When Diablo 4’s 2.0 Update finally goes live, you’ll want to get a handle on the new Runewords mechanic. This guide will tell you everything you need to know.
The PTR for Diablo 4’s 2.0 update has finally ended but it has given players lucky enough to participate a pretty good idea of what to expect when the Vessel of Hatred expansion launches. While it didn’t allow players to test out the new Spiritborn class, there was still a lot to play around with.
Players discovered new hints about the secret cow level, potential reveals for the Season 6 theme, and some particularly overpowered builds. Key to crafting some of these builds is a mastery of Diablo 4’s new Runewords.
So, what are Runewords in Diablo 4, how do you acquire them, and how many do we know of? This guide will answer these questions and help you prepare for Vessel of Hatred and Season 6.
How do Runewords work in Diablo 4?
Runewords require two elements known as a Rune of Ritual and a Rune of Invocation to work in tandem. The Rune of Ritual outlines an action or condition that needs to be met to trigger a specific effect governed by the Rune of Invocation.
Commonly, Runes of Invocation will afford you access to a Skill used by one of Diablo 4’s five classes. For instance, with the right Runeword, you could have your Barbarian trigger the Druid’s Petrify Ultimate.
The game has added a wide variety of Runewords that can be combined in a number of ways to best suit your build. Using a Rune of Invocation that has a Skill corresponding to the Class you play will cast that Skill with all of its augments applied.
Runeword Offering and Overflow explained
When you complete the action denoted by a Rune of Ritual, it generates a resource called Offering. Runes of Ritual will require a certain amount of offering in order to trigger their effect.
One of the earliest examples given by Blizzard was how the Rune of Ritual Bac interacts with the Rune of Invocation Jah. Bac generates 50 Offering when your character moves five meters while Jah consumes 500 Offering to turn your next evade into the Sorcerer’s Teleport.
With both equipped, every time your character moves 50 meters, your next evade will become a Teleport instead. There are numerous possible combinations of Runewords in Diablo 4 and this is only one of them.
With two Runewords equipped, you’ll be able to monitor how much Offering you’ve generated via an icon that appears over your buff bar. When the icon fills, you’ll be able to trigger the effect of your Rune of Invocation.
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Certain Runewords in Diablo 4 will have what is known as an Overflow effect. If you hold off on activating your Rune of Invocation and generate more Offering than is needed to cast its associated Skill, it will gain new benefits based on the Overflow of Offering.
For example, the Rune of Invocation Qax will deplete all of your primary resource to give your next non-basic Skill a 100% damage increase. Ordinarily, this requires 400 Offering but if you generate 450 Offering or more, it will increase the damage buff further.
How to equip Runewords in Diablo 4
Runewords are quipped in the sockets of gear that has them available. They replace Gems so you’ll have to consider whether you want the constant buff afforded by Gems or the situational Skills that runes provide.
You equip them in the same way you would slot Gems into your gear. There are some important things to keep in mind when equipping Runewords:
- Only gear with two sockets can hold Runeword. This means they can only be equipped to Helms, Chests, Pants, and 2-Handed Weapons.
- Runewords cannot coexist with gems on the same item.
- You can only equip two Runewords at a time, meaning only two pieces of gear may contain Runes.
- You cannot equip the same rune twice on your gear, even on different pieces.
How to Acquire Runewords in Diablo 4
To unlock the use of Runewords in Diablo 4, you’ll need to complete a particular quest during the Vessel of Hatred expansion’s campaign. Following this, they’ll be rewarded for completing a number of different endgame activities.
Runes come in three rarities that correlate to the rarity of gear in Diablo 4. These are Magic, Rare, and Legendary.
Outside of being rewarded for the completion of in-game activities, you can also trade Runes with other players or craft them.
Crafting Runes in Diablo 4
New Runes can be crafted at the Jeweller in Diablo 4. To do so, you can offer three of the same Rune in order to generate a new one.
This new Rune will always contain a different Runeword to those you’ve sacrificed to craft it. This means you have good opportunities to get rid of Runes that are of no use to you. An added benefit of the process is that when sacrificing Rare or Magic Runes, you have the potential to craft a Legendary Rune.
