Quick answer: Always pick up Monarchs (Spirit), Archon Plates and other elite light armors (Enigma, Fortitude), ethereal elite polearms and an ethereal Archon Plate for your mercenary, 4-socket Flails (Heart of the Oak), Phase Blades (Grief), Grand Matron and Matriarchal Bows (Faith), and paladin shields with high all-resist (Spirit, Exile).

What counts as a base

Runewords only work in normal-quality items — white names with no sockets yet, or gray names that already have the exact socket count the runeword needs. Magic, rare, set and unique items can never become runewords, no matter how good their stats look. Superior white items (enhanced damage or defense) do work and are the premium version of any base.

One more distinction decides most of what you keep: ethereal. An ethereal item gets a 50% bonus to its base damage or defense but cannot be repaired — which makes it useless for you and perfect for your mercenary, whose gear never loses durability. Ethereal elite polearms and ethereal body armor are mercenary bases; nearly everything else you keep should be non-ethereal. When in doubt, check the socket count a base can roll before keeping it — our socketing guide explains how item level caps sockets.

Helms

No helm runeword is truly mandatory, so helm bases are a low priority. The two worth mentioning are Dream — used in the dual-Dream "dreamer" Paladin or Sorceress setup — and Delirium, mostly kept for its crowd-control procs on a mercenary or for Cow Level pulling. Both are 3-socket runewords with modest base requirements: any 3-socket helm works, and a lower strength requirement is the only real preference. Keep one or two and move on.

Shields

Spirit is the most-made shield runeword in the game, and it dictates shield collecting. Spirit needs 4 sockets, and among light shields only the Monarch can roll four — which is why a plain Monarch is the default caster shield and always worth stashing, unsocketed or with 3–4 sockets. Phoenix uses the same bases as Spirit.

Paladins are the exception: their class-specific shields can roll up to 45 all-resist as an inherent modifier, so a Sacred Targe or Sacred Rondache with 40+ all-resist — unsocketed or with 3–4 sockets — is a premium Spirit or Sanctuary base. For Exile, which repairs its own durability, the rule flips: you want an ethereal paladin shield, ideally a Vortex Shield (the highest-defense option) with 40+ all-resist, socketed through the ethereal cube bug for a huge defense roll. Dream in a shield just needs any 3-socket light shield, chosen to match your character's strength.

Body armor

Body armor hosts the most-used runewords in the game — Enigma, Fortitude, Duress, Stone, Treachery, Bramble and Chains of Honor — so demand for good armor bases is endless. Because light armor carries no movement-speed penalty, the Archon Plate is the best all-round base: high defense for a light armor with a reasonable strength requirement. Sacred Armor has the highest defense in the game but a punishing strength requirement, so it sits in second place.

Keep non-ethereal Archon Plates and Sacred Armors with 3–4 sockets (or unsocketed for Larzuk) for your own characters. Keep an ethereal unsocketed Archon Plate for your mercenary's Fortitude. And because perfect bases are rare, also pick up the other elite light armors — Dusk Shroud, Wyrmhide, Wire Fleece and Scarab Husk — when they drop with good sockets or superior mods.

Polearms

Polearms feed a whole family of mercenary runewords: Insight, Infinity, Pride, Obedience, Doom and Destruction-tier options all want 4–6 sockets, so your mercenary's weapon is the main reason to hoard ethereal elite polearms. An ethereal Thresher or Giant Thresher is the classic pick — the Thresher's lower requirements mean an Act 2 mercenary can equip it earlier — with the Great Poleaxe and Cryptic Axe as alternatives. Unsocketed is fine: the cube socket recipe on an ethereal base (the "ebug") adds a further defense-or-damage bonus roll.

One special case: a Sorceress making her own Insight only cares about the Meditation aura and the mana, not physical damage, so she does not need an elite base at all. A plain 4-socket Scythe — low requirements, common even in Normal difficulty — is all it takes. For self-wielded polearm runewords, keep non-ethereal elite polearms with the right socket count instead of ethereal ones.

Heart of the Oak flails

Heart of the Oak is a pure caster weapon: +3 skills, 40% cast rate, resistances — and nothing about it depends on the weapon's physical damage. That makes the choice of base trivial: a normal Flail, the lowest-requirement mace-type weapon that can roll 4 sockets. Flails drop everywhere, so stash every 4-socket Flail you find — ten or so is a comfortable stockpile if you plan to reroll for perfect variable stats.

Bows

Bow runewords revolve around Faith, with Ice, Wrath, Edge and Harmony behind it. An Amazon wants her class bows: a Grand Matron Bow or Matriarchal Bow with 4 sockets (or unsocketed), ideally with bonus bow skills rolled in. A Rogue mercenary can't use Amazon bows, so for her keep elite general bows — Shadow Bow, Blade Bow or Ward Bow — with 4 sockets. Bows cannot be ethereal, so a naturally socketed drop is the best version you will find. Edge and Harmony only need 3–4 sockets, so 3-socket elite bows are worth a stash tab corner too.

White wands

The Necromancer's White runeword is unusual because the base matters as much as the runes: the wand's inherent staffmods stack with the runeword's bonuses. The dream base is a 2-socket wand (droppable or socketed by Larzuk) with +3 Bone Spear and +3 Bone Spirit — +3 Decrepify is a welcome third mod. Any 2-socket wand works in a pinch, but a well-rolled base is what separates a good White from a great one.

Swords

Sword bases serve Grief, Spirit, Oath, Crescent Moon and Call to Arms. Two bases dominate. The Phase Blade is the endgame choice for Grief: it cannot roll with durability issues, needs no repair, and its low base damage barely matters because Grief adds flat damage. The Crystal Sword is the budget option — very low requirements and up to 6 sockets at high item levels, making it the classic home for a Spirit sword. A Barbarian planning a dual-Grief setup should also stash two 5-socket Highland Blades. Keep Phase Blades and Crystal Swords unsocketed or with the socket count your target runeword needs.

Axes

Axes cover Beast, Death, Last Wish and Breath of the Dying. For Beast on a summon Necromancer the weapon's damage is irrelevant — only the Fanaticism aura matters — so any low-requirement 5-socket axe does the job; you only ever need one. For the damage runewords, the Berserker Axe is the elite base of choice: keep unsocketed or 5–6 socket ones, ethereal for a mercenary or a self-repairing runeword. Finally, keep an ethereal War Pike — unsocketed or with a natural 6 sockets — for Breath of the Dying, the classic Frenzy or Berserk Barbarian weapon.

The short checklist

Related guides