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Runes in Doom Eternal are very useful tools that help the player gain perks within gameplay. Whether it’s things like getting an extra chance when dying or having improved speed – Runes are here to enhance your experience.
There are 12 total Runes in Doom Eternal that you can unlock, and the player gets to customize their loadout based on personal preference.
So, with all the perks and boosts considered, here’s our Doom Eternal Best Runes Ranked in 2024!
The Best Doom Eternal Runes Ranked
Since three of the Runes were only added to The Ancient Gods – Part 1 DLC, we’ll be ranking those separately to the main list because they cannot be used in the main game.
1. Punch and Reave
The Blood Punch shockwave is a great ability in Doom Eternal that can kill weak enemies immediately and it deals a good amount of damage to tougher demons too.
The Punch and Reave rune makes that even better because enemies that die with the shockwave punch will start dropping health. This makes all the difference when you’re surrounded by mobs of enemies, especially if someone like the Marauder manages to slip into the crowd.
It’s easily one of Doom Eternal’s best runes.
2. Air Control
Air movement is an important part of Doom Eternal, as your character will often face foes that are in the air.
And it’s not just airborne foes that you need to jump around for, having good control of the battlefield is always a great thing moving around is an important part of that. And when you face enemies like the Arachnotron, it’s always a good idea to jump at it for a swift attack.
So, Air Control makes moving as easy as moving on the ground. It gives you the ability to do things like changing direction mid-air, which makes dodging projectiles and attacks very easy. If you use air combat to your advantage, it’s one of Doom Eternal’s best runes without a doubt!
3. Saving Throw
Saving Throw is an excellent perk, especially for the Ultra-Nightmare difficulty. With this Rune equipped, if you’re about to die, the death blow that is dealt to you will not kill you. Instead, time will slow down a little and you will get the chance to recover without taking any damage – which can save your life in difficult scenarios.
It only triggers once per life, and then resets with death. But it can still make the ultimate difference when you need just one more chance in the higher difficulties.
4. Blood Fueled
Doom is a game that is all about action and speed. The Blood Fueled rune gives you a speed boost every time you get a Glory Kill – which means that you can get multiple kills in a short window of time since normally you might be unable to make it in time to the next staggered enemy.
It’s very useful for gamers who prefer fast-paced action. And it triggers when you kill using a Chainsaw and the Crucible too!
5. Savagery
Savagery is another rune that is perfect for those who like fast-paced action. And if you’re replaying the game on a higher difficulty (or just in general), then it’s the perfect rune for you because it speeds up how long a Glory Kill takes.
The animations are very good and fun to watch, but they can also start to feel a bit repetitive since some of them last a couple of seconds.
So, this perk essentially fast-forwards the process and if you pair it with Blood Fueled, the game will run at a Turbo speed that takes the experience to a whole new level.
6. Chrono Strike
Bullet-time is a mechanic that shooters have benefitted from for a very long time, and Doom Eternal is no exception. Every time you’re in the air, when you use the Chrono Strike rune, time will slow down when you hold your alternate fire button.
You can use this to take down enemies that are in the air, or mobs of enemies waiting for you on the ground. And it can be used to dodge projectiles too, which can be pretty useful when surrounded by annoying enemies.
7. Equipment Fiend
Equipment Fiend reduces the cooldown of your equipment whenever a demon dies from it. For example, Grenades and Ice Bombs count as equipment, and so do other similar things.
The cooldown is roughly 10-15%, so it’s not the greatest help. But since the game is fast-paced, it does end up helping you out in the long run if you rely on the equipment a lot.
8. Dazed and Confused
This rune increases how long your enemies remain staggered. It can be helpful for beginners as you can take longer to perform Glory Kills on enemies. But it’s not that great of a rune for those who are experts at playing Doom Eternal.
Those extra few seconds are not really needed because experienced players are always on the move.
9. Seek and Destroy
This rune increases the range at which you can perform a Glory Kill. It’s a good option if you combine it with something like Blood Fueled and Savagery – but only for hardcore players who want their game to be very fast. If you do love speed so much, it’s the best Doom Eternal combination of runes.
For a casual player, it’s just not worth picking over other, more helpful runes as having a smaller gap in performing Glory Kills is not really necessary for even a semi-good player.
The Ancient Gods – Part 1 Runes Ranked
As briefly mentioned above, three Runes were added to the DLC that cannot be used in the main game. This type of Runes is called a Support Rune and they assist the player in different ways.
An interesting thing to note here is that these runes cannot be used in the normal slot and have their own separate slot.
1. Desperate Punch
Your Blood Punch deals double damage when your health is 75 or lower. This is pretty helpful since it will make you incredibly powerful, especially if you’re about to die and need to be stronger.
2. Break Blast
Whenever you destroy a Weak Point of a demon, it generates a concussive blast that helps the player out, especially in crowded situations since it will push enemies back.
3. Take Back
Whenever a demon attacks you and causes an Extra Life to activate, you can kill it within a short time to gain that Extra Life back that you just lost. Unfortunately, as appealing as this rune sounds, it’s disabled in Ultra-Nightmare and Extra Life modes.
So, the only difficulties that you can use this in don’t need it at all – which makes this the worst Support Rune in the game.
That’s our ranking for Doom Eternal’s best runes in 2022! We hope that you found our guide useful, but always keep in mind that a rune that we rated lower might be better suited to your playstyle than what we rated higher.
We did talk about what would make lower-rated runes great for certain players, so you should still use them if they suit you!
