To craft this runeword, you will need a 4-socket shield (a Paladin shield, or a Monarch, Aegis or Ward) and the runes Tal + Thul + Ort + Amn. The low stat requirements of the Broad Sword and Crystal Sword make them ideal candidates.

Arguably the best starter runeword in the game, Spirit requires fairly common runes (you could easily have all these by the end of Normal mode without even trying to farm them) and gives tremendous stat boosts, including +2 To All Skills, +Faster Cast Rate, +Vitality, +Mana and +Resistance bonuses to Cold/Lightning/Poison. There are no other shields that bestow +2 To All Skills, and none of the other shields that provide +Cast Rate can reach 35% like Spirit, making it proper end-game armor for some caster builds.

Unlike the weapon variant, there’s a complication. 4-socket shields themselves are fairly limited, only appearing on Paladin shields (easily obtained throughout the game) and the Monarch, Aegis and Ward shields, all of which are elite, high-level shields with relatively high Strength requirements. For this reason, any character save Paladins probably won’t be getting a Spirit shield until they can properly find and wear the base shield, which will start dropping roughly around Act 3 in Hell difficulty. It also may take some luck to find a 4-socket shield; just keep an eye out for normal Monarchs - if you get a 4-socketed specimen to drop, great!, if not, you can try to add sockets to a normal version via Larzuk’s quest reward or via the Horadric Cube.

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While hefty, there’s arguably nothing better for many casters to hold in their off-hand than a Spirit Monarch.

Spirit (TalThulOrtAmn)¶

Spirit Stats

• +2 To All Skills
• +25-35% Faster Cast Rate (variable)
• +55% Faster Hit Recovery
• +250 Defense vs. Missiles
• +22 To Vitality
• +89-112 To Mana (variable)
• Cold Resist +35%
• Lightning Resist +35%
• Poison Resist +35%
• +3-8 Magic Absorb (variable)
• Attacker Takes Damage of 14