Post by Tyrian on Feb 28, 2008 3:05:51 GMT -5
From Game Faqs. Tifas-Revenge wrote this.
2.5. v1.11/1.11b Notes
Leveling has not changed as much since 1.10. The experience for all the
monsters is the same (at least to my knowledge). The only major additions I
will say here though is that you cannot use a Bone Necro's marrowwalk glitch
anymore (i.e. you don't get level 35 Bone Prison from them as a synergy).
The "key" quests help you get an item called the "Hellfire Torch"
which is like an Anni on steroids; it has +3 to all skills for a specific
class, and I recommend each character get one for the skills. Arreat Summit
hasn't posted this Unique Large charm on their website yet, but you want to
know more information, refer to the 1.11 quests guide here on GameFAQs.
I wouldn't recommend spawning the Uber 3 for levelling though, as they can
be harder than Diablo Clone alone (especially Uber Mephisto).
Some of the monsters might give experience in the sub-levels spawned
with the Keys where Lilith, Super Izual, and Super Duriel are
(Matron's Den, Forgotten Sands, Hellpit). Just be careful if you choose
to level there though, the monsters are very difficult even for veteran
players. There used to be a mercenary aura stacking glitch so that these
monsters could be killed a lot, but it was patched on the Realms,
although it may work in Single Player or Open. I recommend using a smiter
paladin for doing these levels with full smite gear (Exile, etc...).
I do not know what the SOH (Standard of Heroes) does;
please do not ask me for what it does because I don't know.
As for the runewords, 1.11 runewords are not anything to write home about.
I would not recommend using any of them at all. There are, however, 3
unknown runewords at the time of this FAQ writing, so if you find a
runeword accidently that isn't on the list, please let me know what it
does. 7 of the runewords are for the
As far to my knowledge, 1.11b just patched a minor bug and had no other
changes gameplay-wise. As far as levelling is concerned, 1.10 and 1.11/b
are identical in gameplay and experience. This guide will be updated as
new patches are released.
Battle.net recently made it possible to trade unique charms in the trade
screen on their servers just after 1.11b was released to make trading
with them less risky. Now people can trade Gheed's Fortune, Annhilus,
and Hellfire Torches for other items (but not for each other).
3. Leveling Strategies and Techniques
I. Introduction
Okay, by now, many of you have a lot of questions; how I did it, how much time
it took, etc... Let me tell you right now, getting to level 99 is by no means
easy at all; it requires a lot of patience, hard work, techniques, as well as
friends to help you. Even though most of the Diablo 2 community by now is
running Baal Bots to keep their character leveling while they are away, I find
this to be cheating and I do not advocate such use of a bot while playing
Diablo 2, since bots are what caused me all that much trouble when Blizzard
implemented their "Realm Down" to limit game play time so that bots would get
booted and servers unclogged; but it had an adverse effect on legit players as
well. If you are reading this, I am assuming you have a character in Hell Mode
in Act 5 on Diablo 2, and you would like to know the fastest way to level
legitimately.
II. Techniques
A. Experience Shrines
If you can find an experience shrine, then good; use them at all costs, since
they increase all experience that you get by 50%. The only downside is, if you
get cursed, the shrine disappears, so you have to keep back away from Baal in
the Throne of Destruction in order to avoid Decrepify and possibly unique
monsters that have the ?cursed? attribute. Also, if you have located an
experience shrine (usually act 1 is the most popular place everyone searches),
don't take it until the TP to the throne is ready and clear (no Oblivion
Knights or Hell Witches to curse you, or other monsters that could). Some
people may call you a "leech" for using experience shrines, but if you can
attack monsters without getting cursed by Baal or his minions, do so.
I typically kept my distance and cast Blizzards in the area where the minions
spawn. Basically, the longer you can keep an experience shrine on while
monsters die, the more experience you will gain, regardless if it is Baal's
Minions, Diablo, or Baal himself. Some people will often say that experience
shrines reduce all the other's experience, while this isn't true at all. I did
several tests in 2 player Baaling games, and found that the shrined person
DOES get more experience from all sets of minions, while the unshrined person
gets their usual experience as if the other person did not have one at all, so
in other words, getting an experience shrine is independent upon other's
experience.
B. The Act 2 Minions Experience Glitch
This glitch only applies to a Full Game (8 people) in the Throne of
Destruction during Act 2 (The Unravellers and Death Mages). What you have to
do is get one person in the Allied party to Un-Party (Leave Party) just before
the Act 2 Minions Spawn. The game has to be full for this glitch to work, if
you have 7 or less people in the game, you do not need to do this glitch at
all, since in reality, the act 2 minions give significantly less experience in
an 8-person game than they do in a 7-person game. Usually, the lowest level in
the party is the one who un-parties thus helping the higher levels gain more
experience, while he gets more experience from the other waves anyway. The
person who un-allies should re-party before the Act 3 wave spawns (The Council)
in the Throne of Destruction. This is one of the easiest glitches to do, and
it helps the entire baaling party, regardless of level, but at high levels
(95+) it helps tremendously.
