The following guide summarizes every budget D2R Hammer, Polearm, Scepter, Spear and Staff. You can buy D2R items from Rpgstash including all the budget items listed in this guide.
Hammers
Normal Hammers
Bonesnap – At level 24 once you can equip it, it will prove to be a very powerful weapon for late normal and even nightmare with 40% Crushing Blow and good damage but is slow and later on will be easily outclassed by other cheap options.
Steeldriver – A very nice starter weapon for a melee werewolf druid at lvl29 with requirements -50% and 40% increased attack speed combined with Druid innate speed bonus with mace weapons and high base damage
Exceptional Hammers
The Gavel of Pain – Nice mid game option for a melee physical Druid build with high damage and 5% chance to cast lvl1 Amplify Damage on striking and only 3 charges of level 8 Amplify Damage
Elite Hammers
Earthshifter – Niche Druid weapon mostly since it’s very impractical for an Elemental Druid to get 253 Strength even with the luxury of using Enigma, although for those not looking for perfection by maxing synergies for the fissure procs and utilizing Werewolf form to make use of the very high physical damage one could play a fun yet niche physical/fire werewolf build
The Cranium Basher – Mostly viable on fury Druids it is unpopular due to the very high lvl87 requirement and 253 Strength, it’s actually quite rare and not so budget but at least you wouldn’t have to upgrade it. An ethereal version would be worth a Zod probably since it would be extremely powerful and rare but there are better overall options among the runewords by really wanting it since it’s very slow for all classes other than Druid
Polearms
Exceptional Polearms
Athena’s Wrath – Druid focused weapon with +1-3 to Druid Skills, +15 Dexterity, +1-99 Life based on clvl, 30% ias, +1-99 max damage based on clvl and 150-180% damage which makes it a viable leveling option while leveling a physical shapeshifting Druid at level 42
Pierre Tombale Couant – A good leveling weapon for a Whirlwind Barbarian with +3 Barbarian Skills, 6% mana leech, adds 12-20 damage, 160-220% enhanced damage, +100-200 attack rating, 30% faster hit recovery and an impressive 55% deadly strike.
Elite Polearms
Bonehew -Relatively common yet potentially good and high damage weapon with 270-330% enhanced damage, 30 charges of level 14 Corpse Explosion (can be a very strong niche option for builds lacking AoE potential in an high density scenario), prevent monster heal, 30%ias and a 50% chance to cast level 16 Bone spear on striking plus 2 sockets to further customize it towards utilities, speed, damage or both.
The Reaper’s Toll – Extremely popular merc option, most notably for physical builds not in need of an Insight or Infinity mercenary due to the high chance to cast level 1 Decrepify on striking, 33% deadly strike, -25% requirements, ignores target’s defense, 4-44 cold damage and 11-15% life stolen per hit which highly improves the mercenary overall survivability, as Decrepify not only does increase physical amount of damage taken by enemies but also decrease the damage they deal and slow them, while ignores defense makes sure that he’ll land those hits against all minions and normal enemies while being pretty fast cause the base is a Thresher, which translates into even more passive healing from life stolen per hit
Tomb Reaver – Another not so cheap special mention, as you could find it cheap only non ethereal and with low rolls perhaps, but still it’s worth mentioning that this Unique Cryptic Axe in its Ethereal version is very sought after but also extremely rare to find, being a treasure class 87 item and also having a required clvl of 84. If you manage to drop a non ethereal one or get one for cheap, it is a decent mercenary weapon too if you don’t need Infinity or Insight, +30-50% All Resistances on the weapon makes it easy for him to cap resistances while wearing a Guardian Angel for example and a Tal Rasha Mask to stay at 90% capped elemental resistances, 60% ias is amazing for Druids and WW Barbarians, the 180-230% extra damage to undead is also great, while by itself can roll between 200 and 280% enhanced damage, with +10-14 life per kill and +50-80 magic find too. Finally can spawn with 1-3 sockets to make getting a very good one even harder, but a 3os eth Tomb Reaver is considered among the rarest Uniques trophy you could possibly find, and for good reasons since it can reach insane amounts of damage or utilities by having 3 open sockets (or 2 if Eth cause one would be for Zod)
Scepters
All scepters have native +50% damage to Undead mod on them.
Normal Scepters
Knell Striker – Early good option for a Zealot or Smiter from lvl5 with 25% Crushing Blow, +20% poison and fire resist, +15 mana
Exceptional Scepters
Hand of Blessed Light – Great leveling option for FoH Paladin at level 42 although the Strength requirement is a bit high for a pure caster FoH type, has +2 Paladin skills, +2 Fists of the Heaven, +4 to Holy Bolt
Elite Scepters
Heaven’s Light – One of the best budget Smiter weapons early on to kill Ubers with paladin, thanks to 33% Crushing Blow, +20% ias, +2-3 Paladin skills, +18-20 life after demon kill, -33% target defense and decent enhanced damage values. It also comes with 1-2 sockets to further customize it
Spears
Exceptional Spears
Hone Sundan – Amazing lvl37 spear with 45% Crushing Blow, adds 20-40 damage, 160-200% enhanced damage, auto-repair mod and 3 Sockets that further improves it to the point that an Ethereal Hone Sundan might even be worth the runes to upgrade it, as it can be an excellent mercenary weapon as well
Kelpie Snare – Very popular and powerful lvl33 weapon for Act Boss kills due to good damage, +1.25-125 life based on clvl, +50% fire resist, +10 Strength, adds 30-50 damage, 140-180% enhanced damage and most importantly Slows target by a huge 75%, the most powerful slow effect in the game we can find on a weapon
Staves
Exceptional Staves
Ribcracker – Popular choice often used and upgraded by Whirlwind Barbarians but not only them, this weapon has 50% Crushing Blow, 50% ias, 50% fhr, 100% enhanced defense, 2-300% enhanced damage, adds 30-65 damage and +15 Dexterity plus +50% damage to Undead for being a Staff
Warpspear – If you find it, can be useful while you don’t have a Memory runeword good staff to precast Energy Shield or to teleport around, pretty niche though
