Endeavoring To Awaken --A Guide To Rune Fencer

I like rune!

I would appreciate run a lot more if the coalition rank system didnt exist :^(

Don't be discouraged dude, just remember: everything in this game can be tanked with Aettir.

Uh, sorry but this just isn't true at all, or is at best very misleading to beginner RUNs. /blu excels in its ability to completely turtle up, and tag a bunch of mobs in a group with a few different options, but it has absolutely no problem whatsoever holding hate on single targets. Flash/Foil/Stun rotation is cool and all but it doesn't mean /blu suffers in keeping one mob's attention, and in non-hybrid situations it excels in generating and maintaning/preserving plenty of CE in addition to VE that is already easy to generate regardless of sub. /blu suffers in lack of dps power when you are hybrid tanking, which is why it's the turtle super-tank sub and not favored for hybrid role.

First time i wore my Runeist coat and epeolatry i felt like Superman.

And everytime i tank i still feel like Superman.

Gs related question but also rune related, Anyone know why the following:


Will not work in gearswap? every other JA using the same line works and GS reacts to, but one for all will not trigger a precast, will still trigger aftercast.

Using arilsan run lua if that helps.

This is because of the capital F in For All. the for has to be like this:
sets.precast.JA['One for All'] = sets.enmity

Wow, that went elsewhere fast... @Fondue: if you're just starting out Rune Fencer, I would suggest get a feel for the different recommended subjobs. They all have different benefits and costs in playstyle.

Plenty of us do appreciate Rune Fencer. It can't be helped if RUN feels like an exclusive club when for a lot of people, the job can have a high barrier for entry.

Yeah i feel like the job only has a high barrier entry cos it has a high learning curve and demands good knowledge of game mechanics to understand, whereas pld is put on aegis with capped DT and you're good to go.

There is less room for failure playing rune as one or two mistakes can be vital so people are sceptical on the job still.

I wouldn't so much say "skeptical" as much as just not prepared to do the work. :/

But what do I know, I partially play RUN because of the fact that it's so busy and attention hungry.

Always the simplest of solutions, thanks!

So after doing many tests and challenges for myself and seeing what is possible and what is not possible for soloing.
I have came to these results:
Rune can solo all of Escha Zi'tah, Escha Ru'aun T1-3 (Vir'ava is pure luck based, will have video soon). 4/5 Ark Angels, 3/4 Gods.
Rune can 3 man Kirin with Geo + Brd and trusts, although incredibly hard. 4 man WoC is possible(Run, geo, brd, whm/roll cor), but all depends on SP rotations tbh.

Reisenjima T1-2 are all easily killed and Neak is able to be soloed(Video will be up soon I think). After countless Yakshi attempts, the best I could ever do was 50%, but it's almost impossible i feel. I have been able to blind Maju as Rune, but i either time out close to 60% or die.

I have attempted soloing some T4s, Teles and Onychop only though.
Below is an attachment from my best Onychophora solo.

My best Solo Onychophora attempt which takes around 20 minutes unfortunately.

And Teles was a lolfail at 95%

I would definitely encourage everyone to try these if you're interested in challenges, it is really fun to see what is possible and what boundaries you can push.

Also, Rune Fencer can solo Gin and Kin from what I've been able to do, I've attempted Fu, but with trusts it is very hard. I will be doing it more to test more and come to a conclusion. Kyou and Kei just aren't possible with trusts and/or solo due to mechanics.

would be interested in seeing a WoC vid if you have one, or to know your general strat/tips, always enjoy seeing people solo things on their job.

For WoC i can definitely try get a video for it, but farming the pops is annoying. The two tries i did do i got 47% the first time, i might have that footage, i'll have to look. and the 2nd attempt was 36%. The first attempt was really good until i was a noob and forgot to change to Hybrid set when wyverns came out so astral flow *** me up

Awesome job bro! It's nice to see/hear. I'm curious, what were some of your strats for some of the Reisen T1's?

I made videos showing how to solo some of the hard T1s such as Golden Kist, Oryx and Sabotender. The rest of the T1s i pretty much just spam WS while half paying attention. I do use the correct runes for each NM though, but then just spam ws mindlessly.

Crom Dubstep however, I go Run/drk and /drk I feel is important for the survival of the trusts. Below 50% Crom gains access to his most dangerous AoE Noahinto or w/e I don't know exact name. But with /drk I take it slow and stun every Noahinto move that tries going off.

