Newbie Walkthrough

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Newbie Walkthrough

Table of Content

  • Disclaimer
  • Important stats on items
  • How to Craft
  • Which class to play
  • Normal Difficulty
  • Nightmare Difficulty
  • Preparing for your first Ubers




Disclaimer

This is a walkthrough for new players. This topic will give you hints on what to watch out for and give you tips and tricks for the early game (Gameplay until you can do your first ubers) as well as showing how to prepare for the midgame. I try getting to the point while explaining the core mechanics in detail. If you ever have a question, there are people willing to help you in the discord. Alternatively you can also ask your question in the short question thread. Discord is almost always faster though. Please note that even I don't know everything about the game, so there might be questions I can't answer, so it's always best to use the previous mentioned sources for questions rather than this guide topic.




Important stats on items

There are several important stats your character needs, and here is the section where I'll talk about it explaining why it's so important. After all, there are stats that are essential for every character, so that's something we should talk about first. Just let me say that we should prioritize defensive stats, because you don't want to die often, do you? If you just focus on the defensive stats, you can manage to get to Nightmare Baal without many problems. I'll talk about the important offensive stats later on, too. Please note that this is not 100% true for every single build, since there are builds like bowzon that don't need defense for example. But as a general guidelines let me give you the following hints:

► Defensive Stats


► Offensive Stats





How to Craft

For how to craft items I'd like to forward you to the Crafting Compendium by Ryunp, because I think he's done an amazing job to put all those information together. Even though it's in the old forum section, this guide is still up-to-date, so take a look into his topic to get the crafting explained in detail.

I'd still like to mention the basics though:

1) Unique Creation

With the Catalyst of Disenchantment (Dropped by the Smith in Act 1 on normal difficulty) you can disenchant unique items that you don't need or like into arcane Shards.
Any unique item + Catalyst of Disenchantment → Arcane Shards + Catalyst of Disenchantment
Cube 5 Arcane Shards together to create an Arcane Crystal.
Any non-sacred item + Oil of Enhancement + Arcane Crystal x2 → reroll item as unique
That oil can be bought from Gheed

2) Unique Uptier

Unique non-sacred weapon/armor + Arcane Crystal + rune → reroll as next higher tier

It's not possible to craft Sacred Uniques that way.

3) Runeword Creation

Runewords in Median are a lot easier made than in cLoD. You only need to put 1 rune into the grey item. Make sure that the rune is put in the last socket. Fill the slots before with Jewels. That's the basics, but in order to get the best runeword possible let's go with this step-by-step guide:

1. Find a good base item. Best base items for the slots are Diadem/Ancient Armor/Greaves/Gauntlets/Plated Belt because they give you lots of defense.
2. reroll that item with an oil of renewal (bought from Gheed) until you reach up to 35% ED and a good amount of defense/damage depending on the weapon. Just calculate how much is possible by getting the base information from this page and adding the 35% to the maximum value. Also watch out for sockets, since you want to have 6 sockets in the end for more jewels. If your armor has no sockets, you can cube the item with jewels to obtain the sockets. For example if you want to add 4 sockets, cube the item with 4 random jewels.
3. Upgrade that item with a oil of luck (bought from Gheed) for another 20% ED and/or 1% physical resist on any armor pieces or bonus to attack rating on weapons. If it fails, go back to step 2.
4. Now you have a good base. Add 5 ED mystic orbs to it depending on the weapon/armor piece
5. Socket the jewels
6. Socket the rune
7. Socket the Xis rune (in case you go for the Kabraxis-enchanted runewords.

Why we do this? To get the best bonus to ED possible.
If you have 55 ED from the base + Lucky, and add another 75% from mystic orbs, you'll end up with 130% ED. And if you add a runeword now that grants 200% ED, you'll get the full bonus and end up with 330% ED.
If you put the mystic orbs on the item AFTER you created the runeword, the level requirement will rise, but not the ED, because it's already capped and runewords and sockets are the only way to bypass the cap of 200%.

Let's say you add the rune right after you lucky it, then you'll end up with 255%. If you put the mystic orbs on now, you'll still only have 255%. And that's a huge difference, so make sure to follow that step-by-step guide.

4) Shrine crafting

Rare/Crafted Sacred item + Shrine → reroll item as crafted + Shrine (-1 charge)

To make an item rare, there's only 1 possible way: Use the Quest reward from charsi. So each character can only do this 3 times, but that's most of the time all you need anyway.

Then you can add the shrine bonus again by blessing it:

Rare/Crafted/Honorific Sacred item + Shrine + 2x Arcane Crystal → add shrine bonuses + Shrine (-1 charge)

And that's all I want to say about Crafting.




Which class to play

I'll make it short and just sum up each character class in total, and what you can expect from each class as well as hints for items.

