Doom Eternal Best Runes Revealed (All Runes Ranked Worst To Best)

Updated:

15 Jan 2022

Ah, DOOM: Eternal. No matter how many times I play through it, it never gets old! With all the customization options and challenges offered in the game, you can exercise your creativity and adjust your playstyle, picking and choosing what upgrades you’d like to use! In this article, we’ll be going over all the Runes available to you in the game - an accessory made available to you early on in the game. Not all Runes are created equal, and today, we’ll be going over which you definitely want, and which you probably want to avoid.

9. Chrono Strike

Ah, Chrono Strike. Looks cool, feels cool, but is it really all that useful?

Rating: 3/10

I honestly can’t think of a good use for Chrono Strike at any point in the game, aside from maybe trying to get that one collectible in the falling shaft in Taras Nabad. How it works is you press the Weapon Mod keybind while you’re in mid-air, temporarily slowing down time. The problem with this Rune is twofold: it HAS to be while you’re in mid-air, and you HAVE to be pressing the Weapon Mod keybind.

You can literally only slow down time while you’re in midair, and with a Weapon Mod active. It’s obviously to help your aim, probably to hit a demon weakpoint, but there are much better Runes for general gameplay and weapons that are exceptional at destroying weakpoints anyway - making Chrono Strike effectively useless. You should only use Chrono Strike if your aim is exceptionally, and I mean exceptionally, poor - and the more you play DOOM: Eternal, the better it will get anyway (hopefully!).

8. Saving Throw

saving throw Save your butt once, but don't count on it again!

Rating: 4/10

Here’s the thing: Saving Throw, by all means, is GOOD. When you’re hit with a blow that would otherwise kill you, time slows down, giving you the chance to Glory Kill a demon to boost your health back up and continue slaying. The problem with it, though, is that Saving Throw literally works only ONCE per playthrough. With the abundance of other Runes that would help you improve your gameplay, and thus help you avoid dying (hopefully!), you’re better off equipping a different Rune instead of this Hail Mary that is, in most playthroughs, unnecessary (partially because you’ve got access to Extra Lives, too).

Saving Throw is, for the most part, only good for Ultra-Nightmare runs, as it’ll save you once in a mode that is unforgivably punishing. After it’s been used, though, equip another Rune as soon as you can, since after its one-time use, it’s basically dead weight.

7. Punch and Reave

punch and reave Blood Punch and Health. What else could you ask for?

Rating: 5/10

Punch and Reave allows Blood-Punched demons to drop health. Honestly, it’s just not very useful - Glory Kills already serve as an effective health farm, and killed demons will drop varying amounts of Health pickups anyway. There’s a bunch of better Runes that will better serve you in your gameplay, and maximizing your Health pickups will often have diminishing returns, especially if your Health is already full.

Still, though, it’s not a useless Rune by any means, especially if you have the upgrade Health for Blood. If your Health is full, extra Health pickups will contribute to your Blood Punch; you’ll, in essence, have a self-recharging Blood Punch, provided your Health is consistently full - which you don’t want to rely on, especially on higher difficulties.

6. Savagery

savagery Rip and Tear, savagely, until it is done!

Rating: 6/10

Savagery is a Rune that speeds up your Glory Kill animations. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less - just speeds up the time that Glory Kills take.

It’s not useless, per se, since as you move up in difficulty, the faster you’ll want to move; Glory Kill animations have been known to kill many Ultra-Nightmare players, owing to how long the animations take. The longer they take, the more time other demons have to aggregate around you and attack as soon as the animation’s finished, potentially locking you in with no escape, eventually spelling your doom. Indeed, the speed aspect of Savagery makes it worth considering for certain speed-centric playstyles, but it doesn’t contribute much past that.

5. Equipment Fiend

equipment fiend We meet again, Freezer! Oh, wait...

