LoL Runes Guide - Know your Rune Pages

League of Legends is a game of numbers. Champions level up, gaining higher ranks of their abilities, gaining more damage and utility. Throughout the game, they are collecting gold to purchase items that add even more numbers - AD, Ability Power, Health Points, Resistances, or Tenacity. And then - it’s all about champion differences and player skills, that will determine the outcome of a fight or a game in its entirety. Keep in mind that this guide was made when patch 9.17 was live, meaning that some things might have gotten changed in the meantime. 

How Do I Get LoL Statistics?

When it comes to gaining numbers in this season, there are four instances in which you can pick them. These instances are:

Champion - Each champion comes with his own set of numbers. Every character has base stats that will increase as they level up. It is combined with abilities that have their base damage, and they will also scale with your other stats to get even more out of them.

Leveling Up - Leveling up will increase base stats of the Champion, and spending Ability Points on skills will increase their base damage, lower/shorten cooldowns, etc.

Items - Most crucial thing numbers-wise. If you don’t have proper items, you will most likely lose.

Runes - LOL Runes are the best early addition to base stats of a Champion and their possibilities. Each rune has great potential at some stages of the game, and some will start almost meaningless, scaling heavily into the late game. And in this guide - we will focus on them. Let's talk about some league of legends runes.

Runes

Runes from the secondary path and Keystone Rune (primary path) change everything. With the release of Runes Reforged back in pre-season 8, Riot Games turned a dull and very static system of Runes and Masteries, into an abundance of possibilities and different playstyles. Before that time - Attack Damage Carries (Marksmen) were all about stacking Fervor, as the last and the best keystone from the masteries tree, with runes that would most of the time add some Attack Speed, Attack Damage, Armor, and Magic Resistance.

After changes - runes and masteries turned into Keystones and Runes, making some playstyles more specific, allowing all Champions to play to their different strengths. Let’s take Ahri, for example. She is a burst-heavy mage assassin that also has lots of possibilities to harass her enemies during the early laning. She has a powerful kill setup that requires her to hit her Crowd Control skill - Charm, and she can one-shot squishy targets pretty reliably. It opens Ahri to a few keystones, to make her very effective in each and every one of her strengths. 

Ahri can choose Electrocute. It will boost her one-shot capabilities to truly shine on the battlefield, providing lots of damage if she manages to hit her abilities. If Ahri faces off a mid laner with the weak early game, that scales hard into the mid-game, Arcane Comet will be the best choice. This Keystone will allow her to dish out some more damage during her early stages of the game. If you can manage the wave properly against enemies that you want to harass out of lane with well-aimed Q + Arcane Comet - this Keystone will be invaluable, especially against melee matchups. And if your team lacks Crowd Control, or you just want to ensure hitting that [E] Charm, Glacial Augment Keystone combined with Twin Shadows and Hextech GLP-800. With that playstyle, setting up kills and picks will be easier with auto attacks those slow people, and activating Hextech GLP-800 will deal damage and create layers of ice on the ground, dramatically lowering Movement Speed of enemies. 

And when it comes to tanks - there are a lot of choices too. Grasp of The Undying favors High-HP Champions that can trade with enemies for a longer time, rewarding them with increased health, healing, and damage with more stacks, as you gain them each time you manage to activate this Keystone on the foe. For those who fight with Crowd Control and prefer quick, safe trades - Aftershock will be a perfect choice. It will grant lots of resistance for a short duration after applying a hard CC, ending with a Shockwave that will deal with some additional damage. And for Tanks that focus more on fighting with their AD pool - Conqueror will be amazing, slowly adding up some AD, turning a small part of the damage into true damage, and healing you for a considerable amount of damage dealt.

With Keystones like that, there’s even a possibility of assigning champions to lanes on which they initially wouldn’t fit in. Leona is a pure support champion with lots of CC, but with the right rune set up and build, she can become an AP Mid Assassin, or Bruiser Tank at the top lane.

Without further ado - let us jump into Rune Trees available in League of Legends. League is very complicated, so you can expect some in-depth descriptions.

Precision

This Tree is focused on using basic attacks, improving sustained damage, and giving you some nice bonuses that will keep you going at all times. 