Amazon

- Has always access to minions and slow enemy
- Runs faster than other classes
- There are 5 Devotion trees, each of which requires using a specific weapon. (Spear, Bow, Javelin, and for casters: scepters)
- You always can only access 2 skilltrees, which makes it very clear as to where to put points
- Once you have a devotion, other skilltrees except for the neutral and the one where you have the Devotion are locked out. On the other hand, if you put points in more than 1 devotion tree, you can't put points into the devotion passive. So watch out!
-
Chargebreaker
Chargebreaker
Setzschild (4)

Defense: (492 - 573) to (969 - 1127)
Chance to Block: 4%
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 12
Required Strength: 39
Item Level: 10
1% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
(10 to 15)% Block Speed
+(35 to 57)% Enhanced Defense
(8 to 10)% to Strength
(8 to 10)% to Dexterity
Physical Resist 5%
Physical Damage Reduced by (3 to 5)
(8 to 10)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (1)
Defense: (1695 - 1902) to (3048 - 3418)
Chance to Block: 4%
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 77
Item Level: 31
2% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
(20 to 25)% Block Speed
+(81 to 103)% Enhanced Defense
(14 to 16)% to Strength
(14 to 16)% to Dexterity
Physical Resist 7%
Physical Damage Reduced by (9 to 11)
(14 to 16)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (3)
Defense: (4287 - 4723) to (7550 - 8319)
Chance to Block: 4%
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 270
Item Level: 51
3% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
(30 to 40)% Block Speed
+(126 to 149)% Enhanced Defense
(20 to 22)% to Strength
(20 to 22)% to Dexterity
Physical Resist 9%
Physical Damage Reduced by (15 to 17)
(20 to 22)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (5)
Defense: (6416 - 6983) to (11272 - 12268)
Chance to Block: 4%
(Amazon Only)
Required Level: 56
Required Strength: 539
Item Level: 77
4% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
(40 to 50)% Block Speed
+(149 to 171)% Enhanced Defense
(23 to 25)% to Strength
(23 to 25)% to Dexterity
Physical Resist 10%
Physical Damage Reduced by (18 to 20)
(23 to 25)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (6)
is one of the best TU's when it comes to defensive stats, simply because of the Defense and physical resist
- Has a nice innate skill called Bloodlust, which can be buffed with a
Koth's Lesson
Koth's Lesson
Mace (4)

One-Hand Damage: (7 - 9) to (10 - 12)
Required Level: 5
Required Strength: 36
Item Level: 10
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Strength)%
15% Chance to cast level 4 Bloodlust on Kill
+1 to All Skills
+(6 to 9)% Bonus Damage to Bloodlust
+(87 to 122)% Damage to Undead
+(31 to 50)% Enhanced Damage
+(51 to 100) Defense
+(11 to 15) to Strength
Maximum Life +(2 to 3)%
Socketed (1)
One-Hand Damage: (22 - 24) to (29 - 32)
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 62
Item Level: 31
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Strength)%
21% Chance to cast level 12 Bloodlust on Kill
+(1 to 2) to All Skills
+(12 to 18)% Bonus Damage to Bloodlust
+(159 to 194)% Damage to Undead
+(71 to 90)% Enhanced Damage
+(151 to 200) Defense
+(21 to 25) to Strength
Maximum Life +(3 to 4)%
Socketed (2)
One-Hand Damage: (40 - 44) to (60 - 66)
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 130
Item Level: 51
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Strength)%
27% Chance to cast level 20 Bloodlust on Kill
+2 to All Skills
+(21 to 27)% Bonus Damage to Bloodlust
+(231 to 266)% Damage to Undead
+(101 to 120)% Enhanced Damage
+(251 to 300) Defense
+(31 to 35) to Strength
Maximum Life +(4 to 5)%
Socketed (3)
One-Hand Damage: (55 - 60) to (80 - 87)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 261
Item Level: 77
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Strength)%
30% Chance to cast level 24 Bloodlust on Kill
+(2 to 3) to All Skills
+(30 to 36)% Bonus Damage to Bloodlust
+(267 to 302)% Damage to Undead
+(131 to 150)% Enhanced Damage
+(301 to 350) Defense
+(36 to 40) to Strength
Maximum Life +(5 to 6)%
Socketed (3)
on switch for more physical damage

Assassin

- The only class that relies on avoid, stun and physical resist with almost every spec.
- Has no way to increase defense unlike other classes
- Doesn't need keys to open locked chests
- It's a pro class. If you're new to ARPG's I would never advice you to play this class
- Skilltrees aren't locked out, so you're free to skill whatever you want.
- Needs lots of Block to become viable
-
Dar-Al-Harb
Dar-Al-Harb
Assassin Shields

'FalUm'
Runeword Level: 58
+(3 to 4) to Assassin Skill Levels
15% Cast Speed
0.25% to Fire Spell Damage (Based on Character Level)
0.25% to Lightning Spell Damage (Based on Character Level)
+(16 to 19) to Summon Darklings
+(19 to 22) to Skeletal Flayer
+25 to Dexterity
5% to Dexterity
+25 to Energy
Elemental Resists +10%
Brings lots of summons to you that can block some damage. Use it when you're stuck.

