Jarulf’s Guide to Diablo and Hellfire

This guide is based on version 1.63 of Jarulf’s Guide, written by Pedro Faria / Jarulf in the 1990s. It has been resurrected here to be used as a modern reference for the Theodore's lair, and to update any omissions or errors. If you notice any errors or omissions, please feel free to submit your edits on gitlab.

The original Introduction and changelog chapters are still included for historical reference, but will be left unmodified.

1 Introduction

This guide is a compilation of all the data I have collected about Diablo and Hellfire during the many years of playing those games. It has virtually no tactics or strategy but instead contains a wealth of numerical data and formulas for many aspects of the game. As far as possible all data and information has been either collected by me or otherwise verified by me. Of course, some information is very hard to verify or check.

Some things have been changed in Hellfire over Diablo and I have tried to note that. Apart from that I have tried to merge the new Hellfire data into old Diablo data, either by having separate tables or by appending the Hellfire data at the end of each table. In the latter case they are separated by a thicker line. I don’t think there will be any problem distinguishing the Hellfire data from the Diablo data. If no specific data or information is given for Hellfire, it can be assumed to be like in Diablo.

Feel free to use this guide personally in any way you want. If you want to give it away to anyone or make it available for others in any way, feel free to do so as long as you don’t charge anything for it or use it commercially in any way. And, please don’t change, remove or add anything in it.

Since the formatting of a Word document varies with different printers, it may take some personal formatting to fix things such as the positions of page breaks and line breaks in the tables. There is nothing I can do about it, but I have tried to make it as self-formatting as possible. Feel free to change any formatting you decide is needed for your own personal use. You may, for example, want to increase the size of the text for easier reading; the default setting is quite small to keep the size of the document down. I have used templates and other formatting tools to a large extent in the guide, so it should be easy for anyone to do the necessary changes. If this happens to be a copy in pdf or html format, the above problems will, of course, not exist.

Also note that due to the size of the document and the numerous tables in it, it may, especially on slower computers, take quite a while for Word to open the document. So please have patience when you open it!

1.1 Patches for Diablo and Hellfire

The latest patches are 1.09 for Diablo and 1.01 for Hellfire. The Playstation version of Diablo should be almost identical to the 1.04 version except that you can’t play on Battle.net. Unless otherwise stated, all information is true for those versions only. If you want a list of fixes for those patches, look in the file update.txt in your Diablo folder and patch.txt in your Hellfire folder. As far as I know all information in this guide should be equally true for the PC, Macintosh, and Playstation versions. If not, I would very much like to hear about it. Hellfire only exists for the PC.

Hellfire was mainly based on the 1.04 version of Diablo although it has had its own fixes, changes, and tweaks made to it. Unfortunately it only got patched once for various reasons. Thus, some bugs fixed in later Diablo patches never made it into the Hellfire patch. There still exists quite a lot of mostly minor bugs in Diablo and Hellfire. Most of them do not affect the game play to much though and are probably very hard to spot unless you have played for quite some time or are told about them.

This guide is written for the latest versions (as given above) only. Thus if you play an older version, information in this guide may not be correct. In some cases I have referred to how it used to be in earlier versions when it may be of importance. In some cases I also refer to existing bugs if it may have an effect on the information presented in this Guide, but normally bugs are not covered. This Guide does in no way cover the demo or spawned version (actually the same as the demo) of the game. Although the Guide covers Battle.net chat, channels and other similar aspects, it will usually not be updated to cover changes done specifically to Battle.net either due to other games or due to general enhancements or changes that are not specific for the game of Diablo. It would not be possible to keep this Guide updated due to such changes by other games. As such, the chapter about Battle.net (chapter 9), will in many cases be outdated.

1.2 Hidden quests and characters in Hellfire

There are some hidden Easter Eggs in Hellfire. To activate them, you must create a text file named command.txt in your Hellfire folder. In the text file you put the following line:

cowquest; theoquest; bardtest; barbariantest; nestart;

Note that the Barbarian is only available if you have Hellfire 1.01 or later. In version 1.00 of Hellfire, you could also add multitest for the option to play multi player games over modem, direct cable, or IPX. That option is disabled in version 1.01. To play multi player in version 1.01 of Hellfire, obtaining a hacked hellfrui.dll is the only solution I am aware of. Use it at your own risk and note that multi player is not supported by Sierra. The nestart command simply sets a specific palette when playing in the Hive. Otherwise, the palette is chosen randomly as normal.

1.3 General remarks

There are a few general things about the guide that can be good to know when you read it. Below are summarized such general remarks that are valid for the whole guide but never explicitly mentioned anywhere else.

• All prices in this guide are buying prices, that is, the price that you would have to pay for an item. Some items can’t be bought, like unique items, elixirs of Vitality, and oils. The prices of those items are still listed as buying prices, however. Note that although items from Wirt initially have a value 50% higher than Griswold’s price (75% of Griswold’s price in Hellfire), they will have the normal Griswold price when you restart a new game and give away the item.

• When doing calculations, you should generally round down any number you get, as that is the way Diablo and Hellfire works. However, life, mana, HP, and damage are actually kept track of with higher precision than shown and should not be rounded down. If you are supposed to round down within a formula, that will usually be indicated by [ ].

• The term clubs in this guide refers collectively to all blunt weapons including club, spiked club, mace, morning star, flail, war hammer and maul.

• Unless otherwise stated, the Hive dungeon levels are numbered 9-12, the same as Caves. The Crypt is numbered 13-16, the same as Hell.

• Monsters have Hit Points (HP) while players have life. For most purposes there is no difference between HP and life though.

• At times, the guide will refer to ”a turn”. Obviously Diablo and Hellfire are not turned based. Never the less, the games work at about 20 ”frames” per second. That is, each 0.05 second, the game will go through all the characters, monsters, spells, and such, and update them. This is what is meant by turn in this guide. As a consequence of the rate the games are updated, there is nothing in the game that can take less than 0.05 seconds and all times are evenly divisible by 0.05.

• Frequently a range of values are given. This is done in two different ways: x - y or x to y, where x and y can either be a number or some formula. Both cases are identical and the latter is usually used to avoid any confusion with interpreting the hyphen as a minus sign. Unless otherwise stated the game will pick a value within the range at random and all values have the same probability.

• North is defined as upwards on your own screen. That will be sort of diagonally compared to the general dungeon layout. One can then note that there are 8 different directions in which one can walk, turn, attack and so on in the game (the actual spells can travel in more directions but you cast them facing one of the 8 directions). When talking about directions in this Guide, it will use the above definition.

• The dungeon basically consists of square locations where each square can typically contain only one monster, player or other object. In the guide, unfortunately, the terminology used for those squares includes terms such as location, tile and square. They should all be read and understood to be the same thing.

1.4 Abbreviations

Throughout this guide some common abbreviations are used. They are summarized below.

1.5 Acknowledgment

There are a few persons without whose help this guide would never have been what it is and I would like to take the opportunity to thank them here. Most grateful I am to Peter J. Hradilek (Da O’Toth) who has helped me with filling in some missing gaps and has also been a great help with lots of overall suggestions and ideas about this guide. I would also like to thank Bolty, who has provided some great proofreading help with some earlier versions; Warren Smith Jr. and Tolitz Rosel (The Azian Wolf) provided extensive help with the initial version by reading through and finding all those small errors that always slip through, and having good overall suggestions. Crystalion [Snakegod] has helped me by sorting out errors and has been a good help in many areas. Other contributors are Bostic, Ironbeard, Jens Baumann (Varaya), Sourceror, Nils Petersson (concre+e), Gyrefalcon, Disen Abella (LaRouge) and Martin Reich (Khan).

I would also like to thank Robert Seger, Tom Sosnowski, Karsten Hess, Alex Owens, Paul Watts, t’kron, Gabriel Oak, Belgarath, Dalai Lama, Christian (Cormac), Hibiki Sakuru, moe SAINT EverGreen, Claudio Giannini (Cathrin[BWO]), Booga, Bill Quirk, Moriah, Walter Puller, Zakarun, Charlie, Jerome Waters, Marcus Malden, Alvin J. Boning Jr., Mithrandir(COD), Aaron Burnell, Wolfspirit, Stu, PKRankin, Henk Morren, Tanja[BWO], Olivier Flipo, Dr. Zed, Tommi Helminen, Don Bush, Rand’al, MMAgCh, Coleby Pavlik, Gregarious_Zinn, HowGozit, Heiko Klein, Tom O’Shea, M., Jan Willem Helderman, Vlad Rostovsky, Meshuggah, Chinh Tran, Keith Costorf, Renè Naustvik Åsen, Rhydderch Hael, Msalcoryp, Zamal, SoulEdge, CebeWee, Layil, Jason Redmond, Maurice van Mil, Jim Thompson (Ji'Dath), Waikano, Matt Brown (Eli), Queto Yurlunyur, Regna, FoxBat, Virgil Tibbs, LemmingofGlory, Duong Nguyen (KiLLorD) and a few unmentioned persons (you know who you are, thanks). The final ”thank you” goes to Desslock and his guide. It was that guide that inspired me to do my own. Without it, I would probably never have done this one. Ah, and big thanks to Blizzard and Synergistic at Sierra for making two such great games.

