Use The Stealth Runeword in Diablo 2 to Get an Edge Over Everything Around You

Stealth is a Runeword used in body armor and favored by players with low-level characters due to both its low level requirement and the fact that its stats offer something for every class and build out there.

Requirements:

Body Armor with 2 sockets

Runes (in order): Tal + Eth

Required Level: 17

The Stats:

Magic Damage Reduced By 3

+6 To Dexterity

+15 To Maximum Stamina

Poison Resist +30%

Regenerate Mana 15%

25% Faster Run/Walk

25% Faster Cast Rate

25% Faster Hit Recovery

Runes (in order): Tal + Eth

TAL and ETH are common runes. ETH is very common and you receive TAL (plus RAL and ORT) as a quest reward in Act V.

Required Level: 17

Your character can start wearing armor equipped with the Stealth Runeword at the low level of 17. Body armor equipped with the Steal Runeword is very often better compared to the other armors that are available for players around that level.

Poison Resist +30%

A boost to Poison Resist stands this Runeword in good stead due to the fact that the Final SuperUnique of Act 1 is Andariel, whose successful attack not only deals good physical damage, but poisons for quite a high amount of damage as well.

A +30% boost to Poison Resist makes it easier to kill Andariel on Normal Difficulty, before moving on to Act 2.

Regenerate Mana 15%

This is a good mod for all casters, or physical fighters who might not have enough mana to use their skills.

25% Faster Run/Walk

Faster Run/Walk is a mod that makes your character run or walk faster. It is an important mod for PvM (a player mainly concentrating on the game, ie. Players vs. Monsters), as it allows you escape from monsters who prove too powerful for you. It is an even more important mod for PvP (Players dueling with other Players), where being faster allows you to close the distance between yourself and the enemy that is hurling death at you from a far distance (the usual scenario is of melee characters chasing down casters)

25% Faster Cast Rate

This mod is very useful to casters, because it reduces the amount of frames that happens when a caster casts their magical spells and attacks. The less frames required to cast a spell, the less time it takes to cast that spell!

25% Faster Hit Recovery

Good for melee fighters who require more % FHR to break their target breakpoint.

Summary:

Stealth is an attractive Runeword because it is easy to make, it can be used early in the game, and offers something for everybody. What's not to like?

Poison's Best Ally - The Incredible Bramble Runeword in Diablo 2

Bramble is a Runeword usually taken into consideration as a viable option for a specific build: Necromancers who use Poison Skills.

Requirements:

Body Armor with 4 sockets

Runes (in order): Ral + Ohm + Sur + Eth

The Stats:

Level Required: 61

Level 15-21 Thorns Aura When Equipped

+50% Faster Hit Recovery

+25-50% To Poison Skill Damage

+300 Defense

Increase Maximum Mana 5%

Regenerate Mana 15%

+5% To Maximum Cold Resist

Fire Resist +30%

Poison Resist +100%

+13 Life After Each Kill

Level 13 Spirit of Barbs (33 Charges)

Level 15-21 Thorns Aura When Equipped

Thorns is one of the Paladin's Offensive Auras. Any monster that causes melee damage to either you, your minions, or any of your party members within the range of the Thorns Aura, will have that damage returned to them several folds.

The Necromancer who has minions will benefit from this Aura, but it would only be effective with Golem or Revives, as Skeletons die too easily, especially in Nightmare or Hell Difficulties.

It might appear to be good mod at first, but the damage returned by the Thorns Aura is small compared to the disproportionately large amount of hit points possessed by the monsters in Nightmare and Hell Difficulty. 

+50% Faster Hit Recovery

+50% FHR is massive, and great for melee fighters who require more % FHR to break their target breakpoint.

The more Faster Hit Recovery % your character has, the quicker he/she will be able to break out of the stun animation when they get hit. The quicker your characters recovers from an attack, the quicker they can retaliate (or run away).

+25-50% To Poison Skill Damage

Necromancers using Poison Nova consider this mod the main attraction behind the Bramble Runeword. The only drawback to this mod for them is that the bonus spawns with quite a variable value, with near-perfects (45% and above) being very sought after by the community.

