % of your Weapon Damage into Elemental Damage. This is a one of kind new skill in Titan Quest. Transmutation is also a game-changer, on Normal just putting 1 point into this skill will increase your damage noticeably. EDIT: since Update 1.54 Transmutation is now permanently active (but still requires Rune Weapon).
Note: Rune Weapon does NOT work with Staves.
Sacred Rage > Frightening PowerSacred Rage: % Damage Absorption / +Energy Regen / +10% Total Speed / -% Recharge / 50% Slow Resistance!
Frightening Power: % Reduction to Enemy's Health / % Reduced Damage for 3.0 Seconds / Chance of Fear
Sacred Rage is a kind of panic passive skill that triggers when your Health dips below 40%. The main skill buffs you, while Frightening Power -its synergy- debuffs Monsters.
From experience this skill can save your life, and sometimes it won’t (and will die miserably ^^).
Note that the synergy creates a visible red circle around you when it activates: this a good indication that you should drink a red potion or leave the area immediately. ^^
Runeword: FeatherThis is a passive that increases your Offensive Ability (in flat numbers) and most importantly reduces the Strength Requirement for All Weapon in %. SHIELDS INCLUDED!!!
This is a
very good passive. Also do not mistake this skill with
Armor Handling from Defense Mastery, the latter reduces Strength Requirement for Armors and Shields! In other words "Runeword: Feather" does NOT reduce Requirement for Armors!
Rune of Life% Bleeding Resistance / % Vitality Resistance / +% Strength / +% movement Speed
Rune of Life is an active aura that buffs you or your Allies (Familiars too) for a whopping 10 minutes (600 seconds) regardless of level. This is a solid buff because all the granted bonuses are in %:
Not only Rune of Life is awesome but it stays on like forever. Remember that “the movement Speed” is great when farming or trying to reach distant areas.
Rune of Life has no cooldown! You can cast it liberally on you and your Familiars.
Thunder Strike > UnleashRogues have Knives, now Runemasters have Thunder Strike and it’s natsy! You fire 5 projectiles in an arc that deal Elemental Damage and Stun. The Synergy -Unleash- adds Electrical Burn Damage, Skill Disruption and has a chance to confuse Monsters.
Here’s what Firebrand -a Titan Quest Fellow Member- said about Thunder Strike in his
Runic Elemental Shotgun GuideThunder Strike. It is incredibly good against hordes, and just as incredibly good against bosses, who are likely to get hit by most if not all projectiles, provided you're close enough. Combine it with Seal of Fate [note: a Debuff] (and don't forget to warm up with a few Runic Weapon shots) and you'll one-shot virtually anything that's not a final boss.
…
Now Thunder Strike shoots five projectiles, as its description says. However, if you're dual-wielding thrown weapons, it will net you five projectiles for each weapon you're holding! That's a lot of daggers or axes at the same time. And Reckless Offense [note: this skill allows Runemasters to dual wield weapons] itself pays off as well, I found.
Like many of the skills of Rune Mastery, Thunder Strike only show its worth when you unlock its synergy, Unleash.
You cannot reduce the cooldown -fixed 7 seconds- of Thunderstrike no matter how many Skill Points you pour into the Skill. So “- Recharge” from items/artifacts are your best friends.
Note: since Titan Quest Anniversary Edition, "- Recharge" is capped at 80%.
Runic Mines > Freezing MinesRunic Mines: Cooldown: 9 seconds / Duration: 10 seconds / Effect: Elemental Damage (flat)
Freezing Mine: Frostburn Damage (flat) / chance of Freeze / Slow
Runic Mines is a curious Spell which you will learn to love or hate depending on your play-style and the Monsters you’re facing.
The base skill, Runic Mines, surrounds you with a few booby traps which stay on the spot for a few seconds. You cannot choose where to throw them, they emerge just around you.
Without investing into its synergy -Freezing Mines- this skill is underwhelming. Freezing Mines ads some welcome: Frostburn Damage, Slow and a chance of Freeze.
The trick to use this skill effectively is to lead your targets into your traps. Some Monsters are very likely to fall for that ruse, especially those nasty melee Monsters who hunt you down.
Ex: Automatoi (golden constructs) are easy prey for your Runic Mines, just dance them around to lead them to your minefield.
Menhir Wall > Guardian StonesBy watching at the skill tree you might think Guardian Stones is just the synergy (an enhancement) of Menhir Wall, well this is quite far from the truth. When unlocked, both skills have their own Icons and can be summoned independently. So you can have both Menhir Wall and Guardian Stones at the same time on the Battlefield!
So why did developers put it like it was a synergy? Maybe because both skills are Stones? Or maybe because it is more pretty on the skill tree?
