Diablo 4’s Vessel of Hatred expansion is getting a modern take on the Runeword system from Diablo 2, one that will allow players to gain abilities their chosen class normally wouldn’t have access to.
During a lengthy livestream primarily discussing class changes and a revamp of how difficulty and leveling works will work in Diablo 4 come the expansion’s release, Blizzard saved the best for last. The developer revealed Runewords as an expansion-exclusive feature that will let players combine runes in order to essentially craft new abilities.
To create a Runeword, players will need to combine a Rune of Ritual and a Rune of Invocation. These effectively serve as a resource generator and a resource spender, respectively. The Rune of Ritual will specify a type of action that must be done in order to activate it, with an example being casting a skill with a cooldown. Fulfilling that Rune of Ritual will generate a new resource, Offering, which is then used in turn to activate the Runeword’s Rune of Invocation. If a player has more Offering than what the Rune of Invocation requires, they gain Overflow, which grants that Runeword bonus effects that are proportional to the amount of Overflow.
