Diablo II and D2: Lord of Destruction (v1.08) Guide v1.0 by Spider Eternal(tm) (Spider0@Juno.com) Last Update: 8/2/01 Check next to each title of the section to see the date of the last update! Yay! The Xpack is finally here! =) Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been rather busy with work, so I was unable to play Diablo 2 for a long while. Now that I'm back, I hope I can improve this guide significantly. Table of Contents ***************** I. Introduction II. Imbuement Guide III. Common Mistakes IV. Side Comments V. Credits VI. Copyright I. Introduction *************** Ever get puzzled by what you should imbue? Or when you should imbue it? Or why some imbues came out great and others were absolutely horrible? Overlooking the fact that you give Charsi better items with each difficulty, there is another factor which determines imbue quality. And most people think it's the difficulty level that does it. That in fact, is wrong. II. Imbuement Guide ******************* The reason most people think imbues are better in higher difficulties, is because they are, in a sense, but its not difficulty that influences the imbuement, it's the level of the imbuer. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. If a level 10 imbues an item in normal (or any difficulty for that matter), the item will be imbued to suit his needs. If a character level 20 imbues on any difficulty whatsoever, he will get a better item than the level 10 because he needs better items. So, the higher your level, the better the imbuement, it's that simple. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- A different way of playing can really make a difference, and could save you a lot of grief and boredom. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The main reason people get not-so-good items from imbues, is the fact that a lot of them rush through the game. So being a lower level, they might imbue a great item, but will probably be disappointed. (Although the increased difficulty in the Xpack seems to solve that) If you want to receive better imbues faster, take your time with the game. Sounds like an oxymoron, but its not. If you find an area in the game where you can level up easily and kill the monsters there with fair ease, then stay there. Once the experience starts going down, don't leave the area. Instead of rushing to the next area, join or make games that will have 8 people join them. For the most part the monsters will get a little harder, but they will still be easy to kill, and you will get good experience from them. The trick is to stay solo, that way you get the maximum experience possible. Try making games that will have the 8 people coming in play in a different act than you are. That way you will have 8 people total in the game and an entire Act full of experience for yourself. Once that area or act doesn't give you much experience with maximum players, then its time to move on. Playing in this consistent and thorough manner truly makes it an entirely different play experience. I've seen level 44 characters in Nightmare Act 3, and I've seen level 44 characters starting Act 5 in Normal. I myself have stayed in Normal, and found decent experience in act 5 with 8 people up until I hit level 46. Most people starting Nightmare are in their 30s. ***Updated 8/2/01*** My recommendation is to imbue at least after level 45. If you want to get the best of the imbuements, imbue after level 60. Usually level 60 or a couple levels above 60 is the optimum time to imbue. After that, it becomes rather pointless, since either the items won't be good enough for your character, or you'll possess the ones you need already. Don't forget that chance still does play a big role in these imbuements, but your chances of getting a very good item are extremely higher than if you imbue within the levels of 30-45. I do realize that doing so deprives you of a rare item during your progression of the game. Still, wouldn't it be better to have a great item that you keep for a long time, instead of a mediocre item that you use for a little while and then sell off? You be the judge. I found that this strategy works great for me, imbues are rare and quite far in-between, I made the most of them. And finally, as to what items themselves you should imbue, that is really up to your character class. I recommend imbuing only the exceptional (or even better, elite if you have Xpack) types of equipment. (Check out the specific stats on exceptional/elite types of items at the official Diablo 2 website, or try www.diabloii.net) Common Mistakes (Updated 12/4/00) *************** You've all seen them before, people auctioning off exceptional/elite superior imbuable items that are sold for sickeningly huge amounts of gold or good items. DON'T FALL INTO THIS TRAP!! Items lose all their properties once they are imbued, so getting a superior sword imbued, or a cracked one makes no difference whatsoever, the item type is what determines the imbued item. So an exceptional/elite piece of equipment is different from a regular piece of equipment since it's already a different type to begin with, and having it imbued will produce a higher quality item altogether. I have found that not even wands retain skill properties. Sometimes the same skill is added to the item, and it is quite confusing. Another area where people could get misled is when imbues add the improved damage/durability/defense. If you gave a superior item that contained these attributes to Charsi, and she gave back an imbued item that still had those properties, you might be misled into thinking that they are kept during the imbue process. That's simply not true, what really happened was the item was stripped of its attributes, and then those properties were re-added to the item, giving the appearance that they were kept. Remember, all superior properties are lost, so avoid spending big money on superior items. (Updated 1/18/01) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Higher is not always better? The common opinion is that imbuing between the levels of 30-45 is better than the higher levels because you don't get as many damage dealing properties in items (even though Blizzard said that more damage adding properties were available), instead they would be more geared to resistances and regeneration. Another belief is that a higher level simply expands the suffix and prefix pool, so after a certain level you'll get more crappy items and chances of a good item drop. