D2R Rune Farming Locations 2.5 Season 2

There are 33 runes in total, you can farm El Rune as early as Act 1 Normal and the highest tier Zod Rune can be obtained in Act 5 Hell. Farming Runes in these ways:

  1. Kill more monsters
  2. Open more chests
  3. Complete certain quests
  4. Making Horadric Cube Recipes

Diablo 2 Resurrected Rune Farming Guide Locations

# Name Level Drop Rates Boss Difficulty Minimum Treasure Chest Location
1 El Rune El Rune 11 50.0570% The Countess Normal Act 2 Good treasure class and above
2 Eld Rune Eld Rune 11 35.7067% The Countess Normal Act 2 Good treasure class and above
3 Tir Rune Tir Rune 13 25.2019% The Countess Nightmare Act 2 Good treasure class and above
4 Nef Rune Nef Rune 13 17.3264% The Countess Nightmare Act 2 Good treasure class and above
5 Eth Rune Eth Rune 15 18.1371% The Countess Nightmare Act 3 Good treasure class and above
6 Ith Rune Ith Rune 15 12.3528% The Countess Nightmare Act 3 Good treasure class and above
7 Tal Rune Tal Rune 17 15.2770% The Countess Nightmare Act 3 Good treasure class and above
8 Ral Rune Ral Rune 19 10.3674% The Countess Nightmare Act 3 Good treasure class and above
9 Ort Rune Ort Rune 21 10.8664% The Countess Nightmare Act 4 Good treasure class and above
10 Thul Rune Thul Rune 23 7.3346% The Countess Nightmare Act 4 Good treasure class and above
11 Amn Rune Amn Rune 25 6.7373% The Countess Nightmare Act 4 Good treasure class and above
12 Sol Rune Sol Rune 27 4.5255% The Countess Nightmare Act 4 Good treasure class and above
13 Shael Rune Shael Rune 29 3.5940% The Countess Nightmare Act 5 Good treasure class and above
14 Dol Rune Dol Rune 31 2.4055% The Countess Nightmare Act 5 Good treasure class and above
15 Hel Rune Hel Rune – 1.8576% The Countess Nightmare Act 1 (Nightmare) Good treasure class and above
16 Io Rune Io Rune 35 1.2409% The Countess Nightmare Act 1 (Nightmare) Good treasure class and above
17 Lum Rune Lum Rune 37 0.9323% The Countess Hell Act 2 (Nightmare) Good treasure class and above
18 Ko Rune Ko Rune 39 0.6222% The Countess Hell Act 2 (Nightmare) Good treasure class and above
19 Fal Rune Fal Rune 41 0.4701% The Countess Hell Act 3 (Nightmare) Good treasure class and above
20 Lem Rune Lem Rune 43 0.3136% The Countess Hell Act 3 (Nightmare) Good treasure class and above
21 Pul Rune Pul Rune 45 0.2361% The Countess Hell Act 4 (Nightmare) Good treasure class and above
22 Um Rune Um Rune 47 0.1574% The Countess Hell Act 4 (Nightmare) Good treasure class and above
23 Mal Rune Mal Rune 49 0.1352% The Countess Hell Act 5 (Nightmare) Good treasure class and above
24 Ist Rune Ist Rune 51 0.0901% The Countess Hell Act 5 (Nightmare) Good treasure class and above
25 Gul Rune Gul Rune 53 0.0011% Andariel Hell Act 1 (Hell) Good treasure class and above
26 Vex Rune Vex Rune 55 0.0008% Andariel Hell Act 1 (Hell) Good treasure class and above
27 Ohm Rune Ohm Rune 57 0.0011% Andariel Hell Act 2 (Hell) Good treasure class and above
28 Lo Rune Lo Rune 59 0.0004% Andariel Hell Act 2 (Hell) Good treasure class and above
29 Sur Rune Sur Rune 61 0.0004% Duriel Hell Act 3 (Hell) Good treasure class and above
30 Ber Rune Ber Rune 63 0.0002% Duriel Hell Act 3 (Hell) Good treasure class and above
31 Jah Rune Jah Rune 65 0.0002% Mephisto Hell Act 4 (Hell) Good treasure class and above
32 Cham Rune Cham Rune 67 0.0001% Mephisto Hell Act 4 (Hell) Good treasure class and above
33 Zod Rune Zod Rune 69 0.00003% Baal Hell Act 5 (Hell) containers

Cheap Diablo II: Resurrected Items

Farming Runes by Making Cube Recipes

You can also obtain Runes by using the Horadric Cube recipes.

