This is a full game guide for Diablo 2: Resurrected, please take your time reading each section. There is a lot of important information in this amazing game.
Updates: 12/4: New Section #22. Map Reading Quick Guide (Credit: Rain) 12/6: New Section #24. Gearing Guides for Melee, Casters and Mercenaries
12/16: New Section #23. Ways to Kill Immune Mobs
1. You Only Get 1 Skill Respec Per Difficulty for completing the Den of Evil quest. After that the only way to respec is to farm the Act bosses in Hell difficulty to create respec Token of Absolution's by combining the four types of Essences in the Horadric Cube.
Death Warning #1:When you die you leave your "body" behind with all of your equipped gear and must run back to where you died to get it back. Death Warning #2: Or you can exit and rejoin the game and the body with the highest remaining gold value will appear in town to be picked up, but all other bodies will disappear. This is a common way people permanently lose items. If you die once and can't easily get your 1st body, immediately leave or get help.
Using Skill Points in Diablo 2:(Check #24 for Gearing options for all classes)
1. You can max out each skill with 20 points, although bonuses to skills from gear pushes this beyond 20.
2. Only focus on maxing out 1-2 main attack skills and their synergies or else your skills will become too weak later on.
3. There are quite a few weak and mediocre skills in Diablo 2 so choose very carefully or you may have to re-create your character if you've already used your first Den of Evil Respec.
How Difficulty works in D2R:
1. In Diablo 2 you start out in Act One Normal, you cannot change this until completing each difficulty. You have to defeat the act bosses to progress up to Act 5 Baal. Once you kill him you progress to "Nightmare". Then you can make Normal and Nightmare games.
2. The game will play the same in Nightmare but the loot table opens up to much better item drops/Affixes, every mob has exponentially higher life + damage, you get a -40% debuff to all resistances and some monsters start to be completely immune to certain types like Fire Immune or Lightning Immune.
3. You then Defeat Baal in nightmare to progress to Hell. Hell mode opens up the entire loot table in lvl 85 areas, it gives you a -100% debuff to all resistances and MANY monsters will be immune to certain types of spells and some will even have double immunities. (yikes!) Note: Type /playersX (x=1 to 8) to artificially boost difficulty and item drops in Single Player only[Check #13]
"Why Am I leveling slow?"
For MAXIMUM experience from monsters: lvl 1-11: Act One lvl 12-18: Act Two lvl 19-23: Act Three lvl 24-31: Act Four lvl 32-36: Act Five lvl 37-43: Act One, Nightmare lvl 44-48: Act Two, Nightmare lvl 49-52: Act Three, Nightmare lvl 53-62: Act Four, Nightmare lvl 63-73: Act One, Hell lvl 74-80: Act Two, Hell lvl 81-83: Act Three, Hell lvl 83-94: Act Four, Hell lvl 95-99: Act Five, Hell
2. Put Most Stat points Into Vitality For All Characters
2. You need to put most stat points intoVitality or else you'll die very easily.
-You can put 15-20 points into Energy in the beginning to help with spells/skills, but not too much. Using mana pots is the way.
-Typically only put enough points into Strength/Dexterity to wear gear.
-Dexterity does increase attack rating for physical attacks, but don't stack it needlessly high and cripple your life. 95% chance to hit is max.
-Vitality also increases stamina which allows you to run longer. (When running your defense automatically becomes zero)
-Buy stamina potions to restore stamina to full and gain unlimited for 30 seconds per potion. (effects stack) Dexterity for Blocking: at higher levels with better shields you can respec your attribute points to increase dexterity to increase your block chance up to a max of 75%. But only put enough for max block and minimum strength for gear and then the rest in Vitality again.
3. Your Inventory Space is Very Limited
3. Your Inventory Space is Very Limited so you'll need to make frequent trips to town to sell and/or put items in your stash. WARNING: when you die you not only drop your equipped gear but you also drop your equipped gold and suffer a percent loss.
Gold & Inventory Tips:
-Put gold in any shared tab so it doesn't suffers a penalty loss on Death
-Pick up things like Throwing Knives and items with +skills to sell
-Use The Shared Stash To Transfer Items & Gold to other characters and store all your GG items. If you run out of space create a random class to store more. Name them something like "UniqueMule" or "GemMule" inline with what you give them to hold.
-Buy The Tome of Town Portal & Tome of Identify and keep them both on you for quick identifying and trips to town. They hold up to 20 scrolls each. (Refill Tomes in one click by holding shift when purchasing)
-Always Pick up Charms, Gems & Jewels to socket them into weapons and armor for early boosts and keep lots in your stash for Crafting & Transmuting (See #7 for Cube Recipes)
-Always pick up runes to socket into gear and create Runewords. (The games most powerful gear, see #9)
4. Get a beltand Always Keep it Stacked With Mana, Health &/or Rejuvenation potions. Using them is part of the game. Use Rejuvenation potions to heal life & mana instantly.
Belt Tips:
-Refill belt in one-click by holding shift when purchasing.
-Upgrade to a higher tier belt for more potion slots!(max 16 slots: Sash/Light Belt (8) Belt/Heavy belt (12) Plated belt (16))
-Heal your mercenary or give them Thawing/Antidote potions by holding Shift + 1 2 3 4 to the corresponding potions on your belt. (or drag & drop)
-HC Tip: You can also put Scroll of Town Portal into your belt for quick hot-key escapes!
Potion Tips:
-Pick up and throw Strangling Gas Potions. They always hit and can help a lot with packs of monsters early on.
-Buy Stamina potions to gain unlimited for 30 seconds. Its effects stack so drink a few and carry more as you run out.
-Antidote and Thawing Potions effects remove the debuff and also boost resistances to Poison and Cold. Their duration and resistance stack so drink a bunch at once to max your resistance!
-Use Antidote Potions before fighting Andarieland use Thawing Potions before fighting Duriel
-Transmute 3 Small Rejuv potions in Horadric Cube for 1 Full Rejuv.
5. Get Faster Cast Rate (FCR) on gear
5. Get Faster Cast Rate (FCR) on gear to dramatically improve casting speed of all spells for all classes once you hit your classes FCR breakpoint.
-Also get Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) to reduce the time you get stuck when attacked
-FCR/FHR Breakpoints: https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Breakpoints Note: 10% FCR does NOT mean you cast 10% faster, once you hit a breakpoint your character will start casting MUCH faster.
Exception: The Assassin uses Increased Attack Speed (ias) to improve casting speed of Traps (Shadow Tree still uses FCR)
6. Drop Your Shield at lvl 1 On All Classes
6. Drop Your Shield at lvl 1 On All Classes. There are Block Frames and Block Chance in D2. When your block frames are low it actually causes you to get locked up and prevents escape or subsequent attacks. Wear shields once you have better ones a little later on. (Exception: Paladin. His block frames are great even with mediocre shields, especially with Holy Shield)
7. Keep The Horadric Cube on you (Recipes & Socketing items)
7. Keep The Horadric Cube (from Act 2) on you for extra storage while slaying demons. You can also transmute things like 3 gems into a higher quality gem and the same with Runes, Skulls & Rejuv potions. You can even Craft, Upgrade and Socket items!
