It just depends alot on the situation. For example on my ele alone i use 10 different runes: Rune of the scholar: highest Pdps rune Rune of the baelfire: outperforms scholar when health drops below 90% sometimes. Rune of the elementalist: best Rune for condi weaver Rune of Balthazar: best Rune for fire tempest Rune of the monk: best healing rune Rune of the Trooper: for aurashare temp in zergfights WvW if you need more cleanse Rune of Leadership: very solid allround rune for cele builds or for extra boonsupport. Rune of divinity: can be usefull for hammer cata wvw zerg brawler build Rune of antitoxin: excellent rune for WvW roaming when using smothering auras. Rune of strength: decent rune for power core/tempest/Weaver to guarantee your 25 stacks might uptime. I definitely agree that the runes you listed were great allrounders, but there are quite some niche runesets that can definitely benefit a specific style of build.
That's a nice selection of runes there. Definitely some cool niche uses. I haven't looked at Rune of the Baelfire in years but it does look like a cool hybrid set. I'm in a similar boat with the Revenant. 7 build slots and they all use something different.
While you mentioned WvW you pretty much only covered PvE runes. In WvW there are a host of other runes that are used depending on content or group comp: Pack, Eagle, and Trooper immediately come to mind.
Great point about some of those other runes for WvW. PVE is definitely where most of my knowledge lies. There are quite a few other runes that are used on individual builds that I didn't mention here (Elementalist, Flame Legion etc.). In the interests of time I opted to focus on the main ones that will cover you in most cases.
I got a full set of exotic gear for a condi build before finding out nightmare runes are account bound so I'll probably never use that build cause I've lost all interest in even trying it now
Account bound runes are a massive pain on exotic gear. I'd recommend Lich runes as an alternative. Really cheap and still provide decent condi duration. Will get you most of the way there.
@@connorconcarne I think it's more common, though, for the Reaper to run Eagle and 2 precision infusions instead of the accuracy sigil. The difference is negligible between Scholar + Accuracy and Eagle + Impact on the golem, but if you take a hit before going into shroud (where healers can't top you off), Eagle doesn't punish you like Scholar does.
This is such a useful video along with the companion video on cheap alternative runes. Because it preceded the Secrets of the Obscure split off of the relics, it is unfortunately out of date. It also does not deal with some of the class specific runes that are now popular in some builds (dragon hunter and tempest runes comes to mind). Any chance of an update video or pinned comment covering best in class and discount runes?
I like Superior Rune of Divinity for general gameplay because it gives a ton of stat points and a nice 10% health bonus as well. For PvP Stronghold I like Superior rune of Speed because it gives a near permanent swiftness uptime which has been improved to superspeed strength.
Divinity rune is pretty decent as well. That 10% extra health is nice especially on some of the higher base HP classes. Used a ton in PVP on some of the more offensive classes (I know I currently run it on my Vindicator in PVP). That's some nice movement speed on Rune of Speed as well. In the days before mounts this would have been absolutely incredible. Being able to move around quickly in combat is a nice little quality of life improvement though.
long term goal... get yourself 6x legendary runes(no1 cares about underwater anyway) and you are done. some will say it's too expensive, but convenience you get, oh boy.
Agreed! I went off the deep end and got 7 (1 for the aquabreather). The convenience you get is absolutely insane. Slightly further down my list is a full set of underwater sigils as well.
Ah, I miss the old Runes of Tormenting. Gone are the days of my Mirage soloing Cairn. Runes of the Elementalist are still good for some classes yeah? My Mirage doesn't need the extra 10% condi duration from Nightmare runes so the extra power and condi damage is welcome.
I'm still sad about the Tormenting Rune nerf. They were god tier on Condi Herald and I ran them on Condi Scourge for when I wanted to switch by brain off. Runes of the Elementalist are a great choice for some classes (oddly enough certain elementalist builds use them). They'd be totally fine for Mirage as well I imagine.
I feel like rune of the eagle deserved a mention, while not as powerfull as scholar, the condition on scholar is prety inconsistent on the average group. And eagle's much simpler, below 50% buff is a lot more reliable. Also the precission helps with builds that strugle to reach 100% crit
Rune of the Eagle is a surprisingly nice rune. It's definitely a nice budget option and like you mentioned the extra precision can be real nice. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the extra precision does end up getting wasted on a lot of classes. Quite nice if you are rocking a few exotic pieces and need the extra stats though.
It would vary by class but some quick messing around with the gear optimizer on the Discritize site seems to indicate around a 20% dps loss when using all Diviner vs Berserker (for Power Vindicator at least). It might be a bit more for classes with a lower base critical chance potentially.
@@connorconcarne well, dps is not priority but survivability. Cannot do damage when I am dead. Zero DPS. 20% less dps is infinitely more damage than a dead man's zero dps. Take berserker gear to tangled depths and then tell me how it goes...
Quality content!…this video shows how many useless runes in the game and also how many more useful runes are require, for eg: alacrity runes for instance. What anet could do instead of adding more and more runes, they can change the other useless runes which are already in game into something good.
