-Spector-'s (Patch 1.11b) Leveling guide

I'm just messing with you douchecanoe, no need to neg rep. I'm planning on writing up a full guide of leveling "Druids" on WoW, along with a PVP technique guide and explanations of different strategies for raiding as well as PVP.

Around here we call that trolling.

Shut up K_A, you come on after being absent and choose my posts to bitch about trolling with, get a life.

Are you sure this is "your" guide, spector?

Atleast put a link if you are going to copy/paste a shit load of stuff.

I'm just messing with you douchecanoe, no need to neg rep. I'm planning on writing up a full guide of leveling "Druids" on WoW, along with a PVP technique guide and explanations of different strategies for raiding as well as PVP.

Shut up K_A, you come on after being absent and choose my posts to bitch about trolling with, get a life.

Dude, those posts above qualify as trolling. You did not nothing but distract people from the thread, and then talk about WoW in the Diablo II section. I saw several 'good jobs' and 'high fives' to -Spector-. Aside from Kaneda's stupid post, everyone has contributed positively to this thread. Take your beef with -Spector- some place else. K_A should have already closed this thread.

For one, i'm not talking about this thread in particular, trolling goes on everywhere, everyday.

It just looked bad because I took so long to respond, also he "trolled" in his "apology" post. I agree K_A should close this portion since he copied the guide over to a new thread.

Shut up K_A, you come on after being absent and choose my posts to bitch about trolling with, get a life.

You're just asking for it, aren't you? I bet you would love for me to ban you, so once I do you can start touting about how I'm an abusive mod and blah blah blah.

In case you didn't realize it, my post up above was a warning. Trolling is not allowed. I would tend to be especially strict when you're doing so in a thread that someone worked hard on in an attempt to bring the Diablo II forum some life. If this were just some random thread in the chat forum, it wouldn't be so bad, but your trolling has had a very direct effect on the nature of the thread. Rather than this being a thread about leveling in Diablo 2, it's now a thread where you troll -Spector-, you guys bicker, I warn, and you flame.

I've warned you about flaming recently, as well as warned you about trolling. In all honesty, in my opinion, it's getting to the point that warnings are just not going to cut it with you anymore. I don't think you realize how much your actions can potentially affect the well-being of the forum.

If, by chance, this thread gets hits from Google, and we have visitors come read it, they'll continue reading and see just how things work around here, and any chance that they might have decided to join is most likely going to be lost.

Either way, I think warnings are becoming ineffective. I'm not going to bother warning you again. I'm also not going to ban you. I'll let the rest of the staff decide what action should be taken. This way, you can call them corrupt and abusive instead of me.

Or maybe you'll decide to open your eyes and realize that, regardless of what you think, sometimes you're warned and banned for good reasons. And maybe you'll learn from it.

I'm not going to hold my breath.


I'd also like to point out that, if you'll look, you'll see that my activity is higher than yours. I'm not "coming back from being absent." There has only been one day in the past few weeks that I didn't post, and that was on this past Saturday when I was camping. I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that I've been absent.

Nice fucking thread, Spector. + rep for you.

