Hi yall, I figured I would make a rune page guide for everyone who is starting to play but is confused by which runes to buy.
I remember being overwhelmed when I first started playing so I did a lot of research and figured out which ones are optimal and worth the buy. Now I can share this knowledge with all of you.
I'm going to go through each type of rune and explain why they are good and how useful they are in general. One
IMPORTANT note: Do not buy tier 1 and 2 runes! They are basically worthless once you reach level 20 and can buy tier 3 runes. Wait until you reach level 20 and save that IP!
Quints:Gold per 10: These are mainly useful on supports since other roles will generally generate enough gold throughout the game to buy what they need. If you feel like you are not getting enough gold in games as a support, these are a good choice. These are great on passive supports who don't plan on getting kills or carrying. If you do plan on carrying in some way, I would suggest some of the others.
Ability Power: These are great on AP mid champions and AP champions in general. I you are playing an AP jungler or support and plan on carrying, these are good for dealing extra damage. If you are a support, use these mostly if you plan on being aggressive in lane. These are a great buy if you play mostly AP champions.
Attack Damage: Great for AD champions in general and a very limited amount of supports who go AD. AD junglers, AD tops, and AD carry can all benefit from these. If you play mostly AD champions, these are a great buy.
Life Steal: These are great for those times you want that extra sustain(survivability) in lane and you're willing to sacrifice the extra AD. These are best on AD carries since it helps their early game A LOT. If you plan on playing mostly AD carry, I recommend buying.
Movement Speed: These actually have a more limited usefulness compared to the ones I mentioned but they are great on certain champions. If you're playing a very slow champion who doesn't scale very well off of AD or AP, these are usually preferred. I wouldn't recommend buying these early unless you do plan on playing these champions a lot though. These are also great fi you are playing jungle and you want faster clear times.
Health: These are very rarely played but they are good in certain situations where you just have to be extra tanky. Don't get these early unless you absolutely want to be tanky. Even then there are better options in most situations.
GlyphsFlat/Scaling Magic Resist: These are the most popular choices for glyphs and it's up to you whether you want flat or scaling. Flat is better for early game and scaling is better for late game. If you can't decide on what to use for glyphs, just get some magic resist. They're a great thing to have in any situation. I personally use a combination of flat and scaling but use what you think will work best for you.
Mana regen: These are used on some mana hungry AP champions in certain situations. These aren't as useful as the magic resist though so only get these if you REALLY want the extra regen.
Ability Power per level: These are useful if you want to do some extra damage with your abilities and you're confident in your abilities to dodge your opponents abilities since you are sacrificing the extra magic resist. This is more of a high risk/ high reward thing.
For the most part, you'll want to run magic resist glyphs(flat or scaling) on most champions, especially if you're starting out.
Seals:Flat Armor: These are the seals you will be running like 99% of the time. I rarely see a rune page that doesn't use armor seals since they are so damn useful. They help against auto-attacks, turrets and even minion damage. Just buy these first if you are unsure about what to buy.
Marks:Attack damage: These are great on AD champions in general. They give you a bit extra attack damage and are good with the AD Quints. I recommend these if you play a lot of AD champions.
Attack Speed: These are less popular than the attack damage marks but have some usefulness. Junglers used to run these more often but they are usually outshined by the attack damage marks.
Flat armor: These are mainly used on supports along with the flat armor seals for extra survivability. If you don't plan on doing much damager as a support, these will help you, especially early game.
Magic Pen: These are great on ability power carries and help give you extra damage. They are usually outshined by hybrid pen marks though.
Hybrid Pen: These give you some armor pen while sacrificing just a bit of magic pen. These are generally regarded as superior, so buy these instead if you're willing to pay 2x :drunk:the price of magic pen marks.
Armor Pen: These can be used on some AD champions, but I'm not really familiar with their use. :huh?:I think they're used on some assassins.
Well, those are pretty much the most common runes you will see played. There are some other like crit chance, cooldown etc runes that are rarely used. Here are some sample rune pages I use:
For AD champions: 9 magic resist glyphs, 9 armor seals, 9 attack damage marks, 3 attack damage quints
For AP champions: 9 magic resist glyphs, 9 armor seals, 9 hybrid pen marks, 3 ability power quints
For supports: 9 magic resist glyphs, 9 armor seals, 9 armor marks, 3 gold per 10 quints
Alternate AD page for AD carries: 9 magic resist glyphs, 9 armor seals, 9 attack damage marks, 2 Lifesteal quints and 1 attack damage quint
I hope this was useful!