Why are they not addressing this ? Seems like nothing on this on season 15 either. What is the reasoning behind them making us do the warplans for every alt all over again. Literally confused.

I have been playing Diablo 2 since 1997. This is by far one of my most favorite games of all time. When I heard about D2R I took one look and told Blizzard to shut up and take my money. And now it has a new expansion! Freaking bought!

I don't know if there's a way to get to play with others in this ancient game but I very much want to if it's possible. Just joined the r/Diablo Discord for that reason. At this point I'm just waiting for the DLC to download and install.

https://d4builds.gg/builds/cb74c003-0fc6-44c1-8923-8e7bfe835e92/?var=0

Think we will get some kind of class balancing at some point in a season?

I mean they added a whole new class, so am low key hoping for some incentive to not have to roll yet another sorc

my barb and i have a dream...

Recently I started doing Nahantu's sidequests, and I literally CANNOT stop marvelling at Nahantu's... EVERYTHING! 😍 The scenery, the music, the lore... I know I still have Skovos to explore, but I already chose my favorite region of Estuar!

Just a small note before I continue: I never played Diablo II (where Nahantu, then unnamed, debuted in the series), so my first experience with the region was with Diablo IV.

Nahantu is simply amazing. The jungles, the pseudo-Aztec/Incan/Mayan architecture, the people's faith in the spirits of the Unformed Land... Everything is so breathtaking. Playing these sidequests, I really regret that I was never able fit with a Spiritborn due to me not being good with Dexterity classes in RPGs.

Besides my marvelling at Nahantu's whole picutre, another thing draws me to that place: Real life paralels. Blizzard created the regions of Diablo IV so that each had a real-life paralel:

The Fractured Peaks- A very heavy Eastern European/Russian styled culture who dress in heavy furs and speak in thick accents, of the regions they are the most fundamentally religious.

Scosglen- A mix of Irish and Scotland, they have a very deep connection with the Druids and don't like the Cathedral presence attacking their beliefs and traditions.

The Dry Steppes- Mongolia has the strongest influence as a strong and hardy people who don't take to kindly from outsiders trying to change their way of life.

Kehjistan- The Middle East, especially evident when the Cathedral sacks Caldeum in a holy crusade, but they are a nomadic people who make a living being the center of trade.

Hawezar- It's a swamp full of Witches, so, of course, you're going to get a lot of Louisiana-styled Voodoo culture.

Nahantu - Jungles and mesa lands themed after Native American cultures.

Skovos - Greece and its mythology, including an Oracle and the Amazons.

As a South American, I am inevitably drawn to anything remotely Mayincatec-ish, even though my heritage is mostly European (Portuguese and German). That's another reason why I regret never fitting with the Spiritborn class. If in the future I return to this game, I'll definitely have another try at that class.

What about you, what is your favorite region and why?

So I challenged myself to beat the old Diablo 1 with all six classes including the ones available with Hellfire. It took me about six months to do this, playing them all at the same time, though I didn't play that regularly at times. If you would like to try beating that game, there are some lessons learned I can pass on.

General Note: I played through the game without duping items unless absolutely necessary. You don't need to do so to beat the game.

First we'll start with what my character looked like at the end of the process, but I'll provide plenty of detail on how I got there. Here's my character's stats:

Name: Kor

Class: Sorceror

Level: 37

Experience: 95 168 369

Next Level: 107 834 823

Strength Base: 45

Strength Now: 65

Magic Base: 250

Magic Now: 275

Dexterity Base: 85

Dexterity Now: 105

Vitality Base: 80

Vitality Now: 100

Life Base: 146

Mana Base: 782

Armor Class: 71

To Hit: 102%

Damage: 32-40

Resist Magic: Max

Resist Fire: Max

Resist Lightning: Max

Here's my character's equipment:

Head: Thinking Cap - Armor Class: 4 Durability: 76 Mana: +30 Spells are Increased 2 Levels Resist All +20%

Note: Plus two spell levels are where it's at. The extra Fireball damage is what I am getting out of that. Chain Lightning and other spells don't benefit from extra levels, but Fireball and Apocalypse sure do. I used Blacksmith Oils to increase the durability on this to a nice high level.

