18:19 One other note about running: when you run, your armor rating drops to 0. In other words, not only will you block much less, but nearly every attack that connects with your hitbox will damage you.
@@StoveToTheFace Yep. Walk while you are fighting (or having arrows fired at you). Also, some folks claim that it isn't that the armor value drops to 0, but instead that there just isn't a to-hit check at all. I'm not a data miner, so I'm not sure which is true. Either way: if you run, expect to get hit.
@@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos 20 years later and I learned something new! old dogs can learn new tricks! Somehow I can't afford to play online now... oh yeah I have to pay my own bills now 😒 .
When I was 8 or 9 I played this with my dad, he had me pick necromancer because when I was younger I didn’t want to have to press a lot of buttons and an army was my best bet. I remember spamming bone wall so much that everything couldn’t move. Best memories to look back on
This is the best informational video on D2R I’ve yet to see on YT. I can’t tell you how many _”beginner tips”_ videos I’ve seen where they jump into the deep end and start talking about things and using terminology and references to builds that are anything but beginner. You instead start out explaining the gist of the classes and fundamentals of mechanics and then elaborate from there, and have a good understanding of what a novice is curious to (and needs to) know. This game looks fairly complex at end game, it sounds to be one that can be punishing and unforgiving to early mistakes. While I did play this a LONG time ago and am not entirely inexperienced, given the time elapsed I may as well be. Good job on the advice, this was quite helpful. Subscribed.
As a teen I was a fps only gamer bro but as I’ve gotten older Diablo and path of exile have become like comfort food for gaming. There’s just something so addictive and satisfying about these games.
Old player returning and I have checked out several guides to get re-acquainted. Imo, this is hands down the best. Stellar work being clear, organized, and succinct. Top notch stuff. Thank you.
Tonight when I get home will be my first time ever playing a Diablo game . Pure pressured into getting it to play with friends . After this video I feel like I’m in for alot haha
At the end of the day its just a quality RPG game man enjoy! Old school style for class building but its a lot of fun. I enjoy a game giving me choices to build how I want to play instead of games like WOW for instance or other RPGS which have set classes without much room for deviation into your own build. Its an old game but a goodie.
Maybe you said it and i missed it, but one thing i didnt know for a long time is that Defense doesnt reduce damage! It only increases the chance of an attack against you to miss. And if you're running, your defense equals zero!! Learning this really changed what i prioritize when looking for armor to use. Great guide! I will be sharing this with friends that are new to the game :)
I forgot to grab extra potions and was almost dead from being poisoned. Quickly opened a town portal, went thru and kept 1 life and was able to fully replenish my health and mana aswell as buy what I needed and not die lol
same :/ seeing everyone right now discussing builds and items they need to get... Where's the fun in that? Back in the day when I first played D2 it was equip what you find, go with the skills you feel etc. Now everyone is like "I'm lvl 1 and im aiming to get this exact gear, with this exact build, at this exact point in the game"
What they should have said is "Play what you want but don't expect it to be good.". Honesty is important and in a numbers game, there will be "Best" options if you're going for getting as much EXP/Gear/Gold/Ect as possible. Someone dropping random stats and random skills is not going to be at all viable in the late-game or deep into hell. If you're a sorc who just dumps all your points into warmth and goes "Ok, I'll use only staves that give me spells", you're going to have a bad time. Yes, it might sound cool in your head, like a roguelike spellcaster with "infinite ammo" but it's not going to work out in the end. Your damage will be too low, and your spells won't be effective enough against mobs that have even slight resistances. It's a fun *IDEA* but it can't work within the rules set by the game unless your idea of playing the game is not being able to make it past act 2.
I haven't played this game for years and I still remember all of it's gameplay in every inch and detail. I played Diablo 3 and had not played for 2 years but when I returned playing, I lost interest and I forgot all of it's detail. But, when this came back, I immediately bought it and started playing like a kid I was 20 years ago. Nostalgia at it's best right here!
one thing i will say is, remember to farm countess in normal and nightmare, there are TONS of great runewords that are the poor mans versions of the end game best in slot gear that you can make and will make your life considerably easier. Runewords are overlooked early on i feel but you can get incredibly strong from the most basic rune combinations depending on your class and build. Better then normal uniques you can find. Cow runs are now repeatable. go there to find the 4 socketed swords, 3 socket armors, 2 socket helms and shields you need to deck out your first toon in runewords.
@@bullit4170 To be able to do a cowrun.. you need to at least completed a difficulty once . In act 1 go to the cairn stones (in the Stony Fields) where that red portal is (to tristram - where you requed Deckard Cain from the cage) Go to the opposite corner inside tristam... There is a body/Corpse to click... it drops piles of money and 'Wirts Leg' . Take the leg and go back to town. In town you put the leg in an empty horadric cube together with a tome (not scroll) of town portal and transmute... It will create a red portal in town where you stand.. that's the cow level. Cows are great exp and loot.. MOOOO MOOO MOOOO MOOOO MOOO You need to complete normal to create a cow level in normal, complete nightmare for cowlevel in nightmare etc...
Very nice guide. Glad to see a remake of this game and to know it is faithful to the original version. Some tips from me: Free Deckard Cain for free identification to save money. One town scroll when you have a full inventory full of items needed to be identified is cheaper. Steel rune word (tir el) is better for damage-over-time than poison damage as there are no resentences to bleeding early game compared to undead being resistance to poison. If an enemy is lightning enchanted (I can't remember the exact word for them) do no recklessly hit them as they will shoot charged bolts out. Frost enchanted will slow you upon getting hit and when they perish (keep your health higher before they die). Fire enchanted enemies will explode like corpse explosion. Undead are usually resistant to poison, demons same with fire, and so on. Magic-find gear will help even if it is just a little bit of it. MFing Runs against hordes of enemies or VS bosses is nice for getting spoils of high value. If you get set items, try the multiple pieces on before getting rid of them as the incomplete or complete set can be very nice. Necromancers can be OP if you know how to use them. Corpse explosion against enemies with amplify damage works wonders. Their worst enemy is an Amazon. Good gaming, all! :)
I played little of Diablo 1. Then loads of 3. Recently jumped on Diablo 2 remaster and realized how different this game is to 3. Also makes me wonder why the hell they chose the graphics style they used in 3. 2 has such a more sinister, gothic graphic style. Love it.
