The advanced rune system is a newly added feature in Ragnarok Mobile Episode 6. And honestly, upgrading this provides the highest damage boost potential besides getting good equipment.
In this guide, I’ll cover how to activate, upgrade, obtain the runes, the types of runes and pretty much how the whole system works.
Content overview
What is the Advanced Rune System?
The advance rune system lets you upgrade your character’s overall damage by enhancing its skills and overall stats through inlaying skill and attribute runes.
This is different from the Aesir Monument Runes. Though there are fewer nodes in the advanced rune system, it’s a little more complex. Unlike the nodes in the aesir monuments, the nodes in this system are empty and it is up to you which rune you want to put in each socket.
And while you can put anything on each socket, there are requirements to activate each skill runes. We’ll talk about this in a bit.
We first need to unlock the system.
How to Unlock the Advanced Rune System?
To unlock the advanced rune system, you will need to be at least at base level 80 and finished the Rune’s Power Quest.
The quest is fairly easy to complete. Simply follow the markers of the quest log and you should be fine.
Here are the steps:
- Talk to Archbishop Thomasville NPC found near the Protenra Cathedral.
- Talk to Norrison Kagel Rune Scholar NPC found at the upper left most part of the Prontera map. And just continue talking to her until you get teleported to Thanatos’ Tower map.
- Talk to Montenega.
- Collect all 8 rough runestones found at the lower-right most portion of the map.
- Go and talk to Montega until you get teleported to an instance.
- Kill all Epic Spirit Guard Officers and you’ll get teleported back to the Thanatos Tower map.
- Talking to Montenega will complete the quest and unlocks the Advanced Rune System. You will also receive the Rune Box item. This is the item you can use to inlay runes.
Before we go into more details on how the advanced rune system works, let’s talk about how we can obtain the actual runes we need…
How to Obtain Rune Stones and Rune Packs?
First off, opening rune stones will give you a random skill rune while rune packs will give you a random attribute rune.
There are 4 ways to obtain rune stones and rune packs:
- You can buy it through the Rune Shop found at Prontera. Just talk to Rainie located just below Hollgrehen.
There is a weekly limit when all available items in the rune store.
Do note that some rune packs will only appear once you have sold out one pack. This is the case for any packs that are sold other than Zeny like the one that cost gold medals, bronze medals or glow metals.
Rune | Cost | Weekly Limit | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Faint Rune Stone | 100,000 Zeny Each | 10 | Gives a random B class skill rune. |
Smooth Rune Stone | 250, 000 Zeny Each | 3 | Gives a random A class skill rune. |
Sealed Rune Pack I | 100,000 Zeny Each | 5 | Gives a random attribute rune. |
Sealed Rune Pack I | 2 Glow Metal | 1 | Gives a random attribute rune. |
Sealed Rune Pack I | 4 Glow Metal | 2 | Gives a random attribute rune. |
Sealed Rune Pack I | 8 Glow Metal | 2 | Gives a random attribute rune. |
Sealed Rune Pack I | 1 Gold Medal | 1 | Gives a random attribute rune. |
Sealed Rune Pack I | 2 Gold Medal | 2 | Gives a random attribute rune. |
Sealed Rune Pack I | 4 Gold Medal | 2 | Gives a random attribute rune. |
Sealed Rune Pack I | 400 Bronze Medal | 1 | Gives a random attribute rune. |
Sealed Rune Pack I | 800 Bronze Medal | 2 | Gives a random attribute rune. |
Sealed Rune Pack I | 1, 200 Bronze Medal | 2 | Gives a random attribute rune. |
Weekly Total | – 2, 250,000 million Zeny – 13 Gold Medals – 4,400 Bronze Medals – 26 Glow Metals |
- Finishing the Thanatos Tower. Finishing this instance will reward you the Arcane Ancient Box (Novice Difficulty) or Arcane Treasure (Brave difficulty).
For the brave difficulty specifically, you can get the Dusty Rune Stone which can randomly give you a Class A or Class B skill rune. This item can also be sold through the exchange.
For more details check out our Thanatos Tower Guide. - You can also gain runes by buying through the recharge store using BCC.
