D2R PvM Guide

Diablo 2 Resurrected and Leagacy PvM Guide

Player vs Monster and Farming Builds & Strategy

Are you tired of getting beaten, frozen, burned, electrocuted and poisoned by Diablo and his minions? Do you always feel left behind in public games? Then rejoice, for everything is about to change. The knowledge contained within this tome will make you more powerful than you ever dreamed of.

Table of Contents

Introduction

General Tips

Stats

Gearing up

Charms

Jewels

Mercenaries

Amazon

Bowazon

Lightning Javazon

Poison Javazon

Bowazon/Javazon

Assassin

Trapper

Whirwind Assassin

Barbarian

Berserk

Whirlwind Barbarian

Druid

Elementalist

Shape Shifter

Necromancer

Bonemancer

Cursemancer

Poisonmancer

Necro Summoner

Paladin

Hammerdin

Zealot

Zealot/Smiter

Sorceress

Blizzard Sorceress

Fireball Sorceress

Lightning Sorceress

Cold/Fire Sorceress

Cold/Lightning Sorceress

Introduction

This player vs monster guide is aimed at the casual Diablo 2 player and will hopefully take his/her game to another level. It includes general tips and explores various character builds. Both skills, stats and equipment are dealt with. Bear in mind that the builds contained herein are merely a limited selection of all the fun and worthwhile builds out there. So do not let the guide blind you. It is merely showing a few recipes that work. Know that there are many others.

Table of Contents

General Tips

Stats

The basic principle for stats is to obtain as high Vitality as possible and to achieve this you must refrain from wasting stat points on Strength, Dexterity and Energy. Don't spend more on Strength than you absolutely need to, in order to equip the items you are going to use in the end. Likewise with Dexterity, though some builds (Assassin, Barbarian Whirlwinder, Druid Elementalist, Javazon and Paladin) need some extra points here for maximum block which is 75%. The only build that needs extra Energy is sorceress and never more than 100 in basic energy.

Gearing Up

First thing you should think about is to be flexible with your gear and adapt it to what you are fighting. You can not rely on one single setup of items. Different situations require different items. For instance, high fire absorb is of no use if you find yourself surrounded by many melee monsters. Higher defense or improved attack rating would be better, so throw a town portal and change equipment accordingly. If it is only a matter of weapon/shield you can of course simply swap between primary and secondary slots but a truly versatile character can not rely on just swapping weapons/shields. The most bacic item that all builds should use is the runeword Call To Arms on the swap in combination with a shield that gives + to skills like Lidless Wall or the runeword Spirit. What you do is that you swap to Call To Arms and the shield, cast Battle Command followed by Battle Orders and then swap back to your primary weapon/shield. Battle Orders greatly enhances your life, mana and stamina. High level casters (90+) such as Sorceress, Necromancer, Elemental Druid, Trap Assassin and Hammerdin can also use the staff Ondal's Wisdom as swap to gain experience faster. You cast your spells and then swap to the staff to reap its benefits. Another swap for casters is the dagger Wizard Spike and the runeword Spirit which together will increase the cast rate significantly and thus improve teleporting granted by Enigma. Charms Charms can improve your character a lot so you use as many as possible. Three charms of particularly great use are the unique charms Gheed's Fortune, Annihilus and Hellfire Torch, especially the two latter ones. It is very effective to combine grand charms with + to a skill tree with small charms that improve life, mana, damage and resistances. If you want a really strong character you should use 9 skill charms, Annihilus, Hellfire Torch and fill up the rest of your inventory with small charms. Bear in mind that the aforementioned skill charms only can improve the skills that are specific for your character class, unlike some runewords that grant skills from other character classes. Charms can also be a great source of stats, both for low level characters that want to use an item with certain requirements and for high level characters with ill spent stat points. In the latter case, simply pick the appropriate charms and save yourself the trouble of making a new character. For example; you lack dexterity for maximum block and you must look into other sources than stat points. Ideal for this are small charms with +2 Dexterity/Strength or large charms with + 5 Dexterity/Strength.