Barbarian

- Has a ton of Defense (1 million or more) because of 3 possible sources for TCD
- Can easily get up to 50% DR thanks to Bear Stance. That also opens up more item choices.
- Skilltrees aren't locked out, so you're free to skill whatever you want.
- Perfectly viable for any beginner, because it has more life than any other class and also a passive that increases max life even with just 1 point spent.
- Relies mostly on throwing axes, melee or summoning
-
Invictus
Invictus
Gilded Shield (4)

Defense: (293 - 346) to (598 - 705)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 14
Required Strength: 35
Item Level: 10
1% Chance to cast level 3 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Additional Strength Damage Bonus: 0.01171875%
Weapon Physical Damage +(5 to 20)%
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+15 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 2%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (1029 - 1169) to (1897 - 2156)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 70
Item Level: 31
2% Chance to cast level 7 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Additional Strength Damage Bonus: 0.015625%
Weapon Physical Damage +(40 to 60)%
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+20 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 3%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (2644 - 2915) to (4760 - 5247)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 245
Item Level: 51
2% Chance to cast level 11 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Additional Strength Damage Bonus: 0.01953125%
Weapon Physical Damage +(60 to 80)%
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+25 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 4%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (3984 - 4352) to (7140 - 7800)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 490
Item Level: 77
3% Chance to cast level 15 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Additional Strength Damage Bonus: 0.0234375%
Weapon Physical Damage +(80 to 100)%
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+30 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (4)
is one of the best shields in the game because of the high defense, free stats, physical resist and the proc.

Druid

- Has 3 possible forms he can morph into or uses a bow or elemental spells
- 1- point Poison flash can easily carry you to level 6 very fast to get a better AoE attack. That's useful for every shapeshifter build because they lack an AoE before level 6.
- Skilltrees's don't lock out but thanks to weapon choice, it's basically locked out. There's not much freedom of choice concerning the builds themselves, but they are all viable.
- Once you reach level 90 you get a ton of defense, HP and possibly even avoid for free.
- You can walk into higher level areas without much preperation if you use Elvensong skill to charm enemies.
- Has the 2nd highest amount of possible avoid right after assassin. But druid also has nice HP and defense.
-
Natha
Natha
Druid Helms

'GulEl'
Runeword Level: 65
4% Chance to cast level 2 Arrow on Striking
20% Attack Speed
50% Hit Recovery
(31 to 50)% Bonus to Attack Rating
+(58 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
+5 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 10%
can give you a nice boost to physical resist

Necromancer

- Utilizes minions in several builds as meatshields
- Has the most class-specific weapon options
- Skilltrees aren't locked out, so you have lots of freedom
- Don't use Veil King. Just don't.
- Use Void Archon. Just do.
- Use Bend the shadows often to gather your army. Totems will also teleport with you, so they aren't always stationary
- Embalming solves most mana issues and grants lots of additional HP. 10k HP are easily achieved with 0 vitality investment.

Paladin

- Has 5 different settings: Holy melee, Holy caster, Unholy melee, Unholy caster and neutral paladin. Holy locks out Unholy and vice versa and Neutral locks out both holy and unholy. If you go either Holy or Unholy you can choose 1 more of the 2 neutral skill trees, so you always have a maximum of 3 skilltrees to work with
- Gets lots of physical resist and damage reduction from the Black Road skill and a morph on level 90 that always complements your playstyle. Those morphs have bad hit recovery animations though, so make sure to get some hit recovery speeds on your items thanks to mystic orbs.
- Unholy paladins have lots of free stats, to the point that they almost never have to worry about strength/Dex requirements
- A low-cooldown teleport skill is unlocked on level 90
-
Shadowmoon
Shadowmoon
Crown Shield (4)