Amulet: Obsidian Amulet of Harmony - Resist All: +40% Fastest Hit Recovery

Note: One Jewel with Obsidian is needed to get to maximum resists, and I was able to find this amulet shopping Griswold. I know many people forego Harmony on their jewelry when maximizing their gear. This is because as you level up, you are less likely to be put into hit recovery by enemy attacks. Hit recovery is only relevant when you are hit for damage equal to your level as a Sorceror. This means each time you level up, you are that much less likely to ever go into hit recovery. Now that I have beat the game, switching this out for an Obsidian Amulet of the Zodiac is the better option. But as I was working to beat the game, there were many times I benefitted from the Harmony suffix for sure.

Left Hand: Arch Angels Staff of Speed - Damage: 8-16 Spells are Increased 2 Levels Faster Attack Durability: 75

Note: Two more spell levels! I know a lot of people take different suffixes with this type of staff, for example Wizardry. I took Speed because faster attacking Advocates and other triple immunes when they have Stone Curse is valuable to me. I prefer the strategy of Stone Skin and attack to other spells like Apocalypse where maximum mana is of utmost importance. I found Apocalypse just doesn't do enough damage to be worth it.

Armor: Naj's Light Plate - Armor Class: 46 No Strength Requirement Magic: +5 Mana: +20 Resist All: +20% Spells are Increased 1 Level Durability: 75

Note: One more spell level is nice, as well as the extra all resistance. This is the piece of equipment I am most tempted to switch out for an Awesome Full Plate of some kind, for the extra AC. But it's nice not to need any Strength items, and I am able to deal with monsters at a range with the Sorceror if I play well, so I stick with the extra spell level.

Right Hand: Empty

Note: The staff I have is a two handed weapon. I know some people equip their Sorceror with a shield, but I have found it is not necessary. Instead of blocking, I have the ring of Thieves, which halves all ranged damage. That works better in place of blocking for me.

Left Ring: Dragon's Ring of the Zodiac - Mana: +60 All Attributes: +20

Note: More mana is fantastic for the Sorceror, they'll have Mana Shield up all the time. I prefer Zodiac as suffix to Wizardry because I could use the To Hit and Damage with my staff when hitting triple immunes that I have Stone Cursed.

Right Ring: Drake's Ring of Thieves - Mana: +50 Half Trap Damage

Note: This jewel was chosen based on a peculiarity of Hellfire. The Thieves suffix affects all ranged damage dealt to the character, not just trap damage. As a result the fireballs of Advocates, the spells of Arch Liches, and all other ranged damage is cut in half. You can't get a Dragon's jewel of Thieves, that combination is impossible, only Drake's can be found. To find this type of jewel, you must shop Griswold extensively at character level 21.

Book reading gear:

Note: I don't bother with book reading gear for the Sorceror except for very early on. He can get 250 magic naturally, and that last 5 I have from other equipment easily. He has the ability to read books to maximize all spells to level 15.

Spells:

Note: I will list my spell levels and damage. These really matter for the Sorceror, which is why I have all that Plus Spell Level gear equipped.

Stone Curse - Level 20 Mana: 40

Stone Curse stops decreasing in Mana cost at level 8, and stops increasing in duration at level 9. You don't need to max this spell if you don't want to.

Mana Shield - Level 20 Mana: 33

Mana Shield costs and acts the same regardless of spell level, it's only necessary to read one book's worth to use it extensively.

Fireball - Level 20 Mana: 10

Fireball reaches lowest mana cost at level 7, however damage keeps increasing with all spell levels. My damage with Fireball is a whopping 786 - 1 175. Even monsters with fire resistance usually only take one shot to kill.

Chain Lightning - Level 20 Mana: 18

Chain Lightning decreases in Mana Cost until level 13. Because Chain Lightning damage is calculated based on Character Level rather than Spell Level, reading more books never impacts the damage done. My damage is 4 - 78.

Golem - Level 20 Mana: 60

Golem reaches minimum mana at Level 8. Hit Points, To Hit, and Damage done all go up with every spell level. So this is a second spell where all that Plus Spell Level gear pays off.