Item | Cost | Description |
---|---|---|
Glittering Rune Stone | 15 BCC | Guaranteed S tier skill rune upon opening |
Old Rune Box | 6 BCC | Lets you pick 1 attribute rune of your choosing |
Happiness Lucky Bag | 30 BCC | Gives the following: 1 Faint Rune Stone 1 Smooth Rune Stone 1 Glittering Rune Stone 2 Old Rune Box 3 Magnifying Glass 25% Chance to get an S class skill rune of your current class. |
- Lastly, you can also obtain them through special events. Be sure to always check our Ragnarok events archive to get updated. This is the easiest and cost-efficient way to obtain them.
How to Identify Rune Stones
Before you can actually use the runestones, you first need to identify them.
Thankfully, this is pretty easy:
- Open the Rune Box from your inventory.
- Click Inlay Rune.
- Go to the Identifying Rune tab.
- On the right side, click the plus button and select the runestone you’d like to identify.
- Click on either “continuous evaluation” or “single evaluation”.
- If you don’t currently have a magnifying glass, a popup will appear prompting you to buy it. It will cost 1,000 Zeny each.
- If you do have one, clicking either of the options in step 5 will identify the rune stones for you.
Alright! Now that we got those out of the way, let’s tackle the actual runes you can get so you can have a better understanding of how the advanced rune system works.
Types of Runes
There are two types of runes.
The skill runes which occupies the larger nodes and the attribute runes which are needed to activate the skill runes.
Let’s take a closer look at each:
Skill Runes
You can say that getting an awesome skill rune is the main goal for investing in the advanced rune system.
It is not an exaggeration that getting the best skill runes will take your character to an OP level.
Skill runes have 3 grades, namely:
- S Grade – this is the type of skill rune you can get. Some of the S class runes can even increase the damage of a certain skill to 30%.
- A Grade – the second-best type of rune you can get. Depending on your build, you may want to throw 1 A class rune in your arsenal. Simply, because some S tier skill runes may not work well with your current build.
- B Grade – The majority of runes you can randomly obtain are B class. Same as the A-class rune, you may be needing some of these depending on your build. But for most cases, you’ll probably only be needing this to create higher tier rune. Which we’ll tackle later.
There are a couple more things that you need to know about the skill runes:
- You can only equip the skill runes of your current class.
- You can equip up to 3 skills rune.
- However, you cannot equip skills runes of the same name.
- To activate the skill rune’s effect, you’ll need to meet the required 3 attribute runes connected to the rune sockets surrounding it. We’ll go into more detail about this later.
- Skill Rune’s effects are all random so just getting an S Rank skill rune will not guarantee an enormous boost. At some point, you’ll probably want to do Attribute Synergy to improve the effects of your skill runes.
- Skill rune’s 3rd line of effect is actually pretty rare. Think of it like getting the 4th enchantment of the advanced enchantment system.
Attribute Runes
Attribute runes are needed to actually activate the skill runes. But that’s not to say that it is its sole purpose. In fact, attribute runes can increase your character’s damage a lot.
These runes also have S, A and B grades. But aside from that, they are classified based on what attribute they add to your character.
There are 3 types of attribute runes:
- Attack Rune (Red)
- Defense Rune (Green)
- Special/Buff Rune (Yellow)
The attribute they add is as their names suggest. Special runes are usually runes that add actual stat such as INT, DEX, AGI, etc.
Same as the skill runes, there are a couple of points you need to know:
- Attribute rune with the same name can’t be inlaid.
- Attribute runes can be upgraded up to level 10.
