50 rows Aug 20, 2020 The following is a list of weapon rune words in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. As long as you're set on an act 2 merc, then the only thing that changes is the weapon, depending on what type of character you are. The helm and armor that are pretty much universally considered 'the best' are Andariel's Visage and Fortitude runeword armor.
| Act I Hirelings: Rogue Scouts The Hirelings of Act I are available from Kashya in the Rogue Encampment. As Rogues, they specialize in the use of Bows and can be useful for ranged support. If the Rogue Hireling has any special abilities (Fire or Cold arrows), they will be listed in the recruitment window. Skills: Cold Arrow/Inner Sight or Fire Arrow/Inner Sight |
- Rune Words By inserting the correct Runes in the correct order into a specific type of item with the correct number of sockets, it is possible to create a Rune Word Item. As of the 1.09 patch, Blizzard has said that Rune Words will work both on and off realms, in single or multiplayer games.
- I go over merc setup for all classes inn this video, with many variations. One thing I forgot to add is that besides Obedience and Pride runeword on necroman.
- Mercenaries: Act 2 Mercenaries are recommended for every hardcore build. For act 2 mercenaries use the following in single player: Helm: Tal-Rasha's Helm, Vampire Gaze, Any life leech, damage reduction, or all resistance helm. Weapon: Honor Runeword, Blackleech Blade (for the weaken curse), Hone Sundan, or any elite polearm/spear.
| Act II Hirelings: Desert Mercenaries The Hirelings of Act II are available from Greiz in Lut Gholein. They specialize in Melee Attacks. If Hirelings have any special abilities, they will be listed in the recruitment window. Skills: Jab, plus one of the following auras: Combat (Normal): Prayer Allowed Equipment: Armor, Helms, Spears, Polearms, Javelins (but won't throw) Notes: These guys are the most party friendly Hirelings because they share their Auras with all of the party, including Minions. The Aura the Hireling uses depends on the Difficulty level you were at and which type of Hireling you hired. You cannot control which of the available Auras the Hireling uses but normally they stick with one. |
| Act III Hirelings: Ironwolves The Hirelings of Act III are available from Asheara in Kurast. They specialize in Lightning, Fire, and Cold spell attacks. The Hirelings special abilities will be listed in the recruitment window. Skills: Charged Bolt/Lightning or Glacial Spike/Ice Blast/Frozen Armor or Inferno/ Fireball |
| Act V Hirelings: Barbarians The Hirelings of Act V are available from Qual-Kehk in Harrogath once you have finished his quest. Skills: Bash and Stun |
Hirelings are Mercenaries that you can hire to fight by your side. Hirelings are very loyal and fight to the death. Hirelings are very useful. Every player should have one! The Hireling follows you and automatically attacks any monsters or hostile players nearby. You can also see them on your Automap as an aqua colored 'X'. You can only have one Hireling at a time. Each party member can have their own Hireling however bringing the total to 8 Mercenaries in a full game or party.
Some items in Diablo II are socketed items, which means that one can insert runes into them. They can also be identified by having a grey name. When runes are placed into these socketed items in a specific combination, the item will get a stats bonus from each individual rune along with an extra boost on top of that. This special order of runes is known as a runeword. Once you successfully make a runeword, you'll be able to tell when you hover over the image in your inventory.
Blizzard created Runewords for the Lord of Destruction expansion pack and therefore can't be created in the classic Diablo II. They introduced the most powerful runewords with Patch 1.10 so you must be patched to at least this version.
There are 73 runewords in total. The Diablo II runewords are:
| Original Rune Words | – Ancient's Pledge – Black – Fury – Holy Thunder – Honor – King's Grace – Leaf – Lionheart – Lore – Malice – Melody – Memory – Nadir – Radiance – Rhyme – Silence – Smoke – Stealth – Steel – Strength – Venom – Wealth – White – Zephyr |
| 1.10 Rune Words | – Beast – Bramble – Breath of the Dying – Call to Arms – Chains of Honor – Chaos – Crescent Moon – Delirium – Doom – Duress – Enigma – Eternity – Exile – Famine – Gloom – Hand of Justice – Heart of the Oak – Kingslayer – Passion – Prudence – Sanctuary – Splendor – Stone – Wind |
| 1.10 Battle.net (ladder) Rune Words | – Brand – Death – Destruction – Dragon – Dream – Edge – Faith – Fortitude – Grief – Harmony – Ice – Infinity – Insight – Last Wish – Lawbringer – Oath – Obedience – Phoenix – Pride – Rift – Spirit – Voice of Reason – Wrath |
| 1.11 Rune Words | – Bone – Enlightenment – Myth – Peace – Principle – Rain – Treachery |
What items can create rune words?
One can only use Runewords on specific items. Here's the list of items that one can use with runewords in Diablo II:
- Body Armor – Armor for the chest.
- Helms – Armor worn on the head. This includes Barbarian Helms, Circlets and Druid Pelts.
- Clubs – Clubs, including exceptional and elite versions.
- Shields – Any armor used to block. This includes Necromancer Shrunken Heads and Paladin-specific Shields.
- Hammers – War Hammer, Maul, Great Mail, as well as exceptional and elite versions.
- Maces – Mace, Morning Star, Flail, plus exceptional and elite versions.
- Melee Weapons – Any non-ranged weapon, except Sorceress orbs.
- Missile Weapons – Bows and crossbows.
