From Tristram to Mount Arreat
First-hand accounts of the hunt for the three exiled Prime Evils

Diablo is a Lord of the Underworld, who has possessed the son of the King and terrorized the local populace.  You can choose one of three heroes (Warrior, Rogue, or Sorcerer) to begin the quest of releasing the boy and containing this menace.  The chosen character must start with virtually nothing at the top of a series of 16 descending dungeon levels, and kill everything in his/her path to reach a final showdown with Diablo (shown above).

However, in the opening cinematic of Diablo II, we learn a terrifying truth.  The brave hero in Diablo made a bold sacrifice by "doing what needed to be done".  Unfortunately, that appears to have been exactly what The Lord of Terror wanted.  Diablo apparently lured our hero to the final battle and allowed himself to be "contained" in order to obtain a better host.  The creature who emerges from the dungeon and eventually becomes the second coming of Diablo is even more powerful than before.  And then, to make matters worse, he invites his two brothers to join the party!

It's a long story, but the bottom line is that a new, stronger hero from among seven different character classes must now pay another $50 and attempt to finish the task.  And that's where we come in... ready to cleanse the world of evil once again!  This page contains the stories and exploits of several heroes from both episodes.

On Halloween 2003, Blizzard took the unprecedented step of releasing a major update to a 4-year old game.  This update had been in the works for over a year, and it added new content as well as dramatically changing the play balance.  In addition, Blizzard created a new section on their online servers (Battle.Net) to allow players to start over under the new patch without interaction with existing characters and accounts.  Effectively, this was a brand new online game!  The graphics were fairly outdated, but it looked like fun so I downloaded the patch and rolled up a new Paladin.  Seven months later, I emerged after taking two characters to previously uncharted levels (for me anyway) and having experienced all that the game had to offer... again.

I was posting on a computer forum at the time, and I kept a running commentary of my experiences in one thread during this period.  I reproduce the highlights of that thread here mostly for my own amusement and nostalgia, but you might enjoy reading about this final run through one of my favorite games.  The first post contains a good description of the changes in the patch, and the posts that follow give some information about my various v1.10 characters and the environment on Battle.Net at the time.

November 6, 2003: 
Any D2LoD players out there?  I am a huge fan of this game, and I have been waiting over a year for the 1.10 patch.  The vapor has finally cleared, and it was issued last week.  I have been playing on the new ladder for several sessions now, and I give the patch a big thumbs up.

For those who still care (this game is 4 years old after all), here's a brief summary of the patch.

There is a new area on the realms for "ladder" characters.  Ladder characters must be created from scratch under 1.10, so there is a complete new economy.  No more SoJ's, no dupes (at least for now), no high-level gear from MF runs, no twinks, and best of all - no maphack!  It is basically just like when the game was new from that respect.

Most of the l33t crowd quickly said, "WTF... my (insert favorite cheat here) doesn't work?  My MF barb can't kill 5000 monsters with one breath anymore?  This patch suXors!"  They went back to the open (old) realms, leaving only people who really want to play the game on the ladder for now.  Good riddance.

Some common player-killer tricks have been nerfed.  Again, this is a Good Thing (TM) for people who want to play the game.

There are quite a few balance changes to the character skills, mainly that some obvious exploits (like infinite piercing on Guided Arrow) have been nerfed.  Also, synergies have been introduced.  Synergies boost certain skills via points in other skills, ex: points in Sacrifice provide more damage for Zeal.  This is to encourage people to try new skills rather than hoarding points for the cookie-cutter builds.

Nightmare and especially Hell difficulty have been made much harder.  The one-hit kill monsters have been nerfed so they are less frequent and less dangerous, but in their place is a much harder run-of-the-mill monster.  The result is that more teamwork is needed and it is very hard to solo now.

Monsters have been randomized so areas like the Bloody Foothills are no longer the favorite leveling areas.  Act Boss monsters (read Mephisto) are harder to kill and no longer the favorite magic-find targets.  The Cow level is nerfed too.  You can no longer "turbo" a character by having it stand in a safe area getting xp, or by bringing them to a high-level area via portal.  These loopholes have been closed in the patch.  All of these changes are designed to make people play the whole game again, and it appears to be working in early returns.

There are a lot more rune words and cube recipes now.  Rare items are back in style because the item generation formulas have been modified to make the prefix/suffix combos more appealing.  For example, you will see a high probability of rare weapons getting modifiers like +damage, +to-hit, fast attack, etc.  New unique and set items are added, old ones are beefed up, and lower level uniques can be upgraded with runes via the cube.

There is a Secret World Event too.  Nobody knows quite what triggers this but it may have something to do with selling SoJ's to merchants.  People thinking it does is sure cleaning up the existing inventory of SoJ's.  Regardless, whenever the unknown trigger is clicked, a message appears saying "Diablo walks the Earth".  The next boss monster that you meet will be a super-charged version of Diablo.  I have yet to see this, so I have no comment other than I can't wait.  (Editor's Note: Not only did I eventually see this, I ultimately spent some time as a Diablo-clone "hunter" toward the end of my run.)

There is far less change to the single-player game, but even there you can benefit from the new items and rune words.  The new monster stats make Hell a real challenge now though.  Getting a SP character through the entire game may be very rare in v1.10.

Anybody who wants to try the patch is welcome to join me on the U.S West realms for a game - just send me a IM and we can set something up.  You will have to create a new character though, and it may be more trouble than you want to spend on a 4-year old game.

Frankly, Blizzard waited about a year too long to release this patch, and it is probably a non-event for all but the hard-core fans.  Even I, nuts as I am about this game, have trouble playing in 800x600 now when I could be playing Max Payne 2.  Still, I am out there a few hours per week for old times sake until I finally die of boredom or get distracted by a newer game.