C. "Lingering" and Killing Baal
If you have ever played 1.10 and gotten up to level 97 or 98, you'll know just
how painful experience gaining can be at those levels, and since the monster
level of the minions is lower than your character level, you basically get a
huge experience penalty. The only way around this is to start killing Baal in
a special way that involves "lingering". By lingering, this means precisely
the definition, just hanging around, at least until a certain point in the
game is met. You however, the high level, will not be lingering since you need
to kill Baal for the experience, so you're probably wondering: Who lingers?
This is a question you should always ask in Baal games, especially private
runs with other high levels. By lingering, the person waits until someone
enters the worldstone chamber (where Baal is), and then leaves the game or
optionally, they can un-ally if they wish and enter the worldstone chamber and
either just sit there and watch the action, or help the higher levels kill
Baal, WITHOUT GETTING THE LAST HIT, since the last hit determines who gets the
experience from ANY MONSTER.
This technique requires a lot of coordination, and certain combinations of
Baal Killers (the High Levels who get the experience) and Lingers (the ones who
stay in the game until someone enters Baal's Worldstone Chamber) are more
optimal than others. In my experience Baaling, if I am the only killer killing
Baal, 2 people should linger for maximum experience (usually around 56K at 98
with Ondal?s and a 10% Anni); this is known as 1/2 (1 person Kills Baal, 2
People wait for him to enter the worldstone chamber). If another High level
wishes to kill Baal as well, 3 people should linger for maximum
experience; (the experience is the same as 1/2) and this is known as 2/3 (i.e.
2 People are killing Baal, and 3 people wait for one of them to enter the
worldstone chamber). If 3 people wish to Kill Baal (you and 2 others), then
ONLY ONE PERSON SHOULD LINGER, and NO MORE (this is known as 3/1). You don't
get as much experience as you do from 1/2 or 2/3, but 3/1 is useful if you
have 3 Level 98's in the same Baal game. If 4 people wish to kill Baal, then
everyone else should linger if it is a full game of 8 people (this is known as
4/4). The experience for 4/4 is just slightly better than 3/1, but not better
than 1/2 or 2/3.
The main problem with coordinating this is to make sure everyone knows what to
do, and when to leave the games, since not all people understand that the only
MAJOR source of experience at high levels (mainly level 97 or 98) comes from
Baal, and that most lower levels that wish to get the items off Baal usually
end up killing Baal in order to Magic Find and get good items. However, repeat
after me: BAAL RUNNING IS FOR LEVELING NOT MAGIC-FINDING! Usually, in higher
level Baal runs, the person who teles to the throne usually keeps the drops as
price for his/her teleeing service, but other arrangements can be worked out
depending if people are helping the higher levels to kill Baal. Basically, if
you are one of those higher levels; prepare to sacrifice all Baal drops for
his experience in exchange. ANY person who is NOT LINGERING should always
leave the game IMMEDIATELY after the Minions of Destruction (Act 5 Wave) are
all dead, or else this lingering technique WILL NOT WORK in 3/1, and it will
take longer to kill Baal in either 1/2 or 2/3, wasting valuable time for more
experience gaining in the next game. It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that if you
decide to use this technique (and you should), that you get someone to pre-
tele for your high level character.
Note: If you choose not to use this technique, your experience from Baal will
be very little (usually about 1/5 of what it is depending on the game), and
believe me, this just takes a lot more Baal running and more time where you
could be out partying or doing something you like (again, we are talking about
Manually Baaling without a Baal Bot). From Level 98 to 99, it takes on
average, without killing Baal, over 20K runs total, and without lingering
(everyone kills Baal partied), about 8-10K runs, and with lingering, about 5-
7K runs total. If you do the math, if on average one Baal run lasts 3 minutes,
you'd be spending about 15000 more minutes baaling at most (250 more hours of
game play) if you did not linger, and 500 more hours of game play getting to 99
on top of that for a total of 750 Hours more if you did not kill Baal at all
at level 98. This is all assuming that you do not die in the process or use
experience shrines to speed up your runs, or kill Diablo as well as Baal in
the same game (in technique D). My numbers are all good estimates, maybe in a
future version of this FAQ I'll include exact numbers from Diablo 2.
D. Diablo + Baal Runs in the same game
This technique will literally, when combined with all the previous ones,
triple your experience. What you do is you get one person to clear out the
Chaos Sanctuary in the next Baal game (not the game you are in) while you and
everyone else is in the Throne of Destruction or beforehand in your game.
Typically, the best character to help you do this is a hammerdin with full
gear (enigma, etc...), since they can clear out the 3 seal bosses the quickest
in the Chaos Sanctum. While this Hammerdin is clearing out Chaos, he should
get all of Diablo drops for his service to you as a courtesy, and when Diablo
says "not even death can save you from me," he should make a tp up near
Diablo, but DO NOT SPAWN HIM until the game is full or about 7-8 people are in
the game that have finished coming from the previous run, including you, the
high level character. As soon as everyone is in the game, he or you can spawn
Diablo, and then he leaves and clears out Chaos in the next game. Then, before
you kill Diablo (he is easier than Baal), get an experience shrine (if there
is one in the Chaos Sanctum, less work for you to find one in act 1) if you
can find one, since Diablo will not curse you at all; then proceed to the Baal
Run and Kill Baal's minions (if they are still alive) and if not, then Kill
Baal. Doing this with an experience shrine, a 10% Anni, and Ondal?s Wisdom, you
can get up to about 150K experience if Baal does not curse you in the
Worldstone Chamber (yes that's 3x!) at level 98.