- Sceptres – Sceptre, Grand Sceptre and War Sceptre, and all exceptional and elite versions.
What are the rules of runewords in Diablo II?
For a Diablo II runeword to work correctly, there are a number of rules that one needs to follow. These are:
- For a runeword, the item must have the exact number of sockets needed for the runeword. If a runeword needs three sockets and you put the runes into an item with four sockets (leaving one empty), it will not work.
- The runeword will only work with compatible items. For example, a hammer-only runeword will not work if placed into body armor.
- One must place Runes into the sockets in the correct order. This is because you are effectively spelling out the runeword. For instance, one can create the runeword NefLum by placing Nef first, and Lum last. Placing the runes in the wrong order will stop the runeword from working. However, you will still get the bonus from each individual rune.
- The socketed item being used must be non-magical. You will only get the regular bonuses associated with each rune if you put them into a magical, rare, set or unique item.
- Runewords will not work with Wirt's Leg.
- Diablo II runewords are available from Patch 1.10 and higher.
Dangers of using runewords in Diablo II?
Some runes are rather rare or expensive, which means you should be very careful when creating runewords. This is because there are dangers involved. Once you've placed your runes into a socketed item, you cannot remove them. If you accidentally place a wrong rune, or insert them in the incorrect order, you do not get a second chance to create the runeword. Pay extra attention to runes that look similar, like Io and Lo.
Also, if you decide to experiment with unknown or rumored runewords, you must first be prepared to lose the runes if it doesn't work.
Ladder only runewords
There are certain runewords in Diablo II that are only available on a ladder. You can try and make them on non-ladder, but nothing will happen.
When the ladder expires, all characters are transferred to non-ladder and any runewords created are stored. However, you cannot obtain ladder runewords in non-ladder. Therefore, if you are playing multi-player mode, the only way to get these ladder runewords is to trade with other players. Alternatively, if you are playing in single-player, you can unlock these runewords by editing the game files or by downloading a mod.
Here's a list of the ladder only runewords in Diablo II: https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Ladder_Runewords
What are the best runewords for your character?
Diablo 2 Cheap Merc Runewords
Depending on your gameplay strategy, some Diablo II runewords will be better for you than others. In general, there are runewords that are great for all character classes. Expectedly, these runewords are both expensive and rare. There are also options that are more common and can work well for specific classes.
The best Diablo II runewords for an Amazon: When combined with an Amazon-specific bow, the runeword Faith can vastly increase your Amazon's attack stats. It adds +1 or 2 to all Skills, huge extra damage and +12 to 15 to Fanaticism Aura which boosts the damage and attack speed even more . Ultimately, this is the best runeword in Diablo II for Amazons specializing in bow skills.
The best Diablo II runewords for an Assassin: The runeword Treachery is an excellent way to improve an Assassin's body armour. It's often named as one of the best hireling armours available in Diablo II. It's specially designed to be used by an Assassin, so gives a +2 to Assassin Skills, in addition to a great range of other bonuses like +45% increased Attack Speed and a L15 Fade for almost five minutes after being activated. Chaos runeword is a most when you want to play a crazy whirlwind assassin as it provides you with +1 to Whirlwind.
The best Diablo II runewords for a Barbarian: If you're playing on a ladder and are prepared to pay, then Last Wish is the runeword for your Barbarian's axe. It gives the weapon an Enhanced Damage of between +330 and +375 as well as increasing the chance of a Crushing Blow by up to 70%. Outside of a ladder, the Breath of the Dying rune word is the ultimate addition to a Berserker Axe, giving it the best rate of damage per second for any one-handed weapon, plus a whole range of other bonuses. However, it is rather expensive thanks to the required Zod rune, which makes it indestructible. In terms of armour, Enigma is very useful runeword for a Barbarian in Diablo II as it bestows teleportation, letting a Barbarian get close enough to do some damage.
Diablo 2 4 Socket Weapon Runewords
The best Diablo II runewords for a Druid: Fortitude is a very nice piece of armour for shape shifting druids as it provides you with additional enhanced damage and it has a chance to give you extra defence when casting the chilling armour. Meanwhile, higher level Elemental Druids should make an investment in Heart of the Oak. This is because it increases Cast Rate by 40% and +3 to all Skills to boost the elemental damage.
The best Diablo II runewords for a Necromancer: White is a really powerful runeword for the Necromancer using Poison and Bone skills, it provides tons of stats and you can even sock it in a Wand which has already bonus Skills like 1-3 to Bone Spear. The runes involved are also relatively cheap. If you're on a ladder, using Spirit on a shield has many advantages, including an increase of 25%-35% on Cast Rate.
The best Diablo II runewords for a Paladin: Like the Necromancer, a Paladin can't go wrong with Shields enhanced by the runeword Spirit, but it should be made in a Paladin Specific Shield as they can provide you additional stats like +45 to all elemental resistances. In a ladder, Grief is useful for certain Paladin builds as it adds +340-400 to Damage. When combined with the right equipment and auras, adding Grief to a sword or axe can create a bonus of more than 1000% to total damage.
Diablo 2 Lod Merc Runewords
The best Diablo II runewords for a Sorceress: For a low-level Sorceress, one of the best runewords in Diablo II is Leaf. It is added to a stave and allows for an increase of +3 to Warmth, combatting the issue of low Mana in lower level Sorceresses. As a Sorceress has little skill in hand-to-hand combat, the runeword Call to Arms can be handy too.
