Introduction

Reddit Start HERE:

Conclusion

This post is made with the assumption that you have read and understand these changes:So, first of all, I wanted to give some context on these rune changes. Most people will know what the changes mean on paper, but they will fail to consider the implication of X rune as compared to the gold efficiency of another rune in that type. What we are seeing is the opening up of Seals. Armor seals will not be standard any more. I expect certain classes to continue to run armor (like AD Carry and Jungle), while others who are more flexible (because of them having more effective hp than the AD Carry class and also because they are subject to different enemy power curves), will likely opt for Multiple Page Setups.Having multiple rune pages set up will probably see a resurgence in Season 4. What we have seen in the past are certain go-to standards drowning out the other options (ex: pre nerf Health Quints in S1, Armor Seals of every season so far). With the rebalancing of runes, you can expect alternatives to Armor Seals to pop up more often. I can't speculate on the implications of the other changes you will see for solo laners, but I expect Health Regeneration Seals and Flat Health Seals to become more popular on Mid and Top Laners, with the potential to run HP Quints in conjunction with Health Seals, or to run a mix on your yellows.(link to reddit post: http://www.reddit.com/r/summonerschool/comments/215oxp/season_4_solo_lanes_runes_discussion_and_blog_post/ Every champion is getting 4 armor to compensate for the changes to Armor Seals. So let's take a look at some of your available starts as a Solo laner post-runes update:Ruby Crystal + 2 hp potsDorans Shield + 1 hp potCloth Armor + 5 hp pots2 Rejuv Beads + 3 hp potsDorans Ring + 1 hp potDorans Blade + 1 hp potIt has been proven that health seals will be more gold efficient than armor seals at early levels up to 1000 health, but you should consider what points in the game you would like to be resistant against which type of damage. For most people that is going to mean running Armor Seals on AD Carry and Jungle and different runes on everyone else, at least as far as Seals go. If you start cloth armor and health seals, you now have a ton of sustain from potions.Hp Seals are going to be popular, but that doesn't always mean they will grant the most effective hp at every point in the game. Dependent on your build, champion selection and also who you are fighting against, the calculations are going to vary and it's not feasible to go through and calculate every potential situation. You can calculate a few that are important to you, for instance:"how much effective hp would Armor Seals give me @ Lvl 16 versus Health Seals if my champion has high HP per level values?"Of course, your build plays into this calculation as well and as stated, these things depend on who you are, who you are up against and the types of damage that they deal. It is important to note that while Armor Seals provide no benefit against Red Buff (in fact, all true damage), Health Seals actually give a nice boost when dealing with True Damage. That is to say you have more resistance against FLAT True Damage (not like Vayne). It is a well known counter in League of Legends to counter True Damage with health. If you build resistance, you still have the same puny hp pool and you gain no benefit from your purchase (think of a pre nerf Olaf spamming E in lane against your double cloth armor).In conjunction with the changes to Ruby Crystal and Armor Seals, despite seeing no changes made to the item whatsoever, you may see more cloth armor starts. It builds into end game items and has flexible build options if you change your mind mid build. It is in the benefit of a solo laner to rune against mixed damage, because you deal with mixed damage on ganks. Not only do you have cloth armor and Health Seals to keep you safe in lane now, you will also have the option to run some health regeneration mixed in. You can even run all health regeneration if you like the idea of being a brick in lane. Health regeneration yellows and quints, as a rune page, and considering that you have so many starting options now, make this a better choice for top lane than for mid, but I imagine that level of regeneration is valuable anywhere as long as you apply consistent pressure to make use of your regen ticks. (hue hue Mordekaiser is back baby Huehueheue)I expect this increased diversity of runes to open up more champion picks and to slightly shift the meta. Armor shred champions will continue to be of high value and we may see some new emergent item builds as people figure out what has the highest 1 and 2 item build potential with their new runes. While some things won't change, there will be more options available should you decide change is right.You can read my blog post from Friday here: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/blog/cloudcarry/followup-to-season-4-ad-carry-runes-ditch-lifesteal-quints-for-armor-pen MediaAlso, come check out the livestream over @He runs a great community broadcast. I'm a moderator there and I am also his main duo queue partner. He doesn't even run commercials! Best Community on TwitchTV.I also stream @, but he streams way more than me, and I frequently duo queue with him. When I'm playing with Mylixia I don't stream, so check him out today!