Note: A variant of this technique can be done, if you choose to kill Nithilhak
instead of Diablo, but it is much more dangerous since his Corpse Explosion
can be very deadly to sorcies or other characters with low HP. If you choose,
however, to kill Nith, you'll need to have a Nature's Peace ring so he cannot
CE you at all, and you won't need a hammerdin to do anything; you just need to
kill Nith in a full game. Also keep in mind that his atributes are different,
and he can be cold immune, not to mention his minions are cold immune, and there
can be some very nasty monsters down in the Halls of Vaught, so be very
careful, since dying could make you lose more experience than it is worth
going down there. In other words: PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK in the Halls of
Vaught.
E. Pre-Teleeing
This is one of the easiest Baaling techniques that has been used for many
higher levels ever since 1.10 came out. Basically, you hire a lower level
sorceress or hammerdin for your Baal runs, giving them full dibs on the drops
(except perhaps drops that you need for your high level character that you
don't already have), and then have them teleport to the throne of destruction
and put up a TP. This is just basically a way to save time and get the Baal
runs going at the beginning of the game for everyone so that people won't have
to wait around to start killing monsters. Typically, after someone puts up a
new TP in the game, the Pre-Teleer leaves and makes the next game, teleports
to the throne again, and then waits, and the cycle starts over again. Usually
there is some sort of coordination going on between the Pre-Teleer and the
Baal runners, so that they know how much of a threat there is in the Throne of
Destruction so that the Baal Runners do not die. Usually, if the pre-teleer
dies while in the throne or along the way, he/she will make a new game and re-
teleport, notifying everyone else what had happened. Another advantage of pre-
teleeing is that the monsters are weaker in the throne (since only one person
is in the game, "Diablo's minions" haven't gotten to full strength yet) and
can easily be disposed of.
F. Placeholders (Town Sitters)
This is another easy way ot get more experience from Baal Runs that isn't
often talked about too much. If you have 2 copies of Diablo 2 on 2 computers,
you can place another character you don't wish to level in town and have the
rest of the party gain more experience in the Baal Run. Usually, the lower the
level, the better, but I think this might have been patched in 1.10 so
experience is only dependant on the # of people in the game and not their
character level, but I could be wrong. Anyway, if you have access to 2
computers with Diablo 2 and aren't pre-teleeing with one of them, then you
can perm some mules you've rushed into hell in your Baal games by just having
them sit in town, or just bring in any other characters to sit in town while
everyone else levels. Mind you, this may not be the best way to level since if
you have too many placeholders, the runs will slow down since less people will
be killing the monsters, so you'll have to find a good balance of this to
determine if that extra experience gained from your placeholders is worth the
time it takes longer to kill the monsters.
G. Killing Baal Fast (Fast Baal Runs)
Baal as we know, can be annoying and hard to kill quickly. Typically, you need
to have characters that can kill him in a short amount of time. A Smiter can
usually take his HP down quickly, or a lightning javazon with charged strike
and an Infinity eth polearm runeword. At the time I was running Baal, I
did not have use of infinity at all since it was not activated yet on the
realms. Also, you can slow Baal down with a Kelpie Snare (Unique Fuscina)
on any act 2 merc (especially with holy freeze). A slow Baal means he will
not curse you with blood mana or the other defenseless curse much at all,
and he won't teleport or attack fast. Necromancers with Decrepify and a
clay golem also work, and slowing effects stack, so a necro could slow baal
down to a crawl theoretically. Only thing you have to watch out for is that
smiters don't like their life tap curses overriden by decrep since they need
to stay alive. Infinity also allows lightning sorceresses to kill almost
every monster in the throne of destruction and helps javazons as well. Sorcs
can also benefit from this since they can kill fast. However, I used a
conviction/FOH paladin friend to help kill the monsters fast when I was
running in 2004.
An Ideal 8-Party for Fast Baal Runs:
3 Hammer Paladins (one of these could do chaos or teleport to throne)
1 Conviction/FOH Paladin
1 Sorceress (any type)
1 BO Barbarian
1 Lightning Javazon
1 Necromancer with Lower Resist (any type)
Extra Characters:
1 Pre-Teleport Sorceress (for faster runs)
1 Pre-Chaos Hammer Paladin (for Diablo Experience)
III. Strategies
A. Two Words: Don't Die
These two words you will probably hear more often than not when you're at a
high level or if you have played Hardcore Diablo 2 before, you'll know how
painful dying can be. Even if you play Softcore, if you Die at a high level,
you lose a lot of Baal runs, especially if you do not get your body back to
get some of your experience that you had lost. If you do die, you lose 10% of
the total amount of experience needed to get to the next level; at level 98,
it's about 29M, and at about 50K minimum per Baal run if done correctly,
that's 580 Baal runs which can be very long. If you do get your body back, you
lose only about 7M at level 98, which is only 140 Baal Runs; still a lot.
