Some existing keystone masteries will be transferred into the new runes system

Some of League of Legends’ keystone masteries will be grandfathered into the new runes system, according to Riot’s announcement yesterday.

This news goes along with last month’s reveal of Runes Reforged, the new runes system, which will combine League’s runes and masteries into one easier-to-use yet more pivotal runes system.

The new system will highlight keystone runes as the most impacting and important decision when choosing runes for a game, just as keystone masteries hold that role now. The biggest difference between keystone masteries and the keystone runes yet to come is that keystone runes are supposed to feel extremely important rather than just be a helpful buff. To give you an idea of how big keystone runes will be—one of the keystones that have been revealed grants its user 60 percent more attack speed and temporarily raises the attack speed cap. Pretty crazy, right? Well, that’s the point.

So in order to bring some of the keystone masteries into this system, they’ll have to be significantly amped up, because none of them carry that kind of weight as of yet. Riot has opened a community vote on the matter though, so if you’d like to see a specific keystone mastery become a rune in the new system, head over and cast your own vote.

The only two that stick out as possible contenders, though, would be Thunderlord’s Decree and Stormraider’s Surge. The movement speed from Stormraider’s is dramatic enough to feel like it could potentially be included in the new system. The damage gained from Thunderlord’s doesn’t seem like it could be at that level right now, but with some tweaks, it could fit in perfectly. Imagine a Thunderlord’s proc that deals a quarter of your health, but the enemy has to hit you five times instead of three. That’s just one idea.

It’s certainly difficult to give that level of power to runes without some becoming clear favorites. If Courage of the Colossus was made powerful enough to be a new keystone rune, we’d be right back to where we were at the start of the season where every tank and their cousins ran that mastery no matter the situation.

The new Runes Reforged system is slated to release during the Preseason Update for Season Eight, which will likely be during the Fall of this year.