Riot announced earlier this year that they were going to be looking into changing how runes work. This was exciting news and had people waiting to hear back regarding how exactly they were going to change and fix what many people considered to be a flawed system. Well, the updates have finally arrived among others coming in the pre-season update, but the Runes Reforged update looks to be a complete gamechanger.

What are the rune changes?

To begin with, the old runes that many of us had spent tons of IP on in the past have been refunded. The Rune System and Mastery System have also been combined into one single system instead of two. The runes will now become abilities much like the Masteries System had been, with keystone runes that are strong and game-defining. The system will allow players to play adaptively and apply pressure to the enemy team in new creative ways. The rune stones will also be free, which is a huge deal. Them being free allows players to build their own way of playing, not worrying about the massive IP sink that it had been previously.

The runes will now consist of 5 possible major choices, with another one of the 5 as a minor choice. The 5 major runes, according to the official League of Legends website will be:

  • Precision: Improves attack, and sustained damage.
  • Domination: Improves burst damage and target access.
  • Sorcery: Empowered abilities and resource manipulation.
  • Resolve: Improve durability and crowd control.
  • Inspiration: Gives creative tools, and bends rules.

Other updates

Another great update will be to the leveling system. Many people felt that once you hit level 30 the game just became a grind. Riot looks to remedy that by removing the level cap altogether. Instead of leveling past 30, you will instead receive rewards. Things like loot boxes with champion shards and blue essence will take the place of after game IP as you gain new levels.

On top of that, IP will now be blue essence and remain currency. Items that cost IP in the in-game store previously, will now cost blue essence instead. Along with this change, part of the refund they are doing for those who bought runes prior to the 2017 season is turning certain items into Blue Essence. The following chart from their website will show the exact exchanges.

  • Tier 3 Seals, Marks, and Glyphs will be exchanged for 100 BE each.
  • Tier 3 Quints will be exchanged for 300 BE each.
  • Rune pages bought with IP will be exchanged for 1500 BE each.
  • Rune pages bought with RP will be exchanged for 1 epic skin per 4 pages.

Also, they will implement a form of the veteran system by adding unique emotes that you earn as you progress into endless leveling.

It will consist of three levels, "Defender of the League," "Champion of the League," and "Conquerer of the League."

The cherry on top will be a special blue essence store after the change occurs, where you can buy special items, including the Urfwick Skin, which I will be trying to get my hands on.

With all these awesome Changes, maybe Riots lawsuit woes will be gone forever.

You can find a theorycrafting tool on the official League of Legends website. What are your favorite changes? Do you think they missed anything?