Runestones are Hytale’s abilities in Update 7: there are 15 of them, 7 ability runes and 8 modifiers. You craft them with Runestone Shards at the Goblin Tinkerer’s Workbench in the Goblin Lab (2 shards per ability rune and 1 per modifier; 22 for the full set) and equip them at the Runebinder’s Lattice in the Forgotten Temple: 2 active abilities that cost mana, each with its own modifiers. Shards drop from enemies in The Guttering Hollows and The Deepworks; the Gobliterator drops 4. Data current as of version 0.7.3 (October 21, 2026).
We use the English names from the official patch notes throughout this guide. If you’re looking for a summary of the whole update, check out our Hytale Update 7 guide.
How the Runestone system works
There are three pieces you need to know:
- Runestone Shards: the base material. You find them during the «Out of the Breach» chapter.
- Runestones: crafted from shards. There are two kinds: Ability Runestones and Modifier Runestones.
- Runebinder’s Lattice: where you slot them in. There’s one in the Forgotten Temple.
At the Lattice you can equip up to 2 Ability Runestones at once and add Modifier Runestones to change how they work. In total, Update 7 adds 15 Runestones: 7 ability runes and 8 modifiers.
How many shards each rune costs
| Type | Cost |
|---|---|
| Ability Runestone | 2 Runestone Shards |
| Modifier Runestone | 1 Runestone Shard |
Shards drop from the chapter’s enemies and the Gobliterator, and runes are crafted at the goblin workbench: you’ll find the details below and in our Runestone Shards guide. To get started you need to reach the Forgotten Temple and explore the Goblin Lab; we walk you through it step by step in our guide to The Deepworks and the Goblin Breach.
Where runes are crafted and what they cost (0.7.2)
When we first published this guide, the official notes didn’t say which workbench crafts runes. Now we know: they come from the Goblin Tinkerer’s Workbench, under its Runestones tab. It’s in the Goblin Lab of the Forgotten Temple, and to get in you first have to repair the Goblin Power Generator. We explain how in our Goblin Lab guide.
Recipes (as of October 20, 2026, version 0.7.2). They match the official cost, but any patch could change them:
| Type | Runes | Cost per rune | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ability Runestone | Chain Hook, Charged Shot, Enrage, Fireball, Ground Slam, Imbue Poison and Wind Strike | 2 Runestone Shards | 14 |
| Modifier Runestone | Colossal, Enduring, Quickening, Rebound, Rend, Splinter, Thrift and Wither | 1 Runestone Shard | 8 |
You need 22 shards to get them all, and 8 for a full loadout of 2 abilities and 4 modifiers. Both figures are our own math. It isn’t confirmed when each recipe unlocks: some guides say they’re all available once you repair the generator, others say the modifiers also require repairing the Compressor.
Where Runestone Shards come from
Every known source is in The Guttering Hollows and The Deepworks. The Gobliterator drops 4; Void Fiends, Goblin Gluttons and Revenant Guardians drop 2 each; the Goblin Burner drops 1 with a 50% chance, and Shiny Scrap Piles drop the occasional one. You’ll find the full table and a farming route in our Runestone Shards guide.
Where the Runebinder’s Lattice is and how many slots it has
It’s in the Forgotten Temple. According to a guide from a server hosting provider, it’s on the right, just before the memory shrine, and it’s marked on the map. According to the community wiki and other guides, it has 2 ability slots and 4 modifier slots, meaning 2 modifiers per ability.
Mana
Mana is the resource abilities spend. Here’s what the notes say:
- The mana bar takes the Stamina bar’s spot. The Stamina bar moves down.
- It regenerates on its own over time.
- Landing your signature attack (your weapon’s signature ability) gives you mana back.
- Casting an ability slows you down by 40% for a moment.
The notes don’t give the maximum mana, so here we compare costs, not how many abilities you can chain.
Two takeaways from that data. First: since your signature refills mana, melee combat and runes go hand in hand. Update 7 makes the sword, dagger, mace and battleaxe attack about 15% faster, so you reach your signature sooner. Second: the 40% slowdown when casting is dangerous if an enemy is charging you. Cast your abilities when you have room, not when you need to dodge.
The 7 Ability Runestones
These are the official damage, mana and cooldown numbers. The last column is our own math: the damage each ability deals per point of mana, to compare efficiency.
| Ability Runestone | What it does | Damage | Mana | Cooldown | Damage per mana (our math) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fireball | Throws a fireball that explodes | 28 fire | 30 | 2 s | 0.93 |
| Ground Slam | Stone spikes that launch enemies into the air | 15–35 earth | 40 | 5 s | 0.38–0.88 |
| Wind Strike | Your next 3 attacks fire piercing wind arcs; lasts 8 s | 10 wind per arc | 30 | 2 s | 1.00 with all 3 arcs on a single enemy |
| Enrage | +30% damage dealt and +20% damage taken for 8 s | — | 45 | 4 s | — |
| Imbue Poison | Poisons your weapon for 8 s; up to 3 stacks of 2 damage per second for 6 s each | 2/s per stack | 40 | 4 s | Up to 0.90 if you keep 3 full stacks |
| Chain Hook | A chain that pulls nearby enemies to the impact point and slows them | 3 blunt | 50 | 6 s | 0.06 |
| Charged Shot | A frost beam you charge up | 12–58 water | 35 | 4 s | 0.34–1.66 |
Antidotes remove the Imbue Poison effect. The Wind Strike math assumes all three arcs hit the same enemy; since they pierce, it does better against groups.
