Knowing how to add sockets in your Diablo 2 (and D2: Resurrected / D2R) items is a powerful piece of game knowledge that can make building your target runewords significantly easier as you can build your own item base rather than hunting monsters for the ideal socketed item drop. Knowing these methods to add sockets is also an option to push your end game gear to the next level by giving you the means to customise your prized rare, set and unique items. Like many Diablo game mechanics there is some hidden elements behind the scenes that players need to understand to ensure they use the socket adding options effectively.
how to socket rare items in diablo 2
Socketed items in Diablo 2 allow players to place jewels, gems and runes into items to provide them additional stats. While these can be useful on items to give them additional damage or utility the primary use of sockets in Diablo 2 is to create runewords by placing runes in the correct order into an item that has the exact number of sockets required. Using these runewords to level, as mercenary gear and in end game class builds is extremely common and the main driver of players wanting to learn how to socket items with the two options available for adding sockets in Diablo 2.
With a number of end game builds using unique, rare and set items the Larzuk quest is one method to add sockets to these items giving you the option to add a single rune, jewel or gem to these. Generally this is your best option to add sockets to Set (Green) and Unique (Gold) items you expect to use forever while favouring those that can be swapped between characters. For powerful rare (yellow) items there is another method that is preferred using the Horadric Cube method that is covered at the end of this D2 sockets article.
This is just one use of the Larzuk quest though and while it makes obtaining a viable runeword base easier it is difficult to recommend a blanket approach in this Larzuk socket guide. As a guiding principle in general you should be using it sparingly on key build defining items that will significantly propel your progression at speed, such as the aforementioned Spirit for a single character.
Placing these items with the appropriate item in the Horadric Cube opens up opportunities to create runewords from the results but you may need to attempt this multiple times to get the result you are after. This is often the best method to add sockets to weapons and add sockets to shields as it is relatively cheap and repeatable provided you can find sufficient base items.
Socketed Items can be complicated, mainly in the number of sockets and how to add sockets to existing items. There are three Cube recipes to add them, as well as the socket quest in Act V. Also items can generate with a variable number of sockets, and how many depends on the monster that drops them, the item type, and much more.
The Socketing quest adds 1 and only 1 Socket to any of these types. Rares may spawn with 1-2 sockets from the Mechanic's prefix, and some sets and uniques have 1 or more sockets inherently, and can't have more added. You will never get more than 1 socket added using the socketing quest on any of these items.
Rare items can also have a socket added by a Horadric Cube Recipe. This requires 1 Stone of Jordan + 3 Perfect Skulls + One Rare Item. It's basically the same as putting that Rare item in the socketing quest reward. It can't be used on an item with sockets already.
Magical items can have 1-4 sockets, depending on the prefixes and the item type, and you can never add more sockets to an item that already has one or more. For magical items without sockets, using them in the socket quest reward will add 1 or 2 sockets, selected randomly.
This results in a magical, socketed weapon that can be rerolled again with chipped, normal or flawless gems as many times as desired. Weapons which cannot have sockets (like throwing weapons) won't get any socket and those with a maximum of 1 socket (like a few daggers and wands) have no chance for two of them. The issue of possible affixes (or bonuses to single skills on wands, orbs etc.) is beyond the scope of this article. It follows the normal rules for the generation of magical items, see the Item Generation Tutorial for details.
Normal items can have from 1-6 sockets. How many a given item can get is random for most item types, but the maximum is always limited by the mlvl of the monster that drops the item, item type and in the case of naturally spawning sockets the difficulty level. Items can only naturally spawn with a maximum of 3 sockets on normal difficulty, 4 sockets on nightmare and 6 sockets on hell. This limitation only applies to sockets that are spawn naturally, not ones which are added through the cube recipe or socket quest. Check the master table below, or the individual Armor and Weapons pages for info on how many sockets are possible on given item types.
If you need a number of sockets that Larzuk won't provide, then you'll have to try the cube recipes which adds a random number of sockets or find that item with the number of sockets you want. The cube recipe has equal chances of adding 1 to 6 sockets on an item, with any socket count exceeding the maximum sockets available being bumped back down to the max. You cannot use the socket recipe on low quality items.
