Season of Discovery phase 3 has brought many new runes that can drastically change the performance of various class aspects. Below is an evaluation of the current data-mined and revealed runes while this may change since they may be modified at any time, some classes might be tweaked earlier in the stage. The aim is to assist players in understanding how useful and powerful each rune is when it comes to PvP as well as raiding among other activities.

 

• Warrior Runes Evaluation
• Warlock Runes Evaluation
• Shaman Runes Evaluation
• Rogue Runes Evaluation
• Priest Runes Evaluation
• Paladin Runes Evaluation
• Druid Runes Evaluation
• Mage Runes Evaluation
• Hunter Runes Evaluation
• Class and Spec Rating

 

↖Warrior Runes Evaluation

New Runes	Tier
Shield Mastery	A
Taste for Blood	C
Vigilence	D
Rampage	S
Sword and Board	B
Wrecking Crew	D
Gladiator Stance	S

 

Taste for Blood Rune:

• Efficiency: Procs Overpower every 9 seconds when Ren damages.
• Analysis: The rune feels solid, especially in Gladiator stance with no shield, but its mandatory stance dancing every 9 seconds leads to rage depletion, which makes the gameplay clunky. This is mostly a PvP rune with limited PvE use.

 

Vigilance Rune:

• Efficiency: Reduces damage taken by an ally by 3%, transfers 10% of their threat to you, and grants them a new taunt when they are attacked.
• Analysis: Being in direct competition with Shield Mastery for the same slot means that it has little appeal compared to others due to how it niche applies. As such, while this can be used in some situations for extra taunts, other options giving straight bonuses to damage tend to perform better.

 

Rampage Rune:

• Efficiency: Increases attack power by 2% per hit (max of five hits) after crit strike.
• Analysis: Scaling attack power through this rune significantly boosts DPS which is particularly effective given the high AP warriors can have access to. Only one caveat here – there is no information on its cooldown; if there's none then it could be an S-tier choice.

 

Sword and Board Rune:

• Efficiency: Has a 30% chance of resetting Shield Slam's CD and reducing Rage cost after Devastate or Revenge are used.
• Analysis: Extremely helpful for PvP Gladiator stance as well as tank Warriors. How frequently we can use our Shield Slam determines whether this rune would be useful or not depending where [sic] does it stand in your personal rotation or not.

 

Wrecking Crew Rune:

• Efficiency: Enrage you on melee crit hits, boosting Crit Strike Damage by 10%.
• Analysis: Once stronger when it increased all damage by 10%, now a nerfed version that only boosts critical strike damage. This was and still remains a significant change in the rune making it less effective than before, thus pushing it down in the rankings.

 

Gladiator Stance Rune:

• Efficiency: Increases damage by 10% while using shield and can use any stance abilities.
• Analysis: With this rune, Gladiator stance can compete with top DPS Fury build. For PvP purposes, it also becomes very strong giving a substantial damage increase and more stance ability versatility.

 

↖Warlock Runes Evaluation

New Runes	Tier
Backdraft	S
Pandemic	A
Vengeance	A
Immolation Aura	S
Summon Felguard	A
Unstable Affliction	A
Lake of Fire	Dead

 

Backdraft Rune:

• Effect: Conflagrate grants 30% spell haste for 10 seconds.
• Analysis: As probably the most powerful of these runes during this phase, this provides a constant boost comparable to having permanent Bloodlust effect. It is indispensable for any DPS oriented Warlock.

 

Pandemic Rune:

• Effect: You DoTs spells can now crit affecting Corruption, Unstable Affliction and Curse of Agony among others.
• Analysis: Although Classic WoW sees DoTs being traditionally weaker as compared to other classes , but its Affliction Warlocks output has been greatly enhanced by this rune . It is more useful in PvP but might have some PvE applications as well .

 

Dead Vengeance Rune:

• Effect: Temporarily gain 30% extra HP
• Analysis: Comparable to Last Stand ability from warriors which every lock should get as a tanking cooldown. Will grow in value with increased gear level across the phases.

