Picking the right runes for your champion can mean the difference between winning and losing in League of Legends. Let’s review these reforged runes to discuss when you should pair them with certain champions!
It has been a handful of years since Riot overhauled the runes and masteries system, combining them into what we know today and making them free for everyone. With this came an increased amount of nuance and complication wherein one choice during champion select could redefine how you play a certain champion, not to mention whether or not you win. Just like the masteries of the past, each rune is used most effectively by a handful of champions and yet entirely useless in the hands of another group. The goal of this guide is to offer a brief, easy-to-understand explanation of what each Keystone rune does, paired with an example of a champion who uses it effectively, hopefully making you able to give yourself the best chance of winning a game before it even starts.
What It Does: Landing three successive basic attacks on an enemy champion deals a small amount of adaptive damage to them and leaves them vulnerable to further damage from you and your teammates for the next 6 seconds.
When To Take It: Press the Attack is best on champions who are both reliant on single-target damage and able to quickly land three basic attacks in succession.
Example Champion: Lucian is a prime example of a champion who makes incredibly good use of Press the Attack, primarily due to his passive: Lightslinger. Since Lucian gets an extra basic attack whenever he attacks after using an ability, he is able to stack Press the Attack more quickly than other champions and thus reap its benefits more consistently. Since Lucian is also a marksman who is more focused on spellslinging and dueling than multi-target damage, he is able to consistently focus on one target long enough to get the most out of this Keystone.
What It Does: Whenever you deal damage to an enemy champion, you gain a burst of attack speed for the next 1.5 seconds and you can exceed the attack speed limit for the next 3 seconds. Attacking a champion while these effects are running extends their duration to 6 seconds.
When To Take It: Lethal Tempo is utilized most effectively by champions who are reliant on landing as many basic attacks as possible over the six second period that its effect is active.
Example Champion: Similarly to Lucian, Jinx is able to make effective use of Lethal Tempo because of her passive, Get Excited!, along with her Q, Switcheroo!. Between her passive giving her increased attack and movement speed, and her Q allowing her basic attacks to deal area-of-effect damage at the cost of some mana, Jinx is able to use Lethal Tempo in order to get the most out of her abilities in a teamfight.
What It Does: When you move and basic attack, your champion generates stacks of Energize, capping at 100. Once you are Energized, your next basic attack heals you for a small amount and grants you a small burst of movement speed. Ranged champions receive reduced healing when using this Keystone on minions.
When To Take It: Fleet Footwork is great on ranged champions who want to sustain their way through the laning phase so that they can get through turbulent matchups.
Example Champion: While many marksmen can opt into taking Fleet Footwork to get through difficult matchups, champions with a high basic attack range like Caitlyn tend to make the best use of this Keystone. This is because they are able to utilize their high range in order to not suffer the reduced healing from attacking a minion, as they are almost always able to land one Energized basic attack on the enemy from afar.
What It Does: Dealing damage to enemy champions with basic attacks and abilities grants stacks of Conqueror, with abilities always granting two stacks and basic attacks granting two stacks for melee characters and one stack for ranged characters. These stacks grant your champion a small amount of adaptive force per stack, capping at 12 stacks. When you are at 12 stacks, you heal for a percentage of the damage that you deal to enemy champions.
When To Take It: Conqueror is at home on any champion who thrives in a prolonged fight, and particularly champions who use both basic attacks and abilities to deal damage.
Example Champion: Sticking with the theme of marksmen utilizing the Precision rune tree, Ezreal makes great use of Conqueror for two reasons: he is great in fights where he can poke enemies to build up stacks of Conqueror over time, and he uses both abilities and basic attacks to deal optimal damage. Ezreal is able to have Conqueror maxed out before a fight truly begins, meaning he can enter a teamfight with plenty of power and healing.
What It Does: Dealing damage to enemy champions in any way or applying crowd control to them generates stacks on them, once per instance. Once three stacks are applied to them, they take a sizable bit of adaptive damage.
When To Take It: Electrocute, like its predecessor Thunderlord’s Decree, is best taken on champions who want to deal burst damage in the early game by landing ability combos in order to secure kills and advantages.
Example Champion: Zoe makes effective use of Electrocute for one key reason: her goal is to land one combo consistently so that she can secure kills. By using her bread-and-butter combo of E, Q, and passive-empowered basic attack, she is able to deal tons of damage while applying Electrocute to secure kills more easily. This natural synergy makes her able to apply Electrocute whenever it is available, making her use of this Keystone incredibly efficient.
What It Does: When you purchase boots, they gain an active effect. By activating this effect, you channel for a very short period of time then gain 10 seconds of ramping bonus movement speed when you move towards enemy champions. Your next damaging attack or ability while this bonus movement speed is active deals bonus adaptive damage and removes the bonus movement speed.
