Grief Rune Word

Grief is the rune word  for swords or axes in Diablo II: Lord of Destruction''.

Grief might seem odd at first, as it has no +% damage modifier, but in actuality, the pure damage component acts largely as if it was added to weapon damage directly. However, this does not show on the character screen, so actual damage is much higher than what is normally displayed (it is not uncommon for a character to have over 1000% added damage total from equipment and auras).

Furthermore, as the extra damage is a flat increase as opposed to a percentage increase, Grief can be made in a very fast low damage weapon such as a Phase Blade to great effect. When made in a fast-swinging weapon, Grief is one of the best weapons in the game in terms of physical damage per second.

Lastly, the very same damage modifier is also one of the few that work with Smite, making it popular with certain Paladin builds utilizing this skill.

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