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==Runes==
[[Image:Rune-minor-hydra1.jpg|frame]]
The most recent look at a rune came in a screenshot released on March 30, 2009. This is a minor hydra rune, with "minor" being a modification of "[[hydra runeHydra Rune]]." All that's known about this one can be seen in the caption, that it "Increases skill quantity." It was previously revealed that the hydra rune was previously known as the "multistrike" rune, and the function appears to be the same, with a bit more evocative a name. Hydras, besides being a Sorceress skill in Diablo II, are the multi-headed dragons of Greek mythology, creatures capable of regrowing two heads in the place of each head that was chopped off.
Hydra runes are known to add bounces to a Witch Doctor's thrown [[Skull of Flame]] spell and to increase the Chain of the Wizard's [[Electrocute]] spell. Since each rune is (as best we know) going to work with every active skill, the hydra rune would presumably add extra hits to all sorts of other skills.
==Rune Function==
[[Image:runeskillNew_Rune_Socket.jpgpng|thumb|Rune Socket]]Skill Runes in Diablo III improve a character's active skills in various creative ways. Runes don't just add damage; they modify the skill in some way, making it more powerful and fun to use, as well as allowing for character customization. Runes can be used very strategically; different runes in the same spell will do things. 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.
As of the BlizzCon demo (October 2008), only some Active Skills had sockets for runes; none of the Passive skills did. Furthermore, no skill had more than one socket. It is not known if any of this will remain that way in the final game.
Runes can be removed from sockets at any time and without any penalty. Theoretically, players could juggle their runes around constantly, 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's likely that Blizzard will take steps to limit this "rune juggling", 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 even causing runes to lose quality when unsocketed.
As of BlizzCast episode 8 (30th of March, 2009) Runes and Rune Sockets have become Horizontal Rectangles, as seen in the image on top and in the image to the right.
==Rune Quality Levels==
It's been stated that runes will have various levels of quality, in a fashion somewhat akin to the different quality levels of {{iw|Gem gems}} in Diablo II. At BlizzCon 2008, [[Jay Wilson]] said there were 5 or 6 quality levels of runes(Minor being the lowest quality), but that the number could go up or down during development. Higher qualities of runes will (of course) be dropped by higher level monsters, and the higher qualities will be much rarer. The function of each type of rune will not change at higher quality; instead the bonuses will be increased.
The D3 team hasn't yet revealed much information about how item crafting will work in D3, other than to say that they won't have any {{iw|Horadric_Cube Horadric Cube-style}} converting items. We therefore know nothing about the potential for runes to be upgraded by type, though it's certainly possible that something along those lines could be implemented.
