Expensive Runewords Are Not End Game

June 28, 2026

There’s nothing quite like finding your first Ber rune(s). You cube it, you make Enigma, and suddenly your character can teleport. Or Infinity and you remove those boring immunities. The power spike is real, the satisfaction is real, and for a moment you feel like you’ve beaten the game.

But here’s the thing: you haven’t. You’ve just reached the mid game. And I think treating runewords like Enigma, Infinity, or Faith as the final goal is one of the reasons ladders feel short and the end game feels flat.

Why we love expensive runewords

Let’s be fair — the appeal is obvious.

• They make a big difference when you get them. Going from no Infinity to Infinity is a massive power jump. It feels like you achieved something, and you did.
• They often come with auras, which make your power visible. Fanaticism, Conviction, Might — you can see your merc buffing you. It’s satisfying in a way that +20% ED on a rare just isn’t. Flashy.

I get it. I’m not saying the feeling is wrong. I even believe this is good: that moment where you are about to get them, or just got them, feel great ! But the feeling is misleading us about where these items sit in the progression curve. In order for the late game to shine, too!

Why this became a problem

The problem isn’t that runewords are good. The problem is that they’re so good that nothing else competes.

• They remove all alternatives (even the best rares/crafts/uniques in this slot become irrelevant in the end game).
• They turn us and our mercs into aurabots.
• Those two effects kill build diversity.

What would a better end game look like?

I believe a better end game would be one where runewords are still good, but not the only option. This would mean:

• Not all our slots should be about auras.
• The best possible rares and crafted items, on each slot, should have a chance to beat runewords.
• Finding those awesome, build-defining items should be the main goal of the end game. And when you find one, it should trigger a set of changes to your build, making it more unique and powerful.
• The power spike between mid game and end game should be meaningful: having transitioned from standard runewords to BIS items should be rewarding and enable farming / beating new content (like T2 bosses, T4 maps, …).

How to get there

The good news is that the fixes don’t require reinventing the game — they’re targeted changes that open up space for other items to matter.

Exemple of changes that would help (we don’t need to implement all of them):

• Limit merc auras to 2. Right now a merc can stack several auras, becoming an aura platform that outshines your actual gear. Capping at 2 auras (one from the merc’s own aura, one from an item) keeps the big power spikes — Infinity is still great — but removes the aurabot nonsense. Your merc becomes a companion again, not the main character.

• Rework Conviction. Conviction is the reason Infinity is mandatory. If we move it from “break immunities AND lower resistances” to just “break immunities,” Infinity stays valuable for sorcs and the like, but it’s no longer a 10x multiplier on every elemental build. It would still be BiS for most builds, and create a mid-game powerspike, but at least alternatives wouldn’t be 10x worse (if something is 30% worse, it is already significant).

• Nerf Faith on mercs, buff it on players. Faith’s Fanaticism aura is too strong on mercs and not strong enough when you actually equip it. Lowering the aura level and adding IAS directly to the item shifts it from “merc aura bot” to “real weapon for real builds.”. Ideally, for build diversity, Faith should be balanced around being an option for both mercs and players.

• Rework Iron Golems. IGs currently let you stack yet another aura for free. The rework removes that aura and makes them about something else entirely — tanking and utility — so they’re not just another way to sneak in Might or Fanaticism.

None of these changes delete your runewords or make them useless. Infinity stays, Enigma stays, Faith stays — they just stop being the only answer. If you pick Infinity, you won’t also get Templar’s Might. If you run an A3 merc, you can’t have Defiance + Fanaticism + Might all at once. It’s about meaningful choices instead of aura-stacking.

And that’s the whole point. When there’s more than one answer, the end game gets a lot more interesting — and a lot longer.