Cowboy

Much has been written about the racial mix of the cowboys in the West, but cowboys ranked low in the social structure of the period and there are no firm figures. Moreover, there were many improvements to hirelings in general to make them more viable as actual help. In pop culture, the cowboy and the gunslinger are often associated with one another. They can be equipped with weapons, healed, and they also become stronger with experience. In the 1930s and 1940s, Western movies popularized the cowboy lifestyle but also formed persistent stereotypes. Hirelings persist for as long as they are wanted, and they can be resurrected for a fee that varies with their level. Meanwhile, ranches multiplied all over the developing West, keeping cowboy employment high, if somewhat more settled. Luckily, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction improved on this concept.

Smaller cattle drives continued at least into the 1940s, with Arizona cattle driven to the railhead at Magdalena, New Mexico. In the original Diablo II, mercenaries couldn't be ressurected and did not follow the character from act to act. By the 1890s, the open ranges of the Indian Territory were gone and the large cattle drives from Texas to the railheads in Kansas were over. There are no mercenaries in Act IV, but in Act V you can hire a barbarian with a sword. Such hazardous work in isolated conditions bred a tradition of self-dependence and individualism, exemplified in their songs and poetry. In the Act III, one of three elemental mages can be hired. Over time, the cowboys of the American West developed a culture of their own, a blend of frontier and Victorian values. In Act II, a spear-wielding mercenary is available.

Sharing the same base, their traditions became indistinguishable with a few regional differences still remaining. In Act I, a Rogue hireling (as in the original Diablo) is available. Following the Civil War, their culture diffused eastward and northward combining with the earlier cowboy tradition that was following the cattle trails out of Texas northward and westward. Different mercenaries are available in each encampment. Buckaroo is the anglicized pronunciation of vaquero and is still a common term in the Great Basin and many areas of California and the Pacific Northwest. Diablo II allows the player to hire mercenaries in the towns of Act I, II, III and V. The buckaroo, also a cowboy of the vaquero tradition, developed in California and bordering territories during the Spanish Colonial period. Unless you are already using a mercenary, you can gain a free Act 1 mercenary from killing Blood Raven.

Here they were absorbed by the Mexican vaquero culture, borrowing vocabulary and attire from their counterparts. You can hire mercenaries in Acts II, III, and IV anytime you're there. Following Texas independence in 1836 even more Americans immigrated into Texas and to the empresario ranching areas. To be able to hire a mercenary in Act 1, you must kill Blood Raven after receiving the quest from 'Kashya' in the Rogue Encampment, or have reached level 8. Austin and his East Coast comrades became the first English speaking Mexicans. It is also possible to combine rune combinations into socketable items to create crazily powerful items. In 1821 Stephen F. Again, the attributes change accordingly to each rune as well as where it is socketed.

In the early 1600s, Spain, and later Mexico, began offering empresario grants in what would later be Texas to Americans who agreed to become citizens and convert to Catholicism. Their attributes can range anywhere from '+75 poison damage over 2 seconds' to 'Knockback' in weapons. In the northern parts of Mexico (New Mexico) in its original configuration included most of the territory of the American southwest including Texas. Runes The most powerful things that can be socketed, runes are found only in LoD. Actually, what is usually believed to be an American icon, is in reality a New Hispanic tradition originated in the Central States of Mexico, Jalisco and Michoacan, where the Mexican cowboy would eventually be known as "charro". Found only in LoD. During the 16th century, they brought the tradition with them to the New World through New Spain (later Mexico). Jewels Jewels vary in their attributes, and must be identified with scrolls of identify.

In fact the Spanish invented what we now know as the cowboy tradition beginning in the Middle Ages in Spain. Skulls:. The Spanish were adept at herding livestock. Diamonds:. . Amethysts:. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work in and participate in rodeos, and many cowboys work only in the rodeo. Topazes:.

The cowboy is in charge of the horses, as is the wrangler. Emeralds:. A cowboy (Spanish vaquero) tends cattle and horses on cattle ranches in North and South America. Rubies:. Computer science: Cowboy/cowgirl, as in a really skillful computer hacker or computer programmeror video games. Sapphires:. Sports: Cowboy action shooting, Rodeo, Indian rodeo, Charreada. The following values are for the perfect forms of the gems:.

