The Rune Blade is a recurring Holy-element sword for Matt in the Epic Battle Fantasy series.
Description[]
The Rune Blade is a white and black longsword with a slimmer design than the Heaven's Gate, Matt's other Holy-elemental weapon. It has a white blade with a black marking near the base; the latter gives the impression of a cross when combined with the black hilt and crossguard. A pair of white ropes or cloth are wrapped around the guard, and both they and the black parts of the sword are covered in runes, as per the sword's name. In the third and fourth games, the runes were removed from the Rune Blade's in-game model, but remained on its menu icons.
Unlike most of Matt's other weapons, the Rune Blade gives him a massive boost to his lackluster Magic Attack, while giving him little bonus (or even a penalty) in Attack. It also can drain MP with weapon-elemental attacks. Its resistances and other stat bonuses vary between games, but are typically biased towards magic.
Epic Battle Fantasy[]
The Rune Blade greatly boosts Matt's magical prowess, giving him more Magic Attack and Magic Defence than any other sword. On the other hand, it slightly reduces his physical abilities, being the only sword to reduce both Attack and Defence; the Devil's Sunrise has less Attack but more Defence, while the Soul Eater has less Defence but far more Attack.
The Rune Blade also boosts the power of Seiken, but unlike its later appearances, it cannot drain MP with weapon-elemental skills; that ability was instead given to the Devil's Sunrise.
Epic Battle Fantasy 2[]
The Rune Blade gives Matt a slight bonus to Magic Attack and Evade, but it hampers much of his offensive output by being the only sword in the game with an Attack penalty. As a Holy sword, it's outclassed by the Heaven's Gate, which has comparable Magic Attack and only slightly weaker Evade in exchange for much better Attack, defenses, and a stronger elemental degree.
However, the Rune Blade makes up for its lackluster stats with the ability to drain MP with Weapon-elemental attacks and Seal enemies hit by its Unleash. It also makes Seiken slightly stronger, although the latter feature goes unmentioned in-game.
Epic Battle Fantasy 3[]
The Rune Blade is an unorthodox sword that grants small boosts to Magic Attack, Magic Defence, and Evade, along with a significant boost to MP. Unfortunately, it also has the distinction of being the only sword without an Attack boost, which leaves its damage output rather wanting; instead, it should be used for a support build or as a temporary measure to restore Matt's MP in battle without the use of Food before switching to a different weapon.
Aside from draining MP, the Rune Blade's weapon-elemental skills have a small chance to inflict Syphon, which is greatly increased with Unleash. This gives it a further niche in disabling Monoliths and other foes that rely on magic for most of their skills.
The Rune Blade resists Dark, Doom, and Death, becoming immune to the latter two at Level 5. These resistances can be useful in the final areas of the game, where Dark-based foes are common.
Epic Battle Fantasy 4[]
With the best MP and Magic Defence of any sword, smatterings of Accuracy and Evade, and a Magic Attack stat only surpassed by the Equilibrium, the Rune Blade is a potent magical weapon. Unfortunately, Matt has few ways to exploit this outside of the sword's Glitter unleash (which also benefits from its Holy boost), and its poor Attack bonus (lower than any sword) makes his usual physical attacks rather weak.
The Rune Blade also has useful support effects, with its weapon-elemental attacks being able to drain MP and inflict Syphon with decent regularity. Combined with its resistances and the occasional Accuracy debuff from its unleash, it can be a valuable asset for a support-based Matt that enables him to reliably keep his buffs and use his skills in prolonged battles while locking foes out of the same.
In the premium version of EBF4, the Rune Blade is generally outclassed by the Equilibrium, which has superior Magic Attack, massive Attack, twice the Syphon infliction chance, and useful resistances and support effects. However, the Rune Blade retains a niche as an attrition/support weapon with its MP boost and MP-draining attacks, as well as its Syphon immunity and its lack of Accuracy and Evade penalties (both innate and inflicted by the Equilibrium's Legend counters). Additionally, it is much easier to acquire, as the Equilibrium can only be found at the summit of Battle Mountain after beating all four boss rushes.
The Rune Blade is resistant to Syphon and Dispel, becoming fully immune to both of them at Level 5.