@@clammerify since WoW had been generating such a massive hype, I assume they somehow were tempted to take aspects of the graphics style of WoW and emplement it on Diablo 3
Holy crap! That was super freaking helpful. Thanks so much for putting this together. I’m going to watch you class guide now! Keep up the great work and I can’t wait to play some Diablo 2.
Here's a tip - Hold off on using Charsi's Horadric Imbue special until the end game. You only get one per difficulty level. Bonus Tip: Don't forget you have an Imbue when you get to 70 LOL
@@danielpittard use the imbue anytime you want, all it does is turn white item to a yellow one, thats it, so just do whatever with it, but do save the socket quest in a5 till you get something you want
@@josephedge88 sometimes it's hard to find a yellow late game item of your wishing and is good to have the ability to have high tier stats applied that only happen in hell mode technically as well. I always use it and used to make characters that were specifically purposed to create a he'll mode weapon for a character i already max leveled.
I started Druid on hardcore mode. Never played before. I died 3 times before finally getting it right. Now I know what to do and it’s been great doing act 2 solo.
Picking up class specific items with + to skills has helped me with inventory management and money making. Like that magic yew wand you left on the ground >.>
This is super useful for players coming to this from D3, I had no idea what I was doing in the beta and just logged out after a few minutes because it just felt like I was doing something wrong, didn't realize how different the games are
Thanks for this vidéo, I only played Diablo 3 and thought I was ready....how wrong I was ! Diablo 2 is much harder, and demands more from the player, now I understand why some fans of diablo 2 were disappointed with diablo 3. And I'm ready now to sink my teeth in and learn diablo 2 the hard way :D
If you haven't gotten around to this point yet, I've got only one word for you: Duriel.......Hope you have that cold resist, cold recovery time, and some tanky equipment available. Easily the biggest PITA for me in just about any difficulty run, across different classes.
@@MrShinTensei yep, sounds about right LOL. Could just use a geared merc as a meat shield, but that can get very expensive, very quickly! Set that TP with the quickness every time, though.
Blue items are actually very valuable sometimes. It's one of the reasons Diablo 2's itemization is so great, every item could be a game changer. I've had many +3 skill blue amulets over the years.
Too true, I got a WHITE superior cracked orb with +3 to fire ball, +2 to warmth, +1 to some other skill I don’t use, and a level 1 spell with charges (that I also don’t use). Being a lower level fireball sorceress, this was definitely a game changer. I can also rock a beefed up shield in the off hand, giving even more benefits than most staves. I seriously love this damn game!
Awesome video. I will say that the reason some classes are more popular than others is mostly due to their ease of gaining access to hell difficulty. A hammerdin for instance can probably do hell naked easier than a barb with middle of the road gear.
It's pretty amazing how much worthwhile info you managed to cram into these 22 minutes! Very informative, and i also couldn't hel-p but notice your awesome site.. Back when i was still in my gaming years, this type of info was pretty much non-existant, and it's refreshing to see how things have changed. Of the few channels i'm aware of now, this definitely is one of the better ones! Subbed, and hope the growth continues for you guys!
D2R has a less talked about zoom feature. If you change the legacy resolution to 640x480 the new graphics mode zooms in a little. Same for perspective. It changes slightly.
Fantastic guide. Played this over a decade ago and never learned most of these attributes of the game. Would love a key bind guide or some help with best practices re toggling and other button tricks for faster play, instant potion consumption, etc. Thanks very much!
If you're playing Barbarian stick with the Rogue Merc acquired from Kashya in act one since she has a ranged weapon very useful for zombies that spew a poisonous clouds.
Never played diablo 2 before but I instantly fell in love with the druid. Right now I'm running around with 4 summoned wolves and myself as a werewolf that runs faster than a sports car
There are *so many* different ways to build characters. I had a sorc that swung an axe, a necro that used a crossbow, a barb that couldn't hardly kill shxt but was amazing magic finder, the list goes on. So glad this remaster happened, it's like being home again.
Abit late to this video but thank you for a beginner friendly guide, I find most guides are aimed at people with basic knowledge of the game and not new players. I dont want to follow builds just know how certain mechanics work so I can blindly play and have fun on my own terms. Here from D4 streams I quit to play POE but hit a wall through my playthrough and ended up realising I had to do more research than I wanted to do as fun as the game is its also a really high learning curve for the time I have to devote to the game. Keep up the good work.
I remember playing this when I was decently young, and just enjoyed the gameplay, so I don't remember ANYTHING when it comes to the more advanced things. I had no clue that you need to increase your strength for almost anything, nor did I know about the skill bonuses to other skills. This is a VERY helpful thing to see now, since I do plan on going into some builds at the end game. Very excited for this game, so thanks for the Guide!
This is me as well lol. It explains a lot why Diablo wiped my entire smelly army with that fire circle but I remembered I had a lot of fun back then. I haven't played for more than a decade and my, skeletons are now so much better than I remembered.
Don't listen to the respec, you get 1 free respec for the first quest on each difficulty but to get the items to make a token you need to be able to farm the bosses on Hell if not you're not respeccing anytime soon.
heres a quick tip for you from a noob, you can press and hold tab(or the map button) and it will make it smaller, figured that out when I plugged a controller in and held the button down. I got lucky finding this out cause I hate having the map cover the entire screen
@@darrenthompson7995 Skill have synergy which increase the effect of a skill be it damage, range duration and etc.. usualy only the skill you put into your skill tree increase those synergy (meaning gear that give +skill wont give synergy bonus) but for some reason that not the case for the summoning tree of the druid.