-Spector-'s Diablo II LoD (Patch 1.11b) Leveling guide I. Introduction This is my first Diablo 2 guide that I've written so any critiques/advice/questions and/or complaints are welcome. This is a general leveling guide without the use of the Glitch Rush. (Grush guide coming soon) This guide does require help from other players, specifically in acts 3-5. Contact: Email- chicnstu012@yahoo.com AOL Instant Messenger- chicnstu012 User- -Spector- on www.zelaron.com II. Disclaimer This guide is not in anyway affiliated with Blizzard. Please do not steal or edit this guide. If you wish to have this guide on your site, please ask for my permission via AIM or E-Mail. I will say yes 99% of the time, as long as you agree to not edit it what-so-ever. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. Brief Overview - If you don't feel like reading the entire tutorial, I will summarize the main points here: · Levels 1 – 5: join a game with 4-8 players, travel to the Blood Moor and kill monsters in and around The Den of Evil. · Levels 5 – 15: Join Tristram run games. This will allow you to level quite quickly until you are able to gain experience from Tomb Runs. · Levels 15 – 20: Join Tomb Run games. You’ll get tons of experience from just one tomb. · Levels 20 – 24: Join cow games. You’ll gain the most experience from cows from levels 20 to 24. · Levels 24 – 25: Kill Normal Ancients. · Levels 25 – 45: Normal Baal runs. · Kill Normal Baal to complete the quest at level 45. · Go through Nightmare (Or get rushed) but don’t kill Baal. · Levels 45 – 65: Nightmare Baal runs. · Kill Nightmare Baal to complete the quest at level 65. · Go through Hell (Or get rushed, easiest way is to pay your Hellforge for a rush) · Levels 65 and up: Hell Baal runs. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Act 1: IV. When you first start out as a level 1, I would suggest joining a game with 4 to 8 players who are working on something besides Act 1. (Aka: Act 2, Baal, Cows, Tomb Runs, etc.) Enter the Blood Moor and begin to kill monsters. Since their are many other players in the game you will begin to gain experience very rapidly, keep in mind the monsters will be also harder to kill. (As a level 1 in an 8 player game, I leveled to level 2 by only killing 4 Zombies. (They seem to give the most experience.) Make your way over to the Den Of Evil and work on clearing that out. If the creator of the game hasn't done that quest, then you'll also get your first quest completed. (The Gargantuan Beasts inside the Den appear to give the most experience, at approximately 216 XP per kill at level 4 with 8 players) By the time I was finished with soloing the Den Of Evil, I was level 6 with Corpsefire giving me around 740 experience. Once you've hit level 5 or above, attempt to join Tristram Run games, and run these until you are level 15. With 8 players in a game, you have the potential to gain 1+ levels per game, until you get closer to 15 and the experience drops. Now that you are level 15, either join an Andy game or Solo her (shouldn't be too hard) and move on to Act 2. Tips: Before you fight Andariel, make sure to purchase antidote potions since her poison seems to do the most damage. And ALWAYS open a Town Portal before you begin to fight incase you die. (Especially if you're soloing her) Make sure to complete the Den of Evil quest; this will give you an extra skill point. If you want to have an item Imbued of your choice, kill "The Smith" in the Barracks, grab the Horadric Malus and return it to Charsi. Act 2: *Once you've completed Act 2, join Tomb Running games and level up until you're 20. V. In my opinion, this is the most annoying and time-consuming act in the game. To avoid lengthy time spent in this act, try and join an Act 2 game, and complete it with other players. First you need to acquire the Horadric Cube from the Halls of the Dead. Once this is accomplished, travel to the far Oasis and find the Maggot Lair. In here you will find the bottom of the Horadric Staff. After you've gotten the staff, go to the Lost City, find the Valley of Snakes and enter the Claw Viper Temple and get the amulet. After you've gotten both parts, use the Horadric Cube to make the Horadric Staff. If you are being rushed, talk to Drognan and Cain and then enter the Arcane Sanctuary to kill the Summoner. (Skip the next 2 paragraphs if you are being rushed.) If you are not being rushed, make you're way to the west part of Lut Gholein and talk to Jerhyn. He will allow you to enter his Palace and go into the Harem. The Harem level 2 is not hard to find; as you walk in, entrances are directly to your left and right. Once you are in the Harem level 2, the stairs to the Palace Cellar are in the North East and South West sections of the map. Just like in the Harem level 2, the stairs to the Palace Cellar level 2 are also in the North East and South West sections of the map. (Be sure to get the waypoint in the center of the map) And the same again, the stairs to level 3 are in both the North East and South West parts of the map. Once you are in the Palace Cellar Level 3, your destination is the portal in the middle of the map. There will be a unique monster guarding the portal with it's minions, but once defeated you can enter the Arcane Sanctuary. Once you're inside, there are 4 different directions you can travel. If you have maphack, move the map around with the arrow keys and find which path has a staircase and a white Pedestal at the end. If you don’t have maphack, just fight your way through