Rune Lens
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What is Rune Lens?
Rune Lens answers one question for every rune you look at: keep it, sell it, re-app it or power it up? It reads the rune’s level, set, slot, main stat, innate and substats, scores it with the RL Score, and applies your thresholds and rules. It lives in two places:
SWLens Client (desktop)
The full overlay. The client embeds the Steam game window and scans the open rune several times a second, painting the score and verdict over the game — on the management, power-up and battle reward screens.
Web app (/webapp/rune-lens)
Two tabs: Rune analytics (the default) for your whole box from your SWEX JSON, and Rune Lens overlay, a browser scanner that reads a shared game window.
Live OCR scanning
Clear verdicts
Your rules
SELL LOCK
Rune analytics
RL Score
Rune Lens is free with a SWLens account (log in to use it). The web overlay tab needs a desktop browser — on phones only Rune analytics is available.
Desktop setup
- Download the SWLens Client for Windows 10 / 11 from the download page and install it (Windows may ask you to confirm: More info → Run anyway).
- Run SWLens as administrator and sign in with your SWLens account.
- Open Summoners War from Steam and wait for the title screen.
- Click Connect with Steam, then Attach Steam: the game moves inside SWLens.
- Rune Lens is the first tab. Press START, open a rune in game, and the verdict appears.
The SWLens Client guide covers the client itself (attaching, layout, detaching). Your SWEX JSON isn’t needed to scan, but with it Rune Lens can compare each rune with your box and find re-app gap fills — see the SWEX guide.
Client controls
The header shows how long the last scan took (with a dot when the result came straight from cache because the rune hadn’t changed).
Reading the overlay
On the game
- RuneLens Score badge — the rune’s RL Score, coloured by verdict, with its efficiency.
- Verdict on the SELL button — KEEP, SELL or RE-APP, plus “(R3)” when your custom rule 3 decided it.
- POWER-UP — shown on the power-up button when the rune is worth levelling first; the SELL marker dims.
In the panel (ANALYSIS)
- The rune card: “+12 Violent (4)”, the verdict pill (with “Custom Rule N” when a rule decided it), MAIN, INNATE (+points), each SUBSTAT with its points and grinds, and tiles for Efficiency, Grade, Power-up, Slot and the RuneLens Score.
- A comparison panel ranking the rune against your +12 runes — DIST, IN SET, SIMILAR, ALL +12 and EFF × RL — once your JSON has enough +12 runes.
Alignment and OCR
- AUTOMAP — reads the embedded game window and places the rune box and every reading region for all three screens.
- MAP BOX — if AUTOMAP isn’t quite right, drag a box around just the rune info panel on the current screen; every other region fills in from it (your current box shows faintly behind the crosshair).
- DEBUG REGIONS — switch it on to confirm the labelled boxes (HEADER, MAIN, SUBSTATS, GRADE, ICON, SELL, POWERUP, SCORE) sit on a real rune, then switch it off.
Mapping settings
⚙ MAPPING SETTINGS is the precise calibration layer, with Management / Power-Up / Battle tabs so each screen is set independently:
Advanced settings: thresholds, re-apps and custom rules
The same three tabs open from ADVANCED KEEP SETTINGS & RULES in the client and from Settings on the web overlay tab. Each app keeps its own settings. On the web the first tab is Keep line; in the client it is Keep thresholds.
Keep line (web) · Keep thresholds (client)
- Keep line (web) — one line for Home, Rune analytics and the scanner. Auto (the default, e.g. “Auto · 259”) is your own line, set from your finished runes and read again at each import. Manual is a number you pick. A threshold you had set before carries over as Manual.
- Global threshold (client) — the same KEEP cutoff as the main widget (230 by default).
- Set overrides — a different line per rune set (blank = your line), e.g. keep Swift at a lower bar. The web uses them for every verdict; the client for KEEP, SELL and POWER-UP.
