Diablo 5 Items: Runewords, Sets and Inventory

“Itemization in Diablo V is inspired by Diablo II,” Blizzard writes. Items should be readable, memorable and worth chasing across hundreds of hours. Senior game director Joe Shely names the “crunchiness” of Diablo II as an inspiration – the granular detail that many core ARPG players love. That is where stat requirements, item tiers, the belt slot and multi-slot items come from.

Diablo II is not the only source, though: executive producer Matt Zitterman stresses that the team also pulls ideas from Diablo IV and Diablo III. Blizzard names depth, clarity and identity as the pillars. For a side-by-side look, see Diablo 5 vs Diablo 4.

Diablo II-style runes and runewords are part of a crafting system Blizzard calls “rich and deep.” It is inspired by the approach of Lord of Hatred, the Diablo IV expansion. For comparison: in Diablo II you placed runes into socketed items, and in the right order they formed a runeword with its own bonuses. Whether Diablo V works the same way has not been confirmed.

Which runes exist, how they drop and how runewords are formed has not been shown (as of October 19, 2026).

Gear-based sets are back too. On the panel, Shely said: “We love what the Talisman did in Lord of Hatred, but we want to attach that set concept to gear again.” Sets should increase the number of viable builds rather than reduce it. The belt helps visually: according to Shely, it lets the team design gear sets that look more cohesive between chest armor and pants.

Blizzard has not revealed any specific sets, pieces or bonuses yet.

The inventory becomes a grid again: larger items take up more squares, as in Diablo II. The panel image shows bows and a sword standing upright across several squares, for example. Controller players should get good solutions for moving such items, according to the team.

The belt slot is new compared with Diablo IV. Shely keeps the reasoning short: “the belt slot is generally a more exciting slot than the pants slot.” Whether a pants slot remains, how big the inventory is and what the stash looks like has not been announced.

Blizzard is experimenting with stat requirements: some gear might require certain attributes. The panel showed an example, explicitly labeled “In development content — not final.” A Tier 3 magic spear requires 60 Dexterity, and a Tier 5 rare shield requires 119 Strength and 68 Intelligence. One affix on the shield reduces requirements by 15 percent.

The number next to the rarity is the item tier. According to the panel, items start simple and then grow with you, similar to Diablo II. All values in the image are in-development content, not final.

To keep loot manageable, the loot filter comes over from Diablo IV: Shely listed it among the features the team is carrying forward. How detailed it will be is still open.

As of October 19, 2026, no developer has said anything about player trading. Whether there will be trading, an auction house or bound items has not been announced. On the rumors page, we check claims that trading has been confirmed; for group play, see multiplayer.