Diablo Wiki - User contributions [en]

Multiplayer

2008-06-13T10:42:34Z

Yamnam: /* Party Benefits */

[[Image:Party-1.jpg|frame|Shopping with friends.]]The ability to play the game with other players is one of the most enjoyable, and maddening, aspects of ''Diablo II''. There's nothing more fun than playing with a group of friends when everyone is good at the game, everyone does their share of the work, the loot is being apportioned justly, and your mixture of characters meshes well. And there are few things as frustrating as being in a party full of item grabbers, lazy players who don't pull their weight, wanna-be PKs, and rush-beggars.

Finding your way into the first type of group, while avoiding the second, is a major preoccupation of most players online, and while no wiki page can tell you how to manage that trick, knowing more about how parties work and the game mechanics underlying them will certainly help.

=Forming a Party=

[[Image:Party-menu1.jpg|thumb|225px|The party interface.]]To form a party press the "P" key to open the Party screen. This menu will list every player in the game, with their names in three different colors, depending on your character's status with them:
* Green: In your party.
* White: Neutral player. Not in your party or in another party.
* Red: Hostile player, trying to kill you (or you him).

In regards to each character, you have three possible options, depending on their status:

* Invite: Press this button to invite the player to join your party.
* Cancel: Cancel an invitation. (Usually done so you can invite again, in case they didn't notice the first one.)
* Accept: Press this button to accept a party invitation you receive. You will instantly join the party.

and their party status. To invite others to join you in a party, or to join your existing party, just click the invite icon next to their name. They will see a message about your invitation in bright green text, and can join with a click of the icon in the party window. There is no leader of a party; everyone is equal in it and anyone can invite additional players to join.

To get an invitation to a party, you can ask by typing a chat message. There is no way to ask for an invite via the party window, and it's impossible to force your way into a party. By the same token, it's impossible to kick someone else out of a party. You can always leave a party though, and if someone in the party is being annoying and the others don't want to share experience with them, everyone can leave the party and form a new one without inviting the annoying person to join.

=Party Options=
[[Image:Party-hostile1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-loot1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-chat1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-squelch1.jpg]]

If no button appears, then the player is not available - because that player is already a member of another party. You may not invite them until they leave their current party. Of course, they could invite you to join theirs.

Once in a party you may leave it by pressing the LEAVE button at the top of the party screen. If you leave a party of more than two players, the other players remain in that party. Once you leave a party, you may form or join another.

There are three or four buttons on the Party Screen depending on whether you are playing Normal or Hardcore mode:
Neutral/Hostile button: When the button shows crossed swords, you are Hostile to the associated player. You may only go hostile once per minute with each other player in your game.
Allow/Prevent Corpse Looting button (Hardcore Only). This can allow other players to loot your body which in Hardcore mode can mean saving your items from being destroyed.
Include/Exclude from Chat button. When you Exclude a player, that player cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from you.
Squelch/Unsquelch button. When you Squelch a player, you cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from that player.
NOTE: When you press any button on the Party screen, the target player receives an appropriate message about your action.

=Party Benefits=
Forming Parties with other Players
Parties allow players to share experience, gold, information about where the players in the party are located, and quest information. Parties allow players to work together to beat the game. Many Class skills are designed to help not only yourself but other players in a party. A good example of this is the Paladin's Defensive Aura: Prayer. Prayer not only will heal the Paladin but will also heal his Hireling and other members of the party and their Hirelings. There are plenty of other party friendly skills and spells.

==Party Relationships==
Each player has 2 possible relationships with all other players in the game -- Neutral (the default) and Hostile. Changes to your relationships are made in the Party screen. (Press 'P' to bring it up.) Here is how the settings work:

;Hostile: You can target players with this setting - just as if they were monsters. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y, then Player Y automatically goes Hostile to Player X in return. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y and then goes Neutral, Player Y remains Hostile to Player X until Player Y chooses to go Neutral to Player X. A player can go Hostile only while in town. The other player can be anywhere.
:If a player goes Hostile with a member of a party, all other members of the party will go Hostile with that player in return. If a player attempts to go Hostile to a fellow Party member, that player is simply dropped from the Party and becomes a regular Neutral.

;Neutral: You cannot target players with this setting. If you try to target a particular Neutral player, the true target instead shifts to a nearby monster, Hostile player, or simply the ground. You cannot directly harm a Neutral player.
:Neutral players may form a Party together. Party members share equally in gold and experience points. Certain skills, like Paladin Auras and Barbarian Warcries, apply to party members, too.
:NOTE: You receive a message whenever players change their relationship settings with you.

=Experience is Shared within a Party=
The total experience earned for killing a monster is increased by 35% when a party member of the killer is in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap. Then the pool is divided as explained below:

For each party member the total Experience earned for killing a monster is divided into shares -- where each member's fraction of the total Experience is equal to the member's level divided by the sum of all the members' levels. After this Experience Share is computed, it is multiplied by another percentage that is computed on a sliding scale that is based on the difference between your character's level and the monster's level -- regardless of whether you are in a party or not. The sliding scale applies if the level difference is between 5 and 10. If the level difference is relatively small (5 or less), you get 100% of the Experience Share. If the level difference is relatively large (10 or more), a minimum amount (5%) of the Experience Share is earned. Thus, high-level characters killing low-level monsters get only a small amount of experience. Similarly, low-level characters killing high-level monsters get only a small amount of experience, as well. This is done so that a level 5 character running around with three level 20 characters isn't getting ridiculous amounts of experience for the higher level monsters which only his level 20 party members can destroy. Finally, party members share experience only when they are in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap.

==Experience Restrictions==
Party Members must be a distance of about 2 screens from the monster death to gain experience from party member kills. This prevents low-level characters from joining a party and then staying completely out of harm's way while still getting Experience.

==Gold is Shared within a Party==
When a party member picks up a stack of Gold, Gold is evenly divided among the members with any remainder going to the one who picks up the pile. Gold is only split when Party members are in the same level area or "zone" as shown on the Automap or party menu. You cannot turn Gold splitting off. Keep this in mind when trying to exchange Gold between party members and when picking up Gold dropped by other party members when they die. It's a good idea to keep Gold in your Stash when in a Party to avoid Gold Splitting issues if you die. To exchange Gold among party members without splitting the Gold use the Secured Trading Screen in town. Other options include leaving the party to pick up the Gold to avoid the split, then rejoin the party. You can also drop Gold in Town or an area, then make sure no one in the party is in the same area when the pile of Gold is picked up off the ground.

==Improved Drops for Parties==
Every party member in the area of the kill increases the chance that stuff will drop (whether via monster death, chests, etc). Every two additional other players in the game (whether it's a non-party member or a party member in another area) count as one additional party member toward the extra chance for a drop.

For example (for a sample baseline 25% drop):
Party Chance Of Getting Something
1 1-(0.75^1) = 0.250
2 1-(0.75^2) = 0.438
3 1-(0.75^3) = 0.578
4 1-(0.75^4) = 0.684
5 1-(0.75^5) = 0.763
6 1-(0.75^6) = 0.822
7 1-(0.75^7) = 0.867
8 1-(0.75^8) = 0.900

Note that most things don't have a 25% chance of dropping something, so the values in the table need to be adjusted for that fact. Also, some monsters (namely bosses and chests), roll more than once for items (since they can drop multiple items). The bonus for additional players gets calculated into each roll.

Some bosses (such as normal uniques) will always drop a magic item or better. The additional players will have no effect on them.

The additional players has no effect on the quality of the drop, it only affects the chance that items get dropped in the first place.

==Town Portal Restrictions==
You cannot enter Town Portals cast by other players in areas beyond the "blocking quests" without having completed those quests: e.g., Canyon of the Magi/Seven Tombs/Duriel's Lair (The Summoner), The Harem/Palace Basement/Arcane Sanctuary (The Tainted Sun), Durance of Hate (The Blackened Temple), The Worldstone Keep (The Ancients), The Secret Cow Level (Terror's End in DII classic or Eve of Destruction in DII: LoD). NOTE: A player who kills the High Council (but doesn't use Khalim's Will to smash the Compelling Orb) may take a Town Portal into the Durance of Hate.

This is to prevent higher level players from helping lower level players to advance further in the game without working for it. If a player is unable to enter a portal, this means they need to complete a quest.

=Party Tips=
Decide how you are going to divide up the loot. There are a few popular ways to do this:
*Players unofficially rotate between items, "you got something last time, now it's my turn."
*The Group leader or Master Looter decides which player gets which item.
*The least structured method, but unfortunately most popular, is Free-For-All. Whichever player can click on the items the fastest will get those items, if they have room in their backpack. When loot is FFA, often monsters come second as party members race to grab the good loot. Keep in mind that Gold is split so let greedy party members grab up all the gold they want. One thing to watch out for in FFA looting are players who will let other players in the party finish off a monster while they stand there doing nothing waiting for the item to drop. This is not recommended.

Share items among classes that can best use them. You may find a Magic Staff that is worth money to the vendors but do the right thing and let the Sorceress have the Staff if she needs it. Don't be a jerk, if a Sorceress helps you kill a monster, and a Sorceress item drops, let the Sorceress pick it up!

If class-specific items drop, let players of those classes pick them up. Don't pick them up just because you want to see what it is, or because you want to trade it. If a class is helping you, they deserve a cut of the loot. Be fair and let them have their class-specific items. Let the Assassins pick up Katars, let the Sorceress pick up Orbs and so on. Yes that means you, Barbarians!

Share potions among classes that can best use them. While all classes can use Mana, Health and Rejuvenation potions, some classes need some potions over others. Casters need Mana and Rejuvenation Potions, let them have them. Amazons and Melee Characters can use Mana/Life Steal while players like Necromancers, Elemental Druids, and Sorceresses have to rely on Potions and their Mana Regeneration.

If you get a good item such as a Set or Unique, stop looting and let other players in the party do the looting from then on. You got your good item so let them get items to make up for it. Don't be a jerk! Share the loot! When you continue to loot items they will be thinking didn't that player just get something good? And they'll be right! You got your item, it's their turn.

==Pick a leader==
This player will be the one who leads the group throughout areas and dungeons. This player will open doors, and sometimes "pull" monsters back to the party to attack. Barbarians, Amazons with Melee Weapons, Assassins, Melee Druids, and Paladins are good at this job.

An alternative method to a group leader is the "wandering pack", which wanders off into an area and comes back together after running into trouble. "Hey I brought some friends for you!" This can also work and may or may not be as successful as having a group leader. This is the most popular but least effective method.

[[category:basics]]

Multiplayer

2008-06-13T10:41:59Z

Yamnam: /* Party Tips */

Multiplayer

2008-06-13T10:29:19Z

Yamnam: /* Party Benefits */

[[Image:Party-1.jpg|frame|Shopping with friends.]]The ability to play the game with other players is one of the most enjoyable, and maddening, aspects of ''Diablo II''. There's nothing more fun than playing with a group of friends when everyone is good at the game, everyone does their share of the work, the loot is being apportioned justly, and your mixture of characters meshes well. And there are few things as frustrating as being in a party full of item grabbers, lazy players who don't pull their weight, wanna-be PKs, and rush-beggars.

Finding your way into the first type of group, while avoiding the second, is a major preoccupation of most players online, and while no wiki page can tell you how to manage that trick, knowing more about how parties work and the game mechanics underlying them will certainly help.

=Forming a Party=

[[Image:Party-menu1.jpg|thumb|225px|The party interface.]]To form a party press the "P" key to open the Party screen. This menu will list every player in the game, with their names in three different colors, depending on your character's status with them:
* Green: In your party.
* White: Neutral player. Not in your party or in another party.
* Red: Hostile player, trying to kill you (or you him).

