Difficulty

Diablo II Notation Basic Class Skill Item Ally Quest Area Monster Tale Classic Expansion Resurrected Patch Multiplayer Single Player Hardcore Ladder Difficulty New characters always start in Normal difficulty: Nightmare difficulty can only be played by each character after that character has completed Normal, and Hell difficulty can only be played after completing Nightmare. Prior to patch 1.13 it was necessary to complete Normal with at least one character to access Hardcore mode. This is no longer the case. After completing Normal, only Nightmare games will be displayed on the games list for Realm characters; after completing Nightmare, only Hell games will be displayed. However, Normal and Nightmare games can still be created, and games in any difficulty level can be joined by typing the game name. Different titles are awarded for completing each difficulty level, depending on game mode: Game Title Normal Hardcore Normal Nightmare Hell Normal Nightmare Hell Expansion Male Slayer Champion Patriarch Destroyer Conqueror Guardian Female Slayer Champion Matriarch Destroyer Conqueror Guardian Classic Male Sir Lord Baron Count Duke King Female Dame Lady Baroness Countess Duchess Queen Difficulty levels are completed by defeating Baal in Act 5 of Expansion games, and by defeating Diablo in Act 4 of Classic games. Basic Stat Normal Nightmare Hell Freeze length and cold length 1 1 1/2 1/4 Life Stolen and Mana Stolen 1 1 1/2 1/3 Experience loss upon death 2 0 5% 10% 1 Player and mercenary only 2 Percentage of difference between minimum experience required for current level and next level. Players cannot lose a level. Resistance penalty for player and mercenary is -40 in Nightmare and -100 in Hell (-20 and -50 respectively in Classic). This applies to the following: Fire Resist Lightning Resist Cold Resist Poison Resist Poison Length Reduced Mana damage [1] Stamina damage [2] Skill Static Field cannot continue to be cast on targets with <= 33% life in Nightmare and <= 50% life in Hell (this only applies to Expansion, not Classic). Curses altering AI have duration reduced by 1/2 in Nightmare and 1/4 in Hell. This only applies to the following: Dim Vision (including Hit Blinds Target) Terror (not displayed by skill description) Confuse Attract Item Better chance of magic, rare, set and unique items dropping in Nightmare and Hell. Exceptional item types can drop in late Normal, while Elite item types can drop in late Nightmare. Stat Normal Nightmare Hell Exceptional drop chance (normal) 10 20 Exceptional drop chance (special) 20 40 Maximum sockets 1 3 4 6 1 Only applies to items which are already socketed, not items which can be socketed. 30% chance of Elite item types being dropped by normal monsters in Hell, increasing to 40% for special monsters. [3] Ally Townspeople sell some different armor and weapons. They can also sell Exceptional item types in Nightmare and Exceptional and Elite item types in Hell. Pet stats can increase in Nightmare and Hell. Stat Normal Nightmare Hell Pet skill level +0 +3 +7 Freeze length and cold length 1 1 1/2 1/4 Life Stolen and Mana Stolen 1 1 1/2 1/3 1 Mercenary only Mercenaries hired in Nightmare have lower stats than those hired in Normal, while those hired in Hell have lower stats than those hired in Nightmare. Resistance penalty for mercenary is -40 in Nightmare and -100 in Hell (-20 and -50 respectively in Classic). This applies to the following: Fire Resist Lightning Resist Cold Resist Poison Resist Poison Length Reduced Stat Normal Nightmare Hell Mercenary damage vs Prime Evils 50% 35% 25% Percentage also applies to percentage Life Stolen: for mercenary attacking Prime Evil in Hell, <4% is reduced to 0%, 4-7% is reduced to 1% and so on. [4] Barbarian allies in Act 5 have reduced life. [5] Quest Stat Normal Nightmare Hell The Search for Cain reward Ilvl 07 Ring Ilvl 30 Ring Ilvl 60 Ring Blade of the Old Religion reward Ilvl 21 Ring Ilvl 35 Ring Ilvl 75 Ring In Expansion games, level < 20 characters cannot complete the Rite of Passage quest in Normal, and thus cannot complete Normal: for the same reason, level < 40 characters cannot complete Nightmare and level < 60 characters cannot complete Hell. Unhelpfully, the quest log does not reveal this until the Ancients have already been defeated once (although the level requirements are mentioned in the patch notes for 1.08). This does not apply to Classic, since there is no Act 5. Area Area levels increase in Nightmare and Hell, as does size for some areas: Crypt Mausoleum Tower Cellar Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 Durance of Hate Level 1 and 2 Monster Monster level, defense, attack rating, life, damage, experience, resistance and chance of blocking can all increase in Nightmare and Hell. Drain effectiveness and chill effectiveness can decrease in Nightmare and Hell. AI improves in Nightmare and Hell: decision making can be quicker, and special abilities can be used more frequently. Monster Stat Normal Nightmare Hell Skill level +0 +3 +7 Champion % Base life 300 250 200 +% Attack Rating 67 56 49 +% Damage 1 90 75 66 Possessed % Base life 600 500 400 Berserker % Base life 75 62.5 50 +% Attack Rating 270 225 198 +% Damage 1 270 225 198 Unique bonuses 1 2 3 Extra Strong +% Attack Rating 90 75 66 +% Damage 1 135 112 99 Minion +% Attack Rating 45 37 33 +% Damage 1 67 56 49 Super Unique and boss 2 bonuses +0 +1 +2 1 +% Damage is halved then rounded down when applied to melee physical damage of Champion and Unique Willowisps and their minions due to a now undocumented change in 1.13. [6] [7] [8] 2 Only applies to Griswold, Radament and Nihlathak. Minions of Unique and Super Unique monsters with the following bonuses have damage of the relevant type added to their attacks in Nightmare and Hell: Cold Enchanted Fire Enchanted Lightning Enchanted Mana Burn Poison Enchanted The explosions of Fire Enchanted Unique monsters and dying Bone Fetishes apply a reduced percentage of base life as damage in Nightmare and Hell. However, since base life increases in Nightmare and Hell this normally still results in them applying more damage in absolute terms (just not as much as they would if percentages weren't reduced). [9] [10] [11] [12] Number of random Champion and Unique monsters in each area increases in Nightmare and Hell. Population in Act 5 areas is more random in Nightmare and Hell: monsters are selected from a larger pool which includes monster types from earlier Acts. Reference Difficulty Levels (Arreat Summit) 1.13 LIVE -- LADDER RESET (General Diablo II Discussion) 1.13b PTR is Live (General Diablo II Discussion) Patch 1.13 Realm is alive (Technical Discussion) Energy Shield, Damage Taken Goes To Mana, Mana Burn (Technical Discussion) Rounding Down Leech (Technical Discussion) Nefarius, Monster Death Damage (Phrozen Keep) Onderduiker, Monster Bonuses, Death Damage and Corpse Explosion (Technical Discussion)