Diablo Wiki - User contributions [en]

Sockets

2010-07-15T09:46:38Z

Orphan: /* Introduction */

{{Item_navbox}}Some Diablo II [[items]] have '''sockets''', in which magically infused [[gem]]s, [[jewel]]s or [[rune]]s can be inserted to induce their magic powers to that item. These items will on themselves not provide any bonuses to a character.

==Introduction==
Socketed Items can be complicated, mainly in the number of sockets and how to add sockets to existing items. There are three [[Cube recipes]] to add them, as well as the socket quest in [[Act IV]]. Also items can generate with a variable number of sockets, and how many depends on the monster that drops them, the item type, and much more.

You can ''never add a socket to an item that already has one or more sockets'', with any recipe or the socketing quest reward. The only partial exception is the 3 chipped [[gem]]s + 1 magical weapon recipe, which will create a magical weapon with new properties and 1-2 sockets. This doesn't add sockets to the existing weapon though, since it is rolling new mods on the weapon, so is essentially random.

'''Rare/Set/Unique/Crafted Items''': The Socketing quest adds 1 and only 1 Socket to any of these types. Rares may spawn with 1-2 sockets from the Mechanic's prefix, and some sets and uniques have sockets inherently, and can't have more added. You will never get more than 1 socket added using the socketing quest on any of these items. Rare items can also have a socket added by a [[Cube_Recipes| Horadric Cube Recipe]]. This requires 1 Stone of Jordan + 3 Perfect Skulls + One Rare Item. It's basically the same as putting that Rare item in the socketing quest reward. It can't be used on an item with sockets already.

'''Magical Items''': Magical items can have 1-4 sockets, depending on the prefixes and the item type, and you can never add more to those. For magical items without sockets, using them in the socket quest reward will add 1 or 2 sockets, with equal chance at either. It's entirely luck if you get 1 or 2 on them, so cross your fingers.

'''Chipped Gems''': There is a recipe for magical weapons. 3 chipped gems + 1 magical weapon = magical weapon of the same type, with 1-2 sockets and an item level of 25. This results in a magical, socketed weapon that can be rerolled again with chipped, normal or flawless gems as many times as desired. Weapons which cannot have sockets (like throwing weapons) won't get any socket and those with a maximum of 1 socket (like a few daggers and wands) have no chance for two of them. The issue of possible affixes (or bonuses to single skills on wands, orbs etc.) is beyond the scope of this article. It follows the normal rules for the generation of magical items, see the [[Item Generation Tutorial]] for details.

===How to Find Socketed/Socketable Items===
To find socketed items you want to kill a lot of [[monster]]s while wearing as little [[Magic Find]] % as possible.

The key is to not have any [[Magic Find]], since the more of that you have the more likely items dropped will be [[magic]]al or better ([[Rare]], [[Set]], [[Unique]]). Zero [[MF]] is best for finding socketed items, but if you can't avoid a small % bonus, it won't make much of a difference. The best characters for this are probably [[Sorc]]s for the high-level areas in hell mode and [[Javazons]] for the Cow level, where each can kill at a tremendous pace.

You want to be in as big a multi-player game as possible, so more items will drop, though this can be taken too far. If you don't have a power character and it's taking you much longer to kill in an 8-player, you could drop down to a 3-5 player and still have lots of items dropping, while killing so much faster that you actually got more items than you would taking twice as long in an 8 player game.

'''Normal Items''': Normal items can have from 1-6 sockets. How many a given item can get is random for most item types, but the maximum is always limited by the [[mlvl]] of the monster that drops the item, item type and in the case of naturally spawning sockets the difficulty level. Items can only naturally spawn with a maximum of 3 sockets on normal difficulty, 4 sockets on nightmare and 6 sockets on hell. This limitation only applies to sockets that are spawn naturally, not ones which are added through the cube recipe or socket quest. Check the master table below, or the individual [[Armor]] and [[Weapon]]s pages for info on how many sockets are possible on given item types.

The number of sockets from the [[socket quest]] is not affected by the difficulty level, only by the [[ilvl]] of the item, which is based on the [[mlvl]] of the monster that drops it. '''Your [[Clvl]] and the difficulty level of the quest reward has nothing to do with the number of sockets you get.''' You can use the [[Normal]] quest reward on a Crystal Sword and get 6 sockets, or the [[Hell]] quest reward and get 3, depending on the ilvl of the swords used.

There are rumours of the quest reward varying the number of sockets further but these rumours are completely unfounded. Its likely that minions on a borderline area level dropped a white item that was thought to have a lower ilvl. The number of sockets from a quest reward is always the maximum possible based on the ilvl and item type (assuming its a white item).

If you need a number of sockets that [[Lazurk]] won't provide, then you'll have to try the [[cube recipes]] which adds a random number of sockets or find that item with the number of sockets you want. The cube recipe has equal chances of adding 1 to 6 sockets on an item, with any socket count exceeding the maximum sockets available being bumped back down to the max. You cannot use the socket recipe on low quality items.

Trade for it if you have to, or ask in games, most people don't save socketed items, so you might ask as soon as you join, say you'll make 100k for a 5-socket [[Ogre Maul]], for example, or trade more if someone drives a hard bargain. If they aren't keeping it, they'll only get 35k at most for the sale, so shouldn't be too greedy.

==Sockets by Number==

{|
! Item
! Ilvl 1-25
! Ilvl 26-40
! Ilvl 41+
|-
| Bone Knife
| 1
| 1
| 1
|-
| Buckler
| 1
| 1
| 1
|-
| Burnt Wand
| 1
| 1
| 1
|-
| Dagger
| 1
| 1
| 1
|-
| Defender
| 1
| 1
| 1
|-
| Dirk
| 1
| 1
| 1
|-
| Mithril Point
| 1
| 1
| 1
|-
| Poignard
| 1
| 1
| 1
|-
| Rondel
| 1
| 1
| 1
|-
| Wand
| 1
| 1
| 1
|-
| Yew Wand
| 1
| 1
| 1
|-
| Circlet
| 1
| 2
| 2
|-
| Coronet
| 1
| 2
| 2
|-
| Diadem
| 1
| 2
| 3
|-
| Tiara
| 1
| 2
| 3
|-
| Armet
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Ataghan
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Barbed Shield
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Basinet
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Battle Cestus
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Blade
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Bloodlord Skull
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Bone Helm
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Bone Shield
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Bone Wand
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Cantor Trophy
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Cap/hat
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Casque
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Cestus
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Chain Mail
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Club
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Cudgel
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Cutlass
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Demon Head
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Demonhide Armor
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Elegant Blade
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Falcata
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Falchion
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Fascia
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Fetish Trophy
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Field Plate
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Flanged Mace
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Full Helm
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Gargoyle Head
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Ghost Armor
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Ghost Wand
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Giant Conch
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Gladius
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Grave Wand
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Grim Helm
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Grim Shield
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Grim Wand
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Hand Axe
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Hand Scythe
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Hard Leather Armor
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Hatchet
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Hatchet Hands
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Heater
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Heirophant Trophy
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Hellspawn Skull
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Helm
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Hydra Edge
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Hydraskull
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Jo Staff
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Katar
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Leather Armor
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Legend Spike
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Lich Wand
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Luna
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Mace
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Mighty Scepter
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Minion Skull
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Mummified Trophy
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Overseer Skull
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Petrified Wand
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Plate Mail
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Polished Wand
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Preserved Head
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Quilted Armor
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Reinforced Mace
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Round Shield
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Rune Scepter
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Saber
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Sallet
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Scale Mail
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Scepter
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Scimitar
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Serpentskin Armor
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Sexton Trophy
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Shako
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Shamshir
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Short Staff
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Short Sword
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Skull Cap
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Small Shield
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Spiked Club
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Spiked Shield
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Splint Mail
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Stilleto
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Studded Leather
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Succubae Skull
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Tomahawk
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Tomb Wand
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Trellised Armor
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Truncheon
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Tulwar
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Unearthed Wand
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Unraveller Head
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Walking Stick
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| War Fist
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| War Hat
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Wrist Blade
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Wrist Spike
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Zombie Head
| 2
| 2
| 2
|-
| Bone Visage
| 2
| 2
| 3
|-
| Corona
| 2
| 2
| 3
|-
| Crown
| 2
| 2
| 3
|-
| Death Mask
| 2
| 2
| 3
|-
| Demonhead
| 2
| 2
| 3
|-
| Grand Crown
| 2
| 2
| 3
|-
| Great Helm
| 2
| 2
| 3
|-
| Mask
| 2
| 2
| 3
|-
| Spired Helm
| 2
| 2
| 3
|-
| Winged Helm
| 2
| 2
| 3
|-
| Alpha Helm
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Antlers
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Assault Helmet
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Avenger Guard
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Blade Talons
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Blood Spirt
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Carnage Helm
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Cinquedeas
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Claws
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Conquerer Crown
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Destroyer Helm
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Dream Spirit
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Earth Spirit
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Falcon Mask
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Fanged Helm
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Fanged Knife
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Feral Claws
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Fury Visor
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Greater Claws
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Greater Talons
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Griffon Headress
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Guardian Crown
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Hawk Helm
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Horned Helm
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Hunter's Guise
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Jawbone Cap
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Jawbone Visor
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Kriss
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Lion Helm
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Quhab
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Rage Mask
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Runic Talons
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Sacred Feathers
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Savage Helmet
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Scissors Katar
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Scissors Quhab
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Scissors Suwayyah
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Sky Spirit
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Slayer Guard
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Spirit Mask
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Sun Spirit
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Suwayyah
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Totemic Mask
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Wolf Head
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Wrist Sword
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Clasped Orb
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Cloudy Sphere
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Crystalline Globe
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Demon Heart
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Dimensional Shard
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Dragon Stone
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Eagle Orb
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Eldritch Orb
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Glowing Orb
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Heavenly Stone
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Sacred Globe
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Smoked Sphere
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Sparkling Ball
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Swirling Crystal
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Vortex Orb
| 2
| 3
| 3
|-
| Ancient Shield
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Ancient Sword
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Arbalest
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Barbed Club
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Bardiche
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Blade Barrier
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Breast Plate
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Cuirass
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Devil Star
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Dragon Shield
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Edge Bow
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Espadon
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Gothic Shield
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Grand Scepter
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Holy Water Sprinkler
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Hyperion
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Hyperion Spear
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Jagged Star
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| KhalimFlail
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Kite Shield
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Large Shield
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Legend Sword
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Light Crossbow
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Light Plate
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Linked Mail
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Lochaber Axe
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Long Staff
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Mage Plate
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Mesh Armor
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Morning Star
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Mythical Sword
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Ogre Axe
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Pavise
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Pellet Bow
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Quarterstaff
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Ring Mail
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Russet Armor
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Scutum
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Seraph Rod
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Sharktooth Armor
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Short Bow
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Spear
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Spider Bow
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Stalagmite
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| SuperKhalimFlail
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Templar Coat
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Tigulated Mail
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Tower Shield
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Troll Nest
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Two-Handed Sword
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Tyrant Club
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| War Spear
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| War Sword
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Wirt's Leg
| 3
| 3
| 3
|-
| Aegis
| 3
| 3
| 4
|-
| Monarch
| 3
| 3
| 4
|-
| Ward
| 3
| 3
| 4
|-
| Aerin Shield
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Akaran Rondache
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Akaran Targe
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Ancient Armor
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Kurast Shield
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Archon Plate
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Balrog Blade
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Balrog Skin
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Bastard Sword
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Battle Hammer
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Battle Sword
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Bill
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Blade Bow
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Boneweave
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Broad Sword
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Champion Sword
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Chaos Armor
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Claymore
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Colossus Voulge
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Composite Bow
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Conquest Sword
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Crossbow
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Crown Shield
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Cryptic Sword
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Dacian Falx
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Diamond Mail
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Double Bow
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Dusk Shroud
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Embossed Plate
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Full Plate Mail
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Fuscina
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Giant Sword
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Gorgon Crossbow
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Gothic Plate
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Gothic Sword
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Great Bow
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Great Hauberk
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Guilded Shield
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Hellforged Plate
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Heraldic Shield
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Highland Blade
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Hunter's Bow
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Kraken Shell
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Lacquered Plate
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Legendary Mallet
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Long Sword
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Loricated Mail
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Ornate Armor
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Protector Shield
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Razor Bow
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Rondache
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Royal Shield
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Rune Sword
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Sacred Armor
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Sacred Rondache
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Sacred Targe
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Scarab Husk
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Shadow Plate
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Siege Crossbow
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Stygian Pike
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Targe
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Trident
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Tusk Sword
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Vortex Shield
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Voulge
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| War Hammer
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Wire Fleece
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Wyrmhide
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Zakarum Shield
| 3
| 4
| 4
|-
| Ashwood Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Battle Scythe
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Brandistock
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Cedar Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Chu-Ko-Nu
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Colossal Sword
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Cryptic Axe
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Demon Crossbow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Diamond Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Flail
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Flamberge
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Hellforge Hammer
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Knout
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Long Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Mancatcher
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Matriarchal Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Partizan
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Poleaxe
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Repeating Crossbow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Rune Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Scourge
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Scythe
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Shadow Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Short Battle Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Short Siege Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Short War Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Stag Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Thresher
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| War Fork
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Ward Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Zweihander
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Ceremonial Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Grand Matron Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Reflex Bow
| 3
| 4
| 5
|-
| Balista
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Bec-de-Corbin
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Ceremonial Pike
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Ceremonial Spear
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Colossus Blade
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Colossus Crossbow
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Crusader Bow
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Crystal Sword
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Dimensional Blade
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Executioner Sword
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Ghost Spear
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Giant Thresher
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Gothic Bow
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Great Maul
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Great Poleaxe
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Great Sword
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Grim Scythe
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Halberd
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Heavy Crossbow
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Hydra Bow
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Lance
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Long Battle Bow
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Long Siege Bow
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Long War Bow
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Maiden Pike
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Maiden Spear
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Martel de Fer
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Matriarchal Pike
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Matriarchal Spear
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Maul
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Ogre Maul
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Phase Blade
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Pike
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Spetum
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Thunder Maul
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| War Club
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| War Pike
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| War Scythe
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Yari
| 3
| 4
| 6
|-
| Caduceus
| 3
| 5
| 5
|-
| Divine Scepter
| 3
| 5
| 5
|-
| War Scepter
| 3
| 5
| 5
|-
| Axe
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Battle Staff
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Cedar Staff
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Cleaver
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Elder Staff
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Feral Axe
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Gnarled Staff
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Gothic Staff
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Large Axe
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Military Axe
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Shillelah
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Small Crescent
| 4
| 4
| 4
|-
| Battle Axe
| 4
| 5
| 5
|-
| Bearded Axe
| 4
| 5
| 5
|-
| Broad Axe
| 4
| 5
| 5
|-
| Decapitator
| 4
| 5
| 5
|-
| Double Axe
| 4
| 5
| 5
|-
| Ettin Axe
| 4
| 5
| 5
|-
| Silver Edged Axe
| 4
| 5
| 5
|-
| Tabar
| 4
| 5
| 5
|-
| Twin Axe
| 4
| 5
| 5
|-
| Ancient Axe
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| Berserker Axe
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| Champion Axe
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| Crowbill
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| Giant Axe
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| Glorious Axe
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| Gothic Axe
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| Great Axe
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| Military Pick
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| Naga
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| War Axe
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| War Spike
| 4
| 5
| 6
|-
| Archon Staff
| 5
| 6
| 6
|-
| Rune Staff
| 5
| 6
| 6
|-
| War Staff
| 5
| 6
| 6
|-
! Item
! Ilvl 1-25
! Ilvl 26-40
! Ilvl 41+
|}

