How to Get Runes in Diablo 4

Diablo 4 Vessel of Hatred is re-introducing Runes to the Diablo experience. If you don’t know what they are, runes are socketable items that, when paired together appropriately, form a Rune Word. Rune words are powerful abilities that promise to elevate your combat prowess. They give access to other classes’ abilities, grant you bonuses to stats, and restore your primary resource. Although the Vessel of Hatred campaign will grant you a starter pack of free runes to work with, they barely scratch the surface on the variety of runes available. Obtaining more runes is going to take some work, and a little luck. Keep reading to learn how to get runes in Diablo 4.

Easiest Way to Get Runes in Diablo 4

Your options are certainly limited when it comes to increasing the odds for runes to drop in Diablo 4, but there’s at least one way to make it happen. New with the Undercity mode are Tributes. These are key items you can offer up at the beginning of an Undercity run to enhance your potential rewards. One such tribute will award runes upon completing the Undercity run you use it on. Whereas rune drops are random in other activities, this is the one instance where earning a rune is guaranteed, albeit at the cost of another random drop- though tributes seem to drop more frequently than runes do.

In any case, rune farming requires patience. Focus on advancing through the campaign, upgrading your gear, and getting yourself to level 60 to start earning paragon points. Runes will drop in the meantime, and hopefully you’ll have a decent starting set to test out rune word combinations.

Complete Activities

In Diablo 4, runes can be elusive. They’re a random drop from just about any activity of importance. Completed dungeons, opened Helltide chests, and defeated bosses can all potentially drop a rune. Vessel of Hatred’s new Undercity mode can also yield a rune drop upon completion, with the odds of a drop going up the higher your attunement score at the end of a run. Even the Tree of Whispers caches you earn by turning in grim favors can drop a rune! So keep an eye out for runes while you’re leveling up for more paragon points, or raising rapport with your mercenaries.

Trade Runes at the Jeweler

Drop rates for runes are low, and it may be frustrating when you’re farming them to run into the same runes over and over again. Thankfully, you can still get some use out of old runes you don’t want in Diablo 4. At any Jeweler station, you can trade-in three of the same rune for a new random rune. The list of runes to trade don’t correlate with their rarity; sometimes three legendary runes can only be traded in to make a lesser rune. But if you have a small stockpile of a rune you’re not using, you’ll get more use out of them by trading them in.

Trade With Other Players

A key aspect of runes in Diablo 4 is that they’re not bound to your character. Players can trade runes with each other! A great way to collect runes is to trade for them. You can trade for a specific rune you’re looking for, or consolidate copies of the same rune with a friend to have enough to trade-in at the Jeweler. Given their low drop rate, it may prove useful to coordinate with other players and collect runes together.

If you’re just learning about runes and want to know more, read How to Unlock Runes in Diablo 4. If you want to learn more about Tributes, check out our guide on How to Unlock Tributes in Diablo 4. For more information on the Undercity, click here.

Diablo 4 and the Vessel of Hatred expansion are available for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.