Overview

Runes are abilities that can be added to weapons or shields using a Synthesis Pot or Mixer monster.
Generally runes make your adventure easier, but some have a negative effect.

Runes are retained up to a certain number of slots when you transform an item at the Blacksmith.
This applies to creating a Kajin Fuuma (10 slots), Kabura Sutegi (15 slots), or Rasen Fuuma (15 slots).

Obtaining Runes

There are 3 ways to obtain or add runes to equipment.

• The weapon or shield has an innate rune.
  • Example: Golden Sword always has Rustproof.
• Synthesize items to transfer runes.
  • Example: Katana + Golden Sword = Katana with Rustproof.
• Sacred Items can be generated with random runes.

Synthesis Methods

Synthesis Pots and Mixers must be unlocked through a Side Quest before they can appear in dungeons.

• Synthesis Pot
  • The first item you insert acts as the base.
  • Runes and upgrade values of subsequent items are added to the base item.
    • Example: Katana first, Kama Itachi+3 second → Katana+3 that can attack in 3 directions.
• Mixer
  • Throw items at a Mixer to have it synthesize the items in its stomach.
  • Similar to Synthesis Pot, but can also synthesize different category items (Cross-Mixing).
    • Example: Katana first, Paralyzing Staff second → Katana that can paralyze opponents.

Erasing Runes

It's possible to erase runes on equipment.

• Traveling Blacksmith (Shukuba Beach)
  • This Blacksmith can erase unwanted runes for 5000 Gitan each.
• Mudster or Mudder
  • These monsters have a special attack that can erase a random rune.
• Rune-eraser Scroll
  • The rune in the last slot of the selected item is erased.

Silver-Sealed Rune Slots

New mechanic introduced in Shiren 6 where a rune slot can become sealed by silver.

• Non-empty rune slots that are sealed will transfer when synthesized, but the runes remain sealed.
• The base item's empty rune slots that are sealed will be skipped when synthesizing new runes.
  • In other words, you must remove the empty slot's silver before the slot can be used.
• Methods to remove silver:
  • Traveling Blacksmith (Shukuba Beach) - 1000 Gitan each.
  • Silverpurge Scroll - Removes 2~4 silver from the selected item.
  • Mudster or Mudder - Equip a Rustproof Bracelet and let it use its special attack.

Weapon Runes

Priority is mostly aimed at dungeons that do not allow carry-in items.