@@davidchaput5484 ah gotcha thanks man I used to play this when I was a kid but never got full in depth with it with the rune words and meta and everything lol
@@JavaBum I did read about that. I had already used my one Respec and moved into act2 my character was messed up and couldn't kill trash mobs. Never played D2 but put allot of hours into D3. Just got alot to learn
@@FlannelPrime only so many levels that can be created within the ruleset. May not know exactly what shrine will be in certain spots but the gist of how to get everywhere and locations of quests and such becomes easy to find after playing for 20 years.
It wasn't mentioned but always good to know that certain classes will have better chances with getting certain kinds of items. Sorceresses will have a slightly better chance at getting magic items and paladins will have a slightly better chance of getting charms for example.
More high quality, super useful content from Fextralife. You guys are the real deal. I had never played D2 aside from the demo, which I really enjoyed. I'm here for all if this. Thanks for making me not suck at all these games over the years.
Least your not me! I thought today was 23rd and was up til midnight to play it last night. Only to find out its tomorrow! Uugghh and I was off work for today. Sucks!
Almost 20 years ago I lived in this game. It was literally the only game I played. Eventually I gave it up and started exploring other games looking for something else that felt as satisfying. Now I'm finally back and I can tell you, there is no other game like this one. My life has come full circle to find I was where I needed to be at the start.
I remember when they added runes. Wasted so many treating them like gems before i knew about rune words! Lol . This is a great video for beginners, wish youtube and videos like this were a thing back then!
As someone who has played D2 for a ridiculous amount of time and to the highest possible level imaginable, this guide is excellent for anyone starting the game. Absolutely 10/10.
Buy wand with lower resist charges to have in your switch (if you are playing an elemental build) and a staff of teleport charges (useful if you are playing a summoner necromancer)
A few things I think I remember but not sure. You can take lesser potions like rejuv and pop them in the cube to make the larger ones, so don't use the smaller ones and save them. If you use stamina potions all at once they stack, lasting for quite awhile. And I thought you can repair ethereal items in the cube with a certain rune? That one may not be correct I don't remember.
@@matthewtadel how, D3 fucking sucks this game is better then D3 and most likely gonna be better then D4, stop defending a dead game that was made years ago u pathetic boy 🤣🤣🤣🤣
OMG ... I did not know that you can simply close the game and start up again to get your equipment back ... What a game changer ... I even deleted some early characters because of that at a point!
For beginners, if you're hard up on cash, pick up scepters, wands, and staves, even if they're low quality. Anything that adds spell levels usually sells really well with town vendors. I've gotten wands in act 1 that have sold for 15k.
I played a ton of diablo 2 growing up but never online then a year online when I went to college before moving on to WoW. Ive been binging on d2r videos but havent bitten the bullet yet for buying it. If I do, I plan on going single player again so I don't overly worry about trading. So having strats on how to level up along the way is so helpful especially something like the str stat dump info.
Meanwhile myself and thousands of others can't launch the game because of the CPu issue! Your video helped pass the time and heal the salt in my wounds, so salty bro! Thanks!
I habe never followed builds I always just pick what I like and get my grind on. I played D2 when it originally came out and played for yearrrss. its great to get back to D2.I still like 3 though but 2 was always amazing.
Mercenaries and Potions: You can also have a Merc drink a pot from your potion belt by holding shift+ corresponding belt slot hotkey. Felt this was missing. I only heard the alt+shift+r.click way mentioned.
Mid game tip: if you are searchin for gold (dunno, maybe you want to do some gambling trades), try to find and pickup staffs, wands, orbs etc. or even some paladin maces, assassin claws or barb/druid helms (usually magician weapons are better picks) even if they are normal, then check if those have some of skills buffs - the higher lvl skill, the better the value of the item. It's not uncommon to find greyed item (that takes 2 slots in inventory) and it's value is sometimes your lvl cap value; you can even stash them, lvl up and then sell. And tbh sometimes lower rarity lvl items can be more valuable than higher ones.
Very very solid guide! Have to admit, my list of things that “they must have forgotten” got very small by the end of the video. Well done! Just a few additional infos. (Unsure if they “fixed” this). DO NOT save&quit after killing Andariel. Go through the tportal, or your own tp, move to act 2. Then she’s bugged and will drop quest loot (no gold) for any future kill. I guess the only thing that could be added, especially for beginners is that its fine to skip certain enemy groups that don’t favor the character. Its always worth to not hit every enemy and instead find boss/champion groups for 500% xp which makes the leveling part much more rewarding. Stats to look out for (as mentioned) are resists (except poison), life, faster run walk, faster hit recovery, damage reduced by x. Also, this is not D3 or POE, +3 to min/max damage is very decent and not a joke. For a smooth first playthrough, a hammerdin pala or wind druid are among the safest, forgiving and potential end game chars. Blizzard sorc is great for magic finding, but somewhat of a glass cannon and I wouldn’t recommend it. Also, invest time in running certain bosses like andariel or mephisto on Nightmare difficulty. Their loot table is wonderful!
Saying not to get energy because you can get it from gear later doesn't really help a new player who is struggling to use spells at lower levels. You can always respec later. Magic items have a higher potential for their bonuses than rare items. They aren't as good as some of the uniques or runewords, but are a lot cheaper. I've even gotten cruel tier 3 weapons from a vendor.
If they spend too many stats on energy they won't have either enough strength to wear items (or dex), nor enough hp to survive even at normal baal. I think it's generally a good rule to say "don't spend into energy, unless you know you'll need it desperately".
It makes a sorc painful to play at low levels but it is worth it. Just carry lots of blue pots since you won't need as much healing. You don't want to waste one of your 3 free respecs just to fix energy later since the unlimited respecs require you to be able to crush hell difficulty easily... which is hella hard to do.
@@Andrew-zq3ip If you can manage with lower hp, you can certainly put like 5-10, max 20 points into energy. It helps if you don't find sapphires, equipment with +mana/energy to increase mana pot's effiency early-on and you also get a little mana regen with increased max mana as well. Imo just don't go crazy. Later on, when you have better gear/better char for your purpose you can respec, so you can adjust all points to your better build.
thanks for the tips! I haven't played in over a decade so its good to have a refresher, plus I never even knew about that assassin unlocking chests thing. I really want this game, but with everything happening around blizzard/activision, I'm waiting at least a month or two to buy it so that their launch sales are at least worse. Though this was the first game my wife and I ever played together, so maybe I'll just get us copies after only a month for spoopy season... idk.
