Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred is packed with exciting new stuff like a fresh area, new helpers, and Runewords to discover.
Unlocking Runewords
To get Runewords, you follow the main story in the Vessel of Hatred and do the Madman, Crowned quest. You have to talk to Ormus in the Council Chambers. Once you chat with him, he explains how Runewords work and gives you your first Runes to try out. But remember, Runewords won’t appear as loot until you finish this quest, so focus on getting through this part of the game.
Understanding Runewords and Finding More
Runewords are made by combining two Runes into one item. You need an item with two sockets, like a big weapon, pants, a chest piece, or a helmet. There are two types of Runes: ritual and invocation. Ritual Runes let you make offerings by doing certain things, like the Yul Rune, which gives you 50 offering each time you use a skill with a cooldown. Invocation Runes give special powers when you’ve collected enough offering. It could be as simple as reducing your cooldowns, or even giving you an ability from another class. When you put one of each type of Rune in an item, you create a Runeword. You can only use two Runewords at once, but you can visit a Jeweler anytime to change them or swap Runes.
Right now, you can’t hunt for specific Runes, but you can find Runes by doing different activities. They can drop from any loot, but big chests usually have more. Infernal Hordes and summoned bosses often give at least one Rune, and events like Helltides might drop them too. The best place to farm Runes is in the Undercity in Kurast.
Some Tributes say they’ll drop Runes if you finish an Undercity run and reach attunement level 1 by beating enough enemies before the boss. These Tributes appear randomly, but Tree of Whispers caches seem to give them out regularly and in large amounts. If you get four of the same Rune, you can reroll them at the Jeweler for a new Rune, which might be rarer than the ones you used. Be careful when rerolling Runes, because you need them to craft special Mythic Uniques. Check with the Jeweler to see which Runes are needed for which Mythic, so you don’t waste them.