In regards to each character, you have three possible options, depending on their status:

* Invite: Press this button to invite the player to join your party.
* Cancel: Cancel an invitation. (Usually done so you can invite again, in case they didn't notice the first one.)
* Accept: Press this button to accept a party invitation you receive. You will instantly join the party.

and their party status. To invite others to join you in a party, or to join your existing party, just click the invite icon next to their name. They will see a message about your invitation in bright green text, and can join with a click of the icon in the party window. There is no leader of a party; everyone is equal in it and anyone can invite additional players to join.

To get an invitation to a party, you can ask by typing a chat message. There is no way to ask for an invite via the party window, and it's impossible to force your way into a party. By the same token, it's impossible to kick someone else out of a party. You can always leave a party though, and if someone in the party is being annoying and the others don't want to share experience with them, everyone can leave the party and form a new one without inviting the annoying person to join.

=Party Options=
[[Image:Party-hostile1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-loot1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-chat1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-squelch1.jpg]]

If no button appears, then the player is not available - because that player is already a member of another party. You may not invite them until they leave their current party. Of course, they could invite you to join theirs.

Once in a party you may leave it by pressing the LEAVE button at the top of the party screen. If you leave a party of more than two players, the other players remain in that party. Once you leave a party, you may form or join another.

There are three or four buttons on the Party Screen depending on whether you are playing Normal or Hardcore mode:
Neutral/Hostile button: When the button shows crossed swords, you are Hostile to the associated player. You may only go hostile once per minute with each other player in your game.
Allow/Prevent Corpse Looting button (Hardcore Only). This can allow other players to loot your body which in Hardcore mode can mean saving your items from being destroyed.
Include/Exclude from Chat button. When you Exclude a player, that player cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from you.
Squelch/Unsquelch button. When you Squelch a player, you cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from that player.
NOTE: When you press any button on the Party screen, the target player receives an appropriate message about your action.

=Party Benefits=
Forming Parties with other Players
Parties allow players to share experience, gold, information about where the players in the party are located, and quest information. Parties allow players to work together to beat the game. Many Class skills are designed to help not only yourself but other players in a party. A good example of this is the Paladin's Defensive Aura: Prayer. Prayer not only will heal the Paladin but will also heal his Hireling and other members of the party and their Hirelings. There are plenty of other party friendly skills and spells.

==Party Relationships==
Each player has 2 possible relationships with all other players in the game -- Neutral (the default) and Hostile. Changes to your relationships are made in the Party screen. (Press 'P' to bring it up.) Here is how the settings work:

;Hostile: You can target players with this setting - just as if they were monsters. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y, then Player Y automatically goes Hostile to Player X in return. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y and then goes Neutral, Player Y remains Hostile to Player X until Player Y chooses to go Neutral to Player X. A player can go Hostile only while in town. The other player can be anywhere.
:If a player goes Hostile with a member of a party, all other members of the party will go Hostile with that player in return. If a player attempts to go Hostile to a fellow Party member, that player is simply dropped from the Party and becomes a regular Neutral.

;Neutral: You cannot target players with this setting. If you try to target a particular Neutral player, the true target instead shifts to a nearby monster, Hostile player, or simply the ground. You cannot directly harm a Neutral player.
:Neutral players may form a Party together. Party members share equally in gold and experience points. Certain skills, like Paladin Auras and Barbarian Warcries, apply to party members, too.
:NOTE: You receive a message whenever players change their relationship settings with you.

=Experience is Shared within a Party=
The total experience earned for killing a monster is increased by 35% when a party member of the killer is in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap. Then the pool is divided as explained below:

For each party member the total Experience earned for killing a monster is divided into shares -- where each member's fraction of the total Experience is equal to the member's level divided by the sum of all the members' levels. After this Experience Share is computed, it is multiplied by another percentage that is computed on a sliding scale that is based on the difference between your character's level and the monster's level -- regardless of whether you are in a party or not. The sliding scale applies if the level difference is between 5 and 10. If the level difference is relatively small (5 or less), you get 100% of the Experience Share. If the level difference is relatively large (10 or more), a minimum amount (5%) of the Experience Share is earned. Thus, high-level characters killing low-level monsters get only a small amount of experience. Similarly, low-level characters killing high-level monsters get only a small amount of experience, as well. This is done so that a level 5 character running around with three level 20 characters isn't getting ridiculous amounts of experience for the higher level monsters which only his level 20 party members can destroy. Finally, party members share experience only when they are in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap.

==Experience Restrictions==
Party Members must be a distance of about 2 screens from the monster death to gain experience from party member kills. This prevents low-level characters from joining a party and then staying completely out of harm's way while still getting Experience.

==Gold is Shared within a Party==
When a party member picks up a stack of Gold, Gold is evenly divided among the members with any remainder going to the one who picks up the pile. Gold is only split when Party members are in the same level area or "zone" as shown on the Automap or party menu. You cannot turn Gold splitting off. Keep this in mind when trying to exchange Gold between party members and when picking up Gold dropped by other party members when they die. It's a good idea to keep Gold in your Stash when in a Party to avoid Gold Splitting issues if you die. To exchange Gold among party members without splitting the Gold use the Secured Trading Screen in town. Other options include leaving the party to pick up the Gold to avoid the split, then rejoin the party. You can also drop Gold in Town or an area, then make sure no one in the party is in the same area when the pile of Gold is picked up off the ground.

==Improved Drops for Parties==
Every party member in the area of the kill increases the chance that stuff will drop (whether via monster death, chests, etc). Every two additional other players in the game (whether it's a non-party member or a party member in another area) count as one additional party member toward the extra chance for a drop.

For example (for a sample baseline 25% drop):
Party Chance Of Getting Something
1 1-(0.75^1) = 0.250
2 1-(0.75^2) = 0.438
3 1-(0.75^3) = 0.578
4 1-(0.75^4) = 0.684
5 1-(0.75^5) = 0.763
6 1-(0.75^6) = 0.822
7 1-(0.75^7) = 0.867
8 1-(0.75^8) = 0.900

Note that most things don't have a 25% chance of dropping something, so the values in the table need to be adjusted for that fact. Also, some monsters (namely bosses and chests), roll more than once for items (since they can drop multiple items). The bonus for additional players gets calculated into each roll.

Some bosses (such as normal uniques) will always drop a magic item or better. The additional players will have no effect on them.

The additional players has no effect on the quality of the drop, it only affects the chance that items get dropped in the first place.

==Town Portal Restrictions==
You cannot enter Town Portals cast by other players in areas beyond the "blocking quests" without having completed those quests: e.g., Canyon of the Magi/Seven Tombs/Duriel's Lair (The Summoner), The Harem/Palace Basement/Arcane Sanctuary (The Tainted Sun), Durance of Hate (The Blackened Temple), The Worldstone Keep (The Ancients), The Secret Cow Level (Terror's End in DII classic or Eve of Destruction in DII: LoD). NOTE: A player who kills the High Council (but doesn't use Khalim's Will to smash the Compelling Orb) may take a Town Portal into the Durance of Hate.

This is to prevent higher level players from helping lower level players to advance further in the game without working for it. If a player is unable to enter a portal, this means they need to complete a quest.

=Party Tips=

Decide how you are going to divide up the loot. There are a few popular ways to do this:

Players unofficially rotate between items, "you got something last time, now it's my turn."

The Group leader or Master Looter decides which player gets which item.

The least structured method, but unfortunately most popular, is Free-For-All. Whichever player can click on the items the fastest will get those items, if they have room in their backpack. When loot is FFA, often monsters come second as party members race to grab the good loot. Keep in mind that Gold is split so let greedy party members grab up all the gold they want! One thing to watch out for in FFA looting are players who will let other players in the party finish off a monster while they stand there doing nothing waiting for the item to drop. This is not recommended.

Share items among classes that can best use them. You may find a Magic Staff that is worth money to the vendors but do the right thing and let the Sorceress have the Staff if she needs it. Don't be a jerk, if a Sorceress helps you kill a monster, and a Sorceress item drops, let the Sorceress pick it up!

If class-specific items drop, let players of those classes pick them up. Don't pick them up just because you want to see what it is, or because you want to trade it. If a class is helping you, they deserve a cut of the loot. Be fair and let them have their class-specific items. Let the Assassins pick up Katars, let the Sorceress pick up Orbs and so on. Yes that means you, Barbarians!

Share potions among classes that can best use them. While all classes can use Mana, Health and Rejuvenation potions, some classes need some potions over others. Casters need Mana and Rejuvenation Potions, let them have them. Amazons and Melee Characters can use Mana/Life Steal while players like Necromancers, Elemental Druids, and Sorceresses have to rely on Potions and their Mana Regeneration.

If you get a good item such as a Set or Unique, stop looting and let other players in the party do the looting from then on. You got your good item so let them get items to make up for it. Don't be a jerk! Share the loot! When you continue to loot items they will be thinking didn't that player just get something good? And they'll be right! You got your item, it's their turn.

==Pick a leader==
This player will be the one who leads the group throughout areas and dungeons. This player will open doors, and sometimes "pull" monsters back to the party to attack. Barbarians, Amazons with Melee Weapons, Assassins, Melee Druids, and Paladins are good at this job.

An alternative method to a group leader is the wandering pack, which wanders off into an area and comes back together after running into trouble. "Hey I brought some friends for you!" This can also work and may or may not be as successful as having a group leader. This is the most popular but least effective method.

[[category:basics]]

Multiplayer

2008-06-13T10:26:50Z

Yamnam: /* Party Benefits */

[[Image:Party-1.jpg|frame|Shopping with friends.]]The ability to play the game with other players is one of the most enjoyable, and maddening, aspects of ''Diablo II''. There's nothing more fun than playing with a group of friends when everyone is good at the game, everyone does their share of the work, the loot is being apportioned justly, and your mixture of characters meshes well. And there are few things as frustrating as being in a party full of item grabbers, lazy players who don't pull their weight, wanna-be PKs, and rush-beggars.

Finding your way into the first type of group, while avoiding the second, is a major preoccupation of most players online, and while no wiki page can tell you how to manage that trick, knowing more about how parties work and the game mechanics underlying them will certainly help.

=Forming a Party=

[[Image:Party-menu1.jpg|thumb|225px|The party interface.]]To form a party press the "P" key to open the Party screen. This menu will list every player in the game, with their names in three different colors, depending on your character's status with them:
* Green: In your party.
* White: Neutral player. Not in your party or in another party.
* Red: Hostile player, trying to kill you (or you him).

In regards to each character, you have three possible options, depending on their status:

* Invite: Press this button to invite the player to join your party.
* Cancel: Cancel an invitation. (Usually done so you can invite again, in case they didn't notice the first one.)
* Accept: Press this button to accept a party invitation you receive. You will instantly join the party.

and their party status. To invite others to join you in a party, or to join your existing party, just click the invite icon next to their name. They will see a message about your invitation in bright green text, and can join with a click of the icon in the party window. There is no leader of a party; everyone is equal in it and anyone can invite additional players to join.

To get an invitation to a party, you can ask by typing a chat message. There is no way to ask for an invite via the party window, and it's impossible to force your way into a party. By the same token, it's impossible to kick someone else out of a party. You can always leave a party though, and if someone in the party is being annoying and the others don't want to share experience with them, everyone can leave the party and form a new one without inviting the annoying person to join.

=Party Options=
[[Image:Party-hostile1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-loot1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-chat1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-squelch1.jpg]]

If no button appears, then the player is not available - because that player is already a member of another party. You may not invite them until they leave their current party. Of course, they could invite you to join theirs.

Once in a party you may leave it by pressing the LEAVE button at the top of the party screen. If you leave a party of more than two players, the other players remain in that party. Once you leave a party, you may form or join another.

