How to get Runes in Last Epoch – all Runes and where to find them

How to get Runes in Last Epoch – all Runes and where to find them
Annie Thelen Updated on by

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Need to know how to get Runes in Last Epoch? These crafting materials are able to completely change or even destroy an item, but if you don’t know where to get them, can be hard to find.

Last Epoch has plenty of ways to earn amazing gear for your character. Whether you’re just leveling up as quickly as possible and earning rewards, to crafting the best loot you can get your hands on, getting the best items is possible with hard work. For crafting, one of the most important items you can get is Runes. If you need to know how to get them and what they are, we’re here to help.

What are Runes in Last Epoch?

Runes are a crafting material that directly affects affixes on an item. They can change an item drastically, or even destroy it completely.

They are similar to Glyphs, another crafting material used in Last Epoch, however, there are more Runes available with different effects than Glyphs.

The forge to craft items in Last Epoch
Image taken by Videogamer

How to find Runes in Last Epoch

There are a few different ways you can pick up Runes in Last Epoch, but the most common way to get them is by being dropped by defeated enemies. The more enemies you beat, the more Runes you’ll get. These will be random Runes.

Runes are also often a reward for completing milestones on plenty of game mechanics, such as the Monolith of Fate or being earned from the Arena or inside of dungeons.

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Destroy all objects

Runes can also occasionally be found inside of containers. These are any breakable objects found in the world such as barrels. Simply attack one to break it open, and it could contain a Rune inside.

All Runes in Last Epoch

There are eight Runes in total you can get in Last Epoch, each with its distinct effect. Here are all of them:

RuneEffect
Rune of ShatteringDestroys an item, creating a random number of Affix Shards containing its powers.
Rune of DiscoveryAdds random tier 1 affixes to all empty affix slots on an item. Has an increased chance of rolling rarer affixes. Does not cost forging potential, but cannot be applied to items with zero forging potential.
Rune of AscendanceChanges the item into a unique or set item of the same item type. Using this on a Silver Ring could turn it into any unique ring, including ones that are not Silver Rings. However, it cannot turn it into a Helmet. None of the other properties of the base item are retained.
Rune of RefinementRerolls the values of all affixes on an item within their tiers.
Rune of CreationDuplicates the item, but reduces the forging potential of both the original and the copy to 0.
Rune of RemovalRemoves a random affix on an item, returning a number of shards equal to its tier. Experimental and Personal affixes cannot be removed this way.
Rune of ResearchSeals an experimental affix on the item. The affix is moved to its own slot, leaving its old slot open for you to add a new affix. The sealed affix cannot be modified further and an item can have a maximum of one sealed affix. When an experimental affix is sealed you have a chance to gain a Glyph of Insight. This chance is higher for items with higher tier affixes, but cannot exceed 45%.
Rune of ShapingRerolls all implicits on an item.

Each Rune can be added to any item by opening the forge by hitting the F key. Once there, you can add any Rune by hitting the gold plus tile to the right of the central plus sign slot.

That’s everything you need to know about Runes and how to get them in Last Epoch. Be sure to check out our alternate leveling path if you feel like playing the game a different way, and how trading works in Last Epoch to trade, purchase, or sell good loot.

Last Epoch Runes FAQs

How do you use a Rune in Last Epoch?

To use a Rune on your gear, open the forge by pressing the F key. Then, click on the small gold tile with a plus sign, next to the central plus sign button, and you can choose which Rune you want to use on the gear.

How many different Runes are there?

There are a total of eight different Runes you can use on the gear in Last Epoch.