Weapon Runes ~ Notebook Order
Icon	Name	Source	Priority	Notes
	Rustproof	Golden Sword Plating Scroll	High	Prevents upgrade value from decreasing due to rust. Raises accuracy of normal attacks by 2.0% (92% → 94%).
	Frontal Attack	Kama Itachi	Top	Attack 3 forward directions at the same time.
	Back Attack	Sacred Item	Mid	Attack in front and behind you at the same time.
	Side Attack	Sacred Item	Mid	Attack in front and to your left and right at the same time.
	Critical	Axe of the Minotaur	High	Roughly 1/3 chance to land a x1.5 damage critical hit.
	Accurate	Accurate Sword	Top	Your normal attacks always hit.
	Swift Strikes	Swift Sword	Top	Roughly 25% chance to attack 2 times in a row. The second hit has 50% attack power.
	Anti-Aquatic	Watersplitter	Mid	Deal x1.5 damage to Aquatic type monsters. Families: Bored Kappa, Pullfrog, Spearfish, Thiefwalrus, Mudkin, Explochin, Octopling.
	Anti-Beast	Primal Axe	High	Deal x1.5 damage to Beast type monsters. Families: Porky, Tiger Thrower, Fluffy Bunny, Taur, Hen, Chintala, Armordillo.
	Anti-Dragon	Dragonkiller	Mid	Deal x1.5 damage to Dragon type monsters. Families: Dragon, Floor Dragon, Shagga, Firepuff.
	Anti-Exploding	Crescent Blade	Low	Deal x1.5 damage to Exploding type monsters. Families: Pop Tank, Explochin.
	Anti-Ghost	Sickle of Salvation	High	Deal x1.5 damage to Ghost type monsters. Families: Ghost Radish, Skull Mage, Ghost Samurai, Death Reaper, Pumphantasm.
	Anti-Draining	Drain Slayer	High	Deal x1.5 damage to Draining type monsters. Families: Twisty Hani, Scorpion, Polygon Spinna, Mudkin.
	Anti-Cyclops	Cyclops Bane	Mid	Deal x1.5 damage to Cyclops type monsters. Families: Hat Urchin, Explochin, Metalhead, Egg Thing, Gazer.
	Anti-Metal	Steel Severer	Low	Deal x1.5 damage to Metal type monsters. Families: Pop Tank, Karakuroid, Zapdon, N'dubba.
	Anti-Floating	Sky Sword	Mid	Deal x1.5 damage to Floating type monsters. Families: Death Reaper, Pumphantasm, Firepuff, Chow, Crow Tengu.
	Anti-Behemoth	Sacred Item	Low	Lets you attack through a Behemoth monster's barrier.
	Confusing	Confusion Grass	High	Roughly 10.5% chance to inflict Confused status.
	Sedating	Sedating Grass	Top	Roughly 10.5% chance to inflict Asleep status.
	Sealing	Sealing Staff	Low	Roughly 8.9% chance to inflict Sealed status.
	Blinding	Blinding Grass	High	Roughly 8.9% chance to inflict Blind status.
	Paralyzing	Paralyzing Staff	High	Roughly 11.3% chance to inflict Paralyzed status.
	Flame Shot	Kajin Fuuma	Mid	Shoot a 10 damage flame when HP is full.
	Thunderbolt	Sacred Item	High	Occasionally deal 20 additional damage to a target. The damage spreads through adjacent enemies. Shiren and his companions won't receive damage.
	Knockback	Whopping Harisen	Top	Roughly 53.7% chance to deal 1 tile of knockback.
	Healing	Healing Sword	High	Restore HP equal to 10% of damage dealt.
	Peach Bun	Peach Club	Top	30% chance for an enemy to drop a Peach Bun when slain.
	Costly Hit	Spender's Club	Varies	Deal x1.5 damage, but spend 100 Gitan per hit. Weapon attack set to 0 without enough Gitan.
	Voracious Hit	Ferrous Greatsword	Low	Deal x1.5 damage, but spend 2 fullness per hit. Weapon attack set to 0 without enough fullness.
	Hunger Power	Steak Knife	Varies	Deal x2.0 damage when you're starving.
	Danger Power	Sacred Item	Low	Deal more damage when your HP is low (Danger status).
	Third Strike	Jagged Sword	Mid	100% accuracy x1.5 damage critical hit after 2 misses.
	Quintessence	Quad-edge	High	100% accuracy x1.5 damage critical hit after 4 hits.
	Critical At 0	Sacred Item	Mid	x1.5 damage critical hit when last digit of your HP is 0.
	Critical At 1	Sacred Item	Mid	x1.5 damage critical hit when last digit of your HP is 1.
	Critical At 2	Sacred Item	Mid	x1.5 damage critical hit when last digit of your HP is 2.
	Critical At 3	Sacred Item	Mid	x1.5 damage critical hit when last digit of your HP is 3.
	Critical At 4	Sacred Item	Mid	x1.5 damage critical hit when last digit of your HP is 4.
	Critical At 5	Sacred Item	Mid	x1.5 damage critical hit when last digit of your HP is 5.
	Critical At 6	Sacred Item	Mid	x1.5 damage critical hit when last digit of your HP is 6.
	Critical At 7	Auspicious Kumade	Mid	x1.5 damage critical hit when last digit of your HP is 7.
	Critical At 8	Sacred Item	Mid	x1.5 damage critical hit when last digit of your HP is 8.
	Critical At 9	Sacred Item	Mid	x1.5 damage critical hit when last digit of your HP is 9.
	Wall Dig	Pickaxe	Avoid	Dig walls, but 50% chance for upgrade value -1.
	Max Wall Dig	Golden Pickaxe	Low	Dig walls, upgrade value never decreases.
	Trap Bust	Wooden Mallet	Avoid	Break items/traps, but 50% chance for upgrade value -1.
	Max Trap Bust	Epic Hammer	Avoid	Break items/traps, upgrade value never decreases.
	Trap-finding	Trapseeker	Low	Trap check range increases to a 3x2 tile area.
	Dried Bonito	Bonito Block	Avoid	Can nibble on the weapon to replenish 20 fullness. Nibbling lowers upgrade value by 1.
	Cursed Might	Yamanba's Cleaver	Varies	Strength increases by 1 when weapon is cursed.
	Dulling	Break-Off Blade	Avoid	Upgrade value -1 each time your attack connects.
	HP +5	Herb	Low	Increase max HP by 5.
	HP +10	Otogirisou	Low	Increase max HP by 10.
	HP +15	Healing Grass	Low	Increase max HP by 15.
	HP +20	Life Grass	Low	Increase max HP by 20.

