So you may ask: "How do I find these runes myself"
Short answer: "You don't"
Longer answer: Well, if you play quite a long time, kill a lot of monsters, sooner or later a high rune will drop. But you will never find 10 Jahr or whatever.
But the good thing is: You don't need to.
There are a lot of ways to get good gear for your character without relying on luck.
I am talking about good gear - not godly gear.
Here are some tipps that are (IMO) important for new players:
1) You do NOT want to look for very good rolls on items.
In Diablo2, a lot of items (or runewords) have a range of different attributes.
In general, if you are relatively new and not rich, and if you look at guides which items may be usefull for you, you do NOT want the good rolled items. Not to speak about perfect rolled ones.
-> These are WAY too expensive for you.
The price difference between a low roll and a high roll is easily 10 times the price. For perfect rolls often way higher.
But the power level of the item - the combat power of your character - barely increases.
One example: A 10/10 Torch for your char will be very cheap. Depending on your class less than an Ist, maybe 1 Ist.
A 18/18 Torch for your char will cost Jah or more. A 20/20 will be 10+ Jah. So the price difference between 10/10 and 18/18 is very high, between 10/10 and 20/20 insane.
But your power level? Well, you get +3 to all skills, no matter the torch. So a 10/10 and a 20/20 is NOT doulbe the combat power. It is waaaay less, because the biggest boost Ist the +3 to all skills.
The same is true for all other items. Since on every item only a few attributes are variables, a perfect roll is only a relatively small power boost compared to a low roll.
-> Buy items that have low rolls.
2) Not every recommend item in builds is the best choice for you.
In guides you will often see e.g. "Enigma" - yeah, great armor, great versatility.
But Diablo 2 offers a ton of great items that are very cheap to get. There are way too many items to make a full list, but here are some items that are easy to get and very powerful:
Treachery - an amazing armor for your merc and - depending on your char - you as well. Best in Slot? No. But very cheap and affordable. And if you are a char that hits with a weapon (no matter the class) it is a good budget choice
Spirit - an absolute powerhouse for every caster. Again, relatively cheap to make. It adds insane combat power for very little price
Insight - yet again, a very cheap rune word that is a great weapon for a level 2 merc. It solves all your mana issues. And a merc with Treachery and Insight is standing quite strong and does not die that easily. Don't forget to build new Insights when you level up. A high level merc can wield more powerful Insight weapons, doing more damage, leeching more (if you have the next item on the list)
Tal Rashas's Horadric Crest - a horrible item for a caster, but an amazing item for every merc. Dirt cheap (drops all the time), and has All Resistance and 10% Lifeleech for your merc.
Leaf - again, a very cheap rune word that is good for several characters
TirTir - a helmet with 2 x Tir rune. No rune word, just gives you +4 mana after each kill. Very usefull in the early game.
Harlequin Crest - a relatively cheap item ( Ist at most, often even cheaper) that helps a lot. +2 to all skills, tons of life and mana, 50% magic find. A cheap, good solution for every char.
Like I said, there are a ton more examples.
With 1) and 2) combined you will be able to find gear for every slot that is relatively cheap or can easily be self found. Still, you'll need a few Ist runes for all the stuff.
3) How to get Ist runes in the first place?
You trade for them. But NOT by finding a super valuable item or High Rune like Ber or Jah. That may happen. It probably won't.
But it doesn't has to.
There are several possibilities to reliably get Ist runes.
Perfect Gems - collect flawless gems and cube them up. 20 Perfect Gems (PG) can always be traded for 1 x Ist
Perfect Amethysts are even more valuable, 8 x PA = 1 x Ist
Low Runes that have value:
Hel - 8 x Hel = 1 x Ist
Ral - 20 x Ral = 1 x Ist
Other runes can sometimes be traded in bulk as well. Sol, Amn, thul - sometimes you can sell these with 20 or 30 for 1 x Ist
Don't waste time to cube up runes. Don't bother with El, Elds and whatever.
You maybe want to cube up the runes that result in Hel runes or in Ral runes, that can be usefull, because like I said, these 2 runes can be sold reliable and instantly.
-> These are two possibilities to get reliable and easy Ist runes.
These 2 runes drop often. Flaweless Gems drop often. Pick them up!
No need to farm difficult spots. Just play the game, kill stuff and these gems and runes will drop. No matter how unlucky you are^^
Other good ways to earn Ist runes:
- Collect Keys.
If you manage to farm all 3 keys, you can make a collection of 3 x 3 keys. (That opens Uber- Tristram) - these are very valuable. 3-5 Ist for a full colleciton.
And keys do drop. They have a drop chance that is roughly 1/10 to 1/15, so you CAN farm those. It's not like a Ohm or Sur Rune that has a theoretical chance to drop.
Farming Nilathak can be difficult if your gear is bad nowever.
If this is the case, farm e.g. The Countess. 3 of her Keys = 1 x Ist. And she drops a lot of low runes (remember - Hel + Ral can be easily sold)
- Tokens of Absolution - roughly values 1 x Ist
Sometimes even a little higher.
The Essence you need for those are dropped by the bosses. Again, the drop chances are very realistic, so if you do farm the bosses, these essences will drop.
Farming Mephi Baal and Diablo may be difficult if your gear is bad.
-> All of the 4 methods will DEFINITLY get you Ist runes. You do NOT need luck, for none of them. Because the drop rates of all the stuff I mentioned are so high, that you inevetiably will get them, if you play the game.
And for the first two, you do not even have to have decent gear.
If you dive deeper into the game you may want to "learn" what items are valuable. Grey items can be very expensive. Yellow items can be very expensive. Even the blue ones can be expensive. Not only legendary items have value in D2. But it is quite confusing to learn which item may have value and which doesn't.
With these tipps, you will be able to equip any char decently and reliable, without having to be lucky or well equipped in the first place (to be able to farm difficult spots e.g.)
Keep in mind, that some chars are easier and cheaper to equip (e.g. Javazone or Sorc) than others (Barb).
I am sure there is a ton more to say, but I'll leave it at that - maybe others will add to it.
Should I have made an error somehwere, I'd appreciate it if somebody points it out
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