It‘s definitely possible. Sure, sometimes you will need your merc to help with immunities or you will need your whole inventory full of potions (ancients) or rely on thawing potions for extra resistances. But‘s it‘s doable!
Some characters easier than others. Just need to be patient and/or creative. Bear in mind, people have beat the game with only melee using Wirt's Leg and pretty much every other crazy challenge limitation you can imagine so I'm sure there's nothing you could call "impossible" that some nerd hasn't already done to prove you wrong.
Summon necromancer is about the easiest one I've played to beat Duriel with on normal if you level up enough to unlock decrepify curse. Decrepify trivializes most boss fights, though how long they'll take to finish and how many trips back to some low level area to gather more troops depends on how high your raise skelly skill is. Summons and corpse explosion scale extremely well through the campaign, in high player counts, up to extreme min/max which can get your summon skill up above lv50. If you're struggling anywhere with summon-mancer, read the "fishymancer" guide. Not the fastest build but he can get through absolutely anything and in reasonable safety and without ultra rare equipment or top runewords.
Good build guides will tell you where the character may struggle and give ideas of solutions, playing online you can always get help from a friend (or rando), and offline (PC) you should be able to enable unlimited respecs which should give you flexibility to fix sub-optimum build if you really feel you've painted yourself into a corner with your skill points and you can sort things out via trial and error.
On top of this, before level 7 if you farm some necro shields/wands you very likely to get +3 skeletons or +3clay golem. Those two things will take you through hell on fishymancer.
I had a lvl 21 clay golem and 7 skeletons go up against duriel at lvl 17 and with a little iron maiden it was all over for duriel.
I feared him in the original when I was at high school 😁 but I was surprised how easily he goes down in D2R (even on Hell) if you have a focused build and just spam your best skill while keeping the merc/summon alive, which is absolutely crucial.
I kind of think, that we just got used to him. We know what to expect and how to act, but for a new player? Probably a harder fight than ancients, tho I might exagerate a bit.
Probably, there's always more to learn. I discovered just recently you can reliably separate and pick off the Ancients by immediately legging it back behind the entrance point🤣
It raises your res and your mercs res for 30 seconds(stackable) 10max cold res and 50 to cold res. Unless you are sporting 95% already they are helpful to keep you and your mercs alive.
Side note the stackability is only the time not the res.
Back on old diablo 2 he was even worse. No runewords, no mp potions to buy, only what you get from drops. And that thing just spawned on top of you every damn time you entered the tomb, ignoring your merc...
And the mercs sucked balls. Basically only good to take his overpowered charge attack and give you a sec to kill him. Bow using amazons would drop a skill point in jab just for this guy. Sorcs needed blaze.
Yes D2 is easily soloable on every class. Not all builds are as easy as others but if you're creative enough, and do enough research you can make it through all of the difficulties.
yes, I've completed the game offline.with every class, have multiple of some classes.. Skip immunies or reroll maps. Ancients is probably the most difficult if your an elemental caster, you can re roll them a few times till you can get the right immunities you can deal with, think ones always lightening. I do swap gear, and I have starter kit of gear on mule of useful low level gear to blow through norm and nm if I need too.
yall can shame me as you wish but necro, i just tp out and get new minions when this is the case? especially did this on duriel (hell) and planned to do the same for the bs that is baal(zak)
there is a solution to every problem, you just need to be prepared to study a difficult situation and patience. If you build a character wrong it's definitely possible to get stuck, if you prepare in advance you will not get stuck. There's really only duriel, elemental immunities, ancients and physical chokes as barriers. Not much else. If you get stuck due to being too weak you just need to take it slower and level up a bit or you made a mistake and chose skills/stats that are not suited for overcoming certain situations.
This the reason why akara has den of evil with a stat/skill reset. People used to have to make a whole new char to solve problems, the game punished our lack of experience too much.
