Blizzard has started the fourth phase of the Season of Discovery in World of Warcraft on the PTR server and also shared development notes that contain information about new class runes for characters. So some players have the opportunity to try to find and try them out in advance of the fourth season becoming fully available. This will help fans track down and pick the best runes for their characters, making them stronger.

What are runes?

Runes in World of Warcraft Classic Season of Discovery are items that can be placed in one of the types of heroic equipment that players can use, which usually give new abilities to characters or provide additional passive effects that can dramatically change the way you play a particular class. These runes can be found in specific places: by performing certain actions, killing mobs, completing quests, etc.

New class runes in WoW SoD Phase 4:

Runes for Warrior

• Fresh Meat — dealing damage to a target using Bloodthirst has a 100% chance that the first hit will activate the Enrage ability status on the hero with a 100% chance, and each subsequent hit will have a 10% chance of triggering. The hero also deals 10% more damage for 12 seconds.

• Sudden Death — Melee attacks have a 10% chance of activating a rune effect called Sudden Death. This effect allows you to use Execute on an enemy, regardless of their health level. If the Execute ability was triggered by Sudden Death, the hero will retain 10 points of rage after the execution.

• Shockwave — the hero sends a force wave in front of him that deals damage and stuns all enemy targets within a 10-yard radius (in a cone shape) for 4 seconds.

The new runes for the Warraior class look quite interesting, as they are directly aimed at increasing the combat potential of players with these characters. Sudden Death looks very fascinating and powerful, which allows you to deal with enemies even faster and farm mobs faster.

Runes for Warlock

• Decimation — with this rune, the Soul Fire spell will not have a cooldown. In addition to using abilities such as Shadow Bolt, Shadow Cleave, Incinerate, and Soul Fire on your targets, Soul Fire will have a 40% faster cast time (ability execution) for 10 seconds. And under the effect of Decimation, Soul Fire will not require shards.

• Mark of Chaos — after hitting a target with Shadowburn, the next non-current spell targeting the same target will have a 100% chance of critical damage.

• Infernal Armor — Under the influence of this rune, the hero's spirit is filled with demonic energy that reduces all incoming magic damage by a percentage equal to the reduction in physical damage from armor. This effect lasts for 10 seconds.

Warlock has been performing quite well for a long time, and with the new runes, he will become even stronger. In WoW Classic SoD Phase 4, we may see better performance when playing Warlock as a tank, as Infernal Armor will definitely contribute to this. Of course, Mark of Chaos and Decimation also look attractive, so we'll just have to wait and see how these runes will perform in WoW Classic SoD Phase 4.

Runes for Rogue

• Blunderbuss — with this rune, the Rogue class hero can shoot in front of him (in a cone shape), hitting up to four enemies, causing physical damage.

• Crimson Tempest — allows the caster to perform a finishing move that chops down all enemies within an eight-yard radius, causing victims to bleed out for a certain amount of time. It lasts longer and deals more damage for each combo point. It also gains additional enhancement from all talents and effects that are triggered or modified by Rupture.

• Fan of Knives — allows you to instantly launch both weapons at all targets within 5 yards, dealing 105% damage with daggers and 70% damage with all other weapons.

Thanks to the new runes, Rogue class heroes will finally get more abilities in WoW Classic SoD Phase 4 that will cover the main drawback of these characters — the lack of AoE abilities. Now it will be easier for Rogue to deal with a crowd of enemies, farming them faster and easier. So fans of this class should definitely pay attention to the new runes for Rogue in WoW Classic SoD Phase 4.

Runes for Druid

• Improved Swipe — adds a new Swipe ability (in the form of a cat) and allows the Swipe ability (in the form of a bear) to deal 100% more damage by hitting three additional targets nearby.

• Tree of Life — gives a form called "Tree of Life". During the duration of this form, it reduces the mana cost of all gradual healing abilities by 20%, increases the healing received by all group members by 10%, and increases the druid's spirit by 25%. The druid also receives 200% more armor, but the hero of this class cannot use abilities that deal damage.