November 19, 2003: 
I just realized it has been two weeks since I started this thread, and I have not played any other games during those two weeks.  Man, this game is addicting.  My ladder paladin (a zealot) is now level 28 in act 4.  But please tell me, why did I buy this high-powered P4-3GHz computer again?  I could have played Diablo II on a P3!!

December 1, 2003: 
Another update... My ladder paladin (Orcinwest) is now at level 54 in Nightmare act 3.  I found a really nice one-handed unique axe (Editor's note: Butcher's Pupil) on Saturday.  It quadrupled my damage!  I think the gear is much better in version 1.10, or maybe I am just lucky this time around.  The only enemy I fear these days is the lag monster.  I have been killed several times by this bad boy.

December 21, 2003: 
Sorry, but you have officially lost me. :-)

I have finally gotten my paladin into Hell difficulty (level 76), and it is really great.  The play balance is very good, hard but not frustrating.

Also, I have gotten enough decent items to join the trading circuit, and I found that they have fixed the economy in this patch too.  The currency is now runes, which is how it should have been all along.

I found a great necromancer shield, which unfortunately does me absolutely no good since I am a paladin.  So I traded it for a Lum rune.  (BTW it's ok if you are bored and stop reading now... I probably won't even notice...)  Then I shopped around for a really nice set of armor (Editor's Note: Griswold's Heart), and paid for it with my Lum rune.  No way bartering works in a game like this, because I never would have found someone with the armor who wanted the shield.  But a currency system allows for very effective trading.

So all of those other games will just have to wait.  I need to go now... got to do a few more Hell Countess runs before lunch. Need runes...

December 29, 2003: 
Woohoo... now level 82!  Got my end-game sword (Editor's Note: Lightsabre) too!  Off to do more "pit" runs.  What a great game! :-)

January 6, 2004: 
Reached level 86 on Sunday!  For the non-Diablo players out there, it takes 1,100,000,000 points to get to level 86.  Yes, that is BILLION.  That's a lot of left-clicking, folks.  That doesn't equal 1 billion kills, but it is probably in the tens of thousands and my character whacks them with a sword one at a time.  (Yes, I am nuts.)

This is the highest level character that I have played in my Diablo history.  I am just ready to take on the Hell difficulty Diablo, which is supposed to be very difficult to do alone (i.e. not in a party).  So naturally, I plan to do it alone. :-)

I am purposely playing slowly and gaining levels before moving on to the next area.  In the past, I played through the quests and found that I lost interest in the character quickly when I got to the end.  Therefore, I never gained enough experience levels to have a truly powerful character.  The slower advancement has worked out better for me as far as holding my interest, and I have a much stronger fighter to show for it.

I have also become a regular on the trading circuit, and I am getting close to a "middle income" account.  I have none of the big items yet, but I have enough resources to equip myself in a suitable manner.  After all, I am a Paladin and should not be hoarding wealth.  That is for the Barbarians and greedy Sorceress types.

For those who are still reading this thread, thank you for your patience and support.

January 22, 2004: 
FINALLY!!!  Orcinwest will now be known as Patriarch Orcinwest after his victory over Baal.  (Translation: I completed the game.)  The tally at the time of the promotion was level 87 with 1.31 billion points - gained a few million more since then by re-playing some of the fun areas.  It was an epic battle since the beefed-up Baal in v1.10 is a real pistol to kill.  And for the record, I did do it alone without dying.

There is still more to do since my character is not all that comfortable playing in the final areas.  I could improve my gear and make it easier to do magic find runs.  (Translation: Start endless new games playing the same areas over and over looking for better items with which to equip your character.)

And there is always the itch to try a different character...

But the bad news is that the cheaters and hackers have begun to encroach on the pristine ladder.  A couple of weeks ago there was a massive duping of high-level runes, which did a great deal of damage to the trading economy.  This week, there has been an exploit used to create a huge surplus of a very high-end and previously scarce item, and now everybody (except me because I refuse to use exploits) has one.

I see this as the beginning of the end, and I predict that it will only be another few weeks before the ladder is a stinkhole just like the realms.  (Translation: It won't be fun.)  People are idiots and cannot be trusted to play fair even when it doesn't count.  That's why online games will never hold much appeal for me.  I just don't like dealing with cheaters and rude people trying to take advantage of me.

February 17, 2004: 
It has been a while, so I thought it was time to post a brief update.  Orcinwest is closing in on level 90 now, and he just passed 1.5 billion points.  So for those who aren't counting, please note that it takes half as many points to go from level 86 to level 90 as it does from level 1 to level 86.  So yes, I am still playing a lot. :-)

PLUS... my necromancer, Orcula, has just finished normal difficulty at level 34.  He is a summoner, and I usually have an army of 12-15 minions out in front mowing down the opposition while I curse the bad guys and buff up the good guys.  It is quite a different experience from whacking every monster with my sword, and I am enjoying the variety of play.  I am anxious to see how he would fair in the hardest areas of the game, so that means another few weeks at least to get there.

I passed by the game section at CompUSA on Sunday, and I didn't see anything that made me want to stop playing D2.  So I expect this obsession to continue for a while longer.  I have three good friends who are playing D2 online also, so if/when they move on that will probably mean that I am close to the end myself.  It would be less fun to play alone all of the time.

March 8, 2004: 
Another update, as if anyone was reading this thread and really cared... hey, it lets people know I am still alive.

My necromancer, Orcula, is now level 80 (!!) and zooming through Hell difficulty.  Marching would be more precise, sort of like Sherman's march to the sea.  I typically have 20+ minions, and a lot of the time I don't even bother to check their status.  I just let them roam free, destroying whatever dares to come near them.  This build is a power-gamer's dream.

And if that were not enough, I have The Most Powerful Spell Ever Conceived By Mankind (TM)... Corpse Explosion.  It's big, it's bad, and it's messy.  Not for those with weak stomachs, but then marshalling around an army of undead is not pretty.

