Runewords

Runewords' were announced on 29 August in a Campfire chat.

Runewords offer a unique way to elevate your character’s abilities by crafting custom powers. In Sanctuary, you'll come across two kinds of Runes: Ritual and Invocation. Ritual Runes require you to perform specific actions to activate them, while Invocation Runes unleash potent effects once those conditions are met.

Runes operate on a resource system called Offering, which is generated by Ritual Runes when their specific conditions are met. Invocation Runes then consume this Offering to trigger their powerful effects. The more challenging the Ritual Rune’s requirement, the more Offering it generates. Conversely, the Offering needed to activate an Invocation Rune scales with the strength of its effect.

Sometimes, you'll generate more Offering than what's needed to activate your Invocation Rune. This is where the Overflow mechanic comes into play. Many Invocation Runes gain additional bonuses when you exceed the required Offering, briefly enhancing their effects.

To create a Runeword, you need to socket both a Ritual Rune and an Invocation Rune into an item with two Sockets, like Chest, Leg, or Two-Handed weapon slots. Helmets now also have an additional Socket, allowing them to house a Runeword. Any Ritual Rune can pair with any Invocation Rune, offering flexibility. Runes are available in three rarities: Magic, Rare, and Legendary, with higher rarities delivering more potent effects.

Runewords open the door to Skills from other Classes and can provide boosts like increased Movement Speed, enhanced Skills, and more. With 17 Ritual Runes and 28 Invocation Runes to choose from, the possibilities for combinations are nearly endless.

Runes can be used to craft other Runes.

You can use 3 Runes with the same name to craft a new Rune. The Rune created from crafting is guaranteed to be different than the ones used. When non-Legendary Runes are used to craft, there is a chance to create a Rune of the next highest rarity.

Runes can also be used to craft Mythics at the Jeweler.

Each one requires: 1 Resplendent Spark, 10 Legendary Runes of a specific name, 10 Rare Runes of a specific name, and 10 Magic Runes of a specific name to craft.

Runewords Archive

When Diablo 4 was first announced Runewords were in, then they were out, then they were rumored to be coming back sometime in the distant future, and then unexpectedly, they arrived. Below is the information released during that time.

+ Expand to see the Archive of Runewords.

Runeswords do not appear in Diablo 4 despite being teased early in development. This page details what has been teased, mentioned, and datamined from game files. Runes appeared in a limited capacity in Diablo 1 but it was not until Diablo 2 that an entire system was built around runes in the form of [Runewords]. Runes were collected as loot and socketed in a particular order in Grey items. Combinations of runes formed Runewords and applied bonuses to the item they were socketed into. It proved very popular and was much requested in Diablo 4. Early in development, Blizzard teased the notion of a reworked system using Runes appearing in the game. Runes would be socketed in pairs with a 'Condition Rune' and a 'Effect Rune'. The Condition would be the activation rune, which action triggers the second rune's power such as 'When you are stunned...' or 'When your pet dies...'. The Effect Rune would be what happens when triggered, for example, 'Gains a random shrine effect' or 'Reduce a random skill's cooldown by 15%'. Select 1 Condition Rune and 1 Effect Rune Runeword created Over time, runewords were removed from the game but it's worth noting that they may still return. In an interview on Wccftech in April 2023, Lead Class Designer Adam Jackson added: Yeah, totally. How would I say this? We like rune words. They're very cool. We don't have anything to announce as far as if they're going to be in the game in the immediate future. We do think they're still a really cool idea, and that's all I'm going to say right now.