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{{Item navbox|{{Runes}}}}Finding [[runes]], especially higher level runes, is an obsession for many players. This can be a chore, since there's no way to use equipment to increase your odds of finding more runes, or higher level runes. [[Magic Find]] has no effect on rune drops, either quality or quantity; the way to find runes is to kill lots of [[monster]]s in larger games, so more total items [[item]]s drop.
==Monsters==
The best way to find a lot of runes, or most anything else in [[Diablo II]], is to get a lot of item drops. Since item drops are best obtained from dead [[monster]]s, and since monsters drop more items in larger games, a very good way to find more runes is to kill a lot of monsters in games with a lot of other players. (Use [[Player_Settings#The_Players_X_Command|the /players X command]] to simulate more players if you're going single player.)
Rune hunting is somewhat simplified by the fact that [[Magic Find]] is of no benefit (or penalty) to rune finding. So a character truly out to find runes can suit up in all his/her best killing gear, without giving a thought to Magic Find. This isn't highly recommended, since magic find improves the odds of finding [[Unique]] and [[Set]] items that are useful or that can be traded (for runes, perhaps), but purely from a rune hunting [[POV]]point of view, magic find is useless, and worse than useless if using the [[MF]] equipment slows a character's overall killing speed.
Since the goal of most players is to find higher quality runes, the hunting is best done on the highest level monsters that your character can safely and quickly kill. As with magic finding, a balance between killing speed and monster level must be found. Struggling to kill very high level monster because they have a .000001% better chance of dropping a [[Cham]], is not a wise expenditure of time or energy.
===Special Monsters===
The only monster in the game with a substantially higher % chance to drop runes in [[The Countess]], found on level five of the [[Forgotten Tower]] in the [[Black Marsh]] level of [[Act I|Act One]]. Since [[v1.09]] she's had excellent odds to drop at least one rune every time, and in [[v1.10]] her odds were increased still higher. She can not drop the highest runes in the game, but hoping to see any runes above 24 or 25 (see [[rune list]] for further info) drop is a fool's game. They do fall from time to time, but the odds are lottery-winning longlow. Better odds are to find lots of runes in the teens and low twenties, and to [[cube ]] them up, as well as trading other item finds for mid-to-high level runes, and cubing those up as well.
A few monster types have higher odds of dropping runes because they can not drop [[armor]] or [[weapon]]s, and thus spit out more runes since they have fewer other possible drops. These include [[Wraith]]s, [[Finger Mage]]s, [[Vulture Demon]]s, [[Willowisp]]s, and the [[Swarm]]. These monsters are worth harvesting while rune hunting, but they spawn infrequently and in underwhelming numbers, so few players will find it worth the effort for the slight increase in the odds of finding runes.
===Forgotten Tower===
[[Quests_Act_One#Quest_Four:_The_Forgotten_Tower|This quest]] does not have a [[Rune]] as part of its reward (just a bunch of gold and minor items from a magical chest), but since [[v1.09 ]] [[The Countess]], a [[SuperUnique ]] [[Corrupt Rogue]] you must kill to accomplish the quest, has begun dropping a rune almost every time she's killed. Her rune drops were increased still further in [[v1.10]], and she's now a very popular target for item running characters.
Which runes she can drop vary by difficulty level.
===The Hellforge===
When a character shatters [[Mephisto's Soulstone ]] on the [[Quests_Act_Four#Quest_Two:_The_Hellforge|Hellforge in Act Four]], four gems and one rune drop as part of the quest reward. The runes that may be found from this quest vary by difficulty level. Which one drops is selected randomly from the following possibilities:* Normal: [[El ]] (r01) - [[Amn ]] (r11).* Nightmare: [[Sol ]] (r12) - [[Um ]] (r22).* Hell: [[Hel ]] (r15) - [[Gul ]] (r25). Unlike the runes from [[The Countess]], or any other monster drops in the game, the lower level runes are '''not''' more common. The odds for [[Hel]] or [[Gul]] are identical on [[Hell]], 1/11 for each. Cross your fingers.
Be sure to complete this quest when you can get your rune drop, and do not finish it with other players in your party, if they have not finished the quest already. Four gems drop for every character completing the quest, whether they're near the [[Hellforge]] or not, but only one rune will drop for the quest completion, whether one or eight characters are in the party/completing the quest.
===More Players = More Runes===
More players in the game increase the quantity of items found from chests[chest]s, by decreasing the odds that the game will select the "NoDrop" option.
Total players in the game (no party) — Chance of non-locked chest to drop nothing at all:
===Rune Quality Increases with Level===
The level that chests [[chest]]s drop at is determined by the area of the game they're found on; consult the [[Levels]] section for that information. The level of runes that can be found from chests progresses steadily as you move through the game.
The following list details the highest level runes you can find in any area. All of the lower level runes may also be found there, and in fact are far more likely to appear than the higher level ones.