Socketing Notes & Tips:
1. Socket Topaz, Ruby, Emerald & Sapphire into weapons for an early damage boost for you and your mercenary! (buy from Charsi, see #11)
2. you cannot socket already socketed items.
3. When socketing with Cube, only use white bases. Superior, Magic, Rare, Set or Unique items do not work.
4. When using the Horadric Cube it gives a 50% percent chance for the max number of sockets.
5. Gloves, Boots, belts, rings, amulets, javelins and other throwing weapons cannot have or gain sockets.
Using Larzuk Quest for Sockets:
-# of sockets Larzuk puts in your items depends on the rarity and item level
-Unique, Set, and Rare items = 1 Socket
-Magic items = 1-2 Sockets (random)
-White/Grey items = Maximum amount of sockets based on item level
8. Farm The Countess in Act 1 (where to find Runes)
8. Farm The Countess in Act 1, Black Marsh > Forgotten Tower lvl 5, from lvl 6-12ish. Then continue to farm her as needed in normal to nightmare mode to create your first runewords (most powerful weapons/armor in the game > list in #9) -Countess Rune Drops: (Always kill on /players1)
Normal: [El, Eld, Tir, Nef, Eth, Ith, Tal, Ral]
Nightmare: [Ort, Thul, Amn, Sol, Shael, Dol, Hel, Io] Very-rare [Lum, Ko]
Hell: [Lum, Ko, Fal, Lem, Pul, Um, Mal, Ist, Gul] Very-rare [Gul, Vex, Ohm, Lo] -Hellforge Rune Drops: (A4 Quest)
Normal: Elto Amn
Nightmare: Solto Um
Hell: Helto Gul
9. Create Stealth Armor and Other Powerful Runewords!
9. Create StealthAmor (Tal + Eth) at lvl 17 for all classes and other runewords too! Its easy to farm the runes from The Countess & Hellforge for all early to mid game runewords and they drastically increase your damage and defense! WARNING #1: You cannot create runewords in anything but white and superior bases. Meaning Magic, Rare, Set and Unique items with sockets will NOT work. WARNING #2: you cannot socket already socketed items. Even with Larzuk A5 Quest, the item must have no sockets to get sockets. Using the cube gives a percent chance for different socket numbers and Larzuk quest will always give the maximum number of sockets for that items ilvl. WARNING #3: Always double Check Runeword recipes to make sure you put the runes in the correct order and in the correct item type. (Many people accidentally put Polearm-runewords inside Spear-class weapons for example.)
Important Tips:
-Choose bases with low strength and dexterity requirements.
-You can easily buy a lot of the bases with open sockets from Vendors too. (See #11) Reset all Vendor items by leaving town through the Main Entrance, Portal or Waypoint.
-Use Hel Rune + TP scroll in the Horadric Cube to Remove all items from sockets, the Runes or Gems will be destroyed in the process.
10. Get an Act 1 Mercenary Early On from completing the Burial Grounds quest. Then hire the A2 Mercenary right when you get to Lut Gholein at the top corner of the city near the sewer entrance. Once you get to A2 in NM get the one with Holy Freeze.
Mercenary Tips:
-Heal your mercenary or give them Thawing/Antidote potions by holding Shift + 1 2 3 4 to the corresponding potions on your Belt. (or drag & drop)
-Give them Etheral Weapons & Armors. Mercenary equipped items do not suffer durability damage!
-If your merc is leveling too slow, take off their gear and then hire a new merc at a higher level in town.
-WARNING: Their gear will disappear if you replace your merc without removing it first!!
11. Shopping at City Vendors for Great lvling Gear and Sockets
11. Shopping at City Vendors for Great lvling Gear and Sockets: (Reset Vendors via main town entrance, waypoint, portal or sewer in A2)(os = Open Sockets)
-Akara A1 (N) for +Skills on Wands for Necro & Orbs/Staves for Sorc. You can get x3 to multiple skills! And Scepters for your Pally and Barb, very strong early game.
-Drognan A2 (N) for +2-3 Fire Ball 2os Staff for Leaf runeword.
-CharsiA1 (N) for 2-3os bows, polearms, axes, and 2os Scimitars and Katars. (socket with gems, jewels & runes)
-FaraA2 (N) for 2-3os shields, armors, polearms and 2os Helms. Also ctc Frost Nova when hit gear for crowd control (tinted blue)
-ElzixA2 (N-NM-H) for early Magic Find, Life or Resistance Boots/helms/belts for All Classes. 20% IAS gloves (NM) -OrmusA3 (N) buy a staff with +1 to Teleport*Charges*. NOT items with the (sorcerous only) tag. This will allow all other characters to Teleport like the sorc when holding the staff. ^Extremely useful for navigating hard areas like the Maggot Lair & Arcane Sanctuary.
(WARNING: Gold cost to repair charges is very high, restore charges with Ortrune + Chipped Gem in the Cube
-Akara/Drognan (NM) for a Wand with Lifetap Charges for Melee to do Ubers.
-AnyaA5 (NM-H) for x2-3 Skills on Clawsfor the Assassin.
-Gamble at GheedA1, ElzixA2, JamellaA4 and AnyaA5 for a chance at great items!
-LarzukA5 for 3os helms starting at lvl 39. (can also socket unsocketed gear with quest reward)
12. Boss Groups or Bnet-Runs for Quick Experience
Focus on killing Boss & Champion groups:
-They give 500% experience and are 3 lvls higher than area level.
-Champion groups give 300% experience, so don't waste too much time killing many normal mobs.
(unless its just too fun? 'Gotta kill-em-all!' )
For Single Player:
-Use /players8 to maximize XP from mobs
-When you get to Act 5 in any difficulty, do the quest to save Anya. You will find her in the Frozen River in the Crystalline Passage. Once Saved she will open a portal to run Pindleskin. Kill him + his minions then Shenk & Eldritch + their minions (Above & Below the Frigid Waypoint), exit game and repeat for very quick experience and item farming.
13. /playersX (x = 1 - 8) in Single Player & Other Commands
Type "/playersX" (x = 1 - 8):
-Each level will increase mob HP, Damage & Experience gained
-Number of loot dropped increased every other level: 3, 5 and 7
-Farm Act bosses on "/players3" this caps out the loot drop table and prevents the boss from dropping nothing
In-Game Commands:
/framerate: Displays the same stats as /fps, but also includes some Memory allocation information.
/fps: Shows in-game framerate. 25 is the maximum display rate. (may change in D2R)
/nopickup: Stops your character from picking up any items in that game unless holding the show item Key.
/soundchaosdebug: Plays every sound in the game. Type the command again to turn it off.
/time: Displays your local time and Battle.net server time.
14. Stack Resistances high!
14. Stack Resistances High!: even in normal lightning/poison/fire/cold damage will hit very hard if you have no resistances at all. WARNING: In Nightmare you get a debuff of -40% and in Hell it is -100% to all resistances. If you don't stack high resistances, you're gonna have a bad time. #southpark
-Socket Tal/Ral/Ort/Thul runes in Armor/helms/shields for 30-35% Poison/Fire/Lightning/Cold resistance.
