Runes are consumable materials that players can use to directly change craftable gear in Last Epoch. Instead of simply modifying outcomes like Glyphs or adding new affixes like Shards, these affect your items in more significant ways.

As with all the other things related to Last Epoch's crafting system, players will need to do a fair bit of farming if they want to stock up on Runes. If you plan on sitting down for a big crafting session to make your builds work, here's a guide on how to get Runes, including an overview of what each of them does.

Last Epoch_Sentinel_Paladin
Last Epoch - Launch Trailer

Customize your character, crawl through dungeons, and break the laws of time in the hack-and-slash hit, Last Epoch.

How to Farm Runes in Last Epoch

Last Epoch Rune of Shaping

Runes drop randomly from almost every loot source in the game, though they tend to drop more frequently from the following:

  • Bosses
  • Chests/Caches
  • Elites
  • Champions
  • Loot Lizards
  • Nemeses

If you joined the Circle of Fortune, you can find and complete Prophecies that reward Runes.

As you play through the campaign, you'll find a decent number of Runes throughout your romp through time. However, if you want to target-farm Runes, you can do so by entering the Monolith of Fates and searching for Echoes with Rune rewards.

Monoliths each contain a vast web of Echoes (maps) with guaranteed rewards. Not only that, but maps also have a good chance of containing tons of elites, champions, and Nemesis spawn points. Defeat as many of these enemies as you fly through a map, and you should get a few Runes for your trouble.

Last Epoch: All Runes (& What They Do)

Last Epoch Rune of Creation

As mentioned earlier, Runes can affect item crafting in serious ways. This isn't necessarily a good thing, however, as most Runes can either upgrade or ruin your items if you're unlucky. Here's what these Runes can do:

Rune

Effect

Rune of Shattering

Gain a random number of Affix Shards based on what an item has. Destroys the item in the process.

Rune of Removal

Removes a random affix from an item. You receive an equal amount of Shards for that removed Affix.

Rune of Refinement

Rerolls all affixes on your item. Keep in mind that affix stat ranges are determined by their tier.

Rune of Discovery

Adds random tier 1 affixes to all empty affix slots, with a higher chance of rolling a rare affix. This does not cost Forging Potential, but it cannot be used on items with no Forging Potential.

Rune of Shaping

Rerolls the implicit stats on an item.

Rune of Ascendance

Completely transforms an item into a Unique or Set Item of the same type. This Rune cannot transform items into Uniques or Set Items that are exclusive, like the ones that drop only from bosses.

Rune of Creation

Create another copy of an item. Forging Potential of both the original and duplicate items are set to zero.

Rune of Havoc

Shuffles the tiers of non-sealed affixes on an Exalted item that has at least four affixes. This does not increase or decrease the tiers of affixes.

Rune of Redemption

Changes the Exalted affix on an item to a random one. This does not affect the tier of the affix.

Rune of Weaving

Uses the remaining amount of Weaver's Will or Weaver's Touch on an item to upgrade the item's affixes.

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Last Epoch
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Released
February 21, 2024
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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ESRB
Rating Pending
Developer(s)
Eleventh Hour Games
Publisher(s)
Eleventh Hour Games
Engine
Unity
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Genre(s)
Action RPG
Platform(s)
PC
OpenCritic Rating
Strong
How Long To Beat
18 Hours
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