Warrior

Warriors can learn the same spells as the other characters in Diablo and Hellfire, and they may use bows as well, but their real strength comes in fighting melee style, with a sword (or mace) and shield. They have the highest hit points and the best damage and swing speed of any character in Diablo (Barbarians match or exceed them in Hellfire), and while they can not clear most levels as quickly as the Sorcerer or Rogue, they are very good party players and are a lot of fun at higher levels.

On a side note, the Warrior has three appearances depending upon the level of armor that he is wearing; none/light, medium, and heavy (the latter where he appears like in the introduction cutscene).

Voice Actor: Paul Eiding

Inherent Skill

The Warrior can repair the durability of an item, but the item will always lose a point or two of maximum durability. A sword worn down to 2/50 would be replenished to 49/49, for example. This should not be used on quality weapons you're going to keep long term, but it's very handy on items you know you'll replace if you do not want to return to town. Item durability can be increased in Diablo via Hidden Shrines, and by various oils in Hellfire, so repair-lowered durability can be regained.

This skill isn't often needed in Diablo and Hellfire, since repair costs aren't that high and gold is plentiful. In various Diablo and Hellfire mods, this skill becomes far more important, since repair costs can be quite steep, and the higher difficulty means that repairs are required more often. Regardless, the decrease in maximum durability is probably the reason neither class in subsequent games possesses a repair skill: such mechanic is by definition imbalanced if it does not have a negative effect, and useless if it does.

The formula for determining the repair, from Jarulf's Guide:

1. if current durability is equal to max durability, exit
2. x = 0
3. add (clvl + Rnd[clvl]) to x
4. y = [MaxDur/(clvl+9)], if less than 1 set to 1
5. decrease MaxDur by y
6. if x + CurDur < MaxDur, goto 3.
7. CurDur = MaxDur

If max durability reaches 0, the item is destroyed.

Stats and Attributes

A collection of useful stats and figures for the Warrior. Refer to the Diablo Characters page to see these figures, and others, in tables for easy comparison between the six character classes of Diablo and Hellfire.

• Warriors (and Barbarians) gain 1% chance of critical strike (double damage) per Clvl. For instance, a level 30 Warrior will do double damage on 30% of his hits.

Start Values	Max Values (Naked)	Max Values (Equipped) * Diablo / Hellfire **	Increases
Life: 70 Mana: 10 Strength: 30 Magic:10 Dexterity: 20 Vitality: 25	Life: 316 Mana: 98 Strength: 250 Magic:50 Dexterity: 60 Vitality: 100	Life: 796 / 916 Mana: 533 / 568 Strength: 425 / 485 Magic: 225 / 285 Dexterity: 225 / 285 Vitality: 265 / 325 To/Hit: 392 AC: 349 / 401	Per Level Up: *** Life: + 2 per Vitality Mana: + 1 per Magic Per Attribute point: 1 Vitality = 2 life 1 Magic = 1 mana

• * Not all maximum values can be achieved at once. Each value is only attainable by devoting all of your equipment to that particular attribute or statistic.
• ** Hellfire maximum values are higher for the Rogue, Warrior, and Sorcerer since new uniques added in Hellfire make possible much higher attribute levels. The values for mana and life do not include the unique jewelry that transfers life to mana, or vice versa.
• *** No life or mana increases are granted at level 50.

Warrior Tactics

Warriors are the masters of sword/shield combat. They can fight with a two-handed weapon, but aren't designed to excel with it as Hellfire Barbarians are, and as all axes are two-handed in Diablo/Hellfire he seldom wishes to use it since the loss in defense by going without a shield is very painful. They can also use a bow fairly well, but lack the firing speed or dexterity-boosted damage of a rogue. Their real strength comes with a fast swinging, one-handed weapon, and a shield to boost their defense further. Their enormously high strength and hidden critical hit bonus means they do huge damage with a good weapon.

Warriors can achieve a fairly high level of magic and mana, but only by devoting specialized equipment to that task. They can't equal rogues in their mini-mage tactics though, since Warriors gain much less mana per point in magic, and since their casting speed is quite slow. Their most useful combat skills are stone curse, and teleport, the latter especially against Witches and Mages in conjunction with the popular and very fun "telekilling" technique. More on that below.

Warriors can use a bow fairly well, and might find some value from it in normal difficulty, when running down enemy archers or mages is time consuming. Long term it's not a very productive way to play though, since Warriors have a slower firing speed than Rogues, far lower to/hit, and do much less damage as well.

Melee Combat

This is the Warrior's specialty, and is how most players enjoy playing the character. This isn't Diablo II, there aren't any Whirlwinds or Zeals or other multi-hit, multi-target skills. A warrior has to click click click for every hit he gets, and he can only aim at one target at a time. His damage is quite high though, his swing speed is fast enough to stun lock once he gets a sword with added speed or haste, and he has hidden bonuses to to/hit and critical strike (Clvl = % chance to deal double damage. For instance, a Clvl 40 warrior will deal double damage on 40% of his hits.), which combine to make expert Warriors kill more quickly than beginning players can believe.