[[Category:Items]]

Cube Recipes

2010-07-15T09:40:17Z

Orphan: /* Runeword Preparation Recipes */

{{Item navbox}}The '''Horadric Cube''' is a quest item you must have to complete the main quests in Act Two and Act Three. However it's much more than just a quest item, it has a ton of other cool features that make it useful throughout the entire game.
* See the [[Crafting Cubing and Socketing Guide]] for very detailed information and strategies on all in-game item improvement recipes and techniques.

==Cube Operation==
[[Image:horadric-cube.gif|frame]]To use the Horadric Cube, simply drag and drop items on it. They will automatically be positioned within the cube, assuming there's enough free space for them to fit. To open the cube, right click on it, then click and drag to move items between the cube and your inventory. Dropping the cube will instantly move everything from the cube to your inventory, with anything you lack space for dropping to the ground. The cube can be held in your inventory or your town stash. To convert items in the cube, click the transmute button, visible only when the cube is open. If invalid items are in the cube or the recipe is not possible for some reason, your character will say, "I can't do that."

* Items will be Identified by Cain while inside the Horadric Cube.
* Only one Horadric Cube can be picked up by the same character, and it's impossible to place one cube inside another one.
* Cubes can be passed down to characters who have not found one yet, such as "mule" characters who want them for extra storage.
** If a cube is lost, a new one can be retrieved from level 3 of the Halls of the Dead, in Act Two, or If you dont have one when The Council is killed, ( Act 3, Quest 5 ) another one will drop.
* The Horadric Cube is required to create [[Crafted Items]], as well as the following recipes.

This page lists all working recipes for the Horadric Cube. New recipes are frequently added in patches, and the function of some existing recipes are tweaked for better game balance.

==Secret Cow Level==
[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]]Wirt's Leg + A Tome of Town Portal --> Red Portal to the Secret Cow Level
* The recipe must be performed in the Rogue Camp (Act One Town).
* A character must first defeat Diablo (in D2C) or Baal (in D2X) on that difficulty level to open the portal.
* Characters who have received credit for killing the Cow King on that difficulty level may not open the portal (but may pass through it if someone else does).

See the [[Secret Cow Level]] page for more details.

==Pandemonium Event==
See the [[Pandemonium Event]] page for details on these recipes and the quest they are part of.
* These recipes must be executed in Harrogath (Act Five Town) in a Hell difficulty game on the Battle.net Realms. They do not work in single player.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]]Key of hate + Key of Terror + Key of Destruction --> Red Portal to either the Matron's Den, Furnace of Pain, or Forgotten Sands. (Which of the 3 portals opens is random, but they will not repeat if opened in the same game.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]]Baal's Eye + Diablo's Horn + Mephisto's Brain --> Red Portal to Uber Tristram

==Upgrade Recipes==
One of the most useful features of the cube is its ability to upgrade simple items into more powerful ones. Gems, runes, potions, and various other small objects can be combined and improved in the cube.

===Gems===
[[Gem]]s can be upgraded from chipped all the way to perfect. Three of the same kind and quality will yield one of the same kind of the next higher quality. This works for '''all seven types of gems'''. Skulls included. For example:
* 3 chipped topaz --> 1 flawed topaz
* 3 flawed topaz --> 1 topaz
* 3 topaz --> 1 flawless topaz
* 3 flawless topaz --> 1 perfect topaz.

===Runes===
Much like gems, [[rune]]s can be upgraded to higher quality, burning three to create one of the next type. Check the [[Rune list]] for full details.
* 3 [[El|El Rune]]s --> 1 [[Eld|Eld Rune]]
* 3 [[Eld|Eld Rune]]s --> 1 [[Tir|Tir Rune]]
* 3 [[Tir|Tir Rune]]s --> 1 [[Nef|Nef Rune]]
* 3 [[Nef|Nef Rune]]s --> 1 [[Eth|Eth Rune]]
* 3 [[Eth|Eth Rune]]s --> 1 [[Ith|Ith Rune]]
* 3 [[Ith|Ith Rune]]s --> 1 [[Tal|Tal Rune]]
* 3 [[Tal|Tal Rune]]s --> 1 [[Ral|Ral Rune]]
* 3 [[Ral|Ral Rune]]s --> 1 [[Ort|Ort Rune]]
* 3 [[Ort|Ort Rune]]s --> 1 [[Thul|Thul Rune]]

That was as far as Runes could be upgraded until the v1.10 patch added the following recipes. (They do not work in v1.09 or earlier patches.)
* 3 [[Thul|Thul Rune]]s + 1 [[Topaz|Chipped Topaz]] --> 1 [[Amn|Amn Rune]]
* 3 [[Amn|Amn Rune]]s + 1 [[Amethyst|Chipped Amethyst]] --> 1 [[Sol|Sol Rune]]
* 3 [[Sol|Sol Rune]]s + 1 [[Sapphire|Chipped Sapphire]] --> 1 [[Shael|Shael Rune]]
* 3 [[Shael|Shael Rune]]s + 1 [[Ruby|Chipped Ruby]] --> 1 [[Dol|Dol Rune]]

Higher level runes can also be upgraded, but only in v1.10 and later and only by single-player, realm, or ladder characters.
* 3 [[Dol|Dol Rune]]s + 1 [[Emerald|Chipped Emerald]] --> 1 [[Hel|Hel Rune]]
* 3 [[Hel|Hel Rune]]s + 1 [[Diamond|Chipped Diamond]] --> 1 [[Io|Io Rune]]
* 3 [[Io|Io Rune]]s + 1 [[Topaz|Flawed Topaz]] --> 1 [[Lum|Lum Rune]]
* 3 [[Lum|Lum Rune]]s + 1 [[Amethyst|Flawed Amethyst]] --> 1 [[Ko|Ko Rune]]
* 3 [[Ko|Ko Rune]]s + 1 [[Sapphire|Flawed Sapphire]] --> 1 [[Fal|Fal Rune]]
* 3 [[Fal|Fal Rune]]s + 1 [[Ruby|Flawed Ruby]] --> 1 [[Lem|Lem Rune]]
* 3 [[Lem|Lem Rune]]s + 1 [[Emerald|Flawed Emerald]] --> 1 [[Pul|Pul Rune]]
* 2 [[Pul|Pul Rune]]s + 1 [[Diamond|Flawed Diamond]] --> 1 [[Um|Um Rune]]
* 2 [[Um|Um Rune]]s + 1 [[Topaz]] --> [[Mal|Mal Rune]]
* 2 [[Mal|Mal Rune]]s + 1 [[Amethyst]] --> [[Ist|Ist Rune]]
* 2 [[Ist|Ist Rune]]s + 1 [[Sapphire]] --> [[Gul|Gul Rune]]
* 2 [[Gul|Gul Rune]]s + 1 [[Ruby]] --> [[Vex|Vex Rune]]
* 2 [[Vex|Vex Rune]]s + 1 [[Emerald]] --> [[Ohm|Ohm Rune]]
* 2 [[Ohm|Ohm Rune]]s + 1 [[Diamond]] --> [[Lo|Lo Rune]]
* 2 [[Lo|Lo Rune]]s + 1 [[Topaz|Flawless Topaz]] --> [[Sur|Sur Rune]]
* 2 [[Sur|Sur Rune]]s + 1 [[Amethyst|Flawless Amethyst]] --> [[Ber|Ber Rune]]
* 2 [[Ber|Ber Rune]]s + 1 [[Sapphire|Flawless Sapphire]] --> [[Jah|Jah Rune]]
* 2 [[Jah|Jah Rune]]s + 1 [[Ruby|Flawless Ruby]] --> [[Cham|Cham Rune]]
* 2 [[Cham|Cham Rune]]s + 1 [[Emerald|Flawless Emerald]] --> [[Zod|Zod Rune]]

A handy way to remember which gems are required for the upgrades past Ort is by using the acronym TASRED. As in, "Don't taze me, dude." ("[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taser Tasered]" is the correct spelling, but that would repeat the "E".) Each gem except the skull: Topaz, Amethyst, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald, Diamond, is used, in repeating order and increasing quality. So Thul is T (to make Amn), Amn is A(to make Sol), Sol is S (to make Shael), etc.

===Potions===
Any quality of healing or mana potion can be used in the following recipes. Any type of gem (including skulls) can be used as well.