Agreed, there needs to be some runes specifically for Alacrity duration. Culling the amount of boon duration needed would make alac builds feel so much better to play while solo.
Eagle runes are one of my favorite budget runes. Although in the interests of time I wanted to focus on the best-in-slot runes that are typically used. I'm mulling over a different video for budget rune choices (which will definitely include Eagle runes).
Don't bother with leadership runes. The only role they really have in end game currently is alac condi ren, and you can totally ditch them for traveller runes with almost no downside. If you want to make up the boon duration, take a sigil of concentration. Don't grind dragonstand for the tiny difference.
Leadership runes have fallen off massively in recent years. I remember back when things like Chrono would often use them and feeling the pain of needing to farm Dragon Stand for them. Good point about slotting a rune of concentration as well.
i'm super dissapointed that rune of golemancer seems to have been stealth nerfed. the golem dies super fast now, it used to have something like 60k hp, now i'd guess its more like 10k tops.
legendary runes are what you are looking for. Then you just adjust the build for free. Besides, even if you have spend 30 gold on runes, balance changes do not happen that often, and it takes no more then a few hours to get 30 gold, so. Its limited damage
not related to the runes but can i ask what music is used first from around 0:08? is it the normal background music for that zone?
That would be the Tarir, The Forgotten City OST from Auric Basin. Still my favorite song in the game after all these years.
@@connorconcarne ah, I knew it was familiar! Thank you so much
I think the statement should be "Some are good, and most of them are useless" 😆
I'm sure such effort went into coding so many useless runes.
It just depends alot on the situation. For example on my ele alone i use 10 different runes:
Rune of the scholar: highest Pdps rune
Rune of the baelfire: outperforms scholar when health drops below 90% sometimes.
Rune of the elementalist: best Rune for condi weaver
Rune of Balthazar: best Rune for fire tempest
Rune of the monk: best healing rune
Rune of the Trooper: for aurashare temp in zergfights WvW if you need more cleanse
Rune of Leadership: very solid allround rune for cele builds or for extra boonsupport.
Rune of divinity: can be usefull for hammer cata wvw zerg brawler build
Rune of antitoxin: excellent rune for WvW roaming when using smothering auras.
Rune of strength: decent rune for power core/tempest/Weaver to guarantee your 25 stacks might uptime.
I definitely agree that the runes you listed were great allrounders, but there are quite some niche runesets that can definitely benefit a specific style of build.
That's a nice selection of runes there. Definitely some cool niche uses. I haven't looked at Rune of the Baelfire in years but it does look like a cool hybrid set. I'm in a similar boat with the Revenant. 7 build slots and they all use something different.
While you mentioned WvW you pretty much only covered PvE runes. In WvW there are a host of other runes that are used depending on content or group comp: Pack, Eagle, and Trooper immediately come to mind.
Great point about some of those other runes for WvW. PVE is definitely where most of my knowledge lies. There are quite a few other runes that are used on individual builds that I didn't mention here (Elementalist, Flame Legion etc.). In the interests of time I opted to focus on the main ones that will cover you in most cases.
DITCH THE LOUD UN NEEDED BOMBULATION OF THAT FOOKIN MUSIC MATE !!!!!!
looking forward to your video on the budget options!
Thanks, everything is shot for that one. Just need to tidy up the editing.
What an excellent piece! So good to get some role/class related recommendations for Runes.
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Very useful, thank you and subbed.
Thanks so much for the sub. Glad you enjoyed the vid.
I got a full set of exotic gear for a condi build before finding out nightmare runes are account bound so I'll probably never use that build cause I've lost all interest in even trying it now
Account bound runes are a massive pain on exotic gear. I'd recommend Lich runes as an alternative. Really cheap and still provide decent condi duration. Will get you most of the way there.
Hi Connor! Just so people are aware, reaper actually can run scholar now! Just need 1 assassin piece with an accuracy sigil :)
Nice, thanks for the heads up. Joys of a balance patch between recording and editing haha.
@@connorconcarne I think it's more common, though, for the Reaper to run Eagle and 2 precision infusions instead of the accuracy sigil. The difference is negligible between Scholar + Accuracy and Eagle + Impact on the golem, but if you take a hit before going into shroud (where healers can't top you off), Eagle doesn't punish you like Scholar does.
This is such a useful video along with the companion video on cheap alternative runes. Because it preceded the Secrets of the Obscure split off of the relics, it is unfortunately out of date. It also does not deal with some of the class specific runes that are now popular in some builds (dragon hunter and tempest runes comes to mind). Any chance of an update video or pinned comment covering best in class and discount runes?
Rune if the undead with trailblazer stats is also really good on sustain open world condition builds
I do love me some rune of the undead sometimes as well.
I like Superior Rune of Divinity for general gameplay because it gives a ton of stat points and a nice 10% health bonus as well.
For PvP Stronghold I like Superior rune of Speed because it gives a near permanent swiftness uptime which has been improved to superspeed strength.