Corpse Explosion works like this.  You need a corpse.  That doesn't take long... see monster, kill monster.  Then you right-click on the corpse and BOOM.  The blood-and-guts explosion does damage equal to 60% of the corpse's hit points to all other enemies on the screen.  One more monster dies and the second explosion pretty much kills everybody else.  This makes for some pretty fast play.  I look forward to big boss packs now.  Who cares what harm they can do?  Two clicks and they will all be dead if I choose.  I toy with them for a while, and then put them out of their misery.  MUHAHAHAHA!!!

This character is something radically different from the hack-and-slash that I am used to playing, and it has been a fun experience.  There is nothing more fun than being in a public game with some Necro-newbies.  It goes something like this...

Newbie: LOL hey necro, where's your weapon?
Orcula: (amused silence)
Newbie2: WTF necro, those skeletons can't kill anything lol.
Orcula: (more silence - raises more skeletons - attacks pack of Death Lords)
Newbie: Wow too much stuff on the screen, necro.
Orcula: (raises some revived monsters to add to pack)
Newbie2: Too much lag, necro, get rid of those skels!!!
Orcula: (unsummons entire skeleton army)

Next, this message appears on screen:
Newbie was slain by Death Lord.
Newbie2 was slain by Death Lord.

Newbie: Necro, where's your army? Skellies, plz!!
Newbie2: Necro, can you help me get my gear?
Orcula: (amused silence)

Ahh, the joys of public battlenet. :-)

Next installment... Orcula finishes Hell difficulty and launches his career of magic-finding for fun and profit.  Stay tuned...

April 8, 2004: 
Wow, how time flies.  It has been a month since my last update?  Gosh, did I remember to go to work?  Oh well, who cares.  How are my characters doing?  OH, glad you asked!

Last time, we left Orcula cruising through hell difficulty.  Well, Patriarch Orcula is now level 88 and the master of all that is Diablo, including Baal.  He is by far the most powerful character that I have built, and he is a blast to play.  He gets his power and defense from his skills instead of specific equipment.  So I can load him up with 500% extra magic find, and carry the spoils of battle away in wheelbarrows.  Well, maybe not quite THAT much loot, but a lot more than I am used to getting anyway.

The best part of playing this character is meeting up with huge monster packs in the game's toughest areas.  The rest of my party is on the edge of their seats, clicking furiously, punching potions, sweating... Orcula casts a key curse or two on the pack and then annoys the entire party by chatting during the battle.  ROTFL!  Yes, I can actually type with both hands while fighting because my army is doing all of the heavy lifting on auto-pilot.  Even better when the remainder of the party retreats for their lives and I stand my ground, explode a couple of bosses, watch my minions slay the rest of the monsters, and then type, "ok kids you can come back now, the nasty monsters are dead."  MUHAHAHAHA!

(Note to all readers: This is Orcin's family... please don't disturb the patient.  We are praying that he will snap out of this soon.  Don't act like there is anything wrong because the shock of being jerked back to reality all at once might be too much for him.  Just smile and nod once in a while - he won't know the difference.)

There are a couple of monsters that give my army some trouble, so I do have to pay attention occasionally.  But most of the time, I can take a relaxing stroll through the end-game areas and concentrate on picking up the drops.  Did I mention how annoying this is to my other playing partners who are working hard to survive there?  Oh yeah, I guess I did.  Well, enough gloating then. :-)

Orcula was a fun build, but next I need something with a little more challenge.  I did a little checking around.  It seems that the bowazon has taken quite a nerf... NOBODY plays those any more LOL...  Oh yeah?  Meet Orchia, my new bowazon.  (Orchia was the name of my bow-wielding rogue character in classic Diablo, by the way.)

I have played a bowazon (it is an amazon that uses a bow duh) before in the prior versions, and frankly I was not very successful.  In fact, I was not able to finish the game with her.  So I couldn't do it before, and now they have made it harder.  Great, let's do it!  There is even more motivation in the fact that my paladin's favorite playing partner is (you guessed it) a bowazon named WandererEP that has finished the game solo.  If HE can do it...

There is one additional degree of difficulty... my own vanity.  Orchia is female, you understand.  So I can't pack on a bunch of heavy armor, it would make my @ss look fat!  And I can't wear one of those silly masks, I don't care how much life steal it has.  I need to wear a circlet so that my ponytail doesn't get messed up!  So every item not only needs to be functional, it has to pass the fashion police.  Laugh now... when I am slaughtering Baal and looking fresh as a daisy doing it, you won't be laughing then.

(Note to all readers: This is Orcin's family again... please just smile and nod... he doesn't realize how silly this is.)

Orchia is only level 40, and it is too early to predict success or failure.  The plan is sound and all is well so far.  I've got a great bow, and the color of my new armor really looks good on me!  Stay tuned for further reports.

      April 8, 2004, Jag posted this reply:
      Ok, I really think you have gone over the edge this time...

      Back away from the XPS, slowly, put down the mouse and repeat after me... "Diablo is not real, Diablo is not real..."

      How about a nice game of Ms. Pac Man??

June 8, 2004: 
Just a short update to mention that the trance was finally broken.

It was a great run for a game that is nearly five years old, but the end began when my primary partner (Editor's Note: WandererEP) dropped out to play another game.  Then my brother-in-law and his son started playing less and less, and the trading scene became pointless since my characters were already fully equipped.  It was only a matter of time until I lost the enthusiasm to log on to an empty "friend's list".

I am still trying to get that bowazon through the final section of the game, but the momentum is definitely broken now.  I am only playing one or two days per week and then only 30-45 minutes per session.  Any serious gamer knows that there is no way to make progress with that amount of time invested.  But I am not giving up entirely, and I suspect that sometime this summer there will be a final post to this thread to announce Orchia's matriarch title.

But if I do not return... R.I.P. my level 90 Paladin Orcinwest, my level 88 Necromancer Orcula, and my level 76 Amazon Orchia.