* 3 health potions + 3 mana potions + 1 [[Gems|chipped gem]] --> 1 partial rejuvenation potion
* 3 health potions + 3 mana potions + 1 [[Gems|normal quality gem]] --> 1 full rejuvenation potion
* 3 partial rejuvenation potions --> 1 full rejuvenation potion

==Runeword Preparation Recipes==
[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Hel|Hel Rune]] + Scroll of Town Portal + Any Socketed Item --> Remove items from sockets
* Removes the jewels, gems, or runes from the sockets in an item.
* The items in the sockets are destroyed, and all bonuses granted by those items are removed.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Eld|Eld Rune]] + 1 [[Gems|Chipped Gem]] + Low Quality Weapon --> Normal Quality Weapon of same type
* ilvl = 1
** This recipe is useful to upgrade a low quality weapon to normal quality. It can then be used in other recipes to add sockets, in preparation for turning it into a runeword. Any sockets and items in those sockets will be lost after using this recipe.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[El|El Rune]] + 1 [[Gems|Chipped Gem]] + Low Quality Armor --> Normal Quality Armor of same type
* ilvl = 1.
** This recipe is useful to upgrade a low quality armor to normal quality. It can then be used in other recipes to add sockets, in preparation for turning it into a runeword. Any sockets and items in those sockets will be lost after using this recipe.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Tal|Tal Rune]] + 1 [[Thul|Thul Rune]] + 1 [[Topaz|Perfect Topaz]] + Normal Body Armor --> Socketed Body Armor of same type
* This recipe adds 1-4 sockets to the armor, making it potentially useful for a [[Runeword]].
* The game always rolls for up to 6 sockets with this recipe. The amount of sockets is then capped to the maximum amount that particular item can have. Armor that can only have up to 2 sockets would therefore have a 1/6 chance of 1, and a 5/6 chance of 2.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Ral|Ral Rune]] + 1 [[Amn|Amn Rune]] + 1 [[Amethyst|Perfect Amethyst]] + Normal Weapon = Socketed Weapon of same type
* This recipe adds 1-6 sockets to the weapon, making it potentially useful for a [[runeword]].
* The game rolls for up to 6 sockets with this recipe. If a weapon can not have 6 sockets, then the number is capped to the maximum for that particular item after the roll. A weapon with 3 sockets maximum would have 1/6 chance for 1, 1/6 chance for 2, and 4/6 chance for 3.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Ral|Ral Rune]] + 1 [[Thul|Thul Rune]] + 1 [[Sapphire|Perfect Sapphire]] + Normal Helm --> Socketed Helm of same type
* This recipe adds 1-3 sockets to the helm, making it potentially useful for a [[Runeword]].
* The game always rolls for up to 6 sockets with this recipe. The amount of sockets is then capped to the maximum amount that particular item can have. A helm type that only allows 2 sockets would have a 1/6 chance of 1, and a 5/6 chance of 2.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Tal|Tal Rune]] + 1 [[Amn|Amn Rune]] + 1 [[Ruby|Perfect Ruby]] + Normal Shield --> Socketed Shield of same type
* This recipe adds 1-4 sockets to the shield, making it potentially useful for a [[Runeword]].
* The game always rolls for up to 6 sockets with this recipe. The amount of sockets is then capped to the maximum amount that particular item can have. A shield that can only have 3 sockets will have a 1/6 chance of 1, 1/6 chance of 2, and 4/6 chance of 3.

==Item Upgrades==
Various recipes to upgrade the quality of uniques and rares. Will not work on crafted items or runewords. These recipes do not alter the modifiers on items; they merely upgrade the base item type, from normal to exceptional, or exceptional to elite, enabling greater damage or higher defense.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 3 [[Skulls|Perfect Skulls]] + 1 Rare Item + [[Stone of Jordan]] --> Add 1 Socket To a Rare Item
* Only one socket will be added.
* Will not add a socket to an item that already has one.
* Does not work on items that can not have sockets, such as throwing items, boots, gloves, belts, etc.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Ral|Ral Rune]] + 1 [[Sol|Sol Rune]] + 1 [[Emerald|Perfect Emerald]] + Normal Unique Weapon --> Exceptional Version of Weapon
* v1.10 and later only.
* This recipe upgrades the item type of the weapon without changing the stats, and is useful to increase the weapon's damage.
* Ethereal items, as well as socketed items can be upgraded without changing their nature.
* Level requirements, as well as strength and dexterity requirements, will increase corresponding to the exceptional version of the item.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Tal|Tal Rune]] + 1 [[Shael|Shael Rune]] + 1 [[Diamond|Perfect Diamond]] + Normal Unique Armor --> Exceptional Version of Armor
* v1.10 and later only.
* This recipe upgrades the item type of the armor without changing the stats, and is useful to increase the armor's defence.
* Ethereal items, as well as socketed items can be upgraded without changing their nature.
* Level requirements, as well as strength requirements, will increase corresponding to the exceptional version of the item.
* Works on all types of armor, not just body armor. Helms, boots, belts, etc.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Lum|Lum Rune]] + 1 [[Pul|Pul Rune]] + 1 [[Emerald|Perfect Emerald]] + Exceptional Unique Weapon --> Elite Version of Weapon
* v1.10 and later only.
* '''Ladder characters''' and single player characters only.
* This recipe upgrades the item type of the weapon without changing the stats, and is useful to increase the weapon's damage.
* Ethereal items, as well as socketed items can be upgraded without changing their nature.
* Level requirements, as well as strength and dexterity requirements, will increase corresponding to the elite version of the item.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Ko|Ko Rune]] + 1 [[Lem|Lem Rune]] + 1 [[Diamond|Perfect Diamond]] + Exceptional Unique Armor --> Elite Version of Armor
* v1.10 and later only.
* '''Ladder characters''' and single player characters only.
* This recipe upgrades the item type of the armor without changing the stats, and is useful to increase the armor's defense.
* Ethereal items, as well as socketed items can be upgraded without changing their nature.
* Level requirements, as well as strength requirements, will increase corresponding to the elite version of the item.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Ort|Ort Rune]] + 1 [[Amn|Amn Rune]] + 1 [[Sapphire|Perfect Sapphire]] + Normal (Basic) Rare Weapon --> Exceptional Rare Weapon
* v1.10 and later only.
* This recipe upgrades the item type of the weapon without changing the stats, and is useful to increase the weapon's damage.
* Ethereal items, as well as socketed items can be upgraded without changing their nature.
* Level requirements, as well as strength and dexterity requirements, may increase corresponding to the exceptional version of the item.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Ral|Ral Rune]] + 1 [[Thul|Thul Rune]] + 1 [[Amethyst|Perfect Amethyst]] + Normal (Basic) Rare Armor --> Exceptional Rare Armor
* v1.10 and later only.
* This recipe upgrades the item type of the armor without changing the stats, and is useful to increase the armor's defense.
* Ethereal items, as well as socketed items can be upgraded without changing their nature.
* Level requirements, as well as strength requirements, may increase corresponding to the exceptional version of the item.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Fal|Fal Rune]] + 1 [[Um|Um Rune]] + 1 [[Sapphire|Perfect Sapphire]] + Exceptional Rare Weapon --> Elite Rare Weapon
* v1.10 and later only.
* This recipe upgrades the item type of the armor without changing the stats, and is useful to increase the weapon's damage.
* Ethereal items, as well as socketed items can be upgraded without changing their nature.
* Level requirements, as well as strength and dexterity requirements, may increase corresponding to the elite version of the item.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Ko|Ko Rune]] + 1 [[Pul|Pul Rune]] + 1 [[Amethyst|Perfect Amethyst]] + Exceptional Rare Armor --> Elite Rare Armor
* v1.10 and later only.
* This recipe upgrades the item type of the armor without changing the stats, and is useful to increase the armor's defense.
* Ethereal items, as well as socketed items can be upgraded without changing their nature.
* Level requirements, as well as strength requirements, may increase corresponding to the exceptional version of the item.

==Repairs and Recharges==
[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Ort|Ort Rune]] + Weapon --> Fully Repaired Weapon
* v1.10 and later only.
* This recipe will fully repair an item without visiting the NPC blacksmith. This is useful to avoid a trip to town, or to repair some weapons that have astronomical repair costs, due to irregularities in how the game determines the price for repairs.
* Does not work on ethereal items.
* Charges on an item are not replenished.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]]1 [[Ral|Ral Rune]] + Armor --> Fully Repaired Armor
* v1.10 and later only.
* This recipe will fully repair an item without visiting the NPC blacksmith. This is useful to avoid a trip to town, or to repair some armors that have astronomical repair costs, due to irregularities in how the game determines the price for repairs.
* Does not work on ethereal items.
* Charges on an item are not replenished.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Ort|Ort Rune]] + 1 [[Gems|Chipped Gem]] (any kind) + Weapon --> Fully Repaired and Recharged Weapon
* v1.10 and later only.
* This recipe will fully repair and recharge an item without visiting the NPC blacksmith. This is useful to avoid a trip to town, or to repair some armors that have astronomical repair costs, due to irregularities in how the game determines the price for repairs or recharges.
* Will not repair (but will recharge) ethereal items.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Ral|Ral Rune]] + 1 [[Gems|Flawed Gem]] (any kind) + Armor --> Fully Repaired and Recharged Armor
* v1.10 and later only.
* This recipe will fully repair and recharge an item without visiting the NPC blacksmith. This is useful to avoid a trip to town, or to repair some armor that have astronomical repair costs, due to irregularities in how the game determines the price for repairs or recharges.
* Will not repair (but will recharge) ethereal items.
* Works on every type of armor: boots, gloves, belts, etc.

===Foraging Recipes===
Useful tricks to quickly turn junk into something you need right then and there, usually to save a trip back to town. Any quality or type of item may be used in the following recipes.
* 2 Quivers of Bolts --> 1 Quiver of Arrows (random quantity)
* 2 Quivers of Arrows --> 1 Quiver of Bolts (random quantity)
* 1 Spear + 1 Quiver of Arrows --> 1 Stack of Javelins (non-magical, random quantity)
* 1 Axe + 1 Dagger --> A stack of throwing axes (non-magical, random quantity)
* 1 Strangling Gas Potion + 1 Healing Potion --> 1 Antidote Potion

==Recycling Recipes==
These useful recipes allow methodical players to turn their junk into treasure, with enough attempts and some good luck on the item generation roll.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 3 Magic Amulets --> 1 Magic Ring
* ilvl = int(.75 * clvl).
** The ring is created at 3/4 of the level of the character who rolls it. A level 80 character could make a lvl 60 ring, for instance. Refer to the list of [[prefixes]] and [[suffixes]] to see what mods are possible at every given level.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 3 Magic Rings --> 1 Random Magic Amulet
* ilvl = int(.75 * clvl).
** The amulet is created at 3/4 of the level of the character who rolls it. A level 80 character could make a lvl 60 amulet, for instance. Refer to the list of [[prefixes]] and [[suffixes]] to see what mods are possible at every given level.
** +2 to a character's skills is a lvl 90 modifier, so can not be achieved with this recipe (level 99 char = ilvl 74 amulet)
*** +3 to a given skill mods are lvl 60, and can be achieved with this recipe, providing the rings and the character are fairly high level.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 6 [[Skulls|Perfect Skulls]] + 1 Rare Item --> 1 Random Low Quality Rare Item of the same type
* ilvl = int(.4 * clvl) + int(.4 * ilvl)
** This recipe rerolls the rare item, resetting all the modifiers. The item level is lowered, but can still be fairly high, if the item and the character rolling it are high level. (Level 80 character and level 80 item would turn into 32 + 32 = ilvl 64.)
**Note that the cube is only 12 spaces in size, and with 6 perfect skulls there's no room for 2x4 items such as large bows/xbows, polearms, spears, etc.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Skulls|Perfect Skull]] + 1 Rare Item + [[Stone of Jordan]] --> 1 High Quality New Rare Item of the same type
* ilvl = int(.66 * clvl) + int(.66 * ilvl)
** This recipe rerolls the rare item, resetting all the modifiers. The item level can remain quite high, or even increase, allowing higher level modifiers to occur.
** Example: a level 80 character with a lvl 80 item = 52.8 + 52.8 = 105.6. This would allow any modifier in the game to spawn on the item.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 3 [[Gems|Perfect Gems]] (of any type, including Skulls) + 1 Magic Item --> 1 New Random Magic Item of the Same Type
* The magic item is rerolled, with all stats reset. The ilvl is the same, so it's as if the same monster dropped it again.
* All magical items can be used, including charms, jewels, and jewelry.

