Difference between revisions of "Skill Runes"

Latest revision as of 05:07, 3 July 2012

Runestones is the old name for Skill Runes, which provide five different functions for every skill in Diablo III. All rune forms offer some sort of upgrade over the original skill, and there are virtually no scenarios when a character is better off using the base skill than one of the rune effects.

The five Runes.

The rune effects become available gradually, as a character levels up. All of the basic skills are available by level 30, but a character must reach level 60 to gain access to all of the rune effects, with at least 1, and usually 2 or 3 added each level up from 6 to 60. There is no set pattern or regular system to when the rune effects become available. Characters do not get another rune effect in a skill every 6 or 8 levels, for instance.

The name "runes" is something of a remnant, as there's no real reason the final game system should use that term at all, since the different "runes" are simply graphical icons attached to each of the five different forms of each skill. Originally, the skill runes were called "runestones" which were small items that characters found and socketed into their skills to grant the bonus effects. The item style of runes evolved repeatedly during development, and was eventually removed in early 2012, when skill runes lost their random effects and rune levels, and were integrated completely into the skill interface.

See all news related to runestones in Diablo III.
Rune Archive -- Runes evolved greatly during the development of Diablo III. See the archive page for a detailed history lesson.

Players once assumed that a sixth rune would be added in the Diablo III expansion, but with the final game system this seems unlikely, as all the rune effects are now customized to each skill, rather than each runestome type adding a semi-predictable effect to any skill it was added to.

Rune Basics[edit | edit source]

The final game rune system was introduced in early 2012 in Beta Patch 13, where players were first able to try them out for themselves^[1]. Runes are now effects in skills, can be switched between freely, and are entirely divorced in organization from the old runestone items system.

Socketing a rune.

Runes are now a component of the skill system that allows a player to alter a skill. Some runes, such as the Bash rune Unleashed, do not change the basic functionality of the skill, simply increasing the damage or duration, or lowering the resource cost. Other rune effects do much more, entirely changing the function of skills from offensive to defensive, or changing the function greatly, such as the Witch Doctor's Rain of Toads rune for Plague of Toads. That rune takes a short range, slow, erratically-moving projectile attack and changes it to a ranged attack with almost full screen range that deals heavy damage to a targeted location.

The five rune effects lost their individual, unifying names during development, and there is no longer any way for players to refer to something like, "the Crimson Rune effect in Cleave." All the rune effects are simply referred to by their own names now, such as Cleave's rune effects, Broad Sweep, Gathering Storm, Scattering Blast, Reaping Swing, and Rupture.

Attaining Runes[edit | edit source]

Runes are automatically unlocked at predetermined levels. Each skill lists what levels each rune unlocks at, and players receive notification of the new runes that have become available each time they level up. Runes can be changed at any time, but changing a skill or rune while not in town will trigger a 10-second cooldown, during which time the skill or spell will not be available for use or further modification.

Skill Rune Videos[edit | edit source]

In May 2011 Blizzard released a set of five videos, one for each of the classes, demonstrating various runestones in a single skill each. These show early versions of teh rune effects, and do not correspond exactly to what we see in the final game.

The Barbarian's Whirlwind.

The Demon Hunter's Cluster Arrow

The Monk's Sweeping Wind

The Witch Doctor's Acid Cloud

The Wizard's Ray of Frost

D3 Runestones vs. D2 Runes[edit | edit source]

Diablo III's Runes are nothing like the 'runes' found in Diablo II. In D2 there are thirty-three kinds of runes, which are small items that have no use on their own, but can be placed in item sockets to add various bonuses to those items, and in certain combinations produce RuneWords, which add powerful, predetermined sets of bonuses, provided that the item has precisely the right number of sockets.

Diablo III's runes are "socketed" into skills, not items. See the Gems and Sockets articles for more details about item socketing in Diablo III.

Media[edit | edit source]

Various images of Runestones and Rune Effects.

Rune Socket]
The since-renamed Hydra Rune.
Crimson rune, August 2010 design.
The old rune stones.
Level-up rune unlock notification.
A socketed rune.