Jewels

Pretty much all builds have great use of the appropriate jewels socketed into weapons, helms, shields and body armor. All who focus on elemental and poison damage should use the unique Rainbow Facet Jewels to maximize their damage. Builds that focus on physical damage should look for jewels with enhanced damage, increased attack speed or stats such as strength and dexterity.

Mercenaries

Many players underestimate mercenaries but they are your best friends in this game and deserve as much attention as your own character. For starters it is good to know that the mercenary does not gain anything from bonus to Energy/Mana because he does not lose mana to begin with. Neither can his equipment be worn out, so everything he wears should be ethereal. Also of great importance in the mercenary context are the auras and how to combine them; especially in larger parties of players. Another thing to remember is that your mercenary must have either life leech or damage reduction and 70+ to all resistances to be of any use on Hell difficulty. A good trick for preventing the death of your mercenary is to teleport or quickly throw a town portal and heal your mercenary. Always rush to heal because a mercenary can die of poison in the city unlike the player character. Now onto the various mercenary builds:

Act 1 Rogue - build 1: Faith Crusader Bow 15 aura as weapon, Fortitude Archon Plate as armor and Andariel's Visage with 40/15ias as helmet.

Act 1 Rogue - build 2: Phoenix Crusader Bow as weapon, Fortitude Archon Plate as body armor and Andariel's Visage with 40/15ias jewel as helmet.

Act 1 Rogue - build 3: Breath of the Dying Crusader Bow as weapon, 160ed/60ias Archon Plate as body armor and Crown of Ages with 2 x Ber rune as helmet.

Act 1 Rogue - build 4: Windforce as weapon, Fortitude Archon Plate as body armor and Andariel's Visage with 40/15ias jewel as helmet.

Act 2 Defiance mercenary (Defensive on Normal/Hell difficulty) - Cold build: Doom Cryptic Axe as weapon, Stone or Fortitude Archon Plate as body armor and Vampire Gaze as helm.

Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary (Defensive on Nightmare difficulty) - Lightning build 1: Infinity Colossus Voulge as weapon, Chains of Honor Archon Plate as body armor and Dream Bone Visage as helm.

Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary (Defensive on Nightmare difficulty) - Lightning build 2: Infinity Cryptic Axe as weapon, Bramble Archon Plate as body armor and Dream Bone Visage as helm.

Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary (Defensive on Nightmare difficulty) - Mana build: Insight Cryptic Axe as weapon, Bramble Archon Plate as body armor and Vampire Gaze as helm.

Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary (Defensive on Nightmare difficulty) - Melee build 1: Pride Colossus Voulge as weapon, Chains of Honor Archon Plate as body armor and Crown of Ages as helm.

Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary (Defensive on Nightmare difficulty) - Melee build 2: Pride Cryptic Axe as weapon, Bramble Archonplate as body armor and Vampire Gaze as helm.

Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary (Defensive on Nightmare difficulty) - Melee build 3: Breath of the Dying War Pike as weapon, Fortitude Archon Plate as body armor and Crown of Ages as helm (with 2 x 40/15ias jewels).

Act 2 Might mercenary (Offensive on Nightmare difficulty) - Melee build 1: Pride Cryptic Axe as weapon, Bramble Archon Plate as body armor and Vampire Gaze as helm.

Act 2 Might mercenary (Offensive on Nightmare difficulty) - Melee build 2: Breath of the Dying War Pike as weapon, Fortitude Archon Plate as body armor and Crown of Ages as helm socketed with 2 x 40/15ias jewels.

Act 2 Might mercenary (Offensive on Nightmare difficulty) - Cold build: Doom Cryptic Axe as weapon, Fortitude Archon Plate as boby armor and Vampire Gaze or Andariel's Visage as helm.

Act 2 Might mercenary (Offensive on Nightmare difficulty) - Lightning build: Infinity Cryptic Axe as weapon, Fortitude Archon Plate as body armor and Dream Bone Visage, Crown of Ages (2 x 40/15ias jewels) or Vampire Gaze as helm.

Act 2 Might mercenary (Offensive on Nightmare difficulty) - Mana build: Insight Cryptic Axe as weapon, Fortitude Archon Plate as body armor and Vampire Gaze as helm.

