When do you start reading runes?

[Wyldlyf]

I've finally figured out the discipline of reading a single rune for the CA I want to use and then socketing runes or wearing bonus armor to boost the level.

I've got my necromancer vamp up to level 67 with only a single rune read for each of my skills, but I'm wondering whether it is time to start reading a few runes for those skills.

Does anybody have any advice?

[pevil]

I tend to read 'em when I want lol. By sticking to only a couple of CAs on each char I find that i don't affect my drop rate too much at all. For example on my BM I have Ring of Ice which I keep as high as I can while keeping the regen less than the duration of 20s, and I have Ice Shards, which I keep on 1s regen. This means though I've read a lot of RoI, I've barely used an IS and seems to keep me at a good drop rate.

I also wait until I have maybe half an inventory full of runes before I swap them/eat them.

[ten76]

I usually do the same. Only time I stop reading runes is if the reg time for the CA I'm using gets too high.

Only reason really to only read one rune (or as few as possible) is if you want a rune farmer that can provide runes for your other toons

[Dags]

I've finally figured out the discipline of reading a single rune for the CA I want to use and then socketing runes or wearing bonus armor to boost the level.

I've got my necromancer vamp up to level 67 with only a single rune read for each of my skills, but I'm wondering whether it is time to start reading a few runes for those skills.

Does anybody have any advice?

Mate I read very few runes, but socket anything that will boost damage so as to keep my regen times way down. In the early stages, up to lvl 100 I don't normally read anymore than 20 runes, but using different armour parts build a combo that has spells way higher. I make sure I have stacks of concentration potions and survive using combos.

I did have an uber Daemon witrh BD at 150 and regen at .5, BD at 150 as well. The only problem was that it had to stay away from being hit by anything.

That toon is now 181 with BD at 166. I had to change my setup (armour, socketing etc) so that it can survive UW. I have level 166 Blazing Disk at 6.6 regen. all other magic spells are in excess of lvl 90 and all have a regen of around 0.6.

[FrostElfGuard]

You need to keep your killing speed up. If your resurrected friends cannot kill your enemies quick enough, you're in trouble.

When I was pursuing a Magic Vamp, I wanted to keep all the bats going, and use Awaken Dead figuring that the dead would be stronger/more hp/more damage dealing than their living counterparts...so they would rock.

She got shelved as my attention for a toon lapses.

If you find that you can read less than 10% of your toon's level (and boost by armour/socketing/combo) as necessary, you could have a lot of fun.

The magic numbers are 2.2 runes read/level for a BM (an unread rune carried around counts as 1/2, and I **think** armour bonuses/socketed also count as 1/2). The lowest rune user is a Glad who gets 1.2 runes/level.

Based on these formulas, you can see if you're at the target level or not. If you're underpowered, you'll get runes dropping.

The trouble occurs if you're not getting runes, but not killing foes. A stall could mean you need to push things like Weapon Lore, Magic Lore, % of X goes to Y type of damage, Z% damage type enhancements (rings and amulets).