The Best Paladin Runewords in D2R

In this section, we will introduce you to all of the Runeword weapons which can be useful for a Paladin character. We will review their offensive and defensive qualities, and the unique benefits of wearing them.

Grief Runeword is the highest damage dealing one-hand weapon for any melee Paladin Build. You should use a Phase Blade as the Runeword base. The main utility of the weapon is the +340-400 damage. Other useful attributes of the Runeword are the 20% deadly strike, the additional damage against Demons and ignoring the target’s defense.

Last Wish is amongst the best weapon choices for almost any melee Paladin build. If you look for a weapon with both great offensive and defensive qualities, Last Wish is the best choice for that. It has high Enhanced Damage (up to 375%), 60-70% Chance of Crushing Blow, and it also has a chance to cast Life Tap on striking and Fade when struck. Once Life Tap is casted, each hit almost immediately heals you, and Fade provides 75% curse and poison damage length reduction, 11% physical resist, and 56% to All resistances. In addition the Runeword also adds you a Level 17 Might Aura, increasing your damage by 200%.

A Spirit weapon is an ideal budget weapon Runeword for any caster Paladin build. It provides +2 to All skills and +25-35% Faster Cast Rate, both of which are great for offense. Only a handful of items have comparable benefits to a Spirit weapon.

Heart of the Oak is the best Runeword for caster Paladins. It grants you +3 to All skills, 40% faster cast rate, which make it the best weapon for offense, while it also adds 30-40% to All resistances.

Edge is a must have for any D2R character, as it is the only item which reduces Vendor prices besides Gheed’s Fortune. Equip it whenever you want to gamble or buy items from Vendors at cheaper prices.

Call to Arms grants you a level 1 to 6 Battle Orders and a level 1 to 6 Battle Command skills. Casting a higher level Battle Orders can almost double your life, while the Battle Command skill will add 1 to All skill levels. The survivability boost of a CTA is unparalleled.

Insight is a very budget friendly, optimal Mercenary weapon. It grants you the meditation aura which solves any mana recovery issues, while it also has decent damage and a huge attack rating bonus as well.

Hand of Justice is a cornerstone Weapon for Holy Fire Paladin builds. The Runeword should be combined with a Dragon armor and Dragon Shield in order to provide a Level44 Holy Fire Aura, which deals damage on a large radius, and boosts your physical fire damage immensely as well.

Black is a great budget / ladder starter weapon Runeword for melee Paladins. It provides 40% chance of Crushing blow, allowing you to quickly reduce any enemy monster’s life.

In this section, we will introduce you to all of the armor Runewords which can be useful for a Paladin character. We will review their offensive and defensive qualities, and the unique benefits of wearing them.

Enigma is a must have armor if you want to move by Teleport, as it is the only item in the game which grants the skill. It is also the best magic finding armor for its 1% magic find per level. The Runeword has several other useful offensive and defensive qualities, such as the +2 to All skills, the 0.75 strength per level, the +45% faster run and walk, the 5% to maximum life, and the 8% damage reduction.

Fortitude is an ideal armor for melee Paladin builds for its +300% enhanced damage. The Runeword has great defensive qualities too, such as the +200% Enhanced Defense, the 25-30% All resistance, the 1-1.5 life per level, and the 20% chance to cast a level 15 chilling armor.

Duress is a budget friendly body armor, which is ideal for Melee Paladins. The most beneficial features of the Runeword are the +15% Chance of Crushing Blow and the 33% Chance of Open Wounds. It also offers great defensive utilities, such as the 150-200% Enhanced Defense, additional resistances, and 40% Faster Hit Recovery.

Chains of Honor is one of the two body armor Runewords which grants 2 to All skills. Its other main utility is the +65% to All resistances.

Smoke is a useful ladder starter / low level Runeword that grants +50% to All Resistances.

Lore is another useful ladder starter / low level Runeword for any Paladin build. Its main utility is the +1 to All skill levels.

Rhyme is a budget friendly ladder starter / low level shield. It has good blocking bonuses, a very useful Cannot be Frozen attribute, and +25 to All Resistances, making it an ideal cheap shield choice for any Paladin build

Ancient's Pledge is a useful ladder starter / low budget Runeword which boosts All Resistances by almost 50%.

A Spirit shield is the number one shield Runeword for caster Paladins. It is the only shield which provides +2 to All skill levels (making it the best switch-shield in combination with Call to Arms), and 25-35% faster cast rate, while also having great defensive utilities such as the 55% faster hit recovery and 35% Cold, Lightning and Poison resistances. Try to make the Runeword in a 40%+ to All resistances Paladin shield base.

Dream is a cornerstone Helm and Shield Runeword for Tesladin builds. The Dual Dream Runeword grants you a level 30 Holy Shock aura, which deals damage on a large radius, and boosts your physical lightning damage immensely as well. Try to make the Runeword in a 40%+ to All resistances Paladin shield base.

Dragon is a cornerstone Armor and Shield Runeword for Holy Fire Paladin builds. A Dragon Armor and Shield should be combined with a Hands of Justice weapon Runeword in order to provide a Level44 Holy Fire Aura, which deals damage on a large radius, and boosts your physical fire damage immensely as well.

Exile is one of the best, if not the best shield Runeword for melee Paladin builds. It has unmatched survivability stat bonuses such as the 15% chance to cast life tap on striking, and the level 13-16 Defiance Aura. The Runeword repairs durability, so you can choose to put it in an ethereal Paladin shield base, preferably with 40%+ to All resistances. Exile has some other useful stats, such as freezes target, the very high 220-260% Enhanced defense, the 30% faster block rate, and the 5% to max cold and fire resistances.

Phoenix is a great damage booster shield for Zealer Paladins as it grants +350-400% Enhanced Damage. The Runeword also has good defensive qualities, such as the Level 10-15 Redemption Aura, which constantly heal you, the 50 life, 5% to maximum lightning resist, 10% to maximum fire resist, and the 15-21 fire absorption. You should aim to put the Runeword in a 40%+ to All resistances Paladin base shield.

Flickering Flame is an ideal helm for Holy Fire auradins. The Runeword provides a Level 4 to 8 Resist Fire Aura, which boosts Fire resistance by 85 to 106%, and maximum fire resistance by 4 to 8%. It also reduces enemy fire resistance by -15%, and adds 5% to maximum fire resistance.