|
|
- 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
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:
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:
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.
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:
| 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
- 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:
Monster
| 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:
- 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
|