Remember that without the help of others, this guide would never be what it is today. I would thus like to take the opportunity to say thanks to all of you that have written to me just to say that you liked the guide, or generally encouraged me. Such mail is what really makes it worth all the effort, time and hard work. Also many thanks to all people at Blizzard’s Diablo Strategy Forum, Sierra’s RPG Message Board and the alt.games.diablo news group. I could not have done it without you!

1.6 New in this version

As there are always more things to add and errors to correct, I must at some time decide when to release an update. I feel I have added enough new information to justify a new version. I will, however, continue to add, correct and update it, so please feel free to send me mails about it.

Things that have been added or changed substantially in 1.60/1.61/1.62/1.63 over previous version:

• Added a massive chapter detailing information about the monster AI scripts and other related information.

• The list of people acknowledged has been updated.

• Updates and corrections to chapter about experience points.

• Added information about character naming.

• Updated the repair and recharge costs.

• Rewrote the item price calculation chapter some.

• Corrected some errors and expanded information about prefix and suffix selection.

• Corrections regarding item creation for staves.

• Added probabilities for unique items being found.

• Updated and corrected information about some spells including Chain Lightning, Mana Shield, Telekinesis, Flame Wave, Fire Wall, Lightning Wall and Ring of Fire (both in spell chapter and in battle chapter).

• Removed all information regarding distance for spells as it does not apply.

• Some added information about traps.

• Corrected information about monster hit point regeneration.

• Added information about second attacks for many monsters, including timing information.

• Some additional information about the Skeleton King and the Skeleton King quest.

• Corrected some resistances and immunities for unique and special monsters.

• Added information about what and how monsters and players are targetable, especially in reference to walking.

• Updated the command section for Battle.net.

• Added information about channels on Battle.net.

• Small corrections and additions all over the guide.

Things that have been added or changed in 1.61:

This list contain all changes between 1.60 and 1.61. Some changes, this page for example, may change the page breaks of the Guide and thus push/pull pages forward or backwards but mostly one should be able to just print the selected pages where changes were made.

• Updated the front page.

• Updated the Index.

• Changed chapter 1.1 to acknowledge the latest patch for Diablo, v1.08.

• Added some information to chapter 1.1.

• Added one more general remark to chapter 1.3.

• Added to and corrected the list of acknowledged people in chapter 1.5.

• Added information about what is new in this update to chapter 1.6.

• Added link about target location under Hit recovery in chapter 2.2.1.

• Added footnote about Armor Class to table about +% Armor Class in chapter 3.4 and chapter 3.13.5.

• Added small clarification in chapter 3.5.

• Corrected information about tables in chapter 3.11.

• Added note to Bone Spirit in chapter 4.1.3.

• Corrected and clarified the tables of tables in chapter 4.1.5.

• Changed text about unknown information (as it is actually know and explained in the guide) in chapter 5.3.4 under Hit recovery time.

• Removed erroneous information about Arch-Bishop Lazarus regarding Hit Recovery in chapter 5.3.4 under Hit recovery time and in footnote under table in chapter 5.4 and chapter 5.6.2 .

• Corrected the data for Deathshade Fleshmaul in chapter 5.4

• Small addition about Hidden attack type in chapter 5.5.2.

• Added small paragraph, about a change in walking in the latest patch, at the end of chapter 6.1.9.

• Added the missing parts of chapter 6.1.10.

• Corrected the footnote in chapter 8.3.8.

• Added information about command completion with the Tab key in chapter 9.2.

• Changed information about save files on PC computers in chapter 10.2 due to changes in 1.08 patch.

• Added reference to save files in chapter 10.4.

• Updated chapter 10.7.

• Some smaller layout changes at various places (does not in any way affect the content).

Things that have been added or changed in 1.62:

This list contain all changes between 1.61 and 1.62. Some changes, this page for example, may change the page breaks of the Guide and thus push/pull pages forward or backwards but mostly one should be able to just print the selected pages where changes were made.

• Updated the front page.

• Updated the Index.

• Added text about opening the document in Word in chapter 1.

• Changed chapter 1.1 to acknowledge the latest patch for Diablo, v1.09.

• Added to the list of acknowledged people in chapter 1.5.

• Clarified melee character damage and special ”weapon” damage for the Monk in chapter 2.2.2.

• Corrected the weapon speed for the Monk with just a shield in chapter 2.2.3.

• Small addition to the Resurrect spell in chapter 4.1.3.

• Corrected table in chapter 6.1.4.

• Removed text about a change only present in version 1.08 of the game in chapter 6.1.9.

• Added some text in chapter 9.

• Updated the channel list in chapter 9.1.

• Added some information about avoiding the end game movie in chapter 10.6.

• Small adjustments for the 1.09 patch in chapter 10.2.

• Updated chapter 10.7.

  Things that have been added or changed in 1.63:

  This list contain all changes between 1.62 and 1.63. Some changes, this page for example, may change the page breaks of the Guide and thus push/pull pages forward or backwards but mostly one should be able to just print the selected pages where changes were made.

• Updated the front page.

• Updated the Index.

• Removed mail info in chapter 1.

• Added some information regarding the Guide and Battle.net in chapter 1.1.

• Added to the list of acknowledged people in chapter 1.5.

• Corrected the Bard’s max mana in chapter 2.1.2.

• Corrected and updated information about the hit recovery bug in the table in chapter 2.2.1.

• Corrected the Barbarian’s max naked damage with staff in the table chapter 2.2.2.

• Added information about the hit recovery bug in chapter 3.4.

• Corrected information about the occurrence of Decapitated bodies in chapter 3.8.1.

• Added information about the hit recovery bug in chapter 3.13.5.

• Restructed the spell information tables in chapter 4.1.3, 4.1.4, 4.2.1 and 4.2.2.

• Corrected a typo about Lightning Wall in chapter 4.1.4.

• Added refference to chapter 5.5 in chapter 6.

• Updated the icon list in chapter 9.4.

• Updated chapter 10.7.

2 Characters

The most important character in the game is of course you. So this guide will start by giving information about the characters you can choose to play. The available characters are listed below.

Warrior: Available in Diablo and Hellfire.

Rogue: Available in Diablo and Hellfire.

Sorcerer: Available in Diablo and Hellfire.

Monk: Available in Hellfire.

Bard: Hidden test character available in Hellfire.

Barbarian: Hidden test character available in Hellfire, added in the 1.01 patch.

For information about how to activate the hidden characters, see chapter 1.2. Note that the Bard uses the same graphics as the Rogue and the Barbarian uses the same graphics as the Warrior.

2.1 Character stats

Each character in Diablo has a set of stats (or abilities) that greatly affect how well he or she performs. This chapter will explain how these stats affect your character, how they are calculated (which is not always obvious as the game often does not show the true values of the stats), and how they can be changed. For information about how items can modify the stats, see chapter 3. The stats have been grouped into basic stats (Strength, Magic, Dexterity, Vitality, Life and Mana) and other stats (Armor Class, To Hit, Damage and Resistance). The final stat, character level, is handled in chapter 2.6. One should be aware of the fact that the clvl of a character is in fact the most important stat of them all as it enters into the calculations of many of the other stats as can be seen in this chapter.

2.1.1 Starting stats

Each character class has its own starting values for the basic stats. They are listed below. Also listed are which stats are increased and by how much when you gain a level. Apart from those, you also gain 5 ”points” to distribute among your four main stats until they have reached their maximum value. Shrines and some monsters have the ability to alter your stats, too. See appropriate chapters for more information.

1 You don’t get any life or mana when gaining level 50.

2 The Barbarian also gets 1% resistance per level.

2.1.2 Maximum stats

When your stats turn golden they have reached their maximum value and can only be increased by wearing items that increases them further (life and mana never turn golden). The table below lists the maximum stats for each character class assuming a naked character. Note that you don’t get any life or mana when you gain level 50.

