Diablo 4 Runes & Rune System

Although runes won't be in at launch, Blizzard softened disappointment by saying that runes will likely be introduced as content in an upcoming quarterly season or expansion. It's unknown if the system will be the same as before or something different.

Runes and Runewords will not be available at launch and are something the developers plan to return to in the future.

List of D4 Runes

Runes in Diablo 4 are special Items that can be inserted into Weapons and Armor that have sockets on them. Runes are divided into two categories: Condition Runes and Effect Runes. When combined, Runes can form "Rune Words" that provide additional effects.

Icon Name Category Description
Amn Rune Condition When you freeze an enemy, activate the next socketed rune.
Eld Rune Condition When you are stunned or frozen, activate the next socketed rune.
Eth Rune Condition Every 3 seconds without moving, activate the next socketed rune.
Fal Rune Condition When a pet dies, activate the next socketed rune.
Vex Rune Condition When you use a healing potion, activate the next socketed rune.
Dol Rune Effect When active, gain 50% critical strike chance for 7 seconds.
Ist Rune Effect When active, your next thorns hit deals 30% more.
Ko Rune Effect When active, reduce a random skill cooldown by 15%.
Sol Rune Effect When active, gain a random shrine effect for 7 seconds.
Thul Rune Effect When active, gain 500 damage barrier.

Runes D4

Runes are back and better than ever! Runes in Diablo IV translate to another layer of gear customization. They come in two types: Conditions and Effects. It’s as easy as socketing in one Condition and one Effect to create your own Legendary power. There will be a great variety of both types of Runes and we can’t wait to see what sorts of combinations you come up with.

  • Condition Runes can be inserted on any socketed item, and they will provide with a condition for activating another socked rune. Combining similar Effect Runes and Condition Runes can help the player to increase the effectiveness of a playstyle or to reinforce a weak area of his build.
  • Effect Runes provide powerful effects while active, but require the conditions on a Condition Rune to be met. Combining similar Effect Runes and Condition Runes can help the player to increase the effectiveness of a playstyle or to reinforce a weak area of his build.

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Official: Diablo 4 won't launch with runes

In an unexpected twist, Blizzard announced in December 2022 that runes won't be in Diablo 4 at launch. Previously, the game contained a "condition and effect" rune system that was first showcased at BlizzCon 2019. At some point between now and then, Blizzard decided to ax the feature, either due to the system not meshing well with the game's other systems or intentionally saving it for future content.

Because the game is in development, we are experimenting with things. If you look at some of the shots of the skill tree that we've shown, that has changed dramatically. [...] That's the great thing about showing stuff off. We can get feedback from players and make adjustments. And that also means that sometimes we'll announce features like Runewords and we'll realize that this needs more time to get right. We know especially with something like Runewords [...] because it is an existing concept in Diablo [...] we need to make sure that we are fulfilling the player expectations there. [Runewords] is something we plan to return to in the future.

Diablo 4 Rune System

Runes are a type of socketable item introduced in Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. The player can insert them into socketed items to add many magical attributes. The type of attribute added depends on the socketed item.

Runes are unique as they can be used to create Rune Words. Rune words are special combinations of runes that bestow not only the benefits of the associated runes but also add many powerful magical attributes due to their combination.

Horadric Cube crafting recipes utilize runes. A Ral and an armor piece combined in the Cube will result in the armor being repaired. Ort can be similarly used to repair weapons. As the repair cost of very high level armor can be many thousands of gold, it can actually be easier to trade for a Ral than collect that much gold. This is additionally useful since repairing is the means by which spell charges are restored to equipment, and such charges can be even more costly than Durability repairs. Other Horadric Cube crafting recipes use runes as an ingredient in making custom items, or upgrading the base item type from Normal to Exceptional, or from Exceptional to Elite (the latter is a Ladder-only recipe).

Runes in the Lord of Destruction expansion were identified by certain mystical words (E.g.: Ko).

In patched versions of Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction, runes can be upgraded to higher runes by using the Horadric Cube to transmute three same runes much like gems. Runes from Thul to Cham can only be transmuted with the addition of gems to the recipe; runes from Dol to Cham can only be transmuted by ladder characters or in single player. Runes from Mal require only two lower runes (and a gem) instead of three.

Sources

  • One rune is always received as a reward for completion of the Hellforge quest
  • The Countess has a high rune drop rate
Runes have a minimum character level (cLevel). If your character is below the cLevel of that rune, that character cannot use that rune, nor use any gear item where this rune is in place. Socketing a cLvl 21 rune into a cLvl15 item will increase the item's level to cLvl 21 to match the rune. However, the reverse isn't true; you can't lower an item's cLvl by inserting a lower-level Rune into a socket.