Act 3 Cold Mercenary - Chaos & Baal build: Azurewrath as weapon, Stormshield or Phoenix Monarch as shield, Enigma Archon Plate as body armor and Crown of Ages as helm.

Act 5 Barbarian - build 1: Breath of the Dying Colossus Blade as weapon, Fortitude Archon Plate as body armor and Crown of Ages as helm.

Act 5 Barbarian - build 2: Breath of the Dying Colossus Blade as weapon, Bramble Archon Plate as body armor and Crown of Ages as helm.

Act 5 Barbarian - build 3: Death Colossus Sword as weapon, Fortitude Archon Plate as body armor and Vampire Gaze as helm.

Act 5 Barbarian - build 4: Last Wish Colossus Blade as weapon, Fortitude Archon Plate as body armor and Vampire Gaze as helm.

Table of Contents

Amazon

The strong female warrior of legend divides into three main builds and 1 hybrid.

Bowazon

A classical build that relies on bows or crossbows and the skills Multiple Shot and Guided Arrow. Should always have a Valkyrie by its side.

Energy: Nothing

Strength: To equip items only

Dexterity: Half the remaining stat points

Vitality: Half the remaining stat points

Bow And Crossbow Skills: Magic Arrow 1, Cold Arrow 1, Multiple Shot 10, Guided Arrow 20.

Javelin and Spear Skills: Jab 1, Poison Javelin 1, Power Strike 1, Lightning bolt 1, Charged Strike 1.

Passive and Magic Skills: Inner Sight 1, Slow Missiles 1, Decoy 1, Valkyrie 1, Dodge 12+, Avoid 7+, Evade 12+, Critical Strike 16+, Penetrate 1, Pierce 1

Additional skill points: Dodge, Avoid, Evade and Critical Strike

Weapon: Faith or Breath of the Dying runeword, Windforce, Eagle Horn or Buriza-Do Kyanon

Swap: Call To Arms Flail and Lidless Wall

Helm: 120/45ias Bone Visage, Harlequin Crest, Mavina's True Sight, Stealskull, Vampire Gaze, Giant Skull or Andariel's Visage.

Body Armor: Fortitude or Chains of Honor runeword, 160ed/60ias gemmed armor, Skin of the Viper Magi or Arkaine's Valor.

Gloves: Laying of Hands, Dracul's Grasp or Athletic Gauntlet's of Alacrity (Magic gloves with + 3 to Passive and Magic Skills and 20% Increased Attack Speed).

Belt: Nosferatu's Coil, Goldwrap, Verdungo's Hearty Cord or Razortail

Boots: War Traveler

Amulet: Highlord's Wrath, Mara's Kaleidoscope or Cat's Eye

Ring1: Raven Frost

Ring2: Raven Frost, Stone of Jordan, Bul-Kathos Wedding band or rare ring with Dual Leech

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire Torch, Gheed's Fortune, 8 x Passive & Magic skiller and rest of inventory filled with small charms with poison damage, resistances and magic find.

Mercenary: Act 1 Rogue build 1-4, Act 2 Defiance mercenary - Cold build, Act 2 Might mercenary - Melee build 1 or 2.

Lightning Javazon

A very popular build that uses Javelin as weapon and Lightning Fury, Lightning Strike and Charged Strike as main attacks. Should always have a Valkyrie by its side.

Stats: Dexterity for maximum block (75%)

Skills: 1 point in every Passive & Magic skill, 20 Lightning Fury, 20 Lightning Strike, 20 Lightning Bolt, 20 Charged Strike and the rest into Power Strike.

Weapon: Titan's Revenge (ethereal)

Shield: Sanctuary Trollnest or Stormshield

Swap: Call To Arms Flail and Spirit Monarch

Helm: Griffon's Eye

Body Armor: Chains of Honor Archon Plate or Enigma Dusk Shroud

Gloves: Lancer's Gauntlets of Alacrity (Magic Gloves with 3 to Javelins and Spear Skills and 20% Increased Attack Speed).

