Runes are a way to improve crusaders in various ways. There are 5 different types of runes: Fire Runes, Water Runes, Air Runes, Earth Runes and Soul Runes.



Runes can be equipped in the 5 rune slots each crusader has and upgraded to increase the effect of the corresponding slot on the crusader (more details below.)

The type of the rune is only important for 2 things:

1. you can only combine runes of the same type to create a higher level rune of that type
   
2. every rune slot on a crusader can only be filled by runes of a specific type

So you might have a higher demand for one rune type or another depending on which slots on which crusaders you would like to upgrade, but they have the same rarity and on average you should get about the same number of runes for each type.

There are several ways to get runes. Most ways to acquire runes are limited though. The prime way to acquire them is to open Runic Chests. Runic Chests contain 5 random runes. At least one of them being a level 3 or 4 rune and one being a level 2 rune. The remaining 3 runes are level 2 or 1 runes.

• You can buy 2 Runic Chests in the Ruby Shop each week for 300 rubies each (total of 600 rubies for 2 chests)
  
• You can buy 3 Runic Chests in the Challenge shop each week for 40 Challenge Tokens each (total of 120 tokens for 3 chests)
  
• You can buy 3 Runic Chests in the Dungeon Shop each week for 45 Dungeon Coins each (total of 135 coins for 3 chests)
  
• You can buy an unlimited number of Runic Chests from the ingame Chest Shop for real money.

That are 8 chests a week you can buy for the various ingame currencies. Seeing that the supply of chests is very limited it might be a good idea to get those 8 'free' chests if you have enough of those currencies. Depending on how far into the game you are there might be more important things to save for though.

When you progress through the dungeon season you can unlock Runic Chests and stacks of Runes as rewards for various stages, in the free pass as well as in the paid one.

Lastly there are 2 epic missions rewarding 1 Runic Chest each. Both of these missions should appear once a week. Since they are epic missions they have an EP requirement of 200 EP and want the crusaders to have all epic gear to get to 100% success chance. If you fail the missions your crusaders could get injured. The mission Hunt for Wild Runegems has a longer duration than the Cast the Runes mission.





Combining the chests from the shops and the missions you can get 10 free Runic Chests each week.

Runes ultimately are meant to be equipped on crusaders. Each crusader has up to 5 different rune slots, though as of this time, all crusaders are limited to 4 slots. Every slot comes with an effect, and varies from crusader to crusader. So a slot on one crusader may boost DPS while the same slot on another crusader boosts gold find.

You can access the rune screen on the same tab that also shows you your trinkets, right next to the button to open the talents, below the button to craft items. On the left side of the screen is a list of crusaders to select from. It can be filtered by 'Crusaders in Formation' (the default,) 'Crusaders with Runes' and 'All Crusaders'. If you are missing any crusaders in the list this filter likely is the reason.



On the right side of the screen the selected crusader with its slots is shown. Next to it is a list of the Slot Effects for the current crusader. Those slot effects also are shown when hovering the mouse over a specific slot. The white markers in the little diagrams next to the slot effects are indicating the position of the slot. At the bottom of the screen all currently available runes are displayed.

Initially all slots on all crusaders are locked and first have to be unlocked to use them. Slots can be unlocked in any order on any crusader. The first unlock on every crusader is free. The second unlock on a crusader costs 1 Legendary Catalyst, the third costs 2 Legendary Catalysts while the forth unlock costs 3. The cost to unlock the fifth slot is as of yet unknown. Thus to unlock all 4 currently available slots on a single crusader costs 6 Legendary Catalysts.

Those unlocking costs are crusader specific. Unlocking a slot on one crusader will not influence the cost to unlock slots on a different crusader. Unlocks can't be undone.

Once a slot is unlocked a matching rune can be placed into it. Just drag and drop a rune onto the correct slot. A rune of any level can be placed into an empty slot, there is no need to start with a level 1 rune. Note however, that once a rune is placed a special item is required to remove it again. The rune can be upgraded inside the slot though. If you can't equip the rune the reason is a bug that prevents runes from being equipped if the scaling of the game is not set to 1.

