Everything you need to know about one of League of Legend's most defining strategic elements. The strengths and applications of each Keystone is covered, alongside the Champions and Roles that use them most effectively.
Believe it or not, League of Legend's current rune system dropped back in Preseason 8. And since then, we've had plenty of time to master the ins and outs of Champions alongside their most synergistic Keystones. But there's always going to be new players or players that are looking to up their game to the next level. So this piece is for all of you looking to establish a bit of deeper knowledge about League of Legends overall.
As a note, we've visited some of the Preseason's changes here. The reworks of Glacial Augment, Lethal Tempo, and the inclusion of First Strike will be among the information, but consider these inclusions more speculative than hard and fast information. Until we hit the last patch of Preseason, these new adjustments and inclusions will remain extremely volatile in terms of balancing and adjustment. So, let's start with the Resolve Keystones.
The first of our five runepaths. Resolve is defined by effects that boost survivability and crowd-control. Champions that frequent Top, Jungle, and Support are most likely to find use of these pathways, while Mid Laners and Bot Laners can occasionally value Resolve as the secondary tree to their runepaths.
Every 4 seconds in combat, your next basic attack on a champion will:
The focus of Grasp of the Undying is to help whoever utilizes it, scale into the late-game by rewarding effective trading around its procs with sustain in lane and increased base health. This means that Grasp is often utilized by Champions that operate as their team’s frontliners. So, Tanks and Fighters (Bruisers) in most cases. Shen, Ornn, Maokai (Top), Camille, and Fiora are common utilizers of the rune due to their abilities that naturally promote them auto-attacking their opponents directly. And just like these Champions, you’ll typically find this Keystone at home on various Top Laners.
Outside of Top, Grasp has very little merit and if taken is often seen as a cheese option or niche option. Junglers will never utilize it effectively as they do not interact with their opponents enough to take advantage of the rune’s effects. Mid Laners are often piloting Champions that will better utilize other runes, and since Grasp is a defensive effect, dropping damage in favor of sustainability is a poor decision considering Mid is often a primary carry outlet. The same can be said for Bot Laners. While Supports would enjoy the extra defensive stats awarded by Grasp, they do not interact with their wave enough through auto-attacking to prepare the effect for a trade. To do so would throw off the wave management in Bot, which is done by the Carry, so Supports are better off with other options.
As a note, Champions that take advantage of On-Hit effects, like Gangplank, can utilize their on-hit abilities to proc Grasp of the Undying’s effect to safely stack it!
After immobilizing an enemy champion, increase your Armor and Magic Resistance by 35 (+80% of your Bonus Resistances) for 2.5 seconds. These resistance bonuses from Aftershock are capped at 80-150 (based on level).
Then, explode, dealing 25-120 (+8% of your bonus health) magic damage to nearby enemies. This effect has a 20 second cooldown.
Aftershock is seen as the secondary Tank option and is often utilized by Support and Jungle Tanks due to its less conditional nature. Aftershock rewards Champions that are in the mix of a fight and often lead into fights with big crowd-control effects. Champions like Leona, Alistar, Sejuani, and Zac take advantage of Aftershock extremely well since once these Champions are in the fray, the extra Tank stats this Keystone provides helps them soak up even more damage to survive and disrupt fights further.
Beyond Support and Jungle, there are few other roles that utilize Aftershock effectively. Though, as a special note, Lissandra (like Gangplank previously) makes unique use of Aftershock’s effects as the defensive burst it provides is easily activated by her and helps her in further besting the Assassin matchups she’s often selected into.
Guard allies within 350 units of you as well as any ally you target with spells for 2.5 seconds. While Guarding, if you or the ally take more than a small amount of damage (90-250 based on level) over the duration of the Guard, both of you gain a 50-130 (+15% your Ability Power) (+9% of your bonus health) shield for 1.5 seconds. Guardian only goes on cooldown when the shield is triggered.