Anyways the visual aspect is anecdotal, what counts is how those Skills work and if they are any good for us:
Menhir WallLifetime 10 sec / 150 Health (LV1) / 25% chance of 1 Second of Stun (regardless of Level)
This is a summon designed to distract Monsters. It deals no damage but has a chance to Stun Monsters (25% chance to Stun).
The Stun chance only triggers when Monsters try to hit the Menhir Wall! So if Monsters aim at you then the Stun won’t work, which is a bummer.
When you cast the Menhir Wall between you and Monsters (recommended), your arrows and other projectiles can go through this wall and hit enemies.
You can obstruct terrains with Menhir Wall (at choke points, doors, etc)
Note: you can also cast Menhir Wall through various terrains (for what it's worth)
Guardian StonesSummons 3 Stones which last for 45 sec / They deal damage every 4 seconds / 4 minute cooldown (Ouch!)
LV1: 200 Elemental Damage! / they have 1000 HP! / deal Stun / deal 33% Reduction to Enemy Health!
Guardian Stones are multi-target! (2 targets)
First Guardian Stones -unlike Menhir Wall- CANNOT go through terrain. Also be watchful when you cast it in enclosed areas (doors and choke points): if badly cast you can possibly summon 2 Stones instead of the normal 3. So in order to avoid this always throw them in the middle of a room.
This is one monster of a skill that has only one drawback but a serious one: the cooldown of this skill is 4 minutes (240 sec)! Apart from that the damage output of these 3 stones is surreal, those who never tried this skill have no idea:
- The Giant Limos (Act I Side Quest "Trapped in the Ruins"): I killed that Limos in less than 10 seconds!! With just Guardian Stones and a few knives thrown into the mix. Without charms, relics nor Debuffs whatsoever. Between you and me: that was TOO fast. ^^
The 3 Gorgons: same deal. If you lead them near the Guardian Stones, they will fall in no time,
And if you add the Runic Mines into the equation (see above) it gets even more crazy.
Conclusion: do not underestimate Guardian Stones! To give you another perspective for this Skill just remember that Guardian Stones are as powerful as the Outsider from the Spirit Mastery! Both Summons have actually a lot in common:
# both are unlocked at the highest level of their respective Mastery (LV32),
# both are temporary Summons,
# both deal Elemental Damage and Health Reduction in %. This is what makes those Summons so devastating,
# both have a very long cooldown (Outsider: 6 min / Guardian Stones: 4 min)
The only real difference is that Guardian Stones are static whereas the Outsider is a walking apocalypse.
Note: since Cooldown Reduction now caps at 80% you can expect to reduce the cooldown of Guardian Stones from "4 minutes" to "48 seconds" at best.
Runeword: Explode > Runeword: BurnRuneword: Explode: 120° Arc of Attack / 2.5 Meter Radius / Damage (flat) / Fire Damage (flat) / Stun
Runeword: Burn: 2.5 Meter Radius / Multiple Fragments / Burn Damage over 3.0 Seconds
Note: the chance to trigger increases with Level
I don’t understand this skill...Seriously I need the opinion of the Community on this one.
EDIT: Veterans heeded my plea. ^^ Here's what Malgardian, Firebrand, Vio and botebote77 said about "Runeword: Explode" and its synergy. My Goodness! This is actually a pretty good Skill:
Malgardian: I personally like Runeword: Explode on my Elemental Archer as it's a nice replacement for Scattershot if you're not using hunting. At least in normal its damage is quite good, so that you can kill a few enemies at once.
Firebrand:There's one thing I'd point out about Runeword: Burn, and that is that it has an area of effect whenever it triggers. All damage it and its synergy deal indeed work well together with Earth, but personally I think the real deal is that it makes your attack (and yes, that includes every property of your attack) affect multiple enemies.
And that's an incredibly useful bonus, even if the extra physical, fire, and burn damages are negligible. You have attack damage converted to health? Neat, now you heal double or triple the amount. You have energy leech? Say hello to a full energy bar! Flat elemental damage? Flat elemental explosion, more like. What's a better thing than slowing melee monsters charging at you? The answer is slowing a whole group of melee enemies charging at you! (Hint: You can have all four of those of those just from the Rune Weapon tree.)
Another little thing is its subtle synergy with Reckless Offense: the chance for Runeword: Explode to trigger applies to both projectiles shot by Reckless Offense. And I think it's a nice touch.
Vio: And yes, Runeword: Explode makes your main attack an AoE much like Ternion's Arcane Lore does.
botebote77: runeword:explode also works on melee...it's effective actually because at melee range, mobs gather around you closely and when it procs, you hit multiple monsters... there are no projectiles on melee weapons though so there are also no fragments
Reckless OffenseEffects: Allows Dual Wield / % chance to hit with both weapons / +100% Total Damage
This is a passive skill that allows you to dual wield weapons. Take note that this skill is not limited to throwing knives or darts, you can dual wield swords, maces or axes too.
