Diablo II builds

[Matthew Rorie]

What do/did you guys like to play as in Diablo II? I've been playing it a bit recently, trying to restart a battle.net character. I remember having good times with my Barbarian and Bowazon, and I'm working on a Hammerdin now, although I'm not sure if I'll stick with it. The main problem is that it's tough to just get started in the game from scratch; it's kind of like starting a character on a new WoW server without the benefit of hand-me-down cash from high-level characters.

[Musopticon?]

Hmm..."Zealadin" is gues you could call the build, but I could never decide on the best aura to use. I used freeze for ages, but fanaticism was great as well.

[Dark_Raven]

This is an old character, one that served me well on Battlenet.

[Shryke]

that looks like a Soul Harvest unique scythe iirc

 

i don't play on battlenet, but the characters i've got going (i think) are a holy shock paladin and a trap assassin

[tripleRRR]

I played a WW/berserk sword and board barb.

[Moatilliatta]

I remember Barbarians being my favourite character to play. I don't think that I ever used any specific builds and just put points into skills in whatever way seemed fun, as Diablo 2 is already pretty easy.

[tripleRRR]

It was a survival/DPS build for hell.

[Darque]

Tri-Sorceress... with a bit of a focus on Frozen Orb.

[Humodour]

What do/did you guys like to play as in Diablo II? I've been playing it a bit recently, trying to restart a battle.net character. I remember having good times with my Barbarian and Bowazon, and I'm working on a Hammerdin now, although I'm not sure if I'll stick with it. The main problem is that it's tough to just get started in the game from scratch; it's kind of like starting a character on a new WoW server without the benefit of hand-me-down cash from high-level characters.

 

Let me preface this with: you are awesome.

 

OK, so, my favourite designs, from memory are:

Paladin

Vengeance + Conviction - massive damage, no need to worry about dexterity (Conv lowers their defence by 90%), only one hit (but usually one hit kills) meaning more clicking than zeal

Holy Shock + Zeal - massive damage, multiple targets, screwed for lightning immunes, possibly weak defence

Holy Freeze + Zeal - massive damage, multiple targets, targets are slowed, effectivelly means high defence... this one is a personal favourite

Smite + Fanaticism - used to be fairly decent... no leech, single target, knockback, screwed for physical immunes, massive defence

Amazon

Lightning Zon - powerful as a buggery. Main skill is charged strike (releases charged bolts), possibly using lightning fury as a crowd thinner. Needs to focus on defence, not damage (you can pick up a rusty javelin and kill hordes with this char), also needs a viable way to kill lightning immunes... possibly jab... or just work in a team

Ice Zon - uses the level 30 frozen arrow. Freeze, area of effect, high damage, no 'cast' delay, meaning based on bow speed. Stacks with pierce for extra goodness. Might be worth 10 in the level 1 fire arrow skill for ice immunes... haven't played this one enough times to determine

Barbarian

Warcry barb - he runs around casting warcry like a sorc would cast nova. Sports two +skills swords or +fast cast wands. Extremely effective with the right gear, as it's better than nova without the cast delay and it stuns enemies making you untouchable. Extremely mana intensive.

Frenzy barb - used to be a little used build in D2 Classic, but I always preferred it to WW. Seems now it is fairly mainstream, though. As with warcry barb, the war cries are very important, especially the one just before warcry which lowers enemy defence/damage/ar

Necromancer

Poison Necro - very tempted to play a necro based on poison nova and poison explosion + lower resist. Would team well with any elemental character.

Druid

Werebear - I want to try this. Single hit, but high damage, high life, high defence, and he has a stunning (literally) crowd control skill.

 

And finally: pay attention to synergies. They make or break most builds.

 

P.S. if you ever want an MP LAN game, I'm good for it... true for anybody in this thread. Beauty of LAN is you get to start from scratch with friends. Starting from scratch can be kind of lame on your own, but it becomes fairly fun with friends, and the game takes on a different dynamic, as even magic drops and random chests become important.

[GreasyDogMeat]

Didn't TSR do a tabletop version of Diablo 2? Think it would be kind of cool if a CRPG Diablo game was made using D20 rules.

