ONE IN A MILLION

 - Hallo, Cain!

 - How can I help you?

 - Winter is coming. I need a new, better armor. You are familiar with runewords. Tell me how to find runes!

 - Stay awile and listen! Runes have their own TC. Magic find doesnt matter. Chance for rune drop is as following:

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Table 1

source           average chance for drop a rune, no matter wich one

*Countess                        1,878

Sparkling chest                0,132

Super chest (locked)        0,078

Super chest                      0,059

*Summoner                      0,044

*Andariel                          0,040 (1:25)

Heph, *Nihl, Izual             0,039

Radament, *Duriel,          0,034

Meph, *Diablo, *Baal       0,030 (1:33)

Council member               0,027

Wraths, Act bosses           0,014

Cow king                           0,011

Cow                                   0,005 (1:200)

* May be lower after 1.11, because of keys and essences has been added

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 - So what? I need to collect and upgrade?

 - Collecting and upgrading any of the lower runes is bad idea. You needs 3,486,784,401 El runes to make a Pul and 14,281,868,906,496 El to make a Zod. In europebattle.net server those numbers are much lower. But its still wasting of time.

 - Yeah, this is crazy! How exactly I can increase my chances for high runes?

 - In general more kills - more runes. Go to a place with many monsters and just kill them all. A few monster types (Wraiths, Finger Mages, Vulture Demons, Willowisps, and the Swarm) have higher odds of dropping runes because they can not drop armor or weapons.

 - What about Boss-monsters?

 - Depends of what do you looking for. The countess always drops runes, often more than one. But for high runes you have to aim higher. Best chance for high runes and best places for rune hunting:

Runes El-Ist - Countess.

Runes Gul-Lo - All the quest and act bosses like Countess, Summoner, Radament, Hephasto, Izual, Nihlatak, Andy, Duriel, Meph, Diablo, Baal

Runes Sur-Zod as following:

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Table 2

Monster (8 players)        Zod          Cham          Jah           Ber             Sur

Cow                              0,000006      0,00002     0,00003    0,00004     0,00006

Cow King                       0,00001      0,00005     0,00007    0,00009     0,00013

Act4, Act5 SuperUniq   0,00002      0,00006     0,00009    0,00010     0,00015

13 Area bosses (lord de seis, Pindle, Shenk, Eldrich, Tresh, Frozenstein, Bonesaw etc)

Radament, Duriel              0                  0                  0         0,00025     0,00037

Coucil members                0             0,00011      0,00017    0,00020     0,00030

Mepfisto                             0             0,00013      0,00019    0,00022     0,00033

Diablo, Baal                    0,00004      0,00013      0,00019    0,00022     0,00033

Izual                                     0             0,00017      0,00025    0,00029     0,00044

Hephasto, Nihlatak        0,00005      0,00017      0,00025    0,00029     0,00044

Act 5 Super chests         0,00171      0,00258      0,00301    0,00451     0,00526

 - So, listen carefuly, Mizan:

We can calculate the chance specific monster to drop specific rune, using simple formula 1/(CT1*CT2)

CT1 is Chance from Table 1 specific monster to drop any rune

CT2 is chance from table 2 the same monster drop specific rune

For example: chance for Ber from Baal is 1/(0.03 x 0,00022) = 1:15 152

 - Sir, chance for Zod from Cow: 1/(0.005 x 0,000006) = 1:33 333 333. We have to kill over 33 milion cows for a single Zod. But chance for Cham rune from Cow is 1/(0,005*0,00002) = 1: 10 000 000. Zod= 2xCham =  only 20 milion cows for Zod, hahaha

 - Im disappointed. Is this the only way, Cain?

As you can see Chests (this includes barrels, hidden stashes, etc) are an excellent source of items, including runes. The highest possible runes from chests are...

Act 1 Hell: Gul/Vex

Act 2 Hell: Ohm/Lo

Act 3 Hell: Sur/Ber

Act 4 Hell: Jah/Cham

Act 5 Hell: Zod

- I've told you, boss! Always keep some keys in inventory and hit the rocks!

 - Pay attention: Chance of non-locked chest to drop nothing at all in game with 1 player is 43%. In game with 3 or 4 players is 30%. 7-8 player 25% chance to no-drop. So, more players -> more drop -> more runes

Locked chests usualy have double drop i.e. higher chance for rune drop. The chance is even higher in super chests and sparkling chests.

 - Interesting, opening Super- and Sparkling chests in full game is nice and safe strategy for high rune hunting, without engage any monsters. Where I can find super chests?

 - There are many possibilities: Cave L2, Underground Passage L2, Pit L2, Mausoleum, Crypt, Stony Tombs L2, Ancient Tunnels, Icy Cellar, all 3 red portals in the outer areas of Act 5, Glacial Trail, Great Marsh, Flayer Jungle, the Maggot Lair, at the end of the false paths in Arcane's, in the false Tal Rasha Tombs, center chest behind Mephisto, easy and popular Kurast super chests etc.

Lets use your formula:  1/(0,132*0,00171) = 1:1828. You have to open 1828 sparkling chests in act 5 Hell in 8-palyers game for a Zod. It may drop for first hit, or not drop at all. Pure luck! But the chance is much higher.

 - Thank you, Cain! Good bye! Are you ready, Mizan? We are going to Secret cow level. There is a lot of chests and cows.

 - Sir, I will level up soon. Do you have a present for me? I would be verry happy if I had Infinity...

 - You chance is one in a million