Hi Hytaler,
Runestones are the big combat change in Chapter I. They're also easy to waste shards on if you don't know how the numbers work. Here's the whole system in one place, with the exact values from the official patch notes. I haven't added any of my own guesses on top.
How the system works
- You craft Runestones from Runestone Shards, which you find during Chapter I.
- An Ability Runestone costs 2 shards, a Modifier Runestone costs 1.
- You put them into a Runebinder's Lattice to change your combat abilities. There's one in the Forgotten Temple.
- Your avatar can run two Ability Runestones at once, with Modifier Runestones attached to them.
- The Lattice won't let you place the same ability twice, and it won't let you put the same modifier on one ability twice.
Mana
Mana now sits where the Stamina bar used to be. It regenerates on its own, and every Runestone ability uses it. Your weapon's signature ability gives Mana back when it hits. Hitting several enemies at once gives more, but with diminishing returns. So the loop is: hit with the signature, cast, repeat.
One thing to keep in mind: casting slows you by 40% for a moment. Casting in the middle of a dodge is a bad idea.
The 7 Ability Runestones
| Ability | What it does | Damage | Mana | Cooldown |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain Hook | Launches a chain that pulls all targets near the impact point toward you | 3 Bludgeoning | 50 | 6 s |
| Charged Shot | Channel a frost bolt; on release it deals damage and slows | 12–58 Water | 35 | 4 s |
| Enrage | Primal rage: you deal and take more damage | – (lasts 8 s) | 45 | 4 s |
| Fireball | Throws a fire projectile that bursts where it lands | 28 Fire | 30 | 2 s |
| Ground Slam | Stone spikes erupt from the ground and can launch enemies into the air | 15–35 Earth | 40 | 5 s |
| Imbue Poison | Poisons your weapon | – (lasts 8 s) | 40 | 4 s |
| Wind Strike | Your next three hits each send out a wind slash that goes through enemies | 10 Wind | 30 | 2 s |
Just looking at the table: Fireball and Wind Strike are the cheap, fast ones (30 Mana, 2 s). Chain Hook is the most expensive and the slowest, but it's the only one that pulls enemies in, which matters more for crowd control than for damage.
The 8 Modifier Runestones
| Modifier | Upside | Downside |
|---|---|---|
| Colossal | +40% damage, +60% area, +150% projectile size | +60% Mana, −50% projectile speed |
| Enduring | lasts 50% longer | +30% Mana, +60% cooldown |
| Quickening | −20% Mana, −30% cooldown, moves 40% faster | −25% damage, expires 20% faster |
| Rebound | projectile rebounds 2 extra times, moves 40% faster | +25% Mana, +30% cooldown, −20% damage per rebound |
| Rend | debuff: 2 Physical damage/s for 6 s, target takes +15% Physical damage | −20% damage, +20% Mana, +25% cooldown |
| Splinter | splinters 2 extra times | +25% Mana, +20% cooldown, −30% damage per splinter, splinters 30% smaller |
| Thrift | −25% Mana | −20% damage |
| Wither | debuff for 2 s: target deals 15% less damage and moves 10% slower | −30% damage, +20% Mana, +30% cooldown |
Stacking: multiplied, not added
This is the part people get wrong. Modifier changes to damage, Mana cost and cooldown multiply with each other. They don't add up.
Example with the official numbers: Fireball (28 damage, 30 Mana) with Colossal + Thrift:
- Damage: 28 × 1.40 × 0.80 = ~31.4
- Mana: 30 × 1.60 × 0.75 = 36
So Thrift doesn't cancel out Colossal's Mana cost. You end up a bit above the base cost, with a bit more damage. If you stack several "−20% damage" modifiers, the losses pile up faster than you'd think.
Spending your first shards
The notes don't give drop rates, so I'm not going to pretend I know how fast shards come in. Going by costs alone: one ability (2 shards) plus one modifier (1 shard) is the smallest setup that actually changes how you fight. Get one ability you'll use all the time before you start collecting modifiers.
What are you running? Post your two abilities and their modifiers in the Chapter I thread, or right here if you've worked out a combo that works. If any number here is off after a hotfix, reply and I'll fix the table.
Source: Chapter I: Out of the Breach (official patch notes).
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