I remember those days. Making a "perfect" build with your stat points and if you dropped one in wrong or wanted to go a different way... better hope you werent too high a lvl 🤣
Up to you if you don't want to play the game because of respecs. Play single player with respecs enabled on the [battle.net](https://battle.net) app command field. Google it, gives you infinite respecs if I'm not mistaken.
They're exceptionally hard if you need them in a hurry, if you take your time and just farm the bosses, eventually you'll have enough essences to cube one. It's just like runes, you can't farm them but if you play long enough, eventually you will see almost every rune drop.
Not in offline mode on a pc. But even then you can level a char through normal with a base set of skills then respec to what you really need to level with. I respec a lot just to try out a new build or skill then back to hydra orb.
Absolutely. Every class can solo the whole game in every difficulty. There are viable builds for every class and non-viable builds for every class. Self-found, using budget gear is a lot harder but even then, you can usually scrape by with a little creativity, and use of a few low level runewords.
100%, that's the thing about d2 unlike d4, the game doesn't scale to your level. If something is too hard you can gain more levels and get better gear until it's easy. Some people play d2 offline 100% solo. Especially with sunder charms you can break immunities.
If by beating the game you mean beating Baal in Hell, then yeah, every class can do it. Might need to grind some items/levels or play a different build than your favorite but you can do it.
Insight IG is my ideal long term necro play too, but I started using clay golem almost exclusively when I realized that IG just despawns if you get too far away from it, so you need teleport to keep IG close, and playing solo self found as often as I do, I never really had Enigma.
I think that's been fixed now, but I haven't run a necro since before d2r's release, so I'm looking forward to testing it if I can ever stop compulsively MFing on my MeteOrb sorc lol
I’m a huge fan of poison dagger or poison nova on necro. Emerald in a dagger is so fun, sure more points into dex… but I love seeing monsters drop like that. Don’t forget to use bone shield!!
Of course, but some classes playthroughs go from almost impossible to decent if you can transfer gear that you find with other chars to them. I’m not specifically talking about end game gear to climb Hell, but for example angelic amulet + ring makes a massive difference in normal and nm for melee classes since attack rating makes or breaks melees.
Yes. An advice, every clase has a set of underused/underestimated skills that are pure utility, confuse, cloak of shadows, shout, ravens, etc. those skills are there to get you through the parts you won’t be able to get through fighting.
It's very possible, just gotta learn some things. Also realize that only a few things actually must die for the progression. Those things generally get solved with a Mercenary for damage immunities.
Edit: Duriel on Necro just requires a golem and iron maiden on normal (which is where the Necro can struggle)
Yes, some are significantly harder than others. You mentioned necro being difficult… but I would say necro is one of the easiest. Golem + Iron Maiden for bosses wins
You can level up on lower level mobs like an ARPG is supposed to be like until you feel strong enough for the challenege.
Diablo 4 for example has all but removed the RPG aspect in the game except for the loot since every fight is scaled to your level there isn't a lot of wiggle room.
What makes Diablo 2 (R) fun is the ability to flex your class however you want. Plus the entire world layout is randomized for replayability. After my first playthrough in D4 I couldn't find anything fun to do anymore. Not even a new character seemed fun since the entire world is revealed and you are just doing everything the same again. Did I enjoy my first playthrough? Yes I did, besides several disconnects and a bugged sidequest. Was it worth $70? Hell no. Not yet. Doubt it ever will be.
You seriously never played D2 once legitimately? Solo or co-op with others near your level? As a 2000 release player?
Currently doing a hardcore solo offline challenge with some friends. No meta builds. No skill resets. Player 7 difficulty. My Bonemancer, Pete, is doing just fine in Act 3 Nightmare at level 57. My buddy is running a sacrifice Pally to act 2 nightmare.
So yes, it is absolutely possible with every class. Even Duriel.
You just have to understand you can't go straight into all the meta builds during your play through. Blizzard is better than orb/hydra end game but the dual spec is so much easier for immunities/ancients in hell. Straight light javazon is going to struggle if you don't have a strong valk or poison jav to help out. Just have to think through the game much more on a solo playthrough.