The table below also shows the maximum stats, but this time when equipped with items that give the maximum stat increase. Note that it is not possible to reach those maximum values all at once. When two numbers are given the first one belongs to Diablo and the second one to Hellfire. The reason for this is the use of four new unique rings only available in Hellfire. It does not take into account the possibility of the use of two new unique jewelry in Hellfire that move life to/from mana.

2.1.3 Life and mana

Life is based on vitality while mana is based on magic. To calculate how much life and mana you have, use the formulas listed below.

Life

Warrior: 2·Vit_character + 2·Vit_items + 2·clvl + Life_items + 18

Rogue: 1·Vit_character + 1.5·Vit_items + 2·clvl + Life_items + 23

Sorcerer: 1·Vit_character + 1·Vit_items + 1·clvl + Life_items + 9

Monk: 1·Vit_character + 1.5·Vit_items + 2·clvl + Life_items + 23

Bard: 1·Vit_character + 1.5·Vit_items + 2·clvl + Life_items + 23

Barbarian: 2·Vit_character + 2.5·Vit_items + 2·clvl + Life_items + 18

Mana

Warrior: 1·Mag_character + 1·Mag_items + 1·clvl + Mana_items - 1

Rogue: 1·Mag_character + 1.5·Mag_items + 2·clvl + Mana_items + 5

Sorcerer: 2·Mag_character + 2·Mag_items + 2·clvl + Mana_items - 2

Monk: 1·Mag_character + 1.5·Mag_items + 2·clvl + Mana_items + 5

Bard: 1.5·Mag_character + 1.75·Mag_items + 2·clvl + Mana_items + 3

Barbarian: 1·Mag_character + 1·Mag_items + 0·clvl + Mana_items + 0

• Black Deaths (a zombie type of monster) can permanently decrease your life.

• You do not get any mana or life when reaching level 50 (use clvl=49 to get the correct result).

• Some shrines might permanently decrease your max mana (see chapter 5.6.5).

• If you are on level 16, you will not lose any of your items when you die.

2.1.4 Armor Class and To Hit

Both Armor Class (AC) and To Hit are based on your Dexterity. Below is a summary on how they are calculated. For more information about AC and To Hit, see chapter 5.6.5.

Armor Class

Warrior, Rogue, Sorcerer: Dex/5 + AC_items

Monk with plate: Dex/5 + AC_items

Monk with mail: Dex/5 + AC_items + clvl/2

Monk with leather and other light armor: Dex/5 + AC_items + 2·clvl

Monk with no armor: Dex/5 + AC_items + 2·clvl

Bard: Dex/5 + AC_items

Barbarian: Dex/5 + AC_items + clvl/4

• When calculating AC for a Monk, unique plate is treated as mail and unique mail as leather.

• Shields only give half AC (rounded up) to the Barbarian.

  To Hit %

  on character screen: 50 + Dex/2 + ToHit_items

  melee: 50 + Dex/2 + ToHit_items + clvl + bonus

  arrow: 50 + Dex + ToHit_items + clvl + bonus - distance·distance/2

  magic versus monster: 50 + Mag - 2·mlvl + bonus

  magic versus player: 50 + Mag - 2·clvl_target + bonus

  To Hit penalty for adjacent quarter damage: 70 - 2·clvl (minimum 30)

• All magic attacks will always check for To Hit, even for spells like Lightning and Fire Wall.

• A player is immune to its own spells with the exception of Fire Wall, Flame Wave, Ring of Fire and Lightning Wall.

• Fire Wall, Flame Wave, Ring of Fire and Lightning Wall will check for To Hit like magical traps against players including the caster (but not against monsters). See chapters 4.3 and 6.1.2.

• Distance is actually a time count. It goes up by 1 twenty times each second. Arrows always have a distance factor, even if they have extra fire or lightning. For more information see chapters 4.1.2.

• Note that the effects of some oils (see chapter 3.2.1) are only visible on the stats in the character screen. They don’t show up on the information about the item.

• In Diablo, the bashing series of suffixes also adds to your To Hit value but it will never show up on the character screen. The amount is always fixed for a specific item and within the range of the suffix. See chapter 3.4 for more information.

• The adjacent quarter damage To Hit penalty is subtracted from the normal To Hit for the two monsters adjacent to the one you attack. For an explanation of adjacent quarter damage see chapter 2.2.2.

• For a list of the bonuses, see the table below.

• To get the final chance of hitting you subtract the AC of the enemy (monster or player). See chapter 5.1 for information about monster’s AC. The AC is not subtracted if it is a magic attack.

• When the game checks if you have hit there is always a 5% chance that you will miss, no matter what the final modified To Hit is. In the same way there is also always a 5% chance to hit, no matter what the final modified To Hit is. See chapter 5.1 for information about monster’s chance of automatic hit (they never automatically miss).

The bonus in the above formulas refers to some hidden To Hit modifiers specific for each character class. They are listed in the table below but do not show up in the To Hit value you see on the character screen. For the blocking bonus see chapter 2.2.

1 There exists a bug so that the bonus is always 0, except during the first game a character play.

In the table below, maximum AC and To Hit for each character class is summarized. The columns for max values from max stats are maximum values without the use of any items that specifically add to AC and To Hit (only to Dex). When two numbers are given the first one belongs to Diablo and the second one to Hellfire. The reason is that there are some new unique rings only available in Hellfire. It also excludes any effects from oils and shrines that directly affect AC or To Hit. The values are, of course, excluding such things as clvl that is factored in for computing the real final To Hit.

1 For a level 50 character.

2.2 Fighting

The main activity in Diablo and Hellfire is fighting. You either fight against the monsters or against other players. This chapter will briefly explain how your characters stats and the items you wear affect your character while fighting. For a more detailed explanation on battle between players and monsters, see chapter 6.

2.2.1 Getting hit

When someone or something attacks you, the first step is to see if it hits you or not. Formulas for the chance of hitting a player can be found in chapter 2.1.4 (players), 4.3 (traps) and 5.1 (monsters).

When you are hit by a melee weapon, an arrow, or magic (while not having any resistance), you will try to block the attack (in Hellfire you will try to block even if you have resistance). See chapter 4 for information about what spells can be blocked. To block the attack you must have a shield. A Monk can also block with a staff and with at least one hand bare. If you fail to block or you can’t block you will get hit, which will result in damage and the possibility of having to do a hit recovery (getting stunned). For formulas for monsters hitting players, see chapter 5.1.

Blocking

The chance of blocking is calculated according to:

Blocking monster: Dex + 2·(clvl - mlvl) + bonus

Blocking player: Dex + 2·(clvl_target - clvl_attacker) + bonus

Blocking trap: Dex + bonus

• There exists a bug so that the bonus is always 0, except during the first game a character plays. For information about what the bonus should be, see table under To Hit %, chapter 2.1.4.

• You can only block while standing still or while doing a melee attack.

• Monsters can never block attacks against them.

Modified damage received

There are a few ways by which the damage done to a player is modified depending upon the target. Below is listed what those effects are and in what order they are applied. Note that not all effects are applicable to all situations.

1. of thieves Having an item with this suffix will reduce any trap damage by 50%. In Hellfire it will in addition reduce the damage from any magical or ranged attack from monsters by 50%. This effect is not cumulative if you have more than one item with the suffix.

2. - damage taken Having any item with a suffix that reduces damage (or in the case of a cursed suffix, increases it), will reduce any damage, even magical, done by a monster by the combined amount of all the suffixes you are wearing. Damage can never be reduced below 1 by this effect.

3. Reflect In Hellfire the Reflect spell will reduce the amount of melee damage a monster does to a player by 20 to 29%.

3. player vs player All magic damage is halved in player versus player attacks. This includes the damage by Bone Spirit, which will only reduce 1/6 of current life.

4. resistance Having any item which gives you resistance will reduce any magical attack of the same type by the total resistance of that type you have. Maximum resistance is 75%, which is shown with the letters MAX.

5. Mana Shield If you are using a Mana Shield, it will reduce the damage by 33% in Diablo and by (1/(3·slvl) ·100)% (if slvl is higher than 7, set slvl to 7) in Hellfire. In addition it will remove mana instead of life.

Checks for hit recovery are done between step 4 and 5 and will thus not be affected by the use of Mana Shield. For more information regarding a bug and Mana Shield, see chapter 6.1.1.

