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Runes, Artifacts and Perks
October 15, 2026 at 03:05 PM
Created page: Runes, Artifacts and Perks (2026-10-15)
Alongside Weapons, four systems shape a build in Guns & Dragons: runes, artifacts, level-up perks and altar rewards. The Steam page sums it up: defeat enemies to recover runes and artifacts, use them to level up and choose skills, and combine runes, artifacts and skills into a strategy that changes from run to run. The studio's own site adds that artifacts appear and drop at random, and that each character's unique skills are meant to create synergies with weapons and artifacts.
Names and numbers on this page that come from store screenshots reflect a pre-release build and may change before release.
Runes drop from enemies and feed into a player's build. Coverage of the May 2026 unveiling described weapons evolving into new forms by combining runes with cores found in battle. A store screenshot of an altar shows a rune trade-off: give up four runes, gain Skull Runes equal to the number lost, and permanently acquire a random weapon.
Artifacts appear and drop at random. In a September 2025 interview, CEO Kim Dae-hwon named characters, guns and artifacts as the game's three axes of variety and described artifacts as functional cards. In co-op, players can trade artifacts with each other to suit their builds, and some artifacts are built specifically for teamwork. See Co-op Multiplayer.
Artifact | Effect shown | Source |
|---|---|---|
Leather Whip | When you hit an ally, both you and that ally gain +20% movement speed for 3 seconds | Store screenshot; the director also described this co-op whip artifact |
The same screenshot's pickup feed shows two other items being collected, Arrow of Spirits and Dead Man's Chest, but does not show what they do. The director also mentioned an artifact from unreleased builds that transfers ammunition to a teammate whenever the player shoots them, letting one player supply another who uses ammo-hungry weapons.
After the first playtest, players objected to AI-generated artifact icons. In a September 15, 2026 post, the studio said every one of them had been removed and redrawn by hand for the second playtest. A few were temporary artist-made placeholders to be replaced in stages. The redraw also unified the aura colors to match rarity tiers, so an artifact's grade can be read from its icon without opening the tooltip.
Leveling up during a run presents a choice of perks. A pre-release store screenshot of the Select Perk screen shows three options and a reroll button with four rerolls available:
Perk | Effect shown |
|---|---|
Ricochet Shot 1 | Projectiles ricochet 3 times when they hit terrain; damage +20% with each ricochet |
Overkill | On kill, adds 80% of overkill damage to the next attack |
Sniper | Damage to enemies beyond 15 m +30%; damage no longer falls off at max range |
In his gamescom 2026 interview, director Park Jun-woo said some first-playtest perks were hard to understand, especially skill upgrades on level-up. The team was rewriting them so a player can see immediately how a choice will shape the rest of the run.
The Steam page lists altar rewards among the treasures enemies and trials offer. A store screenshot of the Altar screen carries the line Each decision carries consequences and offers three trades, plus a reroll that costs health:
Cost | Reward |
|---|---|
12 HP | 125 Shard |
4 Runes (replaced by Skull Runes) | A random weapon, acquired permanently |
20 HP | A Rare Artifact |
Each character has unique skills meant to combine with weapons and artifacts. For example, Eryn calls on spirit flowers and wind spirits to support her squad. See Playable Characters.