CdMagicFind
13-01-2008, 00:32
Changed it since it hasn't been updated since Jan 12, 08. The new style, this site finally got spoilers.
Version 3 -- Redid some organization
- Rare evaluation link
- still needing other informational links (blizz sorc, more comprehensive rare evaluation)
===-----===
1. Why
===-----=== I'll begin with why you should read this. It's a quick guide that will help you get used to classic on battle.net. It assumes some generic DII knowledge by the way.
Classic is a complete, different world of the game. The basic goal of the guide is to give you an idea of what classic really is as well as an idea of how you would go about starting it.
===-----===
1a. Differences
===-----=== gameplay -
- LoD is more of a rush through the game by high levels and without them, it's pretty hard to get started. In classic, people are at the same level as the area, and clear it, much more often. When leveling a character, the character to be leveled is more often the one who's actually doing the fighting.
community -
- The community of classic reminds me a lot of exactly what DII is compared to battle.net. People talk more often, play through the game, and are generally at least a bit more friendly. Take into account the fact that the community is smaller and has a section for it on DII. Often any ideas by players are reflected greatly in the actual game. A build you come up with could easily become a new cookie cutter.
technical -
- The most obvious differences here are:
a) no runewords, charms; less uniques/sets; no mercenary equipping (less overpowered builds)
b) no Act V (slower leveling)
c) no druid/assassin class (less builds)
the following threads add more to this.
differences (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=272237http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=272237)
why classic (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=583900)
===-----===
2. Getting Started
===-----=== This is what most classic guides seem to completely lack. So you want to start classic, usually either for a change of pace or to rush without the level requirement or glitching, but you have no idea how to.
The main (best) builds to begin with (imo) are:
a) MF (Orb) Sorc
Easily the better of the two MF characters, but only in my opinion. They can use easily found set items or even uniques to kill effectively. Note static can drop a boss to a sliver even in hell mode.
b) MF (WW) Barb
The only other real option in MFing to start out imo. They kill the super unique mobs while sorcs kill the bosses. Unfortunately, though they use easily found gear as well, balancing resist and leeches can be difficult on a budget.
c) CS (Blizzard) Sorc
Arguably the easiest to level of all characters. You can level up Ice Blast to help level early on as well as run a few MF targets easily.
c) Chanter
A somewhat obscure build to start with, it's easily one of the best choices. A chanter (somewhat rare in LoD) is a sorceress based on the fire skill enchant which can be used on low level characters to kill tougher mobs. A chanter's main purpose as a beginning character is to easily level more characters. Makes sense, right? They level relatively quickly once they get splash damage (ravenclaw) and don't need to kill effectively anyway, because they only serve as a utility later.
===-----
Leveling
===-----
The first step to building up a character is usually leveling it to a decent level. Note that these are the universal guidelines, and some builds are better off with specialized plans.
Without enchant -
1-5 = blood moor, den of evil, cold plains
5-15 = tristram
16-19 = tomb of tal rasha
20-25 = norm cows
25-30 = nm cows
25-40 = nm cs (chaos sanctuary)
25+ = hell cs
With enchant -
1-12 = countess/tower
12~15 = catacombs
rest is the same
*Looting cow games helps early on to get a lot of gold to shop.
*With enchant it is noteable that you might not want to be rushed already when cowing.
guide to cow king (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=341175)
*Urdars give in River of Flame give good exp until level 92. Special venom lords (SV) give good exp in CS. Not prepopping seals (hitting all five before the bosses are killed) helps because minions give as much exp as the bosses themselves.
*Chaos Sanctuary is the baal run of classic in a sense. You'll want to know how to act in one. Barbs usually bo at River WP once the run is established. Sorcs usually tele and hit the seals. Sometimes you should let a hammer field be set up before hitting the boss seal. Paladins do the general killing in hell mode. They use Redemption so try not to overeat corpses. And experience shrines are only for the highest level in hell mode.
===-----
MF targets
===-----
Just a listing to help set a sort of guideline as well. Barbs can pop super uniques so that makes them special.