Hit recovery

When you are hit and don’t block it, you will take damage. If the damage is big enough, your character will go through a hit recovery animation; you are stunned, during which you can’t do anything. If you get hit again before you manage to hit back or move this repeats and you are stun locked and can’t react (for information about entering a new location, see chapter 6.1.9). The hit recovery is initiated if the following conditions are met:

Any character except the Barbarian: damage >= clvl

Barbarian: damage >= 1.25·clvl

It is worth noticing that the check for hit recovery is made prior to any damage reduction due to using a Mana Shield. There are also some bugs regarding hit recovery while using Mana Shield, see chapter 6.1.1. So while using a Mana Shield, in addition to the requirements above, damage must also be below your current life for you to be put into hit recovery:

Any character, except the Barbarian, using Mana Shield: current life > damage >= clvl

Barbarian using Mana Shield: current life > damage >= 1.25·clvl

The table below lists the time, in seconds, it takes to block and to do a hit recovery for each character class. It also lists the effects of some specific suffixes that influence blocking or hit recovery. For more information on the suffixes, see chapter 3.2.2.

1 Fast block indicates the use of an item with the of blocking suffix or a unique item with the fast block effect.

2 The Barbarian has built-in of stability while using an axe or a club and the hit recovery time in those cases is 0.20 unless he is using an item of harmony.

3 In Diablo, but not in Hellfire, equipping three or more items having together all of the three suffixes (of balance, of stability, and of harmony), will trigger a bug that will reduce the hit recovery time a further 0.05 seconds for the Rogue (to 0.15) and the Sorcerer (to 0.20). Just equipping two items with different suffixes will not trigger this bug.

2.2.2 Damage done

Damage done by players is composed of two parts, character damage and weapon damage. The character damage is based on your character’s stats and can be calculated with the formulas below. To that damage you add the damage of any weapon, or weapons in the case of the Bard, you have equipped. For information about damage from spells, see chapter 4.

Bow character damage

Warrior: Str·clvl / 200

Rogue: (Str+Dex) · clvl / 200

Sorcerer: Str·clvl / 200

Monk: (Str+Dex) · clvl / 600

Bard: (Str+Dex) · clvl / 500

Barbarian: Str·clvl / 600

Melee character damage

Warrior: Str·clvl / 100

Rogue: (Str+Dex) · clvl / 200

Sorcerer: Str·clvl / 100

Monk with staff or bare-handed: (Str+Dex) · clvl / 150

Monk with other weapons: (Str+Dex) · clvl / 300

Bard with at least one sword: (Str+Dex) · clvl / 150

Bard with any weapon(s) except sword: Str·clvl / 100

Barbarian with axes and clubs: Str·clvl / 75

Barbarian except for axes and clubs: Str·clvl / 100

Extra bonus for Barbarian without shield: Vit·clvl / 100

• All Bow character damage is doubled for player versus player except for Rogues.

• There are quite a few bugs associated with fire and lightning arrows which makes them often deal erroneous damage (way too high or no additional damage at all). For more information, see chapter 6.1.6.

• For the Monk, other weapons include just having a shield equiped.

• For the Bard, damage enhancements from the king’s and merciless series of prefixes (+% damage) are added together if they occur on both weapons. It is then applied to the sum of both weapons’ damage. Damage from enhancements of the slaughter series is only applicable to the weapon it comes on.

• The Barbarian can use a maul and two-handed swords in one hand.

• The Barbarian’s bonus for not using a shield does not apply if he is using a staff.

• Magic damage is halved in player versus player.

  As already stated, you add weapon damage to the damage above to get the final damage. Some ”weapons” don’t have any damage listed and are given below. Shield damage only applies if you wear no other weapon and hand/feet damage only applies if you have no other weapon or shield equipped.

  Special ”weapon” damage

  Hands/Feet except for Monk: 1

  Shield except for Monk: 1 - 3

  Feet or shield for Monk: clvl/2 - clvl

• The special damage for a Monk using his feet or just a shield will never be below those values listed for non Monks (min and max damage checked separately).

  The table below shows maximum naked character damage for various types of weapons. As character damage is based on a character’s level, it (in the table below) only applies to level 50 characters. On top of the listed damage you should then add weapon damage and possibly modify either or both character damage and weapon damage.

1 To this value you should add the ”weapon” damage of bare hands/feet.

2 Subtract 75 if using a shield at the same time

Things that affect damage done

Various things affect the amount of damage a character does. Mostly those things are related to various prefixes, suffixes, or unique properties, but a few exceptions exist. Critical Hits are explained below and type of monster is explained in chapter 5.1. The modifications to the damage can either modify weapon damage alone or your total damage; that is, both your character damage and your weapon damage. In the table below is a list of all modifications that apply to your total damage. They are each cumulative with each other and are applied on top of each other.

1 Does not work on bows.

Critical Hit

Warriors and Barbarians have the ability to do a critical hit while doing melee attacks. The chance for a critical hit is clvl% and a critical hit does twice the damage.

Adjacent quarter damage

All the new characters in Hellfire have the ability to hit up to three monsters at a time in certain circumstances. It works by dealing ¼^th of the damage to the monsters beside the one you swing at. A separate To Hit check is done for each of those monsters. The To Hit is lowered accordingly to the formula in chapter 2.1.4 under To Hit %. The adjacent quarter damage is done in the following situations:

• A Monk using a staff.

• A Bard using two swords.

• A Barbarian using an axe, a two-handed sword or a maul, without having a shield equipped at the same time.

Adjacent quarter damage can never hit a player, only monsters.

2.2.3 Weapon speed

A very important factor is how quickly you swing different weapons. A faster weapon not only causes more damage per unit of time, but also helps you stun lock your enemies more easily. Below are listed values for how quickly each character class swings each weapon. Only the Barbarian has different weapon speed for clubs and swords, for all other classes they are identical. The value given is the time in seconds it takes to do one swing.

1 In Hellfire Readiness and Swiftness make the arrows fly faster, the time is still the same as for Normal.

The speed with which the arrows travel also varies with character class. Below is given the speed of arrows for all characters as well as some other factors affecting the speed of an arrow. The actual value is just a value given for comparison with other traveling effects, such as spells. The higher the number, the faster it will be. Arrows from monsters will always have a speed of 32. For the speed of arrows from traps, see chapter 4.3. For more information regarding arrow and spell speed, see chapter 6.1.10.

1 Will only affect the arrow speed in Hellfire. In Diablo it will affect the weapon speed instead.

2.3 Player timing information

This chapter summarizes all timing information for players. For blocking and hit recovery, this information can also be found in chapter 2.2, and for weapon speed, it can also be found in chapter 2.2.3. For monsters all timing information can be found in chapter 5.3. The table below summarizes all timing information for the different character classes.

1 For more information, see chapter 2.2.

2 The hit time (or rather the time at which the spell effect is initialized) for a player is identical to the swing speed (that is, at the last frame) except for non targeted spells (those for which you don’t target a specific monster or player) which have a 0.05 seconds faster hit time.

3 The swing speed is of course the one for casting a spell.

4 The Barbarian has built in stability while using an axe or a club on top of this unless wearing an item that affects the hit recovery in a better way.

2.4 Skills

Each character class has a skill it can perform. For most classes, the skill improves as they gain levels. The various skills are summarized below.

Warrior: Repair items (as your level goes up the durability loss decreases).

Rogue: Disarm traps (as your Dexterity goes up the chance of successfully disarming the trap increases).

Sorcerer: Recharge staves (as your level goes up the charge loss decreases).

Monk: Search.

Bard: Identify.

Barbarian: Rage (as your level goes up, the improvement in stats during the rage is higher but so is the penalty during the lethargy phase).

Warrior

The skill of the Warrior works in the following way:

1. if current durability is equal to max durability, exit

2. x = 0

3. add (clvl + Rnd[clvl]) to x

4. y = [MaxDur/(clvl+9)], if less than 1 set to 1

5. decrease MaxDur by y

6. if x + CurDur < MaxDur, goto 3.

7. CurDur = MaxDur

If max durability ever reaches 0, the item is of course destroyed.

Rogue

The skill of the Rogue works in the following way:

1. x = 2·Dex - 5·dlvl

2. if x > Rnd[100], trap is disarmed

Sorcerer

The skill of the Sorcerer works in the following way:

1. if current charges is equal to max charges or max charges is equal to 0, exit

2. x = Rnd[clvl/qlvl(book)] + 1

3. decrease MaxChrg by 1

4. add x to CurChrg

5. if CurChrg < MaxChrg, goto 3.

