One of the new classes in the Mines of Moria is Rune-Keeper. We would like to thank Hxlgg and Icefire for all schreenshots and explanation about new skills and class traits. Additional input and data are always welcome!
"When aiding fellows, a Rune-keeper is a tireless steward."
The Rune-keeperâs ability to sustain his allies is enhanced by this Trait Set. Various buffs are given to Words of Grace skills, as well as some Foretelling based skills. This line is for Rune-keepers who want to see that his fellows do not fall.
Traits in the Set:
A useful trait will modify the Writ of Health so that instead of being dispelled when its duration ends, it will simply go down one tier, making maintenance of the Writ much easier. Mending Verse, a mainstay heal, can gain a short max morale buff that goes well with the heal over time style.
Trait Set Bonuses:
The skill Benedictions of Peace allows Rune of Restoration to be used at all attunements. This skill puts a rune on the ground that allies can be healed if near, and is a great addition to a damage dealerâs skill rotation. Additionally, this Trait Set will enable each step of attunement to decrease the threat generated by all skills, a bonus useful for any of the Rune-keeperâs abilities.
Capstone Skill: Glorious Foreshadowing
The Rune-keeper tells of glories that are to come, keeping his fellows spirits high. Placing this buff on an ally increases the healing done to them by any further healing skills.
Legendary Capstone Trait: Wondrous Foreshadowing
The upgraded version of Glorious Foreshadowing causes the Rune-keeperâs entire fellowship to receive additional healing. The cooldown is also reduced, making this skill wondrous for keeping a group healthy.
Click on the screenshot to see details
"When guarded by fellows, a Rune-keeper is free to burn white hot."
When a Rune-keeper is left alone and able to work his fire skills on a target, large amounts of damage soon follow. This Trait Set increases the power of the Wrath of Flame skills primarily, as well as granting some aggro management and power reducing options.
Traits in the Set:
One of the more exciting traits for Rune-keepers who enjoy flame skills is Fiery-temper. Each time a wrath of Flame skill is used, a Rune-keepers Fiery-temper will increase, causing fire skills to burn hotter. Other useful traits decrease the induction time of Fiery Ridicule, or cause Self-Motivation to reduce power consumption for a time. There is even Frost-burn, which lets Writ of Cold keep Writ of Fire tiered up.
Trait Set Bonuses:
Like Solitary Thunder, the first Cleansing Fires Trait Set bonus allows a skill to be used at all attunement levels. In this case, Fiery Ridicule can now be used even while Healing. This work-horse damage skill will give healing oriented Rune-keepers a nice boost to damage output between heals.
Also, for each attunement step past Steady, the power cost of all skills will be decreased.
Capstone Skill: Distracting Flame
A flame of confusing origin flickers up about the Rune-keeperâs foe. Your enemies will be unsure where it came from, causing it to distract them over time. This skill will reduce the aggro of a target as it burns, not increase it.
Legendary Capstone Trait: Mystifying Flame
Mystifying Flame is a pretty straight upgrade from Distracting Flame, burning hotter, reducing aggro by a greater amount. The cooldown is also decreased enough to make this skill a contender for a regular place in skill rotations.
Click on the screenshot to see details
"When alone, a Rune-keeperâs stormy nature is allowed to run rampant."
This trait-line primarily modifies Wrath of Storm skills and some Chill of Winter skills. As such, it focuses on spiky damage, quick abilities that are useful while foes are wailing on you, minor debuffing, and random chance. It is mostly geared toward the solo player (although dealing quick burst damage can be useful while grouped) and enables the Rune-keeperâs fairly weak disabling abilities to become more viable.
Traits in the Set:
Two traits will give Wrath of Storm skills the ability to put debuffs on your targets that increase damage dealt to them. Another will empower Epic Crash to remove those debuffs and deal additional damage. Other traits will increase the power of survival skills like Shocking Touch and Chilling Rhetoric.
Trait Set Bonuses:
Each of the Rune-keeper Trait Sets starts with opening up a skill to be usable at all attunement levels. Solitary Thunder will open up Chilling Rhetoric, a great skill for dealing with adds or to open a fight with. While it can normally only be used when Battle attuned, this Trait Set will allow it to be used while Healing attuned.
