Ack! That doesn't sound like much fun. Diablo may not have to worry about me. I don't think I will last much longer. Too bad, it could have been a great game with a few changes. Right now it is just a chore. I am at the entrance to the Chaos Sanctuary.

Without the expansion, you can't even get help from hirelings.

I'm not going to try any more serious assaults until the weekend. It takes too long since you must do the lot in one game with no exits. I'll build my sadly depleted cash reserves up by doing smaller runs on the upper levels of Act IV.

and I'll mostly be playing Vampire: Bloodlines or Morrowind. I need a change.

Then again, someday I will take out Diablo, and that is going to be such a buzz.

I cleared out most of the sanctuary with my new weapon but then hit a corner and about 20 enemies surrounded me in a flash. I don't think I have much interest in trying again, at least for now.

I find it helpful when dealing with the boss to have ready portal skill. Open portal the moment you enter the room. Now switch to other combat skills and hope you can get to the portal when you need to.

Remember those heal potions and drink them! Restore potions give you a fast boost.

I think Duriel was pretty easy for the Paladin. I just used melee, a fast sword and a couple healing potions. He went down fast. Must be harder for other characters.

I found some Boss tips on this site:

Diablo 2 tips

Hi,

OK....I was wrong hehe.
2 of my guys, the Necromancer and Druid have finally made it to Act III. Yeah!!!!

Now for my 2 ladies the Assassin and the Sorceress have to make it yet.

The Assissin is building up her Fire Trap and Strength so hope she will be able to get him soon.

Now that I know I can make it if I keep at it I feel better. Whew.

I am sure my feeling better won't last for very long though.

Why is it always the case in these games where the big (really big) bad guy has a ton of help and there you are (whimps) trying to get him with maybe 1 or 2 whimpy helpers.

You would think that by the time you got to him that you would be able to handle him and his minions....but nooooooo....you have to struggle just to get rid of him. Jeez.

When I make it that far I will consider my game pretty much done. If I get Diablo then wonderful...and if not then hey I really gave it my best shot.

I got Diablo in the first original game and with any luck I will get him again in this game.

Magic, good to hear that you are moving again.

I got Diablo in the first game and didn't think it was that hard, but this Diablo is totally different. At least you could have a save to start from in the first game. I worked for hours to get from the last waypoint to the next bunch of monsters and in a misstep died in a couple seconds. I didn't even get to see Diablo. I don't know if I have the heart to try again. If I do, it will have to be an early start, because I can't shut the game down until Diablo is dead. I've played a lot of hard games and was always able to finish them, but I have my doubts about finishing this one.

Have you tried going after Diablo with your Paladin?

The game wouldn't be much of a challenge without this, would it?

Gremlin

Hip Hip, Horaay!!! Hip Hip, HORAAYYYY!!!

After many many attempts, I have finally defeated Diablo. It was only the second time I've ever summoned him, usually died somewhere on the path to releasing Diablo.

It cost me all of my restore potions, all of my mana potions and almost all of my healing potions.

I still have shakes from the adrenaline rush from fighting Diablo. Wow, it feels great to have finally taken him out.

Woo Hoo, I beat him too. He killed me the first time but I got my reserve equipment and went after him again without exiting the game. I used a hit and run attack. It took a long time and almost all my health potions--I was getting worried, but he is a goner.

It was the second time I did the sanctuary and the first time I met up with Diablo.

Show off! I made the sanctuary several times and it definitely took two tries to take down Diablo.

But we've made it. Celebrate, then install the expansion and head for Act v

Quest 2 == complete. Unfortunately wasn't paying enough attention and died trying to find the waypoint in the next area and so I'll get to clear parts of the Frigid Plains - again.

Hmm, picking up much much nicer gear though. Gold reserves of 300,000 and climbing quickly now. Act IV was a bit stingy with drops so it's good to be picking up reasonable stuff again.

I completed the first quest. I wish I had more gold. I haven't been finding anything that is worth much and only have 70,000. It didn't help when I bought a gold belt worth 22,000 that claimed to give enhanced defense of 36% but I only got the 6 extra points that the basic defense of the belt gave. I evidently don't understand this. Why was it so expensive? I also had to replace some of my equipment I lost to Diablo and didn't recover.