Since not everyone nowadays baals daily, it may take much longer than one day
to recover all that lost experience.
B. If you have friends, use them
Since most likely, it will be difficult to Baal on a daily basis, get some
trusted friends you know to help you. Whether it's teleeing to Baal, Clearing
out the Chaos Sanctum, or any weakness in your baaling party that is making
the runs go slow, people who want to Baal will help you. I could not have
gotten to level 99 without the help of many of my friends, clan, or others.
You could even go so far as to get one person to level your character while
you are away if you trust them with your account that much. The more people
that are in your game however, the more experience you will get, so also keep
that in mind as well when baaling, because usually smaller party Baal runs may
not be feasible for experience and the time needed to complete these Baal runs
may take much longer.
C. Be as friendly as you can towards people
Part of why I won the ladder baaling contest is because I was nice to people
on Diablo 2. I had a lot of help, friends, and generally, people were always
waiting in line to get into our Baal runs in "The A-Team." Basically, if
you're an *** hole towards people, expect them to treat you the same way, and
you won't be getting anywhere at all; you'll just get yourself into deep
trouble, you could possibly get hacked, or even worse, if they know your
IP, they could put a virus onto your computer if you don't have a firewall;
this is bad news for you. Basically, what goes around, comes around, learn
this rule well. Also, DO NOT DUEL with your character. Your character will be
strictly a PvM character, not designed for dueling at all. People will just
laugh and make fun of you if your character dies to them, especially since you
are a higher level. If you want to build a high level dueling character, it's
pointless to level past 90 in most cases, so don't bother with this guide
if you plan on dueling, look at the other ones for that.
D. Know your limits
If you feel like leveling to 99 is not for you, do not despair; it is one of
the most time-consuming, difficult tasks to do in Diablo 2. If you are tired
of leveling, then rest, take a break, go out somewhere or do something else.
You're no good leveling a character tired since you'll be less aware of what
you are doing and you may die and get really angry at yourself. However, If
you are determined, don't give up either; persistence pays off, and you have
to decide if the benefits of having a level 99 character outweigh whatever
personal consequences you might have in your own personal life. I cannot speak
for everyone, so in other words, limit your gaming if you feel it's taking
over your life.
I baaled my sorceress in the summer of 2004 when ladder started, when school
was not going, and I wasn't getting a job until the Fall. It took me 1 and 2/3
months to level Tifas-Revenge manually from level 1 (approximately 50 days
total), and most of that baaling was done BEFORE Blizzard implemented the "Realm
Down" game length limit that bans your IP for creating games too
quickly. Now, it may take you much longer to do that considering you have to
limit your speed on which you Baal in one game to 3 minutes or more, so it may
be a good idea to coordinate Diablo and Baal Runs in the same game if you can
for maximum experience.
E. Find some good music to listen to while Baaling
I think everyone agrees, after you listen to the Diablo 2 music over and over
again, it can be rather bothersome and repetitive (as if baaling isn't
already). So turn off the music in your Diablo 2 Options and hit CTRL + M in
the lobby/chat area to turn off the music there. Run WinAmp, or pop a CD into
your CD-ROM drive or Stereo, and listen to some of your favorite tunes. Just
try to make yourself relaxed through the whole situation of baaling non-stop
for days on end.
F. Know your party and yourself
Some good things to take down would be who is in your party, what character
and level they are, if they are lingering or not, helping you kill Baal, or
clearing out chaos for you. Also, know your own character and become an expert
on using that character, because only you uniquely will have built your own
character for baaling. If there are any obstacles such as no one to teleport
down to Baal, or no one to kill cold immunes, etc... find some people that
can.
G. Know your enemy
The monsters in the Throne of Destruction can range from being easy as pie, to
being nasty SOBs which kill you in 1-2 hits. Unique Monsters in the throne of
destruction can be VERY DEADLY if given the right auras, modifications or
immunities. Specific Monsters you should avoid at all costs:
- Any Unique Monster with Fanaticism Aura and either Fire Enchanted,
Mana Burn, Extra Fast, or all of the above
- Undead Soul Killers (AKA Dolls)
- Unique Death Lords with Fanaticism Auras (Very Deadly)
- Burning/Black Souls with Conviction Auras if you have no Lightning
Res/Absorb
- Oblivion Knights (Any Melee Character should avoid these at all costs)
- PKers that go hostile on you. If you run into any person that decides to PK
you, just leave the game; don't try to stand up to him/her, just leave; if the
monster gets the last hit, you WILL LOSE EXPERIENCE, and poison necro PKers
are definitely ones to avoid here.
In all these cases, It's NOT WORTH IT, leave the game before you die and lose
experience. Watch your life very closely, and don't hesitate to pull out if
things get too ugly down in the Throne of Destruction.
H. Get your Equipment
Your character will die often without the right gear. You should get the best
gear that will not maximize your damage, but maximize your defense against all
possible monsters in the Throne of Destruction. Being at a high level means
you should value your character a lot, and would not like to see him/her die
at all and lose a lot of experience. It may be good to practice Hardcore
Tactics (have the teleporter call out a number; 1-3, depending on the threat
level of the TP and monsters nearby.), and get equipment that will make it so
you will not die.