I'll put a list of NMs along with what rune i would recommend for each NM and why below, hope that helps.

Crom Dubh - Lux x3 - All of his AoEs are dark based, the most powerful ones anyway. Barpara/bliz.

Dazzling Dolores - Ignis x2 Flabra x1 - Paralyze and Slow are only real status which I feel affect you the most, poison can just be taken off easily.

Gomberry - Ignis x3 - Nothing really to this except resist Paralyze.

Golden Kist - Tellus x1 Sulpor x2 - Barpoison and Barthunder. These runes help resist Stun and the 200 hp/tick poison from Death Trap.

Kabandha - Gelus x3 - mainly just to lower his nuke damage, not that important tbh, they don't hit hard.

Belphagor - Unda x3 then change to Tenebrae x3 after I use Valiance/Vallation. - Unda helps take the edge from his nukes, Tenebrae helps resisting Charm below 25%.

Oryx - Unda x3 - Mainly just to resist amnesia as this NM sucks for long duration of amnesia.

Sabotender Royal - Flabra x3 - Mostly to resist Petrify, if petrify lands you are more than likely gonna wipe. That fight is a pure zerg fight.

Sang Buaya - Tellus x3 - Mostly to resist his Stun spam, you won't resist often, but nothing else is important.

Selkit - Sulpor x3 - This rune to resist poison from landing, Poison landing after you get throat stabbed is more than likely going to kill you.

Taelmoth - Ignis x3 - This NM is near enough all Ice damage, Ignis + Vallation helps reduce that.

Zhudac - Gelus x3 - To mainly lower the damage of some of his AoEs, you can't do anything about his Terror spam, unfortunately.

Opinions on order for AF+2>3 upgrades?

Really depends on how you play RUN, I pretty much went Body > Legs > Feet > Hands/Head.

Body was so for longer events/fights I'd have capped Valiance/Vallation duration for FC/Defense, along with the HP and Resist Elements.

Then I did Legs for my resist set. Feet next for the Pflug boost. Hands/Head can be switched imo depending on what you use for FC in your head slot and how often you use regen.

Nice!

Any tips on Runes & Barspells used for the more tricky NMs from Zitah and Ru'Aun ?

Also, what's your gearsets to allow such challenge to be done (TP/WS/Hybrid/other)?

I'll put that together later on today when I have more free time than now, i'll definitely have that up later no problem.

My DD sets are good, but people can argue BiS or not, but they do work for everything. I will also include my 5 hit + good acc tp set + Reso and Dimi WS set as well as Hybrid and Max Acc set for you.

My Phalanx set is Taeon 2/5 with Phalanx +3, Herculean 2/5 +4 and +5 Phalanx with Relic head +3, mixed with enhancing skill/HP/DT

Body first because it's generally your best body to tank with considering the meva/ele resist/HP/refresh and you can still cap pdt/mdt in other slots. Legs second because they're a solid resist piece as well as idle tank piece if you'd do that for whatever reason. Third I'd do head because it's your best precast option with minimal hp drop.

If you use https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Runefencer!_A_Community_Collaborative_Guide at all, the bottom 3 tank sets are mine and what work best for me. The engaged set allows for maximum HP/meva while maintaining pdt and mdt (with shell) cap for those ***moments where you forget to swap gear and/or get gear locked.

Escha Zi'tah:

Skipping T1s as they are pretty simple.

T2s:
Ionos - Flabra x3 and Barstone/petrify - pretty self explanatory, to resist Petrify from landing.

Sensual Sandy - Any Rune - Sandy is not magic based, she reacts to weapon skill by using a conal terror breath.

Nosoi - Ignis x3 -> Sulpor x3 after Vallation/Valiance - Ignis helps reduce blizzard nuke damage, sulpor helps chances of resisting poison by spell. However you cannot resist the poison aura.

Brittlis - Ignis x2 Flabra x1 + Barparalyze and barstone - chainspell will spam enfeebles on you, Paralyze and slow are biggest concern.

Kamohoalii - Tenebrae x3 - To resist Charm

Umdhlebi - Tenebrae x3 - To resist Charm, although she is unlikely to use Charm, she can use Beautiful Death below 25% if she is alive long enough.

T3s:
Fleetstalker - Unda x3 + Barfire - This NM nukes hard fire damage, aim to proc it when it is casting to lower its Evasion, i recommend /drk to nuke water 1/2 after using a WS.