Defense: (167 - 191) to (329 - 376)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 10
Required Dexterity: 43
Item Level: 10
5% Attack Speed
5% Cast Speed
+(4 to 5)% to Spell Damage
+(8 to 10)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(18 to 35)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 2%
Lightning Absorb 2%
Cold Absorb 2%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (535 - 594) to (983 - 1093)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 28
Required Dexterity: 64
Item Level: 31
10% Attack Speed
10% Cast Speed
+(8 to 9)% to Spell Damage
+(14 to 16)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(52 to 69)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 3%
Lightning Absorb 3%
Cold Absorb 3%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1325 - 1439) to (2386 - 2590)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 45
Required Dexterity: 135
Item Level: 51
15% Attack Speed
15% Cast Speed
+(12 to 13)% to Spell Damage
+(20 to 22)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(87 to 103)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 4%
Lightning Absorb 4%
Cold Absorb 4%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1968 - 2123) to (3529 - 3806)
Chance to Block: 2%
(Paladin Only)
Required Level: 54
Required Dexterity: 280
Item Level: 77
15% Attack Speed
15% Cast Speed
+(14 to 15)% to Spell Damage
+(23 to 25)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(104 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Absorb 5%
Lightning Absorb 5%
Cold Absorb 5%
Socketed (4)
is one of the best shields in the game when it comes to elemental attacks.
-
Sangreal
Sangreal
Paladin Shields

'OhmSol'
Runeword Level: 70
Level 1 Demon Blood Aura
-10% Base Block Chance
25% Attack Speed
40% Hit Recovery
+(10 to 15)% to Summoned Minion Life
+33 Defense
has an incredible aura that boosts your maxlife by 50%. Don't use it if you plan on utilizing block though.

Sorceress

- Uses 4 different elements, of which you can choose 2 at max and you get another 2 skilltrees, one is for a sorc based on maximum mana, the other is the melee tree.
- Most people play melee, so check out Solfege's guide, which is still mostly up-to-date.
- Sorc can have lots of +skills early on thanks to sorc specific armors, the nature of staves having lots of +skills in general and the aura of her familiars
- Has 2 instant-heals with Antimass and Symbol of Esu
- Can fill her mana orb easily with Mana sweep, so make sure to make use of it.
- An early
Circe

Circe
Sorceress Orbs

'RhalArc'
Runeword Level: 100
+3 to All Skills when using an Apple
+3% Bonus to Spell Focus
+44% to Lightning Spell Damage
+44% to Poison Spell Damage
+24 to Bloodlust
(61 to 75)% to Energy
Fire Resist +40%
can easily add a bit to your damage thanks to the Bloodlust oskill
-
Oracle
can solve most of your mana problems if you don't want to use Mana Sweep to get back mana.




Normal Difficulty

In the next section I will display the most dangerous monsters of each act, where to find them and give you strategies to fight them. As a general rule I can tell you: Every slow-moving missile should be avoided. The displayed monsters are even stronger in Nightmare and Hell, so for general gameplay please read this section. The "Nightmare Difficulty" section won't have the focus on the general and elite monsters, but instead focus on the veteran monsters (for the +1 skill upgrade on your class charm).

Act 1

Quests you should do because of the rewards:
Quest 1: Den of Evil
Reward: +1 skill point
Quest 4: Charsi's hammer
Reward: upgrading an item to rare; Catalyst of Disenchantment

Items you want to have by the time you face Andariel:
► Show Spoiler


Pro tip: Some builds don't have a huge AoE or are rather slow in their killspeed. If you happen to find yourself in a bind when it comes to damage, do the following: Get a act 1 priestress merc, go to Gheed and gamble a Short War Bow, Short Battle Bow, Long War Bow or Long Battle Bow (can be gambled from level 8 onwards). That will make act 1 a breeze for you. Also, you only need to be level 8 in order to buy an act 1 merc. You don't need to kill Blooraven.

Dangerous monsters to watch out for:
► Show Spoiler


Act 2

Quests you should do because of the rewards:
Quest 1: Kill Radament
Reward: +1 skill point, vendor prices across all acts are reduced by 10%

Items you want to have by the time you face Duriel:
► Show Spoiler


Pro tip: Your act 1 merc has already served her purpose. Now in act 2 she's not as strong as before and your character has gained a significant amount of levels to unlock the last few abilities you needed. So when it comes to clearing mobs or damage you should be fine without her. So get an act 2 merc. The Shapeshifter merc is usually a really good option since he tanks a lot and is fast enough to easily get close to the enemies. The exemplar is better if you want some crowd control since retalite knocks back many enemies at once, making them unable to move and guaranteeing a safe gameplay. Or you can use the fighter mage, which is imho the strongest when it comes to damage. The new Bloodthorns skill really makes him a strong, viable option even without a weapon at all, whereas the other mercs should at least get a Pike from you, which you can buy from the smith in act 2 for a bit gold.

Dangerous Monsters to watch out for:
► Show Spoiler



Act 3

Quests you should do because of the rewards:
Quest 1: The Golden Bird
Reward: +20 HP permanently
Quest 4: Lam Esens Tome
Reward: +5 Stat points

Items you want to have by the time you face Mephisto:
Only improved versions of your already existing items.
Aim for a solid +50 to all resists. Those are enough to have an easy time until act 5.