Precision Keystones

Press the Attack - Hitting an enemy champion with three basic attacks, or spells that are activated by a basic attack or identify as a basic attack (Ekko’s E, Leona’s Q, Gankplank’s Q), will place stacks on an enemy. After three stacks are activated - foe will take some instant damage, and every point of damage from any source will be now amplified by a small percentage. It’s simply amazing for Champions that can quickly combo AA with AA Resets (AA>Auto Reset Skill>AA), or for those who have a three-shot mechanic in their kit (Vayne, Kindred). Having all further damage amplified can be invaluable in any situation, but it’s especially useful when used on a high-priority target. Not only that, some champions have some kind of combo or additional Auto procs. Shyvana applies two stacks through her Q, Renekton can apply all three stacks with just his empowered W. Basically, every hit that takes away the health pool will be improved.

Lethal Tempo - After attacking an enemy champion, after some short delay - your attack speed will increase drastically, exceeding the Attack Speed limit if necessary. It’s especially useful for champions that rely on their attack speed to deal most of their damage (Azir, Vayne, Master Yi).

Fleet Footwork - Charge this Keystone by moving and attacking, after it is charged, next auto attack will heal the user, and grant him bonus MS for a short time. It’s a great way to keep your champion healthy in the lane, especially if enemy laner is prone to harassing in the lane. A lot of time taken on AD Carries that face off against Caitlyn, or against other champions that make the lane slightly dangerous when it comes to harassing. Excellent on Kassadin as well for lane survival. Some top laners will benefit from this rune in ranged poke-oriented matchups.

Conqueror - Each auto-attack stacks some AD with each hit. At max five stacks, some damage is converted into true dmg, healing you for the same amount. This Keystone is invaluable for those who stay in longer fights and have an easy time generating Conqueror stacks. Champions like Jax, Tryndamere, Irelia, or Darius. All of these champions capitalize on longer fights, as they are easily able to out sustain and out damage enemies thanks to their kits.

Precision Slot 1

Overheal - over heals will now be forming into a shield that exceeds the HP limit of a champion that has this rune picked. It works similarly to Bloodthirster’s passive. Combined with BT, this rune will give you an edge in a fight.

Triumph - After a champion kill, the user of this rune will be given 25 more gold and a heal that will be equal to the value of 12% of their missing HP. Good rune if you want to snowball, or if your champion has proper tools to stay in a fight for longer while killing enemies. Katarina and other Assassins will benefit significantly from this rune. 

Presence of Mind - After killing an enemy, 20% of the maximum mana will be restored, and 10% of the ultimate cooldown - refunded. Fantastic for characters that can spam abilities in a teamfight that are quite costly. A lot of times - must-have for a Kassadin, and very powerful addition to already almighty Pyke.

Precision Slot 2

Legend: Alacrity - Your character will get Legend Stacks throughout the game, for killing large monsters, champions, minions, or epic monsters. At max stacks champion using this rune will have an 18% bonus Attack Speed. It’s like a dagger and a half at max stacks, which is like 450 gold value.

Legend: Tenacity - Legend stacks will grant you Tenacity, a resistance stat that will reduce the time of being under any Crowd Control (except knock-ups, suppression, and other displacements). At max stacks, it’s 30% tenacity, when mixed with Mercury’s Treads, Sterak’s Gage Unique Passive and Unflinching, even Leona or Nautilus won’t do a thing to you.

Legend: Bloodlust - This Legend Stack will provide you with a bunch of Lifesteal. At max stacks, it’s 12% Lifesteal. And since Lifesteal is a pretty expensive stat - this Legend rune is very valuable. More and more ADCs take this rune to ensure free healing in the lane, and a good amount of life healed after purchasing Infinity Edge and 2 Zeal items. This rune ensures that you can go for your best build, get it ASAP, without wasting time on gathering gold for Vampiric Scepter or Bloodthirster too early. With this one - you can freely build BT or Mercurial Scimitar as one of the last items. 

Precision Slot 3

Coup de Grace - the lower the HP of the enemy champion, the more damage you will deal to them. Perfect rune for assassins, especially those who have abilities that can execute or dish out increased damage based on the enemy’s missing health. Great for damage dealers if you don’t see 2+ tanks in the enemy team. However - this damage boost is the smallest of all three, netting only 8% increased damage to enemies below 40% Health Points.

Cut Down - You will deal increased damage to enemies that have more max health than you, maxing out at a 15% bonus. Great for assassins and other carries if the enemy team has 2+ tanks. Get this only when you are sure that enemy health and resistances stackers will be a problem for your team. ADCs should take this rune, as they have an easy approach on tanks that want to get on them. 