2.5. v1.11/1.11b Notes
Leveling has not changed as much since 1.10. The experience for all the
monsters is the same (at least to my knowledge). The only major additions I
will say here though is that you cannot use a Bone Necro's marrowwalk glitch
anymore (i.e. you don't get level 35 Bone Prison from them as a synergy).
The "key" quests help you get an item called the "Hellfire Torch"
which is like an Anni on steroids; it has +3 to all skills for a specific
class, and I recommend each character get one for the skills. Arreat Summit
hasn't posted this Unique Large charm on their website yet, but you want to
know more information, refer to the 1.11 quests guide here on GameFAQs.
I wouldn't recommend spawning the Uber 3 for levelling though, as they can
be harder than Diablo Clone alone (especially Uber Mephisto).
Some of the monsters might give experience in the sub-levels spawned
with the Keys where Lilith, Super Izual, and Super Duriel are
(Matron's Den, Forgotten Sands, Hellpit). Just be careful if you choose
to level there though, the monsters are very difficult even for veteran
players. There used to be a mercenary aura stacking glitch so that these
monsters could be killed a lot, but it was patched on the Realms,
although it may work in Single Player or Open. I recommend using a smiter
paladin for doing these levels with full smite gear (Exile, etc...).
I do not know what the SOH (Standard of Heroes) does;
please do not ask me for what it does because I don't know.
As for the runewords, 1.11 runewords are not anything to write home about.
I would not recommend using any of them at all. There are, however, 3
unknown runewords at the time of this FAQ writing, so if you find a
runeword accidently that isn't on the list, please let me know what it
does. 7 of the runewords are for the
As far to my knowledge, 1.11b just patched a minor bug and had no other
changes gameplay-wise. As far as levelling is concerned, 1.10 and 1.11/b
are identical in gameplay and experience. This guide will be updated as
new patches are released.
Battle.net recently made it possible to trade unique charms in the trade
screen on their servers just after 1.11b was released to make trading
with them less risky. Now people can trade Gheed's Fortune, Annhilus,
and Hellfire Torches for other items (but not for each other).
3. Leveling Strategies and Techniques
I. Introduction
Okay, by now, many of you have a lot of questions; how I did it, how much time
it took, etc... Let me tell you right now, getting to level 99 is by no means
easy at all; it requires a lot of patience, hard work, techniques, as well as
friends to help you. Even though most of the Diablo 2 community by now is
running Baal Bots to keep their character leveling while they are away, I find
this to be cheating and I do not advocate such use of a bot while playing
Diablo 2, since bots are what caused me all that much trouble when Blizzard
implemented their "Realm Down" to limit game play time so that bots would get
booted and servers unclogged; but it had an adverse effect on legit players as
well. If you are reading this, I am assuming you have a character in Hell Mode
in Act 5 on Diablo 2, and you would like to know the fastest way to level
legitimately.
II. Techniques
A. Experience Shrines
If you can find an experience shrine, then good; use them at all costs, since
they increase all experience that you get by 50%. The only downside is, if you
get cursed, the shrine disappears, so you have to keep back away from Baal in
the Throne of Destruction in order to avoid Decrepify and possibly unique
monsters that have the ?cursed? attribute. Also, if you have located an
experience shrine (usually act 1 is the most popular place everyone searches),
don't take it until the TP to the throne is ready and clear (no Oblivion
Knights or Hell Witches to curse you, or other monsters that could). Some
people may call you a "leech" for using experience shrines, but if you can
attack monsters without getting cursed by Baal or his minions, do so.
I typically kept my distance and cast Blizzards in the area where the minions
spawn. Basically, the longer you can keep an experience shrine on while
monsters die, the more experience you will gain, regardless if it is Baal's
Minions, Diablo, or Baal himself. Some people will often say that experience
shrines reduce all the other's experience, while this isn't true at all. I did
several tests in 2 player Baaling games, and found that the shrined person
DOES get more experience from all sets of minions, while the unshrined person
gets their usual experience as if the other person did not have one at all, so
in other words, getting an experience shrine is independent upon other's
experience.
B. The Act 2 Minions Experience Glitch
This glitch only applies to a Full Game (8 people) in the Throne of
Destruction during Act 2 (The Unravellers and Death Mages). What you have to
do is get one person in the Allied party to Un-Party (Leave Party) just before
the Act 2 Minions Spawn. The game has to be full for this glitch to work, if
you have 7 or less people in the game, you do not need to do this glitch at
all, since in reality, the act 2 minions give significantly less experience in
an 8-person game than they do in a 7-person game. Usually, the lowest level in
the party is the one who un-parties thus helping the higher levels gain more
experience, while he gets more experience from the other waves anyway. The
person who un-allies should re-party before the Act 3 wave spawns (The Council)
in the Throne of Destruction. This is one of the easiest glitches to do, and
it helps the entire baaling party, regardless of level, but at high levels
(95+) it helps tremendously.
