Guides/Trading Post
Runes, sigils and relics: the upgrades that matter more than the gear
Six runes per armour set, two sigils per weapon and a separate relic slot. How the tiered bonuses work, what shares cooldowns with what, and why runes are wasted before 80.
Gear is half of what your character is worth. The other half is upgrades: runes in armour, sigils in weapons, and a relic in its own slot.
The gap between plain exotic and exotic with the right runes is wider than the gap between exotic and ascended.
Runes
A rune slots into each piece of armour. A full set is six pieces, so six runes.
The bonus climbs in tiers, and only identical runes count toward it.
One rune gives the first bonus, two give the second, and so on to six. Odd tiers usually raise attributes; even tiers grant special effects.
🔴 So five matching runes plus one stray is five tiers, not six. One random rune slotted “for now” devalues the whole set.
Rarity tiers
| Type | Bonuses | Armour requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Minor | 2 | none |
| Major | 4 | level 39 |
| Superior | 6 | level 60 |
| Legendary | 6, the same ones | level 80 |
Every real build uses Superior. Minor and Major are what drops along the way and gets sold for materials.
Underwater the helmet is replaced by aquatic headgear, so keeping all six tiers there needs a seventh matching rune.
Relics
In 2023, with Secrets of the Obscure, part of the sixth-tier rune bonuses moved into a separate item: the relic.
You now have a dedicated relic slot, available from level 60. The effect is no longer tied to one specific rune set, so you can pick runes for their attributes and choose the effect separately.
Core relics are crafted and sold on the trading post. Expansion relics come from collections, instanced content, reward tracks and achievements. In PvP nearly all of them are unlocked from the start.
Sigils
A sigil slots into a weapon. You always have two active:
- one in each hand with one-handed weapons
- two in a single two-handed weapon
The rarity tiers match runes: Minor with no requirement, Major from 39, Superior from 60, plus Legendary.
The two rules people lose money on
🔴 Stacking sigils (Bloodlust, Perception, Corruption) do not work together. Only one is active, and the main-hand weapon takes priority. Slotting two throws one away.
🔴 Identical sigils share cooldowns across weapon sets. Trigger it on the first set and the second set finds it on cooldown. Swapping weapons does not get around it.
Getting them back out
A rune or sigil can be recovered, though not for free:
- Upgrade Extractor, and its endless version, pulls the upgrade and leaves the item
- Black Lion Salvage Kit breaks the item down and returns the upgrade intact
- Ordinary salvage kits destroy the upgrade and leave you materials
Runes are therefore a case where hurrying is expensive.
Practical advice
Slot nothing before 80. Runes do not carry over on their own, and you replace gear every few levels. Putting Superior runes into level 45 armour spends gold on something that lives an hour.
At 80, buy a full set of matching Superior runes. Popular and unpopular runes differ enormously in price, so check the numbers before you commit.
Legendary runes and sigils pay off once you play several builds, because they switch for free. Until then they are an expensive version of the same thing.