17,263
edits
Changes
ADVERTISEMENT
From Diablo Wiki
→Rune Functions
Runes have no function on their own, other than beautifying your inventory. They are only useful once they're socketed in a skill, where they modify the skill's function, always in a beneficial way. Any rune in a skill is an improvement over the base function of the skill, and since runes are easy to swap in and out of skills, it's always in your best interest to stick a rune into a skill at the first opportunity.
[[File:Runes5.jpg|framethumb|125px|The five Runes.]]
The functions of the runes are not entirely predictable in a given skill. Their bonuses vary widely and wildly, and all rune functions are custom assigned by the devs; none of them are simply +x damage, or +X casting speed. This is an enormous amount of work for the developers and artists; there are nearly 150 skills x 5 runes in each.
* [[Obsidian rune]]: Wild card functions.
==Easy Socketing==
Runestones will be freely swappable once sockets. Players can take out runes and put in new ones whenever they wish, without any cost or risk of losing the rune. The [[D3 Team]] has committed to rune switching being easy in the final game, but they have said there will be some sort of limitation, purely to prevent macro-switching exploits. They want changing runes to be easy and forgiving, but not something that can be automated to do in a second with a third party program. Players could use that to change runes constantly, using one for crowd control and another for big damage to a single target, for instance.
That's something the developers think is cheesy, so they're not going to allow it. How they'll stop it hasn't been detailed, but it could be something as simple as requiring players to return to town before being able to change out runes.
==Confirmed Runestone Examples==
