In-Depth Diablo II: Resurrected Gold and Trading Guide

In every MMORPG, it’s critical to understand how the economy works in order for you to take full advantage of your MF spoils and get the most value out of your farming. That’s why I wrote this guide to the economy of Diablo II: Resurrected. Games generally have a staple currency referred to as “Gold”. Some games decide to be special snowflakes and come up with their own name such as “Gil” in the Final Fantasy world, but Gold is the most understood name for currency no matter what universe the game is set in.

At the end of the day when people gather, whether in real-life or in-game, some form of currency needs to be established in order to create a framework that facilitates transactions. It’s important for a game to establish a stable economy so that the players feel like they are grinding for a worthy cause. Naturally, the stronger a certain item makes your character, the more value it holds over comparatively weaker items. Currency doesn’t always necessarily mean Gold, items that become staples within an in-game economy also serve the same purpose.

Back in the classic Diablo II days, an established form of currency was the Stone of Jordan ring. There were enough generated via drops for it to be used in this way. The ring had intrinsic value as the stats it gave were very useful, which made it a solid and stable medium of exchange. As the game grew and developed other forms of currency began to pop up as well, including poison damage small charms. I remember at one time filling up my entire stash with 40 Stone of Jordans in order to buy a Windforce bow.

Currently in Diablo II Resurrected, the majority of players play Holy Hammer Paladins or Blizzard Sorceresses, which makes poison damage charms not very desirable. As for the Stone of Jordan, not enough have been generated through drops for it to have become a form of currency yet. Taken alongside the fact that players are still hunting for Stone of Jordan rings to use in their builds, the trading market for the item is different than it was in classic Diablo II.

For now, as of October 2021, the Ist Rune has taken shape as the most commonly used form of currency. Ist is desirable for any class and build, as provides MF if socketed into gear. It is also used as in the recipe for various Runewords making it the perfect medium of trade in the Diablo II Resurrected economy at the moment.

TIP: Are you a new player and can’t kill all the Hell bosses yet? I’d recommend doing Countess runs. Killing her will get you runes, and you will be able to roll 2 ~ 3 (depending on the rune) to get to the higher tier runes, until you have a sizeable collection of Ist runes.

It’s important to note that just because a rune is HIGHER in tier doesn’t mean the value is going to be higher as well. Rare runes such as Cham and Zod are not nearly as valuable as a Gul, or Sur, or Jah which are lower in tier, but up to 10x more valuable. This is because Cham and Zod, however rare, are undesirable as they aren’t used for many popular rune words such as Enigma, Infinity, Heart of the Oak, and others essential in popular builds.

A valuable item, that can be used for trading purposes, needs to be simple (take up small amounts of space in inventory stash), relatively rare, and desirable on its own as a viable item outside of trading. I will update you once I see any other hot items start to take shape in the market.

Tip: I predict that the poison damage small charms will eventually become a sought-after commodity as more melee/physical damage builds such as Zealadin or Whirlwind Barbarians become more popular population.