Highlights
- WoW Classic Season of Discovery introduces new Runes that can alter gameplay for each class.
- Data mining reveals potential Runes for later phases including iconic abilities familiar to retail WoW players.
- These Runes may change before release in Phase 3.
World of Warcraft Classic Season of Discovery players may have already discovered some of the Runes coming in future phases. The retro server experience may have just begun Phase 2, but World of Warcraft fans have already found hints at what to expect in Phase 3 and beyond.
Season of Discovery is World of Warcraft’s most recent experiment that changes the Classic formula. One of the biggest new additions to Season of Discovery is Runes – engravings players can collect and freely apply to gear, unlocking passive and active abilities that can drastically alter how each class plays. Phase 2 of WoW Season of Discovery added the second batch of Runes to the game, which are mostly engraved on the Waist and Feet armor slots.
WoW Season of Discovery: Best SoD Runes, Ranked
Of the best Runes in WoW SoD for each class, some are more iconic – or simply more powerful – than other classes' most powerful Runes.
However, some World of Warcraft fans have already discovered some Runes that will likely arrive in later phases of Season of Discovery. While uncovering the new Runes from Phase 2, Wowhead datamined dozens of Runes for the Head and Wrist slots. These Runes are not currently available in Season of Discovery Phase 2, but will likely be added to the game in Phase 3 or later.
Possible WoW SoD Phase 3 Runes
Rune Engraving | Class | Slot | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Gale Winds | Druid | Helm | Increase damage and reduce the cooldown and cost of Hurricane. |
Improved Barkskin | Druid | Helm | Removes Barkskin penalties and lets it be cast on allies and while shapeshifted. |
Gore | Druid | Helm | Certain Bear form attacks can reset Mangle, and Cat form attacks can reset Tiger's Fury |
Efflorescence | Druid | Wrist | Swiftmend creates a HoT effect on nearby allies. |
Improved Frenzied Regeneration | Druid | Wrist | Frenzied Regeneration can be used in all forms. |
Focus FIre | Hunter | Wrist | Consume Frenzy to increase attack speed and grand Focus to pet. |
T.N.T. | Hunter | Wrist | Increase damage of Explosive Shot and all traps. |
Deep Freeze | Mage | Helm | Stuns frozen targets, or deals damage to targets immune to stun. |
Temporal Anomaly | Mage | Helm | Launch an orb that shields party members. |
Balefire Bolt | Mage | Wrist | Deals damage that increases subsequent Balefire Bolts, but decreases Spirit and can kill the user. |
Molten Armor | Mage | Wrist | Damages attackers, increases spell crit chance, and reduces incoming crit chance. |
Displacement | Mage | Wrist | Teleport back to Blink location and reset its cooldown |
Improved Sanctuary | Paladin | Helm | Blessing of Sanctuary prevents and deals more damage. |
Fanaticism | Paladin | Helm | Increase crit chance with Holy spells. |
Light's Grace | Paladin | Helm | Holy Light reduces the cast time of the next Holy Light. |
Wrath | Paladin | Helm | Consecration can crit, and several Holy spells get an increased crit chance. |
Purifying Power | Paladin | Wrist | Exorcism and Holy Wrath cooldowns decrease, and Holy Wrath can target any enemy. |
Improved Hammer of Wrath | Paladin | Wrist | Hammer of Wrath cooldown resets when used on low health enemies. |
Divine Aegis | Priest | Helm | Healing crits create a shield on the target. |
Void Zone | Priest | Wrist | Drop an AoE area that does damage over time. |
Despair | Priest | Wrist | DoT spells can crit. |
Surge of Light | Priest | Wrist | Spell crits cause Smite, Flash of Light, and Binding Heal to be instant cast. |
Combat Potency | Rogue | Helm | Chance to gain energy on off-hand attacks. |
Honor Among Thieves | Rogue | Helm | Gain combo points when party members crit. |
Focused Attacks | Rogue | Helm | Gain energy on crits. |
Pandemic | Warlock | Helm | DoT and channeled abilities can crit. |
Backdraft | Warlock | Helm | Conflagrate grants haste. |
Immolation Aura | Warlock | Wrist | Deal damage over time to nearby enemies and reduce magic damage taken. |
Summon Felguard | Warlock | Wrist | Summon a Felguard demon. |
Unstable Affliction | Warlock | Wrist | Deal damage over time that does burst damage if dispelled. |
Shield Mastery | Warrior | Helm | Increases damage and reduces Disarm duration while wielding a shield. |
Vigilance | Warrior | Helm | Buff that reduces damage and threat generation of a party member. |
Taste for Blood | Warrior | Helm | Rend DoT damage triggers Overpower. |
Wrecking Crew | Warrior | Wrist | Melee crits increase physical damage. |
Rampage | Warrior | Wrist | Gains a boost to attack power that stacks higher on hits. |
Sword and Board | Warrior | Wrist | Devastate and Revenge can reset Shield Slam and make it free. |
Some of these Runes include iconic abilities players may recognize from retail WoW. Warlocks can get Unstable Affliction and Summon Felguard, as well as Immolation Aura, an ability used by Demon Hunters on the modern servers. Mages, on the other hand, get familiar spells like Molten Armor and Displacement, but also new skills like Balefire Bolt. Both Warlocks and Priests can even get Runes that allow the WoW classes' DoTs to inflict critical hits – a passive feature that wasn’t added to the game until Cataclysm normally.
As this information was datamined, it is important to remember it is not final. These Runes could drastically change before they are implemented, and some may not be added at all. The Runes that are will likely arrive in Phase 3, but they could technically come in later updates as well after the WoW Classic Season of Discovery level cap is raised. This list is also not comprehensive, as more engravings will join those that are added, given the uneven numbers and lack of Shaman Runes.
Either way, these new Runes look both powerful and interesting. Each new set of Runes can be applied to additional pieces of gear, further empowering players beyond their normal limits in Classic WoW. Considering how difficult the Gnomeregan and Blackfathom Deeps raids have been in WoW Season of Discovery, many fans cannot wait to see what challenges World of Warcraft has in store for them once characters can have Runes engraved on the rest of their gear.
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is an incredibly successful MMORPG that has been going strong for almost two decades. It's one of the highest-grossing franchises in history and is widely considered the most popular MMORPG ever made.
