Diablo 4's first-ever expansion, Vessel of Hatred doesn't simply expand the game with a new story campaign. We are also getting a new level cap, new difficulty levels, and Runewords making a comeback to the franchise.
Runewords, haven't been in a Diablo title since Diablo 2: Resurrected, and the community loves this so much they have already dissected the Patch 2.0.2 notes and figured out all of the possible combinations of Runewords we'll be able to use in the game. Here's everything we know following PTR and the looming release of Vessel of Hatred.
How do Runes and Runewords work in Diablo 4?
Runewords are feature only accessible for those that purchase the Vessel of Hatred expansion. This makes sense as the same approach was made when Diablo 2 added the Lord of Destruction expansion which bought runewords to the game. However, if you play the expansion on one platform (Xbox for example), and then play Diablo 4 on another platform where you do not own the expansion (Steam for example), your Runes and Runewords will still be equipped and usable on your items.
Runewords are a way to make your own abilities, and even use abilities from other classes. There are two kinds of Runes:
- Runes of Ritual - specify an action you must take to trigger
- Runes of Invocation - grant a powerful effect when you meet above trigger
Having both the Bac and Jah Runes equipped to an item you’re wearing created the BacJah Runeword. It also means that every time your character travels 5 meters, they will generate 50 Offering. Once they have generated at least 500 Offering, their next Evade is replaced with the Sorcerer’s Teleport.
What is Offering?
Runes use a resource system called Offering, which is created by Runes of Ritual when their conditions are met. Runes of Invocation then use this Offering to trigger their effects. The harder the condition, the more Offering the Rune of Ritual generates. Similarly, the stronger the effect of a Rune of Invocation, the more Offering it needs.
Sometimes, you might generate more Offering than needed to activate a Rune of Invocation. This is where Overflow comes in—extra Offering can boost the effects of many Runes of Invocation for a short time.
To make a Runeword, you need to place both a Rune of Ritual and a Rune of Invocation into an item with two Sockets, like those in Chest, Leg, and Two-Handed weapon slots. The Helm slot now has an extra Socket, so it can also hold a Runeword. Any Rune of Ritual can work with any Rune of Invocation. Runes come in three rarities: Magic, Rare, and Legendary, with higher rarities offering stronger effects.
What are all the Runes in Diablo 4?
| Rune name | Rarity | Offering | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yul | Legendary | 50 | Cast a Skill with a Cooldown. |
| Cir | Magic | 25 | Cast the same non-Channeled Skill 3 times in a row. |
| Ahu | Legendary | 10 | Lucky Hit: Up to a 100% chance against Injured enemies. |
| Neo | Rare | 300 | Deal damage after not taking any within 5 seconds. (Resets if Invulnerable.) |
| Tam | Legendary | 25 | Cast a non-Channeled Core Skill. |
| Xol | Legendary | 150 | Evoke power from another Class. |
| Zan | Magic | 150 | Cast an Ultimate Skill. |
| Feo | Rare | 1000 | Become Injured or Crowd Controlled (Cooldown: 20 seconds). |
| Noc | Rare | 5 | Inflict a Crowd Control that isn't Slow or Chill. |
| Cem | Magic | 50 | Cast Evade. |
| Bac | Legendary | 50 | Travel 5 meters. |
| Yax | Magic | 100 | Drink a Healing Potion. |
| Poc | Rare | 2 | Spend 5% of your Maximum Resource. |
| Moni | Magic | 10 | Cast a Skill after moving. (Cooldown: 0.2 seconds) |
| Lith | Legendary | 25 | Stand still for 0.3 seconds. |
| Rune name | Rarity | Offering | Cooldown | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lac | Rare | 800 | 1 sec | Evoke the Barbarian's Challenging Shout, reducing your damage taken. |
| Ohm | Legendary | 600 | 2 secs | Evoke the Barbarian's War Cry, increasing your Movement Speed and damage dealt. |
| Vex | Legendary | 400 | 1 sec | Gain +3 to all Skills for 5 seconds. |
| Gar | Magic | 25 | 1 sec | Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25%. |
| Xan | Legendary | 700 | 1 sec | Your next Skill cast will be a guaranteed Critical Strike and Overpower. |
| Que | Rare | 800 | 1 sec | Evoke the Druid's Earthen Bulwark, granting yourself a Barrier. |
| Yom | Legendary | 500 | 5 secs | Evoke the Druid's Petrify, Stunning enemies and increasing your Critical Strike Damage against them. |
