BF's D2 Strategy Team - Strategy Help Articles

[Jason]

I want every member to post a good tip/suggestion for leveling up fast and/or staying alive on ladder. I only ask of this so that those members out there that are new to ladder can see how people jump up the ladder so fast.

Also, I'd like you all to start working on a new guide. Make it a ladder reset char guide. I'll be working on one myself. Once you make the guide, PM me a link to it. (Try to host it, not post it. )

I'll be making a Ladder reset Javazon.

Oh, and my tip of the day for ladder:

While leveling up, remember to always gather up as many gems/jewels/charms/rares/uniques/sets as you can find. If you don't want them, either trade them or sell them. Trust me, being a leveling scavenger is REALLY helpful. It's how a lot of people get rich so fast. They scavenge and trade and get good enough gear to MF with and do MF runs.

Tip of the day
- VizjereiMage

[Kao]

One Helpful tactic is usually getting a Mercenary from Act 2 in normal. Defensive is the Defiance Aura, which just rocks everything. The only problem that comes with getting a "Merc", is equipping him with the right gear to survive. If you give him the right gear, he can prove an invaluable tool later on in the game (assuming you keep him alive and leveled up to you).

I can work on a NovaNecro Guide, because mine just roxxors NM Eldritch and Countess runs. (I haven't gone farther, but I'm just MF'ing and leveling my merc right now).

[Ntrik_]

Ill work on trapper when I get comp with PS and stuff (yay gfx!)

Well can I put my tip of the day?

remember to press alt constantly, you never know when those uniques or rare items may drop

[Guest]

Fine I will work on my metoer/fireball sorc(which I am currently working on.)

Swordtip's tip of the day:

If you are trying to get rushed say, "I give forge!!". A lot of people want that quest so they'll give you the rush.

[digga87]

Easy Lvling: Get a High lvl Char to rush you through normal & nightmare (do the baal trick with getting quest @ Lvl 1) and let the Highlvl Char do some Cows with you (In Hell)

[Guest]

It's better to do :

Lev 1-6: Cold Plains

Lev 6-15: Tritan runs

Lev 15-24: Arcane runs

Lev 24-25: Anceitns runs

Lev 25-40 norm baal runs

Lev 40-60 nm baal runs

Rest: hell baal runs/Pindle skin botting.

[Guest]

Alright, here is my meteor/fireball sorc guide. Enjoy :wavey.

[Kao]

Kao's NovaNecro Guide for PvP.

[aphextwin]

hc tip: u must avoid cursed monsters...... they are the most deadliest type u can come across, one hit from them can bring u down alot of life, best to stay as far away as possible :0

[Soujiro]

Originally posted by VizjereiMage
I'm not gonna have slackers on my team. ^^;

my guide is gonna rock your socks dude :/

heres my tip (it pwns):

if you have are having problems leveling up your merc, or even with a boss, use this tip: use life tap on the boss, or enemies, and as long as your merc can survive 1 shot from that enemy, it will be able to solo that, while you hide safely in the back.

heres my 2nd tip:

if you hold shift and press a potion button(1,2,3,4) that potion will be used on your merc! much easier then clicking and dragging it all the way up

[Kao]

Remember: When trying to build a Cold Sorceress, never put any points into Energy. You just max out your skills, and put at least 5+ points into warmth, and you're set!

[SweatyOgre]

If you're new to ladder, remember, a lot of items that suck on non-ladder are awesome on ladder. For example, the runeword Lore(OrtSol in a helm) is very useful on ladder for any class, not just casters, but worthless on non-ladder.

[Soujiro]

omg, viz just pwned digga

o_o''

Tip:
if you are out of gold, and are in dire need(wether to revive a merc, or to gamble a lot), do some MF Runs, grab all the items, and use Decard Cain to identify the rares, then sell them, most of the items pindle and meph drop (in hell) are worth 35,000 gold, for one reason or another, but most of the time they arent even that great!

2nd tip:
Dont ever use decard cain to identify an item if you havent already done the Cain Quest, he charges more then a scroll of Identity costs!! (what a rip off, he should be on wellfare! )

[Ntrik_]

hmm Ill post how I go lvling up usually

1~4: den of evil + cold plain
4~8: stoney field + cain + black marsh
8~12: black marsh ~ cata (yes, walk)
12~13: Andy, etc... now on act 2
13~15: sewer
15~18: try gettin all those pieces etc
18~21/22: arcane, full run, then do duriel after
21/22~24: finish act 3
24~27: finish act 4
27~42: finish act 5 (and do baal norm run)
42~"what ever lvl": do whole nm with some1 rushing you or something, get on act 5 and kill ancient
45+~70+: nm baal run
70+~75+: hell act1 ~ act 5 ancient
75+: hell ball run and pindle