There are three or four buttons on the Party Screen depending on whether you are playing Normal or Hardcore mode:
Neutral/Hostile button: When the button shows crossed swords, you are Hostile to the associated player. You may only go hostile once per minute with each other player in your game.
Allow/Prevent Corpse Looting button (Hardcore Only). This can allow other players to loot your body which in Hardcore mode can mean saving your items from being destroyed.
Include/Exclude from Chat button. When you Exclude a player, that player cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from you.
Squelch/Unsquelch button. When you Squelch a player, you cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from that player.
NOTE: When you press any button on the Party screen, the target player receives an appropriate message about your action.

=Party Benefits=

Forming Parties with other Players
Parties allow players to share experience, gold, information about where the players in the party are located, and quest information. Parties allow players to work together to beat the game. Many Class skills are designed to help not only yourself but other players in a party. A good example of this is the Paladin's Defensive Aura: Prayer. Prayer not only will heal the Paladin but will also heal his Hireling and other members of the party and their Hirelings. There are plenty of other party friendly skills and spells.

Party Relationships
Each player has 2 possible relationships with all other players in the game -- Neutral (the default) and Hostile. Changes to your relationships are made in the Party screen. (Press 'P' to bring it up.) Here is how the settings work:

Hostile: You can target players with this setting - just as if they were monsters. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y, then Player Y automatically goes Hostile to Player X in return. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y and then goes Neutral, Player Y remains Hostile to Player X until Player Y chooses to go Neutral to Player X. A player can go Hostile only while in town. The other player can be anywhere.

If a player goes Hostile with a member of a party, all other members of the party will go Hostile with that player in return. If a player attempts to go Hostile to a fellow Party member, that player is simply dropped from the Party and becomes a regular Neutral.

Neutral: You cannot target players with this setting. If you try to target a particular Neutral player, the true target instead shifts to a nearby monster, Hostile player, or simply the ground. You cannot directly harm a Neutral player.

Neutral players may form a Party together. Party members share equally in gold and experience points. Certain skills, like Paladin Auras and Barbarian Warcries, apply to party members, too.

NOTE: You receive a message whenever players change their relationship settings with you.

Experience is Shared within a Party
The total experience earned for killing a monster is increased by 35% when a party member of the killer is in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap. Then the pool is divided as explained below:

For each party member the total Experience earned for killing a monster is divided into shares -- where each member's fraction of the total Experience is equal to the member's level divided by the sum of all the members' levels. After this Experience Share is computed, it is multiplied by another percentage that is computed on a sliding scale that is based on the difference between your character's level and the monster's level -- regardless of whether you are in a party or not. The sliding scale applies if the level difference is between 5 and 10. If the level difference is relatively small (5 or less), you get 100% of the Experience Share. If the level difference is relatively large (10 or more), a minimum amount (5%) of the Experience Share is earned. Thus, high-level characters killing low-level monsters get only a small amount of experience. Similarly, low-level characters killing high-level monsters get only a small amount of experience, as well. This is done so that a level 5 character running around with three level 20 characters isn't getting ridiculous amounts of experience for the higher level monsters which only his level 20 party members can destroy. Finally, party members share experience only when they are in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap.

Experience Restrictions
Party Members must be a distance of about 2 screens from the monster death to gain experience from party member kills. This prevents low-level characters from joining a party and then staying completely out of harm's way while still getting Experience.

Gold is Shared within a Party
When a party member picks up a stack of Gold, Gold is evenly divided among the members with any remainder going to the one who picks up the pile. Gold is only split when Party members are in the same level area or "zone" as shown on the Automap or party menu. You cannot turn Gold splitting off. Keep this in mind when trying to exchange Gold between party members and when picking up Gold dropped by other party members when they die. It's a good idea to keep Gold in your Stash when in a Party to avoid Gold Splitting issues if you die. To exchange Gold among party members without splitting the Gold use the Secured Trading Screen in town. Other options include leaving the party to pick up the Gold to avoid the split, then rejoin the party. You can also drop Gold in Town or an area, then make sure no one in the party is in the same area when the pile of Gold is picked up off the ground.

Improved Drops for Parties
Every party member in the area of the kill increases the chance that stuff will drop (whether via monster death, chests, etc). Every two additional other players in the game (whether it's a non-party member or a party member in another area) count as one additional party member toward the extra chance for a drop.

For example (for a sample baseline 25% drop):
Party Chance Of Getting Something
1 1-(0.75^1) = 0.250
2 1-(0.75^2) = 0.438
3 1-(0.75^3) = 0.578
4 1-(0.75^4) = 0.684
5 1-(0.75^5) = 0.763
6 1-(0.75^6) = 0.822
7 1-(0.75^7) = 0.867
8 1-(0.75^8) = 0.900

Note that most things don't have a 25% chance of dropping something, so the values in the table need to be adjusted for that fact. Also, some monsters (namely bosses and chests), roll more than once for items (since they can drop multiple items). The bonus for additional players gets calculated into each roll.

Some bosses (such as normal uniques) will always drop a magic item or better. The additional players will have no effect on them.

The additional players has no effect on the quality of the drop, it only affects the chance that items get dropped in the first place.

Town Portal Restrictions
You cannot enter Town Portals cast by other players in areas beyond the "blocking quests" without having completed those quests: e.g., Canyon of the Magi/Seven Tombs/Duriel's Lair (The Summoner), The Harem/Palace Basement/Arcane Sanctuary (The Tainted Sun), Durance of Hate (The Blackened Temple), The Worldstone Keep (The Ancients), The Secret Cow Level (Terror's End in DII classic or Eve of Destruction in DII: LoD). NOTE: A player who kills the High Council (but doesn't use Khalim's Will to smash the Compelling Orb) may take a Town Portal into the Durance of Hate.

This is to prevent higher level players from helping lower level players to advance further in the game without working for it. If a player is unable to enter a portal, this means they need to complete a quest.

Party Tips

Decide how you are going to divide up the loot. There are a few popular ways to do this:

Players unofficially rotate between items, "you got something last time, now it's my turn."

The Group leader or Master Looter decides which player gets which item.

The least structured method, but unfortunately most popular, is Free-For-All. Whichever player can click on the items the fastest will get those items, if they have room in their backpack. When loot is FFA, often monsters come second as party members race to grab the good loot. Keep in mind that Gold is split so let greedy party members grab up all the gold they want! One thing to watch out for in FFA looting are players who will let other players in the party finish off a monster while they stand there doing nothing waiting for the item to drop. This is not recommended.

Share items among classes that can best use them. You may find a Magic Staff that is worth money to the vendors but do the right thing and let the Sorceress have the Staff if she needs it. Don't be a jerk, if a Sorceress helps you kill a monster, and a Sorceress item drops, let the Sorceress pick it up!

If class-specific items drop, let players of those classes pick them up. Don't pick them up just because you want to see what it is, or because you want to trade it. If a class is helping you, they deserve a cut of the loot. Be fair and let them have their class-specific items. Let the Assassins pick up Katars, let the Sorceress pick up Orbs and so on. Yes that means you, Barbarians!

Share potions among classes that can best use them. While all classes can use Mana, Health and Rejuvenation potions, some classes need some potions over others. Casters need Mana and Rejuvenation Potions, let them have them. Amazons and Melee Characters can use Mana/Life Steal while players like Necromancers, Elemental Druids, and Sorceresses have to rely on Potions and their Mana Regeneration.

If you get a good item such as a Set or Unique, stop looting and let other players in the party do the looting from then on. You got your good item so let them get items to make up for it. Don't be a jerk! Share the loot! When you continue to loot items they will be thinking didn't that player just get something good? And they'll be right! You got your item, it's their turn.

Pick a leader
This player will be the one who leads the group throughout areas and dungeons. This player will open doors, and sometimes "pull" monsters back to the party to attack. Barbarians, Amazons with Melee Weapons, Assassins, Melee Druids, and Paladins are good at this job.

An alternative method to a group leader is the wandering pack, which wanders off into an area and comes back together after running into trouble. "Hey I brought some friends for you!" This can also work and may or may not be as successful as having a group leader. This is the most popular but least effective method.

[[category:basics]]

Multiplayer

2008-06-13T10:26:04Z

Yamnam: /* Party Options */

[[Image:Party-1.jpg|frame|Shopping with friends.]]The ability to play the game with other players is one of the most enjoyable, and maddening, aspects of ''Diablo II''. There's nothing more fun than playing with a group of friends when everyone is good at the game, everyone does their share of the work, the loot is being apportioned justly, and your mixture of characters meshes well. And there are few things as frustrating as being in a party full of item grabbers, lazy players who don't pull their weight, wanna-be PKs, and rush-beggars.

Finding your way into the first type of group, while avoiding the second, is a major preoccupation of most players online, and while no wiki page can tell you how to manage that trick, knowing more about how parties work and the game mechanics underlying them will certainly help.

=Forming a Party=

[[Image:Party-menu1.jpg|thumb|225px|The party interface.]]To form a party press the "P" key to open the Party screen. This menu will list every player in the game, with their names in three different colors, depending on your character's status with them:
* Green: In your party.
* White: Neutral player. Not in your party or in another party.
* Red: Hostile player, trying to kill you (or you him).

In regards to each character, you have three possible options, depending on their status:

* Invite: Press this button to invite the player to join your party.
* Cancel: Cancel an invitation. (Usually done so you can invite again, in case they didn't notice the first one.)
* Accept: Press this button to accept a party invitation you receive. You will instantly join the party.

and their party status. To invite others to join you in a party, or to join your existing party, just click the invite icon next to their name. They will see a message about your invitation in bright green text, and can join with a click of the icon in the party window. There is no leader of a party; everyone is equal in it and anyone can invite additional players to join.

To get an invitation to a party, you can ask by typing a chat message. There is no way to ask for an invite via the party window, and it's impossible to force your way into a party. By the same token, it's impossible to kick someone else out of a party. You can always leave a party though, and if someone in the party is being annoying and the others don't want to share experience with them, everyone can leave the party and form a new one without inviting the annoying person to join.

=Party Options=
[[Image:Party-hostile1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-loot1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-chat1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-squelch1.jpg]]

If no button appears, then the player is not available - because that player is already a member of another party. You may not invite them until they leave their current party. Of course, they could invite you to join theirs.

Once in a party you may leave it by pressing the LEAVE button at the top of the party screen. If you leave a party of more than two players, the other players remain in that party. Once you leave a party, you may form or join another.

There are three or four buttons on the Party Screen depending on whether you are playing Normal or Hardcore mode:
Neutral/Hostile button: When the button shows crossed swords, you are Hostile to the associated player. You may only go hostile once per minute with each other player in your game.
Allow/Prevent Corpse Looting button (Hardcore Only). This can allow other players to loot your body which in Hardcore mode can mean saving your items from being destroyed.
Include/Exclude from Chat button. When you Exclude a player, that player cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from you.
Squelch/Unsquelch button. When you Squelch a player, you cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from that player.
NOTE: When you press any button on the Party screen, the target player receives an appropriate message about your action.

=Party Benefits=

Forming Parties with other Players
Parties allow players to share experience, gold, information about where the players in the party are located, and quest information. Parties allow players to work together to beat the game. Many Class skills are designed to help not only yourself but other players in a party. A good example of this is the Paladin's Defensive Aura: Prayer. Prayer not only will heal the Paladin but will also heal his Hireling and other members of the party and their Hirelings. There are plenty of other party friendly skills and spells.

Party Relationships
Each player has 2 possible relationships with all other players in the game -- Neutral (the default) and Hostile. Changes to your relationships are made in the Party screen. (Press 'P' to bring it up.) Here is how the settings work:

Hostile: You can target players with this setting - just as if they were monsters. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y, then Player Y automatically goes Hostile to Player X in return. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y and then goes Neutral, Player Y remains Hostile to Player X until Player Y chooses to go Neutral to Player X. A player can go Hostile only while in town. The other player can be anywhere.

