Diablo 4's Vessel of Hatred will allow barbarians to teleport just like loud, massively muscular sorcerers.

Diablo 4 runewords will allow sorcerers to teleport on the screen. Barbarians will not be the only ones to shout so loudly that their skin turns into iron. Stealth? Stealth is not just for rogues any more. Runewords are a way to break the rules in Sanctuary, and they will be available with the Vessels of Hatred expansion coming out in October.

Since Diablo 1, Runewords were present in the series. In Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, they have been simplified. Runes, a new item type that monsters drop (or that players trade), let you create your own skills. Invocation runes use offering to trigger unique skills. Ritual runes are used to build up a resource called offering.

Take, for example, a legendary Yul-Jah rune. You can put both runes in a piece to form a runeword. You gain an offering every time you use a skill that has a cooldown. Once you have enough, you can turn your evade into a sorcerer’s teleport by using the Jah rune.

There are many more combinations. A Cem build offers evading, and an Ur build activates when one of your minions defeats a monster. Runewords can be used to benefit every build in Diablo 4, and they will change the way you play your character.

Here are some examples of the types of runes that you can find.

• Zan ritual rune - gain an offering each time you use your ultimate ability
• Yax ritual rune - gain an offering each time you use a potent healing
• Lith rune: Gain offering every time you stop for 0.3 seconds
• Thul invocation Rune: Casts Sorcerer’s frost Nova, freezing enemies and leaving them vulnerable
• Rune of Vex invocation: +3 to all Skills for 5 seconds
• Que invocation rune : Casts druid’s petrify to stun enemies and increase your critical strike damage

You can only use the same rune once. You can trade extra runes with other players or use them to create better runes. If you have enough of the same kind, you can even turn them into a mythic unique.

Runewords are only available if you have Vessel of Hatred. This is unlike Diablo 4’s new mercenaries or Dark Citadel coo-op dungeon. They'll also fit in nicely with Diablo 4's newly reworked progression system, which Blizzard revealed today. The level cap is going to be lower, powerful loot drops will happen earlier, and you can now choose a higher difficulty setting. When the expansion launches in October, we'll be playing a totally different Diablo 4, and I'm prepared for it.

You'll also be able to test out runewords as part of a limited Diablo 4 PTR playtest starting next week.