Pro tip: The act 3 merc is really strong without any gear investment. Thanks to Peace Warders your act 2 merc is very likely to get bugged and stuck somewhere. For ranged builds it's adviced to keep using the act 2 merc as a tank especially to make Mephisto stop casting his spells, for melee builds it's better to get an act 3 merc since it'll help you clear monsters with more ease.

Dangerous Monsters to watch out for:
► Show Spoiler


Act 4

Quests you should do because of the rewards:
Quest 1: Kill Izual
Reward: +2 skill points

Items you want to have by the time you face Diablo:
For Melees:
A Tier 2
Fauztin's Visage
Fauztin's Visage
Field Plate (4)

Defense: 268 to 540
Required Level: 11
Required Strength: 32
Item Level: 19
+(11 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(6 to 10)% to Summoned Minion Resistances
+50% Enhanced Defense
+250 Defense vs. Melee
+50 to Life
Poison Length Reduced by (21 to 25)%
Physical Resist 1%
Socketed (2)
Defense: 890 to 1668
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 63
Item Level: 36
+(21 to 30)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(11 to 15)% to Summoned Minion Resistances
+100% Enhanced Defense
+500 Defense vs. Melee
+100 to Life
Poison Length Reduced by (31 to 35)%
Physical Resist 2%
Socketed (4)
Defense: 2232 to 4107
Required Level: 61
Required Strength: 219
Item Level: 59
+(31 to 40)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(16 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Resistances
+150% Enhanced Defense
+750 Defense vs. Melee
+175 to Life
Poison Length Reduced by (41 to 45)%
Physical Resist 3%
Socketed (5)
Defense: 3642 to 6678
Required Level: 75
Required Strength: 438
Item Level: 85
+(41 to 50)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(21 to 25)% to Summoned Minion Resistances
+200% Enhanced Defense
+1000 Defense vs. Melee
+250 to Life
Poison Length Reduced by (46 to 50)%
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (6)
(requires 107 strength)
A Tier 2
Deadfall
Deadfall
Heavy Belt (4)

Defense: (135 - 159) to (178 - 210)
Required Level: 7
Required Strength: 36
Item Level: 19
2% Chance to cast level 2 Shower of Rocks on Kill
1% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+(16 to 25) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(11 to 15)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (485 - 551) to (616 - 700)
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 62
Item Level: 36
2% Chance to cast level 4 Shower of Rocks on Kill
2% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+(36 to 45) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1270 - 1400) to (1595 - 1758)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 218
Item Level: 51
2% Chance to cast level 8 Shower of Rocks on Kill
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+(56 to 65) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(31 to 35)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1918 - 2095) to (2403 - 2626)
Required Level: 50
Required Strength: 436
Item Level: 85
2% Chance to cast level 12 Shower of Rocks on Kill
4% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(66 to 75) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(36 to 40)%
Socketed (2)
(requires 92 strength)
For casters:
A Tier 2
Queen of Glass
Queen of Glass
Ancient Armor (4)

Defense: (315 - 344) to (630 - 688)
Required Level: 11
Required Strength:
33 to 34
Item Level: 29
15% Cast Speed
-(6 to 8)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
+(76 to 125) to Mana
Lightning Resist +(21 to 25)%
Cold Resist +(21 to 25)%
Requirements -(11 to 15)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (899 - 969) to (1718 - 1852)
Required Level: 30
Required Strength:
57 to 60
Item Level: 40
25% Cast Speed
-(11 to 13)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Defense
+(176 to 225) to Mana
Lightning Resist +(31 to 35)%
Cold Resist +(31 to 35)%
Requirements -(21 to 25)%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (2084 - 2224) to (3911 - 4173)
Required Level: 47
Required Strength:
175 to 186
Item Level: 67
35% Cast Speed
-(16 to 18)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
+(276 to 325) to Mana
Lightning Resist +(41 to 45)%
Cold Resist +(41 to 45)%
Requirements -(31 to 35)%
Socketed (5)
Defense: (3013 - 3202) to (5650 - 6005)
Required Level: 54
Required Strength:
323 to 344
Item Level: 85
40% Cast Speed
-(18 to 20)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
+(326 to 375) to Mana
Lightning Resist +(46 to 50)%
Cold Resist +(46 to 50)%
Requirements -(36 to 40)%
Socketed (6)
(requires 107-112 strength)
Kali
Kali
Gloves

'LumKo'
Runeword Level: 48
15% Chance to cast level 13 Seal of Fire on Kill
+2 to All Skills
+15% to Summoned Minion Resistances
-214 Defense
5% to Strength
Maximum Fire Resist +4%
Fire Resist +25%
in some random gloves. The runeword removes defense anyway, so don't bother about getting a good base.
For ranged weapon based builds:
A Tier 2
Lionpaw
Lionpaw
Chain Boots (4)