References[edit | edit source]

↑ New Skill Interface and Rune System -Diablo.incgamers, 20/2/2012

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer primary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer secondary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer corpses

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer bloodandbone

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer reanimation

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer curses

[1] New Skill Interface and Rune System -Diablo.incgamers, 20/2/2012

[1]

Fan-made Classes			Fan-made Skills [e]
• Alchemist • Arcane Warrior • Artisan • Aurian Mage • Bard • Channeller • Dragon Warrior	• Flagellant • Giant (U) • Hollow Man • Nomad • Onaga Manji • Phase Knight	• Ranger • Slayer (U) • Techpriest (U) • Telepath • Untainted (U) • Zealot	Dragon Warrior Skills • Bow and Throwing Skill Tree • Dragon Disciplines Skill Tree • Martial Arts Skill Tree	Untainted Skills • Divine Skill Tree	Aurian Mage Skill • Holy Power Skill Tree • Shadow Spells Skill Tree • Nature Forces Skill Tree
(U) = Unfinished				Untainted Skills • Divine Skill Tree

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[File:Runestone1.jpg|frame|left|Crimson rune.]]
+'''Runestones''' is the old name for [[Skill Runes]], which provide five different functions for every skill in Diablo III. All rune forms offer some sort of upgrade over the original skill, and there are virtually no scenarios when a character is better off using the base skill than one of the rune effects.
-'''Runes''' in [[Diablo 3]] are small items that are socketed into '''active''' [[skill]]s, (not into [[item]]s as they were in Diablo 2). Diablo 3's skill runes grant special bonuses to the skill they are socketed into, improving the skill's function in various ways, such as adding damage or multiple hits, reducing cost, etc.
-There are five types of runes, each representing a general type of bonus, the names of which have changed repeatedly during game development. The most recent information came from [[Bashiok]] in late May 2010, when he revealed the current rune names as Crimson, Indigo, Obsidian, Golden, Alabaster. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/new-skill-rune-names-revealed/]
+[[File:New_runes.jpg|thumb|125px|The five Runes.]]
+The rune effects become available gradually, as a character levels up. All of the basic skills are available by level 30, but a character must reach level 60 to gain access to all of the rune effects, with at least 1, and usually 2 or 3 added each level up from 6 to 60. There is no set pattern or regular system to when the rune effects become available. Characters do not get another rune effect in a skill every 6 or 8 levels, for instance.
-Runes spawn at various levels of quality (5 or 6 levels), e.g., "Minor Alabaster Runestone."
+The name "runes" is something of a remnant, as there's no real reason the final game system should use that term at all, since the different "runes" are simply graphical icons attached to each of the five different forms of each skill. Originally, the skill runes were called "runestones" which were small items that characters found and socketed into their skills to grant the bonus effects. The item style of runes evolved repeatedly during development, and was eventually removed in early 2012, when skill runes lost their random effects and rune levels, and were integrated completely into the skill interface.
+* See all [http://diablo.incgamers.com/categories/category/runestones/ news related to runestones in Diablo III].
+* [[Rune Archive]] -- Runes evolved greatly during the development of Diablo III. See the archive page for a detailed history lesson.
-==Every Rune Works in Every Skill==
+Players once assumed that a sixth rune would be added in the [[Diablo III expansion]], but with the final game system this seems unlikely, as all the rune effects are now customized to each skill, rather than each runestome type adding a semi-predictable effect to any skill it was added to.
-[[Image:Rune-minor-hydra1.jpg|frame|The since-renamed Hydra Rune.]]
-[[File:Rune-minor-energy.jpg|frame|left]]
-[[Jay Wilson]] has stressed that runes must add a useful function to multiple types of skills, since every type of rune will be socketable in every action skill. (As far as we know.) This leads to some odd and creative design decisions, since while it's obvious what most runes will do in most skills, there are some exceptions. Consider what a rune that adds multiple hits or damage does for a purely defensive/shielding skill? Or a movement skill like the Wizard's Teleport?
-The [[D3 Team]] wants all the runes to be useful to all [[class]]es, so they did not add runes that just boosted one type of skill, or one character's skills. They have to find general function bonuses that worked across the board, which is why there are not fifty types of runes. Just five, though one of the five is basically a wild card rune that does odd and different things in different skills.