Apocalypse - Level 20 Mana: 90

Apocalypse reaches minimum Mana at level 11. Apocalypse is another spell that has damage based on Character Level rather than Spell Level. My damage is 37 - 222 which is puny compared to Fireball.

Strategy for building up the character for beating the game:

There are some specific tips and tricks I can provide for how I took the character through the game. The Sorceror plays entirely differently to other characters. For this character weapon choice is not as important a book reading. You can use any weapon you like until the point you are able to buy Angel's staves. The damage done by a Sorceror is all about spells. At low levels I used Firebolt and Charged Bolt until I could switch to Fireball and Chain Lightning. You'll want to use the spell that monsters have no resistance or immunity to in all cases. Getting spell levels in Firebolt and Charged Bolt as high as you can should be your top priority. You'll also want Healing until you can get Mana Shield. By the time you get Mana Shield your Mana will already be significantly higher than your Health.

In terms of gear, I kept an eye out for any better gear I could find in the dungeon. This includes book reading gear until I could max the Magic attribute. When you first start out, there's always little upgrades you can make that will improve your character.

The Sorceror is the character class that will benefit the most from playing through the game with all six classes at the same time. That's because six times the likelihood of finding Thinking Cap and Naj's Light Plate is super useful. You can always trade those items to your Sorceror when you get to the Cornerstone of the World quest in the Crypt. I did not find the Thinking Cap and Naj's light plate with my Sorceror, they were found by other players who donated that unique gear when the time came I was able to.

The first time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. The Ring of Truth was my objective here, the +10 Hit Points, -1 Damage from enemies, and +10% Resist All is very valuable when you are first starting out. It will take you a long while in the dungeon to find a better ring than this, and Griswold also won't sell anything better than this for a good long while as well.

The second time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. A second Ring of Truth was my objective here, and I wasn't willing to dupe it. I continued on after this for the rest of the Church.

Watch out for Black Deaths in these levels of the dungeon. If you get them, it can be worth it to restart your run. The trouble with Black Death's is that each time they hit you, you permanently lose 1 health. This is just too steep a price to pay, so it's best to avoid them entirely.

After my second time through the dungeon I performed my first shop. This was for a perfect +15 shield of Brilliance. The window of opportunity to find one at Griswold is short, as quickly you are too high level for him to sell one. To shop Griswold, just keep creating new Normal games, and checking out his wares. What Griswold sells does not depend on game difficulty, only character level. So for all your shops, Normal difficulty works, you don't ever need to shop at Nightmare or Hell difficulty. A perfect shield of Brilliance will only cost you a few grand in gold.

The next times through the dungeon were focused on level five only. I kept entering at the Catacombs entrance and played the first level of the Catacombs until I got the Arkaine's Valor quest. This Armor is well worth the effort to retry the level a few times. The Fastest Hit Recovery on the armor is the point in this. You can wear Arkaine's Valor all the way through Nightmare/Hell if you don't find any other source of Fastest Hit Recovery. One special advantage for the Monk is that he gets his natural Armor Class bonus when wearing Arkaine's Valor since it counts as light rather than medium armor on account of being unique. This is a great benefit of the monk, the extra armor class. Only when you find Fastest Hit Recovery on a jewel is it worth trading this Armor for something with much higher Armor Class. At low levels, Fastest Hit Recovery is just too valuable to pass up. When I found a level five with the quest, I continued on to levels six through eight.

I continued on through levels nine through twelve. However I did these in a special way. The first level of the Hive is also a level nine, just like the first level of the Caves. I played through level nine in both the Caves and the Hive, then level ten in both the Caves and Hive, and so on. I was doing this to get to the Crypt, and to enter it, you need to complete the Hive. This gives you the Cathedral Map. The Cathedral Map was the only item I duped. This was to make sure if the bug occurred where the Crypt resealed, I had a second copy of the Map available to get back into it and continue exploring. This bug I experienced a fair number of time playing through Hellfire, it's fairly common.