I understand everything around blizzard might push you away but if it's the first game you and your wife played together you should put that aside and go ahead and get it. It'll make you happy and bring back old nostalgia and feelings for each other. Could be a really sweet, cute and wholesome time (aside from a couple rage induced deaths haha). Regardless, congrats on your happy relationship :)
Oh my god, I wish I knew about the Save and Exit for easy corpse retrieval earlier. Me and my friend got our bodies trapped on Hell difficulty by a pack of Extra Fast Moon Lords (Blood Lords?), and we died many times trying to retrieve our main body and portal out before we where annihilated .
That’ll save me literally millions of gold..lol. It was too clunky on ps5 to open the menu and scroll over to merc tab, so I just let them die and would resurrect them in town. Love that I can play this on console now, but pc definitely had advantages
I played this when I was 11-13 years old… I can’t believe how much of it I can still remember. It was definitely a game ahead of its time.
That's what Blizzard used to be 😔
And it’s even better now
@@albertwesker2050 is it ?
cant remmber already.20 yrs ba namn
@@ademord You're asking a notoriously evil Capcom character. Don't trust. Run, RUN!
18:19
One other note about running: when you run, your armor rating drops to 0. In other words, not only will you block much less, but nearly every attack that connects with your hitbox will damage you.
I literally only learnt that today
Mind = blown
What! That makes sense based on my personal experience
wait what?! So when you fight toggle it off?
@@StoveToTheFace Yep. Walk while you are fighting (or having arrows fired at you). Also, some folks claim that it isn't that the armor value drops to 0, but instead that there just isn't a to-hit check at all. I'm not a data miner, so I'm not sure which is true. Either way: if you run, expect to get hit.
@@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos 20 years later and I learned something new! old dogs can learn new tricks! Somehow I can't afford to play online now... oh yeah I have to pay my own bills now 😒 .
When I was 8 or 9 I played this with my dad, he had me pick necromancer because when I was younger I didn’t want to have to press a lot of buttons and an army was my best bet. I remember spamming bone wall so much that everything couldn’t move. Best memories to look back on
I’m playing for the first time with my 8 year old son and he is the Druid and I am the necromancer lol.
This is the best informational video on D2R I’ve yet to see on YT.
I can’t tell you how many _”beginner tips”_ videos I’ve seen where they jump into the deep end and start talking about things and using terminology and references to builds that are anything but beginner. You instead start out explaining the gist of the classes and fundamentals of mechanics and then elaborate from there, and have a good understanding of what a novice is curious to (and needs to) know. This game looks fairly complex at end game, it sounds to be one that can be punishing and unforgiving to early mistakes.
While I did play this a LONG time ago and am not entirely inexperienced, given the time elapsed I may as well be. Good job on the advice, this was quite helpful.
Subscribed.
Faster CASTRATE?!... ohhh faster caaast rate.
As a teen I was a fps only gamer bro but as I’ve gotten older Diablo and path of exile have become like comfort food for gaming. There’s just something so addictive and satisfying about these games.
Does anyone know how many skeletons you can have with a necromancer. It taps out at 20 points but google said you can have 20 skeletons is that true?
this is me exactly
After 20 years this game is still highly addictive.
Agreed my dude
Agreed
Im hooked all over again...
Def agreed I'm back at my computer when I was 18 playing till the sun comes up lmao
the best game ever, I never gonna forget how many hours I spend in the beta versión in my first pc with Win98 haha
This is exactly what anyone new needs to know & returning players need to refresh. Excellent vid.
Old player returning and I have checked out several guides to get re-acquainted. Imo, this is hands down the best. Stellar work being clear, organized, and succinct. Top notch stuff. Thank you.
Walked memory lane just now, thank you! Diablo 2, Warcraft 2, and Starcraft were my go-to's back in the day
That chord at the beginning of the video, oh the memories...
Tonight when I get home will be my first time ever playing a Diablo game . Pure pressured into getting it to play with friends . After this video I feel like I’m in for alot haha
My friends got me too lol
Welcome to the World!!! I personally love the game! So much better than D3.
Welcome to an awesome gaming experience! Just a note, it is "peer" pressured as in your peers are pressuring you!
At the end of the day its just a quality RPG game man enjoy! Old school style for class building but its a lot of fun. I enjoy a game giving me choices to build how I want to play instead of games like WOW for instance or other RPGS which have set classes without much room for deviation into your own build. Its an old game but a goodie.
@@stanleyyelnats1313 I made a barbarian, the game is a lot more in depth than I thought haha
Gonna stay awhile and listen to this while I'm playing.
Wise words of Deckard
gamer moment
😂
This comment should have as many likes as this video
Maybe you said it and i missed it, but one thing i didnt know for a long time is that Defense doesnt reduce damage! It only increases the chance of an attack against you to miss. And if you're running, your defense equals zero!! Learning this really changed what i prioritize when looking for armor to use. Great guide! I will be sharing this with friends that are new to the game :)
That's really good to know thanks
Lol look at me I'm sprinting with armor weeeeee. Can't kill me I have defense.
Gets whacked by10 swords and dies
Naanniii
18:17
I forgot to grab extra potions and was almost dead from being poisoned. Quickly opened a town portal, went thru and kept 1 life and was able to fully replenish my health and mana aswell as buy what I needed and not die lol
@@jeremywentzel3352 you cant die from poison in town. You'll just drop down to 1 health.
Best Guide I’ve seen. I love how
You said, “play what you want!” I hate the Meta build tutorials that are so opinionated. Good video!
same :/ seeing everyone right now discussing builds and items they need to get... Where's the fun in that? Back in the day when I first played D2 it was equip what you find, go with the skills you feel etc. Now everyone is like "I'm lvl 1 and im aiming to get this exact gear, with this exact build, at this exact point in the game"
What they should have said is "Play what you want but don't expect it to be good.". Honesty is important and in a numbers game, there will be "Best" options if you're going for getting as much EXP/Gear/Gold/Ect as possible.
