Diablo 2 Classes

There are 7 Classes you can play in Diablo 2 Resurrected:

• Amazon
• Assassin
• Necromancer
• Barbarian
• Paladin
• Sorceress
• Druid

A few things for them may be easy to miss: the game doesn’t tell you what gear to pick (or you may think it does) or what Attributes to assign your points to, and a string of inefficient choices could become a problem later on in the game, especially once you hit the Nightmare difficulty.

Class guides are a great way to deal with this issue and following a Build has become a common practice for the players pursuing Diablo 2’s endgame. However, there are definitely a few things you can learn about your Class for a more casual playthrough as well. For each of the Classes you will see on our menu we will cover both the early game tips, as well as the best endgame builds and items.

This particular page is a good place to start for a beginner, packed with important tips that will apply to most, if not all of the Classes.

General Tips

• The maximum Skill points you will ever get is 20. +Skills stat on gear will let you go a bit above that cap.
• You only get 1 Respec per difficulty before you need to grind out high-level materials to perform the process again.
• Inventory space is limited: get a better belt (12+ boxes) for your character early on, and use the Horadric Cube once you get it in Act 2 to carry some items for you (Charm effects will still apply).
• Don’t run in combat: you can’t block while you run, and your defense stat suffers significantly.

Leveling: How to Assign Attributes?

• Remember that Attributes only have a minor effect on your stats.
• Put most of your points into Vitality, and assign points to Strength and Dexterity only to qualify for the gear you would like to use.
  • Hold Shift to assign all remaining Attribute points at once (e.g., to Vitality).
• If you are using a Shield, assign enough Dexterity to hit the 75% cap for Block Chance. Casting Classes don’t need to worry about this.
• Even if you feel like your mana pool is lacking early on, try not assign Energy points for the sake of increasing it until you absolutely have to (your gear bonuses are much more effective for addressing this issue).
• Most popular equipment will not require more than 120 Strength points total.
• If you are not easily dying to monsters, you can stash some points to use on Strength and Dexterity to qualify for new items.

Weapons and Armor

• Your gear is the most important aspect of your Build. Furthermore, some Builds will not be viable unless you acquire all of the required gear pieces.
• Only real control you will have over your gear early in the game are Runewords: you will need a Normal item with the exact required slots, of the correct type, with the runes inserted in correct order.
• +Skills, Enhanced Damage (or Elemental Damage), Increased Attack Speed (or Faster Cast Rate) have the most impact on your character’s damage. Faster Block Rate increases DPS for builds that use Shields.
• +Resistance(s), followed by +Life, followed by Faster Hit Recovery are the most effective defensive stats to have on an item. Resistances go up to 75%.
• Faster Cast Rate, Faster Hit Recovery, Faster Block Rate, and Increased Attack Speed all have “tiers” you need to reach in order to see any effect on your character. See our Breakpoints Guide for more information.
• Large +Stat(s) bonus on an Accessory can help you qualify for more gear mid-game.
• Magic Find % speeds up your acquisition of powerful Magic items.

Runewords

• Item needs to be of Normal Rarity (can’t be Magic), meet the requirements of the Runeword, and match the number of sockets exactly. Runes need to be slotted in an exact order to produce the correct Runeword.
• Don’t dismiss Runewords as the late-game content: you can get access to some of them early on and get the required base item from a merchant.
• Some lower-level Runewords, like Body Armor’s “Stealth” with its “Faster” modifiers, are viable for the endgame.
• Helm Runeword “Lore” is an example of a powerful Runeword obtainable earlier on, offering a + to all Skills.
• One of the best ways to farm Runes is by doing Countess runs in the Forgotten Tower (Act I), but you should reference her loot drop data first. The drops will be affected by your current difficulty.

Skills

• Most Classes use up to two active Skills at all times. Often you will have only one damage-dealing Skill set, with points spent in more than one Skill tree.
• You can assign hotkeys to your Skills, allowing you to quickly swap them during combat.
• Higher level Skills are not always stronger. A lot of the build favorites are found at the beginning and in the middle of the tree. Some Skills are “One-Point Wonders” and don’t need to be upgraded further: one such skill is Sorceress’s Warmth.
• Remember to pay attention to Skill Synergies — often a lot of your Skill’s power will come not from the points invested into the Skill itself, but from the points you invest into other Skills that give it bonuses.

Resources & Links