Defensive cornering.

Using position and angles is essential for a successful warrior. Bottlenecks are always helpful, in the early levels, In Hell, where there aren't such narrow doorways, Warriors often retreat to corners, or squeeze in next to barrels, cauldrons, or those weird bone spurs out of the floor in Hell that block one space beside them. A well-equipped (high AC, good damage, fast swing, and high to/hit) warrior can usually take on any three enemies at once (in a corner) without serious risk of death. If a barrel or other object can cut the attackers to two, the warrior can hold off any size mob, providing he doesn't take too much damage from ranged attackers. Barring that sort of cornered technique, fighting retreats are wise, as is swinging at targets before they are in melee range. Warriors can usually strike an enemy as it advances into melee range, and the hit will stun or knock it back before it can move into the square beside the warrior. Many monsters can be killed this way before they're even able to swing their own attack.

The Warrior has some weaknesses to overcome, before he can begin to dominate the hordes of hell.

He starts with very little magic, and gets just one point of mana per point of magic, so he can't cast a lot of spells, and when he does try to fight with spells his low magic means his to/hit with fireballs and other projectile spells is very poor.

His to/hit isn't very high either, and his dexterity tops off at just 60 points. Warriors need to add a lot of +dexterity gear to maintain good accuracy on hell difficulty, and it's strongly recommended that they use swords that add to/hit and damage, rather than just damage alone. New warriors are advised to stick all of their level up points into dexterity for at least the first 5 or 6 levels, since the character's accuracy is fairly poor right from the start.

The biggest difficulty long term is dealing with monsters that run away. Goatmen and skeleton archers first show this habit in the early levels, but they are slow of foot and slow to run, and the rooms in the Church and Cats aren't that large. Witches are the true pursuit problem, and running them down in Hell is one of the bigger nuisances for a Warrior. Timing sneak attacks is one way to deal with them; retreat around a corner and wait a moment, then move back to the edge and start swinging. Witches can often be caught and slaughtered just as they walk around a corner in pursuit. The more advanced way to deal with witches and mages is by telekilling.

Telekilling

Telekilling is a technique that uses the teleport skill to pop right beside a monster that would otherwise run away. The technique is fairly simple, though it takes some practice to master the timing. Simply point the gauntlet at the monster, right click to teleport, and the instant you appear start swinging. The warrior will always appear below and to the left of the target (if that space is clear) and it's not difficult to move the mouse so you'll be facing up at the monster the instant you rematerialize. With a fast sword and good damage, stun lock is ensured, and mages and witches can be killed in just a few hits.

Telekilling is mana-efficient too, since teleport is just 15 mana at higher levels, compared to 40 for Stone Curse. Plus the faster monsters are killed, the less damage you take to spend potions or mana healing. And it's fun; most expert Diablo players measure themselves by how quickly and with how few potions they can clear levels, and chasing witches and mages around is not exactly an efficient use of time.

The hardest part for Warriors is reading the books. Level one Teleport requires 105 magic to read, and the books increase rapidly from there. It's 181 magic for level 4 and 255 for level 5 and up; more magic than it's possible for a Warrior to muster in Diablo (though it can be done with extremely rare equipment in Hellfire). Since Teleport reduces in mana cost until level 8, it's worth spending some time on Enchanted Shrine runs to increase the spell level.

• Telekilling is described in much more detail in Bolty's Expert Warrior Guide.

Weapon Selection

Melee weapons in Diablo have varied effects. Blunt weapons deal 150% damage to Undead and 50% to Animals. Swords deal 50% damage to Undead and 150% to Animals. Both types of weapons deal 100% damage to demons. This means it's better to use a blunt weapon against undead, and a sword against animal, and whichever weapon does the most damage against Demons. Since almost every monster in Hell is a Demon, and none are Undead, and since swords do more damage than blunts, this makes for a pretty easy weapon choice.

See the Diablo Monsters page for a listing of every type of monster. To generalize, the Church is mostly Undead (zombies and skeletons) with some Animals. The Cats are a mixture of Animals and Undead with a few Demons. The caves are fairly evenly divided between Animals and Demons. Hell is almost entirely demons (Lava Dogs are animals). In Hellfire the Hive is mostly animals with some demons, and the Crypt is a fairly even mixture of the three. On the whole, the only area where a blunt weapon is preferred is in the Church; the first four levels of the dungeon. Since swords do more damage than blunts, virtually all warriors use a sword for their long term weapon.