Defense: (49 - 54) to (71 - 78)
Required Level: 4
Required Strength: 29
Item Level: 10
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
+(7 to 10) to all Attributes
+(31 to 50) to Life
+(16 to 25) to Mana
(3 to 5)% Bonus to Defense
10% Gold Find
Socketed (1)
Defense: (203 - 218) to (267 - 288)
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 58
Item Level: 31
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Defense
+(15 to 18) to all Attributes
+(71 to 90) to Life
+(36 to 45) to Mana
(9 to 11)% Bonus to Defense
15% Gold Find
Socketed (2)
Defense: (519 - 554) to (667 - 712)
Required Level: 39
Required Strength: 202
Item Level: 51
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
+(23 to 26) to all Attributes
+(111 to 130) to Life
+(56 to 65) to Mana
(15 to 17)% Bonus to Defense
20% Gold Find
Socketed (3)
Defense: (759 - 807) to (974 - 1036)
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 403
Item Level: 77
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 35) to all Attributes
+(131 to 150) to Life
+(66 to 75) to Mana
(18 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
25% Gold Find
Socketed (4)
(requires 65 strength)
A Tier 3
Albrecht's Revenge
Albrecht's Revenge
Chain Mail (4)

Defense: (138 - 150) to (279 - 305)
Required Level: 4
Required Strength:
25 to 26
Item Level: 10
5% Chance to cast level 1 Arrow on Striking
Adds (2 to 4)-(6 to 7) Cold Damage
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(21 to 25)%
+(10 to 15) Life after each Demon Kill
2% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Requirements -(11 to 15)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (437 - 471) to (798 - 860)
Required Level: 22
Required Strength:
45 to 47
Item Level: 31
6% Chance to cast level 1 Arrow on Striking
Adds (7 to 13)-(13 to 25) Cold Damage
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(31 to 35)%
+(25 to 33) Life after each Demon Kill
4% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Requirements -(21 to 25)%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1038 - 1107) to (1843 - 1967)
Required Level: 39
Required Strength:
136 to 144
Item Level: 51
7% Chance to cast level 1 Arrow on Striking
Adds (26 to 50)-(51 to 100) Cold Damage
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(41 to 45)%
+(43 to 60) Life after each Demon Kill
6% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Requirements -(31 to 35)%
Socketed (5)
Defense: (1513 - 1608) to (2670 - 2838)
Required Level: 49
Required Strength:
252 to 268
Item Level: 77
8% Chance to cast level 1 Arrow on Striking
Adds (51 to 100)-(101 to 200) Cold Damage
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(46 to 50)%
+(76 to 90) Life after each Demon Kill
8% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Requirements -(36 to 40)%
Socketed (6)
(requires 98-104 strength)

Note: those items can be farmed by killing Mephisto over and over again. Also note that these items may change drastically depending on your build. For example an assassin focusing on Twin Fang Strike is still melee, but I'd rather use Queen of Glass on her because of the -enemy resist modifier of that item and the bonus to mana. Sorceress can also use different types of armor, so it really depends. It's just that those items listed are really solid options until hell. Also you can upgrade those items further if you can afford the strength requirements (See the docs for how much you need for the next upgrade)

Dangerous Monsters to watch out for:
► Show Spoiler



Act 5

Quests you should do because of the rewards:
Quest 1: Kill Shenk, the Overseer
Reward: Mark of Infusion (enables you to create a honorific item)
Quest 2: Saving Barbs
Reward: Ability to hire act 5 mercs, the strongest mercs in the game.
Quest 3: Free Anya
Reward: A scroll you can cube with the level challenge 1 charm (which I'll explain later) in order to get +10 all resist

Items you want to have by the time you face Baal:
See the previous section. It should be fine that way.

Dangerous monsters to watch out for:
► Show Spoiler


Level Challenge

Before you fight against Baal a Portal to another realm will open when you kill the infernal Contraption of the last wave of Baal's summoned minions. And yes, you should definintely go in there, because the charm you get helps you greatly. You should get 5000 armor before you go in there, or at least some summons or a merc that can tank for you, because most of the damage in there is physical.

► Show Spoiler


In this map I inserted some arrows. Those arrows show where you can teleport over the walls with Blink from
Pax Mystica
Pax Mystica
Staves

'Tir'
Runeword Level: 10
+1 to All Skills
+7% to Spell Damage
+(2 to 5) to Blink
Elemental Resists +(11 to 15)%
(11 to 13)% Magic Find
. That can greatly reduce the time you need for this challenge. First create a TP at the entrance, then you teleport over the wall to lycander, kill that guy, teleport back, walk all the way up to Philios, kill that one, move to the top left corner of the room, teleport over, clear the enemies there, make a tp and the last teleport is a bit tricky. You need to move directly into the marked corner, move your mouse to the top right corner of the screen and then press teleport. If you just teleport straight to the top, it won't work.