Last Stand - The lower you are, the more damage you will deal to the enemy. Maxing out at 11% bonus damage. Excellent for champions that have some built-in lifesteal, or bonuses when they are at low HP. Darius, Tryndamere, and Olaf will be perfect for this kind of rune, same with Irelia.

Domination

Domination is an excellent tree for assassins, as this tree focuses on using abilities, resources that enhance chasing potential and cause risky plays to be a little bit safer, and to increase the burst damage dealt with powerful Combos.

Domination Keystones

Electrocute - After three attacks in rapid succession, this Keystone will deal some damage to the enemy, scaling with possessor's Attack Damage and Ability Power. The most popular keystone in this tree that will be used on most champions that want to one-shot you in a matter of seconds. It’s a good keystone if you're going to assassinate targets and don’t want to risk weaker late-game, as this Keystone is decent and quite relevant through every stage of the game.

Predator - Your boots will be granted an active ability that will allow you to channel a massive boost of speed, with an empowered attack that stops the movement speed boost. This one will deal as much damage as Electrocute at the max level, even though it’s stronger at first levels.

Dark Harvest - The best keystone for assassins if you are good enough to stack it. This ability is a risky shard-collection. When your enemies are low enough (below 50% HP) dealing damage to them will grant you a stack of Dark Harvest, and the attack itself will dish out additional damage to your enemy, depending on your stacks, Attack Damage, and Ability Power. Each stack will add five extra points of damage to the next Dark Harvest attack. The worst and the best thing about this ability is that you have a stacking system that depends highly on your skill and awareness. In the beginning, this ability is pretty weak, but if you manage to get 10-20 stacks, you are going to deal lots of damage with it. I have a long cooldown, but if you manage to get a takedown on a champion (kill or assist), Dark Harvest has a 1.5 seconds cooldown, meaning that you can utilize it multiple times during a 5v5 teamfight.

Hail of Blades - The first three attacks after initiating a fight will have 110% Attack Speed, allowing you to dish out lots of additional damage at the beginning of the battle. It’s quite decent for fast trades on auto-attack reliant champions, and some junglers will use it to increase their damage output during ganks, as those can happen pretty fast, especially when enemy laner’s position is not vulnerable enough to exploit.

Domination Slot 1

Cheap Shot - Additional damage dealt with enemies with movement or action impaired. It means slows, roots, stuns, knock-ups, knockbacks, everything that makes you unable to do anything. It is somewhat of free true damage dealt with the enemy’s face, that has a cooldown of 4 seconds, and deals a tiny amount of damage (10-40 between levels 1-18).

Taste of Blood - really good sustainability that will be invaluable if you have the range advantage over the enemy, and you happened to take some damage beforehand. It has a 10-second cooldown, and healing will be noticeable, with the potential to heal 54 HP at level 1 in 1 minute. Useful mainly only in the lane, and pretty meaningless after the laning phase is over, as healing 80 HP every 20 seconds in the late game means close to nothing. 

Sudden Impact - a must-have for most assassins that have some dash, blink, gap closer, or stealth. After using a dash and gap closer, blink, or coming out of stealth - your Lethality and Magic Penetration will be increased for a short time. Champions like Ahri, Evelynn, Zed, or Talon will significantly benefit from this rune.

Domination Slot 2

Zombie Ward - killing an enemy ward will spawn your ward in the same place. Each zombie ward that you manage to spawn will grant you some Adaptive Force bonus, up to 10. At 10 zombie wards, you will gain some additional Adaptive Force. It’s a great tool if you like to fight for vision, and want to be extra safe in every stage of the game, with zombie wards providing you with additional intel on the enemy’s position. It is an excellent choice for Support players.

Ghost Poro - Your expired wards will spawn Ghost Poro in the place of a ward. Each ghost poro spawned in the game will grant you a stack of adaptive damage. If they spot a champion, you will get an additional stack, and those cap at ten stacks maximum. You will get adaptive force for each stack, and some additional statistics after reaching the hard cap.

Eyeball Collection - Champion takedowns will grant you stacks, that will as well cap at 10, giving you some additional stats for each stack, and for stack completion. It’s good for champions that will get a lot of kills or assists.

