Rune ideas for 1.0

Wicked Feedback
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1

What do you guys think about those ideas?

Ki infusion:

  • consumes focus when active
  • infuses ki in fist/legs to raise damage/poise damage/movement speed/raise distance for dash

Forward projection:

  • grab an enemy and throw him forward

Backward projection:

  • grab an enemy and throw him backward

Palm strike:

  • hit the enemy with your palm to project him forward while dealing damage

Power jeyser:

  • hit the ground with the fist to produce a distant jeyser (fire?)

Connecting punches (combo skill):

  • if timed correctly, can be triggered consecutively for increasing damage
  • can be comboed with counter/riposte

Counter/Riposte:

  • if timed correctly, player will avoid enemy incoming attack and deal damage instead

Galaxy impact:

  • charged attack with the fist that is exponentially the longer its charged

Vital points striking:

  • strike enemy weak/vital points to either slow down the enemy or deal massive damage

Reflect:

  • when timed correctly, will return (magic) projectiles

Piercing strike:

  • with a one handed rapiere/sword
  • thrust with the sword that deals damage to all enemies in that direction (for a certain range)

Teleport slash:

  • player moves so fast that he seems to teleport behind an enemy after delivering an attack
  • can be used to quickly move around enemies
2

they all sound super cool ! i wonder how much of it the current utilisation of the game engine can actually implement : O
i really like the theme of it though. very anime.
p.s. when activating the rune “Fire Burst” the Cerim has the animation of Vegeta’s Big Bang Attack. a random fact i love

3

I definitely want more monk runes with ki infusion/ki/energy/aura manipulation themes.

I’m also hoping for a removal of specific single element type % elemental damage affixes so I can finally use different element runes on my monk to play like Avatar channeling fire, ice, lightning (will have to sub in for air), and physical (sub for earth).

Really lame that because of the way % elemental damage stacking favors single type stacking, you’re forced into a single damage type, especially because if you have a weapon infusion under the current system it’s trolling if you don’t stack all % elemental damage into the infusion type you have on the weapon.

Monk runes also need more elemental coverage/variety. There is no frost monk rune for gauntlets, and only one elemental rune for fire/lightning/plague, all of them a single target projectile and no elemental analogs for aoe/cleaving rune attacks like Tempest Kick or Buster Rift or Skyfall Punch.

4

I’ll be looking out for that rune, haven’t tried it yet I thint :face_with_monocle:

5

I think it wouldn’t be a stretch to have a mix of elements, especially since they introduced elemental synergies with the together update!
I wouldn’t worry to much about the current state. I am very optimistic with the class system and I’m sure devs will come out with some awesome ideas as always! By the way I think I saw Thomas say that if we wanted to give out rune ideas, now was the time to do it! (which is my reason for posting btw ^^)

6

The combat system in No Rest for the Wicked is one of the best I’ve experienced in any ARPG, especially in terms of weight, timing, and overall feel.

However, I believe there is an opportunity to expand the rune system by introducing more co-op focused abilities — true support-oriented runes that encourage teamwork and creative playstyles.

Suggestion: “Swap” Rune (Support Ability)

Concept:
A rune that allows the player to swap positions with either an enemy or an ally.

At first glance this might seem simple, but it opens up a lot of high-skill and creative gameplay possibilities, especially in co-op.

Examples of use:

  • Saving an ally from a lethal hit by swapping positions with the enemy targeting them
  • Swapping positions with an ally to take damage in their place
  • Repositioning enemies into better combat situations or traps

Balance / Activation Conditions:
To avoid being overpowered, the ability could require setup:

  • Enemy Swap:
    The enemy must first be “marked” (for example, via a counter attack or specific interaction)
    Once marked, the player can swap positions with that enemy

  • Ally Swap:
    The player can mark one ally at a time
    While an ally is marked, enemy marking is disabled
    This prevents abuse and forces decision-making

Why this would improve the game:

  • Encourages cooperative gameplay and teamwork
  • Introduces true support-style builds (currently limited)
  • Adds a high skill ceiling mechanic with strong creative potential
  • Rewards awareness, timing, and positioning — which are already core strengths of the combat system

This kind of ability is rare in ARPGs, and I believe it would fit extremely well within the design philosophy of the game.

This suggestion comes from a place of appreciation — the combat is already incredible, and adding more support-oriented runes like this could take co-op gameplay to another level.

7

Cerim throw (coop)

Take a close ally, throw them at the locked enemy for damage in an area. AoE width and damage based on ally Weight. High poise damage to the ally, possibly dampened by QTE.

Cerim ramp (coop)

With a melee weapon and a close ally, jump on their face and charge the enemy in the air. iframes while flying. High poise damage to the ally, depending on caster weigth, and available carry capacity of the defacto ramp (possibly dampened by QTE).

