cant wait for some new runewords

[acceleration turkey]

man i cant wait to see what those 23 new runewords are...if they are good i might actually be tempted to play online and on ladder even with no friends to help me move gear around and amidst all the dupes and kiddies.

i was looking at weapon runewords the other day and there really isnt as much choice as i used to think there was. back when beta 1.1 came out i was like "omg look at all teh new awsum runewords."

what i would like is more niche runewords like crescent moon and black. there are enough uniques as it is with the generic +30-40% ias and +200-300% damage...lets get some variety here. both crescent moon and black are fairly slow and fairly low damage, but they have cool mods which make them useful, especially to a dual weild character which can use a standard weapon like death cleaver in addition to a niche weapon like black for crushing blow.

i also feel that runewords are overpriced compared to uniques. i dont play online and i dont pretend to know the trading scene, but it seems to me that a call to arms is basically a cruel/quickness with some life leech, and kingslayer is a stormlash with no static field. yeah both call to arms and kingslayer give you niche features like skills from other classes, but in terms of actually using a call to arms to fight (as opposed to prebuffing a sorc), i cant imagine anyone spending the money to get an ohm rune for that kind of fighting ability.


below is a list of all runewords would could conceivably be used to finish the game with a given barb. omitted are things like "honor," or "king's grace," runewords that are great for the price, but that with a moderate amount of playing will be eclipsed by uniques that can easily be found.

***extremely rare weapon runewords***

Breath of the Dying
6 Socket Weapons
Vex + Hel + El + Eld + Zod + Eth
50% Chance To Cast Level 20 Poison Nova When You Kill An Enemy
Indestructible
+60% Increased Attack Speed
+350-400% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+200% Damage To Undead
-25% Target Defense
+50 To Attack Rating
+50 To Attack Rating Against Undead
7% Mana Stolen Per Hit
12-15% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
Prevent Monster Heal
+30 To All Attributes
+1 To Light Radius
Requirements -20%


Hand of Justice
4 Socket Weapons
Sur + Cham + Amn + Lo
100% Chance To Cast Level 36 Blaze When You Level-Up
100% Chance To Cast Level 48 Meteor When You Die
Level 16 Holy Fire Aura When Equipped
+33% Increased Attack Speed
+280-330% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
-20% To Enemy Fire Resistance
20% Deadly Strike
Hit Blinds Target
Freezes Target +3


Doom
5 Socket Axes/Polearms/Hammers
Hel + Ohm + Um + Lo + Cham
5% Chance To Cast Level 18 Volcano On Striking
Level 12 Holy Freeze Aura When Equipped
+2 To All Skills
+45% Increased Attack Speed
+330-370% Enhanced Damage (varies)
-(40-60)% To Enemy Cold Resistance (varies)
20% Deadly Strike
25% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
Freezes Target +3
Requirements -20%


Famine
4 Socket Axes/Hammers
Fal + Ohm + Ort + Jah
+30% Increased Attack Speed
+320-370% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
Adds 180-200 Magic Damage
Adds 50-200 Fire Damage
Adds 51-250 Lightning Damage
Adds 50-200 Cold Damage
12% Life Stolen Per Hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+10 To Strength


Fury
3 Socket Melee Weapons
Jah + Gul + Eth
+209% Enhanced Damage
40% Increased Attack Speed
Prevent Monster Heal
66% Chance Of Open Wounds
33% Deadly Strike
Ignore Target's Defense
-25% Target Defense
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
6% Life Stolen Per Hit
+5 To Frenzy (Barbarian Only)

***under this line is 'very rare'***

Eternity
5 Socket Melee Weapons
Amn + Ber + Ist + Sol + Sur
Indestructible
+260-310% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+9 To Minimum Damage
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
Hit Blinds Target
Slows Target By 33%
Regenerate Mana 16%
Replenish Life +16
Cannot Be Frozen
30% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items
Level 8 Revive (88 Charges)


Beast
5 Socket Axes/Scepters/Hammers
Ber + Tir + Um + Mal + Lum
Level 9 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
+40% Increased Attack Speed
+240-270% Enhanced Damage (varies)
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+3 To Werebear
+3 To Lycanthropy
Prevent Monster Heal
+25-40 To Strength (varies)
+10 To Energy
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
Level 13 Summon Grizzly (5 Charges)


Call To Arms*
5 Socket Weapons
Amn + Ral + Mal + Ist + Ohm
+1 To All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
+250-290% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Adds 5-30 Fire Damage
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
+2-6 To Battle Command (varies)*
+1-6 To Battle Orders (varies)*
+1-4 To Battle Cry (varies)*
Prevent Monster Heal
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items