Domination Slot 3

Ravenous Hunter - Your Champion will heal for a percentage of damage dealt by your abilities. This rune, just like every other rune in this Domination Slot, has a Bounty Hunter system that rewards you for killing every other champion on the enemy team. If you manage to kill all five enemy champions in the enemy team - you will heal for 11,5% of your damage dealt with abilities. Very good for champions with some sustained damage coming from Abilities, preferably with low cooldown (Cassiopeia, Akali, Ryze). It’s only 33% effective when it comes to Area of Effect Damage.

Ingenious Hunter - Grants Item Active CDR, base amount + Bounty Hunter stacks. Some champions are heavily reliant on items with Actives. Predator Keystone users, mages with risky playstyles purchasing Zhonya’s Hourglass for safety, Lethality users using Edge of Night and Youmuu’s Ghostblade, and many other items, like Hextech for example. It applies to trinkets as well.

Relentless Hunter - You will gain additional out of combat movement speed. Some base amount with Bounty Hunter, perfect keystone for junglers that want to be all over the map, and mid laners prone to roaming. This movement bonus will max out 55 bonus out of combat MS.

Ultimate Hunter - Your champion’s ultimate cooldown will be reduced by a considerable amount. Combined with 40% (or 45%), you will be able to reduce the cooldown of your Ultimate ability by roughly 70% at max Stacks. It’s a real banger for those who rely heavily on the ultimate ability for damage or survival. Karthus, Evelynn, Ekko, Malphite, Nocturne, or Riven will choose this rune most of the time if they are going for the playmaking capabilities.

Sorcery

This Rune tree will be used on characters that like some extra damage on their abilities, additional utilities, resources, and increasing some basic stats. It is a go-to tree for casters and mages.

Sorcery Keystones

Summon Aery - Attacks and Abilities will send Aery to the target, dealing some additional damage to enemies, or shielding your allies. Aery works just like a homing missile. She will get to your target no matter what. Then after a short delay, Aery will make her way towards you, enabling you to use her again. Meaning the closer you are to your target, the cooldown will be much lower. Be careful, however, as it will come directly to you. It means that enemies will be able to determine your location, even if you’re in a bush.

Arcane Comet - Holy Grail of most mages and long-range pokers that can easily stand on the backline and launch their abilities reliably and safely. After hitting a champion with your ability, Area of Effect Arcane comet will launch, aiming for their current location. It’s a fantastic ability for those who can freely harass enemies from a more extended range. Azir, Xerath, or Lux will make something great out of this ability. Cooldown is low at level 18, and since it’s an Area of Effect damage Keystone - you can deal with some nice amounts of extra damage. Works best on abilities with built-in slow, as movement impairment pretty much guarantees the hit.

Phase Rush - Pure utility Keystone that will enable you to reach high movement speed level, and reduce the effectiveness of incoming slows. It’s great for champions that don’t have many movement abilities, yet need movement to stay close to enemies or kite them. It’s also great for those who have skills that reduce their own MS, as this effect will be reduced by a significant amount. This keystone will be amazing for Mordekaiser, Darius, Ryze, Cassio, or Vladimir.

Sorcery Slot 1

Nullifying Orb - Taking magic damage that would put you below 30% of your HP will grant you a shield that will absorb the magic damage taken, scaling with AP and AD. Right choice against AP assassins, or AP champions that have insane burst damage - against Evelynn, Syndra, Nidalee, or Katarina. It is often referred to as “mini Maw of Malmortius.” It's like a bonus Magic Resistance, and it's really powerful.

Manaflow Band - Hitting an enemy champion with an ability will now grant you permanent 25 mana points. This effect stacks up to 250 mana, and after you reach that cap - you will be given some extra mana regeneration that will depend on your missing mana. Great ability for champions with high mana costs and harass capabilities, like Lux, Xerath, Caitlyn, or Ashe. Great to stack on characters with point-and-click abilities.

Nimbus Cloak - after a short delay after using an ultimate ability - you will be granted an additional burst of speed that will allow you to move through minions quickly without any creep block for 2.5 seconds. Excellent ability for Vladimir, or Mordekaiser.

Sorcery Slot 2

Transcendence - After 10 minutes mark, your champion will be granted 10% CDR. Additionally, each percent of CDR that exceeds the limit of CDR will give you some adaptive force. A great keystone to have on characters that require high CDR, for Assassins, and Riven.

