u/-K-

Hey guys, I rolled this perfect Enigma in single player!

https://preview.redd.it/3na2wnlgv9th1.png?width=993&format=png&auto=webp&s=a4e3c7d836b666662fb524ef7c495be67169a280

I am writing this as a special topic for being able to beat the game, there are some particularly challenging monsters for the Sorceror to deal with in Hell difficulty in the Hell section of the dungeon. This also deals with the Crypt in Hell difficulty, as it contains many of the same types of monsters.

For strategies for getting through lower levels with the Sorceror, see:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vgciyg/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_sorceror/

Why Play Hell Difficulty

To start with, why would you want to play these levels to begin with, considering they are so tough? First is to beat the game, which is a fun challenge to try, and can only be done by dealing with these difficult monsters. The second is for experience, Hell gives the best experience in the game, with Nightmare being easier to fight your way through, but not giving as much experience. At level 45, a Nightmare run will net you next to no experience, but a Hell run will still keep you progressing toward level 50.

Given that to achieve the goals of beating the game and getting to level 50 you have to learn to deal with Hell difficulty, this guide should help you to do so.

Bosses: Na-Krul and Diablo

First I'll talk about dealing with the bosses of the game: Na-Krul and Diablo. Na-Krul is triple immune, meaning your normal Fireball and Chain Lightning won't do anything to him. For him I use Apocalypse, note that this is the only monster in the game I use Apocalypse for. Apocalypse is a great spell because it cuts through immunity, and stunlocks Na-Krul so he can't get within range and start hitting you. If you activate Na-Krul by reading the books in the right order, he has significantly less health than Diablo, and a series of Apocalypse spells does enough damage to take care of him.

One thing I'll mention, though I feel it should be obvious: make sure to deal with all the monsters near Na-Krul before activating him. You don't want to be dealing with any other monsters when you take him on. This fight is way less to his advantage if you are 1 on 1.

Diablo himself has far more hit points than Na-Krul, and is resistant to fire damage rather than being triple immune. Take advantage of this. Fireball does much more damage than Apocalypse and costs far less Mana. Mana Shield and Fireball are absolutely the way to go on Diablo, just make sure to have a full belt of Mana Potions to be able to keep your Mana nice and high so you are never in danger. Apocalypse just doesn't do enough damage to Diablo and costs too much Mana to be a practical choice. Note that Diablo is immune to Stone Curse, so this spell is of no use in this fight.

Isolating Diablo from the other monsters around him can be tricky. I recommend activating him, having him chase you to a far corner of the map, and using Teleport across a wall to leave him behind where he can't follow you. The last thing you want when fighting Diablo are other monsters around. It makes him just impossible to deal with.

Triple Immunes

Dealing with Triple Immunes is tricky. Dealing with Fire and Lightning Immunes is just as tough, there are a few of these in the Crypt. This is because your normal big two spells Fireball and Chain Lightning have no effect on Triple Immunes. But there is still some magic that does work on them, allowing you a way to defeat them.

Golem still works, and I highly recommend using your Golem when dealing with Triple Immunes. He can take them out on the other side of a door in the Crypt without you ever setting foot near the monsters. He can also help take fire, and deal damage when you are dealing with Triple Immunes yourself. Golem does improve beyond spell level 15, so gear with Plus Spell Levels is well worth it for the impact it has on your Golem. Note that your Golem is immune to a lot of the spells that Triple Immunes cast, allowing him to last longer and keep helping you out.

Stone Curse still works. This is the primary way you'll need to deal with Triple Immunes: Stone Curse and physical weapon damage. For this reason, I highly recommend a Staff of Speed/Haste for quicker attacks, or the unique item Civerb's Cudgel, if you are lucky enough to find one. Civerb's Cudgel is slow to swing, but triples total damage against demons, which is the monster type all Triple Immunes belong to. I personally use an Arch Angel's War Staff of Speed, which can be shopped from Griswold without much effort, as I haven't been able to find a Civerb's Cudgel yet. Enough swings from your staff, augmented by your Golem, and you should be able to kill most Triple Immunes before the Stone Curse wears off.