Music: Western Music, Western swing, List of famous Cowboy songs. You can upgrade gems by placing three identical gems into the Horadric cube, then transmuting them to get one of the next level. Television: TV Western. GEMS: Gems vary in value, ranging from 'Chipped' to 'Perfect'; as the gem value gets higher, its attributes become more powerful. Film: Western movie, List of Western movies. As such, it behaves much like a bag of holding, increasing carrying capacity. Literature: Western fiction, List of Western fiction authors, Cowboy poetry. The Cube occupies four units of inventory space in a 2×2 configuration, but it can to hold 12 units of items in a space measuring three units wide by four units tall.

Fine art: Cowboy Artists of America. With Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, the Horadric Cube can endow items with random properties not found on items dropped by monsters. Saddle bags; a bag which can be mounted to the saddle for carrying various sundry items and extra supplies. For example, 3 partial rejuvenation potions may be combined to produce a full rejuvenation potion. Bridle; a Westen bridle usually has a curb bit and long split reins to control the horse in many different situations. This is an in-game artifact, attained in Act II, that can transmute items into other items. Saddle blanket; a blanket or pad is required under the Western saddle to provide comfort and protection for the horse. One interesting new component is the "Horadric Cube".

Western Saddle; a saddle with specially designed for working with cattle; it has stirrups to allow the rider to stand or resist the pull of livestock while working, a horn so the lariat can be snubbed, tiedowns to provide secure mountings for any additional equipment needed for work on the ranch, and various other modifications. Each set contains from 2 to 6 items. Cow dog; many people, including cowboys, find a herding dog invaluable in locating and controlling livestock. With the Diablo II: Lord of Destruction expansion, there are a total of 15 normal item sets and 15 exceptional/elite item sets. Occasionally cowboys will carry a pistol when not physically working cattle, especially in brushy areas. the whole of the set is greater than the sum the bonuses of each individual item. Rifle; a weapon needed to protect the livestock from predation by wild animals. These bonuses are not available with only one item of a set or a variety of different sets; i.e.

Spurs; a tool, attached to the rider's heel, designed to help a rider communicate with the horse when the hands are busy or when it is too noisy for oral commands. For example, a character wearing all the items in "Milabrega's Set", will be rewarded with bonuses in addition to those provided by each of the items . Lariat; from the spanish "la riata," meaning "the rope," a tightly twisted stiff rope with a loop at one end enabling it to be thrown to catch animals (sometimes called a lasso, especially in the East). When some or all of the items in a certain collection are equipped by a certain character they become more powerful. Chaps; guards worn to protect the legs when riding through heavy brush or during rough work with the livestock. Set items all form part of a small collection, or set. Jeans, or other sturdy tight-fitting pants; heavy pants designed to protect the legs and snug fitting to prevent the pants legs from snagging on brush, corral equipment, and other hazards. In the expansion, Blizzard North reduced the chance of a good rare drop.

Cowboy boot; a boot with a high top to protect the lower legs, pointed toes to help guide the foot into the stirrup, and high heels to keep the foot from slipping through the stirrup while working in the saddle. Prior to the expansion, rares were highly desirable due to its many modifiers. Cowboy hat; a hat with a wide brim to protect from the sun and the elements; there are many styles, probably influenced by both the Mexican sombrero and US (and Confederate) Cavalry hats. Rare item names are displayed in yellow text. These are more rare than the regular magic items, and can contain more magic modifiers but are not necessarily better. People were known to spend hours on end hunting for perfectly maximized jewels, until several new runewords appeared that made that whole process semi-obsolete.

While all gems of a certain type would do the same thing in any item, (for example, putting a ruby into a weapon always grants fire damage) jewels granted randomly-spawned enchantments, sometimes as many as 6 effects to a single slot. Alongside of gems and runes are the infamous jewels, which could create massively powerful items. In Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, runes are introduced to further improve in this area, allowing players to create pseudo-unique items by arranging the runes to form "runewords", usually with massive benefits. Some weapons can be socketed with gems that convey additional abilities.

While Diablo provided for almost no item customization, Diablo II improves in this area considerably. There are several new game concepts introduced in Diablo II absent in its predecessor. This character class sports expertise in wands and daggers. The Necromancer's skill tree is based around summoning creatures and cursing the minions of the undead.