Runes have different properties based on whether they are inserted into armor, shields, or weapons. Armor effects for individual Runes apply to both Chest Armor and Head Armor.

Removing Runes in Diablo II: Resurrected

You can remove Runes (and Gems and Jewels) from socketed gear by using the following Horadric Cube recipe. This is permanent and will destroy everything in ALL your sockets. Insert items into sockets carefully, and be sure keeping the armor is worth the cost of removing them.
Result Ingredients
Remove Gems/Runes/Jewels from Sockets
Destroys everything in sockets!		 1x Socketed Item with runes/gems/jewels inserted + 1x Hel rune + 1x Scroll of Town Portal

Upgrading Runes through the Horadric Cube

You can use your Horadric Cube to upgrade Runes to higher-level ones. To do this, you need to have:
  • 3 Runes of one type lower than your target rune (Runes #1-21) or 2 Runes of one type lower than your target rune (Runes 22-33). For example, creating 1 Eld (#2) runes requires 3 El (#1) runes.
  • 1 Gem of a specified type and quality (Runes 11-33)
Place the correct Runes and gem (if applicable) inside the Horadric Cube and combine to get the next higher rune.

Runes are magical symbols carved on rock. They made their first appearance in the Diablo expansion Hellfire as usable items. They were reintroduced in Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction as a new type of socketable item along with jewels. Their role changed again in Diablo III, where they are no longer items, but affect the way skills work.

Diablo I: Hellfire expansion

Runes are trap-like objects that can only be found in the Hellfire expansion. Runes are dropped by chests and monsters and randomly sold by Adria the Witch. They serve as traps, activating a spell. They deal Fire or Lightning Damage, or cast a Stone Curse, on monsters that walk over the activated rune. These runes are not inventory items.

To set a rune, place it in the belt, then click the appropriate key: your cursor will become a pointer. Clicking on the dungeon floor will set the rune, so long as the cursor is within the character's line of sight. The next monster or player to walk over the rune will trigger it, and the appropriate spell will cast from the spot of the rune. Runes can be cast directly on a monster's current location, and will detonate at once.

The damage/duration from rune effects is determined by the player's level. They become more damaging for higher level characters (as is the case with almost everything in Diablo I/Hellfire). The increasing power of runes does not keep pace with the increase in power of other abilities after the early portions of the game.

Diablo II

Runes are a type of socketable item introduced in Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. The player can insert them into socketed items to add many magical attributes. The type of attribute added depends on the socketed item.

Runes are unique as they can be used to create Rune Words. Rune words are special combinations of runes that bestow not only the benefits of the associated runes but also add many powerful magical attributes due to their combination.

Horadric Cube crafting recipes utilize runes. A Ral and an armor piece combined in the Cube will result in the armor being repaired. Ort can be similarly used to repair weapons. As the repair cost of very high level armor can be many thousands of gold, it can actually be easier to trade for a Ral than collect that much gold. This is additionally useful since repairing is the means by which spell charges are restored to equipment, and such charges can be even more costly than Durability repairs. Other Horadric Cube crafting recipes use runes as an ingredient in making custom items, or upgrading the base item type from Normal to Exceptional, or from Exceptional to Elite (the latter is a Ladder-only recipe).

Runes in the Lord of Destruction expansion were identified by certain mystical words (E.g.: Ko).

In patched versions of Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction, runes can be upgraded to higher runes by using the Horadric Cube to transmute three same runes much like gems. Runes from Thul to Cham can only be transmuted with the addition of gems to the recipe; runes from Dol to Cham can only be transmuted by ladder characters or in single player. Runes from Mal require only two lower runes (and a gem) instead of three.

Sources

  • One rune is always received as a reward for completion of the Hellforge quest
  • The Countess has a high rune drop rate

Diablo III

Runes in Diablo III provide bonuses to character skills in lieu of items. They have much more descriptive names now and are directly integrated into the Skill screen instead of the inventory.

Trivia

  • Although runes and runestones exist in real life, none of the runes in Diablo II resemble any of those used in ancient Norse, Anglo-Saxon or Proto-Germanic alphabets, with the exception of the Jah Rune, which resembles the real-life rune Mannaz.
  • The Diablo IV runes system made of "triggers" and "effects" likely came from the World of Warcraft patch 8.2 feature of Mechagon conditional items, where an item with a cause could be combined with any item with effect to produce a customized semi-passive bonus.

D4 Guides & Tips