(Editor's Note: This was the final post in the thread.  The ladder season ended a few weeks later, and I started playing City of Heroes.  Orchia never made it to Matriarch.)

This section of my page serves to commemorate my best characters from the original Diablo and Diablo II.  For classic Diablo, I describe one character from each class, plus my variant "3@30" character, each of whom defeated Diablo in hell difficulty (solo multi-player).  For Diablo II, I present my favorite D2-LoD v1.09 single-player character plus my two best characters from the Battle.Net v1.10 season #1 ladder.  These characters represent some of my best hours spent playing any game, and as such I never tire of reading their stories or looking over their stats and gear.  They could bring back some memories for you as well, or stimulate you to take your character to new heights if you are still playing Diablo.  Either way, I hope you enjoy reading their tales.

The Original Orcin

Orcin was started from scratch as a pure character, after I had already played two warriors to over level 35 on Battle.net.  A "pure" character is one who has not been "aided" by any outside source.  Pure characters can not enter areas for which they do not qualify due to level; they can not accept items (even legit) from other characters; and they can not obtain elixirs or spellbooks from external sources.  He must also be played alone, by my own definition, since otherwise the character could rely on a stronger partner to earn his experience.

Most of Orcin's primary equipment was found in NM Hell, and had been obtained by the time he reached level 40.  The final piece was the Royal Circlet, which I got from an Advocate in the double lever room just after I reached level 41.  How do I know all this, you ask?  I kept a detailed log of each playing sessions.  Yes, that is REALLY nuts, but it's something that I had always wanted to do.  It was fun to look back in the log and remember how difficult an area seemed at the time, or see when and where I found a particular item.

A pure character can not cover up his weaknesses by transferring or duping items, so survival depends on effectively dealing with those weaknesses in the dungeon.  Orcin's primary weakness was his low resistances.  I achieved a higher armor class and damage with him than any other warrior I had played.  My HP and Mana were very good, and my DEX was high enough to block most attacks even in Hell/Hell.  However, I could not achieve all those attributes AND max even two resists at the same time.  So I always carried a variety of jewelry with me in the dungeon to boost the resist(s) I needed most at the time.  An Obsidian Amulet of the Zodiac would have solved this problem, but I never found one.

Once a Diablo character reaches a level in the high-30's, attributes are typically maxed and improvement becomes an equipment issue.  I looked for that Royal Circlet for a long time, but I managed to do quite well in the interim with an Awesome Great Helm of Precision.  I actually hated to stop wearing the A/P Helm because of the DEX boost I got, but the RC was just too good to pass up.  I also occasionally used a Helm of Sprits just for fun.  My primary armor was an Awesome Full Plate of Deflection AC170, with an Awesome Gothic Shield of the Tiger (AC44 +47HP) completing the "defensive" gear.  I never carried backup armor, because I found that I could usually recover my equipment quite easily without it.

I only used full yellow potions in my belt for emergencies, and relied on the more efficient healing spell between battles.  Any empty space in my pack was typically filled with full blue potions, but I didn't use too many because my primary sword was a King's Broad Sword of Vampires.  I used this weapon most of the time for two reasons.  It has a very high "To Hit" boost of +95%, which comes in quite handy down in H/H.  More importantly though, each hit restores a damage-equivalent amount of mana.  Using this sword and my level 15 healing spell, I could often clear entire levels without drinking a potion!  Of course, the Vampires sword did not stun-lock mages, so I also carried a Master's Bastard Sword of Haste for my spare.  I might have changed strategies if I had found a King's Sword of Haste, but the KSOV worked pretty well and it was a lot of fun to use.

I had two primary jewelry pieces which I almost never removed: a Crimson Amulet of the Zodiac +18 and a Crystal Ring of the Zodiac +19.  My second ring was usually an Ivory Ring of the Zodiac +19.  I substituted a Crimson Ring of the Zodiac +20 when no witches or maws were present, or a Cobalt Ring of the Heavens for Vizier and his gang.  I used a Gold Ring of the Stars instead of the Crystal Zod with my Master's Haste sword on level 16.  My "item recovery" jewels included a Crystal Amulet of the Stars, a Serpent's Ring of the Zodiac, and a Pearl Ring of the Dark (definitely not a cursed item!).

I played this character constantly for about six weeks in late 1998.  My original goal was to reach level 42, which would have been higher than any of my previous characters.  I beat that by a good margin.  Orcin was certainly my best and favorite character.  Here are Orcin's stats in his usual configuration.

Primary Equipment Awesome Full Plate of Deflection Royal Circlet Awesome Gothic Shield of Tiger King's Broad Sword of Vampires Crimson Amulet of the Zodiac Crystal Ring of the Zodiac Ivory Ring of the Zodiac Alternate Equipment Master's Bastard Sword of Haste Crimson Ring of the Zodiac Cobalt Ring of the Heavens Gold Ring of the Stars Recovery Jewels Crystal Amulet of the Stars Serpent's Ring of the Zodiac Pearl Ring of the Dark

Orcaun the Artillery Mage

Orcaun was a Sorcerer played using a style that has been labeled "Artillery Mage".  The Arty Mage prefers to maximize mana points and spell levels at the expense of all other attributes, including armor class.  This type of mage typically has all spells at level 15 or higher, and slings Fireball and Chain Lightning around without much regard for mana efficiency.

Alternate Sorcerer styles are called Battle Mage or Tank Mage.  They usually wear some form of full plate armor and sometimes mix in physical attacks.  The "Armored" Mage can afford to lose a few hit points and still survive, while the Arty Mage has to kill everything before it gets to him.  I prefer the more traditional style with a mage who relies on spells for both offense and defense.

