Rune system

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This article concerns content exclusive to Wrath of the Lich King. This information is subject to change at any time. (Note this tag should only be placed on major WotLK articles.)

For rune lore, see rune magic.

Recent Death Knight character portrait, displaying a combination of six runes from beta. Shows empty runic power bar below health bar.

An outdated Death Knight character portrait, displaying a combination of six runes and the currently accumulated Runic Power.

The Rune system is the resource system that is used by death knights, as opposed to Mana, Energy, or Rage. Details on the Rune system will be presented as the development of the new expansion continues, and information is subject to change.

Runes

The three different (now obsolete) rune types as revealed at BlizzCon 2007.

The Rune system revolves around three different types of runes, each of which corresponds to one the Death Knight's ability schools and talent trees.

The Death Knight has 6 Runes (2 of each main type) to power their abilities. Different abilities consume different types and amounts of runes, and when used, will place the corresponding runes on a 10 second recharge. Some abilities will also be able to refresh certain runes.

The three main rune types are:

• Blood
• Frost
• Unholy

Along with a fourth type, which can act as any of the main types:

• Death

The death rune can be created by using the ability Blood Tap, as well as through a Blood tree talent Death Rune Mastery, which will give you a chance to convert any rune that is activated into one. Also by the Frost tree talent Blood of the North, which for each point gives you a 20% chance, max five points, to turn Blood Strke Blood Runes into Death Runes.

There is also a concept with a similar name called Runeforging which works like an enchant on the weapon.

Runic Power

Runic Power is a resource which builds up as the Death Knight uses rune abilities, displayed as an empty bar that fills with a light sky blue color similar to a warriors Rage bar under the Death Knight's Health bar. Like Rage, Runic Power gradually diminishes when not being consumed or accumulated. Similar to Combo Points and finishing moves, Death Knights have abilities which will completely unleash all stored Runic Power; the more Runic Power that has been gathered, the more powerful the ability becomes.

Development

Developers at BlizzCon 2007 said they didn't want the new Death Knight to use the traditional resource systems because they wanted the death knight to have a different mode of play. They stated their intention was for the Death Knight to use a mixture of spells and melee in close combat. Because of this, a system that didn't specifically rely on either Mana or Rage was more appropriate.

How the original icons looked:

During the 2008 WWI, it was noted that the original runes were replaced because they were too complex to show the refresh inside the character portrait bar. However, the replacement runes are only temporary while they design new ones.

How the replacement icons looked:

External links

Wrathblog.com Discussions of Wrath of the Lich King Information