Celerity - Movement Speed increased by 1%, and all Movement Speed boosters will be 7% more potent. Decent for Mobility Boots users and characters that require lots of movement speed. Udyr, Hecarim, Evelynn - this rune will be great for them.

Absolute Focus - As long as your champion is above 70% Health Points, you will get some extra adaptive force. Stats granted will be higher at level 18. It’s the right choice for champions that can stay healthy throughout the game. Also, a decent choice for characters with strong self-heals that can remain safe and make occasional plays from range or stealth. Xerath, Lux, Ahri, Evelynn, or Kayle will work wonders with this rune. A popular choice for Shaco and Teemo, who leave their traps all over the map.

Sorcery Slot 3

Scorch - After damaging an enemy with an ability, they will get some additional damage after 1 second. It’s an excellent rune for those who would like to focus on harassing enemy laner early on. While the damage isn’t high at all, it does add up nicely. Best choice for those who are laning against enemies that can and should be easily wrecked in the early game, before their power spikes. It is excellent for Arcane Comet/Summon Aery poke users.

Waterwalking - while being in the river champion, will gain 25 movement speed and some Adaptive Force. Decent for characters who wander between lanes to roam. Great for mid laners focused on roaming, granted, that they have the ability to clear waves and jungle players. Must-have for River Shen.

Gathering Storm - The best and the worst rune in this meta. The Gathering Storm will grant you Adaptive Force each time 10 minutes pass on the Rift. You will get more and more stats as the game goes on, and these stats will become quite powerful with time. And that’s the only blessing, and issue at the same time. Gathering Storm takes time to stack up. The first effect is minor. Second is mediocre. At 30 minutes - Gathering Storm becomes much more relevant. Before that time - Scorch is much more useful, as it enables you to more easily harass your opponent in the lane, making them unable to take gold and exp if you have the right champion in the right matchup. 

Resolve 

Resolve path Rune tree is all about tanky stats, durability, and survivability. It will be taken as the main tree on tanks, bruisers, sometimes duelists, and supports. As the second tree - for demolition and health enthusiasts, or for those that do not appreciate getting harassed out of the lane. 

Resolve Keystone

Grasp of the Undying - Every four seconds in combat, your next basic attack on an enemy champion will have some special effects. You will deal additional magic damage equal to 4% of your maximum hp. You will be healed for 2% of your maximum hp. And your maximum health will be increased by 5 points for every time you manage to use Grasp of the Undying. Great keystone for very tanky bruisers that get into long fights, or for those that can easily harass enemies in the lane. It is because Grasp of the Undying will stack if you get in any combat, meaning that you can attack minions, and your 4 seconds will start counting. Right then - it’s just about attacking enemy champion once to deal some extra damage and get some maximum health in return. Poppy, Maokai, Ornn, Shen - they will get some helpful additional health and damage from that. Grasp can be taken on Fiora, which gives her a little more survivability, and on Gangplank as his Q counts as melee auto-attack.

Aftershock - After immobilizing an enemy champion, the user of this keystone will gain some extra resistances that will reduce the damage taken. After a short delay - resistances will disappear with a powerful shockwave that will deal with lots of base damage, amplified with 4% of maximum health dealt as damage. Perfect Keystone for quick all-ins when it comes to tanky bruisers or tanky supports. You go in, follow up with a CC - any damage you take during that time is significantly reduced, and you can just back off, as long as you have tools and ways to do it. 

Guardian - Protects your allies within 175 units of you and those who you target with your supportive abilities. If either of you takes damage while the Guardian is active, your champion grants a shield to both of you, additionally applying a haste status for 1.5 seconds. Shield scales with level, Ability Power, and bonus Health of a caster. And haste will always have the same value of an additional 20% Movement Speed granted for both champions. Very nice Keystone that will be great for supports who either prefer to stay at the back, dishing out shields and heals for their teammates, or for characters like Braum and Rakan, that have some way of dashing to their carries for protection purposes.

Resolve Slot 1

Demolish - As long as you are within 600 units of the enemy turret, a timer will pop out on it, that will fill up after 3 seconds. If you manage to attack the tower after the timer is full - your attack will deal 100 base damage, and 35% of your maximum Health turned into bonus physical damage to the tower. It’s an excellent addition for tanky split-pushers like Yorick or Illaoi, or tanky Supports that can reliably push with their carries. It's a Perfect Keystone for health stackers like Cho’Gath or Sion as well.