 

Lake of Fire Rune:

• Effect: Once, it was increased fire damage by 40%, but now the whole Rain of Fire must be cast first before having any effect.
• Analysis: An overpowered Rune has been turned into a potential DPS loss. Therefore, this Rune is no longer recommended for any build.

 

Immolation Aura Rune:

• Effect: an AoE damage aura that reduces magic damage taken by 10% also.
• Analysis: This is a rune that can hardly be beaten on any tier list as there seems to be no cooldown or cost in terms of health; it is just as good when defending as it is in attacking. If not changed, it remains at S Tier; if nerfed, it becomes A Tier.

 

Summon Felguard Rune:

• Effect: Summon a Felguard permanently.
• Analysis: The rating will highly depend on how powerful the Felguard may get to be, however, the ability to have a pet up constantly makes this rune very appealing.

 

Unstable Affliction Rune:

• Effect: Another DoT for Affliction Warlocks; silences for 5 seconds if dispelled in PvP.
• Analysis: This helps out with pvp for affliction locks and gets overshadowed by Backdraft for pve use.

 

↖Shaman Runes Evaluation

New Runes	Tier
Burn	A
Mental Dexterity	S
Tidal Waves	A
Riptide	A
Overcharged	S
Rolling Thunder	A
Static Shock	B

 

Flame Shock Rune:

• Effect: It hits up to three targets.
• Analysis: It strengthens the Shaman's AoE ability which is helpful especially for tanking situations.

 

Mental Dexterity Rune:

• Effect: It increases attack power by 100% of intellect and spell damage/healing by 30% of attack power.
• Analysis: This rune gives a huge boost on both offensive and defensive statistics, making it one of the best choices for Shamans.

 

Burn Rune:

• Effect: Makes Maelstrom Blast permanent
• Drawback: High mana consumption (potential to go OOM).
• Analysis: But powerful this rune must be used with caution since mana use is critical when using it.

 

Tidal Waves Rune:

• Effect: After Chain Heal or Riptide, it lowers Healing Wave casting time by 30%, while increasing Lesser Healing Wave crit rate by 25%.
• Analysis: Adds significantly to overall healing output particularly in conjunction with Riptide.

 

Riptide Rune:

• Effect: Cures targets over time and enhances Chain Heal effectiveness.
• Analysis:The rune makes Shaman's AoE healing significantly stronger. Hence, healers will find it a robust choice indeed.

 

Overcharge Rune:

• Effect: The Lightning Shield does not lose charges and deals AoE damage every second.
• Analysis: Doubling as a strong source of damage on trash pulls, this provides reliable AoE threat for tanking Shamans too.

 

Rolling Thunder Rune:

• Effect: Bolts of lightning and chain add charges to the shield; earthquake releases charges for damage and mana regeneration purposes
• Analysis: It offers an even mix between DPS output and sustainability of mana but remains overshadowed by other runes considering that other runes tend to offer more than this one.

 

Static Shock Rune:

• Effect: Lightning Shield has nine charges; melee attacks may trigger a charge.
• Analysis: This is a moderate single-target DPS increase, but it's not as impactful as other alternatives.

 

↖Rogue Runes Evaluation

New Runes	Tier
Combat Potency	A
Honor Among Thieves	S
Focused Attacks	B
Carnage	S
Cut to the Chase	B
Unfair Advantage	A

 

Combat Potency Rune:

• Effect: It gives 20% chance to gain 15 energy with every offhand melee hit.
• Analysis: The rune significantly helps Rogues with the energy regeneration, which is typically their bottleneck while also having a strong competitor in the same slot.

 

Honor Among Thieves Rune:

• Effect: Get one combo point each second when an ally lands a critical blow.
• Analysis: For consistent combo points (also addressing the energy regeneration issue), this rune does well for buffs like venom that would further increase poison damage for you during the course of play.