-==Rune Types and Functions==
+==Rune Basics==
-There have been five types of runes ever since they were announced as a game feature. The names and functions of the five types have changed repeatedly though, and the team is certain to continue modifying them throughout the remainder of the development process.
+The final game rune system was introduced in early 2012 in [[Beta Patch 13]], where players were first able to try them out for themselves<ref>[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/video-journal-3-new-skill-interface-rune-system New Skill Interface and Rune System] -Diablo.incgamers, 20/2/2012</ref>. Runes are now effects in skills, can be switched between freely, and are entirely divorced in organization from the old runestone items system.
-Though the five types of runes kept changing names, but their functions seemed to be largely set all through 2009 and into 2010. This apparent certainty was overturned by new info[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-interview-g4tv/] from [[Jay Wilson]] at the [[Gamescom]] show in August 2010.
+[[File:Rune_ui.jpg|left|thumb|400px|Socketing a rune.]]
+Runes are now a component of the [[skill]] system that allows a player to alter a skill. Some runes, such as the [[Bash]] rune [[Unleashed (rune effect)|Unleashed]], do not change the basic functionality of the skill, simply increasing the damage or duration, or lowering the resource cost. Other rune effects do much more, entirely changing the function of skills from offensive to defensive, or changing the function greatly, such as the [[Witch Doctor]]'s [[Rain of Toads]] rune for [[Plague of Toads]]. That rune takes a short range, slow, erratically-moving projectile attack and changes it to a ranged attack with almost full screen range that deals heavy damage to a targeted location.
-===Original Rune Functions===
+The five rune effects lost their individual, unifying names during development, and there is no longer any way for players to refer to something like, "the [[Crimson Rune]] effect in [[Cleave]]." All the rune effects are simply referred to by their own names now, such as Cleave's rune effects, [[Broad Sweep]], [[Gathering Storm]], [[Scattering Blast]], [[Reaping Swing]], and [[Rupture]].
-Jay Wilson described the five types of runes during an interview from BlizzCon 2009. The quoted sections below are Jay's words: [http://pc.ign.com/articles/101/1017305p1.html]
+===Attaining Runes===
-* The Power Rune, which was renamed Force Rune: "One tends to be more damage-oriented."
+Runes are automatically unlocked at predetermined levels. Each skill lists what levels each rune unlocks at, and players receive notification of the new runes that have become available each time they level up. Runes can be changed at any time, but changing a skill or rune while not in [[town]] will trigger a 10-second [[cooldown]], during which time the skill or spell will not be available for use or further modification.
-* The Multistrike Rune, which was renamed the Hydra Rune: "One tends to multiply effects, splits projectiles or bigger radiuses, things like that."
-* The Energy Rune: "One tends to be a very energy-efficient rune, so you cut down cost or in some way increases the benefit of the skill, so you get more for less."
-* The Lethality Rune, which was renamed Viper: "One tends to be more focused on death effects, critical effects."
-* The Striking rune: "And one of them we call just... the weird rune, which is our grab bag for anything unusual we want to stick on."
+{{Clear|left}}
-===Updated Gamescom Info===
+==Skill Rune Videos==
-Jay didn't describe the full rune system at Gamescom, but he gave examples of what the various Runes do with the [[Wizard]] skill [[Hydra]]. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-interview-g4tv/]
+In May 2011 Blizzard released a set of five videos, one for each of the classes, demonstrating various runestones in a single skill each.  These show early versions of teh rune effects, and do not correspond exactly to what we see in the final game.
-::One of my favorites is on the Wizard. She has a skill called Hydra, which is largely the same as it was in Diablo 2. Fiery (dragon) heads that shoot fireballs. Depending on which rune the Wizard sockets in that skill, the dragon heads change elements, and it’s a major change. Their entire appearance is altered. They can become poison heads, which shoot bolts of poison that leave pools of acid on the ground. There are lightning heads that shoot [[Chain Lightning]].  Cold heads that shoot [[Frost Bolts]] that slow enemies.  Another rune makes for a bigger fire attack, where the head just breaths a cone of flame.