If a player goes Hostile with a member of a party, all other members of the party will go Hostile with that player in return. If a player attempts to go Hostile to a fellow Party member, that player is simply dropped from the Party and becomes a regular Neutral.

Neutral: You cannot target players with this setting. If you try to target a particular Neutral player, the true target instead shifts to a nearby monster, Hostile player, or simply the ground. You cannot directly harm a Neutral player.

Neutral players may form a Party together. Party members share equally in gold and experience points. Certain skills, like Paladin Auras and Barbarian Warcries, apply to party members, too.

NOTE: You receive a message whenever players change their relationship settings with you.

Experience is Shared within a Party
The total experience earned for killing a monster is increased by 35% when a party member of the killer is in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap. Then the pool is divided as explained below:

For each party member the total Experience earned for killing a monster is divided into shares -- where each member's fraction of the total Experience is equal to the member's level divided by the sum of all the members' levels. After this Experience Share is computed, it is multiplied by another percentage that is computed on a sliding scale that is based on the difference between your character's level and the monster's level -- regardless of whether you are in a party or not. The sliding scale applies if the level difference is between 5 and 10. If the level difference is relatively small (5 or less), you get 100% of the Experience Share. If the level difference is relatively large (10 or more), a minimum amount (5%) of the Experience Share is earned. Thus, high-level characters killing low-level monsters get only a small amount of experience. Similarly, low-level characters killing high-level monsters get only a small amount of experience, as well. This is done so that a level 5 character running around with three level 20 characters isn't getting ridiculous amounts of experience for the higher level monsters which only his level 20 party members can destroy. Finally, party members share experience only when they are in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap.

Experience Restrictions
Party Members must be a distance of about 2 screens from the monster death to gain experience from party member kills. This prevents low-level characters from joining a party and then staying completely out of harm's way while still getting Experience.

Gold is Shared within a Party
When a party member picks up a stack of Gold, Gold is evenly divided among the members with any remainder going to the one who picks up the pile. Gold is only split when Party members are in the same level area or "zone" as shown on the Automap or party menu. You cannot turn Gold splitting off. Keep this in mind when trying to exchange Gold between party members and when picking up Gold dropped by other party members when they die. It's a good idea to keep Gold in your Stash when in a Party to avoid Gold Splitting issues if you die. To exchange Gold among party members without splitting the Gold use the Secured Trading Screen in town. Other options include leaving the party to pick up the Gold to avoid the split, then rejoin the party. You can also drop Gold in Town or an area, then make sure no one in the party is in the same area when the pile of Gold is picked up off the ground.

Improved Drops for Parties
Every party member in the area of the kill increases the chance that stuff will drop (whether via monster death, chests, etc). Every two additional other players in the game (whether it's a non-party member or a party member in another area) count as one additional party member toward the extra chance for a drop.

For example (for a sample baseline 25% drop):

Party Chance Of Getting Something
1 1-(0.75^1) = 0.250
2 1-(0.75^2) = 0.438
3 1-(0.75^3) = 0.578
4 1-(0.75^4) = 0.684
5 1-(0.75^5) = 0.763
6 1-(0.75^6) = 0.822
7 1-(0.75^7) = 0.867
8 1-(0.75^8) = 0.900

Note that most things don't have a 25% chance of dropping something, so the values in the table need to be adjusted for that fact. Also, some monsters (namely bosses and chests), roll more than once for items (since they can drop multiple items). The bonus for additional players gets calculated into each roll.

Some bosses (such as normal uniques) will always drop a magic item or better. The additional players will have no effect on them.

The additional players has no effect on the quality of the drop, it only affects the chance that items get dropped in the first place.

Town Portal Restrictions
You cannot enter Town Portals cast by other players in areas beyond the "blocking quests" without having completed those quests: e.g., Canyon of the Magi/Seven Tombs/Duriel's Lair (The Summoner), The Harem/Palace Basement/Arcane Sanctuary (The Tainted Sun), Durance of Hate (The Blackened Temple), The Worldstone Keep (The Ancients), The Secret Cow Level (Terror's End in DII classic or Eve of Destruction in DII: LoD). NOTE: A player who kills the High Council (but doesn't use Khalim's Will to smash the Compelling Orb) may take a Town Portal into the Durance of Hate.

This is to prevent higher level players from helping lower level players to advance further in the game without working for it. If a player is unable to enter a portal, this means they need to complete a quest.

Party Tips

Decide how you are going to divide up the loot. There are a few popular ways to do this:

Players unofficially rotate between items, "you got something last time, now it's my turn."

The Group leader or Master Looter decides which player gets which item.

The least structured method, but unfortunately most popular, is Free-For-All. Whichever player can click on the items the fastest will get those items, if they have room in their backpack. When loot is FFA, often monsters come second as party members race to grab the good loot. Keep in mind that Gold is split so let greedy party members grab up all the gold they want! One thing to watch out for in FFA looting are players who will let other players in the party finish off a monster while they stand there doing nothing waiting for the item to drop. This is not recommended.

Share items among classes that can best use them. You may find a Magic Staff that is worth money to the vendors but do the right thing and let the Sorceress have the Staff if she needs it. Don't be a jerk, if a Sorceress helps you kill a monster, and a Sorceress item drops, let the Sorceress pick it up!

If class-specific items drop, let players of those classes pick them up. Don't pick them up just because you want to see what it is, or because you want to trade it. If a class is helping you, they deserve a cut of the loot. Be fair and let them have their class-specific items. Let the Assassins pick up Katars, let the Sorceress pick up Orbs and so on. Yes that means you, Barbarians!

Share potions among classes that can best use them. While all classes can use Mana, Health and Rejuvenation potions, some classes need some potions over others. Casters need Mana and Rejuvenation Potions, let them have them. Amazons and Melee Characters can use Mana/Life Steal while players like Necromancers, Elemental Druids, and Sorceresses have to rely on Potions and their Mana Regeneration.

If you get a good item such as a Set or Unique, stop looting and let other players in the party do the looting from then on. You got your good item so let them get items to make up for it. Don't be a jerk! Share the loot! When you continue to loot items they will be thinking didn't that player just get something good? And they'll be right! You got your item, it's their turn.

Pick a leader
This player will be the one who leads the group throughout areas and dungeons. This player will open doors, and sometimes "pull" monsters back to the party to attack. Barbarians, Amazons with Melee Weapons, Assassins, Melee Druids, and Paladins are good at this job.

An alternative method to a group leader is the wandering pack, which wanders off into an area and comes back together after running into trouble. "Hey I brought some friends for you!" This can also work and may or may not be as successful as having a group leader. This is the most popular but least effective method.

[[category:basics]]

Multiplayer

2008-06-13T10:23:13Z

Yamnam: /* Party Options */

[[Image:Party-1.jpg|frame|Shopping with friends.]]The ability to play the game with other players is one of the most enjoyable, and maddening, aspects of ''Diablo II''. There's nothing more fun than playing with a group of friends when everyone is good at the game, everyone does their share of the work, the loot is being apportioned justly, and your mixture of characters meshes well. And there are few things as frustrating as being in a party full of item grabbers, lazy players who don't pull their weight, wanna-be PKs, and rush-beggars.

Finding your way into the first type of group, while avoiding the second, is a major preoccupation of most players online, and while no wiki page can tell you how to manage that trick, knowing more about how parties work and the game mechanics underlying them will certainly help.

=Forming a Party=

[[Image:Party-menu1.jpg|thumb|225px|The party interface.]]To form a party press the "P" key to open the Party screen. This menu will list every player in the game, with their names in three different colors, depending on your character's status with them:
* Green: In your party.
* White: Neutral player. Not in your party or in another party.
* Red: Hostile player, trying to kill you (or you him).

In regards to each character, you have three possible options, depending on their status:

* Invite: Press this button to invite the player to join your party.
* Cancel: Cancel an invitation. (Usually done so you can invite again, in case they didn't notice the first one.)
* Accept: Press this button to accept a party invitation you receive. You will instantly join the party.

and their party status. To invite others to join you in a party, or to join your existing party, just click the invite icon next to their name. They will see a message about your invitation in bright green text, and can join with a click of the icon in the party window. There is no leader of a party; everyone is equal in it and anyone can invite additional players to join.

To get an invitation to a party, you can ask by typing a chat message. There is no way to ask for an invite via the party window, and it's impossible to force your way into a party. By the same token, it's impossible to kick someone else out of a party. You can always leave a party though, and if someone in the party is being annoying and the others don't want to share experience with them, everyone can leave the party and form a new one without inviting the annoying person to join.

=Party Options=

[[Image:Party-hostile1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-loot1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-chat1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-squelch1.jpg]]

If no button appears, then the player is not available - because that player is already a member of another party. You may not invite them until they leave their current party. Of course, they could invite you to join theirs.

Once in a party you may leave it by pressing the LEAVE button at the top of the party screen. If you leave a party of more than two players, the other players remain in that party. Once you leave a party, you may form or join another.

There are three or four buttons on the Party Screen depending on whether you are playing Normal or Hardcore mode:
Neutral/Hostile button: When the button shows crossed swords, you are Hostile to the associated player. You may only go hostile once per minute with each other player in your game.
Allow/Prevent Corpse Looting button (Hardcore Only). This can allow other players to loot your body which in Hardcore mode can mean saving your items from being destroyed.
Include/Exclude from Chat button. When you Exclude a player, that player cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from you.
Squelch/Unsquelch button. When you Squelch a player, you cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from that player.
NOTE: When you press any button on the Party screen, the target player receives an appropriate message about your action.

=Party Benefits=

Forming Parties with other Players
Parties allow players to share experience, gold, information about where the players in the party are located, and quest information. Parties allow players to work together to beat the game. Many Class skills are designed to help not only yourself but other players in a party. A good example of this is the Paladin's Defensive Aura: Prayer. Prayer not only will heal the Paladin but will also heal his Hireling and other members of the party and their Hirelings. There are plenty of other party friendly skills and spells.

Party Relationships
Each player has 2 possible relationships with all other players in the game -- Neutral (the default) and Hostile. Changes to your relationships are made in the Party screen. (Press 'P' to bring it up.) Here is how the settings work:

Hostile: You can target players with this setting - just as if they were monsters. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y, then Player Y automatically goes Hostile to Player X in return. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y and then goes Neutral, Player Y remains Hostile to Player X until Player Y chooses to go Neutral to Player X. A player can go Hostile only while in town. The other player can be anywhere.

If a player goes Hostile with a member of a party, all other members of the party will go Hostile with that player in return. If a player attempts to go Hostile to a fellow Party member, that player is simply dropped from the Party and becomes a regular Neutral.

Neutral: You cannot target players with this setting. If you try to target a particular Neutral player, the true target instead shifts to a nearby monster, Hostile player, or simply the ground. You cannot directly harm a Neutral player.

Neutral players may form a Party together. Party members share equally in gold and experience points. Certain skills, like Paladin Auras and Barbarian Warcries, apply to party members, too.

NOTE: You receive a message whenever players change their relationship settings with you.

Experience is Shared within a Party
The total experience earned for killing a monster is increased by 35% when a party member of the killer is in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap. Then the pool is divided as explained below:

For each party member the total Experience earned for killing a monster is divided into shares -- where each member's fraction of the total Experience is equal to the member's level divided by the sum of all the members' levels. After this Experience Share is computed, it is multiplied by another percentage that is computed on a sliding scale that is based on the difference between your character's level and the monster's level -- regardless of whether you are in a party or not. The sliding scale applies if the level difference is between 5 and 10. If the level difference is relatively small (5 or less), you get 100% of the Experience Share. If the level difference is relatively large (10 or more), a minimum amount (5%) of the Experience Share is earned. Thus, high-level characters killing low-level monsters get only a small amount of experience. Similarly, low-level characters killing high-level monsters get only a small amount of experience, as well. This is done so that a level 5 character running around with three level 20 characters isn't getting ridiculous amounts of experience for the higher level monsters which only his level 20 party members can destroy. Finally, party members share experience only when they are in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap.