C. "Lingering" and Killing Baal
If you have ever played 1.10 and gotten up to level 97 or 98, you'll know just
how painful experience gaining can be at those levels, and since the monster
level of the minions is lower than your character level, you basically get a
huge experience penalty. The only way around this is to start killing Baal in
a special way that involves "lingering". By lingering, this means precisely
the definition, just hanging around, at least until a certain point in the
game is met. You however, the high level, will not be lingering since you need
to kill Baal for the experience, so you're probably wondering: Who lingers?
This is a question you should always ask in Baal games, especially private
runs with other high levels. By lingering, the person waits until someone
enters the worldstone chamber (where Baal is), and then leaves the game or
optionally, they can un-ally if they wish and enter the worldstone chamber and
either just sit there and watch the action, or help the higher levels kill
Baal, WITHOUT GETTING THE LAST HIT, since the last hit determines who gets the
experience from ANY MONSTER.
This technique requires a lot of coordination, and certain combinations of
Baal Killers (the High Levels who get the experience) and Lingers (the ones who
stay in the game until someone enters Baal's Worldstone Chamber) are more
optimal than others. In my experience Baaling, if I am the only killer killing
Baal, 2 people should linger for maximum experience (usually around 56K at 98
with Ondal?s and a 10% Anni); this is known as 1/2 (1 person Kills Baal, 2
People wait for him to enter the worldstone chamber). If another High level
wishes to kill Baal as well, 3 people should linger for maximum
experience; (the experience is the same as 1/2) and this is known as 2/3 (i.e.
2 People are killing Baal, and 3 people wait for one of them to enter the
worldstone chamber). If 3 people wish to Kill Baal (you and 2 others), then
ONLY ONE PERSON SHOULD LINGER, and NO MORE (this is known as 3/1). You don't
get as much experience as you do from 1/2 or 2/3, but 3/1 is useful if you
have 3 Level 98's in the same Baal game. If 4 people wish to kill Baal, then
everyone else should linger if it is a full game of 8 people (this is known as
4/4). The experience for 4/4 is just slightly better than 3/1, but not better
than 1/2 or 2/3.
The main problem with coordinating this is to make sure everyone knows what to
do, and when to leave the games, since not all people understand that the only
MAJOR source of experience at high levels (mainly level 97 or 98) comes from
Baal, and that most lower levels that wish to get the items off Baal usually
end up killing Baal in order to Magic Find and get good items. However, repeat
after me: BAAL RUNNING IS FOR LEVELING NOT MAGIC-FINDING! Usually, in higher
level Baal runs, the person who teles to the throne usually keeps the drops as
price for his/her teleeing service, but other arrangements can be worked out
depending if people are helping the higher levels to kill Baal. Basically, if
you are one of those higher levels; prepare to sacrifice all Baal drops for
his experience in exchange. ANY person who is NOT LINGERING should always
leave the game IMMEDIATELY after the Minions of Destruction (Act 5 Wave) are
all dead, or else this lingering technique WILL NOT WORK in 3/1, and it will
take longer to kill Baal in either 1/2 or 2/3, wasting valuable time for more
experience gaining in the next game. It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that if you
decide to use this technique (and you should), that you get someone to pre-
tele for your high level character.
Note: If you choose not to use this technique, your experience from Baal will
be very little (usually about 1/5 of what it is depending on the game), and
believe me, this just takes a lot more Baal running and more time where you
could be out partying or doing something you like (again, we are talking about
Manually Baaling without a Baal Bot). From Level 98 to 99, it takes on
average, without killing Baal, over 20K runs total, and without lingering
(everyone kills Baal partied), about 8-10K runs, and with lingering, about 5-
7K runs total. If you do the math, if on average one Baal run lasts 3 minutes,
you'd be spending about 15000 more minutes baaling at most (250 more hours of
game play) if you did not linger, and 500 more hours of game play getting to 99
on top of that for a total of 750 Hours more if you did not kill Baal at all
at level 98. This is all assuming that you do not die in the process or use
experience shrines to speed up your runs, or kill Diablo as well as Baal in
the same game (in technique D). My numbers are all good estimates, maybe in a
future version of this FAQ I'll include exact numbers from Diablo 2.
D. Diablo + Baal Runs in the same game
This technique will literally, when combined with all the previous ones,
triple your experience. What you do is you get one person to clear out the
Chaos Sanctuary in the next Baal game (not the game you are in) while you and
everyone else is in the Throne of Destruction or beforehand in your game.
Typically, the best character to help you do this is a hammerdin with full
gear (enigma, etc...), since they can clear out the 3 seal bosses the quickest
in the Chaos Sanctum. While this Hammerdin is clearing out Chaos, he should
get all of Diablo drops for his service to you as a courtesy, and when Diablo
says "not even death can save you from me," he should make a tp up near
Diablo, but DO NOT SPAWN HIM until the game is full or about 7-8 people are in
the game that have finished coming from the previous run, including you, the
high level character. As soon as everyone is in the game, he or you can spawn
Diablo, and then he leaves and clears out Chaos in the next game. Then, before
you kill Diablo (he is easier than Baal), get an experience shrine (if there
is one in the Chaos Sanctum, less work for you to find one in act 1) if you
can find one, since Diablo will not curse you at all; then proceed to the Baal
Run and Kill Baal's minions (if they are still alive) and if not, then Kill
Baal. Doing this with an experience shrine, a 10% Anni, and Ondal?s Wisdom, you
can get up to about 150K experience if Baal does not curse you in the
Worldstone Chamber (yes that's 3x!) at level 98.
