Guide to XP Runes

Last update: Brave New World Update
At one point, the droprate of XP Runes got rather nerfed (though it has since recovered) to the point where I thought it necessary to do an analysis on these things. So I’m gonna give you some numbers and graphs on how they work.

The best place to get runes is Underworld Madness. AFAIK, playing any level of Underworld Madness will give you either 5x 3* runes, 2x 4* runes, 3x 4* runes or 1x 5* rune. These can be any color.
Battlefield Madness will give you 4x 3* runes, 2x 4* or 1x 5* rune.
Kingdom of the Sands Madness will give you 2x 3* runes, 1x 3* runes or 1x 4* rune.
Ailing Kingdom Madness will give you 15x 1* runes, 4x 2* runes or 1x 3* rune.

Two other options for XP Runes exist: every month, you can buy a Talisman Power Up Pack from the Store for 625 Ironite for each color. They give 99 5* XP Runes, along with some Gold and Evolution Runes to power them up. XP Runes are also available in Brave New World, but given the high Sands of Time cost, farming for Runes there is not that practical.

They are also available in Skull Quests, namely the XP Material Cache & Hoard.

Approximate Rune Drops on Underworld Madness by day
Esquatcho has made a handy study on approximate rune drops here (Outdated; drops have improved since then)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Esquatcho

So across 200 rounds, we got a total of 4.98 talismans from 5* level 1 to level 50. Thats an average of 1.245 talismans per day or the equivalent of 43.57 x 4* upgrade runes per day.
To take a talisman from a base 3* level 1 to 5* level 50, you need 48 x 4* upgrade runes. So assuming you have even distribution over time of colours, you can max out one talisman of each colour completely every 5.5 days. So as long as you are working on talismans of different colours constantly, you will be able to upgade 6 characters worth of talismans each month.

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Here’s the amount of gold it costs to use one rune:
1* rune: 150
2* runes: 525
3* rune: 3000
4* rune: 6000
5* rune: 14400

Here's how many runes you need to max out a Talisman (Talisman rank ups are NOT included here):
Attachment 3080
It appears that for every 2 runes you spend that match the Talisman color, you need 3 runes that don't match the Talisman color if you want to max your Talisman.
So a 2:3 ratio

Here's the rate at which a 5* Talisman levels when given (color-matched) runes
Attachment 2134

If you don't have enough runes to fully max a Talisman yet:
A level 17 5* Talisman's stats are all equal to or more powerful than a level 40 4* Talisman
A level 12 4* Talisman's stats are all equal to or more powerful than a level 30 3* Talisman

And here's a picture that shows Talisman stats at level 50:
Attachment 3824

If there's anything obvious that I missed or you want to know, just say so and I'll investigate.

Hope this helps you all.

That's an awesome thread!

Since I'm new to endgame farming, I've rarely used wrong colors to level up talismans.

I was leveling my 5* talisman till level 40, but somehow I found the level 34 the optimal benefit/cost and the graphic shows something along that line.

12 *4 Xp runes to level 34. If you put another 12 4* runes, it will only level to around 43.

So I think the best for me is to put all talisman to 5* level 34. And then slowly maximizing them.

Thanks Kardas for that great analysis!

Quote:

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If there's anything obvious that I missed or you want to know, just say so and I'll investigate.

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I'd like to know the bonus each talisman gives per level. I think for the sake of analysis, only 1 type would be enough, like Strength Fierce.

I don't know if the curve Level/Bonus is linear. Because my previous analysis of level 34 being somehow optimal considers that linearity. If we could know that curve, maybe we could find a different optimal level.

Here you go:
Attachment 2019

Turns out your guess is right: the stat levels go up linearly!

Nice work, I had a feeling it was so, but good to see actual numbers!

So basically the value per upgrade rune expended decreases quite rapidly as you towards higher levels.

I've played with maxing talismans before moving onto the next, but it was taking so long, I now upgrade as soon as possible and then slowly work on getting them up to about the 5* 30 level, which is when it starts to get really slow.

In a way, I've also done this to make the daily talisman upgrade achievement really easy.

Thanks again!

Unless they've changed this in a recent update: Red 4* and 5* runes are 1/3 more expensive than the same level runes of other colors. They also contribute more when using them for non-red talismans than other wrong colour runes do (e.g. a red 4* rune does more than a green 4* rune when upgrading a blue talisman). However, they do the same for red talismans as other runes do for talismans of their own color.