 

Focused Attacks Rune:

• Effect: Gain 2 energy after each ranged or melee crit hit.
• Analysis: Although initially put in tier B, this rune can escalate with higher rates of critical hits and haste leading to significant amounts of energy being gained.

 

Carnage Rune:

• Effect: A target dealing 20% increased damage if he has an active bleed effect on him or her.
• Analysis: Saber Slash rogues will find it especially useful as it synergizes such that increases overall dps by quite some margin through bleed effects.

 

Cut to the Chase:

• Effect: When dealing damage, finishing moves will refresh Slice and Dice.
• Analysis: This makes rotation easier by automatically updating Slice and Dice so that you can focus on other abilities.

 

Unfair Advantage:

• Effect: One second cooldown. Immediate counter attack on dodging by dealing 100% damage.
• Analysis: It is a good tactic for player versus player fighting and also this is helpful in dungeon tanking. Relatively long recharge time reduces its overall usefulness; however, it still could be quite efficient in certain circumstances.

 

↖Priest Runes Evaluation

New Runes	Tier
Divine Aegis	S
Eye of the Void	S
Pain and Suffering	A
Void Zone	B
Despair	A
Surge of Light	S

 

Divine Aegis Rune:

• Effect: Absorbs 30% of the amount healed by critical heals.
• Analysis: This rune recalls Wrath of the Lich King's legendary weapon Val'anyr. Apart from boosting survival chances, the protective shield it gives adds to the Discipline Priest's talent, making it a great option for healers. The large impact on damage mitigation makes this rune a top-rated one.

 

Eye of Void Rune:

• Effect: Calls forth a pet casting different curses in your stead.
• Analysis: Eye of the Void expands upon the arsenal of priest pets and may apply powerful curses like Curse of Elements. It is rated as S tier because its group output damage enhancement and enemy resistances reduction abilities are beneficial. However, the value may differ based on particular curses that are generated.

 

Pain and Suffering Rune:

• Effect: Mind Flay refreshes Shadow Word Pain to its maximum duration; can be snapshot.
• Analysis: Mind Flay has traditionally been considered weak in relation to this rune, but recent changes have allowed Mind Blast to work with it, which would boost its utility greatly. While keeping Shadow Word Pain up forever is useful but only if raid composition calls for having an Eye of Void debuff.

 

Void Zone Rune:

• Effect: Grants an AoE ability.
• Analysis: In certain cases, Void Zone brings about AoE capabilities that might be potent enough. Although not as influential in single target fights, it does earn B grade due to benefits in multi-target encounters.

 

Despair Rune:

• Effect: Your spells' periodic damage now critically strikes.
• Analysis: By allowing periodic damage spells to crit, the Despair rune significantly improves a priest's DPS. This can lead to vastly increased total damage especially on a shadow priest making it an A-tier rune.

 

Surge of Light Rune:

• Effect: Your next Smite or Flash Heal is instant after critical spell casts.
• Analysis: Transforming a critical spell into either instant healing or damaging Smite makes Surge of Light a versatile rune. For raid environments that enable healers to contribute to DPS without losing their regular healing duties, this rune is very helpful. Despite Mana considerations, its utility in a high-paced combat scenario is undeniable.

 

↖Paladin Runes Evaluation

New Runes	Tier
Fanatacism	S
Light's Grac	A
Improved Sanctuary	B
Wrath	A
Hammer of the Righteous	S
Improved Hammer of Wrath Rune	B
Purifying Power	A

 

Fanaticism Rune:

• Effect: Increases Critical Strike chance with holy spells by 18%.
• Analysis: Healers will find this a considerable boon in terms of mana conservation and healing efficiency.

 

Light's Grace Rune:

• Effect: Reduces Holy Light's cast time by 0.5 sec after casting Holy Light.
• Analysis: It is good for single-target healing but lacks area of effect (AOE) healing.

