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Presents an Unofficial Guide to: Diablo 2 Brought to you by: 2000 All Rights Reserved Table of Contents Introduction 2 Section 1 – Characters, Stats, and Skills 3 General Information 3 Amazon 12 Barbarian 32 Necromancer 49 Paladin 68 Sorceress 85 Section 2 – General Information, Hints, and Tips 103 Section 3 – Bestiary 114 Section 4 – Walkthrough 149 Act 1 – The Rogue Encampment 149 Act 2 – Lut Gholein 165 Act 3 – Kurast 184 Act 4 – Hell 197 2000 All Rights Reserved 1 Introduction Be prepared to spend some time playing Diablo II...it's addictive! Diablo II, as if you didn’t already know, is the massively successful new game from Blizzard Entertainment, and the sequel to their smash hit Diablo from 1996. With updated graphics across four huge Acts, five new character classes with 150 different skills between them, a huge variety of new enemies, and free multiplayer action on Battle.net, this game has enough to keep anyone busy for a long, long time. This guide is intended to act as your all-in-one helping hand to the world of Diablo II. With a full walkthrough, a complete bestiary, thorough examination of all character classes and skills, and a number of hints and tips, you should find help with whatever is troubling you somewhere in these pages. 2000 All Rights Reserved 2 Characters, Skills, and Stats General Information Before you begin your adventure in the world of Diablo II, you’ll need to select a character class. The five choices offer a range of gameplay options, from the magic-oriented Sorceress to the brutish and battle-hardened Barbarian. Though the characters differ greatly in the way they’re played, all of them share the same basic attributes and statistics. The four main statistics, Strength, Dexterity, Life, and Energy, will determine how capable your character is at moving through the game world, attacking enemies, casting spells, taking damage, etc. Some stats will be more important to one class than they will be to others. The Barbarian, for instance, will want to put most of his points into Strength, and fairly few into Energy, while the Sorceress will want to pour her Stat Points into Energy, and relatively few into Dexterity. All players will need a thorough understanding of what these stats do, however, to intelligently choose how to allocate their Stat Points. 2000 All Rights Reserved 3 This window displays the vital statistics for your character. When you open the character screen in Diablo II (by default, either the A or C buttons), a window will pop up, showing your character’s name, class, experience, level, and vital statistics. The number of points you put into each statistic will be reflected in your character’s ability to do certain related things, e.g. a character with high Strength will deal more damage with melee weapons than a character with low Strength. Your main source of Stat Points will be by advancing in levels. Each time your character gains a level (also called a “level up”), you’ll gain five Stat Points to allocate. Where you choose to put these points 2000 All Rights Reserved 4 will depend on your style of play and the character class that you’re using. The stats and their effects are explained below. Strength and Damage Strength is the most important statistic for the Barbarian and Paladin classes. The most obvious result of a high Strength is that a character will deal a significantly increased amount of damage using melee weapons than less powerful characters would. However, even characters that don’t use melee weapons will want to add to their Strength, as this will allow them to wear more advanced equipment. As armor increases in defensive power, the Strength requirements to wear it increase well past 100. If you find yourself mostly playing multiplayer games where you support other characters with ranged attacks, you might not need to add many points to Strength, but getting up to 40 or 50 is generally a wise idea for any character. Luckily, as you proceed further into the game, you’ll find items, mostly belts, rings, and amulets, that can add up to 20 to your Strength. Utilizing items such as these will help you reach the minimum requirements for high-grade armor, so weaker classes like the Sorceress should definitely keep their eyes open for them. The boxes next to your Strength rating show the damage your character deals with both your primary and secondary attack (if applicable). For the majority of attacks, your damage will encompass a range, consisting of a minimum and maximum number. It’s important to increase both of these numbers as your character advances through the game. Also keep in mind that, even if your maximum damage is an incredibly high number, you’ll want to place an equal emphasis on the minimum damage as well. A weapon that deals 40 – 60 damage will generally be preferable over one that deals 1 – 100, simply because of the consistency of the lower damage. It’s also worth pointing out the effects of your character’s percentage bonuses to damage. Most characters, notably the Barbarian, have skills that will 2000 All Rights Reserved 5 enhance the damage they deal with weapons, most often by applying a percentage increase to the random amount of damage that is generated by a successful swing. This percentage will allow you to deal an enhanced amount of damage, but it’s important to note that only natural, non-magical damage can be increased by most of these skills. So, if your Barbarian with a few points in Sword Mastery is using a Sword of Thunder that deals 3 – 8 damage, with an additional 1 – 32 points of Lightning damage, the damage bonus from the Sword Mastery skill would only apply to the 3 – 8 natural damage. The sword might still be worth using, but keep in mind this basic limitation. Dexterity, Attack Rating, and Defense Dexterity measures your character’s agility and quickness, as well as his or her ability to accurately land blows with melee weapons and aim ranged weapons. Adjacent to your character’s Dexterity number, you’ll see boxes containing your Attack Ratings for both your primary and secondary attacks (again, if applicable). Higher numbers here are better, but be warned that there is a point of diminishing returns for your Attack Rating. When you hover your mouse over your Attack Rating, you’ll notice that a percentage pops up, showing how often you’ll successfully hit a monster that has the same level as you. As you play through the game, you’ll see that it’s very rare for this percentage to reach higher than 86 or 87%. Even Combat Shrines that boost your Attack Rating to many times its normal level won’t raise your accuracy above 95%. This percentage, however, is only for attacks against monsters that are the same level as you. You’ll have a much easier time hitting low-level enemies, and a much more difficult time connecting with higher-level monsters. For this reason, you should generally attempt to level up as you move along in the game, instead of rushing through each area while avoiding the monsters there. If you proceed too far too quickly, you’ll find it nearly impossible to hit the foes you face. 2000 All Rights Reserved 6 Note, however, that your accuracy rating doesn’t apply to magical attacks, which will always hit if they’re aimed properly. “Magical” attacks would include things like the Amazon’s Ice Arrow, but not her Multiple Shot skill, which merely enhances her normal attacking skill. Dexterity can also have a small effect on your character’s Defense, supposedly representing your ability to dodge enemy blows that slower characters could not, which is why the Defense is listed beneath the Attack Rating. Your Defense number is an aggregate of your natural defensive capabilities, which are supplied by Dexterity, and the Defense provided by your armor and equipment. The contribution of your Dexterity to your Defense is very small, however, and you’ll notice that it takes an addition of a few points to Dexterity to yield even a one-point increase to Defense. Higher Defense allows your character to dodge incoming blows and missiles more effectively (it does not have an effect on magic, however). Much like Attack Rating, Defense has a point of diminishing returns, because you’ll rarely be able to get below a 10% chance for your enemies to hit you. Lastly, Dexterity increases the damage dealt by ranged and thrown weapons. This makes Dexterity the most important stat to increase for most Amazons, saving those specializing in Spears (who will probably want to concentrate on Strength). As with Strength, you’ll often find equipment that increases your Dexterity rating. Vitality, Stamina, and Life Your Vitality controls how physically fit your character is. It will have an effect on how far your character can run without rest and how much damage you can take before dying. The first box next to your Vitality statistic is Stamina. This box gives a numerical equivalent of the large white Stamina bar at the bottom of your screen. As you put more points into Vitality, your Stamina reserves will increase, and 2000 All Rights Reserved 7 your character will regenerate Stamina at an increased rate. As you’ll notice in the beginning of the game, your character won’t be able to run for an extended period of time without needing to recharge his or her Stamina reserves.

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