My character had all the basic Artillery Mage gear.  I wore a Thinking Cap, with its durability raised to 21 via Hidden Shrines, to help get my spells to level 19.  My armor was Naj's Light Plate, and I used an Obsidian Large Shield (of Nothing) to maximize all resistances.  I typically equipped a Dreamflange, but I never attempted to hit anything other than a barrel or a statue with it.  I also carried an Obsidian Staff of Apocalypse for those rare occasions when I needed help with item recovery.

My jewelry was not exceptional.  I used a plain Amulet of Wizardry, a Dragon's Ring of Wizardry and a Dragon's Ring of Harmony.  The two prefixes boosted my mana by a total of 113, while the Harmony suffix allowed me to get out of stunlock once in a while.  I also carried a few spare prefixed Wizardry jewels in case I found that Arch-Angel's Staff of Wizardry that I always wanted, in which case I would have needed more resistance to replace the 40% resist all from my shield.

A sorcerer's primary weapon is his spellbook.  Most of my spells were maxed, except for Teleport at 14 and Chain Lightning, which I purposely held to level 12.  I typically set my hotkeys as follows; F5: Stone Curse, F6: Fireball, F7: Chain Lightning, F8: Teleport.  I changed Chain Lightning to Golem in H/H when I reached Laz's room, and I sometimes switched F5 from Stone Curse to Guardian, particularly against Lightning Demons.

Orcaun was my first pure MP character, and I played him solo all the way to his third dot at level 35.  Then I started taking him onto Battle.net a lot, and experimenting with different equipment setups.  I enjoyed playing him solo, and it was a lot of fun to test Wanderer's resistances in multi-player too ;-).  Here is Orcaun's character sheet in his primary Artillery Mage gear.

Primary Equipment Naj's Light Plate Thinking Cap Obsidian Large Shield Dreamflange Amulet of Wizardry Dragon's Ring of Wizardry Dragon's Ring of Harmony Alternate Equipment Obsidian Staff of Apocalypse Diamond Amulet of Wizardry Ruby Amulet of Wizardry Lapis Ring of Wizardry Drake's Ring of Wizardry

Orchia the Rogue

Orchia was the last of my three classic Diablo characters to be fully developed.  I had tried to play a Rogue on several occasions, but I typically bogged down around clevel 35 or so.  NM hell became too easy at that point, but most of the melee monsters in Hell difficulty were nearly impossible for me without a lot of Stone Curse.  I would soon grow tired of firing arrows at statues and give up.  My early attempts at melee with a Rogue were not very successful either, but I decided to give it another try.  It turns out that using a sword and shield does make melee levels easier.

Orchia always used Mana Shield, and saved slots #7 and #8 for one full yellow potion and an emergency MS scroll.  I always entered the dungeon wearing my bow gear, but I carried my weapon and shield just in case.  I moved cautiously until I determined the monster classes I was facing, then I adjusted my tactics and equipment accordingly.  If I found formidable melee monsters, then I usually switched to my weapon and shield to play the whole level.  If I found an easy melee monster and either witches or mages, then I stuck to the bow.  The tricky levels were those which included tough monsters of both types (example: level 15 with Azure Drakes and Soul Burners).

Mixed levels were probably the hardest type for a Rogue playing solo.  I did a lot of equipment switching on this type of level, using the appropriate gear for the predominant monster in the immediate vicinity while using Stone Curse (if necessary) to immobilize the others.  I walked slowly trying not to activate too many enemies at once, and retreated to a wall or corner for large packs of melee monsters to limit the number of attackers.

Level 16 in Hell difficulty was an interesting level.  I used Flame Wave to "test" for Knights in the area and draw them to me with my weapon and shield equipped.  After the Knights were dead, I would don my bow and clear the Advocates.  One or two stray Knights could be killed with the bow, but three or more would cause me to switch back to my weapon and shield while they approached.

I should also take a minute to explain my primary melee weapon.  The Civerb's Cudgel (CC) is a unique mace with +200% damage against demons.  That seems like no big deal (mace 1-8 + 200% = 3-24) except that it counts 200% of the TOTAL character damage, not just the damage of the weapon.  I am not sure if this was a bug or a "feature", but my Rogue did over 200 points of damage with each hit from the CC as opposed to roughly 80-100 with a good sword.  However, the CC did not deal a damage bonus against Lava Maws (they are animals, not demons), so I still carried a speed sword for use against them.  I switched to my Gold Amulet of Titans when using the CC on level 16, because my true melee To Hit % was only 60-75% against H/H Blood Knights unless I boosted it.

Orchia was a fun character to play, even though I was never totally satisfied with her equipment and stats.  The most glaring weakness was the lack of fast block capability, as I never found a Stormshield for her.  I would have also liked a higher DEX, but the prefixed (resist all) jewelry I had was not of the "plus-all" variety.  I considered myself lucky to have found the Obsidian Wiz and Jade Titans jewels with a pure character.  She certainly had enough gear to play H/H comfortably anyway.  Here are Orchia's character screens in her two primary configurations.

Weapon / Shield Setup Awesome Full Plate of Harmony Royal Circlet Awesome Gothic Shield Civerb's Cudgel Jade Amulet of Titans Ring of the Zodiac +19 Obsidian Ring of Wizardry Alternate Equipment Lord's Broad Sword of Speed Gold Amulet of Titans Garnet Ring of the Zodiac +16 Recovery Equipment Some plain Zods and Wiz jewels Whatever else I find in the game

Bow Setup Awesome Full Plate of Harmony Royal Circlet Long War Bow of Swiftness Jade Amulet of Titans Ring of the Zodiac +19 Obsidian Ring of Wizardry Other Gear Eaglehorn

A Paladin Variant's 3@30 Run

Sir`Orcin`PLD is a "variant" character.  I created the Paladin variant because I was bored with playing my conventional warrior, and I wanted to try a more restrictive style of play.  I also wanted to try for three dots the hard way, and this seemed like a good opportunity.  In a 3@30 run, a character attempts to kill Diablo in Hell difficulty at the earliest opportunity (you cannot enter Hell difficulty before character level 30), and without having killed Diablo on either Normal or Nightmare.  Here is the story of Sir Orcin's adventure.