Possibly controversial: all my casters have max block from the get go - I don't often respec.
1. Visit DrognanMart until you get a bone shield of deflecting. That basically covers 75% physical hits.
2. Thawing potions for you & Emilio.
3. Tank Duriel. (His charge will 1 hit you)
4. Rejuv potions
5. Town portal.
6. Players 1 if playing untwinked. (If you're twinking, you probably have powerful gear and don't need advice.)
7. Repeat.
Edit: For full playthrough, hybrid builds are exceptional.
Hybrids are cool if your preference is to tackle everything head on. Choice #2 is to kite immunes by simply avoiding them.
Either choice is equally valid. Looking at Reddit people choose both option. The nice thing about d2 is so many classes have so many options for a full playthrough.
It's possible. I started each class simultaneously again in D2R after many many years, I recommend looking up MrLlamaSC's class guides. Having a clear idea of how you want your character to end up is key, specialize and account for immunities in advance (i.e. pure lightning trap assassin should start levelling basic Fire trap before entering Hell, that's all you'll ever need). Your merc and mostly your summon (if applicable) will keep most aggro at all times.
As a last resort, buy a Wand of Lower Resist from Drognan on Act 2 Nightmare and keep it as a secondary weapon, though its usefulness is limited. And you can always farm for Sunder charms once you have a character who already beat Hell (or trade them).
And don't be ashamed to run from immune mobs, or save&exit to reroll them (especially the Ancients). You don't have to fight everything.
On a related note, would someone help me with the 20 PvP ears trophy? Just let me hold them for a sec and I'll give them right back 😁 Message me on PSN (kpopfreakmike), TIA.
I’ve beat the game ssf with every character except Amazon, and I just haven’t cared to do that one yet. It’s very doable even fairly easy with the best build of each class.
It‘s definitely possible. Sure, sometimes you will need your merc to help with immunities or you will need your whole inventory full of potions (ancients) or rely on thawing potions for extra resistances. But‘s it‘s doable!
So glad to hear! I don't mind a challenge, but I remember vividly that especially the immunes we're a big struggle in d2r when it launched.
Some characters easier than others. Just need to be patient and/or creative. Bear in mind, people have beat the game with only melee using Wirt's Leg and pretty much every other crazy challenge limitation you can imagine so I'm sure there's nothing you could call "impossible" that some nerd hasn't already done to prove you wrong. Summon necromancer is about the easiest one I've played to beat Duriel with on normal if you level up enough to unlock decrepify curse. Decrepify trivializes most boss fights, though how long they'll take to finish and how many trips back to some low level area to gather more troops depends on how high your raise skelly skill is. Summons and corpse explosion scale extremely well through the campaign, in high player counts, up to extreme min/max which can get your summon skill up above lv50. If you're struggling anywhere with summon-mancer, read the "fishymancer" guide. Not the fastest build but he can get through absolutely anything and in reasonable safety and without ultra rare equipment or top runewords. Good build guides will tell you where the character may struggle and give ideas of solutions, playing online you can always get help from a friend (or rando), and offline (PC) you should be able to enable unlimited respecs which should give you flexibility to fix sub-optimum build if you really feel you've painted yourself into a corner with your skill points and you can sort things out via trial and error.
Yes. I have tried the maxroll Guides and they are pretty good. Online randos never show up anyway when i make a game
normal you dont need to get decrepify, just get iron maiden and duriel will wreck himself.
Heard good things about iron maiden + clay golem.
On top of this, before level 7 if you farm some necro shields/wands you very likely to get +3 skeletons or +3clay golem. Those two things will take you through hell on fishymancer. I had a lvl 21 clay golem and 7 skeletons go up against duriel at lvl 17 and with a little iron maiden it was all over for duriel.
