The Story

Diablo, the Lord of Terror, has been defeated by the Dark Wanderer, a mortal hero. He has driven the soul stone (a magical stone holding the soul of a demon or angel) of Diablo into his own head in an attempt to contain Diablo in his body. The soul of Diablo rapidly corrupts the mind of the Wanderer who loses power over it.

Having lost complete control, the fallen hero is witnessed by Marius (the narrator of the story at the cinematic opening of Diablo II) to unleash the demons of Hell on an unsuspecting tavern. As the only survivor of this attack, Marius feels compelled for reasons unknown to himself to follow the Wanderer.

The new player character is a different type of hero. He pursues in the wake of the Wanderer’s unfolding path of destruction hoping to destroy the demon lord within him, with an eventual confrontation between the two outside the city of Kurast. Initially unable to defeat the soul of Diablo in the Wanderer, the hero player character continues his quest through the five acts and lands of the game’s storyline.

In doing so, he faces headlong the challenges of the demon lord Diablo, and his equally evil brothers and fellow “Prime Evils” Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, and Baal, Lord of Destruction. The hero battles to both prevent the forces of the seven “Great Evils” of The Burning Hells from conquering the world known as Sanctuary, and Diablo from releasing his brothers from their soul stone imprisonment, forced on all three long ago and from which Diablo had broken free.

Game Characters

The “Lesser Evils”

• Duriel, the Lord of Pain (the “Maggot King”) – A fast and aggressive enemy. He attacks using his massive claws and can freeze his opponent. He is found in the true Tomb of Tal Rasha by placing the Horadic Staff onto a pedestal.

• Andariel, the Maiden of Anguish (the “Demon Queen”) – A reasonably powerful enemy who mostly attacks with poison, using homing arrows, spray, and the weak claws on her back in hand-to-hand combat. She is found in the bottom level of the monastery behind a broad set of wooden doors, protected by her minions.

The “Prime Evils”

• Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred (eldest of the three “Prime Evils”) – He attacks using several powerful lightning attacks but doesn’t have a melee attack. He can be found in his lair in the temple city of Travincal in Kurast by destroying the Compelling Orb that imprisoned him there.

• Diablo, the Lord of Terror (the leader of the three “Prime Evils”) – He primarily attacks using the fire element, especially the lethal Red Lightning Hose attack sprayed from his mouth. Other weapons include the Fire Ring, Firestorm, Bone Prison, and Cold Touch. He can melee attack. He appears after defeating the protectors of the five seals and activating them.

• Baal, the Lord of Destruction – He uses fire strikes, attacks of coldness, freezing, and curses and can summon a copy of himself with the same lethal powers. He is found in the Worldstone Keep protected by his minions.

Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction Gameplay

In Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (expansion pack) you perform the role of a hero character (player) in either single or multi-player mode, battling countless foes on your journey through lands and dungeons of the game’s five acts. Each act presents a predetermined pathway with quests, including additional optional quests. As with all premium games, each act ends with the destruction of a boss figure, after that the character moves to the next act. All battles happen in real-time, using an isometric (equal dimensioned) oblique, top-down view.

Diablo II: Lord of Destruction places significant importance on combat, with characters needing to fight foes to level up and win valuable items. The game randomly generates most of your opponent’s abilities, as well as item drops and map layouts. In the single-player mode, maps start randomly generated but are then locked in that setting. In the multi-player mode, maps reset each time a dungeon level is restarted.

About Levels and Difficulty

In addition to the game’s five acts, there are three difficulty levels called Normal, Nightmare and Hell. Your chosen character must complete these levels in the order shown to progress. Each level is increasingly challenging, presenting tougher foes and penalties when you die.

The good news is that your character retains all abilities and equipment between levels, and you can return to an earlier level at any time. Having completed the game at the level called Normal, you can create a hardcore character, but beware – this time the game ends when your hardcore character dies!

Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction Goodies!

You will find many features to enhance gameplay:

• Hire one of several computer-controlled mercenaries – these accompany your character and attack nearby foes. The expansion pack also includes Hirelings who can follow your character through all five acts.

• Find rare and valuable items – one may be part of a set that becomes more powerful when the set is complete.

• Items can be customized using sockets and gems, or changed into other items using the Horadic Cube (a device designed by the Brotherhood of Horadrim).

• New expansion pack weapons and armor, and dramatically revamped gameplay for solo play, and multiplayer mode in particular!

• Gameplay at 800 x 600 resolution, up from 640 x 480.

• Many other expansion pack features and bonuses to the Diablo II core gameplay!

Character Classes

Select from one of seven different character classes, each possessing different strengths, weaknesses and skills:

• Amazon – Loosely based on the mythological Amazons, her skills are focused on personal protective abilities of strength and magic, and the adept use of bow, spear and javelin.

• Assassin (Expansion pack addition) – She relies on a mixture of martial arts skills and the ability to construct effective traps. She can also open locked chests without using a key. Passive attributes include Claw Mastery and Weapon Block. She can use buffs such as Burst of Speed and Venom, and a few spells, such as Mind Blast, and can summon a Shadow Warrior or Shadow Master.

• Barbarian – A powerful and efficient melee-oriented character, and the only one capable of dual-wielding (fighting with a weapon in each hand). His abilities are split into weapon masteries, war cries, and combat skills. Masteries allow the Barbarian to specialize in different weapon types and to gain natural speed and resistance. War cries enhance the Barbarian’s abilities and those of his allies in combat, reduce the capabilities of foes, cause injury, or frighten them into fleeing. Combat skills maximize brute force, his greatest asset.

• Druid (Expansion pack addition) – He specializes in nature-based magic and shapeshifting, with direct damage spells and a variety of minions. His elemental skills include storm and fire spells (Cyclone Armor, Tornado, Hurricane, Armageddon, Fissure, and Volcano). Summoning spells call a variety of natural allies to him, from wolves and ravens to one of three vines. Shapeshifting allows the Druid to become an animal – either a nimble Werewolf or a large Werebear.

• Necromancer – A spell-caster who relies on summoning spirits of the dead to aid him. His spells are split into summons, curses, poisons, and bone. The summoning spells allow him to revive various skeletons, golems, and any foe killed, including Diablo. Poison and bone spells are the Necromancer’s means of causing damage, with bone spells also holding the means of creating obstacles, making for excellent PVP support. Curse and hex spells form a core part of the Necromancer’s arsenal in both PVP and PVE, these powers significantly altering gameplay for both the spell-caster as well as the target.

• Paladin – A religious zealot fighting for all that is good! His warrior skills range from fanatical attacks to heavenly thunderbolts. His skills include combat and defensive and offensive auras, the latter two of which can enhance personal abilities, lower damage from a foe, or aid health recovery. Paladins are proficient in the use of the shield, even using it as a weapon. The best at defensive measures, the Paladin is the top choice if you wish to weaken your foe without hitting them or casting spells. They are also incredibly efficient at eliminating the undead!

• Sorceress – She possesses ranged elemental spells in three areas – ice, lightning, and fire. Ice spells can chill or even entirely freeze foes but inflict less damage than lightning and fire. Lightning spells can cause either low or high-level damage. Fire spells cause more consistent damage. Furthermore, her Teleport spell allows faster mobility than any other character. Her strength lies in powerful damaging spells and casting speed; her weakness lies in low defense and hit point damage, demanding you pay close attention to defence, keeping her away from the central part of any battle.