Malice: Weapon Rune Word - Diablo 2
Malice is the second lowest level Weapon Rune Word available to players in the game. The only Rune Word that is even lower level is Steel, however that only works in weapons with 2 Open Sockets. Malice is a popular choice for many new melee since it provides you with a very nice weapon early on for 3 very easy to obtain Rune Words.
I'd recommend you do some Countess Runs early on if you'd like to quickly farm up the Runes for this weapon. On Normal difficulty The Countess will drop all three of the required Runes to make this weapon if you're patient enough; to speed the process up you could try combining some of the lower level Runes into higher level ones. Check out my Horadric Cube High Rune Recipes page for more information.
Keep in mind that all Rune Words you create will retain any pre-existing bonuses found on the item. If you find a 'Superior' piece of armor with +Enhanced Defense, a Superior Weapon with +Enhanced Damage or a Helm/Weapon that has +Skill bonuses for a certain class, all of these will remain on the final Rune Word that is created. It's also possible to 'ebug' a piece of Ethereal Armor that you find which will increase the Defense bonuses by 50%, check out my Ebugging Guide for more information.
Farming High Runes: Out of all locations in the game one stands above the rest for farming specifically High Runes, the Countess during Act 1. The Countess has a guaranteed chance to always drop a High Rune and can even drop more than one. Check out my The Countess Farming Guide for more information.
Required Runes:
Level Req: 15
Other Req: N/A
Slots: All Melee Weapons
+33% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Maximum Damage
-25% Target Defense
+50 to Attack Rating
100% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
-100 to Monster Defense Per Hit
Drain Life -5