Attribute Runes Full List
I know a full list of all the attribute runes can come in handy so I’ve listed them all here:
Rune Name | Effects at Level 1 |
---|---|
AGI Buff Rune | Agi +1 Damage to All Races +0.2% Damage from All Monsters -0.2% |
Annihilation ATK Rune | Damage Increase +0.6% Refine Atk +4 |
Armor Breaking ATK Rune | Ignore Defense +0.8% Refine Attack +4 |
Assault ATK Rune | Attack +12 Refine Attack +4 |
Berserk ATK Rune | Critical Damage +1.6% Critical +1 |
Chant Buff Rune | Variable Cast Time -1% Variable Cast Time -0.05 seconds SP Cost -0.5% |
DEX Buff Rune | Dex +1 Damage to All Races +0.2% Damage from All Monsters -0.2% |
Divine ATK Rune | Holy Damage +0.6% Bonus Healing +0.6% |
Element ATK Rune | Wind, Earth, Water, Fire and Ghost Attack +0.6% |
Element DEF Rune | Wind, Earth, Water, Fire, and Ghost Damage Reduction +0.6% Defense +4 Magic Defense +2 |
Evil DEF Rune | Poison, Dark, Undead, Holy, and Neutral Damage Reduction. +0.6% Defense +4 Magic Defense +2 |
Exorcism ATK Rune | Ignore Magic Defense +0.8% Refine Magic Attack +4 |
Fierce DEF Rune | Critical Damage Reduction +1.6% Critical Resistance +1 Auto Attack Reduction +0.3% |
Flying Blade DEF Rune | Received Ranged Physical Damage Reduction +0.6% Defense +0.3% |
HP DEF Rune | Max HP +325 Defense +3 |
Illusion ATK Rune | Magic Damage Increase+0.6% Refine Magic Attack +4 |
Incantation ATK Rune | Magic Penetration +0.4% Refine Magic Attack +4 |
INT Buff Rune | Int +1 Damage to All Races +0.2% Damage from All Monsters -0.2% |
LUK Buff Rune | Luk +1 Damage to All Races +0.2% Damage from All Monsters -0.2% |
Magic Crasher DEF Rune | Magic Attack Damage Reduction +0.4% Auto Attack Reduction +0.3% |
Melee DEF Rune | Received Melee Physical Damage Reduction +0.6% Defense +0.3% |
Penetration ATK Rune | Penetration +0.4% Refine Attack +4 |
Poisonous Shadow ATK Rune | Poison Damage +0.6% Neutral Attack +0.6% |
Shield DEF Rune | Attack Damage Reduction +0.4% Auto Attack Reduction +0.3% |
Size Buff Rune | Damage to Middle-size Monster +0.4% Medium Monster Dmg Reduction +0.4% |
Spell DEF Rune | Magic Defense +0.8% Skill Damage Reduction +0.4% |
Spirit ATK Rune | Ignore Magic Defense +0.8% Refine Magic Attack +4 |
Spiritual Power DEF Rune | Max SP +16 Magic Defense +3 Defense +3 |
Steel DEF Rune | Defense +0.8% Skill Damage Reduction +0.4% |
STR Buff Rune | Str +1 Damage to All Races +0.2% Damage from All Monsters -0.2% |
VIT Buff Rune | Vit +1 Damage to All Races +0.2% Damage from All Monsters -0.2% |
How to activate Skill Runes: Rune Inlaying
Skill runes will not work until you manage to satisfy the requirements of 3 attribute runes connected to it so you can activate it.
There are lots of possible combination it may require you but you can actually change the “activation sequence”. You can change this by doing rune carving.
Anyway, you can see the requirements once you try to inlay a skill rune. It is color-coded and each color will denote which type of attribute runes are required:
- Red – Denotes to any attack rune types.
- Green – Denotes to any defense rune types.
- Yellow – Denotes to any special/buff rune types.
- White – Denotes to wildcard, meaning you can put any rune type of your choice if this is the requirement.
How to Upgrade Attribute Runes
As mentioned, attribute runes can be upgraded to level 10. If you checked out the full list of attribute runes, their effects are really good. So upgrading them is definitely worthwhile.
Here’s how to upgrade them:
- Access your rune box.
- Go to the “Upgrading Runes” tab.
- Click the big plus button at the right and select the rune you wish to upgrade.
- Clicking the auto-fill button will automatically put any available runes that will be used for the upgrade.
You can only use attribute rune of the same type as a raw material for the upgrade. For example, if you are upgrading an attack rune, you can only use other attack runes for the upgrade.
You can also add a certain rune to your favorites to ensure that it won’t get accidentally used as a raw material. - Once done, just click on “fusion upgrade”.
