Magic Rune

Runes are Destruction spells that are cast on the ground and act as a trap when walked over. There are three types of runes in the base game: Fire (orange), Frost (white) and Shock (purple). The Dragonborn expansion adds three more: Ash (brown), Frenzy (red), and Poison (green). When cast, the spells take about a second to charge up, then they can be "thrown" on either the ground or a wall, creating a circle with magic symbols. They can be shot at with a projectile spell to manually trigger them. The Destruction perk, "Rune Master", allows the caster to throw runes farther. Only one rune can be placed at a time.

Runes are particularly useful in dealing with hibernating or entombed draugr or other enemies behind sealed doors or barriers. If a draugr is sleeping or dormant but still alive, casting a rune next to it will cause the rune to explode, heavily damaging or killing the draugr. Runes cast as close as possible to sealed coffins or sarcophagi will also explode if the draugr inside is alive, not only hurting it but possibly triggering a premature emergence. Draugr and other undesirables behind sealed doors can also be injured this way, or even killed if they are trapped with no way they can release the doors.

Fire Rune
Fire Rune is an Apprentice-level Destruction spell in. Casting it causes blobs of fire to shoot from the hands and stick to surfaces. When a target steps on or passes too closely to a Fire Rune, it explodes, causing 50 points of fire damage. Enemies caught on fire from the spell take additional damage. Additionally, the perk "Augmented Flames" increases the damage done by Fire Rune by 25% on the first perk and 50% on the second. An alternate way of casting a Fire Rune is to use a bash with the Dawnguard Rune Hammer, using Stamina instead of Magicka.

Frost Rune
Frost Rune is an Apprentice-level Destruction spell in. Casting it causes blobs of ice to shoot from the hands and stick to surfaces. When a target steps on or passes too closely to a Frost Rune, it explodes, causing 50 points of frost damage. Frozen enemies have hindered speed. Additionally, the perk "Augmented Frost" increases the damage done by Frost Rune by 25% on the first perk and 50% on the second.

Lightning Rune
Lightning Rune is an Apprentice-level Destruction spell in. Casting it causes sparks of lightning to shoot from the hands and stick to surfaces. When a target steps on or passes too closely to a Shock Rune, it explodes, causing 50 points of shock damage. "Shocked" enemies have hindered magicka. Additionally, the perk "Augmented Shock" increases the damage done by Shock Rune by 25% on the first perk and 50% on the second.

Ash Rune
Ash Rune is an Expert-level Alteration spell in. It causes ash to shoot out of the caster's hands and cling to the nearest surface. When enemies come into contact with it, it explodes, immobilizing all in a small burst for 30 seconds. Unlike paralysis, effected targets cannot be attacked.

Poison Rune
Poison Rune is an Adept-level Restoration spell in. Casting it will cause a poison spell to shoot out, and stick to a nearby surface. When a target comes into contact with it, it will explode, causing 3 points of poison damage for 30 seconds. (i.e. 90 points of poison damage)

Frenzy Rune
Frenzy Rune is an Adept-level Illusion spell in. Casting it will cause a Frenzy spell to shoot out, and stick to a nearby surface. When a target comes into contact with it, it will explode causing all nearby creatures, up to level 20 to frenzy, attacking anyone nearby. This benefits from all Illusion perks, increasing the level it can effect.

Spell Tome locations

 * Faralda at The College of Winterhold sells all 3 spells once the Dragonborn reaches a Destruction skill of 25 (Apprentice-level).
 * Farengar Secret-Fire in Dragonsreach also sells these spells.
 * Sybille Stentor, the Court Wizard of Solitude sells these spells at The Blue Palace.
 * Magic Rune spell tomes can be found as loot in chests (uncommon), on the corpses of magic-users (rare) or Draugr (rare) level 25 or higher.
 * All Runes that were added with Dragonborn can be purchased from Talvas Fathryon at Tel Mithryn, assuming the Dragonborn is the appropriate level.

Bugs

 * When two rune spells are cast at the same time, one of the rune spell's symbol will be permanently engraved on the surface.
 * Enemy rune spells ignore elemental resistance. This, coupled with the increased damage of enemy spells on master difficulty, make fire rune spells an auto death for anyone on master with less than 400 health.
 * Charging any rune and placing it as close as possible to a draugr coffin will activate the slumbering draugr, even if the draugr only come to life via an event (e.g. only after pulling a certain lever or taking the required item in a dungeon). This makes it a lot easier taking on each draugr one by one rather than the whole group that would come to life together.