[H]

Zealot and Skellemancer are the builds I had the most fun with.

[Shryke]

just out of curiosity, who would be keen for a game?

 

i've never really bothered to play online, but i'm willing to give it a go

[kirottu]

Poison Nova + Fire Golem Necromancer. I think I got it up to lvl 95

 

HC Bonemancer. This what killed whole Diablo 2 for me when I got tppked for Nth time in nighmare baalrun. I also got scammed of some runes in trade screen during same week. After that I saw no reason to continue. Too ****ing much people using exploits and cheats. It took the fun out of the game.

 

WoW is where it is nowadays. It does everything Diablo did only better.

[Humodour]

WoW is crap for that. It doesn't recapture the atmosphere of D2. I mean, it's not a bad game, but it's not Diablo.

[kirottu]

Well, playing with my hardcore Bonemancer was groingripping awesomness, but almost everything else started to suck eventually. I mean the whole game could be renamed as Baalrun since that is what you do for 95% of time. Athmosphere grows rather thin when you realise you

Edited May 22, 2008 by kirottu

[Pop]

I always preferred a fire-centric druid, with maybe a point or two in Oak Spirit and Molten Boulder neglected save for that required first point. Total reliance on Firestorm and Fissure. They may have reduced the power of firestorm in a patch, though.

 

Otherwise, a Tiger Strike assassin with points in that speed-up spell and eventually the Fire Wave trap and the Shadow Warrior. Inferno Trap seems to be mostly useless.

[Dark_Raven]

that looks like a Soul Harvest unique scythe iirc

 

i don't play on battlenet, but the characters i've got going (i think) are a holy shock paladin and a trap assassin

Probably is. I like scythe's.

 

just out of curiosity, who would be keen for a game?

 

i've never really bothered to play online, but i'm willing to give it a go

Heh, I'm an ear collector.

[Dark_Raven]

Tri-Sorceress... with a bit of a focus on Frozen Orb.

Fire based spells for the burn.

[Musopticon?]

a Tiger Strike assassin with points in that speed-up spell and eventually the Fire Wave Trap

Yes.

[Tale]

*enters thread*

*looks for torches and pitchforks*

*finds none*

 

Diablo SUCKS!

 

*flees*

[Nick_i_am]

Dude, you forgot your hat.

[Tale]

*runs back*

Forgot my hat.

*grabs hat*

*flees again.

 

 

It's kind of odd. I can't understand why people play Diablo. But, I spent much time playing Phantasy Star Online. The experience is not that different. Just kill monsters for loot and experience. Repeat ad nauseum. Act like a madman or griefer when bored.

 

Edited May 22, 2008 by Tale

[Nick_i_am]

I've played Diablo 2 though with friends about 2 1/2 times, but would I ever touch it singleplayer? Hahahahaha, right.

 

Would I ever touch it again? Well, no, probably not.

 

There is a place for dungeon crawlers, but any which don't have a coop option are pointless as far as I care. This isn't just a 'coop makes everything cooler!' thing, it's literally that given the nature of the game working as a team yealds greater rewards in terms of gameplay than a one-man hack-and-slash ever could.

 

Dungeon Seige, for example, I enjoyed without coop (for a time) because of the party nature of the game, but Diablo 2 SP was just pointless rambo mode.

 

Also, dude, that wasn't your hat.

Edited May 22, 2008 by Nick_i_am

[Tale]

*runs back*

Wrong hat.

*grabs different hat*

*flees*

 

 

 

Yeah. Phantasy Star Online was only fun because I could take my high level character to the final boss with a bunch of *relative* lowbies, die quickly, run back to the final boss, rush in after they all die (the game is set up so that it locks players out if they don't go into the boss at around the same time), grab their stuff, solo the final boss, and the laugh maniacally.

 

You can't do that in single player.

 

Edited May 22, 2008 by Tale

[Nick_i_am]

hahahahahahahahahssahdahs, classic. <3<3

 

Llyranor and I are hooting morons in online games, but you've gotten it down to an artform.