Through their wisdom, these "Necromancers" have learned not to question the threshold of mortality, but to accept it as a part of life. Living deep underground, these magi have learned how to raise the undead to fight for them. In Diablo 2, the Priests of Rathma are a segregated group of magi that study the concept of mortality. However, Bonemacers are still one of the best players in PvP.

After the release of the 1.11 patch this build was extremely hindered, as the items would no longer give you the synergy from the charges. This was due to an exploit that caused the player to have level 33 bone prison synergy while having the boots Marrowwalk equipped on your character. During the 1.10 patch the strongest of the necromancers would be "Bonemancers", which were a common build that utilized Bonespear and Bonespirit as its main attack while adding 0 points to the synergy known as bone prison. Theses types of Necros arent as common as the "Bonemancers".

Also, make extensive use of golems as well as Skeleton Mastery; being commander of a couple elite skeletons is better than a lot of weak ones. Using a Skelliemancer or "Summoner" can get extremely frustrating in certain areas: the close quarters of the Maggot Lair in Act II makes minions fall behind fairly quickly; the only way to counter this is to use lots of Skeleton-mages and moving slowly. Generally, Amplify Damage and Decrepify are most used. To prevent one's self from being the commander of a heap of bones, Skelliemancers or "Summoners" have to make use of the Curse tree.

However, the fun element of these Necromancers is watered down when hard bosses are encountered, such as the Council in Act III that can destroy skeletons and golems fairly easily. Skelliemancers or "Summoners" can be enjoyable to play due to the character being able to control an army of minions. However, the element of a Bonemancer that makes playing fun is the penetrating element of Bone spear as well as the homing ability of Bone Spirit, both of which can do considerable damage. Bone Wall and Bone Prison proved useful for getting out of hairy spots and trapping unaware players in PvP.

Players today generally find the Bonemancer to be the easiest build. For more details, see Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. The arrival of the expansion pack heralded a dark age for the necromancer, and while the class is very powerful in the later patches, this power boost went mainly towards one specific build, the Skelliemancer Or "Summoner". Revive, which raises a dead monster to fight for you, and Iron Maiden, a damage-reflecting curse, were a powerful combo similar to the Conversion + Thorns paladin build, and the life stealing Blood Golem interacted with Iron Maiden, causing it to gain life when it was attacked and rendering it essentially immune to normal attacks.

The radius of Corpse Explosion was reduced in 1.03, encouraging necromancers to look at other skill options. When one monster went down, all one had to do was cast Amplify Damage on the pack and blow up the corpse, killing all other monsters in one blast. Prior to 1.03, the Corpse Explosion spell was the best skill in the game. The necromancer has always been an unbalanced character, due to its reliance on corpses and percentage damage effects.

The Necromancer can cast spells From the Summoning, Poison & Bone, and Curses skill trees. Curses such as "Terror" cause groups of creatures to flee, allowing Necromancers to herd and manage the flow of hostile creatures attacking the party. For example, the curse "Attract" causes enemies near the target creature to attack it. In party-oriented play, some of the most powerful skills affect the monster AI.

His summoning abilities allow the necromancer to raise skeletons, a variety of golems, and even former enemies. Also rather than being cast on the character, they are cast on a limited number of enemies. His curses are similar to a paladin's enemy-affecting auras, but they are more powerful and limited in duration, range, and effect. He does possess direct damage in the form of poison and bone-based spells, but his most specialized abilities are curses and summons.

Whereas the sorceress relies on elemental damage, the necromancer is more subtle. The necromancer is a magician like the sorceress, but in a different way. They are used by parties as a location finder, such as waypoints, boss lairs, etc. The Sorceress' teleport is used extensively for getting to a boss quickly.

Magic find equipment generally doesn't have the best attributes (apart from the magic-find %), which is fine for the Sorceress which teleports out of harm's way quickly and attacks from range. Magic finding involves using equipment with special mods to increase the chance that random item drops will be top level Rare and Unique equipment. Sorceress are used extensively for 'Mfing', or Magic finding. Since the main fire and lightning spells do not have a delay timer, it allows them to cast their spells at an incredible rate, in excess of 3 times a second, while teleporting out of danger at amazing speeds.

