League of Legends' New Keystone Rune Deals True Damage

More details on the new League of Legends Keystone Rune that players have been waiting for have now been revealed that explains what the rune does and where it'll be found.

Since the rune was first announced to be in the works months ago, there were questions about which rune path it would be found in and how it would help champions that don't currently have a viable Keystone Rune. While the Resolve tree was an idea that came up often, Riot Meddler confirmed that the rune would be found in the Precision tree while providing details on what the rune looks like at the moment.

• Triggers the same way Grasp of the Undying does (first auto attack on an enemy champion after being in combat for 4s).
• When triggered gives AD and cause some of your physical/magic damage to be dealt as true damage instead.
• Is found in the Precision tree.
• Fairly short CD.

The bonus damage and additional true damage makes this rune a viable tank buster option while also providing increased damage output in extended skirmishes. However, there are a few areas of the rune that Riot Games is still working on, particularly when it comes to balancing it between ranged and melee champions. Having a combination of bonus damage and true damage could make this rune a nightmare on ranged champions that can keep the combat requirements active and easily use the buff for quick poke, especially when laying siege to enemies. Riot is currently "testing a couple of different approaches" regarding this balance issue with one possible solution being that the damage buff extends when staying close to enemies which would make melee champs benefit more.

Other ways that the rune might be gated is when the true damage conversion is activated be that by some stat requirements that force players to build a certain combination of damage and health, a scaling ratio, or another option. True damage itself may also be replaced for a different effect like dual penetration, and even the Precision tree may not be the rune's final resting place. It was tested in the resolve, but Riot Meddler said that it "blurred the definition of Resolve quite a bit" and would likely stay in Precision.

The unnamed Keystone Rune is expected to come in Patch 8.6, not the nearer Patch 8.5.