Stacking bonuses

I notice the helmet bonus says it stacks but none of the runes do. Some builds though say something like 12+1+1 how would i get the second one? what else stacks?

TY, im a n00b

The first +1 would be from the headpiece itself. The second +1 (or +2 or whatever the case may be) would be from adding a rune of that attribute to the headpiece. Those do stack. It's adding a second rune of that attribute to your armor somewhere that doesn't.

Like, my Dervish's Scythe Mastery is 11+1+2 for a total of 14 - 11 from spending points, +1 from having a Scythe Mastery hood, and +2 for having put a Major Rune on it. With my 130hp armor set, though, despite having two Superior Wind Prayers runes on it, it's still only a +3 instead of a +6.

So basically, headpiece + rune stack. Rune + rune does not.

thank you very much, a very clear explanation

Don't forget most runes greater than +1 have a negative on health.
Some players feel this isn't worth it to get a few extra points on damage, they prefer having maximum health.

Whether you go for +1 +1 or +1 +2 or even +1 +3 on your headpiece is up to you.

On other armour parts you can again use any of the runes you like and its worth a little online research to see all the variations you can have.

read up also on removing runes to save yourself some minor annoyance later on.

This is all very confusing to me! ack
I am trying to set up the Sabway build, does it matter which necro gets what build? And how do you remove runes without losing your armor if you screw up? For instance I already have various runes on my Olias as I had him for quite awhile but only recently acquired Livia and MoW. I'm skeered LOL Someone walk me through it?

Tami

All Necro heroes are exactly the same. You can salvage runes from HERO armors without any risk of destroying the armor. The same does not apply to YOUR armor - use a Perfect Salvage Kit for that, or just over-write the rune with a new one.

As Snograt already said, you can salvage runes from hero armours without any risk of destroying the armour, so there's no worry about that if you're just salvaging off Olias.

Do remember that hero headpieces take on the attribute of the rune you place on them, though. So if you place a Soul Reaping rune on the headpiece, the headpiece will function as a Soul Reaping headpiece (with the stacking +1). If you place a Vitae, Attunement, or non-attribute linked rune on the headpiece, you won't get the headpiece bonus.

Also, random helpful hint - even if your (the players) character doesn't have a helmet with +1 of the rune you put on it, it's useful to put the corresponding rune on it anyway. For example, if you're a Warrior and have a helmet that gives +1 Swordsmanship, you should put your Swordsmanship rune on it because if you wanted to change to an Axe helmet, you would change to the axe rune aswell, saving you having to change two pieces (the helmet + whatever the rune is one) and inventory space.