After synergies were introduced, some Fire and Lightning sorceresses aim to get 200% faster cast rate. For more details, see Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. Focusing on faster cast rate equipment to cast spells as fast as possible was no longer feasible, and the players started to gravitate towards +to skills items to increase their spell damage instead. Patch 1.07 and the expansion changed sorceress gameplay immensely, due to the newly implemented skill timers and reduced mana costs on the more expensive spells.

Many looked down upon this "strategy" and the players who used it. The most common build repeatedly cast Static Field to quickly reduce the health of nearby enemies to a sliver, then used the Frozen Orb spell, which spins out a globe that showers the area with ice shards, to deliver the death blow. The "tweaker" sorceress build, using as many FCR items as possible, could cast three or more spells per second, backed by high-level Warmth and a large mana pool. This was not an effective option, though, and soon the attention shifted to faster cast rate items.

At first, most sorceress builds revolved around getting as many skill level bonus items as possible to increase damage. Their one saving grace was the spell Static Field, which causes 25% of the enemy's hit points in damage to all enemies within its radius and was considered overpowered by even sorceress players themselves. Most sorceress builds had serious mana issues, prompting them to maximize Warmth to increase their mana regeneration rate, which took valuable skill points away from their direct damage skills. Her spells were lacking in damage, due to the fact that once they were at maximum skill level, not much else could be done to increase their damage.

Prior to the expansion pack, the sorceress was fairly weak. The Sorceress can cast spells From the Cold, Lightning, and Fire skill trees. One large benefit is the fact that the sorceress's cold spells make it easier for everyone to stay alive, by immobilizing their foes. The weak points are strength and defense.

The strong points of Sorceress are powerful damaging spells and mobility (teleporting quickly), which is valuable in multiplayer games. Fire spells usually have a more consistent damage range, with the most popular skill Fireball doing about 20,000 damage or more. (A corpse can be used by some enemies as an attack or can be revived by other enemies to fight again.) The main lightning spells have huge damage ranges, doing anywhere from 1 to 25,000 or even 1 to 50,000 damage. Moreover, any chilled or frozen enemies may shatter instead of leaving a corpse.

Her cold-based spells have the benefit of chilling affected enemies (slowing them down) or freezing them (stopping them completely). The Sorceress focuses on ranged elemental spells in three areas: cold, lightning, and fire. After 1.10, however, this strategy is no longer viable: auras now either change instantly or with unreliable speed. The result would be two simultaneous auras, one augmenting the paladin's abilities and one weakening an enemy's.

Because the effect of an aura on allies (and enemies) is slightly delayed and because it persists for a few seconds even if switched immediately, a paladin could switch on an enemy-affecting aura, wait for it to "stick" onto the enemies, and then quickly "flash" to a personal aura. Before patch 1.10, a technique known as "flashing" was common. Thanks to the "synergy" boosts added to skills (including Blessed Hammer) in patch 1.10, the Hammerdin is still widely considered the strongest all-around character type in the game today, able to do up to 8,000 damage once all the synergies are maxed with concentration and great items. If the skill is maxed, each hammer can deal over 10,000 damage (17,000 in 1.11), with enough skill bonuses from items.

This resulted in the infamous hammerdin, an odd caster build capable of killing any normal monster in the game in a few hits. Originally a weak and hard to aim magical attack, until it was discovered that the Concentration aura affected Blessed Hammer as well. Then Blessed Hammer was discovered to be useful. Thus when used, you can do massive elemental damage to your opponent with just one hit.

Another great strategy is "Vengeance", which adds fire, lightning and cold damage to your attacks , and the aura, "Conviction", which reduces your enemies elemental resistances and defence. Unfortunately, nothing else in his skill trees was quite as good, and the class slipped into obscurity. This build cleared the hardest levels with ease, so it came as no surprise that it was weakened in patch 1.03. Conversion is a normal melee attack that has a chance to convert the target to fight for you, and Thorns is an aura that causes anyone who attacks a party member to take a large amount of damage in return.

