Hytale’s New Runestone System Lets Players Customize Combat

Hytale Chapter I: Out of the Breach just dropped, and it’s bringing a lot of changes to combat. One of the biggest parts of this update that players have been looking forward to is the brand new Runestones and Abilities. These systems let players become more full-on spell casters or empower their already brutal melee weapons with new, interesting combinations.

New Runestones & Abilities

Hytale Chapter I introduces new ways to customize your character in combat. With the all-new Runestones, you can collect them, then slot them into a Runebinder’s Lattice to shape how you fight. You can equip two Ability Runestones and attack Modifiers to them to change how they behave.

Currently, there are seven Ability Runestones, which include:

Chain Hook

• Pulls nearby enemies toward the impact point and briefly slows them.
• Deals 3 Bludgeoning damage, costs 50 Mana, and has a 6-second cooldown.
• Combines with Rebound, Rend, Splinter, Thrift, and Wither.

Charged Shot

• Charges and fires a frost bolt that deals damage and slows enemies based on charge time. The caster is slowed while charging, and the ability fires automatically when fully charged.
• Deals 12–58 Water damage, costs 35 Mana, and has a 4-second cooldown.
• Combines with Rebound, Rend, Splinter, Thrift, and Wither.

Enrage

• Increases damage dealt and received for 8 seconds.
• Increases Physical, Elemental, and Projectile damage dealt by 30%, but also increases damage taken by 20%.
• Costs 45 Mana and has a 4-second cooldown.
• Combines with Enduring, Quickening, and Thrift.

Fireball

• Launches a fireball that explodes on impact.
• Deals 28 Fire damage, costs 30 Mana, and has a 2-second cooldown.
• Combines with Colossal, Quickening, Rebound, Rend, Splinter, Thrift, and Wither.

Ground Slam

• Strikes the ground, creating stone spikes that deal damage and launch enemies into the air.
• Deals 15–35 Earth damage, costs 40 Mana, and has a 5-second cooldown.
• Combines with Colossal, Quickening, Rend, Thrift, and Wither.

Imbue Poison

• Coats your weapon in poison for 8 seconds. Attacks apply stacking poison that deals 2 Poison damage per second for 6 seconds, up to 3 stacks.
• Costs 40 Mana and has a 4-second cooldown.
• Combines with Enduring, Quickening, and Thrift.
• Poison is now a subtype of Elemental damage.
• Antidotes remove poison applied by Imbue Poison and briefly grant immunity to it.

Wind Strike

• Empowers your next three attacks to launch piercing arcs of wind. The effect lasts 8 seconds.
• Deals 10 Wind damage, costs 30 Mana, and has a 2-second cooldown.
• Combines with Colossal, Enduring, Quickening, Rend, Thrift, and Wither.

Modifier Runestones

In addition, eight Modifier Runestones let you change how all the previously listed ability Runestones work.

Colossal

• Increases area damage and size while making projectiles larger but slower.
• Increases damage by 40%, area of effect by 60%, and projectile size by 150%.
• Costs 60% more Mana and reduces projectile speed by 50%.

Enduring

• Extends ability duration by 50%.
• Costs 30% more Mana and increases cooldown by 60%.

Quickening

• Makes abilities faster and more frequent but reduces their damage.
• Reduces damage by 25%, Mana cost by 20%, and cooldown by 30%.
• Abilities expire 20% faster and move 40% faster.

Rebound

• Makes projectiles bounce off enemies two additional times, with damage reduced by 20% per bounce.
• Costs 25% more Mana, increases cooldown by 30%, and increases projectile speed by 40%.

Rend

• Causes enemies to bleed for 6 seconds, dealing 2 Physical damage per second and increasing Physical damage taken by 15%.
• Reduces ability damage by 20%, increases Mana cost by 20%, and increases cooldown by 25%.

Splinter

• Splits projectiles into additional projectiles that cannot split again. Damage decreases by 30% with each split, and projectile and area sizes are reduced by 30%.
• Creates two additional splits, costs 25% more Mana, and increases cooldown by 20%.

Thrift

• Reduces Mana costs by 25% but also reduces ability damage by 20%.

Wither

• Applies a 2-second debuff that reduces enemy movement speed by 10% and Physical, Elemental, and Projectile damage by 15%.
• Reduces ability damage by 30%, increases Mana cost by 20%, and increases cooldown by 30%.

Mana & Casting

Once you have one equipped, you gain a Mana bar, displayed where the Stamina bar was previously. Mana will passively regenerate over time and is used for all abilities granted by Runestones.

Signature abilities now restore Mana whenever they hit an enemy, and hitting several at once will restore more Mana. However, you move 40% slower while casting, so use your new abilities wisely.

In addition, this is only the tip of the iceberg. More Abilities and modifiers will roll out in later patches, and since it’s Hytale, there will be thousands of Mods in the coming months, so there’s a lot to look forward to with this brand-new system.