I'm all out of talismans so I can't check if all this is still true or if they have changed it in recent updates.

Edit: This doesn't appear to be the case anymore.

I briefly compared the cost and level up % of a few runes with a green Talisman, and reds seems to not offer an extra boost anymore.

Nice work !!!!
Thank you very much !!!!
I hope they adjust the drop rate of XP runes because I'm sure that after the last update was nerfed too much, I can't find those anymore (I used all my sands of time).
This way the daily challenge is impossible to complete, and all the game progress suffers ...

Just finished a short study on XP upgrade rune drops across 200 rounds doing only secret locations and game of death underworld madness.

Full details here:
http://forum.ironmaidenlegacy.com/sh...ll=1#post25049

But basically, it showed a little variability from day to day, but worked out to the equivalent of 43.57 x 4* upgrade runes per day. So close, but not quite 1 talisman full upgraded from 3* level 1 to 5* level 50 each day (assuming the right colours).

That's really neat! I'll add the link in the post above

Also I did a minor fix on the image showing the leveling rate of a Talisman per rune by replacing it and now the old one's appearing at the bottom of the post. Does anyone know a fix for that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kardas

The best place to get runes is Underworld Madness.

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... And so the shop now *_*

Cheers,

W

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Witkacy

... And so the shop now *_*

Cheers,

W

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Ya! But only if you have 600+ ironite :)

Up. Really nice work

As always, Kardas, you have done some hard work that helps us all navigate this ambiguously-set game. Irons to you, sir!

Lot of good info here, thanks much.

Looks like the stats chart needs updating.
I'm rather new, so I'm working out what I want for a character and found at least 3 talismans that doesn't match.
Skilled, Sorcery, and Onslaught all have HP on the 3* talismans I have, but not the 2*.

Appears that they just added HP to the ones that didn't have it.
Don't notice any other differences, but I don't have the resources to max out a bunch of stuff, so I may be missing something.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wyphy

Lot of good info here, thanks much.

Looks like the stats chart needs updating.
I'm rather new, so I'm working out what I want for a character and found at least 3 talismans that doesn't match.
Skilled, Sorcery, and Onslaught all have HP on the 3* talismans I have, but not the 2*.

Appears that they just added HP to the ones that didn't have it.
Don't notice any other differences, but I don't have the resources to max out a bunch of stuff, so I may be missing something.

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Hey Wyphy,
The thing with Talismans is that Talisman star ranks 1-2 don't have all stats yet (for instance, a 1* Strength Fierce Talisman boosts only ATK, and a 2* one boosts only HP and ATK (I think).

The stats chart does need updating now though. Fortunately I do have a lv50 Onslaught Talisman that I use now, so I can add that in.

Anyone else with a lv50 Skilled or Sorcery Talisman?

Yeah, I realised that the lower tier ones don't have all stats, just didn't say what I meant I guess.

So, saying what I really meant...
It seems that at least those 3 changed, so maybe it's worth checking all types to see if they "balanced" them sometime recently.
I don't have the ability to evolve to 5* yet, so can't be of any help unfortunately.

Thanks again for all the great posts you put up, I've learned plenty.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kardas

Hey Wyphy,
The thing with Talismans is that Talisman star ranks 1-2 don't have all stats yet (for instance, a 1* Strength Fierce Talisman boosts only ATK, and a 2* one boosts only HP and ATK (I think).

The stats chart does need updating now though. Fortunately I do have a lv50 Onslaught Talisman that I use now, so I can add that in.

Anyone else with a lv50 Skilled or Sorcery Talisman?

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Unfortunately no Sorcery but i got a skilled one.
HP +1370
ATK +273
DEF +121
MR +121

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DaveMurray

Unfortunately no Sorcery but i got a skilled one.
HP +1370
ATK +273
DEF +121
MR +121

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Thanks DaveMurray! As well as Moonshadow and Slauki, who also messaged me with Skilled Talisman stats.

I compared the stats of a 3* lv1 Skilled and Sorcery Talisman, and from there I was able to confirm out what a lv50 Sorcery Talisman's stats are. The lv50 Talisman stats picture should now be accurate. Also credits to The Educated Fool who sent me Sorcery stats some time after.