| Eom | Legendary | 100 | 1 sec | Reduce your active Cooldowns by 0.25 seconds. |
| Lum | Magic | 5 | 1 sec | Restore 1 Primary Resource. |
| Qua | Rare | 200 | 1 sec | Restore an Evade charge and gain 6% Movement Speed for 5 seconds, up to 30%. |
| Xal | Rare | 200 | 1 sec | Gain 20% Maximum Life for 4 seconds. |
| Wat | Rare | 100 | 1 sec | Evoke the Necromancer's Horrid Decrepify, Slowing enemies, reducing their damage, and letting you Execute them. |
| Teb | Magic | 100 | 1 sec | Evoke the Necromancer's Abhorrent Iron Maiden, counterattacking damage from enemies and Healing you when they die. |
| Qax | Rare | 400 | 1 sec | Your next non-Basic Skill cast spends all of your Primary Resource to deal up to 100% increased damage. |
| Zec | Rare | 200 | 1 sec | Reduce your active Ultimate Cooldown by 4 seconds. |
| Ner | Rare | 700 | 6 secs | Evoke the Rogue's Countering Concealment, gaining Dodge Chance, Movement Speed, Unstoppable, and Stealth. |
| Mot | Rare | 150 | 1 sec | Gain a shadow from the Rogue's Dark Shroud, reducing damage taken per shadow. |
| Jah | Legendary | 500 | 2 secs | Replace your next Evade with the Sorcerer's Teleport, blinking further, dealing damage, and becoming Unstoppable. |
| Thul | Rare | 400 | 1 sec | Evoke the Sorcerer's Mystical Frost Nova, inflicting Freeze and Vulnerable onto enemies. |
| Tzic | Rare | 250 | 1 sec | Evoke the Spiritborn's Concussive Stomp, dealing damage and Knocking Down enemies. |
| Kry | Rare | 300 | 3 secs | Evoke the Spiritborn's Vortex, dealing damage and Pulling In enemies. |
| Tec | Magic | 100 | 1 sec | Evoke the Barbarian's Earthquake, dealing damage to enemies within. |
| Tun | Magic | 100 | 1 sec | Evoke the Rogue's Stun Grenades, Stunning and dealing damage to enemies. |
| Ton | Magic | 20 | 1 sec | Evoke the Sorcerer's Meteorites, dealing damage to enemies. |
| Tal | Magic | 100 | 1 sec | Evoke the Spiritborn's Pestilent Swarm, dealing damage to enemies. |
| Ceh | Magic | 100 | 1 sec | Summon a Spirit Wolf to attack enemies for 8 seconds. |
- Runes are tradeable, stack and will be stored in a new socketable inventory tab.
- A maximum of 2 Runewords can be equipped (4 Runes total).
- The same Rune cannot be equipped twice.
You can craft Runes from unwanted Runes
You'll be able to use 3 Runes with the same name to craft a new Rune. When non-Legendary Runes are used to craft in this way, there is a chance to make a Rune of a higher rarity.
We'll also be able to craft Mythic Uniques at the Jeweler by combining the following:
- 1 Resplendent Spark
- 10 Legendary Runes of a specific name
- 10 Rare Runes of a specific name
- 10 Magic Runes of a specific name
What skills can I make with Runewords
The community at large has already diligently compiled list after list of skills that we'll be able to make using combinations of these Runes. If you're already looking at builds ahead of Vessel of Hatred launch and want to do some theory crafting, there's a huge database here at Diablo4.life where you can narrow down to Skill combinations using Magic, Rare, or Legendary Runes. There are too many combinations to list here but here are a few examples:
| Runeword | Trigger | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| CirGar | Cast the same non-Channeled Skill 3 times in a row 1 time | Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25% |
| CirCeh | Cast the same non-Channeled Skill 3 times in a row 4 times | Summon a Spirit Wolf to attack enemies for 8 seconds |
| UrGar | Your Minion or Companion kills an enemy or dies 3 times | Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25% |
| YaxGar | Drink a Healing Potion 1 time | Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25% |
| YaxMet | Drink a Healing Potion 1 time | You leave the Necromancer's Desecrated Ground behind you for 3 seconds, dealing damage to enemies within |
Time will tell which of all these hundreds of combinations will actually get used, as with anything in Diablo 4 some items come out on top and make their way into the meta. Four runes were already removed as a result of the Diablo 4 Patch 2.0 PTR and we anticipate more changes as the expansion goes live.
How do I find and farm Runes?
Runes drop from pretty much anywhere in the game, but the most efficient place to farm them will be the Kurast Undercity using your Rune Tributes to increase the drop rate. However other activities such as Whisper Caches, World Bosses and Strongholds all have guaranteed Rune drops.
