With the new Ladder and Patch 2.4 new runewords are coming to Diablo 2 Resurrected. Now the expert Dbrunski125 has taken a closer look at one of them and tested what it can do. MeinMMO summarizes his impressions for you and whether it is worth it.
What are runewords? These are combinations of runes that enhance your weapons, shields, helmets, or body armors with additional effects. In Diablo 2 Resurrected, opponents can drop the runes. Rarely, they also drop in barrels and chests.
Each rune itself already has a bonus. Runewords are created when you insert the runes in the correct order into a base item with enough socket spaces. It is important to maintain the correct order, otherwise you might waste many hours of grinding.
Runewords are among the strongest items in the game. You can find more about this in our guide with the list of runewords.
What’s new? The new runeword is called “Unbending Will”. It apparently brings bonuses mainly for melee fighters.
The runeword is: “Fal Io Ith El Del Hel” and it can only be applied to swords. Here is an overview of the values of the runeword:
- + 330 % damage
- 18 % chance to cast taunt on hit
- + 3 Combat Skills (Only Barbarian)
- +20 % increased attack speed
- + 9 maximum damage
- + 50 attack rating
- + 75 % damage against undead
- + 50 attack rating against damage to undead
- + 8 % life steal per hit
- Prevents healing on monsters
- +10 strength
- +10 vitality
- 8 reduced damage
- +1 light radius
- Requirements: -20 %
- Requires 6 sockets
But is it worth using this rune? YouTube expert on Diablo 2, Dbrunski125, has thoroughly examined Unbending Will and provided an assessment of it:
Runeword from the new Ladder – What does “Unbending Will” do?
This is what the expert says about it: In his video, Dbrunski goes into the individual values and bonuses of the new runeword. He also compares them with other similar runewords like Oath or Black. Dbrunski would assess Unbending Will somewhere in between these two older runewords.
- The +330 % damage is a nice bonus. All other stats would be nice bonuses in his opinion, but not decisive.
- It is also interesting that you have a chance to taunt on hits. This draws opponents’ attention to you and they attack, while your attack is reduced at the same time. The expert sees this as a particularly interesting characteristic, especially for mercenaries.
- However, the runeword is only for melee fighters, who tend to be weaker while playing through. He mentions this as a limitation.
His conclusion about the new runeword is that he finds it “well thought out”. He would classify Unbending Will as a good runeword for the transition when you are on your way to the endgame. The only problem seems to be the base item, as gray swords with 6 rune slots are rare. A good farming spot for such items is the cow level:
What is the Ladder actually? It’s something like a season in Diablo 2, earlier these were called ladders. For a limited time, you can play there with special ladder characters and equip them with items that only exist there. There are 4 different leaderboards:
- Standard/Softcore for Diablo 2 without Lord of Destruction
- Hardcore for Diablo without Lord of Destruction
- Standard/Softcore for Diablo 2 with expansion
- Hardcore for Diablo with expansion
Thanks to official leaderboards, players can measure themselves against each other. In addition, new content comes into play. This includes not only the new runewords but also new recipes for the Horadric Cube and some adjustments.
Here you can find an overview of the contents of Patch 2.4.
Currently the PTR for Diablo 2 is running. There, the developers are testing public test servers, databases, and server updates. What exactly is behind it has not been detailed. Patch 2.4 and the ladder are expected to come at a later time.
When does the Ladder start? So far, the date is still pending and many fans are eagerly waiting for the feature. For them, Diablo 2 doesn’t really begin until the Ladder.
However, more than a “Coming Soon” has not been released yet. As soon as there is something new, we will let you know from MeinMMO. If you’re still waiting and have nothing to do in Diablo 2, here are some alternatives in the genre:
Games like Diablo – Who needs Diablo 4? Here are 11 current alternatives
