Diablo II Lod

[Squall85]

Does anyone here play D2 lod here. I just started playing again online cuz they released a new patch.

[Arkacia]

Yes, me. Its my favorite game :).

I currently have a level 32 fire sorceress up to act 4. Have tried getting past Diablo a few times but he kills me too easily, so am now level farming her up a few more levels before I try again. I only play online now, on the Europe server.

[ShadowHeart]

I've been playing it ever since it was released.. only offline, as I started out with only a 33.6k dial up (too slow for b.net play), and when I did get faster connection I didn't want to start over from scratch.. and I've just kept playing offline. I don't mind though, as I'd only end up playing alone on b.net.. as it's damn near impossible to find anyone that plays like me, ie, clearing every single map, killing every single monster, completing every quest, on the way to Patriarch/Matriarch status (that is, killing Baal on Hell difficulty).

It's one of the games I've spent the most time with, rivaling FFVII and Star Ocean 2 as the game I've playead the most :)

Seems like I'll never get tired of the game.. there are so many different character builds I haven't even tried yet that I want to. Maybe I'll stop when there's a Diablo 3, if that'll ever happen :)

[Tess]

i have already "completed" the game, so my little brother got my char :3 lvl 99 sorc :P

[ShadowHeart]

Doubt you made those lvl 99 legitimately.. if you did, I apologize, but it takes over 3 billion experience to get there and you only get 0,49% of the normal experience at level 98 :D

[Tess]

i think my bro did something with it ;P but i was at 99 XD my bro is evil ;P

[ShadowHeart]

Haha, he probably did somethign then :p

[Tess]

yeah probably :P

[Squall85]

It gets hard to lv after lv 80 unless u do baal runz online w/ a bunch of ppl

[ShadowHeart]

Offline it's no problem getting to 87-88 if you use /players 8.. after that it's starting to get pretty slow and that's usually where I end up when I'm done with a character, but I've managed to get to 90 with a MF sorc (doing pit runs, gives pretty nice exp).

[Arkacia]

I gave up trying to get past Diablo with my old sorceress. Didn't build her up properly. As the old saying goes, I learned from my mistakes :D.

Have a new sorceress up to level 30 just starting act 4. Was more careful how I divided up her skill points. Every spell has at least one point this time. Can't wait to have another crack at Diablo. Might get past him, finally ;):).

[ShadowHeart]

Every spell? Umm, that's generally not the best way to go about the game.. well if you plan on taking on Nightmare and Hell difficulties. If you do plan on doing that, you should pick 2 main spells (from different trees), and max them out and invest a lot in their synergies and masteries. And some Warmth and Static Field goes for all sorceress.

The drawback of choosing a limited number of skills to focus on and power them up as much as possible, is that you'll generally be very weak in the early stages in the game, and reach your maximum potential sometime during Nightmare difficulty or early Hell difficulty. That's kind of too late if you're only going through Normal mode (duh), but it is absolutely necessary to get through Hell (besides having pretty good equipment). Hell is crazily difficult unless you've built your character properly and have really good equipment.

And just for the recond, one of the most popular and best sorceress builds is the Meteorb. It's also easy to build and use (besides the fact that Meteor can be difficult to use properly if you're new at it). That is, using Meteor and Frozen Orb mainly (with some Fireball too). I could post a build for it, if you want.

If you're just going through Normal mode, then it's not as important how you build your character. I'm just so used to playing with the goal of beating it on Hell difficulty, so I always plan out exactly what skills I'll invest in and how much as well as what equipment to use before I even begin.

Well that's enough rambling I guess .. :p

[Frost]

I play, love the game. I've been hooked on D2 and Starcraft for years. I specialize in werewolf druids, fire sorcs and javazons. Gotta love Diablo 2.

[Arkacia]

Every spell? Umm, that's generally not the best way to go about the game.. well if you plan on taking on Nightmare and Hell difficulties. If you do plan on doing that, you should pick 2 main spells (from different trees), and max them out and invest a lot in their synergies and masteries. And some Warmth and Static Field goes for all sorceress.

The drawback of choosing a limited number of skills to focus on and power them up as much as possible, is that you'll generally be very weak in the early stages in the game, and reach your maximum potential sometime during Nightmare difficulty or early Hell difficulty. That's kind of too late if you're only going through Normal mode (duh), but it is absolutely necessary to get through Hell (besides having pretty good equipment). Hell is crazily difficult unless you've built your character properly and have really good equipment.

And just for the recond, one of the most popular and best sorceress builds is the Meteorb. It's also easy to build and use (besides the fact that Meteor can be difficult to use properly if you're new at it). That is, using Meteor and Frozen Orb mainly (with some Fireball too). I could post a build for it, if you want.

If you're just going through Normal mode, then it's not as important how you build your character. I'm just so used to playing with the goal of beating it on Hell difficulty, so I always plan out exactly what skills I'll invest in and how much as well as what equipment to use before I even begin.