The priestresses themselves are rather weak though. Lycander leaves a magnetic field, which punishes builds with low defense. So don't walk in if you see some lightning bolts on the ground. Skovos however can cast a Blizzard, that hurts a lot if your cold resists are low. As for Philios: I never had any problems with her, so I personally think she's the easiest. The lava pit she casts has a rather small AoE, so you can easily just walk out of it.

Early Farming

There are a few ways to farm even early on. Especially when it comes to farming Uniques and Gold.

Gold can be farmed in act 2, the Rocky Waste and the Dry Hills. There you just need to kill Grubbers to get a decent amount of gold. Of course if you have access to nightmare, it's better to farm there, but if you at some point end up with not enough gold to revive your merc for example, you can also farm them in normal.

As for Uniques: There are 2 places that are commonly used to farm arcane shards and arcane crystals. The first one is Mephisto in hatred. You get a set amount of uniques and if your waypoint is very close to Mephisto's area, this is the best farming spot for arcane shards in the game. And the good thing is: Every character can farm him easily early on.

The other possibility is farming Nilathak for 3 uniques per run. There are some downsides when you farm him. For example you need more cold and lightning resistance, and not every character can easily clear it at the same level/speed. However there are only 3 layouts of the halls, so it's relatively easy to remember those few layouts and farm Nilathak consistently.

There actually is a whole guide just for farming Uniques early on. It explains in detail both ways and gives some additional tips & tricks. So if you want some more knowledge, go ahead and read it. Even if you just read the mephisto part, it should still help you out.
Edited by HechtHeftig 4 years.
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Nightmare

Nightmare is not much different than normal, except that the mobs are harder and that there are 2 new challenges: The Veteran Token challenge and the Ennead challenge.


Veteran Tokens

Close to the end of each act you can find special monsters that drop their Veteran Token. Collect 1 Token from each act and cube them with your class charm (see Ennead Challenge) in order to receive +1 to your class skills and +20% more exp gain. Note though that those enemies can also spawn in hell, where they are significantly easier to deal with, given the general power boost of the player thanks to better gear and lots of more levels.

► Show Spoiler


Ennead Challenge

When you kill Mephisto in Nightmare difficulty, a portal will open up. Step through it after you reach level 80 to access Kurast 3000 BA. You have to go all the way to the top right, where you can find one of 3 Necromancers. Finish them off and you'll get a Heroic Torch. Cube that Torch to receive your Class charm. That's it.

The skeletons in K3K are not particular hard to kill or deadly. But they get buffed and turn purple thanks to the totems that are placed all over the map. Kill the totems in order to weaken the Skeletons. Watch out though. The totems throw circulating hammers around them. If you don't have much defense you're better off staying away from the totems and attack them from afar. The necromancers themselves are nothing to be afraid of. Just like the totems they have the ability to summon more skeletons, but nothing else. Just kill them and you're good to go.

Nightmare Baal

This is by far the strongest enemy in all of the nightmare difficuly. The strategy from normal doesn't change. However some builds may not be able to deal with him easily and struggle a lot instead. In that case there's only 1 advice I can give you: Keep a townportal open. You have 30 minutes to kill him, after that the level gets locked, which means you can exit, but not enter the level again. Even with weak weapons you should be able to finish him off in that time. I know it may be frustrating, but once you kill him you gain access to the endgame content, so it's really worth it.

Preparing for your first Ubers

This guide won't cover the ubers themselves. While you may or may not have already used crafting methods in order to get a full set of T4 Uniques and runewords, there's still a bit I'd like to tell you about the advanced stats on items. Stats that are easy to obtain, and give you a considerable advantage.

► Show Spoiler


Last few Tipps

You know of the importance of the different stats on items now. And there's something else you should know about. All spells and attacks show you their damage type from the color their animation has.
That means: Fire damage is always red, cold damage is always blue, lightning damage is always yellow, poison damage is always green. Those are always true. At least I know of no instance where this is in any way wrong.

There is one exception however: Magic damage. Kabraxis for example has many spells that look like green fire. But in fact it's magic damage, not poison. Magic damage can also be red (Spell from Mutaliators), Blue (Psionic Storm), White and so on and on. Let's just say Magic damage is confusing. That shouldn't bother you much though, because you can't effectively go against magic damage anyway since there are only very few items and skills that can help you with that. Stick to the rule of thumb that the color of the attack gives the damage type away and don't bother with magic damage.

What that means is: If you struggle in a certain uber, it's adviced to adjust your gear accordingly.