Guardian is almost always a Support rune option, taken on Enchanter and Tanks alike, Guardian’s selection is often gauged by how likely you are to win a lane or directly interact with your opponents. If you are on the weaker side of a matchup, Guardian can come in as a great option to outlast opponents and dissuade dives due to its sudden and extreme defensive burst.
Thresh, Nami, Janna, and Taric can utilize this rune quite effectively.
Beyond the Support role, this rune has little to no use due to decreased interaction with allies throughout the early game on other roles.
The second road of our runepaths, Domination, is characterized by burst damage and target access. The Keystones and secondary runes of this tree are going to be focused on increasing overall damage, promoting mobility, and accenting sustain effects. Mid Laners, Junglers, and Bot Laners are most likely to find benefits from this tree depending on their Champion/Class, while Top Laners and Supports will likely find Domination as a secondary rune choice.
As a note: Adaptive Damage deals either physical or magic damage based on your bonus stats. Defaulting based on the origin of the effect. If AD and AP are equal, the damage determined depends on the Champion.
Damaging basic attacks, abilities, item effects, and summoner spells, as well as the application of crowd control and damage over time effects, generate stacks against enemy champions, up to one per attack or cast per champion. Applying 3 stacks to a target within a 3 second period causes them to be struck by lightning after a 0.25-second delay, dealing them 30−180 (based on level) (+40% bonus AD) (+25% AP) Adaptive damage.
Electrocute is going to be at home on the kits of Mid Laners and Junglers which take advantage of all-in and quick burst play patterns. So, Assassins and Mages most typically. To both its benefit and detriment in terms of flexibility, Electrocute is just a ‘more damage’ option, so it occasionally might find usage in every lane or on multiple classes beyond these. But often Top, Bot, and Supports will find more use from the effects provided by other Keystone and their pathways.
Starting an attack windup against an enemy champion triggers Hail of Blades, and if the windup completes, you gain 2 stacks of the effect for 3 seconds, with the duration refreshing on basic attacks against enemy champions until all stacks are consumed. Stacks are consumed per basic attack on-attack and the current stack refreshes on-attack whenever your basic attack timer is reset.
While Hail of Blades is active, you gain 110% bonus attack speed and your attack speed cap is increased. The triggering attack benefits from Hail of Blades.
Hail of Blades is going to find a home on Champions that take advantage of auto-attack based effects such as Vayne’s Silver Bolts or Xin Zhao’s Three Talon Strike. Additionally, Champions that have stacking passive effects also benefit from Hail of Blades to reach the cap of their effect. Darius’ Hemorrhage and Tristana’s Explosive Charge are prime examples of this. This makes Hail of Blades a pretty unique Keystone option and one that can flex into various roles. It’s truly a Champion-centric selection.
Boots gain the active effect "Predator".
Active - Predator: After a 0.25-second cast time, gain bonus movement speed for 10 seconds, ramping up to 60% over 1 second, while moving toward enemy champions within 3000 units.
After ramping up, your next damaging basic attack or ability against an enemy champion deals 40−120 (based on level) (+20% bonus AD) (+10% AP) bonus Adaptive damage after a 0.25-second delay and ends the effect.
Predator is a very unique effect. Almost to the point that it’s a niche-tier effect when considering its use in comparison to the rest of the crowd of Keystones. This primarily centers around the fact that you need boots to make use of the Keystone. With that in mind, this Keystone finds a place on Champions that are roam heavy or on Champions that benefit from getting into range of opponents quickly. So, like Hail of Blades, it’s hard to really shoehorn it into a particular role.
But, if we were to shoehorn, Jungle is probably the Keystone’s most effective role. Rengar, Gragas, Skarner, Warwick, and generally anyone that values running directly at their target is going to benefit from Predator’s ability to get them in range for their abilities. Additionally, some more roam and burst focused Champions like Bard and Annie can take advantage of Predator to quickly traverse up and down the map to apply gank pressure.