Rating: 7/10

Finally, we’re getting into some of the better ones! Equipment Fiend is a great rune that works as such: when you kill demons either with or under the influence of your Equipment (Frag Grenades and Ice Bombs), it decreases the recharge time of said Equipment by a sizeable amount. As you progress through the game, you’ll find yourself using these more and more - they’re really a fantastic addition to your arsenal, and are yet another crucial component of the combat loop that Eternal has gotten so right.

Really, there aren’t really any negatives that can be said about Equipment Fiend, other than that it seems a little specific. It’s good, but only becomes great if you rely on your Equipment a LOT - and sometimes, there are better Rune options you can choose.

4. Dazed and Confused

Stagger demons more effectively with Dazed and Confused!

Rating: 7.5/10

Dazed and Confused is also another pretty good Rune that increases the time for which demons are staggered. Here’s the thing about Eternal’s combat loop: you’re constantly moving. Sometimes, you’ll have to leave a staggered demon for a bit, since it’s just a bit too far out of reach or it’s too dangerous to approach at that specific point.

However, it gets really annoying when you’ve finished up whatever business you had to attend to first, then you see that that demon’s no longer staggered! This is especially annoying if it’s a super heavy that you were hoping to clear off the board, since they’ve got more health than heavies, and will thus take more to take down.

Dazed and Confused simply opens up more options in terms of prioritization in your gameplay. You can decide to step away from that staggered Tyrant or Baron of Hell for just a second to deal with more immediate threats, then return to finish it off with a better chance that it’ll be right where you left it.

3. Seek and Destroy

Seek and Destroy demons with this powerhouse of a Rune!

Rating: 8.5/10

I want to add a disclaimer here: these top three Runes may NOT be the three you choose! It all depends on playstyle! However, in my experience, these three offer the most versatility in terms of movement and prioritization on DOOM: Eternal’s metaphorical chessboard, and so I want to highlight their strengths in the hopes that you’ll learn something, and maybe add something to your arsenal that you think will help you out.

Seek and Destroy increases the distance by which you can execute a Glory Kill. Doesn’t seem like much, until you consider that this offers advantages similar to that of the Super Shotgun: more movement options. With Seek and Destroy, you can Glory Kill demons that would otherwise be way out of reach, and to make things better, you’re immune to damage during the kill animation. It lets you move around faster, offers more options in terms of movement, and - if you’re in a sticky situation with low Health - you can Glory Kill a far-off demon and gain enough health to keep moving. What’s not to like?

2. Blood Fueled

blood fueled Fuel yourself with the blood of your enemies and use their speed against them!

Rating: 9/10

Blood Fueled is best paired with Seek and Destroy if you’re big on Glory Killing. Remember how I said that Seek and Destroy lets you move around better, since you can reach Glory Killable demons that are further? Well, Blood Fueled contributes to that essential movement ethos by providing you with a speed boost upon a successful Glory Kill, which lets you dart around like Sonic on Eternal’s battleground for a little while.

Seriously, this Rune is one of the absolute best if you’re into Glory Killing. Glory Kill, speed around for a bit to find your next victim, then Glory Kill them, rinse and repeat. This Rune becomes especially useful when you’re surrounded by a variety of fodder, heavies, and super heavies; keep going around, Glory Killing fodder, while using the speed boost to both find your next victim and evade/deal damage to the bigger demons chasing you around. It’s just a solid Rune, and one of my personal favorites.

1. Air Control

Control yourself in the air; rip, tear, dodge, and evade, all at the same time! Air Control - get it as soon as you can, and USE it as soon as you can!

Rating: 10/10

Closing out our list is probably the undisputed champion of DOOM: Eternal’s Runes: Air Control. Seriously, this unassuming Rune does only one thing: it increases your control in the air. Doesn’t seem like much, until you consider that you’ll be jumping around and spending a LOT of time in the air. Air Control expands your movement options a ridiculous amount by tweaking such a small thing, and it’s consistently favored by a lot of high-profile DOOM: Eternal players for that exact reason.

I’d personally recommend that you get Air Control as soon as you can. It’s great, both early- and late-game, and when you don’t have a lot of weapons options, you want to expand your movement options as early as possible to compensate.