-Socket Topaz/Emerald gems in shields for lite/psn resistance & Diamond for a boost to all resistances
-Pick up and carry Small, Large & Grand Charms, they can have various boosts to resistances on them. Note: 75% is the maximum, however, some items & skills can help increase past 75.
15. All Classes Need 'Cannot Be Frozen' & Damage Reduction
16. Crushing Blow & Static Field help kill bosses very quickly
16. Crushing Blow & Static Field help kill bosses very quickly
-Crushing Blow does a percentage of the targets life. 25% VS normal creep, 10% VS hirelings/PVP and 12.5% VS Champions, Uniques & Bosses. (Missle Weapon percentages are halved: 12.5% > 5% > 6.25%) Items with Crushing Blow: Ribcracker (50), Hone Sundan (45), Obedience (40), Guillaume's Face (35), Crushflange (33), Rattlecage (25), Goblin Toe (25) , Rixot's Keen (25), Knell Striker (25), Gore Rider (15), Venom Grip (5)
-Static Field (Sorceress skill) reduces all mob HP by 25% per cast. This works for nearly the entire health pool in normal, but is capped in Nightmare 25% & Hell at 50%. So you'll have to do the rest of the damage with other skills or your mercenary. Tip: The runeword Crescent Moon has a chance to cast Static Field on hit for melee and is relatively cheap to make. (put in 3os Phase Blade)
17. Magic Finding: also referred to as "MFing"
17. Magic Finding: also referred to as "MFing". Its the process of running the same bosses or areas over and over in an attempt to find more powerful runes and rare/unique items. This game has hundreds of items that are akin to winning the lottery when they drop.
Magic Find (MF) dramatically increases the Magic, Rare, Unique & Set items that drop as you slay demons!
Important Magic Find Tips:
1. First 100 MF is worth as much as the next 200. (Every little bit helps a ton at first!)
2. MF starts significant diminishing returns after the first 300 for everything but Magic items. (See MF Curve Here)
3. When stacking MF, first consider if it will reduce killing speed and/or survivability by too much. If you can kill much faster (or spend less time dying), its not always the best thing to just add more Magic Find.
4. Keep extra MF gear in your other weapon slots and swap to them right before you kill a Boss. MF is only calculated on killing blow.
5. If your Mercenary gets the killing blow, their MF is added to yours.
6. MF does NOT help Rune drops.
18. You Do Not Need to Kill Every Monster in This Game
18. You Do Not Need to Kill Every Monster in This Game:(See #23 if you just have to kill them)
-There Are A LOT of "Immune" monsters in diablo 2. They are rare in Normal, somewhat common in Nightmare and very common in Hell, even seeing double immunities. (IE, lightning immune, fire immune, physical immune)
-Don't feel too ashamed to run away or around these mobs (that monster just punked you, you should feel shame)
-Players typically farm certain areas with certain builds to avoid these immunes, such as using cold builds in the Ancient Tunnels & Mausoleum where cold immunes dont naturally spawn.
19. D2 Acronyms/Lingo
19. Most Common D2 Acronyms/Lingo: (i probably missed a few)
1. "N" = Normal "NM" = Nightmare "H" = Hell.
2. SOJ = Stone of Jordan Unique Ring
3. TP = Town Portal
4. SP = Single Player mode
5. MF = Magic Find
6. IAS = Increased Attack Speed
7. os = Open Sockets
8. Eth = Etheral
9. PP = Party Please
10. PK = Player Kill. >:)
11. FCR = Faster Cast Rate
12. FWR = Faster Walk/Run Speed
13. FHR = Faster Hit Recovery
14. FBR = Faster Block Rate
15. BO = Battle Orders. barbarian skill.
16. CTA = Call To Arms gives any class Battle Orders
17. Nigma = EnigmaRuneword that gives any class Teleport
18. LR = Lower Resist or Low Rune = [El, Eld, Tir, Nef, Eth, Ith, Tal, Ral, Ort, Thul & Amn]
19. MR = Mid Rune = [Sol, Shael, Dol, Hel, io, Lum, Ko, Fal, Lem, Pul & Um]
20. HR = High Rune = [Mal, Ist, Gul, Vex, Ohm, Lo, Sur, Ber, Jah, Cham & Zod]
21. Trist Runs = Low level group runs through Tristram, located through a portal in the Act 1 Stoney Field.
22. Tomb Runs = Low level group runs through Tal Rasha's Tombs at the end of Act 2.
23. BaalRuns = Mid to end level group runs through end of Act 5 to kill Baaland his minions.
24. R4F or Rush 4 forge = Someone will rush you through the game in exchange for your Hellforge Quest Rune
25. Chaos= Referring to the Chaos Sanctuary Area in Act 4.
26. "SC" = Small Charm "LC" = Large Charm "GC" = Grand Charm
27. Skillers = Grand Charm with + to Class Skills (Only found in NM - A3 Flayer Jungle and beyond)
28. Pcomb = + Combat Skills Grand Charm for Paladins
29. Hdin = Hammerdin = Paladin that uses Blessed Hammer build
30. "1" = Safe, "2" = Not Safe. Refers to if a Town Portal someone opens up is safe to take or not. They may be trying to escape Death.
31. HoTo = Heart of the Oak Runeword
32. BK = Bul-Kathos Ring
33. CB = Crushing Blow (percentage of monster health per hit, powerful against bosses)
34. DS = Deadly Strike (% chance to deal double damage)
35. OW = Open Wounds (causes target to bleed for dmg over time)
36. DR = Damage Reduction %
37. Torch = Unique Large Charm from killing Ubers.
38. Anni = Unique Small Charm from killing Diablo Clone.
39. BIN = Buy It Now
40. FG = Forum Gold (Currency on `D2jsp.com`)
41. Script = Description
42. WTS = Want to Sell
43. WTB = Want to Buy
44. WUG = What do you Got?
45. WUW = What do you Want?
46. NN = No Need
47. t4t = Thanks for Trade
48. ISO = In Search Of
49. Pindle = Pindleskin = Unique monster in A5 through Anya's portal after her quest)
50. Andy = Act 1 boss Andariel
51. Meph = Act 3 boss Mephisto
52. Big D = Diablo
53. Occy = The Occulus Unique Orb.
54. Shako = Harlequin Crest Unique Helm.
55. DND = Sets a Do Not Disturb message for your online profile. Type "/DND message" to set it. This was commonly used to scam players into giving up their passwords. (i never fell for it.. of course..)