All runes can be upgraded up to level 15. To upgrade a rune you have to merge 2 runes of the same type and level. Creating level 6 and higher runes also requires a Legendary Catalyst each. Note that there is no way to unmerge runes. So if, for example, you merge two level 7 runes to get one level 8 rune there is no way to split it up again to boost 2 different crusaders instead of boosting only one.

Runes get upgraded on the same screen that is also used to equip the crusaders with runes. There are two ways to upgrade runes.

• Merging unequipped runes
  
• Merging an unequipped rune with an equipped rune

Note that there currently is a bug that prevents runes from being equipped, merged or upgraded if the scaling of your game is not set to 1. You can change the scaling to 1 at any time in the options menu (the little cogwheel in the top left corner.)

To merge 2 unequipped runes you need to own 2 runes of the same type and the same level. The list on the bottom of the screen is showing all the currently owned and unequipped runes. Any of those that show at least 'x2' are candidates for a merge. Simply drag and drop any rune you want to merge onto the Merge field just to the left of the runes.


Before the runes actually get merged a confirmation dialog will appear. If you agree you will lose 2 runes of the type and level you selected to merge, and gain 1 rune of the same type that is one level higher. If the merged runes are at least level 5 this will also cost one Legendary Catalyst. There is no way to undo a merge once it is done to get back the lower level runes or the catalyst. Do not blindly merge every rune just because you have two of them, you might need some of them to upgrade runes that are already equipped.

To upgrade a rune that is equipped on a crusader you will need a rune of the same type and the same level that is not yet equipped. Again the list at the bottom is helpful in determining if an upgrade is possible. This time it is enough if the list contains the matching rune at the right level with at least an 'x1'. Drag and drop the matching rune onto the rune that is equipped on the crusader to merge them.


Once again a confirmation dialog will appear before the actual upgrade happens. If you agree you will lose the rune you use to merge and the rune on the crusader will be upgraded one level. If the runes are level 5 or higher this will also cost 1 Legendary Catalyst. Note that you can only upgrade a rune by using a rune that is the same level as the rune equipped on the crusader. It is not possible to drop a higher level (or lower level) rune onto a slot to replace another rune. Therefore you should not merge any and all unequipped runes just because you can, or you might end up with runes that are too high level to upgrade the crusader of your choice. If it ever happens you have 2 choices: you can wait for more runes, or you can unequip runes on the crusader with a special item.

To upgrade a rune to a higher level you need 2 runes of the current level, and if the runes are at least level 5 you additionally need 1 Legendary Catalyst to pay for the upgrade. This may sound harmless, but it sure does add up. The following table lists how many runes and catalysts are needed to create a rune of a certain level.


This also allows for some calculations. A level 3 rune is basically equal to 4 level 1 runes since you can merge the latter to create the first. Using this approach a Runic Chest is worth a minimum of 9 and an average of 9.83 runes. Considering you get 5 different types of runes in each chest it takes a whole lot of chests to get to the higher levels of runes.

Runes can not be moved around freely between crusaders. Once a rune is equipped the only way to remove it from that crusader is to use a Rune Solvent. Rune Solvents can be acquired from epic missions.



As it is an epic mission the crusaders need to have a minimum amount of EP and epic gear to be able to have a 100% chance and they can be injured if the mission fails. This mission also requires one crusader to have the male as well as and female tag.

The rune screen is displaying the amount of Rune Solvent you currently own right above the not equipped runes. You can use the Rune Solvent on any crusader with equipped runes by using the 'Remove' button.


Before the runes get removed from the crusader you once again have to confirm a dialog.
If you agree you lose one Rune Solvent and all runes will be removed from the selected crusader and moved to the pool of unequipped runes. From there they can be equipped on any crusader or merged with other unequipped runes again. It is not possible to only remove a single rune from a crusader, but you are free to re-equip the runes on the crusader after removing them for the same effect.

