Runes

A rune is an enhancement that the summoner provides for their champion before a match on a field of justice begins to augment the champion's abilities.

Runes can be purchased with Influence Points from the Riot Store. Each rune grants a small bonus in a specific category, which stack upon each other to grant larger bonuses.

Runes that have already been purchased can't be sold back to the store, but can be combined in the Rune Combiner for a new rune of random stats. Tier 1 and Tier 2 runes do not grant as high bonuses as Tier 3 runes and a player may end up just combining the lower quality runes for Tier 3 runes anyway. Therefore it is wise to save up Influence Points for Tier 3 runes. There are two ways to combine:

- Combine five runes to create one random rune of higher tier.
- Combine two runes to create one random rune of the same tier. NOTE: It is possible for the Rune Combiner to produce a rune of the exact type as one of the input runes, costing you one rune and gaining you nothing.

It is important to note that you cannot buy a Tier 3 rune before you reach level 20, and that you can acquire random ones for less IP than buying them outright by using the Rune Combiner.

- Five "Lesser Seals of Replenishment" cost 75 IP (5 × 15 IP), while one "Seal of Replenishment" costs 80. This equates to a saving of 5 IP.
- Likewise, a combined Tier 3 rune would cost 375 IP (25 × 15 = 5 × 75), cheaper than Tier 3 runes of costs from 410 to 2050 IP. This equates to a saving of 35 IP minimum and 1675 IP maximum.
- The cheapest Tier 3 rune costs 205. This equates to a 170 IP loss.

Keep in mind that combining 5 runes of one type will not guarentee you a better (Primary) rune of that same type. The Rune Combiner may also give you a Secondary Rune.

There are four kinds of Runes a Summoner will use and each of these types of runes have three tiers:

- Mark: offensive runes,
- Seal: defensive runes,
- Glyph: magical runes,
- Quintessence: utility runes.

It is also important to note that some runes are "primary", while others are called "secondary" and provide lesser bonuses. Given a certain kind of rune, it will be primary in either marks, glyphs or seals, and secondary in the other two rune types. (Source)