Shield Runes

Priority is mostly aimed at dungeons that do not allow carry-in items.

Shield Runes ~ Notebook Order
Icon	Name	Source	Priority	Notes
	Rustproof	Golden Shield Plating Scroll	Mid	Prevents upgrade value from decreasing due to rust.
	Retribution	Counter Shield	High	Reflect 50% damage received back at attacker.
	Shadow Payback	Sacred Item	Mid	Chance to inflict Shadowbound status on attacker.
	Jitter Payback	Jitters Scroll	Top	9.4% chance to inflict Jittery status on attacker.
	Berserk Payback	Berserk Seed	Low	Chance to inflict Berserk status on attacker.
	Delusion Payback	Sacred Item	Top	Chance to inflict Deluded status on attacker.
	Onigiri Payback	Onigiri Scroll	Top	10.2% chance to inflict Onigiri status on attacker.
	Leap Payback	Leaping Grass	Low	9.9% chance to make the attacker warp elsewhere.
	Keen	Watchful Shield	Top	22.6% chance to dodge enemy normal attacks.
	Anti-Dragon	Dragon Shield	High	Reduces normal attack and fire damage by 50%. Only works on Dragon type monsters.
	Anti-Blast	Blast Shield	High	Reduces damage from explosions by 50%.
	Critproof	Targe of the Minotaur	Varies	Reduces damage from enemy critical hits by 55%.
	Waterproof	Spearscale Shield	Low	Prevents inventory items from getting wet.
	Walrusproof	Walrus Stopper	Mid	Thiefwalrus monsters can't steal your items.
	Froggoproof	Froggo Stopper	Low	Froggo monsters can't steal your Gitan.
	Hatproof	Hat Stopper	Low	Hat Urchin monsters can't steal your items.
	Nigiriproof	Nigiri Stopper	Mid	Nigiri Morph monsters can't turn items into onigiri. Protects against Onigiri status.
	Projectileproof	Kappa's Dish	Mid	39.2% chance to evade enemy projectiles.
	Hypnosisproof	Gazer Shield	Mid	Protects against Gazer's hypnosis.
	Magic Cancel	Shield of Negation	High	Nullifies magic bullets aimed at you.
	Magic Reflect	Sacred Item	High	Reflects magic bullets aimed at you.
	Unmoving	Unmoving Wall	Low	Prevents being moved from current position.
	Breakfalling	Zabuton	Low	No damage when you bump into something or trip. Does not prevent tripping.
	Costly Block	Spender's Shield	Varies	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Spend 100 Gitan per hit received. Shield defense set to 0 without enough Gitan.
	Voracious Block	Ferrous Kite	Low	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Spend 2 fullness per hit received. Shield defense set to 0 without enough fullness.
	Hunger Power	Steak Plate	Varies	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Must have Starving status to activate.
	Guts	Gutsy Shield	Low	30% chance to endure a fatal hit with 1 HP. Never activates when current HP is 1.
	Full Armor	Hunky-dory Shield	Top	Reduces damage from any attack by 50%. Must be at full HP to activate.
	Sating	Shield of Sating	Top	Halves hunger rate (1 fullness / 20 turns).
	Fasting	Bodhi Shield	Varies	Stops natural fullness depletion. Max Fullness becomes 1.
	Trap-proof	Sacred Item	Low	Chance to nullify trap activation.
	Tough At 0	Sacred Item	Mid	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Last digit of HP must be 0 to activate.
	Tough At 1	Sacred Item	Mid	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Last digit of HP must be 1 to activate.
	Tough At 2	Sacred Item	Mid	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Last digit of HP must be 2 to activate.
	Tough At 3	Sacred Item	Mid	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Last digit of HP must be 3 to activate.
	Tough At 4	Sacred Item	Mid	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Last digit of HP must be 4 to activate.
	Tough At 5	Sacred Item	Mid	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Last digit of HP must be 5 to activate.
	Tough At 6	Sacred Item	Mid	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Last digit of HP must be 6 to activate.
	Tough At 7	Auspicious Omamori	Mid	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Last digit of HP must be 7 to activate.
	Tough At 8	Sacred Item	Mid	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Last digit of HP must be 8 to activate.
	Tough At 9	Sacred Item	Mid	Reduce normal attack damage received by 30%. Last digit of HP must be 9 to activate.
	Oracle	Shield of Presage	Mid	Chime plays when Wishing Shrine is present. Buried items glow brightly.
	Cursed Might	Yamanba's Potlid	Varies	Strength increases by 1 when shield is cursed.
	Dulling	Break-Off Shield	Avoid	Upgrade value -1 each time you get hit.
	HP +5	Herb	Low	Increase max HP by 5.
	HP +10	Otogirisou	Low	Increase max HP by 10.
	HP +15	Healing Grass	Low	Increase max HP by 15.
	HP +20	Life Grass	Low	Increase max HP by 20.