Shockwave - Lux x3 - Dreadspikes is nasty. Stand behind or on the side of it. Conal instant death from the front.

Urmahlulu - Tellus x3 + Barthunder - Mostly to resist Stun spam and lower Thunderbolt's damage.

Helm:
Pixies - Lux x3 - Bucca uses Dread spikes, Lux lowers the damage and Lux can give you a chance to resist the full dispel.

Blazewing - Unda x3 + Barfire + Amnesia - This nm can often use a move which inflicts slow + a long duration amnesia.

Pazuzu - Lux x3 - To lower the damage from Comet/Impact. Meteor is non-elemental, only One for All can lower the damage, and SP.

Wrathare - Lux x3 + Barblind - Lux is mostly to resist Blind, En-death can't really be resisted aside from gear.

Escha Ru'aun:
I'll skip T1s and T2s lemme know if you need any of them individually.

T3s:
Duke Vepar: Ignis x2 Flabra x1 + Barparalyze and Barstone - Aside from this 200 hp/tick Bio aura this nm is pretty easy. The runes + spells help resist slow and paralyze. Roughly 1350-1400 acc recommended.

Pakecet Lux x3 + Barfire + Amnesia - Aetheric Pull gives Pakecet dread spikes. it also has access to amnesia. This NM is honestly quite hard to solo if you get unlucky, you need a decent shockwave + turtle set when Angry Seas comes.

Vir'ava - Tenebrae x3 + Barfire + Amnesia - Charms quite frequent, Tenebrae resisted it a lot for me. I recommend a trust tank on pop then pull adds away and shockwave -> Bio or wake the black adds up and let vir'ava eat them then zerg. I use my max acc set for this fight which gives me roughly 1700 acc with food and vorseal and a high M.eva to help resist charm as well.

Ark Angels:
AAEV - Tenebrae x3 - Although you can't solo this with trusts you can duo it with a real tank or whm.

AAGK - Ignis x3 + Barpara + Blizzard - resist Paralyze. Kill add every time it pops to allow you to parry.

AAHM - Flabra x1 Ignis x2 + Barparalyze + stone - resist Paralyze and Slow. Nothing else except Mijin Gakur or WS spam.

AAMR - Tenebrae x3 - AAMR gains access to charm at 50%, but can use it before it you take too long to kill. Can charm many times.
I'd recommend 1550-1600 acc, she is a thf and very evasive.

AATT - Ignis x2 Flabra x1 + Barparalyze and stone - Same as AAHM, just resist paralyze and petrify. Meteor is non-elemental

Gods:
Byakko - Tenebrae x3 + Barfire + amnesia - Byakko hits very hard, and his En-light hits hard as well, Tenebrae not only reduces his damage, but can also proc white from additional effect dark damage. I'd recommend 1550-1600 acc requirement

Genbu - Sulpor x3 - Although Rune cannot ideally solo Genbu without insane luck, it can be duoed with a Geo with fairly little difficulty i'd say.

Seiryu - Gelus x1 Tenebrae x2 + Baraero - Runes mainly help reduce the damage from hurricane and Radial breath, they can hit very hard. I'd recommend 1600+ acc as this NM can give itself evasion boosts.

Suzaku - Unda x3 + Barfire - Unda reduces damage from chainspell nukes. This nm is pretty easy tbh, just very evasive. I'd recommend 1600+ acc needed.

Kirin/Kouryu - Flabra x3 + Barstone + Petrify - Runes to reduce damage from spells and tp moves and resist petrify.Although this NM can't be soloed, It can be trioed with Run, geo and bard. I'd not recommend trioing this however, it is absolutely a nightmare having to main DD while supertank all adds when they come, it is hard. I'd recommend 1700 acc requirement. I'd not recommend Low manning without Epeolatry, it is hard enough as it is.

This was one of my original and first attempts at low manning Kirin. We recovered and won that attempt. I eventually got more successful and was able to 3 man it. Will record when possible.

Warder of Courage - Tenebrae x3 + Barpetrify and Stone - Resist charm from WoC himself, you cannot resist charm from Wyverns though. Only from charm buffer. I'd say roughly 1750-1800 acc is needed to cap.

Also I want to apologise for this long *** post, but I do hope it helps.

Edit: I will include sets into my rune guide and link that once done, i don't know how to do it on ffxiah.

https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Rune_Fencer_End-Game_Tank_Guide
Near the bottom I included some of the DD sets I use which are orientated with solo and low man set ups.