When the game was released, the Conversion + Thorns skill combo was extremely effective. The class has a staggering number of useless auras, and the anti-undead idea did not work in practice due to the lack of actual undead in the harder areas. The paladin was usually seen as one of the weaker characters, with too much emphasis on boosting his allies and too little damage to fend for himself. The Paladin can cast spells From the Defensive Auras, Combat Skills, and Offensive Auras skill trees.

The more powerful the shield, the more damage he can deal with it (also, paladins typically have the best "blocking" rate). The Paladin is the only character able to use his shield as a weapon in a smite attack. The Paladin also has access to great strength and health and, because the auras do not generally require mana to activate, is not heavily restricted by heavy mana consumption. These passive auras, which can enhance personal abilities, lower the amount of damage dealt by enemies or recover health and can add considerable complexity to the class because only one aura can be active at a time.

His specialty, however, lies in auras that buff himself and his party. To reflect this, the Paladin has combat skills ranging from fanatical attacks to anti-undead spells. The Paladin is a warrior fighting for all that is good. With the 1.11 patch, a Frenzy-based barbarian became very popular after an in-game clan showed with several successful Uber-Tristram runs that the build is second only to the Smiter (paladin).

Thus, a popular build involves a maximum contribution to battle orders and concentration. Major changes in the 1.10 patch have made certain low level skills augment higher level skills and vice versa. The Achilles' Heel of this strategy is that some monsters (and Necromancer player characters) can cast a curse that returns damage back to the barbarian equals to several times the amount he deals, most certainly killing him if he spins into a large crowd and delivers massive amounts. One also must be careful not to spin into a crowd of monsters, as once a spin is started it can't be stopped.

Whirlwind requires skill to control, and one can take down hard bosses by making circles around the perimeter of the boss so all his hits land on the boss. Whirlwind has many uses: It allows the player to spin through a crowd of enemies, damaging each greatly, or it can carve a path out of a crowd if the character is surrounded. Most Barbarians make use of the skills Iron Skin, Battle Orders, Whirlwind, and Combat Masteries. Barbarian strategy typically follows only one guideline with small variations.

With damage to spare, very high natural life and the life and mana-increasing Battle Orders spell, a well-built barbarian in 1.00 to 1.06 was almost indestructible and was the main "power-leveling" character. The Whirlwind skill, a mad spinning charge, was highly overpowered in the first release of the game, and was reduced in damage in patch 1.03, made dependent on weapon speed in the expansion and it is still one of the best melee skills in the game. This character was the damage powerhouse in the early history of Diablo II. The Barbarian can cast spells from the Warcries, Combat Masteries, and Combat Skills skill trees.

The barbarian's combat skills are attacks that maximize brute force, his greatest asset. Warcries differ from the auras of the paladin in that they are single-use and impermanent. His warcries are essentially radial skills (skills which are only effective within a certain radius of the player) that enhance his and his party's ability in combat, or reduce the ability of the enemy. The masteries are purely passive and allow the Barbarian to specialize in different types of melee weapons and to gain natural speed and resistances.

His skills are divided into various weapon masteries, warcries, and combat skills. The Barbarian is by far the most powerful melee fighting character on a pound-per-pound basis and apparently the only one in the original Diablo II (not Lord Of Destruction), who is able to dual-wield one-handed weapons. In the other 2 skill trees, points are spent on the most popular/effect skills such as lightning strike, multiple shot, etc., bypassing all other skills by donating 1 skill point to each prerequisite. These builds generally concentrate on passive skills trees that improve preparation and defence.

One of the more popular amazon builds is the bowazon/javazon in the expansion which allows the characters to equip 2 sets of weapons. Amazons have fairly effective crowd control skills, mostly stemming from the "Multiple Shot" skill, which splits a single arrow or bolt show into multiple, all heading in the same direction. Extremely useful in PvP but often despised when used. So, it turns around 180 degrees and goes through the same enemy again and does this many times, effectively tripling or quadrupling one shot.

Under normal circumstances the arrow will continue forward in its path, but because of the auto-seeking nature of this skill, it targets the nearest enemy - which is the one it has just penetrated. When the arrow penetrates the enemy, it does not disappear but instead goes through its body. When coupled with another skill that automatically seeks out the enemy (similar to a homing/guided missile), it became very deadly. A passive skill in her skill tree allows her a percentage chance to fire arrows straight through their targets (higher the skill, higher the percentage; tops near 35 percent).