Rakanishu - mostly for barbs, relatively easy
Boneash - inner cloister's exit, relatively hard area
Andariel - probably the hardest boss in the game imo, drops decently as long as she doesn't die near a chest, be sure to glitch
Fireeye - act 2 arcane sanctuary's portal back, relatively easy
Flayer Jungle - mostly for barbs, helps to level and has a lot of champion mobs
Stormtree - between Flayer and Lower Kurast, relatively hard
Travincal - imo the hardest area in the game, they're pretty glitchy and drop good gold/rares
Mephisto - most common target as always, read about glitching him, drops well
Chaos Sanctuary - drops a good amount of rares, 3 super uniques, relatively hard
Diablo - only boss to drop +2 skill amulets, drops well
===-----===
2a. Itamz
===-----=== this thread gives an outline -
Orphan's Item Mod List (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=435372)
Items are based on sort of a tier system.
1) PGems are the rock bottom of it.
2) Shard-worthy items include set pieces (iratha's)
3) Gull-worthy items include decent rares and other desirable uniques.
4) SoJ class items include good rares.
5) Godly rares are things not commonly traded for even SoJ's.
===-----
rares -
===-----
Rares are the basis of better gear set-ups. These are generally your target for mfing.
(listed are desirable mods for certain item bases)
Helmets - FHR (10), Life (max is 40), Resist (max is 30, preferrable above 20, no poison)
Armors - FHR (10, 17, 24), Life (max is 60), Resist (same as above), strength (up to 15), dex (up to 10)
Shields - FHR (10, 17), increased blocking (10, 20), prismatic (up to 20, stack raises value), +paladin (1, 2), ed (only on higher defense shields, up to 100)
Gloves - strength (up to 9), dex (up to 15), resist (above), ed (above), ias (20), leeches (up to 3)
Belts - FHR (10, 17, 24), Life (max is 60), Resist (above), strength (20)
Boots - FHR (10), FRW (10, 20, 30), Resist (above, up to 40), dex (up to 9)
Amulets - +skills (1, 2), prismatic (up to 20), str (up to 20), dex (up to 20), life (up to 60), mana (don't know..), fcr (10)
Rings - resists (above), str/dex (up to 15), life (up to 40), fcr (10)
Martels, Ancient Axe, Executioner Sword, Lance - +barb (1, 2), ed (up to 200), ar (up to 300), -req (20, 30), elemental damages
Battle Hammer, Naga, Flail - same as above and +din (1, 2), ias (40), minus barb skills on flail
Rune/Gothic Bow - same as above minus skills, ias goes to 20, +zon (1, 2)
*Martel and BH are particularly valuable.
Rare Evaluation Part 1 (http://forums.diabloii.net/showpost.php?p=6130277&postcount=10)
Rare Evaluation Part 2 (http://forums.diabloii.net/showpost.php?p=6130512&postcount=12)
===-----
uniques -
===-----Only an estimate. But this is the basis of item value.
2) Shard (unique blade) level - iratha's finery, angelic raiment
3) Gull-level - goldskin, hotspur, silks of the victor
4) SoJ-level - only rares, relatively good
akukami's item evaluation guide (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=604621)===-----===
2b. Charz
===-----=== The basis of stats is this -
Strength - as low as possible (often not base though), exception is barbs which may put some for damage
Dexterity - as low as possible, often times if not always base
Vitality - the rest
*dex doesn't affect block
----- ----- -----
Only the most cc builds listed.
mf barb - ww mace (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=606771)
mf sorc - orb, teleport (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=606724)
mf zon - lf (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=406252)
mf din - hammer (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=341853)
chanter (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=607845)
more (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=611653)
===-----===
3. Shout Outs
===-----===WarlockCC - yes, first on the list. Imo the coolest mod for actually responding in help threads, being relatively active in-game as well as on the site, and being easy to talk to.
Me - yeah. I wrote the chanter guide so nheh.