At risk of showing off my ignorance, I always thought the legs were basically trash compared to even empy legs bc having higher magic evasion was better than resist all unless your meva is floored vs your target. Something about resist all being halved vs NMs, putting it at the equivalent of the same value meva if you're low but without the potential mitigation benefits. Going off the Magic Evasion page on bg-wiki. Did I get it mixed?

Didn't get it mixed at all, that is true. It's a personal preference of mine because rune has much higher meva than most jobs between gear, spells, and ja. So for meva/resist set. I stack meva as well as status resist + if it makes sense doing so.

Thank you very very much for all the explanation !
That's great , I love doing solo challenge on blu and rdm, and wanted to try my new RUN, thanx alot !

Huge ACC gain as well.

If you want acc wouldn't you just use carmine tho? I guess if you ever need a ton of acc + also meva it'd be nice but that sounds incredibly niche.

I wouldn't:

Carmine Cuisses +1 Ex
[Legs] All Races
DEF:122 HP+50 STR+30 VIT+17 AGI+17 INT+29 MND+16 CHR+16 Accuracy+35 Attack+35 Evasion+27 Magic Evasion+80 "Magic Def. Bonus"+4 Healing magic skill +18 Enhancing magic skill +18 Spell interruption rate down 20% Movement speed +18% Haste+6% Set: Increases Accurary
LV 99 RDM PLD DRK RNG DRG BLU COR RUN


vs


Rune. Trousers +3 Rare Ex
[Legs] All Races
DEF:137 HP+80 MP+62 STR+39 VIT+26 AGI+30 INT+40 MND+28 CHR+21 Accuracy+49 Evasion+58 Magic Evasion+99 "Magic Def. Bonus"+6 Divine magic skill +19 Haste+6% Resistance to all status ailments +10 Physical damage taken -5% Set: Increases Accuracy, Ranged Accu
LV 99 RUN

And if you aren't tanking and just stacking Meva I'd use Turms:

Turms Subligar +1
[Legs] All Races
DEF:137 HP+122 STR+30 DEX+5 VIT+16 AGI+37 INT+30 MND+17 CHR+17 Accuracy+51 Evasion+84 Magic Evasion+147 "Magic Def. Bonus"+9 Haste+9% "Regen"+8 Critical hit rate +8%
LV 99 THF DNC RUN

But now you're talking about a high acc hybrid tanking set? That's even more niche, given that meg +2 pants exist for free!

I also find Runeist +3 legs to be incredibly niche, and probably the lowest priority AF upgrade. Like you said, only real solid use case would be if you wanted strong Meva along with acc... and that would be extremely rare. There are other better pieces for every common scenario:

Meva/resist focus: Even NQ Turms (Meva+137) are significantly better for than Runeist +3 (Meva+99 and Resist+10 that's halved on NMs).

General tanking/PDT/Meva: Erilaz +1 are better, with a great combination of PDT-7%, Meva+107, Inquartata +2, Enm+11, and set bonus with other Erilaz pieces. Plus, it's practically a given than Erilaz +2/+3 will bury other tanking options even more, so any other option is living on borrowed time and soon to be obsolete.

Hybrid offense/PDT or Acc swap:Meghanada Chausses +2 are a better hybrid offense/PDT piece: Acc+49 Atk+45 TA+5%, along with solid defensive stats PDT-6% and Meva +69 (unlisted, but tested). If you care about offense/TP generation enough that you're trying to gear for accuracy, I wouldn't really bother with Carmine+1 or Runeist+3 legs in most cases since you can get slightly less Acc along with TA on Meghanada.


As for which AF to upgrade:
1) Body first, yeah. Great tanking piece.
2) Hands are probably next. This one depends on how much use you get out of Gambit, but 2 more seconds of duration for each upgrade +2/+3 can be helpful if you're working with a magic zerg strategy.

I wouldn't call any of the other pieces hugely necessary, but:
3) Head I guess isn't bad for minor improvements to FC/HP. Not a huge priority, but perhaps do the relatively inexpensive +2 for the bump in FC/HP, and eventually upgrade to +3 as a minor luxury if you have no other more pressing uses for cards or gil.
4) Feet for Pflug macro? Not hugely impactful though.
5) Legs really aren't that useful thanks to the other better alternatives noted above.