Silence
6 Socket Weapons
Dol + Eld + Hel + Ist + Tir + Vex
200% Enhanced Damage
+75% Damage To Undead
Requirements -20%
20% Increased Attack Speed
+50 To Attack Rating Against Undead
+2 To All Skills
All Resistances +75
20% Faster Hit Recovery
11% Mana Stolen Per Hit
Hit Causes Monster To Flee 25%
Hit Blinds Target +33
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
30% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items


Kingslayer
4 Socket Swords/Axes
Mal + Um + Gul + Fal
+30% Increased Attack Speed
+230-270% Enhanced Damage (varies)
-25% Target Defense
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
33% Chance of Crushing Blow
50% Chance of Open Wounds
+1 To Vengeance
Prevent Monster Heal
+10 To Strength
40% Extra Gold From Monsters

***under this line is 'widely available'***

Crescent Moon
3 Socket Axes/Swords/Polearms
Shael + Um + Tir
10% Chance To Cast Level 17 Chain Lightning On Striking
7% Chance To Cast Level 13 Static Field On Striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+180-220% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
-35% To Enemy Lightning Resistance
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+9-11 Magic Absorb (varies)
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
Level 18 Summon Spirit Wolf (30 Charges)


Passion
4 Socket Weapons
Dol + Ort + Eld + Lem
+25% Increased Attack Speed
+160-210% Enhanced Damage
50-80% Bonus To Attack Rating (varies)
+75% Damage To Undead
+50 To Attack Rating Against Undead
Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage
+1 To Berserk
+1 To Zeal
Hit Blinds Target +10
Hit Causes Monster To Flee 25%
75% Extra Gold From Monsters
Level 3 Heart of Wolverine (12 Charges)


Black
3 Socket Clubs/Hammers/Maces
Thul + Io + Nef
+120% Enhanced Damage
40% Chance Of Crushing Blow
+200 To Attack Rating
Adds 3-14 Cold Damage - Cold Duration 3 Seconds
+10 To Vitality
15% Increased Attack Speed
Knockback
Magic Damage Reduced By 2
Level 4 Corpse Explosion (12 Charges)

as ive been playing thru 1.1 for the past year, i finally have roughly enough runes to make a kingslayer. yet i have found piles and piles of uniques which do roughly the same damage and speed, or beter. i guess i feel like if i have spent all this time doing countess runs and cubing my stuff, i want to be rewarded with something that is markedly different from the uniques out there. back when the beta came out, i had my eyes set on crescent moon. a year later i can equip an army with crescent moons, and so kingslayer is the next weapon up, and yet it is basically a stormlash with no static. perhaps it would be more useful on the pvp scene with its 50% open wounds...but it seems pretty so-so for pvm.

maybe i am just complaining too much, but i feel completely cut off from the high end runewords. pretty much anyone can make crescent moon, but then it is a big jump in rarity from crescent moon's um rune to kingslayer's gul, and kingslayer is pretty lame it seems. then its another huge jump from gul to ohm/lo territory. seems like a tombreaver 2-handed or a death cleaver 1-handed would clean most of the 'very rare' runeword's clocks. then another big jump to jah/cham/zod, etc, yet the stats on the weapons dont ramp up proportionately.

so, like everyone else, im holding my breath for some more runewords in the crescent moon range, more weapons that you can actually make with a "from scratch" character.

but im also holding my breath for more variety in the kingslayer range.

silence is the only other runeword that is close in price to kingslayer, and it isnt really very good either (although ive read it makes an awesome bow because the blind is so strong). heart of the oak isnt for fighting...and call to arms, which is actually more expensive, is just a switch weapon for everyone that is not a melee fighter.

show me something which isnt already available on a unique. perhaps as a barb im missing the importance of the vengeance skill on kingslayer, since berserk is such an easy way to kill stone skin baddies. i dont even think that shape shifted druids can use vengeance though...so who would use it?

anyhow, in both ranges, im hoping for some cool features rather than just damage/speed. more weird weapons mean more weird builds, and those are fun. :thumbsup:. it is so much easier to get good uniques than good runes, so i guess i want something nice to shoot for, since those upper level aura-granting runewords are more or less impossible for me to make.

out of 23 runewords im hoping that at least 5 will be purely fighting melee weapons. what would YOU like to see?

