"This update means that RUNES will only affect the weapon they are socketed in, allowing players to create more targeted loadouts.  

• For example, you could fill your left-hand weapon with Attack runes and your right-hand weapon with Stun runes so that both weapons have very different effects. 
• Some stats will stay global (example: Assassination damages, Fire damages, etc.).  
• No changes have been made to Runes slotted on armor; they will still impact your character as a whole."

So this is coming as part of the patch today, does anyone else see this as a HUGE nerf that they are trying to pass off as a "benefit'?!? I mean, previously we would gain the benefit of whatever weapon rune we had to our entire character stat- now- it will apply to the individual weapon ONLY. So have crit chance on a weapon, now it will not benefit your other weapons too? I don't know of anyone who would want to create 'targeted' loadouts when previously they would apply to both. So I only want my left-hand weapon to stun, but not my right as well? Makes absolutely no sense to me. When I apply a stat, I want it applied to my entire character- and until they make it simpler to switch loadouts (like they did in Odyssey where we had access to five different armor builds), this will be pointless and a huge nerf to the MAJORITY of players.

They also said, "Some stats will stay global..." but perhaps they can share an extended list of WHICH stay global- does crit chance, crit damage?!?

@adarklore 100% agree! Who asked for this?!

This doesn't improve the usefulness of runes at all...

1. There isn't enough diversity in the current Rune sets to even benefit from this. Besides Stun/Attack what other runes are weapon specific and why would anyone switch mid battle from one to the other? What would be the point?
2. Does this effect Bows now too?
3. What about MAJOR rune slots, are these weapon specific? If I have ignite on parry on my bow or speed while dodging on my off-hand, will this not work now?

This honestly seems like a major nerf to dual wielding, You have basically made melee/shield the better option with this update.
Can you please provide more details on what runes are GLOBAL and which are weapon specific.

@h0bbs Who says a shield rune applies to a weapon?
Sounds more like it applies only to the shield now.
But as always, descriptions remain super vague.

Absolutely... this is NOTHING like what they claimed it's for... it is an intentional NERF that they're trying to pass off as a benefit... and clearly think players are stupid enough to believe it. I'm also curious as to see what it impacts- because it seems to me it would impact bows AND shields too since they are 'weapons'. Until they offer us the ability to swap gear sets on the fly, this further doesn't make sense since it's a major inconvenience now even IF you did want some weapon rune specific builds.

As I mentioned in my first post, I really want to know if this impacts crit chance and crit damage- are they still considered global or are they now weapon rune specific?

This is devastating.

My favorite things to do in this game was get on my horse and ride-by punch seagulls into a sleep cloud and trample snakes into a trap. Why would they take this joy away from me???

Are the weapon perks also limited to the weapon they are on then?
Totally agree with you about the loadouts. It's kind of crazy they would do this before adding them. Its a long time coming for something that should have been there at launch.

@adarklore Also Light Damage and Heavy Damage, as they were considered 'Global' and would improve both off-hand and primary weapons.
The attack rune didn't stack anyway from off-hand to primary or from bows (not sure if stun did either), so again what was the point of this? What other runes did you guys nerf?

It would be nice if we could get a dev to chime in and let us know which rune stats remain global and which have been relegated to 'individual weapon only'.

@adarklore I agree, the reasoning for this change does not help the player. I had a nice archer build where I put headshot runes in all my weapons to max out the headshot damage, but now those runes are taking up space in my hand weapons.

While it is very odd that Ubisoft didn’t include more specifics about which runes will continue to have global effects and which won’t, I did some checking and found that you can pretty much figure out which ones are weapon-only runes. If you open up Eivor’s stats, you’ll see categories for Defense and Offense, and then you’ll see separate stats for each weapon you have.

The stats that are specified in the weapon categories reflect those runes which are for weapons only. I did a switch-out test to see if the runes I placed in one of my hand weapons had any effect on the stats for my bow... runes that boost Attack, Stun, Speed, Weight, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, and Head Damage will only work for the weapons you place them in and have no global effect, except for Weight, which will add or decrease Eivor’s total weight in the Defense category.

So, all of the stats in the Defense and Offense category should reflect respective runes with global effects. It will take time to test that hypothesis, but...

@Ubi-Froggard Can you or another mod/admin ask the devs to confirm or deny my hypothesis here? We players deserve a complete list of what runes are going to work globally and which won’t since these new rules have essentially changed how the game operates. Also, can you find out why headshot runes are available to be put in hand weapons when they will no longer apply to the bow stats? I can’t exactly shoot my hand weapon into someone’s head.

@thenorfolkian You beat me to it, I was just about to post this same information as I too just figured it out myself. You are correct about the stats in the Defense/Offense being per character and individual weapon stats are 'per weapon'. Odd, but nice, that weight is still overall and not just per weapon.

I wasn't aware of the 'headshot' rune, but you are correct, it makes no sense for that to be able to be placed in a hand weapon when it no longer impacts overall stats.

@adarklore Of all the runes to put in your hand weapons, the headshot rune now makes the absolute least sense to use. The fact that Ubisoft made these changes without considering that rune in hand weapons is a huge oversight that needs to be corrected... otherwise new players are going to get very confused when seeing they can put that rune in thinking it will help them when it won’t.

Thank you to everyone who has shed some light on this so far!! This is a confusing update for sure.

It makes me wonder if they are trying to slow the power creep especially since they plan to continue adding content for another year. They probably are developing plans for new skill point nodes, and this would be one way for them to nerf some power now and then add it back later with new skill point nodes.