Runes and Runewords

Rune Explanation

Added in Patch 2.0 for the Vessel of Hatred, two runes can be combined to form a Runeword. There are two types of Runes, Ritual and Invocation. When slotted in an item together form a Runeword.

Ritual Runes specify an action you must take to generate Offering.
Invocation Runes grant a powerful effect on generating a certain amount of Offering.

How Runes Work

When a Ritual and an Invocation Rune are slotted into the same item, it creates a Runeword. For example:

If a Bac Ritual Rune and a Jah Invocation Rune are slotted into the same item, the Runeword is BacJah.
Bac generates Offering of 50 every time you move 5 meters.
Jah requires 500 Offering to activate so when the Bac Rune has generated 500 Offering, the Jah effect will finally activate and teleport you when you evade and make you unstoppable.


BAC Ritual Rune	+	JAH Invocation Rune
Creates "BacJah" Runeword

When you have Runewords equipped the buff icon will sit above your skill bar. The gauge will fill up as you perform the action of the Ritual Rune and when full, the Invocation Rune will execute automatically.

Runewords Offering Gauge

Limitations

The only control you have over when that can occur is by not performing the Ritual Rune action that completes the fill of Offering until you want the Invocation to execute which in many cases is impossible (walk 5 meters) or at least inconvenient (cast a skill with cooldown).

Important Notes on Runes

Runes can be traded.
Runes are stackable in the socketable inventory tab.
A maximum of 2 Runewords can be equipped
The same Rune cannot be equiped twice.

Ritual Runes List

Below is a list of all the Runes of each type (Ritual/Invocation), their quality (Magic, Rare, Legendary), gains/requirements, and effects.

Click heading to SORT.


Rune	Quality	Offering Gain	Effect
Ahu	Legendary	10	Lucky Hit: Up to a 100% chance against Injured enemies.
Bac	Legendary	50	Travel 5 meters.
Cem	Legendary	50	Cast Evade
Cir	Magic	25	Cast the same non-Channeled Skill 3 times in a row.
Feo	Magic	1000	Become Injured or Crowd Controlled (Cooldown: 20 seconds).
Kaa	Rare	2	Lose 1% of your Maximum Life.
Lith	Legendary	25	Lose 1% of your Maximum Life.
Muni	Magic	10	Cast a Skill after moving. (Cooldown: 0.2 seconds)
Neo	Rare	300	Deal damage after not taking any within 5 seconds. (Resets if Invulnerable.)
Noc	Rare	5	Inflict a Crowd Control that isn’t Slow or Chill.
Poc	Rare	2	Spend 5% of your Maximum Resource.
Tam	Legendary	25	Cast a non-Channeled Core Skill.
Ur	Magic	10	Your Minion or Companion kills an enemy or dies.
Xol	Legendary	150	Evoke power from another Class.
Yax	Magic	100	Drink a Healing Potion
Yul	Legendary	50	Cast a Skill with a Cooldown.
Zan	Magic	150	Cast an Ultimate Skill.

Invocation Runes

Click heading to SORT.


