Yet Another Diablo 2 Guide (Yes, that is the real name): Version .1 By Roland Carlos (RCarlos) E-Mail: rollins31@hotmail.com Ah, my return to guide writing. Sorry if I seem a little bit sentimental, but i've been out of it for so long. Anyways, it seems that Diablo 2 is a very popular game, so I think i'll come back with a bang. A Diablo 2 guide. I'll be writing this guide as I go through the game, so bear with me. I'll update it as I see fit. Table of Contents 1 - Introduction 2 - Version Updates 3 - Author Notes 4 - Controls List 5 - Differences from Diablo 6 - Game Basics - Shrines - Items - Weapons/Armor - Monsters 7 - The Characters - Amazon - Barbarian - Necromancer - Paladin - Sorceress 8 - Character Skills/Spells - Amazon - Barbarian - Necromancer - Paladin - Sorceress 9 - Quests - Act 1 - Act 2 - Act 3 - Act 4 10 - Lists - Prefixes/Suffixes - Uniques - Set Items - Monsters - Shrines - Gems 11 - Multiplayer 12 - Thanks 13 - Legal Junk --------------- 1. Introduction --------------- The year was 1996. Blizzard had released the acclaimed Diablo. It was a revolutionary entry into the role-playing genre. Not only did it have excellent graphics and great gameplay, it won over many fans with its game engine. Claiming that no game was ever the same, that was true. Dungeon levels were randomly created, as well as the quests you undertook in your journey. This gave the game a much greater replayability then the usual role-playing game. Taking place after the conclusion of the first Diablo, Diablo 2 invites players into a much bigger world. While the hero of Tristam did emerge triumphant in defeating Diablo from the labyrinth, he did so at great cost to their own well-being. After the celebration, Diablo takes over the hero's body and wanders the world now, as the Dark Wanderer. The forces of hell are aligned with Diablo and his brothers. Chaos and terror ensue in the Dark Wanderer's path. The Rogue Monastery is overtaken and the Sisterhood of Rogues is broken up. A city in the desert, Lut Gholein, finds itself under attack from the desert and its own sewers. And Tristam, the town is now a former shadow of its old self, utterly destroyed. And now salavation may come again. A new hero has come to right the wrongs left by the minions of Hell. They will fight many battles and travel long distances. But in the end, the final objective of this trip is to stop Diablo, once and for all. ------------------ 2. Version Updates ------------------ 9/8/00 - Version .1: Started the Unique Item List. 8/22/00 - Version .09: Back after my vacation. Necromancer skills up, and a Amazon vs. Barbarian part to the Multiplayer section. Fixed the gem table (the addition sign was the problem). 7/20/00 - Version .08: Added the Gems list and the Paladin's skills. Important Author's Note. 7/18/00 - Version .07: Added the Paladin and Sorceress to Characters, added the Monsters in game basics, added the Unique item notice in the Uniques list. 7/17/00 - Version .06: Added the Amazon's skills. 7/16/00 - Version .05: Added the shrines, items, and weapons/armor sections to the game basics. 7/14/00 - Version .04: Finished up on the set items (thanks for the all the submissions). 7/12/00 - Version .03: Finished up all the quests. 7/8/00 - Version .02: A few more tidbits up. Finished up Act 1 Quests as well as my Barbarian info. Started on Act 2. Also added the shrines, the control list, a few more characters and some set items to tide ya over for awhile. 7/4/00 - Version .01: Happy 4th of July. This is the earliest version of the guide, with the introduction, my notes, some Barbarian info, and a few of the Act 1 quests up. ----------------- 3. Author's Notes ----------------- Well, not much yet. But i'm going through the game myself, so you'll have give me some patience if your waiting for a lot of updates. I get my info as the game presents it, so whenever I get something new, i'll put it up. No, sadly, I wasn't a beta tester for the game, so I don't have any beta info (even if you need it). Hopefully in later versions of the guide, I will get more information up. This is just a quick preview of what is to come. A few people asked personally where I am in the game. Far enough. (Just call me Sir :) If you want to help or contribute to this guide, by all means, please! Send an offer (or the info you want to contribute) to the email in the top of this guide. Thanks in advance. Oh yeah, praise email will ALWAYS be read :) I usually play Diablo 2 a lot on single player, but I like to converse and play multiplayer every once in awhile. Look for any character with the account "Rollins". On the USWest Realm, I play with my Amazon, DizzyLizzy. On the USEast Realm, I play with my other Amazon, Dragonablood. Say hey to any of em if ya see them. (Get a free gem if ya mention my guide! Well...maybe.) On my vacation, I visited the Phillppines. Run across a local mall there (like Greenhills if ya are from the Phillppines). Some of the Network Gaming places offer Diablo 2 on TCP/IP games. They are great fun if you need a quick game to play. I had a great time myself playing Diablo 2 at Greenhills. ---------------- 4. Controls List ---------------- Basic Game Controls: Esc - Toggles the Esc menu on/off and exits other menus Left Mouse Button - Performs "smart" actions depending on the situation: -Click on a spot on the ground to go to that spot. -Click on a monster to attack it using the skill currently assigned to the Left Mouse Button -Click and HOLD on a monster to attack it repeatedly until you release the button, or the monster is dead. -Pick up/drop items from/onto the ground, inventory or belt. -Operate shrines, doors, and chests. -Interact with the NPCs (talk, trade, gamble, hire, and imbue) Right Mouse Button - Performs "smart" actions depending on the situation: -Use the skill currently assigned to the Right Mouse Button a selected target. -Drink a selected potion. -Activate a scroll or tome. Arrow Keys - Scrolls the automap. Configurable Game Controls: H - Toggles the Help screen. A (or C) - Toggles Character Attributes screen on/off. B (or I) - Toggles Backpack Inventory screen on/off. P - Toggles the Party screen on/off. M - Toggles the Message log on/off. Q - Toggles the Quest log on/off. Enter - Opens/closes In-Game Chat overlay. Tab - Toggles the Automap on/off. Home - Centers the Automap (if Numlock if OFF). T - Toggles Skill Tree screen on/off. S - Toggles mouse button Skill button overlay on/off. F1 through F8 - Readies (or sets) the associated Left or Right Mouse Button Skill. Set by opening the Skill menu then place your cursor over the skill you wish to assign to a hotkey. Press the desired hotkey while the cursor is still over the skill icon. ~ - Toggles a belt than 1X4 open/closed. 1, 2, 3, and 4 - Uses the item in that belt slot. Ctrl - Hold down to run. R - Toggles auto-run mode on/off. Shift - Hold down while clicking a mouse button to use that skill while standing in place. Alt - Highlights all items dropped on the ground. Spacebar - Cancels all above screens and overlays to return to gameplay. Numeric Keypad - Voice communication (turn NumLock ON for the following) 0 - Player character says "Help!" 1 - Player character says "Follow me." 2 - Player character says "For you." 3 - Player character says "Thanks." 4 - Player character says "Sorry!" 5 - Player character says "Bye." 6 - Player character says "Die!" Mouse wheel up - Scrolls up thru all hot-keyed (F1-F8) skills in the Right Mouse Button slot. Mouse wheel down - Scrolls down thru all hot-keyed (F1-F8) skills in the Right Mouse Button slot. N - Clear text messages. Print Screen - Save the screen to your D2 directory as "screenshotX.jpg". Z - Toggle all party member portraits on/off. -------------------------- 5. Differences from Diablo -------------------------- -------------- 6. Game Basics -------------- Shrines: Shrines are still around in Diablo 2, but now they are a lot easier to figure out what they do. Names like Health Shrine and Resist Fire Shrine are better than Eldritch Shrine and Weird Shrine. Certain shrines also can be used again (over time) so you can use their benefits over and over. The shrines now don't directly interfere with your stats. Now shrines either provide bonuses or health/mana refills. Most of the shrines do provide positive benefits. So you don't have to worry about getting in trouble from using one. Players will use the shrines to their immediate benefits, health shrine when they need it, experience shrine right before they get into a lot of fighting, gem shrine when they need an upgraded gem. However, when you reload a game all the shrines will have changed into different types (other than health and mana shrines, which will stay where they were the last time you loaded the map). You may also run across wells in your travels. Wells are very useful since they give you health, mana, and stamina bonuses. You can use wells as long as there is some water in it. Wells also refill faster than most shrines, so you can rely on wells as good sources of health recovery. Items: There are a variety of items in Diablo 2 that are not combat equipment. Gold is no longer placed directly in the inventory. You've been provided with a bag that holds all your gold without taking any space in your inventory. If you want to drop or deposit (more on deposit a bit later) gold, click on the gold pieces in your inventory screen. The amount of gold you can hold is dependent on your level, the higher your level, the more you can carry. Gems are somewhat rare, but you will find a few of them during your quests. While some common enemies do drop them, you find the majority of gems as rewards from defeating big boss enemies. Gems come in five different grades, chipped, flawed, normal, flawless, and perfect. The better the grade, the more powerful the effect of the gem. There are also seven types of gems: amethyst, diamond, emerald, ruby, sapphire, skull, and topaz. While gems can be sold for a bit of money and hold a lot of trading power, the best use for gems is to place in socketed items (discussed in weapons/armor). Gems cannot be bought from NPC merchants. Since every class now learns different things than the each other, scrolls are needed. The town portal spell has been converted into scroll form and identify scrolls still exist. You can find scrolls all over, from chests or monsters, but NPC merchants also sell scrolls. Scrolls can be placed into tomes for storage purposes. Each tome can hold up to 20 scrolls. Its a lot better for inventory to use tomes if you plan to carry a lot of scrolls. You don't need identify scrolls as much since Cain provides it for free. But town portal tomes should always be in your inventory. You never know when you need a quick escape back to a safe haven. Potions are the staple for your survival. You should never head into battle without having at least filled up with healing potions when you were at town. Healing potions come in five types: minor, light, normal, greater, and super. Early on, you can only buy the lower types of healing potions, but as you progress, you can buy better and better potions. However, super healing potions are only found, not bought. Mana potions cannot be bought and are always found. They also come in the five types like the healing potions. A big change from the first Diablo is that health and mana regeneration is not instant. You will have to wait for awhile for the full effects of the potion. You can keep track of the healing on the health/mana orbs. Rejuvenation potions do provide instant healing, but you have to find them or make them with the Horadric Cube. There are two types of rejuvenation potions, normal and full. You can place healing, mana, or rejuvenation potions in your belt for quick hotkey use. There are also non-healing potions in the game. Stamina potions can be bought, or found. They are white in color and provide an instant refill to your stamina bar. Stamina potions are useful when you need more stamina to keep on running. Thawing potions provide an instant cure to being frozen. They are yellow and again, can be bought. Antidote potions are black in color and remove the poison status. Antidotes can be bought. Stamina, thawing, and antidote potions can be placed in the belt for quick hotkey use. In Diablo 2, there are also offensive potions. They come in two types, explosive and poisoning. Explosive potions are thrown and create an explosion wherever the potion hits. There are three types of explosive potions: fulminating, oil, and exploding. As the grade of explosive potions goes up, the explosion gets larger and the damage done is more. Poisoning potions are also thrown and create poison clouds which poison any enemies that get hit by the cloud. There are three types of poisoning potions: rancid gas, choking gas, and strangling gas. As the grade of poisoning potions goes up, the poison length is longer, as well as the damage done. You can buy most of explosive and poisoning potions. Explosive and poisoning potions have to be equipped into your left or right hands. Then you'll have to use the Throw attack to use the potions. You can place most items in your private stash, which holds items and gold for you. This provides a storage place for items which you don't need at the moment, but maybe later on. You should place gold in the stash so you can avoid big gold losses when you die in battle. Weapons and Armor: You'll always want a weapon to kill with and armor to protect you. Weapons come in a variety of types, such as daggers, axes, swords, and bows. Usually the weapon class does not matter, but some class abilities do take the weapon class into effect (such as the poison dagger skill which needs an equipped dagger, or the Barbarian's weapon masteries). Some weapons can be equipped with one arm or two arms. You may have a choice, but you may be forced to equip it in a certain way. Armors protect your body. Helmets for your head, gloves for your hands, boots for your feet, belts to help hold more potions. Shields now have a sucessful blocking rate, to see how much of a chance you can block an enemy's attack. The body armor also comes in a variety of types, getting better in defense as it gets tougher. Weapons and armor all come with durability ratings. You may find damaged, crude, or cracked versions of items. This negative prefix usually means the item has lowered durability, or damage/defense. Sometimes you may also find superior versions of items. This gives a bonus to durability, damage/defense, or attack rating for weapons. Weapons and armor also come with strength, dexterity, and (sometimes) level requirements. You'll have to fulfill all the needed requirements in order to even equip a weapon or armor. You will get a visual warning if a weapon or piece of armor is getting low in the durability area. You should head back to a repairer to get the equipment fixed up back to full. If a weapon or armor hits zero durability, the weapon or armor will become inactive (but not broken completely, thankfully). In order to use it, you have to repair it. Weapons and armor names are also found in different colors. White is the normal standard color. Nothing special. A dark gray name means the weapon or armor is socketed. This means you can place a gem into one of the gem sockets, giving the weapon or armor special properties. Blue highlighted names signify a magical weapon or armor. When identified, they usually have a few magical properties to them. A yellow highlighted name is a rare item. Think of rare items as pumped up magical items. A rare item will have a lot of magical properties to it. They also sell for a lot more than blue highlighted items. A green highlighted item is an important item, even if you don't use it. Green equipment means that that equipment is part of a set of items. If you are able to collect a whole set of a set item group, you gain a powerful bonus as well as the bonuses the individual set item pieces give you. Most people are not patient enough to kill monsters for set items and they usually trade for them. Finally, uniques are in a dark gold color. People mix up rares with unique items. Unique items have a much darker shade than rares. Uniques are much harder to get now, due to the additions of rare and set items. But still, the uniques have a lot of powerful properties and you should be thankful if you get one, even if you don't use it. From easiest to hardest to get: Normal, socketed, magical, rare, set items, and uniques. Monsters: There's still a lot of them poking around. And there are a lot more types than in the last Diablo. You got your standard zombies, skeletons, and goblins. But now you have your cat people, bone mages, and fetishes. Well, the battle to fight the Lord of Terror wasn't expected to be easy. Monsters are everywhere, in the wild, dungeons, caves. And you get your experience from killing them, so you'll want to kill as many as you can. Normal monsters have their names highlighted in white. You should watch their health bar to see how much more damage they can take before they die. If a monster has any special abilities, it will be in white type below the monster's white bar. Sometimes you may run across a monster with a blue highlighted name. This is a champion, a tougher type of a certain monster (if the champion's name was "Zombie Champion", it would basically be a beefed up zombie). A champion has more hp, does more damage, but also gives out bigger rewards. You'll usually find champions in a small group of 3 or 4. Be warned that they are more dangerous so you should be careful when fighting them. Other monsters will have dark yellow tinted names which signifies a unique monster. They are always surrounded by minion monsters. While minion monsters are not as powerful as champion types, they are a bit tougher than the usual regular type of a monster. Its always a good idea to take out a unique monster's minions before going after the unique monster themselves. Be warned, unique monsters have special abilities, such as "Extra Fast" or "Spectral Hit". Extreme caution should be taken before fighting unique monsters. At the end of each Act, there is a powerful boss. These are the most powerful enemies you will ever face, so you may have to use specific stratgies to take care of them. You'll find them in the Act walkthroughs. ----------------- 7. The Characters ----------------- Amazon - The Amazon is the expert at ranged and thrown weapons. You'll want to use her with such weapons like the javelin, throwing knives, crossbows, and bow and arrows. She is the best transition character to Diablo 2 from former Diablo rogue players. Of course, she is better than old rogue in many ways. She can enchant her bolts or arrows with magical properties that can do such things as give them an elemental attribute, or even fire multiple arrows/bolts from one shot. The javelin and spear skills can infuse the javelin with more power and for both uses, when thrown, or used in melee combat. The Amazon also has access to magic with can slow missile attacks, create a copy of herself, or even make a powerful valkyrie to aid in battle. In addition to that magic, her passive abilties helps to deal extra damage and avoid attacks easier. You are an Amazon if: Safety first! You'll fire from far away and if they want to fight they'll come to you. Of course, you have a few tricks up your sleeve if they do come close. Barbarian - This character likes to get their hands dirty. If you were a fan of the warrior from the first Diablo, the Barbarian should be the best fit for you. Early on, they possess great strength and vitality, so many early level monsters will be easily handled by the Barbarian. He is usually suited to melee fighting, but can be made deadly with thrown weapons. He can back up close combat with Combat Skills (which give him powerful special attacks), toughen up himself with Combat Masteries (which can raise his power in a weapon, or even raise some of his own stats), and he can use Warcries when needed (which affect enemies, as well as friends in various ways). You are a Barbarian if: You love fighting hand to hand. Heck, you don't need no spells. Give you a sword and a shield, your set for the day. Necromancer - The Necromancer isn't the best suited for fighting hand to hand, so he prefers to use his unholy abilities for holy uses. The necromancer specializes in command of the undead, so he can raise skeletons from corpses, create golems, or even turn monsters against their own with his powers. He can create a powerful army to do his bidding. However, he also has good command over the powers of poison and bone which will either kill the monsters, or at least poison them enough that they will die. And his variety of curses will inflict monsters will various ailments, be it they take extra damage, become blinded, or even turn fellow monsters of the victim. Truly, he is a force to be feared. You are a Necromancer if: A job is better done when someone else does it, and you get credit. But you can hold your own if it needs your personal touch. Paladin - A holy warrior of light, the Paladin has no problem lending some of his own bonuses to fellow allies. He is more of a front line fighter, so you'll be using powerful weapons and strong armor with him. The Paladin possesses several Combat skills which he can use to directly damage or kill enemies. While his Combat skills are very useful, he is best known for his offensive and defensive auras. He can pass his auras on to nearby friends, so if the Paladin is getting an attack bonus, or free healing, his friends are also getting the same attack bonus or healing. He can either crush enemies with his powerful attacks or assist friends in doing the same objective. You are a Paladin if: One of good qualities is your charitiable nature. But if somebody crosses you, they'll pay in one way or another. Sorceress - The Sorceress is the master of the magics of the world. She has command of powerful Cold, Fire, and Lightning spells. While you can focus on a single type of spell, a Sorceress who has knowledge in all spell areas is one to be feared. Being able to attack an enemy with a variety of spells is always a good bonus. However, once the Sorceress gets access to high level spells, monsters will be quickly killed and you won't really need all those old spells. She is mana drainer, so mana potions will have to be hoarded. If she does run out of mana, she'll be hard pressed to fight off monsters, as her physical attacks are subpar compared to other classes. A Sorceress must always be prepared for anything. You are a Sorceress if: You never could out fight an enemy, but you could always freeze, toast, or shock them into nothingness. -------------------------- 8. Character Skills/Spells -------------------------- Amazon: Javelin and Spear - This section of the Amazon's skill tree mainly focuses on the javelin and spear weapon classes. The abilities here will give the javelin and spear attacks special powers, such as lightning or poison enchantment. Some of the abilities work for the melee attacks, some for the thrown attacks. But all are important if you choose for your Amazon to fight mainly with javelins and spears. Jab: You can learn this from the beginning. Mana cost is variable. This Amazon ability allows the Amazon to attack a target enemy multiple times with her javelin or spear. The multiple attacks mean extra damage, but early on the damage done is actually lessened. After you've put a few points into this skill, the damage dealt becomes a bonus, instead of a penalty. A very useful attack in the early levels. As it grows in skill levels, it gains more damage, the attack rating for the attack goes up, and the mana cost rises. Power Strike: You can learn this at level 6. Mana cost is variable. Power Strike adds a bit of lightning damage to your melee attack. This will deal extra lightning damage in addition to the main melee attack. This skill gets very useful in the later levels as the lightning damage dealt increases. Use this when you need to do more damage than usual (for example, Unique monsters). As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating goes up, lightning damage dealt goes up, and the mana cost rises. Poison Javelin: You can learn this at level 6. Mana cost is variable. An excellent Amazon skill which adds poison to the thrown javelin attack. In addition to hurting the target enemy and poisoning it, the poison javelin will leave brief poison clouds in its path, also poisoning any enemy which touches it. Very useful for poison multiple enemies. As it grows in skill levels, the poison damage goes up and the mana costs rises. Impale: You can learn this at level 12. Costs 3 mana. Must have learned Jab. Using this ability will cause the Amazon to do a more powerful melee attack. However, this is at the cost of the weapon's durability, causing you to repair the equipped weapon more often than usual. If you want to use this is your personal choice, some people find Power Strike does the job better. Just remember you cannot used zero durability weapons, so you may find yourself without a weapon if you use this ability too many times. As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating goes up and weapon durability cost goes up. Lightning Bolt: You can learn this at level 12. