Diablo 2 Shareware

[fearedbliss]

Welcome to the forum @Snowden. Hopefully you don’t need to be on a VPN to visit us.

 

[Erayz]

So I reached level 13. Now the only monsters still giving more than 1 XP are:

• Gargantuan Beasts (2)
• Hungry Deads (2)
• Dark Ranger (12)
• Unique monsters
• Blood Raven

I found one unique item and one set item on the way there. And also got my first perfect gem from shrines Does anyone know where I can find the actual stats for gems in those versions? I know the bonuses were randomized pre-1.05, but couldn't find the info about the actual bonuses from gems.

I'm still trying to save gold for gambling, but it's really hard to come up with gold. I still haven't figured out the best strategy. I don't want to waste too much time killing 1XP monsters, plus killing them uses up weapon durability which increases my "expenses" lol.

Since the available part of the game is so low level, I decided to go with an all strength build, with all points in sword mastery. I use two Short Swords with IAS and gloves with IAS. This way I can kill most monsters in one hit with very fast swing speed. My boots have FR/W. I have one ring giving 49% Extra gold from monsters. I should have maybe put some points in vitality just to not run out of stamina, but I can still manage by using wells and shrines I come across.

To go from level 12 to 13, I was killing the unique monster that spawned near the cold plains WP, then Bishibosh, the two uniques in the Caves level 1 and 2, the Dark Rangers, Cold Crow, Blood Raven, then finishing with the Uniques/champions (including Bone Breaker) in the Crypt + Mausoleum.

Now at level 13, I'm debating continuing these runs vs doing just Blood Raven + Crypt + Mausoleum. The runs described above now give me about 1000 XP at level 13. Don't remember how much they gave me at 12.

 

[thrasher_565]

think is kinda like this might not be the same dont no.
http://www.battle.net/diablo2/items/socketable.shtml
https://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/basics/levels.shtml there a list of xp
think the play is find a good seed that drops good amount of gold from item drop or mf i guess. gamble for 2 gull, 2p topaz helm.
for levelling you hit a wall fast

for gear hmm
TarnhelmSkull Cap hard to beat mf
Blinkbat's FormLeather Armor faster run walk
TwitchthroeStudded Leather attack speed
Silks of the VictorAncient Armor or Berserker's Hauberk
Chance GuardsChain Gloves mf
blood gloves attack speed
The GnasherHand Axe off hand? or Rixot's KeenShort Sword
Treads of CthonChain Bo think Vidala's Fetlock is faster? or that stamina thow...
GoldwrapHeavy Beltots mf attack speed
Stone of JordanRing
NagelringRing
The Eye of EtlichAmulet 1skill barb ammy with another sufix?
AzurewrathCrystal Sword more killing speed over gull
BonesnapMaul would be kinda sick...
for signal hand weapon don't no...guess depends on how much str and dex you get...
kinda hard to beat a 3 soc weapon with 3 p emeralds in it thow

could do a attackers take dame build. or max str build. jsut need to one shoot blood raven.

if you can get rare items then who knows end less i guess. gold find would be good.

mana per kill works good in off and for mana problems.

you might not be able to gamble all the items i dont really no unless the demo is un caped. think in lod was caped at level 14 i think.

looks like blood raven has 113 hphttps://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Blood_Raven

 

[Erayz]

I was too lazy to search on the Wayback Machine for information about items for pre-lod versions. Especially gems, since their stats changed multiple times over the patches. Then I remembered I had the official Diablo 2 strategy guide stored in an old box at home. The Strategy Guide is based on version 1.03.

Here's the information about gems for 1.00 to 1.04, you'll notice there are ranges for almost every bonus. Gems are also generally very weak compared to more modern versions

Rubies:

	Weapon	Shield	Helm
Chipped	3-4 Fire damage	10-12% Fire Resist	6-8 Life
Flawed	3-5 Fire damage	13-16% Fire Resist	9-11 Life
Normal	4-5 Fire damage	17-20% Fire Resist	12-15 Life
Flawless	5-6 Fire damage	21-25% Fire Resist	16-20 Life
Perfect	6-10 Fire damage	26-30% Fire Resist	21-25 Life

Sapphires:

	Weapon	Shield	Helm
Chipped	1-3 Cold damage (1 sec)	10-12% Cold Resist	6-8 Mana
Flawed	2-3 Cold damage (1.5 sec)	13-16% Cold Resist	9-11 Mana
Normal	2-4 Cold damage (2 sec)	17-20% Cold Resist	12-15 Mana
Flawless	3-5 Cold damage (2.5 sec)	21-25% Cold Resist	16-20 Mana
Perfect	3-7 Cold damage (3 sec)	26-30% Cold Resist	21-25 Mana

Topazes:

	Weapon	Shield	Helm
Chipped	1-6 Lightning damage	10-12% Lightning Resist	7-9% MF
Flawed	1-7 Lightning damage	13-16% Lightning Resist	11-13% MF
Normal	1-8 Lightning damage	17-20% Lightning Resist	14-17% MF
Flawless	1-10 Lightning damage	21-25% Lightning Resist	18-20% MF
Perfect	1-15 Lightning damage	26-30% Lightning Resist	21-25% MF

Emeralds:

