Rune Word: Flickering Flame (2024)

Last updated on Mar 07, 2022 at 15:26by Azariah10 comments

This page covers the Rune Word Flickering Flame in Diablo 2 Resurrected andprovides information on the Runes needed, Bonuses it gives, Base Items to use,and Builds to use it with. It requires Patch 2.4 or later.

The Rune Word Flickering Flame requires three runes, Nef Rune, Pul Rune,and Vex Rune placed in that order. Vex is the highestlevel rune required, making this Rune Word usable by Players from Level 55.

The table below shows which area the required runes start dropping fromnormal monsters and containers, any quests, and the Countess Rune drop. TheCountess is found on Level 5 of the Forgotten Tower in the Black Marsh.

• Nef - Act 2 Normal, Normal Hellforge, Countess in all difficulties;
• Pul - Act 4 Nightmare, Nightmare & Hell Hellforge, Countess in Hell;
• Vex - Act 1 Hell.

Vex runes cannot drop from the Hellforge quest in Hell, as the highest rune itcan give is Gul Rune with a 1 in 11 chance. Two Gul runes can be upgradedto the required Vex Rune using the Horadric Cube. Being able to drop a Pul rune(with a 1 in 11 chance) in both Nightmare and Hell difficulty, and the chance ofa Gul rune makes the Hellforge quest very useful for getting the runes forFlickering Flame.

For more information about finding and farming Runes, you can refer to ourRune Finding guide using the link below.

We have a video created by MrLlamaSC discussing the new Rune Word FlickeringFlame.

Like all Rune Words, Flickering Flame gives additional bonuses to the onesgranted by the Runes used to make it. These are all the bonuses Flickering Flamegives.

• Level 8 Resist Fire Aura When Equipped - This bonus gives+106% Fire Resist to the player, and all party members and pets. Currentlydoes not appear to grant the +8% to Maximum Fire Resist that this Skill givesa Paladin using it;
• +3 to Fire Skills - Works for Fire Skills of any Class, giving a big boost to any Fire Skills;
• -13% to Enemy Fire Resistance - Makes monsters take additionaldamage from Fire. Only effects Fire damage done by the wearer, not allies,pets, or traps, although does work with Hydra. Does not work on FireImmune monsters, but if the immunity is broken by another effect like Conviction or Lower Resist, then it will reduce the resistancefurther;
• +%30 Enhanced Defense - Increases the Defense value of the base item. Not a large increase, but still helpful;
• +30 Defense vs Missile - Small increase to Defense against missles, not really important;
• +88 Mana - Increases Mana total and regeneration rate, especially useful when using skills with high mana costs;
• +5% to Maximum Fire Resist - Can increase Fire Resistance abovethe normal 75% limit, but cannot increase it beyond 95%. Stacks with the samebonus from other Skills or Items;
• Half Freeze Duration - Good defensive bonus, halving the time of slowing effects of cold damage to the wearer;
• Poison Length Reduced to 50% - Halves the time poison effectslast. As it does not change the rate poison damage is applied, it also halvesthe total damage applied by the poison attack. For example 100 poison damageover 4 seconds would be modified to 50 damage over 2 seconds.

The most important bonuses on this Rune Word are +3 Fire Skills and-13% Enemy Fire Resistance. Both provide a significant damage boost to Firebased skills. The +5% to Maximum Fire Resist is a very strong defensive bonusand there are only a few options for increasing maximum resistance. Reaching the95% Fire Resist limit can make even the strongest fire attacks easy to survive.

The huge fire resist is very helpful, and party friendly. The Rune WordSpirit made in a shield is a good choice for many Spell casting builds, and hasgood resists, but no Fire Resist, making this particularly useful for buildsusing a Spirit shield.

Flickering Flame can be made in any grey 3 socket Helm, including BarbarianHelms and Druid Pelts. As it provides only a small Enhanced Defense Bonus, thedefense value of the Helm used is not very important.

Barbarian Helms and Druid Pelts can have a +1-3 bonus to up to 3 differentskills, making them a good option if used with those Classes. Checking BarbarianHelms and Druid Pelts that drop for useful skills is recommended.

If a white Barbarian Helm or Druid Pelt drops that has useful skills but nosockets, the Horadric Cube recipe Ral Rune + Thul Rune + PerfectSapphire can be used to add 1-3 sockets, and has a 4 in 6 chance of givingthe 3 sockets required. Using the quest reward from Larzuk in Act 5 forcompleting Siege on Harrogath will also give 3 sockets for Druid Pelts found inAct4 Normal Difficulty and later.

Flickering Flame is usable from Level 55. For builds focusing on Fire damage,it is recommended up to the highest character Levels. The combination of gooddamage boost and strong defensive bonuses make it a good choice for many builds.Builds who are less focused on Fire Damage may wish to consider a Helm thatgives +2 to All skills, giving a slightly weaker Fire damage in return forstronger alternative skills.

The Fire Druid is a build thatcan get the most from Flickering Flame. A Druid Pelt with +3 to the skill Fissureand Volcano would make a very effective helm, giving +6 to the main skills ofthis build. Along with the enemy resistance reduction this will give a hugedamage increase. Highly recommended.

The Fireball SorceressBuild or Meteor / Frozen OrbSorceress (Meteor) Build will both do very well with this Helm. A RangedEnchantress would get a large increase to fire damage with Flickering Flame.The Enchantress Sorceresscould get good use from it, but should switch to Dream whenavailable.

Flickering Flame could be a good option for an Amazon build using Exploding Arrow or Immolation Arrow. Paladins using the Holy FireAura would also find this helm effective, but melee damage bonus Helms like Guillaume's Face would be more effective, and much easier to get.

Although Fire Trap Assassins would not get benefit from the Enemy Fire Resistreduction for the Wake of Fire or Wake of Inferno traps, it would apply to theFire Blast skill, and all of these skills would benefit from the +3 Fire Skills.

Act 1 Rogue Scout Mercenaries using Fire Skills could find Flickering Flamehelpful, giving a good damage increase. Act 3 Iron Wolf Mercenaries using FireSkills would also get a good damage increase from Flickering Flame. Both theseMercenaries are not often recommended, as they are usually less effective thanthe Aura giving Act 2 Mercenaries. It is not recommended to using a Vex Rune forthis, but could be an option if you already have a Flickering Flame not in use.