This page provides information on where to look in Diablo 2 Resurrected for four-socket Broad Swords, Crystal Swords, and Long Swords.
Finding runes isn’t too difficult because either the monster or container you loot has a high enough Monster Level (mLv) or it’s located in an Area Level (aLv) that’s high enough to generate a rune, or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, then you won’t be able to acquire a buy D2R PC runes from it. As a general guideline, the higher the difficulty and the later in the Act you are, the higher the ceiling for Diablo 2 runes drops will be.
The functionality of socketed equipment is analogous to that of non-socketed equipment; however, the correlation between the number of sockets in an item and the Diablo 2 ladder runewords rarity is not as straightforward. Act 2 of the Normal difficulty mode sells weapons and shields with three sockets, so it is reasonable to assume that four-socket versions of these items will become available for random drop shortly after. However, sadly, this is not the situation at all.
Where Can I Locate the Four Socket Swords in Diablo 2 Resurrected?
Both 4-socket one-handed swords and 4-socket shields are desirable early in the game for the Spirit runeword. The Spirit runeword has similar properties when created in a sword or a shield, namely +2 to All Skills, +25%-35% Faster Cast Rate, +22 Vitality, and +89-112 Mana, depending on the type of weapon it is created in. You are simply not going to find anything better at the time, and in the case of shields, you may never find anything better in the future. The level requirement is only 25, which is relatively low. Because Amn is the rune with the highest requirement, it’s not impossible that you’ll find one just by playing through Normal difficulty, but if you don’t, the Nightmare Countess will frequently drop them.
The Item Level (iLv), which is an invisible stat and is typically the same as the mLv of the monster that dropped the item (or the aLv of the container), determines the maximum number of sockets that an item can have. On the other hand, four-socket swords won’t start dropping reliably until the Nightmare difficulty level, and only then for weapons with an iLv high enough to spawn four sockets. The only applicable base weapons are one-handed swords that can have up to four sockets. These include Broad Swords, Crystal Swords, and Long Swords (as well as their exceptional and elite variants), despite the fact that Long Swords are generally frowned upon due to the high level of Dexterity required to use them (although this should not discourage a Paladin). We do not recommend having Larzuk socket a normal weapon because an item’s item level (iLv) determines the maximum number of sockets that item can have, and because Crystal Swords can have up to six sockets, you may not get the result that you were hoping for.
Instead, we advise that you simply collect all of the socketed variations of these weapons that you come across in the Nightmare difficulty level until you find one that has four sockets. We were unlucky and didn’t find one until Act 5, but on the bright side, doing Eldritch and Shenk runs in Nightmare difficulty caused them to drop fairly regularly, and it wasn’t long before we had a half-dozen specimens to roll before we could test them. Nightmare Cows make an excellent opponent for four-socket swords, as well.
Where Can I Locate the Four Socket Swords in Diablo 2 Resurrected?
Both 4-socket one-handed swords and 4-socket shields are desirable early in the game for the Spirit runeword. The Spirit runeword has similar properties when created in a sword or a shield, namely +2 to All Skills, +25%-35% Faster Cast Rate, +22 Vitality, and +89-112 Mana, depending on the type of weapon it is created in. You are simply not going to find anything better at the time, and in the case of shields, you may never find anything better in the future. The level requirement is only 25, which is relatively low. Because Amn is the rune with the highest requirement, it’s not impossible that you’ll find one just by playing through Normal difficulty, but if you don’t, the Nightmare Countess will frequently drop them.
Obtaining the socketed base item, on the other hand, might take a lot more time depending on how lucky you are.
The Item Level (iLv), which is an invisible stat and is typically the same as the mLv of the monster that dropped the item (or the aLv of the container), determines the maximum number of sockets that an item can have. When it comes to shields with four sockets, your available choices are restricted. If you are a Paladin, that’s fantastic! Even the smaller (2×2) shields can have 4-sockets if they have a high enough item level. Finding a Paladin shield with four sockets is not too difficult or time consuming early in the game. Construct a Spirit out of the first one you find because runes are inexpensive enough that you can afford to throw them away. However, the ideal situation would be for you to locate a shield that has a high base Block Chance (at least 50%) and a base +20-30 to All Resistances.
If, on the other hand, you are not a Paladin, this is going to be a more trying experience for you. Only the Monarch, the Aegis, and the Ward are the only shields that have the potential to spawn with four sockets, and out of those three, only the Monarch has a requirement for Strength that can even be considered remotely reasonable (and even then, it’s a hefty 156). Worse yet, all of these shields are elite, meaning that you probably won’t find one until you’ve completed the Hell difficulty.
Killing volume is the only way to increase your chances of scoring a Monarch. On Hell difficulty, we discovered one in the Mausoleum and another in the Catacombs; however, Hell Cows are arguably superior choices, provided that you can stomach delaying the acquisition of such an essential piece of equipment. You should loot weapon racks, kill enemies (especially the minions of Unique monsters), and keep your Magic Find at a low level if you are serious about getting a Monarch. If you find a magical Monarch, it just means that you missed out on a potential base for Spirit.
If at all possible, try to locate a natural 4-socketed specimen of a Monarch once you do find one. Unfortunately, the likelihood of this happening is extremely low, and it is likely that the first valuable Monarch shield you uncover will be one that does not have a socket. In this scenario, you still have choices; you can take a Monarch to Larzuk in Act 5 and, presuming you’ve finished his quest, you can have him add sockets to the Monarch, which should result in a specimen with four sockets. Alternatively, you can take a Monarch to Larzuk in Act 4 and have him add sockets to the Monarch. You also have the option of using the following recipe for a Horadric Cube in order to add sockets to a Monarch:
Any Shield plus Tal plus Amn plus Perfect Ruby plus any Shield equals a socketed Shield.
The formula that you see above will add a random number of sockets to the shield, taking into account the shield’s maximum possible number of sockets as well as the shield’s current intelligence level. In the case of the Monarch, any Monarch that is dropped can have up to four sockets, and it has a sufficient iLv to carry said sockets, so this shouldn’t be too much of a concern for you. Be aware that in order for this formula to work, you can only use shields of normal quality; low-quality, superior, socketed, magical, or rare shields will not do the trick. Also, due to the fact that the number of sockets added is completely at random, you should anticipate that this will require multiple attempts before you can acquire the 4-socketed Monarch that you require.
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