Talk:Rune Word

Added stuff about runeword basics...

level requirements

how to make a runeword

use of ethereal items/mercs

bugged or eth glitched runewords

Skie of Marduke 22:56, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

Mmm ... it does look quite a bit better, now that it's all organized with the runewords in there. Great job! :) Also adding in stuff about ethereal effects in weapons/armors... Skie of Marduke 23:10, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Reign of the Warlock

SHall we use another colour for RotW runewords? If so, which colour and how to easiest apply? Naturelover (talk) 15:51, 12 February 2026 (EST)

Do you mean in this page, or rather to make a new template and use it instead of Ub (maybe for all RotW features, not only RWs; and if so, then we should have one for "vanilla D2R" as well)? Anyway, if we decide so, the archetypical Warlock's violet seems to be the best choice. Trang Oul (talk) 03:11, 13 February 2026 (EST)

I was originally thinking only about this page.

Agreed, Warlock-violet seems appropriate. :) Naturelover (talk) 14:59, 13 February 2026 (EST)

Speaking of a general indicator of expansion-(or ladder-)only content, we could put an icon next to the item/skill/whatever name, like it's done here with WoW expansions. A small icon is non-intrusive, yet easily recognisable. But first we'd need to have a consistent set of such icons, covering all game modes, for D2 and D2R. :Ь Trang Oul (talk) 17:28, 14 February 2026 (EST)

Based on a YouTube video, Rune Word text still displays the same in Reign of the Warlock so I don't think an alternative to Ub is needed.

Icons would be ideal, but in a pinch you could try creating templates using coloured text or acronyms, like Warlock or RotW, and possibly replace them with icons later. Onderduiker (talk) 12:05, 18 February 2026 (EST)

I can create templates like those on WoW wiki, but D2R has banner-like icons for Classic and Expansion (LoD), but not for RotW - because it's the default mode. Similarly, there is an icon for LD, but not NLD, and for HC, but not SC. For D2 we could just use game icons. And for missing game modes we could have short texts, like "RotW", at least until there is a dedicated icon.

Having icons for game modes would help us solve the issue with "Ladder" column for items which differ between game versions:

Insight polearm/staff (D2LoD)(LD) / (D2RLoD)(D2RRotW)(NLD) - I know, looks horrible now, but should look better with icons instead of text.

However, there are still corner cases:

How to indicate a feature present in D2R LoD and RotW? Both icons? D2RLoD+ (meaning "D2RLoD and later")? A majority of D2R LoD features will be present in RotW, so seems an overkill. WoW wiki assumes that "expansion X" means "expansion X and beyond", and since features are rarely removed (if ever), we can do the same for simplicity.

If we agree on the above, how to indicate the removal of a feature? For example AFAIK Mosaic is going to be NLD-only (the first such an item!), but does it mean NLD-only in both eras, or only in RotW (to appease the D2R neo-purists?)? If the latter, we'd need to mark it as (D2RLoD ONLY)(LD) / (D2RRotW)(NLD), in order to "override" D2RLoD meaning "D2RLoD an beyond".

... am I overthinking this? :D Trang Oul (talk) 15:13, 18 February 2026 (EST)

Test of inline icons - original size: Trang Oul (talk) 16:04, 18 February 2026 (EST)

Test of inline icons - all 32px high (= banners 25px wide): Trang Oul - is it only me, or the resized ones are not displayed? (talk) 16:07, 18 February 2026 (EST)

It's been a while, but in terms of items I think as things stand, any Classic Diablo II affix or item is also in the Lord of Destruction Expansion, and anything in Resurrected should also be in Reign of the Warlock, so indicating that something is a Classic affix or item also means it's in the Expansion, and indicating that it's in D2R also means it's in RotW.

Mosaic (and similar unannounced updates) could complicate matters if it remained Ladder in D2R but became non-Ladder in RotW (so it's bound to happen). You could create your own non-Ladder icon by putting a red X over the Ladder icon, if necessary?

Resized icons display for me at Scale 125%, but not 100%. Aside from labeling items, they could be used to prefix lines or paragraphs that only apply to a specific game mode. Onderduiker (talk) 18:42, 18 February 2026 (EST)

My question was stupidly dumb. Never mind it. Don't know hwat I was thinking.