Rune Smelting
If you bought any rune stones or rune packs even once, you’ll know that everything from stats to the actual skill runes is random. This makes it extremely hard to get your desired runes.
This is where rune smelting comes in. Through various methods, you can get the specific skill runes you want to get and even S tier skill runes without having to spend real money on BCC.
Let’s take a look at all the things you can do with rune smelting:
How to obtain class S Runes: Advancement Smelting
With the advancement smelting, you can upgrade the grade of your rune by fusing 3 skills runes. This will create 1 random rune with a probability to get a higher grade rune.
To do this, simply talk to the rune smelting NPC, Ben. Each fusion will cost 10, 000 Zeny.
The probability of getting higher grade rune will depend on the 3 runes that you fused.
If you’re wondering how high or low your chances of getting S class runes, here’s a little table:
Fusion Combination | Chance Percentage |
---|---|
B+B+B | 60% Chance to get A-Grade rune |
B+B+A | 20% Chance to get S-Grade Rune |
A+A+B | 45% Chance to get S-Grade Rune |
A+A+A | 70% Chance to get S-Grade Rune |
S+A+B | 80% Chance to get S-Grade Rune |
A+A+S | 85% Chance to get S-Grade Rune |
S+S+B | 90% Chance to get S-Grade Rune |
S+S+A | 95% Chance to get S-Grade Rune |
S+S+S | 100% Chance to get S-Grade Rune |
The skill runes you can obtain are random so there’s no guarantee that you’ll get an S-Grade rune suitable for your current class even if you do the advancement smelting or buy the Glittering Rune Stone via BCC.
You can say that getting an S-Grade rune is only half of the battle.
This leads us to the next section…
How to obtain skill runes guaranteed for your class: Precision Smelting
Precision smelting allows you to fuse 5 runes to get a new one guaranteed for your current class.
The grade of the new rune you will get will depend on the grade of the 5 runes you fused.
Each rune you add in the fusion slot will add 20% of getting a rune of the same grade.
For example, fusing 5 A-grade runes will result in a 100% chance of getting an A-grade class-specific rune.
But fusing 1 S grade, 2 A-grade and 2-B grade will result in a 20% chance of getting an S-grade rune, a 40% chance of getting an A-grade rune and a 40% chance of getting a B-grade rune.
How to change stats for your Skill Rune: Attribute Synergy
Attribute synergy allows you to re-roll the current stat of your skill rune.
Normally, skill runes give 2 effects. And as mentioned earlier there is a small chance to get a third line of effect. Those effects are pretty good and not having it is kind of a waste.
By the way, you’ll know that you got a rune with a good stat (not necessary the third line effect) if you see a star in its icon.
To change the stat of your skill rune, you will need 3 of the exact same rune. Unfortunately, you cannot use any other rune skill rune for this one. It should be the rune with the same name.
This works very similarly to the advanced enchantment. Meaning, it won’t guarantee that you’ll get a higher stat, let alone the third line of effect. Everything is random so it kinda feels like a gamble.
It is pretty difficult to get that ultimate skill rune of your dream, isn’t it?
With that said, let’s go to the last section of rune smelting.
How to change the rune activation requirement: Rune Carving
You can change the activation rune into precisely what you want with rune carving.
Given the nature of the skill rune requiring 3 attribute runes to activate, you don’t actually have the freedom to choose the best set of attribute runes for your current class and build.
What if the required activation rune are all defense rune and you are a Warlock?
With rune carving, you can select one of the activations and change it to accept any attribute rune. For example, if your current skill rune’s action is Atk+Atk+Def, you can select Def and change it to a wildcard rune.
Remember the color-coding from the Rune Inlaying section? Essentially, you will change the required activation color from one of the combinations to “white”.
To perform this, you will need a Void Carving Knife which you can buy for 36 BCC in the recharge menu.
Here are the steps:
- Talk to Bein, and select rune carving.
- Choose the specific activation you want to change.
- Select Carve.
- Done!
Other important notes about the advanced rune system
- When your character changes (via the multi-job system), the inlaid runes will be reset. But you can use the Ymir’s notebook to make it easier to switch next time.
