League of Legends Classic Runes and Masteries Guide

 The old Runes and Masteries return in League of Legends Classic. They were removed in 2017, but summoners can experience them once again. Runes unlock at Classic level 4, while Masteries start at level 3, and both can change your champion’s stats before the game even begins.

Let’s get into more details on League of Legends Classic Runes and Masteries below.

League Classic Masteries: pages, points, and trees

Masteries in Classic are somewhat similar to the Runes in normal LoL. You unlock them at Classic level 3, and you can buff the champ you intend to pick with them (if you spend the points wisely).

You have a total of 30 Mastery points, which can be spread across 3 trees with 6 rows in each:

• Offense (Summoner’s Wrath) tree 
• Defense (Summoner’s Resolve) tree
• Utility (Summoner’s Insight) tree

Summoner’s Wrath, Resolve, and Insight are the names of the first buttons on the tree.  Commonly, players put 21 points in one tree and the remaining 9 in the other. Additionally, summoners can get bonus effects on some spells in Classic LoL with Masteries. The same goes for a few Classic items.

NOTE: If you’re having trouble with abbreviations in the following table, check our LoL glossary.

Offense Mastery tree

Offense (Summoner’s Wrath) tree increases damage with AD, AP, and Penetration bonuses.

Mastery	Rank	Effect	Points
Summoner’s Wrath	1	Boosts Exhaust, Ignite, Ghost, Surge, Rally, and Promote	—
Fury	4	Grants +1% AS per rank	—
Sorcery	4	Grants +1% CDR per rank	—
Butcher	2	AAs deal 2/4 bonus damage to minions and monsters	—
Deadliness	4	Grants +0.166/0.333/0.498/0.664 AD per level	4
Blast	4	Grants +0.25/0.5/0.75/1 AP per level	4
Destruction	1	Increases damage to turrets by 5%	4
Havoc	3	Increases damage dealt by 0.67%/1.33%/2%	8
Weapon Expertise	1	Grants +8% Armor Pen	8 (4 Deadliness)
Arcane Knowledge	1	Grants +8% Magic Pen	8 (4 Blast)
Lethality	2	Grants +2.5%/5% Crit Strike (5%/10% for melee)	12
Brute Force	2	Grants +1.5/3 AD	12
Mental Force	3	Grants +2/4/6 AP	12
Spellsword	1	Deals 5% of AP as Magic Damage on AAs	12
Frenzy	1	Grants 10% AS for 2s after landing a critical hit	16 (2 Lethality)
Sunder	3	+2/4/6 Lethality	16
Archmage	4	Increases AP by 1.25%/2.5%/3.75%/5%	16
Executioner	1	Increases damage by 5% to targets below 50% Health	20

Purple points show which Mastery you must invest in first to unlock it.

Defense Mastery tree

Defense (Summoner’s Resolve) tree improves survivability with extra Health, Armor, and MR.

Mastery	Rank	Effect	Required points
Summoner’s Resolve	1	Boosts Cleanse, Heal, Smite, Barrier, and Fortify	—
Perseverance	3	Grants up to +2/4/6 HP5 based on missing Health	—
Durability	4	Grants +1.5/3/4.5/6 Health per level	—
Tough Skin	2	Reduces damage taken from monsters by 1/2	—
Hardiness	3	Grants +2/4/6 Armor	4
Resistance	3	Grants +2/4/6 MR	4
Bladed Armor	1	Deals 6 damage to any enemy monster that attacks you	4 (2 Tough Skin)
Unyielding	2	Reduces damage taken from enemy champions by 1/2	8
Relentless	2	Reduces the effectiveness of slows by 7.5%/15%	8
Veteran’s Scars	1	Grants +30 Health	8 (4 Durability)
Safeguard	1	Reduces damage taken from turrets by 5%	8
Block	1	Reduces damage taken from champion AAs by 3	12 (2 Unyielding)
Tenacious	3	Reduces the duration of CC effects by 5%/10%/15%	12
Juggernaut	3	Increases maximum Health by 1.5%/2.75%/4%	12
Defender	1	Grants +1 Armor and MR per nearby enemy champion	16
Legendary Armor	3	Increases bonus Armor and MR by 2%/4%/6%	16
Good Hands	1	Reduces time spent dead by 10%	16
Reinforced Armor	1	Reduces damage taken from critical strikes by 10%	16
Honor Guard	1	Reduces damage taken from all sources by 3%	20

Utility Mastery tree

Utility (Summoner’s Insight) tree helps with Mana Regen, gold, cooldowns, XP, and wards.