6. CurChrg = MaxChrg

It seems strange that it is not the qlvl of the spell on a staff, and I wonder what happens for a spell like resurrect where the qlvl value is -1. Any information about this is appreciated.

Monk

The skill of the Monk is identical to the spell with the same name.

Bard

The skill of the Bard is identical to the spell with the same name.

Barbarian

The skill of the Barbarian works in the following way:

1. For 12 seconds it adds: 2·clvl to Strength and Vitality and 1.5·clvl to Dexterity.

2. For 12 more seconds, during a lethargy phase, it decreases Strength, Dexterity and Vitality by the same amount (counted from normal values).

3. Afterwards you lose 2·Vit life. There is a bug however so if you click on any item in your inventory your life is restored.

2.5 Starting equipment

All character classes start the game with some items. These items are listed in the table below. Note that the prices for these items sometimes differ from the ones of normal items of the same type. The sword that the Bard starts with is not available otherwise in the game.

1 These starting staves are special in that they are not composed of a staff with a spell on it, but are special base items that have the spell built into them. The prices given are for those two base items and no additional cost is added for the actual spell.

2.6 Experience points

Each time you kill a monster you have a chance of receiving experience points. You receive experience for killing a monster as long as your own level is below the mlvl+10 (see chapter 5.2 and chapter 5.6.3 for more information about mlvl and experience points). In multi player, each person that fulfills one of following requirements is entitled to receive experience points when a monster is killed.

• Killing the monster (both in melee and with spell).

• Dealing damage to the monster in either melee or with a bow (regardless of any extra fire or lightning damage even if the monster is resistant or immune to it).

• Dealing damage to the monster with a spell to which the monster is not resistant or immune.

• Having your golem kill or deal damage to the monster.

• Having used Telekinesis on the monster (Snotspill, Gharbad the Weak, Zhar the Mad, Warlord of Blood, Lachdanan, Arch-Bishop Lazarus, Blackjade and Red Vex are all immune to Telekinesis though).

In all cases you must be alive at the moment the monster dies and you must never have left the level in-between fulfilling any of the requirements above and the monster dying, or you will not receive any experience points. The requirement of dealing damage is fulfilled even if for some reason the damage itself is reduced to below 1 point of damage (theoretically even 0 damage will be enough). Stone Cursing a monster will not be enough to receive any experience points. A Guardian is treated as a normal fire spell for the purpose of deciding if the owning player is entitled to experience points. In Hellfire a Berserk monster will not give you experience points for the other monsters it kills.

In single player you are then rewarded the amount of experience points according to the formula below. In multi player the same formula applies, but the base experience points of the monster are first divided by the number of players that are entitled to receive experience points, which is not necessarily all players in the game.

base · (1.0 + 0.1·(mlvl - clvl))

So when your clvl is 10 levels higher than the mlvl, you no longer receive any experience for killing it. Base refers to the base experience points found in chapter 5.2 modified for the number of players that are entitled for experience points according to the explanation above.

The maximum experience you can obtain for killing a monster in multi player (both in Diablo and Hellfire) is 200·clvl or the total experience points needed for advancing to the next clvl divided by 20, whichever is the lowest. In single player there is no such a cap. With the added possibility of difficulty levels in single player in Hellfire along with no character level requirements for harder difficulty levels, you can get quite a lot of experience points when killing monsters. In Hellfire, there are also some shrines that affect your experience points (see chapter 7).

Listed below are the required experience points for each level. You will also find the maximum experience point you can be given for a monster at that character level (see above for information about this cap). Listed is also the minimum number of monsters you need to kill to reach the next level assuming you get maximum experience for each kill. This is in practice impossible and even theoretically impossible at low levels. The Total Kills column is simply the total minimum number of monsters needed to kill to reach a specific level and is valid for Diablo only as there is no limit on the number of experience points given for killing a monster in Hellfire. Note that the numbers under Increase, Increase %, Kills, and Total Kills are all how much is needed for the next level.

1 This cap only applies to multi player. In single player, there is no such cap.

1 This cap only applies to multi player. In single player, there is no such cap.

Note that when you reach level 50, you don’t get any life or mana. Your other stats are updated correctly, though. After reaching level 50, you still receive experience points for killing monsters until you reach enough experience points for MAX (see below). Reaching MAX has no effect at all (apart from not being able to get any more experience of course).

2.7 Character level restrictions

There are a few occasions in the game where you need to have a certain character level to be allowed to access a certain difficulty or dungeon level. This chapter gives you information about those restrictions and when they apply.

Dungeon levels

In single player you can only enter the Church when you start a new game. To access the other dungeons you have to work you way down through the dungeon levels before the entrances to the Catacombs, Caves, and Hell open up. In Hellfire, the game will remember when an area has been opened up, and thus it will be open even if you start a new game.

In multi player, all areas are accessible from town right away, but you can go down into them only if you have reached a certain character level. The table below summarizes at what character level you can access the different areas. Even if your level is too low, it is still possible to enter an area if someone opens a portal for you.

1 There is no requirement if you enter a level by going through a portal.

Difficulty levels

The table below summarizes at what character level you can enter different difficulty levels.

1 It is available in the Playstation version. Also see chapter 2.7.1 for a way to play single player with different difficulties.

2 The creator must be of level 20 or 30 but anyone joining it can be of any level.

2.7.1 Single player difficulty levels

In Hellfire you can choose to play nightmare and hell difficulty games in single player as well as in multi player. In Diablo this is not possible. However, there is a way to make the game behave as if you are playing nightmare or hell difficulty even in single player. This way monsters, for example, will have multi player stats, gold, and items drop according to the higher difficulty and so on.

To do this, first start a multi player game with the chosen difficulty. Exit it, and then start a single player game without first quitting Diablo. It will be created according to the difficulty level you chose in your last multi player game.

2.8 Character names

When you create a character, you also have to give it a name. Depending on if it is a single or multi player character, the characters that are allowed to use in the name differ slightly. The table below summarize all allowed characters.

1 By localized characters are meant characters that are specific for various non English languages. Examples are: åäöüâãï, and many others. Such localized characters are still possible to enter when you create a multi player character, but there will be an error message when you finish typing in the name.

3 Items

Items play a very important role in Diablo and come in many variants. This chapter will deal with the many aspects of items. Armor and weapons can generally be said to consist of a base item, and to it you can add a prefix and/or a suffix or nothing at all and leave it as a non magical item. The item can also be a unique item instead, in which case it can have up to 6 different properties but it is still based on one of the base items. Rings and amulets work in a similar way but must always have at least one prefix or suffix, or be unique. There exist no non magical rings or amulets. Books and oils also work in a similar way, as they consist of the base item book of and oil of, to which you then add either a spell or an oil type (for exceptions to oils see chapter 3.2.1). Scrolls, on the other hand, are each single base items and do not consist of the base item plus a spell as books do. Finally we have potions, elixirs, and runes that are all base items. In many tables in this chapter there is a reference to a qlvl. That level is used by the game when creating items; see chapter 3.8 and chapter 3.9. Information about qlvl and occurrences of prefixes and suffixes initially came from Bostic.

3.1 Armor, weapons and jewelry

In the tables below are listed all the base items you can equip in the game. They can be found in the dungeons or bought from Griswold, Adria and Wirt. Jewelry can only be bought in single player, never in multi player. Listed are also all those base items upon which the quest items are based. Those special quest base items cannot be found otherwise in the game.

1 Armor can be divided into three different categories, light, Rags - Studded Leather Armor, medium, Ring Mail - Splint Mail and heavy, Breast Plate - Full Plate Mail. Each of the three different types of armor will give your character a different look.

2 These items have the same picture.

1 All axes are Two-handed.

1 All bows are Two-handed.

2 These items have the same picture.

3 These items have the same picture.

1 This weapon is Two-handed except for the Barbarian.

1 All staves are Two-handed.

2 These items have the same picture.

1 Only available to the Bard as a starting weapon.

2 These items have the same picture.

3 These swords are Two-handed except for the Barbarian.

1 Jewelry always has a prefix and/or a suffix, unless being unique.

1 This is a list of the base items upon which quest items are based. It does not include rings or amulets as it would make no difference. Note that any of the above properties may be superseded by one of the unique properties of the quest item.

3.2 Other base items

This chapter will give you information about all those items in the game that you can’t wear. It also has information about magic related items. However, for information about the actual spells, how they work and their use, see chapter 4. Books and most oils consist of a base item type, book of and oil of listed in the table below. Each book then has a spell assigned to it and oils have an oil type assigned.