- You can add or remove runes from the socket without any cost.
- Once you unlock the Advanced Rune System, it will be shared among all the characters in your account. So the runes you already inlaid in another account will not be available to your alt account so you’ll need to remove them first.
Conclusion
The advanced rune system opened up a lot of potential to increase your character’s overall damage and stat. To be honest, it will take a long while to achieve the best rune setup due to the random nature of obtaining the stats, effect and even the rune itself if you are completely a free-to-play player.
Hope this helps!
Should you have additional questions or clarifications, do not hesitate to leave a comment.
Is there a database of all the skill runes available per class?
Hello, I currently do not have a post that lists down all the available skill runes. But you can easily see this in-game. Just click on the rune box in your inventory, tap in-lay rune and then tap on the “Identifying Rune” tab.
From there, it should list all the runes from all classes. You will also have an option to filter the list by the rune quality and/or by class.
Hope this helps.
When im doing this quest, i try to pick the rune roughstone and i can only collect 6 stone out of 8 and now im stuck
If I remember correctly, this happened to me too. I believe the other 2 don’t have any indication that you are about to collect it. But just click on the rough stones anyway and even if you don’t see any, just click near the positions of the other stones you’ve already collected. You should be able to interact with the object this way. Hope this helps.
My quest “Rune’s Power” was bugged. Collect “Rough Runestone” 6/8. No more spawning quest item in the area. What to do?
Hi Ryan and Soj, that’s weird. There should be 8 rough runestones right off the bat so there is no need for the item to respawn. It’s a little hard to see them due to the stone’s colors blending with the color of the ground. Have you tried zooming your view in and see if you just missed it? You can also try clicking near the grass from where the other stones are. I think two of them are positioned near it. Hope this helps.
have you figured it out yet? i have the same problem.
Unfortunately, I could not replicate the issue on my characters. I actually just did the Rune’s Power Quest for a level 81 Blacksmith and I could finish the quest for the rough stones just fine. I think not all characters are affected by this issue. It’s probably better to reach out to the devs of the game.
I have the same problem…
have you found a solution?
same problem
ill go to thomas but i dont have the rune box quest what should.i do im level 106
That seems to be an issue for a lot of people too. Thankfully, I found a level 81 Blacksmith account that doesn’t have the Rune’s Power quest too. I think you only need to go to Thanatos Tower to trigger the quest.
If it doesn’t work out for you, here’s what I actually did:
– I talked to Archbishop Thomasville NPC anyway even without the Rune’s Power quest.
– I took the Disaster Omens quest (because this is the only quest I can take) and followed it until I ended up to the Thanatos Tower map.
– Once I reached Thanatos Tower, Montega called me out.
– I talked to her then the Rune’s Power Quest just appeared prompting me to get the rough stones as stated in the “How to Unlock the Advanced Rune System?” section of this post.
Hope this helps. Thanks.
Im already done Disaster Omens quest. And ended up on Thanatos Tower. But Montenega say “Am i not the best looking archaeologist in the world?” Thats not triggered Runes Power quest
Im already lvl 102
You probably already done this, but is it possible that you already got it but it is just hidden? Try expanding the Accepted Quest Menu and see if it is there. If not, it is probably an account-specific issue since I could not replicate it on my 2 characters. In which case, it might be better to report it to the devs.
Is the yellow star does not indicate that you have the 3rd stats of class S advance rune?
Having a yellow star to any runes usually means you either unlocked a 2nd or 3rd line of stat or one of the attributes it gives is on the higher end in terms of percentage. Not necessarily a 3rd line. I gotta say though, I only managed to get like 2-3 S class runes with a yellow star. And if remember correctly, they all have 3 lines of stats (not for my class sadly).
This doesn’t prove anything though since I’ve got a couple of A and B runes that with a yellow star but doesn’t have a 3rd or 2nd line of stats(only have higher percentage). And I don’t think I’d be experimenting on them anytime soon since getting a rune in itself is pretty hard already.
The best way is to just check the actual rune. It’s rare to get an S class rune with a yellow star so it’s pretty exciting.