Runes Among Ruins in Rise of Kingdoms: How to Find All Runes and Claim the Rewards (2026)

Information is current as of August 2026.

Runes Among Ruins is one of the six activities of the Qixi festival, also known as the Night of Sevens, which arrived with patch 1.1.10 at the end of July 2026. The event is available in kingdoms older than 21 days and sends governors exploring a field of ancient ruins: you open tiles, find runes underneath and exchange them for festival rewards. Here is how the mode works and how to squeeze the maximum out of it.

How the Event Works

Runes Among Ruins is built around a board of hidden tiles. You spend event items to reveal tiles of the ruins; under them are runes of different types, festival currency and bonus prizes. The deeper you go, the better the loot — the top rewards sit behind rarer rune combinations.

Event items for revealing tiles are farmed through everyday activity during the festival: gathering on the map, defeating barbarians, collecting resources in the city and completing festival quests. As usual for the Night of Sevens, free players can earn a solid amount of attempts just by playing normally, while extra attempts are sold in the festival bundles.

How to Farm Efficiently

1. Do the festival quests daily. They are the main source of free attempts — missing a day means losing runes you will not get back.
2. Pair farming with your routine. Barbarian hunts and gathering marches for the event overlap with your daily tasks, so keep your action points flowing during the whole festival.
3. Open tiles methodically. Revealing connected areas instead of random tiles helps you spot rune patterns faster and waste fewer attempts.
4. Save some attempts for the last day. Once you see which runes you are missing for the reward you want, targeted opening beats blind luck.

Which Rewards to Take First

The exchange shop of the Night of Sevens traditionally offers legendary commander sculptures, golden keys, speedups and resource packs. The priority order for most players: legendary sculptures and golden keys first, then universal speedups, and resources only with leftover currency. The festival also ties into the debut of the new commander Yahya ibn Khalid — if you plan to invest in him, the festival shop is the cheapest source of his sculptures.

Player Reviews

Players call Runes Among Ruins one of the friendliest parts of the festival: the rules are simple, the farming fits into the daily routine, and free attempts give a realistic shot at the main rewards without spending. The community likes that the event does not demand staying online — it is enough to log in, burn your action points and open the tiles you earned.

The criticism is familiar: the tile lottery is still a lottery, so the final reward depends on luck with rune drops, and governors who skip a day or two noticeably fall behind. Veterans advise not to scatter attempts across the whole board and to decide on your target reward on day one.

Community Discussion Breakdown

Discussion of the event centers on optimal tile-opening routes — players share screenshots of rune layouts and argue whether it is better to reveal a cross pattern or clear corner to corner. The second hot topic is the shop: the consensus is to lock in sculptures and keys before touching anything else. Finally, many threads compare the six Night of Sevens activities, and Runes Among Ruins usually ranks among the most generous for low spenders.

Bottom Line

Runes Among Ruins is an easy, rewarding festival event: play actively during the Night of Sevens, complete the daily quests, open the ruins methodically and spend your currency on sculptures and keys first. Do that, and the event will pay for your commander growth better than most activities of the season.

Read also

• Rose Shop in Rise of Kingdoms — where to spend the festival roses;
• Esmeralda's Prayer — the festival wheel and its prizes;
• Champions of Olympia — the 5v5 arena mode;
• Ark of Osiris — the main alliance battle;
• All about Rise of Kingdoms — every guide, news piece and event in one place.

Sources: LDShop — Qixi Festival guide, App Store — Rise of Kingdoms patch notes 1.1.10.