Someone dropping random stats and random skills is not going to be at all viable in the late-game or deep into hell. If you're a sorc who just dumps all your points into warmth and goes "Ok, I'll use only staves that give me spells", you're going to have a bad time. Yes, it might sound cool in your head, like a roguelike spellcaster with "infinite ammo" but it's not going to work out in the end. Your damage will be too low, and your spells won't be effective enough against mobs that have even slight resistances.
It's a fun *IDEA* but it can't work within the rules set by the game unless your idea of playing the game is not being able to make it past act 2.
@@IGarrettI why not? why play shit builds?
@@mageboy6767 maybe you make shit builds, I think any decent player can intuitively create a decent build on their own
@@IGarrettI exactly. "I'm getting destroyed whenever i fight an opponent with fire? Okay fire resistance it is over an additional 2% damage..."
I haven't played this game for years and I still remember all of it's gameplay in every inch and detail. I played Diablo 3 and had not played for 2 years but when I returned playing, I lost interest and I forgot all of it's detail. But, when this came back, I immediately bought it and started playing like a kid I was 20 years ago. Nostalgia at it's best right here!
one thing i will say is, remember to farm countess in normal and nightmare, there are TONS of great runewords that are the poor mans versions of the end game best in slot gear that you can make and will make your life considerably easier. Runewords are overlooked early on i feel but you can get incredibly strong from the most basic rune combinations depending on your class and build. Better then normal uniques you can find. Cow runs are now repeatable. go there to find the 4 socketed swords, 3 socket armors, 2 socket helms and shields you need to deck out your first toon in runewords.
How do we do cow runs? Brand new and have been doing some countess runs so far
@@bullit4170 To be able to do a cowrun.. you need to at least completed a difficulty once .
In act 1 go to the cairn stones (in the Stony Fields) where that red portal is (to tristram - where you requed Deckard Cain from the cage) Go to the opposite corner inside tristam... There is a body/Corpse to click... it drops piles of money and 'Wirts Leg' . Take the leg and go back to town.
In town you put the leg in an empty horadric cube together with a tome (not scroll) of town portal and transmute... It will create a red portal in town where you stand.. that's the cow level. Cows are great exp and loot.. MOOOO MOOO MOOOO MOOOO MOOO
You need to complete normal to create a cow level in normal, complete nightmare for cowlevel in nightmare etc...
Very nice guide. Glad to see a remake of this game and to know it is faithful to the original version.
Some tips from me: Free Deckard Cain for free identification to save money. One town scroll when you have a full inventory full of items needed to be identified is cheaper. Steel rune word (tir el) is better for damage-over-time than poison damage as there are no resentences to bleeding early game compared to undead being resistance to poison. If an enemy is lightning enchanted (I can't remember the exact word for them) do no recklessly hit them as they will shoot charged bolts out. Frost enchanted will slow you upon getting hit and when they perish (keep your health higher before they die). Fire enchanted enemies will explode like corpse explosion. Undead are usually resistant to poison, demons same with fire, and so on. Magic-find gear will help even if it is just a little bit of it. MFing Runs against hordes of enemies or VS bosses is nice for getting spoils of high value. If you get set items, try the multiple pieces on before getting rid of them as the incomplete or complete set can be very nice.
Necromancers can be OP if you know how to use them. Corpse explosion against enemies with amplify damage works wonders. Their worst enemy is an Amazon.
Good gaming, all! :)
I just downloaded the game last night, and I'm so excited to relive some of my earliest gaming memories. Such an amazing game for the time
This game was the light of my life growing up.
Ahh yes the plus light radius build!!!! ✌🏻
I played little of Diablo 1. Then loads of 3. Recently jumped on Diablo 2 remaster and realized how different this game is to 3. Also makes me wonder why the hell they chose the graphics style they used in 3. 2 has such a more sinister, gothic graphic style. Love it.
lmao I know, I cant even look at D3 it's like playing Mickey Mouse. Looks so cartoony. gross!
The original 2 did have that foreboding look about it, all-around. Loved it then, love it now! :)
@@clammerify since WoW had been generating such a massive hype, I assume they somehow were tempted to take aspects of the graphics style of WoW and emplement it on Diablo 3
D2 is the GOAT
@@clammerifythere was almost a civil war when the first footage of d3 dropped. It "wasn't dark enough." What we got was their darkified verison.
Holy crap! That was super freaking helpful. Thanks so much for putting this together. I’m going to watch you class guide now! Keep up the great work and I can’t wait to play some Diablo 2.
Here's a tip - Hold off on using Charsi's Horadric Imbue special until the end game. You only get one per difficulty level. Bonus Tip: Don't forget you have an Imbue when you get to 70 LOL
the bonus tip is a real one : D
Same with free socket in act 5
What should I actually use the imbue on?
@@danielpittard use the imbue anytime you want, all it does is turn white item to a yellow one, thats it, so just do whatever with it, but do save the socket quest in a5 till you get something you want
@@josephedge88 sometimes it's hard to find a yellow late game item of your wishing and is good to have the ability to have high tier stats applied that only happen in hell mode technically as well. I always use it and used to make characters that were specifically purposed to create a he'll mode weapon for a character i already max leveled.
Wow! I've played this game for many years and I never knew you get resistance from antidote and thawing potions! That's cool!
same here.
Super solid guide. It was long but, super informative with information that actually helps. A lot. Thank you for putting this together. 👌
Glad it was helpful!
First timer. This was helpful, thank you.
Just got to Duriel, he is absolutely wrecking me.
I started Druid on hardcore mode. Never played before. I died 3 times before finally getting it right. Now I know what to do and it’s been great doing act 2 solo.