-The last example, of a rune that makes for a bigger fire attack, fits easily into the known system. It sounds like what used to be called the Power Rune.  The three elemental damage types though, do not seem to have any connection to the known functions of the Multistrike, Energy, Lethality, or Striking runes.  It's not known if the Hydra skill is an outlier, or if most skills now gain very different rune bonuses than they did previously.
+<center>
+{|
+| <youtube>uASjbyfo3eo</youtube><br>
+The Barbarian's [[Whirlwind]].
+| <youtube>V0C_15IzneY</youtube><br>
+The Demon Hunter's [[Cluster Arrow]]
+|}
+</center>
-===More Updated Bashiok Info==
+<center>
+{|
+| <youtube>R8gfPFuWs6g</youtube><br>
+The Monk's [[Sweeping Wind]]
+| <youtube>rWJhV31TY8U</youtube><br>
+The Witch Doctor's [[Acid Cloud]]
+|}
+</center>
-Diablo III Community Manager Bashiok spoke to Diii.net about runestones shortly after Gamescom, in August 2010, and explained a lot of the lingering questions on this issue. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/more-changes-to-runestones/]
-He clarified the Hydra rune situation. The five runes provide to Hydra: extra damage, multishot, and the 3 elemental properties. Extra damage and multishot are consistent with the previous properties. One of the elementals comes from the wildcard rune, and the other comes from what used to be the Energy rune. That rune now functions as a second wildcard in most skills, since changes to the [[resources]] made the mana-saving property obsolete. (Plus it just wasn't cool enough, in most instances.)
+The Wizard's [[Ray of Frost]]
-So Hydra isn't a total outlier; it's just got one rune, (formerly known as Lethality) that usually affects critical bonuses, that's doing something very different (an elemental damage change).
+<youtube>k2Uo2X8iF0U</youtube>
-Many of the skills in the game have undergone similar transformations, in terms of their Runestone effects. The D3 Team has gone over all of them, more than 600 (20-25 skills per char x 5 chars x 5 runes) and tried to make them all awesome. Visual, interesting, exciting; not just stat-tweaking. This is a huge project, with a lot of trial and error, and it's ongoing.
-The artwork and graphics were usually modified, to make so many visual changes. For instance, for a new effect to the [[Witch Doctor]]'s [[Corpse Spiders]] spell spawn a huge "mother spider" they were able to use existing artwork for monster spiders, modify it a bit, apply a new texture, change the size, and voila, it's a spider that fits perfectly with the new runestone effect.
-The biggest problem seems to be balancing. How can they even out the effects and utility of so many runes doing so many different things? Bashiok admitted that was a challenge, but said that perfect balance wasn't required. As long as none of the rune properties were wildly over or underpowered, it would be find for [[PvE]] play. They might have to do more fine-tuning when it came to PvP though, since there it really does matter if one skill is slightly better than another. But they're not to the point of worrying much about that, yet.
-==Rune Names==
+===D3 Runestones vs. D2 Runes===
-There are five types of runes in Diablo 3. Their names have changed during development, though when he named them in (May 2010), Bashiok said these were fairly set for the final game: [[Crimson Rune|Crimson]], [[Indigo Rune|Indigo]], [[Obsidian Rune|Obsidian]], [[Golden Rune|Golden]], [[Alabaster Rune|Alabaster]].  These names are all adjectives for colors (red, blue, black, gold, white), but it's not known if the rune names will appear in those colors in the game.
-The five known rune names, prior to the color-themed name change:
+[[Diablo III]]'s Runes are nothing like the '{{iw|runes runes}}' found in [[Diablo II]]. In D2 there are thirty-three kinds of runes, which are small items that have no use on their own, but can be placed in item sockets to add various bonuses to those items, and in certain combinations produce {{iw|Runeword RuneWords}}, which add powerful, predetermined sets of bonuses, provided that the item has precisely the right number of sockets.
-* [[Energy Rune]]
+Diablo III's runes are "socketed" into [[skills]], not items. See the [[Gem]]s and [[Socket]]s articles for more details about [[item]] socketing in Diablo III.
-* [[Viper Rune]] (named Lethality before)
-* [[Hydra Rune]], which was previously called the "Multistrike" rune, and is now the [[Indigo Rune]].
-* [[Force Rune]] (named Power before)
-* [[Striking Rune]]
-Only the Multistrike > Hydra > Indigo rune name progression is confirmed as of June 2010. It's unknown which of the others are now called Golden, Alabaster, Obsidian, or Crimson. The name progression is largely a curiosity at this point, since the rune properties have changed as well as their titles.
