Were random runes removed?

The practical effect is on carried items. In the beta a carried item could roll rune slots, and those slots were part of what made one copy better than another. That roll is gone. A carried item now brings its own effect and nothing else, so there is no second layer of randomness sitting on top of gear you have already earned.

Progression drops the slot too. Nothing in the progression track hands you a rune slot to fill any more, which takes a whole set of decisions out of building an Aniimo. Holo Battle is the cleanest case: random runes were pulled from it completely for launch, so a Holo Battle loadout comes down to the Aniimo and the carried item rather than to what rolled.

What the beta rune system did

Runes socketed into the Carried Item an Aniimo was holding and amplified its effects. At the top end, exceptionally rare Legendary Runes granted superior stats, including large damage increases, which made chasing them one of the sharper power spikes available in the beta.

The rune artifact system as a whole was cut before the 16 September 2026 launch, not trimmed back. Slotting a rune into a carried item is not something you can do in the launch build, so beta guidance built around rune hunting no longer applies to anything you will play.

Not settled: The facts cover what was taken out, not what fills the gap. Whether progression or Holo Battle gained a replacement for the depth runes used to provide is not stated.