Runestone Guide

Runestones are a very important component of Wizards Unite and Wizarding Challenges, but vital information about them can be easily overlooked if players aren't careful! In this guide we'll take a look at how Runestones are gained, where they can be used, and what effects they can have. To take a look at all the Runestones currently in the game, you can find our Runestones List below!

For such an important resource, one that enables players to access the majority of the combat in the game through Wizarding Challenges, surely Runestones would be pretty easy to find, right?

Well.... not quite. Currently there are two (2) reliable ways to get Runestones without spending premium currency. You can't find them on the map, and they aren't rewarded from Daily Tasks or log-in rewards. 

The first secret to these little gems lies in your Registry. Each Registry Family has an XP bar that fills up as you return Foundables from that Family. Upon leveling up that particular Registry Family, you receive a corresponding Treasure Trunk. These reward you with Scrolls to power up your Profession Skill Tree nodes, which is a handy bonus. However, more importantly for our purposes, they also give you a Runestone of the same type as that Family. This is the main source of Runestones you can count on as you progress in the game, especially after you Prestige your Registry pages and can get more Family XP. Note that the Level of the Runestone gained from a Treasure Trunk can vary slightly - it isn't predetermined. 

The second secret is gifting. Gifting was introduced in update 2.7.0 allowing players to collect gift boxes to send to other players in their Friends List. Runestone gifts are guaranteed as a reward for successfully completing a Wizarding Challenge. If you lose the challenge, or are booted due to server errors, you will not receive the Runestone gift.

Other Methods

As always, there is the alternative of simply buying Runestones from Diagon Alley. Surprisingly for such an important resource, the Bag of Runestones bundle in Wiseacres is very reasonably priced. At 40 Gold for 10 Runestones, one Level 1 Runestone for every Family, including Oddities, it's quite a decent purchase if you run dry and need more to keep doing the Wizarding Challenge Daily Task. 

Last and perhaps least reliably, there are reports that Runestones can be found as a very rare reward from Portkeys. While we cannot verify this claim, largely due to having garbage luck with our own Portkey drops, presumably the chance of getting a Runestone is higher with higher-quality Portkeys. That said, if you do get a Portkey Runestone reward, feel free to post a screenshot over at our Wizards Unite Community!

Runestones can only be used in one place: Fortresses. To begin a Wizarding Challenge, you have to have at least one Runestone in your inventory. When starting a Challenge, you first choose what Chamber of the Fortress you want to fight in, and then are prompted to add a Runestone to start the raid lobby. After you put in the Runestone and the timer starts, other players can join your raid if you want to complete the Wizarding Challenge together. 

Well, it's all very good to have all this discussion about how to get them, and where to use them, and all that. Great. But what do the little trinkets actually do? 

The answer is... it depends. But it only varies a little! The real answer is that Runestones modify Wizarding Challenge difficulty and rewards. When you start a Wizarding Challenge, you select a Chamber to use as the base of the Challenge. Each Chamber has a base difficulty and a base level of rewards, which increases as you go from Chamber 1 to the higher level Chambers. Runestones serve to modify these in two ways:

Runestone Type determines the type of Foundable Fragment rewards

• Upon completing the Challenge, you get Challenge Foundable Fragments as a reward, and can potentially get other Exploration Foundable Fragments
• The Runestone you use will determine what Family the Foundable reward belongs to
• Thus, you can 'snipe' Challenge Foundable rewards you need for a specific Family by using the corresponding Runestone
• Note that Registry rewards beyond the 'base' Challenge Foundable reward are not guaranteed

Runestone Level affects the Difficulty level of the Challenge and amount of loot

• When you select the Chamber, you can use different Runestones to test and see for yourself by backing out of the lobby (will not use up your Runestone)
• Using a higher level Runestone will result in a higher Difficulty number showing up
• You will earn a higher reward using a higher level Runestone as well

The Challenge XP reward for each Chamber in the Fortress has a set base amount. Using a Runestone will multiply that base amount, depending on the Runestone's Level. 

Community member PkRavix pointed out the multipliers with data from Discord user @Half_Blood_Princess: (Updated 6/26/19!)

In Fortress Chambers, it might seem like you have to use a Runestone level that corresponds to the Chamber you're entering. However, you do not need to follow this paradigm.

• Using Level 1 Runestones at any Chamber is acceptable
  • They're the easiest way to farm XP quickly
  • They're the most common and therefore cheapest to use to clear the Daily Task
  • If you're worried about difficulty, they won't increase it very much
     
• Conversely, using higher Level Runestones can be useful
  • If you want to run a lower Chamber for any reason
  • Perhaps you're low on Spell Energy
  • Or maybe you're running the Challenge with a lower level friend
  • The Challenge will be easy but you'll still get a decent amount of rewards

Also, when Brilliant Events roll around and Brilliant Runestones become available from the Brilliant Event Tasks, stockpiling those Runestones will be a nice bit of variety as they will only be available from Treasure Trunks in the Brilliant Event Registry Page. You won't be able to level up that page and get more Treasure Trunks when the Brilliant Event ends, so Brilliant Runestones will be a precious commodity!

So there you have all you need to know about Runestones in Wizards Unite:

• Farm Registry XP to earn Runestones from each Family
• Use Runestones in Fortresses to start Wizarding Challenges
• Earn bonus rewards determined by the Type and Level of your Runestone

Simple, effective, and an integral part of the game. Now get out there, gather up your Runestones, and knock out some foes in Wizarding Challenges to take advantage of the cool rewards! Wands at the ready, move out!