56. Amy = Amulet
57. CTC = Chance to Cast
58. WP = Way Point
59. Script = Description of the game. Players use this to reference items they want to trade. Such as "Ist4 script" or "script 4 Ist"
60. LK = Lower Kurast (not Lich King)
61. Mobs = Monsters
20. Helpful exploits list
---HELPFUL EXPLOITS LIST---
1. Andarielloot bug: All act bosses have a higher loot drop table for their first Quest kill in each difficulty and then reverts to normal on subsequent kills. But for Andariel, if after killing her you immediately go to Act 2 via talking to Warriv, you keep her Quest loot tables permananently. If you leave or drop from the game before Talking to Warrivthe bug will not work and you can't re-do it for that difficulty. (no you don't need to avoid talking to anyone or other activities)
2. A2 Merc bug: Get him stuck behind something like closing a door and then walk away from his location, once he teleports to you he is no longer able to be targeted by enemies until you exit game. (ppl typically use the door above the Inner Cloister Way point)
3. Easy DurielKill: You can trap Durielinto running in place and unable to attack you at the right side of his cave. Circle around the tomb so hes following close behind you and then hug the top of the screen and drag him down the right side until he gets stuck walking in place. Do not move, kill him from a distance with ranged attacks/potions/minions.
4. Easy MephistoKill: You can easily trap Mephisto on his moat and kill him from a distance on the other side with either ranged attacks or spells.
5. Easy Diablo Kill: You can get Diablo stuck on the side of his pentagram platform so he can't move.
6. Easy Ancients Kill: You can prevent Talicfrom using Whirlwindif you are near the Edge of the cliff or up against one of the pillars.
7. Skip Baal's Minions: Run down below the entrance to the thrown room before the wave gets summoned and it will skip that wave or lure the minions below the entrance and either run around or Teleportback up to Baal's throne and he will spawn the next wave or end and enter the Worldstone Chamber if you skipped the final wave.
8. Easy BaalKill: If you can slow Baalenough with Decrepify, slow effects from gear or Clay Golem, Baalwill get stuck in a loop attempting to re-cast his attack spells but never fully finishing. Easy pickins.
9. Despawn Baal's Clone: Once Baalspawns his clone, use a town portal and wait 10s, re-enter and his clone will despawn.
21. Chari's Imbue Item Facts
-Any unsocketed non-magical weapon or armor. (Rings, Amulets, Charms & Jewels do not work) -Item level is calculated by (Char lvl + 4), regardless of its previous ilvl.
-However, due to its high ilvl, any Diadem can be potentially turned into a powerful item even with a level 8 character
-Low Quality, cracked, crude, damaged or superior items will all work.
-An etheral item will remain etheral even after imbued.
-staff affix generation, for eligible items, works differently. Both the number of skills and the bonus to skills will increase with your char level. So you have higher chances at better staff affixes when imbuing.
To Save or Not To Save:
-Most players save up their Imbue's in each difficulty and use later to attempt to get a powerful Diadem for endgame, but most of these will come out worthless.
-I suggest using some of them for leveling-gear. i have imbued many low level weapons in Normal that carried my characters through most of Nightmare.
1. Your Act 2 Mercenary will help a lot so focus on gearing them up for every class.
-Get the Holy Freeze type from A2 Nightmare. This will chill/slow even cold immunes.
2. Lower Resist Wand from Vendors
1. Buy a Wand with Lower Resist Charges from Akara or Drognan in Nightmare. This will allow any class to cast Lower Resist and break elemental immunities on mobs.
2. To Break Physical Immunes use the unique weapons Spellsteel or The Gavel Of Pain to cast Decrepify or Amplify Damage.
3. Restore Charges with Ort + Chipped gem in Cube Note: most immunities can be broken but some mobs res is so high it can't like the Fire Res on a Pit Lord. (See all mob Immunity levels here)
4. Infinity on A2 Merc (last because of rarity)
-There is a runeword called Infinity (very expensive) that you can give your A2 Mercenary that has a lvl 12 Conviction aura (paladin skill). This gives -85% to enemy resistances in a radius of 13.3y.
-To break mobs with extra higher immunities use Infinity + Lower Res Wand charges. Although there are still a few mob types that still can't be broken even with both.
-Your dmg does not benefit from the additional -res affix on Infinity when used by your merc.
24: Gearing Guides for Melee, Casters and Mercenaries:
-Spirit (Tal + Thul + Ort + Amn) in a Sword and Shield can be extremely effective for any caster class, the sword being the best starting item.
-When trying to use Larzuk Socket quest (A5) or Horadric Cube you have to use the correct item level of Crystal Sword / Broad Sword or you'll either get too few sockets or too many. This guide will show you the safe spots to find a sword with 4os or make 4 sockets.
Finding Runes for Spirit: Tal & Ort: Awarded for A5 Quest 2. (free the barbs) Thul & Amn: Countess (NM)
Finding 4 socket Crystal/Broad Sword Bases:
-Pick up any White & Grey (superior) Crystal/Broad Swords you see in these areas to socket them with Larzuk Quest or Cube.
-Use the Horadric Cube on White bases only: (Ral + Amn + Perfect Amethyst) (WARNING: has a 50% chance at 4os)
Best Place To Find Both Swords:
1. Secret Cow Level (N): Best & Fastest area to farm
2. City of the Damned in A4 (N) Crystal Sword:
1. ^ & Most Mob drops in A5 (N), BUT make sure monster level is not higher than 40: AmazonBasin Mob Info Broad Sword:
1. Any mob from A5 Normal except Bloody Foothills & Frigid Highlands
2. Any Mob Nightmare through Hell
Finding 4 socket Monarch Shield for Spirit:
-lvl 54 required, Strength 156
1. Secret Cow Level (H): best area to farm
2. Any mob in Hell but only in Hell. note: for Paladins you can find 4os paladin-only shields that are usable at lvl 25.
Credit: Stratigery & Zalumon
Credits
Credit & Special Thanks: Diablowiki, The Arreat Summit, MrLlamaSC, Stratigery, Zalumon, Morphin, Rain, Sober2085 & dozens of comment tips from reddit and other forums! Note: if you contributed in some way and would like your name added, just let me know
This is a full game guide for Diablo 2: Resurrected, please take your time reading each section. There is a lot of important information in this amazing game.
Updates: 12/4: New Section #22. Map Reading Quick Guide (Credit: Rain) 12/6: New Section #24. Gearing Guides for Melee, Casters and Mercenaries
12/16: New Section #23. Ways to Kill Immune Mobs
1. You Only Get 1 Skill Respec Per Difficulty for completing the Den of Evil quest. After that the only way to respec is to farm the Act bosses in Hell difficulty to create respec Token of Absolution's by combining the four types of Essences in the Horadric Cube.
Death Warning #1:When you die you leave your "body" behind with all of your equipped gear and must run back to where you died to get it back. Death Warning #2: Or you can exit and rejoin the game and the body with the highest remaining gold value will appear in town to be picked up, but all other bodies will disappear. This is a common way people permanently lose items. If you die once and can't easily get your 1st body, immediately leave or get help.
Using Skill Points in Diablo 2:(Check #24 for Gearing options for all classes)
1. You can max out each skill with 20 points, although bonuses to skills from gear pushes this beyond 20.
2. Only focus on maxing out 1-2 main attack skills and their synergies or else your skills will become too weak later on.
3. There are quite a few weak and mediocre skills in Diablo 2 so choose very carefully or you may have to re-create your character if you've already used your first Den of Evil Respec.
