Lore Rune Word Guide in Diablo II Resurrected

The Rune Word Lore requires an Ort Rune and a Sol Rune in that order. It can be used by Players and Mercenaries from Level 27.

Both Runes can be dropped by monsters and containers from Act 4 Normal Difficulty and later. An Ort Rune is part of the reward for completing the Rescue On Mount Arreat Quest. Ort and Sol Runes can drop in Nightmare and Hell Difficulties from the Countess, the Act 1 Boss found on Level 5 of the Forgotten Tower located in the Black Marsh. Runes can be upgraded using the Horadric Cube.

For more information about finding and farming Runes, you can refer to our Rune Finding guide using the link below.

Like all Rune Words, Lore gives additional bonuses to the ones granted by the Runes used to make it. These are all the bonuses Lore gives.

• +1 to All Skills - Good bonus for any build, but especially for spell casting and summoning focused builds, where higher skill levels increase damage output;
• +10 to Energy - Increases Mana total and regeneration rate, especially useful for spell casting builds;
• Lightning Resist +30% - Helpful defensive bonus, reducing damage taken from lightning;
• Damage Reduced by 7 - Defensive bonus reducing physical damage taken. This can be very effective if combined with other items with this bonus;
• +2 to Mana after each Kill - Additional mana recovery, useful for spell based builds that do not benefit from mana leech items. Can be useful for sustaining low mana cost skills like the Paladin's Smite or Barbarian's Double Swing;
• +2 to Light Radius - Increases lit area around the player, but does not have any other effect.

Lore can be made in any grey 2 socket helm, including Barbarian Helms and Druid Pelts. As it provides no Enhanced Defense Bonus, the defense value of the Helm used is not very important.

Barbarian Helms and Druid Pelts can have a +1-3 bonus to up to 3 different skills, making a possible bonus of up to +4 with the additional +1 to All Skills from Lore. Checking Barbarian Helms and Druid Pelts that drop for useful skills is recommended.

If a Barbarian Helm or Druid Pelt drops that has useful skills but no sockets, the Horadric Cube recipe Ral Rune + Thul Rune + Perfect Sapphire can be used to add 1-3 sockets, but only has a 1 in 6 chance of giving the 2 sockets required for Lore. If it gives 3 sockets, the helm could be used to make the Rune Word Delirium instead.

Because of the +1 to All Skills bonus, Lore can be useful for many builds. It requires Level 27 because of the Sol Rune, so is recommended from Level 27 onward, until +2 to All Skills helms are available, for example Delirium at Level 51, or Harlequin Crest at Level 62.

An alternative to Lore for builds focused on Magic Finding or Gold Finding is the Unique Helm Tarnhelm. It can be used from Level 15 onward, and has good bonuses to Magic Find and Gold Find, which Lore does not have.

The Sorceress and Necromancer will benefit from using lore, as both classes gain large boosts from higher level skills in almost every build. This is also true for skill based builds for the Assassin, like the Lightning / Death Sentry Assassin and Spell Casting Paladins using Fist of the Heavens or Blessed Hammer. The Lightning Fury / Charged Strike Amazon, Freezing Arrow Amazon and Frost / Fire Bow Amazon also gain improved damage from + Skills equipment. All these builds will find the increased mana and Mana Per Kill helpful.

Because of the class specific base items offering higher skills, Lore is especially good for Spell Casting and Summoning Druids. A Druid Pelt with +3 skills to Fissure or Volcano would be very effective for a Fire Druid Build. A Tornado / Hurricane Wind Druid Build can use a +3 Tornado and / or +3 Hurricane Druid Pelt to make Lore for a big damage increase. The Summoner Druid Build should look for Druid Pelts with bonus skills to Summon Spirit Wolf, Dire Wolf, or Grizzly for a Lore. As the Druid's Summoned Wolves and Bears get Synergy bonuses from item based skill increases, as well as skill points spent, Lore can make a great choice for this build.

Like the Druid, the Barbarian can make Lore in a Class specific Helm that has built in skill bonuses. A +3 War Cry Barbarian Helm with Lore would be a good choice for the War Cry Barbarian (Singer) Build.

Mercenaries can be equipped with a Lore Helm, and it will increase the level of the skills they use. This is especially useful for Act 3 Iron Wolf Mercenaries, as they are Spell Casters, and have limited equipment slots to boost their skills.