==Magical Item Creation==
The most useful item creation is to make [[Crafting Recipes|Crafted Items]], which are listed on a separate page. The following recipes are oddly-inventive, but are only of use to low level characters, since the items aren't very powerful.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 4 Health Potions (of any type) + [[Ruby]] (any type) + Magical Sword --> A Magic Sword of the Leech
* ilvl = 30. (Quite low.)
** The sword must be magical, and this recipe will reset the stats, always granting "of the Leech" suffix (4-5% Life Stolen Per Hit).
** There is a chance of getting a random prefix as well.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 6 [[Gems|Perfect Gems]] (1 of each type) + 1 Amulet (Magic) --> Magic Prismatic Amulet
* ilvl = 50.
** The amulet will always have the Prismatic prefix (All Resistances +16-20).
** There is a chance at getting a suffix as well.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 Magic Ring + 1 [[Emerald|Perfect Emerald]] + 1 Antidote Potion --> 1 Jade Ring
* ilvl = 30.
** Creates a ring with the Jade prefix (21-30% poison resistance).
** A random suffix may occur as well.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 Magic Ring + 1 [[Ruby|Perfect Ruby]] + 1 Exploding Potion --> 1 Garnet Ring
* ilvl = 30.
** Creates a ring with the Garnet prefix (21-30% fire resistance).
** A random suffix may occur as well.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 Magic Ring + 1 [[Topaz|Perfect Topaz]] + 1 Rejuvenation Potion --> 1 Coral Ring
* ilvl = 30.
** Creates a ring with the Coral prefix (21-30% lightning resistance).
** A random suffix may occur as well.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 Magic Ring + 1 [[Sapphire|Perfect Sapphire]] + 1 Thawing Potion --> 1 Cobalt Ring
* ilvl = 30.
** Creates a ring with the Cobalt prefix (21-30% cold resistance).
** A random suffix may occur as well.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 Magic Shield (any type) + 1 Spiked Club (any quality) + 2 [[Skulls]] (any quality) --> Magic Shield of Spikes
* ilvl=30.
** Rerolls the mods on a given type of shield, yielding a magic shield with the "of Spikes" suffix (Attacker Takes Damage of 4-6).
** A random prefix may occur as well.
** Can be used on any type of shield, including Paladin and Necromancer class items, which may spawn with their usual bonus properties.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 [[Diamond]] + 1 Staff + 1 Kris + 1 Belt --> Savage Polearm Class Weapon
* ivl = 50.
** Creates a polearm class weapon with the Savage prefix (66-80% Enhanced Damage).
** May spawn with a random suffix as well.
** The polearm type will randomly choose from a Bardiche, Battle Scythe, Bill, Halberd, Lochaber Axe, Partizan, Poleaxe, Scythe, Voulge, or War Scythe.

==Low Quality Item Rerolls==
These can be used multiple times on the same weapon, which allows one to re-do the roll if the new weapon is not of the desired quality or has only one socket.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 3 [[Gems|Chipped Gems]] + 1 Magic Weapon --> Socketed Magic Weapon
* ilvl = 25.
** This recipe rerolls the stats on a magical weapon, setting it with new, random modifiers and 1-2 sockets.
** Magical weapons that can not have sockets, such as throwing weapons, will spawn with new modifiers but no sockets.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 3 [[Gems|Standard Gems]] + 1 Socketed Weapon --> 1 Socketed Magic Weapon
* ilvl = 30
** This recipe rerolls the stats on the weapon, creating a new magical version of the same weapon, with random [[modifiers]] and 1-2 sockets.
** Any type of gems may be used, but they must be normal (between flawed and flawless) in quality.
** Magical weapons that can not have sockets, such as throwing weapons, will spawn with new modifiers but no sockets.

[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 3 [[Gems|Flawless Gems]] + 1 Magic Weapon --> Socketed Magic Weapon
* ilvl = 30
** This recipe rerolls the stats on the weapon, creating a new magical version of the same weapon, with random [[modifiers]] and 1-2 sockets.
** Magical weapons that can not have sockets, such as throwing weapons, will spawn with new modifiers but no sockets.

==Stat Resets==
[[Image:Cube-convert.gif]] 1 of each essences --> Reset of stats
*In v1.13 a new choice was added, you could reset your stats by talking to Akara once in each difficulty by completing the Den of Evil quest in act 1.
**In that same version, after using all of the stat resets, if you're still un-happy with your build, you could go out and defeat each end bosses of each act in Hell difficulty to receive an essence.
**They are just a bit more rare than keys are to complete the pandemonium event.
**Only works in v1.13 or later

[[Category:Horadric Cube]]

Fotds: August 1999

2009-07-06T10:45:48Z

Orphan: /* August 26, 1999 */ - fixing link

Fotds: December 2001

2009-07-05T08:25:16Z

Orphan: FOTD December 2001

Fotds: November 2001

2009-07-05T08:17:22Z

Orphan: FOTD November 2001

Fotds: August 2001

2009-07-05T08:05:22Z

Orphan: FOTD August 2001

Fotds: May 2001

2009-07-05T08:01:55Z

Orphan: FOTD May 2001

Fotds: March 2001

2009-07-05T07:57:29Z

Orphan: FOTD March 2001

Fotds: January 2001

2009-07-05T07:52:14Z

Orphan: FOTD January 2001

Fotds: February 2001

2009-07-05T07:22:59Z

Orphan: FOTD February 2001

Fotds: December 2000

2009-07-04T11:44:21Z

Orphan: FOTD December 2000

Fotds: November 2000

2009-07-04T11:41:59Z

Orphan: FOTD November 2000

Fotds: October 2000

2009-07-04T11:39:59Z

Orphan: FOTD October 2000

Fotds: July 2000

2009-07-04T11:23:02Z

Orphan: /* July 30, 2000 */ - Fixing link

Fotds: August 2000

2009-07-04T11:21:55Z

Orphan: /* August 17, 2000 */ - Fixing link

Fotds: September 2000

2009-07-04T11:20:14Z

Orphan: /* September 18, 2000 */ - Fixing link

Fotds: September 2000

2009-07-04T11:18:37Z

Orphan: FOTD September 2000

Fotds: August 2000

2009-07-04T11:11:47Z

Orphan: FOTD August 2000

Fotds: July 2000

2009-07-04T10:55:17Z

Orphan: FOTD July 2000

Fotds: June 2000

2009-07-04T10:40:34Z

Orphan: Formatting fixes

Fotds: June 2000

2009-07-04T10:39:34Z

Orphan: FOTD June 2000

Fotds: May 2000

2009-07-04T10:30:31Z

Orphan: Formatting fixes

Fotds: May 2000

2009-07-04T10:25:02Z

Orphan: FOTD May 2000

Fotds: September 2001

2009-06-28T10:17:37Z

Orphan: /* September 17, 2001 */

Fotds: September 2001

2009-06-28T10:04:43Z

Orphan:

Fotds: September 2001

2009-06-28T10:04:04Z

Orphan: /* September 6, 2001 */

Fotds: September 2001

2009-06-28T10:01:08Z

Orphan: FOTD September 2001

Fotds: April 2000

2009-05-08T06:01:53Z

Orphan: FOTD April 2000

File:1999-july22.jpg

2009-05-08T06:00:53Z

Orphan:

Act One, beside the river. The Sorceress here cutting loose with a gorgeous display of Chain Lightning, and just routing some Fallen. This is not at all how Chain Lightining looked at E3, as we described it in the recent Uber Report. This looks much more like the new and very impressive Lightning spell, which shoots out devastating bolts of destruction, far more effective and graphically impressive than the spell was in Diablo. You get a nice look at how the Chain works here, as it slices up to the top of the screen, and jumps from one Fallen to the next, curving a bit as it goes. I would think that this is a petty high level of this spell, since it's far more powerful-looking here than it was at E3, though they've changed the graphic completely. I put it up to lvl eight at E3 and it still would not send out more than one bolt at a time, not matter how surrounded I was. But yes, this looks a lot more like what we would expect from Chain Lightning. As for other thigns in the shot, note the glowing golden orb over the Sorceress' head? I would assume that this is the first ever shot of Energy Shield, her Diablo II version of Mana Shield. However, lots of things in Diablo II create a glowing icon over the character's head, including other spells and various types of herbs, so that's not confirmed just yet. It also looks a bit like a test graphic to me, as it's not real visible or visually impressive.

The best thing here? The falling Fallen to the lower left of the Sorceress. Look at him, stiff and straight falling backwards, with the blood gushing and the lighting wrapping around him. Pity this isn't a night time shot to really see the pretty glowing colors. Also, note the Fallen on the lower left, second from the bottom. He's spurting blood also, but appears to be clear of the lightning, so speculate about that if you like. Maybe a quick charge hit him and it's already dissipated by the time of this shot? Lastly, note that the Sorceress has 100% full mana, yet she's obviously used a spell right here. Probably a cheat mode for testing purposes, unless she drank on from her belt an instant before this shot was taken. -- 3D-enhanced shot, 6/99

[[Category: Alpha_Diablo_II_Images]]

File:1999-july22.jpg

2009-05-08T06:00:17Z

Orphan: Act One, beside the river

Act One, beside the river

File:2000-apr18-a1.jpg

2009-05-08T05:57:09Z

Orphan:

Lightning javelin in use, streaking towards an unsuspecting zombie. Of course they have the AI of a toaster oven, so "unsuspecting" pretty well sums them up in all situations. As you can see, this is a Lightning attack, which can deal quite high damage right from Slvl One, more than enough to sizzle this Zombie. And it even has a lovely graphic.

[[Category: Alpha_Diablo_II_Images]]

File:2000-apr18-a1.jpg

2009-05-08T05:56:27Z

Orphan: Lightning javelin in use, streaking towards an unsuspecting zombie

Lightning javelin in use, streaking towards an unsuspecting zombie

File:2000-apr08-a1.jpg

2009-05-08T05:52:21Z

Orphan:

One more of the aura monster pack in the last shot. Here the Sorceress has run around them, all the better to get another screenshot. You can see the blue skeleton is still frozen a few seconds later, and it's not turned around, like the rest of them have. Their fireballs aren't that fast, so aren't very hard to run and dodge. But of course you have to stop at some point to target them, and when you do, they will start nailing you. All the gold on the floor is because this is a small treasure sort of room. When facing minion packs like this, it's generally best to try and kill off all the minions first, since they will die much more easily than the boss, and with them all gone you can deal with the boss one on one.

[[Category:Alpha_Diablo_II_Images]]

File:2000-apr08-a1.jpg

2009-05-08T05:51:25Z

Orphan: One more of the aura monster pack in the last sho

One more of the aura monster pack in the last sho

File:Pal-sacrifice-beta.jpg

2009-05-08T05:45:59Z

Orphan:

Skill Level One Sacrifice Skill from the Beta

[[Category:Alpha_Diablo_II_Images]]

File:Pal-sacrifice-beta.jpg

2009-05-08T05:45:08Z

Orphan: Skill Level One Sacrifice Skill from the Beta

Skill Level One Sacrifice Skill from the Beta

Fotds: March 2000

2009-05-08T05:37:19Z

Orphan: FOTD March 2000

The information presented in these archived FotDs is now outdated, but that's often the most interesting thing about them, seeing how much the game has changed from then to now.

The original FotDs are indented and italicized. Explanatory comments below them were written by Flux at the time the FotDs were archived, usually a couple/few months after the original FotDs had been presented.

* [[Fact of the day|FotD archives main page]].

==March 1, 2000==
::''Charge is a Clvl 12 skill from the Paladin's Combat Skills Tab. This skill enables him to rush at a target, and deliver a smashing attack with his weapon (or even bare-fisted) that knocks the target back and stuns them as well. There is even a cool animation for it, with transparent images of the Paladin left behind as he runs. The drawbacks to this skill are that the Charging speed isn't any faster than a normal running speed, and that it costs 9 mana per use, which is high for a Paladin skill. You can see it in use here, minus the cool graphics.

This was a cool one, we posted the FotD, which is basically as you see it here, but had said it was a shield bash sort of skill. We got an email from Kelly Johnson, Blizzard North artist and Paladin designer/tester informing us of an error in it.

"I was just reading your "Fact of the Day", I think you may be misleading your readers about Charge skill and its effectiveness. First of all its not a shield based attack, the shield has nothing to do with Charge. When you "Charge" an enemy the weapon is used to smack the opponent and not the shield. Charge works with any melee weapon and your bare fists. Charge is one of the Paladins best damage dealing attacks, it gives the same damage bonus as Sacrifice, only Vengeance gives you more bonus damage. The only drawback of Charge is the high mana cost, 9 points per use."

So we updated the FotD with this more accurate info, and left it up a day longer.

==March 3, 2000==
::''Cleansing is a Clvl 12 skill from the Paladin's Defensive Auras Skill Tab. A very defensive aura, Cleansing's only function is to reduce the duration of poison. This will come in handy, since poison attacks in Diablo II do initial poison damage (based on the attack and your poison resistance) but also have a lingering effect, which causes a steady hit point drain, and also turns your health bulb green, and causes your light radius to turn green and shrink as well. It is not known if Cleansing adds to your poison resistance, but apparently it does not.

Unknown if the lowering duration of Curses property of Cleansing was in at this time and we didn't know about it, or if that was added later. Likely we just didn't know about it, since it wasn't in the skill hover info at that time. It seemed odd then that it didn't do poison resistance, since there were Cold/Fire/Lightning resistance auras, but no poison. Should have been a tip off to how unimportant poison res really is in the game.

==March 4, 2000==
::''Increased Speed is a Clvl 24 passive skill from the Barbarian's Combat Masteries Skill Tab. This skill is said to boost the Barbarians foot speed, for both running and walking. Exactly how much of a change in velocity this allows is unknown. Also, with fast walk boots a relatively recent addition to the game, this skill seems prime to be altered or removed completely.