A 3@30 run with this variant was probably harder than a normal warrior.  Having said that, I was very lucky in terms of monster population, room layout, and stair placement.  One of the variant rules called for me to tithe 10% of my gold on each town visit, so perhaps that was the reason for my good fortune!  I prepared by making numerous normal Laz runs, so my gear was not too bad.  I found a few key items, most important being a King's Bastard Sword (no suffix) and a Drake's Ring of the Heavens.  Going into the run, I judged myself to have three key strengths: resistance at 71% all, mana of 164, and level 4 stone curse (three casts per mana ball).  These advantages helped greatly against witches and mages, which was fortunate because I saw a lot of them.

Again, this was a pure character with gold and shrine restrictions, so only a few elixirs were consumed and no attribute shrines were used.  As you can see, I was indeed lucky to have found this type of equipment at character level 30.

THE RUN

Level 13:  I entered from town into the same room with the level 12 stairs, and it was completely empty.  I moved toward the door on the right side of the area, and caught a glimpse of the down stairs in the adjacent room.  There were no monsters between me and the stairs, so I escaped without incident.  (I told you this was a lucky run!)  Total kills: zero.

Level 14: Snow Witches and Magistrates
I had to clear most of this level before finding the stairs, but it was not too difficult.  I stoned the witches, and ignored the mages unless they were in my way.  I did go out of my way to kill Dreadjudge, and died one time in a flurry of charged bolt and bloodstars.  Total kills: 65 Snow Witches, 23 Magistrates, and 1 Unique.

Level 15: Balrogs and Hell Spawn
I entered in the room to the clockwise side of Laz, and moved immediately toward his area.  There was a narrow corridor connecting the two rooms, and it contained a couple of Balrogs that were easily dispatched after being stoned.  But upon entering the area containing Laz's chamber, I woke up a pack of four Hell Spawn.  I retreated around the corner to the entry room, and stoned three as they appeared.  However, I made the mistake of going for the first one I stoned.  I failed to kill her before she woke up, and I did not want to retreat any further and risk entering an area that I had not cleared.  At that point I basically got flustered trying to stone the group again and died.

I had a portal available, but it was in that same general area.  My recovery run with mostly reading gear was unsuccessful, as I could only stone one at a time and had only 33% resist magic.  A very ugly and time-consuming recovery sequence ensued in which I would enter the level naked and try to pick up some gear while drinking a few reds.  Fortunately, the noise from me hitting the floor numerous times did not wake up any additional monsters.  I finally recovered all of my main gear and, with my concentration fully restored, I quickly ended the lives of those taunting Hell Spawn.

Red Vex and Blackjade were easy, but I died several times while fighting Laz and his partners.  My level 1 Golem was basically no help, so I just charged in and stoned / whacked / restarted in town until I had cleared the room.  I had to slowly clear two of the three remaining rooms to find the pentagram, as I did not have the Teleport spell.  Total kills: 35 Hell Spawn, 15 Balrogs, 5 Advocates, 3 Uniques (did not find Bloodlust), and me too many times to count.

Level 16: The usual cast of characters
The level 16 layout was the "corridor" variety, and I entered in the bottom half.  I slowly cleared the area directly below Diablo's room, and enough of the other side to TK the levers.  I scattered a backpack full of assorted potions in the corridor, and then packed.  I lured Diablo out with a couple of Holy Bolts, and set up shop in the corridor with my back against the wall.  He slid into position exactly where I wanted him, and I managed to catch him in a firewall "-x-".  It only took three full yellows worth of my King's Sword to finish the job.  Total kills: 12 Advocates, 10 Blood Knights, and one big red boss.

I got absolutely nothing out of the game except my three dots, but it was fun to pop into the "variants" channel afterwards to look at my reward.

Patriarch Orcin

My best Lord of Destruction v1.09 character was this single-player Paladin, Orcin, who started his quest on August 21, 2001, and retired as Patriarch Orcin on New Years Eve of 2001.  He went out in a blaze of glory by defeating Baal for the title at the perfectly-timed stroke of midnight, and was never heard from again.  He was a zealot, using Zeal and Fanaticism for most situations.  I was not into min/max'ing this character, and I did not have access to a variety of twink equipment in the single-player world.  Therefore, he was quite a challenge to play in Act 5 Hell, and I will always have a sentimental attachment to him.  Here is Orcin's character screen and gear description, with key attributes of each equipment item noted (purple text).

Primary Equipment Godly Ornate Plate of Anime    Def 1334, Damage -14 Rare Giant Conch (Full Helm)    Def 243, +20% FHR, +82% AR Akaran Rondache w/ 4PD's    Def 122, +118 all resists Merciless Phase Blade of Quickness    Damage 64-81, +40% speed,    +14% life steal (2 sockets) Crafted Vampirebone Gloves    +3% life & mana steal    Crushing Blow 10% chance Wilhelm's Pride Battle Belt    +5% life & mana steal Infernostride Demonhide Boots    +10% max fire resist Amulet of Life Everlasting    Damage Reduced by 23 Rare Ring (5% life steal, +116 AR) Safety Crafted Ring (+119 AR) A backpack full of Charms Alternate Equipment Protector Shield w/ 4PD's    Def 142, +114 all resists Cruel Mythical Sword of Alacrity    Damage 159-198, +20% speed

Patriarch Orcinwest

If you read my blog at the start of this page, then you already know something about Orcinwest.  The first thing that you might notice is that he has more than twice as many points as his level 82 brother above.  It is also interesting to compare things like the damage, attack rating, and life.  Orcinwest is definitely a more powerful and well-traveled character.

