Guild Wars 2

Welcome. I couldn’t find an “Item Discussion” forum, so I thought this fit best here. Let me first say that I liked the idea of runes increasing in power the more you have since I first heard it. But after looking over the upgrade slot items, I rarly ever pick runes. Why?

Runes usually give boost 1, 3, and 5 to their primary stat, which always totals 165 (25+50+90) for runes that follow this pattern. While some have effects for 2 and 4, others have a minor stat which total 50 (15+35). The last effect is always an effect. However, most of the time I have found the final effect useless.

Orbs or Crests on the hand all have the same stats: 20 to the main stat and 14 to two secondary stats. A full set of 6 of these totals 120 to your main and 84 to two secondary attributes. So the total amount of attributes boosted is 288 vs. the 215 from runes. Now if you dropped the 6th rune and used a Orb/Crest instead you could bump your main attribute to 185 and make the upgrades total 263 attributes boosted.

So if you wanted your main attribute to be maxed out, 6 Runes or 5 Runes+1Orb/Crest is best. But most of the two, I’d rather have my primary weaker for the third stat.
And some runes are just said. Look at Rune of the Golemancer for example. It gives 10% Critical Damage, 50 Precision, and a 5% Chance to Summon a Golem. That better be one powerful golem, because with 6 Ruby Orbs you can 120 Power, 84 Precision, and 12% Critical Damage.

Also, I do know Rune of Divinity gives the highest total Attributes (360+12% Critical Damage). But I don’t like how spread out it is, giving only 60 to Power, Toughness, Vitality, Precision, Condition Damage, and Healing Power (+12% Critical Damage). Even my Elementalist never found a good use from them because I’d rather focus on 3 attributes. (Although my Soldier Armor set, currently using Crest of the soldier, may make use of them someday.)

Anyone else feel this way about runes or is it just me? Some do have abilities that look nice, like Rune of the Dolyak, but when I found out how low the healing is I decided it wasn’t worth it. Most of the other abilites still don’t list exacts on wiki and several seem very specific, especially for an Ele who uses all 4 attunements. So it seems better to just boosts the 3 stats you want than to rely on chances.
[Note: The only exception to this for me is Magic Find, since Runes give far more than Orbs/Crests.]

My current plan is to get Ruby Orbs (120 Power, 84 Precision, 12% Critical Damage) on my Berserker set and Crest of the Soldier (120 Power, 84 Vitality, 84 Toughness) on my Soldier Set for my Elementalist. Can anyone think of Runes that would be more beneficial on those armors for my Elementalist than that? Or do you agree that Crests/Orbs seem best?

I don’t think Runes and Orbs overlap actually. I’m not sure about Crests though. They might.

I find it best sometimes to combine different Runes and Orbs.

Currently running 2 Water, 4 Monk, but I’ve been thinking about switching to 2 Water / 2 Monk / 2 Sapphire Orbs

“I don’t think Runes and Orbs overlap actually. I’m not sure about Crests though. They might.” [Can’t seem to find quote option for some reason…]

Why wouldn’t they? They boost stats and all stat boosts I’ve seen stack.

Yah, for a Boon/Healing Build I can see why you’d pick 2 Water and 2 Monk. My Guardian will be going for Runes of Rune of Dwayna for his healing set. My comment is more focused at sets like Berserker where it is usually all about the damage or Soldier where it is about the Power/Defense. Usually with those I see the raw stat boosts being better than the runes. Which is kinda sad since I would almost like to use some runes, but it just doesn’t seem to be worth it. Although I won’t be replacing my Rune of the Baelfire on my Flame Legion Berserker Armor with Ruby Orbs until I know for sure XD

I plan on using different rune sets to stack +15% Protection duration for my hammer guardian. The goal is to keep the protection buff on myself as long as possible while still maintaining a good crit chance.

And personally I like the random effects more then the raw stats. Imagine if two or three people on a team had Runes of the Pack slotted and they were constantly (and randomly) granting everyone Fury, Might, and Swiftness. I’ll take that over raw stats any day!

I meant that they don’t replace one another. Sorry, I worded that wrong.

And dang, I was wrong. Sorry for that, I thought that you could have an orb and a rune on the same piece of equipment for some reason, which is why I was wondering about this topic. Just ignore me. I was really badly mistaken!

Well for things like Boons and more of exact builds runes may be better. But for builds focused on offense and defense (aka, Berserker and Soldier) I see raw stats being more common since a lot of rune effects feel situational to me.

NP =P It is a bit odd to only have 1 upgrade slot. Most games that start with 1 early on get 2-3 by late game… and if ever did get 2+ upgrade slots, I’d doubt you could run 2 sets of same runes…

It’s actually the “useless last effects” that make runes an attractive option: a lot of these effects can make – or enhance – a very specific build that’ll work amazingly well. Extending effect time of boons and conditions being the easiest examples (can you say: “25 stacks of Might?..”)

Crests and orbs, meanwhile, give better overall range of stats, but no specifically tailored effects. More powerful overall, but more spread out, with no single benefit.

It’s clever, actually. Means they both have a place in the game, depending on what you want.

Well as an elementalist, I like to stay flexible. I may run staff or daggers. I may be all out dps or a team support. Because of this, those exact build 6th effects tend to feel less worth it I guess.
The other reason is because many are too vague. Aka “5% chance to cause a fire nova when hit (90 second cool down)”. How do I even know if a Fire Nova is good? =P How big is it? How much damage does it deal? Last, I saw the wiki had no mention. However, +20 Power, +14 Precision, and +2% Critical Damage is something that I do understand easily.