Belt: Thundergod's Vigor or Verdungos Hearty Cord

Boots: Waterwalk or Sandstorm Trek (ethereal)

Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope

Ring1: Raven Frost

Ring2: Stone of Jordan or Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire torch, 9 x Javelin & Spear Skiller and small charms with life and poison damage.

Tips: Maximize your lightning damage by socketing Lightning Rainbow Facet Jewels into your items.

Mercenary: Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary - Lightning build 1 or 2, alternatively Act 1 Rogue - build 1-4

Poison Javazon

Another javelin based amazon that uses Plague Javelin and Poison Javelin as main attacks. Should always have a Valkyrie by its side.

Stats: Dexterity for maximum block (75%)

Skills: 20 Poison Javelin, 20 plague javelin, 20 Valkyrie and the rest spread out on all other Passive & Magic skills.

Weapon: Titan's Revenge (ethereal)

Shield: Sanctuary Trollnest, Stormshield or Head Hunter's Glory

Swap: Call To Arms Flail and Spirit Monarch

Helm: Harlequin Crest

Body Armor: Bramble Archon Plate

Gloves: Trang-Oul's Claws

Belt: Razortail or Verdungo's Hearty Cord

Boots: Waterwalk or Sandstorm Trek (Ethereal)

Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope

Ring1: Raven Frost

Ring2: Stone of Jordan or Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire Torch, 9 x Javelin & Spear Skiller and small charms with life and poison damage.

Tips: Maximize your poison damage by inserting Poison Rainbow Facet Jewels into your items.

Mercenary:

Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary - Lightning build 1 or 2, alternatively

Act 1 Rogue - build 1-4.

Bowazon/Javazon

A special build that uses both bow and javelin, making it very versatile. The disadvantage is that you cannot have Call To Arms on the swap. Multiple Shot and Guided Arrow are used are used as main ranged attack and Cold Arrow as secondary Ranged attack. Charged Strike and Lightning Strike are used as melee attacks.

Stats: Dexterity for Maximum Block (75%)

Skills: 1 Evade, 1 Pierce, 20 Guided Arrow, 10+ Power Strike, 10+ Lightning Bolt, 10+ Charged Strike, 10+ Lightning Strike, 10+ Lightning Fury.

Items: Bowazon setup, Verdungo's Hearty Cord as belt and Titan's Revenge and Stormshield on the swap.

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire Torch, 9 Passive & Magic Skillers and small charms with life and poison damage.

Mercenary: Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary - Lightning build 1 or 2 or Act 1 Rogue - build 1-4.

Table of Contents

Assassin

There are two main builds for the stealthy assassin. One build is caster and the other one is melee.

Trapper

This is a very popular build because it is easy to play. Most of the time you simply cast traps and retreat so it is a good character to play for the beginner. You can also use Shock Web for missile attacks. Shadow Disciplines are a great addition to traps because you get resistances from Fade and you can use Shadow Master as meat shield. Remember to move by teleporting.

Stats: Dexterity for maximum block.(75%)

Skills: 1 point in all Shadow Discpiplines, 1 Tiger Strike, 1 Cobra Strike, 1+ Dragon Talon, 20 Death Sentry, 20 Lightning Sentry, 20 charged Bolt Sentry, 20 Shock Web and all the rest into Shadow Master and Dragon Talon.

Weapon: Stormlash, Heart of the Oak Flail or 2 x Bartuc's Cut-Throat

Shield: Stormshield or Spirit Monarch

Swap: Call To Arms Flail and Spirit Monarch

Helm: Harlequin Crest

BodyArmor: Enigma runeword

Gloves: Frostburn, Magefist or Soul Drainer

Belt: Arachnid Mesh or Nosferatu's Coil

Boots: Shadow Dancer, Waterwalk, War Traveler, Aldur's Advance or Immortal King's Pillar

Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope

Ring1: Stone of Jordan

Ring2: Stone of Jordan or Raven Frost

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire Torch, 9 x Traps Skiller and small charms with life and resistances or mana.

Tips: The best way to cast traps is to first cast four Lightning Sentry and then one Death Sentry where you expect corpses. Insert socketables with increased attack speed into your items to improve the rate at which you can cast traps.

