Single runes are available anywhere in Diablo 2: Resurrected, beginning with Normal difficulty until on to Hell difficulty D2R items cheap. Runes are socketable items, just like gems. This means you can put them into the socket of your gear to gain their effects.

However, the real power of running stones is when you put them together according to a predetermined order in an item. The runewords, which they're also called are among the most potent items in the game, right in the same category as the set items and uniques. A full list of runewords can be found in the next section.

The use of runes is also possible in specific Horadric Cube recipes. You can, for instance, combine a Ral rune alongside a damaged piece of equipment to fix it. This is a great option when you're low on gold and cannot afford repairs at a vendor. Runes can also be joined with each other in the Horadric Cube.

This is commonly referred to as "cubing the up" and it is a popular method to move to the next rune with no needing to hunt for that rune in the wild. As an example, if own three El runes but need some Eld runs, you can place three El runes inside the Cube by pressing the transmute button buy diablo 2 resurrected items. The result will be the Eld rune. The upgrade recipe is listed in the rune chart to the left.