Best Budget Runewords in D2R

These are the best and most popular budget runewords you can possibly make with runes below Ist, sorted by item level:

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Stealth - Level 17 - Tal Eth - Extremely good starter body armor with 25% faster run/walk, faster cast rate and faster hit recovery plus 30% poison resist, +6 Dexterity and magic damage reduced by a flat 3, since the Countess normal easily drops these runes, it is among the easiest good pieces of gear to acquire like many other good cheap runewords, early on in Normal apparently little quantities of defense will make a difference to your evasion chance, that's why if you can because you have put enough points into Strength, always consider doing Stealth in the highest defense base you can find, according to the class you will know might use that Runeword (for example you could make one Stealth in an heavy armor with tons of defense for a Barbarian, and one for the casters with low requirement but less defense) as even just having

Leaf - Level 19 - Tir Ral - 2 sockets staff - When made in a normal base it is a cheap powerful runeword for a Fire Sorceress, but if made in a good base with useful +3 skill jmods got potential to be a cheap powerhouse, giving +3 to fire skills, +3 to Fire Bolt, Inferno and Warmth on top of native jmods to skills

Edge - Level 25 -  Tir Tal Amn -  3 sockets Missile weapon - Underrated runeword, mostly used for its Reduces Vendor Prices 15% but the thorns level 15 aura is surprisingly powerful enough to one shot most enemies in Normal and deal significant damage in early Nightmare too, on a summon Necro or Druid it's a really powerful option for an Act 1 merc because of this

Strength - Level 25 - Amn Tir - 2 sockets Melee weapon - cheap early source of 25% Crushing Blow and 7% life stolen per hit, +20 Strength, +2 mana per kill and +10 Vitality, nothing more

Spirit level 25 - Tal Thul Ort Amn - 4 sockets Swords, Shields -  easily one of the strongest budget Runewords in the game, +2 all skills, +22 vitality, 25-35% faster cast rate, 89-112 mana, +3-8 magic absorb, 55% fhr and 35% all resistances except Fire on shields makes this cheap runeword strong enough to clear the whole game with it as main weapon and shield combo, usually made in Crystal Sword early on for low Strength requirement or Broad Sword too, for shields Paladin shields with +all res native jmod are good while a Monarch for non paladin is the first option available with 4 sockets. 

Insight - Level 27 - Ral Tir Tal Sol - 4 sockets Polearm, Staff, Missile weapon - One of the strongest budget Runewords similar to Spirit in power and popularity for its usefulness since early on, with high damage mod, high attack rating bonus, level 12-17 meditation aura to refresh mana and double dipping on Life if using a Prayer merc, up to +6 Critical Strike, 35% fcr and +5 all attributes. Great early options for merc are eth poleaxe or partizan, while in mid levels once you get enough Strength an eth Bec de Corbin will hit hard, to then hunt for eth Thresher/Giant Thresher/Cryptic Axe/Great Poleaxe as good base options 

Lore - Level 27 - Ort Sol - 2 sockets Helm - Budget great early option with +1 all skills, +30% lightning resist, +10 Energy, +2 mana per kill and physical damage reduced by flat 7

Rhyme - Level 29 - Shael Eth - 2 sockets Shield - Budget amazing shield with Cannot Be Frozen, 25% all resistances, 40% faster block rate, regenerate mana 15%, 20% increased chance of blocking, 50% goldfind and 25% magic find

Peace - Level 29 - Shael Thul Amn - Superb early option for Amazon with +2 to Amazon skills, 20% fhr, +2 Critical Strike, Cold resist 30%, attacker takes damage of 14, 4% ctc slow missile lvl5 when struck and 2%  ctc lvl15 Valkyrie on striking, which is the main selling point of this Runeword as the level 15 Valkyrie early on will be incredibly tanky and powerful, the ideal meat shield

White - Level 35 - Dol Io - 2 sockets Wand - Insanely good wand Runeword option for Bone Necro builds with +3 Bone and Poison skills, +3 Bone armor, +2 Bone spears, +4 Skeleton Mastery and 20% fcr

Black - Level 35 - Thul Io Nef - 3 sockets Club Hammer Mace - cheap 40% Crushing Blow option with 15% ias and 12 charges of lvl4 Corpse Explosion

Memory - Level 37 - Lum Io Sol Eth - 4 sockets Staff - Commonly used as Staff to prebuff an high level Energy Shield on an ES Sorc, ideally making this in a base with +3 Energy Shield jmod for +9 Energy Shield

