What the return of runewords means

Blizzard has confirmed that runes and runewords in the style of Diablo II are planned for Diablo V. For a large part of the audience this is the single most significant sentence in the announcement.

What made runewords work in Diablo II

Not the words. The scaffolding:

• Runes were scarce, and high runes were genuinely rare.
• Base items mattered - socket count, item type, quality.
• Recipes were fixed and knowable, which made them goals.
• The result was often better than a unique, which made the chase worth it.

None of those four supporting conditions have been described for Diablo V.

The phrase to watch

"In the style of" can mean a faithful reconstruction or an aesthetic reference. Until the mechanics are shown, the honest position is that the feature is confirmed and its behaviour is unknown.

How this page will change

When rune sourcing, socketing and recipe rules are described, they will be added here and the change recorded in this page's change log rather than quietly edited into the text.