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OK so I'm playing diablo 2 LOD for about the hundredth time (only ever finished it once) and am using a barbarian.

Am currently at the very start of Act 2, at Lut Golheim.

Question for other gamers: Should I drop my cold missile firing mercenary from act 1 (Who helpfully chills enemies so they smash when i hit them) or go with the mercenary available in act 2?

Also what abilities do the mercs bring (combat, defensive, and another one) aren't they paladin skills? (At work and D2 sites are barred. :( )

according to this:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/370600/16180

you either want frost from Act 1 or the 'Might' merc from Act 2, which will buff you.

there's an Act 3 freezing guy, too. But it gets weaker on higher difficulty because it is a spell.

I go with the Act 2 Mercs all the time. Their abilities are different on higher difficulties too. Nightmare Defensive is great (Holy Freeze aura!).

I have to study tonight. :(
*Shakes fist at damned advanced life support course tomorrow*

But will send the old merc packing and buy the act 2 merc tomorrow.

Currently running defensive as am now Level 18 and have started tanking with iron skin.

If I can keep this fool merc through to hell he will be uber great at holy freeze.

Thanks for the link takobake.

The boss at the end of nd act- how the hell do you kill him.

I've faced him a few times and he hammers me so I end up dying several times, if I leave to get more potions he regenerates his health.

Anyone got any tips (should be facing him next week if current gaming schedule holds up)

Duriel is an absolute bastard to kill. Fat HP, freeze aura, charge, uber attacks. There are a few things to do first of all.

-Defense: as high as it can go. With my lvl 24 Barbarian, he has a 10% chance to hit me.
-Attack rating: Needs to be 80%-95%, or you won't even scratch him.
-Damage: Fast, hard hits. Speed is needed to reduce the effects of his freezing aura. My Barb is made for dual-wielding, and it works great. I can squeeze in at least four hits per second with Double Swing and I have awesome damage from sword mastery and Bash (synergy with doubleswing).
-Cold resistance. As much as you can get without having to use a shield. Charms, amulets, rings, set bonuses and runes all work here.
-Patch your damn game! You can transmute runes now, and there are skill synergies to make your character more effective.

PM me the specifics on your character, and I can show you the way to go.

Thanks for the tips.

I have the patch.

Am currently using a double handed axe as primary weapon and a super magic club/shield combo for my secondary.

However may look at double swing as a necessary ability.

Just got the cube last night. Will have play Sunday now- Have to work 16 hours tomorrow and am about to go to bed for sleep once the football is over.

Hmm... I need to go back to Diablo 2.

I stopped playing partway through Act II with my Assassin. I grind the hell out of that game, usually hitting cLvl5 before I finish the game's first quest.

BYE

I grind it too, every cave hole and tower is investigated.

Assassin was fun once you get the hang of the combos.

If you like assassin combos, you might like the ability combos you have to use
in WAR. For example, in order to use a certain ability, an orc has to have hit with two
of its previous abilities. The fun part is that Mythic called those combo poins "plans," so that
the third stage of combos is called "Da Best Plan."

Fun stuff.

Just killed cleared the viper pit/snake lair and am about to head down into the harem.

I really need a mana leech weapon so I can continuously hammer with dual blow until I can get to whirlwind.

Only 9 levels to go.

Get skulls. Stash and transmute them with the cube and chuck 'em in an awesome 5-socketed weapon.

Waaagh_Gonads wrote:I grind it too, every cave hole and tower is investigated.

Hehehehe... yeah going to each place you can isn't really grinding. Grinding is more going to each place you can, then quitting the game, coming back, doing it again, and then repeating that process about four more times, farming EXP, gold and loot until each badguy is at a level that gains you know EXP.

For example, you gain full EXP in Diablo from creatures that are either 5 levels above or below you. Anything above or below that threshold yields 5% of the exp. So, for instance, there's no point in taking on Andariel in Act 1 until your at least level 7, preferably level 12-17, as she herself is Level 12 (IIRC). The monsters in the very first area, and inside the Den of Evil, are all cLvl1 and 2, which means they're good for EXP all the way to level five.

I usually run through those two areas, killing every single creature (except the last one, so I don't complete the quest), until I've hit cLvl5. I don't spend any skill or attribute points until that point either, so that by the time I enter the next area (which I farm until I'm around Level 8 - and this includes taking on Blood Raven a few times over) I can spent points on Lvl6 abilities, and bulk up the areas I need right away to start using any of the cool loot I've found.


I also sell everything. Everything. I fill my stash up with everything from rusted swords to crossbow bolts to random shields and totems. Everything gets taken back to town. My biggest expense is Town Portal scrolls (never bother with Tomes as I only ever have one Scroll of Town Portal at a time). I usually reach the point where I have more money than I can carry, including my stash, so I have to gamble to get space back.

BYE

True grinding is doing Mephisto runs. Ugh.

