Difference between revisions of "Runeword"

Revision as of 18:04, 12 February 2009

Runewords were a feature added to Diablo II in the expansion pack, which used a combination of runes in socketed items to "craft" a completely new set of stats for it. This feature will not return in Diablo III, and runes now have a skill-related functionality.

Diablo II Runewords

These runewords allowed players to socket certain sequences of runes into weapons, armor, helms, or shields, to create new items with massive stats, unique-style stats. More powerful, higher level, rarer runes made items with better stats, and over time most of the best equipment in the game became runewords, thanks to mudflation and various duping exploits making the ultra-rare runes common enough for most players to obtain them.

See a full listing of Runewords in the Diablo II wing of the DiabloWiki.

Runewords will not be returning in Diablo III, since the D3 Team thought they were overpowered and resulted in lacking character equipment variety. The designers have promised that we'll see a wide array of item variety, and that there will be new ways to customize and craft items, but details have not yet been released. All that's known about item socketing so far is that gems are returning.

Runes are found in Diablo III, but their function has changed. They are still small items that have no function on their own, but instead of being socketed into items, they are now socketed into active skills right in the skill tree interface, adding new properties or modifying the function of that particular skill. Details and many examples of how this works can be seen on the skill runes page.