Suikoden 1 HD: Best Runes For Domination

One of the main ways of strengthening and customizing your party in Suikoden 1 HD is by collecting and equipping Runes. These powerful items can provide powerful spells and effects when applied to a character, so tracking them down is vital to progressing through the game.

Runes are usually found as Orbs, which can be purchased from certain merchants, dropped by enemies, or found in chests throughout Suikoden 1 HD. This guide will explain where to find some of the best Runes in the game, though there will be some location name and character recruitment spoilers by necessity. This list, naturally, doesn’t contain every possible Rune, just those that are most useful in a wide variety of situations.

Story-Locked Runes

Soul Eater (Protagonist-Exclusive: Rune of Life and Death)

The Soul Eater is automatically equipped to the protagonist/McDohl during the early stages of the game, though its power will gradually make itself known as you progress through the story. After certain key moments in the story, Soul Eater will gain access to powerful new spells that will prove incredibly effective against most foes, though its instant death effects will not work on bosses.

Spell	Effect
Finger of Death	Instant Death to One Enemy.
Black Shadow	Deal 300 Damage to All Enemies.
Hades	Sucks all Enemies into a Black Hole, Killing them Instantly.
Judgment	Deals 1500 Damage to One Enemy.

God-Speed (Stallion Exclusive)

The God-Speed Rune, exclusive to Stallion, is a tremendously helpful utility rune for getting around on the world map. It increases your movement speed considerably when traveling on foot, making it easier to run between towns and traverse the map. Stallion will join you automatically during the story after you defeat Kwanda Rosman at Pannu Yakuta. So remember to put him in the party when you need to move quickly.

Best Runes

Prosperity Rune & Fortune Rune

The Prosperity Rune and Fortune Rune are a pair of powerful support runes, with the former doubling Potch earned and the latter doubling EXP earned for the unit equipped with it. You can get one of these runes early in the game by traveling to Sarady alone as soon as you can access the world map (Fortune Rune) or with Ted tagging along right after he first joins your party (Prosperity Rune.) Earning EXP isn’t too much of an issue in this game, so we recommend getting the Prosperity Rune. Additionally, Fortune Runes can be purchased in Kirov later in the game, while Prosperity Runes can only be found as a drop from Pseudo-Sirens near Kirov.

To reach Mt Tigerwolf, which you’ll need to travel through to get to Sarady, you’ll need to head southwest from the capital and cross a bridge. The Mountain will be in the upper left after crossing the bridge, and you’ll probably want to run from as many enemies as possible to make it through safely solo. If you manage to gain a level or two before entering, that’ll help you tank a few hits from the enemies found in the mountains, giving you more opportunities to escape, and you can use the healing items found in chests on the way up to top yourself back up.

Fire Rune & Lightning Rune

The Fire and Lightning Runes are excellent runes for spellcasters who want to dish out damage, especially against groups of foes. You’ll get a Fire Rune early into the story via an unmissable story event, and a character you recruit later into the game joins with a Lightning Rune equipped. To get extra Fire Runes, you’ll want to hunt Kobold Mages in the overworld near the Kobold Village and the Elf Village or purchase them in Rikon. To get more Lightning Runes, you’ll need to reach the Warrior Village and buy them from the shop there.

Later in the game, you’ll want to upgrade to the Rage Rune (Dropped by Elite Soldiers) and the Thunder Rune (Dropped by Simurgh), to get access to the strongest fire and lightning elemental spells. You can also get a guaranteed Rage Rune by Recruiting Alen, and a guaranteed Thunder Rune in a chest at the Floating Fortress of Shasarazade.

Fire Rune		Lightning Rune
Spell	Effect	Spell	Effect
Flaming Arrows	Deal 100 Fire Damage to one enemy.	Angry Blow	Deal 150 Lightning Damage to one enemy.
Firestorm	Deal 150 Fire Damage to all enemies.	Lightning Storm	Deal 100 Lightning Damage to all enemies.
Dancing Flames	Deal 400 Fire Damage to all enemies.	Raging Blow	Deal 600 Lightning Damage to all enemies.
Explosion	Deals 700 Fire Damage to all enemies.	Ball of Lightning	Deals around 1000 Lightning Damage to one enemy.

Water Rune

At the opposite end of the magic spectrum, the Water Rune is the healer’s Rune of choice, especially early on. This powerful rune can be purchased in Sarady or Seika, and can also be dropped by Dagon enemies found around Kirov. This Rune offers powerful single and multi-target healing spells to the wielder, while also allowing them to lower enemy accuracy with mist. Purchasing one as soon as possible is great for keeping your party healthy, and you can take advantage of the lowered accuracy when facing large groups of enemies.

Spell	Effect
Drops of Kindness	Restore 1 ally’s HP to full, Cure all Status Effects.
Fog of Deception	Reduce all enemies accuracy by 20%.
Rain of Kindness	Restores 300 HP to all allies, Cure all Status Effects.
Water of Kindness	Restore All Allies HP to full, Cure all Status Effects.

At a later time, you could replace the Water Symbol with the Dripping Symbol (obtained from Sirens) to unlock the most potent healing charm in the game.

Clone Rune

The Clone Rune is a sweet and simple option for characters that favor their weapons over spell-slinging. In exchange for unbalancing the user, it allows them to deal double damage to their target. Being unbalanced will lock them out of attacking or casting spells for a turn, but they can still defend and use items, so use the turns when they can’t attack to have them heal up allies and play support. You can get a Clone Rune from Mt Tigerwolf, in a chest on the way up the mountain.

Spark Rune

The Spark Rune, found in a chest in Scarleticia Castle, is a support Rune that raises the speed of all other characters in the party to the Rune Bearer’s speed when they are using the attack command. This allows players to massively boost their team’s speed and ensures that even the slowest of allies can attack first in combat, assuming you equip it to someone suitably speedy.

Resurrection Rune

The Resurrection Rune offers a mix of damaging and healing spells, and while it doesn’t offer the raw damage of a Fire or Lightning Rune (excluding its final spell), nor the healing versatility of the Water Rune, it has exclusive access to the only spell that can get allies back on their feet during combat. This, paired with its powerful AOE damage spell, makes it a valuable addition to your team’s loadout.

Spell	Effect
Scolding	Deal 70 Damage to one enemy.
Yell	Revive one ally.
Scream	Restore 300 HP to all allies.
Charm Arrow	Deal 500 Damage to all enemies.

Other Runes that offer mixed damage and healing magic include the Wind Rune and the Cyclone Rune. The Cyclone Rune, in particular, offers a powerful AOE damage spell that also heals the party, making it an excellent choice once it becomes available in the late game. (Dropped by Sunshine King enemies, and found in a Chest in Seek Valley. Crowley also has one equipped when recruited.)

Turtle Rune

Another straightforward but powerful support Rune, this prevents the equipped character from suffering any Status Effects. Equipping this to someone on the front line and loading them up with items to remove Status Effects from others is a good safety net against troublesome status effects. You can buy the Turtle Room in the Village of the Dwarves.

2025-03-18 06:18