Another tier list. Gonna do all the FW runes eventually. This one is a bit weird, because several runes depend on having other runes both in the deck and out to make tiers, and there are lots of themed relics that are mostly useless but still ok because they can cheaply contest and sometimes help out a champ or two. I also think that module play is under-explored in FW right now, and some of these runes could be good for those things. t1 Elsarin Vex Skull of Decay t1.5 Arroyo Portal Bone Mine Chopping Block Corpse Pile Corpse-a-Pult Elsari Bazaar Graveyard Grim Well Mystic Atelier Statue of Xulos Tome of Hate Unholy Tomb t2 Altar of Bones Ark of Elsari Bone Circle Bone Trap Cursed Temple Defiling Spinel Mason's Spire Mist of the Dead Sacrificial Altar Scouring Jasper Witches Hourglass t3+ Blood Crest Creeping Pustule Plague Trap
For Hourglass and Altar, see comments in the Support Champs thread about looking at these runes in a junk context -- basically, potentially playable if you have a module going, but otherwise iffy includes.
It's at t1.5 -- I think that it is sufficient by itself to fuel a Surge/Whispers module, hence its slightly higher position than other theme runes.
Surge is probably the most themeatic ability in the game though. Spirits are decent, but invoke meta , I wouldn't use anything that requires surge rn. (Competitively, id only play liches ff, or liches good stuff, since they only require a few things)
A note about Skull of Decay: at someone point in the recent past, it started rounding down rather than up -- a brutal change for any form of healing. Furthermore, it will round down twice. This means that, with two Skulls out, all opposing healing for 3 HP or less gets reduced to zero; that shuts down Acolytes, Rejuv Ring, Heal Mass 1, and Fire Eaters moving through shallow lava. That's all very strong. Further more, it cuts heals for 7 or less down to 1 -- notably, Regen 3 and Heal Mass 2. Basically, you can spend 40 nora to stop almost all opposing healing. Here's a chart of original healing values and what it becomes with 2 skulls: 1 -- 0 2 -- 0 3 -- 0 4 -- 1 5 -- 1 6 -- 1 7 -- 1 8 -- 2 9 -- 2 10 -- 2 11 -- 2 12 -- 3 13 -- 3 14 -- 3 15 -- 3 16 -- 4 17 -- 4 18 -- 4 19 -- 4 20 -- 5 ... 30 -- 7 Sure makes Tomb/Tome damage look a lot better.
Crossbones is only 60 nora and stops all healing seriously though that rune owns. I hate relying on relics. 40 nora is a pretty big investment, as is two rune slots. And it probably won't work vs a variety of factions, specifically sl
I would agree that I have soured somewhat on FW's relic plan, in part for the reasons to which you alluded: Arctic Wail and Overload. As for it being a big investment -- I think one Skull often does enough in terms of value, but it's worth noting how strong the second can be because of rounding. Plus, given that Skull often functions as the Seism screen when not running Statue, having a second around matters. Yeah, you've been pitching that rune a lot, but I think Skull is better. It's global, it doesn't get countered by cleanse, you don't have to tag specific champions, and it never goes away. Basically, it's incredibly consistent.
I'd run 2x skull, I just can't usually fit more than one. Maybe if I cut out spells. Still, you have to also consider the down side of taking runes such as skull, which give you some weaker hands compared to crossbones, who is versatile. It's the same reason I consider bone mason over toh: he can be used if drawn first.
