Aside from leveling up, acquiring and equipping gear is one of the primary ways to increase your combat effectiveness in Diablo 4. Therefore, your ability to progress effectively after entering the endgame is heavily influenced by the strength of your gear.
For this reason, Diablo 4 offers a variety of ways to enhance gear, such as upgrading affixes through Masterworking or embedding runes into gear to enhance it.
Although runes were first introduced to Diablo 4 via Vessel of Hatred DLC, they quickly gained popularity and played a significant role in most subsequent seasons. Below, we’ll explain the main methods for farming runes in Season 9.
About Runes
Besides being embedded into gear as enhancements, runes are also a currency for crafting specific Mythic Unique items. Furthermore, if you insert one Rune of Ritual and one Rune of Invocation into a two-slot piece of gear, they form a Runeword.
Furthermore, the utilization of runes is not unlimited. For more information, please refer to the following guidelines:
- You must obtain Vessel of Hatred expansion to farm and utilize runes.
- A single rune has no effect unless combined with other runes to form a Runeword.
- You can equip up to two Runewords at a time.
- You cannot equip the same rune twice.
- Runes can be stacked and traded.
- You can find runes on your character’s Socketable tab.
- If you wish to remove your runes, you can do so from a Jeweler.
One important thing to note is that if you want to sell excess gear to other players for Diablo 4 gold, be sure to check if the gear has runes attached to it before completing the trade. Otherwise, you will not be able to retrieve the runes separately once the trade is completed.
Also, Mythic Uniques that can be crafted from runes are typically determined by the rune’s nature, not randomly. If you have too many of the same rune, you can consume them to craft additional random runes.
How Do Runewords Work?
Runewords are actually a pair of linked Rune of Ritual and Rune of Invocation, which work together to trigger the desired gear bonus. Rune of Ritual generates offerings, which empower Rune of Invocation and trigger its effects.
Which Mythic Uniques Can Runes Be Used To Craft?
If you only have Resplendant Sparks, you can only use them to craft random Mythic Uniques. However, if you can combine Resplendant Sparks with runes at Jeweler, you can craft exclusive Mythic Unique you want!
How To Farm Runes In Season 9?
Before you start farming runes, you must complete Fundament of Faith chapter in DLC campaign; otherwise, runes won’t drop in-game.
Defeating All Bosses
Diablo 4 has multiple bosses to defeat in any season. World bosses in Season 9 are relatively easy to defeat and drop common rewards like gold or runes. While the rarity isn’t usually high, the quantity is still quite good.
Also, the lair bosses included in the endgame content, while more difficult to defeat, have a higher chance of dropping runes and a higher rarity. However, to obtain their loot, you must farm lair keys in advance to unlock boss hoards.
Also, if you own Vessel of Hatred, you’ll also receive runes from the first time you defeat campaign bosses in this DLC after the start of each season - but only once per season.
Farming Kurast Undercity
This dungeon was released with DLC, making it the primary dungeon for farming runes. Kurast Undercity is timed; upon entering, a countdown begins. Once the timer expires, you’ll be teleported out, regardless of how much loot you’ve collected.
However, you can extend your farming time by killing as many enemies as possible in the dungeon, earning more rewards. Alternatively, you can earn special tributes by completing other Diablo 4 events to increase the chance of rune drops:
- Tribute of Mystique: Offer it to Undercity Spirit Brazier to earn Magic Runes at Attunement Rank 1 (usable at all difficulty levels).
- Tribute of Harmony: Offer it to Undercity Spirit Brazier to earn Magic Runes at Attunement Rank 1 (usable only in Torment difficulties).
Obtaining Augment Caches
Starting in Season 6, you can begin hiring mercenaries. In addition to assisting you in battle, you can also gain additional benefits by improving your relationship with them.
For example, if your relationship with Aldkin reaches Rapport VIII, you can find an Augment Cache at Bartering vendor in Mercenary zone, The Den. Opening it has a chance of receiving Shattered Prisms, gems, or runes.
Reforging Runes
If you have too many low-level runes, you can reforge them at Jeweler to obtain a random new rune. Three runes of the same quality have a chance of being randomly converted into a higher-quality rune.
- 4,000 Gold + 3 Magic Runes: 85% chance of generating a Magic Rune, 15% chance of upgrading to a Rare Rune.
- 4,000 Gold + 3 Rare Runes: 85% chance of generating a Rare Rune, 15% chance of upgrading to a Legendary Rune.
- 4,000 Gold + 3 Legendary Runes: Generates a new Legendary Rune.
That’s all we have to say about runes farming in Season 9! We hope it helps you with your rune accumulation!
