Monsters
The gameplay of Diablo II is built on the backs of thousands of slaughter monsters, and if these guys weren't fun to look at, fight with, and massacre, the game wouldn't be any fun. Fortunately, the various demons, beasties, and undead enemies in Diablo II are quite enjoyable, and profitable, to work over. See the Monsters Category for links to pages for every type of monster and boss monster in the game.
Contents
General Monster Information
Basic facts and properties of monsters in Diablo II.
Hover Information
- Monster Class
- Monster Name
- Monster Type (indicated by colour of the name)
- White - Standard
- Blue - Champion
- Gold - Unique or Boss
- Hit points (red bar, moves to the left as the hit points drop)
- Immunities (if any) are listed and color coded.
- The Monster Modifiers of boss monsters are displayed below the name.
Monster Types
All monsters fit into 3 classifications: Demons, Undead, or Animals. Demons and Undead are labeled in the game. Monsters without a label are all Animals.
- Undead monsters take 150% damage from blunt weapons.
Multiplayer Changes
| Monster Values | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Hit Points | Experience | |
| 1 | 100% | 100% | |
| 2 | 150% | 150% | |
| 3 | 200% | 200% | |
| 4 | 250% | 250% | |
| 5 | 300% | 300% | |
| 6 | 350% | 350% | |
| 7 | 400% | 400% | |
| 8 | 450% | 450% | |
When more players are in the game, monsters have more hit points, do more damage, are worth more experience, and are more likely to drop items. The game calculates these figures when the monster is spawned; when a player moves near enough the monster that it is calculated into existence. Once spawned, monsters retain their initial values whether more players enter or leave the game.
In patch v1.10 and later, experience and hit points are calculated by the same formula:
- Hit Points/Experience = X * (n + 1) / 2
This results in the following values.
See the Player Settings page for far more detail.
Players X
This command works only for single player characters (whether played solo, or in TCP/IP or open Battle.net games). Simply type in "/players x" where the x = the number of players you wish the game to simulate. Players who wish a greater challenge and bigger rewards can use this command to increase monster hit points and experience gains. As of v1.11 players 1-8 are valid options, and the setting can be increased or decreased at any time during the game. Values will not change for monsters once they've spawned.
Players X also affects the quantity of items dropped by chests, and the # of players check is made when the chests are opened. It's possible to clear areas on Players 1, then turn it up to players 8 to open chests, but this tactic is considered cheesy and is scorned by legit players.
Monster and Player Levels
Monster levels are listed on the various monster pages. Their levels are used in many calculations, too many to list here. Some quick facts:
- Experience is best gained from monsters near the level of your character.
- Monsters within 5 levels, higher or lower, give 100% of the possible experience.
- Monsters between 6-10 levels higher or lower than a character award an amount that grows less with each level.
- Monsters more than 10 levels above or below a character's level are worth 5% of their experience.
- To/hit calculations are affected by mlvls vs. clvls (on top of attack rating, defense, skill bonuses, and so forth).
- Players with levels higher than those of the monster gain a bonus to/hit.
- Players with levels lower than those of the monster suffer a penalty to/hit.
See the Experience page for much more detail.
Monster Spells and Projectiles
Monster spells always hit. Monster projectiles (arrows, spikes, blow darts, etc) have the same sort of to/hit check as melee attacks. Some monster projectiles (Spear Cat javelins) will never hit mercs or other player minions. This can be dangerous to a player standing behind the battle.
Monster spell levels and damages are complicated to calculate, but some of these values can be seen on the various monster pages.
Immunities
Some monsters have Immunities to Magic, Physical Damage, Poison Damage and Elemental Damage, and will take no damage from such attacks. Immunities were quite common in v1.09, but this aspect of the game was rebalanced in v1.10 and now in v1.11 relatively few monsters are immune. Physical immunity is the least common type of immunity, since so many characters rely chiefly on physical damage.
When a monster is listed as immune, it means the monster's resistance is above 100%. Immunities can be "broken" by various skills and spells, such as Lower Resistance, Conviction, Amplify Damage and Decrepify. These skills will not always break an immunity, since they simply lower that resistance by a stated value. If a monster has such high resistance that the total value remains above 100%, it will still be immune.
Many boss monsters gain immunities from their Monster Modifiers on Nightmare and especially on Hell difficulty. For instance, the Stone Skin modifier adds 50% physical resistance. If a monster type has 50% physical resistance on Hell, a boss with Stone Skin would increase to 100%, and become physical immune.
Hit Point Regeneration
All monsters regenerate their hit points at varying rates. Bosses do so faster than regular monsters, and the rate increases with the difficulty level. Poison damage (easily added to physical damage from charms) and "Prevent Monster Heal" items will stop hit point regeneration entirely. Another option for stopping regeneration is the "open wounds" modifier on certain weapons and armor. Additionally, weapons can have "poison" or "open wound" modifiers placed on them through sockets.
Difficulty Level Changes
Monsters grow much more difficult on the Nightmare and Hell difficulty levels.
Nightmare monsters increase in:
- Level, hit points, Defense, Experience, Damage, Chance to Hit, and Resistances.
- Monster skill levels go up by 3.
- Boss monsters gain one random Monster Modifiers.
Hell monsters increase in:
- Level, hit points, Defense, Experience, Damage, Chance to Hit, and Resistances.
- Monster skill levels go up by 7.
- Boss monsters gain two random Monster Modifiers.
Other Monster Information
- See the Monsters Category for links to the individual pages of every monster in the game.
- See the Superuniques page for a listing of every special monster in the game.
- See the Monster Modifiers page for information about boss monster bonuses like Fire Enchanted, Extra Fast, Aura Enchanted, and all the rest.
For fun, check out the pages in our Monsters archive, with pre-release info and screenshots from 1997-1999. It's curious to look back and see how much the monsters were moved around during game balancing. Razorbacks in Act One? Fallen and Giant spiders in Act Two? No-delay on Dark Lords casting Meteors?