Anybody in links - yeap
Squiggle - generally helpful
Demek - comments helped with second version
Akukami - pretty much made a foundation for classic and made the glitcher sorc popular
Version 3 -- Redid some organization
- Rare evaluation link
- still needing other informational links (blizz sorc, more comprehensive rare evaluation)
===-----===
1. Why
===-----=== I'll begin with why you should read this. It's a quick guide that will help you get used to classic on battle.net. It assumes some generic DII knowledge by the way.
Classic is a complete, different world of the game. The basic goal of the guide is to give you an idea of what classic really is as well as an idea of how you would go about starting it.
===-----===
1a. Differences
===-----=== gameplay -
- LoD is more of a rush through the game by high levels and without them, it's pretty hard to get started. In classic, people are at the same level as the area, and clear it, much more often. When leveling a character, the character to be leveled is more often the one who's actually doing the fighting.
community -
- The community of classic reminds me a lot of exactly what DII is compared to battle.net. People talk more often, play through the game, and are generally at least a bit more friendly. Take into account the fact that the community is smaller and has a section for it on DII. Often any ideas by players are reflected greatly in the actual game. A build you come up with could easily become a new cookie cutter.
technical -
- The most obvious differences here are:
a) no runewords, charms; less uniques/sets; no mercenary equipping (less overpowered builds)
b) no Act V (slower leveling)
c) no druid/assassin class (less builds)
the following threads add more to this.
differences (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=272237http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=272237)
why classic (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=583900)
===-----===
2. Getting Started
===-----=== This is what most classic guides seem to completely lack. So you want to start classic, usually either for a change of pace or to rush without the level requirement or glitching, but you have no idea how to.
The main (best) builds to begin with (imo) are:
a) MF (Orb) Sorc
Easily the better of the two MF characters, but only in my opinion. They can use easily found set items or even uniques to kill effectively. Note static can drop a boss to a sliver even in hell mode.
b) MF (WW) Barb
The only other real option in MFing to start out imo. They kill the super unique mobs while sorcs kill the bosses. Unfortunately, though they use easily found gear as well, balancing resist and leeches can be difficult on a budget.
c) CS (Blizzard) Sorc
Arguably the easiest to level of all characters. You can level up Ice Blast to help level early on as well as run a few MF targets easily.
c) Chanter
A somewhat obscure build to start with, it's easily one of the best choices. A chanter (somewhat rare in LoD) is a sorceress based on the fire skill enchant which can be used on low level characters to kill tougher mobs. A chanter's main purpose as a beginning character is to easily level more characters. Makes sense, right? They level relatively quickly once they get splash damage (ravenclaw) and don't need to kill effectively anyway, because they only serve as a utility later.
===-----
Leveling
===-----
The first step to building up a character is usually leveling it to a decent level. Note that these are the universal guidelines, and some builds are better off with specialized plans.
Without enchant -
1-5 = blood moor, den of evil, cold plains
5-15 = tristram
16-19 = tomb of tal rasha
20-25 = norm cows
25-30 = nm cows
25-40 = nm cs (chaos sanctuary)
25+ = hell cs
With enchant -
1-12 = countess/tower
12~15 = catacombs
rest is the same
*Looting cow games helps early on to get a lot of gold to shop.
*With enchant it is noteable that you might not want to be rushed already when cowing.
guide to cow king (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=341175)
*Urdars give in River of Flame give good exp until level 92. Special venom lords (SV) give good exp in CS. Not prepopping seals (hitting all five before the bosses are killed) helps because minions give as much exp as the bosses themselves.
*Chaos Sanctuary is the baal run of classic in a sense. You'll want to know how to act in one. Barbs usually bo at River WP once the run is established. Sorcs usually tele and hit the seals. Sometimes you should let a hammer field be set up before hitting the boss seal. Paladins do the general killing in hell mode. They use Redemption so try not to overeat corpses. And experience shrines are only for the highest level in hell mode.
===-----
MF targets
===-----
Just a listing to help set a sort of guideline as well. Barbs can pop super uniques so that makes them special.
