Dear Adventurers in Azeroth, welcome to our guide on the bottom feeders amongst season of discovery's rune line up. As always, not all runes are created equal in the ever-changing world of Warcraft. While some entered new heights, others fell into inefficiency depths. Today, we will look at every class's weakest runes— not to criticize them but let us know where they may be lacking or what they could become.

 

• Warrior
• Warlock
• Shaman
• Rogue
• Priest
• Paladin
• Mage
• Hunter
• Druid

 

↖ Warrior

The Warrior class has been through it this season. Dual rune effects for Slam on your belt bring out question marks; Blood Surge and Precise Timing seem like copying one another. However, Blood Frenzy does not do much justice to itself as well. In comparison with more powerful alternatives such as Flagellation or Raging Blow, it only gives three rage whenever a bleed ticks away without making any significant impact. Given limited bleeding options and inconsistent damage output, it is hardly surprising that this rune collects dust.

 

↖ Warlock

Neither have warlocks escaped from the rut with their runes either. Soul Siphon is still as underwhelming as always despite being a phase one relic. Although it raises drain effect damage by up to 18%, this is nothing compared to Master Channeler. Additionally, Shadowflame and Grimoire of Synergy introduced during phase two have turned out to be massive disappointments –the former delivers almost zero damage while the latter offers too little a proc chance for extra damage boost.

 

↖ Shaman

Shamans have had pretty decent updates that buffed very weak Runes before now. Ancestral Guidance remains quite narrow, dwarfed by functioning Shamanistic Rage. With the recent balancing patches, Shamans have a well-rounded set of runes with each having playable options.

 

↖ Rogue

Lots of terrible Runes are present in rogues. Mutilate's reduced cost and increased damage has outshone Slaughter from the Shadows that was once a phase one star. Other than that, Mangoose and Shiv also seem to lack their place in the current meta-game. Poison Knife is just as it sounds – new range option similar to Shiv but one which cannot beat its alternative ability Shadow Step even when put on a spot-light.

 

↖ Priest

Priests have most of the decent runes, which are situationally useful. However, Twisted Faith goes unnoticed as Void Eruption takes center stage. In light of Mind Spike being prevalent as filler spell choice, Twisted Faith hangs perilously because of its link to Mind Flay which is now ignored.

 

↖ Paladin

Paladins have some strong runic lineups in phase two but Aegis seems very limited in terms of where it can be used. Though block mechanic might be great for dungeon or AoE farming scenarios, it does not work well against bosses' heavy hits making it less effective than expected.

 

↖ Mage

Not all mages' runes hit right at home even if they have a wide range of powerful ones before them. Just like Fireball or Arcane Blast will ever stand against such spells as Spellsteal Frostbolt or Frostfire Bolt with low base damage!

 

↖ Hunter

Cobra Strikes' uptime is unsatisfying, Lone Wolf is highly specialized, Carve lacks impact and the connection Serpent Spread has with an underpowered Serpent Sting does not make it an appealing option. Also, Sniper Training has been nerfed and is hence less attractive compared to before, while Steady Shot still remains eclipsed by other abilities.

 

↖ Druid

Druids have seen major changes that made Living Seed as well as Nourish runes previously weak ones. But even now Living Seed barely matters in combat due to prerequisites for crits as well as rivalry with other strong effects such like Furious Stormrage.

 

In the end, there is hope that future updates can change the fate of some runes that may currently be hiding in one of Azeroth's dark corners or remain unknown until they are discovered and popularized through various interactions. For the time being however, this manual will serve as a guiding light for those trying to find their way across World of Warcraft Season of Discovery's rough terrains.