Epic Battle Fantasy []
- Attack -10%
- Defence -10%
- Magic Attack 30%
- Magic Defence 30%
- "Magic blade. Works well with Screamer, Power Metal and Seiken"
Epic Battle Fantasy 2[]
- Attack -30%
- Magic Attack 10%
- Evade 10%
- Element - 20% Holy
- Unleash - Seal
- "Drains MP from foes"
Epic Battle Fantasy 3[]
The Rune Blade is found in a chest behind a tombstone in Glacier Valley.
|
Rune Blade |
|---|---|
| Drains MP from the target. Level 4: May syphon targets. Unleash: Has a high chance of syphoning the target. |
| Statistics | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stat Bonus | Resistance | ||||||||||||||||
| LV1 | LV2 | LV3 | LV4 | LV5 | LV1 | LV2 | LV3 | LV4 | LV5 | LV1 | LV2 | LV3 | LV4 | LV5 | |||
|
- | - | - | - | - | 
|
- | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% | 
|
10% | 20% | 30% | 40% | 50% |
|
-40% | -30% | -20% | -10% | - | 
|
- | - | - | - | - | 
|
20% | 40% | 60% | 80% | 100% |
|
- | - | - | 10% | 20% | 
|
- | 5% | 5% | 10% | 10% | 
|
20% | 40% | 60% | 80% | 100% |
|
- | - | - | - | - | 
|
- | - | - | 5% | 10% | Element | 25% 
| ||||
| Spells & Statuses | |||||||||||||||||
| Power | Chance Modifier | Attack Status | |||||||||||||||
| Auto Skill | -- | -- | 
|
- | - | - | 20% | 30% | |||||||||
| Bonus Skill | -- | -- | - | - | - | 2x | 3x | ||||||||||
| Forging Information | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lvl | Requirements | Lvl | Requirements | ||||
| 2 |  x 1 |
-- | -- | 3 | x 5 |
-- | -- |
| 4 |  x 5 |
 x 4 |
-- | 5 |  x 1 |
x 5 |
-- |
Epic Battle Fantasy 4[]
The Rune Blade is given after completing a quest for ???.
|
Rune Blade |
|---|---|
| May Syphon targets. Drains MP from targets with certain skills. Boosts the power of Holy skills. May cast Glitter with certain skills. |
| Statistics | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stat Bonus | Resistance | ||||||||||||||||
| LV1 | LV2 | LV3 | LV4 | LV5 | LV1 | LV2 | LV3 | LV4 | LV5 | LV1 | LV2 | LV3 | LV4 | LV5 | |||
|
|
- | - | - | - | - |
|
5% | 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% |
|
20% | 40% | 60% | 80% | 100% |
|
|
- | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% |
|
- | - | - | - | - | 
|
20% | 40% | 60% | 80% | 100% |
|
|
30% | 40% | 50% | 65% | 80% |
|
- | 5% | 10% | 15% | 25% | - | - | - | - | - | - |
|
|
- | 5% | 5% | 10% | 10% |
|
- | 5% | 5% | 10% | 10% | Element | 50%
| ||||
| Spells & Statuses | |||||||||||||||||
| Power | Chance Modifier | Attack Status | |||||||||||||||
| Auto Skill | -- | -- |
|
25% | 30% | 35% | 40% | 50% | |||||||||
| Bonus Skill | (50%) | -- | 2x | 2x | 2x | 2x | 3x | ||||||||||
| Auto Status | -- | -- | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||
| -- | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||||||
| Forging Information | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lvl | Requirements | Lvl | Requirements | ||||
| 2 | x 1 |
-- | -- | 3 | x 3 |
-- | -- |
| 4 |  x 8 |
x 4 |
-- | 5 | x 1 |
x 8 |
-- |
Pre-Battle Mountain update version.
|
|
Rune Blade |
|---|---|
| May Syphon targets. Drains MP from targets with certain skills. Boosts the power of Holy skills. May cast Glitter with certain skills. |
| Statistics | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stat Bonus | Resistance | ||||||||||||||||
| LV1 | LV2 | LV3 | LV4 | LV5 | LV1 | LV2 | LV3 | LV4 | LV5 | LV1 | LV2 | LV3 | LV4 | LV5 | |||
|
|
- | - | - | - | - |
|
5% | 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% |
|
20% | 40% | 60% | 80% | 100% |
|
|
- | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% |
|
- | - | - | - | - |
|
20% | 40% | 60% | 80% | 100% |
|
|
20% | 30% | 40% | 55% | 70% |
|
- | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
|
|
- | - | - | - | - |
|
- | 5% | 5% | 10% | 10% | Element | 50%
| ||||
| Spells & Statuses | |||||||||||||||||
| Power | Chance Modifier | Attack Status | |||||||||||||||
| Auto Skill | -- | -- |
|
25% | 30% | 35% | 40% | 50% | |||||||||
| Bonus Skill | (30%) | -- | 2x | 2x | 2x | 2x | 3x | ||||||||||
| Auto Status | -- | -- | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||
| -- | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||||||
| Forging Information | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lvl | Requirements | Lvl | Requirements | ||||
| 2 | x 1 |
-- | -- | 3 | x 3 |
-- | -- |
| 4 | x 8 |
x 4 |
-- | 5 | x 1 |
x 8 |
-- |