-===Rune Name Evolution===
-Blizzard's Diablo 3 community manager shed some light on the reason for the latest rune name change in May 2010: [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/skill-runes-continue-to-evolve/]
-::[[Bashiok]]: The runes have really just been renamed to allow us greater flexibility in what they do so we’re not creating a weird detachment from what they’re called and the effect they provide. For example what was the multi-strike rune going to do for ... say, [[Slow Time]]? And does that match what the name implies, or what you would assume? Probably not.
+==Media==
-A few days later, he elaborated on this issue:
+Various images of Runestones and Rune Effects.
-::'''Bashiok:''' ...the purpose of renaming them was... to remove a strict theme. I’m not aware of any rune effects we’ve shown being removed, I think all those still exist just the way they were shown. Just instead of multi-strike/hydra, it’s called Indigo, and while for a lot of skills it still has a very multi-strike theme, it’s not a rule dictated by the name.
+<gallery>
+Image:New_Rune_Socket.png|Rune Socket]
-===Rune Quality Levels===
+Image:Rune-minor-hydra1.jpg|The since-renamed Hydra Rune.
-There are five types of runes. Each individual rune, of whatever type, can spawn at various quality levels; Jay Wilson said there would be five or six such levels. As of late 2008, "minor" was said to be the lowest quality, though the modifier names may have changed since that point. As with all items in the game, higher quality runes will be rarer, and only findable from higher level monsters. The functions of a given type of rune will not change as the quality increases; instead the bonuses will be increased.
+File:Runestone1.jpg|Crimson rune, August 2010 design.
+File:Runes5.jpg|The old rune stones.
-The name format is fairly simple, as Bashiok described in May 2010. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/new-skill-rune-names-revealed/]
+File:Rune notification.jpg|Level-up rune unlock notification.
+File:Rune_socketed.jpg|A socketed rune.
-::I don’t think quality names have been decided for sure yet (?), but for example it would be something like “Minor Alabaster Runestone”.
+</gallery>
-::For example: "[quality] [rune type] Runestone"
-===Rune Tool Tips===
-Hovering over a rune will show a description of what it does. Holding the rune while hovering on a skill will give more information, as Bashiok said in May 2010. [http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/new-skill-rune-names-revealed/]
-::Pick up a rune and mousing it over a skill and the tooltip will tell you how it affects the skill. The UI does a good job of informing you how each rune interacts with each skill.
-===Rune Crafting/Upgrading===
-The D3 team has not yet revealed any information about item [[crafting]] in Diablo 3, other than to say that they won't have any {{iw|Horadric_Cube Horadric Cube-style}} converting items.
-It's therefore not known if runes will be craftable, or upgradeable, but given the game's focus on items, it's certainly possible.
-===Rune Storage===
-At the [[BlizzCon 2008]] demo, runes were stored in an [[inventory]] grid on the skill tree menu; not in the normal inventory. There were 10 rune slots below the skill trees. It's not known if they will still be stored there in the final game, if there will be ways to increase the number of slots, or if they can be stored in the inventory instead.
-===Rune Appearance===
-[[Image:New_Rune_Socket.png|thumb|Rune Socket]]
-As of BlizzCast episode 8 (30th of March, 2009) [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/blizzcast-8-live-with-diablo-iii-goodies/] Runes and Rune Sockets changed from squares below a skill to horizontal rectangles, as seen in the image to the right.
-==Rune Function Examples==
-Skill Runes in [[Diablo III]] improve a character's active [[skill]]s in various creative ways. Runes can be used strategically; different runes in the same spell will do things, and there are multiple quality levels of the same rune type, scaling the increases up.
-For example: the [[Wizard]] skill [[Blizzard]] would gain different benefits from different runes. A few hypothetical Blizzard bonuses: more falling projectiles, longer duration, more damage per projectile, longer chill time, better to/hit, better chance of critical hit, and so forth. Also, each of those types of bonuses would be increased in power by the quality of the rune used, allowing for a huge variety of potential bonuses and play styles.