Font of Life - impairing enemy champion’s movement marks them for all of your allies to use. The mark lasts for 4 seconds, and every ally attacking that specific marked character will heal themselves for five bases + 1% of your maximum health over the span of 2 seconds. Decent stuff for Supports with low-cooldown CCs, or for those who can easily chain Crowd Control. Such champions like Leona, Nautilus, or Pyke could do some great things with this rune, even though the healing is quite minor, maybe even somewhat bad.

Shield Bash - Whenever you gain a new shield, the next basic attack will deal additional damage, based on your Bonus Health, and Shield Capacity Amount. Not only that, while shielded - you will gain some extra Armor and Magic Resistance. Quite nice addition to the damage dealt for champions that can spam shields on themselves. Riven can work nicely with this one, same as Poppy, and Shen.

Resolve Slot 2

Conditioning - After the 10-minute mark, you will gain +9 Armor and +9 Magic Resistance. Additionally, all of your Armor and Magic Resist will be increased by 5%. Amazing keystone for tanks, that goes for pure numbers value. This rune will make you as tanky as possible outside of pure champion stats and items.

Second Wind - After taking damage from an enemy champion, you will heal for 4% of your missing health +6, over 10 seconds. If you expect to be harassed in the lane, e.g., your playing against Xerath, Azir, Vel’koz, or Lux, this is the best rune to go with. Also, if you are going melee into a ranged match up, it might be a good idea to take Second Wind for some extra Health, that will regenerate after getting hit. It works perfectly combined with Doran's Shield or triple Rejuvenation Beads.

Bone Plating - After taking damage from an enemy champion next three spells or attacks that you receive will have their damage reduced significantly by a fixed amount that increases with levels. It is a perfect keystone if you are going for short trades, that in the best scenario will end with four hits. At level 1, this ability, if utilized to its maximum, will block 90 damage. At level 1 - it’s massive since attacks usually won’t deal more than 100 damage. It can be the difference between life and death, especially if your champion has possibilities of going all-in early on. Champions, like Aatrox, Camille, Riven, or Jax, will benefit significantly from this rune, as it’s compelling during early levels. Its power increases from 30 at level one to a mere 60 at level 18, so it’s an early game rune. And you should try to utilize it properly by heavy trading each time this rune is up.

Resolve Slot 3

Overgrowth - Enemy minions or monsters that die near you grant you their life essence. Every 8 minion or monster souls will give you 3 points of Health. After absorbing 120 souls (which is about 17-20 waves), your maximum Health will be increased by 3.5%. Most of the time, on non-tanky champions that don’t build much HP - you will get 200-300 additional points of hp. It’s a lot of HP, especially for AP/AD Casters, and ADCs, and it’s an excellent addition for every tank out there.

Revitalize - Heals and Shields you either cast or receive will be 5% stronger, increased to 10% if targets of heals are below 40% of their maximum health points. If you are going to give out heals or receive them a lot. It’s a great rune for self-healers like Aatrox, Irelia, Vladimir, Darius, Soraka, Nasus, Rengar, or Hecarim, or for those who will dish out heals - Soraka, Nami, or Rakan. This rune doesn’t work on health regeneration enhancers, so potions, Garen’s passive, or Mundo’s R will not stack with this one. However, if you pickup 

Unflinching - After casting a Summoner Spell, you will gain 15% Slow Resistance, and Tenacity for 10 seconds. Additionally, each Summoner Spell on cooldown will grant you 10% Tenacity and Slow Resistance, for the entire cooldown duration. It’s a fantastic keystone if the enemy team has lots of Crowd Control that can stop you in your tracks. If the enemy team has Nautilus, Leona, Morgana, Ahri, or Evelynn - it might be a good idea to stick with some additional Tenacity beyond Mercury Threads. 