He was named Orcinwest because he played on the U.S. West server, and the name Orcin had already been used there.  He lived in the multi-player world of Battle.net, and was therefore able to accumulate far better equipment through trading and magic-finding.  He was not the richest character around, however; and he did not have the finest gear available.  It would probably be considered upper middle-class by most, but it was by far the best that I ever had and plenty to finish the game with ease.

If you were to strip me of all my gear and allow me to keep only one item, it would be the Dracul's Grasp unique gloves.  These gloves have a 5% chance to trigger a necromancer curse called Life Tap, which provides 50% life steal!  Using Zeal, which hits several times per second, and a sword that has nearly 100% chance to hit, it would only take a second or two for the curse to kick in.  The huge percentage of life steal on my damage output made me (and my mercenary) virtually invincible.  Life Tap even works against monsters from whom you normally cannot "leech".  Rather than write a guide for a version 1.10 paladin, I will just tell you to do whatever is necessary to get your hands on these gloves asap after reaching the level 76 requirement.

Of all of my Diablo characters, Orcinwest was my highest in level, and my favorite to play.  A couple of other paladin friends convinced me to try the "damage reduced" approach, and I ended up really liking the appearance of the Shaftstop/Shako armor combination.  When I joined strangers in a party, I often got questioned about why I didn't use XYZ armor or a "better" weapon.  Later, when I was the last one standing, they were asking how I survived those lightning monsters and why my merc was so strong compared to theirs. :-)

Primary Equipment Shaftstop (upgraded & skt'd w/ptopaz)    Def 1342, Damage -30%, +24% MF Harlequin Crest "Shako" (skt'd w/ptopaz)    +2 All Skills, Damage -10%, +74% MF Vortex Shield (skt'd w/ 4PD's)    Def 224, +119% all resists Lightsabre Phase Blade (skt'd w/amn)    Ignore Target Defense, +20% attack speed,    Lightning Absorb 25%, +7% life & mana steal Dracul's Grasp Gloves    +9% life steal, Triggers Life Tap!! Verdungo's Belt    Damage -12%, +102 Life, Repl Life +12 Gore Riders Boots    Triggers Deadly Strike and Crushing Blow Highlord's Wrath Amulet    +1 All Skills, Triggers Deadly Strike Rare Ring  +8% life steal, +114 AR Raven Frost Ring  +233 AR, Cannot Be Frozen Charms  +122 Life, +Resists, +67% MF Mercenary's Equipment Vampire Gaze    Damage -18%, +8% life steal Duriel's Shell    +90 Life, +20% All Resists, Cannot Be Frozen Bonehew Poleaxe  +14% life steal

Patriarch Orcula

Last but not least, we have Orcula the Summoner.  There is nothing really flashy about his stats below, but you can't see the key attribute.  He wears +500% magic find!  For those who don't know, that means that he has a 500% better chance to find a valuable item when he kills a monster or opens a chest.  So if the normal chance is 1%, then his chance is 5%.  He became my treasure hunter, and we found a LOT of it.

He was pretty much invincible, since the monster would have to kill and/or get past 25 of my minions to get to me.  That rarely happened. :-)  As you may have read in my blog above, I delighted in using the keyboard to chat during the battle while my teammates were frantically mouse-clicking to stay alive.  There was more than one occasion when my minions and I were the last ones standing.  A few monsters that cast curses on my minions gave me a lot of trouble, so it wasn't all smooth sailing.  But on magic-find runs, I usually just avoided them.

He was also a great Baal-killer, as I would just surround him with minions and my mercenary would beat him down with his Crushing Blow (reduces enemy health by 12.5% per hit).  I usually got 3-4 unique items from every Baal run, which made me act a little like Pavlov's famous dog.

Primary Equipment Skullder's Ire (skt'd w/ptopaz)    +1 All Skills, +134% MF Harlequin Crest "Shako" (skt'd w/ptopaz)    +2 All Skills, +74% MF Homunculus Shrunken Head (skt'd w/PD)    +2 All Skills, +2 Curses, +59% All Resists Blade of Ali Baba (skt'd w/rare jewels)    +106% MF, who cares what else Trang-Oul's (set) Gloves    +2 Curses, Casts Lvl 18 Fireball w/belt Trang-Oul's (set) Belt    +66 Life, +48 Mana, Repl Mana +15% w/gloves War Travelers Boots    +30 Life, +35% MF Magic Amulet  +21% All Resists, +24% MF Magic Ring  +19% Fire Resist, +22% MF Magic Ring  +10% All Resists, +25% MF Charms  +Life, +Mana, +Resists, +80% MF Mercenary's Equipment Guillame's Face    35% Chance to Trigger Crushing Blow Gladiator's Bane    Def 1471, Cannot Be Frozen Tomb Reaver Poleaxe     +14% life steal, +35% All Resists, +74% MF

Don't you just hate it when you enter a level in caves, and right
there at the entrance is a bunch of Illusion Weavers... or Diablo?

Is that Rogue or Rouge?

You can't do something obsessively for almost three years and not come away with a few good stories.  Like the time I set out to play an immortal rogue.  An immortal character is one who hasn't died.  No reloading from a saved game... no restarting in town.  You die, that's it.  Trash the character and find something else to do.  Sadly, my immortal rogue had a lifespan of only a few minutes, because she was killed in the first room on level 1 by an exploding barrel.  Well, it wasn't very funny at the time.

Then there was the time that Harlott, who is a rogue played by my friend Tim, was attacked in a public game and lost all of his equipment to a thieving PK.  Harlott had no way to physically fight back, but he was not totally defenseless.  Pretending to be a young girl from France, "she" appealed to the base instincts of the PK and successfully persuaded him to return all of "her" equipment.  "Please, monsieur... do not leave me weeth notheeng."  Oooh, la, la!