If you see lots of neutral-looking arrows coming at you in Tran Athulua: It's physical damage. You can adjust your gear by getting physical resist, damage reduction, defense, TCD, avoid, block, better hit recovery/block speed and so on. There are plenty of ways to improve in that way.

If the damage is elemental, you can adjust your gear by socketing Perfect Ambers/Bloodstones/Onyxes/Turqoises into your gear for the respective resistances and maximum resistances. You can also get more HP and more avoid, but those are generally harder to get. So focusing on resistances and maximum resistances should be your main concern when it comes to elemental damage.

As for magical damage: Just get as much HP as you can and lots of potions and/or use
The Wailing Wall
The Wailing Wall
Bone Shield (4)

Defense: (69 - 79) to (134 - 153)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 5
Required Dexterity: 44
Item Level: 10
4% Chance to cast level 5 Hunting Banshee on Melee Attack
Adds (2 to 3)-(4 to 5) Cold Damage
+(18 to 35)% Enhanced Defense
+(21 to 30) to Dexterity
Magic Resist +(2 to 3)%
Cold Resist +(11 to 15)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (275 - 305) to (454 - 505)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 23
Required Dexterity: 65
Item Level: 31
6% Chance to cast level 12 Hunting Banshee on Melee Attack
Adds (6 to 8)-(11 to 13) Cold Damage
+(52 to 69)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 40) to Dexterity
Magic Resist +3%
Cold Resist +(21 to 25)%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (731 - 793) to (1155 - 1254)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 40
Required Dexterity: 137
Item Level: 51
8% Chance to cast level 20 Hunting Banshee on Melee Attack
Adds (26 to 30)-(46 to 50) Cold Damage
+(87 to 103)% Enhanced Defense
+(41 to 50) to Dexterity
Magic Resist +(4 to 5)%
Cold Resist +(31 to 35)%
Socketed (5)
Defense: (1093 - 1179) to (1721 - 1856)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 49
Required Dexterity: 282
Item Level: 77
10% Chance to cast level 30 Hunting Banshee on Melee Attack
Adds (51 to 60)-(91 to 100) Cold Damage
+(104 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
+(51 to 60) to Dexterity
Magic Resist +5%
Cold Resist +(36 to 40)%
Socketed (6)
(the only easily obtaibale source of magic resist in the game)

That's pretty much all you need to know about Ubers to be able to perform them on your own mostly. The actual strategies for each uber are way more complex, but that's not something I'll explain here. Instead, Somnus will explain in his uber bible in detail how to finish each uber and what to watch out for. Once he releases it, I'll link to it from here.

Thank you for reading this nearly 1:1 copy & paste from the Median XL wiki and have fun with the game!
Edited by HechtHeftig 4 years.
TDLofCC
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Maybe add in a bit about setting up gear in between normal and nightmare. Like run nithalak + mephisto for ACs to make your own TUs and uptier them according your stats/level. That should give people the ability to finish NM and start Hell.

Edit
Nice work on the guide btw :D
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PindlskinVova
Acid Prince
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Author you are realy good man). Some advice to your guide:
Assa - can open any chest without keys. Pls add +hp/mana per lvl by class.
A1 - Andi cast Meteor only in front(it is more profitable to run towards the meteor shower than along the longitudinal), if you have some minions andi is easy to kill in the distance (just non stop spam around andi, that good advice for amazon with elems).
A3 - You lost mob's - golden rats(Hate 1 and 2) with massive homing missiles (realy dungeros at NM, they can oneshot you)
A5 - Detonators - high fire resists and abosorb are usless (huge magic dmg)
tranvanhieu
Grubber
310 | 2
I think a good way to raise power early on for everyone is Niklathak run, and it worths mentioning.
After rescueing Anya, go and open Hall of Pain wp. Then max lightning and cold resist (a lot of monsters in there use these elements)and farm Niklathak for just 30 mins.
He drop 3 tier 2 unique, a high level rune, and the monster around him drops a lot of perfect gems.

Get a full Tier 2 equipments (tier 3 or 4 for weapons), fill sockets with what you need, and you are more than ready to do Lvl challenge and Baal fight.
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ChuckNoRis
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tranvanhieu wrote:I think a good way to raise power early on for everyone is Niklathak run
you also get a shitload of xp in act 5 from doing the Abbadon and Icy cellar , about 2 levels per run on each of the dungeons
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HechtHeftig
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These are some nice suggestions. I‘ll add them ASAP. Sadly my internet provider decided to have troubles today, so I‘m only on my phone. But I‘ll adjust the guide and continue working on it when everything is up again.
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HechtHeftig
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It's nothing! Just giving back to the community is all I want ;)
opsayo
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I am a newbie and this was soooo helpful. Thanks!
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You‘re welcome!