When To Take It: Predator is utilized most effectively when taken by champions who could use a bit of extra movement speed to make their initial engage more impactful.
Example Champion: Depending on the patch and how powerful Predator is in comparison to other runes, many champions can make effective use of this Keystone. One great example is Udyr, as his entire set of abilities is reliant on running at the enemy quickly. Predator allows him to do this more effectively, making him nearly impossible to run away from when he utilizes it in conjunction with his passive, Monkey’s Agility.
What It Does: Dealing damage to an enemy champion who is below half health applies bonus adaptive damage and grants your champion a soul. These souls increase the amount of damage that the next application of Dark Harvest does. While gaining a soul puts this Keystone on cooldown, securing a takedown resets this cooldown.
When To Take It: Dark Harvest is incredibly good on champions who can stack up souls in the early game and use this bonus damage to secure kills on high priority targets late into the game.
Example Champion: While all assassins are capable of using this Keystone effectively, Ekko makes great usage of Dark Harvest because of how his set of abilities has both great poke damage and target access. In the early game, Ekko can take trades then secure souls by throwing out his Q, Timewinder. Late in the game, Dark Harvest allows Ekko to secure kills on the enemy team’s best champions by diving in with his E, Phase Dive, and then rewinding out with his R, Chronobreak.
What It Does: Beginning a basic attack against an enemy champion activates this Keystone, and once the attack lands, your next two attacks have bonus attack speed and the upper limit of your attack speed is increased. Whenever you reset your basic attack, you extend the duration of Hail of Blades.
When To Take It: Hail of Blades is great on champions who have a three-attack ability or passive in their kit, along with potentially an ability which resets their basic attack.
Example Champion: Xin Zhao makes particularly great usage of Hail of Blades because his Q, Three Talon Strike, both resets his basic attack and is reliant on him landing three basic attacks in succession. Xin Zhao is able to attack a target, activate Hail of Blades, then reset his basic attack with his Q in order to extend the duration of this Keystone to let him easily get all three attacks off from this ability, knocking his target up as a result.
What It Does: Whenever you damage an enemy champion, you deal a small bit of extra adaptive damage to them. Whenever you heal, shield, or otherwise buff an allied champion, you provide them with a small shield.
When To Take It: Summon Aery is best utilized by champions who can frequently both damage enemies and aid allies.
Example Champion: Although all enchanters tend to make great use of Summon Aery, Sona is an excellent example of a champion who can apply it consistently. Since her Q, W, and E buff, heal, and shield allies, she is able to utilize the defensive side of Summon Aery often. Furthermore, since her Q has a relatively low cooldown as a result of her R, Crescendo, she can apply this Keystone’s offensive capability reliably as well. When both are considered together, it is clear that Sona makes the most out of Summon Aery’s two possibilities.
What It Does: Dealing damage with an ability sends out a comet to the enemy champion’s location, dealing adaptive damage if the enemy fails to dodge it. The cooldown of this keystone is reduced depending on what type of damage was applied, with single instance/target damage reducing it the most and damage-over-time reducing it the least.
When To Take It: Arcane Comet pairs well with a champion who wants to hit a long-range spell on an average cooldown, with that spell potentially applying crowd control effects.
Example Champion: Xerath, like many other artillery mages, makes effective usage of Arcane Comet since he can land spells from afar which can ensure that this Keystone is able to apply its potentially avoidable damage. In particular, if Xerath lands his E, Shocking Orb, from a distance, the stun that it applies holds the enemy in place long enough for them to be hit by the Arcane Comet, thus making sure that the potential of this Keystone is not wasted.
What It Does: This Keystone uses the same stacking system as Electrocute, with any form of damage and crowd control effects applying up to three stacks to enemy champions. Once you apply three stacks to an enemy champion, you gain a large burst of movement speed and 75% slow resist. If you’re playing a ranged champion, this burst of movement speed is noticeably smaller.
When To Take It: Phase Rush is at its best when used by champions who rely on its movement speed to stick on enemy champions and continually apply damage.
Example Champion: Hecarim makes great use of Phase Rush for a handful of reasons, but most prominently his passive: Warpath. This passive grants him some attack damage based upon his bonus movement speed, meaning that Phase Rush directly grants him more damage. With the low cooldown on his Q and his ability to engage with either his E or R, he is able to easily activate Phase Rush and use it to kill priority targets effectively.
What It Does: When you are in combat, you generate one stack every second until you reach four stacks. At that point, your next basic attack against an enemy champion within six seconds of reaching max stacks deals bonus magic damage and heals you proportionally to your maximum health, along with granting you a small amount of permanent bonus health. All of these values are decreased for ranged champions.
When To Take It: Grasp of the Undying is utilized most effectively by relatively bulky melee champions who want to sustain their health and take positive trades.
