Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction Runes and Rune Words

Runes were introduced in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction as a way to extend gems into a sort of set, where specific runes could be placed in socketed items and— if placed in the right order on the right type of equipment—give extra bonuses to the item in question. This specific order is known as a Rune Word. Rune words have the following restrictions:

1. They must be placed on the right type of item.
2. The item must have the exact number of sockets required—a 3-rune word will not work on an item that has more than three sockets.
3. The runes must be in order.
4. Lastly, some rune words only work on the Online Ladder.

Runes can also be used for Crafted Items.

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Runes

There are a total of runes. From lowest to highest, they are:

It is the runes themselves that dictate what level you have to be to use a runeword (that is, you have to be able to use the highest-level rune to use the full word.

A little fun fact for you: here are the rankings of runes according to how many words use them:

1^st Place

(14 words)

2^nd Place

(13 words)

3^rd Place

, (12 words)

5^th Place

(11 words)

6^th Place

, , , , (10 words)

11^th Place

, (9 words)

13^th Place

, , , , , (8 words)

19^th Place

, , , , , , , (7 words)

26^th Place

, , , , , (6 words)

32^nd Place

(3 words)

Unsurprisingly, the highest-ranked run, , comes in dead last, being used only in .

Five runes are used more than once in a rune word: is used twice in , (twice in ), (twice in ), (twice in ), and , which is used thrice in .

Speaking of Rune Words...

Rune Words

Below are the Rune Words.

• Level

  , ,

  Online Ladder Only

  Intended for the

Crafted Items

Crafted items are a type of Rare Items that can only be created by The Horadric Cube. Unlike most magic or rare items, they have certain fixed properties, along with random properties on top.

They are created using a perfect gem, a jewel of any kind, an item of the specified kind, and a rune.