PoE 2 Best Runes for Weapons (Crossbow & Bow), Armor & Different Builds

In Path of Exile 2, Runes are a significant aspect of character customization, the selection of runes involves understanding your damage type, and gear pieces and build strengths/weaknesses. This article will dive into the best PoE 2 runes for weapons, armor, and various class builds.

Path of Exile 2 Rune List

In Path of Exile 2, Runes are items that can be inserted onto any gear piece with an unfilled socket to get additional stats and resistances. Each Rune provides different bonuses depending on whether it is placed in a weapon or armor, with a total of 10 Runes available, each offering unique effects such as increased damage, life leech, or resistance boosts. Once a Rune is socketed, it cannot be removed or destroyed, make sure to choose wisely when equipping them. Runes can be obtained as random drops from enemies, particularly from rare or unique monsters, and can also be traded or acquired through the Currency Exchange system in the game.

Path of Exile 2 Best Runes for Weapons

Best Crossbow Rune in PoE 2

1. Iron Rune

Iron Rune provides 20% increased Physical Damage, and is considered optimal for crossbows in Path of Exile 2 primarily because physical damage serves as the base for damage conversion mechanics. Since abilities like grenades and explosive shots convert physical damage to elemental damage, the iron rune's physical damage boost gets multiplied through these conversions, ultimately providing better scaling compared to direct elemental damage additions from other runes. 

2. Storm Rune

Adding 1-20 Lightning Damage, Storm Rune can be effective for elemental conversion crossbow builds. It's particularly valuable when combined with skills or passives that convert physical damage to lightning, though generally less optimal than pure physical scaling.

3. Desert Rune

Offering 7-11 Fire Damage, Desert Rune suits fire-based conversion builds. While not the primary choice for most crossbow setups, it can be effective when specifically building around fire damage or ignite mechanics.

4. Vision Rune

Providing a +100 Accuracy Rating, Vision Rune solves early-game accuracy issues. It's especially valuable during leveling phases or for builds that haven't invested heavily in accuracy through other sources.

Best Bow Rune in PoE 2

1. Iron Rune

For physical bow builds, Iron Rune's 20% increased Physical Damage provides reliable scaling. It's particularly effective with skills like Split Arrow or Puncture that rely on physical damage as their base.

2. Storm Rune

Essential for Lightning Arrow builds, Storm Rune's 1-20 Lightning damage offers excellent scaling potential. The wide damage range synergizes well with lucky damage modifiers and critical strike builds.

3. Desert Rune

Perfect for Fire Arrow builds, Desert Rune's consistent 7-11 Fire Damage provides reliable elemental damage. It works particularly well with builds focusing on ignite proliferation or fire conversion.

4. Glacial Rune

Ideal for Ice Shot or cold conversion builds, Glacial Rune adds 6-10 Cold Damage. This rune excels in builds utilizing freeze mechanics or cold damage scaling.

Path of Exile 2 Best Runes for Armor

1. Body Rune

The +25% maximum Life bonus makes Body Rune essential for life-based builds. It provides a substantial survivability increase that scales well with other life investments from the passive tree and gear.

2. Iron Rune

With a 20% increased Armour, Evasion, and Energy Shield, Iron Rune offers flexible defensive scaling. It's particularly valuable for hybrid defense builds or those stacking multiple defensive layers.

3. Stone Rune

Adding +40 to Stun Threshold, Stone Rune helps prevent stun-lock situations. Essential for builds without other stun mitigation, especially casters and ranged characters.

4. Vision Rune

The 10% increased Life and Mana recovery from Flasks makes Vision Rune valuable for builds relying heavily on flask usage. It improves both survivability and sustains during extended fights.

Path of Exile 2 Best Runes for Different Builds

1. Physical Attack Builds

Physical attack builds in Path of Exile 2 primarily benefit from Iron Runes as their core choice.

• Iron Rune: The 20% increased Physical Damage provided by Iron Runes directly scales the base damage output, making it particularly effective for builds using skills like Split Arrow, Heavy Strike, or Puncture. This scaling becomes even more powerful when combined with other sources of physical damage increases from the passive tree and gear.

• Body Rune: serves as a crucial defensive layer for physical attack builds, offering 25% increased maximum Life when socketed in armor pieces. This substantial life pool increase is particularly important for melee physical attackers who need to survive close combat encounters. The synergy between high-life pools and physical damage leech mechanics makes this combination especially potent.

• Vision Rune: plays a vital role in ensuring consistent damage output by providing a +100 Accuracy Rating. This accuracy boost is especially important during the early to mid-game progression when accuracy on gear and the passive tree might be limited. For builds using skills like Dual Strike or Cleave, maintaining high accuracy prevents damage loss from missed attacks.

2. Elemental Attack Builds

Elemental attack builds require careful consideration of damage type matching. For hybrid scaling approaches, combining Iron Runes with elemental runes creates a balanced damage profile. This setup proves particularly effective for skills that convert partial physical damage to elemental damage, like Lightning Arrow's 40% physical to lightning conversion. The dual scaling allows for better damage optimization and helps overcome both physical and elemental mitigation mechanics of enemies.

• Storm Rune: excels in Lightning Arrow or lightning conversion builds, providing 1-20 Lightning damage that benefits from "lucky" damage rolls and critical strike multipliers.

• Desert Rune: suits Fire Arrow builds with their consistent 7-11 Fire damage, particularly effective for ignite-based strategies.

• Glacial Rune: complements cold conversion builds like Ice Shot, offering reliable 6-10 Cold damage for freeze mechanics.

3. Spell-Based Builds

• Spell casters prioritize Mind Runes for their mana pool enhancement, providing +20 to maximum Mana. This larger mana pool is essential for sustaining high-cost spells and supporting additional aura reservations. The increased mana pool also provides better protection for builds utilizing Mind Over Matter mechanics, effectively increasing their survivability.

• Inspiration Runes become crucial for spell builds' sustained casting capability, offering a 15% increased Mana Regeneration Rate. This regeneration boost helps maintain consistent spell casting without interruption, particularly important for builds using channeling skills or rapid-cast spells. The improved mana recovery also reduces reliance on mana flasks, freeing up flask slots for other utilities.

• Elemental damage runes in spell builds should match the primary damage type of the chosen spells. Storm Runes complement lightning spells like Arc or Ball Lightning, Desert Runes enhance Fire spells such as Fireball or Flame Wall, and Glacial Runes boost Cold spells like Frozen Pulse or Ice Nova. This matching ensures maximum damage effectiveness and takes advantage of any elemental damage scaling from the passive tree and gear. The combination of appropriate elemental runes with mana sustain creates a solid foundation for any spell-based character's success in both clearing and boss encounters.

Tips for Choosing Runes in Path of Exile 2

1. Leveling Phase:

• Focus on flat damage additions early

• Prioritize survival runes in armor slots

• Balance offense and defense based on content difficulty

2. Early Mapping:

• Transition to percentage-based scaling

• Ensure resistance coverage

• Consider utility runes for quality of life

3. Boss Fighting:

• Maximize damage output with appropriate damage type

• Ensure sufficient defenses

• Consider specific mechanics (stun immunity, etc.)

4. Endgame Optimization:

• Calculate exact damage conversion ratios

• Plan multiple rune setups for different scenarios

• Balance opportunity costs of different choices