- Auto-keep substat thresholds — any single substat at or above its value forces a KEEP, whatever the total.
Re-app targets
With the switch on, Rune Lens labels re-appraisal candidates RE-APP: Legend (and Ancient Legend) runes with an Accuracy 6%+, Crit Rate 5%+, Crit Damage 7% or RES 8% innate, in your priority sets — Violent and Will by default, Swift and Despair one click away — and in any other set you switch on under Others. With the switch off, no rune is marked RE-APP. A Top 5 preview lists your best targets. A re-app match always wins over custom rules. For the full ranking with your box’s gaps, use the Re-App Calculator.
Custom rules
Custom rules override the built-in verdict with your own logic:
Rune analytics (web)
Rune analytics is the default tab of Rune Lens in the web app. It analyses every rune in your imported SWEX JSON (without a file it offers Import JSON).
Farming priority ranks
Each dungeon panel carries an RTA-style rank from the speed and depth of your best sets:
The web scanner (Rune Lens overlay tab)
No client? The Rune Lens overlay tab scans runes in Chrome or Edge on a desktop. It shows results in the browser tab — nothing is drawn over the game:
- Open Rune Lens → Rune Lens overlay.
- Click Start in the toolbar (or Start screen capture in the Screen capture card) and share your game window.
- Open the rune management screen in game, click Set rune box and drag a box around the rune info panel.
- Click runes in game: the Detected rune card updates with the verdict.
How the scanner decides: your re-app targets first, then your custom rules, then the score’s verdict against your keep line (or the set’s own line). An auto-keep substat turns a Sell into a Keep. The scan can’t see gems: on a rune that already has one, only the gemmed line can take a new gem.
Under the card, a comparison panel ranks the scanned rune against the +12 runes in your SWEX JSON: Dist (where its RL Score falls in your box), In set, Similar (same slot and main stat), All +12 and Eff × RL. Without a JSON it offers Import JSON.
The rune box isn’t saved — draw it again each session. On phones this tab explains that the live overlay needs a desktop.
The RL Score
The RL Score is SWLens’s rune quality number: how good a rune’s substats and innate are. It looks at:
- How high each substat rolled, against its best possible rolls — rarer, more valuable stats like Speed and Crit Rate count the most.
- The innate stat.
- How well the lines fit together for the rune’s role — damage (scaling on ATK, HP or DEF), tank, support or all-round (Violent, Will and Intangible) — read from the set, the slot 2/4/6 main and the substats. Who wears it never matters.
The desktop client still shows the score without the role fit.
- Flat HP, ATK and DEF substats never score, and grinds don’t count.
- Accuracy and RES substats count on Legend runes; on lower grades they are left out (except slot 2 SPD runes).
- Efficiency is separate: how close the substats are to perfect (a perfect 6★ Legend rune with a max innate and max rolls at +12 is 100%). Grinds and gems count. Flat HP, ATK and DEF count half.
How the verdict is decided
In the web app every rune gets one verdict against your keep line (or its set’s own line). The first rule that matches wins. Equipped or not never changes a verdict.
In the scanner your own settings come first: a re-app target is RE-APP and a custom rule decides KEEP or SELL; an auto-keep substat turns a SELL into a KEEP. The desktop client still decides with its KEEP threshold: KEEP at or above it, POWER-UP for Hero runes below +9 and Legend runes below +12 close enough to it, SELL otherwise.
If you set your own line
Rune Lens on your dashboard
- Rune overview (home dashboard) — your keep line (the same setting as Rune Lens), Total / Equipped / Inventory, and clickable verdict counts that open the matching rune lists. The (i) button opens the scoring guide.
- RuneLens scores — dungeon rankings and rune set quality, with a link to the detailed analytics.
- In the desktop client, a rune collection strip shows the same totals, set quality and dungeon rankings, with tiles that open filtered rune lists.
