League of Legends runes guide for beginners in 2025

In League of Legends, it’s not all about mechanical skill, item builds, or champion picks. LoL runes also play a vital part in winning games – sometimes in champion draft before you even land on Summoner’s Rift. 

Runes in League of Legends offer powerful passive effects that can shape the way your entire game is played, from stacking burst damage to improving survivability. They let you fine-tune your champion’s strengths or patch up their weaknesses, making your playstyle feel sharper and more intentional. But what do each of the LoL runes actually do?

 Our League of Legends runes guide for 2025 will break down everything you need to know about LoL runes and how to use them. 

Runes in League of Legends are essentially customizable loadouts that players can choose before each match begins to enhance their stats, champion abilities, and overall playstyle. Think of them as passive perks that give you an edge, tailored exactly to how you prefer to play. 

There are five main rune paths: 

Each path includes a keystone rune – your most powerful perk – and several minor runes that provide smaller bonuses. You choose one primary path and one secondary path before the game, along with stat shards that fine-tune your build.

In short, Runes shape how your champion performs, and building the right rune page is key to winning matchups and scaling effectively.

Each rune path in League of Legends is designed to support a specific playstyle, empowering your chosen champion’s strengths. They consist of the keystone runes and primary, secondary, and tertiary slots. Here’s a breakdown for all five major LoL runes: 

The Precision rune path is mostly taken by ADCs and fighters who rely on sustained damage and consistent trading. It focuses on improving attack speed, damage output through auto-attacks, and survivability during extended fights. 

Domination is the go-to rune page for burst damage and aggressive plays, often picked by mages or assassins, either in Mid or Jungle. The runes on this page are perfect for players looking to secure kills fast and roam the map. 

Sorcery enhances a champion’s ability to poke, burst damage, or scale with their ability power stat. Of course, it’s naturally a top choice for mages, as well as poke-heavy champions and supports. 

The Resolve rune page is all about durability, crowd control, and resistances. As such, it’s typically used by tanks, bruisers, and supports looking to survive fights or protect their team. 

Inspiration is all about the art of rule-bending and creative tools, often giving players extra utility, bonuses, and additional sustain like mana. 

Here’s a step-by-step breakdown on how to build rune pages in LoL and find the perfect rune setup for any role. 

From the main screen, navigate to the “runes” section of your account’s collection. Click “Create New.” Alternatively, you can create a new rune page via the champion selection menu when in the draft. 

All players will get three free rune pages. If you need more, you can purchase them for 590 RP (Riot Points) or 6,300 Blue Essence. Players can simultaneously have a maximum of 25 custom rune pages, separate from the preset default rune pages available. 

Your primary path should match your champion’s core playstyle. Consider which runes will work best: Are they a burst assassin (Domination), tanky frontliner (Resolve), or DPS-heavy ADC (Precision)? Pick the path that best complements how your champion deals damage or survives a fight.

Each rune path offers three unique keystones. This is your most important rune and usually defines your early and mid-game power spikes outside of items. For example, in Sorcery there is: 

Choose the rune that best matches your intended playstyle. 

Now, pick a secondary path that complements your primary one. This lets you select three additional runes from that primary path. These can offer extra buffs and stats, ranging from ability haste, attack speed, healing, or armor penetration. 

The next step is to choose a secondary path that complements your primary one. This lets you select two more minor runes from a different path. For example, many support players pair Sorcery with Inspiration for extra sustain and utility. 

These are your final rune choices, giving your flat stat bonuses: 

Once happy with your choices, you should save your rune page, ready to use in ranked or draft. Now, you’re ready to play.

League of Legends is a complex game filled with different champion stats. Here’s a glossary to break down the most commonly used terms you’ll find when navigating through LoL rune pages. 

Now you know how to set up a rune page, here are six beginner-friendly tips to choose the best runes. 

If you’re new to League of Legends, don’t worry about customizing your rune pages straight away. Use the preset default rune pages from Riot Games to get familiar with the game. While not ideal, they’ll work well in most matchups.  

Runes can feel overwhelming at first, but the more you play, the more you’ll understand which setups work best for your champion and playstyle. 

Choose your favorite character and experiment with different rune pages in Draft Pick or SwiftPlay, like swapping Electrocute for Dark Harvest when playing as Ahri. Little tweaks can make all the difference. 

Different roles and lanes have different priorities, so it makes sense that different runes work for different folks. 

Think about your lane’s win condition and tailor your runes to support that goal, and don’t go completely left-field like Precision Yuumi. 

New League of Legends patch notes are released every two weeks, buffing, nerfing, and rebalancing certain champions, items, and even in-game systems like runes. Make sure you read these when they’re released to see how runes are being changed so you’re not caught out. 

There are sites like OP.GG that’ll show you the most popular setup and LoL runes guides for your champion, updated consistently with each patch. These are a great way of learning the current meta while figuring out your own preferences and what works/doesn’t work for you. 

It might be tempting to copy runes that your favorite pro-player uses, but context matters, like what their lane matchup was. What works in pro play or high-elo solo queue probably won’t fly in your ranked games. Use those pages as a reference, not a rule book – always adapt based on your own matchups and experience. The more you play, the more you’ll begin to understand how runes can be used to counter your laning opponent. 

Runes in League of Legends can seem like a lot at first, but once you’ve got the hang of this LoL rune guide for beginners, it’ll feel like muscle memory. Runes are one of the most powerful things in your League arsenal, aside from your champion selection and item builds, so choose wisely. 

Learning the right rune setup isn’t something that happens overnight. Play consistently, practice often, and take advantage of online tools to guide your decision. Your ranked climb to Challenger starts with a single keystone and rune path – make it count.