Trade for it if you have to, or ask in games, most people don't save socketed items, so you might ask as soon as you join, say you'll make 100k for a 5-socket Ogre Maul, for example, or trade more if someone drives a hard bargain. If they aren't keeping it, they'll only get 35k at most for the sale, so shouldn't be too greedy.
The key is to not have any Magic Find, since the more of that you have the more likely items dropped will be magical or better (Rare, Set, Unique). Zero MF is best for finding socketed items, but if you can't avoid a small % bonus, it won't make much of a difference. The best characters for this are probably Sorcs for the high-level areas in hell mode and Javazons for the Cow level, where each can kill at a tremendous pace.
Several Cube Recipes were added in v1.10 to make socketed items. Players can now turn low quality items into base quality (white) items which can be socketed via the socketing quest, or via a cube recipe.
What this means is that you have to get white items to drop from high enough level monsters. Number of sockets an item can get depends entirely on the level of the item. Level of the item on the other hand depends entirely on the level of the monster that dropped it. Because of this for most weapons and shields that can have 4+ sockets created by Larzuk you will have to wait until at least Nightmare difficulty Act I. There are normal white crystal swords that can drop in Act V on normal difficulty. These can be high enough level (item level 26 to 40) to get full 4 sockets. For 4 socket shield you will have to wait until Hell difficulty to get white Monarch shield to drop.
The number of sockets created will vary. The item must be normal and unsocketed. Low-quality items and superior items do not work. The item gets 1-4 sockets, randomly. However, the number of sockets is then restricted by the maximum number of sockets that base item with that ilvl can have. The chance to get X sockets in most armor is 1/4 (I.E: Mage plate has a max of 3 sockets, so it has a 2/4 [1/2] chance to get 3 sockets). The base of 6 was used in the ratios for all the above mentioned areas.Socketed Head Armor, same typeiLvl same as original1-3 sockets based on iLvl1x Normal Unsocketed Head Armor + 1x Ral rune + 1x Thul rune + 1x Perfect Sapphire
One of the more confusing aspects to understand about the number of sockets Larzuk grants is the item level for white and gray items. The item level is calculated based on the monster level that drops the item.
Diablo 2 Resurrected is a game that revolves around gearing out your characters with the best loot. To accomplish this, you will be utilizing various different recipes and methods, including adding sockets to items. Adding sockets to items opens up the ability to make some powerful runewords, which in turn make some of the best items in the game. In this guide, we will show you how to add sockets to items in Diablo 2 Resurrected.
Another way to socket items in Diablo 2 Resurrected is by using a specific Horadric Cube recipe. These recipes are different depending on which type of item you want to roll sockets on, and the number of sockets is random. The recipes also only work on white or gray (normal) items.
The Horadric Cube is one of the most powerful tools available to your character, allowing you to craft items, upgrade runes and gems, socket items, and much more with the press of its Transmute button. It can be held on your person for a nifty inventory slot upgrade, or it can be held in your stash; wherever you decide to keep it, it will work in the same way.
Uptiering an item increases its base statistics and maximum sockets but also increases requirements. These recipes cannot create Sacred items.This recipe works for tiered items of all qualities. If the item is unique, its stats will be upgraded to match the next tier on the Tiered Uniques page.
Warning! This recipe will not go over the max natural sockets an item can have. Lower tier items have a lower socket count. Excess jewels are wasted. You also cannot add more sockets to an item that already has some.
During those dark days the holy shrines in the cathedral's catacombs offered salvation to some adventurers and damnation to others; removed from their sockets, the enchanted crosses cannot permanently affect humans anymore, but their divine powers canbe applied to items.
Use a shrine to turn any sacred item into a powerful crafted item. The crafted item comes with several random rare modifiers and additional preset modifiers based on shrine type. The preset modifiers may stack with the rare modifiers, creating some very powerful items. 2ff7e9595c
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