Experience Restrictions
Party Members must be a distance of about 2 screens from the monster death to gain experience from party member kills. This prevents low-level characters from joining a party and then staying completely out of harm's way while still getting Experience.

Gold is Shared within a Party
When a party member picks up a stack of Gold, Gold is evenly divided among the members with any remainder going to the one who picks up the pile. Gold is only split when Party members are in the same level area or "zone" as shown on the Automap or party menu. You cannot turn Gold splitting off. Keep this in mind when trying to exchange Gold between party members and when picking up Gold dropped by other party members when they die. It's a good idea to keep Gold in your Stash when in a Party to avoid Gold Splitting issues if you die. To exchange Gold among party members without splitting the Gold use the Secured Trading Screen in town. Other options include leaving the party to pick up the Gold to avoid the split, then rejoin the party. You can also drop Gold in Town or an area, then make sure no one in the party is in the same area when the pile of Gold is picked up off the ground.

Improved Drops for Parties
Every party member in the area of the kill increases the chance that stuff will drop (whether via monster death, chests, etc). Every two additional other players in the game (whether it's a non-party member or a party member in another area) count as one additional party member toward the extra chance for a drop.

For example (for a sample baseline 25% drop):

Party Chance Of Getting Something
1 1-(0.75^1) = 0.250
2 1-(0.75^2) = 0.438
3 1-(0.75^3) = 0.578
4 1-(0.75^4) = 0.684
5 1-(0.75^5) = 0.763
6 1-(0.75^6) = 0.822
7 1-(0.75^7) = 0.867
8 1-(0.75^8) = 0.900

Note that most things don't have a 25% chance of dropping something, so the values in the table need to be adjusted for that fact. Also, some monsters (namely bosses and chests), roll more than once for items (since they can drop multiple items). The bonus for additional players gets calculated into each roll.

Some bosses (such as normal uniques) will always drop a magic item or better. The additional players will have no effect on them.

The additional players has no effect on the quality of the drop, it only affects the chance that items get dropped in the first place.

Town Portal Restrictions
You cannot enter Town Portals cast by other players in areas beyond the "blocking quests" without having completed those quests: e.g., Canyon of the Magi/Seven Tombs/Duriel's Lair (The Summoner), The Harem/Palace Basement/Arcane Sanctuary (The Tainted Sun), Durance of Hate (The Blackened Temple), The Worldstone Keep (The Ancients), The Secret Cow Level (Terror's End in DII classic or Eve of Destruction in DII: LoD). NOTE: A player who kills the High Council (but doesn't use Khalim's Will to smash the Compelling Orb) may take a Town Portal into the Durance of Hate.

This is to prevent higher level players from helping lower level players to advance further in the game without working for it. If a player is unable to enter a portal, this means they need to complete a quest.

Party Tips

Decide how you are going to divide up the loot. There are a few popular ways to do this:

Players unofficially rotate between items, "you got something last time, now it's my turn."

The Group leader or Master Looter decides which player gets which item.

The least structured method, but unfortunately most popular, is Free-For-All. Whichever player can click on the items the fastest will get those items, if they have room in their backpack. When loot is FFA, often monsters come second as party members race to grab the good loot. Keep in mind that Gold is split so let greedy party members grab up all the gold they want! One thing to watch out for in FFA looting are players who will let other players in the party finish off a monster while they stand there doing nothing waiting for the item to drop. This is not recommended.

Share items among classes that can best use them. You may find a Magic Staff that is worth money to the vendors but do the right thing and let the Sorceress have the Staff if she needs it. Don't be a jerk, if a Sorceress helps you kill a monster, and a Sorceress item drops, let the Sorceress pick it up!

If class-specific items drop, let players of those classes pick them up. Don't pick them up just because you want to see what it is, or because you want to trade it. If a class is helping you, they deserve a cut of the loot. Be fair and let them have their class-specific items. Let the Assassins pick up Katars, let the Sorceress pick up Orbs and so on. Yes that means you, Barbarians!

Share potions among classes that can best use them. While all classes can use Mana, Health and Rejuvenation potions, some classes need some potions over others. Casters need Mana and Rejuvenation Potions, let them have them. Amazons and Melee Characters can use Mana/Life Steal while players like Necromancers, Elemental Druids, and Sorceresses have to rely on Potions and their Mana Regeneration.

If you get a good item such as a Set or Unique, stop looting and let other players in the party do the looting from then on. You got your good item so let them get items to make up for it. Don't be a jerk! Share the loot! When you continue to loot items they will be thinking didn't that player just get something good? And they'll be right! You got your item, it's their turn.

Pick a leader
This player will be the one who leads the group throughout areas and dungeons. This player will open doors, and sometimes "pull" monsters back to the party to attack. Barbarians, Amazons with Melee Weapons, Assassins, Melee Druids, and Paladins are good at this job.

An alternative method to a group leader is the wandering pack, which wanders off into an area and comes back together after running into trouble. "Hey I brought some friends for you!" This can also work and may or may not be as successful as having a group leader. This is the most popular but least effective method.

[[category:basics]]

Multiplayer

2008-06-13T10:22:44Z

Yamnam: /* Party Options */

[[Image:Party-1.jpg|frame|Shopping with friends.]]The ability to play the game with other players is one of the most enjoyable, and maddening, aspects of ''Diablo II''. There's nothing more fun than playing with a group of friends when everyone is good at the game, everyone does their share of the work, the loot is being apportioned justly, and your mixture of characters meshes well. And there are few things as frustrating as being in a party full of item grabbers, lazy players who don't pull their weight, wanna-be PKs, and rush-beggars.

Finding your way into the first type of group, while avoiding the second, is a major preoccupation of most players online, and while no wiki page can tell you how to manage that trick, knowing more about how parties work and the game mechanics underlying them will certainly help.

=Forming a Party=

[[Image:Party-menu1.jpg|thumb|225px|The party interface.]]To form a party press the "P" key to open the Party screen. This menu will list every player in the game, with their names in three different colors, depending on your character's status with them:
* Green: In your party.
* White: Neutral player. Not in your party or in another party.
* Red: Hostile player, trying to kill you (or you him).

In regards to each character, you have three possible options, depending on their status:

* Invite: Press this button to invite the player to join your party.
* Cancel: Cancel an invitation. (Usually done so you can invite again, in case they didn't notice the first one.)
* Accept: Press this button to accept a party invitation you receive. You will instantly join the party.

and their party status. To invite others to join you in a party, or to join your existing party, just click the invite icon next to their name. They will see a message about your invitation in bright green text, and can join with a click of the icon in the party window. There is no leader of a party; everyone is equal in it and anyone can invite additional players to join.

To get an invitation to a party, you can ask by typing a chat message. There is no way to ask for an invite via the party window, and it's impossible to force your way into a party. By the same token, it's impossible to kick someone else out of a party. You can always leave a party though, and if someone in the party is being annoying and the others don't want to share experience with them, everyone can leave the party and form a new one without inviting the annoying person to join.

=Party Options=

[[Image:Party-hostile1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-loot1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-chat1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-Squelch1.jpg]]

If no button appears, then the player is not available - because that player is already a member of another party. You may not invite them until they leave their current party. Of course, they could invite you to join theirs.

Once in a party you may leave it by pressing the LEAVE button at the top of the party screen. If you leave a party of more than two players, the other players remain in that party. Once you leave a party, you may form or join another.

There are three or four buttons on the Party Screen depending on whether you are playing Normal or Hardcore mode:
Neutral/Hostile button: When the button shows crossed swords, you are Hostile to the associated player. You may only go hostile once per minute with each other player in your game.
Allow/Prevent Corpse Looting button (Hardcore Only). This can allow other players to loot your body which in Hardcore mode can mean saving your items from being destroyed.
Include/Exclude from Chat button. When you Exclude a player, that player cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from you.
Squelch/Unsquelch button. When you Squelch a player, you cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from that player.
NOTE: When you press any button on the Party screen, the target player receives an appropriate message about your action.

=Party Benefits=

Forming Parties with other Players
Parties allow players to share experience, gold, information about where the players in the party are located, and quest information. Parties allow players to work together to beat the game. Many Class skills are designed to help not only yourself but other players in a party. A good example of this is the Paladin's Defensive Aura: Prayer. Prayer not only will heal the Paladin but will also heal his Hireling and other members of the party and their Hirelings. There are plenty of other party friendly skills and spells.

Party Relationships
Each player has 2 possible relationships with all other players in the game -- Neutral (the default) and Hostile. Changes to your relationships are made in the Party screen. (Press 'P' to bring it up.) Here is how the settings work:

Hostile: You can target players with this setting - just as if they were monsters. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y, then Player Y automatically goes Hostile to Player X in return. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y and then goes Neutral, Player Y remains Hostile to Player X until Player Y chooses to go Neutral to Player X. A player can go Hostile only while in town. The other player can be anywhere.

If a player goes Hostile with a member of a party, all other members of the party will go Hostile with that player in return. If a player attempts to go Hostile to a fellow Party member, that player is simply dropped from the Party and becomes a regular Neutral.

Neutral: You cannot target players with this setting. If you try to target a particular Neutral player, the true target instead shifts to a nearby monster, Hostile player, or simply the ground. You cannot directly harm a Neutral player.

Neutral players may form a Party together. Party members share equally in gold and experience points. Certain skills, like Paladin Auras and Barbarian Warcries, apply to party members, too.

NOTE: You receive a message whenever players change their relationship settings with you.

Experience is Shared within a Party
The total experience earned for killing a monster is increased by 35% when a party member of the killer is in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap. Then the pool is divided as explained below:

For each party member the total Experience earned for killing a monster is divided into shares -- where each member's fraction of the total Experience is equal to the member's level divided by the sum of all the members' levels. After this Experience Share is computed, it is multiplied by another percentage that is computed on a sliding scale that is based on the difference between your character's level and the monster's level -- regardless of whether you are in a party or not. The sliding scale applies if the level difference is between 5 and 10. If the level difference is relatively small (5 or less), you get 100% of the Experience Share. If the level difference is relatively large (10 or more), a minimum amount (5%) of the Experience Share is earned. Thus, high-level characters killing low-level monsters get only a small amount of experience. Similarly, low-level characters killing high-level monsters get only a small amount of experience, as well. This is done so that a level 5 character running around with three level 20 characters isn't getting ridiculous amounts of experience for the higher level monsters which only his level 20 party members can destroy. Finally, party members share experience only when they are in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap.

Experience Restrictions
Party Members must be a distance of about 2 screens from the monster death to gain experience from party member kills. This prevents low-level characters from joining a party and then staying completely out of harm's way while still getting Experience.

Gold is Shared within a Party
When a party member picks up a stack of Gold, Gold is evenly divided among the members with any remainder going to the one who picks up the pile. Gold is only split when Party members are in the same level area or "zone" as shown on the Automap or party menu. You cannot turn Gold splitting off. Keep this in mind when trying to exchange Gold between party members and when picking up Gold dropped by other party members when they die. It's a good idea to keep Gold in your Stash when in a Party to avoid Gold Splitting issues if you die. To exchange Gold among party members without splitting the Gold use the Secured Trading Screen in town. Other options include leaving the party to pick up the Gold to avoid the split, then rejoin the party. You can also drop Gold in Town or an area, then make sure no one in the party is in the same area when the pile of Gold is picked up off the ground.