-When first announced, Blizzard said that runes could be removed from sockets at any time and without any penalty. It's not known if this is still the case. If so, players could theoretically juggle their runes for different situations, sticking in a multi-strike rune to deal with big mobs, changing to a power rune to up the single target damage before a boss battle, and so forth.  It therefore seems likely that Blizzard will take steps to limit this sort of switching, perhaps forcing players to return to town before they can change the rune socketed in a spell, putting a cool down time on resocketing the same skill, limiting the number of times a particular rune can be socketed, or some other hindrances.
-==Function Examples==
-The [[D3 Team]] gave several examples of rune functions during a panel at [[BlizzCon 2008]] when Skill Runes were first revealed as a game feature. ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouYP1zGfd0s Watch the demonstration] on YouTube.) The rune names have all changed since this time, but the functions are said to still be nearly identical, hence the following examples, though outdated, remain illustrative of what we'll see in the final game.
-===Wizard's Mirror Image===
-'''[[Mirror Image]] Skill:''' This skill, from the [[Conjuring Skill Tree]], creates a duplicate of the [[wizard]], which is capable of moving around and using spells to attack monsters. (It's not just a decoy or an illusion.)
-** '''Hydra/Multistrike Rune: '''Socketing this rune would increase the number of duplicates. Higher quality levels of the hydra/multi-strike rune would presumably add more duplicates.
-** '''Force/Power Rune: '''Socketing this rune would increase the hit points of each duplicate, and increase the spell's duration.
-===Wizard's Teleport Skill===
-'''[[Teleport]] skill:''' This skill, from the [[Arcane Skill Tree]], teleports the Wizard to the targeted location. The spell isn't quite as quick as it was in Diablo or Diablo 2, since the Wizard leaps up into the air before vanishing, and appears in the air, then falls down to earth.
-* '''Striking Rune:''' Adds damage to targets near where the Wizard appears, functioning something like the Barbarian's Leap Attack skill.
-[[Image:teleport_striking.jpg|center|frame|Striking rune adds damage to the Wizard's teleport.]]
-* '''Hydra/Multistrike Rune:''' Creates a temporary duplicate of the Wizard that will attract enemy fire and will fight and deal damage as well. (This seems to be basically a free way to cast Mirror Image when you Teleport.)
-[[Image:teleport_multistrike.jpg|center|frame|Multistrike creates multiple wizards with Teleport.]]
-===Witch Doctor's Skull of Flame===
-'''[[Skull of Flame]] skill:''' The Witch Doctor lobs a flaming skull, grenade style, which explodes on impact, dealing substantial fire damage to nearby targets. Different runes affect this skill in different ways. Here are a couple of examples as presented during a BlizzCon 2008 panel discussion.
-* '''Hydra/Multistrike Rune:''' Socketing this rune causes the flaming skull to skip along the ground, like a stone over water, bounding and creating multiple explosions. Higher quality runes would allow additional bounces.
-[[Image:skullofflame_multistrike.jpg|center|frame|A multi-strike rune adds multiple hits.]]
-* With '''Force/Power Rune:''' Socketing this rune adds a firefield property to the Skull of Flame, creating a small patch of flame on the ground that persists after the skull's explosion and damages any monsters that cross over it.
-[[Image:skullofflame_power.jpg|center|frame|A force rune adds duration to the flames.]]
-===Wizard's Electrocute===
-'''[[Electrocute]] skill:''' This skill, from the [[Storm Skill Tree]] creates a strand of lightning that locks onto an enemy like a beam weapon, dealing steady lightning damage.
-* '''Hydra/Multistrike Rune:''' Socketing this rune allows the lightning to chain to multiple targets.
-[[Image:electrocute_multistrike.jpg|center|frame|Multiple targets are hit with the Hydra rune.]]
-* With '''Viper/Lethality Rune:''' Socketing this rune causes some of the monsters killed by Electrocute to explode in a nova, dealing damage to other nearby enemies.
-[[Image:electrocute_lethality.jpg|center|frame|Lethality rune adds AoE damage to enemy deaths.]]
+==References==
+<font size="-3"><references/></font>
-==D3 Runes vs. D2 Runes==
-Runes in [[Diablo III]] are nothing like the {{iw|Runes Runes}} found in [[Diablo II]]. In D2 there were 33 kinds of Runes, which were small items that had no use on their own, but that could be placed in item sockets to add various bonuses to the item. Certain combinations of runes could also be used to create {{iw|Runeword RuneWords}}, very powerful items with pre-set stats.
+{{Skill_navbox_Diablo_III|Barbarian}}
-==BlizzCon 2009==
+{{Template:Items navbox}}
-[[Image:Rune Explanation.png|thumb|400px|If any of the first six steps are changed, (and they will be) then the outcome will be fully scrapped.]]
-Skill Runes were not enabled at BlizzCon 2009, for reasons Jay Wilson elaborated on during an interview after the show:
