Getting My Hands Dirty Testing Runewords
Okay so today I spent like 5 hours trying to figure out if Call to Arms is really worth all the hype. Started my Paladin fresh ladder character yesterday, grinded Countess runs for HOURS until I finally had enough runes to craft both CTA and that Spirit shield everyone keeps talking about.
First I made Call to Arms in a flail – needed Amn, Ral, Mal, Ist and Ohm. Felt super bad using my only Ohm rune but yolo right? Immediately tried the Battle Commands. Boom! Shouts went off, health jumped way up, felt like a tank. But man the duration sucks – I was constantly re-casting every minute while running Chaos Sanctuary. Super annoying when you’re trying to dodge those nasty Hydras.
Then I switched to testing Spirit shield plus Spirit sword combo. Holy crap the casting speed difference was insane! My hammers were flying out like machine guns and my mana pool felt bottomless. No more chugging blue pots every 30 seconds. But then I got slapped by Lord De Seis and died instantly – that extra life from CTA would’ve saved me for sure.
The Real Problem Nobody Talks About
This is when I realized the big elephant in the room – both setups need backup gear! With CTA you’re wasting weapon slots just for buffs. With Spirit you’re glass cannon. So I did something dumb – made both and kept switching mid-battle like an idiot. Nearly got my hardcore character killed three times trying this circus act near River of Flame.
- CTA pros: Didn’t die once to physical damage
- CTA cons: Killing speed felt like watching paint dry
- Spirit pros: Cleared mobs 3x faster
- Spirit cons: Got one-shotted by Might aura archers twice
Ended up using my friend’s Barbarian as guinea pig – made him try both setups while I watched. CTA made him survive Diablo’s fire blast but Spirit let him actually kill the boss before timeout. Neither felt perfect honestly.
What I Actually Ended Up Using
After all this headache I went back to my trusty Insight polearm on mercenary with Spirit combo. Cheap to make, no fancy runes needed. Yeah I died occasionally but at least I could farm without pulling my hair out. That Mal+Ist+Ohm cost for CTA? Absolutely not worth for casual play. Rich guys with perfect gear might disagree but for us regular players grinding our own gear – Spirit wins hands down for actually playing the game instead of buffing simulator.
Funny thing is I traded that CTA flail for Tal Rasha armor later and zero regrets. That armor actually makes difference every second instead of few minutes of fake toughness. Moral of story? Runewords are like shoes – better to have comfortable pair that fits than designer ones that give you blisters.