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

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