Smoke - Level 37 - Nef Lum - 2 sockets Armor - One of the strongest Runewords among the cheapest ones, with +50% all resistances, 20% fhr and nice defense this runeword will help you from Nightmare until the end of Hell by wanting it, ideal base Mage Plate in Nightmare, Dusk Shroud/Archon Plate in Hell

Obedience - level 41 - Hel Ko Thul Eth Fal - 5 sockets Polearm, Spear - Extremely powerful yet cheap runeword if put into an appropriate base, like an Eth Mancatcher, Eth Cryptic Axe and similar powerful base since it has guaranteed +370% enhanced damage it will always roll good damage, plus it has level 21 enchant with 30% chance to cast it after killing an enemy, 40% Crushing Blow, 40% fhr, -25% enemy fire resistance, All resistances +20-30%, Requirements -20%, Strength and Dexterity +10. Whenever your character doesn't need an Insight or Infinity merc, Obedience is surely a strong budget option worth considering

Treachery - Level 43 - Shael Thul Lem - 3 sockets Armor - Probably the best budget armor Runeword, with 45% ias, 25% ctc level 15 Venom on striking, 5% ctc level 15 Fade upon being struck, 20% fhr, +2 Assassin Skills, Cold resistance +30% and +50% Goldfind. It is considered among the best options for mercenaries also in the game not only for its offensive capabilities but because the Fade lv15 proc is extremely powerful (15% physical damage reduction, +60% all resistances, -80% curse duration and lasts around 4 minutes) 

Lawbringer - Level 43 -  Amn Lem Ko - 3 sockets Swords, Hammers, Scepters - Generally made into a Phase Blade, it is a popular budget option for barb right hand while also using Grief or other weapons because of the lvl16-18 Sanctuary aura and 33% ctc lvl 15 Decrepify on striking mostly. Also good on act 5 mercenary

Wealth - Level 43 - Lem Ko Tir - 3 sockets Armor - best Runeword in the game for Goldfind with +300%, while also sporting +100% magic find, +10 Dexterity and +2 mana after each kill

Wisdom - Level 45 - Pul Ith Eld - 3 sockets Helm - Popular new runeword for throwing builds because of 33% piercing attack, 15-25% bonus attack rating, 4-8% mana leech, cannot be frozen, 15% damage taken goes to mana and mana +5 after each kill

Crescent Moon - Level 47 - Shael Um Tir - 3 sockets Sword, Polearm, Axe - Borderline budget Runeword requiring 1 Um but giving -35% enemy lightning resistance, 7% chance to cast lvl13 Static Field, 10% ctc lvl17 Chain Lightning, 20% ias, 25% Open Wounds, Ignore Target's Defense, +9-11 magic absorb, +2 mana after each kill, 180-220% enhanced damage and 30 charges of summon Spirit Wolf lvl18, definitely underrated Runeword, which can be very strong in the right build for the Lightning Resistance debuff paired with Static Field procs to give AoE damage options to melee physical builds such as Frenzy Barb or Zealot Paladin

Duress - Level 47 - Shael Um Thul - 3 sockets Armor - Another not so budget Runeword due to the Um needed but with 40% fhr, 15% Crushing Blow, 33% Open Wounds, high defense, 45% cold resistance and 15% to all remaining elemental resistances this body is worth it and works well for Crushing Blow builds

Oath - Level 49 - Shael Pul Mal Lum - 4 sockets Sword, Axe, Mace - It's the cheapest among the endgame Runeword weapons, requiring 1 Pul and 1 Mal makes it not very budget friendly but since it gets the Indestructible mod and has a wide damage roll variance, you can either end up with a mediocre runeword or an Ethereal very high damage Runeword weapon to even destroy Hell difficulty with, also has 50% ias, +75% damage to demons, prevent monster heal, 20 charges of level 16 Heart of the Wolverine for AoE attack rating and damage boost and +10-15 magic absorb

Rain - Level 49 - Ort Mal Ith - 3 sockets body armor - Good option for caster Druids with +2 to skill levels, +100-150 mana, magic damage reduced by 7, +30% lightning resist, 5% ctc level 15 Twister on striking and 5% ctc Cyclone Armor when struck.

Sanctuary - Level 49 - Ko Ko Mal - 3 sockets Shield - Very tanky shield which can roll 50-70% All Resistances, 20% faster block rate, 20% increased chance of block, 20% faster hit recovery, magic damage reduced by 7, +20 Dexterity and has 60 charges of level 12 Slow Missiles too. Made in a Troll Nest it can reach quite decent amount of defense for a non paladin shield (4-500)