General Rules
In most field maps, a Rune will spawn while hunting monsters that are not more than 20 levels above you. Certain events can make Runes spawn faster.
There can only be one Rune at a time in a given map.
A Rune can only be activated by one player at a time, and the buff will only be given to the person who harvests the Rune.
To harvest a Rune, stand in front of it and press the shortcut key used for Mining/Harvesting professions (Default: Space Bar).
An input command will display on the screen. You have 10 seconds to enter the command by pressing the arrow keys in order that appear on the screen.
If the command is entered incorrectly, or you press any other key, or the 10-second time limit runs out, the harvest will be cancelled.
If the command is entered correctly, you will gain the Rune's effect as well as the Sealed Rune Power, which makes you immune to the Cursed Rune effect.
Attempting to activate a Rune in a map with monsters that are more than 20 levels above you will destroy the Rune, along with its curse, and you will NOT receive the Rune's effect.
Rune Buffs have a base duration of 180 seconds. The primary way to increase the duration is to have Evan's Link Skill. Having it will extend the Rune Buffs by 30%/50%/70%, which adds 54/90/126 seconds for a total of 234/270/306 seconds. Certain events can increase the duration as well.
After you successfully harvest a Rune, there is a cooldown of 15 minutes (Same duration as Sealed Rune Power) before you can harvest another Rune. You can see the remaining cooldown on the Sealed Rune Power's buff icon.
All Runes give a 100% bonus EXP buff as well as their respective abilities. Certain events can increase the EXP rate bonus.
If a Rune is left unused for at least 5 minutes, it will be cursed by the Elite Bosses, reducing the EXP and Drop Rates of the map. Every 5 minutes, the curse gets stronger, reaching the maximum EXP/Drop Rate penalty after 20 minutes. If you have Sealed Rune Power, you will be unaffected by the EXP/Drop Rate reductions. Activating the Cursed Rune removes the curse.
In Chu Chu Island's Torrent Zone, Runes do not spawn. Instead, there are Lures that appear on the river. You must enter the input command to activate a Lure. Lures have the same duration and cooldown as Runes and are affected by Evan's Link Skill. During cooldown, you also have the Sealed Rune Power, granting immunity to the Cursed Lure effect. Lures' remaining cooldown can also be seen on the Sealed Rune Power's buff icon. Lures can also be cursed if left unused for at least 5 minutes, with the same EXP/Drop Rate penalties as Cursed Runes. Activating a Cursed Lure removes the curse.
Current Runes
Rune of Swiftness: Maximizes your Speed and Jump, gives +3 Attack Speed, and allows you to ignore the Soft Attack Speed Cap.
Rune of Recovery: Recovers 10% of your Max HP and MP every second, reduces damage taken, and gives 20 Status Resistance Points and 100% Stance.
Rune of Destruction: Instakills all nearby regular monsters and creates purple Poison Mist upon activation. Unlike other DoTs, Rune of Destruction's Mist CAN cause monsters' HP to drop below 1. Also gives 50% Damage and +1 Attack Speed, and allows you to ignore the Soft Attack Speed Cap.
Rune of Might: Gives you an Advanced Giant Potion effect. You cannot use skills, but stomping the ground instakills nearby regular monsters. Main effect's base duration is only 30 seconds. With Evan's Link Skill, the main effect will be extended by 9/15/21 seconds for a total of 39/45/51 seconds. Unlike other Runes, leaving the map where the Rune was activated will cancel the main effect, so you CAN'T carry the effect to where you want to train.
Rune of Thunder: Periodically strikes thunder on enemies randomly, instakilling regular monsters in the thunder's tall hitbox. Main effect's base duration is only 60 seconds. With Evan's Link Skill, the main effect will be extended by 18/30/42 seconds for a total of 78/90/102 seconds.
Rune of Darkness: Spawns 3 Elite Monsters upon activation. The Elite Monsters WILL count toward spawning an Elite Boss.
Rune of Riches: Spawns a Flying Mimic from the Elite Boss Bonus Stage upon activation.
Rune of Skill: All cooldowns that are longer than 5 seconds gets decreased to 5 seconds. This includes Hyper Skills, but not 5th Job Skills or other skills that are unaffected by cooldown reset. Main effect's base duration is only 60 seconds. With Evan's Link Skill, the main effect will be extended by 18/30/42 seconds for a total of 78/90/102 seconds. Unlike other Runes, leaving the map where the Rune was activated will cancel the main effect, so you CAN'T carry the effect to where you want to train or to bosses.
Rune of Greed: Doubles the amount of Mesos dropped by monsters. Main effect's base duration is only 60 seconds. With Evan's Link Skill, the main effect will be extended by 18/30/42 seconds for a total of 78/90/102 seconds. Unlike other Runes, leaving the map where the Rune was activated will cancel the main effect, so you CAN'T carry the effect to where you want to train.
Removed Runes
Rune of Decay: Before the advent of Hordes, Skill, and Barrage, Destruction only had the Poison Mist upon activation effect, while Decay only had the Instakill nearby monsters upon activation effect. Both gave a 50% Damage and +1 Attack Speed buff and allowed you to ignore the Soft Attack Speed Cap, so it made more sense to merge the two runes together rather than switching the two names around.
Rune of Barrage: It transformed you into an Attacking Mount. Its shots instakilled regular monsters, but the attack range was limited to a straight horizontal line in front of you, you couldn't use skills, and your mobility was limited to a short Flash Jump, so the Rune actually worsened your hunting efficiency. Main effect's base duration was only 60 seconds, and leaving the map where the rune was activated did cancel the main effect.
Rune of Hordes: It tripled the monster limit in a map. I think the reason why this rune got removed was, if you were able to kill all monsters per spawning interval, the main effect ended up being useless. Plus, the main effect's base duration was only 60 seconds, and leaving the map where the Rune was activated did cancel the main effect.
Comments
The funny thing is, I once had a suggestion of adding a rune that lets you ignore all MP costs and another rune that reduces damage taken and gives 100% Stance. It appears my two rune suggestions have been merged into the Rune of Recovery. Also, Rune of Hordes got removed (Along with its Lure counterpart), while Rune of Might got nerfed. Aw, shucks.
Rune of Might change isn't too bad. I rarely see it being useful to higher levels. It just means that KSers can't just use it to harass lower levels by taking their kills by teleporting to another map like drakes for example. To me, I always deactivate the buff because it makes hunting slower.