Venom

Venom is a weapon runeword in Diablo 2 Resurrected created with Tal + Dol + Mal in any 3-socket weapon. Designed around poison damage and defensive utility, it's one of the least-used runewords in the game due to poor cost-to-benefit ratio and being outclassed by superior alternatives.

Poison-Focused Stats

Venom provides +273 poison damage over 6 seconds, prevent monster heal, and hit causes monster to flee 25%. It also grants ignore target's defense, 7% mana stolen per hit, and charges of level 15 Poison Explosion and level 13 Poison Nova. The concept is interesting—poison enemies, prevent healing, make them flee—but the execution falls short.

Fatal Flaws

Venom lacks critical offensive stats like enhanced damage or increased attack speed, making it unsuitable for physical builds. The poison damage, while decent, is overshadowed by the Assassin skill Venom or builds using Plague runeword. The flee mechanic is actively detrimental, scattering enemies and slowing down clear speed. For a Mal rune investment—a valuable mid-tier rune—the returns are abysmal.

Limited Applications

The only niche use is on bows for ranged poison builds where the flee mechanic becomes more manageable, or extremely early Poison Dagger Necromancers. Even then, Plague offers vastly superior poison damage and utility. Most players skip Venom entirely, saving their Mal rune for upgrading items or better runewords.