The Witcher
Permanent runes are branded onto blades to produce silver swords of a higher quality than the base weapon, they can not be used on steel swords. The permanent rune stones are combined in threes.
There are also temporary runes, which Geralt can apply himself. These have blade enhancing effects similar to oils, and cannot be used at the same time as an oil on a given blade. Temporary runes can be applied to either steel or silver swords and provide a temporary upgrade to the weapon, similar to weapon oil in duration. The enhancement depends on the rune stone used, but all last for a period of 24 hours.
| Permanent runes: | Temporary runes: |
|---|---|
 Earth rune
|  Perun
|
 Moon rune
|  Svarog
|
 Sun rune
|  Vodon
|
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Runes are placed in the rune slots for swords to enhance their base statistics.
| Weapon enchantments | Magical glyphs |
|---|---|
 Earth rune
|  Animal rune
|
 Fire rune
|  Death rune
|
 Moon rune
|  Sky rune
|
 Sun rune
|  Time rune
|
 Ysgith rune
|
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Runestones can be applied to empty upgrade slots on armor and weapons.
- Similar to glyphs, runes give upgrades to stats and apply buffs to weapons.
- Runes are acquired from monster nests, weapon smiths, armor smiths and crafting.
- Runes can be crafted with crafting diagrams in 4 stages:
- 'Empty' Lesser runestone > Lesser runestone > Runestone > Greater runestone
| Lesser Rune | Image | Rune | Image | Greater Rune | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lesser Dazhbog runestone
2% Chance to cause burning |  | Dazhbog runestone
3% Chance to cause burning | | Greater Dazhbog runestone
5% Chance to cause burning |  |
| Lesser Chernobog runestone
2% Attack Power |  | Chernobog runestone
3% Attack Power | | Greater Chernobog runestone
5% Attack Power |  |
| Lesser Stribog runestone
2% Chance to stagger |  | Stribog runestone
3% Chance to stagger | | Greater Stribog runestone
5% Chance to stagger |  |
| Lesser Svarog runestone
+10 Armor piercing |  | Svarog runestone
+20 Armor piercing | | Greater Svarog runestone
+30 Armor piercing |  |
| Lesser Triglav runestone
2% Chance to stun |  | Triglav runestone
3% Chance to stun | |
Greater Triglav runestone 5% Chance to stun |  |
| Lesser Perun runestone
2% Adrenaline point gain |  | Perun runestone
3% Adrenaline point gain | | Greater Perun runestone
5% Adrenaline point gain |  |
| Lesser Veles runestone
2% Sign intensity |  | Veles runestone
3% Sign intensity | | Greater Veles runestone
5% Sign intensity |  |
| Lesser Morana runestone
2% Chance to poison |  | Morana runestone
3% Chance to poison | | Greater Morana runestone
5% Chance to poison |  |
| Lesser Zoria runestone
2% Chance to freeze |  |
3% Chance to freeze | | Greater Zoria runestone
5% Chance to freeze |  |
| Lesser Devana runestone
2% Chance to cause bleeding |  | Devana runestone
3% Chance to cause bleeding | | Greater Devana runestone
5% Chance to cause bleeding |  |
Hearts of Stone expansion
Along with runewords and glyphwords, Hearts of Stone adds two new runestones which are only needed to craft the Dumplings runeword.
