Runeforging is a skill specific to death knights, involving the affixing of runes to the death knight's weapon. It requires a runeforge, which can be found in three places: The upper chamber of Acherus: The Ebon Hold in the Eastern Plaguelands, the Shadow Vault in northern Icecrown, and the fortress structure at Mord'Rethar: The Death Gate in southeastern Icecrown. After a small quest chain, the Shadow Vault - inhabited by hostile Scourge - can be captured to serve as a questing hub for the Knights of the Ebon Blade, allowing ease of access to the Vault's runeforges.
The Engraving Process
To engrave a rune on your weapon(s), open your spellbook to the General tab and click on the Runeforging icon. You'll get a list of Runes that you know. Choose a rune, then click the Engrave button. Your mouse pointer turns blue -- use it to click on the weapon you want the Rune engraved upon. It helps to already have your character or bags open.
Limitations
Runeforge enchants will count as a permanent enchant, and thus overwrite any regular enchants such as Mongoose or Executioner.
Bind to Account weapons, such as [Bloodied Arcanite Reaper], are not able to be enchanted with runes, giving the error that the item level is too low.
Runes
As of Patch 3.3.0, there are ten different runes that can be affixed to your weapon. Four are for both one- and two-handers, three are for one-handers only, and three are for two-handers only. Only one rune may be affixed to a weapon at a time.
| Icon | Rune of | Type | Level | Weapon Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Cinderglacier | Frost | 55 | Any | Has a chance to increase the damage by 20% of your next 2 spells that deal Frost or Shadow damage. Lasts 30 sec. |
 |
Razorice | Frost | 55 | Any | Causes 2% extra weapon damage as Frost damage and has a chance to increase Frost vulnerability. |
 |
Spellbreaking | Unholy | 57 | One-handed | Deflects 2% of all spell damage. |
|
Spellshattering | Unholy | 57 | Two-handed | Deflects 4% of all spell damage. |
 |
Lichbane | Blood | 60 | Any | Adds 2% extra weapon damage as Fire damage or 4% versus Undead targets. |
 |
Swordbreaking | Blood | 63 | One-handed | Increases Parry chance by 2% and reduces duration of disarm effects by 50%. |
|
Swordshattering | Blood | 63 | Two-handed | Increases Parry chance by 4% and reduces duration of disarm effects by 50%. |
 |
Fallen Crusader | Unholy | 70 | Any | Has a chance to heal you for 3% and increase total Strength by 15% for 15 sec. |
 |
Nerubian Carapace | Frost | 72 | One-handed | Increases defense by 13 and total stamina by 1%. |
 |
Stoneskin Gargoyle | Frost | 72 | Two-handed | Increases defense by 25 and total stamina by 2%. |
Notes
Runes are always better than weapon enchantments. No death knight should ever pay to get a weapon enchanted.
In general, the best runes are Fallen Crusader for DPS and Stoneskin Gargoyle/Nerubian Carapace for tanking. For dual-wield DPS, Razorice is competitive for the offhand.
External links
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