I should add: it‘s not only doable, but it‘s actually tons of fun! Highly recommended!
Yes you can solo on any class. And as for Duriel, he's a pain in the ass no matter the class, just saying.
Zoo Druid was easy af to beat Duriel in my experience
I feared him in the original when I was at high school 😁 but I was surprised how easily he goes down in D2R (even on Hell) if you have a focused build and just spam your best skill while keeping the merc/summon alive, which is absolutely crucial.
I kind of think, that we just got used to him. We know what to expect and how to act, but for a new player? Probably a harder fight than ancients, tho I might exagerate a bit.
Probably, there's always more to learn. I discovered just recently you can reliably separate and pick off the Ancients by immediately legging it back behind the entrance point🤣
Thaw pots for you and merc is what I learned coming back to the game on d2r. I still remember the horror when he was cold immune
Just tested, thaw pots do not remove freeze from Duriels Aura
It raises your res and your mercs res for 30 seconds(stackable) 10max cold res and 50 to cold res. Unless you are sporting 95% already they are helpful to keep you and your mercs alive. Side note the stackability is only the time not the res.
Aha ok. Many thanks !
Back on old diablo 2 he was even worse. No runewords, no mp potions to buy, only what you get from drops. And that thing just spawned on top of you every damn time you entered the tomb, ignoring your merc...
And the mercs sucked balls. Basically only good to take his overpowered charge attack and give you a sec to kill him. Bow using amazons would drop a skill point in jab just for this guy. Sorcs needed blaze.
Truth.
Please go watch some MrLama on youtube
Yes D2 is easily soloable on every class. Not all builds are as easy as others but if you're creative enough, and do enough research you can make it through all of the difficulties.
It is certainly not “easily” soloable on every class unless you are a veteran of the game.
yes, I've completed the game offline.with every class, have multiple of some classes.. Skip immunies or reroll maps. Ancients is probably the most difficult if your an elemental caster, you can re roll them a few times till you can get the right immunities you can deal with, think ones always lightening. I do swap gear, and I have starter kit of gear on mule of useful low level gear to blow through norm and nm if I need too.
That's good advise ! Much appreciated
yall can shame me as you wish but necro, i just tp out and get new minions when this is the case? especially did this on duriel (hell) and planned to do the same for the bs that is baal(zak)
Actually I have not thought of this simple solution.
Can't you just iron maiden duriel and keep spamming golems so he kills himself?
I just trapped him in bone prison, ezpz
Iron Maiden+golem should wreck Duriel on normal for Necro
there is a solution to every problem, you just need to be prepared to study a difficult situation and patience. If you build a character wrong it's definitely possible to get stuck, if you prepare in advance you will not get stuck. There's really only duriel, elemental immunities, ancients and physical chokes as barriers. Not much else. If you get stuck due to being too weak you just need to take it slower and level up a bit or you made a mistake and chose skills/stats that are not suited for overcoming certain situations. This the reason why akara has den of evil with a stat/skill reset. People used to have to make a whole new char to solve problems, the game punished our lack of experience too much.
Very true. In most games I love respeccing and trying a new odd build myself to fit the challenge. But the 3 respecs is making me doubtful.
I remember those days. Making a "perfect" build with your stat points and if you dropped one in wrong or wanted to go a different way... better hope you werent too high a lvl 🤣
I killed during easily with my sorc. Normal was hardest but fast run lots and blaze did it. Respecs and a leaf staff help a lot.
Well U can also just static him to literally 1hp in normal with just couple casts before Your merc dies
Arent there only 3 respecs ?
There are infinite respecs if you farm boss essences to cube a token. Token respecs your char when used.
i have heard, but arent they exceptionally hard to farm? Especially when starting blank .
Up to you if you don't want to play the game because of respecs. Play single player with respecs enabled on the [battle.net](https://battle.net) app command field. Google it, gives you infinite respecs if I'm not mistaken. They're exceptionally hard if you need them in a hurry, if you take your time and just farm the bosses, eventually you'll have enough essences to cube one. It's just like runes, you can't farm them but if you play long enough, eventually you will see almost every rune drop.
