Korea's rune 10-star (mythic): what TW needs to prep
✍️ Alice・愛麗沙
Korea’s S2 “Light and Dark” patch (2026-06-25) raised the rune star ceiling from 8-star to 10-star (a new grade called mythic). There is nothing specific to prep on TW right now. TW’s own rune system (see our rune basics guide) doesn’t reach anywhere near this ceiling yet, and every top-grade rune TW players already have keeps working exactly as it does today. What’s worth knowing is the shape of the change, not a date: Korea raising a star ceiling is a pattern TW has absorbed before, and this time it comes with a real wrinkle — rune-word, memory-engrave and transcend-engrave effects only activate at 10-star LEGENDARY grade, not just at 10 stars. Hitting the new numeric ceiling by itself isn’t enough. Come back to the details once TW’s own ceiling actually gets there.
The shape of what’s coming, not a date
TW players already have a working mental model of the rune system — fill all six slots first, stop fusing at legendary before a season handover (see our existing rune basics guide; the fusion-timing piece has no English edition yet). This article covers ground TW hasn’t reached yet: Korea pushed its rune star ceiling up again in S2.
The change itself is two confirmed facts, nothing more:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Previous star ceiling | 8★ |
| New star ceiling (신화) | 10★ |
| Rune-word / memory-engrave / transcend-engrave activation threshold | 10★（전설） |
Only two endpoints here are confirmed — the ceiling and the activation threshold. No source found this pass gives the per-star delta between them, so this table doesn't pretend to show a curve. Source: 自有研究紀錄.
That table only carries two confirmed endpoints — the old ceiling, the new ceiling, and the star grade where the bonus effects switch on. Korea’s version adds one extra rule worth remembering: rune-word, memory-engrave and transcend-engrave bonuses don’t just turn on once a rune hits 10 stars numerically — the rune also has to be at LEGENDARY grade at that star count. A rune that’s stuck at 9 stars, or one that reached 10 stars at a lower grade, does not get these effects. Korean players themselves reportedly found this threshold confusing at first, which is exactly why it’s worth stating plainly here.
What to do on TW right now
Nothing specific — TW’s rune system can’t reach this tier yet. TW’s own rune database currently tops out below Korea’s new ceiling, and every top-grade rune a TW player has already invested in keeps its current effects unchanged. This isn’t a “your investment might get nerfed” warning — raising a star ceiling, going by Korea’s own pattern, opens new space above the existing top tier rather than resetting it.
This is nothing like the Guild Ship situation, where a leaked material list meant stockpiling wood ahead of time made sense. There’s no material to hoard here and no action to take early, because the star system reads a rune’s own progress, not something a player can bank in advance. The only thing worth doing is what our existing guides already recommend: keep filling slots, keep following the fusion-timing advice, and don’t change anything based on this article.
What would break this advice
First, Korea hasn’t published — and TW hasn’t confirmed — a timeline for when TW’s own star ceiling gets raised. This shipped as part of Korea’s S2 season, not a standalone event, so TW catching up here depends on TW reaching S2 itself first. Second, even once TW gets some version of this, the threshold rule might not carry over unchanged. “10-star legendary is required” is Korea’s specific design choice for this patch; TW’s eventual version could set the bar at a different grade or star count entirely.
This is the same problem our existing Guild Ship article already documents in detail: Guild Ships went live in Korea on 2025-08-21, and TW’s own 2026-08-05 appearance was a same-day accidental unlock, reverted the next day by emergency maintenance — as of this writing, a full year later, Guild Ships still are not properly live on TW. Separately, TW’s first legendary-fashion wave skipped straight to Korea’s round 5, proving Korea’s own release order isn’t a promise either. Lag predicts the shape of what’s coming, never a date — the same rule applies here.
Put together, this advice holds up precisely because it doesn’t depend on this system arriving on any particular schedule — “keep playing runes the way our existing guides already teach” doesn’t stop being correct whether this reaches TW next month or takes another year. The only part of this article that will go stale is the exact threshold grade, and that’s worth re-checking the day TW actually announces it.
Our conclusion
Two facts are worth carrying forward from Korea’s rune 10-star (mythic) change: the star ceiling went from 8 to 10, and rune-word, memory-engrave and transcend-engrave effects require 10-star LEGENDARY grade specifically, not just the new numeric ceiling. TW can’t reach this tier yet, existing top-grade investment is unaffected, and there’s nothing to prep in advance. What each individual star is actually worth in stats — a full per-tier curve — is not published anywhere this pass could find, in Korean patch coverage or Korean guide sites alike. This article will get that number the day it becomes public, not before.