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Poison Javelin. An excellent addition to the Amazon's thrown javelin abilities. When you throw a javelin which this ability, the javelin will turn into a lightning bolt, lighting the path as well as doing lots of lightning damage to the target. Even though the mana cost does begin to sap a lot of mana in the higher skill levels, the high lightning damage done is worth it. As it grows in skill levels, the lightning damage dealt goes up and the mana cost rises. Charged Strike: You can learn this at level 18. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Power Strike and Lightning Bolt. When you use this ability, lightning will go off around your character, causing damage to any enemies that get hit by the charged bolts. Its usefulness is lessened at longer ranges, since the charged bolts tend to miss enemies far away. This ability is useful at close range as it is much easier to hit enemies when they are close up. As it grows in skill levels, the damage dealt goes up and the mana cost rises. Plague Javelin: You can learn this at level 18. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Lightning Bolt. Basically an upgrade on the poison javelin. The mana costs are higher, but for good reason. Like poison javelin, the thrown javelin leaves poison clouds behind it and also poisons the target enemy. But in addition to that, the javelin creates a sort of poison explosion, making multiple poison clouds around where the javelin landed. It is possible to even poison more enemies than with poison javelin. As it grows in skill levels, the poison damage dealt goes up and the mana cost rises. Fend: You can learn this at level 24. Costs 5 mana. Must have learned Impale. Very useful when you become surrounded by enemies. Fend allows the Amazon to attack all nearby enemies with her melee attack. It also gives a bonus to the attack rating and damage dealt, so you can quickly take down more enemies. You should save this for when you face overwhelming numbers. As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating and damage dealt goes up. Lightning Strike: You can learn this at level 30. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Charged Strike. A very powerful attack for the melee attacking Amazon. When you hit a monster with this skill, chain lightning will attack other nearby enemies to your first target. This ability can quickly kill a large group of enemies as the lightning can take care of enemies your not currently fighting. Take care to watch your mana if you plan to use this a lot, you may quickly run out, espcially in the later skill levels. As it grows in skill levels, the lightning bolt and lightning damage goes up, you gain an extra lightning bolt, and the mana cost rises. Lightning Fury: You can learn this at level 30. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Plague Javelin. The thrown (and more damaging) version of Lightning Strike. As you throw the javelin with this ability, it turns into lightning, causing lightning damage to the target. Also, lightning is spread to the other nearby enemies from the target, causing extra damage to them as well. It is much easier to kill enemies with this ability than with Lightning Strike (since you don't have to get in the enemies face), but watch how many javelins you have left and your mana. Just like Lightning Strike, this costs a lot of mana for an Amazon. As it grows in skill levels, the lightning bolt and lightning damage goes up, you gain an extra lightning bolt, and the mana cost rises. ================== Passive and Magic - This is the only part of the Amazon skill tree that does not focus on a class of weapons. However, this is maybe the most important section of the Amazon skill tree. You can easily increase the chances for your Amazon's survival with skills such as Evade and Avoid. The Amazon can also use skills such as Critcal Strike to deal extra damage to the enemy. There are even a few good suprises you can find. Inner Sight: You can learn this from the beginning. Costs 5 mana. With Inner Sight, enemies affected by it have sparkles over their heads. Enemies will give off a bit more light when affected, so you can see a bit more of the area. But the more important part of this skill is that it also decreases enemy defense. Enemies will lower defense are enemies that you can kill a lot easier. Use this whenever you come across a hard enemy. As it grows in skill levels, the length of the effects rises and the enemy defense penalty goes up. Critical Strike: You can learn this from the beginning. Passive. A must-have skill for any Amazon. Critcal Strike is passive, so it is always active, which is very beneficial for you. The more skill points you put into Critical Strike, the higher your chances of dealing extra damage to an enemy. And well, extra damage is NEVER a bad thing (when you do it of course). You will want to always put a few points into this skill. As it grows in skill levels, the chance of doing extra damage goes up. Dodge: You can learn this at level 6. Passive. Dodge is another passive skill, so this is always in effect. With Dodge, your chances of avoiding an enemy attack goes up. There are a few requirements to this skill however, you have to be standing still and it has to be a melee attack. Still though, this is another excellent passive skill. You could always as much help as you can get. As it grows in skill levels, the chance of avoiding a melee attack while not moving goes up. Slow Missiles: You can learn this at level 12. Costs 5 mana. Must have learned Inner Sight. While this is not a very useful skill in single player, it may be shine in multiplayer. What Slow Missiles does is slow attacks from ranged enemies. This basically makes them easier to handle since your not getting pounded by arrows, fireballs, or whatever as much. Most Amazon usually use ranged attacks, so it might not be worth it to put a lot of points in Slow Missiles. However, if you run across a hard bunch of ranged monsters (maybe a Unique ranged attacker with its minions), Slow Missiles might get some use then. As it grows in skill levels, the length of the effect goes up. Avoid: You can learn this at level 12. Passive. Must have learned Dodge. Similar to Dodge, this increases your chances of avoiding a ranged attack. While its somewhat easy to that (just move out of the way), you may need it when your busy with another enemy and some ranged attacker is pinging you from behind. You still will want to put some points into this skill, just not as much as Dodge (and later on, Evade). As it grows in skill levels, the chance of avoiding a ranged attack increases. Penetrate: You can learn this at level 18. Passive. Must have learned Critical Strike. With Penetrate, your attack rating for ranged attacks will go up. This works with Critical Strike, so when you have enough points in both these skills, you have a better ranged attack rating and a chance to do extra damage. If you choose to be a melee Amazon (not that unusual, some Amazon opt for other weapons), this may not be useful at all. But if your one who uses bows, crossbows, or thrown javelins, this is one of those required skills. As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating for ranged attacks goes up. Decoy: You can learn this at level 24. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Slow Missiles. What Decoy does is create a duplicate of the Amazon. This is very useful when you need to distract enemies away from your real self. However, the decoy will not attack, so it is only useful for drawing attention away from yourself. In addition to a Mercenary, this will confuse a lot of enemies and leave you unbothered to kill them. The decoy will only last for a few seconds (at least until you put a lot of skill points into it), so use the time wisely. The mana cost is also very high, but it lessens as the skill level goes up. As it grows in skill levels, the length of the decoy rises and the mana cost lowers. Evade: You can learn this at level 24. Passive. Must have learned Avoid. The third in the set of missing enemy attack skills, the special property of Evade is that you have a chance of avoiding attacks while moving. Basically you can cover all the bases when this skill is in effect, you avoid attacks when standing still and attacks when moving. This is more useful when you have to run by a few enemies, but if you usually run into a clearings, you might want to put more points into Dodge and Avoid. As it grows in skill levels, the chance of avoiding attacks while running goes up. Valkyrie: You can learn this at level 30. Costs 25 mana. Must have learned Decoy and Evade. Using Valkyrie creates a person to fight for you. Basically think of her as a mercenary you can create for mana. However, she is more powerful than most mercenaries, as she possesses more hp and has attack and defense bonuses. She does not possess the extra abilities (such as cold or fire attacks) most merecenaries have, but she can hold her own in battle. At the very least, she also is another distraction for enemies, so using her in addition to Decoy will leave you free from enemy attacks. As it grows in skill levels, the life of the Valkyrie, her damage, attack rating, and defense bonuses will go up. Pierce: You can learn this at level 30. Passive. Must have learned Penetrate. With Pierce, you have a chance of hitting multiple enemies with one attack. However, it will also pass on to your special attacks as well. So while this is a good bonus to your normal attack, special attacks may end up hitting the wrong target. As it grows in skill levels, the chance of the attack passing through an enemy goes up. ================ Bow and Crossbow - With this section of the skill tree, you can enhance the attacks of your bows and crossbows. Giving them an additional fire or cold attack is always a good thing. You can even attack multiple enemies with a single shot. You should consider big development with this skill if you decide to stay with a bow or crossbow. Magic Arrow: You can learn this at the beginning. Mana cost is variable. This is a staple skill for the beginner player (to Diablo 2, not just to the Amazon class). Most early players don't stock up on arrows enough, so if they don't pick them up or buy them, they will run out eventually. Magic Arrow will create an arrow out of mana, giving you a fighting chance, even if you don't have any bows or bolts in your inventory. It also gives a minor damage bonus. The mana cost is very low (it eventually gets into the decimals and later on becomes a free skill!) and it also never misses the target. While you may want to use this skill early on, you should stock up on arrows for other more powerful abilities later. As it grows in skill levels, the damage bonus goes up and the mana cost lowers. Fire Arrow: You can learn this at the beginning. Mana cost is variable. Another skill useful in the early levels. Fire Arrow enchants the fired arrow with fire, so it deals normal and fire damage to the target enemy. Good against weak enemies, but you'll pass this up for more powerful skills later in the skill tree. As it grows in skill levels, the fire damage dealt goes up and the mana cost rises. Cold Arrow: You can learn this at level 6. Mana cost is variable. Very useful arrow skill. When an enemy is hit with the Cold Arrow, it take extra cold damage and turn blue. While the enemy is blue, they will move slower and attack slower as well. You can use this to take care of a powerful enemy. You can even use this skill in escape, run a bit, fire at the chasing enemy in order to gain more ground. As it grows in skill levels, the cold damage dealt, length of freezing and mana cost goes up. Multiple Shot: You can learn this at level 6. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Magic Arrow. An excellent skill for monster crowd control. Each time you fire an arrow with Multiple Shot, it will turn into extra arrows. So with only one arrow, you can get a whole bunch. The extra arrows will hit extra enemies, so you can easily kill enemies in a group. This will keep you from having to focus solely on one enemy, while the others move toward you. As it grows in skill levels, the amount of arrows fired goes up and the mana cost rises. Exploding Arrow: You can learn this at level 12. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Fire Arrow and Multiple Shot. Another good crowd control skill, this time you'll take it out from the inside. When the exploding arrow hits, an explosion will be created around the target area, causing fire damage to any enemy hit by it. Use this when you become faced by a large group of enemies. As it grows in skill levels, the fire damage dealt goes up and the mana cost rises. Ice Arrow: You can learn this at level 18. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Cold Arrow. Like Cold Arrow, this deals extra cold damage to an enemy. But unlike Cold Arrow, this will freeze an enemy directly, stopping them in their tracks. A frozen enemy is very easy to take down since it can't fight back. Also, if you can kill an enemy while it is frozen, it will shatter and leave no corpse (very useful when an enemy can revived). The frozen time is very brief so make good use of it. As it grows in skill levels, the cold damage dealt, the frozen time and mana cost goes up. Guided Arrow: You can learn this at level 18. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Cold Arrow and Multiple Shot. Guided Arrow is basically a homing missile. When you fire an arrow with Guided Arrow it will automatically track the nearest enemy, even if they are not in the usual straight line of the arrow. The arrow will even move itself in order to hit an enemy. You'll use this when you need to blindly fire into a room to just can't seem to get a steady lock on a quick enemy. As it grows in skill levels, the mana cost rises and the damage dealt goes up. Strafe: You can learn this at level 24. Costs 11 mana. Must have learned Guided Arrow. Strafe fires multiple arrows like Multiple Shot, but will attack any enemies on screen, no matter where they are. This allows you to damage any number of enemies even if they are on the top or bottom of the screen. You can only damage a certain number of enemies per each skill level, so for the really large groups, you'll have to put a lot of points into Strafe. As it grows in skill levels, the damage dealt goes up and the number of enemies attacked goes up. Immolation Arrow: You can learn this at level 24. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Exploding Arrow. The Immolation Arrow does a whole lot of damage. First, you deal the normal damage with the fired arrow. Second, you deal extra fire damage to the targeted enemy. Third, it will create an explosion, dealing damage to any enemy which is hit by it. Fourth, the explosion creates a fire which will burn for a time, hurting any enemy which stands in it. You can easily kill a single enemy and quickly hurt other enemies in a group. A must-have for high level Amazons. As it grows in skill levels, it deals extra explosion and fire damage, the length of the fire goes up, and the mana cost rises. Freezing Arrow: You can learn this at level 30. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Ice Arrow. An upgrade of the Ice Arrow, but also costs more mana. It will freeze the target enemy but also will freeze enemies near the target. This allows you to stop a good number of enemies by freezing them in their tracks. The extra damage dealt is also a good bonus, so you can hurt enemies to near death. A mercenary or Valkyrie can take care of the frozen enemies while you hit them with Freezing Arrows. As it grows with skill levels, it deals extra damage and the mana cost rises. ========== Barbarian: Combat Skills - These mainly help in combat. They are mostly powerful attacks that give more damage than usual. You'll want to use these skills when you want something dead. And quick. Bash: You can learn this from the beginning. Costs 2 mana. This attack deals a powerful blow to a monster which deals additional damage and knocks the target back a bit. You'll want to use this when you need a bit of breathing space. As it grows in skill levels, it gains more damage, more attack rating and more damage bonus. Leap: You can learn this at level 6. Costs 2 mana. This skill does not do any damage (not yet anyway), but is useful in getting around. This lets the Barbarian jump around. He can jump over objects and enemies as well. If you do land near enemies, this does not hurt them, but does push them away a bit. As it grows in skill levels, you gain more length in the jump. Double Swing: You can learn this at level 6. Costs 2 mana. If you have a weapon wielded in each hand, this is the skill for you. When used, you will swing both weapons at the same time causing extra damage. This is very useful for strong monsters, as repeated Double Swings with chop it down quickly. As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating goes up. Stun: You can learn this at level 12. Costs 2 mana. Must have learned Bash. When you use this skill the enemy will be stunned. This will freeze the enemy for a few seconds and allow you to run, fight other enemies, or just hit it unopposed. A good tactic is to keep using stun on an enemy and freeze it over and over. As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating and length of the stun raises. Double Throw: You can learn this at level 12. Costs 2 mana. Must have learned Double Swing. Like Double Swing, this will throw two weapons at the same time. This only works if you have a thrown weapon in each hand. This is useful only if you are a big thrown weapon user. If not, you should not use many points in this skill. As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating goes up. Leap Attack: You can learn this at level 18. Costs 9 mana. Must have learned Leap. Basically an upgrade on Leap. With this version of it, you can jump farther (when you compare equal levels to Leap) and do an attack when you land (with a damage bonus). However, this does cost more mana, so you should only use this for jumping in and out of battles. For casual jumping (like over rivers or to other platforms), regular Leap is recommended. As it grows in skill levels, the jumping length and damage bonus goes up. Concentrate: You can learn this at level 18. Costs 2 mana. Must have learned Stun. A very useful skill when surrounded by enemies. With Concentrate, your attack will not be stopped by an enemy hit. So you can focus more on hacking your way through a group of monsters. Of course, you will still take damage, but at least you can quicken the pace of getting outta there. It also gives a small bonus to your attack and defense rating. As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating and defense rating goes up. Frenzy: You can learn this at level 24. Costs 3 mana. Must have learned Double Throw. Facing a tough champion or unique monster? Frenzy is the way to go. As you hit a monster with the Frenzy attack, the next attack will be faster. It will keep getting faster and faster until the monster is either dead, or you move onto another monster. This is useful as this will quickly kill a tough monster, provided you can hit it (it does not gain in speed for a miss). As it grows in skill levels, the length of the Frenzy bonus and the attack rating go up. Whirlwind: You can learn this at level 30. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Leap Attack and Concentrate. This is literally a whirlwind. Click on where you want to go and the Barbarian will go there, attacking monsters in a whirlwind along the way. This is a quick way to get through a whole bunch of enemies blocking you, as this will chop them down to size quickly. However, in the first few skill levels of Whirlwind, the damage bonus is actually a penalty! So, until you get to level 5 in Whirlwind, you do less damage in Whirlwind. Afterwards, you start to do extra damage. As it grows in skill levels, the mana cost, damage bonus, and attack rating go up. Berserk: You can learn this at level 30. Costs 5 mana. Must have learned Concentrate. Using this skill gives the Barbarian a quick attack rating and magic damage bonus. So this is useful when you need every bit of help you can in killing monsters, as you have a better chance of hitting them. But be warned, as you add points into this skill, the duration of Berserk goes down. As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating and magic damage bonus go up, but the length of the Berserk goes down. ================ Combat Masteries - The weapon masteries increase the usefulness of weapon classes greatly. However, due to the lack of skill points out there, you should usually focus on one weapon art mainly. Most tend to use swords, so sword mastery is a good choice. However, it is your choice to what weapon class you want to use. The other skills in this set help with increasing certain aspects of the Barbarian, such as Stamina and Defense. Sword Mastery: You can learn this from the beginning. Passive. As you raise the level of this skill, you gain more attack rating and damage for sword class weapons. Axe Mastery: You can learn this from the beginning. Passive. As you raise the level of this skill, you gain more attack rating and damage for axe class weapons. Mace Mastery: You can learn this from the beginning. Passive. As you raise the level of this skill, you gain more attack rating and damage for mace class weapons. Polearm Mastery: You can learn this at level 6. Passive. As you raise the level of this skill, you gain more attack rating and damage for polearm class weapons. Throwing Mastery: You can learn this at level 6. Passive. As you raise the level of this skill, you gain more attack rating and damage for throwing class weapons. Spear Mastery: You can learn this at level 6. Passive. As you raise the level of this skill, you gain more attack rating and damage for spear class weapons. Increased Stamina: You can learn this at level 12. Passive. As you put points into this skill, you gain percent bonuses to your current stamina total. This is useful if you do a lot of running, as it raises your stamina total greatly when more points are put into it. Iron Skin: You can learn this at level 18. Passive As you put points into this skill, you gain percent bonuses to your current defense total. Obviously, this is useful, as it keeps you from dying. You can never have enough defense. Increased Speed: You can learn this at level 24. Passive. You must have learned Increased Stamina. As you put points into this skill, you gain percent bonuses to your current walking/running speed. The percent bonus is only a little bit each level, so you may have to put a lot of points into this skill, if you really need the extra speed. You'll want this if you need a quick retreat, or a quick way to catch those coward enemies. Natural Resistance: You can learn this at level 30. Passive. You must have learned Iron Skin. As you put points into this skill, you gain percent bonuses to your resistances from magical attacks (fire, cold, lightning, poison). This is very useful. Many of the monsters in the last parts of the game have specialized elemental attacks. Having a resistance to it can decrease the damage you take from that monster and make it easier to take down. ======== Warcries - These abilities of Barbarian directly affect other creatures. Some of them disable monsters, some help friends. But they are all useful in their own ways. Some of these Warcries can even turn the tide of battle in your favor, affecting a whole army of monsters. Howl: You can learn this at the beginning. Costs 4 mana. When you feel like the odds are entirely against you, Howl will change them in your favor. Using this ability will send monsters affected by it running away. This will allow you to chase them down by themselves, fight less monsters, or if needed, run away. As it gains in skill levels, the enemy will run farther and for a longer time. Find Potion: You can learn this at the beginning. Costs 2 mana. Not one of my personal favorite Barbarian abilities. Find Potion will allow you to search dead monster bodies for any potions. However, it only gets really useful after the percange goes up (which means you'll need to waste points with this skill). This skill is too low for much use in the beginning, and you'll have enough money to buy potions later on. As it gains in skill levels, the chance of finding a potion will increase. Taunt: You can learn this at level 6. Costs 3 mana. You must have learned Howl. You won't be using this skill too often, but it has it uses. The only time I use it is when there is a whole bunch of monsters, and I want to pick them off one by one. I use taunt to have them follow me around so I can kill them. Luckily, this also lowers the damage and accuracy of the enemy. Not the most useful warcry, but you'll use it every so often. As it gains in skill levels, the enemy suffers more of a damage and accuracy penalty. Shout: You can learn this at level 6. Costs 6 mana. A very useful Warcry. With Shout you gain a defense bonus for as long as the Shout is in effect. Use this whenever you are facing a tough bunch of monsters. And its use is even better in Multiplayer, as it also affects fellow party members close enough. A must for every big battle. As it gains in skill levels, the defense bonus and length of Shout will increase. Find Item: You can learn this at level 12. Costs 7 mana. This Warcry works on the same principle as Find Potion. You can search a dead monster corpse to see if it has any item. What you find is completely random, it could be gold, equipment, scrolls, etc. Again, the percentage of finding something is too low in the early levels, so this requires a lot of developing in order to be very useful. As it gains in skill levels, the percentage of finding something will increase. Battlecry: You can learn this at level 18. Costs 5 mana. You must have learned Taunt. This Warcry will lower the defense and damage dealt of any monster affected by it. Battlecry quickly lowers the power of a large group of enemies, making them easier to kill, at less risk to yourself. You'll want to add points to this, so you can affect the enemies more and to avoid reusing over and over, wasting mana. As it gains in skill levels, the defense and attack penalty suffered by the enemy grows, the length of Battlecry increases. Battle Orders: You can learn this at level 24. Costs 7 mana and some of your life. You must have learned Shout. This will give you a bonus to your life, stamina, and mana for as long as it is in effect. However, this means you'll have to sacrifice some of your life in order to use it. So you'll have to give a little, to get a lot. You'll use this when you need just a little bit of life to keep on going. Don't use this during battle. You need all the life you can get. This also will affect people who hear this in multiplayer (but at no cost to them, so this is a very useful multiplayer ability). As it gains in skill levels, the life, stamina, and mana bonus grows, as well as the length of the bonus. Grim Ward: You can learn this at level 24. Costs 4 mana. You must have learned Find Item. When you have monsters chasing you and your stamina is running out, use this ability. You can use the dead corpse of a monster to erect a sort of force field for you. Monsters will not enter the field created by the corpse totem. This allows you to get a quick breather, heal up, or use a town portal. As it grows in skill levels, the size of the force field will grow. Warcry: You can learn this at level 30. Mana cost is variable. You must have learned Battlecry and Battle Orders. This is the only Warcry which will directly damage enemies. This also means this the highest costing Warcry as well. Any monsters that get caught in the Warcry will sustain damage and be stunned for a brief period. You will want to put a lot of points into this skill. Soon enough, you'll be able to kill enemies with Warcry, or at best, get them near death and stunned. However, the mana cost goes up with each level, so make sure to have mana potions if you plan to use the skill reguarly. As it gains in skill levels, you will deal more damage, stun the enemy longer, and Warcry will cost more mana. Battle Command: You can learn this at level 30. Costs 11 mana. You must have learned Battle Orders. An excellent ability to use. While its use is somewhat limited in single player, this shines in multiplayer. With Battle Command, you will gain one skill leve in every skill you've learned. This also means party members who can get in the effect of the Warcry. You should have all your party members get in a circle around you before you use this ability, to get as much out of it as you can. I would keep adding this points into this ability if you regularly play in multiplayer. If your a single player, don't ignore this ability completely, you just won't be using it as much. As it gains in skill levels, the length of effects will grow. ============ Necromancer: Summoning Spells - Most likely, the Necromancer's claim to fame is because of his ability to take skeletons from corpses, create golems, or when he becomes experienced enough, make dead monsters do his bidding. It is a very powerful weapon as your monsters will take it upon themselves to damage enemies. Most Necromancers delve a little bit into this part of their skill tree. Usually, all your need to build up your army is a dead body and some mana (for skeletons and revived monsters). Or if you like golems, all you need are some mana. There are different types or skeletons and golems you can revive, so if you plan on using summoned monsters, you can only mainly focus on one type, or spread your skill points around all types. Its your points and your choice. Raise Skeleton: You can learn this from the beginning. Mana cost is variable. Early on in the game, you'll be relying on skeletons for your main attack force. Since the necromancer doesn't have too many weapons at his use in the beginning, the skeleton is a good ally. Not only does it deal damage, it can also distract the enemy. This allows you to move around the enemies and hit them from behind. Skeletons are also easy to create, all you need is a dead body. Because of this, most Necromancers will have skeletons with them. If they don't, they either are focusing on curses or poison/bone spells. As you advance on, you should rely more on golems, as they are stronger and can take a lot more damage. Sadly, only putting points into Raise Skeleton will only allow you to make more skeletons. If you want more powerful skeletons, you also have to put points into Skeleton Mastery. This makes raising skeleton levels in order to keep track with the current enemy level a very costly choice. If you plan to focus on skeletons, try to find a weapon which gives you a bonus to Raise Skeleton or Skeleton Mastery. As it grows in skill levels, the number of skeletons you can make goes up and the mana cost rises. Skeleton Mastery: You can learn this from the beginning. Passive. Must have learned Raise Skeleton. If you plan on becoming a big skeleton user, you'll be coming to this skill often. With this skill, you can give your skeletons life and damage bonuses. It will also improve the missile damage of your skeleton mages and give life/damage bonuses to revived monsters. You may end up pumping more points into this skill then you first planned, since keeping your skeletons strong enough to combat the stronger monsters is a hard task. Because of this, you'll either have to waste many points with this skill and Raise Skeleton, or rely on other sources of damage such as golems, curses, or poison/bone spells. As it grows in skill levels, the bonuses to skeleton and revived monsters life/damage and the skeleton mage missile attack rises. Clay Golem: You can learn this at level 6. Mana cost is variable. The golems are the big daddies of the necromancer's summoning weaponry. They clearly surpass the skeletons in life and damage. However, unlike skeletons you cannot make more than one of them at a time. But, you don't need a dead body to create a golem, so its a lot more easier to make them if your on the run. Golems are a natural upgrade from skeletons, its a good idea to make your usual skeleton army and place a powerful golem in the middle. This will easily kill lone enemies and damage (if not kill) groups. If you need a new golem right away, you can make one, but it will destroy your current one. You should only need to make new golems if your old one is about to die. As it grows in skill levels, the damage golem's life, damage dealt, and mana cost rises. Golem Mastery: You can learn this at level 12. Passive. You must have learned Golem. Similar to Skeleton Mastery, this skill upgrades your golems. Again, if you plan on being a big golem user, you are required to put skill points into here if you want to be succesful. It is not as useful as the Skeleton Mastery, since it only provides life and speed bonuses (the speed bonus stays very small and never gets above 33%). If you want to add damage to your golem, you'll have to add skill points to that golem skill directly. However, you can give your golem very big life bonuses very early, so you should put some points into this skill. It will increase the use of your golems, avoiding major mana waste. As it grows in skill levels, the life and walk/run speed bonuses go up. Raise Skeletal Mage: You can learn this at level 12. Mana cost is variable. You must have learned Raise Skeleton. Surely you've encountered the annoying bone mages by the time you reached level 12. (Either that or you really like leveling up early). In any case, now you can create those skeleton mages and annoy your enemies. Not only do they get the same bonuses from Skeleton Mastery like your regular skeletons, but they get more starting life as well ranged elemental attacks. This means that they can attack from far away and hit their enemy with fire, cold, electric, or poison damage. And yes, the cold damage will freeze the enemy, the poison damage will poison the enemy. Also, skeleton mages are counted on a different total to your regular skeletons, so you can have a lot of skeletons and skeleton mages (limited to however many points you put into those skills). Skeleton mages are more useful than your regular skeletons, so if you do plan on staying a skeleton user, you should focus on skeleton mages more than your regular kind. As it grows in skill levels, the number of skeleton mages you can make goes up and the mana cost rises. Blood Golem: You can learn this at level 18. Mana cost is variable. You must have learned Golem. Another type of Golem (one of 4), the Blood Golem is the second in the line of golems. While more expensive than regular golems, they also deal a lot more damage when compared to equal skill level clay golems. However, their life totals have an interesting quirk to them. They share life with you, so in essence, they are connected to your life total. This means if they take a hit, you'll feel it. You don't get the usual distraction protection that golems provide, because its basically like your fighting in the front lines. So if your blood golem dies, you'll take a lot of damage. Luckily, if your blood golem gives out damage, you can take life away from your enemy. So your blood golem can either be a good advantage to have, since you can easily gain life against lone enemies. Or your blood golem will be your doom since it will easily fall against groups of monsters. A good strategy whenever your blood golem gets surrounded is to create a clay golem. This will destruct your blood golem and give you a fresh golem. As it grows in skill levels, the healing percent bonus from dealing damage, the damage dealt by the golem, and the mana cost rises. Summon Resist: You can learn this at level 24. Passive. You must have learned Golem Mastery. This passive skill is a good bonus to your summoned creatures. It is the only skill which affects all summoned monsters (skeletons, golems, revived monsters). As you add points to this skill, your monsters gain extra resistance to all elements (fire, cold, poison, and electric). So, this adds to your monsters survival, allowing them to take a little bit more damage. If you plan to be a big user of summoned monsters, you should be willing to invest in this skill, as monsters later in the game tend to focus on the elements. As it grows in skill levels, the resist all bonus goes up. Iron Golem: You can learn this at level 24. Costs 35 mana. You must have learned Blood Golem. The third type of golem, this golem as has the requirement of needing a piece of equipment to create from. So, you can't create this anywhere you want, you'll need some sort of weapon or armor on the ground to make it from. However, you can easily create a special kind of golem, depending on the item. If you make your Iron Golem from a good piece of armor (say a field plate for example), your Iron Golem most likely will have a good amount of defense (as well as an HP bonus). Basically, your Iron Golem will take the properties of the item you make it from. If the item has a fire damage bonus, the golem will have a fire damage bonus. And on top of all that, the Iron Golem also has the Thorns Aura, dealing extra damage to the enemy (the Thorns Aura deals damage back to the enemy). You'll need to get to level 2 for it, but the Thorns damage is very high, so it is very much worth it. As it grows in skill levels, the Thorns Aura damage grows. Fire Golem: You can learn this at level 30. Mana cost is variable. You must have learned Iron Golem. The last type of golem you can create, the Fire Golem is one of the better types. Unlike the Blood Golem, it doesn't share life with you, and you don't need an item for it like the Iron Golem. So you can make the Fire Golem whenever you want, the only requirement being mana. The Fire Golem is very expensive mana-wise, and it only gets more expensive as the skill levels go up. However, the Fire Golem can deal the most damage, and has the highest normal life totals (the only higher is an Iron Golem made from very good armor). But, you'd guess the Fire Golem has something to do with fire. And yes, while the Fire Golem does not deal fire damage, it can absorb fire damage, basically nullifying parts of fire elemental attacks. Even from its first level, the Fire Golem can take a 1/3 of a fire attack with no damage. If you find yourself facing powerful fire enemies (Diablo comes to mind), a Fire Golem is the perfect fit. Just beware of the high mana costs at the later levels. As it grows in skill levels, the damage dealt, fire damage absorb percent, and the mana cost rises. Revive: You can learn this at level 30. Mana cost is variable. You must have learned Raise Skeletal Mage and Iron Golem. So you've defeated a really hard enemy? Don't waste the corpse on a skeleton! Use that dead body for your own army! Revive allows you to take a monster's dead body and have them fight for you. Know, they will only survive for 3 minutes before dying away again, so get all the use out of them you can. And like skeletons, you can only have a certain number around. They only get a certain amount of HP back, so don't expect them to be tanks like your golems. However, if you revive a monster like a Vampire or Undead Horror, you'll know why they were so hard to kill. Plus, they get bonuses from Skeleton Mastery, so you may find yourself going back to that skill a few times. Note, you can't revive Unique monster corpses. As it grows in skill levels, you can raise more monsters, your raised monsters get more life, and the mana cost goes down. ====================== Poison and Bone Spells - This set of the Necromancer's tree will deal with your favorite topics, poison and bone. While there are good direct damage spells (Bone Spear, Bone Spirit), you can't forget about the poison part of the equation. You can easily poison your enemy with Poison Nova or Poison Explosion. However, there are some very good defensive spells, such as Bone Armor and Bone Wall. The best mix of offense and defense can lead to good use from these spells. Teeth: You can learn this from the beginning. Mana cost is variable. An early direct damage spell for the Necromancer, teeth will create flying teeth which damages any enemy it hits. Teeth will fly through one enemy and hit another behind in its path. As you invest more points into this skill, you can also fire more teeth. While the damage is good in the beginning, it is gets to be too small as you advance in the game, so don't rely on this skill too much. As it grows in skill levels, you can fire more teeth, the teeth deal extra damage, and the mana cost rises. Bone Armor: You can learn this from the beginning. Mana cost is variable. If you choose to get your hands dirty directly with your Necromancer, Bone Armor may be a required spell. It basically gives your Necromancer a brief shield from the enemy attacks, allowing you to hit back without fear of being quickly killed. Necromancers that often get into battle close up with enemies may need to invest many points in this skill. You can take a lot more damage as the Bone Armor gets more skill points. As it grows in skill points, you get more protection from Bone Armor and the mana cost rises. Poison Dagger: You can learn this at level 6. Mana cost is variable. Only worry about using this skill if you plan to be a dagger user. Note, throwing daggers don't count. As the name states, you'll do poison damage, but you'll need a dagger. If you hit an enemy with this attack while wielding a dagger, you will poison them. The amount of damage and length of time depends on the skill level of Poison Dagger. Obviously, if you don't like daggers (most Necromancers may be using a wand instead), this skill is useless. If for nothing else, put a point in this skill for later skills. However, the poison damage is very good and the length long, after a few skill points. It is up to you if you want to use this skill. While powerful, it forces you to use a dagger. Of course, you could just have a dagger on standby for whenever you want to use the skill. As it grows in skill levels, the poison damage and length goes up, the attack rating bonus grows, and the mana cost rises. Corpse Explosion: You can learn this at level 6. Mana cost is variable. You must have learned Teeth. This is probably the best weapon in the Poison and Bone skill tree. With Corpse Explosion, you can kill one monster, use its corpse to kill other monsters, use those corpses to kill other monsters, and so on. The only worry is mana, but smart players will have plenty of mana potions. A pair of Necromancers showed me a very effective combo, Amplify Damage and Corpse Explosion. With this, you can basically breeze through the early parts of the game. Any good Necromancer will have some points in this skill, as it may be the most damaging move of the Necromancer's attacks. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the explosion and the mana cost rises. Bone Wall: You can learn this at level 12. Costs 17 mana. You must have learned Bone Armor. Bone Wall should only be used in extreme cases when you really need something else to distract the enemy. Frankly, I think skeletons and golems do the job better. But Bone Walls are pretty long and do have a good lasting rate. But any good group of enemies (any group your running from anyway) should be strong enough to break the wall down in seconds. I could see a use for this maybe when you have no stamina, but still, if you need to run, use a town portal scroll instead. Better gold than skill points. As it grows in skill points, the life of the Bone Wall goes up. Poison Explosion: You can learn this at level 18. Costs 8 mana. You must have learned Poison Dagger and Corpse Explosion. If your a fan of poison damage, this is a natural step. Since you have the patience to let poison do its work, Poison Explosion is a good way to spread your poison clouds. Kill an enemy and explode the corpse into poison gases. The poison damage done is very good and the time isnt too shabby, but you'll want to add points to lengthen the time. You can't Poison Explosion corpses over and over like with Corpse Explosion, but if you have a tightly packed group, you may want to use Poison Explosion to weaken em before they come to you. As it grows in skill levels, the poison damage and length goes up. Bone Spear: You can learn this at level 18. Mana cost is variable. You must have learned Corpse Explosion. The first direct damage spell after Teeth, if you liked Teeth, you may like this spell too. While more expensive, it does the same piercing through enemy quality like Teeth did. However, you can't throw multiple Bone Spears, so you'll have to be more careful with your aim. While very good against single enemies, if you can line your enemies up in a line, Bone Spear can take em down quickly. The damage is very good towards the later levels of the skill, but if you don't like direct damage, you can stay with Corpse Explosion and your summoned creatures. Or save those points for Bone Spirit later on. As it grows in skill levels, the damage dealt and mana cost rises. Bone Prison: You can learn this at level 24. Mana cost is variable. You must have learned Bone Wall and Bone Spear. Think a more direct Bone Wall. Casting this spell on an enemy will trap them in a bone cage, basically trapping them for 48 seconds (the duration of the spell) or until they can break through it. The only use I could see for this spell is when your facing a Unique and his minions, its very handy to trap a Unique monster so you can focus on getting rid of those annoying minions. Otherwise, its too specific for any good use. As it grows in skill levels, the life of the Bone Prison goes up and the mana cost goes down. Poison Nova: You can learn this at level 30. Costs 25 mana. You must have learned Poison Explosion. The biggest poison spell out there, casting Poison Nova will emit poison bolts all around the necromancer, poisoning any surrounding enemies. The poison damage and length is the largest and longest (when compared to equal skill levels of Poison Dagger and Poison Explosion), so this is the best spell for you poison fans. However, the mana cost is very high, so multiple uses of this spell may leave you mana empty. Still, the damage and length cannot be overlooked, if you love poison, this will become your favorite spell. As it grows in skill levels, the poison damage and length goes up. Bone Spirit: You can learn this at level 30. Mana cost is variable. You must have learned Bone Spear. Still with the direct damage bone spells? Well, this is what you've been waiting for. Sadly, Bone Spirit will not damage multiple enemies, but it will home in on your targets. Think homing missiles. It will fly away from you and hit the nearest enemy with good amounts of damage. If you plan on staying with direct damage bone spells, this may be best choice. The mana cost is moderately tolerable (as low as 12 mana to 20 max). The damage is insane in the later levels, so you can ping away at enemies with Bone Spirit while your golem hacks away at them. Still, it only works on single enemies, so don't rely on it for taking down your large groups. As it grows in skill levels, the damage dealt and mana cost rises. ====== Curses - While none of the Curses will directly damage enemies, they will however, affect the enemies in a variety of negative ways. From the basic Amplify Damage which makes enemies take extra damage to later, more advanced Curses which will weaken, confuse, or slow down enemies. And that's only a sample of the havoc Necromancer Curses can do on monsters. With the right Curse, any group of monsters can be easily handled. Amplify Damage: You can learn this from the beginning. Costs 4 mana. This Curse may be your standard Curse before any big battle. Dealing extra damage is always a good thing (well, its good if its dealt to your enemies). Can't go wrong with dealing extra damage. Cast this on a group of enemies. Any which have the orange dot over their heads are affected and an easy target. Mana cost for this skill is also very reasonable so you can do repeated castings as needed. While lending an attack bonus to your skeletons and golems, the best combo would be to Amplify Damage a group of monsters, Corpse Explosion a nearby corpse. If not killing the whole bunch of them, it should severely weaken them. As it grows in skill levels, the radius and length of the effect grows. Dim Vision: You can learn this at level 6. Costs 9 mana. This skill can basically nullify some enemies completely. Enemies affected by the Curse cannot see past them. If used on ranged attackers, you can stop them from attacking (since they can't see, they cannot aim). Other monsters will slow or stop in their tracks, allowing your minions to pick them off. While it sounds nice, I find that Amplify Damage is a better choice. You may want to use Dim Vision if facing a big group of ranged attackers. But otherwise, you may want to use other Curses. As it grows in skill levels, the radius and length of the effect grows. Weaken: You can learn this at level 6. Costs 4 mana. The other side of Amplify Damage. Instead of dealing extra damage, you take less. I like Amplify Damage better than Weaken, you should only use Weaken if your surrounded by the enemies. Better to take less damage when your on the defense. However, its better to take the enemies down faster with Amplify Damage, than let them live longer with Weaken. As it grows in skill levels, the radius and length of the effect grows. Iron Maiden: You can learn this at level 12. Costs 5 mana. You must have learned Amplify Damage. Basically the Thorns Aura for the Paladin, in the handy Necromancer Curse form. However, not as useful as Thorns, since you'll have to recast for each new enemy group. But still, a very good aura. Even from level 1, you'll give back double the damage to your enemy that they give to you. And this also counts for whoever the cursed enemy attacks, be it you or a summoned monster. So they whack themselves to death when they hit your golem. While the radius never grows, the damage returned does, so it only gets better with skill points. I shiver at the damage dealing when you use this Curse with a friendly Paladin Thorns Aura. Eew, messy cleanup, that's for sure. As it grows in skill levels, the damage returned percent and length of effect goes up. Terror: You can learn this at level 12. Costs 7 mana. You must have learned Weaken. Instead of having to run from the enemies, they'll run from you. Hrm. I guess that's an okay effect. I think its better to take things into your own hands and run away with your own feet. Maybe if your gonna be surrounded all around you would use this. But still, if you have an open avenue, take it, instead of using this skill. And I have no idea why you would use this if your on the attack. If anything, it will draw more monsters as your golem and skeletons follow the running monsters. One skill point is enough for this. As it grows in skill levels, the length of the effect goes up. Confuse: You can learn this at level 18. Costs 13 mana. You must have learned Dim Vision. Actually, I like this Curse a little bit. Its fun to see enemies hack away at fellow enemies. Of course, some enemies can see through it and still attack you or your summoned monsters. But the majority will start attacking their own kind, leaving you time to retreat or lay down more offensive spells. This is a better retreating spell than Terror, at least you can do a little bit of damage before you leave the battlefield. As it grows in skill levels, the radius and length of the effect goes up. Life Tap: You can learn this at level 18. Costs 9 mana. You must have learned Iron Maiden. If you need to gain some life back, this may be one of the best ways (other than potions, of course). Enemies which get cursed by Life Tap will give life back to whoever hit them. Its always half of what you deal, so depending on how much damage you do, it may be a little or a lot of life. While Necromancers usually don't get into the thick of battle, the Life Tap bonus will also work for summoned monsters and allied multiplayer friends, so you can heal your allies with this Curse. Either way, this is the only healing spell the Necromancer has (no, I don't count Blood Golem). As it grows in skill levels, the radius and length of the effect goes up. Attract: You can learn this at level 24. Costs 17 mana. You must have learned Confuse. Again, another skill which sounds good on paper. Make a monster become a target of other monsters? Yeah, but you can't use this on Unique or Boss monsters. So you'll only be using this on your run of the mill, normal monsters. Maybe if you some running time, you can distract the enemy by making one of their own a target. Monsters will go after whoever is closer, you, or the attracted target. However, Confuse does the monster vs. monster thing better, so you should only invest few (if any) points in this skill. As it grows in skill levels, the length of the effect goes up. Decrepify: You can learn this at level 24. Costs 11 mana. You must have learned Terror. This skill basically slows down enemies, similar to cold/freezing attacks. However, the length of the effect is very low. At most, you'll only get about 6 seconds. Curses like Life Tap or even Amplify Damage give 8 seconds at their first level. Its better to use actual cold attacks (get it from special equipment) than waste mana with this Curse. As it grows in skill levels, the radius and length of the effect goes up. Lower Resist: You can learn this at level 30. Costs 22 mana. You must have learned Life Tap and Decrepify. A decent Curse, but it may be to specific (and maybe too late) for good use. Enemies which get cursed will be more hurt by magical attacks, as well as attacks from the elements (fire, cold, poison, and electric). If you come across a monster (usually Unique) that is resistant against a certain type, you may want to use this Curse before you begin your attack on them. Its very good if you can get rid of one of their strengths. And if you rely on skeletal mages a lot, you can get more out of their elemental ranged attacks. However, skill points will get harder to come by at level 30, so you may not have all the points you wish to invest into this skill. Still, put a few of them in here, this is still a useful Curse. As it grows in skill levels, the radius, length of the resist all penalty (as well as the actual penalty) goes up. ======== Paladin: Defensive Auras - The Paladin, having access to greater powers above can gain special benefits from certain defensive auras. While a few of them are very specific in use (Resist Cold and Resist Fire good examples), there are some which you'll be using all the time (Prayer and Defiance). Also, all of the defensive auras (except Redemption) will affect other nearby allies (such as mercenaries or fellow allied players), so they can share in the benefits. Prayer: You can learn this from the beginning. Mana cost is variable. Maybe one of the most powerful Defensive Auras and you get it right at the beginning of the game. When the Prayer aura is active, the Paladin will slowly regain life over time. If you have a full life orb, this aura does nothing, so it only shines when you start losing it. This is can ease your dependance on potions, since you can run away from battle for a bit, slowly regain your life with Prayer, then jump back in. Watch your mana though, if you run out of mana, you'll run out of this healing source. You'll also lose mana for healing allies affected with Prayer, so you may be taking a big mana drain. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows, the healing and mana cost rises. Resist Fire: You can learn this from the beginning. No mana cost. You'll only want to use this aura when you face enemies that use a lot of fire attacks (Burning Dead, Vampires, for example). The good thing about this aura is that you get a big fire resist bonus, even from the first skill level. But it is not worth it to put too many points into this skill since the aura is way too specific for much use in battle. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the resist fire bonus goes up. Defiance: You can learn this at level 6. No mana cost. Another excellent defensive aura, this will affect your defense rating. While in effect, your defense rating will get a percent bonus. Only after you a few skill levels, you can get a 100% percent defensive bonus! If you don't need prayer, you should be using this aura in the early levels. More defense means more chance of surviving, and you can't have too much of that. It also will affect your friends, so this aura can help those Barbarians in your party, who have to get into the thick of battle. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the defensive bonus goes up. Resist Cold: You can learn this at level 6. No mana cost. Very simliar to Resist Fire, just that this will affect your cold resistance. You should only use this when you need a bit cold resist bonus. But still, it is too specific for a lot of use, so you should only put a few points in this skill. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the resist cold bonus goes up. Cleansing: You can learn this at level 12. No mana cost. Must have learned Prayer. This aura will affect your poison status. While it does give your resist poison any bonuses, it will lower the duration of the poison effect. While active, the poison duration will be reduced, according to whatever skill level Cleansing is at. So, you'll only be using this aura while you are poisoned. This does nothing while you aren't poisoned. Another example of an aura too specific to be much of a good use of skill points. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and poison duration reduction bonus goes up. Resist Lightning: You can learn this at level 12. No mana cost. Third in the Resistances Defensive auras, this affects your Lightning Resistance. As with the others, you'll only use this one when facing lightning using enemies. Don't worry about putting too many points in this aura, there will be other better ones to use. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and resist lightning bonus goes up. Vigor: You can learn this at level 18. No mana cost. Must have learned Defiance and Cleansing. A good aura for speed, as Vigor will increase your walk/run speed, your maximum stamina and stamina regeneration. While useful for getting around and running to/from battles, there are better auras to use. You should only use this when you need that extra speed. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows, the maximum stamina, stamina regeneration bonus, and walk/run speed bonus goes up. Meditation: You can learn this at level 24. No mana cost. Must have learned Cleansing. With this aura, you will receive a bonus to your mana regeneration. You'll only want to use this one when you need a bit of mana (maybe to use a Combat Skill). However, the Paladin is not that mana intensive, so you won't need to use this that much. In a multiplayer game with a lot of magic users though, you should use this skill if you aren't actively in battle. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the mana regeneration bonus goes up. Redemption: You can learn this at level 30. No mana cost. Must have learned Vigor. The Redemption Aura is an excellent way to recover life and mana, if it works. When this works, the aura will remove a dead enemy's corpse and you can regain life and mana. However, the percent chance doesn't get very good until the later levels (it reaches the 50% chance at level 5) so if your willing to use this aura a lot, you should invest a few skill points into it. It is also a good way to remove enemy corpses that can be revived. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows, the chance of redemption and hp/mana recovery goes up. Salvation: You can learn this at level 30. No mana cost. This aura is the mix of all the resist auras, cold, fire, and lightning. All the points you used on the resist auras, you probably wish you could have used on this one. Plus, the elemental resist is just as much as the resist cold, fire, or lightning you get from the early skill levels. If you plan to invest in auras that resist elements, you should stay with this on, and ignore the others. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the elemental resist bonus goes up. ================ Offensive Auras - No longer focusing on the protection of the paladin, these auras will affect the many battles with enemies. They can get as simple as an damage bonus and hurting enemies with fire to lowering enemy defense and resistances. These auras are very powerful when used at the right times, so they can easily change the tide of battle. Might: You can learn this from the beginning. No mana cost. This aura gives you an bonus to your damage dealt, so you can get rid of enemies quicker. The damage bonus is large from the early skill levels, so you can consider investing a few points into this skill. As early as level 7, you do double your current damage. Plus, this aura will affect allies, so they will also do extra damage. This is one of the most useful early auras. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the damage bonus goes up. Holy Fire: You can learn this at level 6. No mana cost. Must have learned Might. While this aura does direct fire damage to the enemy, the damage is very little. In fact, you can only start to do about 10 damage at the 10th skill level. Due to this very low damage, you shouldn't invest many (if any) points at all. You'll probably only invest one point, in order to unlock further skills on the skill tree. This skill will periodcally hit a nearby enemy with fire damage. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the fire damage dealt goes up. Thorns: You can learn this at level 6. No mana cost. A very powerful aura for the early Paladin. When Thorns in use, any damage that an enemy does will be returned to that enemy, but with much more effect. Even at the 1st skill level, you will return 250% of damage to the enemy. And the damage returned grows very quickly in the skill levels, in only a few levels you'll do 300, 400, 500% damage to enemies. This only works with melee attacks, magical and ranged attacks do activate thorns. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the damage returned goes up. Blessed Aim: You can learn this at level 12. No mana cost. Must have learned Might. The second offensive aura that helps allies. Blessed Aim works with your attack rating. You should only consider putting points into this skill if you have a very low attack rating. Check your chance of hitting an equal level monster in your stats screen. If its above 80% you probably won't need this aura that much. This will also affect allies, so if they have poor attack ratings, maybe you should consider turning this aura on for them as well. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the attack rating bonus goes up. Concentration: You can learn this at level 18. No mana cost. Must have learned Blessed Aim. If your playing a single player paladin, you should consider using this aura instead of Might. With Concentration, you get a damage bonus like Might, but you also have a chance of having your attack uninterrupted allowing you to attack even if you've been hit. But the damage bonus is greater with Concentration than in Might. However, this does apply to fellow allies, so only you gain the benefits. If you play alone, this is a better choice than Might. But its multiplayer usefulness is very limited. As it grows in skill levels, the attack bonus goes up. Holy Freeze: You can learn this at level 18. No mana cost. Must have learned Holy Fire. Simliar to Holy Fire, this will affect enemies directly. You would think that this does cold damage, but this is not the case. Holy Freeze will slow the enemies down, but do no damage. This freezes multiple enemies, so this is very useful when you need to slow the pace of battle. But freezing only lasts so long and there are better offensive auras. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the percent of slowdown goes up. Holy Shock: You can learn this at level 24. No mana cost. Must have learned Holy Freeze. The lightning version of the direct damage offensive auras. This will deal lightning damage to a nearby enemy over time. Again, the damage is somewhat low, but it gets greater over time. The damage dealt is better than Holy Fire (you can deal about 10 damage at skill level 4), but to get to the big lightning damage you have to invest a bit of skill points. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the lightning damage dealt goes up. Sanctuary: You can learn this at level 24. No mana cost. Must have learned Thorns and Holy Freeze. The purely anti-undead offensive aura. This will deal damage to nearby undead monsters (much greater damage than with Holy Fire or Shock) as well as prevent them from touching the Paladin. If you go exploring in an area full of undead monsters, this will be your best bet to get in and out safely. Be warned, this nothing against live monsters, so make sure to switch to better auras when needed. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the damage dealt to undead goes up. Fanaticism: You can learn this at level 30. No mana cost. Must have learned Concentration. A decent aura, but not the best by far. With Fanaticism, you gain a little attack speed and attack rating bonus. The attack rating bonus is not as good as the bonus from Blessed Aim, so you should only use this aura if you need an attack speed bonus. This will pass on to allies, so you can pass on the faster attack speed to them. But the attack spped bonus if very small, even at the later levels. It might not be worth investing heavily. As it grows in skill levels, the attack speed bonus and attack rating bonus goes up. Conviction: You can learn this at level 30. No mana cost. Must have learned Sanctuary. This aura directly affects the enemies with a defense and resistances penalty. So any enemy within the radius of the Conviction aura will be easier to kill and more hurt by elemental damage. You can get more damage out of your of weapons. While this is basically the flip side of the Might Aura, you get more out of your elemental attacks. Its your choice. As it grows in skill levels, the radius of the aura grows and the defense and resistances penalties go up. ============== Combat Skills: Sacrifice: You can learn this from the beginning. Costs 8% of your life. This skill gives you a powerful attack with increased attack rating and damage. However, each time you use this skill, you lose a bit of life. So repeated uses will eventually bring you to near death. You should save Sacrifice for taking down a big enemy when you are willing to risk the life loss. As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating and damage dealt bonus goes up. Smite: You can learn this from the beginning. Costs 2 mana. A somewhat limited Combat Skill, Smite will bash the enemy with your equipped shield. So if you don't have an equipped shield, you can't use this skill. With Smite, you can hurt the enemy with an damage bonus, push them back, and stun them for a brief time. While sometimes useful, Smite is too hard to use in group battles and you'll always need a shield. However, if your facing a tough enemy, the push back and stun can eventually kill them over time. As it grows in skill levels, the stun length and damage dealt bonus goes up. Holy Bolt: You can learn this at level 6. Mana cost is variable. An undead specific damage skill, you can use this to also heal allies. The damage dealt from a Holy Bolt does more damage than with the Sanctuary aura. So if you need to take out a specific undead monster, the holy bolt is useful. But the Holy Bolt is also a way to directly cure a friend. You can use this on merecenaries to heal them up, or multiplayer friends who just need a bit more life to keep going on. As it grows in skill levels, the damage dealt and life healed goes up and the mana costs rises. Zeal: You can learn this at level 12. Costs 2 mana. Must have learned Sacrifice. Zeal allows the Paladin to do multiple hits in a brief period of time. You can use this both with one or multiple enemies. You can quickly kill an enemy in a few hits, but this will also hit many enemies (depending on the skill level). Multiple Zeal uses can take down a large group and since Zeal is very cheap in mana, this is a worthwhile skill. As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating bonus and number of hits goes up. Charge: You can learn this at level 12. Costs 9 mana. Must have learned Smite. Another skill which uses your shield. Again, you need to have an equipped shield to use this skill. You don't need to be close to the target enemy to use this skill though, with Charge you will run up to the enemy and hit them with a shield bash. This does more damage than with Smite, but also costs more mana and doesn't stun them. As it grows in skill levels, the attack rating and damage bonus goes up. Vengeance: You can learn this at level 18. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Zeal. A very powerful skill, as it will do some sort of extra damage to an enemy no matter what. A Vengeance attack will do an attack with cold, fire and electrical properties. Plus, the enemy will become affected with freeze for a brief time. A very useful attack when an enemy is weak against a type of attack, it doesn't hurt to add on a bit more damage. As it grows in skill levels, the length of freeze, elemental damage dealt, and cost of mana rises. Blessed Hammer: You can learn this at level 18. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Holy Bolt. This will create a hammer and send it flying at the enemy. This will hit multiple enemies along the way, so you can hurt many of them when they are bunched up in a narrow path. The hammer does a decent amount of damage, so it may be useful in certain situations. Do not rely on it all the time. As it grows in skill levels, the damage dealt by the hammer goes up and the mana cost rises. Conversion: You can learn this at level 24. Costs 4 mana. Must have learned Vengeance. Conversion will turn an enemy to your side. Each time you use this, you attack the enemy, so you might end up killing an enemy instead of turning them over. And the chance of conversion is very low until later skill levels. It lasts for a decent amount of time, but you'll always find its not long enough for your tastes. So if you plan to use this, make sure its a powerful enemy. Don't use this in the heat of battle, if you want to convert, do it on a lone enemy. As it grows in skill levels, the chance of conversion and the length of conversion goes up. Holy Shield: You can learn this at level 24. Costs 35 mana. Must have learned Charge and Blessed Hammer. Holy Shield is another skill that affects your shield. So you need a shield equipped to use it. It costs a huge amount of mana. However, it lasts for at least half a minute, even at the first skill level. It gets better with more skill levels. You get a defensive and chance to block bonus when the Holy Shield effects are active. So if you use a shield a lot and use auras a lot, this is a good use of extra mana. As it grows in skill levels, the length of the bonuses rises and the defense and chance to block bonuses rises. Fist of the Heavens: You can learn this at level 30. Mana cost is variable. Must have learned Blessed Hammer and Conversion. This skill will make a lightning bolt that will harm enemies in its path. And after the lightning hits, it will release multiple holy bolts which will hurt undead or heal friends (simliar to the Holy Bolt skill). Again, this costs a lot of mana, so you should converse use of this attack to powerful enemies. This is also good when fighting large undead groups. As it grows in skill levels, the holy bolt and lightning damage goes up and the mana cost rises. Sorceress: --------- 9. Quests --------- ===== Act 1 - You will start off the first act in the Rogue Encampment. Get to know it well, this is where you'll be coming back to many time. Basically, this is your "town" where you can buy things, get healing and tips, as well as quest help. This is a safe haven, so if you need to retreat, you can run here. (Note: Poison damage does not stop, even in town). ====================== Rogue Encampment NPCs: Warriv - He is the person you first talk to when you start the game. He does not provide an important purpose early on, but when you complete Act 1, he will offer to take you east (to Act 2). You can find him in the center of camp, near your private stash. Kasha - She is the military leader of the Rogue sisters. While she does not trust outsiders, she has begun tolerate them. However, after you gain her trust, she will allows you to hire some of the Rogues as an party helper. You find her just a bit east of Warriv. Akara - She is the spiritual leader of the Rogue sisters. She is a much more calmer person then Kasha. While she does sell magical weaponry, scrolls, and potions, you will want to come to her for the free healing she provides. You find her in the northeast corner of the camp. Charsi - She is the blacksmith of the Rogue sisters. She sells various weapons and armors. She also does sell magically enhanced weapons and armor, but they are most likely too expensive for you this early. She also does repairing for your items. You find her in the northwest corner of the camp. Gheed - He is a merchant who decided to take camp with the Rogues instead of risking his life in the wild. He also sells weapons and armors. But his speciality is "Gamble" which will allow you to buy unidentified (but very expensive) equipment. Do so at your own risk, you might end up paying for worthless equipment. You find him in the southwest corner of the camp. Deckard Cain - He is the leader of the ruined Tristam as well as the last living Horadrim mage. He only appears in the camp after you save him. He will give excellent advice on quests, as well as identifying any items in your inventory for free. He appears in the center of camp, near Warriv. ================== Quest: Den of Evil To activate: Talk to Akara. Reward: An extra skill point for your skill tree. This is an easy quest to start off the game. You may want to run around in the Blood Moor to gain some experience. Feel free to run back to camp as much as needed for healing and repairs. After you feel that you can handle this quest, search the Blood Moor for the entrace to the Den of Evil (if you haven't already found it). If you meet up with a rogue named Flavie, you have gone too far. She warns you that the next area is too much for your level. You can c hoose to go on, but it will delay you from finishing the quest. First things first. Once you find the Den of Evil, enter. You'll find yourself in a cave. Go through the cave and kill all the monsters you find. If you find groups of Fallen, make sure to take out any nearby Fallen Shamans (they will revive the Fallen you've killed, wasting your time) first. Also, make sure to watch out for the unique zombie somewhere in the cave (Corpse Fire). Meeting up with him may be hard, as he is backed up by many "minion" Zombies. Make sure to take them out first, to avoid being surrounded. When the amount of monsters in the Den of Evil reaches 5, you will get an update to your Quest Log. Finish off the last five monsters. The Den of Evil will now shine with light. Run back to the Rogue Camp and talk to Akara. You will get another skill point for your troubles. Quest: Sisters' Burial Grounds. To activate: Talk to Kashya, after finishing the Den of Evil quest. Reward: A Rogue mercenary, as well as the ability to hire new ones from Kashya. Right after you help Akara, Kashya will have a quest for you. She will talk about the raising of dead in the Monastery Graveyard. Nothing new there. The Graveyard is in the Cold Plains. If you have no idea where that is, go back to where Flavie is. She'll be more accepting in letting you through. Beware, there are new monsters to contend with, such as Dark Rogues and groups of Fallen. Hopefully, near the entrance to the Cold Plains, there should be a waypoint nearby. Activate this, so you can quickly retreat to the Rogue Encampment for quick healing and repairs. Search around until you find the entrance to the Burial Grounds. It is a small area, but very deadly to the unwary player. Kill as many of the zombies and skeletons as you can. That will help a bit, but be warned, Blood Raven is nearby and can raise new undead monsters. Run around the fence until you find an open exit. You don't want come in the wrong way, through many enemies. As you reach the center, you will find Blood Raven. You shouldn't focus on the little zombies. But if they become a problem, start hacking them down. But mainly, stay with Blood Raven. Try your best to avoid her arrow shots. If she starts running, run after her. Make sure you have a town portal. Her fire attack can hurt you quickly. If your healing potions run out or are too slow, catch a breather. If your into melee fighting, try and force her against a wall, or in a corner, then hack away. If you use spells or ranged weapons, fire back, but run around every so often to avoid her attacks. When she is defeated, she'll explode into a bright light, and kill all the nearby undead monsters. Grab the treasure she drops and head back to town. Talk to Kashya and get a Rogue mercenary. She will also allow you to hire new ones. However, if you are up for some extra fighting, go back to the Burial Grounds. In the north and south sides of the Grounds are entrances to the Crypt and Mausoleum. While there are a lot of monsters in here (as well as some Unique ones), there is a special glowing chest at the end which gives you a lot of gold and special equipment. The treasure is worth it to venture down. Quest: The Search for Cain To activate: Talk to Akara after finishing the Sisters' Burial Grounds quest, or find the Tree of Inifuss in the Dark Wood. Reward: Rescuing Cain. Make sure your prepared for this. You'll do some walking. Go back to the Cold Plains, but now find the entrance to the Stony Field. You may find the Cairn Stones along the way, there is nothing you can do with them yet though. Search around until you find the entrance to the Underground Passageway. The Passageway is pretty long, so watch out, there are many enemies to contend with. Once you are out though, you will be in the Dark Wood. Search for the Tree of Inifuss. You may run across an Unique monster, so be wary. Take him down. Click on the tree when you find it, you will get the Bark of Inifuss. Find the Dark Wood waypoint or use a town portal to go back to the Rogue Encampment. Talk to Akara, and she will decipher the runes for you. She will give you the correct way to touch the Cairn Stones (the ones in Stony Field). Go to the Cairn Stones. You have to follow the directions in the scroll Akara gave you exactly. If you have no idea, just randomly touch stones until they all glow (I don't think there is any difference). When done, a portal will appear and a way to Tristram. Tristram is a very small area, but is swarming with monsters. There are a few Unique ones running around so watch out. You may end up quickly overwhelmed and dead. You also may find Griswold walking around. You should save him for last, as he the hardest monster in Tristram. If you don't feel like fighting the monsters, run to the center of town and save Cain. Also, on the west side of Tristram, you can find Wirt's body. Click on it to get his leg as well as whole bunch of coins. Cain will save himself, so don't worry. Go back to the Rogue Encampment and talk with Cain to gain important insight into your journey. Quest: The Forgotten Tower To activate: Find the Moldy Tome somewhere in the Stony Field. Reward: A whole bunch of money. Hopefully when you were running around the Stony Field, you found the Moldy Tome. If you haven't, go back and read it. Once you read it, the quest will become official. Don't count on a lot of help from people in the Rogue Encampment. You will find the Forgotten Tower in the Black Marsh area. Just run around until you find it. The Forgotten Tower is five levels deep and you will fight a group of champions or unique monster on each level, so be wary. Keep on pushing down, using town portals when you need healing. The levels are straight forward, so you should not having trouble finding the way toward the next level. When you reach the lowest level (level 5), prepare for a fight with the Countess. She's a big user of fire and she will use Fire Walls. You'll need to stay on the case and run around. If you need a breather, run out of the Countess' room. She will not follow. You may have to hack your way through a few enemies to get to the Countess. If needed, lure them out in order to make it easier to reach the Countess. Rush in on the Countess and attack her with all you've got. Once she's gone and taken care of, help yourself to all the riches. A great bunch of plundering, I say. Quest: Tools of the Trade To activate: Talk to Charsi after finishing the Forgotten Tower quest. Reward: Charsi will imbue an item of your choice (with some restrictions). Seems to be no rest for you. Right after hauling that money from the Forgotten Tower, it seems Charsi will have a quest for you. She left her smithing hammer, the Horadric Malus, in the Rogue Monastery when she fled from the corruption. The Monastery is located in the Tamoe Highlands (you'll find the entrance to it in the Black Marsh). Once you enter, make sure to activate the Outer Cloister waypoint. You may be using it often. The Monastery is swarming with enemies, so take them out before you advance on to the Barracks (where the Malus is located). When you do find the Horadric Malus in the Barracks, you'll also find a Unique monster protecting it, The Smith (shades of The Butcher). He is one of the harder Unique monsters you'll face, so unless you've been advancing levels a lot, you may find yourself running away. Don't take any chances. Take down the surrounding monsters first off. Use potions a bit earlier than you need them, the Smith hits for a bit of damage each time. If you need too, run back to the waypoint and heal up. The Smith will be at the same life you left him. Once The Smith is down, grab the Malus and go back to the Rogue Encampment. Return it to Charsi and she will offer to imbue any item of your choice for you. Save this ability for the later Acts. You'll most likely end up replacing your Act 1 equipment in Act 2, 3, and 4. Don't worry, you can always come back. Quest: Sisters to the Slaughter To activate: Talk to Cain after you finished the Tools of the Trade. Reward: Access to Act 2. The last quest of the Act 1. You will end up delving deeper into the Rogue Monastery. It doesn't get any easier, so prepare with extra town portal scrolls. Go back to the Rogue Monastery. Finish off the Barracks and go into the Jail. The Jail has three levels. One of the bigger annoyances of the level is that monsters can shoot through the jail bars at you. While this isn't a big loss for ranged attack users, melee attackers like the Barbarian will find themselves annoyed quickly. Pass through the Jail and into the Inner Cloister. You'll meet up with a Unique monster along the way, so prepare well. Activate the Inner Cloister waypoint, use when needed. Get through the Inner Cloister to get into the Cathedral. Push your way through it (you may run across Bone Ash, a unique Bone Mage). Once past the Cathedral, you will enter the last part of the Monastery, the Catacombs. You'll face tougher battles, make sure to use that Catacomb Level 2 waypoint. Make sure to get ready for the biggest battle so far. When you reach the entrance to the Catacomb Level 4, recheck everything. Enough potions? All your equipment repaired? A town portal ready just in case? If your okay, go down. Level 4 is a small one, but has the boss of Act 1, Andariel. Don't go into her room until you've cleared the other rooms. If she does get out of her room, prepare your battle strategy. Will you run around and fire at her? Go up to her, throw caution in the wind and hack away? Or hit and run? Watch out for Andariel's attacks. She will completely destroy the unprepared low level player. Andariel's hits will also cause you to affected with poison, so be prepared with antidote potions or equipment with poison resistance. Most likely the poison will kill you if Andariel's hits don't. Don't be afraid to run back to town, you may need to over and over. If you can make the best use of your character's abilities and have a little luck, you'll be able to get past her and into Act 2. ===== Act 2 - Welcome to Lut Gholein, the city in the desert. This is much bigger than the Rogue Encampment, so don't get confused. Use your automap to find the people you can talk to from the normal townsfolk. You will start in the south end of town, in Warriv's caravan. Town portals will be in the northeast part of town. You can find your private stash in the center of town. If you ever wish to go back to Act 1, talk to Warriv. ================ Lut Gholein NPCs Warriv - He kept his promise and took you along with him from the Rogue Encampment. He doesn't play as big of a role anymore, but you can talk to him if you want. He provides access back to Act 1 if needed. You can find him in the south east part of Lut Gholein. Kaelan - Don't talk to him for conversation. Either he'll be blocking access to the palace or greeting you as you enter. He does not provide any quest help. You can find him near the palace in the south west part of Lut Gholein. Jerhyn - He is the leader of Lut Gholein. Somewhat young, he is very mature and does he best to keep the city under control in the crisis. He will give important quest information as well a few quests. Gain his trust and you can enter the palace. You can find him near the palace in the south west part of Lut Gholein. Elzix - A former bandit, he