[SweatyOgre]

My leveling system is somewhat simpler:
~~~NORM RUSH~~~
1-13: Trist runs
13-20: Any combination of Sewers/Arcane/Tombs
20-24:Trav runs or cows
24-25:Ancients
25-40:Norm baals
~~~NM RUSH~~~
40-41: Nm Ancients
41-60: Nm Baals
~~~HELL RUSH~~~
60-61: Hell Ancients
61-99: Hell Baal

[djnat]

I have tons of connection problems in these days and can't play LoD in Bnet.

However, I can help here.


To make a decent char in Ladder starting from zero gear, imho, you must do the following things:

1) Try to level up in party your char from lvl 1 to lvl 24. It can be easily done in this places also with shitty gear:

Lvls 1-6: Stony Field
Lvls 7-10: Tristram runs
Lvls 10-14: Andy runs
Lvls 15-16: Sewers runs
Lvls 17-20: Tomb runs / Temples' runs (act III)
Lvl 21-24: Travincal runs

2) Make Act3 and Act4 in party; it should not be too difficult to kill Meph / Diablo. Make the hellforge quest in normal; if you are lucky, you will have a nice rune.

3) Enter Act5 and make quest 1 and 2. Try to get some decent weapon / stuff from Larzuk. After q2, go to Qual-Keck and he will give you Ral + Ort + Tal. Put those runes in that order in a 3-socketed shield, and you will have the "Ancient's pledge" runeword. Marvellous shield for normal and also nightmare difficulty.

Remember some other awsome low lvl / cost runewords:

- Stealth (Tal + Eth) on 2 socketed armor. Very nice in Normal difficulty.
- Lore (Ort + Sol) on 2 socketed helmets. +1 to all skills and nice stats, and lit resist. Very good, too.
- Rhyme (Shael + Eth) on 2 socketed shields. All resists +25, magic find and cannot be frozen are marvellous mod to make a char in his first steps.

4) Try to equip your char with decent items, especially low-cost runewords. It's not difficult to have some decent gear for low level. If you find a Manald heal or an Eye of Etlich, you are very lucky. Also the Cathan ring is a marvellous find if you are making a melee char.

5) Now you can make ancients, when you are lvl 24. Kill'em in party, and you will go up to lvl 25.

6) Make Normal Baalruns in party, players 8. After a few runs, you should be about lvl 45-50, that is a good lvl to start NM. Also make normal Pindleruns to get some other stuff for trade. Try to have a Lum rune.

7) In NM, try to find some good items. If you have a Lum rune, make the Smoke runeword on a nice armor. It has marvellous stats to survive: 50 all res, 20 fhr.

8) Always play in party and search for help in the most difficult points. Go to the hellforge quest and take the rune. If you are lucky, you will get a Um rune, that can be a very good "trade money" for some decent items to go on in NM.

9) Make NM baalruns til lvl 77. Then, hell is yours. In hell, you can do whatever you want, but after lvl 85, "serious" experience and find can be obtained only in Pindle runs (till 90), Chaos runs or Baalruns.

Remember that finding in NM, when you have nothing, is absolutely necessary. Pindle runs and Baalruns in NM can be awesome, cuz you can find items like Oculus / Shako / Raven / Titans / Zaka and so on...

Also remember to have some "easy" MF gear for Pindle runs: a 4-Topazed armor, Nagelrings, Chance guards, Topazed Helmet are not so difficult to make. But they are VERY useful to find something decent.


10) Trade ALL you find (and don't need) for useful gear for you.


Also remember a critical thing: there are some character types which are easier to play (when compared to other types) with shitty gear.

I would advise:

- Hammerdin
- Javazon
- Cold sorc
- Summoning necro

These chars are very good also if equipped with shit, till NM. In Hell you have to get some serious stuff, but if you go to NM, and you start finding a lot, you will soon get the items to trade for something good.

[Jason]

Guys..I split posts out of this thread for a reason. Catch on?

Edit: Split posts.

Edit 2:

Tip of the day:

Always make sure you have your belt loaded with potions, and even some extra in your inventory. You never know if you're gonna die when that last Baal hit is made.

[Kao]

Exactly. Or, try for Max Resists in Hell, and you = god.

[Soujiro]

max block
use holy shield before you leave town
if you have CTA, use the + to skills warcry before any other skills

OT: Kao, skippy's list is hillarious, rofl, i like #145 and 146, rofl! 164 is great too XD
rofl, 174, rofl

[SweatyOgre]

Don't ever let your gold get too low. You never know when you may see a godly item for sale at an NPC. Jeweler's Archon Plate of the Whale....mmmmm.