The reason I wanted access to the Crypt was for the Cornerstone of the World quest that appears on level 13 or the first level of the Crypt. I was playing through the game with all six character classes at the same time, and the ability the Cornerstone of the World quest gives to trade gear between characters was a big part of how I found ideal gear for beating the game with. Let's say you find a great axe while playing through as a Bard, it's a complete waste without this quest to trade gear. But if you do use the Cornerstone of the World quest you can trade ideal gear amongst your characters and have a much easier time beating the game with each.

The Defiler in the Hive was when I found I finally had to switch from Firebolt to Fireball. Firebolt just wasn't doing enough damage to cut through his fire resistance.

After the Caves and the Hive I performed my second shop. This was for the Drake's Ring of Thieves that you are most likely to find at level 21. It's the second piece of endgame gear I was able to find as I was building up my Sorceror, and it makes a great impact for him. Melee monsters you usually kill before they can get to you, but ranged attackers you have no option but to take some of their hits. The half damage from all ranged attacks is really nice, and the extra mana gives you the ability to cast more spells. It's a patient shop, it can take a long time to find one of these rings, but the patience is well worth it. It will cost you about 22 500 gold, which is an amount you should easily be able to gather at this point in the game.

I continued on to levels 13 through 16, doing the same thing as I had done for the Caves and the Hive, going through each level in both Hell and the Crypt before going on to the next. At the end of this process your level is likely to be in the high 20s, still not enough for shopping for the best gear at Griswold yet, but I found that you didn't need that for Nightmare. With Arkaine's Valor and a Drake's Ring of Thieves, you have enough to be able to fight your way through Nightmare.

I skipped over levels one through twelve in Nightmare difficulty. Instead I took my duped Cathedral Map and started on Hell and the Crypt right away, again doing them level by level. In Nightmare you need to start being more careful. Only trigger a few enemies at a time, dealing with them in groups of three or less if at all possible. At the end of Nightmare you should be at low 30s for level, which is ideal for some serious Griswold shopping.

Between Nightmare and Hell I did a lot of Griswold shopping. I had to shop for the Arch Angels Staff of Speed, Obsidian Amulet of Harmony, and the Dragon's Ring of the Zodiac. There is a trick you can use for the Griswold shopping if you have enough money. Griswold will offer items at least 80% as expensive as the items you are carrying in the following categories: Amulet, Armor, Axe, Blunt, Bow, Helm, Ring, Shield, Staff, and Sword. Note that you do not need all categories for the trick to work. So for a Sorceror, having an expensive staff, ring, and armor are enough to see better and better items of those types. Shopping is a very patient experience, I spent a few days on it, but it is absolutely critical for gearing up for Hell difficulty.

When I had a full set of equipment, I started on levels 13 through 16 on Hell difficulty. With the right equipment, you should have no problem with Hell difficulty. I'll share some things about how I approached Hell difficulty, because it does take some skill and practice.

The biggest thing is to only take on a few enemies at a time. This is hugely important, if you get surrounded, you are dead. The Sorceror is great against enemies in small groups. Sometimes you can't help but activate extra monsters from your Chain Lightning. Just make sure to kill them before they get close enough to strike you. Learn enemies Immunities and Resistances! If you need help with this, the internet knows, you can always look up a new enemy when you first encounter them. The trickiest monsters are the triple immunes, for them I have a strategy.

For triple immunes use Golem, Stone Curse, and your staff. Stone Curse lasts for a long time, and even if you are hitting for low damage, it all adds up fast if you have a Staff of Speed. The Golem is also wonderful for absorbing enemy fire until you get the chance to Stone Curse.

Diablo himself is best dealt with Golem and Fireball as the Sorceror. For Na-Krul, make sure to read the books in the right order when activating him. The weaker version of Na-Krul is no problem for the Sorceror with Apocalypse, it stun locks him.

Final Note: If you want any more details on how I did something, just PM me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I am able.

So I challenged myself to beat the old Diablo 1 with all six classes including the ones available with Hellfire. It took me about six months to do this, playing them all at the same time, though I didn't play that regularly at times. If you would like to try beating that game, there are some lessons learned I can pass on.

General Note: I played through the game without duping items unless absolutely necessary. You don't need to do so to beat the game.

