Revision as of 14:06, 13 March 2008

The gameplay of Diablo II is built on the backs of thousands of slaughter monsters, and if these guys ween'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.

General Monster Information

Basic facts and properties of monsters in Diablo II. See other pages in this category for more detailed discussions of how monsters vary.

Hover Information

• Monster Class
• Monster Name (The color of the name indicates the monster type: white is standard, blue is champion, gold is 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.

Multiplayer Changes

When more players are in the game, monsters have more hit points, 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.

Monsters Spells

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.

Monster Type Monsters are either Demons, Undead or Animals. Any monster that doesn't say Demon or Undead is considered Animal.

Immunities Some monsters have Immunities to Magic, Physical Damage, Poison Damage and Elemental Damage. This means they have 100% Resistance. A few monsters in Normal Difficulty have Immunities. In Nightmare Difficulty, more monsters have Immunities. In Hell Difficulty almost all Monsters are immune to something.

How can I damage Physical Immune Monsters as a Melee Character? Melee characters need to use Magical or Elemental Skills or Weapons with Elemental (Fire/Lightning/Cold) or Poison Damage. Paladins can use Vengeance and Barbarians can use Berserk. You can also use your Hirelings such as Act III Hirelings to help out or rely on other party members. Elemental Damage Charms also work very well. Collect high damage Elemental Charms.

Monster Health Regeneration On higher difficulty levels, Monsters regenerate health very quickly. Start a Hell Difficulty game and attack a monster until he's almost dead. Stop attacking him and place your mouse over the Monster to see his Health Bar. Notice his health quickly regenerates if you don't attack him. You can use the magic bonus "Prevent Monster Heal" on weapons to stop monsters from regenerating. It's important to finish monsters off, and to stay on the same target (hold down the mouse button on a monster), so that monsters do not regenerate back to full health while you're not attacking them.

Monsters on Nightmare Difficulty On Nightmare Difficulty, Monster Level, hit points, Armor Class, Experience, Damage, Chance to Hit, and Resistances all go up.

Monster skill levels go up +3.

Unique Monsters gain one bonus ability.

Monsters on Hell Difficulty On Hell Difficulty, Monster Level, hit points, Armor Class, Experience, Damage, Chance to Hit, and Resistances all go up.

Monster skill levels go up +7 in hell.

Unique Monsters gain two bonus abilities.

Other 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?