When the skill activates you also get the following bonus: +100% Total Damage. Vio, Bless his Soul ^^, added this:
Vio: Reckless Offense, like other Dual Wield skills, gives a chance to use a special animation (throwing three projectiles quickly or doing four hits in melee) while also granting its damage bonus. The bonus only applies when the attack triggers. As always, really.
You will need to invest a few Skill Points and have +Skills (granted by items) to really benefit from this excellent skill.
Runeword: Absorb "
Enchant a shield or a staff with the ability to absorb the energy of enemy…"
Effects: -% Shield Recovery Time / % Absorption of Spell / Energy Leech Retaliation per Second (flat damage)
Thanks to Veteran Vio the use of this Skill has been finally understood:
Vio: Runeword: Absorb is the tanky alternative to Reckless Offense. It gives you Energy when you get hit, which in turn fuels the Energy-hungry shield. So it is quite good in combination with other damage mitigation or/and -% Energy Cost.
Seal of Fate > AftershockSeal of Fate: 3.0 Second Duration / 4.0 Meter Radius / Elemental Damage (flat) / % Reduction to Enemy's Health / 2.0 second(s) of Stun / +100% Damage to Devices
Aftershock: 4.0 Meter Radius / 4 Second Duration / Bleeding Damage / Reduced Armor / Reduced Resistances / % Chance of Impaired Aim / 4.0 second(s) of Skill Disruption / 20% Slow
Seal of Fate: the main skill is a decent debuff against Monsters. Good but doesn’t hold a candle to its lovely synergy,
Aftershock: now we’re talking! This beauty debuffs Monsters hard, it reduces their Resistances. Also the % Chance of Impaired Aim is a boon against Archers!
The only real drawback of "Seal of Fate > Aftershock" is the relatively limited area of the debuff (4 meters). The debuff zone does NOT increase not matter how many Skills Points you put into the skills. So this is mostly single target (Bosses, Heroic Monsters, dense mobs, etc). Even so you’ll be happy to have it because Monsters go down noticeably faster when they are under the effect of “Seal of Fate > Aftershock”.
Energy Armor An aura that buffs you and your Allies (Familiars too). 5 Meter Radius / 25 Seconds cooldown. After a certain threshold of Damage is absorbed "Energy Armor" will vanish.
Effects: Damage Absorption (flat number but very high when the skill is maxed!) / Resistance to Physical-Piercing-Bleeding-Stun!!
A worthy skill. Some might complain that you have to cast it regularly but honestly this no big deal. Because those Resists are a Godsend. Personally I always cast "Energy Armor" and "Rune of Life" at the same time. When both are up I feel safe.
Now when Energy Armor is taken down by Monsters (which will happen I can assure you) then I can narrow down what kind of Damage I’m taking. This skill, like Rune of Life, is invaluable.
The casting radius of Energy Armor is limited to 5 meters, but from the moment you've cast it on your nearby Familiars -it works on them too- the Spell will latch on to them even when they rush afar to kill stuff in Aggressive Mode. The Spell will also vanish after the listed Damage has been sustained.
No more room. Read the rest
here.
V] Rune Build Compendium- [Rune+Earth]
Runic Elemental Shotgun Guide by Firebrand- [Rune+Defense]
Runesmith Build Advice started by Hal900x- [Rune+Rogue]
Tempet Tricks’ Trickster journal by MedeaFleecestealer ...
- [Rune+Nature]
Skinchanger Petmaster by botebote77 VI] Hall of Contributors-
Firebrand for his sharp comment on "Thunder Strike" and his very insightful Runic Elemental Shotgun Guide,
-
Malgardian for his clarification on "Runeword: Burn" and the fact that it works with bows! Thank you, wise guy!
-
Firebrand (again ^^) for explaining the multiple synergies available with the "Runeword: Burn" Skill,
-
Vio for figuring out Reckless Offense/Runeword: Explode /Runeword: Absorb. Hats off to you, Mister Number Cruncher!
-
Firebrand good things always come in 3!
For detailing his way to counter the high cost of "Energy Armor",
-
botebote77 for his info on "Transmutation" since v1.54 / the fact that "Energy Drain" has an impact on "Throwing Knives" / that the tooltip of"Rune of Life" has been corrected on Ragnarök Calculator / then his
Skinchanger Petmaster Thread - the good people at
kirmiziperfect for their Titan Quest Ragnarök Calculator available at:
Titan Quest AE + Ragnarök CalculatorVII] ConclusionI sincerely hope the guide helped. I felt Beginners who might want a basic rundown of the Rune Mastery might need a faq like this one. Rune Mastery is still relatively undocumented right now. I humbly hope you enjoyed the read.
Finally thank you Reader for taking the time to browse the whole Guide, The Croc says you deserve a little something, what about a Haïku Poem?
:
Rune Dissected
Mighty Winter Spells Ragnarök
Big Tears to The Croc