Rune swords are created when a blacksmith brands a series of three runestones onto a silver sword. Steel swords can not be branded, they must be reforged, although the actual process for the upgrades within the confines of the game is very similar.
Branding runes onto a basic silver sword enhances the basic qualities of the sword providing a number of different options which vary with the selection of the runes.
| Icon | Name | Runes | Information | Buy | Sell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Three Earth Rune sword |  |
Damage +45% Chance of critical effect: Knockdown +75% Silver sword with three Earth runes. Used in fighting monsters. Ineffective against humans. |
1000 
|
200
|
| Two Earth, One Sun Rune sword |  |
Damage +30% Chance of critical effect: Blinding +50% Chance of critical effect: Knockdown +25% Chance of critical effect: Precise hit +25% Silver sword with a Sun rune and two Earth runes. Used in fighting monsters. Ineffective against humans. Note: this is the only sign combination you can pay to burn into witcher silver blade by blacksmith during act III. |
1000
|
200
| |
| One Earth, Two Sun Rune sword | |
Damage +15% Chance of critical effect: Blinding +25% Chance of critical effect: Knockdown +50% Chance of critical effect: Precise hit +50% Silver sword with an Earth rune and two Sun runes. Used in fighting monsters. Ineffective against humans. |
800
|
160
| |
| One Moon, Two Earth Rune sword |  |
Damage +30% Chance of critical effect: Knockdown +75% Increases opponent's sensitivity to silver +15% Silver sword with a Moon rune of and two Earth runes. Used in fighting monsters. Ineffective against humans. |
1400
|
280
| |
| Two Moon, One Earth Rune sword | |
Damage +30% Chance of critical effect: Knockdown +75% Increases opponent's sensitivity to silver +30% Silver sword with an Earth rune and two Moon runes. Used in fighting monsters. Ineffective against humans. Bug:The +30% damage boost does not work, which effectively causes this sword to deal less damage than much cheaper alternatives. |
1600
|
320
| |
 |
Three Moon Rune sword | |
Damage based on combat style Increases opponent's sensitivity to silver +45% Silver sword with three Moon runes. Used in fighting monsters. Ineffective against humans. |
1600
|
320
|
| One Sun, One Moon, One Earth Rune sword | |
Damage +15% Chance of critical effect: Blinding +25% Chance of critical effect: Knockdown +25% Chance of critical effect: Incineration +25% Increases opponent's sensitivity to silver +15% Silver sword with a Sun rune, Moon rune and Earth rune. Used in fighting monsters. Ineffective against humans. |
1400
|
280
| |
| One Sun, Two Moon Rune sword | |
Damage based on combat style Chance of critical effect: Blinding +25% Chance of critical effect: Incineration +25% Increases opponent's sensitivity to silver +30% Silver sword with a Sun rune and two Moon runes. Used in fighting monsters. Ineffective against humans. |
1400
|
280
| |
| Two Sun, One Moon Rune sword | |
Damage based on combat style Chance of critical effect: Blinding +50% Chance of critical effect: Incineration +50% Increases opponent's sensitivity to silver +15% Silver sword with a Moon rune and two Sun runes. Used in fighting monsters. Ineffective against humans. |
1000
|
200
| |
 |
Three Sun Rune sword | |
Damage based on combat style Chance of critical effect: Blinding +75% Chance of critical effect: Incineration +75% Increases opponent's sensitivity to silver +15% Silver sword with three Sun runes. Used in fighting monsters. Ineffective against humans. |
400
|
80
|
Swords by Stats[]
| Runes | Damage | Knockd. | Blinding | Pr. Hit | S. Sens. | Incin. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
+45% | +75% | ||||
|
|
+30% | +25% | +50% | +25% | ||
|
|
+15% | +50% | +25% | +50% | ||
|
|
+75% | +15% | +75% | |||
|
|
+50% | +15% | +50% | |||
|
|
+25% | +30% | +25% | |||
|
|
+45% | |||||
|
|
+30% | +75% | +30% | |||
|
|
+30% | +75% | +15% | |||
|
|
+15% | +25% | +25% | +15% | +25% |
Damage vs Sensitivity[]
Both increase the overall damage delt during combat, however, sensitivity does not stack with other damage boosting effects. Thus when boosting damage to the absolute maximum it is the Three Earth Rune sword that will deal the highest damage of all rune swords.
Notes[]
- The critical effect bonuses do not add those effects to normal attacks.
- As of the Enhanced Edition, it is not possible to collect rune swords (even after reforging your first rune sword), a newly forged rune sword replaces the older one. This has been tested with the Murky Waters blacksmith and the Order blacksmith in Chapter V.
- Only one set of runes can be applied to a silver sword at any given time and the resulting effects do not stack.
- When a silver sword is branded, the resulting rune sword always uses the default silver sword model, regardless of the original appearance of the weapon. It is thus impossible to forge a rune sword that appears as the Moonblade or Aerondight models.
- As of the Enhanced Edition, when a silver sword is branded, the resulting rune sword's stats replace the base sword's stats, regardless of the original stats of the weapon. It is thus impossible to forge a rune sword that stacks up Moonblade's or Aerondight's stats and stats given by runes.
- It is possible to "steal" runes from blacksmith by simply dropping (selling is also possible) them during transaction, and later re-use them to another sword. Works same with meteorite pieces.