# Outcome Horadric Cube Recipes
1 El Rune El Rune –
2 Eld Rune Eld Rune 3x El Rune El Rune
3 Tir Rune Tir Rune 3x Eld Rune Eld Rune
4 Nef Rune Nef Rune 3x Tir Rune Tir Rune
5 Eth Rune Eth Rune 3x Nef Rune Nef Rune
6 Ith Rune Ith Rune 3x Eth Rune Eth Rune
7 Tal Rune Tal Rune 3x Ith Rune Ith Rune
8 Ral Rune Ral Rune 3x Tal Rune Tal Rune
9 Ort Rune Ort Rune 3x Ral Rune Ral Rune
10 Thul Rune Thul Rune 3x Ort Rune Ort Rune
11 Amn Rune Amn Rune 3x Thul Rune Thul Rune, 1x Chipped Topaz Chipped Topaz
12 Sol Rune Sol Rune 3x Amn Rune Amn Rune, 1x Chipped Amethyst Chipped Amethyst
13 Shael Rune Shael Rune 3x Sol Rune Sol Rune, 1x Chipped Sapphire Chipped Sapphire
14 Dol Rune Dol Rune 3x Shael Rune Shael Rune, 1x Chipped Ruby Chipped Ruby
15 Hel Rune Hel Rune 3x Dol Rune Dol Rune, 1x Chipped Emerald Chipped Emerald
16 Io Rune Io Rune 3x Hel Rune Hel Rune, 1x Chipped Diamond Chipped Diamond
17 Lum Rune Lum Rune 3x Io Rune Io Rune, 1x Flawed Topaz Flawed Topaz
18 Ko Rune Ko Rune 3x Lum Rune Lum Rune, 1x Flawed Amethyst Flawed Amethyst
19 Fal Rune Fal Rune 3x Ko Rune Ko Rune, 1x Flawed Sapphire Flawed Sapphire
20 Lem Rune Lem Rune 3x Fal Rune Fal Rune, 1x Flawed Ruby Flawed Ruby
21 Pul Rune Pul Rune 3x Lem Rune Lem Rune, 1x Flawed Emerald Flawed Emerald
22 Um Rune Um Rune 2x Pul Rune Pul Rune, 1x Flawed Diamond Flawed Diamond
23 Mal Rune Mal Rune 2x Um Rune Um Rune, 1x Topaz
24 Ist Rune Ist Rune 2x Mal Rune Mal Rune, 1x Amethyst
25 Gul Rune Gul Rune 2x Ist Rune Ist Rune, 1x Sapphire
26 Vex Rune Vex Rune 2x Gul Rune Gul Rune, 1x Ruby
27 Ohm Rune Ohm Rune 2x Vex Rune Vex Rune, 1x Emerald
28 Lo Rune Lo Rune 2x Ohm Rune Ohm Rune, 1x Diamond
29 Sur Rune Sur Rune 2x Lo Rune Lo Rune, 1x Flawless Topaz Flawless Topaz
30 Ber Rune Ber Rune 2x Sur Rune Sur Rune, 1x Flawless Amethyst Flawless Amethyst
31 Jah Rune Jah Rune 2x Ber Rune Ber Rune, 1x Flawless Sapphire Flawless Sapphire
32 Cham Rune Cham Rune 2x Jah Rune Jah Rune, 1x Flawless Ruby Flawless Ruby
33 Zod Rune Zod Rune 2x Cham Rune Cham Rune, 1x Flawless Emerald Flawless Emerald

Killing more monsters & farming spots

One of the best ways to farm runes is to kill more monsters, so more total items drop. Note that Magic Find has no effect on rune drops, either quality or quantity.

All monsters of the appropriate level can drop Runes, although it’s a rare drop chance. There are only a couple types of monsters/events that have a better chance of yielding Runes, and it’s difficult to target them by anything other than “the higher the better”.

  • The Pit: Level 85 area, easy enemies, level 2 always contains a Golden Chest. Commonly referred to as a Pit Run.
  • The Ancient Tunnels: Level 85 area, no Cold Immune monsters, always contains a Golden Chest.
  • Chaos Sanctuary: Level 85 area, high density, high number of Unique monsters. Fairly difficult.
  • World Stone Keep: Level 85 area, high density, high number of Unique monsters. Most difficult.
  • The Secret Cow Level/Moo Moo Farm: Level 81 area, very high density. Difficult for melee builds, but no monster Immunities.