The RL Score across SWLens
Team builders
Results and equipped views show each rune’s RL score and every build’s average.
Re-App Calculator
Hides runes above the Rune Lens threshold, so only poor-substat runes are re-app candidates.
My Monsters
Every rune in the monster popups carries its RL badge, with the build average on the stat card.
Dashboard
Verdict counts, dungeon rankings and set quality are all RL-based.
Related tools
Use the Re-App Calculator to rank your re-app targets, and My Monsters to see every rune on every monster.
Frequently asked questions
What is Rune Lens?
Rune Lens is SWLens’s Summoners War rune scanner. In the SWLens desktop client it reads the rune you open in game with OCR and paints its RL Score and a KEEP, SELL, RE-APP or POWER-UP verdict over the game. In the web app it scans a shared game window and analyses your whole rune box from your SWEX JSON.
How do I start the desktop overlay?
Install the SWLens Client, run it as administrator, sign in, open Summoners War on Steam and click Attach Steam. Rune Lens is the first tab: press START, open a rune in game and the verdict appears. Click AUTOMAP if the boxes don’t line up.
Which screens does it read?
The desktop client reads the rune management screen (MANAGE), the power-up screen (POWER-UP) and the post-battle rune reward (BATTLE). Leave the SCREEN row on AUTO and it works out which one is open. The web scanner reads the rune management screen.
What is the keep line?
The RL Score a finished rune needs to be kept. In the web app it is one setting for Home, Rune analytics and the scanner. Auto, the default, is your own line, set from your finished runes and read again at each import. Manual is a number you pick (roughly 200–230 early, 230–270 mid game and 270+ late game). You can set a different line per rune set and force a KEEP for exceptional single substats. The desktop client keeps its own KEEP threshold (230 by default).
Can I write my own keep / sell rules?
Yes. Custom rules match runes by set, level, slot, main stat, innate and substat conditions and decide KEEP or SELL; the first matching rule wins. Export them to a JSON file to share, and import a friend’s rules — the files work in both the web app and the client.
What is SELL LOCK?
A safety switch in the desktop client: while it is on, the game’s SELL button is blocked for any rune Rune Lens doesn’t mark SELL, so you can’t sell a keeper by mistake.
Does Rune Lens touch the game?
It reads what’s on screen. The client moves the Steam game window inside SWLens and draws its overlay in separate, click-through windows on top; it doesn’t read the game’s memory. SELL LOCK only adds a small window that catches clicks on the SELL button.
Does it work with emulators or other languages?
The desktop client is for the Steam version on Windows. Rune Lens reads English text, so set the game language to English.
What is the RL Score?
SWLens’s rune quality score. It looks at how high each substat rolled against its best possible rolls (Speed and Crit Rate rolls count the most), the innate stat, and how well the rune’s lines fit its role (damage, tank, support or all-round).
What does GEM mean?
The rune is under your keep line, but one enchanted gem takes it there. Rune Lens names the gem it would pick (and the grind to add) and shows the RL before and after. Gems are easy to get; good runes aren’t.
Is Rune Lens free?
Yes — the overlay, the web scanner and rune analytics are free with a SWLens account.
Related guides
About the SWLens Rune Lens
SWLens Rune Lens is a free Summoners War rune scanner. In the SWLens desktop client it reads every rune you open with OCR — on the management, power-up and battle reward screens — and overlays its RL Score and a KEEP, SELL, RE-APP or POWER-UP verdict on the game, with per-set keep thresholds, auto-keep substats, re-app targets, custom rules you can export and share, and a SELL LOCK safety switch. The web app adds your own keep line, GEM verdicts (one gem takes the rune to your line), a browser rune scanner and full rune analytics: every rune’s verdict, score distribution, slot and set quality, your best key sets and the dungeon to farm next.
Ready to sort your runes?
Open Rune Lens in the web app, or download the SWLens Client for the live overlay. Free with a SWLens account.
Client guide