What role each one plays
- Cheap ranged damage: Fireball. Along with Wind Strike it’s the cheapest, and it has the shortest cooldown, 2 s.
- Big single hits: Charged Shot. Fully charged, it deals the most damage (58) and is the most mana-efficient.
- Crowd control: Ground Slam launches enemies into the air and Chain Hook groups them up and slows them. Chain Hook barely does any damage: it’s a tool, not an attack.
- Melee buffs: Wind Strike, Enrage and Imbue Poison power up your next hits instead of firing something on their own.
Enrage has a catch: for 8 s you deal 30% more damage, but you take 20% more. Use it when the enemy is stunned, far away or about to go down, not at the start of a boss fight.
The 8 Modifier Runestones
| Modifier Runestone | Damage | Mana | Cooldown | Other effects |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colossal | +40% | +60% | — | +60% area; bigger, slower projectile |
| Enduring | — | — | — | +50% duration |
| Quickening | −25% | −20% | −30% | — |
| Rebound | — | — | — | The projectile bounces 2 more times |
| Rend | — | — | — | Bleed of 2 per second for 6 s; the enemy takes +15% physical damage |
| Splinter | — | — | — | The projectile splits 2 more times |
| Thrift | −20% | −25% | — | — |
| Wither | — | — | — | Slows the enemy by 10% and reduces its damage by 15% for 2 s |
The notes don’t say how many modifiers each ability accepts or how percentages stack when you combine two. That’s why the numbers in the combos below are approximate.
Which modifiers each rune accepts
Not every modifier works with every ability. This table comes from a server hosting provider’s guide and isn’t official, so double-check it at the Lattice before crafting:
| Ability Runestone | Compatible modifiers |
|---|---|
| Chain Hook | Rebound, Rend, Splinter, Thrift and Wither |
| Charged Shot | Rebound, Rend, Splinter, Thrift and Wither |
| Enrage | Enduring, Quickening and Thrift |
| Fireball | Colossal, Quickening, Rebound, Rend, Splinter, Thrift and Wither |
| Ground Slam | Colossal, Quickening, Rend, Thrift and Wither |
| Imbue Poison | Enduring, Quickening and Thrift |
| Wind Strike | Colossal, Enduring, Quickening, Rend, Thrift and Wither |
A few other details from community guides:
- Ground Slam only works with the battleaxe, longsword and mace.
- Rebound and Splinter on Charged Shot only kick in if the shot is fully charged.
- Thrift is the only modifier all seven abilities accept.
Still short on shards to try out combos? See where to farm them in our Runestone Shards guide.
Recommended combos (our analysis)
What follows isn’t official: these are suggestions we’ve worked out from the numbers in the notes. When we talk about running two modifiers on the same ability, we’re assuming the Lattice lets you; check it in your own save.
Saving mana: Quickening and Thrift
These are the two modifiers that make mana cheaper, and both cut damage. The difference is the cooldown:
- Thrift lowers mana cost by 25% and damage by 20%. It fits abilities that already have a short cooldown, like Fireball: it goes from 30 to 22.5 mana and from 28 to about 22 damage. With a 2 s cooldown, what limits you is mana, not waiting time.
- Quickening lowers mana cost by 20%, cooldown by 30% and damage by 25%. It shines on long-cooldown abilities like Ground Slam: it drops from 5 to 3.5 s and from 40 to 32 mana. According to community tables, Chain Hook doesn’t accept Quickening; to make it cheaper, use Thrift (from 50 to 37.5 mana).
- Both together bring Fireball down to about 16.5–18 mana, roughly half, but also to 55–60% of its damage. It’s an option for spending mana nonstop in long fights, not for fast kills.
More damage: Colossal
Colossal raises damage by 40% and area by 60%, but makes mana 60% more expensive. Examples:
- Fireball: from 28 to about 39 damage, and from 30 to 48 mana.
- Ground Slam: from 15–35 to about 21–49 damage, and from 40 to 64 mana. With +60% area, it’s the hardest-hitting group ability.
- Chain Hook: according to community tables it doesn’t accept Colossal, and it wouldn’t be worth it anyway: it barely does any damage.
If Colossal leaves you out of mana, try pairing it with Thrift. Depending on how the percentages stack, the cost would end up 20–35% above the original and the damage 12–20% above, without losing the extra area.