3.2.1 Runes and oils

Runes and oils were introduced in Hellfire and do not exist in Diablo. Runes are placed in the dungeons and when a monster or player walks over them the spell is released. They can also be used directly on a target. Oils are used on items to boost their properties. Note that only effects from oils that affect the durability are carried over when you start a new game.

1 Runes can be found in the dungeon or bought from Adria.

2 Actually not the exact spell but one that is similar to the listed one. It is the player’s level that effects the damage/duration of the runes.

Oils might need some more explanation. They are created by the game in two different ways. You won’t see that as a player and there is actually no difference in how they work depending on how they were created. The first three oils in the list below actually exist as a single base item. All other oils, including also versions of the first three ones, are created as a base item oil of to which an oil type is then assigned, just like spell books. They are listed below the thick line.

1 Oils cannot be bought, only found in the dungeons.

2 Only affects the item it is used on.

3 Effect is permanent and carries over when you restart a new game.

4 Only exists in single player.

5 It is the difference between min and max damage that must be less than 30.

6 All requirements are lowered by the same amount.

3.2.2 Potions and elixirs

The tables below hold information about potions and elixirs. As always, the prices are buying prices.

1 See below for information on how much mana/life is restored.

1 In multi player elixirs can be bought from Adria once your character reaches level 26. In single player they can be bought from both Adria and Pepin once you have been on dlvl 13 or in the Hive or the Crypt in Hellfire.

2 Elixirs of Vitality cannot be bought, only found in the dungeons.

3 In Hellfire it also restores all of your mana.

4 In Hellfire it also restores all of your life.

Potions of Healing and Mana restore life and mana as stated below. Potions of Rejuvenation are basically treated as one Potion of Mana and one Potion of Healing. For information on how scrolls of healing and the Healing spell work, see chapter 4.1.2.

Potion of Healing: bonus · maxlife/8 to bonus · 3·maxlife/8

Potion of Mana: bonus · maxmana/8 to bonus · 3·maxmana/8

• Any value in the range is equally probable.

• The bonus is summarized in the table below.

• maxlife and maxmana are the modified values. If they are negative, the amount added will also be negative and in fact subtract life or mana.

1 When using a Potion of Rejuvenation the bonus for a Monk and a Bard is 1.0 due to a bug in Hellfire.

3.2.3 Books, scrolls and staves with spells

Books, scrolls and staves with spells are found in the dungeons but can also be bought from Adria. Healing scrolls and scrolls of Resurrection (only in multi player) can also be bought from Pepin. Below is listed how much you have to pay for scrolls, books, and data for calculating the cost of staves with spells. For information on how to calculate staff prices, see chapter 3.6. You can also find information about qlvl; see chapters 3.8 and 3.9 for information about qlvl and how to use it. Note that for books and staves, the qlvl is of the actual spell on that base item. The base item, staff or book of, has its own qlvl as well. As with other items, you can sell any book, scroll, or staff for one fourth of the price. Note that in Hellfire, staves without spells are bought and sold at Griswold. In Hellfire, Wirt will also sell staves both with and without spells.

1 Available as a book in Hellfire only.

3.3 Quest items

In the table below is listed all the various special items you will find in various quests (with the exception of the ear and the heart). They will only appear in single player and have no purposes outside the specific quest. As for the special reward items you get from various quests, they are all found in the chapter 3.5.

1 All quest items in Diablo are also present in Hellfire.

2 There are three of them.

3 Adria will buy ears and hearts. Their buying price is equal to the clvl of the character they belonged to.

4 An ear turns into a heart if you identify it. It will always return into an ear in the next game.

3.4 Prefixes and suffixes

All equipable items can have a prefix and/or a suffix. In the tables below, you can see the effects of each prefix and suffix in the game. The tables also provide information about the qlvl of each prefix and suffix, as well as information for calculating the price of any magical item (steps, base-max, range and multiplier). See chapter 3.6 for formulas to calculate prices of items. The prefixes and suffixes are grouped according to what type of effect they have. Unless otherwise stated, prefixes and suffixes are cumulative with others of the same type and also with effects on unique items that are of the same type. For information on how items are assigned prefixes and suffixes, see chapter 3.8 and chapter 3.9.

Not all prefixes and suffixes can occur on all types of items. The tables also list on which type of items you will find each prefix and suffix. The following abbreviations are used:

1 A suffix.

2 Only available in Hellfire.

1 There is a minimum increase of 1 in AC. That is, even if the percentage will give an increase to AC less than one, it will be increased by at least one. Due to a bug, any decrease in AC less than 1 will be transformed into a positive increase by 1.

1 It is the damage value that is used for price calculations.

2 Is treated by the game as a cursed item during item creation so you will, for example, not be able to buy it in town.

3 Only available in Hellfire. Has 10% chance of duplicating any monster hit except Diablo and unique monsters.

1 Only available in Hellfire.

2 Bonus decreases by 5% each hit. When reaching -100%, the item is destroyed.

3 Also has from -30 to -70% lower durability.

1 Works for all type of damage, even from spells, but does not work against other players. The damage is reduced before any resistance is applied but after the thieves effect. The damage will never be reduced below 1.

1 There are quite a few bugs associated with fire and lightning arrows which make them often deal erroneous damage (way too high or no additional damage at all).

2 A prefix.

1 There are quite a few bugs associated with fire and lightning arrows which make them often deal erroneous damage (way too high or no additional damage at all).

2 A prefix.

1 The amount is based on damage done even if the monster has less HP left. The amount is not cumulative if you have more than one item with the capability of stealing life (an item of blood will take precedence over an item of the leech). An exception is The Undead Crown which is cumulative with both an item of blood or an item of the leech for a total of 3% to 15.5% or 5% to 17.5% life stealing. The Helm of Sprits, Shadowhawk, and The Eater of Souls are all treated as items of blood. Does not work against players. See chapter 6.1.4 for more information.

1 The amount is based on damage done even if the monster has less HP left. The amount is not cumulative if you have more than one item with the capability of stealing mana (an item of vampires will take precedence over an item of the bat. The Eater of Souls is treated as an item of vampire. Does not work against players. See chapter 6.1.4 for more information.

1 Is applied after any effects from thieves and -damage. It can reduce damage below 1.

1 Is applied after any effects from thieves and -damage. It can reduce damage below 1.

1 Is applied after any effects from thieves and -damage. It can reduce damage below 1.

1 Is applied after any effects from thieves and -damage. It can reduce damage below 1.

1 In Diablo these suffixes lower the AC of the target by a specific random amount in the range shown in the table. In Hellfire they reduce the AC of the target by a certain percentage shown in the table. It does not work against players. The exact value (in Diablo) is determined at the time of creation of the item and the extra To Hit is never shown on the character screen.

2 In Diablo.

3 In Hellfire.

4 Add 12.5 when used by a Barbarian.

1 Also affects the distance at which you activate monsters. A higher value means at a greater distance. There is no additional effect of wearing more than +50% or less than -80% light radius. As a curiosity, the light radius is always one square less in the Catacombs and it is always the highest light radius you have had on a level that counts, even if you later lower it.

1 A Bard only benefits from the fastest weapon.

2 Has no effect in Diablo.

3 In Hellfire, it makes the arrows travel faster on bows instead of increasing the ”swing” speed.

4 Has the same effect as speed despite what is said in the latest Diablo patch (1.07).

1 A character only benefits from the fastest one, as they are not cumulative. The exception is if you have one of each in which case you will, in Diablo only, trigger a bug and receive a further reduction in hit recovery time. See chapter 2.2.1 for more information.

1 These effects are not cumulative if you have them more than once. They are cumulative with other effects though.

2 Does not work versus players.

3 In Hellfire it also absorbs half arrow and magical damage (magic, fire, lightning and apocalypse) from monster attacks. It is applied before both -damage and resistance.

4 Only available in Hellfire.

5 Damage bonus applies to total damage, not just weapon damage.

6 Does not work on bows.

7 A prefix.

8 Affects total damage versus monsters but only weapon damage and character damage versus user. This damage is modified by any -damage from enemies, though.

9 The game erroneously states it does ×0-5. Average value is ×2. For more details, see chapter 6.2.1. Does not work against Diablo or unique monsters.