The third bonus of each Trait Set has an effect tied to attunement of both directions. Solitary Thunder will give Rune-keepers a bonus to critical magnitude of all skills (damage and healing) for each attunement step past the Steady state. This means a Rune-keeper who has gone down this Trait Set will still have some bonuses (specifically increased heal criticals) if he needs to switch to healing mid-combat.
Capstone Skill: Vivid Imagery
Wrath of Storm skills are all about single target attacks, but not Vivid Imagery. This long cooldown skill will shock a number of enemies adjacent to the Rune-keeper with images of their demise. This leads to a short, random duration daze, similar to Shocking Touch.
Legendary Capstone Trait: Perfect Imagery
When the top of the Trait Set is achieved, Vivid Imagery can be upgraded to perfection. The skill not only does more damage and can be used more frequently, but the daze duration is doubled. This skill becomes a powerful tool for escaping from tricky situations, or just damaging multiple enemies at once.
Click on the screenshot to see details
General: The frost-based skills are mainly focused on debuffing your opponents.
- Lvl 4:Chilling Rhetoric: is a basic damage and slowing skill. Initially does damage and slow their movement by 70%. Any damage will stop this slowing movement (so it is best to use your longer induction skills (such as Fiery Ridicule) during this time). As with many of the other RK battle skills, the higher attunement you are at, the greater the damage will be from this skill. With Chilling Rhetoric, it is set at +2% per battle attunement. This means you could increase the damage of Chilling Rhetoric by 18%, when at the highest attunement. This skill calls forth a powerful Rune-word that chills the air, slowing the target and dealing icy damage.
- Lvl 12: Writ of Cold is similar to Writ of Fire meaning that it tiers up (and down) to three tiers. Each tier increases the effect. With Writ of Fire, the effect is damage. With Writ of Cold, the effect is a debuff. WoC will slow your opponents' attack duration and induction times. It will also do an initial burst of damage. AoE.
- Lvl 18: Essence of Winter works just like Essence of Flame, but with the debuffs instead of damage. EoW will increase the power cost of your opponents skills (especially useful in sparring) and decrease their amount of incoming heals. The higher your tier of Writ of Cold, the longer your debuffs will last. It will also do an initial burst of damage. AoE.
- Lvl 32: Frozen Epilogue is a combination of Writ of Cold and Essence of Winter. It will place both debuffs on your opponent. Causing them to not only have increased attack duration and induction time, but also have higher skill power cost and decreased incoming healing. This skill can only be used at the highest attunement and lasts 23 - 32 seconds, but is worth it in a longer fight. The long cooldown does not make it as ideal for solo play. This skill will also do AoE debuffing and damage.
- Lvl 40: Flurry of Words is another damage and debuffing skill with a nice visual FX. You will blind your opponent with flurries of snow (shocker!) decreasing their chance to evade your attacks. It will also do an initial burst of damage. (Personal Opinion: The FX of this skill have been toned up to see the range of the skill, but it totally doesn't work and looks strange. I'll have to get a screenshot of that up eventually.) .
Click on the screenshot to see details
General: Your fury of the storm damage skills are your main DPS skills. Very basic. They will be your best chance to obliterate your opponent. For all skills: the higher your Battle Attunement level, the higher the damage of your skills.
- No Lvl: Scribe's Spark is your first initial Lightning Damage skill. The damage of this skill increases by 4% every Battle Attunement you have. So overall, you can increase the damage by 36%.Very general damage skill.
- Lvl 2: Essence of Storm can be very powerful - especially on critical hits. The damage of this skill is increased by 3% every battle Attunement. On critical hits, the damage is increased by 75%. So Devastating Blows can be very useful in a fight!
- Lvl 6: Shocking Words is probably one of your more useful of the lightning skills. There is a chance for a 5s stun with this skill which does not negate with damage. Once stunned, your opponent is stunned for the full 5s. As noted in the Fire Damage section, this is a great time to use Smouldering Wrath, if you have your Attunement high enough. The higher your attunement, the higher chance you have to stun.
- Lvl 20: Ceaseless Argument is just another DPS skill. The perks with this skill is that it has no cooldown. You can spam this one as much as you want! Just like cake. Have as much cake as you want. But just like Scribe's Spark, this is just another very basic damage skill.
