Career Crunch: Dwarf Runepriest

Coming from most MMO's, Warhammer's 24 character careers (with 72 different mastery paths total) present an overwhelming abundance of choice. In "Career Crunch", I'll be breaking down what we know of the class, its flavor and how interested I am, personally, in playing one. I might also be eating Captain Crunch to help with the method writing I employ.

CAREER: Dwarf Runepriest

BRIEF OVERVIEW: Runepriests are dwarfs' (no, not "dwarves") answer to the magic they reject -- the crafting skill and ancient knowledge of the world allow the Runepriests to tap into deeper power by wielding sacred runes. A Runepriest buffs allies and thwacks enemies, usually at the same time and in the thick of the battle. Counter-career to the Greenskins' Shaman.

THINK: A short, stubborn Catholic/Old Testament priest wacking people on the noggin with his stick and using the air as a mystical Etch-a-Sketch.

MOVIE CHARACTER: The priest in the Peter Jackson zombie movie "Dead Alive" who goes all martial arts on the zombies and declares "I kick ass for the Lord!"

ABILITIES: Medium armor with an ornate staff. Provides an array of powerful, presumably short-term buffs for allies and himself. Is the Dwarf healer career, but heals from the middle of battle.

MECHANIC: Runes. Runes are bound to people or objects, and will keep on working even if (or when) the Runepriest dies. Runes include removing negative effects, snares, heals, and damage boosts.

RATE MY INTEREST: 3/10. Don't get me wrong, as a man of the cloth myself, it's an intriguing thought to wade into the midst of battle to play wack-a-mole and help people out at the same time. However, I'm not crazy about the Runepriest look (Dwarfs in general have more to do to win me over), and runes don't seem as fun or flashy as other class mechanics. Appears similar to other games' Paladins or Clerics. Something to keep in mind is that the Runepriest has had relatively little press by Mythic up to this point -- more info and/or revelations about this career might up my interest.

MORE READING:

• WAR's Official Runepriest overview


• HammerWiki's Runepriest entry


• MMO Wiki's Warhammer's Runepriest entry


• Short YouTube video featuring the Runepriest


• WHA Runepriest forum