3.5 Unique items

Unique items differ from normal magical items in that they have a special name and can have up to six different magical properties. You can still find more than one of each, even in the same game (in single player the game keeps track of what unique items exist in the current game, and will not create the same a second time). Having a different picture than that of the normal base item it is based upon is considered as one of the six special properties. All non quest unique items are based on a normal base item, and unless otherwise changed by the unique properties, retain all the stats of that normal base item. Unique quest items are based on special quest base items. Those special quest base items can be found in chapter 3.3. Such items are also noted by having n/a in the qlvl column.

If you are playing the Playstation version you should know that when you restart a new game, any unique item is transformed into gold, which is quite annoying.

3.5.1 Properties of unique items

In the tables below are listed all unique items in the game that you can equip, both the ones randomly generated and the ones given as part of quests. For special quest items that are unequipable, see chapter 3.3. The prices shown are the buying prices. You can never buy unique items however. The stated qlvl is used in item generation, see chapter 3.8. Please note that all items below a thick line are only available in Hellfire. The Pic column indicates whether the item has a unique picture or not.

1 A quest item only available in single player.

2 These items have the same picture.

3 A quest item.

1 These items have the same picture and it is one of a normal axe.

2 Applies to the total damage

3 A quest item only available in single player.

4 These items have the same picture and it is one of a normal great axe.

1 These items have the same picture.

2 The fire arrow damage is listed twice but the real fire damage is only applied once and is in the range 1-6.

3 Will cast a lightning spell when fired.

4 Will cast a fireball when fired.

1 These items actually have the unique picture of the same item they are based on, so for all practical reasons they don’t really have a unique picture.

2 Applies to total damage.

3 Does not exist in Hellfire and is not possible to find in multi player in Diablo, only single player. Still very rare in single player, see chapter 3.5.2 for more information. It also seems that although findable in single player, it will morph as soon as a new game is started or loaded.

1 These items have the same picture.

2 If you wear both a Gotterdamerung and a Constricting Ring, your resistance would still be 0%.

3 A quest item only available in single player.

4 These items have the same picture. The Helm of Sprits looks like a crown when on the ground.

1 The effect is +75%, not max resistance. If you wear both a Gotterdamerung and a Constricting Ring, your resistance would still be 0%. Similarly, if you use some item that decreases any resistance, the final value may not be 75%.

2 If you are using Mana Shield, the damage will as any other damage be taken from your mana instead. Due to rounding errors with such small damage values, the actual value may not be correctly reduced by the Mana Shield. For more information about the Mana Shield, see chapter 6.1.1.

3 A quest item only available in single player.

4 Has the effect equivalent to ”of Puncturing”, that is, adds 4-12 to To Hit in Diablo. In Hellfire it reduces the AC by 87.5% (+12.5% if Barbarian making any AC of a monster equal 0) and is thus better than any of the suffixes with the same property.

5 A quest item. Not really a unique item.

1 These items have the same picture.

2 This item has a picture of a normal buckler.

3 Both versions have a picture of a normal gothic shield.

1 Looks like a club when on the ground.

1 These items have the same picture.

2 A quest item only available in single player.

3 This item actually has the unique picture of the same item it is based on, so for all practical reasons it doesn’t really have a unique picture.

3.5.2 Unfindable unique items in multi player

Due to the way the game generates unique items (see chapter 3.8), some unique items will never be found in multi player. The same items are findable in single player but only if you find another unique item of the same base item and qlvl first in the same game session. This phenomenon occurs when there are multiple items of the same base item and qlvl. The table below lists those items. Note that the list for Diablo is also applicable to Hellfire.

1 In addition to the ones from Diablo.

2 It seems that although findable in single player, it will morph as soon as a new game is started or loaded.

The table below lists the order for those cases where more than two unique items have the same qlvl. All other cases only have two items with the same qlvl and it should be obvious that the unique item not in the table above is dropped first (and always dropped in multi player).

1 In multi player only the first one is findable.

3.6 Prices of magical items

This chapter will describe how the price of magical items is calculated. Please note that much of the information in this chapter was initially compiled and collected by Ironbeard. I have rewritten it quite a bit to better fit with the rest of the guide and newer findings.

3.6.1 Formulas

The price of a magical item is affected by three elements: the base effect of a prefix/suffix, the quality effect of a prefix/suffix, and the item’s base cost multiplied by the prefix/suffix intrinsic multiplier. On staves with spells there is an additional factor added to the item’s base cost which depends on the spell type and number of charges. The formulas for calculating the price of all magical items are given below.

All magical items except staves with spells:

C = B_p + B_s +Q_p + Q_s + I · (M_p + M_s) if M_p + M_s ≥ 0

C = B_p + B_s +Q_p + Q_s + I / (M_p + M_s) if M_p + M_s < 0

Staves with spells:

C = B_p +Q_p + (I + H·P) · M_p if M_p ≥ 0

C = B_p +Q_p + (I + H·P) / M_p if M_p < 0

where:

C = Total cost

B_p = Base prefix effect

B_s = Base suffix effect

Q_p = Quality effect of the prefix

Q_s = Quality effect of the suffix

I = Cost of base item

H = Number of charges on staff

P = Spell multiplier

M_p = Prefix intrinsic multiplier

M_s = Suffix intrinsic multiplier

• On plentiful and bountiful staves, one should take the base amount of charges. That is, divide the number of charges shown by 2 for plentiful and 3 for bountiful staves.

Some prefixes/suffixes, like speed or the ages, do not have the Q to affect the price, and in such cases the price formulas would be simplified to:

All magical items except staves with spells:

C = B_p + B_s + I · (M_p + M_s) if M_p + M_s ≥ 0

C = B_p + B_s + I / (M_p + M_s) if M_p + M_s < 0

Staves with spells:

C = B_p + (I + H·P) · M_p if M_p ≥ 0

C = B_p + (I + H·P) / M_p if M_p < 0

Cursed and semi-cursed items

The lower formulas (if M_p + M_s <0 or M_p < 0) only come into play when you have a prefix/suffix with a negative multiplier. Only cursed prefixes and suffixes have that. However, one suffix, of corruption, although being a cursed one, has a positive multiplier. On the other hand, it has a negative base suffix effect. For items that are all cursed, the sum is always negative. For semi cursed items, that is, those that have one cursed and one non cursed prefix and suffix, one has to first calculate the sum of the two multipliers to see which formula to use.

The quality effect, Q

Let’s look into the somewhat trickier part, the Q thing. Some prefixes/suffixes have different levels of quality. For example, the suffix vigor can have an attribute boost on vitality ranging from 16 to 20 points. Or, the prefix massive can boost a weapon’s damage from 96% to 110%. This has an effect on the cost.

Let’s use the prefix massive as an example here. The lowest level of quality of that prefix is when it gives a weapon a damage boost of 96%. At that point, the prefix has the base effect B of 2000 and what is more, at that base level of quality, the prefix has no quality effect Q on the item’s price. If we take the highest quality (110%), we will have a quality effect Q of 450 on the price. Putting it together we can see that the B + Q can range from 2000 (the base B value) to 2450 (the max value). Subtracting 2000 from 2450 we get 450, which is the quality range of the prefix, we shall call it R (range).

Now, how about the different quality levels in between the base and the max values? Starting from the base at 96% we go on to 97%, 98%,… until we reach the max Q value at 110%. And we took 14 steps to get there (110 - 96 = 14). The quality level on the first step (97%) is 1/14 or 0.071428. On the second step it is 2/14 or 0.142857 and so on until on the last step (at 110%) it is 14/14 or 1. The Q can now be counted with the values we have:

Q = L/S · R

where:

L = Location or quality level

S = Total number of steps in the prefix/suffix

R = Range of the quality effect (Max - Base)

One important note here: When counting the value of L/S and you get something like 0.071428 or 0.777777 (7/9) you take into account only two digits after the decimal, meaning that in the first case we would have the L/S to yield 0.07 and in the second case 0.77. Alternatively one can use the formula below in which case the rounding is done automatically:

Q = [ { [ (100·(Stat - MinStat)) / (MaxStat - MinStat) ] · (Max - Base) } / 100 ]

Unidentified magical item

An unidentified magical item has a price as given below.

All magical items except staves with spells:

C = I

Staves with spells:

C = I + H·P

3.6.2 Additional notes on the prices

On any armor or helm, the actual armor class has no effect on the price, i.e. full plate (AC 74) of ages has the same price as full plate (AC 69) of ages. In the prefixes like Warrior’s and king’s which give weapons a boost both to the To Hit and damage, the To Hit does not affect the price, only the damage quality level has an effect on the price.