- Lvl 26: Epic Conclusion is your highest Attuned lightning damage skill. You can do most of your damage with this final end. One thing to make note of: after using this skill, all of your Battle Attunement skills have their power cost increased for 10s. It would typically be best if this skill is used towards the end of a fight, as per the namesake. So... either use this skills towards the end of your fights, or limit your Battle skill usage for 10s. Or waste your limited power. Totally up to you.
- Lvl 56: Vivid Imagery is your AoE Lightning Damage skill and will also stun your opponents.
Click on the screenshot to see details
General: The fire-based skills are mainly focused on damaging your opponents.
- No Lvl: Fiery Ridicule is another skill that every RK begins their journey with. This skill does initial fire damage as well as additional DoT fire damage. This is another one of the RK skills that will stack and increase damage as it stacks. Fiery Riducule is a skill that you will typically want to use at the beginning of a fight. It will get your enemy's attention and put a DoT on them throughout the fight. A typical combination that I (and many others) use to start off a fight is Fiery Ridicule followed by Chilling Rhetoric (a Frost damage slowing skill explained below) followed by another Fiery Riducule. You can stack your Ridicule without having your induction damaged this way.
- Lvl 14: Writ of Fire (or any Writ) is one of the skills which helps deem the RK as an "advanced" class. The skill can be used solely to nuke the mobs, of course. But when used properly, it is one of the RK's most damaging skills. Writ of Fire will stack up to three tiers and will do increased DoT per tier. This skill can also (and should) be used in correlation with the Essence of Fire skill (explained more below).
- Lvl 24: The AoE RK damage skill is Scathing Mockery. This still begins out damaging 2 opponents and will increase every 2 battle attunements. This will max out at 6 opponents at the highest battle attunement. It begins out at 2 opponents at the neutral stance and increases whether you are able to use SM (at 6 attunements) or not. When you are first able to use SM, it will be at 5 opponents. So you will be able to damage and put a DoT on 5 or more beasties.
- Lvl 36: When used by itself, Essense of Flame does damage (in DoT form), just like any other combat skill. When used in conjunction with Writ of Fire, the DoT of this skill is increase dramatically. Basically, EoF can be used in four different tiers, each increasing in damage. Obviously, it is better to use Essence at the highest tier, but that is only if you are able. It is best to tier up Writ of Fire and then use EoF at that point. The damage dealt will be well worth the induction time. This is best used in group form (when you are focusing on damage). It will work in solo as well, but is not as effective (because you might be dead by the time it tiers up). .
- Lvl 40: Smouldering Wrath is a channel duration skill. Which basically means during the duration of the 8s induction, you are doing damage. You will not be able to get off any other skills during this skill and the duration will be decreased if you are taking damage. So this skill is best used from a distance (in groups) or when you get a stun off on an opponent. For example, if you get a stun off your Shocking Words skill (explained later in the lightning damage skills), that would be a great time to start Smouldering Wrath. Your opponent is stunned and you can get off about 1.2k worth of damage (depending on your level) during that ~5s stun. You must be at the highest Battle Attunement to use Smouldering Wrath though.
- Lvl 60: I have not had a chance to use Distracting Flame yet (as it is a level 60 skill and I am only 57), but it seems fairly straight-forword. This skill will put a DoT fire damage on your opponent and reduce your threat generated over time from damage (the RK can do some pretty good damage). I would presume it is best used in groups and you are getting aggro. Don't think it would work too well solo... as there is no one else for the mob to hit besides you. But it is another damage DoT skill though, so there's no real harm in using it. Nuke away!
Click on the screenshot to see details
- No Lvl: Every Runekeeper starts out with the healing skill Prelude to Hope. This is your small HOT skill that can be used on the move (like some of the Defiler and Captain healing skills). It is not a huge healing skill, but doesn't hurt to have on you during any fight. It can also help you survive when fleeing in terror from a mob (or ten). Just keeping running and spamming this skill. If luck is on your side, you won't die a painful death in some deep chasm of Moria.
