I love my Rune Priest. It really does feel like Mythic managed to make a class that hit all the things I like about playing a healer. I get to buff, I get to heal, I even get to do a little damage and hit things with a big staff. Sometimes I twirl my staff and it’s all glowy and pretty. Then I feel like a proper cheerleader! Save the cheerleader…
No, I’m not going to write about why I personally love the Rune Priest. Accept it, I just do. I get to be short,
stout, with big braids I’d never have in real life. I get to hit things, to buff things, to zap things and well.. to heal – which is all I ever really wanted from a class. Even the rune dress/robe (when you first get one) is pretty damn cute. I hate dresses, but I would even wear one of those in real life. Not the skullcap though, it ruined my whole braidy look. Bah!
I played one to rank 17 and then one at rank 31 in beta, and both times I just felt at home with the class. It has a nice mix of heals (HoT, fast low heal, longer big heal, bouncy heal), some decent damage (including a couple of AE spells), cool rune buffs and some nice utility bits and pieces, such as an AE knockback which is hilarious in RvR and useful in PvE.
Nothing I discovered in beta changed my mind once I fell in love with the class. It’s perfect for me. I can stand where I want and either concentrate on healing, or add to the overall damage the group is doing. I can berate and nag my groupmates to use the runes I put on them – hrrm, you need an explanation? Ok, think of a rune as a buff with a trigger-able aspect. So I can buff your Strength and Intellect and then every so often, if you click on the buff, you get to do some extra free dps that doesn’t cost Action Points. Master Runes, which are gained via masteries are ground runes, which have an AE effect – I found them pretty useful and used the healing one when me ad my over-powered group were bopping skaven on the heads in the Altdorf sewers, meant I could join in the fight while the pulsing rune kept my group topped up! (of course, if we hadn’t have been so over-powered I would have needed to do some additional healing)
I also mentioned the bouncy heal back at my basic run-down. It’s quite cute. You heal someone and then the heal bounces around healing others nearby. It’s not the most useful heal in the Rune Priest arsenal, but it’s one that I was excited to get and read the description of. Because it was a bit different, not just a single heal or normal group heal. Both of which the Rune Priest has too.
Should you make one?
No idea! Do you like being a dwarf with a neat gyro-harness and dangling legs, and some nifty staff-twirling animations? Then it might be for you. It’s a healer sans mechanic, which means it may be seen by some as a little bit less interesting, but I didn’t find myself bored with it (and I have been bored by healing classes, honest – that’s why I usually play a hybrid).
We’re not as sparkly-pretty as the Archmage, nor can we do their damage. We’re not as furiously righteous as the baldies Warrior Priests, but when it comes to being short, round, and bouncing along the ground – we have it covered.
The class will, by now, already have many guides to it. I’m sure they’ll dissect the masteries and skills quite adequately – if you like numbers and have crunchy teeth, then you’ll happily pour over them and will be able to feed back some info to me. I’m terrible with numbers and I get a little funny about reading descriptions too closely.
I’m happy to answer any questions I can about my time as a Rune Priest, but I really did try and save some things for retail – including detailed opinions on every skill and mastery, until I’ve really played with them a lot.
Filed under: classes, dwarfs, order | Tagged: beta, dwarfs, healers, order, review, rune priest, warhammer online | 14 Comments »