until you find the correct path. When you get to the Summoner, kill him and then read Horazon's Journal. This will tell you the symbol of the tomb of Tal Rasha that Duriel is located in, and open up a red portal to the Canyon of the Magi. After entering the correct Tomb, locate the Orifice and place the Horadric Staff into it. This will open up Tal Rasha's Chamber and allow you to kill Duriel. Once Duriel is slain, follow the path to Tyrael and talk to him. Back in town, talk to Cain, Drognan, Jerhyn and then Meshif. Meshif will then take you to Act 3. Tips: If you're being rushed and you're unable to talk to Jerhyn, have everyone leave town at the same time, and then come back. Usually the guards will have moved and you'll be able to talk to him. If this doesn't work, have your rusher take the Palace Cellar Level 1 waypoint, travel backwards to the harem and make a Town Portal. Then you can go into the Harem, go up the stairs and talk to Jerhyn from behind. If your rusher doesn't have the Palace Waypoint, he can simply go back to the Arcane Sanctuary, travel north back through the portal, and walk/teleport to the Harem. Be sure to complete the quest "Radament's Lair" - This will give you an extra skill point and lower vendor prices in Act 2. Act 3: *This will either require a rusher or someone with the required Waypoints. *Once you’ve hit level 20, start to do cow runs until 24. VI. Have someone open up a Town Portal to the Travincal. Once you are in, travel to the North East part of the map and slay the high council. Once they're all dead, go back to town and talk to cain. This will complete “The Blackened Temple” quest. Now have someone open up a Town Portal to the Durance of Hate Level 2. Generally speaking (though in Hell, Durance Level 2 is huge) if you follow along the left wall, you will find the entrance to Level 3 quite easily. Maphack users will have no problem. Upon entering the Durance of Hate Level 3, immediately make a Town Portal for "Just In Case" measures. You can then either travel to the left or the right, both of them dead-ending at Mephisto. He is in the Northern part of the map. After he is killed, follow the center path south into the "Flaming" Orangish/Red portal. You are now in act 4. Tips: If you are a caster (Sorceress, Bonemancer, Javazon, etc.) then you have the fortunate ability to get Mephisto stuck and kill him easily. I prefer to travel South West, and go through the area where Maffer Dragonhand is at and position yourself to where Mephisto is on the North side of the Canal, and you are on the Southern Side. You can then back up so he can't hit you, but still cast and kill him without the risk of being hit. Complete the "Golden Bird" quest. (Dropped from Super Unique Monsters) - This will add a permanent 20 health. Complete the "Lam Esen's Tome" quest. - This will give you an extra 5 stat points to use. Mephisto seems to be the boss that drops the best items more frequently. Act 4: *This will either require a rusher or someone with the required Waypoint. *Once you’ve hit level 20, start to do cow runs until 24. VII. Have the rusher or someone else open up a Town Portal to the River of Flame. If you travel East, it will lead you to the Hellforge, if you travel West, it will lead you to the Chaos Sanctuary. (Where Diablo is located.) Once you have entered the Chaos Sanctuary, kill all of the monsters and open up each of the seals. There are 5 seals total, 2 in the eastern half, 1 in the northern section, and 2 more in the western half. When you reach the Western Seals, one of them will release a group of Storm Casters, with a Super Unique who is Immune to fire. Moving on to the Northern Seal, this one will release a group of Doom Knights with a Super Unique who is Immune to cold. After you've finished them off, keep on walking around to the Western section of the map. The Western Seals will release a group of Venom Lords with a Super Unique who is not immune to anything in the normal difficulty. After all of the seals have been opened, the spawned minions from the seals and the Super Uniques from each seal have been slain, Diablo will appear in the center of the map, in the center of the star. When you have successfully killed him, you can return to town, talk to Tyrael and he will open up a red portal to Harrogath. (Act 5) Tips: If you have a good character rushing you, have them simply open all the seals and slay the Unique/Monsters that spawn from each seal. If he/she kills only the spawned monsters, opened up all the seals and didn't kill any of the other monsters in the Sanctuary, Diablo will still spawn and the other monsters will all die automatically. This greatly speeds up the rush. Complete the quest "The Fallen Angel" - This will give you 2 extra skill points. Complete the quest "The Hellforge" - This will give you several Perfect and Flawless gems, along with a rune. (In normal mode, the rune dropped usually isn't worth anything. In Nightmare, you'll typically get a rune between Sol and Um, Um being the highest rune dropped. In Hell, you will typically get a rune between Hel and Gul, Gul being the highest. Act 5: *This will either require a rusher or someone with the required waypoints. *You need to be at least level 20 to complete the Ancients’ Quest (without Grush) *Once you’ve hit level 20, start to do cow runs until 24. VIII. Have the rusher or someone else open up a Town Portal to the Ancients' Way. Walk or teleport through the map until you reach The Arreat Summit entrance. Have everyone who's going