Yes, there weren't always faster run/walk boots. Decreased stamina use as a modifier was in for a long time, one of the oldest previews has Blizzard talking about likely magical modifiers, and "of the horse" is mentioned as one that will occur on boots and cut stamina drain. But nothing about faster running was known at that time.

==March 5, 2000==
::''Several Paladins in the same friendly party can work together very well, since their auras will stack. Picture a mixture of Offensive and Defensive Auras, such as Holy Fire, Holy Shock, and Prayer all at work at the same time, dealing fire and lightning damage to the monsters, while all the Paladins are healing, and taking turns running Prayer, so no one gets too low on mana. One balancing factor is that auras of the same type can not stack, so no triple-fast healing, or triple-Fanaticism for an Attack Rate near the speed of light.

Having not played Paladins yet we didn't know how weak the three auras we listed in our example were. ;) Yes, the stacking same aura question was asked just about every day back then.

==March 7, 2000==
::''Single-player and Multi-player characters are very similar in Diablo II. So much so that telling an SP game from a solo-MP game could be difficult. They have the same quests, difficulty levels, prices in town, number and difficulty of monsters, etc. The added bonus in Diablo II is that single-player characters can be played online, as "open" multi-player characters. The only real difference between playing a multi-player character offline and a single player character is that presumably you'll be able to save the game at any time you like in single-player, and restore from a save if you crash or have some bad luck.

As we know now, you can't save the game any time. Blizzard wanted that option, but with such massive game worlds they couldn't get a workable save game size finished and not buggy. So they just worked the save waypoints from multi to single.

The lack of a SP save game feature was one of the biggest complaints about D2 by game reviewers and early non-online players, who were used to pure SP RPG games that could save at any point, anywhere. Playing until you finished a quest or found a waypoint, then quitting so you could start up right at that point next game wasn't a popular alternative.

==March 7, 2000==
::''Guild Halls will provide great places to meet and chat with others in your guild, but there won't be any sparring allowed there, nor spell-casting. This was something the Diablo II Development Team wanted to allow, but with so many characters allowed into a Guild Hall at once, (The number is not yet finalized, but will be at least 30 or 40.) letting there be combat or spell-casting would have been impossibly-taxing on the computers and internet connections of everyone in the room, not to mention the Bnet servers.

As you know by now, Guild Halls didn't make the final game. Mostly because Blizzard just didn't have time to work on them and get them to a final state, but also the main benefit of one was storage space for items and gold, and with the late addition of the stash covering much of that benefit, Guild Halls didn't seem as necessary.

==March 10, 2000==
::''Masteries are passive skills (meaning they are always in effect; they don't need to be clicked or selected to work) that tend to effect how a number of other skills or abilities work. More information on them can be found in our Character Section. For example, Skeleton Mastery increases the hit points and damage dealt by all of the Necromancer's Raised skeletons or Revived creatures. Fire Mastery increases the damage of all of the Sorceress' fire spells. There are many others, with a variety of effects, including the Barbarian's six Combat Masteries.

FotDs were often just basic game info in a condensed form.

==March 11, 2000==
::''Realms are the term Blizzard North is currently using as a synonym for "servers", the actual computers that you connect to to play Diablo II over Battle.net. Each realm can host thousands of games of Diablo II simultaneously, and the "Closed" Battle.net-only characters are stored on the Realms. "Open" non-Battle.net characters can play online over Battle.net also, but they are not restricted to it or stored anywhere besides your hard drive.

==March 12, 2000==
::''Hardcore characters are a new type in Diablo II that you can only play after you finish the game with a closed character. There are many interesting features to them, but the major difference is that they are mortal. No resurrection or restarting in town upon death; if you die that's it. Dead HC chars may still enter Bnet chat rooms, but they can not enter games, and they look like ghosts in the Battle.net chat. HC chars can not mix with normal chars ever, in any way. They also have their own ladders, different colored names on Bnet, and special titles.

HC was just announced around this time, right before the beta, and was a very hot topic at the time. Immediately there were people springing up with "HC only!" slogans, and insulting others who didn't pledge to play HC only forever and ever. The concept of permanent character death was relatively shocking then, and it's still pretty rare, with most online RPGs having guarantees that you'll never even lose any of your equip when you die, much less your character entirely.

==March 13, 2000==
::''Town Portals exist in Diablo II, and they work more or less the same way they did in Diablo. Changes now include the much spiffier graphic, the requirement that you cast it from a scroll, and the fact that the portal appears right where you are standing when you cast it, rather than being targetable, as it was in Diablo. A nice addition is that when hovered on, the portal says where it is going to take you, as well as the name of the person who cast it. Best of all, travel time with a portal is almost zero, another benefit of the background level loading

The screenshot is interesting, one of the earliest PVP shots, not at all focused on the Town Portal, but as it was one of the few shots with the new TP graphics, we linked to it from this FotD.

==March 14, 2000==
::''There are no penalties upon death in Diablo II, no stat or equipment loss, and not even any dropped equipment. No items are dropped at all, whether you are killed by a player or a monster. The only loss is to the gold in your inventory, since you drop all of it. Half vanishes completely, and the other half lies there in a pile, where any other player can pick it up if they beat you to it. PK'ed characters will drop an ear, or some other token of their demise, however.

How much gold you dropped upon death was changed several times, with Blizzard lowering their initial "all of it" penalty concept. Death penalties were a hot topic for a long time, with many players advocating some sort of penalty, since after all, death is in theory a bad thing. Less skillful players, casual players, and those with bad machines or internet connections were a lot less enthusiastic about death penalties, and everyone agreed there needed to be some sort of work around to it so players could duel without such penalties.

What exactly the PK'ed token would be was debated for a long time, with Blizzard saying and hinting that it would be different than the ear of D1, but in the end they went with that, probably just from a lack of thinking of anything else/better.

==March 15, 2000==
::''NPCs have improved AI for better realism in Diablo II Instead of just standing on one spot forever, the NPCs move around, though the merchants are restricted to the area around their shops. They also have varied animation routines, where they go about restocking shelves or sharpening swords or other more natural activities. Other NPC's can be seen just milling around the town to add realism. You can not interact with the non-essential NPCs. NPCs with something important to tell you about a quest will have an "!" over their heads.

The link is live to one of the Blizzard magazine ads, with our added caption. The shot of Lut Gholein is interesting, for the layout is totally different from the final game. Likely it was just modified for the magazine shot, to put the most interesting features all in sight, rather than the palace being that close to the gate at some time.

==March 16, 2000==
::''Melee weapons in Diablo II all have different ranges. A polearm will hit an enemy farther away than a sword would, and the sword will have greater reach than a dagger, for example. You can actually hit a monster on the other side of a friendly player, or hit a dangerous monster behind a less-dangerous one, if you have a weapon that will reach them. It is unknown if any characters will have greater range/longer arms than the others, but it seems unbalanced, and therefore unlikely.

Typical of the old FotDs, some known fact and then some speculation about things never yet revealed. We were right, in this case.

==March 18, 2000==
::''A 3D card for Diablo II allows you to enjoy the parallax effect. This is a 3D effect in which objects in the background are smaller, and objects in the foreground are larger, and therefore appear to be closer to the eye. When walking or running sideways, distant objects will scroll across the field of view more slowly than ones below your character. Parallax gives the game a sort of "fisheye lens" effect, and looks great. It is demonstrated very clearly in one sequence in the Necromancer gameplay movie.

This was a very new concept back then, and hard to imagine without seeing it in action. You see it most clearly in D2X looking off the top of the Arreat Plateau, where you fight the Ancients, but the Necromancer AVI had a nice demo of it with the Necro walking along in town in Act 3, moving from by Alkor down towards the stash, and passing behind the cobra head carving on top of the temple in town.

==March 20, 2000==
::''The Diablo II beta testers will be chosen from a random list sorted to cover a wide number of U.S./Canadian locations, and a variety of system set-ups. Signups run from 12:01am Monday, March 20th, 2000 to 11:59pm tonight. 23:58 of beta goodness. All applicants will be placed in a giant hat, and specially-engineered Blizzard robo-chimps will be lowered in, where they will pick 1000 winners, based on their computer system, location, and good luck. Announcement of the winners is expected in about a week.

People were absolutely giddy with glee over the beta sign up. We were of course joking in this FotD, Blizzard discontinued their robo-chimps after the Starcraft beta. They use robo-baboons now.

==March 21, 2000==
::''"Closed" characters are the new type of character Blizzard North has created for Diablo II to add security to the game. They will be stored on the Battle.net servers, are only playable online, are intended to be hack-proof, and can only interact (play, trade, Guild Hall) with other "closed" characters. 'Open" characters are like Diablo multi-player characters. They can be played on Bnet or offline, over a LAN, modem, Kali, etc. Single-player characters can be played as open multi-player characters.

Interesting thing about this one is that even in late March, at the time of the Beta sign up, Blizzard still hadn't ruled out Guild Halls (at least not publicly). They were planning on slapping them together at the last minute, since they had most of the concept and art work done, but they just ran out of time.

==March 22, 2000==
::''Axe Mastery is a Clvl 1 mastery from the Barbarian's Combat Masteries Skill Tab. Like the other five weapon masteries, Axe Mastery will increase the Barbarian's skill with an axe, adding substantially to his damage and Attack Rating. The improvement is said to be around 25% at Slvl one, and slightly less with each additional skill point. In terms of throwing axes, axe mastery works for the melee attack with them, but not for throwing. Throwing Mastery takes precedence there, and the masteries do not stack.

We didn't want to do FotDs for all six of the Weapon Masteries, since they are all basically identical, but whenever we'd do one people would email or post in forums asking if Mace or Sword or Polearm worked the same as Throw or Axe, etc. That and if we were pressed for time, we could change 3 words and the icon and have a new FotD!

==March 23, 2000==
::''Ice Blast is a Clvl six spell from the Sorceress' Cold Spells Tab. One of the more powerful Clvl 6 spells in the game, this one works like Ice Bolt, shooting forth a small cold projectile, but instead of just chilling the target, it freezes then, stopping them in their tracks, as well as doing more damage. The freeze doesn't last very long, just a second or two at Slvl One, but it's very useful for the Sorceress, giving her time to attack with a more damaging spell, or to run. Useful in a party as well.

Back in the old days, we assumed character growth would be much slower than it actually is. Blizzard was saying characters took days to work through all 4 acts, and to get to lvl 30+ was a project. So it seemed that skills of every level would be of use. That was the case for some time after the release, but after a month or two people were getting the hang of the game and storing up good equipment, and taking a brand new character to lvl 40 or 50 in a couple of days, blowing the whole leveling curve.

Of course in D2X with the party exp sharing, it's possible to level 10x faster than it was playing solo in D2. People have reached Clvl 99 in less than two days.

==March 25, 2000==
::''Characters in Diablo II will gain titles for finishing the game. All male characters and both female characters share a six titles, three for Hardcore and three for Normal, one for each diff level, though it is hoped that class-specific titles will be implemented before the game is released. For normal characters they are: Sir/Dame for normal, Baron/Baroness for nightmare, and Duke/Duchess for hell. For HC characters, the titles are: Lord/Lady for normal, Count/Countess for nightmare, and King/Queen for hell.

Blizzard considered doing different titles for each class, there are a few of them in the game files, but they never came up with all the names needed and abandoned it. For a while after the announcement of different titles, we had numerous posts in our suggestions forum with everyone adding their list of possible titles. There was a link to one from this FotD, but it's long long gone now.

==March 27, 2000==
::''Guild support is out of Diablo II. Blizzard North had long planned to include Guild Halls, and with them special tags, color schemes, and more. Unfortunately, due to time constraints these features had to be dropped from the game. They were too complicated, and there just was not time to get them all balanced and working in bulletproof fashion. The Diablo II Dev Team hopes to add some sort of guild support after the release.

Blizzard finally admitted that Guild Halls wouldn't be in, and there was great sorrow. I don't recall anyone saying they wouldn't buy the game since Guild support wasn't in, but there was quite a bit of tooth-gnashing and lamentation. Everyone assumed they'd get them in for the Expansion, and Blizzard initially said they would (when they announced the Expansion months later, though everyone was expecting one all along), but they ran out of time on it there also.

I don't think they are all that missed now, it would be sorta cool to have them on Battle.net, where you could meet up with your friends or your guild mates if you are actually in a guild, but the only real benefit was going to be storage space, and Blizzard added in the Stash for that, partially due to Guild Halls being removed.