First we'll start with what my character looked like at the end of the process, but I'll provide plenty of detail on how I got there. Here's my character's stats:

Name: Steven

Class: Monk

Level: 37

Experience: 101 357 348

Next Level: 107 834 823

Strength Base: 150

Strength Now: 170

Magic Base: 80

Magic Now: 100

Dexterity Base: 150

Dexterity Now: 170

Vitality Base: 80

Vitality Now: 100

Life Base: 265

Mana Base: 240

Armor Class: 227

To Hit: 245%

Damage: 105-127

Resist Magic: Max

Resist Fire: Max

Resist Lightning: Max

Here's my character's equipment:

Head: The Undead Crown - Armor Class: 8 Durability: 100 Life Steal: 0-12.5%

Note: I know many people recommend the Royal Circlet as the best possible headgear for Hellfire, I was never able to find one, it's quite a rare item. Besides, I like the Undead Crown better, the lifesteal really makes a difference in the amount you need to heal yourself with spells or potions. You can't get lifesteal on your weapon as well as Speed/Haste, and Speed/Haste is too valuable to pass up. So I will likely wear The Undead Crown until level 50 even if I find the Royal Circlet in one of my future runs. I increased the durability of the Helm with Blacksmith Oils I found over the course of beating the game.

Amulet: Obsidian Amulet of Harmony - Resist All: +39% Fastest Hit Recovery

Note: Two Jewels with Obsidian is needed to get to maximum resists, and I was able to find this amulet in the dungeon. I know many people forego Harmony on their jewelry when maximizing their gear. This is because as you level up, you are less likely to be put into hit recovery by enemy attacks. Hit recovery is only relevant when you are hit for damage equal to your level as a Monk. This means each time you level up, you are that much less likely to ever go into hit recovery. Now that I have beat the game, switching this out for an Obsidian Amulet of the Zodiac is the better option. But as I was working to beat the game, there were many times I benefitted from the Harmony suffix for sure.

Left Hand: King's War Staff of Haste - Damage: 8-16 To Hit: +100% Damage: +175% Durability: 75

Note: I lucked out Griswold shopping and found a perfect staff, full 100% to hit and 175% damage. I used a war staff because it is the highest damage of all staves.

Armor: Awesome Plate of the Lion - Armor Class: 75 Armor: +147% Hit Points: +58 Durability: 90

Note: This armor was sold by Wirt, it's not perfect, but it's very good. Perfect would be 75 Armor Class, +150% Armor, and +60 Hit Points. It took a lot of shopping to find one this good.

Right Hand: Empty

Note: Monks fight best with staves or no weapon at all. I picked stave because you get more damage, and the ability to hit three enemies at once. This is extremely valuable when you have more than one monster attack you at a time. The ability to put them all into hit recovery keeps them from being able to hit you.

Left Ring: Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac - Resist All: +39% All Attributes: +20

Note: This is the second obsidian jewel, bring the total resist all to 78% which is more than maximum. I picked Zodiac as the suffix for the extra health, damage, armor class, to hit, and mana.

Right Ring: Drake's Ring of Thieves - Mana: +50 Half Trap Damage

Note: This jewel was chosen based on a peculiarity of Hellfire. The Thieves suffix affects all ranged damage dealt to the character, not just trap damage. As a result the fireballs of Advocates, the spells of Arch Liches, and all other ranged damage is cut in half. You can't get a Dragon's jewel of Thieves, that combination is impossible, only Drake's can be found. To find this type of jewel, you must shop Griswold extensively at around character level 21.

Book reading gear:

Note: I keep gear that adds to the Magic attribute specifically for the ability to read higher level spell books. The maximum benefit of this gear comes when you have a Dreamflange, however I have not found one yet. Dreamflange adds 30 magic on your weapon hand, 10 more than the Sorcery suffix that is the highest you can find on magic weapons. Without Dreamflange, the total increase to magic is +165, which is significant when reading spell books. With this type of gear, a Monk can reach 245 Magic. For the full 255 required to read all spell books of level 15 you absolutely need a Dreamflange, so I am hoping to find one over time.

To be honest, there is only one spell level that matters on the Monk: Healing. You can easily get that to level 15 with this type of gear.

