Top 10 Diablo tips

© Provided by Windows Central Diablo 2: Resurrected isn’t like Diablo 3 in the sense that you can re-spec and re-skill characters as many times as you want. In fact, before Akara awarded a stat and skill reset reward for the Den of Evil questline and before Tokens of Absolution were introduced, there was no way to remake a character other than to start again at level one. With the three difficulty levels — Normal, Nightmare, and Hell — you get three stat and skill resets from Akara for free. Tokens of Absolution are made by combining special essences received when killing bosses in Hell difficulty, making them rare and expensive. For this reason, you want to be careful when choosing skills for your character. Each character has three different skill trees, and while you can mix and match skills all you want, the best builds are generally as focused as possible. For example, if you’re playing as a Sorceress, you will likely want to choose either cold, fire, or lightning rather than a mixture of all three. Especially in the early game, mixing skill trees can lead to an underpowered character that struggles with bosses.

Diablo 2: Resurrected gives characters four different stat pools, known as attributes: strength, dexterity, vitality, and energy. You receive five attribute points each time you level up (as well as some from quests) so they are relatively rare. While all attributes are important, Vitality is the one you generally want to maximize. A huge life pool is the mainstay of most Diablo 2 builds, with some exceptions for Sorceresses going with an Energy Shield build. The equipment and weapons you use requires strength and dexterity to equip, so be sure you have enough of both for your best gear. Dexterity also plays into the block stat; if you’d like to maximize your block chance, save enough points. Otherwise, all attribute points should go into Vitality.

© Provided by Windows Central Your character’s resistances to Fire, Cold, Lightning, and Poison are what will keep you alive when you move into Nightmare and Hell difficulties. Characters start Normal difficulty with no resistances, but they can be gained through equipment and certain quests. For the latter, be sure to rescue Anya in Act Five. You can check your resistances on the main character screen, just below your stats. If you have, say, 15 poison resistance, your character will see a 15% reduction from any poison elemental attack. Don’t get too comfortable with resistances in Normal difficulty, as the base numbers take a deep dive once you hit the harder difficulties. You’ll see a -40 penalty in Nightmare, and a -100 penalty in Hell. That means in the endgame you’ll need somewhere around +175 to all resistances to have maximum protection. Prioritize gear that offers resistances, and be sure to keep a look out for charms of the same nature.

Diablo 2 doesn’t really have an endgame, but the nature of its procedurally generated levels and respawning enemies means you can run the same bosses over and over in search of loot. In the early game, Act One’s Black Marsh is home to the Countess who commonly drops runes useful for crafting gear that can carry you through to at least the end of Normal difficulty. Look for Tal and Eth runes to create the Stealth runeword for body armor. It provides poison resistance, faster run/walk, faster cast rate, faster hit recovery, and more. Shael and Eth go into shields to create the Rhyme runeword, with better block rate, 25% to all resistances, and a boost to magic find. Leaf is a fantastic runeword for Sorceresses. Tir and Ral runes go into a stave for a huge boost to fire skills and cold resistance.

The game’s Acts are split into regions, and most regions have their own waypoint that can be used for fast travel. However, you must discover and activate the waypoint in the wild before it can be accessed from the Act’s main town. For example, if you’re planning on running the Countess multiple times, you will want to find the waypoint in the Act One Black Marsh. This will allow you to bypass the first few regions and will make your repeated trips much quicker. You can fast travel to the Black Marsh waypoint, kill the Countess in her tower, then exit the game to repeat the process. Waypoints are static spots that will always appear in a certain region. Don’t confuse them with Town Portals, which are user-created portals that expire once they’re used or the game is exited back to the main menu.

© Provided by Windows Central During the early game, health potions are generally plentiful. You should find many from downed enemies and in chests around the world. Mana potions, on the other hand, are much harder to find and you’ll likely have to visit vendors to buy them. Any time you visit town, be sure to stock up. Stamina plays a heavy role as well, but only for the first few hours of the game until you level up and find better gear. For this reason, though, you’ll also want to bring along a bunch of stamina potions. They can be stacked, which means you can drink three or four at once and have them work one after the other instead of all being used at once. Antidote potions might be important in the late game, as some advanced enemies have nasty poison attacks that last until you’re drained of life. Consider these when taking on bosses. Similarly, be sure to bring some thawing potions when facing Duriel.

Mercenaries are available to hire in the starting area of all acts. Killing Blood Raven in the first act quest will get you a Rogue archer for free, which can be equipped with corresponding gear. This is important, as mercenaries are relatively weak without armor and weapons. Any mercenaries you hire in the future will cancel your current mercenary, and any gear they’re wearing will also be gone forever. Be sure to take back your gear before swapping mercenaries. The meta-game generally leans heavily on Act Two mercenaries because of their aura abilities and weapon class being polearms. One of the best starting runewords that you can equip on a mercenary is Insight, which uses Ral, Tir, Tal, and Sol runes. This provides the mercenary (and you) with a Meditation aura which quickly regenerates mana. Combined with something like a Defiance aura, you can get quick mana regen and extra defense without much effort.

Runes changed Diablo 2 greatly when they were introduced. They can be used to create some of the most powerful items in the game — runewords — but they’re also widely used as in-game currency. Unless you somehow have an enormous surplus of runeword, you should hold onto as many as possible. Even low runes can be combined together in the Horadric Cube to “cube up,” giving you a higher rune. Gems are also quite important, both for adding special abilities to socketed items and for crafting recipes. Like runes, low-quality gems can be upgraded in the Horadric Cube, so you might want to hold onto as many as possible. You might even find people trading mid-high runes for a certain amount of perfect gems once the season’s economy gets going.