	Weapon	Shield	Helm
Chipped	2 Poison damage (3 sec)	10-12% Poison Resist	3 Dexterity
Flawed	3 Poison damage (3 sec)	13-16% Poison Resist	4 Dexterity
Normal	4 Poison damage (3 sec)	17-20% Poison Resist	5-6 Dexterity
Flawless	4 Poison damage (3 sec)	21-25% Poison Resist	7-8 Dexterity
Perfect	5 Poison damage (3 sec)	26-30% Poison Resist	9-10 Dexterity

Amethysts:

	Weapon	Shield	Helm
Chipped	15-19 Attack Rating	5-6 Defense	3 Strength
Flawed	20-29 Attack Rating	7-8 Defense	4 Strength
Normal	30-39 Attack Rating	9-10 Defense	5-6 Strength
Flawless	40-49 Attack Rating	11-13 Defense	7-8 Strength
Perfect	50-60 Attack Rating	15-17 Defense	9-10 Strength

Diamonds:

	Weapon	Shield	Helm
Chipped	125-129% Damage to Undeads	5-6% All Resists	10 Attack Rating
Flawed	130-135% Damage to Undeads	7-8% All Resists	15 Attack Rating
Normal	136-145% Damage to Undeads	9-11% All Resists	20 Attack Rating
Flawless	146-155% Damage to Undeads	12-15% All Resists	25 Attack Rating
Perfect	156-170% Damage to Undeads	16-20% All Resists	30 Attack Rating

Skulls:

	Weapon	Shield	Helm
Chipped	2% Life Stolen, 1% Mana Stolen	Attacker takes 2 damage	Replenish Life +2, 8% Mana Regen
Flawed	2% Life Stolen, 2% Mana Stolen	Attacker takes 3 damage	Replenish Life +3, 8% Mana Regen
Normal	3% Life Stolen, 2% Mana Stolen	Attacker takes 4 damage	Replenish Life +3, 12% Mana Regen
Flawless	3% Life Stolen, 3% Mana Stolen	Attacker takes 5 damage	Replenish Life +4, 12% Mana Regen
Perfect	4% Life Stolen, 3% Mana Stolen	Attacker takes 6-7 damage	Replenish Life +4-5, 16-20% Mana Regen

 

[fearedbliss]

Our knowledge continues to grow, together!

 

[Erayz]

Now I'll have to find the levels at which we can gamble each base item. I saw a thread on Reddit of a guy gambling a Maul in the Shareware. However, the tables I see online says mauls are gamblable only from level 21 onwards. I doubt anyone made it to level 21 in the Shareware (other than hacking).

Unfortunately the Official strategy guide doesn't say a word about Gambling.

 

[Erayz]

So I reached level 14. Now I do Blood Raven runs, only killing uniques on the way there and popping chests, rocks and corpses on the way there. Luckily, on my seed there is a shrine that is often an Experience Shrine on the way to the Burial Grounds.

At level 13, Cold Crow gives more XP (218) than Blood Raven (183). At level 14, Cold Crow drops to 167 and Blood Raven now gives 181. At this point if Cold Crow Spawns significantly closer to the Cold Plains Waypoint, you are better off running her. But on my seed, Cold Crow takes about 20 seconds more to reach, so Blood Raven is better XP/hour.

It will be a bit of a grind to 15, but nothing unreasonable. Blood Raven now gives 181 xp (without XP Shrine). Now my stash's gold is maxed. I plan on starting gambling once I'm full on my character as well. Then I'll gamble for a Tarnhelm for the Extra Gold, and Blinkbat for the Fast run/walk, and then probably boots if "Faster" run/walk can spawn to replace my "Fast" boots. After that, I guess the goal will be to get more %Extra Gold from monsters on other slots.

I decided to put my 5 points in Dexterity this time, just to be able to wield Sabres, because I found two 100% identical Sabres, which were an upgrade form my old Short Swords.

I also noticed that there is a rock, which if it spawns on the right spot, will always drop a rare Buckler. That rare Buckler always spawns with the same exact stats and sells for 226 gold, I'll have to check if repairing it will increase my profits from selling it lol:

 

[thrasher_565]

you can get +9 max damge on a weapon so far i seen at level 13 shoping. with some ed.

https://www.purediablo.com/forums/t...-2-a-guide-to-pre-lod-versions.840/post-35822
found the post of the classic gems chart post #16

 

[Erayz]

I found a Reddit thread where someone went all the way up to level 20. He managed to gamble multiple unique items, including Bonesnap and Raven Claw.

What's interesting about Raven Claw, is that it is the only way to use a skill that is not a Level 1 Barbarian skill, since the bow shoots Explosive Arrows.

Apparently, Blood Raven gives only 43 Experience at level 19. At level 20, this number drops to 9. At this point Unique Dark Rangers become once again the best XP source, giving a whopping 13 XP.

The guy who did this is way smarter and patient than me, he actually re-rolled characters until getting a seed with a short run to Blood Raven, and a Cave with multiple spawns of Unique Dark Rangers, on top of having the sparkly chest close to the entrance in the Crypt. I don't know if there is another way to change the seed without creating a new character in the Shareware.

 

[fearedbliss]

Not legitimately. If no switching difficulty and LAN available, only other way I can think of is to change the seed value in the character file itself with a hex editor, delete the map file (prolly not needed but cleans things up), and then let the game generate the map using its new seed.