Mercenary:

Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary - Lightning build 1 or 2, alternatively

Act 2 Holy Freeze Aura mercenary - Melee build 3.

Whirlwind Assassin

This build uses the Whirlwind skill granted by the runeword Chaos and the skill Venom for lots of poison damage. Dragon Flight is a useful skill for moving fast and will give you plenty of life and mana if used as a finishing move after Cobra Strike which can come in handy at times. Mind Blast can be used to immobilize and confuse the enemy. And the Shadow Master is a useful ally.

Minimum Character Level: 79 (With all 12 bonus skill points)

Stats: Strength for equipping items only.

Shadow Disciplines: Psychic Hammer 1, Cloak of Shadows 1, Mind Blast 1, Claw Mastery 10+, Weapon Block 20, Shadow Warrior 1, Shadow Master 1+, Burst of Speed 1, Fade 20, Venom 20

Martial Arts: Dragon Talon 1, Dragon Claw 1, Dragon Tail 1, Dragon Flight 10+, Tiger Strike 1, Cobra Strike 1

Additonal Skill Points: Shadow Master and Claw Mastery.

Weapon1: Chaos Suwayyah

Weapon2: Fury Suwayyah

Swap: Call To Arms Flail and Spirit Monarch

Helm: Crown of Ages

Body Armor: Bramble runeword

Gloves: Trang-Oul's Claws

Belt: String of Ears, Verdungo's Hearty Cord or Nosferatu's Coil

Boots: Shadow Dancer

Amulet: Metal Grid, Highlord's Wrath or Mara's Kaleidoscope

Ring1: Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band

Ring2: Raven Frost

Charms:Annihilus, Hellfire Torch, 9 x Shadow Discipline Skillers and small charms with life.

Mercenary:

Act 2 Holy Freeze mercenary - Melee build 1-3. Table of Contents

Barbarian

This mighty warrior is the classical character in all role playing games with his raw natural strength and straight forwardness. He is extremely popular in public games because of the skill Battle Orders that improves life, mana and stamina of all members in the party. He is also relatively easy to play and the only thing you need to fear is enemies casting Iron Maiden. In this article we will focus on two builds.

Berserk

This build focuses on the Berserker skill and a two-handed weapon, trying to get as high damage as possible and consequently taking out all enemies with the first strike. The downside is weak defense, so lots of life leech and vitality are needed to compensate.

Skills: 20 Berserk, 20 Battle Orders, 20 Shout , 20 Howl and 1 Iron Skin, 1 Natural Resistances, 1 Increased Speed, 1 Increased Stamina and the rest in Weapon Mastery of choice (Sword, Spear or Mace).

Weapon: Breath of the Dying Colossus Blade/War Pike/Thunder Maul, Oath Balrog Blade or Death Colossus Sword

Swap: Call To Arms Flail and Heart of the Oak Flail

Helm: Arreat's Face

Body Armor: Fortitude runeword or 160ed/60ias gemmed armor.

Gloves: Steelrend

Belt: Verdungo's Hearty Cord, Nosferatu's Coil or String of Ears

Boots: Gore Rider

Amulet: Highlord's Wrath

Ring1: Raven Frost

Ring2: Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire Torch, 9 x Masteries Skiller or Combat Skiller and small charms with life and max damage.

Tips: Howl is really useful at higher levels for scaring away boss packs so you can focus on the boss or if you are up against unbeatable odds. Bear in mind that Howl does not work on Lister's minons.

Mercenary:

Act 5 Barbarian - build 1-4 or

Act 2 Might mercenary - Melee build 1 or 2.

Whirlwind Barbarian

A build focusing on Whirlwind, Battle orders, Shout and either Axe or sword mastery. The biggest decision is whether to use shield or two weapons.

Stats: Dexterity for maximum block (75%) if you use shield.

Skills: 20 Sword mastery or Axe Mastery, 20 whirlwind, 20 Battle Orders, 20 Shout and the rest on Iron Skin, Natural Resistances, Increased Speed, Increased Stamina and Leap.