Great farming spots usually have the great monster density to increase the number of boss packs to kill and reduce time spent traveling between enemies.

The only monster in the game with a substantially higher % chance to drop runes in The Countess, found on level five of the Forgotten Tower in the Black Marsh level of Act One.

A few monster types have higher odds of dropping runes because they can not drop armor or weapons, and thus spit out more runes since they have fewer other possible drops. These include Wraiths, Finger Mages, Vulture Demons, Willowisps, and the Swarm. These monsters are worth harvesting while rune farming, but they spawn infrequently and in underwhelming numbers, so few players will find it worth the effort for the slight increase in the odds of finding runes.

Quests

Quest Farming Runes Guide
Forgotten Tower (Act I): The Countess The quest doesn’t reward Runes, but The Countess has a high chance of dropping Runes:

  • Normal:  El Rune – Ral Rune.
  • Nightmare: El Rune – Io/Ko Rune; above Io Rune is much rarer.
  • Hell: El Rune – Ist/Lo Rune; above Ist Rune is much rarer.

The Countess has better odds to drop a higher level rune the first time a player kills her on Nightmare or Hell difficulties, when they get credit for completing the quest. This is reflected in the different odds for Io/Ko and Ist/Lo listed above. Her odds of dropping her highest possible runes are always astronomical, but they are slightly better the first time than the other times.

She is capable of dropping up to six runes each death, and will often drop two or three. They’re very unlikely to be higher than Tir or Eth, but reports of two Hels, and a couple of other mid-level runes are not uncommon, so it’s possible.
Mephisto’s Soulstone (Act IV): The Hellforge When a character shatters Mephisto’s Soulstone on the Hellforge in Act Four, four gems and one rune drop as part of the quest reward. The runes that may be found from this quest vary by difficulty level. Which one drops is selected randomly from the following possibilities:

  • Normal: El (r01) – Ral (r08).
  • Nightmare: El (r01) – Io/Ko (r18); above Io (r16) is much rarer.
  • Hell: El (r01) – Ist/Lo (r28); above Ist (r26) is much rarer.

Unlike the runes from The Countess, or any other monster drops in the game, the lower level runes are not more common. The odds for Hel or Gul are identical on Hell, 1/11 for each. Cross your fingers.

Be sure to complete this quest when you can get your rune drop, and do not finish it with other players in your party, if they have not finished the quest already. Four gems drop for every character completing the quest, whether they’re near the Hellforge or not, but only one rune will drop for the quest completion, whether one or eight characters are in the party/completing the quest.
Rescue on Mount Arreat (Act V) Qual-Kehk rewards the player with three runes: Ral, Ort and Tal.

Chests

Runes also have a low chance to drop from Good treasure chests. Chests are all objects that can contain an item. These include barrels, chests, crates, lootable corpses, hidden stashes, etc. These items have different drop rates and quality of item drops.

Doing chest runs in some areas with a lot of chests is a very good way to find multiple high-quality items, especially runes. While all chests are potentially useful, the super chests are the ones to hit; you’ll find one or two of those near the campfires in Lower Kurast in Act 3, for example.

Lower Kurast Super Chest: There are a total of six Super Chest in Lower Kurast that can net you up to a Ber Rune. One of the most effective methods for farming up to Ber runes in single-player.

There are a lot of “super chests” in the game, ones that can drop multiple items at once. Most super chests are sparkly chests but it’s not a hard and fast rule. Not all super chests sparkle, and not all sparkling chests are super chests.

For example, some sparkly chests are quest chests that contain quest items. These include the Maggot Lair chest, The Spider Cavern Chest, the Kurast Lvl 2 chest, the Ruined Temple chest (Lam Esen’s Tome). These are not real “sparkly chests”.

There are 24 Sparkly Chests within each difficulty level –or a total of 72 on the path to Hell difficulty Baal. There are five chests with identical characteristics in the False Tal Rasha’s Tombs. The Great Marsh has two Sparkly Chests with identical characteristics. The other 17 chests are each individualistic in their drop odds as they are encountered on Normal, Nightmare (NM), and Hell (H) difficulty levels.

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