How Difficulty works in D2R:
1. In Diablo 2 you start out in Act One Normal, you cannot change this until completing each difficulty. You have to defeat the act bosses to progress up to Act 5 Baal. Once you kill him you progress to "Nightmare". Then you can make Normal and Nightmare games.
2. The game will play the same in Nightmare but the loot table opens up to much better item drops/Affixes, every mob has exponentially higher life + damage, you get a -40% debuff to all resistances and some monsters start to be completely immune to certain types like Fire Immune or Lightning Immune.
3. You then Defeat Baal in nightmare to progress to Hell. Hell mode opens up the entire loot table in lvl 85 areas, it gives you a -100% debuff to all resistances and MANY monsters will be immune to certain types of spells and some will even have double immunities. (yikes!) Note: Type /playersX (x=1 to 8) to artificially boost difficulty and item drops in Single Player only[Check #13]
"Why Am I leveling slow?"
For MAXIMUM experience from monsters: lvl 1-11: Act One lvl 12-18: Act Two lvl 19-23: Act Three lvl 24-31: Act Four lvl 32-36: Act Five lvl 37-43: Act One, Nightmare lvl 44-48: Act Two, Nightmare lvl 49-52: Act Three, Nightmare lvl 53-62: Act Four, Nightmare lvl 63-73: Act One, Hell lvl 74-80: Act Two, Hell lvl 81-83: Act Three, Hell lvl 83-94: Act Four, Hell lvl 95-99: Act Five, Hell
2. Put Most Stat points Into Vitality For All Characters
2. You need to put most stat points intoVitality or else you'll die very easily.
-You can put 15-20 points into Energy in the beginning to help with spells/skills, but not too much. Using mana pots is the way.
-Typically only put enough points into Strength/Dexterity to wear gear.
-Dexterity does increase attack rating for physical attacks, but don't stack it needlessly high and cripple your life. 95% chance to hit is max.
-Vitality also increases stamina which allows you to run longer. (When running your defense automatically becomes zero)
-Buy stamina potions to restore stamina to full and gain unlimited for 30 seconds per potion. (effects stack) Dexterity for Blocking: at higher levels with better shields you can respec your attribute points to increase dexterity to increase your block chance up to a max of 75%. But only put enough for max block and minimum strength for gear and then the rest in Vitality again.
3. Your Inventory Space is Very Limited
3. Your Inventory Space is Very Limited so you'll need to make frequent trips to town to sell and/or put items in your stash. WARNING: when you die you not only drop your equipped gear but you also drop your equipped gold and suffer a percent loss.
Gold & Inventory Tips:
-Put gold in any shared tab so it doesn't suffers a penalty loss on Death
-Pick up things like Throwing Knives and items with +skills to sell
-Use The Shared Stash To Transfer Items & Gold to other characters and store all your GG items. If you run out of space create a random class to store more. Name them something like "UniqueMule" or "GemMule" inline with what you give them to hold.
-Buy The Tome of Town Portal & Tome of Identify and keep them both on you for quick identifying and trips to town. They hold up to 20 scrolls each. (Refill Tomes in one click by holding shift when purchasing)
-Always Pick up Charms, Gems & Jewels to socket them into weapons and armor for early boosts and keep lots in your stash for Crafting & Transmuting (See #7 for Cube Recipes)
-Always pick up runes to socket into gear and create Runewords. (The games most powerful gear, see #9)
4. Get a beltand Always Keep it Stacked With Mana, Health &/or Rejuvenation potions. Using them is part of the game. Use Rejuvenation potions to heal life & mana instantly.
Belt Tips:
-Refill belt in one-click by holding shift when purchasing.
-Upgrade to a higher tier belt for more potion slots!(max 16 slots: Sash/Light Belt (8) Belt/Heavy belt (12) Plated belt (16))
-Heal your mercenary or give them Thawing/Antidote potions by holding Shift + 1 2 3 4 to the corresponding potions on your belt. (or drag & drop)
-HC Tip: You can also put Scroll of Town Portal into your belt for quick hot-key escapes!
Potion Tips:
-Pick up and throw Strangling Gas Potions. They always hit and can help a lot with packs of monsters early on.
-Buy Stamina potions to gain unlimited for 30 seconds. Its effects stack so drink a few and carry more as you run out.
-Antidote and Thawing Potions effects remove the debuff and also boost resistances to Poison and Cold. Their duration and resistance stack so drink a bunch at once to max your resistance!
-Use Antidote Potions before fighting Andarieland use Thawing Potions before fighting Duriel
-Transmute 3 Small Rejuv potions in Horadric Cube for 1 Full Rejuv.
5. Get Faster Cast Rate (FCR) on gear
5. Get Faster Cast Rate (FCR) on gear to dramatically improve casting speed of all spells for all classes once you hit your classes FCR breakpoint.
-Also get Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) to reduce the time you get stuck when attacked
-FCR/FHR Breakpoints: https://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Breakpoints Note: 10% FCR does NOT mean you cast 10% faster, once you hit a breakpoint your character will start casting MUCH faster.
Exception: The Assassin uses Increased Attack Speed (ias) to improve casting speed of Traps (Shadow Tree still uses FCR)
6. Drop Your Shield at lvl 1 On All Classes
6. Drop Your Shield at lvl 1 On All Classes. There are Block Frames and Block Chance in D2. When your block frames are low it actually causes you to get locked up and prevents escape or subsequent attacks. Wear shields once you have better ones a little later on. (Exception: Paladin. His block frames are great even with mediocre shields, especially with Holy Shield)
7. Keep The Horadric Cube on you (Recipes & Socketing items)
7. Keep The Horadric Cube (from Act 2) on you for extra storage while slaying demons. You can also transmute things like 3 gems into a higher quality gem and the same with Runes, Skulls & Rejuv potions. You can even Craft, Upgrade and Socket items!
Socketing Notes & Tips:
1. Socket Topaz, Ruby, Emerald & Sapphire into weapons for an early damage boost for you and your mercenary! (buy from Charsi, see #11)
2. you cannot socket already socketed items.