Damaging basic attacks and ability damage against enemy champions below 50% of their maximum health deal 20−60 (based on level) (+5 per Soul) (+25% bonus AD) (+15% AP) bonus Adaptive damage and, after a 1.75-second delay, reap 1 Soul. This cannot occur again for 45 seconds, resetting to 1.5 seconds upon scoring a takedown against an enemy champion. While not on cooldown, the soul is also taken upon receiving the kill credit of a champion killed by minions, turrets or monsters.
Dark Harvest is your ultimate scaling rune. Which also, in a weird way, can mean it’s your ultimate snowballing rune. Dark Harvest is typically taken by Champions that are looking to do one or the other, and often come packaged with effects or range that allow them to safely and easily proc Dark Harvest to reap a Soul to their benefit. This means that the rune choice typically finds home on poke, burn, and burst focused Champions which can cause a wide range of Lane applications for the Keystone.
For example, Teemo (Top), Kha’zix (Jungle), Katarina (Mid), Karthus (literally anywhere), and Brand (Support) all effectively utilize Dark Harvest and take advantage of either their flat burst or their extreme scaling to coincide with the rune’s effect. So, when opting for Dark Harvest, consider how easily your Champion can reap from its effects, and if such heavy scaling benefits your play pattern.
The Precision pathways are all about improving attacks and sustained damage. Keystones and effects in this tree often enhance longer exchanges or provide effects that scale extremely well with items. This tree mixes itself across the board in every role as the effects are quite versatile.
Gain 15% (Melee) or 5% (Ranged) Attack Speed for 6 seconds when you attack an enemy champion. This effect stacks up to 90% (Melee) or 30% (Ranged).
When this effect is fully stacked, your Attack Speed can exceed 2.5 and you gain 50 (Melee) or 100 (Ranged) Attack Range.
Come Preseason 12, alongside a ton of items, there will be adjustments to some Keystones, with the addition of one we’ll feature later down the line. Lethal Tempo is amongst those Keystones that is getting a small rework, and while we don’t have the exact final data on it right now, we want to give a nod towards the changes that are coming versus providing old data that will become obsolete later. So, keep in mind that most of our follow up is theorycrafting and it’ll remain to be seen how this Keystone evolves once it’s live and has gone through some patch adjustments.
So, here are the changes coming to Lethal Tempo:
After some meddling on the PBE, the range provided by Lethal is quite impressive, especially on Champions with already extended ranges like Caitlyn and Ashe. Couple Lethal with Rapid Firecannon and you’re probably amongst the safest DPS presences on the Rift.
However, the range doesn’t kick in until the effect is capped and from the wording on the ability, it can only be stacked through auto-attacks, whereas Lethal Tempo previously could activate off of an ability hit. So, in theory this makes it a weaker option on selections like Vayne and Twitch, but these Champions also synergize with items like Guinsoo’s which can help with quickly stacking up this rune (in theory). An extended range on otherwise short-range ADCs really helps them overcome one of their major weaknesses.
So, depending on how other lanes shake out with their pieces, extended teamfighting situations featuring Twitch, Kai’sa, Vayne, or anyone else that really benefits from double-hit effects could be a little insane and meta-warping. But again, this is all pure speculation and interactions with the Keystone haven’t fully been tested out or balanced out to be true to word, so let’s see what happens with it all come the last preseason patch.
But, for now, I think the Champions that already use Lethal Tempo are going to keep using it and those that had been flexing between it and Hail of Blades like Ashe, will most likely default to the new Lethal Tempo thanks to that range effect.
Basic attacks on-hit against enemy champions apply a stack for 4 seconds, stacking up to 3 times, with the duration refreshing upon applying the second stack. Attacking a new champion removes all stacks from the previous target. The third stack consumes all stacks to deal 40−180 (based on level) bonus Adaptive damage and render the target Exposed for 6 seconds, causing them to take 8%−12% (based on level) increased damage from all subsequent sources.