Well that's enough rambling I guess .. :p


Thanks for that info Shadowheart :).

I have put an extra couple of points into frozen orb, love that spell, but it wasn't enough to get past diablo. He kills me as easily as swatting a fly. The static field is good (it got me past duriel) but as I need to get close to diablo to use it, and that is suicide, its not been much use against him.

I've only played in normal mode because I can't get past diablo, let alone finish the game, so haven't had the higher levels (nightmare and hell) open up for me. Considering all the problems I'm having on normal, am not too sure I want to see the harder levels anyway :D.

Started a druid tonight. Perhaps if I try different characters, I might finally get one that can beat him. My sorceresses just aren't up to the job.

[ShadowHeart]

Diablo is difficult, but he's not impossible. Then again, I tend to have pretty good equipment, both for my characters themselves and for their hirelings (because I stock up on all good things I find).

There's one thing you need to keep in mind when using Frozen Orb. It explodes at the end, and this explosion sets off some 16 ice bolts at once. If you manage to get the Frozen Orb to explode directy on top of a large enemy, like a boss such as Diablo, then all those 16 ice bolts will hit all at once, dealing massive damage. This damage gets even more massive if you invest a little into Cold Mastery, which lowers enemy cold resistance (except on cold immune monsters). It can be difficult to get the orb to explode directly on top of an enemy if you're new to it, but with some practice you should get a feeling for what the appropriate distance to the target is.

About Static Field, it gets longer range on higher levels. You could try getting your hands on a staff with +3 to Static Field and use that to cut a boss' life down, then swap to your main weapon and finish them off.

And as for a Druid... well I could give you some tips on good ways to build Druids, but I'm thinking you might wanna find out on your own. In any case, try not to invest in all 3 trees. That's going to equal a poor character. Pick 2 trees, focus on one and have the other as backup, ignoring the 3rd. Just do not combine Shape Shifting and Elemental because you can't use Elemental magic while transformed :)

[Frost]

A good Werewolf Druid build would be:

Werewolf
Lycanthropy
Heart of the Wolverine
Feral Rage
Fury(Main)

Skill points focused on strength and vitality.

[ShadowHeart]

Yes, indeed.. or HotW can be changed for Oak Sage, whichever you prefer. In any case, I think she rather try things out herself :)

[Arkacia]

I am so happy, excited, over the moon and proud of myself. I finally killed Diablo earlier today for the first time. Used my level 34 sorceress with static field and frozen orb. Lots of full rejuvenation potions and keeping on the move (so that lightning attack of his wouldn't hit me) helped too. I couldn't believe it when he finally died :D.

Have started act 5, and killed the first minor boss. I might actually finish this game by Christmas :).

[ShadowHeart]

Yay, congrats! Did you try to aim the Frozen Orb so it exploded on top of his head? :p

And yeah, that red lightning really hurts.. especially if your lightning resistance is low :(

[Arkacia]

To be honest, I didn't have time to aim, just ran up to him, wacked a couple of static charge spells at him, ran away and did the frozen orb in his general direction on the run :D.

I think keeping on the move really helped me stay alive. I'll use the same stratagy when I meet Baal.

[ShadowHeart]

For Baal you really want to keep your distance as a magic user, you'll know what I mean when you get there :) He doesn't have anything as deadly as that red lightning, IMO he's more tedious and annoying than difficult.

[Arkacia]

Well I got through the game without too much trouble. Act 5 is nowhere as bad as I thought it would be.

Baal is easier to beat than Mephisto was. In fact I had less trouble with him than Andariel . What a pathetic final boss:D.

Have just started a nightmare game and its ok so far. Blood Raven put up a bit of a struggle, but she just couldn't withstand the frozen orb in the end.

[ShadowHeart]

Yeah I agree actually, Act 5 is really easy on Normal.. and yes, Baal sucks :p I actually use Act 5 normal as a leveling field. You get very nice experience from the monsters there and they don't provide much of a challenge, so it's really easy to run around leveling a lot before going to Nightmare. I'm always level 45-48 before going on to Nightmare :)

[LoKuS]

See, i love this game, but to play you gotta be commited and play on a regular basis. Me however, ill start and new game and play for about a week then stop. :(

[ShadowHeart]

I play D2 in waves.. like, I'll play for 2-3 months or so, then take a couple months break, play for 2-3 months, take a couple months break, and so on. I don't lose my characters either, since I play offline :)

[Squall Lionheart]

I might be useful for D2...

[slimcloud]

what you do is go onto the files at the beggining where you can get all the spells straight away for a new character you can also tell your cctr where to enter on the game.

[slimcloud]

druids are good wiv werebear and that tangled root concentrate on the attacks of the bear im sure you cant go wrong

[Squall Lionheart]

try using the edit option instead of doubleposting.......

[ShadowHeart]

Cheating is boring, slimcloud. Where's the fun when there is no challenge? At least I don't see the point :)

[darkmajinvegeta]

lol it sucks!!! (in the backgraunds ;pang pang pang and i am so dead)