Divinity rune is pretty decent as well. That 10% extra health is nice especially on some of the higher base HP classes. Used a ton in PVP on some of the more offensive classes (I know I currently run it on my Vindicator in PVP). That's some nice movement speed on Rune of Speed as well. In the days before mounts this would have been absolutely incredible. Being able to move around quickly in combat is a nice little quality of life improvement though.
long term goal... get yourself 6x legendary runes(no1 cares about underwater anyway) and you are done. some will say it's too expensive, but convenience you get, oh boy.
im crafting/getting mats for those runes and it does cost me like 300 gold for 1 if you have 0 mats but yeah its well worth the price
Agreed! I went off the deep end and got 7 (1 for the aquabreather). The convenience you get is absolutely insane. Slightly further down my list is a full set of underwater sigils as well.
Ah, I miss the old Runes of Tormenting. Gone are the days of my Mirage soloing Cairn.
Runes of the Elementalist are still good for some classes yeah? My Mirage doesn't need the extra 10% condi duration from Nightmare runes so the extra power and condi damage is welcome.
I'm still sad about the Tormenting Rune nerf. They were god tier on Condi Herald and I ran them on Condi Scourge for when I wanted to switch by brain off. Runes of the Elementalist are a great choice for some classes (oddly enough certain elementalist builds use them). They'd be totally fine for Mirage as well I imagine.
I've used the cheapest ones for 10 years and been doing fine
Nothing wrong with that. I'm working on a video about good budget runes and there are a few bangers in there.
I feel like rune of the eagle deserved a mention, while not as powerfull as scholar, the condition on scholar is prety inconsistent on the average group. And eagle's much simpler, below 50% buff is a lot more reliable. Also the precission helps with builds that strugle to reach 100% crit
Rune of the Eagle is a surprisingly nice rune. It's definitely a nice budget option and like you mentioned the extra precision can be real nice. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the extra precision does end up getting wasted on a lot of classes. Quite nice if you are rocking a few exotic pieces and need the extra stats though.
Yeah, I'm gonna stay with Traveler for my slow ass Guardian, I think...
No shade, Traveller rune on guardian is amazing. Cheap as hell as well.
How much damage would I lose in % if I would go full Diviner?
It would vary by class but some quick messing around with the gear optimizer on the Discritize site seems to indicate around a 20% dps loss when using all Diviner vs Berserker (for Power Vindicator at least). It might be a bit more for classes with a lower base critical chance potentially.
@@connorconcarne well, dps is not priority but survivability. Cannot do damage when I am dead. Zero DPS. 20% less dps is infinitely more damage than a dead man's zero dps.
Take berserker gear to tangled depths and then tell me how it goes...
Quality content!…this video shows how many useless runes in the game and also how many more useful runes are require, for eg: alacrity runes for instance.
What anet could do instead of adding more and more runes, they can change the other useless runes which are already in game into something good.
Agreed, there needs to be some runes specifically for Alacrity duration. Culling the amount of boon duration needed would make alac builds feel so much better to play while solo.
What about Eagle runes? Those are solid budget dps alternatives..
Eagle runes are one of my favorite budget runes. Although in the interests of time I wanted to focus on the best-in-slot runes that are typically used. I'm mulling over a different video for budget rune choices (which will definitely include Eagle runes).
Speaking of, the new budget rune video is done and dusted.
@@connorconcarne Gonna go check it out. ✨
I'm too lazy most days so I just put rune of the pack on all my characters 😭😭😭
No shame there. You could do far worse than Pack Runes.
hey, nice video. music is a little loud tho
Cheers, will keep that in mind for the next one.
Don't bother with leadership runes. The only role they really have in end game currently is alac condi ren, and you can totally ditch them for traveller runes with almost no downside. If you want to make up the boon duration, take a sigil of concentration. Don't grind dragonstand for the tiny difference.
Leadership runes have fallen off massively in recent years. I remember back when things like Chrono would often use them and feeling the pain of needing to farm Dragon Stand for them. Good point about slotting a rune of concentration as well.
i'm super dissapointed that rune of golemancer seems to have been stealth nerfed.
the golem dies super fast now, it used to have something like 60k hp, now i'd guess its more like 10k tops.
Yeah, I remember it got nerfed a while back. It was fun while it lasted.
Making a Rune video and not mentioning Rune of the Pack. Its broken in low lvl zones since the (6) bonus doesnt scale - its been broken for years!
Rune of the Pack is definitely getting a mention in my upcoming budget rune video. Like you mentioned it's got a lot going for it.
But why? They nerf the game every time? You spend alot time getting them. They nerf everything all the time. FCK the ruins. FCK they nerf war2.
Agreed! My character is ruined!
legendary runes are what you are looking for. Then you just adjust the build for free. Besides, even if you have spend 30 gold on runes, balance changes do not happen that often, and it takes no more then a few hours to get 30 gold, so. Its limited damage
Thanks 😊
You're very welcome.