Group and smash: Chain Hook and Ground Slam
If you run them as your two active abilities, they complement each other. Chain Hook pulls enemies together to one point and slows them; Ground Slam launches them all into the air at once. Together they cost 90 mana; with Thrift on Chain Hook you drop to 77.5. It’s the natural pairing for the goblin hordes in The Deepworks.
Melee: Enrage with Enduring, and Rend on your other ability
- Rend can’t go on Enrage, but it can go on your other ability (Wind Strike or Ground Slam): the enemy takes 15% more physical damage and, if you hit with a sword, axe or mace while under Enrage (+30%), the two bonuses stack. On top of that, the bleed adds 12 points over its 6 s.
- Enduring on Enrage stretches the window from 8 to 12 s. Remember it also stretches the +20% damage taken.
- Enduring on Wind Strike or Imbue Poison gives you more time to use all 3 arcs or build up all 3 poison stacks. The notes don’t clarify whether it also extends each stack’s 6 s.
Defense: Wither
Wither reduces enemy damage by 15% and slows them by 10%, but only for 2 s. That’s why it works best on abilities that hit often: with Wind Strike, every arc that lands reapplies it. It also partly offsets Enrage’s +20% damage taken if you put it on your other ability.
Projectiles: Rebound and Splinter
Both work on projectiles, so the clear candidates are Fireball and Charged Shot. Fireball with Rebound or Splinter spreads its explosion across more enemies; a fully charged Charged Shot is your best single hit, and we’d leave it unsplit so that damage doesn’t get diluted.
Tips for using runes
- Pick one damage ability and one support ability. You can only run two active. Fireball or Charged Shot for damage, and Chain Hook, Ground Slam or Enrage for control or buffs.
- Combine runes with your weapon. Your signature gives mana back. With the faster melee weapons in 0.7, the hits-signature-ability cycle flows better.
- Don’t cast standing still in front of a boss. The 40% slowdown when casting leaves you exposed. Cast after a dodge or when the enemy is busy.
- Keep an eye on Stamina in its new spot. The mana bar takes its place. If you use the Scrap Glider or Rocket Boots, which rely on good movement, get used to where each bar is first.
- Keep spare modifiers. They cost 1 shard, half the price of an ability. Having two or three to swap depending on the zone is cheap.
If you want even more abilities, the MMO Skill Tree & Abilities mod adds skill trees and active abilities on your hotbar. Before installing it on 0.7, make sure it has a compatible version: we explain how in how to install mods in Hytale.
Your first rune in 5 steps
- 1. Reach the Goblin Lab in the Forgotten Temple and repair the Goblin Power Generator so you can use the Goblin Tinkerer’s Workbench.
- 2. Get at least 2 Runestone Shards in The Guttering Hollows or The Deepworks (Void Fiends, Goblin Gluttons and Revenant Guardians drop 2 each).
- 3. At the workbench, open the Runestones tab and craft an ability rune (2 shards). With 1 more shard you get your first modifier.
- 4. Go to the Runebinder’s Lattice in the Forgotten Temple and place the rune in an ability slot and the modifier next to it.
- 5. Try the ability in combat: it spends mana, and landing your weapon’s signature attack gives it back.
To farm shards methodically (route, breaches and how many you need), check out the full Runestone Shards guide.
What changes in Update 8 (pre-release)
The Update 8 pre-release, published on October 22, 2026 and available from the launcher (Settings → Pre-Release), touches runes: tooltips now show the actual damage, duration and effect numbers, and they update as you add modifiers; Wind Strike detects hits more reliably, and the Fork and Ricochet labels are renamed Split and Bounce. Shard costs and mana don’t change. On the stable version (0.7.3) everything is still as described in this guide; we go over the patches in Hytale 0.7.x.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Runebinder’s Lattice?
There’s one in the Forgotten Temple. It’s the same temple where the «Out of the Breach» chapter starts when you explore the Goblin Lab.
How many runes can I equip at once?
Up to 2 Ability Runestones, to which you add Modifier Runestones. The notes don’t say how many modifiers each ability accepts.
How do I regenerate mana faster?
It regenerates on its own, and landing your weapon’s signature attack gives you mana back. Thrift and Quickening also help, because they make each ability cheaper.
What’s the best ability rune?
It depends on how you use it. By the numbers, a charged Charged Shot is the most mana-efficient and Fireball is the easiest to chain. For groups, Ground Slam with Chain Hook.
What is a Runestone Shard in Hytale?
It’s the rune fragment, the only material for crafting Runestones. It drops from enemies in The Guttering Hollows and The Deepworks, not from regular chests: the Gobliterator drops 4, and Void Fiends, Goblin Gluttons and Revenant Guardians drop 2 each.
How many Runestone Shards do I need for every rune?
22: 14 for the 7 ability runes (2 each) and 8 for the 8 modifiers (1 each). For a full loadout of 2 abilities and 4 modifiers, 8 is enough.
Do runes change in Update 8?
In the October 22, 2026 pre-release, only the tooltips (now with real values), Wind Strike’s hit detection and the Fork and Ricochet names, which become Split and Bounce, change. Costs and mana stay the same.