Note: A variant of this technique can be done, if you choose to kill Nithilhak
instead of Diablo, but it is much more dangerous since his Corpse Explosion
can be very deadly to sorcies or other characters with low HP. If you choose,
however, to kill Nith, you'll need to have a Nature's Peace ring so he cannot
CE you at all, and you won't need a hammerdin to do anything; you just need to
kill Nith in a full game. Also keep in mind that his atributes are different,
and he can be cold immune, not to mention his minions are cold immune, and there
can be some very nasty monsters down in the Halls of Vaught, so be very
careful, since dying could make you lose more experience than it is worth
going down there. In other words: PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK in the Halls of
Vaught.
E. Pre-Teleeing
This is one of the easiest Baaling techniques that has been used for many
higher levels ever since 1.10 came out. Basically, you hire a lower level
sorceress or hammerdin for your Baal runs, giving them full dibs on the drops
(except perhaps drops that you need for your high level character that you
don't already have), and then have them teleport to the throne of destruction
and put up a TP. This is just basically a way to save time and get the Baal
runs going at the beginning of the game for everyone so that people won't have
to wait around to start killing monsters. Typically, after someone puts up a
new TP in the game, the Pre-Teleer leaves and makes the next game, teleports
to the throne again, and then waits, and the cycle starts over again. Usually
there is some sort of coordination going on between the Pre-Teleer and the
Baal runners, so that they know how much of a threat there is in the Throne of
Destruction so that the Baal Runners do not die. Usually, if the pre-teleer
dies while in the throne or along the way, he/she will make a new game and re-
teleport, notifying everyone else what had happened. Another advantage of pre-
teleeing is that the monsters are weaker in the throne (since only one person
is in the game, "Diablo's minions" haven't gotten to full strength yet) and
can easily be disposed of.
F. Placeholders (Town Sitters)
This is another easy way ot get more experience from Baal Runs that isn't
often talked about too much. If you have 2 copies of Diablo 2 on 2 computers,
you can place another character you don't wish to level in town and have the
rest of the party gain more experience in the Baal Run. Usually, the lower the
level, the better, but I think this might have been patched in 1.10 so
experience is only dependant on the # of people in the game and not their
character level, but I could be wrong. Anyway, if you have access to 2
computers with Diablo 2 and aren't pre-teleeing with one of them, then you
can perm some mules you've rushed into hell in your Baal games by just having
them sit in town, or just bring in any other characters to sit in town while
everyone else levels. Mind you, this may not be the best way to level since if
you have too many placeholders, the runs will slow down since less people will
be killing the monsters, so you'll have to find a good balance of this to
determine if that extra experience gained from your placeholders is worth the
time it takes longer to kill the monsters.
G. Killing Baal Fast (Fast Baal Runs)
Baal as we know, can be annoying and hard to kill quickly. Typically, you need
to have characters that can kill him in a short amount of time. A Smiter can
usually take his HP down quickly, or a lightning javazon with charged strike
and an Infinity eth polearm runeword. At the time I was running Baal, I
did not have use of infinity at all since it was not activated yet on the
realms. Also, you can slow Baal down with a Kelpie Snare (Unique Fuscina)
on any act 2 merc (especially with holy freeze). A slow Baal means he will
not curse you with blood mana or the other defenseless curse much at all,
and he won't teleport or attack fast. Necromancers with Decrepify and a
clay golem also work, and slowing effects stack, so a necro could slow baal
down to a crawl theoretically. Only thing you have to watch out for is that
smiters don't like their life tap curses overriden by decrep since they need
to stay alive. Infinity also allows lightning sorceresses to kill almost
every monster in the throne of destruction and helps javazons as well. Sorcs
can also benefit from this since they can kill fast. However, I used a
conviction/FOH paladin friend to help kill the monsters fast when I was
running in 2004.
An Ideal 8-Party for Fast Baal Runs:
3 Hammer Paladins (one of these could do chaos or teleport to throne)
1 Conviction/FOH Paladin
1 Sorceress (any type)
1 BO Barbarian
1 Lightning Javazon
1 Necromancer with Lower Resist (any type)
Extra Characters:
1 Pre-Teleport Sorceress (for faster runs)
1 Pre-Chaos Hammer Paladin (for Diablo Experience)
III. Strategies
A. Two Words: Don't Die
These two words you will probably hear more often than not when you're at a
high level or if you have played Hardcore Diablo 2 before, you'll know how
painful dying can be. Even if you play Softcore, if you Die at a high level,
you lose a lot of Baal runs, especially if you do not get your body back to
get some of your experience that you had lost. If you do die, you lose 10% of
the total amount of experience needed to get to the next level; at level 98,
it's about 29M, and at about 50K minimum per Baal run if done correctly,
that's 580 Baal runs which can be very long. If you do get your body back, you
lose only about 7M at level 98, which is only 140 Baal Runs; still a lot.