Be careful doing the second quest. There are three mini-boss monsters that you have to take care of. They do drop some nice stuff. Which means that you can kill them, save and exit, jump back in and kill them again.

I started Act 5 with a similar amount of gold. But I hadn't lost equipment - I kept exiting and reloading which meant I had to clear out the area around Diablo again - and again - and again.

I have a hoard of goodies to place in sockets, I just wish I had more equipment that had sockets. I upgraded a claw weapon to something wicked with the bonus slots from the smith.

No way I was going to exit the game before I got Diablo. My reserve equipment was good enough to finish him off and then I grabbed nearly all my good stuff off my body before the game ended. I had done the same thing earlier in the Sanctuary and it worked out.

If you exit the game after killing the minibosses, don't you have to kill everything again--or are you near a waypoint?

Do you have charms or amulets that give you better loot? Those charms are ridiculously large for any value they give.

Actually, I have a large number of smaller charms (one square) which are reasonably effective, but I do still have two larger ones that give me some effects that I don't have any other way.

I don't have backup equipment, there's too many gemstones, runestones and jewels in my stash to save equipment. So I have to retrieve my equipment to go on.

And yes, if you exit the game at any point, you have to fight everything again. I did have to make 3 tries at the second quest because if you try to release the barbarians before killing all the mini-bosses, you can't finish the quest. Save, exit and return and everything is reset.

I just look at that as extra experience points. Have you found any set items yet (name is green). The first two I found didn't fit well with an assassin, but the third was some reasonable armor.

Hi,

Well still at it with my Sorceress and just about to give up with her and move on but somehow I just can't give up on her and keep trying and trying.

My favorite place to beef up is the Arcane Sanctuary because we can get most of them with our freeze spell and crossbow.

As far as the mini boss goes...my problem is that she is just not fast enough to get him and he keeps getting in the way of the Town Portal when we want to escape.

Well somehow she WILL do it

Whew, that was enough for one evening. Found the waypoints in Arreat Plateau and the Crystalline Passage. Cleared an optional area found behind a portal in the Arreat Plateau and recieved excellent goodies for my efforts.

Did you know that there is a "Cow" level given as a bonus??? Needing a travel Tome and ?????

Accessing the secret Cow level requires that you finish the whole game on Normal difficulty level first (including the expansion); the entire spoiler is found here:

ARREAT SUMMIT COW LEVEL INSTRUX

I did it once, it's pretty funny

I'm glad you mentioned this. I read a suggestion to go back to Act 3 and get a hireling, but saw no way to do it. Now that I look more closely, I see the act numbers at the top of the waypoint list. I don't think this was available without the expansion. I'm going back and get one with a cold spell to freeze those annoying imps.

Shenk would be a good one to rekill, since he is close to the waypoint I'm starting at.

Completed quest 2 and freed the barbarians. Anyone tried hiring them? I wonder how effective they are. Do they use only melee? My cold hireling from act 3 is doing so well I hate to fire him.

I had known about using the portals to go back to previous acts. I had used a portal to take me back to act 3 at one point so I could do some easy stuff as a break from trying to get into Diablo's santuary.

As for how the barbarians are as hirelings, I don't know. I still have my rogue from act 1. She's leveled up with me the whole game, but it's getting quite expensive to resurrect her! Hmm, I should check her equipment, I have plenty of gold for upgrades now. Though her bow is excellent, I've tried a few replacements but this one has better stats for her. Pokey, don't forget that now you can right-click their portrait and give them equipment!

And I am prepared for the secret cow portal. I have the key ingredient in my stash waiting for end of game.

Pokey, my sorceress used the barbarian hireling for a change of pace, he can equip 1 or 2 handed swords (but no shield). He was allright, but if yours is doing well, no need to switch.

I see we are coming to the icelands with cold resistant monsters, so I'll probably switch to the barbarian or a hireling with fire spells. I'm not getting any good loot, usually a few potions and maybe a so-so weapon. No jewels at all yet.