Runewords Overview
Last Updated:May 31, 2025|Changelog
First appearing in Diablo II, Runewords have long been a fan favorite, and they're back in the new Expansion for Diablo IV, Vessel of Hatred. Runewords offer exciting new customization opportunities for your characters and introduce a new mechanic to power up your character and access abilities from other classes. Let's learn about how to take our characters to another level in this new expansion!
Runes are exclusive to the Vessel of Hatred expansion.
Types of Runes
There are two types of Runes available in Vessel of Hatred, and these two types of Runes combine to form a Runeword. A Runeword is comprised of one Rune of Ritual and one Rune of Invocation, and you can only have two Runewords on a character. You cannot use two of the same Runes, nor can you use two Runes of Ritual or two Runes of Invocation in the same item (e.g., you cannot combine Bac with Bac, nor can you use Bac as your Rune of Ritual in both Runewords on your character).
The Runes have to be socketed into the same item. That is, Runewords can only be created in items with two sockets, this includes Helm, Chest, Legs, and 2H Weapon. You also cannot equip both Gems and Runes in the same item, so you have to select one or the other. Both types of Runes can drop in Magic, Rare, and Legendary rarity and the higher the rarity, the stronger the effect is. Runes are Tradeable and stored in the new Socketables tab.
Runes of Ritual
Runes of Ritual serve as the 'cause' of the Runewords, and provide a condition you must meet to generate Offering. Once you reach a certain amount of Offering, you trigger the Runes of Invocation. The more demanding the Rune of Ritual (e.g., the more difficult of a condition it is to meet), the more Offering you get in one go.
There are currently 17 Runes of Ritual.
| Runes of Ritual | Offering Gained | Rune Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Ahu | 15 | Lucky Hit: Up to a 100% chance against non-Healthy enemies. |
| Bac | 50 | Travel 5 meters. |
| Igni | 25 | Stores offering every 0.3 second. Cast a non-Basic Skill to gain the stored offering. |
| Lith | 25 | Stand still while fighting for 0.3 seconds. |
| Nagu | 100 | Maintain at least 1 active summon for 5 seconds, gaining offering for each up to 6 summons. |
| Tam | 25 | Cast a non-Channeled Core Skill. |
| Xol | 150 | Evoke power from another Class. |
| Yul | 50 | Cast a Skill with a Cooldown. |
| Feo | 1000 | Become Injured or Crowd Controlled (Cooldown: 10 seconds). |
| Neo | 200 | Deal damage after not taking any within 2 seconds. (Resets if Invulnerable.) |
| Noc | 10 | Inflict a Crowd Control that isn't Slow or Chill (now gain half of the offering when inflicting a Slow or Chill |
| Poc | 5 | Spend 5% of your maximum Resource. |
| Cem | 75 | Cast Evade. |
| Cir | 300 | Cast 5 skills then become exhausted for 3 seconds. |
| Moni | 100 | Cast 2 Mobility or Macabre skills. |
| Yax | 200 | Drink a Healing Potion. |
| Zan | 150 | Cast an Ultimate Skill. |
Runes of Invocation
Runes of Invocation are the 'effect' part of the 'cause and effect' of Runewords. Once you meet the required Offering, you trigger the effect of the Rune of Invocation. This can be anything from granting you access to a skill, to increasing skill ranks, to restoring resource or life. Additionally, Runes of Invocation can have Overflow effects. If you provide more Offering than is needed, you can trigger additional criteria for some Runes. This is all detailed in their tooltip.
There are currently 27 Runes of Invocation:
| Runes of Invocation | Offering Required | Overflow | Rune Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eom | 100 | Further Reduced Cooldowns | Reduce your active Cooldowns by 0.1 seconds. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Jah | 250 | Store Excess Offering | Replace your next Evade with the Sorcerer's Teleport, blinking further, dealing damage, and becoming Unstoppable. Cooldown: 2 Seconds. |
| Ohm | 600 | Increased Duration | Evoke the Barbarian's War Cry, increasing your damage dealt by 15%. Cooldown: 2 Seconds. |
| Vex | 100 | More Skill ranks, up to 3 | Gain +1 to all Skills for 10 seconds. Cooldown: 5 Seconds. |
| Xan | 300 | Increased Duration | Your next attack will cause your hits to be a guaranteed Critical Strike and Overpower for 0.35 seconds. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Yom | 500 | Increase Stun Duration | Evoke the Druid's Petrify, Stunning enemies and restoring 100 Resource. Cooldown: 5 Seconds. |
| Chac | 20 | Increased Bolts Spawned | Invoke Druids's Lightning Bolt, striking a nearby enemy. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Kry | 300 | Increased Size | Evoke the Spiritborn's Vortex, dealing damage and Pulling In enemies. Cooldown: 3 Seconds. |
| Lac | 400 | Increased Duration | Evoke the Barbarian's Challenging Shout, reducing your damage taken by 40% for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Mot | 150 | Gain Multiple Shadows | Gain a shadow from the Rogue's Dark Shroud, reducing damage taken by 8% per shadow, there is a maximum of 5 shadows. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Ner | 600 | Increased Duration | Evoke the Rogue's Countering Concealment, gaining Dodge Chance, Movement Speed, Unstoppable, and Stealth. Cooldown: 6 Seconds. |