now runs a small inn in town and lives a peaceful life. He sells some equipment and also provides the Gamble option for you, if your feeling risky. You can find him in the west part of Lut Gholein. Griez - Griez is the commander of the mercenary group that protects Lut Gholein from attack. He has heard of your feats and is willing to let you hire some of the extra mercenaries for your assistance. You can find him in the north west part of Lut Gholein. Drognan - Drognan will fulfill all your magical needs, selling magical wands and staffs as well as selling scrolls and potions. He is also very knowledgable of the desert and helps to progress in many Act 1 quests. You can find him in the north part of Lut Gholein. Atma - She runs the local public house. However, she has been personally hurt by the recent invasion of monsters, as she has lost her husband and son to them. She is a very nice person, in spite of the tragedy. You can find her near the pub in the north east part of Lut Gholein. Geglash - A drunken warrior. Not very useful for quests or conversation but he is known for picking fights. You can find him inside the pub in the north east part of Lut Gholein. Meshif - The captain of a ship which has been moored in Lut Gholein. Since the monster invasion, he has been waiting for the clearance to leave and set sail. He eventually will be the one to take you across the sea to Act 3. Lysander - The nearly deaf potion maker. While he does have some good advice, his main purpose to provide you with potions. You can find him in the center square of Lut Gholein. Fara - She serves as a smith to you, repairing any items. She also sells various types of equipment. Fara also gives free healing when you talk with her. You'll be coming to her often. You can find her in the center square of Lut Gholein. Deckard Cain - He comes with you from the Rogue Encampment determined to help you in your quest to kill Diablo. He still provides the usual free identifications and will provide very useful quest information. You can find him in the center square of Lut Gholein. ====================== Quest: Radament's Lair To activate: Talk to Atma. Reward: Book of Skill and the Horadric Scroll. While everything looks peaceful in the city, below the city, a great evil lurks in the sewers. People all over the city will tell you to go visit Atma, which you should do. Atma will talk about the loss of her husband and son, to a monster known as Radament. She will plead with you to go down and kill him, to bring some sort of revenge to their deaths. First off, you have to find the entrance to the sewers. You can either use the main entrance in the docks area, or use the trapdoor near Griez. The sewers are a big area and you may find yourself under attack from all angles. If needed, run back to the surface for healing. Do your best to explore carefully and make sure to check everywhere. There is a waypoint on the Sewers Level 2, make to use it. Watch out for the new enemy type, mummies. They may look like zombies, but when they die, a poison cloud comes from their dead body. Let it dissolve so you can avoid being poisoned. As you progress through the sewers, you'll know when your towards the end. When masses of skeletons and mummies attack you. You can get your way through them, but when you notice them being revived (as well as the black shots), that's how it can become overwhelming. If possible, use cold attacks to freeze the monsters and then shatter them, destroying the corpse. A necromancer could take the corpse before Radament can. However, the quickest way is to create a path to Radament and kill him. He has a few tricks up his sleeve, such as his poison breath. Make sure to use caution, as he can create monsters to attack you from behind. Once Radament is dead, he will drop the Book of Skill (and kill any nearby living monsters). Take the Book of Skill and read it for an extra skill point. A special glowing chest should be nearby. Open it and get the Horadric Scroll, as well as the way to the next Quest. Quest: The Horadric Staff To activate: Talk to Cain while you have the Horadric Scroll Reward: The Horadric Cube and The Horadric Staff This will be one of the biggest quests you'll go through, since you will have to run through many areas of the desert. And this is also one of the most rewarding quests, since you get the Horadric Cube, which will be needed in order to complete other quests. But first, you need to get the three items requested by Cain. You can get the items in any order, but the best way is to do them in the order you find them. So, go to the Dry Hills. In the Dry Hills area, you should find the entrance to the Halls of the Dead. The Halls of the Dead contains the Horadric Cube, 1/3 of the requirements. The Halls of the Dead itself is easy to get through, but watch out for greater mummies, who are usually protected by many undead followers. As you saw with Radament, greater mummies can revive fallen undead monsters. So, take out the greater mummies in the area before going after the skeletons and mummies. On the lowest level of the Halls of the Dead (level 3), you'll find the chest with the Horadric Cube, but you'll have to get past Bloodwitch the Wild (a unique cat monster). The best strategy is to take the minions out first and to avoid getting surrounded. After they are gone go after the leader. When its all clear, grab the Horadric Cube (you can go back to Cain if you need a bit more information on the Cube, he'll even give you a few other uses for it). Continue on to the Far Oasis, which has the Sand Maggot Lair somewhere in it. The Sand Maggot Lair is mostly made up of tunnels, so make sure to use the automap to avoid going in circles. They are narrow, so you'll having trouble avoiding many of the attacks through the usual moving out of the way method. However, the only monsters you'll encounter here are Sand Maggots and their young. On the third level, you'll run across a very large Sand Maggot surrounded by many other regular size ones. Coldworm the Devourer is the large one, but I still advise killing the other monsters in the area before going to him. Coldworm doesn't move, so you can easily hack away at him after you've taken care of the other Sand Maggots. Grab the Horadric Shaft when everything is done. Only one more piece to go. The last piece needed is the Viper Amulet. You'll need to go the Valley of the Snakes. You need to go through the Lost City to do this. When you enter the Lost City, it may instantly turn into night. Don't worry about this too much. If you want to hear about it, you can go to town and get the Tainted Sun quest. More on that later. Get past the Lost City to the Valley of the Snakes. When you find the Claw Viper Temple, prepare well. You may be a bit drained from the long walk, so go back to Town if you need resuppling. You should be able to handle the enemies here, but take breathers when needed as it can get overwhelming sometimes. There are only two levels here, so the Viper Amulet is located on the second level. Fang Skin and his minions protect the Viper Amulet. The problem with Fang Skin is that he has the Extra Fast and Cold Enchanted bonuses. So he can run around you as well as freeze you. As always go after the minions first. It is much easier to face a unique monster alone, then when surrounded by minions. Try to force Fang Skin into a corner, so he can't run far, but if you are drawn into a melee battle with him, make sure to have thawing potions to get rid of the frozen penalty when you get hit. Once he is taken care of, grab the Viper Amulet. Go back to Cain. He will tell you to put the Horadric Shaft and the Viper Amulet in the Horadric Cube. Do so. Make sure you don't have any other items in the Cube. Press the Transmute button and watch the two items turn into the Horadric Staff. You can use the Staff as a weapon, but you'll need to use it later, in order to finish Act 2. Quest: Tainted Sun To activate: Go to the Lost City and watch the sun go black. Go back to Lut Gholeim and talk to the townspeople. Reward: The Viper Amulet You could trigger this quest without starting the Horadric Staff quest, but why? You'll need to destroy the Evil Altar in the Claw Viper Temple in order to finish the Horadric Staff in any case. Once the Altar is destroyed, the Sun will shine again. Quest: The Arcane Sanctuary To activate: Talk to Drognan after finishing the Horadric Staff quest. Reward: Access to the Arcane Sanctuary. This quest will delve into the problems of the city of Lut Gholein as well as further your way to finding Tal Rasha's Tomb. Drognan will tell you to visit Jerhyn in his quest speech, so do that. Jerhyn will allow you access into the palace now, but will warn you that it is not safe. Monsters run through the palace, and the Harem guilds which were in the palace for safety ended up being killed. The upper levels of the palace are the "Harem" levels. They are mostly divided up into rooms, with the only access into other rooms being doors. You can use this to your advantage. Lure enemies to a door and kill them one by one (shades of the first Diablo). Once you are through the Harem, you'll enter the Palace Cellar. The Palace Cellar is a bit like the Jail levels from Act 1. You'll find yourself under attack from skeleton mage bolts and archer arrows through the barred areas in the level. But, other than that, the layout of the levels is again like the Harem area. So you may want to use the narrow doorways to your advantage. But you will also face more ranged attackers so you may need to rush into a room to take them out. There are two stairways on each level to the next one. You can choose either one, they both will take you to the same map (you may even find the second stairway leading up). On the third level, you will find an unactivated portal, as well as a few Sand Raiders guarding it. The leader of the group is Fire Eye, who has Fire Enchanted attacks and extra speed. Taking him out will allow you to access the portal and the Arcane Sanctuary. It is easier to fight the Sand Raiders one by one, so you should do so. When all the monsters are dead, activate the portal and enter the Arcane Sanctuary. The Arcane Sanctuary is probably one of the more annoying areas. Most likely you will face ghosts and vampires in there (if you don't, you should be lucky). The ghosts can fly, so they don't follow the platforms, and the bone mages can attack you from far with their fire walls. Ghosts also quickly drain your mana, so most of your special abilities will be used up quickly. You may need to use the waypoint at the beginning of the level, feel free to use it as needed. The level itself is also big. There are teleporters you may need to use on the way to the Summoner (the end part of the Arcane Sanctuary). The problem with the teleporters is that you may teleport to become surrouned by enemies and then killed. Sorceress players should use Teleport if they have learned it, Barbarians can use Leap/Leap Attack as well. Knowing where your going to be is a much better thing than a random teleport. At the beginning of the level, you can go in any of four directions. In my map, they were not connected (this may or may not vary in your case, i'm not sure) so you could end up going through all these enemies just to end up at the dead end. The only good thing you could get from that is experience and treasure, but the risks are higher since the enemies are deadlier. Try your best to get through the Arcane Sanctuary, it isnt one of the easiest areas. Quest: The Summoner To activate: Find The Summoner in the Arcane Sanctuary Reward: Access to the Canyon of the Magi and finding out the True Symbol of the Tomb of Tal Rasha If you get lucky and find the Summoner (or just stumble upon him), it will be most likely he'll be surrounded by enemies. It is a much better strategy to lure them away from the Summoner's platform. The Summoner does not leave his little platform so you can lure away the enemies in order to make your charge on the platform easier. Mostly likely when you take care of the first line of enemies, he'll only be backed up by vampires. You should attack the vampires first, but don't forget about the Summoner. He can use cold attacks which will freeze you and leave you open for other attacks. When all is clear, you most likely can take the Summoner out in only a few hits. You could choose to kill him after you've cleared the first line, but I don't like risks. As it is, the Summoner can deal a lot of damage, but not take it. Once the Summoner is gone, read Horazon's Journal to find out the True Symbol of the Tomb of Tal Rasha and access to the Canyon of the Magi. Quest: The Seven Tombs To activate: Talk to Jerhyn after you defeat Radament. Reward: Access to Act 3. Even though you get this quest very early in the Act, you only complete it in the end (it is the last quest). You will enter the Canyon of the Magi by using the portal in the Arcane Sanctuary, but you don't want to keep going through the Sanctuary over and over to go there. So make sure to activate the waypoint when you find it. Its much easier to use the waypoint then the portal. The Canyon of the Magi is a very large area, but the only things you should be looking for are the seven tombs. You'll find the tombs along the borders of the area. Check your Quest Log to make sure that the symbol you have matches the one of the tomb you are about to enter. They are all called Tal Rasha's Tomb when you enter them, but the only is truly the tomb. You could go through the other six tombs if you want, but at your own risk. You'll face hordes of monsters as well as Unique monsters. If you doing it for treasure and experience, so be it, but I usually advise finding the true tomb, its hard enough to complete as it is. When you match up the symbol in your quest log with the pillars outside the tomb entrance, that tomb is the correct one. Go through the Tomb until you find the Horadric Orifice. If you don't find the Horadric Orifice and your sure you have explored the whole tomb (it is only one level), then you most likely entered the wrong temple. Recheck your symbol in your Quest Log. Put the Horadric Staff in the Horadric Orifice. This will create an entrance to the Tomb room. Make sure to prepare now, since once you enter, you will attacked by Duriel. A good idea is to have a town portal scroll ready once you go in, since Duriel attacks right away. You won't have much time to use a town portal when you are in battle with Duriel. Duriel is the boss of Act 2. He isn't followed with any other minor enemies, so he will be the only monster in the room. Unlike Andariel from Act 1, you can't escape back into the Horadric Orifice room. So your only escape will be a town portal. And you will be using them. Duriel is very fast so you can run away from him for long. He also has an attack which can freeze you. Be ready with thawing potions (or items that lower freeze duration). His close attack can also hurt you and push you back. The best strategy is not to get too close to him and attack from afar with either bow/crossbows or spells. If you don't have any ranged attacks, you'll have throw caution into the wind and go into battle hand to hand. However, his attacks will quickly lower your life, so make sure to use potions early and run when needed. Also, once you get back into the battle room right after coming through a town portal, make another one. You can never be too careful. Beating Duriel will release several special equipment and gems. Also, you will now be able to enter Tal Rasha's Burial Chamber. However, the only thing you'll find is Tyrael. Talk to him. After you finish with him, go back to Lut Gholein. Say your goodbyes to the townspeople and visit Meshif in the east docks of town. He will now be able to take you east to Kurast and Act 3. ===== Act 3 - Kurast was once a beautiful city in the East. However, it now lays in ruins, with the only survivors being a handful of people in the Kurast Docktown. The only thing defending them from attack is a failing enchantment and a handful of merecenaries. You'll start off in the south west corner of town, near Meshif. Town portals will appear near the waypoint in the north end of town. The Docktown is divided up into a few islands connected by bridges. If you ever want to go back to Act 2, talk to Meshif. ==================== Kurast Docktown NPCs Meshif - Shocked to come back to find his hometown in this shape, he is always willing to go back to Lut Gholein when you wish. You can find him in the south western corner of town. Natalya - She is part of an order that hunts down magi who have turned evil. However, her motives are questionable. She is a mystery and much is not known about her. You can talk to her for quest information however. You can find her in the east part of town. Hralti - He will be the first to greet you when you arrive in Kurast. However, when you come back, he most likely will back at his smithery. Hralti sells equipment, both regular and enchanted. He also repairs equipment back to full use. You can find him in the north east corner of town. Deckard Cain - Helping you along on your quest, he has come with you to Kurast. Cain still excels in providing quest information and free identification of items. Talk to him whenever you are stumped. You can find him in the north part of town. Ormus - Ormus is a wise person, if you can understand him. He continually talks in riddles. But if you ever need help with things concerning the old Religion, he is the person to talk to. Ormus also provides free healing. You can find him in the north part of town. Asheara - The leader of the Iron Wolves, Asheara is a strong figure. She is in charge of making sure nothing gets into Kurast, should the defensive enchantment fail. Talk to her if you ever need to hire a magical mercenary for your own use. You can find her in the west part of town. Alkor - He lives away from the rest of the town and with good reason. His attitude is unbearable to some. If you can gain his respect, he will become a bit more tolerable. He sells potion and also provides the Gamble option if need a bit of risk in your life. You can find him in the north west corner of town. ====================== Quest: The Golden Bird To activate: Find the Jade Figurine Reward: Potion of Life Some people are confused sometimes, since no person gives this quest in town. Well yes, that's true. Right after you arrive in Kurast, greet the people then run out into the jungle. Keep on fighting until you find a Champion or Unique enemy. Kill the enemy and it will drop the Jade Figurine. Go back to town with the Figurine. Go and visit Meshif who will trade the Figurine for the Golden Bird. Visit Alkor with the Golden Bird in your inventory and he will turn it into a Potion of Life. You can drink the Potion of Life for a permament +20 bonus to your life. Quest: Blade of the Old Religion To activate: Talk to Hralti after finishing the Golden Bird quest. Reward: A random rare ring, a free mercenary Now begins more exploration in the deep jungle. The jungle is hard to work your way through sometimes. Make sure to keep your automap on at all times. Make sure to use the pillars as you find them as area dividers. It may be sometimes hard to remember which area you are in also, use the automap and check on it. The Gidbinn (the blade) is located in the Pygmy Village. You will have to go through the Pygmy Village for this, so a bit of wandering may be in order. When you do enter the Pygmy Village, the Gidbinn will appear as a new symbol on your automap. Go towards it. If you go up to the Gidbinn and click on it, the Gidbinn will burn. However, there should be a unique monster nearby, with his minions. He holds the real Gidbinn. Kill him and grab the Gidbinn. Go back to town and give the Gidbinn to Ormus. He will give you a rare ring. The Quest Log will also tell you to visit Asheara, who will give you a mercenary for free (even if you don't want him, so if you like your current mercenary, don't talk to her until you need another). Quest: Khalim's Will To activate: Talk to Cain after finishing the Golden Bird quest. Reward: Khalim's Will This is the big quest which will take you all over the jungle, Kurast, and even into Travincal. Again, you have to find little bits and pieces in order to transmute them all into something useful (similar to the Horadric Staff quest in Act 2). You have to find Khalim's Brain, Eye, Heart, and Flail. The first part is Khalim's Eye, which is located in the Spider Cavern (within the Spider Forest). Only the Spider Cavern, there is another small cave area in the Spider Forest (the Arachnid Lair) which does not have the eye. So look for the Spider Cavern first. The Spider Cavern is full of spiders (obviously). Make sure to avoid getting surrounded as they do get very dangerous in groups. Some of them also possess poisoning attacks, which can be a risk when fighting. On level 2, you will find a special chest being guarding by a Unique spider, Sszark the Burning. As the name suggests, he likes to use a few fire attacks. But watch out if you get cursed by him as he is also Extra Strong. Being hit by an Extra Strong monster when you are cursed is not a good thing. When Sszark is taken care of, open the chest for Khalim's Eye. Return to Cain for more guidance. Next on your list is Khalim's Brain, located in the Flayer Dungeon. Look around the Flayer Jungle for the entrance. As expected, the Flayer Dungeon is full of Flayers and Flayer Shamans. Advise caution when facing them. You should take out the Flayer Shamans, but their fire breath attack can quickly drain your life. The area should be straight forward (a bit like the Spider Cavern). The third level is where the Brain is located. But, in order to get to the Brain, you'll have to fight Witch Doctor Endugu, a Unique Flayer Shaman. This means he's followed by with many other Flayer Shaman minions. Be very careful. Your best chances are to divide the Shamans up, in order to prevent Endugu from reviving a lot of them (he can revive the Shamans if their corpses are there) and to avoid a fire breath attack from all sides (which is just very deadly). Use the narrow passageways to your advantage. Get rid of the Witch Doctor and you can grab the Brain and get the heck out of there. Visit Cain and he will