Since not everyone nowadays baals daily, it may take much longer than one day
to recover all that lost experience.
B. If you have friends, use them
Since most likely, it will be difficult to Baal on a daily basis, get some
trusted friends you know to help you. Whether it's teleeing to Baal, Clearing
out the Chaos Sanctum, or any weakness in your baaling party that is making
the runs go slow, people who want to Baal will help you. I could not have
gotten to level 99 without the help of many of my friends, clan, or others.
You could even go so far as to get one person to level your character while
you are away if you trust them with your account that much. The more people
that are in your game however, the more experience you will get, so also keep
that in mind as well when baaling, because usually smaller party Baal runs may
not be feasible for experience and the time needed to complete these Baal runs
may take much longer.
C. Be as friendly as you can towards people
Part of why I won the ladder baaling contest is because I was nice to people
on Diablo 2. I had a lot of help, friends, and generally, people were always
waiting in line to get into our Baal runs in "The A-Team." Basically, if
you're an *** hole towards people, expect them to treat you the same way, and
you won't be getting anywhere at all; you'll just get yourself into deep
trouble, you could possibly get hacked, or even worse, if they know your
IP, they could put a virus onto your computer if you don't have a firewall;
this is bad news for you. Basically, what goes around, comes around, learn
this rule well. Also, DO NOT DUEL with your character. Your character will be
strictly a PvM character, not designed for dueling at all. People will just
laugh and make fun of you if your character dies to them, especially since you
are a higher level. If you want to build a high level dueling character, it's
pointless to level past 90 in most cases, so don't bother with this guide
if you plan on dueling, look at the other ones for that.
D. Know your limits
If you feel like leveling to 99 is not for you, do not despair; it is one of
the most time-consuming, difficult tasks to do in Diablo 2. If you are tired
of leveling, then rest, take a break, go out somewhere or do something else.
You're no good leveling a character tired since you'll be less aware of what
you are doing and you may die and get really angry at yourself. However, If
you are determined, don't give up either; persistence pays off, and you have
to decide if the benefits of having a level 99 character outweigh whatever
personal consequences you might have in your own personal life. I cannot speak
for everyone, so in other words, limit your gaming if you feel it's taking
over your life.
I baaled my sorceress in the summer of 2004 when ladder started, when school
was not going, and I wasn't getting a job until the Fall. It took me 1 and 2/3
months to level Tifas-Revenge manually from level 1 (approximately 50 days
total), and most of that baaling was done BEFORE Blizzard implemented the "Realm
Down" game length limit that bans your IP for creating games too
quickly. Now, it may take you much longer to do that considering you have to
limit your speed on which you Baal in one game to 3 minutes or more, so it may
be a good idea to coordinate Diablo and Baal Runs in the same game if you can
for maximum experience.
E. Find some good music to listen to while Baaling
I think everyone agrees, after you listen to the Diablo 2 music over and over
again, it can be rather bothersome and repetitive (as if baaling isn't
already). So turn off the music in your Diablo 2 Options and hit CTRL + M in
the lobby/chat area to turn off the music there. Run WinAmp, or pop a CD into
your CD-ROM drive or Stereo, and listen to some of your favorite tunes. Just
try to make yourself relaxed through the whole situation of baaling non-stop
for days on end.
F. Know your party and yourself
Some good things to take down would be who is in your party, what character
and level they are, if they are lingering or not, helping you kill Baal, or
clearing out chaos for you. Also, know your own character and become an expert
on using that character, because only you uniquely will have built your own
character for baaling. If there are any obstacles such as no one to teleport
down to Baal, or no one to kill cold immunes, etc... find some people that
can.
G. Know your enemy
The monsters in the Throne of Destruction can range from being easy as pie, to
being nasty SOBs which kill you in 1-2 hits. Unique Monsters in the throne of
destruction can be VERY DEADLY if given the right auras, modifications or
immunities. Specific Monsters you should avoid at all costs:
- Any Unique Monster with Fanaticism Aura and either Fire Enchanted,
Mana Burn, Extra Fast, or all of the above
- Undead Soul Killers (AKA Dolls)
- Unique Death Lords with Fanaticism Auras (Very Deadly)
- Burning/Black Souls with Conviction Auras if you have no Lightning
Res/Absorb
- Oblivion Knights (Any Melee Character should avoid these at all costs)
- PKers that go hostile on you. If you run into any person that decides to PK
you, just leave the game; don't try to stand up to him/her, just leave; if the
monster gets the last hit, you WILL LOSE EXPERIENCE, and poison necro PKers
are definitely ones to avoid here.
In all these cases, It's NOT WORTH IT, leave the game before you die and lose
experience. Watch your life very closely, and don't hesitate to pull out if
things get too ugly down in the Throne of Destruction.
H. Get your Equipment
Your character will die often without the right gear. You should get the best
gear that will not maximize your damage, but maximize your defense against all
possible monsters in the Throne of Destruction. Being at a high level means
you should value your character a lot, and would not like to see him/her die
at all and lose a lot of experience. It may be good to practice Hardcore
Tactics (have the teleporter call out a number; 1-3, depending on the threat
level of the TP and monsters nearby.), and get equipment that will make it so
you will not die.