3. When socketing with Cube, only use white bases. Superior, Magic, Rare, Set or Unique items do not work.
4. When using the Horadric Cube it gives a 50% percent chance for the max number of sockets.
5. Gloves, Boots, belts, rings, amulets, javelins and other throwing weapons cannot have or gain sockets.
Using Larzuk Quest for Sockets:
-# of sockets Larzuk puts in your items depends on the rarity and item level
-Unique, Set, and Rare items = 1 Socket
-Magic items = 1-2 Sockets (random)
-White/Grey items = Maximum amount of sockets based on item level
8. Farm The Countess in Act 1 (where to find Runes)
8. Farm The Countess in Act 1, Black Marsh > Forgotten Tower lvl 5, from lvl 6-12ish. Then continue to farm her as needed in normal to nightmare mode to create your first runewords (most powerful weapons/armor in the game > list in #9) -Countess Rune Drops: (Always kill on /players1)
Normal: [El, Eld, Tir, Nef, Eth, Ith, Tal, Ral]
Nightmare: [Ort, Thul, Amn, Sol, Shael, Dol, Hel, Io] Very-rare [Lum, Ko]
Hell: [Lum, Ko, Fal, Lem, Pul, Um, Mal, Ist, Gul] Very-rare [Gul, Vex, Ohm, Lo] -Hellforge Rune Drops: (A4 Quest)
Normal: Elto Amn
Nightmare: Solto Um
Hell: Helto Gul
9. Create Stealth Armor and Other Powerful Runewords!
9. Create StealthAmor (Tal + Eth) at lvl 17 for all classes and other runewords too! Its easy to farm the runes from The Countess & Hellforge for all early to mid game runewords and they drastically increase your damage and defense! WARNING #1: You cannot create runewords in anything but white and superior bases. Meaning Magic, Rare, Set and Unique items with sockets will NOT work. WARNING #2: you cannot socket already socketed items. Even with Larzuk A5 Quest, the item must have no sockets to get sockets. Using the cube gives a percent chance for different socket numbers and Larzuk quest will always give the maximum number of sockets for that items ilvl. WARNING #3: Always double Check Runeword recipes to make sure you put the runes in the correct order and in the correct item type. (Many people accidentally put Polearm-runewords inside Spear-class weapons for example.)
Important Tips:
-Choose bases with low strength and dexterity requirements.
-You can easily buy a lot of the bases with open sockets from Vendors too. (See #11) Reset all Vendor items by leaving town through the Main Entrance, Portal or Waypoint.
-Use Hel Rune + TP scroll in the Horadric Cube to Remove all items from sockets, the Runes or Gems will be destroyed in the process.
10. Get an Act 1 Mercenary Early On from completing the Burial Grounds quest. Then hire the A2 Mercenary right when you get to Lut Gholein at the top corner of the city near the sewer entrance. Once you get to A2 in NM get the one with Holy Freeze.
Mercenary Tips:
-Heal your mercenary or give them Thawing/Antidote potions by holding Shift + 1 2 3 4 to the corresponding potions on your Belt. (or drag & drop)
-Give them Etheral Weapons & Armors. Mercenary equipped items do not suffer durability damage!
-If your merc is leveling too slow, take off their gear and then hire a new merc at a higher level in town.
-WARNING: Their gear will disappear if you replace your merc without removing it first!!
11. Shopping at City Vendors for Great lvling Gear and Sockets
11. Shopping at City Vendors for Great lvling Gear and Sockets: (Reset Vendors via main town entrance, waypoint, portal or sewer in A2)(os = Open Sockets)
-Akara A1 (N) for +Skills on Wands for Necro & Orbs/Staves for Sorc. You can get x3 to multiple skills! And Scepters for your Pally and Barb, very strong early game.
-Drognan A2 (N) for +2-3 Fire Ball 2os Staff for Leaf runeword.
-CharsiA1 (N) for 2-3os bows, polearms, axes, and 2os Scimitars and Katars. (socket with gems, jewels & runes)
-FaraA2 (N) for 2-3os shields, armors, polearms and 2os Helms. Also ctc Frost Nova when hit gear for crowd control (tinted blue)
-ElzixA2 (N-NM-H) for early Magic Find, Life or Resistance Boots/helms/belts for All Classes. 20% IAS gloves (NM) -OrmusA3 (N) buy a staff with +1 to Teleport*Charges*. NOT items with the (sorcerous only) tag. This will allow all other characters to Teleport like the sorc when holding the staff. ^Extremely useful for navigating hard areas like the Maggot Lair & Arcane Sanctuary.
(WARNING: Gold cost to repair charges is very high, restore charges with Ortrune + Chipped Gem in the Cube
-Akara/Drognan (NM) for a Wand with Lifetap Charges for Melee to do Ubers.
-AnyaA5 (NM-H) for x2-3 Skills on Clawsfor the Assassin.
-Gamble at GheedA1, ElzixA2, JamellaA4 and AnyaA5 for a chance at great items!
-LarzukA5 for 3os helms starting at lvl 39. (can also socket unsocketed gear with quest reward)
12. Boss Groups or Bnet-Runs for Quick Experience
Focus on killing Boss & Champion groups:
-They give 500% experience and are 3 lvls higher than area level.
-Champion groups give 300% experience, so don't waste too much time killing many normal mobs.
(unless its just too fun? 'Gotta kill-em-all!' )
For Single Player:
-Use /players8 to maximize XP from mobs
-When you get to Act 5 in any difficulty, do the quest to save Anya. You will find her in the Frozen River in the Crystalline Passage. Once Saved she will open a portal to run Pindleskin. Kill him + his minions then Shenk & Eldritch + their minions (Above & Below the Frigid Waypoint), exit game and repeat for very quick experience and item farming.
13. /playersX (x = 1 - 8) in Single Player & Other Commands
Type "/playersX" (x = 1 - 8):
-Each level will increase mob HP, Damage & Experience gained
-Number of loot dropped increased every other level: 3, 5 and 7
-Farm Act bosses on "/players3" this caps out the loot drop table and prevents the boss from dropping nothing
In-Game Commands:
/framerate: Displays the same stats as /fps, but also includes some Memory allocation information.
/fps: Shows in-game framerate. 25 is the maximum display rate. (may change in D2R)
/nopickup: Stops your character from picking up any items in that game unless holding the show item Key.
/soundchaosdebug: Plays every sound in the game. Type the command again to turn it off.
/time: Displays your local time and Battle.net server time.
14. Stack Resistances high!
14. Stack Resistances High!: even in normal lightning/poison/fire/cold damage will hit very hard if you have no resistances at all. WARNING: In Nightmare you get a debuff of -40% and in Hell it is -100% to all resistances. If you don't stack high resistances, you're gonna have a bad time. #southpark
-Socket Tal/Ral/Ort/Thul runes in Armor/helms/shields for 30-35% Poison/Fire/Lightning/Cold resistance.
-Socket Topaz/Emerald gems in shields for lite/psn resistance & Diamond for a boost to all resistances
-Pick up and carry Small, Large & Grand Charms, they can have various boosts to resistances on them. Note: 75% is the maximum, however, some items & skills can help increase past 75.
15. All Classes Need 'Cannot Be Frozen' & Damage Reduction
16. Crushing Blow & Static Field help kill bosses very quickly
16. Crushing Blow & Static Field help kill bosses very quickly
-Crushing Blow does a percentage of the targets life. 25% VS normal creep, 10% VS hirelings/PVP and 12.5% VS Champions, Uniques & Bosses. (Missle Weapon percentages are halved: 12.5% > 5% > 6.25%) Items with Crushing Blow: Ribcracker (50), Hone Sundan (45), Obedience (40), Guillaume's Face (35), Crushflange (33), Rattlecage (25), Goblin Toe (25) , Rixot's Keen (25), Knell Striker (25), Gore Rider (15), Venom Grip (5)
-Static Field (Sorceress skill) reduces all mob HP by 25% per cast. This works for nearly the entire health pool in normal, but is capped in Nightmare 25% & Hell at 50%. So you'll have to do the rest of the damage with other skills or your mercenary. Tip: The runeword Crescent Moon has a chance to cast Static Field on hit for melee and is relatively cheap to make. (put in 3os Phase Blade)
17. Magic Finding: also referred to as "MFing"
17. Magic Finding: also referred to as "MFing". Its the process of running the same bosses or areas over and over in an attempt to find more powerful runes and rare/unique items. This game has hundreds of items that are akin to winning the lottery when they drop.