Thus the Rune Solvent allows to react to changes of the meta by allowing to move the runes away from a crusader that falls out of favor. It can not be used for constant changes however, for example to adapt the loadout for every challenge, due to the limited supply.

Every crusader has 5 slots for runes. Currently only 4 of them are available. Each of the slots comes with an effect that depends on the level of the equipped rune. Those effects are not unique but come from a small pool.

Possible effects on slot 1 are:

• Increase Click Damage
  
• Increase the DPS of the crusader
  
• Increase the DPS of all crusaders

Possible effects on slot 2 are:

• Increase Click Damage
  
• Increase the DPS of the crusader
  
• Increase the DPS of all crusaders
  
• Increase Gold find

Slot 2 can have all the same effects of slot 1 with the addition of increased gold find.

Possible effects on slot 3 are:

• Increase the amount of shared EP
  
• Increase the maximum crusader level

Possible effects on slot 4 are:

• Chance of double rewards on missions
  
• Increase EP gained from missions
  
• Increase Gold gained from missions
  
• Decrease mission duration

This section describes the possible effects for slot 1 and 2 in more detail. After going over the details I give my subjective opinion regarding the usefulness of the effect.

Increases your Click Damage by 40%
Effect doubles with each Rune level.

This effect increases the Click Damage of a crusader. It starts with an increase of 40% and every additional level doubles the effect. The effect is only active when the crusader is in the formation.


Do not level this rune unless for some reason you are, against the meta, in love with click damage. Never level it on a crusader you do not actively use in formation.

Increases the DPS of the Crusader by 100%
Effect doubles with each Rune level.

This effect increases the Damage the crusader with this effect does. It starts with an increase of 100% and every additional level doubles the effect. The effect is only active when the crusader is in the formation.


Increasing the damage is a useful effect on your main DPS only. Using it on anyone else is a waste of runes since everyone else will have less DPS to start with. If a new DPS arises due to meta changes free up the runes with a Rune Solvent.

Increases the DPS of all Crusaders by 40%
Effect doubles with each Rune level.

This effect increases the Damage of all crusaders. It starts with an increase of 40% and every additional level doubles the effect. The effect is only active when the crusader is in the formation.


This is a useful boost to DPS since you can have it on several crusaders in the formation. Only use it on crusaders you have in (most of) your DPS formations. Start with crusaders you always use.

Increases all Gold found by 20%
Effect doubles with each Rune level.

This effect increases the Gold find. It starts with an increase of 20% and every additional level doubles the effect. The effect is only active when the crusader is in the formation. Increased Gold Find is only available on slot 2.


If you are using Tiernan and/or Jiaolong this effect is useful as it increases your DPS. Start with crusaders that are always in your formations.

Otherwise this effect is not very good. Without Tiernan and Jiaolong it maybe can help if you have trouble reaching your maximum crusader level, but since additional DPS also increases the amount of gold you get the runes might be more useful in other slots still. Once you can reach your maximum level the effect is next to useless without Tiernan and/or Jiaolong.

This section describes the possible effects for slot 3 in more detail. After going over the details I give my subjective opinion regarding the usefulness of the effect.

Increases the amount of EP that the Crusader shares with their bench seat by 25%
Effect increases by 25% with each Rune level.

This effect increases the amount of EP a crusader shares with the other crusaders in the same bench seat. It starts with an increase of 25% and every additional level adds another 25% to the effect. The crusader can share more than 100% of their EP this way. The effect is only active when the crusader is not in the formation and a different crusader on that bench seat is currently selected. That crusader does not have to be in the formation for the effect to be active.

It is possible that several crusaders in the same bench seat can share their EP with the currently selected crusader in that seat using this effect. For example, both Veronica and Arachnobuddy can raise Jim's EP. But if Veronica is the active crusader in that seat only Arachnobuddy will share more of his EP.


This effect is most useful on crusaders that share the slot with your main DPS.

Increases the max level of the Crusader by 250
Effect increases by 250 with each Rune level.

