How do you recover socketed gems/runes from an item?
So I tried to create a Stealth armor in a ladder game on ladder/normal, I inserted the runes in the correct order (So it says TalEth) and the body armor has only 2 slots.
However, it just didn't convert to Stealth! Could you tell me why?
If it helps, I am playing Druid and when I inserted the runes I didn't have enough strength to wear it.
Actually what I am more interested in is, I know there is a horadric recipe to get the armor free of the inserted runes/gems, but is there a way to destroy the armor and get the runes out?!
Side question is, I saw the recipe for Stealth on many many websites. If you are going to answer "no it doesn't work in ladder" or "no it requires this and that", how would I know this? How would I be sure when I later use a recipe with much higher runes it just wouldn't mess up and I wouldn't lose my precious runes?
Solution 1:
In addition to the answers given, I want to highlight this from Arreat Summit because it might apply to your case:
Again, they will not work on Magic, Set, Unique or Rare items. So if you have a Mechanic's (or Jewelers item) piece of armor with 2 slots, the Stealth will not work on it because it's magical.
There are regular socketed items which are non-magical. However, there are also items that have sockets because they have these prefixes:
- Mechanic's - Add 1-2 Sockets
- Artisan's - Add 3 Sockets
- Jeweler's - Add 4 Sockets
These items are magical. They are not "socketed items"; they have sockets due to their magic prefix. Rune words will not work on them.
Solution 2:
Using the Horadric Cube, any socketed item + a Hel Rune + Scroll of Town Portal = All sockets cleared. There is no recipe to destroy the socketed item and recover the gem/runes.
Are you sure you used a "White" body armor with only two slots? You can not insert Runewords into Magic/Rare/Set/Unique quality items. You can certainly put the same runes in those items for the individual rune effects, but the Runeword bonuses won't be present.
I would check the Arreat Summit, the official source for Diablo 2 Information for additional help. The page I linked has information about Runewords, as well as a list of the ones that don't work/work on ladder. Stealth is one of the original Runewords, so that should work on either mode.
Solution 3:
From the information you have provided, the runeword should have succeeded. The only thing that I can think of is that if the armor was magical in anyway prior to runes being placed, it would have caused it not work. Without more information it is unlikely to know why it didn't work for sure.
As to getting the runes out, no. There is no way to 'reclaim' runes from any socketed item, even at the cost of the item. This is an excerpt from DiabloWiki
Once a rune is placed into an item, it is impossible to get it back, so it is best to make sure the runes are placed in the right order, and the right weapon/armor class is used.
Lastly, the best way to protect yourself from losing your precious time in the form of high level runes is to research online and perform the process of actually socketing the runes slowly and carefully. I like DiabloWiki for its breadth of information and detail, but it's not the only place to get quality information.
Have fun!