==March 28, 2000==
::''Mace Mastery is a Clvl 1 mastery from the Barbarian's Combat Masteries Skill Tab. Like the other five weapon masteries, Mace Mastery will increase the Barbarian's skill with an axe, adding substantially to his damage and Attack Rating. The improvement is said to be around 25% at Slvl one, and slightly less with each additional skill point. Maces come in one and two-handed models in Diablo II, and do extra damage against the undead.

==March 29, 2000==
::''Dodge is a passive Clvl 6 skill from the Amazon's Passive and Magic Skill Tab, is the weakest of the Amazon's three "you can't hit me" skills. The other two, Avoid and Evade, have distinct properties of their own, and all three are useful in certain situations. Dodge specifically allows the Amazon a % chance of not being struck by a melee attack, as long as she's not walking or running. Higher Slvls allow a higher % chance of dodging the strike, so a great skill to boost for anyone who plans a toe to toe battle'zon.

==March 31, 2000==
::''The Diablo II closed beta test has begun! Beta CDs were mailed yesterday, via Federal Express overnight delivery, and should be arriving in the US and Canada later today. Overseas testers will probably have to wait a few days longer, due to customs and distance. The closed beta is the full Act One, no special gameplay modifications were made for the beta. All five characters are available, and all Clvl 1, 6, and 12 skills are enabled, as well as all quests, monsters, items, etc that you would normally find in Act One. Tons more info on it will be posted here soon.

The D2 beta began very soon after the sign up, probably since it was just the lower level skills and Act 1, all things Blizzard had been working on for a long time and had quite polished. They were still hard at work on other game issues, getting Act Four finished, tweaking the higher level skills, etc.

The D2X beta started months after the sign up, rather than a couple of weeks, since it was the whole game, basically. Blizzard had to get everything near final, though they did a lot of tweaking during and after the beta, changing skill damages and item stats and such.

[[category:Fact of the Day]]

Fotds: February 2000

2009-05-07T05:23:30Z

Orphan: FOTD February 2008

The information presented in these archived FotDs is now outdated, but that's often the most interesting thing about them, seeing how much the game has changed from then to now.

The original FotDs are indented and italicized. Explanatory comments below them were written by Flux at the time the FotDs were archived, usually a couple/few months after the original FotDs had been presented.

* [[Fact of the day|FotD archives main page]].

==February 2, 2000==
::''Frenzy is a Clvl 24 skill from the Barbarian's Combat Skills Tab. A clever skill, this one allows the Barbarian to strike the same target with increasing rapidity with each successful hit. With a high Attack Rating (to/hit), a Barbarian can belabor the same target with blows of such rapidity that the monster or character would have no chance to strike back. Sounds quite useful for targets with high hit points, such as bosses or monster generators.

The early info about Berserk sounded like you'd have to start it up from scratch again every target, and we figured that on normal monsters they'd be dead by the time the increase speed started to help, so you'd want it for big things. The six second timer we see on Frenzy in the final game was likely a later addition.

==February 3, 2000==
::''Warcry is a Clvl 30 skill from the Barbarian's Warcries Skill Tab. One of the more powerful attack Warcries, this one "Injures and stuns all nearby enemies." Very useful for a Barbarian needing to make an escape from a tight spot, or if he wants to take a monster one on one and dispatch of it quickly.

Another one we'd never seen in action, other than a quick experiment at Blizzard North on our visit in Dec 1999. We also had all of the skill hover descriptions from noting them while playing at Blizzard North, so those are all quoted.

The FotDs went over about every skill in the game at this time, with much more info about all of them than we'd ever had before, and the skills coming along more towards the final game form also, with the beta on the horizon.

==February 4, 2000==
::''Double Throw is a Clvl 12 skill from the Barbarian's Combat Skills Tab. With this skill the Barbarian is able to throw two items in very rapid succession, providing he has them dual wielded at the time. Much like Double Swing, where the advantage is a faster than usual attack with both hands. Likely there will be some sort of bonus to damage and accuracy at higher Slvls as well.

Good guess.

==February 5, 2000==
::''Battle Orders is a Clvl 24 skill from the Barbarian's Warcries Skill Tab. Another of his quite useful party skills, Battle Orders adds to his friends' hit points, mana, and stamina. Not as powerful as Battle Command, but certainly useful before or during a major battle. As with Battle Command, it is not known for sure that this works on the Barbarian as well as his friends, but it seems likely.

This turned out to be by far the most useful Barbarian skill in a party, and probably the best party skill in the game. Nothing was known of the duration, or how it would reset if you waited too long to refresh it way back then.

==February 6, 2000==
::''Berserk is a Clvl 30 skill from the Barbarian's Combat Skills Tab. This skill enables him to deliver a very powerful attack, but leaves him open to taking damage as well. Probably the math is something like +damage and -Defensive Rating, but it will need to be tested to see what exactly it does.

As with so many other higher level skills, we'd seen it very briefly at Blizzard North, and had the description, but knew nothing more. Most of these FotDs were brand new info at the time, from high level skills that had been known only by their name and a picture of an icon in some screenshot.

==February 7, 2000==
::''Whirlwind is a Clvl 30 skill from the Barbarian's Combat Skills Tab. AKA the Tasmanian Devil Skill, this one is fun to see. The Barbarian targets a monster, and with a right click, whirls into action. Holding his weapons extended, he spins rapidly around, plowing through any number of monsters on the way to his target before coming to a halt, ready to continue the fight. The skill is not without danger, for the Barbarian can take damage while chewing up his enemies.

We actually weren't that impressed with how well Whirlwind worked in our quick testing at Blizzard North. It was cool to see, but we just had a single player game with a Clvl 35 demo character, and with no mana leech, we'd do two of these, kill everything with one hit, and then stand there. It wasn't until the game was out and players got to try this out in big Hell games that the true power of it was seen. The D2 Team nerfed the damage and AR of this one a couple of times, and added in weapon speed in the form of fewer to/hit checks per target in D2X, and it's still one of the best attack skills in the game.

==February 8, 2000==
::''Battle Command is a Clvl 30 skill from the Barbarian's Warcries Skill Tab. This very powerful skill will be quite popular when playing with friends, as it will temporarily increase their skill levels across the board. This would allow all of their attack skills to do greater damage, increase the effectiveness of all passive skills, let a Necromancer raise additional skeletons, etc.

At the time we figured it would add more points at higher levels, and didn't realize the duration would be so short, so this seemed like a really great skill. It's useful in the final game, but with the D2 team limiting the bonus to 1 level, and keeping the duration short, it's far less powerful than it initially was.

==February 9, 2000==
::''Battlecry is a Clvl 18 Skill from the Barbarian's Warcries Skill Tab. Triggering this skill causes the Barbarian to throw his head back and emit a roar as energy surges out from him in a Nova-like blast. All monsters in the radius of effect will be struck and have their defensive rating reduced, as well as their damage lowered.

We all thought this sort of thing would be mandatory in Hell, since the monsters were supposed to be so much nastier in D2. Oh well.

==February 10, 2000==
::''Sword Mastery is a Clvl 1 mastery from the Barbarian's Combat Masteries Skill Tab. Like the other five weapon masteries, Sword Mastery will increase the Barbarian's skill with a sword, adding substantially to his damage and Attack Rating. The improvement is said to be around 25% at Slvl one, and slightly less with each additional skill point.

At one point Blizzard was planning diminishing returns on Weapon Masteries, as there are on the similar Amazon skills. However they at some point changed that to a flat increase forever, much to the delight of Barbarian players.

==February 11, 2000==
::''Find Item is a Clvl 12 skill from the Barbarian's Warcries Skill Tab. A potentially very useful skill, this one works like Find Health Potion, where the Barb targets a corpse and clicks the spell, and with a splat the body explodes, and an item pops out, if he's successful. Higher Slvl increases the % of finding an item. This skill is currently considered to be somewhat unbalancing, since it allows the Barb lots more good items, and far more gold from selling them than the other characters. This one seems mandatory to use on any boss monster as well.

Find Health Potion was changed eventually to just Find Potion, when it became possible to Hork up purple and blue, as well as red pots. Find Item probably is unbalancing, though since Barbs can kill so much faster than most other characters, it's just icing on the cake.

==February 12, 2000==
::''Natural Resistance is a Clvl 30 passive skill from the Barbarian's Combat Masteries Skill Tab. A useful skill, especially on higher levels, this one does what it sounds like it would do. It adds resistance across the board: +9% resistance to Fire, Lightning, Poison and Cold at Slvl 1, and more at higher Slvls.

Natural Res was improved since the early look at it, adding more at Slvl 1 and more per level as well. It's one of the Barbarian's best skills, especially Hardcore.

==February 14, 2000==
::''Cold Mastery is a Clvl 30 passive skill from the Sorceress' Cold Spells Tab. It has no pre-requisites except for the Clvl one, and has a very interesting effect. This skill lowers the cold resistance of all monsters the Sorceress encounters, including cold immune monsters. So with this one enabled, the Sorceress will never have anything impervious to her cold spells.

Cold Mastery was massive in D2, with nothing Cold Immune. In D2X it did initially break cold immunity, but this was changed during the beta. The icon for this skill, and most of the skills in this tree, changed several times. The current cold mastery icon is one that was juggled between the various types of cold armor during development. It's certainly more suggestive of cold than the pointy thing used here.

==February 16, 2000==
::''Multi-shot Arrow is a Clvl 6 skill from the Amazon's Bow and Crossbow Skill Tab. A very useful lower level skill, this one enables the Amazon to fire numerous arrows in a fan pattern. At higher levels this can be an incredibly powerful skill, as you can see [[:Image:2000-feb16-a3.jpg|here]]. An additional bonus is that each use of this skill requires only one arrow or bolt. It is magically split into as many projectiles as the skill allows. Higher Slvl = more shots, of course, starting off small.

This screenshot is an interesting one, both for the obscene number of arrows (30+) being fired, but also for the weird curse on the monsters in it. Check it out for the caption.

==February 18, 2000==
::''Holy Freeze is a Clvl 18 skill from the Paladin's Offensive Auras Skill Tab. A very useful protection aura, this one freezes any monsters that get too close, allowing the Paladin more time to deal with them. The length of time they remain frozen is unknown, but it most likely won't be that long, since this would be an incredibly powerful skill if they were locked up very long.

It was assumed that "Holy Freeze" meant "frozen", and we couldn't quite believe that, since it would have been the most powerful skill in the game. And of course it doesn't freeze, it chills. But "Holy Slow" or "Holy Chill" doesn't sound as cool. (Pun intended.)

==February 20, 2000==
::''Fist of Heavens is a Clvl 30 skill from the Paladin's Combat Skills Tab. Formerly known as "Hand of God", this skill is one of the more powerful in the game. When the Paladin clicks on the targeted creature or player, a cylinder of light comes down from above, instantly covering the target and dealing massive lightning damage. An instant later, four Holy Bolts shoot out in an "X" or "+" shape, dealing heavy damage to any undead they happen to strike. This skill can strike any monster on the screen, regardless of how well they might be surrounded by minions, which adds to its use greatly.

We'd seen this one briefly at Blizzard North, but hadn't been able to check the damage or how well it actually worked. So everyone expected this to be pretty cool, as the Paladin's only real attack spell, and him supposed to be a hybrid warrior/spellcaster. The worthlessness of the skill when players finally got to try it in the final game was a surprise.

==February 22, 2000==
::''Defiance is a Clvl 6 skill from the Paladin's Defensive Auras Skill Tab. As the in-game hover description tells us: "Aura boosts armor." This aura adds to the Armor Class of the Paladin, and all others he shares it with, of course. How much of a boost is not known, but it will of course be more effective at higher Slvls.

Works as advertised.

==February 23, 2000==
::''Meditation is a Clvl 24 skill from the Paladin's Defensive Auras Skill Tab. This aura allows the Paladin and anyone sharing it to regenerate their mana more quickly. Obviously of great use to a Sorceress, and other characters could benefit from it as well. This icon, like many other Paladin Aura Icons, has been changed a number of times, and will probably be different in the final game.

The icon did change. This one has no real indication of what the skill does, but then neither does the final one, the magical finger gesture. That was Blessed Aim for a while; this tree had a lot of icon changes.

==February 24, 2000==
::''Salvation is a Clvl 30 skill from the Paladin's Defensive Auras Skill Tab. A resistance boosting aura, Salvation provides added resistance to all forms of magical attack, and will come in very handy against monster mages. In a recent change to the structure of the Defensive Aura skill tree, this skill, and the Paladin's other resistance skills, have had all their prerequisite skills removed, and now require only a certain Clvl to be reached in order to enable them.