This effect increases the maximum level of the crusader. It starts with an increase of 250 levels and every additional rune level adds another 250 to the effect. The effect is always active regardless of the crusader being in the formation or not. Apart from very slightly increased idol gains it does not really help when the crusader is not in the formation though.

Additionally to simply raising the maximum level of a crusader this also triggers the Kilo Leveling talent if that talent has any points in it. Thus multiplying the damage by up to an additional 50 for every 4 levels (+ 1000 crusader levels) in this effect. Of course, depending on the maximum level without this effect even a level 1 rune can be enough of a raise to trigger the Kilo Leveling talent by going above the next multiple of 1000 levels. For sake of simplicity in the table below I assume that every 4th level in this effect triggers Kilo Leveling.

This effect easily beats any other DPS increase possible with runes. Using this on your main DPS is a must, as long as you are able to reach the (new) maximum level. Do not use it on other crusaders though, since they do not meaningful contribute to the DPS and the runes would be wasted. Also do not use it if you can't reach your maximum level yet. If you want to switch to a different DPS crusader you should move the rune from your old DPS.

This section describes the possible effects for slot 4 in more detail. After going over the details I give my subjective opinion regarding the usefulness of the effect.

Gives a 0.25% chance for any mission that the Crusader participates in to give double the rewards. Rewards can only be doubled once.
Effect increases by 0.25% with each Rune level.

This effect gives a chance that any mission the crusader takes part in gives double the rewards. It starts with a 0.25% chance and every additional level adds another 0.25% to the effect. This effect only works when the crusader is taking part in the mission.

It is unclear if sending more than one crusader with this effect on a mission is useful. Developers have claimed that only the crusader with the highest chance counts, but also that every crusader counts. In any case, you can not get more than twice the reward by stacking this effect. Note that this does not work on recruit missions for crusaders.


The chance for this effect to trigger is quite slim. Double the rewards is quite nice on several missions though. Considering that this does not directly raise your DPS (might be lucky on an idol mission) and the low chances of triggering, this effect is rather low priority. It might be fun to invest a rune or two into this though for the satisfaction when it triggers.

Increases EP rewards by 200% for any mission that the Crusader participates in. Stacks additively.
Effect increases by 150% with each Rune level.

This effect increases the amount of EP rewarded by any EP mission the crusader participates in. It starts with an increase of 200% and every additional level adds another 150% to the effect. This effect only works when the crusader is taking part in the mission. It will affect every other crusader on the mission though, granting them extra EP as well.

Using several crusaders with this effect in one mission will further increase the amount of EP gained from the mission since the effect stacks additively. It can also be used to boost crusaders that do not have this effect themselves by sending them along.


This is most useful for crusaders that share a bench with your main DPS. It also can be helpful if your crusaders are very low on EP to raise the chances on epic missions. Since the effect also raises EP gained for everyone who rides along it doesn't hurt to invest a few spare low level runes on other crusaders as well.

Increases Gold rewards by 50% for any mission that the Crusader participates in. Stacks additively.
Effect doubles with each Rune level.

This effect increases the amount of Gold gained by any Gold mission the crusader participates in. It starts with an increase of 50% and every additional level doubles the effect. This effect only works when the crusader is taking part in the mission.

Using several crusaders with this effect in one mission will further increase the amount of Gold gained from the mission since the effect stacks additively.


Don't. Just don't waste runes on this.

Decreases the duration of any mission of 3 hours or longer that the Crusader participates in by 5%. Stacks multiplicatively.
Effect increases by 5% with each Rune level.

This effect decreases the time a mission will take to complete if the crusader participates in it. It starts with a decrease of 5% and every additional level adds another 5% to the effect. This effect only works when the crusader is taking part in the mission, and only on missions that take at least 3 hours (2 hours 24 min with maxed Speed Runner talent) to complete.

Using several crusaders with this effect in one mission will further decrease the time needed for completion since the effect stacks multiplicatively.


This is a very interesting effect. Not only will it decrease the duration of the mission, it also will allow the mission cooldown to start earlier (when you finish the mission), therefore potentially getting missions more frequently. Not as important as the DPS effects though.