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I am not sure if this is correct or not, but I've gotten numerous e- mails about it. From what I have heard, there are designated levels at which imbuing a certain type of item increases. For example it is said that imbuing a weapon is best at level 29, because chances of a good high damaging weapon increase dramatically. And imbuing for a shield is best at level 8-12, that way you get good defense multipliers. I am beginning to see a pattern in these e-mails I have gotten from people, telling me the best levels to imbue certain items etc. From what I can conclude, the game still gives you what you need. If you are at level 8 and you imbue a shield, the game is going to boost the defense significantly because your defense absolutely sucks. When you are at level 29 and you imbue a weapon, the game is going to give you a damage boost because the weapon you currently have is not going to last you very long in nightmare difficulty (unless you have a godly weapon equipped). Here is what I can derive from all this: Imbuing a shield at level 29 isn't as good as it is at level 8-12 because at level 29 your defense is quite decent, it's the damage the game is going to worry about since at level 29 the monsters get more life, and you need to deal more damage. The imbuement process could possibly be based on your stats when you imbue an item. So imbuing a shield when you have 600 def armor is probably not going to yield you a shield that has a good defense rating, instead its going to give you a shield with regeneration and elemental protection statistics. Getting a higher level opens up more of the suffix and prefix pool, and most high level characters complain that they get shit for items when they imbue. That could be because they are already wearing great equipment so the game sees no need to boost their damage rating (for example) in an imbue. Had they imbued while completely naked, the results could have been very different. That would explain the reason why the game sometimes gives you items that you can't use based on your base stats, but wearing the equipment you have you are able to, whereas if some people imbued items they couldn't use at all, they commonly got the -% requirements attribute. Getting a higher level expands the suffix/prefix pool and allows the game to have more to choose from when it comes to giving you what you need at the time. My theory seems very likely to be true, so in addition to following the tips mentioned in the guide, see if imbuing while you are naked (and have no items in your inventory or possibly your stash) makes a difference in the quality of the imbue. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- For those of you curious to find out why you get certain items in certain levels read the small section below. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Diablo 2 game stops dropping items after a certain monster level. What I mean is socketed exceptional items, for example, will not be dropped (or very rarely) in the hell difficulty because the game considers those items to be too weak to be dropped. So in order to get them you have to go back to hell on nightmare difficulty. For this same reason you don't see regular cracked items dropped in the later difficulties, instead you'll see better item types in cracked+ versions. Certain items stop dropping according to difficulty only because difficulty is what determines the monsters' levels. So your imbue in normal should still be just as good as the one in hell, since its based on YOUR level. This does not affect unique items (not in my experience anyway, send in comments if you know otherwise people!) so don't worry about it not being possible to find any. Although I do know that the possibility of monsters dropping better uniques goes up in difficulty levels, although I have gotten Wormskull from Duriel in normal before... Side Comments (Updated 12/4/00) ************* I am a very open minded individual, so if you think I have posted some incorrect information here, please let me know so I may update the Guide. Provide your name and e-mail and you shall receive credit for your help. Also any suggestions about how to improve this Guide, feedback of any kind, be it positive, negative, or even neutral; will be read and responded to. Basically, ANYTHING that you consider worthwhile to send, whether it would be a letter telling me to rot in the bowels of hell, a spelling mistake, or a compliment on my work, please send it. (No I'm not implying you send me hate mail just for the fun of it! Although I do enjoy the occasional chuckle.) CREDITS (Updated 5/27/01) ******* At the moment I wish to thank some of the ladder players on the WEST Realm whose names I can't remember but nevertheless, your advice helped me create this Guide. I also give credit to Andross who helped me update the guide in the particular area regarding wand imbuements! I'd also like to thank Daniel Farina and Luke Bentson for informing me of the unlocking of prefixes and suffixes! I'd also like to thank IEXX of the EAST realm in helping be update the section on the best levels of imbuement. And thanks to all who sent in your comments! Please, send any thoughts you have at all. I'd like to hear them!!! Be sure to send me any experience with imbues, patterns, reoccurring attributes, anything like that! COPYRIGHT NOTICE **************** This document is copyrighted to Spider Eternal 2000-2001(c). I will grant permission to reproduce this guide freely provided you mail me asking for it and tell me where you will be posting it. It is also required that the document remains whole and unmodified, and the original author is credited, along with anyone else that contributed to the Guide.