Welcome
Diablo II Classic is the game before Lord of Destruction: five classes, four acts, no runewords, no charms. "Classic" refers to many versions of the game, the most notable being:
- 1.00, the original release in June 2000, full of bugs and broken stuff
- 1.06b, the last version before Lord of Destruction
- 1.09d, the last version before the major difficulty overhaul of patch 1.10
- 1.14d, the last version of the legacy game
- the current live version of Diablo II: Resurrected
The information on this site is written mainly for the live version of Classic in Diablo II: Resurrected. Details specific to other versions may be added later. For 1.06b, see the RetroD2 wiki.
Comparison Table
This is how Classic compares with Lord of Destruction.
| Area | Classic | Expansion and RotW |
|---|---|---|
| World | Acts I to IV, ending with Diablo in the Chaos Sanctuary. When Diablo is killed, a timer counts down and the current game ends. | Act V (Harrogath, Mount Arreat, the Worldstone Keep) and Baal. |
| Classes | Amazon, Necromancer, Barbarian, Sorceress and Paladin. | Assassin, Druid and Warlock. |
| Skills | Each class can use its own skills. The only non-class 'skills' available are in the form of magic and exploding arrows from Unique bows and crossbows. This makes party play especially appealing, as each class has defined roles. | Through expansion-only items and runewords, all classes can use a variety of skills and auras, for example Enigma for Teleport, Call to Arms for Battle Orders, and Infinity for Conviction. Other class skills can also be obtained as charges. |
| Stash | A personal stash of 4×6 squares. | The larger expansion stash, and the shared stash in Resurrected. |
| Item tiers | Normal and exceptional bases. Uniques and Sets here. | Elite bases, exceptional and elite unique and set items. |
| Item types | Normal, superior, socketed, magic, rare, unique and set weapon and armour types, rings and amulets. Gems and skulls. |
|
| Potions | All regular potions, plus Strangling Gas Potion, Choking Gas Potion, Fulminating Potion and Exploding Potion. | Rancid Gas Potion and Oil Potion. |
| Horadric Cube | The Classic cube recipes: gem upgrades, rerolling magic and rare items, fixed-bonus rings and amulets, and the Secret Cow Level. | Crafted items, and any recipe that needs a rune. |
| Quests and services | The quests of Acts I to IV, including Charsi's imbue. | Larzuk's socket quest reward, Scroll of Resistance. |
| Endgame events | Uber Diablo (Diablo Clone) still appears, but doesn't drop Annihilus, since Classic has no charms. | Uber Tristram (the Pandemonium Event) and Terror Zones. |
| Interface | Up to 8 skill hotkeys. | Weapon swap and 16 skill hotkeys. |
| Mercenaries | Mercenaries can be hired and fight with the gear they come with. | Equipping your mercenary, healing them with potions, and keeping them when you change acts. |
| Minions | Necromancer summons work as normal within an act. | Keeping summons when moving between acts; they die on the way. An Iron Golem doesn't carry over into a new game either. |
| Blocking | The percentage shown on your shield is your block chance, plus any bonuses from skills or items, up to the 75% cap. It is not affected by Dexterity or your level. | Block is based on the formula: Block% × (Dexterity − 15) ÷ (Character level × 2), reduced to a third while running. Investment in Dexterity is important for LoD blocking. |
| Resistance penalty | −20 in Nightmare, −50 in Hell. | −40 in Nightmare, −100 in Hell. |
| Patches | Item affix changes from 1.09. Bug fixes. All skill and synergy changes in D2R. | All changes. Additional changes to normal-grade Sets in RotW Patch 3.3. |
Unique Mechanics of Classic
Whirlwind ignores attack speed
The best Classic Whirlwind weapon is simply the one with the most damage, which favours slow, heavy two-handers such as the Martel de Fer. Attack speed bonuses make no difference.
Static Field has no difficulty penalty
In Classic, regardless of difficulty, Static can bring anything that isn't lightning immune down to very low life, ready to be finished off with any other attack. That makes a single point in Static valuable for every Sorceress build.
Rares are often king
With no runewords, and fewer and weaker uniques, the best gear in Classic is mostly rare: rings, amulets, helms, gloves, belts and boots with the right combination of affixes. Every good rare is different, so two characters of the same build rarely wear the same kit. Charsi's Act I quest reward, which imbues a normal item into a rare, carries far more weight here than in the expansion.