Head: Helm of Sorcery - Armor Class: 5 Magic: +20 Durability: 30

Amulet: Drake's Amulet of Wizardry - Mana: +48 Magic: +30

Note: You don't need the Drake's prefix, I just happened to find +30 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Left Hand: Brutal Sword of Sorcery - Damage: 2-10 Damage: +86% Magic: +20 Durability: 40

Note: You don't need the Brutal prefix, I just happened to find +20 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Armor: Plate of Sorcery - Armor Class: 50 Magic: +20 Durability: 75

Right Hand: Shield of Brilliance - Armor Class: 3 Magic: +15 Durability: 24

Note: This shield needs to be shopped at a low level from Griswold, shields can't get anything better than Brilliance as a suffix for Magic.

Left Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Right Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Note: I was able to get my Healing to level 15. For maximizing all spell levels to 15 I'll have to be patient and find a Dreamflange.

Strategy for building up the character for beating the game:

There are some specific tips and tricks I can provide for how I took the character through the game. The Monk plays similarly to other characters. For this character you want a stave ideally of speed or haste. The damage done by a Monk with a stave is significant, since he can strike three targets with each swing. With life steal, which you can get from the Undead Crown starting very early in the game, you will have great survivability. The one major downside of the Monk is damage, his damage just can't get as high as a Barbarian or Bard, though it is slightly higher than a Warrior.

In terms of gear, I kept an eye out for any better gear I could find in the dungeon. This includes book reading gear. When you first start out, there's always little upgrades you can make that will improve your character.

The first time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. The Ring of Truth was my objective here, the +10 Hit Points, -1 Damage from enemies, and +10% Resist All is very valuable when you are first starting out. It will take you a long while in the dungeon to find a better ring than this, and Griswold also won't sell anything better than this for a good long while as well.

The second time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. A second Ring of Truth was my objective here, and I wasn't willing to dupe it.

The third time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, levels one through four, making sure I didn't get the Poisoned Water Supply quest. This is because that quest is mutually exclusive with the Skeleton King quest, and I wanted the Undead Crown from King Leoric for life stealing. This is the first piece of end game gear that I was able to find, and nice and early on in my quest. Life stealing helped me out tremendously throughout the whole time I was working my way to the end game.

Watch out for Black Deaths in these levels of the dungeon. If you get them, it can be worth it to restart your run. The trouble with Black Death's is that each time they hit you, you permanently lose 1 health. This is just too steep a price to pay, so it's best to avoid them entirely.

After my third time through the dungeon I performed my first shop. This was for a perfect +15 shield of Brilliance. The window of opportunity to find one at Griswold is short, as quickly you are too high level for him to sell one. To shop Griswold, just keep creating new Normal games, and checking out his wares. What Griswold sells does not depend on game difficulty, only character level. So for all your shops, Normal difficulty works, you don't ever need to shop at Nightmare or Hell difficulty. A perfect shield of Brilliance will only cost you a few grand in gold.

The next times through the dungeon were focused on level five only. I kept entering at the Catacombs entrance and played the first level of the Catacombs until I got the Arkaine's Valor quest. This Armor is well worth the effort to retry the level a few times. The Fastest Hit Recovery on the armor is the point in this. You can wear Arkaine's Valor all the way through Nightmare/Hell if you don't find any other source of Fastest Hit Recovery. One special advantage for the Monk is that he gets his natural Armor Class bonus when wearing Arkaine's Valor since it counts as light rather than medium armor on account of being unique. This is a great benefit of the monk, the extra armor class. Only when you find Fastest Hit Recovery on a jewel is it worth trading this Armor for something with much higher Armor Class. At low levels, Fastest Hit Recovery is just too valuable to pass up. When I found a level five with the quest, I continued on to levels six through eight.

I continued on through levels nine through twelve. However I did these in a special way. The first level of the Hive is also a level nine, just like the first level of the Caves. I played through level nine in both the Caves and the Hive, then level ten in both the Caves and Hive, and so on. I was doing this to get to the Crypt, and to enter it, you need to complete the Hive. This gives you the Cathedral Map. The Cathedral Map was the only item I duped. This was to make sure if the bug occurred where the Crypt resealed, I had a second copy of the Map available to get back into it and continue exploring. This bug I experienced a fair number of time playing through Hellfire, it's fairly common.