Wait till the end boss in Act 2
@@jasonarnett1 I’m already on act 4 haha
wait you've never played Diablo 2 and you started with hardcore? xD thats some balls man
Durial will definitely kill you if The Summoner hasn't already.
Picking up class specific items with + to skills has helped me with inventory management and money making. Like that magic yew wand you left on the ground >.>
This is super useful for players coming to this from D3, I had no idea what I was doing in the beta and just logged out after a few minutes because it just felt like I was doing something wrong, didn't realize how different the games are
This has nothing to do with d3. This is a true RPG. Don't give up on it early cuz it's hard. You will be thankful later
As a complete newbie to Diablo 2, this was very helpful. Many thanks for your effort!
Easily the clearest, most helpful video I've found for D2R so far, thanks!
The soundtracks are gold , the first time a played the remastered version i got chills in the main menu
Thanks for this vidéo, I only played Diablo 3 and thought I was ready....how wrong I was ! Diablo 2 is much harder, and demands more from the player, now I understand why some fans of diablo 2 were disappointed with diablo 3. And I'm ready now to sink my teeth in and learn diablo 2 the hard way :D
If you haven't gotten around to this point yet, I've got only one word for you: Duriel.......Hope you have that cold resist, cold recovery time, and some tanky equipment available. Easily the biggest PITA for me in just about any difficulty run, across different classes.
Disapointed is an understatement. We waited a LONG time for Diablo 3 to come out... and we were given shallow garbage
@@pauldehayes189810 town scrolls later and I finally beat him last night. Fuck that guy
@@pauldehayes1898I went in blind and I load in the room and die in less than 15 secs lmfao
@@MrShinTensei yep, sounds about right LOL. Could just use a geared merc as a meat shield, but that can get very expensive, very quickly! Set that TP with the quickness every time, though.
Blue items are actually very valuable sometimes. It's one of the reasons Diablo 2's itemization is so great, every item could be a game changer.
I've had many +3 skill blue amulets over the years.
Hell yeah, bro!
Too true, I got a WHITE superior cracked orb with +3 to fire ball, +2 to warmth, +1 to some other skill I don’t use, and a level 1 spell with charges (that I also don’t use). Being a lower level fireball sorceress, this was definitely a game changer. I can also rock a beefed up shield in the off hand, giving even more benefits than most staves. I seriously love this damn game!
Awesome video. I will say that the reason some classes are more popular than others is mostly due to their ease of gaining access to hell difficulty. A hammerdin for instance can probably do hell naked easier than a barb with middle of the road gear.
Agreed. I have a hammerdin in Hell whos only lvl 52. I wouldve taken my Druid to at least 60 before even considering that jump.
It's pretty amazing how much worthwhile info you managed to cram into these 22 minutes! Very informative, and i also couldn't hel-p but notice your awesome site..
Back when i was still in my gaming years, this type of info was pretty much non-existant, and it's refreshing to see how things have changed. Of the few channels i'm aware of now, this definitely is one of the better ones! Subbed, and hope the growth continues for you guys!
Gotta watch out for the faster castrate, guess it's fine with Sorceress because she doesn't have the required equipment.
Gold
I had to read your comment twice!
D2R has a less talked about zoom feature. If you change the legacy resolution to 640x480 the new graphics mode zooms in a little. Same for perspective. It changes slightly.
Fantastic guide. Played this over a decade ago and never learned most of these attributes of the game. Would love a key bind guide or some help with best practices re toggling and other button tricks for faster play, instant potion consumption, etc. Thanks very much!
If you're playing Barbarian stick with the Rogue Merc acquired from Kashya in act one since she has a ranged weapon very useful for zombies that spew a poisonous clouds.
??
You forgot the tip of sitting in a chat channel for 8 days straight trying to flip runes.
Lol my childhood right there 😂
There will be websites now
@@ViralClipsThatDontSuck yeah theres always going to be d2jsp but I didn' t use it much last time. Maybe a better one will appear.
The real endgame
gotta get that jah and ber
Very helpful video as usual thanks! Was slightly concerned what you've been doing to your hordes of foes when I heard, 'Faster castrate' however!!!!
Never played diablo 2 before but I instantly fell in love with the druid.
Right now I'm running around with 4 summoned wolves and myself as a werewolf that runs faster than a sports car
Hahaha sounds sick
Im never in wolf form, because my yellow bow i found does more dmg(lvl 12).
There are *so many* different ways to build characters. I had a sorc that swung an axe, a necro that used a crossbow, a barb that couldn't hardly kill shxt but was amazing magic finder, the list goes on. So glad this remaster happened, it's like being home again.
Damn you went DEEP in those obscure builds haha
I'm currently running a Summon Necro-Archer lol
Abit late to this video but thank you for a beginner friendly guide, I find most guides are aimed at people with basic knowledge of the game and not new players. I dont want to follow builds just know how certain mechanics work so I can blindly play and have fun on my own terms. Here from D4 streams I quit to play POE but hit a wall through my playthrough and ended up realising I had to do more research than I wanted to do as fun as the game is its also a really high learning curve for the time I have to devote to the game. Keep up the good work.
I remember playing this when I was decently young, and just enjoyed the gameplay, so I don't remember ANYTHING when it comes to the more advanced things. I had no clue that you need to increase your strength for almost anything, nor did I know about the skill bonuses to other skills. This is a VERY helpful thing to see now, since I do plan on going into some builds at the end game. Very excited for this game, so thanks for the Guide!
I miss this days of pure happiness and worry less time to!
Skill bonus from equipment has always been there. Skill bonus from other skills? That is actually a feature added well after release.
This is me as well lol. It explains a lot why Diablo wiped my entire smelly army with that fire circle but I remembered I had a lot of fun back then. I haven't played for more than a decade and my, skeletons are now so much better than I remembered.
Absolutely the same here, mate
Excellent guide. Never realised it came back till recently! Can't wait to get started again!! Best game ever imo.
Don't listen to the respec, you get 1 free respec for the first quest on each difficulty but to get the items to make a token you need to be able to farm the bosses on Hell if not you're not respeccing anytime soon.