Amazons became popular in the earlier days due to a exploit in the game. The most popular weapons for this character are: Windforce (a legendary, ultra-elite, ultra-rare item once considered to be the most expensive item in the game, Lord Of Destruction only), Buriza Ballista (A crossbow; though an elite item, it is very easy to find or obtain with some trading) and Titan's Revenge (main weapon for amazons, this is because an amazon skill allows it to deal massive damage). Amazon is one of the more popular classes in Diablo II. The Amazon can use skills from the Javelin & Spear, Passive & Magic, and Bow & Crossbow skill trees.

The Amazon is different in that she can also use javelins and spears adeptly. The Amazon is most similar to the Rogue of Diablo: both are primarily associated with bows and crossbows, and both are middle points between pure strength and pure magic. Her skills are oriented around personal (generally passive) protective abilities, the use of a bow and arrow (whose abilities are linked with the elements of fire and ice), as well as the spear and javelin (whose abilities are linked with the elements of lightning and poison). While the Barbarian relies on brute strength and weapon skills, and the Paladin on auras and other special abilities, many of the Amazon's abilities require far more attention.

The Amazon is an "active skill"-oriented fighter. The third brother, Baal, is encountered in Act 5, which is added by the Diablo II: Lord of Destruction expansion pack. The rest of the story is revealed through the four acts, as the player eventually confronts Diablo and his brother Mephisto. The player plays a character in the wake of the destruction, following the Dark Wanderer, hoping to halt him.

He is compelled to follow the Wanderer for reasons he himself does not understand. In the opening scene of Diablo II, Marius, the narrator of the story, witnesses the hero (known as the Dark Wanderer) totally lose control, unleashing the demons of hell upon a tavern. Before long, Diablo is more in control than the hero. However, the hero is rapidly corrupted by Diablo and quickly begins to lose control.

The hero then takes Diablo's soulstone (a device that is used to bind the soul of any demon or angel) and puts it into his own body, hoping to contain his soul for all eternity. At the end of Diablo, Diablo, the Lord of Terror, was defeated. The story of Diablo II takes place soon after the end of the original Diablo. Monsters, PvM), groups of players with specific sets of complementary skills can finish some of the game's climactic battles in a matter of seconds, providing strong incentives for party-oriented character builds.

As the game can be played cooperatively (Players vs. These players are often called Pkers (Player Killers) by the Battle.Net community. random assaults of other players) led to a community of certain PvPers finding ways to interfere with other high-level parties, or repetitively wipe out low-level players. PvP play outside the framework of duels (i.e.

player (PvP) combat, rewarding victors with piles of gold and the severed ear of their enemy. As an added dimension, Diablo II allows players to engage in competitive player vs. Completion of the game on one difficulty level allows progression to the next. However, advanced equipment ("exceptional" and "elite" items) is available only in the higher difficulty levels.

For example, in the Hell level of difficulty, every monster encountered is immune to one or more elements, and therefore unaffected by a certain type of damage such as cold, fire, lightning, poison, physical or magical damage. On the second and third, monsters deal more damage and are generally harder to defeat. In addition to the four/five acts there are also three difficulty levels: Normal, Nightmare and Hell. Each act culminates with the destruction of a boss type monster.

Each act follows a predetermined path with preselected quests, although most of the maps themselves are randomly generated, in single player mode, the map is randomly generated but sticks to the setting thereafter, in multiplayer mode, it resets each time you restart. The Diablo II storyline is played through four acts, five with Lord of Destruction. The Diablo II expansion pack, Lord of Destruction, adds two new classes: the Druid and Assassin. Each character has different strengths and weaknesses and sets of skills to choose from.

Classic Diablo II allows the player to choose between five different characters; Necromancer, Amazon, Barbarian, Sorceress and Paladin. While fairly old for today's standards, the game continues to be one of the world's most played online games. Diablo II was a runaway success for Blizzard, and still is. The game uses an isometric oblique top-down viewpoint.

The differences between Diablo II and a regular RPG is the greater emphasis on combat in Diablo II and the large amount of randomness in monster properties, level layouts and item drops. Players pick one of five heroes (seven with the Lord of Destruction expansion pack) and fight monsters to level up their character and gain better items. Diablo II is an action-RPG released in July 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment. .