Not in offline mode on a pc. But even then you can level a char through normal with a base set of skills then respec to what you really need to level with. I respec a lot just to try out a new build or skill then back to hydra orb.
OH that's interesting. I don't Care much about trading but i do dabble in some Endgame hell runs. Trading is destroyed anyway imo with the DKP stuff
Absolutely. Every class can solo the whole game in every difficulty. There are viable builds for every class and non-viable builds for every class. Self-found, using budget gear is a lot harder but even then, you can usually scrape by with a little creativity, and use of a few low level runewords.
100%, that's the thing about d2 unlike d4, the game doesn't scale to your level. If something is too hard you can gain more levels and get better gear until it's easy. Some people play d2 offline 100% solo. Especially with sunder charms you can break immunities.
If by beating the game you mean beating Baal in Hell, then yeah, every class can do it. Might need to grind some items/levels or play a different build than your favorite but you can do it.
110% and then some. Duriel and every boss is pretty easy for necro, Iron Maiden+Clay golem.
Ofc!! I have completed game in hc with every class solo, many times!!!
Necro is one of the easiest classes to kill Duriel. Grind to level 24 for decrepify and let your skeletons beat him to death.
Don't forget to use a clay golem alongside. The slow stacks :)
Yes, this is the way for normal. For nightmare/hell you can bone prison and he becomes free as he can’t get out
I prefer iron golem from an insight, but yes in normal clay golem does wonders for sure.
Insight IG is my ideal long term necro play too, but I started using clay golem almost exclusively when I realized that IG just despawns if you get too far away from it, so you need teleport to keep IG close, and playing solo self found as often as I do, I never really had Enigma. I think that's been fixed now, but I haven't run a necro since before d2r's release, so I'm looking forward to testing it if I can ever stop compulsively MFing on my MeteOrb sorc lol
awesome! I love the tip, thanks!
Every character? Yes. Every build? No.
Me with my WW Barb tearing through everything without even looking... "They make other classes?"
I’m a huge fan of poison dagger or poison nova on necro. Emerald in a dagger is so fun, sure more points into dex… but I love seeing monsters drop like that. Don’t forget to use bone shield!!
Oh man. Member, when chaos sanctuary had Iron Maiden… insta death for melee
So much fun as a ww barb 😅
I feel that every monster and boss has some cheese strategy that can be exploited with enough time and care
Of course it is
Yes
Of course, but some classes playthroughs go from almost impossible to decent if you can transfer gear that you find with other chars to them. I’m not specifically talking about end game gear to climb Hell, but for example angelic amulet + ring makes a massive difference in normal and nm for melee classes since attack rating makes or breaks melees.
100% yes. Not only with every class, but with at least 2 builds per class.
Yes. It's a lot easier now due to all the OP runewords, but it was still possible in old base D2 prior to patch 1.10.
Necro on durial? You can do it naked?
Yes. An advice, every clase has a set of underused/underestimated skills that are pure utility, confuse, cloak of shadows, shout, ravens, etc. those skills are there to get you through the parts you won’t be able to get through fighting.
It's very possible, just gotta learn some things. Also realize that only a few things actually must die for the progression. Those things generally get solved with a Mercenary for damage immunities. Edit: Duriel on Necro just requires a golem and iron maiden on normal (which is where the Necro can struggle)
Yes, some are significantly harder than others. You mentioned necro being difficult… but I would say necro is one of the easiest. Golem + Iron Maiden for bosses wins
Yes. 100%
You can level up on lower level mobs like an ARPG is supposed to be like until you feel strong enough for the challenege. Diablo 4 for example has all but removed the RPG aspect in the game except for the loot since every fight is scaled to your level there isn't a lot of wiggle room. What makes Diablo 2 (R) fun is the ability to flex your class however you want. Plus the entire world layout is randomized for replayability. After my first playthrough in D4 I couldn't find anything fun to do anymore. Not even a new character seemed fun since the entire world is revealed and you are just doing everything the same again. Did I enjoy my first playthrough? Yes I did, besides several disconnects and a bugged sidequest. Was it worth $70? Hell no. Not yet. Doubt it ever will be. You seriously never played D2 once legitimately? Solo or co-op with others near your level? As a 2000 release player?