Yup this is true. This guy probably just fucked alot of new players lol.
Yeah, honestly if you screw a character up its usually better to just make a new character. Especially now with shared stash.
heres a quick tip for you from a noob, you can press and hold tab(or the map button) and it will make it smaller, figured that out when I plugged a controller in and held the button down. I got lucky finding this out cause I hate having the map cover the entire screen
7:00 Do also note that while that is the case in 99% of the case the druid summon tree still get synergy from boost that arent native to skill points.
Good to know. My first character is a druid and I already had to remake him 5 times. D2 doesnt play around
What does that mean?
@@darrenthompson7995 Skill have synergy which increase the effect of a skill be it damage, range duration and etc.. usualy only the skill you put into your skill tree increase those synergy (meaning gear that give +skill wont give synergy bonus) but for some reason that not the case for the summoning tree of the druid.
@@davidchaput5484 ah gotcha thanks man I used to play this when I was a kid but never got full in depth with it with the rune words and meta and everything lol
@@JavaBum I did read about that. I had already used my one Respec and moved into act2 my character was messed up and couldn't kill trash mobs. Never played D2 but put allot of hours into D3. Just got alot to learn
Well spoken and even flow, easy to lock in the things you didn't know and wanted to know. Thank you
God that guitar strumming just takes me back
I forgot about the save and exit to retrieve your corpse bit, thanx much.
Installing rn can’t wait to try the necro builds
For someone new to diablo this is all so much to take in.
Is it wrong that I played the original so much that I'm already remembering where everything is on the maps?
I can recite the maps (in order) between town and the final boss in A1 and A2 lol
Same to me. I think i remember every damn stone in this game....
No, it's a great perk of being a veteran wanderer.
Hate to break up this party but how do you remember maps in a game that has procedurally generated levels?
@@FlannelPrime only so many levels that can be created within the ruleset. May not know exactly what shrine will be in certain spots but the gist of how to get everywhere and locations of quests and such becomes easy to find after playing for 20 years.
Bought this for 13$ on steam. First time playing it and I’m addicted!
It's a fantastic game! Check out the builds and loot guide if you need some extra help, but enjoy!
It wasn't mentioned but always good to know that certain classes will have better chances with getting certain kinds of items. Sorceresses will have a slightly better chance at getting magic items and paladins will have a slightly better chance of getting charms for example.
No.
When he said “faster cast rate”. I thought he said “faster castrate”
same XD
Potato, tomato.
More high quality, super useful content from Fextralife. You guys are the real deal. I had never played D2 aside from the demo, which I really enjoyed. I'm here for all if this. Thanks for making me not suck at all these games over the years.
Fantastic job! I am super hyped to climb back into D2, thanks for the very helpful guide.
I wish it came out at midnight 😩😩 I wanna play already !!!
Least your not me! I thought today was 23rd and was up til midnight to play it last night. Only to find out its tomorrow! Uugghh and I was off work for today. Sucks!
@@TheRAMBO9191 that sucks bro ! Lol that would make me so mad
Almost 20 years ago I lived in this game. It was literally the only game I played. Eventually I gave it up and started exploring other games looking for something else that felt as satisfying. Now I'm finally back and I can tell you, there is no other game like this one. My life has come full circle to find I was where I needed to be at the start.
I remember when they added runes. Wasted so many treating them like gems before i knew about rune words! Lol . This is a great video for beginners, wish youtube and videos like this were a thing back then!
As someone who has played D2 for a ridiculous amount of time and to the highest possible level imaginable, this guide is excellent for anyone starting the game. Absolutely 10/10.
Buy wand with lower resist charges to have in your switch (if you are playing an elemental build) and a staff of teleport charges (useful if you are playing a summoner necromancer)
A few things I think I remember but not sure. You can take lesser potions like rejuv and pop them in the cube to make the larger ones, so don't use the smaller ones and save them. If you use stamina potions all at once they stack, lasting for quite awhile. And I thought you can repair ethereal items in the cube with a certain rune? That one may not be correct I don't remember.
Theres rare potions with added benefits though that are much better.
Played the first part as a trial in 1996 on a classic Mac. Dia 2 LOD I bought in the Beginning of the 2000. It was the Gold Version, for Mac and PC.
Excellent guide bro. Thanks for taking the time and providing the wiki.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for this video as it sparked some long forgotten and unknown information.
I was 1 month old when the original game came out. now at 21, I can't wait to play the fuck out of this.
Thanks for the tips I have played diablo 3 only and wanted to go and try my hands on diablo 2.
Absolutely shocking how much better this looks than D3
I disagree with you, D3 looks much better than this
@@matthewtadel ew D3 looks like shit. Looks like world of warcraft which also looks like a child's cartoon
This looks better because of the atmosphere very dark and horror so the spells color pop up on the screen while diablo 3 looks more cartoon
@@matthewtadel how, D3 fucking sucks this game is better then D3 and most likely gonna be better then D4, stop defending a dead game that was made years ago u pathetic boy 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@matthewtadel hell Na , this is straight up darker and more realistic , D3 looks more flashy and cartoony , it’s like the fortnight of Diablo
seeing beginners guide for diablo 2 in 2021, confirms that real
life is a simulation!
Wow, after so many years it begins again. No mercy 😂
OMG ... I did not know that you can simply close the game and start up again to get your equipment back ... What a game changer ... I even deleted some early characters because of that at a point!
Got the game pre-downloaded. I can't wait!
Me 2!
Me tooo add me if you want, PS4 big BaggySack
For beginners, if you're hard up on cash, pick up scepters, wands, and staves, even if they're low quality. Anything that adds spell levels usually sells really well with town vendors. I've gotten wands in act 1 that have sold for 15k.
Throwing Knives too early game as they are always worth at least 480 gold.
@@ju3tind94 exploding/poison pots as well
@@AtomicBananaPress for sure
I feel like I'm 13 again, all those memories 😂❤️❤️
I played a ton of diablo 2 growing up but never online then a year online when I went to college before moving on to WoW. Ive been binging on d2r videos but havent bitten the bullet yet for buying it. If I do, I plan on going single player again so I don't overly worry about trading. So having strats on how to level up along the way is so helpful especially something like the str stat dump info.