advise you on where to go next. Halfway there. Khalim's Heart is somewhere in the Kurast sewers. You can find entrances to the sewers in Upper Kurast or the Kurast Bazaar (there are two in each of the areas). Take whatever one you find first, they all lead to the same place. The sewers are simliar to the sewers you went through in Lut Gholein. They also may contain undead monsters like skeletons and mummies. Greater Mummies are possible. Do your best to get through them. Barbarians should leap over waterways if there is a Greater Mummy on the other platform reviving monsters on their platform. In order to gain access to the next level, you will have to find a lever somewhere in the sewers. Move the lever in order to clear the way to level 2. Find the special chest there (no Unique monster to fight) and grab the Heart when it drops out. The last part of the equation is Khalim's Flail. To do this, you will have to go to Travincal. It is a long trip, but in order to complete this quest you have to get this. You may even complete other quests along the way (see the other quests in this Act). Travincal is home to the High Council. You can find the Council Members near the Guardian Tower. One of the Council members has the Flail. They will drop it when you kill that member. However the High Council is not easy, so avoid getting surrounded by multiple Council members. When you get the Flail, return to the Docktown. Cain will tell you to transmute the body parts and Flail. Do so. This will turn the Flail into Khalim's Will, which is required to enter the Guardian Tower. Quest: Lam Esen's Tome To activate: Talk to Alkor after you enter Kurast. Reward: Five stat points Right after you enter Kurast, Alkor will give you this quest to find Lam Esen's Tome. You will need to do a lot of searching in order to find where it is. There are six old temples in Upper Kurast, Kurast Bazaar and the Causeway (two in each of those areas). You know you have found on of those old temples when you enter them and find clickable stairs. Click on them to find an entrance into the temple. While you could search all six of the temples, the one you want is called "Ruined Temple". If you need more help, look for a unique Flesh Hunter, Battlemaid Sarina. Your in the right place if you see her. Make sure not to get mobbed, as escape is hard in the small rooms of the temple. When she is dead, find Lam Esen's tome and bring back to Alkor for a reward of five free stat points (you don't get a level though). Quest: The Blackened Temple To activate: Talk to Ormus after entering Travincal. Reward: Access to the Guardian Tower As you noticed in the Khalim's Will quest, the High Council is in Travincal. All this quest asks you to do is to kill all members of the High Council and to smash the Compelling Orb. Travincal is surrounded by a raised walkway around the city itself. When you get near the Guardian Tower, the Council members should attack. If you haven't killed all them (you may have done so in Khalim's Will, might as well), you will have to now. Take them all out. If you haven't finished Khalim's Will, you should have at this point. Smash the Compelling Orb (inside the Guardian Tower) with Khalim's Will. Go back to Kurast Docktown and prepare. Quest: The Guardian To activate: Talk to Ormus after finishing the Blackened Temple quest. Reward: Access to Act 3 Time is against you, so you have to get to Mephisto. After preparing well in Kurast Docktown, go back to Travincal and enter the Guardian Tower. Now completely defiled by Mephisto, the inside of the Tower is called the Durance of Hate. Take great caution in the Durance of Hate. Enemies here are stronger and have better attacks then ones you've seen before. The levels themselves should be straightforward, but make sure to use that waypoint on level 2. Mephisto's chamber is on level 3. He is surrounded by a whole lot of Blood Lords and a few more unique Council Members. Mephisto cannot enter the entry room, but make sure to watch out for Council Members who follow you there. It is near impossible to take down Mephisto without killing the Blood Lords and Council Members first. Either you'll get killed by the powerful Council Members, the spells of the Blood Lords, or Mephisto himself. Lure the Council Members away into the entry room, where you can take care of them without much interference from Mephisto and the Blood Lords (a few fire walls might make it in). Take care of the Blood Lords stationed all over the level. They will try to run away when you get near, but you can chase them down. Avoid Mephisto until you can take care of the Blood Lords. Once the level has been cleared, you can now focus on Mephisto. He has a variety attacks, lightning, freezing, and even poison. As with other big bosses, the best option is to use ranged attacks. It is easier to do this in Mephisto's Chamber than in other ones, since it is possible to keep Mephisto away from you using the break in the center of the area. You can shoot from one platform, hitting Mephisto on the other platform. However, if ranged attacks are impossible, again, hit him with all you have, run when needed. You might want to run a bit earlier then you did before. Better to be alive with a few extra life, then dead for the sake of a little bit of damage. After pinging away at Mephisto enough, he will die screaming and drop his Soulstone plus some very rare equipment and gems. A walkway to the portal in the center of the chamber should also appear. ===== Act 4 - Yes, Hell is as bad as you thought. The only safe place in Hell is the Pandemonium Fortress, an outpost held by the forces of Heaven. The Fortress is a majestic palace seperated from the horrors of Hell. The only connection to Hell the fortress has is a long winding stairway. From here is well you will be making your final push to Diablo. ========================= Pandemonium Fortress NPCs Tyrael - Tyrael is the angel who gave the Soulstones to the Horadrim. He did so against the wishes of Heaven. Taking an oath to watch over mortals, he cannot interfere directly, but will help in what ways he can. Deckard Cain - He is prepared to even go to Hell with you, which he has done. Feeling it is his duty to be with you, Cain will provide what assistance he can and still identifies for free. Halbu - While he cannot engage in conversation with him, he buys and sells equipment, as well as acting as a repairman. Jamella - Again, you cannot talk with her. She sells magical wands and staves, and also sells potions. You can also Gamble with her for unknown items. ====== Quest: The Fallen Angel To activate: Talk to Tyrael Reward: Two skill points Hell is not easy. As if you needed someone to tell that. Izual (the fallen angel) wanders along the Plains of Despair so you will not see him in the beginning. Get to the Plains of Despair and walk around until you find him (or until he finds you). First things first, take care of any other nearby monsters. You'll want to even the odds as much as possible. Izual possesses a few freezing attacks. Again, thawing potions may be very useful. A frozen target is a slow target. And a slow target is an almost dead target. Keep hacking or picking away at him until he falls. You'll want to watch out for his melee attack, it can quickly bring you down in only a few hits. Once Izual has been released from his monstrous form, you can talk to him to gain more insight to the current crisis. Go back to the Tyrael to get your reward. Quest: The Hellforge To activate: Talk to Cain after finishing the Fallen Angel quest Reward: A whole bunch of gems The game is getting near its end, but not any easier. You might want to get a cool drink, because you'll be entering right into the heart of hell. If you didn't get the Soulstone when you defeated Mephisto, Cain will give it to you now. The entrance into the River of Flame is located in the City of the Damned. Again, go through the Plains of Despair to the City of the Damned. A waypoint should be located on the level. The entrance to the River of Flame cannot be far away. When you enter the River of Flame, you will have a lot less running room. So be wary when a group of enemies chases after you. The Hellforge is located somewhere in the River of Flame. However, if you do manage to get too far, you will run across another angel who will advise you to turn back. Do so. You have to get rid of the Soulstone first. If you find a unique monster called Hephasto the Armorer going after you, your near the Hellforge. However, Hephasto packs an awesome punch. In only a few hits from him, you could be killed. Do what you can with him. Slowing him down is a good option, if possible. Take care of other nearby monsters first off. If you can get rid of Hephasto, he will drop the Hellforge Hammer. Go to the Hellforge and place the Soulstone on the Hellforge. Equip the Hammer and smash the Soulstone into pieces. You'll also release a whole lot of gems which you can place into your socketed items. Quest: Terror's End To activate: Talk to Tyrael after finishing the Hellforge quest Reward: Um, well, beating Diablo 2 With everything else completed, there is only one thing left for you to do. You have to finally kill Diablo and get rid of his soulstone. The nearest access you have to the Chaos Sanctuary is the waypoint at the River of Flame. Make to use it when needed. From the River of Flame waypoint, you'll have to go through a whole bunch of bridges. Some of these bridges may lead to dead ends, so make sure you have a clear path back. Once you get past the bridges, you'll enter the Chaos Sanctuary. You'll be under attack from Doom/Oblivion Knights, Venom Lords, and Burning Souls. I suggest taking them all out before you go after the 5 seals. If you need to run out for awhile, no one is gonna blame you. Take a portal back to the Fortress when needed for potion restocking and healing. When you've taken care of the monsters, start activating the 5 seals. Any 3 of the seals will release a Unique monster and his minions. The Infector of Souls is a Venom Lord, who is surrounded with his Venom Lord minions. His extra fast bonus will also apply to his minions, so you will face unusually faster enemies. This is probably the easiest of the three monster groups. Lure the Venom Lords over to one of the narrow passageways (you should have found one along the way to the front of the Chaos Sanctuary). You'll force them to attack you one by one. Some of them in the back may use the Fire breath attack, but it is not as bad when you only get the tail of the flames. The Grand Vizier of Chaos is a Burning Soul, who has Burning Souls with him. As annoying as they are, they get worse in groups. They can overlap each other which means they can all get close to you. Plus, they have mana burn which will quickly get rid of all your mana for special abilities. The best strategy is to lure them away from the group, one by one. One less enemy is one better for you. If you run out of mana, you can run away for a bit and let your mana recharge itself. Lord De Seis is an Oblivion Knight, who brings other Oblivion Knights with him. To me, this is the hardest group. The Oblivion Knights will most likely be of different types, so you'll be hit by fire, lighting, cold, and poison attacks. And it doesn't help that Lord De Seis is a Thief, which means when he hits you, potions will fall out of your belt. You may quickly run out of potions than you think. Take out the minion Oblivion Knights first. That is a critical first step. Don't take any big risks, only fight the Knights that are seperated from the group. When they are taken care of, go after Lord De Seis. If your last seal released an Unique monster, you still have to get rid of that Unique monster. However, once you've killed that Unique monster, the minions will die, no matter how many are left. If your last seal didn't release an Unique monster, don't worry. Well, maybe you should worry. When all the seals are open and no Unique monsters are around, you'll release the Lord of Terror, Diablo. He is not easy, so don't expect a quick fight, whatever class you are. He possess a lot of life and many attacks. He has a very powerful claw swipe, which he can modify to freeze you as well. If you get frozen, I suggest you run or thaw immediately. He can create a fire circle or a fire chain attack. The circle is less deadly at long range (it seperates), but the fire chain is deadly if you stand still. If you see a line of flame coming at you, move out of its way. However, his worst attack in my opinion is his Lightning Snake attack. If your close and he does it, your probably dead if you don't get out of the way. Its easier to get away from it far away. Ranged attacks are harder since he does move around more than the usual boss. However, there is a great risk when going up to his face, as you could get frozen and then get killed by the Lightning Snake attack. One other thing, Diablo can use trap you in a Bone Cage. He doesn't use this attack that much, but if you create a Town Portal in the center area of the Chaos Sanctuary, he will most likely create a Bone Cage around it. So when you get back, you'll be trapped. To avoid this, create a town portal behind the pillar (Diablo doesn't seem to follow you into the narrow entryway of the Sanctuary). Potions are a necessary evil. If you use a lot of mana attacks (probably will) get healing and mana potions (use any rejuvenation potions you have). You could choose to ping away at him with ranged attacks, but it'll be draining on your patience. It poses the least risk, since you'll have fair warning of attacks and can easily get out of the way. If you decide to just throw caution into the wind and go up to him, be very prepared. You'll need eyes like a fox. Make sure to turn auto-run on. Most of his attacks aren't that bad. The only bad ones are the Fire Chain, Lightning Snake, and his freezing attack. You can quickly thaw yourself after the freezing attack. But get out of the way of the Fire Chain attack. And if Diablo even tries the Lightning Snake get out of the way. You'll probably lose all your life just in the escape. Run away and use a healing potion. Use whatever strategy your comfortable with. Or make your own. In the end, all you want is Diablo to die. Any way that does that is a good way. If you do get Diablo to fall, he'll release some rare/unique equipment. You'll have 80 seconds to get everything you want into your stash and inventory. Have a few extra seconds? Talk to Cain and Tyrael. Then enjoy the ending. --------- 10. Lists --------- Prefixes/Suffixes Uniques Axes: The Gnasher - Hand Axe (20% of crushing blow, 50% chance of open wounds, +30 attack rating) Deathspade - Axe (+2 mana after every kill, blind target, +8 minimum damage, 15% attack rating bonus) Bladebone - Double Axe (+40 attack rating and 200% damage vs. undead, adds 4-7 fire damage, +20 defense, increased attack speed) Skull Splitter - Military Pick (Hit blinds target, regenerate mana 20% bonus, +50 attack rating, adds 1-12 lightning damage) Rakescar - War Axe (+50 attack rating, poison resist 50% bonus, adds 18-28 poison damage over 3 seconds) Axe of Fechmar - Large Axe (Freezes target, +2 to light radius, enhanced damage, cold resist +30) Goreshovel - Broad Axe (Greatly increased attack speed, +25 to strength, 60% chance of open wounds) The Chieftain - Battle Axe (cold, fire, and lightning resist +10, poison resist +30, enhanced damage, slightly increased attack speed) Brainhew - Great Axe (+4 to light radius, +25 to mana, +14 to minimum damage, 10% mana stolen per hit) Humongous - Giant Axe (Adds 8-15 damage, +10 strength, 33% chance of crushing blow, requirements +20%) Bows/Crossbows: Pluckeye - Short Bow (+2 to light radius, +10 to life, +28 to attack rating, 3% mana stolen per hit, enhanced damage) Witherstring - Hunter's Bow (Adds 1-3 damage, fires magic arrows, +50 to attack rating, greatly increased attack speed) Raven Claw - Long Bow (+3 to dexterity and strength, 50% bonus to attack rating, fires explosive arrows) Rogue's Bow - Composite Bow (30% deadly strike, all resistances +10, +60 to attack rating, 200% damage to undead) Stormstrike - Short Battle Bow (Piercing attack, +8 to strength, lightning resist 25%, adds 1-10 lightning damage, +28 to attack rating) Wizendraw - Long Battle Bow (Fires magic arrows, +36 to attack rating, +30 to mana, increased attack speed, cold resist 26%) Hellclap - Short War Bow (Fire resist 40%, +12 to dexterity, +20 to attack rating, adds 6-9 fire damage, slightly increased attack speed) Blastbark - Long War Bow (+1 to Amazon skill levels, 3% mana stolen per hit, enhanced damage, +5 to strength) Leadcrow - Light Crossbow (+10 to dexterity, +10 to life, +40 to attack rating, 25% deadly strike, poison resist 30%, enhanced damage) Ichorsting - Crossbow (+20 to dexterity, +50 to attack rating, piercing attack, adds 7-9 poison damage over 3 seconds) Hellcast - Heavy Crossbow (Fires explosive bolts, +70 to attack rating, +15 fire resist (can go above Max), increased attack speed) Doomslinger - Repeating Crossbow (+1 to Amazon skill levels, +15 to life, piercing attack, greatly increased attack speed) Daggers: Gull - Dagger (adds 1-15 damage, -5 to mana, 50% better chance of getting magic item) The Diggler - Dirk (+15 to dexterity, cold and fire resist +25, enhanced damage, greatly increased attack speed) The Jan Tan Do - Kris (+75 to attack rating, cannot be frozen, adds 7-14 poison damage over 3 seconds) Spectral Shard - Blade (fastest cast rate, +55 to attack rating, +50 to mana, all resistances +10) Maces: Felloak - Club (lightning resist +60, fire resist +20, adds 6-8 fire damage, knockback) Stoutnail - Spiked Club (Magic damage reduced by 2, enhanced damage, attacker takes damage of 1-10, +15 life) Crushflange - Mace (+2 to light radius, +15 to strength, fire resist +50, knockback) Bloodrise - Morning Star (enhanced damage, slightly increased attack speed, +2 to light radius, 50% bonus to attack rating) The General's Tan Do Li Ga - Flail (+25 defense, adds 1-20 damage, 5% mana stolen per hit, slows target by 50%) Ironstone - War Hammer (enhanced damage, +80 to attack rating, -5 to dexterity, adds 1-10 lightning damage) Bonesnap - Maul (40% chance of crushing blow, enhanced damage, cold and fire resist +30) Steeldriver - Great Maul (heal stamina rate 25% bonus, greatly increased attack speed, requirements -50%) Polearms: Dimoak's Hew - Bardiche (enhanced damage, increased attack speed, +15 to dexterity, -8 defense) Steelgoad - Voulge (all resistances +5, +30 to attack rating, 30% deadly strike, hit causes monster to flee) Soul Harvest - Scythe (all resistances +20, +45 to attack rating, 30% chance of open wounds, adds 15-23 poison damage over 5 seconds) The Battlebranch - Poleaxe (+40 to attack rating, +10 to dexterity, enhanced damage, greatly increased attack speed, 7% life stolen per hit) Woestave - Halberd (+2 to light radius, poison resist +15 (can go above Max), adds 7-28 poison damage over 3 seconds, slows target by 50%) The Grim Reaper - War Scythe (5% mana stolen per hit, -20 to life, 50% deadly strike, prevent monster heal) Scepters: Knell Striker - Scepter (25% chance of crushing blow, +35 to attack rating, +15 to mana, fire and poison resist +20) Rusthandle - Grand Scepter (magic damage reduced by 1, adds 3-7 damage, 8% life stolen per hit, +1 to paladin skill levels) Stormeye - War Scepter (adds 1-6 lightning and 3-5 cold damage, replenish life +10) Spears: The Dragon Chang - Spear (+2 to light radius, +35 to attack rating, +10 to minimum damage, 200% damage to undead) Razortine - Trident (+8 to dexterity, +15 to strength, slows target by 25%, lowers enemy defense by 50%, greatly increased attack speed) Bloodthief - Brandistock (+10 to strength, +26 to life, 8% life stolen per hit, 35% chance of open wounds) Lance of Yaggai - Spetum (all resistances +15, attacker takes damage of 8, adds 1-40 lightning damage) The Tannr Gorerod - Pike (+3 to light radius, fire resist +15 (can go above Max), adds 12-18 fire damage, +60 to attack rating, +30 to life) Staves: Bane Ash - Short Staff (fire resist +50, adds 4-6 fire damage, +30 to mana, increased attack speed) Serpent Lord - Long Staff (adds 2-37 poison damage over 3 seconds, poison resist +50, -1 to light radius, +10 to mana) Spire of Lazarus - Gnarled Staff (+9 to strength, all resistances +30, +20 to mana, magic damage reduced by 3, adds 7-12 fire damage, increased attack speed) The Salamander - Battle Staff (fire resist +20, adds 1-10 fire damage, +50 to attack rating, +2 to fire skills for Sorceress) The Iron Jang Bong - War Staff (+1 to Sorceress skill levels, adds 1-25 lightning damage, +25 defense, 50% bonus to attack rating, faster cast rate) Swords: Rixot's Keen - Short Sword (+2 to light radius, +5 to minimum damage, +25 defense, 25% crushing blow, 20% bonus to attack rating) Blood Crescent - Scimitar (+4 to light radius, enhanced damage, all resistances +15, +15 to life) Skewer of Krintiz - Saber (ignore target's defense, +10 to dexterity and strength, 3% mana stolen per hit, enhanced damage) Gleamscythe - Falchion (+3 to light radius, increased attack speed, +20 defense, +30 mana) Azurewrath - Crystal Sword (Adds 3-6 cold damage, 30% deadly strike, 10% better chance of getting magic item) Griswold's Edge - Broad Sword (adds 8-16 fire damage, knockback, slightly increased attack speed, +40 to attack rating) Hellplague - Long Sword (5% life and mana stolen per hit, adds 28-56 poison damage over 6 seconds) Culwen's Point - War Sword (faster block rate and hit recovery, +60 attack rating, poison length reduced by 50%, +1 to all skill levels) Shadowfang - Two-Handed Sword (-2 to light radius, 5% mana stolen per hit, cold resist +20%, adds 5-10 cold damage) Soulflay - Claymore (4% life stolen per hit, 4-10% mana stolen per hit, enhanced damage, all resistances +5) Kinemil's Awl - Giant Sword (adds 6-12 fire damage, +45 to attack rating, +20 to mana) Blacktongue - Bastard Sword (poison resist +50, -10 to life, adds 14-18 poison damage over 3 seconds, prevent monster heal) Ripsaw - Flamberge (50% open wounds, +15 to maximum damage, 6% mana stolen per hit) The Patriarch - Great Sword (hit blinds target, physical and magic damage reduced by 3, 100% extra gold from monsters) Wands: Torch of Iro - Wand (+1 to Necromancer skill levels, adds 5-9 fire