In-Depth Notes

Source for most of this section is feketerigo's notes.

Damage Multiplier Stacking

Damage multipliers are additive instead of being multiplicative in this game.

Critical, Type-Effective (Anti-Aquatic, etc.), Costly Hit, Voracious Hit

• +0.5 to damage multiplier.
  • Example 1: Critical rune (1.0 + 0.5 = x1.5).
  • Example 2: Anti-Dragon rune (1.0 + 0.5 = x1.5).
  • Example 3: Anti-Aquatic + Anti-Cyclops runes (1.0 + 0.5 + 0.5 = x2.0).
  • Example 4: Critical + Costly Hit + Anti-Beast runes (1.0 + 0.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 = x2.5).

Hunger Power

• +1.0 to damage multiplier.
  • Example 1: Hunger Power rune (1.0 + 1.0 = x2.0).
  • Example 2: Critical + Hunger Power runes (1.0 + 0.5 + 1.0 = x2.5).

Swift Strikes

• Second hit has x0.5 base damage compared to the first hit.
  • Example: Anti-Aquatic rune, 1st hit (1.0 + 0.5 = x1.5) and 2nd hit (0.5 + 0.5 = x1.0).

Resonance Effects

• Rune Boost = Damage multiplier increases from x1.5 → x2.5.
  • Watersplitter + Spearscale Shield, Dragonkiller + Dragon Shield,
    Crescent Blade + Blast Shield, Cyclops Bane + Watchful Shield

Chance-based Activation Rates

The listed values are rough estimates based on testing inside the Monster Dojo.