 

Improved Sanctuary Rune:

• Effect: It doubles the amount of damage prevented by Blessing of Sanctuary and increases its damage by 30%.
• Analysis: Tanking paladins might find it useful but it may not be as functional as other runes.

 

Hammer of the Righteous Rune:

• Effect: Deals holy damage to three targets, all possibly benefiting from the increase in critical hit chance by 18%.
• Analysis: This is essential for tank Paladins especially if it is not limited to one-handed weapons and offers substantial AOE damage.

 

Improved Hammer of Wrath Rune:

• Effect: Resets Hammer of Wrath when it damages an enemy below 20% HP.
• Analysis: This adds an execute phase for Paladins during crucial stages of fights, which boosts their DPS significantly.

 

Purifying Power Rune:

• Effect: The cooldowns for Exorcism and Holy Wrath are reduced by half; Holy Wrath can now target any type of enemy.
• Analysis: A versatile rune for dealing with large pulls, providing consistent AOE damage.

 

↖Druid Runes Evaluation

New Runes	Tier
Gore	D
Gale Winds	D
Improved Barkskin	A
Efflorescence	S
Elune's Fires	B
Improved Frenzied Regeneration	D

 

Gore Rune:

• Effect: 15% chance on Swipe or Maul use to reset Mangle's cooldown and gain 10 rage.
• Analysis: With infinite rage generation potential, this Rune improves resource management. However, its usefulness is limited as it shares the same slot with Mangle.

 

Improved Barkskin Rune:

• Effect: There is a chance of 5% for Mangle (as cat) or Shred resetting Tiger's Fury's cooldown.
• Analysis: With low proc chance leading to almost negligible increase in damages, this Rune does not work for feral druids.

 

Gale Winds Rune:

• Effect: Hurricane damage increased by 100%, no cooldown on use, Barkskin can be cast on allies without penalizing their speed, and can be used while shape-shifted.
• Analysis: This tank-buster mechanic option offers great amounts of tank survival abilities and utilities but provides no direct DPS boost.

 

Efflorescence Rune:

• Effect: With Swiftmend, Efflorescence proceeds to heal all allies within 15 yards.
• Analysis: This Rune dramatically enhances the AoE healing capabilities thereby making it one of the Best in Slot (BiS) for Restoration druids.

 

Elune's Fire Rune:

• Effect: It increases the duration of your Debuffs on enemies by similar damage casts.
• Analysis: Although it is a quality-of-life improvement for Feral Druids, its effects are limited. On Balance Druids, longer DoTs periods are slightly more useful but certainly not game-changing.

 

Improved Frenzied Regeneration Rune:

• Effect: In all forms that Frenzied Regeneration is available, rage, mana or energy can be converted into health.
• Analysis: The rune provides more survivability primarily in PvP with minimal changes to PvE gameplay as per this analysis.

 

↖Mage Runes Evaluation

New Runes	Tier
Advanced Warding	D
Temporal Anomaly	A
Deep Freeze	S
Balefire Bolt	A
Displacement	S
Molten Armor	A

 

Advanced Warding Rune:

• Effect: Enhances shield potency; Mana Shield consumption reduced by 50%.
• Analysis: It is insignificant in PvE, but offers a significant advantage in PvP through its increase of defense.

 

Temporal Anomaly Rune:

• Effect: Provides a shield when launching abilities akin to Frozen Orb.
• Analysis: It is not suitable for use in PVP, however, it serves as an excellent boost skill because it has protective abilities.

 

Deep Freeze Rune:

• Effect: Stuns the target for 5 seconds and allows high-damage follow-up attacks.
• Analysis: As far as Mages are concerned, this spell will change how they play the game in the field of Player versus Player encounters. However, it cannot be done in Player against Environment since this spell does not have any impact on the same making it less versatile overall.