• Starfall — the ability causes a rain of 20 stars to fall for 10 seconds, hitting enemies within 30 yards, and dealing Arcane damage. This ability has a cooldown of 90 seconds and can also be interrupted by crowd control abilities, summoning a mount, or transforming into another form.

Each of the new runes provides interesting abilities for the druid in WoW Classic SoD Phase 4, offering players a new style of play. All runes are aimed at different playstyles, such as Tree of Life for healing or tanking tactics, and Improved Swipe and Starfall for more aggressive playstyles.

Runes for Shaman

• Storm, Earth, and Fire — reduces the cooldown of Chain Lightning by 100% and makes Earthbind Totem root selected targets for 5 seconds while in use. Additionally, it increases the periodic damage from Flame Shock by 60%.

• Feral Spirit is an ability from a rune that allows you to summon two wolf spirits under the control of a shaman that lives for 45 seconds.

• Coherence — thanks to this rune, each subsequent jump from Chain Heal will be 35% less effective, and Chain Lightning will lose 20% per jump. Also, each of the abilities will receive one additional target that it can cover.

The elemental rune on the shaman in the next WoW Classic SoD Phase 4 looks quite interesting, as it gives quite good improvements for the character of this class. Coherence also seems to be good, but at the same time, it can't be called too strong compared to other class runes. It's hard to say anything about Feral Spirit, since it's not known how strong the wolf spirits will be.

Runes for Mage

• Arcane Barrage — this rune adds a new ability to mages that launches several projectiles at enemies, causing Arcane damage. This ability also has a 20% chance of triggering Missile Barrage.

• Overheat — with this rune, Fire Blast will always deal critical damage, this ability can be performed while casting other spells, and it does not affect the global cooldown.

• Frozen Orb — the ability launch a sphere of ice that moves forward rapidly for 16 seconds. While moving, the sphere deals freezing damage every second and imposes cold on all enemies it passes, which reduces movement speed by 30%. The first time an enemy is hit, their movement will slow down and they will have a 100% chance of activating the Fingers of Frost rune.

The new runes for Mage in WoW Classic SoD Phase 4 are astounding, in particular, Overheat looks too strong, which not only deals critical damage all the time but can also be triggered while another spell is being cast. Now Arcane specialization of the mage class looks more interesting than it did before.

Runes for Priest

• Binding Heal — This rune allows you to heal a friendly target and the caster at the same time. This spell gains improvements from all effects associated with the Flash Heal ability.

• Soul Warding — With this rune, Power Word and Shield abilities no longer have a cooldown time, cost 15% less mana, and gain 15% more base value and an additional 50% to your healing power.

• Vampiric Touch — This ability deals shadow damage to your target for 15 seconds and allows allies of your group to gain mana equal to 2% of the shadow damage you cast on the target.

A very strong improvement to the healing abilities of the Priest class in WoW Classic SoD Phase 4. Now the hero will be able to successfully maintain not only the health of his allies, but also his own, and don't forget about the boost to general healing thanks to the Soul Warding rune. Vampiric Touch looks good, but it's more aimed at those cases when there are a lot of mana-dependent heroes in the group.

Runes for Paladin

• Shield of Righteousness — the ability allows you to hit a target using a shield, dealing Holy damage based on the values of blocking indicators, plus 214 additional units.

• Vindicator — When the Vindicator talent is triggered, the enemy target will receive a 70 attack power reduction per talent point and increase your strength, dexterity, and attack by 5% for each talent point. The duration of Vindication is increased by 30.

• Righteous Vengeance — if a critical hit occurs while using Judgment, Crusader Strike, or Divine Storm, the target will take an additional 30% damage.

Out of all the new runes for Paladin in WoW Classic SoD Phase 4, only Vindicator and Righteous Vengeance look interesting, as they increase the potential of the hero to deal more damage to enemies, which brings the paladin to a higher level, and therefore more interesting for many who want to see him as a DD.

Conclusion

The new runes for most classes look quite interesting. Therefore, players who can find them and test their power on the PTR servers of WoW Classic SoD Phase 4 should do so as soon as possible. By the time the next season goes into full release, players can get ahead of other fans by building their own strong builds based on the new runes.