Inspiration

This Rune Page goes totally beyond League mechanics. It’s the unique rune tree in League of Legends. It adds some new items, new rules to your gameplay, new mechanics, and lots of solid utility to work with. Let’s start with the big boys

Inspiration Keystones

Glacial Augment - Basic Attacks on a champion will slow them for two seconds, with the slow gradually increasing from the beginning to the end of the Crowd Control. The slow will be more powerful when this keystone is grabbed on a melee character. Additionally - using active items that slow enemies on hit - will pierce them with a freeze ray, leaving a path of ice on the ground that will slow all units that step on it by roughly 60%. It’s an amazing keystone even if you are not willing to purchase any slowing items, as the passive Movement Speed Slow on basic attacks is powerful enough to allow you to stick to other champions easily with auto attacks alone. It’s good on some supports, some top laners, and you can also make it work on junglers and mid laners. Power from this keystone helps not only in chase downs but in setting up important Crowd Control skill shots with ease. Characters like Ahri or Aurelion Sol will benefit greatly from this keystone, allowing them to hit the deciding CC in a fight.

Kleptomancy - After using an ability, your two next attacks will get you five gold each. You might also get something nicer - various, random items that you will be able to use to gain some extra money, extra Ability Points, additional stats for a short time, healing, mana regeneration, even wards or oracle elixir. As long as you attack a champion - you have a chance to get some sweet rewards. This keystone will work wonders on champions that can easily harass their enemies with abilities and auto-attacks. Additionally, some champions have abilities that count as auto-attacks, and when it comes to them - the First stack of Kleptomancy will activate with the moment in which ability hits. Ezreal, Gangplank, or Kayle will benefit significantly from this one, allowing them to get something extra out of every harass. And since harassing is legal on Summoners Rift - there’s no reason not to take it if you know you are going to be in easy town.

Unsealed Spellbook - With this one, you will be able to swap one of your Summoner Spells for another Spell with a single-use. Sometimes having that Ignite from time to time when playing Flash + Teleport can be game-changing. You will be able to swap from 6 minutes and onwards. The cooldown of swapping is set at 4 minutes, and it will get lower and lower for each spell swap by 20 seconds. You will be only able to swap Spells in downtime when you are out of combat, so you can often surprise your enemies with a Heal or Barrier, if they decide to dive you, expecting you to be at low HP.

What's more, most likely, you will have an additional combat summoner off cooldown before your enemy will. It’s a great keystone that is very flexible for you to use. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to swap to a single Spell over and over again, as each spell has a cooldown that will force you to swap spells three additional times until you can use the first swap again. 

Inspiration Slot 1

Hextech Flashtraption - Flash will be exchanged for a Hexflash when on cooldown. It works similarly to flash as it teleports you to another location. It's shorter than a regular flash, and the user has to channel it for 2 seconds, but it will be fantastic for supports who like to go in unexpected. Support like Alistar or Thresh will find a lot of use for this rune.

Magical Footwear - You will get free boots made of a skin belonging to a magical creature at 12 minutes in. Each champion takedown will reduce the time it takes to get them by 45 seconds. This rune will save you 300 gold and will increase your movement speed by 10 in comparison to normal boots, lowering the overall cost. It's a good investment that pays out on champions who can get easily kited or need that movement speed at the further stages of the game. It also allows you to focus on purchasing your main items ASAP with free boot incoming in 12 minutes or less.

Perfect Timing - You will spawn with a personal Stopwatch item in your inventory. After 10 minutes, you will be able to use it once, after which it will break into Broken Stopwatch. It works just like Zhonya's Hourglass. Having this rune will reduce the cooldown of your Guardian Angel, Gargoyle Stoneplate, or Zhonya's Hourglass by 15%.

Inspiration Slot 2

Future's Market - Stacks of coins on the icon. Your purchases can get you above your gold count, leaving you at negative gold values. The fee is 50 gold, and the debt limit is 150 +5/minute. It's a fantastic rune that will allow you to purchase your power spike items sooner than your enemy laner. It is useful especially when you expect to be harassed heavily before a first major purchase (like Nasus or Gangplank before Sheen)

Minion Dematerializer - You will start the game with 3 Minion Dematerializers in your inventory. You will be able to use them on an enemy minion to make it disappear entirely. Each minion consumed will make you deal 6% more damage to its type and an additional 3% for any further dematerialization attempts. Useful for maintaining lane priority at dire situations and fabulous for those who want to keep farming reliably without leaving minions at 1-2 hp in the mid-game.

Biscuit Delivery - Gain Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will every 2 minutes until 6 minutes into the game. Each consumable will retore 10% of your max health, increasing your mana cap by 50. As for characters without mana, like Vlad, Kennen, or Katarina - 12% of their missing health will regenerate. Great for sustain and harsh lanes against enemies more prone towards trades and harass.