A Rant About Cheating On Battle.net

It all starts very innocently.  A newbie logs on to Battle.net, and joins a beginner game or plays with a more experienced friend.  Most people naturally want to be helpful and, not wanting to see a newbie struggle and suffer, they offer him some hand-me-down armor or an extra Ring of the Heavens.  The newbie doesn't want to be rude or unappreciative, so the gift is accepted.  This person has now entered the edge of the vortex, and begins a cycle which will eventually ruin the game for him.

The newbie enters the dungeon with the ability to play the church levels with impunity.  He fails to gain a healthy respect for Unique monsters and their pack, and his overconfidence leaves him vulnerable when he enters the Catacombs and meets a creature like Foulwing.  Quick and overwhelming defeat leads the newbie to another crossroads.  Unfortunately, many people choose the path to the darkside: trainers and/or duped equipment.  Ha!  Take that, Foulwing.  And that's it... game over.  This person never learns to play the game effectively and, without the excitement of potential death, soon tires of the clickfest and drops the game entirely.  "Diablo sucks!"  No, that's wrong, my friend.  Cheating sucks!

I have heard all the "pro-cheating" arguments.  "I paid for the game so I should be able to play it any way I want."  Ok, sure.  Just don't come whining to me about the game being lame and boring.  And don't boast about your level 50 character with the impossible Godly Full Plate of Whale either.  "But I'm not hurting anyone else."  Right.  Cheating PK's totally destroyed the multiplayer environment on Battle.net.  There is no way to justify ruining other people's fun in the name of your own.  If the cheaters and their friends want to start a private game and kill each other for hours, that's fine.  But there wouldn't be any point in that, now would there?

So when Diablo II is FINALLY released, and Raymond Tan, Bobbafett, and others like them have flooded the internet with their insidious trainers and hacks, and "friendly" people are dropping Great Rings of Whatever at your feet by the bagfull... JUST SAY NO!!!  You'll be glad you did.

Editor's note:  This article was orginally published long before the release of Diablo II.  From the looks of the Battle.net scene today, apparently no one listened *sigh*.

Let's just go see Laz real quick, and then we'll call it a night.

Finally, I remember the time that a certain renegade rogue and I spent several hours trying to recover our best equipment from a very large pack of monsters on H/H level 15.  I believe there were over 50 different varieties in that room.  Well, it seemed like it anyway.  If I recall correctly, the rogue (you know who you are!) charged blindly into a room and, after being completely overwhelmed, decided to make matters worse by circling into the next room and bringing in that bunch too.

I was so overjoyed by the ensuing events that I decided to write a little story about the two characters.  I guess this article should really be posted at "Ogden's Tavern", but I have posted it here instead.  Diablo veterans will recognize this as a challenge to do a 3@30 "Live Off The Land" run with a couple of strange variant rules thrown in for good measure.

Orcin and Wanderer

Orcin swallowed a last shot of Ogden's strongest elixir, and slid several gold coins across the bar toward Gillian.  His partner motioned for them to leave and, without waiting for acknowledgment, charged for the door.  Orcin hesitated for just a moment, pondering the ramifications of following this rogue into the labyrinth.  Wanderer could be impulsive at times, and they would be embarking on this quest together without the luxury and relative safety of premium equipment.

Well, it was a little late to be concerned about that now.  After all, Orcin had approached the rogue with the idea for this quest in the first place.  Now it was time to put up or shut up.  So Orcin hurried for the door and scanned the horizon for his companion, who was now running down the path to the church entrance.  Wanderer grunted, "Yeah, we'll avenge your death, old man" as she bolted through the door with Orcin on her heels.

This quest was to be their greatest adventure.  They would assault the legendary Monastery at Tristram with the crudest equipment, a few potions, and 100 gold coins each.  The pair would attempt to ascend the ranks of experience to the 30th level with only the spoils of their current adventure to aid them, and without having faced Diablo in battle.  The final goal would be to confront and slay the Dark Lord in his most powerful form before gaining another rank.  Thus, they would have earned the symbolic three-dot emblem at the earliest possible level of experience.

Orcin's vision for the quest had also foreseen that, if their mission were deemed to be a noble one, they would each be granted a piece of jewelry encrusted with the sign of the Heavens or perhaps even the Zodiac.  These "quest" jewels would be found in the dungeon at an unknown time and place, and would provide each of them with the necessary attributes to complete the quest.  In order to demonstrate their faith in the vision, they must each keep and wear the first piece of jewelry found along the way, only to be replaced with the quest jewel at the appropriate moment.

Wanderer had listened to this last element with incredulity.  "What kind of elixir were you consuming when you had this 'vision' of yours", she snorted.  "Well, no matter.  I can defeat these pitiful demons under any conditions you might name."  Then she gave Orcin an icy stare that she typically reserved for large groups of Azure Drakes, and began to speak in a low hiss.  "But if the first ring that I get is cursed, you had better hope that I find this quest jewel before you do.  Else I may grow impatient and slice yours from your hand while you sleep!"  Orcin had heard bravado like this from her before, and he knew that she would not follow through with a threat like that.  At least he was pretty sure that she wouldn't.

The pair turned their attention to the dark dungeon which now lay before them, and Orcin muttered, "The sanctity of this place has been fouled."  And with that, the journey began.

Wanderer got distracted and retired several months later; however, Sir'Orcin'PLD took up and completed the quest (see Character Gallery).

The Adventures of Max

My sister, Patty, wanted to try Diablo II, but she had no clue where to begin.  I suggested she play a Paladin, since I could give her hints and advice.  I gave her a table showing where to put her level-up points through level 40 or so, a few hours of coaching in the Blood Moor, and off she went to clear the Den of Evil.  Six months and several e-mails later, the following story appeared on DiabloII.net:

Proof positive that "Orcin's Paladin Guide" can make anyone a hero!  It is also an good example of what can be accomplished if you simply try.  To quote Patty directly, "Getting clobbered and picking yourself up again builds character, right?"  No cheat codes, twinking, or turbos were used in the making of this legend, either.  There is no fun in making it too easy... the value is in the journey.

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