Cerim spinaroo (coop)

Take a close ally by the wrists. Spin them in the air around you, inflicting damage and high poise damage to enemies in an aoe around the spinning duo. Bonus damage based on a QTE by the defacto weapon (kicking ennemis instead of only being wildly spun around).

Beacon of pain (coop)

Channelled rune. Become a valid target for allies. Attacks store part of the inflicted damage. Release to launch a projectile of pain on enemies.

Cerim conga (coop)

Start a conga line. Does not deal damage, because it’s a conga line.

Can we have a conga line?

Shield flight (coop)

Needs a shield. Temporarily enchant your shield to protect the closest ally at time of casting. The shield will absorb some maximum amount of damage then come back to the caster.

Get a whiff (coop)

Needs a pipe. Blow smoke to the face a close ally. Temporarily applies enchants or buffs to the ally (I don’t know how pipes will work so…).

Sacrifice (coop)

Apply to a single ally. For a duration, 50 % of damage inflicted to the ally is instead inflicted to the caster.

Blood pact (coop)

Apply to a single ally. For a duration, 50 % of heals to the caster are instead applied to the target.

Death pact (coop)

Apply to a single ally. For a duration, both get a damage bonus. Death of caster or target instantly kills the other.

Taunt (coop)

Insult the target. Generates a lot of threat, caster gets a temporary damage taken debuff.

8

Honestly, they just need to look at all spells and incantations available in Elden Ring and pick the 70% of them that are relevant for Wicked.

I’d love to see Carian sorceries, gravity sorceries, blood incantations, holy incantations, dragon incantations etc in Wicked.

Both thematically, visually and mechanically I think there’s so much there to draw inspiration from. Right now we really have very limited spells in Wicked, it’s not really at the same level of awesomeness as the rest of the game yet.

They’re strong, just a bit too simplistic.

9

Shield Meteor Slam
(change the name how you like)

Leap in facing direction and slam the shield into the ground, capable of giving allies a Barrier who are within the area of effect

10

I like the co-op skills idea, playing as a support is one of my favorite roles so I hope they come up with dedicated support classes in 1.0

However I’d be sensible about designing abilities that affect the positioning of allies, for it opens the doors to a lot of trolling.

So if there’s a way for a player to affect the position/location of an ally; it should be designed with a philosophy of systematic agreement between the two players.

For example if there’s a skill that swaps positions; then the caster should get a sort of interactable feature that allows the target ally to “agree” to the swapping.

If there’s an ability that allows the caster to carry and throw an ally then it should be up to the ally to choose the direction/distance and timing of the throw.

11

I mean, that is exactly why I’d like to see a lot of abilities affecting the positioning of allies =D

12

To expand a bit on the idea:

For enemy interaction, I suggested that the swap should require a condition, like marking the enemy first (for example through a counter attack). This helps keep the ability balanced and prevents it from being used freely without setup.

For allies, I think there could also be a condition, but in a more cooperative-friendly way. Maybe when you mark an ally for a swap, they get a very quick accept prompt (something simple and fast), since the whole idea of co-op is working together.

After all, when you join someone’s world or invite someone into yours, the intention is to cooperate — so having a mechanic that reinforces that teamwork could feel really natural and rewarding.

13

I’ll admit I’m also a bit inclined toward this kind of playful interaction with allies I can call friends. After all, if I can’t mess around with my friends, then who can I?

14

I wanted to contribute to the brainstorm of runes ideas for the game so I thought of some (I haven’t played all of the current game nor read all of the ideas here, sorry if these are repeated).

  1. Runic Fields: the caster summons an area that grants allies buffs when they are within (the buffs will depend on the equipped rune, maybe there’s a rune that creates a field with HP regen effects, another one can grant energy regen, or increased damage or, focus regen, etc.) there’s also the possibility of making fields that inflict enemies in the area with debuffs like dot, slow, damage decrease, etc
  2. Elemental dash: the caster is covered with a damaging aura of a specific element and dashes in a designated direction dealing damage to the enemies in the way.
  3. Spirit blade: summons a magic blade that will attack enemies whenever the caster lands a hit with melee attacks.
  4. Spirit projectiles: summons magic orbs that will propel themselves to deal damage in the direction that you shoot your ranged attacks.
  5. Levitating shield: (requires a shield equipped) for a duration the caster’s shield will float in front of him; blocking incoming damage and reducing its weight to 0, if the caster performs an attack the shield goes back to his hand. (I think this is a cool dynamic that plays around with the weight class of the player to approach enemies while running fast and blocking at the same time, it also allows to load a charged attack, use a consumable, reviving allies, etc; safely while the shield is up in front of the player).
  6. Explosive shield: enchant the caster’s shield to generate an explosion that pushes back the attacker when the caster parries with his shield