Meanwhile myself and thousands of others can't launch the game because of the CPu issue! Your video helped pass the time and heal the salt in my wounds, so salty bro! Thanks!
gosh, i played a zeal pally as a kid up to 80 something and i never ever noticed the hidden stat change that walking/running cause :O
Counting minutes, I can’t touch another game knowing I’ll be possessed by this soon.
I habe never followed builds I always just pick what I like and get my grind on. I played D2 when it originally came out and played for yearrrss. its great to get back to D2.I still like 3 though but 2 was always amazing.
Mercenaries and Potions: You can also have a Merc drink a pot from your potion belt by holding shift+ corresponding belt slot hotkey. Felt this was missing. I only heard the alt+shift+r.click way mentioned.
Mid game tip: if you are searchin for gold (dunno, maybe you want to do some gambling trades), try to find and pickup staffs, wands, orbs etc. or even some paladin maces, assassin claws or barb/druid helms (usually magician weapons are better picks) even if they are normal, then check if those have some of skills buffs - the higher lvl skill, the better the value of the item. It's not uncommon to find greyed item (that takes 2 slots in inventory) and it's value is sometimes your lvl cap value; you can even stash them, lvl up and then sell. And tbh sometimes lower rarity lvl items can be more valuable than higher ones.
This is video like number ten for me trying to learn the game and this video is fuckin FLAWLESS. You did it the best by far. Thank you
Thanks a lot, there were lots of tiny thinks i did not knew but are really helpfull!
Very very solid guide! Have to admit, my list of things that “they must have forgotten” got very small by the end of the video. Well done!
Just a few additional infos.
(Unsure if they “fixed” this). DO NOT save&quit after killing Andariel. Go through the tportal, or your own tp, move to act 2. Then she’s bugged and will drop quest loot (no gold) for any future kill.
I guess the only thing that could be added, especially for beginners is that its fine to skip certain enemy groups that don’t favor the character. Its always worth to not hit every enemy and instead find boss/champion groups for 500% xp which makes the leveling part much more rewarding.
Stats to look out for (as mentioned) are resists (except poison), life, faster run walk, faster hit recovery, damage reduced by x. Also, this is not D3 or POE, +3 to min/max damage is very decent and not a joke.
For a smooth first playthrough, a hammerdin pala or wind druid are among the safest, forgiving and potential end game chars. Blizzard sorc is great for magic finding, but somewhat of a glass cannon and I wouldn’t recommend it.
Also, invest time in running certain bosses like andariel or mephisto on Nightmare difficulty. Their loot table is wonderful!
How do I equip the mercenaries on ps4?
@@christophermaclennan914 go to your inventory and go to the mercenary tab
wow this was so helpful! im brand new to the game, it can get pretty overwhelming with all the information!
Use and get used to a controller. You can assign up to 8 skills to be used one the controller and ranged projectiles will auto lead a moving target.
Some of the best music added to a game, imho.
Saying not to get energy because you can get it from gear later doesn't really help a new player who is struggling to use spells at lower levels. You can always respec later.
Magic items have a higher potential for their bonuses than rare items. They aren't as good as some of the uniques or runewords, but are a lot cheaper. I've even gotten cruel tier 3 weapons from a vendor.
If they spend too many stats on energy they won't have either enough strength to wear items (or dex), nor enough hp to survive even at normal baal.
I think it's generally a good rule to say "don't spend into energy, unless you know you'll need it desperately".
It makes a sorc painful to play at low levels but it is worth it. Just carry lots of blue pots since you won't need as much healing. You don't want to waste one of your 3 free respecs just to fix energy later since the unlimited respecs require you to be able to crush hell difficulty easily... which is hella hard to do.
@@Andrew-zq3ip If you can manage with lower hp, you can certainly put like 5-10, max 20 points into energy. It helps if you don't find sapphires, equipment with +mana/energy to increase mana pot's effiency early-on and you also get a little mana regen with increased max mana as well.
Imo just don't go crazy.
Later on, when you have better gear/better char for your purpose you can respec, so you can adjust all points to your better build.
Thanks for the refresher. It's been so long ha ha ha
Really wish D2R was releasing on the 22nd instead of the 23rd 😭
Same bro it would have brighten my day up
Here's a tip most people should know. The sorc's static charge skill is the most op. It does % based dmg so it melts bosses :p
thanks for the tips! I haven't played in over a decade so its good to have a refresher, plus I never even knew about that assassin unlocking chests thing. I really want this game, but with everything happening around blizzard/activision, I'm waiting at least a month or two to buy it so that their launch sales are at least worse. Though this was the first game my wife and I ever played together, so maybe I'll just get us copies after only a month for spoopy season... idk.
this release has been pretty solid imo, was handled by vicarious visions iirc.
I bought the d3 package and it came with dII, why not
I understand everything around blizzard might push you away but if it's the first game you and your wife played together you should put that aside and go ahead and get it. It'll make you happy and bring back old nostalgia and feelings for each other. Could be a really sweet, cute and wholesome time (aside from a couple rage induced deaths haha). Regardless, congrats on your happy relationship :)
Oh my god, I wish I knew about the Save and Exit for easy corpse retrieval earlier. Me and my friend got our bodies trapped on Hell difficulty by a pack of Extra Fast Moon Lords (Blood Lords?), and we died many times trying to retrieve our main body and portal out before we where annihilated .
Make sure you stash your gold every time you go out or if you quit the gold on your corpse is lost
The mercenary potion shortcut is a literal life saver - Left trigger + D pad
That’ll save me literally millions of gold..lol. It was too clunky on ps5 to open the menu and scroll over to merc tab, so I just let them die and would resurrect them in town. Love that I can play this on console now, but pc definitely had advantages
Wow your actually amazing, this has to be the best tips video I’ve ever come across, big thumbs up and a sub there buddy