For items that are not cursed or semi cursed (or rather M_p + M_s > 0), one can calculate the price of an item having both a prefix and a suffix as two separate items, one having the prefix and one having the suffix, and simply add the prices together.

You can sell items to Griswold and Adria for one fourth of the item’s price. Wirt’s price is 150% times Griswold’s price in Diablo and 75% times Griswold’s price in Hellfire. Some items can be sold by both Griswold and Wirt and identical items can thus have different prices depending on where you bought it. Items found in dungeons always have Griswold prices. Any item bought at Wirt will have its price reset to the normal one, 100% of Griswold’s price, as soon as you start a new game, give it away, or leave it on the ground and go to another dungeon level or town.

You can’t sell an item at Griswold if you will be given more gold for it than can fit in your inventory. At Adria, however, any excess gold will simply be discarded.

3.6.3 Recharge cost

Staves can be recharged at Adria (or by a Sorcerer, see chapter 2.4). The cost to recharge a staff can be calculated using the formula below:

R_cC = FR_cC · (1 - CurCha/MaxCha)

where:

R_cC = Recharge Cost

FR_cC = Full Recharge Cost (see below)

MaxDur = Maximum charges on item

CurDur = Current charges on item

The Full Recharge Cost in the formula above can be calculated with:

FR_cC = 0.50 · (I + 5·P) if unique or starting staff of the Sorcerer

FR_cC = 0.50 · (I + H·P + 5·P) if not unique and not starting staff of the Sorcerer

where:

FR_cC = Full Recharge Cost

I = Cost of base item (always a staff).

H = Number of charges on staff.

P = The spell multiplier.

• The base cost of the starting staff for Sorcerers can be found in chapter 2.5. For other staves, see chapter 3.1.

• On plentiful and bountiful staves, one should take the base amount of charges. That is divide the number of charges shown by 2 for plentiful and 3 for bountiful staves.

• As the recharge cost is not influenced by the prefix of the staff, there is no difference to the recharge cost between an identified and an unidentified staff.

• If a Sorcerer uses his recharge skill on a staff, one should still use the initial number of charges in the formula.

If the recharge cost is less than 1 gold (can happen if the ratio CurDur/MaxDur is less than 1%), Adria will actually recharge the staff for free, that is 0 gold.

Just as with the price of magical items, when calculating the value of CurCha/MaxCha you take into account only two digits after the decimal. Alternatively one can use the formula below in which case the rounding is done automatically:

R_cC = [ [ { [ (100·(MaxCha - CurCha)) / MaxCha ] · (I + H·P + 5·P) } / 100 ] / 2 ]

• Of course, for unique staves and the starting staff of the Sorcerer, skip H·P in the formula above.

3.7 Durability of items

All unique items and staves with spells found in the dungeon have full durability. So do all items bought in town, of course. All other items found in the dungeon only have partial durability in the range below:

Durability of items found in dungeon: (1 + maxdur/4) to 3·maxdur/4

3.7.1 Losing durability

All items (except those that are indestructible) have a durability, which will, over time, decrease as you fight. The table below explains under what circumstances and with what chance the durability will go down. It will never go down by more than 1 at a time.

1 If you don’t wear both armor and helm but only one of them, the chance is 3/4 that its durability will be decreased.

2 You will never lose durability on both the armor and the helm in the same hit.

3.7.2 Repair cost

Repairs are done at Griswold (or by a Warrior, see chapter 2.4). Griswold uses the following formulas to calculate the cost:

R_pC = 0.15 · Price · (1 - CurDur/MaxDur) For magical and unique items

R_pC = 0.50 · Price · (1 - CurDur/MaxDur) For non magical and unidentified items

where:

R_pC = Repair Cost

Price = Buying price of the item

MaxDur = Maximum durability of item

CurDur = Current durability of item

If the repair cost is less than 1 gold Griswold won’t repair it. That makes many of the cursed items irreparable. There also seems to be a bug so that when the ratio CurDur/MaxDur is greater than 99%, the repair cost is rounded down to 0 along the way and is thus not repairable until it takes more damage.

Just as with the price of magical items, when counting the value of CurDur/MaxDur you take into account only two digits after the decimal. Alternatively one can use the formulas below (plus the step by step list following) in which case the rounding is done automatically:

For magical and unique items first calculate:

R_pC = [ { [ (100·(MaxDur - CurDur)) / MaxDur] · (30 · Price) } / 100 ]

For non magical and unidentified items first calculate:

R_pC = [ { [ (100·(MaxDur - CurDur)) / MaxDur] · Price } / 100 ]

Then, do the following:

1. if R_pC = 1, then exit

2. if R_pC > 1, then R_pC = [R_pC/2], that is, divide the repair cost by 2, then exit

3. if the item is a non magical and non unique item, set R_pC = 1, then exit

4. if the item is not identified, set R_pC = 1, then exit

5. at this point the item is an identified magical or unique item and R_pC is 0 or below 0; the item is in this case not repairable (this would be the case for identified cursed and some semi cursed items)

3.8 Item creation in dungeon

This chapter tries to explain how the game creates items and what factors affect the creation. Only items generated in the dungeon are discussed. Some of it applies to items created in town as well, but for more details about items created in town, see chapter 3.9. Most of this chapter will not refer specifically to the Hive or the Crypt, but as with much else, they should be equivalent to Caves and Hell. Some quests will give you special items (not counting the special quest items). For information about them, see each individual quest in chapter 8.

In most of the situations below the game has to pick a certain item, prefix/suffix, unique, spell, or other property of an item out of several possible ones or within a range. Unless otherwise noted the probability should be equal for all possible choices in that situation.

Base item in this chapter not only refers to the various equipable items, but also includes scrolls, potions, elixirs, runes, books of and oils of; see chapters 3.1 - 3.2.3 for information about them.

An item can come from many different sources in the dungeon, and depending on the source, the creation routine is a bit different. To facilitate the explanation below let us first define a new term, ilvl. It is defined for various sources in the table below. For information about a monsters mlvl or mlvl_item, see chapters 5.2 and 5.4.

1 Use the mlvl for normal difficulty regardless of what difficulty you are playing on.

2 Note that for the purpose of dropping items, Diablo is neither a special nor a unique monster but a normal one.

3 The +4 bonus will be found in the appropriate steps below.

4 You will often find potions of various sorts on the ground; they are specially placed there and are not generated according to normal rules.

5 The Hive levels are numbered 9-12 and the Crypt levels are numbered 13-16.

6 Most chests, barrels, pods and urns have an ilvl equal to 2·dlvl, although some have it equal to dlvl. Those that have the ilvl equal to dlvl will only generate potions and scrolls (and oils in Hellfire). See chapter 3.8.1 for more information. Items created with an ilvl = dlvl are referred to as special items in this chapter.

Level of mini dungeons!!!!

Special items

Special items appear on those occasions where the item created will not follow normal procedures. Such special items will normally only generate potions and scrolls (in Hellfire it also includes oils). For more information about what base items are possible for special items, see chapter 3.8.3.

3.8.1 What is dropped?

First the game has do decide if an item is to be dropped at all, if it is going to be gold or an item. The exact probabilities for these are greatly affected by the source of the item. Each source is explained below.

Normal monster

Gold: 30.3%

Item: 10.7%

Nothing: 59.0%

• Some monster types (Winged Fiends and Hork Spawns) never drop items.

  Unique monster

  Item: 100%

• Unique monsters always drop an item, and it can either be a book or an item that can take on a prefix and/or suffix (or be unique).

  Chest

  Chests can have several possible amounts of items in them and the exact amount is also affected by the size of the chest. The number of possible items from a chest is explained in the table below.

For each chest the probability of the items in them being created with varying ilvl is:

Special item (ilvl = dlvl): 12.5%

Non special item (ilvl = 2·dlvl): 87.5%

All items in a chest will thus either be all special items or all non special items. For each possible item in a chest without special items, the probability is then as follows:

Gold: 75%

Item: 25%

If the chest is determined to have special items, all possible items will drop as special items. For information about items created by different ilvl, see chapter 3.8.2.

Chests only exist in Church, Catacombs, Caves and Hell.

Barrels, pods and urns

Pods and Urns are, for item creation, treated as barrels, so anything said about barrels below applies equally to pods and urns.

Barrels can be of two different types, exploding and non exploding. For information about exploding barrels, see chapter 4.3. Approximately 20% of all barrels are exploding ones. The information below will only apply to non exploding barrels. Exploding barrels will never have items in them.

Skeleton: 20%

Gold: 10%

Special item: 6.7%