-::'''''Diii.net: '''They’re still being reworked and you don’t have any further comment?
-::'''Jay Wilson: '''They’re not being reworked, we had tons of skill runes on the Wizard and the Barbarian but they were so spotty across the entire class we thought it would be more confusing to show them off than to not. So we just disabled them all for the BlizzCon build. But they’re all still there and they work just fine.
-During another interview, Jay Wilson explained the creative process of making a rune, and how making any changes at all to the first steps will scrap the end results entirely, as can be seen in the image on the right. [http://pc.ign.com/articles/101/1017305p1.html]
-::'''Jay Wilson: '''Well, the system is similar for every class. What we did is we broke down five basic runes. Each rune has a general type of effective pluses. One tends to be more damage-oriented. One tends to multiply effects, splits projectiles or bigger radiuses, things like that. One tends to be a very energy-efficient rune, so you cut down cost or in some way increases the benefit of the skill, so you get more for less. One tends to be more focused on death effects, critical effects. And one of them we call just... the weird rune, which is our grab bag for anything unusual we want to stick on.
-::Every active skill -- we define an active skill as a skill that you have to click to activate -- can have all five runes affect it. Each rune will change the function of the skill. Some of the changes are minor, there are some cases where there's not much appreciable effect. And then some cases are much more drastic, where for example with [[Ice Storm]] or [[Blizzard]], one of the things we're playing around with, this halo of frost whips around her and anyone that moves through it takes damage. That adds on to the effects that Ice Storm already does. So there's a whole bunch of different... the basic idea is to capture that dream of, I'm gonna customize my skills. Even though you and I have the exact same skills, we don't play the same because our skills are different. And then throughout the game, the runes will upgrade in power. So that will just increase and amplify the effect that they have.
-==Further Reading==
-You can find out more of the essential information about Diablo I and Diablo II runes in the {{iw|Main_Page Diablo 2 Wiki}}.
-=== Diablo II Runes ===
-* {{iw|Rune Runes}} - The main page for D2 runes.
-* {{iw|Rune_FAQ Rune FAQ}} - All your questions about runes are answered here.
-* {{iw|Rune_List Rune list}} - All the runes in Diablo II, and how you can create a {{iw|Zod Zod}} rune from a fourteen trillion {{iw|El Els}}.
-* {{iw|Runewords Runewords}} - See how runewords work.
-* {{iw|Sockets Sockets}} - Get to know more about the socket mechanic.
-=== Diablo I Runes ===
-The Diablo I expansion, [[Diablo I: Hellfire|Hellfire]] added "runes" as a trap-like type of item. Read more about them in the {{iw|D1_Hellfire_Runes Diablo I Runes}} article.
-==Trivia (Rune History)==
-What do you really know about runes? The ones from our world come from the ancient Vikings, and their "futhark" (equivalence of our 'Alpha Bet(a)') (which again come from the even more ancient Tibetan Yantras). They allegedly hold magic powers, and the magicks of the 'runa' are still practised today. These practices, called "Seden", are of course done mostly as a pastime, but some forms of the old runes were used in proper form as late as early 20th century in the 'Dalarna' area of Sweden...
-[[Image:Runes.jpg|center|frame|Diablo 2 Runes]]
-In [[Sanctuary]], however, runes are magically inscribed symbols. Though their use has changed slightly in the last 20 years, they used to grant (sufficiently prepared) [[items]] magical properties. For sages of these runes, magical {{iw|Runeword RuneWords}} would be created to remake a mundane item into a Runic Item, with powers competing with magical artifacts.
-Besides the fact that these supposedly ancient runes hold great and mystic powers, we know little about them. Who created them or how they are created is unknown. They seem to attract [[demon]]s of different kinds, as they are often found on their corpses. If the runes are of demonic origin is not known either. They could have been the simple writing language of the first inhabitants of Sanctuary, who themselves were more powerful than Demons or [[Angel]]s. Whatever the origin, they are of great use to heroes wishing to dethrone [[Diablo]] or [[Baal]].
-==References==
-* [http://www.diii.net/blog/comments/blizzcast-8-live-with-diablo-iii-goodies/ BlizzCast #8]
-* [[BlizzCon 2008]]
-* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQBtkJ97Fbo&feature=related The Diablo 3 panel which deals with Fury issues]
-[[Category:Runes]]
+[[Category:Skill runes]]
-[[Category:Items]]
+[[Category:Classes]]
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