| Qax | 400 | Further Increased Damage | Casting a Skill other than a Basic or Defensive spends all of your Primary Resource to increase your damage up to 100% for 1 second. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Que | 300 | Increased Duration | Evoke the Druid's Earthen Bulwark for 3 seconds, granting yourself a Barrier. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Thul | 300 | Increased Size | Evoke the Sorcerer's Mystical Frost Nova, inflicting Frozen and Vulnerable onto enemies. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Tzic | 200 | Increase damage by 1% per Offering | Evoke the Spiritborn's Concussive Stomp, dealing damage and Knocking Down enemies. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Wat | 100 | Increased Duration | Evoke the Necromancer's Horrid Decrepify, Slowing enemies by 40%, reducing their damage by 20%, and letting you Execute enemies below 10% Life. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Xal | 300 | Gain More Maximum Life | Gain 20% Maximum Life for 6 seconds. Cooldown: 3 Seconds. |
| Zec | 100 | Further Reduced Cooldown | Reduce your active Ultimate Cooldown by 1 second. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Ceh | 100 | Summon Multiple Wolves | Summon a Spirit Wolf to attack enemies for 8 seconds (now benefits from Summon and Companion bonuses). Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Gar | 25 | Gain Multiple Stacks | Gain 2.5% Critical Strike Chance for 5 seconds, up to 25%. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Lum | 5 | Increased Resource Restored | Restore 3.5 Primary Resource. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Qua | 50 | Increased Duration | Gain 10% Movement Speed for 5 seconds, up to 50%. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Tal | 30 | Increased Swarms Spawned | Invoke the Spiritborns Pestilent Swarm, dealing damage to enemies. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Teb | 100 | Increase damage by 1% per offering | Evoke the Necromancer's Abhorrent Iron Maiden, counterattacking damage from enemies and Healing you when they die. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Tec | 50 | Up to 100% Increased Size | Evoke the Barbarian's Earthquake, dealing damage to enemies within. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Ton | 20 | Increased Meteorites Spawned | Evoke the Sorcerer's Meteorites, dealing damage to enemies. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
| Tun | 25 | Increased Grenades Spawned | Evoke the Rogue's Stun Grenades, Stunning and dealing damage to enemies. Cooldown: 1 Second. |
Runeword Mechanics
Runewords come with a few important mechanics you should be aware of.
Creating Runewords
Creating a Runeword is as simple as combining a Rune of Ritual and a Rune of Invocation. Let's take Bac and Jah, the Runes shown above. By placing Bac and Jah in the same item, you've created BacJah, a Runeword. Now, every time you travel 25 meters, you've accumulated 400 Offering. Once you have accumulated 400 Offering, you trigger Jah, and your next Evade is replaced with Teleport.
Offering and Overflow
Let's say you had a Rune of Ritual that generated 100 Offering, and you were using a Rune of Invocation that activated at 50 Offering. This would lead to a surplus of Offering, some extra. This is called Overflow. The bonus applied is proportional to how much Overflow is acquired, so stack as much as you can!
Obtaining Runes
Runes can drop from various activities within Diablo 4, and can only drop if the player has the Vessel of Hatred expansion. The following is a list of activities that frequently drops Runes.
- World Bosses
- Kurast Undercity using a Tribute of Harmony
- Helltide Chests
- Tree of Whispers Reward
While Runes can be obtained from drops in Sanctuary, you can also craft them at the Jeweler. You use 3 Runes with the same name (e.g., three Bac Runes) to craft a random Rune. If using non-Legendary Runes, you have a chance to create a Rune of the next highest rarity. The Rune created while crafting is guaranteed to be different than the one used.
Runecrafting
Runes can also be used to create Mythic Uniques. Each Mythic Unique requires 2 Resplendent Spark, 6 Legendary Runes of a specific name, 6 Rare Runes of a specific name, and 6 Magic Runes of a specific name.
For example, you can craft Andariel's Visage using:
- Tam x6
- Qax x6
- Zan x6
- Resplendent Spark x2
You can find the rest of our recipes in our Crafting Cheat Sheet.
Summary
- Beloved in Diablo II, Runewords make their appearance in Vessel of Hatred, but this time with a unique twist.
- Runewords are created by combining Runes of Ritual (causes) with Runes of Invocation (effect). With 15 Runes of Ritual and 26 Runes of Invocation, there's plenty of unique new Runewords for you to try!
- Runes of Ritual generate Offering, and Runes of Invocation use that Offering to activate their effects. Try and find the most strategic pairings!
- Runewords can only be slotted in items with 2 sockets (including two-handed weapons), and only two Runewords can be used per character. You also cannot repeat Runes.
- Runes can be used in crafting to create other Runes, and even Mythic Uniques! The sky's the limit for your character!
Credits
Maintained by Avarilyn
Written by pandaglassjaw