Flickering Flame was not in the original files, it’s a new helm Rune Word built around fire damage and fire resistance. Now we come to the first entirely new Rune Word from patch 2.4. I’ve seen a few people talk about using it with a Necromancer who has the proper mercenary, essentially turning the Necromancer into a support class reducing everyone’s poison resistance. There’s various ways this could be useful - a Barbarian or Paladin could just use it to go to town, for example, it adds attack speed, damage and and Deadly Strike, but it could be effective in the hands of just about anyone - it’s not limited by class the way Pattern is and everybody can use swords in the game.

0.3% (0-29.7) Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level).

Level 13-17 Cleansing Aura When Equipped (varies).

25% Chance to cast level 15 Poison Nova on striking.

20% Chance to cast level 12 Lower Resist when struck.

Plague is a sword Rune Word, and it’s got a lot going on. This is the other old Rune Word that was never implemented before patch 2.4. It adds a good amount of functionality to Assassin players for a relatively small rune cost - the block rate and bonus resistance it grants could make your Assassin a bit more likely to survive, while the enhancement to damage and additional fire, lightning and cold damage plus poison damage over time are attractive for offensive output.

Taking a look at what it offers shows that it’s a fairly broadly useful Rune Word. It’s specifically an Assassin-only Rune Word, usable in Scissors Katar weapons for Assassins and nothing else.

Pattern, along with Plague, is not actually a new Rune Word as such - it’s been in the game files since the original release of Diablo 2 but was never made available to players. The New Rune Words of Patch 2.4 Pattern Rune Word What do they do? Who are they for? Keep reading as we break down all of the new Rune Words coming to Diablo 2: Resurrected in patch 2.4. And when I say new, I mean brand-new - several of the upcoming Rune Words were never in the original Diablo 2. Diablo 2: Resurrected is bringing a whole host of changes to the game with its upcoming patch 2.4, and among those changes are new Rune Words.

Diablo 2 runewords for mercenaries