So maybe I will change my mind once more of the rune effects are full known. But for now I’d rather raw stats than to chance on some of them. I mean healing from Dolyak sounded amazing until I saw how little it really healed…

You’re undervaluing the Rune effects.

For example, Rune of the Dolyak. Enhances Toughness by 165, Vitality by 50, and grants Health Regeneration.
I’m a Guardian, and my passive Health Regeneration from skills is 102 with some Healing Power. I have a Master Major Trait that gives me about 25 extra health per second. The Dolyak 6 runes effect gives me 30.
I think it’s pretty good, a Rune effect being a bit better than a Major Trait.

Another example is Rune of the Pirate. Although I hate the parrot because pet AI is annoying as hell (they attack everything on sight, no questions asked), it’s freaking strong.
Sometimes (actually all the time) I ignore the parrot and try to move away from it, but the “Exp XXX” appears often because he’s killing mobs on his own.

If you check, all 6th piece effects are comparable to Major Traits, so they’re quite powerful, and it’s up to you if you want that effect or some 50~ extra points in another stats.

I use orbs for the most part. The exception is Runes of the Dolyak for the regeneration effect when I am running a regeneration build on my warrior and Runes of the Soldier for PVP. Can’t have enough condition removers in PVP.

You can only obtain duration bonuses from runes and sigils, of which benefit condition/support builds far better than Orbs or Crests.

For pow/prec based damage, there might be a point to using Orbs or Crests, but it’s not like you can apply Orbs to armor, so there goes a huge chunk of % crit damage.

“That better be one powerful golem, because with 6 Ruby Orbs you can 120 Power, 84 Precision, and 12% Critical Damage”

Compare this with Rune of the Pack (one of my favorites): 165 Power, 100 Precision, 20% Extra Swiftness duration, chance on damage taken (tooltip is wrong) to grant 5~10 seconds (couldn’t check) Fury, Might and Swiftness to nearby allies.

I think it’s a little better than Orbs…

Some Runes have underwhelming effects, I agree, but don’t assume all of them are. Some just… don’t work well with whatever you’re planning for your character.

“For pow/prec based damage, there might be a point to using Orbs or Crests, but it’s not like you can apply Orbs to armor, so there goes a huge chunk of % crit damage.”
You can apply orbs to armor. I got Ruby orbs on my berserker currently. You cannot apply orbs in the filigree though, then they are considered jewels and only can be added to accessories.

I did look more into runes. Rune of the Pack is sweet. I am highly considering it. However, for my Ele I think the 12% critical damage may be better. Although I never looked into how power and critical damage rival (aka is 45 power better than 12% critical damage? I doubt it but there has to be a tipping point somewhere). It does seem that runes are better for builds with a clear focus. Aka, if you are dealing lots of burning, you’d want a burn duration rune probably.
I guess that is another downside of an elementalist, the 4 attunements make it hard for me to focus on just one thing. And I side more to criticals over conditions/boons anywhere. When it comes to criticals, I think orbs may beat the others since very few give critical based effects that make up for loss of damage/chance.

comes down to personal flavour i feel, some Runes are worth it if your after the special effect mainly from the 6/6 bonus.

for example rune of Strength is 5% damage under the effects of might, thats the same as a Sigil of Force and if you were using such a runeset you are most likely a class/build that is always under the effect of Might in combat.

you can also consider some of the really good 2/2 bonus’ Water & Monk both give 15% Boon Duration, add that to your Boon Duration trait tree for another 30% and throw in some Omnomberry Cream and you can get a whopping 80% bonus to your Boon Duration.

I’m sorry, but 30 health per tick on 6/6 superior rune of doylak is total garbage compared to the damage being taken in… Oh, you stack it with other healing effects? Ok, but 30/tick is still barely contributing anything. It’s not like regeneration boon stacks and while there maybe other healing sources (like healing fields), these sources are at least 3 times more effective and actually do get benefits from +healing than the 6/6 doylak effect. Make it 75-100 health per tick and now we have something actually worthwhile. In general though, most of the 6/6 effects on superior runes are really not good.

Rune of the Soldier is of course amazing in party situations or PvP (remove a condition from allies in range each shout) and there are some other niche combos that work. It is a bit of a balancing act though. Divinity runes technically have barely higher stats, but that would mean making full use of all 4 stats plus the crit damage. Also, keep in mind that exotic runes are generally level 60, while cited rare crests are level 80.

I’m going to defend the Golemancer rune here. Playing as a Thief, the support you get when it procs is GODLY. It’s tanky enough to draw aggro from me for a considerable length of time, and I can pop Thieves Guild at the same time to completely wipe any pressure I had on me previously. Using Withdraw as a heal skill as soon as it procs and then sending your Thieves forward – nothing like it.

I’m using the Rune of Grenth on my elementalist. I have no idea why I chose it.

In WvW, though, it’s incredibly nice. If I’m taking a beating, I switch to Air, use my heal that gives me swiftness for being in air, and the heal profs an AoE chill. I get faster, my enemy gets slower, I make a clean escape.

The runes seem to be situational, but powerful in that situation, if you can find the one you like and work it into your playstyle.