[jordy666]

this :)
Spear
Sol-Pul-Eth-Amn-Ral
5 socket spears only
+200-350 enchanted dmg.
+50 increase attack speed.
+8-12 to bonespear(necro only).(varies)
+50 fastcast.
+1 min dmg per lvl
+1 max dmg per lvl
+150 dmg to demons.
+150 ar to demons.
-50 % def to enemies of course .
+14 life leech.
+150-200 fire dmg.
+lvl 6 redemption when equiped.
10% change lvl 20 bonespear on striking
to make spear'melee'necro's viable.
and kingslayer is awesome on a melee sorc :drool:

[acceleration turkey]

this :)
Spear

to make spear'melee'necro's viable.
and kingslayer is awesome on a melee sorc :drool:

heh, i would say that has to be more expensive than 'pul' with 200-350% damage and 50% ias, not to mention redemption :teeth:

[jordy666]

that sol could be replaced by sur, but then it would be too xpensive for the normal players :howdy:

[acceleration turkey]

that sol could be replaced by sur, but then it would be too xpensive for the normal players :howdy:

and not sur...blind target overwrites curses such as battle cry and decrep. puh-leeze!

[Ash Housewares]

that'd be too good for that low a price and that low a lvl at 45

but I would like to see many more cheaper lower level runewords for the fledgling ladder characters, unfortunately, the cheapest runewords are the ones that have been the most thoroughly tested thus far and with no results

[acceleration turkey]

that'd be too good for that low a price and that low a lvl at 45

but I would like to see many more cheaper lower level runewords for the fledgling ladder characters, unfortunately, the cheapest runewords are the ones that have been the most thoroughly tested thus far and with no results

are you talking about the statistics forum thread? i imagine that the runewords either arent enabled or arent using the old code names since they are server side. i think its great what they are doing over there, but all this da vinci code and conspiracy theory nonsense doesnt really matter if the runewords havent been turned on yet. best of luck to them on their project though.

i agree though about low level runewords. for me, it is always a special moment when a monster drops the first el rune when i make a new character. i wish there were more options for weapons to finish normal diff with. i want to start putting those runes to work.

[acceleration turkey]

just thought of another way to create more options for runes...make new crafting recipes that have uber presets but use fairly high level runes like ko or fal so its a pretty big price to roll for a rare.

[Vakarrona]

- Meditation aura when equiped
- Cleansing aura when equiped
- Vigor aura when equiped

1 point wander auras that would be very good implemented on runewords...

- Also shadow warrior charges... will she mimic other classes skills?
- solar creeper charges

there are many class skills usefull, even at lvl 1! many runewords are very expensive and do almost nothing... others are extremely expensive and almost impossible to get. the low ones are just crap.
Recipe scrolls would be a very nice thing too. I think it was an initial project but never got in the final version of diablo ii. Scrolls should drop like any item can drop now, some more common and other more rare to find.

[Omikron8]

this :)
Spear

to make spear'melee'necro's viable.
and kingslayer is awesome on a melee sorc :drool:

No huge attack rating bonus? Have fun trying to hit enemies with it as a melee necro

[halfblynd]

-50% to enemy defense mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, that's like 100% to attack rating, mister.

[Gothrius]

More Runewords would be diverting, but ...

o Few people really care about low level runewords since there is a huge emphasis in the game on leveling up so that you can unlock abilities. Most people want to just rush right up to level 40 or 50 so they can begin to start finding good stuff.

o Early level people wouldn't be able to use "early level runewords" anyway. This is the way D2 works. Unless you are muling or twinking, by the time you found all the runes to make yourself a King's Grace or an Honor (and the socketed item appropriate for them), it's already too late to use it. The same thing would probably be true of new low level runewords.

o The high level runewords are already very end-game powerful. It doesn't seem like adding more of these would add anything new or fresh to the game ... although they would introduce more end-game variety.

Unless Blizzard is planning to up the ante on game difficulty again (as they did with 1.10), adding more runewords at this point seems like more of the same to me.

[acceleration turkey]

-50% to enemy defense mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, that's like 100% to attack rating, mister.


not exactly, but point taken. if the necro has 4 AR, +100% AR only makes 8 AR, which still sucks. -50% defense would be better for a necro than AR%. but it really doesnt matter since it is a made up weapon now does it?

ive always felt that for pvm, level is a huge factor in scoring hits. every time i level up i gain an extra 1% chance to hit on hell baal, yet if i added 500 AR i doubt my chance would budge.

[squigipapa]

+8-12 to bonespear(necro only).(varies)


Ya, cause the game really needs something to boost the poor necro's currently pitiful bone spear damage.. :)