Rakanishu - mostly for barbs, relatively easy
Boneash - inner cloister's exit, relatively hard area
Andariel - probably the hardest boss in the game imo, drops decently as long as she doesn't die near a chest, be sure to glitch
Fireeye - act 2 arcane sanctuary's portal back, relatively easy
Flayer Jungle - mostly for barbs, helps to level and has a lot of champion mobs
Stormtree - between Flayer and Lower Kurast, relatively hard
Travincal - imo the hardest area in the game, they're pretty glitchy and drop good gold/rares
Mephisto - most common target as always, read about glitching him, drops well
Chaos Sanctuary - drops a good amount of rares, 3 super uniques, relatively hard
Diablo - only boss to drop +2 skill amulets, drops well
===-----===
2a. Itamz
===-----=== this thread gives an outline -
Orphan's Item Mod List (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=435372)
Items are based on sort of a tier system.
1) PGems are the rock bottom of it.
2) Shard-worthy items include set pieces (iratha's)
3) Gull-worthy items include decent rares and other desirable uniques.
4) SoJ class items include good rares.
5) Godly rares are things not commonly traded for even SoJ's.
===-----
rares -
===-----
Rares are the basis of better gear set-ups. These are generally your target for mfing.
(listed are desirable mods for certain item bases)
Helmets - FHR (10), Life (max is 40), Resist (max is 30, preferrable above 20, no poison)
Armors - FHR (10, 17, 24), Life (max is 60), Resist (same as above), strength (up to 15), dex (up to 10)
Shields - FHR (10, 17), increased blocking (10, 20), prismatic (up to 20, stack raises value), +paladin (1, 2), ed (only on higher defense shields, up to 100)
Gloves - strength (up to 9), dex (up to 15), resist (above), ed (above), ias (20), leeches (up to 3)
Belts - FHR (10, 17, 24), Life (max is 60), Resist (above), strength (20)
Boots - FHR (10), FRW (10, 20, 30), Resist (above, up to 40), dex (up to 9)
Amulets - +skills (1, 2), prismatic (up to 20), str (up to 20), dex (up to 20), life (up to 60), mana (don't know..), fcr (10)
Rings - resists (above), str/dex (up to 15), life (up to 40), fcr (10)
Martels, Ancient Axe, Executioner Sword, Lance - +barb (1, 2), ed (up to 200), ar (up to 300), -req (20, 30), elemental damages
Battle Hammer, Naga, Flail - same as above and +din (1, 2), ias (40), minus barb skills on flail
Rune/Gothic Bow - same as above minus skills, ias goes to 20, +zon (1, 2)
*Martel and BH are particularly valuable.
Rare Evaluation Part 1 (http://forums.diabloii.net/showpost.php?p=6130277&postcount=10)
Rare Evaluation Part 2 (http://forums.diabloii.net/showpost.php?p=6130512&postcount=12)
===-----
uniques -
===-----Only an estimate. But this is the basis of item value.
2) Shard (unique blade) level - iratha's finery, angelic raiment
3) Gull-level - goldskin, hotspur, silks of the victor
4) SoJ-level - only rares, relatively good
akukami's item evaluation guide (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=604621)===-----===
2b. Charz
===-----=== The basis of stats is this -
Strength - as low as possible (often not base though), exception is barbs which may put some for damage
Dexterity - as low as possible, often times if not always base
Vitality - the rest
*dex doesn't affect block
----- ----- -----
Only the most cc builds listed.
mf barb - ww mace (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=606771)
mf sorc - orb, teleport (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=606724)
mf zon - lf (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=406252)
mf din - hammer (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=341853)
chanter (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=607845)
more (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=611653)
===-----===
3. Shout Outs
===-----===WarlockCC - yes, first on the list. Imo the coolest mod for actually responding in help threads, being relatively active in-game as well as on the site, and being easy to talk to.
Me - yeah. I wrote the chanter guide so nheh.
Anybody in links - yeap
Squiggle - generally helpful
Demek - comments helped with second version
Akukami - pretty much made a foundation for classic and made the glitcher sorc popular