Magic Find (MF) dramatically increases the Magic, Rare, Unique & Set items that drop as you slay demons!
Important Magic Find Tips:
1. First 100 MF is worth as much as the next 200. (Every little bit helps a ton at first!)
2. MF starts significant diminishing returns after the first 300 for everything but Magic items. (See MF Curve Here)
3. When stacking MF, first consider if it will reduce killing speed and/or survivability by too much. If you can kill much faster (or spend less time dying), its not always the best thing to just add more Magic Find.
4. Keep extra MF gear in your other weapon slots and swap to them right before you kill a Boss. MF is only calculated on killing blow.
5. If your Mercenary gets the killing blow, their MF is added to yours.
6. MF does NOT help Rune drops.
18. You Do Not Need to Kill Every Monster in This Game
18. You Do Not Need to Kill Every Monster in This Game:(See #23 if you just have to kill them)
-There Are A LOT of "Immune" monsters in diablo 2. They are rare in Normal, somewhat common in Nightmare and very common in Hell, even seeing double immunities. (IE, lightning immune, fire immune, physical immune)
-Don't feel too ashamed to run away or around these mobs (that monster just punked you, you should feel shame)
-Players typically farm certain areas with certain builds to avoid these immunes, such as using cold builds in the Ancient Tunnels & Mausoleum where cold immunes dont naturally spawn.
19. D2 Acronyms/Lingo
19. Most Common D2 Acronyms/Lingo: (i probably missed a few)
1. "N" = Normal "NM" = Nightmare "H" = Hell.
2. SOJ = Stone of Jordan Unique Ring
3. TP = Town Portal
4. SP = Single Player mode
5. MF = Magic Find
6. IAS = Increased Attack Speed
7. os = Open Sockets
8. Eth = Etheral
9. PP = Party Please
10. PK = Player Kill. >:)
11. FCR = Faster Cast Rate
12. FWR = Faster Walk/Run Speed
13. FHR = Faster Hit Recovery
14. FBR = Faster Block Rate
15. BO = Battle Orders. barbarian skill.
16. CTA = Call To Arms gives any class Battle Orders
17. Nigma = EnigmaRuneword that gives any class Teleport
18. LR = Lower Resist or Low Rune = [El, Eld, Tir, Nef, Eth, Ith, Tal, Ral, Ort, Thul & Amn]
19. MR = Mid Rune = [Sol, Shael, Dol, Hel, io, Lum, Ko, Fal, Lem, Pul & Um]
20. HR = High Rune = [Mal, Ist, Gul, Vex, Ohm, Lo, Sur, Ber, Jah, Cham & Zod]
21. Trist Runs = Low level group runs through Tristram, located through a portal in the Act 1 Stoney Field.
22. Tomb Runs = Low level group runs through Tal Rasha's Tombs at the end of Act 2.
23. BaalRuns = Mid to end level group runs through end of Act 5 to kill Baaland his minions.
24. R4F or Rush 4 forge = Someone will rush you through the game in exchange for your Hellforge Quest Rune
25. Chaos= Referring to the Chaos Sanctuary Area in Act 4.
26. "SC" = Small Charm "LC" = Large Charm "GC" = Grand Charm
27. Skillers = Grand Charm with + to Class Skills (Only found in NM - A3 Flayer Jungle and beyond)
28. Pcomb = + Combat Skills Grand Charm for Paladins
29. Hdin = Hammerdin = Paladin that uses Blessed Hammer build
30. "1" = Safe, "2" = Not Safe. Refers to if a Town Portal someone opens up is safe to take or not. They may be trying to escape Death.
31. HoTo = Heart of the Oak Runeword
32. BK = Bul-Kathos Ring
33. CB = Crushing Blow (percentage of monster health per hit, powerful against bosses)
34. DS = Deadly Strike (% chance to deal double damage)
35. OW = Open Wounds (causes target to bleed for dmg over time)
36. DR = Damage Reduction %
37. Torch = Unique Large Charm from killing Ubers.
38. Anni = Unique Small Charm from killing Diablo Clone.
39. BIN = Buy It Now
40. FG = Forum Gold (Currency on `D2jsp.com`)
41. Script = Description
42. WTS = Want to Sell
43. WTB = Want to Buy
44. WUG = What do you Got?
45. WUW = What do you Want?
46. NN = No Need
47. t4t = Thanks for Trade
48. ISO = In Search Of
49. Pindle = Pindleskin = Unique monster in A5 through Anya's portal after her quest)
50. Andy = Act 1 boss Andariel
51. Meph = Act 3 boss Mephisto
52. Big D = Diablo
53. Occy = The Occulus Unique Orb.
54. Shako = Harlequin Crest Unique Helm.
55. DND = Sets a Do Not Disturb message for your online profile. Type "/DND message" to set it. This was commonly used to scam players into giving up their passwords. (i never fell for it.. of course..)
56. Amy = Amulet
57. CTC = Chance to Cast
58. WP = Way Point
59. Script = Description of the game. Players use this to reference items they want to trade. Such as "Ist4 script" or "script 4 Ist"
60. LK = Lower Kurast (not Lich King)
61. Mobs = Monsters
20. Helpful exploits list
---HELPFUL EXPLOITS LIST---
1. Andarielloot bug: All act bosses have a higher loot drop table for their first Quest kill in each difficulty and then reverts to normal on subsequent kills. But for Andariel, if after killing her you immediately go to Act 2 via talking to Warriv, you keep her Quest loot tables permananently. If you leave or drop from the game before Talking to Warrivthe bug will not work and you can't re-do it for that difficulty. (no you don't need to avoid talking to anyone or other activities)
2. A2 Merc bug: Get him stuck behind something like closing a door and then walk away from his location, once he teleports to you he is no longer able to be targeted by enemies until you exit game. (ppl typically use the door above the Inner Cloister Way point)
3. Easy DurielKill: You can trap Durielinto running in place and unable to attack you at the right side of his cave. Circle around the tomb so hes following close behind you and then hug the top of the screen and drag him down the right side until he gets stuck walking in place. Do not move, kill him from a distance with ranged attacks/potions/minions.
4. Easy MephistoKill: You can easily trap Mephisto on his moat and kill him from a distance on the other side with either ranged attacks or spells.
5. Easy Diablo Kill: You can get Diablo stuck on the side of his pentagram platform so he can't move.
6. Easy Ancients Kill: You can prevent Talicfrom using Whirlwindif you are near the Edge of the cliff or up against one of the pillars.
7. Skip Baal's Minions: Run down below the entrance to the thrown room before the wave gets summoned and it will skip that wave or lure the minions below the entrance and either run around or Teleportback up to Baal's throne and he will spawn the next wave or end and enter the Worldstone Chamber if you skipped the final wave.