- Lvl 4: The Rune of Restoration is your best friend while fighting. In essense, this is like a pet (but with a lot less hitpoints). Your Rune not only heals you over time throughout a fight, but also can draw aggro. For example, if you have two mobs that will pull at the same time, it may help you put your Rune in front of you, and then pull. More than likely, one of the mobs will start attacking your Rune, giving you more time to focus on the one target.
- Lvl 10: At level 10, you can train the Mending Verse skill. This is basically just another heal and heal over time skill. The benefit of this skill... is that it stacks. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but you have can two of these on a target (or yourself) at a time. (This is the skill shown in the above screenshot.) NOTE: The skill shown here is traited so there is extra healing with it.
- Lvl 16: The Writ of Health skill is another HOT. The amount of restoration increases based on which tier of use you are at. Writ of health is one of the RK's most powerful heals when used correctly. There are three tiers to this skill. Used once, you get a nice little HOT. Used twice (before the first one expires), you get a better HOT. Used a third time, you get an even better HOT! There is a trait to have these tier down (instead of just expire).
(Many thanks to my darling Gildhur for explaining this to me.) - Lvl 20: Nothing Truly Ends is the Runekeeper rez skill. Cannot be used in combat. Pretty much self-explanatory.
- Lvl 22: Rousing Words isn't a skill that I've used too much, but it is a great skill. It isn't one that will draw healing aggro to you and also help to attunes healing points. It increases the in-combat morale regen of your target (including yourself) basically making it so they aren't getting harmed while fighting. This skill does not work well while soloing, but can be great while duoing or having to focus on a single target in groups.
- Lvl 38: Epic for the Ages is the RK's largets heal. It has a decently long induction and a high attunement is needed, but if you are focusing on healing, the skill can be a lifesaver. Not very practical for soloing, but great in groups, especially when you are the main healer (which is possible, but just a little harder than having a minstrel).
Using the healing attunement is great for in fellowships. The Runekeeper in a very adept healer. In solo mode, using the healing attunement isn't as practical, but can save your tail. If you have the Steady Hands legendary skill equipped (which I HIGHLY recommend), you can quickly switch your attunement to neutral. For example, if your are near death, you can bring yourself back to life quickly. A quick use of Shocking Touch, Steady Hands, heal yourself up, and then Self-motivation will set you up very nicely to bring down your attacker. (Pots are also very highly recommended, but not entirely needed.)
Click on the screenshot to see details
- Word of Exaltation: This particular Buff is for someone in your fellowship. It is not a self-buff. It will decrease the amount of damage your fellow receives by 50% for 1 second, everything three Healing Attunements. Since you can use the skill at six Healing Attunements, the buff will last for 2 seconds. BUT the buff is increased by 2 seconds for every tier of Writ of Health on your fellow. Writ of Health will tier up to three, so you can add six seconds on to your length of the buff. Very handy in a tight spot and when know your target is going to get hit hard (such as Helegrod and Rift raids).
- Essay of Exaltation: The effects Word of Exaltation are sent to the entire fellowship with this skill. In addition to the WoE buffing effects, the entire fellowship gets a nice HoT. The minor downside to this skill is all of your healing skills' power is increased greatly for 10s. So... either limit your healing for a bit and focus on DPS or run out of power faster.
The Fang Will Not Poison (Recipients of this Rune-word are protected from the next poisonous attack.) and The Blade Will Not Wound: (Those bestowed with this Rune-word are protected from the next debilitating wound) I have not quite used these skills a lot yet, but my understanding is that they are like the Hunter's remove poison and the LM's remove wound skills, BUT they are more of a foreshadowing type. You apply the skill in anticipation of your fellows being poisoned or wounded. Once your fellow get's their debuff, it will be immediately removed. For example, you can apply the Poison buff while fighting spiders (such as Zaudru in Helegrod) and the Wound buff while fighting wargs and other wound-ers (such as Narnublat in the Rift). Note: Both these skills Attune one level towards neutral stance. These are both AoE fellowship skills that will completely negate the coming attack.
* * The following skills are currently modified with a rune-stone with fire damage. * *
- Armour of Xxxx: Using this self-buff will increase your specific armour and damage your attacker (when attacking melee). Doesn't last for very long (long enough for probably a normal or signature mob fight), but can help give the extra damage you need. This skill will Attune three towards neutral stance.