Weapon Runes

• Critical → 29.8% (447/1500)
• Confusing, Sedating → 10.5% (63/600)
• Sealing → 8.9% (71/800)
• Blinding → 8.9% (107/1200)
• Paralyzing → 11.3% (68/600)
• Knockback → 53.7% (102/190)
• Peach Bun → 30.0% (45/150)
• Wall Dig → 51.8% (100/193)
  • Dig a minimum of 8 tiles, average of 16 tiles.
• Trap Bust → 49.5% (50/101)

Shield Runes

• Jitter Payback → 9.4% (17/181)
• Onigiri Payback → 10.2% (151/1484)
• Leap Payback → 9.9% (43/435)
• Keen → 22.6% (113/500)
  • Shiren's normal attack evade roll (~12.7%) occurs after the check for this rune.
• Projectileproof → 39.2% (196/500)
  • Shiren's projectile dodge roll occurs after the check for this rune.
• Guts → 32.3% (100/310)
  • Doesn't activate when Shiren has 1 HP.

Resonance Effects

• Golden Sword + Golden Shield → 24.1% (138/576)
• Axe of the Minotaur + Targe of the Minotaur
  • Player critical hit chance: 29.8% (447/1500) → 40.4% (727/1800)
  • Monster critical hit chance: 33.2% (230/693)
• Whopping Harisen + Zabuton → 10.4% (48/462)
• Bonito Block + Shield of Sating → 10.5% (11/105)
• Auspicious Kumade + Auspicious Omamori → 70% chance to avoid the trap.
  • Shiren's trap activation roll occurs after the check for this effect.

Other Notes

Rune Related

• Healing → Restore HP equal to 10% of damage dealt.
• Flame Shot → 10 damage, infinite range in a straight line.
  • Only shoots flame once even when Swift Strikes activates.
  • Doesn't shoot a flame if the normal attack already defeated the monster.
• Third Strike → Next hit has 100% accuracy and becomes a critical hit after 2 misses.
  • The critical hit only applies to the first hit when Swift Strikes activates.
  • Missing multiple times in 1 turn with Frontal Attack still only counts as 1 miss.
  • Missing with Swift Strikes's second hit counts as 1 miss.
• Quintessence → Next hit has 100% accuracy and becomes a critical hit after 4 hits in a row.
  • The critical hit only applies to the first hit when Swift Strikes activates.
  • You must hit all targets in 1 turn when using Frontal Attack for it to count as 1 hit.
  • Connecting with Swift Strikes's second hit counts as 1 hit.
• Critical At (number) → Swift Strikes's second hit also becomes a critical hit.
• Retribution → Reflects 50% of damage received.
  • Doesn't reflect damage when Shiren collapses from the enemy's attack.
• Sating → Turns until 1 fullness depleted goes from 10 turns → 20 turns.
  • Sumo status: 1 fullness every 5 turns → 1 fullness every 10 turns.
  • Healing Bracelet: 3 fullness every 5 turns → 3 fullness every 10 turns.

Resonance Related

• Manji Kabura / Kajin Fuuma / Kabura Sutegi + Fuuma Shield / Rasen Fuuma
  • The +5 or +10 normal attack damage is fixed damage, so multipliers don't apply to it.
• Spender's Club + Spender's Shield
  • Reduces Gitan cost from 100 → 75 per hit.
• Ferrous Greatsword + Ferrous Kite
  • Reduces Fullness cost from 2 → 1 per hit.

Damage Reduction

• Anti-Dragon → Reduces damage from Dragon type monster normal attacks and fire by 50%.
• Anti-Blast → Reduces damage from explosions by 50%.
• Critproof → Reduces damage from monster critical hits by 55%.
• Costly Block → Reduces damage from normal attacks by 30%, 100 Gitan per hit.
  • Shield's defense set to 0 without enough Gitan, but runes still function.
• Voracious Block → Reduces damage from normal attacks by 30%, 2 fullness per hit.
  • Shield's defense set to 0 without enough fullness, but runes still function.
• Hunger Power → Reduces damage from normal attacks by 30% while starving.
• Full Armor → Reduces damage received by 50% when HP is full.
  • Applies to any damage source, not just normal attacks.