Example Champion: Camille makes excellent use of Grasp of the Undying because of how dominant her early game trading pattern is. She can use her Q, Precision Protocol, on an enemy champion to begin the combo, then E out and in to apply crowd control, and by that time she can use the second instance of her Q to apply Grasp of the Undying. Atop the shield she gains from her passive, the healing from Grasp of the Undying renders Camille’s trading pattern distinctly in her favour.
What It Does: When you immobilize an enemy champion by applying a crowd control effect, you grant yourself bonus armour and magic resistance for two and a half seconds. When this period of time is over, you then deal magic damage to enemy champions and monsters.
When To Take It: Aftershock is noticeably effective on bulky champions who rely on crowd control to engage fights.
Example Champion: Leona is the perfect example of a champion who makes great use of Aftershock, as her set of abilities is filled with crowd control that she uses to engage fights. Whether she is dashing in from afar and rooting champions with her E, stunning them from afar with her R, or even stunning them from up-close with her Q, Aftershock increases her survivability immensely by compounding upon the defensive stats granted by her W.
What It Does: When you or a nearby allied champion would take damage, grant both of you a shield proportional to the Keystone holder’s ability power and bonus health.
When To Take It: Guardian is great on bulky support champions who are constantly near an ally.
Example Champion: Many support champions who could not use another keystone effectively end up taking Guardian, such as Braum. Since Braum wants to constantly be near his lane partner so that he can dash to them with his E and block damage for them with his W, taking this Keystone is both efficient and compounds upon the safety that Braum already provides for his allies.
What It Does: Basic attacking an enemy champion applies a ramping slow which is more potent when applied by melee characters than ranged characters and can only be applied every few seconds on the same target. Furthermore, if you slow an enemy champion using an item’s active effect, it creates an area on the ground which slows any enemies inside it.
When To Take It: Glacial Augment is best used by champions who either basic attack only periodically or who use an item which has an active effect that slows enemies.
Example Champion: Senna is perhaps the best example of a champion who uses Glacial Augment in order to slow enemies via basic attacking. Since her passive, Absolution, makes it so that she cannot basic attack as frequently as other champions, the per-target limit on this Keystone very often does almost nothing to limit Senna from using it effectively.
What It Does: If you are not in combat, you can exchange one of your summoner spells for a single usage of another summoner spell that you do not currently have equipped. You can first do this at six minutes into the game, and every five minutes after that. However, exchanging your summoner spells for other summoner spells reduces this cooldown by 25 seconds.
When To Take It: Unsealed Spellbook can be utilized effectively by champions who want to use Teleport then swap to another summoner spell while also not preferring another Keystone.
Example Champion: While Nasus could take Grasp of the Undying or Fleet Footwork to heal and survive difficult lane matchups, he can also use Unsealed Spellbook to have more agency in favourable matchups. By taking this Keystone, Nasus can use Teleport whenever it is available while also being able to have access to defensive spells like Heal and Exhaust to survive ganks and trades.
What It Does: At the start of the game, gain a random Keystone. This Keystone lasts for three minutes, and when you use it, you gain another semi-random Keystone and lose the one you started with. This new Keystone and every Keystone after it lasts for 40 seconds, and you swap to another Keystone whenever you use the one you have or it expires. The game tries to always give you a Keystone that is favourable for your situation.
NOTE: Prototype: Omnistone selects from these Keystones: Press the Attack, Lethal Tempo, Fleet Footwork, Conqueror, Electrocute, Predator (only if you have purchased boots), Dark Harvest (the souls gained from Dark Harvest empower all Keystones), Hail of Blades, Summon Aery, Arcane Comet, Phase Rush, Grasp of the Undying, Aftershock (only if your champion has an immobilizing ability), and Glacial Augment.
When To Take It: Prototype: Omnistone, while mostly unused, can be taken by champions who employ its versatility effectively.
Example Champion: While it is rather difficult to use this Keystone effectively, a versatile champion like Twisted Fate could get some usage out of it. All of the Precision, Domination, and Sorcery Keystones are decent when used by him, and the other Keystones are, at the very least, not entirely useless. That being said, it would not be advisable to use this rune in a competitive situation on most champions.
From what has been stated, it should be clear that while there are plenty of Keystones in League of Legends, they can all be explained in relatively simple terms and most of them have a clear way that they are best used by certain champions. However, it is also important to experiment and change adaptably depending on the situation; just because one Keystone is good into one matchup doesn’t mean that it is the best option for every matchup. As a result, if there is one key takeaway from this guide, it should be that knowing Riot’s Runes Reforged system thoroughly is one step you can take on the path to victory. Knowing your own Keystone and the enemy’s can be the difference between knowing your runes and knowing you’re ruined, so study up and best of luck in your games!