Improved Drops for Parties
Every party member in the area of the kill increases the chance that stuff will drop (whether via monster death, chests, etc). Every two additional other players in the game (whether it's a non-party member or a party member in another area) count as one additional party member toward the extra chance for a drop.

For example (for a sample baseline 25% drop):

Party Chance Of Getting Something
1 1-(0.75^1) = 0.250
2 1-(0.75^2) = 0.438
3 1-(0.75^3) = 0.578
4 1-(0.75^4) = 0.684
5 1-(0.75^5) = 0.763
6 1-(0.75^6) = 0.822
7 1-(0.75^7) = 0.867
8 1-(0.75^8) = 0.900

Note that most things don't have a 25% chance of dropping something, so the values in the table need to be adjusted for that fact. Also, some monsters (namely bosses and chests), roll more than once for items (since they can drop multiple items). The bonus for additional players gets calculated into each roll.

Some bosses (such as normal uniques) will always drop a magic item or better. The additional players will have no effect on them.

The additional players has no effect on the quality of the drop, it only affects the chance that items get dropped in the first place.

Town Portal Restrictions
You cannot enter Town Portals cast by other players in areas beyond the "blocking quests" without having completed those quests: e.g., Canyon of the Magi/Seven Tombs/Duriel's Lair (The Summoner), The Harem/Palace Basement/Arcane Sanctuary (The Tainted Sun), Durance of Hate (The Blackened Temple), The Worldstone Keep (The Ancients), The Secret Cow Level (Terror's End in DII classic or Eve of Destruction in DII: LoD). NOTE: A player who kills the High Council (but doesn't use Khalim's Will to smash the Compelling Orb) may take a Town Portal into the Durance of Hate.

This is to prevent higher level players from helping lower level players to advance further in the game without working for it. If a player is unable to enter a portal, this means they need to complete a quest.

Party Tips

Decide how you are going to divide up the loot. There are a few popular ways to do this:

Players unofficially rotate between items, "you got something last time, now it's my turn."

The Group leader or Master Looter decides which player gets which item.

The least structured method, but unfortunately most popular, is Free-For-All. Whichever player can click on the items the fastest will get those items, if they have room in their backpack. When loot is FFA, often monsters come second as party members race to grab the good loot. Keep in mind that Gold is split so let greedy party members grab up all the gold they want! One thing to watch out for in FFA looting are players who will let other players in the party finish off a monster while they stand there doing nothing waiting for the item to drop. This is not recommended.

Share items among classes that can best use them. You may find a Magic Staff that is worth money to the vendors but do the right thing and let the Sorceress have the Staff if she needs it. Don't be a jerk, if a Sorceress helps you kill a monster, and a Sorceress item drops, let the Sorceress pick it up!

If class-specific items drop, let players of those classes pick them up. Don't pick them up just because you want to see what it is, or because you want to trade it. If a class is helping you, they deserve a cut of the loot. Be fair and let them have their class-specific items. Let the Assassins pick up Katars, let the Sorceress pick up Orbs and so on. Yes that means you, Barbarians!

Share potions among classes that can best use them. While all classes can use Mana, Health and Rejuvenation potions, some classes need some potions over others. Casters need Mana and Rejuvenation Potions, let them have them. Amazons and Melee Characters can use Mana/Life Steal while players like Necromancers, Elemental Druids, and Sorceresses have to rely on Potions and their Mana Regeneration.

If you get a good item such as a Set or Unique, stop looting and let other players in the party do the looting from then on. You got your good item so let them get items to make up for it. Don't be a jerk! Share the loot! When you continue to loot items they will be thinking didn't that player just get something good? And they'll be right! You got your item, it's their turn.

Pick a leader
This player will be the one who leads the group throughout areas and dungeons. This player will open doors, and sometimes "pull" monsters back to the party to attack. Barbarians, Amazons with Melee Weapons, Assassins, Melee Druids, and Paladins are good at this job.

An alternative method to a group leader is the wandering pack, which wanders off into an area and comes back together after running into trouble. "Hey I brought some friends for you!" This can also work and may or may not be as successful as having a group leader. This is the most popular but least effective method.

[[category:basics]]

Multiplayer

2008-06-13T10:21:46Z

Yamnam: /* Party Options */

[[Image:Party-1.jpg|frame|Shopping with friends.]]The ability to play the game with other players is one of the most enjoyable, and maddening, aspects of ''Diablo II''. There's nothing more fun than playing with a group of friends when everyone is good at the game, everyone does their share of the work, the loot is being apportioned justly, and your mixture of characters meshes well. And there are few things as frustrating as being in a party full of item grabbers, lazy players who don't pull their weight, wanna-be PKs, and rush-beggars.

Finding your way into the first type of group, while avoiding the second, is a major preoccupation of most players online, and while no wiki page can tell you how to manage that trick, knowing more about how parties work and the game mechanics underlying them will certainly help.

=Forming a Party=

[[Image:Party-menu1.jpg|thumb|225px|The party interface.]]To form a party press the "P" key to open the Party screen. This menu will list every player in the game, with their names in three different colors, depending on your character's status with them:
* Green: In your party.
* White: Neutral player. Not in your party or in another party.
* Red: Hostile player, trying to kill you (or you him).

In regards to each character, you have three possible options, depending on their status:

* Invite: Press this button to invite the player to join your party.
* Cancel: Cancel an invitation. (Usually done so you can invite again, in case they didn't notice the first one.)
* Accept: Press this button to accept a party invitation you receive. You will instantly join the party.

and their party status. To invite others to join you in a party, or to join your existing party, just click the invite icon next to their name. They will see a message about your invitation in bright green text, and can join with a click of the icon in the party window. There is no leader of a party; everyone is equal in it and anyone can invite additional players to join.

To get an invitation to a party, you can ask by typing a chat message. There is no way to ask for an invite via the party window, and it's impossible to force your way into a party. By the same token, it's impossible to kick someone else out of a party. You can always leave a party though, and if someone in the party is being annoying and the others don't want to share experience with them, everyone can leave the party and form a new one without inviting the annoying person to join.

=Party Options=

Party Options

[[Image:Party-hostile1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-loot1.jpg]]
[[Image:Party-chat1.jpg]]
[[Image:Squelch-chat1.jpg]]

If no button appears, then the player is not available - because that player is already a member of another party. You may not invite them until they leave their current party. Of course, they could invite you to join theirs.

Once in a party you may leave it by pressing the LEAVE button at the top of the party screen. If you leave a party of more than two players, the other players remain in that party. Once you leave a party, you may form or join another.

There are three or four buttons on the Party Screen depending on whether you are playing Normal or Hardcore mode:
Neutral/Hostile button: When the button shows crossed swords, you are Hostile to the associated player. You may only go hostile once per minute with each other player in your game.
Allow/Prevent Corpse Looting button (Hardcore Only). This can allow other players to loot your body which in Hardcore mode can mean saving your items from being destroyed.
Include/Exclude from Chat button. When you Exclude a player, that player cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from you.
Squelch/Unsquelch button. When you Squelch a player, you cannot hear or see any verbal communication coming from that player.
NOTE: When you press any button on the Party screen, the target player receives an appropriate message about your action.

=Party Benefits=

Forming Parties with other Players
Parties allow players to share experience, gold, information about where the players in the party are located, and quest information. Parties allow players to work together to beat the game. Many Class skills are designed to help not only yourself but other players in a party. A good example of this is the Paladin's Defensive Aura: Prayer. Prayer not only will heal the Paladin but will also heal his Hireling and other members of the party and their Hirelings. There are plenty of other party friendly skills and spells.

Party Relationships
Each player has 2 possible relationships with all other players in the game -- Neutral (the default) and Hostile. Changes to your relationships are made in the Party screen. (Press 'P' to bring it up.) Here is how the settings work:

Hostile: You can target players with this setting - just as if they were monsters. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y, then Player Y automatically goes Hostile to Player X in return. If Player X goes Hostile to Player Y and then goes Neutral, Player Y remains Hostile to Player X until Player Y chooses to go Neutral to Player X. A player can go Hostile only while in town. The other player can be anywhere.

If a player goes Hostile with a member of a party, all other members of the party will go Hostile with that player in return. If a player attempts to go Hostile to a fellow Party member, that player is simply dropped from the Party and becomes a regular Neutral.

Neutral: You cannot target players with this setting. If you try to target a particular Neutral player, the true target instead shifts to a nearby monster, Hostile player, or simply the ground. You cannot directly harm a Neutral player.

Neutral players may form a Party together. Party members share equally in gold and experience points. Certain skills, like Paladin Auras and Barbarian Warcries, apply to party members, too.

NOTE: You receive a message whenever players change their relationship settings with you.

Experience is Shared within a Party
The total experience earned for killing a monster is increased by 35% when a party member of the killer is in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap. Then the pool is divided as explained below:

For each party member the total Experience earned for killing a monster is divided into shares -- where each member's fraction of the total Experience is equal to the member's level divided by the sum of all the members' levels. After this Experience Share is computed, it is multiplied by another percentage that is computed on a sliding scale that is based on the difference between your character's level and the monster's level -- regardless of whether you are in a party or not. The sliding scale applies if the level difference is between 5 and 10. If the level difference is relatively small (5 or less), you get 100% of the Experience Share. If the level difference is relatively large (10 or more), a minimum amount (5%) of the Experience Share is earned. Thus, high-level characters killing low-level monsters get only a small amount of experience. Similarly, low-level characters killing high-level monsters get only a small amount of experience, as well. This is done so that a level 5 character running around with three level 20 characters isn't getting ridiculous amounts of experience for the higher level monsters which only his level 20 party members can destroy. Finally, party members share experience only when they are in the same named area, defined as the "level" on the Automap.

Experience Restrictions
Party Members must be a distance of about 2 screens from the monster death to gain experience from party member kills. This prevents low-level characters from joining a party and then staying completely out of harm's way while still getting Experience.

Gold is Shared within a Party
When a party member picks up a stack of Gold, Gold is evenly divided among the members with any remainder going to the one who picks up the pile. Gold is only split when Party members are in the same level area or "zone" as shown on the Automap or party menu. You cannot turn Gold splitting off. Keep this in mind when trying to exchange Gold between party members and when picking up Gold dropped by other party members when they die. It's a good idea to keep Gold in your Stash when in a Party to avoid Gold Splitting issues if you die. To exchange Gold among party members without splitting the Gold use the Secured Trading Screen in town. Other options include leaving the party to pick up the Gold to avoid the split, then rejoin the party. You can also drop Gold in Town or an area, then make sure no one in the party is in the same area when the pile of Gold is picked up off the ground.

Improved Drops for Parties
Every party member in the area of the kill increases the chance that stuff will drop (whether via monster death, chests, etc). Every two additional other players in the game (whether it's a non-party member or a party member in another area) count as one additional party member toward the extra chance for a drop.

For example (for a sample baseline 25% drop):

Party Chance Of Getting Something
1 1-(0.75^1) = 0.250
2 1-(0.75^2) = 0.438
3 1-(0.75^3) = 0.578
4 1-(0.75^4) = 0.684
5 1-(0.75^5) = 0.763
6 1-(0.75^6) = 0.822
7 1-(0.75^7) = 0.867
8 1-(0.75^8) = 0.900

Note that most things don't have a 25% chance of dropping something, so the values in the table need to be adjusted for that fact. Also, some monsters (namely bosses and chests), roll more than once for items (since they can drop multiple items). The bonus for additional players gets calculated into each roll.

Some bosses (such as normal uniques) will always drop a magic item or better. The additional players will have no effect on them.

The additional players has no effect on the quality of the drop, it only affects the chance that items get dropped in the first place.