8. Easy BaalKill: If you can slow Baalenough with Decrepify, slow effects from gear or Clay Golem, Baalwill get stuck in a loop attempting to re-cast his attack spells but never fully finishing. Easy pickins.
9. Despawn Baal's Clone: Once Baalspawns his clone, use a town portal and wait 10s, re-enter and his clone will despawn.
21. Chari's Imbue Item Facts
-Any unsocketed non-magical weapon or armor. (Rings, Amulets, Charms & Jewels do not work) -Item level is calculated by (Char lvl + 4), regardless of its previous ilvl.
-However, due to its high ilvl, any Diadem can be potentially turned into a powerful item even with a level 8 character
-Low Quality, cracked, crude, damaged or superior items will all work.
-An etheral item will remain etheral even after imbued.
-staff affix generation, for eligible items, works differently. Both the number of skills and the bonus to skills will increase with your char level. So you have higher chances at better staff affixes when imbuing.
To Save or Not To Save:
-Most players save up their Imbue's in each difficulty and use later to attempt to get a powerful Diadem for endgame, but most of these will come out worthless.
-I suggest using some of them for leveling-gear. i have imbued many low level weapons in Normal that carried my characters through most of Nightmare.
1. Your Act 2 Mercenary will help a lot so focus on gearing them up for every class.
-Get the Holy Freeze type from A2 Nightmare. This will chill/slow even cold immunes.
2. Lower Resist Wand from Vendors
1. Buy a Wand with Lower Resist Charges from Akara or Drognan in Nightmare. This will allow any class to cast Lower Resist and break elemental immunities on mobs.
2. To Break Physical Immunes use the unique weapons Spellsteel or The Gavel Of Pain to cast Decrepify or Amplify Damage.
3. Restore Charges with Ort + Chipped gem in Cube Note: most immunities can be broken but some mobs res is so high it can't like the Fire Res on a Pit Lord. (See all mob Immunity levels here)
4. Infinity on A2 Merc (last because of rarity)
-There is a runeword called Infinity (very expensive) that you can give your A2 Mercenary that has a lvl 12 Conviction aura (paladin skill). This gives -85% to enemy resistances in a radius of 13.3y.
-To break mobs with extra higher immunities use Infinity + Lower Res Wand charges. Although there are still a few mob types that still can't be broken even with both.
-Your dmg does not benefit from the additional -res affix on Infinity when used by your merc.
24: Gearing Guides for Melee, Casters and Mercenaries:
-Spirit (Tal + Thul + Ort + Amn) in a Sword and Shield can be extremely effective for any caster class, the sword being the best starting item.
-When trying to use Larzuk Socket quest (A5) or Horadric Cube you have to use the correct item level of Crystal Sword / Broad Sword or you'll either get too few sockets or too many. This guide will show you the safe spots to find a sword with 4os or make 4 sockets.
Finding Runes for Spirit: Tal & Ort: Awarded for A5 Quest 2. (free the barbs) Thul & Amn: Countess (NM)
Finding 4 socket Crystal/Broad Sword Bases:
-Pick up any White & Grey (superior) Crystal/Broad Swords you see in these areas to socket them with Larzuk Quest or Cube.
-Use the Horadric Cube on White bases only: (Ral + Amn + Perfect Amethyst) (WARNING: has a 50% chance at 4os)
Best Place To Find Both Swords:
1. Secret Cow Level (N): Best & Fastest area to farm
2. City of the Damned in A4 (N) Crystal Sword:
1. ^ & Most Mob drops in A5 (N), BUT make sure monster level is not higher than 40: AmazonBasin Mob Info Broad Sword:
1. Any mob from A5 Normal except Bloody Foothills & Frigid Highlands
2. Any Mob Nightmare through Hell
Finding 4 socket Monarch Shield for Spirit:
-lvl 54 required, Strength 156
1. Secret Cow Level (H): best area to farm
2. Any mob in Hell but only in Hell. note: for Paladins you can find 4os paladin-only shields that are usable at lvl 25.
Credit: Stratigery & Zalumon
Credits
Credit & Special Thanks: Diablowiki, The Arreat Summit, MrLlamaSC, Stratigery, Zalumon, Morphin, Rain, Sober2085 & dozens of comment tips from reddit and other forums! Note: if you contributed in some way and would like your name added, just let me know
BillyMaysed wrote: 3 years ago
3. Easy Duriel Kill: You can trap Duriel into running in place and unable to attack you at the right side of his cave. Circle around the tomb so hes following close behind you and then hug the top of the screen and drag him down the right side until he gets stuck walking in place. Do not move, kill him from a distance with ranged attacks/potions/minions.
Here's a speedrunner's clip from Twitch that shows this trick in action:
I would've just thrown new players mostly into the deep end. Gotta have fun learning the game without just going directly to power leveling, min/maxing, and being spoon fed. People focus too much on this and I think they deserve at least a playthrough without guides. The majority of old players all have great memories of doing stupid shit and I think that most new players are robbed of those memories/experiences.
Udyret wrote: 3 years ago
act 1 map for new players by youtuber named
@Udyret haha awesome! i love how cartooney it looks. is that weird?
PS just added a "How Does Difficulty work in D2R?" section. How's it look?
Benzoxazine wrote: 3 years ago
I would've just thrown new players mostly into the deep end. Gotta have fun learning the game without just going directly to power leveling, min/maxing, and being spoon fed. People focus too much on this and I think they deserve at least a playthrough without guides. The majority of old players all have great memories of doing stupid shit and I think that most new players are robbed of those memories/experiences.
hey i don't disagree at all. i loved all the memories i have of making mistakes while first starting out D2 when i was a teenager. However, lots of people these days have shorter attention spans and there's also gigantic player-base of people who like to "min/max" everything. And those types will definitely want/need a guide like this to follow to remain interested.
I hope everyone just enjoys this amazing game and glances at this if they need help or clarification. EDIT: New Section Added ---Endgame Viable Skills for Every Class---
Tried to toss most of the skills people used endgame so new players ignore trying to max out things like Telekinesis/Jab/Teeth/Poison Creeper, and other super weak skills like that. lol.
Proper manners is a must. Online video games are notorious for having large numbers of rude players, regardless of age. Be the exception.
But i think the D2 community is different than most. I remember there being a few scammers as a kid, sure, but i remember WAY more amazing people I've played with over the years and literally dozens of people have given me free stuff.
I've been using this runewizard non-stop and it might be a good addition to the resources: https://d2runewizard.com/
It has AI-driven rune detection in screenshots too. Just copy a cropped inventory screenshot (windows: shift + windows Key + s --> box in the runes in your inventory) and paste it into the "Scan Image" dialogue. "Find runes" and then add it to your selection
List trades and earn trust
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Squelches this trader, making their offers on your trades invisible to anyone except themselves. Their trade listings will also be hidden from your marketplace.
Your squelch list can be managed and edited from Top right dropdown > Account Prefs > Squelches.
Diablo 2 New Player Guide (24 Key Topics)
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