All Runewords and their effects in Diablo 4
Runes of Ritual
| Rune | Rarity | Offering Earned | Condition |
| Cem | Magic | 50 | Cast Evade. |
| Cir | Magic | 25 | Cast the same non-Channeled Skill 3 times in a row. |
| Moni | Magic | 10 | Cast a Skill after moving. (Cooldown: 0.2 seconds). |
| Ur | Magic | 10 | Your Minion or Companion kills an enemy or dies. |
| Yax | Magic | 100 | Drink a Healing Potion. |
| Zan | Magic | 150 | Cast an Ultimate Skill. |
| Feo | Rare | 1,000 | Become Injured or Crowd Controlled (Cooldown: 20 seconds). |
| Kaa | Rare | 2 | Lose 1% of your Maximum Life. |
| Neo | Rare | 300 | Deal damage after not taking any within 5 seconds. (Resets if Invulnerable.) |
| Noc | Rare | 5 | Inflict a Crowd Control that isn’t Slow or Chill. |
| Poc | Rare | 2 | |
| Ahu | Legendary | 10 | |
| Bac | Legendary | 50 | Travel 5 meters. |
| Lith | Legendary | 25 | Stand still for 0.3 seconds. |
| Tam | Legendary | 25 | Cast a non-Channeled Core Skill. |
| Xol | Legendary | 150 | Evoke power from another Class. |
| Yul | Legendary | 50 | Cast a Skill with a Cooldown. |
Runes of Invocation
| Rune | Rarity | Offering Required | Cooldown | Effect | Overflow |
| Ceh | Magic | 100 | 1 Second | Summon a Spirit Wolf to attack enemies for 8 seconds. | Summon Multiple Wolves |
| Gar | Magic | 25 | 1 Second | Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25%. | Gain Multiple Stacks |
| Lum | Magic | 5 | 1 Second | Restore 1 Primary Resource. | Increased Resource Restored |
| Met | Magic | 100 | 1 Second | You leave the Necromancer’s Desecrated Ground behind you for 3 seconds, dealing damage to enemies within. | Increased Duration |
| Ono | Magic | 25 | 1 Second | Evoke the Druid’s Dancing Bolts, seeking and dealing damage to enemies. | Increased Bolts Spawned |
| Tal | Magic | 100 | 1 Second | Evoke the Spiritborn‘s Pestilent Swarm, dealing damage to enemies. | Increased Swarms Spawned |
| Teb | Magic | 100 | 1 Second | Evoke the Necromancer‘s Abhorrent Iron Maiden, counterattacking damage from enemies and Healing you when they die. | None |
| Tec | Magic | 100 | 1 Second | Evoke the Barbarian’s Earthquake, dealing damage to enemies within. | Increased Size |
| Ton | Magic | 25 | 1 Second | Evoke the Sorcerer’s Meteorites, dealing damage to enemies. | Increased Meteorites Spawned |
| Tun | Magic | 100 | 1 Second | Evoke the Rogue’s Stun Grenades, Stunning and dealing damage to enemies. | Increased Grenades Spawned |
| Kry | Rare | 500 | 3 Seconds | Evoke the Spiritborn’s Vortex, dealing damage and Pulling In enemies. | None |
| Lac | Rare | 800 | 1 Second | Evoke the Barbarian’s Challenging Shout, reducing your damage taken. | Increased Duration |
| Mot | Rare | 150 | 1 Second | Gain a shadow from the Rogue’s Dark Shroud, reducing damage taken per shadow. | Gain Multiple Shadows |
| Ner | Rare | 700 | 6 Seconds | Evoke the Rogue’s Countering Concealment, gaining Dodge Chance, Movement Speed, Unstoppable, and Stealth. | Increased Duration |
| Qax | Rare | 400 | 1 Second | Your next non-Basic Skill cast spends all of your Primary Resource to deal up to 100% increased damage. | Further Increased Damage |
| Qua | Rare | 400 | 1 Second | Restore an Evade charge and gain 6% Movement Speed for 5 seconds, up to 30%. | Increased Duration |
| Que | Rare | 800 | 1 Second | Evoke the Druid’s Earthen Bulwark, granting yourself a Barrier. | Increased Duration |
| Thul | Rare | 400 | 1 Second | Evoke the Sorcerer’s Mystical Frost Nova, inflicting Freeze and Vulnerable onto enemies. | Increased Size |
| Tzic | Rare | 250 | 1 Second | Evoke the Spiritborn’s Concussive Stomp, dealing damage and Knocking Down enemies. | None |
| Wat | Rare | 100 | 1 Second | Evoke the Necromancer’s Horrid Decrepify, Slowing enemies, reducing their damage, and letting you Execute them. | None |
| Xal | Rare | 200 | 1 Second | Gain 20% Maximum Life for 4 seconds. | Increased Duration |
| Zec | Rare | 200 | 2 Seconds | Reduce your active Ultimate Cooldown by 4 seconds. | Further Reduced Cooldown |
| Eom | Legendary | 100 | 1 Second | Reduce your active Cooldowns by 0.25 seconds. | Further Reduced Cooldown |
| Jah | Legendary | 500 | 2 Seconds | Replace your next Evade with the Sorcerer’s Teleport, blinking further, dealing damage, and becoming Unstoppable. | None |
| Ohm | Legendary | 500 | 2 Seconds | Evoke the Barbarian’s Enhanced War Cry, increasing your Movement Speed and damage dealt. | Increased Duration |
| Vex | Legendary | 400 | 1 Second | Gain +3 to all Skills for 5 seconds. | Increased Duration |
| Xan | Legendary | 700 | 1 Second | Your next Skill cast will be a guaranteed Critical Strike and Overpower. | None |
| Yom | Legendary | 500 | 5 Seconds | Evoke the Druid’s Petrify, Stunning enemies and increasing your Critical Strike Damage against them. | None |
With all that information, you should be ready to make use of Diablo 4’s new Runewords mechanic. It will arrive in the game officially when Vessel of Hatred and Season 6 launch on October 8, 2024.