What type of sword is a fairly unanimous choice, too. A bastard sword KSoH (King's Sword of Haste) is the choice of every character who can find or buy one. Both Griswold and Wirt can sell them, though the odds are very low that they will. Lower quality swords can be almost as good; broadswords or claymores will work fine, if a bastard sword can't be found, and Master's or Champion's is almost as good as King's, etc.

Warriors need +To/Hit as well as +%Damage, so King's or other prefixes in that family are at the top of the list. Of haste or of speed are the most desired suffixes, since both give the fastest possible swing speed; fast enough to stun lock any monster. Other suffixes can be useful; heavens, titans, precision, or other attribute boosters, or swords that add mana or life leech can be helpful as well; life leech especially. But in almost all cases, faster swing speed is the best suffix to find on a weapon, since there are no other items that boost swing speed in Diablo or Hellfire.

Life Leech

Life leech is very hard to obtain in Diablo and Hellfire. It's almost always found as a weapon suffix, and while leech is handy, faster attack rate is better. In multiplayer Diablo, the only way to get life leech, other than from a weapon, is from the ultra-rare Helm of Sprits. (Life leech is fairly easily obtained in single player, since the Skeleton King drops The Undead Crown every game.)

Life leech isn't required to survive in the game; after all, a red potion is an instant full life fill any time. But life leech allows Warriors to heal without drinking potions or using the Healing skill, and that lets them stay down in the dungeons longer. Expert players measure their skill by how quickly they can clear levels, and by how few potions they drink, and life leech allows the longest play without potion consumption.

Life leech is obviously a trade off; weapons with life leech mean doing without faster attack rate, and the helms that offer life leech have very few bonuses, compared to other top unique or magical helms. Rated by killing speed effect, life leech is a negative; it's primarily something advanced players enjoy for the ability to clear multiple levels without having to run back to town to buy more potions.

Spell Support

Warriors can use spells just like any other character, but they are hindered by low magic, low mana, and poor accuracy. To/hit with spells is determined by a character's magic attribute, and few Warriors have enough magic to hit monsters with Fireballs on hell difficulty. Even if hits can be landed, such as with Chain Lightning, the warrior's casting speed is quite slow. His best spells are Stone Curse, to stop running monsters or slow down attacking mobs of melee fighters, and Teleport, for quicker movement and telekilling.

Warrior Lore

Warrior concept art.

Warriors are the basic fighter unit of Diablo and Hellfire. They don't have special combat skills, like the characters of Diablo II, and must work their way through the dungeons one left click at a time, though they can supplement their sword arms with some powerful magics.

The Warriors of the lands of Khanduras are well trained in all of the weapons of war. Ranging from crusading paladins to unscrupulous mercenaries, Warriors can be found wherever there is conflict amongst their countrymen. Many of these adventuresome men joined with King Leoric´s army and went to battle against the Northern kingdom of Westmarch. As the fires of war burned themselves out, these Warriors returned home to find their kingdom in shattered disarray.

Dark rumours of the mysterious demise of King Leoric abound and the evil that lurks within his Cathedral has drawn many Warriors to Khanduras seeking fortune and glory. Though they were warned by the people of Tristram, a few of these brave souls have ventured into the chaotic labyrinth beneath the earth.

Whether they are driven by valor, honor, madness or greed, new Warriors arrive in Tristram every day, ready to challenge the dark unknown that awaits them beneath the earth.

The Warrior is the strongest and toughest of the three available Classes, and he excels in the art of close combat. His primary weakness is that his extensive physical training has left little time to develop more than a rudimentary knowledge of magic. The extended periods of time that most Warriors spend away from their homes and civilization requires that they learn of repair their own weapons and armour, although their skill is no match for the talent of a true blacksmith.

Warriors were not found in Diablo II, though Barbarians and Paladins could be seen as upgraded, specialized versions of the character. By the official game fiction though, the Warrior was the character who defeated Diablo at the end of the first game, and drove the soulstone into his head. His end was a tragic one, for he was corrupted by Diablo's malignant influence and became The Dark Wanderer, before finally succumbing entirely to the Lord of Terror and perishing with him at the conclusion of Act Four.

Diablo 3 further Metconned the warrior, turning him from an anonymous male into King Leoric's eldest son, named Aiden. This change added more drama and pathos to the entire sage of the Dark Wanderer, and to Leoric's doomed family. It's interesting to consider how Diablo I would have felt different if that idea had been present; the Warrior would have been looking for not just the kidnapped prince, but his brother, and during the course of action would have had to kill his father's reanimated skeleton, and ultimately pry the soulstone out of the forehead of his own kid brother, who he'd just killed in the form of Diablo.

Furthermore, Aiden slept with Adria the Witch before he left Tristram in the Dark Wanderer form, and that child became Leah, who was ultimately possessed and destroyed by Diablo's spirit in Diablo III, thus perpetuating the curse on the Leoric family line.