damage, 6% life stolen per hit) Maelstrom - Yew Wand (half freeze duration, adds 1-9 lightning damage, faster cast rate, lightning resist 40%, +13 to mana) Gravenspine - Bone Wand (5% mana stolen per hit, adds 4-8 cold damage, +10 to dexterity and strength) Ume's Lament - Grim Wand (Hit causes monster to flee, faster cast rate, +2 to Necromancer skill levels, +40 to mana) Belts: Lenymo - Sash (+1 to light radius, regenerate mana 30%, all resistances +5, +15 to mana) Snakecord - Light Belt (Adds 4-8 poison damage over 3 seconds, replenish life +5, poison resist +25, +11 defense) Nightsmoke - Belt (all resistances +10, +20 to mana, damage reduced by 2, 50% damage taken goes to mana) Goldwrap - Heavy Belt (slightly increased attack speed, +2 to light radius, 30% better chance of finding magic items, +40 defense) Blackbuckle - Girdle (damage reduced by 3, +20 defense, +5 to strength, attacker takes damage of 8, +10 to dexterity) Body Armor: Greyform - Quilted Armor (+10 to dexterity, 5% life stolen per hit, magic damage reduced by 3, cold and fire resist +20) Blinkbat's Form - Leather Armor (adds 3-6 fire damage, fast run/walk, +25 defense, +16 missile defense) The Centurion - Hard Leather Armor (+15 to life, mana and stamina, +25 to attack rating, +30 to defense, regenerate life +3, damage reduced by 2) Twitchthroe - Studded Leather (+10 dexterity and strength, +15 defense, increased chance of blocking, slightly increased attack speed) Darkglow - Ring Mail (all resistances +10, all resistances Maximum +5, +3 to light radius, +25 melee defense, +20 attack rating) Hawkmail - Scale Mail (cannot be frozen, cold resist +15 (can go past Max), +12 defense) Sparking Mail - Chain Mail (Attacker takes 1-10 lightning damage, adds 1-10 lightning damage, +40 defense) Venom Ward - Breast Plate (+2 to light radius, adds 7-9 poison damage over 3 seconds, poison resist +15 (can go past Max), enhanced damage) Iceblink - Splint Mail (+4 to light radius, cold resist +30, freezes target, magic damage reduced by 1) Boneflesh - Plate Mail (5% life stolen per hit, +35 defense and attack rating) Heavenly Garb - Light Plate (Enhanced defense, regenerate mana +25, all resistances +10) Rockfleece - Field Plate (+25 defense, +5 strength, poison resist +50, damage reduced by 3, requirements -10%) Rattlecage - Gothic Plate (25% crushing blow, +45 defense and attack rating, hit causes monster to flee) Goldskin - Full Plate Mail (+2 to light radius, +75 defense, all resistances +30, attacker takes 1-10 damage) Silks of the Victor - Ancient Armor (+2 to light radius, +1 to all skill levels, 5% mana stolen per hit) Boots: Hotspur - Leather Boots (fire resist +15 (can go past Max), adds 3-6 fire damage, +15 to life) Gorefoot - Heavy Boots (faster run/walk, 2% mana stolen per hit, attacker takes damage of 2) Treads of Cthon - Chain Boots (fastest run/walk, 50% less stamina drain, +10 life, +50 missile defense) Goblin Toe - Light Plate Boots (25% crushing blow, physical and magic damage reduced by 1, +5 defense, -1 light radius) Tearhaunch - Plate Boots (faster run/walk, +5 to dexterity and strength, +10 defense, all resistances +10) Gloves: The Hand of Broc - Gloves (3% life and mana stolen per hit, poison resist +10, +20 to mana) Bloodfirst - Heavy Gloves (fastest hit recovery, +40 to life, +5 to minimum damage) Chance Guards - Bracers (24% better chance of getting magic items, 200% extra gold from monsters, +25 to attack rating, +15 defense, +2 to light radius) Magefist - Light Gauntlets (+1 to fire skills (Sorceress only), faster cast rate, regenerate mana 25% bonus, adds 1-5 fire damage) Frostburn - Gauntlets (enhanced damage, maximum mana 40%, adds 1-6 cold damage, +30 defense) Head Armor: Biggin's Bonnet - Cap (enhanced damage, +15 life and mana, +30 attack rating) Tarnhelm - Skull Cap (25-50% better chance of getting magic items, 75% extra gold from monsters, +1 to all skill levels) Coif of Glory - Helm (attacker takes 4 lightning damage, hit blinds target, +25 missile defense, lightning resist +15) Wormskull - Bone Helm (+1 to Necromancer skills, 5% life stolen per hit, +25 poison resist, +10 mana) Duskdeep - Full Helm (all resistances +5, +8 to max damage, -2 to light radius, damage reduced by 3) Howltusk - Great Helm (35% damage taken goes to mana, enhanced defense, magic damage reduced by 2, attacker takes damage of 3) Undead Crown - Crown (Half freeze duration, 4% life stolen per hit, poison resist +50, +8 defense) The Face of Horror - Mask (150% damage to undead, +20 strength, hit causes monster to flee, all resistances +5) Shields: Pelta Lunata - Buckler (+10 life and mana, +2 strength, +40 defense) Umbral Disk - Small Shield (Hit blinds target, +20 life, +18 defense, +10 dexterity, -2 to light radius) Stormguild - Large Shield (Magic damage reduced by 1, adds 1-6 lightning damage, lightning resist +25, +15 defense) Wall of the Eyeless - Bone Shield (+5 to mana after each kill, faster cast rate, 3% mana stolen per hit, poison resist +20) Swordback Hold - Spiked Shield (Attacker takes 3-5 damage, 50% open wounds, increased chance of blocking) Bverrit Keep - Tower Shield (magic damage reduced by 4, fire resist +25, +20 defense, +5 strength) The Ward - Gothic Shield (Increased chance of blocking, magic damage reduced by 2, +10 strength, +40 defense) Jewelry: The Eye of Etlich - Amulet (3-7% stolen per hit, +1-5 to light radius, adds 1-5 cold damge, +10-40 missile defense, +1 to skill levels) The Mahim-Oak Curio - Amulet (+40 attack rating, +20 life and mana, +10 defense, +5 dexterity and strength) Nokozan Relic - Amulet (+3 to light radius, fire resist +10 (can go past Max), adds 3-6 fire damage) Manald Heal - Ring (4% mana stolen per hit, replenish life +5, +20 to life) Nagelring - Ring (attacker takes damage of 3, magic damage reduced by 2, 15% better chance of getting magic items, +18 attack rating) The Stone of Jordan - Ring (+1 to all skill levels, adds 1-12 lightning damage, maximum mana 25% bonus, +20 to mana) ========= Set Items Angelic Raiment: Angelic Halo - Ring (replenish life +6, +20 life) Angelic Mantle - Ring Mail (enhanced defense, damage taken reduced by 3) Angelic Sickle - Sabre (350% damage to undead, +75 attack rating) Angelic Wings - Amulet (20% damage taken goes to mana, +3 light radius) Full set bonus - All resistances +25, 40% chance of finding a magic item, half freeze duration Arcanna's Tricks: Arcanna's Deathwand - War Staff (25% chance for deadly strike, +20 life) Arcanna's Flesh - Light Plate (+2 light radius, damage reduced by 3) Arcanna's Head - Skull Cap (regenerate life +4, attacker takes damage of 2) Arcanna's Sign - Amulet (regenerate mana 20%, 15% mana bonus) Full set bonus: 5% mana stolen per hit, faster cast rate, +25 mana Arctic Gear: Arctic Binding - Light Belt (cold resist +40, +30 defense) Arctic Furs - Quilted Armor (enhanced defense, All resistances +10) Arctic Horn - Short War Bow (20% bonus to attack rating, enhanced damage) Arctic Mitts - Light Gauntlets (+20 life, slightly increased speed) Full set bonus - Adds 6-14 cold damage, impossible to be frozen Berserker's Arsenal: Berserker's Hatchet - Double Axe (30% attack rating bonus, 5% mana stolen per hit) Berserker's Hauberk - Splint Mail (+1 Barbarian skills, magic damage reduced by 2) Berserker's Headgear - Helm (fire resist +25, +15 defense) Full set bonus - Attacks add 4-9 poison damage over 3 seconds, poison length reduced by 75% Cathan's Traps: Cathan's Mesh - Chain Mail (50% less requirements, +15 defense) Cathan's Rule - Battle Staff (+1 fire skills, +10 fire damage) Cathan's Seal - Ring (6% life stolen per hit, damage taken reduced by 2) Cathan's Sigil - Amulet (attacker takes 5 lightning damage, fast hit recovery) Cathan's Visage - Mask (cold resist +25, +20 mana) Full set bonus - Magic damage taken reduced by 3, +60 attack rating, all resistances +25, +20 mana, fast casting rate Civerb's Vestments: Civerb's Cudgel - Grand Scepter (+75 attack rating, +21 to maximum damage) Civerb's Icon - Amulet (regenerate mana +40%, regenerate life +4) Civerb's Ward - Large Shield (+15 defense, increased block) Full set bonus - 200% damage to undead, +15 strength Cleglaw's Brace: Cleglaw's Claw - Small Shield (poison length reduced by 75%, +17 defense) Cleglaw's Pincers - Chain Gloves (slows target by 25%, knockback) Cleglaw's Tooth - Long Sword (50% critcal hit, 30% bonus to attack rating) Full set bonus - 6% mana stolen per hit, +50 defense, 35% crushing blow Death's Disguise: Death's Guard - Sash (cannot be frozen, +20 defense) Death's Hand - Leather Gloves (poison length reduced by 75%, poison resist +50) Death's Touch - War Sword (4% life stolen per hit, enhanced damage) Full set bonus - 40% bonus to attack rating, +10 minimum damage, all resistances +25 Hsaru's Trim: Hsaru's Iron Fist - Buckler (damage taken reduced by 2, +10 strength) Hsaru's Iron Heel - Chain Boots (faster run/walk, fire resist +25) Hsaru's Iron Stay - Belt (cold resist +20, +20 life) Full set bonus - +5 maximum damage, cannot be frozen, lightning resist +25 Infernal Tools: Infernal Buckle - Heavy Belt (+25 defense, +20 life) Infernal Cranium - Cap (20% of damage taken goes to mana, all resistances +10) Infernal Torch - Grim Wand (+1 Necromancer skills, +8 minimum damage) Full set bonus: 20% open wounds, 20% bonus to attack rating, +1 Necromancer skills Iratha's Finery: Iratha's Coil - Crown (lightning and fire resist +30) Iratha's Collar - Amulet (poison length reduced by 75%, poison resist +30) Iratha's Cord - Heavy Belt (+25 defense, +5 minimum damage) Iratha's Cuff - Light Gauntlets (half freeze duration, cold resist +30) Full set bonus: +10 to maximum cold, fire, lightning, and poison resist, all resistances +20, +15 dexterity Isenhart's Armory: Isenhart's Case - Breast Plate (+40 defense, magic damage reduced by 2) Isenhart's Horns - Full Helm (damage reduced by 2, +6 dexterity) Isenhart's Lightband - Broad Sword (+3 light radius, +10 minimum damage) Isenhart's Parry - Gothic Shield (attacker takes 4 lightning damage, +40 defense) Full set bonus: 35% bonus to attack rating, all resistances +20, 5% life stolen per hit Milabrega's Regalia: Milabrega's Diadem - Crown (+15 mana and life) Milabrega's Orb - Kite Shield (+25 defense, +20% chance of getting a magic item) Milabrega's Robe - Ancient Armor (damage reduced by 2, attacker takes damage of 3) Milabrega's Rod - War Scepter (+1 Paladin skills, enhanced damage) Full set bonus: +2 light radius, +2 Paladin skills, 8% life stolen per hit, poison resist +15 Sigon's Complete Steel: Sigon's Gage - Gauntlets (+20 attack rating, +10 strength) Sigon's Guard - Tower Shield (increased block, +1 all skills) Sigon's Sabot - Greaves (faster run/walk, cold resist +40) Sigon's Shelter - Gothic Plate (enhanced defense, lightning resist +30) Sigon's Visor - Great Helm (+3 light radius, +30 mana) Sigon's Wrap - Plated Belt (+20 life, fire resist +20) Full set bonus: Adds 12-24 fire damage, damage reduced by 7, attacker takes 12 damage Tancred's Battlegear: Tancred's Crowbill - Military Pick (enhanced damage, +75 attack rating) Tancred's Hobnails - Boots (stamina regeneration +25, +10 dexterity) Tancred's Skull - Bone Helm (enhanced damage, +40 attack rating) Tancred's Spine - Full Plate Armor (+40 life, +15 strength) Tancred's Weird - Amulet (damage reduced by 2, magic damage reduced by 1) Full set bonus: 5% mana stolen per hit, all resistances +10, slow target by 35%, 75% extra gold from monsters Vidala's Rig: Vidala's Ambush - Leather Armor (+50 defense, +11 dexterity) Vidala's Barb - Long Battle Bow (adds 1-20 lightning damage) Vidala's Fetlock - Light Plated Boots (fastest run/walk, +150 max stamina) Vidala's Snare - Amulet (cold resist +20, +15 life) Full set bonus: Piercing attack, enhanced damage, freeze target ======== Monsters ======== Shrines: "effect" means the effect will only last while the icon stays above your character's head. "regenerate" means the shrine can be used again over time. Armor - Defense rating increase. (Effect, regenerate) Combat - Attack rating and damage dealt increase. (Effect, regenerate) Experience - You gain more experience for each kill. (Effect) Exploding - Will cause several explosions (that do damage, to you and enemies) and drop a few exploding potions. Fire - Using this shrine will cause many firebolts to go off that does damage to anything it hits. Gem - Upgrades a gem in your inventory and drops it. If you don't have any gems it will drop a random chipped gem. Health - Full health recovery. (Regenerate) Mana - Full mana recovery. (Regenerate) Mana Recharge - Increases the mana regeneration speed. (Effect, regenerate) Monster - Turns a monster into a Unique one. Poison - Will cause several poison clouds to appear and drop a few poison potions. Portal - Creates a permanment town portal. Refilling - Full health, mana, and stamina recovery. (Regenerate) Resist Cold - You get maximum resistance to cold. (Effect, regenerate) Resist Fire - You get maximum resistance to fire. (Effect, regenerate) Resist Poison - You get maximum resistance to poison. (Effect, regenerate) Resist Lightning - You get maximum resistance to lightning. (Effect, regenerate) Skill - All skills you have learned are increased by 2. (Effect, regenerate) Stamina - Your stamina bar turns blue (you gain unlimited stamina). (Effect, regenerate) ===== Gems: Amethyst (Purple) Helm Bonus Shield Bonus Weapon Bonus Chipped: 3 Strength 5-6 Defense 15-19 Attack Rating Flawed: 4 Strength 7-8 Defense 20-29 Attack Rating Normal: 5-6 Strength 9-10 Defense 30-39 Attack Rating Flawless: 7-8 Strength 11-13 Defense 40-49 Attack Rating Perfect: 9-10 Strength 15-17 Defense 50-59 Attack Rating Diamond (White) Helm Bonus Shield Bonus Weapon Bonus Chipped: 10 Attack Rating 5-6 All Resist Damage 125-129% versus undead Flawed: 15 Attack Rating 7-8 All Resist Damage 130-135% versus undead Normal: 20 Attack Rating 9-11 All Resist Damage 136-145% versus undead Flawless: 25 Attack Rating 12-15 All Resist Damage 146-155% versus undead Perfect: 30 Attack Rating 16-20 All Resist Damage 156-170% versus undead Emerald (Green) Helm Bonus Shield Bonus Weapon Bonus* Chipped: 3 to Dexterity 10-12 Resist Poison 2 Poison damage Flawed: 4 to Dexterity 13-16 Resist Poison 3 Poison damage Normal: 5-6 to Dexterity 17-20 Resist Poison 4 Poison damage Flawless: 7-8 to Dexterity 21-25 Resist Poison 5 Poison damage Perfect: 9-10 to Dexterity 26-30 Resist Poison 6 Poison damage *Poison damage is over 3 seconds Ruby (Red) Helm Bonus Shield Bonus Weapon Bonus Chipped: 6-8 to Life 10-12 Resist Fire 3-4 Fire Damage Flawed: 9-11 to Life 13-16 Resist Fire 3-5 Fire Damage Normal: 12-15 to Life 17-20 Resist Fire 4-5 Fire Damage Flawless: 16-20 to Life 21-25 Resist Fire 5-6 Fire Damage Perfect: 21-25 to Life 26-30 Resist Fire 6-10 Fire Damage Sapphire (Blue) Helm Bonus Shield Bonus Weapon Bonus Chipped: 6-8 to Mana 10-12 Resist Cold 1-3 Cold Damage (1 sec freeze) Flawed: 9-11 to Mana 13-16 Resist Cold 2-3 Cold Damage (1.5 sec freeze) Normal: 12-15 to Mana 17-20 Resist Cold 2-4 Cold Damage (2 sec freeze) Flawless: 16-20 to Mana 21-25 Resist Cold 3-5 Cold Damage (2.5 sec freeze) Perfect: 21-25 to Mana 26-30 Resist Cold 3-7 Cold Damage (3 sec freeze) Skull (White Skull) Helm Bonus* Shield Bonus Weapon Bonus Chipped: 2 Life/8% Mana 2 damage to enemy Steal 2% Life/1% Mana Flawed: 3 Life/8% Mana 3 damage to enemy Steal 2% Life/2% Mana Normal: 3 Life/12% Mana 4 damage to enemy Steal 3% Life/2% Mana Flawless: 4 Life/12% Mana 5 damage to enemy Steal 3% Life/3% Mana Perfect: 4-5 Life/16-20% Mana 6-7 damage to enemy Steal 4% Life/3% Mana *Signifies Life Regeneration and Mana Regeneration Bonus Topaz (Yellow) Helm Bonus* Shield Bonus Weapon Bonus Chipped: 7-9% Chance 10-12 Resist Lightning 1-6 Lightning Damage Flawed: 11-13% Chance 13-16 Resist Lightning 1-7 Lightning Damage Normal: 14-17% Chance 17-20 Resist Lightning 1-8 Lightning Damage Flawless: 18-20% Chance 21-25 Resist Lightning 1-10 Lightning Damage Perfect: 21-25% Chance 26-30 Resist Lightning 1-15 Lightning Damage *Chance to find magic items --------------- 11. Multiplayer --------------- (Well, I wasn't planning on working on this section for awhile, but since I came across the next part, I might as well add it). Player vs. Player Amazon (you) vs. Barbarian The long range queen against the close up destroyer? You'd think the Amazon have an advantage, but if your Barbarian enemy is any good, they'll have a good damaging weapon. Most Amazons don't have a lot of strength to wear big armor, so only a few hits from a Barbarian attack can take you down (god forbid that they have a lot of Mastery points). Barbarians are horrible with thrown or ranged weapons, so you should always have a long range advantage. The first part is taking the battle into an open location. Find a large area with a few walls that you can hide behind and fire from (think the pillars from the Rogue Monastery). Next, always be on the run. I don't care if the enemy says you should stop running, if you stay still, your dead. If you've focused on bow attacks, the freezing arrow (or its lower level counterparts, cold and ice, if you only have those) is a super valuable tool. You can slow down (not freeze completely sadly) your Barbarian opponent, giving you a bit of time to run or fire a few more shots. Strafe and Multiple Shot are basically useless wastes of mana (for obvious reasons). Immolation Arrow (or Exploding Arrow) is a very good damaging attack, but it may be too mana costly for regular use. I've even seen Amazons fight back well just firing a lot of Guided Arrows, and that might be a good attack plan. Just check your mana. Bring mana potions, it never hurts to be prepared. Javelin users have a tougher time. Usually they have to get up and close with their close range attacks. Of course, you can throw the javelins, but you may run out of them very quickly. Javelins are not as easy to find like arrows or bolts. The Lightning attacks (Lightning Fury, Strike, and Bolt) were mainly meant for attacking large groups, but you may have to rely on them, since they are some of the most powerful Amazon javelin attacks. If you have to get close with your javelin, don't forget about Power Strike, Impale (watch your weapon durability), and even Jab. Very good Amazons can use the multiple hits from Jab to quickly take down an over-confident Barbarian. I don't really find the Poison attacks to be that useful (most players do have some sort of poison protection), but if you developed them, go with it. You may want to use Inner Sight every so often. It lowers the defense of your enemy, giving you extra chances to hit them. But it requires to you stay still, a bit of a risk. Hopefully you have been working on your Dodge and Evade skills. Avoid is useless (it only works for ranged attacks). You'll be thankful when your Dodges and Evades kick in. Critical Strike (and Penetrate if you use a ranged weapon) is a very powerful skill, espcially now. When you see the Barbarian's life go down in bunches, you'll know that the skills are working. And don't forget about Decoy and Valkyrie. I've found many a frustrated Barbarian trying to find the real you and then handle the Valkyrie at their backs. They might say its unfair, but hey, just say they shouldn't be picking on girls. As for your Barbarian enemy, you have to worry about their weapon. Know of their mastery. Always consider the weapon they have in their hand as their best mastery weapon. This means they have big attack rating and damage bonuses, so you'll never want to get in range of their attacks. Luckily, this means they will be using a close range weapon (unless they were dumb enough to use Throwing Mastery). Watch out for Warcries such as Battlecry and Warcry. Battlecry will lower your defense rating and damage dealt. So you are basically weakened. Watch for the orange dot over your head, this makes you an easier target to be killed. Warcry will damage you as well as stun. Its the stun which may be your end. Luckily the length of Warcry is not that far. If you stay on the run you should be able to avoid many of the negative warcries. But, watch out for Barbarians who may use Shout and Battle Orders. Shout gives a defense bonus, Battle Orders increases max life and mana. Just stay calm when they start shouting and keep attacking. Most Barbarians have a mana drain weapon and have either Concentrate or Double Swing as their main attacks. Force them to whiff at air and drain their mana. Smart enemies won't use Whirlwind or Berserk, since they leave the Barbarian open (espcially Berserk, which lowers their defense to zero, easy pickings for you). However, watch out for jumping Barbarians. They will get the best use out of Leap and Leap Attack, effectively stopping your run (if they get near to you) and getting a few hits for their cause. So, basic strategy when your an Amazon fighting a Barbarian? Keep running, ping away with your bow, or hit and run with your javelin/spear. Make the best use of your special abilities, and hope your passive skills kick in. ---------- 12. Thanks ---------- Blizzard, for making this great game. Okay, so it took them a few extra years, but hey, it was worth the wait. All those very helpful players on b.net. I can't mention them all, but you were all very nice for answering all my questions :) Dragonblood from Ancient Anguish. She probably doesn't know she's on here, but she's a great gal anyway! Me for obvious reasons. There were a whole lot of people who sent in info on set items (it seems everyone playing Diablo 2 has Death's Guard :). For space reasons, most of them are okay with being nameless, but in any case I thank all of them. A few to be mentioned though, so here: YeelRek, brother3, Sonic Koo Yee Hui, CivicJon, Matthew Ezekiel Wei, David Crichton, XvHaydon, Matt Renfrow, Cakewalk12, Boon. -------------- 13. Legal Junk -------------- This guide can and should be given out as long as it is not altered in any way. The guide's purpose is to help people play Diablo 2 and that is its only purpose. This guide cannot be used in any commerically such as, but not limited to, Magazines, Books, Guides, without first contacting the author for his consent. Credit must given if you take information from this guide. Diablo 2 is a trademark of Blizzard Entertainment, copyright 2000. All other trademarks copyright their respective owners.