Soloing as a Rune-keeper
These impressions come from playing a level 53 Rune-keeper fully traited in Solitary Thunder. This is omething many of you won't be able to do for quite awhile, but it will give you an idea of what to expect when it comes time to take this class into the expansion.
Solo play was challenging and often frustrating. Approaching a mob from afar, I would drop a Rune of Restoration (a HoT spell that radiates from a stone you raise from the ground), cast another HoT on myself, wait a moment for my attunement to shift back to neutral (it happens very fast out of combat). Then I would let lose with the basic nukes I had available: the instacast cold nuke for opening damage and slow run speed buying me time to drop the longer casting fire DoT and then an instacast lightning spell.
By that time the mob would be pounding on me, but I would already be at Battle Attunement 3 and new nukes would unlock. The fire DoT takes too long to cast while being cast and is only worth it if the mob gets stunned or dazed by your lightning attacks (it's a trait) buying you time to cast without getting interrupted. Yes, you could use your Shocking Touch daze ability, but you really want to save that for adds. Mostly I use my second tier lightning attack, my second tier cold spell to debuff the mob's attack adn my first tier lightning attack again.
This would put me at Battle Attunement 6 and the next set of nukes across all three schools of magic would open up. Again, the fire DoT takes too long to cast (very long in this case) and the cold one doesn't do much damage, so I work my lightning spells to unlock Battle Attunement 9. The lightning spell unlocked here has no cooldown so you can spam it to open the next tier.
At this point my HoT's have worn off, but the mob is almost dead if not already taking a dirt nap. The three top tier attacks all have their charms. The lightning attack has a large crit output (but increases spell costs for a short duration) and the cold attack drops two big debuffs on the mob which isn't usefull with an almost dead mob, so the fire attack is the clear winner here. It's a channelled DoT that cranks out massive damage (167pts per second for 10secs at level 53 for me) and attacks on you won't interrupt it. Not much survives this bad boy.
Having traited in Solitary Thunder, my Lightning attacks have a chance to stun and add debuffs that my Battle Attunement 9 Lightning spell can use for extra damage. And I can usually fire off a Fire DoT during the stun.
The problem of addsThe big challenge for Rune-keepers while soloing are adds. Two mobs attacking you at once will guarantee you will have enormous problems getting any spells cast. And your single-target daze ability has a short duration, a long cooldown and shifts you towards neutral Attunement at a time when you really want to get to your top tier attacks as quickly as possible. And if it is resisted, it's a free trip to rez circle for you. The only advantage with two mobs is by the time the first one drops and you turn your attention to the second, you are usually fully Battle Attuned and can unload your most powerful attacks immediately on the mob. Small consolation if you are almost dead when the first one drops.
Also, getting jumped without being prepared (stacked HoTs and utility spells ready) can be challenging. You can try to get healing stacked on yourself, but by the time you can shift your Attunement back to Battle the HoTs have worn off and you may have lower health than when you started. You basically have to hope your Shocking Touch works or you have to burn down the mob as quickly as possible, which, honestly you are trying to do in any case.
Grouping for the Rune-keeperGrouping has some advantages, but probably not in the way that you think. If you have a dps role in the group, you are probably thinking "yay, I can finally unleash my fire and cold spells", but the mobs I encountered in Moria died so quickly in a group setting that it was more efficient for me to just use my instacast lightning attacks. The exception of course is named mobs and this is where your fire DoTs and cold debuffs really shine.
Grouping as a healer is challenging. As mentioned in the Skills section, you only have HoTs to work with until you get to Healing Attunement 6. Then you get a direct heal as well as a ward the absorbs 50% damage. Get ready to stack the HoTs, but not too soon or will get the aggro off the tank.
If you trait as healer, it allows you to keep your Rune of Restoration available even if you are Battle Attuned. In some easier battles you can lay down some DPS while using the Rune and your other neutral HoT to keep people alive while you do what you can before you have to move entirely into Healing Attunement. Remember you also have one instacast nuke available to you at all times if you want to throw in a couple of extra zaps while healing.
A final word
Rune-keepers are difficult to master, but fun to play. Trait into Solitary Thunder to level, then try Cleansing Fires traits and get yourself into a group where you don't have to heal to really explore your other DPS lines. Finally, Benediction of Peace allows you to nuke while having access to some Heals and cut down on your aggro. As you can see from the image above, you can get Legendary items that help you in your core abilities. One will be given to you as a starter when you finish Volume 2 Book 1. Take it out for a spin and enjoy the newest class in Moria.
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