 

Balefire Bolt Rune:

• Effect: Each casting increases damage dealt while reducing spirit by 10%, stacks to 10 times.
• Analysis: It is a powerful attack that demands careful management due to its detrimental effect on the caster's spirit.

 

Displacement Rune:

• Effect: Teleports back to last Blink position and resets Blink cooldowns for Mages only.
• Analysis: This makes mages highly mobile when they are engaged with enemies during PvP which improves their survivability greatly upon mobility and tactical options too..

 

Molten Armor Rune:

• Effect: Damages when hit; increase spell crit chance by 5% and decrease critical hit chance by a certain percentage.
• Analysis: It is good for fire mages who want a small boost in their crit rate; but it's not that extraordinary.

 

Burnout Rune:

• Effect: Adds an additional 15% crit chance, making the total bonus equal 20% including the contribution of Molten Armor.
• Analysis: When paired with Molten Armor, this rune significantly increases critical strike power, thus pushing possible rates of critical hits to about 60% if add-ons are considered.

 

↖Hunter Runes Evaluation

New Runes	Tier
Catlike Reflexes	D
Lock and Load	A
Rapid Killing	S
Focus Fire	A
T.N.T.	S
Raptor Fury	A

 

Catlike Reflexes Rune:

• Effect: Hunter has +20 dodge and pet has +9 dodge; Kill Command cool down time is reduced by fifty percent while Flanking strike cooldown is halved.
• Analysis: It provides strength to solo play since it makes sure that individual lives longer and ability-use moments increase. Nonetheless, in raids its scaling might be disappointing.

 

Lock and Load Rune:

• Effect: Using a trap triggers the next shot ability and cancels out the mana cost as well as cooldowns.
• Analysis: Exceptionally useful for Hunter boosters and PvP scenarios, enabling rapid, mana-free shots after trap activation. It does not increase direct damage output although its usefulness scores high on any test.

 

Rapid Killing Rune:

• Effect: Reduces Rapid Fire's global cool down by two minutes; The next kill shot following experience or honor from killing an enemy deals additional twenty percent damage.
• Analysis: This would be helpful in open world PvP and leveling, but is not really useful in raid instances that are considered big at end game.

 

Focus Fire Rune:

• Effect: The pet also attacks faster with every strike; consuming frenzy stacks raises the hunter's ranged attack speed while giving the pet focus.
• Analysis: An exciting mechanic that blends pet and Hunter attack speeds together. Nevertheless, this build is at odds with the Lone Wolf playstyle, which makes it less attractive to ranged Hunters that do not want to rely on pets.

 

T.N.T. Rune:

• Effect: Increases Explosive Shot and traps damage by 10%.
• Analysis: This cloak mainly serves those involved in power leveling services as it is of little or no benefit in other parts of the game.

 

Raptor Fury Rune:

• Effect: Raptor Strike increases its own damage by 15% for 15 seconds, stacking up to five times.
• Analysis: In the event of a good RNG, this rune has potential to make Raptor Strike's damage increase significantly. For those who love unpredictability, this is a mighty choice.

 

↖Class and Spec Rating

Class & Spec	Rating
Warrior	Fury/Slam: A Gladiator: S Tank: A PvP: Idk go glad stance
Warlock	Tank: S DPS: A PvP: S
Shaman	Tank: A     Enh: S   Ele: S   Heals: S
Rouge	Rogue: S PvP: S Tank: S
Priest	Shadow: A Heals: S PvP: S
Paladin	Holy: B Ret: B Tank: S
Druid	Feral: F Balance: C Restoration: S Tank: A
Mage	PvP: S PvE: A Boosting: S Healing: A
Hunter	Ranged: B Melee: S Boosting: S

 

 

 

This guide will be updated to reflect any changes made to the runes as the season progresses, ensuring players have access to the most current information for their gameplay decisions.

 

However, this guide is only a starting point; your own experience and playstyle will determine which runes are best suited to your characters. Keep up with our updates and interact with others in order to make improvements during Phase 3 of Season of Discovery.