for this quest make a Town Portal OUTSIDE of the Summit, because if someone opens a Town Portal while you are fighting the Ancients, they will reset and you will have to start over. After you have killed the ancients, you should then join baal games and level up until you are level 45. Once you've hit level 45, do the baal quest and move on to Nightmare. Tips: Make sure you do not kill baal until you are level 40+ (45 suggested) or else you will only be able to view Nightmare games and won't be able to join anymore normal Baal games without creating a new character and searching that way. Complete Quest "Siege on Harrogath" - Larzuk will add a socket to your item of choice. (I would wait until you have a good item to socket before using up this reward.) Complete Quest "Prison of Ice" - This will open up a new portal to Nihlathak's Temple. As long as you do not kill Nihlathak, the portal will stay open and you can continue to kill Pindleskin who gives OK experience, (Not a bad monster to run a bot on) and occasionally drops good items. Also - Marah will give you a scroll that permanently adds +10 to resistances. If you complete the quest "Betrayal of Harrogath" make sure you acquire the Halls of Pain Waypoint so you can continue to go back and kill Nihlathak in attempt to find Keys of Destruction. Other Suggestions: IX. Act 2 Minions Experience Glitch (Possibly Patched) – While running Baal games, if you are in a full game with 8 people, then you have the chance to gain extra experience from a glitch. The directions are simple: 1. Before entering the Throne room, specify which person will be leaving the party. (Usually the lowest level is chosen.) 2. Just before the Act 2 minions spawn (Death Mages and Unravellers) have the chosen person leave the party. 3. Higher levels gain exceptional amount of experience. 4. Chosen person rejoins before Act 3 minions spawn. 5. This will have the most dramatic affect on players level 95+ 6. The glitch only works if it is a full game with 8 players. ----- Pre-Teleporting – This is not a glitch, just something useful that will greatly speed up your Baal runs. You probably won’t have someone volunteer for this job, so either find a friend or pay someone but this is how it goes: 1. Have friend/someone teleport to the throne and cast a Town Portal. 2. Once people have entered into the throne, the friend/someone leaves the game. 3. Friend/someone creates the next game, and teleports to throne ahead of time and casts a Town Portal. 4. When the last game is finished, players will then join the new game created by the teleporter. 5. Teleporter leaves and makes the next game, and repeats steps 1, 3 and 4. Tip: This would work best if the Baal games were private, otherwise new players could potentially join and there would be no more room for the players from the previous game. ----- Town-Sitters – This is one of the easiest ways to get more experience out of a Baal run. Either get a group of friends to sit in town while you and a fellow player kill Baal’s minions, Join a game where nobody is in Act 5 and solo Baal (Good luck!) or pay several people to follow you in private Baal games to simply sit in town as you (and a friend most likely) kill Baal and his minions. Tips: If you’ve got a group of friends willing to do this, to make it more fair you could possibly alternate who sits in town so that the same people don’t have to chill out and do nothing in the game over and over. The other players don’t HAVE to sit in town; they can be off killing Mephisto, Andariel or even dueling… anything to keep them in game and not bored. ----- Experience Shrines – If you have the fortunate event of coming across an Experience Shrine, DO NOT PASS IT UP! This will increase your experience by a whopping 50% and definitely help you level faster. BEWARE: If you end up getting cursed while killing the minions, the shrine will no longer affect you. Be smart and avoid Hell Witches, Oblivion Knights, etc. Tips: Most of the Experience Shrines are found in Act 1, so while the others are teleporting to the throne, you should be looking in Act 1 for an Experience Shrine. Wait until the Throne is clear before you click the Shrine. Make a TP next to it, and when the minions are ready to be summoned, grab the Shrine and head on in. This will give you a better chance at avoiding getting cursed. ----- DON’T DIE – Make sure you know your limits before attacking a mob. If you are a high level (90+) and you die, that’s like losing 5 to 10 Baal runs. Keep in mind: Better safe than sorry! ----- Perfect Party setup for an 8 player game – 3 Hammerdins – Lots of damage, can also teleport to throne. 1 FOH/Conviction Paladin – Reduces minions’ resistances considerably. 1 Sorceress – Any type will do, cold is useful to freeze and slow down the minions. 1 BO Barbarian – Whoever complained about extra Health and Mana? 1 Lightning Javazon – Lightning Fury seems to take out monsters quite fast. 1 Necromancer with Lower Resist – Minions’ resists drop even more. ----- And there you have it. Please comment and give me some feedback! ::EDIT:: Since this is a much more in-depth guide to leveling as opposed to Brozoles13, but I will add his here at the bottom:

Thanks a hole bunch -Spector-, I'll put this to good use.

Sticky?

Possibly, I'm going to minorly update it for 1.12a, but I'm glad it's helping!

I went straight to tristam runs from lvl 1 and it didn't seem to slow me down any. Using a similar method to this guide allowed me to get from 30 to 67 in a few hours.