- Weapon of Xxxx: This skill can be applied to an ally or yourself. It will last for-evah. Applying it to an ally during a fight will give them the small chance to apply a tier of Writ of Fire to an opponent, increasing the tier for you. Less work for you, just keep and eye on your target's debuffs (a very big key for DPS'ing and Healing with the RK). The skill will also cause you to lose a wee bit o' power during the entire fight, but it isn't a very significant amount. This skill will Attune one towards neutral stance.
- Fall to Xxxx: Putting this debuff on your target will give you the chance to have them receive an extra bit of Xxxx damage (fire, frost or lightning). Lasts for a minute and the cooldown is a minute. So you can keep it on your opponent for the entire fight, but do remember that you lose 1 Attunement per use. This is a useful skill to use when you are trying to switch your Attunement as well.
- Do Not Fall to Xxxx: This skill is similar to your Poison and Wound buffs. You pre-buff your Ally for the next time they are struck by a fire, frost or lightning damage skill. This is an AoE fellowship skill that will completely negate the coming attack.
Note Your Foretelling skills: Do Not Fall to Earth's Fury (element), Fang, and Blade are all AoE fellowship-wide skills that absorb/negate the next attack of that element or status effect (poison, wound). The only exception to the Foretelling skills is Do Not Fall This Day, which is single-target. The duration of the effect is 1m and the cooldown is 1m.
Click on the screenshot to see details
- Fall to our Wrath: This skill is similar to the Fall to Xxxx skill. Except instead of applying a specific damage type, it applies any damage type damage. It's is a small chance to inflict damage, but you may as well use it. This way, you don't have to keep equipping a different runestone to apply a certain type of damage.
- Steady Hands: Love this skill. You can very quickly change your Attunement to neutral stance. Going back to ground zero will let you be able to with Heal up quickly after DPS'ing or DPS after Healing. The after effects of using this skill are also great! For 15s all your skills cost zilch for power and all silencing effects are resisted.
Martial Training: Although your melee skills are not the best (at all), you can increase them slightly by this Legendary trait. So... better melee attacks and faster attacking.
Click on the screenshot to see details
The skills with two levels are the higher level upgrade
- Self-Motivation: One of the RK's most useful skills. You'll often find while playing the RK that you run out of power. Self-motivation will give you the extra little power boost you need to destroy all humans!! Or just kill off your opponent. For 30s after using this, all your skills' power cost is decreased by 20%. So when you use it, blast your opponent away (or least yourself until you're at full health, either way). It will also Attune 3 towards neutral stance.
- All Fates Entwined: When at the highest Healing Attunement level, you can use this skill. It will aid your fellowship in meaning that you can take 10% of the entire fellowship's incoming damage, but you also will resist 10% of incoming damage. One of the best things about this skill if the lack of interruptions on your skills. Lovely!
- Calming Verse: This skill will decrease the chance that you'll get aggro from DPS'ing or Healing by 10%.
Distracting Winds: Similar to Calming Verse, this skill will apply the same buffs to you, but will also apply a debuff to your opponent, slowing their run speed by half. This will be an AoE debuff.- Do Not Fall This Day: DNF is a great RK skill. It is similar to your other preventative skill (such as The Fang Will Not Poison), but this skill will prevent defeat, in a manner. Apply this buff to your Ally when you feel they are near to defeat and you have no other way to save them. One important thing to note: this skill has a 25m range to it. If the Ally you applied the buff to is more than 20m away from you at the time of defeat, the buff will not work.
- Abrupt/Final Words: Abrupt Words is the first version of this skill you will get. Final Words is the upgraded version you get later on. This skill is irreplaceable. Being able to stop certain skills of your opponents if incredibly useful. For example: When you are fighting a giant and they are about to stun you, you can stop that skill. When you are fighting a overseer or defiler, you can stop their heals. When sparring with a hunter, you are able to stop their rather annoying Heart-Seeker skill.
- Shocking Touch: This is the RK's daze skill. The daze will last for 5-10s and will end when you inflict damage. You must be close to your opponent to use this skill, as it only has a 2.5m range. So pretty much within melee range.
Click on the screenshot to see details
