Information about the Fading Essence and Runes Merchant in Diablo Immortal, including where to find the Fading Essence and Runes Merchant and details about the services the Fading Essence and Runes Merchant provides. Information about Fading Essences and Runes.

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The Fading Essence and Rune Merchant can be found near the Elder Rift Entrance in Westmarch.

Where to Find the Fading Essence and Runes Merchant¶

You’ll find Cellik - the Fading Essence and Runes Merchant - in Westmarch, standing near the raised platform that holds the entrances to Elder Rifts and Challenge Rifts. This places him advantageously near Jondo Mouren, the Crests Merchant, whose wares can be used to open Elder Rifts, and the Elder Rift Entrance, where you’ll obtain both Faded Essences and Runes, which are the two resources you’ll trade to the Fading Essence and Runes Merchant. Just complete the tutorials for the Elder Rift and the Jeweler and the Fading Essence and Runes Merchant’s services should become relevant to you.

What Does the Fading Essence and Runes Merchant Do?¶

As his name implies, the Fading Essence and Runes Merchant deals in… well, Fading Essences and Runes. Both of these resources will be earned every time you clear an Elder Rift (although Runes can only be earned if the Elder Rift was empowered with a Rare or Legendary Crest). Runes are used to either trade for other Runes, or to craft Legendary Gems (a service provided by a Jeweler). Fading Essences, on the other hand, are strictly used to trade for FA runes.

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(1 of 2) You can exchange Fading Essences for FA runes,

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You can exchange Fading Essences for FA runes, (left), which in turn can be used to gamble on Legendary Gems. (right)

Fading Essences¶

Fading Essences are consolation prizes awarded every time you clear an Elder Rift. Whether you use Rare Crests, Legendary Crests, or indeed, no crests at all, you’re still guaranteed to earn around 8x Fading Essences each run, with Crest expenditure increasing this by a trivial amount.

The sole purpose of Fading Essence is to trade to the Fading Essence and Runes Merchant for FA runes. 18x Fading Essences will earn you 1x FA rune, meaning it’ll take two Crest empowered Elder Rift runs to afford a FA rune, while it’ll take three Crestless Elder Rift runs to score enough Fading Essences to score a FA rune.

FA runes in turn can be used at the Jeweler to craft one of three random Legendary Gem recipes, including one that guarantees you a 1-Star Legendary Gem, one that guarantees you a 2-Star Legendary Gem, and one that can produce a Legendary Gem of 1, 2, or 5-Star quality. These take 7x FA runes, 28x FA runes or 22x FA runes, respectively, and are a reliable - albeit painfully slow - way to accumulate Legendary Gems without spending real money.

How slow? Let’s do some math. Every Crestless Elder Rift run earns you 8x Fading Essences, and you need 18x Fading Essences to trade in for a FA rune. To cleanup the math a bit, nine Elder Rift runs will get you 72x Fading Essences, which trade in for 4x FA runes. The “Random Legendary Gem” recipe requires 22x FA runes, so it’ll take roughly 40 Crestless Elder Rift runs to get one roll at a 1, 2 or 5-Star Legendary Gem. Assuming it takes you between two and three minutes per run, that’s an hour and a half to two hours of grinding per Legendary Gem.

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You can exchange magical and rare runes for ATI runes, which are a universal component in crafting specific Legendary Gems.

Runes¶

Runes first appeared in Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction, and have surprisingly been a fan-favorite - but poorly utilized - aspect of the Diablo series ever since. It’s unlikely their appearance in Diablo Immortal will change that trend, as their use in this game is limited to serving as components used to craft Legendary Gems. You’ll find Runes when you clear Elder Rifts empowered with either a Legendary Crest or a Rare Crest, but you can also visit the Fading Essence and Runes Merchant to obtain Runes in various ways.

The Fading Essence and Runes Merchant offers three ways to obtain Runes:

• You can expend 18x Fading Essences to obtain 1x FA rune (see above) by selecting the “Fading Embers Trade” option.

• If you pick the “Magic Runes Trade” option you can trade a dozen magic-grade runes (WEH, NIE, PYR, LUX, ORD, SYL, BOL, ENT, DRO, VOX, RAE, TYR, AUD, etc.) for one ATI rune. You can mix and match however many of these runes you wish in any configuration, as long as you fork over a dozen you’ll get your ATI rune.

• If you pick the “Rare Runes Trade” option you can trade three rare-grade runes (NOU, IMM, CIR, LAZ, ZUH, PHY, etc.) for one ATI rune. You can mix and match however many of these runes you wish in any configuration, as long as you fork over three you’ll get your ATI rune.

Different runes are required to craft different Legendary Gems, but you should note that ATI runes are a universal requirement for Legendary Rune crafting, and only 1-Star and 2-Star Legendary Gems can be directly crafted. To have a shot at 5-Star Legendary Gems, you’ll need to use the “Random Legendary Gem” recipe provided by a Jeweler, which requires 22x FA runes.