Alright so yesterday I finally had enough time to replay Diablo 2 Resurrected, right? Plugged in my old controller, fired up a new Paladin. Figured I’d finally build that fancy runeword sword everyone talks about – “Spirit” or something. Should be easy peasy, socket stuff and done. Yeah… no.
The Total Socket Disaster
First thing I did was grab a white broad sword dropped by Andariel. Checked Larzuk – dude offered one socket. One. Obviously I needed four holes for that Spirit runeword, so I thought, “Larzuk’s lazy, lemme use my Horadric Cube.” Tossed in the sword, a perfect Amethyst, and… nothing. Zip. Swore my Cube was broken. Spammed the damn button ten times before realizing – you gotta add the runes too? My brain was mush. Got the scrolls out, tried Tal + Thul + Ort + Amn with the sword. Cube made a weird fizzing sound and spat out… the same sword plus the runes?! No sockets. Just felt stupid staring at my screen.
Why Everything Broke
Took a breather, shut the game off, brewed some coffee. Felt like an idiot messing up Diablo 2 in 2023. Started digging online (offline? forums, I guess). Found out two major rookie mistakes I made:
- Not Every Base Item Works: You can’t just stuff gems and runes into any old sword! Broad swords have max three sockets. Needed a crystal sword or long sword instead. Basic item knowledge fail.
- Bad Recipe: Throwing gems into the Cube with a base item without the runes? Yeah, that’s just junk. The recipe for adding sockets ONLY involves the item + Tal + Amn + perfect gem. Save those other runes!
Getting It Done (Finally)
Felt humbled. Went back to Act 2. Farmed Normal cows for like twenty minutes – finally got a white crystal sword. Did a quick Larzuk check: four sockets? Perfect. Tossed it in my Horadric Cube, added:
- Ral rune (yeah I kept mixing up Tal and Ral names earlier)
- Ort rune
- Tal rune
- Amn rune
Held my breath. Hit transmute.
Sweet mother of Tyrael – it worked! Four sockets neatly punched into the crystal sword. Slammed those Spirit runes Tal + Thul + Ort + Amn in order. Sword immediately flashed blue. Finally got my “+2 skills, faster cast rate” beauty. Took what felt like three lifetimes because I skipped basics.
Moral? Don’t be like me. Know your base items. Memorize that socket recipe. Double-check rune names. Saves hours of frustration and trash swords cluttering your stash.