Town Portal Restrictions
You cannot enter Town Portals cast by other players in areas beyond the "blocking quests" without having completed those quests: e.g., Canyon of the Magi/Seven Tombs/Duriel's Lair (The Summoner), The Harem/Palace Basement/Arcane Sanctuary (The Tainted Sun), Durance of Hate (The Blackened Temple), The Worldstone Keep (The Ancients), The Secret Cow Level (Terror's End in DII classic or Eve of Destruction in DII: LoD). NOTE: A player who kills the High Council (but doesn't use Khalim's Will to smash the Compelling Orb) may take a Town Portal into the Durance of Hate.

This is to prevent higher level players from helping lower level players to advance further in the game without working for it. If a player is unable to enter a portal, this means they need to complete a quest.

Party Tips

Decide how you are going to divide up the loot. There are a few popular ways to do this:

Players unofficially rotate between items, "you got something last time, now it's my turn."

The Group leader or Master Looter decides which player gets which item.

The least structured method, but unfortunately most popular, is Free-For-All. Whichever player can click on the items the fastest will get those items, if they have room in their backpack. When loot is FFA, often monsters come second as party members race to grab the good loot. Keep in mind that Gold is split so let greedy party members grab up all the gold they want! One thing to watch out for in FFA looting are players who will let other players in the party finish off a monster while they stand there doing nothing waiting for the item to drop. This is not recommended.

Share items among classes that can best use them. You may find a Magic Staff that is worth money to the vendors but do the right thing and let the Sorceress have the Staff if she needs it. Don't be a jerk, if a Sorceress helps you kill a monster, and a Sorceress item drops, let the Sorceress pick it up!

If class-specific items drop, let players of those classes pick them up. Don't pick them up just because you want to see what it is, or because you want to trade it. If a class is helping you, they deserve a cut of the loot. Be fair and let them have their class-specific items. Let the Assassins pick up Katars, let the Sorceress pick up Orbs and so on. Yes that means you, Barbarians!

Share potions among classes that can best use them. While all classes can use Mana, Health and Rejuvenation potions, some classes need some potions over others. Casters need Mana and Rejuvenation Potions, let them have them. Amazons and Melee Characters can use Mana/Life Steal while players like Necromancers, Elemental Druids, and Sorceresses have to rely on Potions and their Mana Regeneration.

If you get a good item such as a Set or Unique, stop looting and let other players in the party do the looting from then on. You got your good item so let them get items to make up for it. Don't be a jerk! Share the loot! When you continue to loot items they will be thinking didn't that player just get something good? And they'll be right! You got your item, it's their turn.

Pick a leader
This player will be the one who leads the group throughout areas and dungeons. This player will open doors, and sometimes "pull" monsters back to the party to attack. Barbarians, Amazons with Melee Weapons, Assassins, Melee Druids, and Paladins are good at this job.

An alternative method to a group leader is the wandering pack, which wanders off into an area and comes back together after running into trouble. "Hey I brought some friends for you!" This can also work and may or may not be as successful as having a group leader. This is the most popular but least effective method.

[[category:basics]]

Resistance

2008-06-12T15:38:25Z

Yamnam:

=Breaking immunities=
Resistance over 99% = immune. Skills that lower resistance, such as Conviction and Lower Resistance, lower % by the listed amount. Against immunities, the reduction is 1/5 normal. For example, [[Fallen]] on Hell difficulty have 110% fire resistance. To break that immunity, you need to apply at least 55% lower fire resistance, such as a level 6 [[Conviction]] aura provides. That would reduce the monster to 99% resistance, and from that point additional lowering of resistance is possible, at the usual 1/1 ratio.

=General=
There are four main elemental attacks in Diablo II: Fire, Cold, Lightning, and Poison. Each class can resist, or reduce damage from, these attacks by using items or skills.

Curses and Bone-based attacks are not considered elemental, so these resistances will not protect against them.

Some monsters possess the ability to resist physical attacks and magical damage as well as elemental damage. Monsters that can resist magical attacks can also resist the Necromancer Bone spells (Teeth/Bone Spear/Bone Spirit) and the Barbarian's Berserk. The Paladin's Blessed Hammer ignores the Magic Resistance of Demon and Undead-type monsters, but the Magic Resistance of Animal-type monsters does reduce the amount of Magic Damage a Blessed Hammer can do.

Certain Unique monsters have Spectral Hit, which adds a random elemental property to every blow.

[[Assassin]]s can use Fade which offers Resist All +%.

[[Barbarian]]s''' can devote points to Natural Resistance at level 30.

[[Paladin]]s''' have several Auras that can reduce elemental damage, including Resist Cold, Resist Fire, Resist Lightning, Cleansing, which reduces Poison's duration, and Salvation (available at level 30), which provides resistance to Cold, Fire, and Lightning.

=When to Use Resistances=
Melee characters should consider wearing resistance-providing equipment at all times, as they are the least likely to avoid elemental attacks. Ranged characters might wish to keep a set of "resistance gear" in your Backpack, Horadric Cube, or Stash. When you run into trouble with monsters, put on your gear until the battle is over. Jewelry is best suited to this, as it only takes up a 1x1 space in your inventory. Depending on your character class, you may wish to keep a shield with high resistances in your alternate Weapon Tab. You can switch to this shield when facing monsters with deadly elemental attacks. Charms also work very well for adding additional resistances, especially "Resist All" Charms. As you play later Acts and higher difficulties, Resistances will become very important. You may find that in Hell Difficulty you'll have a difficult time surviving without a lot of resistances.

==Ranged vs Melee Characters==
Resistances are very important for melee, or hand-to-hand combat, characters. When fighting against monsters that have ranged elemental attacks, they can side step or dodge, but not always. Characters using melee weapons have to close in on a monster to kill it, exposing them to more elemental attacks. Resistances will reduce the amount of damage they take, allowing them to fight longer, survive otherwise impossible battles, and waste fewer Healing Potions. Some elemental attacks are difficult to avoid, such as those used by Undead Horrors, Willowisps, Unique monsters, and Bosses. In these situations, even fighters with ranged attacks may want to improve their resistances.

=Limits=
;Minimum Resistance
Your base resistance levels are determined by the game's difficulty:
*Normal Difficulty: 0
*Nightmare Difficulty: -40
*Hell Difficulty: -100

The absolute minimum resistance is -100%. Resistance can never be lowered to below that value.

The Scroll of Resistance increases your base resistance level with 10 per use. Note that if you die this bonus will disappear until you join a new game. The Character Screen does not show this bug. For obvious reasons this is only a concern to Softcore Characters.

;Maximum Resistance
Each character has a default maximum resistance of 75%, although certain items can raise that number as high as 95%. You can never become totally immune to elemental attacks with Resistances alone.

;Negative Resistance
Having negative resistances actually increases the damage players and creatures receive.

=The Elements=
==Lightning Resistance==
Lightning Resistance comes in most handy against Lightning-Enchanted Unique monsters. Each time you hit a Unique Lightning monster, it will release a Charged Bolt to each of the four corners of the screen. The more you hit the monster, the more Charged Bolts it releases. High Lightning Resistance may save you in these situations.

Willowisps often attack with focused beams of lightning, much like the Sorceress's Level 12 Lightning spell, albeit often more powerful. Packs of these monsters tend to focus their lightning attacks on you simultaneously, and Lightning Resistance may be your key to survival. Lightning Enchanted Unique Monsters are considered the most deadly monsters in Diablo II, especially with other magical bonuses such as Immunities, Teleport and Stone Skin which make them difficult to almost impossible to kill safely. High to maximum Lightning resistance can save you against these monsters.

==Fire Resistance==
Fire Resistance will be very useful throughout the game, since many monsters have Fire attacks. The Fallen Shaman, your first exposure to Fire creatures, has an attack similar to the Sorceress' Fire Bolt spell. Some Unique monsters are Fire Enchanted -- they have Fire damage added to their attacks, and when they are killed, they explode in a burst of flames, causing large amount of both Fire and Physical damage in a small radius near them. Blood Raven may shoot Fire Arrows. The Countess for example is always Fire Enchanted. The Vampires from Acts II and III (and sometimes seen in the Monastery) cast Fire Ball, Fire Wall, and Meteor (especially in the Arcane Sanctuary). Some Frogs in Act III also cast Fire Ball. Demon Imps in Act V have a Fire based attack and cast Inferno from either a Barricaded Tower or Siege Beast.

==Poison Resistance==
Poison might just be the most annoying attack, save being Frozen. When you're poisoned, both you and your Life Orb will turn green, and the poison will slowly drain your Hit Points. Some poisons do more damage than others, and some have longer durations. Quite a few monsters have poison attacks: Bone Ash, found in the Cathedral in Act I; Poison Skeletal Mages, Andariel, and the mummies in Act II; Poisonous Frogs; Swamp Monsters; and mummies, who leave poisonous clouds behind when they die. Booby traps and trapped chests can also launch poison missiles or leave behind poisonous clouds. Catapults in Act V sometimes have a Poison attack. Poison can be cured instantly with an Antidote Potion. Antidote Potions are best used after all of the Poison-based monsters have been killed. If you use one mid-battle, you might just be poisoned again right after using the Antidote Potion. Certain magical items can reduce how long you are poisoned or how much damage Poison attacks do to you.

Melee characters are often more susceptible to Poison Attacks than ranged attackers. Mummies, Ghouls, and other monsters shoot Poison at close range. Ghouls also leave a poisonous cloud behind when they die. Ranged attackers can avoid these attacks more easily than melee characters.

==Cold Resistance==
Cold-Enchanted Unique monsters are the most likely to inflict Cold damage. Other monsters with Cold attacks include Claw Vipers, found in Act II, Mages with Cold melee attacks and the Summoner, who casts Glacial Spike. The Zakarum Priests found in the jungle city of Kurast also cast Blizzard. The Cold attack of the Undead Horrors is by far the most damaging. It might be worth maximizing out your Cold Resistance for that reason alone.

When they die, certain Cold-Enchanted monsters will trigger an explosive Frost Nova. Keep a Thawing Potion in your inventory to thaw yourself instantly if you are chilled. When chilled, you move and attack much more slowly, which isn't good for much more than a cheap laugh.

The magical ability "Half Freeze Duration" halves chill length, but this reduction is only applied once, multiple items with this ability do not lower chill length further, while "Cannot be Frozen" provides the ultimate protection against chill by setting the duration to 0. This should not be mistaken with Holy Freeze. Holy Freeze will slow Animation speed directly while still showing the same blue overlay as when you're chilled.

==Magic Resistance==
Even though it does not appear on the Character Screen, each character has a Magic Resistance. The base is 0 for Normal, Nightmare, and Hell difficulties. The only item that can adjust this Resistance is a Crafted Safety Shield with +5 - 10% Magic Resistance. No skill or item can lower Magic Resistance. The Runeword Oath can also modify the amount of damage taken through absorption. Read below for detailed information on absorption.

==Physical Resistance==
While it isn't displayed on the Character Screen either, this Resistance reduces Physical damage just like the Elemental Resistances lower or increase Elemental damage. On items it is displayed as "Damage Taken Reduced by x%", and Amplify Damage lowers this by 100%, Decrepify by 50%. It is then lower capped at -100% and upper capped at 50%.

=How do items of Absorption work?=
After Straight Magical Damage Reduce and Resistances modified the damage done Absorb first heals a player/hireling, then reduces the damage done. Since it heals first, the double reduction rule only counts when a player or hireling is not at full life. A drawback is that if one would end up with a negative amount of life after resistances, you will die before Absorb reduces the damage done.

Absorb is perfect for swarms of Imps or Fallen Shaman, but be careful with Fire Enchanted bosses which may deal enough damage to kill you outright. Below are a few numeric examples where 1000 fire damage is taken. Note that the amount of damage reduced is twice the Absorb% times the damage because half is to nullify the damage taken, and the other half is the healing absorption provides. Note: there is a 40% cap on absorption.

