Diablo 2 Best Shield Runewords You Can Make - Top 8 Strongest Runewords For Shields In D2R

In Diablo 2, some of the strongest Diablo 2 items you'll get access to are player-made. So today we're going to take a look at the more common uses of your own words shields. One nice thing about these shield rune words is there really isn't a single one that doesn't have a use, some are definitely more niche, but others are just blatantly insanely strong. So we'll give them a loose ranking from worst to best shield runewords in Diablo 2 Resurrected. 

Diablo 2 Best Shield Runewords You Can Make - Strongest Runewords For Shields

1. Dragon Runeword For Shield

A dragon costing two high runes with Surlosol. This shield is very thematically accurate but only used in extremely rare cases. Thanks to its mediocre perks really only seeing use for its strange mix of chance to cast effects and holy fire the former which allows some funny little tricks. The latter wish can be stacked with other holy fire sources for a holy fire origin. The problem is even at high levels the holy fire origin and holy fire sorcerers as well tend to do very little damage for the investment especially compared to the dream counterpart, and the dream counterpart has way better mods and less used slots.

2. Phoenix

Due to its cost compared to the number of builds that actually find it useful, it does take a hit using four high runes Vexvexlo and Jah. It is a beast of a rune word to get made and needs to compete with the plethora of other useful D2R runewords. That those expensive runes kind of go into, that said on the builds, it is used on, it does a lot of work with a free redemption aura high level firestorm on striking, reduced enemy fire resist, a whopping 350 to 400% enhanced damage that applies at the auras stage since this is a shield and a handful of other decent mods, it's not quite a lightweight though it is still a little dragged down by firestorm interrupt for some builds, it does still do a ton of work.

3. Sanctuary

The sanctuary made with Kokomal is an extremely solid basic resistance rune word that can be used in a decent number of light shields. With 50 to 70 resist, decent defense and dexterity s, it's got improved blocking hit recovery and a few other mods as well. It's just generally good and it's also a pretty good much a straight upgrade from the cheaper ancients pledge. 

3. Splendor

The other mid-cost option is splendor made with Ethlum. It is actually a good candidate for a lot of lighter-weight shields options and even Necro heads. Since it gives +1 all skills, +10 faster cast block energy, magic gold find, it helps a bit with mana. It's all in a two-socket package while fairly mundane at first glance it can be fairly decent, its major drawback though is the lack of resist which can turn people off since shields are often used as one of the major sources of resists. So you'll be a bit more reliant on charms and other accessory slots to cover this gap. That said you can't really beat some of the low strength options for this little +1 shield. So it is still definitely high on the list in the economy slots.

4. Ancients’ Pledge

The poor man sanctuary still gives reasonable resist and a pigeon fence, it's otherwise fairly mundane, but it is good to keep around for early on just for easy resists on new characters. This is especially affordable since the runes are necessary for it. Ral, Ort and Tal are given to you as a quest reward for rescuing barbarians in act 5 which means the shield requires practically zero farming if you keep your eyes peeled for a three socket shield early. 

5. Rhyme

The other economy slot shield is rhyme, this is the unskilled parallel to splendor with magic and gold fine blocking  mana regen. It replaces the other mods with resistances and cannot be frozen and for a number of builds can be argued to be better than splendor. But splinter does still win for casters. Rhyme is also super cheap requiring only Shale and Eth, both easily farmable in late normal and early nightmare without even trying.

6. Exile

The only class-specific rune word for shield in D2R on this list requiring explicitly paladin shield only, Exile uses Vex, Ohm, Lst and Dol to provide some extremely powerful bonuses. Decent level defiance lifetap on striking, a  to offense of auras, magic find auto repair, freeze target and few other odds and ends. This becomes especially powerful when you realize the auto mods on paladin shields cover the gaps in this either providing natural resistances, with one set of auto mods or providing damage and attack rating. If you go with the offense of auto mods most often placed in ethereal or even historically e-bugged paladin shields for further amplifying. This effect exile is a staple of endgame smyter builds especially but can be used in other paladin builds quite effectively.

7. Dream

Also fairly expensive with Jol, Ah and Pul. This is the counterpart to the dream helmet and is often paired with it to stack their holy shock auras on a few specific builds. The shield also gets renowned for its ability to  several non-paladin and non-sorcerous builds fairly effectively with the extra damage. It provides as well as the other mods like resist life mana, defense as well as magic find and hit recovery, usually higher priority than the helmet version due to its wider array of builds that use its abilities. Though in the end it is still best known for its use in the dream or tesla builds.

8. Spirit

This is one of the most used shield runewords in Diablo 2 Resurrected, that's spirit Tal, Thul, Ort and Amn, being extremely cheap to get though slightly restricted sense for non-paladins, the lightest shield that can pack all four runes in is the hell difficulty monarch shield. It's still extremely common being used on popular builds for almost every class with the exception of a barbarian, but there are builds there that use it as well. It's got a whopping +2 skills faster hit recovery, higher faster cast rate life mana and on the shield even resists, it makes this shield pretty much every base except for magic find. So that's easy enough to get elsewhere. It may be used in post game for most classes but will usually be seen as early as nightmare for hammerden since paladin shields can spawn even at low strength versions with the necessary four sockets.

Monarch

Defense: 133-148
Durability: 86
Req Strength: 156
Req level: 54
Quality level: 72
Max sockets: 4
Weight: Light
Base block: 22
Class block: Pal: 52%
Ama/Asn/Bar: 47%
Dru/Nec/Sor: 42%
Paladin smite dmg: 12-34

Do you have a favorite version of these D2R shield runewords? Do you ever make them in something other than light shields?