An expansion to Diablo II, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, was released in 2001, and is now at version 1.11b. It has also become the 9th best selling computer game and number one best selling RPG for the PC, selling around four million copies. Diablo II may be played as a single player game, multi-player via a LAN or serverless TCP/IP, or multi-player via Battle.net, with the latter being the most popular. Major factors that contributed to Diablo II's success include what fans found to be addictive hack and slash gameplay and free access to Battle.net.

By 2001, Diablo II had become one of the most popular online games ever. Diablo II was developed by Blizzard North. It was released for both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS in 2000 by Blizzard Entertainment. Diablo II, sequel to the popular Diablo, is an action-oriented adventure with role-playing game elements in a hack and slash or "Dungeon Roaming" style.

The Halls of Vaught = Fredrick Vaught. Schaefer's Mallet = Erich/Max Schaefer. Civerb's set = surnames of David Brevik and Peter Brevik, spelled backwards (and replacing the 'k' with a 'c'). Shenk the Overseer = Phil Shenk.

Lord de Seis = Rick Seis. Colenzo the Annihilator = Karin Colenzo. Skewer (of) Krinitz = Kris Renkewitz. Rixot’s Keen = Erik Sexton.

Rusthandle = (Mark) Sutherland. Bverrit Keep = Peter Brevik. (The) Mahim-Oak Curio = Michio Okamura. Nokozan Relic = Karin Colenzo.

Items left on the ground disappear after around 10 minutes, even if a character remains near them. Players now have a specified trading system, instead of just dropping items onto the ground for others. Players also cannot go hostile/duel with other players below level 9. If a user turns hostile toward you, or makes him/herself able to attack you instead of enemies, they MUST be in town and you will be made aware.

In the multi-player version you cannot be randomly "PK"ed (Player Killed) by another user without warning. It was, somehow, replaced by Cold damage and Poison damage, however several necromancer "bone" skills, paladin and barbarian skills do use Magical attacks. Although Magical damage still exists, it can no longer be resisted with the use of items. Inclusion of monster health and experience indicating meters.

Stashes in towns to store items, as opposed to leaving items in town's grounds. Simplified, icon based store system, replacing the text based system. Increases in the average amount of monster, player and item attributes. Bows and missile weapons now require arrows to fire.

Monsters can now be attacked as long as the mouse buttons are held. Inclusion of running and stamina system. Monsters now respawn after saving. Ability to use "Alt" key to list items on ground by marking them with text above them.

Games can now by replayed after seeing the ending. More types of random items, with the prefix-and-suffix system of Diablo extended to groups of attributes in the case of rare items. Items now cannot be destroyed by losing all durability. Quest rewards are now randomized, no more set rewards.

Overlapping quests were removed, now everyone receives the same quests. The waypoint system to teleport between explored levels and acts. More types of items and new item slots, such as belts. Only the owner of the body can reclaim the items stored in the body.

When a character dies, all items being worn that will not fit into that characters inventory at the time of death, is stored in a body. Players now respawn after dying, but with penalties. Removal of 'save anywhere' feature, monsters and ground items reset after saving. Removal of almost all spell scrolls, leaving only identify and town portal scrolls.

Removal of many potions, especially skill increase potions. Removal of spell books and ability to learn spells, replaced by skills tree, an innovation from designer Hedlund that has become part of the language of the genre. Shields: Attacker takes damage of 20. Helms/Armor: Regenerate mana 19%, replenish life +5.

Weapons: 4% life leech, 3% mana leech. Shields: 19 to all resistences. Helms/Armor: +100 to attack rating. Weapons: 68% increased damage to undead.

Sheields: 40 to defense. Helms/Armor: 10 to strength. Weapons: 150 to attack rating. Shields: 40% lightning resist.

Helms/Armor: 24% to magic find. Weapons: 1-40 Lightning damage. Shields: 40% poison resist. Helms/Armor: 10 to dexterity.

Weapons: 100 poison damage over 7 seconds. Shields: 40% fire resist. Helms/Armor: 38 to life. Weapons: 1-40 Fire damage.

Shields: 40% cold resist. Helms/Armor: 38 to mana. Weapons: 1-40 Cold damage (slows enemies).