Rune Finding Guide (2024)

Last updated on Oct 22, 2021 at 12:16by Oxygen10 comments

This page discusses where to find and how to create runes in Diablo 2.

There are many sources of Runes in Diablo 2:

• Random drops from monsters
• Random drops from containers such as chests, barrels, and loose rocks
• Rewards for destroying Mephisto's Soulstone as part of the Hell's Forge quest in Act 4
• Rewards for completing the Rescue on Mount Arreat quest in Act 5
• Upgrading Runes by combining lesser Runes through the Horadric Cube
• Trading with other players

For a full list of Runes and general information, refer to our Runes guide.

Most monsters have a very slight chance of dropping a single Rune whenkilled. The chance for a drop as well as the type of Rune dropped depends on anumber of factors, including the level of the area, the rarity of the Rune, thetype and rank of monster killed, as well as the number of players in the game.The same factors also apply to containers. Magic Find does not improve thechance of finding Runes as they are not treated as Magic items.

Much like other items, more powerful high-level Runes may begin to dropas you progress through the various Acts and difficulties of the game. There area few exceptions to this however, which will be discussed below. The followingtable shows where the different Runes may begin to drop. Note that the list iscumulative; where Zod may drop, so may every other Rune.

The first exception to the above table relates to the Countess, an Act 1 bossruling from the depths of the Forgotten Tower located in the Black Marsh.Whereas Runes do not normally appear so early in the game, the Countess has aunique drop table that causes her to always drop at least one Rune. In theNightmare difficulty, she may also drop Runes that are otherwise inaccessible atthis point in the game, although only rarely. This makes her a popular boss tofarm.

The following table shows the Runes which may drop from the Countess in eachof the difficulties. Note that each Rune does not have an equal chance ofdropping; higher Runes are significantly more rare.

Starting in the Hell difficulty, each Act features a number of level 85 areaswhere any item, including Zod, has a chance to drop. These areas are the secondexception to the normal Rune dropping rules. Many of these areas are regularlyfarmed by players for this reason.

Here is a list of level 85 areas in Diablo 2:

Act 1

• The Mausoleum
• The Pit 1 and 2

Act 2

• The Maggot Lair 1, 2 and 3
• The Ancient Tunnels

Act 3

• The Forgotten Temple
• The Ruined Fane
• The Disused Reliquary
• The Sewers 2

Act 4

• The River of Flame
• The Chaos Sanctuary

Act 5

• The Worldstone Keep 1, 2, and 3
• The Throne of Destruction

Further, Hell Bovines in the Secret Cow Level/Moo Moo Farm may also drop anyRune despite being only level 81.

The following table shows the approximate drop rate for mid- to high-levelRunes in one-player games for different categories of normal "white" monsters.The Ghost column includes ghost-like monsters such as Wraiths, Willow Wisps, andFinger Mages. The Desert column includes Swarms and Vultures only. Eachadditional player in the party increases the listed chance by about 10%.

The following table shows the same information for containers, champions, andvarious unique and boss types.

Two quests yield Runes as a reward: the Hell's Forge in Act 4 and the Rescueon Mount Arreat in Act 5.

Upon destroying Mephisto's Soulstone, a Rune randomly selected from a smallpool of Runes will drop depending on the difficulty. Each Rune from the pool hasan equal 1 in 11 chance of dropping; rarity has no incidence here. The followingtable shows the pool of Runes that can drop in each difficulty.

Upon talking to Qual-Kehk after completing the Rescue on Mount Arreat, threeRunes will appear in your inventory as a reward (or drop nearby if yourinventory is full): Tal Rune, Ral Rune, and Ort Rune. TheseRunes can be used in a 3-socket shield of inferior, normal, or superior qualityto create the Ancient's Pledge Rune Word. The same Runes are rewarded ineach of the difficulties.

Runes can be upgraded into Runes of a higher tier using the Horadric Cube.The following table shows the input required to transmute a given Rune into thefollowing Rune.