Rune	Quality	Offering Req.	Effect	Skill Details	Overflow	CD Sec
Ceh	Magic	100	Summon a Spirit Wolf to attack enemies for 8 seconds.		Summon Multiple Wolves	1
Eom	Leg	100	Reduce your active Cooldowns by 0.25 seconds.		Further Reduced Cooldowns	1
Gar	Magic	25	2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25%.		Gain Multiple Stacks	1
Jah	Leg	500	Replace your next Evade with the Sorcerer’s Teleport, blinking further, dealing damage, and becoming Unstoppable.	Transform into lightning, becoming Unstoppable and surging to the target location, dealing 35% Lightning Damage around you upon arrival.		2
Kry	Rare	500	Evoke the Spiritborn’s Vortex, dealing damage and Pulling In enemies.	Creates a cyclone that Pulls (CC) enemies inward followed by a crushing downdraft that deals 51% Lighting Damageto them.		3
Kaa	Rare	2	Lose 1% of your Maximum Life.
Lum	Magic	5	Restore 1 Primary Resource.		Increased Resource Restored	1
Met	Magic	100	You leave the Necromancer’s Desecrated Ground behind you for 3 seconds, dealing damage to enemies within.	Applies Shadow Damage over time (DoT).	Increased Duration	1
Mot	Rare	150	Gain a shadow from the Rogue’s Dark Shroud, reducing damage taken per shadow.	Surround yourself with up to 5 protective shadows. Gain 8.0% Damage Reduction per active shadow. Each time you take direct damage, that damage is reduced and a shadow is consumed.	Gain Multiple Shadows	1
Ner	Rare	700	Evoke the Rogue’s Countering Concealment, gaining Dodge Chance, Movement Speed, Unstoppable, and Stealth.	Grants 10% Dodge Chance and increases the Movement Speed bonus to 60%[+] for 5 seconds.	Increased Duration	6
Ohm	Leg	500	Evoke the Barbarian’s Enhanced War Cry, increasing your Movement Speed and damage dealt.	Grants you Berserking for 4 seconds.	Increased Duration	2
Ono	Magic	25	Evoke the Druid’s Dancing Bolts, seeking and dealing damage to enemies.	Emits bolts of lighting that seek out targets inflicting Lightning Damage.	Increased Bolts Spawned	1
Qax	Rare	400	Your next non-Basic Skill cast spends all of your Primary Resource to deal up to 100% increased damage.		Further Increased Damage	1
Qua	Rare	400	Restore an Evade charge and gain 6% Movement Speed for 5 seconds, up to 30%.		Increased Duration	1
Que	Rare	800	Evoke the Druid’s Earthen Bulwark, granting yourself a Barrier.	Rocks surround you for 3 seconds, granting a Barrier that absorbs 45% of your Maximum Life in damage.	Increased Duration	1
Tal	Magic	100	Evoke the Spiritborn’s Pestilent Swarm, dealing damage to enemies.	Spawns a swarm at the target inflicting Poison Damage.	Increased Swarms Spawned	1
Teb	Magic	100	Evoke the Necromancer’s Abhorrent Iron Maiden, counterattacking damage from enemies and Healing you when they die.	Heal for 7% of your Maximum Life when an enemy dies while afflicted with Iron Maiden.		1
Tec	Magic	100	Evoke the Barbarian’s Earthquake, dealing damage to enemies within.	Stomp the ground causing a localized earthquake that inflicts Physical Damage.	Increased Size	1
Thul	Rare	400	Evoke the Sorcerer’s Mystical Frost Nova, inflicting Freeze and Vulnerable onto enemies.	Frost Nova makes enemies Vulnerable for 4 seconds, increased to 6 seconds against Bosses.	Increased Size	1
Ton	Magic	25	Evoke the Sorcerer’s Meteorites, dealing damage to enemies.	Summon a meteor that strikes the target location, dealing 96% damage and Burning (DoT) the ground for 35% damage over 3 seconds.	Increased Meteorites Spawned	1
Tun	Magic	100	Evoke the Rogue’s Stun Grenades, Stunning and dealing damage to enemies.	Grenades dropped at your location stunning (CC) and applying Physical Damage.	Increased Grenades Spawned	1
Tzic	Rare	250	Evoke the Spiritborn’s Concussive Stomp, dealing damage and Knocking Down enemies.	Stomp in front of you, releasing a shockwave that deals 23% Physical Damage and Knocks Down (CC) enemies for 4.2 seconds.		1
Vex	Leg	400	Gain +3 to all Skills for 5 seconds.		Increased Duration	1
Wat	Rare	100	Evoke the Necromancer’s Horrid Decrepify, Slowing enemies, reducing their damage, and letting you Execute them.	When you or your Minions hit an enemy afflicted with Decrepify below 10% Life, they are instantly killed. Does not work on Bosses.		1
Xan	Leg	700	Your next Skill cast will be a guaranteed Critical Strike and Overpower.			1
Xal	Rare	200	Gain 20% Maximum Life for 4 seconds.		Increased Duration	1
Yom	Leg	500	Evoke the Druid’s Petrify, Stunning enemies and increasing your Critical Strike Damage against them.	Encase all Nearby enemies in stone, Stunning (CC) them for 3 secs. You deal 30%[x] increased Critical Strike Damage to enemies affected by Petrify. Against Bosses, the Critical Strike Damage bonus is increased to 50%[x] and its duration is increased to 6 secs		5
Zec	Rare	200	Reduce your active Ultimate Cooldown by 4 seconds.		Further Reduced Cooldown	2

Runes 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 Runes.

Runes do not appear in Diablo 4. This page details the runes that were teased early in development. Although they are not in the game now they haven't been ruled out. Full details on all that's been uncovered can be found in the Runewords page.

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.

Condition Runes
AMN	When you freeze an enemy, activate the next socketed rune.
ELD	When you are stunned or frozen, activate the next socketed rune.
ETH	Every 3 seconds without moving, activate the next socketed rune.
FAL	When a pet dies, activate the next socketed rune.
Effect Runes
IST	When active, your next thorns hit deals 30% more.
KO	When active, reduce a random skill cooldown by 15%.
SOL	When active, gain a random shrine effect for 7 seconds.
THUL	When active, gain 500 damage barrier.

Changes to Runes and Runewords

Patch 2.0, October 8, 2024

Added in Vessel of Hatred