Mastery	Rank	Effect	Required points
Summoner’s Insight	1	Boosts Teleport, Flash, Clarity, Revive, and Clairvoyance	—
Wanderer	3	Increases MS by +0.66%/1.33%/2% when out of combat	—
Meditation	3	Grants +1/2/3 MP5	—
Improved Recall	1	Reduces Recall cast time by 1s	—
Scout	1	Wards gain 25% vision range for 3s after placement	4
Mastermind	3	Reduces summoner spell cooldowns by 4%/7%/10%	4
Expanded Mind	3	Grants +4/7/10 Mana per level	4
Artificer	2	Reduces the cooldown of activated items by 7.5%/15%	4
Greed	4	Grants additional +0.5/1/1.5/2 gold every 10s	8
Runic Affinity	1	Increases the duration of neutral monster buff by 20%	8
Vampirism	3	Grants +1%/2%/3% LS and Spell Vamp	8
Biscuiteer	1	Start the game with a regenerative biscuit that restores 80 Health and 50 Mana over 10s	8
Wealth	2	Increases starting gold by 40/75	12 (4 Greed)
Awareness	4	Increases XP earned by 1.25%/2.5%/3.75%/5%	12
Strength of Spirit	3	Grants up to +1/2/3 HP5 for each 400 Mana	12
Explorer	1	Start the game with an Explorer’s Ward	12 (1 Biscuiteer)
Pickpocket	1	Grants 5 gold (melee) or 3 gold (ranged) each time you AA an enemy champion (5s CD)	16
Intelligence	3	Grants +2%/4%/6% CDR	16
Nimble	1	Grants +3% increased MS	20

Classic Runes: Marks, Seals, Glyphs, and Quintessences

Runes are the true Classic League of Legends experience. They have the same purpose as in modern LoL, but look and work completely differently.

There are four types of Runes unlocked at specific Classic levels:

• Mark Rune slot requires the 4th Classic level and has an equip limit of 9.
• Seal Rune slot requires the 6th Classic level and has an equip limit of 9.
• Glyph Rune slot requires the 7th Classic level and has an equip limit of 9.
• Quintessence Rune slot requires the 8th Classic level and has an equip limit of 3.

Players can obtain Rune marks only by purchasing them in the Classic Rune shop.

Everyone starts with 3 Rune pages, but you can buy additional ones for 1500 IP (years ago it cost 6300 IP, so it’s much cheaper now) or get 3 more by reaching levels 13, 17, and 20 in the Classic Pass. You then fill the slots of those pages with the Runes you own.

Each League of Legends Classic Rune grants unique stats in a match, and prices also vary.

League of Legends Classic Quintessence Runes

You unlock Golden Quints (short for Quintessence) last, and you can have only three on your Rune page. Besides boosting regular stats, they’re also the only ones that can help with XP.

Rune	Price	Benefit
Quintessence of CDR	1000 IP	2.5% CDR
Quintessence of Energy	1000 IP	+6 Energy
Quintessence of EP5	1000 IP	+1.8 EP5
Quintessence of Mana	1000 IP	+38 Mana
Quintessence of HP5	1000 IP	+3 HP5
Quintessence of AD	1000 IP	+2.25 AD
Quintessence of AS	1000 IP	+4.5% AS
Quintessence of Crit	1000 IP	+4.5% Crit
Quintessence of Health	1000 IP	+26 Health
Quintessence of Armor	1000 IP	+4.3 Armor
Quintessence of MS	1000 IP	+1.5% MS
Quintessence of Gold	1000 IP	+1 gold per 10s
Quintessence of XP	1000 IP	+2% XP gained
Quintessence of %HP	1000 IP	+1.5% %HP
Quintessence of Spell Vamp	1000 IP	+2% Spell Vamp
Quintessence of LS	1000 IP	+1.5% LS

League of Legends Classic Glyph Runes

The Blue Glyphs mainly help with AP, CDR, and MR.

Rune	Price	Benefit
Minor Glyph of MP5	500 IP	+0.33 MP5
Minor Glyph of AS	500 IP	+0.8% AS
Minor Glyph of Crit	500 IP	+0.7% Crit
Minor Glyph of Health	500 IP	+3 Health
Minor Glyph of Armor	500 IP	+0.8 Armor
Glyph of Energy	500 IP	+2.3 Energy
Glyph of Scaling MR	500 IP	+0.2 MR per level (+3.6 at 18)
Glyph of CDR	500 IP	0.83% CDR
Glyph of Scaling CDR	500 IP	0.1% CDR per level (1.8% at 18)
Glyph of AP	500 IP	+1.2 AP
Glyph of Scaling AP	500 IP	+0.2 AP per level (+3.6 at 18)
Glyph of Mana	500 IP	+12 Mana

League of Legends Classic Mark Runes

Red Mark Runes mostly boost Physical Damage dealt and Magic Penetration.

