“Thank you for rescuing my men. They have spoken well of your bravery in battle. Perhaps there is hope for us after all.” Qual-Kehk reflects after his soldier’s return from demonic prison camps. He then rewards our hero with a Ral, an Ort, and a Tal, to make the Ancient’s Pledge.
Now the Ancient’s Pledge may be good for a Normal playthrough, but as far as Nightmare and Hell are concerned, this runeword is a pretty mediocre piece of gear. So why not create two new runewords - one for each difficulty - that Qual-Kehk can encourage us to make? This would make his quest more rewarding in later difficulties while also giving us new gear to mess around with. To stay in theme, they could be called the “Ancient’s Pact,” or perhaps the “Ancient’s Promise,” hell the “Ancient’s Prostate” might work. The name’s not that important, the real important part is what they do, what runes they’re made with, and in what item. Keep in mind we can’t have Ol’ Qually-Kehk of the Kehk boys passing out Zods and Jahs like it’s Halloween, but perhaps he can pass out a Hel rune in Hell difficulty? The ability to un-socket would serve as a foil to Larzuk’s socket quest.
Anyway, if you have any ideas on what these runewords might look like or do, feel free to spit ball them in the comments. Thanks for reading!
"Ancient’s Patron" Shael+Hel+Dol - 3 socket helm
Level 1 Cleansing Aura when Equipped
+1 to Increased Speed
+100% Enhanced Defense
+5% Life Steal
+5 to 15% All Resistance
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+7 Replenish Life
-15% Requirements
A pretty solid little helmet, even in Hell. Not on the level of Andariel’s Visage or a Vampire’s Gaze, but it’s got some utility; the Cleansing Aura helps with the curses and poison damage found in the Throne Room, while Increased Speed keeps one steadfast in their resolve to kill Baal. The Life Steal and Resistances are almost required for a good mercenary helm, while the 20% FHR, 7 Life Replenish, and -15% requirements, come from the runes used.
When combined with the Hellforge and Socket Quests I’d be burning through the game to farm those Mal runes. I’d get some of the best in slot gear for a Sorceress to level up with and just burn through the game using Nova, Static Field, and a good Mercenary.
Would that be a bad thing? I’m not sure but it’s probably better than farming Pindleskin until the servers crash.
This thread gave me this idea. Let’s assume that each difficulty gives you different 3-rune runewords.
What if, if you equip them all you get bonuses like Set bonuses.
I mean wouldn’t be a good idea to have Set Items, but with runewords. If you make specific runewords and equip them all you get extra bonuses and in order to “complete the set” you need to make all of them and get something extra?
Well if they implement ur idea, cause it does seem valid. Altho its a repeated quest, and u don’t want to overlap this quest with hellforge by giving urself a better rune per difficulty or at least not better then forge.
NM: Dol,Shael,Sol? Possibly a melee armor here, similar to prudence + twitchroe hybrid?
H: 3x Hel? Not creative, but fitting.