Inspiration Slot 3

Cosmic Insight - Your Cooldown Reduction for everything will be increased by 5% going over the maximum cap. It includes your CDR, Max CDR, Summoner Spell CDR, and Item CDR. Truly amazing for characters that rely on their skills to move around and deal damage. Almost must-have for champions like Vladimir and Riven.

Approach Velocity - Gain 15% Movement Speed towards your allied movement impaired champions, or enemies that you impair. Amazing for those champions who can easily get kited after applying their CC. Udyr and Darius will capitalize greatly on this rune.

Time Warp Tonic - Consuming a potion or a biscuit will grant 50% of its health and mana restoration immediately, putting the consumable on a short cooldown. Additionally - 5% extra Movement Speed will be given for the entire duration. Great for champions that trade in the lane a lot, as consuming a potion can easily save you from an ignite, or the last hit of your enemy.

Offense, Flex, Defense mini-runes

Pure stats that you can choose to start the game with. Some will scale as you level up, some will have an immediate effect. While small and seemingly minor - they will make a massive difference in the early stages of the game. It's hard to specify which combination will be the best for your champions, as you will pick these runes depending on the circumstances so you can win your laning phase on ranked games.

Offense - [+9 Adaptive Force] [+10% Attack Speed] [+1-10% CDR Based on Level]

The choice of this tree is purely optional. If you want to have more burst, so you can kick your laner out of the lane with your poke - go for Adaptive Force. Attack Speed will allow for easier farming, especially under the tower. And CDR is for those who want to get some additional CDR and Adaptive force from Transcendence.

Flex - [+9 Adaptive Force] [+6 Armor] [ +8 Magic Resist]

Most of the time, you will end up taking the Adaptive Force. Unless you are a support, a tank, or you are in a tough matchup, and you need Armor or Magic Resist. In any other scenario - Adaptive Force is your way to go.

Defense [+15-90 Health Based on Level] {+6 Armor] [+8 Magic Resist]

Purely optional, yet depending on your situation. Against Mordekaiser, you will go for MR. Against Darius - Armor. And if you are facing someone that doesn't pose much threat - go for extra Health.

Which Runeset for which Champion?

It is a very vast spectrum of choices. While we could list every champion in here and runesets for them - most of the time, your choice will depend on too many factors. We will give you an example, with a short analysis of what's suitable for a few scenarios, showing you what you will have to take into consideration.

Let's say that you are playing Darius into a Riven. It's not a hard match-up, but a lot will depend on the skill of both players. You can easily gain an advantage by picking the best set of runes. Darius has three main choices. Phase Rush, Aftershock, and Conqueror. Let's analyze this matchup. Darius does great in longer trades, the same as Riven. Riven is mobile, end even though Darius has his [E] Apprehend, she will dictate when the trade ends. They can also make some mess in shorter trades, in which Riven will do more than Darius. Since Riven has a lot of bursts, especially at level 6, she will slowly wear down Darius is quick trades to go all-in in the future. It is why your keystone of choice should be Aftershock, with Demolish, Bone Plating, Revitalize, Triumph, Legend: Tenacity, and AS + AD + Armor. This set of runes will allow you to neutralize Riven's damage when she goes for short trades, and it allows you have more HP when you manage to get to your 5 stacks of Noxian Might.

Another example - Fiora into Ornn. Ornn is a very tanky champion, with lots of damage, Crowd Control, and utility for his jungler. Fiora will do great against Ornn during the first levels, but as he gets Bami's Cinder, and lots of Armor, he will out sustain Fiora in every trade she decides to take. She will end up being a duelist that won't be able to duel Ornn. If you want to face Ornn, you should go for Conqueror + Triumph, Legend: Bloodline, Cut Down, Taste of Blood, Ravenous Hunter, with AS, AD, and Mres. This way, you will get lots of healing from hitting vitals or just simply fighting, Cut Down will do more mess the more HP Ornn builds, and of course - Conqueror provides some functional tank shredding capabilities.

Summary

There’s no one single set of runes that will be the best for each position or role in the team. Some ADC will work great with Press the Attack, some with Lethal Tempo, some even with Arcane Comet. Top lane bruisers can go for Grasp of the Undying, Aftershock, Electrocute, Conqueror, or even Hail of Blades. It would be really hard to list absolutely everything there is, there are a lot of options. With so many unique characters that have various rune setups that will play to their strengths.

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