A Guide to Resolve Runes in League of Legends
Image Credit: Riot Games, League of Legends
Resolve runes in League of Legends are meant for champions who need extra durability, healing, and crowd control. This path is especially useful for tanks, certain support champions, and bruisers who engage in extended fights or focus on protecting their allies rather than dishing out damage. Resolve runes allow champions to endure more damage, resist crowd control, and heal throughout battles. Here’s a full breakdown of the Resolve rune path, including details on each rune and tips for making the most of them.
Note: If you want to check out our other rune guides you can find them here.
Resolve Runes: What They Are and How They Work
The Resolve rune path focuses on survivability, with bonuses that increase health, resistances, healing, and crowd control abilities. These runes are ideal for champions who thrive in long fights and need to withstand heavy damage. Tanks, support champions, and certain bruisers get the most value from the Resolve path.
Choosing a Keystone: The Backbone of Resolve Runes
Resolve has three keystone runes that cater to champions focused on defense, crowd control, and healing. Here’s a look at each keystone and when it’s most effective.
Grasp of the Undying
Effect: Every few seconds in combat, your next attack on an enemy champion heals you and increases your maximum health.
Best For: Tanky champions and bruisers who rely on frequent trades, like Shen, Sion, and Nasus.
Tip: Grasp of the Undying is a solid choice for champions who want to gradually build up health, allowing you to outlast enemies in extended trades.
Aftershock
Effect: After immobilizing an enemy, gain bonus resistances for a short time, followed by an explosion of damage around you.
Best For: Champions with reliable crowd control, like Leona, Alistar, and Malphite.
Tip: Aftershock is perfect for champions who need extra resistances in the heat of a fight, especially after initiating with crowd control abilities.
Guardian
Effect: Protects nearby allies, granting them a shield if they take damage.
Best For: Support champions like Rakan, Thresh, and Janna who focus on protecting allies.
Tip: Guardian is an excellent choice for defensive supports who want to shield their teammates during critical moments, providing a layer of safety in team fights.
Resolve’s Secondary Runes: Building on Your Foundation
Resolve’s secondary runes provide further durability, healing, and crowd control benefits. Choose two secondary runes to complement your build based on your champion’s needs.
Tier 1: Endurance (Durability and Healing)
Demolish
Effect: Charges a powerful attack against towers after standing near them for a short time, dealing bonus damage.
Best For: Tanky champions who can withstand turret aggro, like Ornn, Garen, and Volibear.
Tip: Demolish helps champions push objectives, making it a great choice if you frequently split-push or need to secure early tower plates.
Font of Life
Effect: Marking enemies with crowd control heals allies who attack them.
Best For: Support champions who often apply crowd control, such as Braum, Taric, and Nami.
Tip: Font of Life is especially useful in team fights, allowing your allies to heal while focusing down crowd-controlled targets.
Shield Bash
Effect: After gaining a shield, your next basic attack deals bonus adaptive damage.
Best For: Champions who gain shields, like Riven, Shen, and Nautilus.
Tip: Shield Bash is great for champions with built-in shielding abilities, adding extra punch to their basic attacks in trades.
Tier 2: Resistance (Defense and Utility)
Conditioning
Effect: After 12 minutes, gain bonus armor and magic resistance.
Best For: Tank champions or any champion needing scaling resistances, like Maokai, Cho’Gath, and Mundo.
Tip: Conditioning is ideal if you want to scale into the late game, adding a significant boost to your resistances after the early phase.
Second Wind
Effect: Provides health regeneration after taking damage from enemy champions.
Best For: Champions who are frequently poked in lane, like Darius, Garen, and Sett.
Tip: Second Wind works well in lanes where you’re likely to take repeated poke, offering a steady recovery to help you survive early trades.
Bone Plating
Effect: After taking damage, reduces the damage from subsequent enemy attacks for a short time.
Best For: Champions who frequently trade in close combat, like Renekton, Irelia, and Fiora.
Tip: Bone Plating is effective for reducing burst damage, making it useful in matchups against champions who rely on short, powerful combos.
Tier 3: Vitality (Sustain and Crowd Control)
Overgrowth
Effect: Increases your maximum health after a certain number of nearby enemy minions or monsters die.
Best For: Champions who benefit from extra health, like tanks and juggernauts such as Zac, Sejuani, and Nunu.
Tip: Overgrowth helps you scale into the late game by increasing your maximum health over time, improving your durability in team fights.
Revitalize
Effect: Boosts healing and shielding power on yourself and allies.
Best For: Healers and shielders like Soraka, Janna, and Lulu.
Tip: Revitalize enhances healing and shields, making it valuable for champions who focus on protecting and sustaining teammates.
Unflinching
Effect: Provides tenacity and slow resistance, increasing further when you’re low on health.
Best For: Frontline champions who deal with crowd control, like Alistar, Warwick, and Leona.
Tip: Unflinching is particularly useful for champions who are vulnerable to crowd control, giving them an edge in prolonged team fights.
Using Resolve as a Secondary Path
Resolve can also work as a secondary path for champions who want extra durability, healing, or utility. Combining Resolve with paths like Precision, Sorcery, or Domination gives you multiple build options:
Precision + Resolve: Champions like Warwick and Irelia can gain durability and healing while focusing on attack speed and sustain in fights.
Sorcery + Resolve: Champions like Vladimir and Singed benefit from Resolve’s sustain while maximizing their spell power and movement boosts.
Using Resolve as a secondary path adds survivability to champions without fully committing to a tanky playstyle.
Tips for Using Resolve Runes Effectively
Choose Based on Playstyle and Opponents: Resolve runes are built for durability, so pick keystones and secondary runes that suit your champion’s role and enemy matchups.
Adapt to Your Champion’s Strengths: Resolve works best for champions who need extra sustain and crowd control. Use it to enhance your champion’s defenses or healing abilities in fights.
Prepare for Extended Fights: Many Resolve runes, like Conditioning and Overgrowth, are stronger in the mid- to late-game, so play patiently until you’re ready to fully engage.
If you select the right Resolve runes, you’ll give your champion the endurance to protect your team, disrupt enemies, and push objectives effectively with little to fear.
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