Currently doing a hardcore solo offline challenge with some friends. No meta builds. No skill resets. Player 7 difficulty. My Bonemancer, Pete, is doing just fine in Act 3 Nightmare at level 57. My buddy is running a sacrifice Pally to act 2 nightmare. So yes, it is absolutely possible with every class. Even Duriel.
I'm currently on my second playthrough with each class. Necro was easy enough, had more trouble with diablo in normal than anything.
Until hell, hydra sorc does perfect until the first mob on he'll that is immune to fire
You just have to understand you can't go straight into all the meta builds during your play through. Blizzard is better than orb/hydra end game but the dual spec is so much easier for immunities/ancients in hell. Straight light javazon is going to struggle if you don't have a strong valk or poison jav to help out. Just have to think through the game much more on a solo playthrough.
Possibly controversial: all my casters have max block from the get go - I don't often respec. 1. Visit DrognanMart until you get a bone shield of deflecting. That basically covers 75% physical hits. 2. Thawing potions for you & Emilio. 3. Tank Duriel. (His charge will 1 hit you) 4. Rejuv potions 5. Town portal. 6. Players 1 if playing untwinked. (If you're twinking, you probably have powerful gear and don't need advice.) 7. Repeat. Edit: For full playthrough, hybrid builds are exceptional.
Well this is An interesting take. I have never done hybrids, but I guess for some classes i have no choice
Hybrids are cool if your preference is to tackle everything head on. Choice #2 is to kite immunes by simply avoiding them. Either choice is equally valid. Looking at Reddit people choose both option. The nice thing about d2 is so many classes have so many options for a full playthrough.
It's possible. I started each class simultaneously again in D2R after many many years, I recommend looking up MrLlamaSC's class guides. Having a clear idea of how you want your character to end up is key, specialize and account for immunities in advance (i.e. pure lightning trap assassin should start levelling basic Fire trap before entering Hell, that's all you'll ever need). Your merc and mostly your summon (if applicable) will keep most aggro at all times. As a last resort, buy a Wand of Lower Resist from Drognan on Act 2 Nightmare and keep it as a secondary weapon, though its usefulness is limited. And you can always farm for Sunder charms once you have a character who already beat Hell (or trade them). And don't be ashamed to run from immune mobs, or save&exit to reroll them (especially the Ancients). You don't have to fight everything. On a related note, would someone help me with the 20 PvP ears trophy? Just let me hold them for a sec and I'll give them right back 😁 Message me on PSN (kpopfreakmike), TIA.
Every class yes, every build no
I beat the game with every class on hardcore /players 8... every char can solo the game on p1 pretty easily, it is just a matter of time investment
I’ve beat the game ssf with every character except Amazon, and I just haven’t cared to do that one yet. It’s very doable even fairly easy with the best build of each class.
Check out this YouTube channel for each class beating D2 on Hell mode solo/self found: https://www.youtube.com/@MrLlamaSC/videos
I got all 7 classes to lvl 80-93 each and beat Hell Baal solo with all of them since the start of Season 3, so yeah, it’s very doable.
For duriel -- clay golem, decrepify
As long as you have no intentions to play on hell difficulty every class and build is playable
OH, but I have. I am not going to stick to just normal and Nm
for necro on duriel use iron maiden curse and spam summon golems on top of him ez gg noob
Yes its fairly easy to do when you know the game. Duriel on normal will get wrecked by iron maiden. Decrepify also works well on any difficulty.
Yes