Reg Mosaic: Let's see how things play out and then we can decide what to do. One option would be "non-ladder only" instead of "yes" or "no". Naturelover (talk) 15:39, 18 February 2026 (EST)

I agree with waiting and seeing, although based on the information added to the table on the Rune Word page, Expansion Ladder Rune Words are already non-Ladder in D2R (so items can already be Ladder in one game mode and non-Ladder in another). Onderduiker (talk) 18:42, 18 February 2026 (EST)

Patch 3.1.1 "Fixed not being able to craft 'Mosaic' runeword online non-ladder." Oh, well... Trang Oul (talk) 01:55, 20 February 2026 (EST)

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/d2r/t/season-13-ladder-mosaic-runeword-disabled/172344 looks like Mosaic is offline only now. :o Naturelover (talk) 07:45, 21 February 2026 (EST)

OTOH we have patch 3.1.1 https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/article/24244884/reign-of-the-warlock-3-1-1-patch-notes which says: Fixed not being able to craft 'Mosaic' runeword online non-ladder. I guess it needs to be tested or sniffed in the code. Naturelover (talk) 07:55, 21 February 2026 (EST)

Pavke answered it: https://discord.com/channels/1467245054253858826/1467299935744561233/1474754854776868934 :) Naturelover (talk) 08:11, 21 February 2026 (EST)

Okay, now I remember what I actually wanted to ask. For LoD rws, we use the colour black for items. For d2r rws, so far, we have used red. Shall we use another colour for the RotW rws? I like the violet idea. Naturelover (talk) 15:18, 23 February 2026 (EST)

Item types can be links, so I'd suggest changing a row's background colour instead, using lighter pastel shades so type is still clearly legible. I've been thinking about how we'd use icons on this page (and elsewhere), and I'll see if I can incorporate this as well later. Onderduiker (talk)

Okay... so aside from rearranging columns and changing row background colours, I think a Ladder column would still be needed, using icons to indicate applicable game modes (links removed for this example):

What about having a column "Availability" instead of "Ladder"? The Mosaic being NLD-only broke the pattern... Also, "availability" could also mean game version (D2/D2R), expansion (CL/LoD/RotW) or mode (SC/HC - if we ever have HC-only items, like in D3), so one column could store all that distinctions. Trang Oul (talk) 07:43, 24 February 2026 (EST)

Rune Word	Patch	Ladder	Item 1	Item 2	Item 3	Item 4	Sockets	1	2	3	4	5	6	Min Rlvl
Ancients' Pledge	1.07 (1.09 SP)	No	Shield				3	Ral	Ort	Tal				21
Insight	1.10 2.4		Polearm	Staff	Missile		4	Ral	Tir	Tal	Sol			27
Bulwark	2.6		Helm				3	Shael	Io	Sol				35
Mosaic	2.6	No [1]	Claw				3	Mal	Gul	Amn				53
Authority	RW 3.0	No	Body armor				3	Hel	Shael	Ral				29
Vigilance	RW 3.0	No	Grimoire	Any shield	Shrunken head	Auric shield	2	Dol	Gul					53

Please create and use templates like "d2-inline" "d2lod-inline", "d2r-inline", "classic-inline" (or "cl-inline"), "expansion-inline" (or "lod-inline"? - see Talk:Expansion), "rotw-inline", "ld-inline", "nld-inline", "sc-inline", "hc-inline". In case we want to change the formatting (like add an icon for RotW, once we have one), it'll require us only to change the template instead of all the occurrences of "RW" (very error-prone). Trang Oul (talk) 07:43, 24 February 2026 (EST)

Game: ; Ladder: NLD ; Core: SC ; Expansion: RotW (some are placeholders) Trang Oul (talk) 08:05, 24 February 2026 (EST)

Mosaic is currently described as offline and non-ladder only, having been disabled for the current Ladder season (perhaps permanently), but can't all non-Ladder rune words still be made offline, or is this distinction necessary? Can Ladder rune words now be made in Single Player without modifying it, at least in Resurrected (and Reign of the Warlock)?

Vigilance seems to be the only rune word that has four item types, and I'm not sure why since Any shield should include the other three sub-types. Is there a distinction with Shield (shld), or can Rhyme be made in a grimoire (maximum 2 sockets)? Is a fourth item type really necessary, or is it future-proofing?

This is what we have in the data files. It lists Any Shield and its class-specific subtypes - redundancy. I explained it here. Trang Oul (talk) 07:43, 24 February 2026 (EST)

The Ladder, Sockets and Min Rlvl columns are wider than they need to be, so widths could be reduced if other columns needed more space. Onderduiker (talk) 17:40, 23 February 2026 (EST)

IMO the suggested table looks nice. One thing I'd change: The ladder info for mosaic. "no" indicates in all other cases that it is both NL and L, so that it would be misleading since in this special case it means it's NL but not L. Naturelover (talk) 15:32, 24 February 2026 (EST)