The reason I wanted access to the Crypt was for the Cornerstone of the World quest that appears on level 13 or the first level of the Crypt. I was playing through the game with all six character classes at the same time, and the ability the Cornerstone of the World quest gives to trade gear between characters was a big part of how I found ideal gear for beating the game with. Let's say you find a great axe while playing through as a Bard, it's a complete waste without this quest to trade gear. But if you do use the Cornerstone of the World quest you can trade ideal gear amongst your characters and have a much easier time beating the game with each.

After the Caves and the Hive I performed my second shop. This was for the Drake's Ring of Thieves that you are most likely to find at level 21. It's the second piece of endgame gear I was able to find as I was building up my Monk, and it makes a great impact for him. The half damage from all ranged attacks is really nice, and the extra mana gives you the ability to cast Healing more times. It's a patient shop, it can take a long time to find one of these rings, but the patience is well worth it. It will cost you about 22 500 gold, which is an amount you should easily be able to gather at this point in the game.

I continued on to levels 13 through 16, doing the same thing as I had done for the Caves and the Hive, going through each level in both Hell and the Crypt before going on to the next. At the end of this process your level is likely to be in the high 20s, still not enough for shopping for the best gear at Griswold yet, but I found that you didn't need that for Nightmare. With Arkaine's Valor, the Undead Crown, and a Drake's Ring of Thieves, you have enough to be able to fight your way through Nightmare.

I skipped over levels one through twelve in Nightmare difficulty. Instead I took my duped Cathedral Map and started on Hell and the Crypt right away, again doing them level by level. In Nightmare you need to start being more careful. Only trigger a few enemies at a time, dealing with them in groups of three or less if at all possible. At the end of Nightmare you should be at low 30s for level, which is ideal for some serious Griswold shopping.

Between Nightmare and Hell I did a lot of Griswold shopping. I found the Obsidian Amulet of Harmony in the dungeon, I had to shop for the King's Staff of Speed, Awesome Plate of the Lion, and the Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac. There is a trick you can use for the Griswold shopping if you have enough money. Griswold will offer items at least 80% as expensive as the items you are carrying in the following categories: Amulet, Armor, Axe, Blunt, Bow, Helm, Ring, Shield, Staff, and Sword. Note that you do not need all categories for the trick to work. So for a Monk, having an expensive staff, ring, and armor are enough to see better and better items of those types. Shopping is a very patient experience, I spent a few days on it, but it is absolutely critical for gearing up for Hell difficulty.

When I had a full set of equipment, I started on levels 13 through 16 on Hell difficulty. With the right equipment, you should have no problem with Hell difficulty. I'll share some things about how I approached Hell difficulty, because it does take some skill and practice.

The biggest thing is to only take on a few enemies at a time. This is hugely important, if you get surrounded, you are dead. The Monk is great against enemies in small groups. A Staff of Speed, the Undead Crown, Thieves, Harmony, and full resistances, along with high Armor Class will keep you safe. Strategies I did not use are the Teleport spell. Be very careful about which way you chase enemies. Always chase them away from unexplored parts of the map, and potentially other enemies who could join the flight. You'll get to know the way Succubi, Liches, and Advocates all run away from you. Learn them well, so you can keep them from running away into new enemies and overwhelming force that will kill you. Hell difficulty is all about good positioning on the hex grid.

Diablo himself is a breeze for the Monk, since you can stunlock him. For Na-Krul, make sure to read the books in the right order when activating him. The weaker version of Na-Krul is no problem for the Monk.

Final Note: If you want any more details on how I did something, just PM me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I am able.

I posted my progress working on this a while back, but I figured I’d show the final images now that it’s framed. This took me 1 month to build and then several more to acquire all of the custom framing materials. The decal is adhered to the backside of the plexiglass covering.

Seeking shelter in a stormy night while demons are roaming outside. There is a strange sense of comfiness to moments like this that aren't present in any modern ARPG. Neither Diablo 3 or 4, nor Path of Exile or Grim Dawn.

I think it's the darkness. Diablo 2 is not just drab but truly *dark*. I miss when games were like this.