Mephisto is a pansy. Hell most of the Council are pansies. It's that Extra Strength guy that's the problem. Both of them...

BYE

But the grinding part is finding game after game for the express purpose of
going to Mephisto and killing him.

Bugger that. Grind Duriel. S/He's no pushover.

BYE

you guys are making me want to play.

selling + gamble is definately the way to go. Especially to get cool jewelery or a good weapon.

Sick at home today so have finished harem and am working through the arcane sanctuary.

Will finish it tonight and when I hit the next way point I'll stop for the night.

Just scored a cool +1 fanged helm that has added 10 to my mana so now am hammering with the level 2 dual wield.

Just cleared canyon of the magi (just the outside part, still have to go through all the tombs).

Just hit Level 23 and taking HBMC's advice went back and killed Andariel again for a couple of rare items and another flawed ruby (2minutes and 30 seconds from Level 2 way point to killing her).

Also gambled up a sweet amulet that amongst the 5 things it does gives 4% mana per hit and 3% life per hit. Since getting it I haven't needed a mana potion and only used 1 light healing potion.

Gonads: Are you playing on the realms? You can level up tremendously by doing Baal runs with many players to about clvl45 before nightmare, and then nightmare Baal runs with many players to about clvl85 before XP gained drops to meaningless levels.

HBMC: I hoard stuff in my stash. :( I can't bring myself to sell cool drops.

I restarted this season on US-East. Highest level character is clvl88 Assassin kitted out for magic find, with a few other WIPs. Working on my Amazon right now - trying to get her to clvl69 to equip the Eaglehorn that dropped last week. Highlight was finding my FIRST ever Stone of Jordan.

No I'm playing the regular non net game.

Never got into the net based game.

If you want to get a high lvl char quickly, glitch rush. I built a pallie from lvl 1 to 80 in a day. It is really easy. But to do it, you need to play online. Personally, I always enjoyed on line more. Great to run with a party. My friends keep dragging me back to Diablo II. Last time I had lvl 94 sorc, 91 Pallie, 89 Barb, 93 Necro, and another lvl 74 Pallie.

I think my biggest thrill was getting my Pallie to Hell and beat Act 5, and he was still lvl 1. That was the guy I made lvl 80 in one day.

Explain this 'glitch'.

BYE

You can change the players:difficulty scale in single-player and network play by typing

/players *

in the console / chat box whatever. For example;

/players 8

will scale the monsters as though eight players were logged into an online server. Monsters get harder to hit, and they're worth more xp.

I don't consider this a cheat, but some do. My friend and I LANned this a lot, and we just had it on 'Players 8' the whole time for experience burn.

I want to hear this 'glitch' thing too.

EDIT: Spelled 'friend' as 'fiend'.

Just done 3 of the tombs, will do the rest tomorrow night and have a go at duriel.

I Got a claymore that also gives health and mana for each hit and mana with each kill.

Mana leech makes life so much easier.

Heh, I'm at exactly the same bit, but I'm playing necromancer.
So I hate the freezing, it robs me of precious, precious corpses!

Glitch rush is pretty simple. Keep your character in town as a higher level clears out each necessary quest to get all the way up to Act 5. For bosses that have to be killed with you in the room (Diablo for example), have the high lvl character open a portal, then you run in and let Diablo kill you. DO NOT HIT ESC to respawn. If you have died, and you don't hit ESC, you'll get the credit for the kill. Once you get to ACT 5 the wall is the Ancients. You have to be lvl 20 in normal, 40 in Nightmare, and 60 in Hell to get past them. At this point, you should only be level 1. The "glitch" is as follows. You must have someone in the game that also needs to beat Baal. Once they (the high level character) are in the Throne of Destruction, they must open a Town Portal. The character that is level 1 must remain in town while Baal is being killed. As long as the portal is open, and there is a person in the Throne of Destruction completing the quest, the level 1 character in town will get the mission completed too. Once you hear the music that Baal is dead, exit the game, and you have Nightmare available to you.

Now, the trick to gaining massive levels is as follows. Do the glitch rush all the way to Hell Act 5. Then, do "Chaos Runs" in Hell. You'll gain your first 20 levels in your first 1 - 3 runs. Depending on how close you are to the critters being killed. Practice your running skills here. From level 20 - 25 there is a MAJOR exp plateau. Don't panic. Just tough it out. Keep doing runs. Once you hit level 25, the exp will start flying. You'll be at level 40 or 50 within the next hour. Once you hit level 60, shift over to Baal runs. You'll hit 80 probably within another hour, or two at the max. That is how you do it.

Necromancer is probably my second favorite class.

Usually run about 5 skeles and 5 skele mages a golem then sit back and hammer opponents.

I do struggle vs duriel and other big guys when there are no bodies to respawn though.

Have never taken a sorceress past level 3-4, what is the best magic tree to follow?