PTA is a rune choice that is going to benefit Champions that like to attack in threes. Typically these Champions have a great way to auto-cancel their way into activating the proc of PTA. Examples of Champions with this ability are Camille, Lucian, Vayne, Quinn, and Renekton. So, as you can already see, this Keystone benefits damage oriented Champions out of Top Lane, and Marksmen who naturally work well with auto-attack based effects.
Some things to note about PTA:
Some Junglers can make effective use of PTA as well, as it aids in the damage that comes out on their ganks, Xin Zhao being the prime example of this. But, with PTA’s design gesturing you towards regularly interacting with an opponent for trades, there might be better options to explore from Jungle angles.
Basic attacks and abilities that deal damage to an enemy champion grant 2 stacks of Conqueror for 4 seconds. Ranged champions only gain 1 stack per basic attack
Each stack of Conqueror grants 1.2−2.4 (based on level) bonus Attack Damage or 2−4 (based on level) Ability Power (Adaptive) for 4 seconds, stacking up to 12 times, for a maximum of 14.4−28.8 (based on level) bonus Attack Damage or 24−48 (based on level) Ability Power (Adaptive). While fully stacked, you heal for (melee 9%/ranged 6%) of the post-mitigation damage from any attack you deal to enemy champions, and the stacks refresh upon dealing damage to enemy champions with attacks or abilities.
Persistent damage and ongoing sources of damage will grant the stacks only once every 5 seconds. Spells and effects that deal default damage will not grant any stacks.
Conqueror has lived in a somewhat infamous state since its release. Getting juggled around by every lane but Support, most classes of Champions have found some viable utilizers of the Keystone. So, you’re going to see this rune taken everywhere from Top to Bot.
The difference in effectiveness of the rune directly depends on the Champion utilizing it. Melee Champions, common to everywhere but Bot, have an easier time stacking Conqueror to reach its healing and damage related effects. While ranged Champions, like Ezreal who commonly utilizes the Keystone, take a little extra time to reach that stack threshold before the Keystone activates.
Overall though, this rune choice is designed with Fighters (Juggernauts/Divers) in mind and is supposed to promote their scrappy playstyles by offering them everything they like to have. So, you’ll commonly see this on Champions that enjoy longer trades or those that can quickly auto-reset their way to max stacks. Jax, Darius, Irelia, Riven, Xin Zhao, Jarvan... All of these Champions commonly utilize the Keystone to great effect.
Energized: Moving and basic attacking generates Energize stacks, up to 100.
Fleet Footwork: When fully Energized, your next basic attack heals you for 10−100 (based on level) (+40% bonus AD) (+30% AP) and grants 20% bonus movement speed for 1 second. Against minions, the healing is 20% (Melee) or 10% (Ranged) effective.
The energizing effect of Fleet Footwork brings it in line with the Precision’s tree angle on sustainability. The heal and move-speed offered by this rune help Champions that are looking to scale hold out in lane phase longer through the regeneration, while also taking advantage of the movement speed to dodge incoming skills and abilities. This Keystone is commonly selected in matchups where you have a ranged disadvantage, or your Champion already naturally synergizes with Energized effects from items. Common Champions that utilize Fleet effectively are Akali, Kassadin, Yasuo, Yone and Caitlyn. So, you’ll commonly see this Keystone opted for in Mid and Bot.
The sorcery Keystones are defined by their accenting of ability damage and utility effects. The Keystones within this tree are very flexible and can be found in Champions all across the roles, but are most commonly utilized by the Mage and Enchanter classes to great effect. So, you’ll more commonly see these runepaths selected in Mid and Support.
Damaging basic attacks, abilities, item effects, and summoner spells against an enemy champion signal Aery to pounce at them over 0.45 seconds, dealing 10−40 (based on level) (+15% bonus AD) (+10% AP) Adaptive damage. Healing, shielding, or buffing an allied champion signals Aery to jump to them over 0.35 seconds, shielding them for 35 − 80 (based on level) (+40% bonus AD) (+25% AP) for 2 seconds.