Increase Maximum Mana 5%

Regenerate Mana 15%

Sorceresses can put points into Warmth, a Fire Skill that improves their Mana recovery rate., Unfortunately Necromancers do not have a similar skill, but this is rectified by mods such as Regenerate Mana, which can go quite a ways to helping them recover Mana quickly so that they can unleash more Poison Novas upon the denizens of Hell.

+5% To Maximum Cold Resist

The default maximum for Resistances is 75%. Certain unique items (like with the Bramble Runeword) can boost the maximum Resistance up to 95%.

Fire Resist +30%

Poison Resist +100%

The Bramble Runeword offers a healthy boost to Fire Resistance, and a whopping +100% to Poison Resistance. Wearing body armor with the Bramble Runeword, Poison Nova Necromancers would need only a small Poison Resistance boost from other items to max out this Resistance.

Summary:

Bramble doesn't offer a lot to most classes and builds, except for perhaps the large boost to Poison Resistance. For Poison Nova Necromancers, however, it is a viable option for them to consider.

The Ultimate Melee Runeword, Beast - How to Use it in Diablo Multiplayer

Requirements:

Axe, Scepter or Hammer with 5 sockets

Runes (in order): Ber + Tir + Um + Mal + Lum

The Stats:

Level 9 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped

+40% Increased Attack Speed

+240-270% Enhanced Damage

20% Chance of Crushing Blow

25% Chance of Open Wounds

+3 To Werebear

+3 To Lycanthropy

Prevent Monster Heal

+25-40 To Strength

+10 To Energy

+2 To Mana After Each Kill

Level 13 Summon Grizzly (5 Charges)

Runes (in order): Ber + Tir + Um + Mal + Lum

TIR is a very common room, while UM and LUM are semi-rare. MAL and BER are rare runes, with BER being the hardest to find among the five runes.

Level 9 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped

One of the best mods on the Beast Runeword.

Fanaticism is one of the Paladin's high-level auras, and increases your character's Attack Rating, Attack speed and physical damage. The sweet bonus with Fanaticism is that it also increases the damage potential of your party.

At Level 9, Fanaticism increases your party's damage by a whopping 93%!

This is the main reason why Necromancers who specialize in summoning skeletons, golems and revived monsters look at the Beast Runeword as a godsend. With the Fanaticism Aura, all of their summons will have their damage potential upped, and thus kill things quicker.

Since the Aura also ups your character's own damage, it is a fantastic mod for any melee character.

+40% Increased Attack Speed

+240-270% Enhanced Damage

The IAS plus enhanced damage might be lower than those offered by some other Runewords, but they're still very decent.

20% Chance of Crushing Blow

Crushing Blow is a modifier that only pops up on Unique, Runewords or Set items. With a successful Crushing Blow on your target, you will reduce their Life by a certain %, which is determined by the weapon you are using, and whether the target is another player, a normal monster or one of the stronger monsters in Diablo 2, ie. Champion, Uniques, Bosses).

Therefore, this mod works best against targets with just-spawned targets with lots of hit points, rather than those who only 10% of Life left. While reducing a monster's current hit points by say, 25%, might not seem a lot, consider that some Uniques and Bosses can have 100,000 hit points or more. A successful Crushing blow will reduce that to 75,000 hit points, while it may take many normal hits to get it down to that.

25% Chance of Open Wounds

Open Wounds is a type of physical damage that results in a steady loss of hit points, similar to Poison. However, Open Wounds stacks with Poison, so both of these mods can drain life from a target at the same time. The steady loss of hit points caused by Open Wounds lasts for 8 seconds. Just like Poison, targets inflicted with Open Wounds will not regenerate Life.

Open Wounds is less effective against champions and unique monsters, and the potential damage loss is halved.

+3 To Werebear

+3 To Lycanthropy

These are Druid Shapeshifting Skills and any character that uses the Beast Runeword can now turn themselves into a large Werebear, granting them more Life, Defense and damage to their attacks.

Summary:

If you're a melee character or a Necromancer specializing in Summoned minions, and you have the runes to spare, the Beast Runeword can significant boost your damage output.