==Examples==
Direct absorb was not tallied in the examples below, it is usually listed on items like this: "+x Fire Absorb" x being an integer. The Direct Absorb would be calculated after the resistance and percentage absorb in these next cases. (note: Heal amount of 0 = full health upon damage taken or no absorb is present)

full damage / %resistance / %Absorb / heal amount / damage taken
1000 0% 0% 0 1000
1000 95% 0% 0 50
1000 90% 0% 0 100
1000 85% 0% 0 150
1000 80% 0% 0 200
1000 75% 0% 0 250
1000 70% 0% 0 300
____

1000 0% 0% 0 1000
1000 0% 40% 400 200
1000 0% 35% 350 300
1000 0% 30% 300 400
1000 0% 25% 250 500
1000 0% 20% 200 600
1000 0% 15% 150 700
____

1000 0% 0% 0 1000
1000 95% 40% 20 10
1000 90% 35% 35 30
1000 85% 30% 45 60
1000 80% 25% 50 100
1000 75% 20% 50 150
1000 70% 15% 45 210

The complete list of all damage modifications are calculated in this order:
*Energy Shield
*Bone Armor and Cyclone Armor
*DR and MDR (damage reduction and magic damage reduction)
*Resistances
*% Absorb
*Direct Absorb

With high resistances, high % absorb and direct absorb, it is possible to heal from specific elements.

[[category:basics]]

Resistance

2008-06-12T15:33:37Z

Yamnam:

=Breaking immunities=
Resistance over 99% = immune. Skills that lower resistance, such as Conviction and Lower Resistance, lower % by the listed amount. Against immunities, the reduction is 1/5 normal. For example, [[Fallen]] on Hell difficulty have 110% fire resistance. To break that immunity, you need to apply at least 55% lower fire resistance, such as a level 6 [[Conviction]] aura provides. That would reduce the monster to 99% resistance, and from that point additional lowering of resistance is possible, at the usual 1/1 ratio.

=General=
There are four main elemental attacks in Diablo II: Fire, Cold, Lightning, and Poison. Each class can resist, or reduce damage from, these attacks by using items or skills.

Curses and Bone-based attacks are not considered elemental, so these resistances will not protect against them.

Some monsters possess the ability to resist physical attacks and magical damage as well as elemental damage. Monsters that can resist magical attacks can also resist the Necromancer Bone spells (Teeth/Bone Spear/Bone Spirit) and the Barbarian's Berserk. The Paladin's Blessed Hammer ignores the Magic Resistance of Demon and Undead-type monsters, but the Magic Resistance of Animal-type monsters does reduce the amount of Magic Damage a Blessed Hammer can do.

Certain Unique monsters have Spectral Hit, which adds a random elemental property to every blow.

Assassins can use Fade which offers Resist All +%.

Barbarians can devote points to Natural Resistance at level 30.

Paladins have several Auras that can reduce elemental damage, including Resist Cold, Resist Fire, Resist Lightning, Cleansing, which reduces Poison's duration, and Salvation (available at level 30), which provides resistance to Cold, Fire, and Lightning.

=When to Use Resistances=
Melee characters should consider wearing resistance-providing equipment at all times, as they are the least likely to avoid elemental attacks. Ranged characters might wish to keep a set of "resistance gear" in your Backpack, Horadric Cube, or Stash. When you run into trouble with monsters, put on your gear until the battle is over. Jewelry is best suited to this, as it only takes up a 1x1 space in your inventory. Depending on your character class, you may wish to keep a shield with high resistances in your alternate Weapon Tab. You can switch to this shield when facing monsters with deadly elemental attacks. Charms also work very well for adding additional resistances, especially "Resist All" Charms. As you play later Acts and higher difficulties, Resistances will become very important. You may find that in Hell Difficulty you'll have a difficult time surviving without a lot of resistances.

==Ranged vs Melee Characters==
Resistances are very important for melee, or hand-to-hand combat, characters. When fighting against monsters that have ranged elemental attacks, they can side step or dodge, but not always. Characters using melee weapons have to close in on a monster to kill it, exposing them to more elemental attacks. Resistances will reduce the amount of damage they take, allowing them to fight longer, survive otherwise impossible battles, and waste fewer Healing Potions. Some elemental attacks are difficult to avoid, such as those used by Undead Horrors, Willowisps, Unique monsters, and Bosses. In these situations, even fighters with ranged attacks may want to improve their resistances.

=Minimum Resistance=

Your base resistance levels are determined by the game's difficulty:

Normal Difficulty: 0
Nightmare Difficulty: -40
Hell Difficulty: -100

The absolute minimum resistance is -100%. Resistance can never be lowered to below that value.

The Scroll of Resistance increases your base resistance level with 10 per use. Note that if you die this bonus will disappear until you join a new game. The Character Screen does not show this bug. For obvious reasons this is only a concern to Softcore Characters.

=Maximum Resistance=
Each character has a default maximum resistance of 75%, although certain items can raise that number as high as 95%. You can never become totally immune to elemental attacks with Resistances alone.

=Negative Resistance=
Having negative resistances actually increases the damage players and creatures receive.

=The Elements=
==Lightning Resistance==
Lightning Resistance comes in most handy against Lightning-Enchanted Unique monsters. Each time you hit a Unique Lightning monster, it will release a Charged Bolt to each of the four corners of the screen. The more you hit the monster, the more Charged Bolts it releases. High Lightning Resistance may save you in these situations.

Willowisps often attack with focused beams of lightning, much like the Sorceress's Level 12 Lightning spell, albeit often more powerful. Packs of these monsters tend to focus their lightning attacks on you simultaneously, and Lightning Resistance may be your key to survival. Lightning Enchanted Unique Monsters are considered the most deadly monsters in Diablo II, especially with other magical bonuses such as Immunities, Teleport and Stone Skin which make them difficult to almost impossible to kill safely. High to maximum Lightning resistance can save you against these monsters.

==Fire Resistance==
Fire Resistance will be very useful throughout the game, since many monsters have Fire attacks. The Fallen Shaman, your first exposure to Fire creatures, has an attack similar to the Sorceress' Fire Bolt spell. Some Unique monsters are Fire Enchanted -- they have Fire damage added to their attacks, and when they are killed, they explode in a burst of flames, causing large amount of both Fire and Physical damage in a small radius near them. Blood Raven may shoot Fire Arrows. The Countess for example is always Fire Enchanted. The Vampires from Acts II and III (and sometimes seen in the Monastery) cast Fire Ball, Fire Wall, and Meteor (especially in the Arcane Sanctuary). Some Frogs in Act III also cast Fire Ball. Demon Imps in Act V have a Fire based attack and cast Inferno from either a Barricaded Tower or Siege Beast.

==Poison Resistance==
Poison might just be the most annoying attack, save being Frozen. When you're poisoned, both you and your Life Orb will turn green, and the poison will slowly drain your Hit Points. Some poisons do more damage than others, and some have longer durations. Quite a few monsters have poison attacks: Bone Ash, found in the Cathedral in Act I; Poison Skeletal Mages, Andariel, and the mummies in Act II; Poisonous Frogs; Swamp Monsters; and mummies, who leave poisonous clouds behind when they die. Booby traps and trapped chests can also launch poison missiles or leave behind poisonous clouds. Catapults in Act V sometimes have a Poison attack. Poison can be cured instantly with an Antidote Potion. Antidote Potions are best used after all of the Poison-based monsters have been killed. If you use one mid-battle, you might just be poisoned again right after using the Antidote Potion. Certain magical items can reduce how long you are poisoned or how much damage Poison attacks do to you.

Melee characters are often more susceptible to Poison Attacks than ranged attackers. Mummies, Ghouls, and other monsters shoot Poison at close range. Ghouls also leave a poisonous cloud behind when they die. Ranged attackers can avoid these attacks more easily than melee characters.

==Cold Resistance==
Cold-Enchanted Unique monsters are the most likely to inflict Cold damage. Other monsters with Cold attacks include Claw Vipers, found in Act II, Mages with Cold melee attacks and the Summoner, who casts Glacial Spike. The Zakarum Priests found in the jungle city of Kurast also cast Blizzard. The Cold attack of the Undead Horrors is by far the most damaging. It might be worth maximizing out your Cold Resistance for that reason alone.

When they die, certain Cold-Enchanted monsters will trigger an explosive Frost Nova. Keep a Thawing Potion in your inventory to thaw yourself instantly if you are chilled. When chilled, you move and attack much more slowly, which isn't good for much more than a cheap laugh.

The magical ability "Half Freeze Duration" halves chill length, but this reduction is only applied once, multiple items with this ability do not lower chill length further, while "Cannot be Frozen" provides the ultimate protection against chill by setting the duration to 0. This should not be mistaken with Holy Freeze. Holy Freeze will slow Animation speed directly while still showing the same blue overlay as when you're chilled.

==Magic Resistance==
Even though it does not appear on the Character Screen, each character has a Magic Resistance. The base is 0 for Normal, Nightmare, and Hell difficulties. The only item that can adjust this Resistance is a Crafted Safety Shield with +5 - 10% Magic Resistance. No skill or item can lower Magic Resistance. The Runeword Oath can also modify the amount of damage taken through absorption. Read below for detailed information on absorption.

==Physical Resistance==
While it isn't displayed on the Character Screen either, this Resistance reduces Physical damage just like the Elemental Resistances lower or increase Elemental damage. On items it is displayed as "Damage Taken Reduced by x%", and Amplify Damage lowers this by 100%, Decrepify by 50%. It is then lower capped at -100% and upper capped at 50%.

=How do items of Absorption work?=
After Straight Magical Damage Reduce and Resistances modified the damage done Absorb first heals a player/hireling, then reduces the damage done. Since it heals first, the double reduction rule only counts when a player or hireling is not at full life. A drawback is that if one would end up with a negative amount of life after resistances, you will die before Absorb reduces the damage done.

Absorb is perfect for swarms of Imps or Fallen Shaman, but be careful with Fire Enchanted bosses which may deal enough damage to kill you outright. Below are a few numeric examples where 1000 fire damage is taken. Note that the amount of damage reduced is twice the Absorb% times the damage because half is to nullify the damage taken, and the other half is the healing absorption provides. Note: there is a 40% cap on absorption.

==Examples==
Direct absorb was not tallied in the examples below, it is usually listed on items like this: "+x Fire Absorb" x being an integer. The Direct Absorb would be calculated after the resistance and percentage absorb in these next cases. (note: Heal amount of 0 = full health upon damage taken or no absorb is present)

full damage / %resistance / %Absorb / heal amount / damage taken
1000 0% 0% 0 1000
1000 95% 0% 0 50
1000 90% 0% 0 100
1000 85% 0% 0 150
1000 80% 0% 0 200
1000 75% 0% 0 250
1000 70% 0% 0 300
____

1000 0% 0% 0 1000
1000 0% 40% 400 200
1000 0% 35% 350 300
1000 0% 30% 300 400
1000 0% 25% 250 500
1000 0% 20% 200 600
1000 0% 15% 150 700
____

1000 0% 0% 0 1000
1000 95% 40% 20 10
1000 90% 35% 35 30
1000 85% 30% 45 60
1000 80% 25% 50 100
1000 75% 20% 50 150
1000 70% 15% 45 210

The complete list of all damage modifications are calculated in this order:
*Energy Shield
*Bone Armor and Cyclone Armor
*DR and MDR (damage reduction and magic damage reduction)
*Resistances
*% Absorb
*Direct Absorb

With high resistances, high % absorb and direct absorb, it is possible to heal from specific elements.

[[category:basics]]