High Runes glowing on a dark altar in Diablo II Resurrected

Why High Runes Stay Valuable

Anyone who has played Diablo II: Resurrected for a while has noticed the pattern. Items come and go, metas shift, prices fluctuate, but High Runes almost never lose relevance. Ber, Jah, and Lo are still treated as benchmarks of value, ladder after ladder.

This isn’t nostalgia or hype. It’s a direct result of how D2R’s economy works. High Runes sit at the intersection of real scarcity, constant demand, and ladder resets that repeatedly push players back toward the same upgrade paths.

Table of Contents

What players mean by “High Runes”

The game never officially labels anything as a “High Rune,” but the community has been consistent for years. High Runes are simply the runes that carry independent trade value and are required for meaningful endgame upgrades.

In most D2R trading environments, that usually means Vex and above, with Lo, Sur, Ber, and Jah forming the core of high-value trading.

Category Typical runes Why they matter
Often included Vex, Ohm Highly liquid, widely traded, easy to value
Core High Runes Lo, Sur, Ber, Jah Drive major power spikes and endgame goals
Special cases Cham, Zod Valuable, but demand is narrower and situational

Because of that role, High Runes naturally sit at the center of most trading discussions.

Scarcity in D2R is real

You can optimize routes, increase clear speed, and play efficiently, but you cannot force High Runes to drop. That’s the key difference between them and almost everything else in the game.

D2R doesn’t reward time with guarantees. Long dry streaks are normal, even for experienced players. That hard ceiling on supply is what keeps High Runes from ever becoming trivial.

Many items are rare. Very few are both rare and consistently needed.

High Runes don’t just sit, they get used

High Runes aren’t collector items. They’re ingredients.

While High Runes hold value on their own, that value only turns into real power when they are actually used. We explore this conversion in more detail in How High Runes Are Actually Used in D2R.

Most High Runes eventually get locked into runewords, where they effectively disappear from the trading pool. Once a rune is socketed into a major upgrade, it’s gone from circulation for good.

This constant consumption acts as a sink:

  • New High Runes enter the economy slowly
  • Existing High Runes are regularly removed
  • Total supply stays tight over time

This is one of the biggest reasons High Rune value doesn’t collapse the way many other items do.

Why demand never really disappears

Demand stays high because the structure of D2R doesn’t change much. Balance tweaks happen, but the core progression loop remains the same.

Runewords remain one of the most reliable ways to convert time into power, which means rune demand keeps coming from multiple directions:

  • Fresh ladder characters rushing baseline strength
  • Endgame players finishing long-term gear goals
  • Players building additional characters
  • Traders storing value in a stable form

As long as runes remain the gateway to predictable upgrades, demand doesn’t disappear, it just shifts timing.

Ladder resets and Non-Ladder value

Ladder resets are where High Rune demand is most visible. Everyone starts with nothing, and runewords once again become the fastest route to real power. Early ladder always pulls High Runes back to the center of the economy.

Non-Ladder behaves differently, but the outcome is similar. Supply slowly accumulates over time, yet demand never fully goes away. Players continue finishing characters, gearing alts, and trading around established value anchors. That’s why High Runes rarely collapse even outside of ladder cycles.

Why High Runes became the trade currency

D2R needs a shared pricing language. Gold doesn’t work well, and most items are too niche to act as universal benchmarks.

High Runes filled that gap naturally. When something is priced “in Ber,” everyone immediately understands the scale. That shared understanding is what turns High Runes into currency rather than just loot.

Why Ber, Jah, and Lo usually lead the market

Not all High Runes behave the same. Some sit at the top more often because their demand is broader and more consistent.

Ber, Jah, and Lo tend to lead because they connect to multiple endgame paths and don’t rely on niche use cases. They stay liquid across classes, playstyles, and progression stages.

Rune Why it stays strong Demand pattern
Ber Appears in multiple long-term upgrade paths High demand early and late ladder
Jah Often tied to final build upgrades Spikes as characters get finished
Lo Strong damage scaling relevance Consistent, steady demand

Cham and Zod: valuable, but different

Cham and Zod are still High Runes, but their demand is more specialized. They’re often tied to specific solutions rather than broad power spikes, which makes their market smaller and more situational.

That doesn’t make them bad, just different.

Common High Rune mistakes

Holding forever without a plan

High Runes hold value, but value is meant to be converted. Sitting on runes indefinitely often delays progression more than it helps.

Ignoring base items

A rune without the right base is just potential. Many players underestimate how long it can take to line everything up.

Grinding one target until burnout

Because High Rune drops are unpredictable, chasing them too hard is one of the fastest ways to stop enjoying the game.

Practical takeaways

  • High Runes stay valuable because they are rare and constantly consumed
  • Ladder resets repeatedly recreate strong demand
  • They function as both currency and progression tools

Most long-term trading and gearing paths eventually circle back to High Runes and their role in the broader rune economy.

Bottom line: High Runes stay valuable in Diablo 2 Resurrected because the game never stops needing them, and never makes them easy to replace.

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