Rune	Price	Benefit
Minor Mark of AP	500 IP	+0.7 AP
Minor Mark of Health	500 IP	+3 Health
Minor Mark of Armor	500 IP	+0.8 Armor
Minor Mark of CDR	500 IP	0.3% CDR
Mark of AD	500 IP	+1 AD
Mark of Scaling AD	500 IP	+0.15 AD per level (+2.7 at 18)
Mark of AS	500 IP	+1.7% AS
Mark of Crit	500 IP	+2% Crit
Mark of Crit Chance	500 IP	+1% Crit Chance
Mark of Lethality	500 IP	+1.25 Lethality

League of Legends Classic Seal Runes

The Yellow Seals in LoL Classic are best for increasing a champion’s Armor, Health, and Mana Regen.

Rune	Price	Benefit
Minor Seal of AS	500 IP	+0.8% AS
Minor Seal of Crit	500 IP	+0.7% Crit
Minor Seal of Crit Chance	500 IP	+0.45% Crit Chance
Minor Seal of MR	500 IP	+0.75 MR
Seal of EP5	500 IP	+0.7 EP5
Seal of Health	500 IP	+8 Health
Seal of Scaling Health	500 IP	+1.3 Health per level (+23.4 at 18)
Seal of Scaling Armor	500 IP	+0.17 Armor per level (+3.06 at 18)
Seal of HP5	500 IP	+0.5 HP5
Seal of MP5	500 IP	+0.4 MP5
Seal of Gold	500 IP	+0.25 gol per 10s

League of Legends Classic Runes vs Masteries

Runes and Masteries in League of Legends Classic both strengthen your champion stats before a match. However, Runes increase a champion’s stats such as AD, AP, Armor, MR, AS, and Health, while Masteries grant stats and special effects through the offense, defense, and utility trees.

A full Rune page contains 9 Marks, 9 Seals, 9 Glyphs, and 3 Quintessences, and you need to own the Runes to equip them. For Masteries, you get 30 points and can freely redistribute them between pages, with builds such as 21/9/0 showing how many points go into each tree. 

Also, unlike Runes, you don’t need to purchase Masteries with IP. They unlock at level 3, and that’s it.

What are the best League of Legends Classic Runes?

There’s no such thing as the best Rune. It all comes down to the strengths and weaknesses of the Classic champion you pick. Runes either fill those gaps or make the champ even more OP.

Moreover, you don’t need 30 different Runes. Instead, fill each row with the same type of Runes (unless you’re trying a really complex advanced-player strategy). The easiest way to choose them is: 

• Marks equal the damage you’ll deal with your champion. AD Marks are meant for AD champs, while Magic Pen ones are for AP champs.
• Seals protect your champion from incoming Physical Damage. Armor is the safest choice here for beginners, as AAs, minions, and some lane opponents will almost surely deal Physical Damage.
• Glyphs protect your champion from incoming Magic Damage. Magic Resist is the way to go for these Runes, especially in lanes, where you’re very likely to deal with AP enemy champions.
• Quints are the most useful extra stats. Therefore, AD champs take AD Quints, while AP champs take AP ones. However, champions lacking in mobility might take MS Quints.

How to choose League of Legends Classic Masteries?

First, put 4 points in the first row of a Mastery tree to unlock the second row, then repeat this point-spreading through the following rows. To reach the last row, you need to put 20 points in that tree, and the further you go, the better the bonus effects. But that’s the easy part of building Masteries.

Now, let’s get into the hard stuff of how to spend Mastery points wisely.

You should choose the main Mastery tree based on what your champion needs the most or lacks.

The easiest method is to start with 21 points in the tree that best fits your champ, then spread the remaining 9 points to fix what your champion lacks most in matches. The most common line-up is:

• Offense for ADCs and AP mages

• Utility for Supports

• Defense for Tanks and Junglers

Although don’t forget to spend leftover points on Masteries that improve the spells you’ll use.

NOTE: If the Mastery trees and Runes are still way too hard to get the hang of, check U.GG, OP.GG, and Mobalytics websites. They show Mastery and Rune builds for each LoL classic champion.

Here’s a little bit more detailed brief for the most commonly used Masteries by champion role:

The first number is offense, the second is defense, and the last is the utility tree.

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