Runewords were announced on 29 August in a Campfire chat. They are only available with the expansion Vessel of Hatred.
What are Runewords?
Runewords offer a unique way to elevate your character’s abilities by crafting custom powers. All across Sanctuary, you'll come across two kinds of Runes: Ritual and Invocation.
- Ritual Runes specify an action you must take to generate Offering.
- Invocation Runes grant a powerful effect when enough Offering has been generated.
How do Runewords Work?
Runes operate on a resource system called Offering, which is generated by Ritual Runes when their specific conditions are met such as "moving 5 meters" or "drinking a health potion". 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 such as 'Increased Duration'.
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.
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).
How are Runewords Created?
To create a Runeword, you need to socket both a Ritual Rune and an Invocation Rune into an item with two Sockets:
- Helm (2 sockets now available)
- Body
- Legs
- Two-Handed Weapons
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.
However, you can only have a maximum of 2 Runewords equipped at the same time and the same Rune can not be equipped twice.
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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 countless.
Where to Get Runes
Runes are dropped throughout Sanctuary from monsters. They are also tradeable with other players.
Crafting Runes
As well as from monster drops runes can also be crafted at the Jeweler.
- 3 Runes with the same name to craft a new random Rune of a different type.
- 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 Mythic Uniques at the Jeweler and requires:
- 1 Resplendent Spark
- 10 Legendary Runes of a specific name
- 10 Rare Runes of a specific name
- 10 Magic Runes of a specific name
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.
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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%'.
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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Changes to Runewords
Patch 2.0, October 8, 2024
- Added in Vessel of Hatred