Aery applies her effects upon arrival. Aery then lingers on the target for a little less than 2 seconds before flying back to the user, and cannot be sent out again until she returns. Aery is initially very slow, but gradually accelerates, and can be picked up by moving near her.
Aery is a unique rune option in that it promotes Supportive play patterns via and its shielding and effects, but also promotes poking patterns due to its lower cooldown nature which can be manipulated via positioning. This rune is a common selection on our Enchanter Champions of Sona, Nami, Janna, and Soraka for those defensive qualities, but it can also have a home on the Battlemage Champions like Malzahar, Cassiopeia, and Viktor, who value being within close vicinity of their opponents to dish out their damage. This short range causes Aery to cycle back and forth adding an extra oomph to their spell casts and dots on a lower cooldown in comparison to Keystones like Arcane Comet or Electrocute. And as a bonus, unlike Arcane Comet or Electrocute which have avoidable/predictable incoming damage, Summon Aery cannot miss its target once it’s in flight.
Additionally, Summon Aery can be triggered by various effects both indirect and targeted that affect allies. Jarvan’s Demacian Standard, Kindred’s Lamb’s Respite, Orianna’s Command Protect and Dissonance, and Lulu’s Whimsy are all big examples.
Aery does not trigger on other secondary Keystone effects like Font of Life or off of some Damage over Time effects like Twitch’s Deadly Venom. Further, Aery cannot be disrupted by project blocking effects like Yasuo’s Wind Wall.
Dealing ability damage to an enemy champion hurls an Arcane Comet at their current location that lands after 0.75 seconds, dealing 30−100 (based on level) (+35% bonus AD) (+20% AP) Adaptive damage to enemies upon impact.
Dealing forms of ability damage reduces the remaining cooldown:
Spell damage: 20%
Area damage: 10% per enemy hit
Persistent damage: 5%
Comet is a common sight on many Mages since it accents their already natural inclination to poke away at their opponents, providing a little extra reward for hitting their skillshots or taking the risk to walk into range for the damage. In comparison to Aery, Arcane Comet has a little bit more bang on a longer cooldown and synergizes really well with Champions that have lockdown to help secure Comet’s landing. Champions like Morgana, Lux, Xerath, Vel’koz, and Twisted Fate all run smoothly with this rune. And from that run of Champions, it should be no surprise that this Keystone has a home in both Support and Mid Lane.
Damaging basic attacks, abilities, item effects, and summoner spells, as well as the application of crowd control and damage over time effects, generate stacks against enemy champions, up to one per attack or cast per champion. Applying 3 stacks to a target within a 4 second period grants you 30-60% (Melee) or 15-40%(Ranged)bonus movement speed (based on level) and 75% slow resistance for 3 seconds.
Despite Aery promoting the Enchanter and supportive play-pattern, I think Phase Rush is where the Sorcery tree dips its toes into true utility. Phase Rush is a flexible choice and can be opted for by many Champions between Top, Jungle, and Mid, and what makes it such a utilitarian choice is the burst of movement speed granted from stacking the effect. There are very few champions in the game that can’t auto and then rotate their spells to gain Phase Rush’s burst to either escape hairy situations or chase down vulnerable opponents. And it’s this ability to decide between offensive and defensive that really brings this rune full force in its value. Those previous Battlemages we mentioned earlier make good use of this rune choice, and a few Champions like Darius and Nunu, who value staying on top of their opponents for longer, can be seen opting for this choice depending on their matchups.
Keystones within the Inspiration tree are, ideally, designed to be creative and ‘rule-bending’. Unfortunately for this tree, that often means random, risky, and unreliable in most regards. The tree is often valued as a secondary line over a primary one, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something to take advantage of amongst these Keystones.