The pre-req changes made Salvation 10x more viable, since previously you had to waste points in Resist Cold, Fire, and Lightning before you could enable Salvation.

==February 25, 2000==
::''Conversion is a Clvl 24 skill from the Paladin's Combat Skills Tab. Not much is known about this one other than the hover description, which tells us that it "Converts monsters to fight evil". So sounds something like a Mind Control sort of skill, which isn't exactly the first thing one thinks of when thinking of the Paladin. It will be interesting to see this one in action, if it makes the cut for the final game.

Convert was a very useful skill early in D2, but they % chance to convert has been steadily nerfed, and the dangers of converted monsters with Thorns on them are so high that few players will risk this skill with that aura. The improved mercs of D2X make this one largely useless, especially with the very low % chance to convert.

==February 27, 2000==
::''The Necromancer and Barbarian have a number of "corpse skills" in Diablo II, and some other chars might as well, but none are known at this time. Corpse skills are called that since they are used on and actually require a corpse to function. These are very important to the Necromancer, for summoning skeleton minions, as well as attacking with Corpse and/or Poison Explosion. Not all corpses can be used, however: Player corpses are not usable, and neither are dead minions. When you have a corpse skill readied, corpses will highlight and pop up a name when hovered on.

This was a cool new concept in D2, after corpses were non-interactive in D1. Just floor decoration no more.

==February 28, 2000==
::''Skill points: You may place a skill point into any skill in any of your three skill trees, providing you meet the prerequisites. Skill pre-reqs are a Clvl, and usually some other skill or skills lower in the tree. You can save skill points up, but you can not dump more than one into a skill as soon as it becomes available. This is to prevent the cheese of getting to Clvl 12, and putting 5 points into Fireball, for instance. You can only put one point into a skill for each Clvl you are over that skill's pre-req level. So you'll need to be Clvl 20 to have 3 points in a Clvl 18 skill, for example, and you could put them in one each level, or all 3 at Clvl 20.

This was a very commonly debated issue, and generally the first question anyone asked after they first learned about the skill trees and Clvl reqs to enable a skill. Everyone thought about it and then figured, "Hey, I'll just save 10 points and load up on skill X the minute it's available!" and was then shocked when they found out Blizzard had anticipated that and taken steps against it right from the start.

[[category:Fact of the Day]]

File:2000-feb16-a3.jpg

2009-05-07T05:18:26Z

Orphan:

Act Three, jungle wilderness. The Amazon here, showing off an amazingly high level of Multi-shot Arrow. This is just one shot of the skill, and there look to be 36 or more arrows here. Must be cheat code in testing, to get such a level. ;) There are a number of shots in the front of her that have vanished from hitting the blue Fetish. Three at least are dying right in front of her. The small flash of light just in front of her is an indication that her Critical Strike skill was activated. It is passive and adds a % chance of any attack doing double damage. The dead monsters are Fetish, and you can see two colors of them here, with a few Blue ones still alive behind her. There is a Shaman to the top left, just at the edge of the arrows, his mask is on the ground and he has an orange skirt on, and a big spear lying next to him. One of the live Fetish has some sort of orange glow over its head, and this was seen on Fetish in another shot, so apparently this is some sort of property they can control. It looks like a curse, Amplify Damage, but as there isn't any sign of a Necromancer here, we aren't sure what causes this effect. Note the healing potion to the far left, and a cute green snake to the far right. Ambient life. -- 3D-enhanced, January 2000

[[Category: Alpha_Diablo_II_Images]]

File:2000-feb16-a3.jpg

2009-05-07T05:18:00Z

Orphan: Act Three, jungle wilderness

Act Three, jungle wilderness

Fotds: January 2000

2009-05-07T05:10:19Z

Orphan: FOTD January 2000

The information presented in these archived FotDs is now outdated, but that's often the most interesting thing about them, seeing how much the game has changed from then to now.

The original FotDs are indented and italicized. Explanatory comments below them were written by Flux at the time the FotDs were archived, usually a couple/few months after the original FotDs had been presented.

* [[Fact of the day|FotD archives main page]].

==January 3, 2000==
::''Decrepify is a Clvl 24 skill from the Necromancer's Curses Skill Tab. It slows down the footspeed and attack speed of the monsters it is cast upon, allowing the Necromancer and his minions to score numerous additional hits on the afflicted monsters.

Decrepify does more than this, but no one knew about that until after the game was finished and released. It was never seen in pre-game screenshots of gamot to try out every skill (briefly) during our visit in December 1999, but 5 minutes per character eplay movies, we just knew about it (and most higher level skills) from what info Blizzard released through previews. Also we gisn't enough to test out the intricacies of higher level curses.

==January 4, 2000==
::''Bone Prison is a newly-added Clvl 24 skill, that replaces "Spike Field" in the Necromancer's Poison and Bone Skill Tab. Bone Prison works like an encircling Bone Wall. It pops up five bone stakes, surrounding the targeted area, with just enough room for one monster (or character) inside. They must beat down the wall, or wait for the spell to dissipate.

==January 5, 2000==
::''Summon Resistance is a Clvl 24 skill from the Necromancer's Summoning Skill Tab. This is a mastery skill, and it raises the resistance of all of the Necromancer's summoned creatures, including Golems, Skeletons, and Revived minions. The amount of resistance it provides them increases with the skill level.

==January 5, 2000==
::''Bone Spirit, which you can see [[:Image:2000-jan06.jpg|here]], is a Clvl 30 skill from the Necromancer's Poison and Bone Skill Tab. The most powerful of his direct attack skills, Bone Spirit sends forth a glowing white skeletal head projectile that will home in on the target, dealing substantial damage.

An old shot with a tremendous amount of speculation about things, most of it incorrect, in hindsight. But the Bone Spirit graphic looks just the same over time.

==January 7, 2000==
::''Bone Wall is a Clvl 12 skill from the Necromancer's Poison and Bone Skill Tab. This skill works much like Firewall, but instead of flames, it creates a wall of bone, that acts as a physical obstacle, trapping the monsters, or keeping them from approaching the Necromancer. The wall has hit points and a duration, both of which increase with higher skill levels.

Fresh from our Blizzard North visit, the clamoring for more Necromancer info was loud (especially since we didn't play him all that much on our visit) so it was all Necro FotDs for a time.

==January 8, 2000==
::''Blood Golem is an interesting Clvl 18 skill from the Necromancer's Summoning Skill Tab. The in-game info describes it as, "A golem that shares health and damage". This means that the Necromancer can lose some hit points if the golem is being beaten badly, but he will also gain some if it is doing a lot of damage. The exact formula for these effects is not known.

==January 9, 2000==
::''Charged Strike is a Clvl 18 skill from the Amazon's Javelin and Spear Skill Tree. This melee skill works with a spear or javelin, and hits the monster with added damage and accuracy, as well as lightning damage, and it releases Charged Bolts upon impact, which will strike other monsters, though not for huge damage. Higher Slvls allow bigger damage, and more Charged Bolts, there are only two at Slvl one.

Another skill that had never been demonstrated at the time, but we knew about it from seeing it at Blizzard North.

==January 11, 2000==
::''Fend is a Clvl 24 skill from the Amazon's Javelin and Spear Skill Tree. This melee attack allows the Amazon to execute several stabbing attacks in rapid succession, auto-targeting all adjacent monsters, hitting each of them for big damage. It is obviously best used in a crowd.

==January 12, 2000==
::''Dispel Minion is a newly added Necromancer skill. This is not one on his Summoning Skill Tab, but is rather an intrinsic ability, like Kick or Throw, but one that is exclusive to the Necromancer. Dispel Minion enables him to fire a magical projectile, much like Heal Minion, but this one dispatches the summoned creature it strikes. This is a needed addition, since with numerous Minions, it is possible for the Necromancer to get stuck in a narrow hallway, or be unable to get past to go through a doorway.

The skill was simplified to just striking down the targeted creature anywhere on the screen, with no projectile involved.

==January 13, 2000==
::''Fire Wall is a Clvl 18 skill from the Sorceress' Fire Spells Skill Tab. This skill works much like it did in Diablo. You click on the spot you wish it to grow from, and that becomes the midpoint, with the fire running out to each side from there. The length of the firewall, as well as the damage it deals and the duration is lasts all increase with more skill points.

==January 14, 2000==
::''Fire Golem is a Clvl 30 skill from the Necromancer's Summoning Skill Tab. The most powerful of the Golems, Fire Golem looks very impressive as it burns and glows, and it does more damage and has more hit points than any other Golem skill. There is no reagent required to cast it.

Pre our visit to Blizzard North, there was intense speculation about what sort of reagent would be required to cast a Fire Golem, since all of them but Clay were supposed to require one. Initially Blood cost hit points as well as mana to cast. There was wide-spread disappointment when we found that Fire Golem had no reagent needed to cast it. People were hoping the Necromancer would need to be near fire of some sort, apparently, while realizing that might be impractical, but hoping the Fire Golem's power would make up for it. Oh well.

==January 15, 2000==
::''You see friendly players on your [[:Image:Act1_136lrg.jpg|overlay map]], and also the [[:Image:Mini-belt-map-lrg.jpg|small belt map]], as green "+" signs. Enemy characters show up red, NPCs are white, you are blue, your own hirelings or minions or those of a friendly player are teal, and if you die your corpse is hot pink. You can see friendly players a great distance away, while NPCs are not visible on the map more than about two screens away, and enemy players need to be nearly on the screen to appear.

Check out that shot of the mini belt map, it was only in the game for a short time. You can see why it didn't last, it's just way too small to be of much use, and it's relatively ugly. Blizzard did add the small corner of the screen mapping option in, and once you get used to that it's much better than the full screen, which can be hard to see through in some places. Especially in some areas of Act 5, where it's very heavy, to be visible over the light ground, such as in the ice caves.

==January 16, 2000==
::''Zeus Bolt, a Clvl 30 skill is the most powerful of the Amazon's Javelin and Spear skills. This awesome attack fires a lightning-enchanted javelin at the target, which does huge damage upon impact, and also shoots out four streams of lightning, forming a sort of "X" shaped pattern. These streams will deliver high damage to any monsters they strike. Very useful thrown into a crowd.

This skill became Lightning Fury, but it worked very differently early on. Each throw sent out an X of lightning bolts, regardless of how many or how few monsters were in the area. Much less effective than Lightning Fury's targeting everything in range, and sending dozens of bolts at times. However the X-shaped Zeus Bolts moved a bit more slowly, almost like a lightning firewall, as they moved out from the impact point. This skill was never seen in a screenshot or gameplay movie, however the effect is very similar to the lightning portion of the Assassin's Phoenix Strike skill.

==January 17, 2000==
::''Confuse is a Clvl 18 skill from the Necromancer's Curses Skill Tab. This curse causes the afflicted monsters to lose their direction, and they will run at random angles, or stand still, breaking off their attack, unless directly confronted again. Useful with ranged attacks, or to escape.

==January 18, 2000==
::''Impale is a Clvl 12 skill from the Amazon's Javelin and Spear Skill Tree. This skill adds accuracy and substantial damage to a melee attack with a spear or javelin, at the potential cost of a large durability drop to the weapon. Useful when trying to get a kill very quickly, or if your weapon is down very low on durability already, and you want to go out with a bang.

Earlier versions of Impale were for javelins only, when thrown. Blizzard changed it to be a better damage attack for spears, but with Jab so much faster and not all that much less damage, Impale had almost no use in D2.

==January 19, 2000==
::''Lower Resist is a Clvl 30 skill from the Necromancer's Curses Skill Tab. This curse causes the afflicted monster or character to lose some % of their resistance to all forms of magic. The actual amount is 53% at Slvl One, and it increases with higher levels. You can see the actual in game hover info [[:Image:Necro-lower-res.jpg|here]].

One of the digicam shots taken during our visit to Blizzard North. Yes, it's blurry.

==January 20, 2000==
::''Attract is a Clvl 24 skill from the Necromancer's Curses Skill Tab. This curse causes the afflicted monster to become a magnet for the attacks of the other monsters, damaging and probably killing it, and also giving the Necromancer and his minions a break. The afflicted monster should keep coming after the Necromancer though, or it might fight back against the monsters attacking it. Not yet know.

==January 22, 2000==
::''Revive is a Clvl 30 skill from the Necromancer's Summoning Skill Tab. Revive, seen in an animation here, allows the Necromancer to target a monster corpse, and and resurrect the monster, to serve his will. The monster will have a black/blue coloration, and a few hit points more than it did in life. The number of skill points in Revive determine how many may be Revived at once, and also Skeleton Mastery aids them.