Weapon1: Breath of the Dying Colossus Blade/Berserker Axe

Weapon2: Doom, Beast, Oath/Death runeword or The Grandfather

Shield: Phoenix Monarch or Stormshield

Swap: Call To Arms Flail and Heart of the Oak Flail

Helm: Arreat's Face

Body Armor: Fortitude Archon Plate, Arkaine's Valor, Leviathan or Shaftstop

Gloves: Dracul's Grasp or Steelrend

Belt: Verdungo's Hearty Cord, Nosferatu's Coil or String of Ears

Boots: Gore Rider

Amulet: Highlord's Wrath

Ring1: Raven Frost

Ring2: Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire Torch, 9 x War Cries Skiller and small charms with life and max damage.

Tips: Socket jewels with enhanced damage and increased attack speed into your items to make this build a real killer. Leap is really useful for jumping out of danger or reaching certain areas.

Mercenary:

Act 5 Barbarian - build 1-4 or Act 2 Might mercenary - Melee build 1 or 2.

Table of Contents

Druid

The Druid is a nomadic warrior-poet of great spiritual strenght and divides into two main builds: Elementalist and Shape Shifter.

Elementalist

A build that is very sorceress like and uses Tornado as main attack. Hurricance and Oak Sage should always be activated. Moves by teleporting and uses a Grizzly as meat shield.

Stats: Dexterity for maximum block (75%)

Skills: 20 Oak Sage, 20 Hurricane, 20 Tornado, 20 Twister, 20 cyclone armor, 1+ Grizzly.

Weapon: Heart of the Oak Flail

Shield: Stormshield

Swap: Call To Arms Flail and Spirit Monarch

Helm: Harlequin Crest or Ravenlore

Body Armor: Enigma Archon Plate

Gloves: Magefist

Belt: Arachnid Mesh

Boots: Waterwalk or War Traveler

Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope

Ring1: Stone of Jordan or rare ring with 10% fcr & life/mana/strength/resistances

Ring2: Stone of Jordan or rare ring with 10% fcr & life/mana/strength/ resistances

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire Torch, 9 x Elemental Skiller and small charms with life and mana or resistances.

Tips: Insert Cold Lightning Rainbow Facet Jewels into your items to maximize your cold damage.

Mercenary:

Act 2 Defiance mercenary - Cold build, alternatively Act 2 Holy Freeze Mercenary - Lightning build 1 or 2 or Act 3 Cold mercenary - Chaos & Baal build.

Shape Shifter

A warrior build that is based on Werewolf and either Oak Sage or Heart of Wolverine. Main attack skill is either Fury or Rabies.

Skills: 20 Werewolf, 20 Lycantrophy, 20 Oak Sage or Heart of Wolverine and 20 Fury. You can max out 20 Rabies and its synergy Poison Creeper instead of Fury if you are willing to level your character high enough.

Weapon: Breath of the Dying Thunder Maul or Breath of the Dying Ethereal Ghost Spear

Helm: Jalal's Mane or Cerebus' Bite

Body Armor:Fortitude Archon Plate, 160ed/60ias gemmed armor or Chains of Honor Archon Plate

Gloves: Steelrend or Dracul's Grasp

Belt: String of Ears

Boots: Gore Rider

Amulet: Highlord's Wrath or Mara's Kaleidoscope

Ring1: Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band

Ring2: Raven Frost

Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire Torch, 9 x Shape Shifting Skillers and small charms with life or resistances.

Tips: Insert jewels with enhanced damage and increased attack speed into your items to make this build a real killer.

Mercenary:

Act 2 Might mercenary - Melee build 1 or 2, alternatively Act 5 Barbarian - build 4.

Table of Contents

Necromancer

The ghostly ruler of the undead army, the cursing nemesis or the poison & bone spreading spell caster.

Bonemancer

Bone Spear is primary attack. Bone Spirit and Bone Prison are useful against bosses. Moves by teleporting.

Cursemancer

Necro Summoner

Sorceress

Blizzard Sorceress

FireBall Sorceress

Lightning Sorceress

Cold/Fire Sorceress

Cold/Lightning Sorceress