Immobilizing an enemy champion will cause 3 glacial rays to emanate from them towards you and other nearby champions, causing frozen zones for 3 (+100% of the immobilizing effect's duration) seconds that slow enemies for 35% (+5% per 10% Heal and Shield Power)(+2% per 100 Ability Power)(+2% per 100 bonus Attack Damage) and reduce their damage by 15% against your allies (not including yourself). This effect has a 25 second cooldown.
Glacial Augment is another rune that is going to be receiving some Preseason changes.
So, let’s get right into with what’s been provided to us with the new Glacial tooltip:
In seasons now past, Glacial Augment synergized well with now removed item effects from Hextech-GLP and Twin Shadows which brought about utility focused sets from Champions like Ahri and made fun slow based sets available to more AP-focused Supports. After those item removals though, Senna, Sion, and Cho’Gath were really the only viable utilizers of the Keystone.
Glacial needed adjustments, and this rework brings it back into focus and promotes that utility focused play-style that it once had and makes it a viable Choice in the hands of Mid and Top Laners alike who will benefit from being a strict disruption and setup point for their teams. I’ll be interested to see how this rune shakes out and if it restores the strength of sets like Glacial Ahri, but we’ll have to see how that all rolls out.
While not channeling Teleport and being out-of-combat for 5 seconds, you can swap one of your equipped summoner spells to a new, single use summoner spell. You cannot select a summoner spell you have already equipped.
Your first swap becomes available after 6 minutes, with an initial 300 second cooldown. Selecting a unique summoner spell reduces the swap cooldown by 25 seconds. You must swap to 3 different summoner spells before returning to one you've already used.
Selecting a summoner spell puts it on a 5 second cooldown. Using a selected summoner spell puts the summoner spell on the same slot on a 10 second cooldown.
Unsealed Spellbook is a rune that’s full of potential, which is probably why it’s explored consistently by Pro players leading into larger tournaments. However, the ability to swap your Summoner Spells in and out, while tricky against unaware opponents, will not always net you the cheese advantage it brings against opponents that are skilled and aware.
Instead, in the vacuum of Solo Queue where all of our guides are centered towards, you’re most likely going to find more success simply selecting what spells you want and a Keystone that most appropriately goes with your Champion instead of trying to play around the cheese of switching from Exhaust to Ignite, or from Barrier to Heal, etc.
But, if you do want to play around with this Keystone competitively, Twisted Fate and Nasus seem to be the most common culprits when it comes to finding ways to utilize it most effectively.
Attacks and abilities against an enemy champion within 0.25s of entering champion combat grants 5 gold and First Strike for 3 seconds, causing you to deal 10% additional damage against champions and granting 100% (Melee) or 70% (Ranged) of bonus damage dealt as gold.
So, First Strike is the new kid on the block and instead of interestingly being categorized within the Precision or Domination Trees, it’s been handed over to the Inspiration Tree. There’s a lot to unpack with this rune, so it might be better for you to view it from the sources itself, but I’ll do my best to give you a TL;DR.
Naturally, the above tooltip is subject to change and likely already has changed by the time we drop this piece, but the idea is there and that’s the direction they want to take First Strike in. Riot claims they designed this rune for players that “want more strategic, long-term output from their runes in addition to an immediate mechanical boost.” And this rune certainly accomplishes that with the income and damage effects doubled in. Income leads to quicker power-spikes, and more damage leads to more aggressive trading in lane. Riot seems to favor the game being in a state that’s about action over passivity and this rune ties right into that mindset of increasing the tempo of the game.
You can find out more about First Strike from this Riot Dev Update.
And as a side-note, Omnistone has been officially removed. There’s more details available in the Riot Update above towards that, but so long, farewell, and good-bye to our favorite RNG-Meme Engine Keystone.
WHEW. That was a long one. In essence, these short TL;DRs should give you an idea on if a particular Keystone works for your Champion or not. So, I hope you found this information useful! As always, find what Champions you love to play and then toy around with what Keystones promote your playstyle or that the style of your Champion the best to see great results! Good luck in the final stretch of the season guys!