Revive was much anticipated, and the first reports of how it actually worked (very stupid monsters) were greeted with dismay after I experimented with the skill at E3. Max Schaefer was in our chat room some time after that and the vast Necromancer-fan club grilled him medium-rare over it. Revives were a bit faster/smarter in the final game, so Blizzard must have found them a bit too dumb in testing, and improved their speed.

==January 24, 2000==
::''Many of the basic "physics" in Diablo II are different than they were in Diablo. Attacking and blocking and damage are calculated differently, and some of the basic terminology has changed. Armor Class = Defense Rating. To/hit = Attack Rating. Magic = Energy. And these aren't just renamed, they are largely modified in function as well. [[:Image:Char-inv.jpg|Screenshot evidence]].

The Character window display hasn't changed any since December 1999, not even the fonts or point sizes, in over two years. Added info would be nice, such as displays for: physical resistance, physical/magical damage reduction, and magic/gold find percent. There could even be info on your Increased Attack Speed percent increases, run/walk speed bonuses, or attack speed in frames, but don't hold your breath.

Blizzard said initially that things like stamina, hit points, mana, etc would be based on more than one stat. That there would be more interdependence between stats and other character properties, so you couldn't just load up 300 vitality and have a ton of hit points. Obviously they changed their minds on that one at some point.

==January 26, 2000==
::''The various Skill Trees have undergone many changes in the course of Diablo II's development. The Necromancer's Summoning Tab, for example, was previously called Summoning and Mind Control and had a Mind Control skill, along with Familiar and Homunculus. These two were replaced with Skeleton and Golem Mastery, Mind Control became Summon Resistance, and the tab was renamed Summoning. Then Heal Minion replaced Golem Mastery, for a couple of months. Now Golem Mastery is back, at the expense of Heal Minion. Of course the pre-req arrows and icons have changed with every skill change; and the game isn't finished yet...

This was one of the more changed skill trees, or at least one we knew most of the details of the changes. Others probably changed just as much, but were more behind the scenes. Blizzard never revealed anything about what Homunculus did. Mind Control seemed to be a sort of Convert, like the Paladin skill, or more like the Assassin's Mind Blast, in the Expansion. We have no idea of the duration or if there was a % check on it based on the Slvl or anything.

==January 27, 2000==
::''Jab is a Clvl 1 skill from the Amazon's Javelin and Spear Skill Tab. A very useful early skill, Jab allows the Amazon to strike a target three times in rapid succession, much faster than three normal attacks. At Slvl one the three attacks have less accuracy and damage than normal attacks, but with more skill points the Amazon gains a damage and to/hit bonus with the attacks. All three have a chance of picking up a Critical Strike bonus as well.

We were obviously in a skill-intensive FotD stretch, with lots of info about the skills from playing them at Bliz North, and skills were more desired info at the time than general game play mechanics stuff. Those sorts of things are harder to fit into the FotD space limitations anyway.

==January 28, 2000==
::''Pierce (passive) is a Clvl 30 skill from the Amazon's Passive and Magic Skill Tab. A very useful skill with projectile attacks, Pierce allows arrows and javelins to hit a monster and keep on going, possibly hitting several in a row, boosting and spreading the damage widely. Very useful against crowds, or in narrow corridors.

If we remember correctly, Pierce used to have a +damage bonus on it, rather than just allowing multiple hits, as it does in the final game.

==January 30, 2000==
::''There will be difficulty levels in Diablo II, though it is not yet known how many, or what they will be called. Going up to a higher difficulty level will only be allowed once you have beaten the full game on the previous level, and there may be a Clvl requirement also. Waypoints and quests must all be done again each time you go up a difficulty level, but you will get all of the quest rewards again also.

The idea of doing all of the quests on each difficulty level, and getting all of the rewards three times was very exciting way back when. Blizzard kept saying they were looking for better names than Normal/Nightmare/Hell again, and probably they were, but evidently they never came up with any.

==January 31, 2000==
::''Corpse Explosion is a Clvl 6 skill from the Necromancer's Poison and Bone Skill Tab. AKA "The greatest skill ever." Corpse Explosion is a messy, nasty, joy to behold. Dealing big physical damage, every Necromancer will want to take advantage of this one. You merely target a corpse, or near a corpse, and click, and for some mana the body blows up in a shower of blood and bone, dealing from 60-100% of the hit points the corpse had when it was full health and alive. Obviously if there is a choice of corpses, you would want to blow up the most powerful monster corpse for the most damage. Higher Slvl increases the radius of blast damage.

We'd done another Corpse Explosion FotD not that long ago, but it was a very discussed skill, and by the time of FotD we'd learned the actual damage range and seen it in action.

[[category:Fact of the Day]]

File:Char-inv.jpg

2009-05-07T05:07:11Z

Orphan:

A shot from one of our characters at Blizzard North. This is a Clvl 11 Amazon, with a crossbow and bolts equipped, along with numerous spare quivers in the inventory. The narrow white potions are poison antidotes, the orange is an exploding throwing potion, and the green is a gas throwing potion. Also the crossbow there is gemmed with red, white and blue gems, dealing fire, lightning, and cold damage. The cold one is why the xbow is such a dark blue color, but there should be visible circles with gems in them on the item, it's just hard to see in this low-quality digicam shot.

::*The Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, and Energy are all white, meaning unmodified by any items. And there are no elixirs now, so these stats will stay much lower than they were in Diablo.

::*Attack Damage = damage dealt with the left click attack item.

::*Fire Arrow Damage = This is the damage that the skill set to the right click does. It changes with each spell/skill you have set there, of course.

::*Attack Rating = Ths is the to/hit rating with the plain attack, or whatever skill you have selected to the left click. If you hover on this box, it will give you a read out of your actual to/hit against the monsters you are most recently fighting. Something like "Actual to/hit vs. Lvl 26 monsters = 71%" The level of the monsters has nothing to do with your character level, it's an intrinsic property of the monsters, in the game code that determines where they appear and what they drop. And how hard they are to hit.

::*There is no listed Secondary Attack Rating, since the Fire Arrow has the same to/hit as a normal arrow. If she had a skill selected that boosted her to/hit, such as strafing arrow, there would be a higher number here than in the Primary Attack Rating box.

::*Defensive Rating is what "Armor Class" is now called. Items have more variety in their DR now, so higher level characters will probably have much higher numbers in this box than they did in Diablo. However it's all scaled relatively, so that doesn't mean they'll be impossible to hit. And we do not know the exact formula for this, or what it gives you, if it means harder to hit or take less damage from hits or what.

::* We don't know the exact formula to determins Stamina, but it is thought to be related mostly to strength and dexterity, with vitality factoring in as well. It is full, 84/84 points, and it is also displayed in the yellow bar on the belt interface.

::* Life is determined by Character Level, Character Cclass, and Vitality, and it's unmodified by any items at this time.

::* Mana is determined by Character Level, Character Class, and Energy, and it is being currently boosted by some equipped item, since it's blue.

::*The resistances are to Fire, Cold, Lightning, and Poison and this Amazon has a few points in fire and poison, from her equipment. There are a number of skills that can raise resistances, temporarily or long term, though the Amazon doesn't have any of them in effect right now.

[[Category: Alpha_Diablo_II_Images]]

File:Char-inv.jpg

2009-05-07T05:03:24Z

Orphan: A shot from one of our characters at Blizzard North.

A shot from one of our characters at Blizzard North.

File:Necro-lower-res.jpg

2009-05-07T04:59:52Z

Orphan:

A digicam shot of a typical skill display. This is for a Clvl 30 Necromancer Curse, Lower Resist. As you can see, you get a lot of info displayed, including name, description, level requirement, and then specific info on the skill in question. Curses all display their radius, duration, and mana cost, and also information specific to each curse, such as the "Resist All: -5 Percent" here. Keep in mind that the actual function of skill is still quite subject to change, especially the Clvl 24 and 30 ones. - Blizzard North Trip, 12/99

[[Category: Alpha_Diablo_II_Images]]

File:Necro-lower-res.jpg

2009-05-07T04:58:43Z

Orphan: A digicam shot of a typical skill display.

A digicam shot of a typical skill display.

File:Act1 136lrg.jpg

2009-05-07T04:54:44Z

Orphan:

Act One, Rogue Encampment. We have a great view here of the Rogue Encampment, all mapped out. The new mini map is much improved, showing important features, and geography as well. You can see the Sorceress is where the blue plus sign is, near the white plus sign to the left of the mapped area. The big blue rectangle is the river with the bridge across it, well off to the lower right of this screenshot. Large buildings are displayed as well. The lighter grey markings are where the paths are, and the plus signs mark important spots, probably all various NPC stands. The NPC here is Gheed, who sells and buys nearly everything. The rogue encampment is in this shape every game, with some random changes to the arrangement of things inside it, but it's always surrounded on all sides by walls, with the one entrance/exit. Outside of the encampment is of course the wilderness, which has fewer features in it, just things like dirt paths and walls and shrines show up on the map. This Sorceress has not been outside around the back of the camp at all yet, as it is totally unmapped. -- 3dfx enhanced 9/99.

[[category:Alpha_Diablo_II_Images]]

File:Act1 136lrg.jpg

2009-05-07T04:52:56Z

Orphan: Act One, Rogue Encampment

Act One, Rogue Encampment

File:Mini-belt-map-lrg.jpg

2009-05-07T04:50:44Z

Orphan:

A digicam shot of the Amazon standing in Act One, with the new mini-map in the belt visible. This is a feature that has just been added in to the game, and has never been seen before. It is on a very small scale, as you can see, hardly more than dots on the map. But it could be useful for finding other characters in the vicinity, especially if you don't like the overlay map.- Blizzard North Trip, 12/99.

[[Category: Alpha_Diablo_II_Images]]

File:Mini-belt-map-lrg.jpg

2009-05-07T04:49:40Z

Orphan: A digicam shot of the Amazon

A digicam shot of the Amazon

File:2000-jan06.jpg

2009-05-07T04:44:01Z

Orphan:

Act One, Wilderness. The Necromancer here showing off a new and unknown spell. What skill is it? Well, we first thought that the icon had been surgically removed, but news from Mike Huang of Blizzard North, the man who took these shots, is that there was no alteration of the shots. In the current pre-beta build, they are changing the art for the icons, and this is how it looks in the game now. Just a blank square. On this spell effect in particular, it's very pretty. A human head, with open mouth and long lower jaw. Looks male. Also note where the cursor is right now. Directly in a line from the Necromancer through the spell effect. So it is something sort of like BloodStar from Diablo. No doubt the light in the spell cascades and shines and the tentacles wave about. Very odd that it doesn't have a light radius. Also, our first thought, that this was some sort of scouting spell similar to Familiar, is ruled out by the fact that the screen is centered on the Necromancer, not the spell. So our best guess at this point is Mind Control.

Why? Well, we have to make an assumption right off the bat, and that is that the spell in use here is the same one that hit the two motionless Fallen on the screen. We have no proof of that, but it's our only way to speculate at all. Something has clearly effected the Fallen. Both are within visual range of the Necromancer, but neither is attacking him. Neither do they seem to be running away, as they do when one of their fellows dies. We don't know of any Necromancer spells that could do this to monsters, but the ones that have the most likely names are Mind Control, Dim Vision, and Confuse. Others, like Iron Maiden, Decrepify, Spike Field, and Homunculus, Blizzard North just hasn't released any info about yet, so we just have to go by the names (which can and will probably still change) to guess here.

Anyway, Dim Vision and Confuse are both curses, and from what we've seen of the graphics of curses (we saw two or three of them at E3) they are all sort of a sparkling cloud that appears where you click the pointer. Nothing like this floating head graphic. Our guess is Mind Control, since it appears that the Fallen are not attacking, and what would Mind Control look like? Unknown, but shooting out some sort of projectile to strike the target seems like a possible way to cast it. More realistic than just pointing out the monster, like Stone Curse or something. So you shoot this glowing, hovering head at the monster, and whatever it hits is Mind Controlled? Maybe. Of course the question then is why shoot out a 3rd one when the two monsters on the screen are already under wraps? Um, cause it's pretty? No, we are not convinced either, but the beta should be underway in 4 weeks or so, and hopefully all of these questions will be answered around that time.

One other thing to notice here is the Necromancer's posture. He's got his right arm behind his back, and is actually holding the shaft of a large scythe here. You can see the shine of the curved blade between his legs. Cool pose he has assumed after casting the spell. -- 3d-enhanced shot, 8/99

[[category:Alpha_Diablo_II_Images]]