Level 16 takes some special effort. Some areas are just filled with Advocates. Sometimes you need to spend considerable time walking and dodging their fire to coax one or two to teleport to a location away from the rest, so you can effectively deal with them. This can mean levels take a long time to work through as a Sorceror, so be patient. It's hard because on Nightmare the Sorceror can just speed his way through levels with his high damage spells. Hell changes things around greatly, making patience a key to success.

Note: For any questions, feel free to PM me.

I recently challenged myself to beat Hellfire with all six characters, and learned a lot from it. You can see my posts about each individual character if you want more details on what I did to pass the game with each.

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Barbarian

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vdpssf/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_barbarian/

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Bard

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vehr1a/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_bard/

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Monk

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vfs0ow/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_monk/

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Sorceror

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vgciyg/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_sorceror/

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Rogue

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vh5snc/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_rogue/

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Warrior

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vi29ww/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_warrior/

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with all Six Classes

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vixghz/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_all_six_classes/

This post comes out of a suggestion someone made on one of those posts that I create a guide for people wanting to decide which character they wanted to play the game with, since I have experience with the positives and negatives of them all. Here is my advice below based on what type of playstyle interests you.

I Want To Hit Enemies Hard So They Can't Hit Back

For players who want to play very offensively and with melee characters there are two options. The Barbarian or the Monk. Both wield two handed weapons, and are based on the tactic of hitting multiple enemies for high damage before they get a chance to strike back.

There are some differences between the Barbarian and the Monk. The Barbarian uses axes, has higher Hit Points and Vitality, and does more damage than the Monk. The Monk uses staves, can block with his staff diverting some incoming attacks, and does well with lighter armor than the Barbarian.

Both turn big crowds of enemies into piles of corpses with ease. You can use either to play offensively, especially if you use the combination of King's weapons of Speed/Haste and the Undead Crown.

I Want To Play A Tactical Melee Class

If you want to play a melee character who is a little bit more complex than the hack and slash that the Barbarian and the Monk are, then the Warrior is right for you. Warriors can't hit multiple enemies at the same time, the way the other melee classes can, but they can wield a shield making them very strong defensively as well as offensively.

The Warrior is the stereotypical beginners class for Diablo and Hellfire, and is very sensible as a choice for someone going through the game for the first time. Dealing with one monster at a time, and having strong defensive blocking make this class unique to play, and that little bit more strategic than the hack and slash melee classes.

I Want Cool Spells

If magic is most appealing to you, then there's no question about which class is right for you. It's the Sorceror, no other class even comes close in terms of magical ability. Sorceror's beat the game by making smart use of their spells, even against monsters that are immune to magic. Sorceror's can potentially beat levels fastest with their mighty offensive spells in Fireball and Chain Lightning.

When facing off against bosses and monsters who are immune to magic there are still some spells with work well. Mana Shield, where you Mana is used as your Hit Points. Stone Curse, where you can turn a monster to stone for a brief period of time. Golem, who is a magical creature who can take hits and deal out physical damage for his master. And finally Apocalypse, a spell that cuts through all magic immunity and stuns monsters with it's intense blasts.

If magic is your preference, then the Sorceror is the right choice for you.

I Want to Be Able to Use a Bow

If ranged attack is your preference, then the Rogue is the right choice, no other character is as powerful with bows. Rogues can hit enemies from across the dungeon, killing them before they even get a chance to come close enough to take a swing. The Rogue does not have great defensive abilities, as wielding a bow negates the ability to wear a shield, and their Hit Points are lower than other classes. But with practice none of this will matter, because you can dispose of enemies from afar.

If stealth and strategy appeal to you, then try out the Rogue, this class really suits that playstyle.

I Want a Challenge

If you are looking for a challenge, play the Bard. The Bard can hit multiple monsters the same way as other hack and slash melee classes, but does not have the same attack speed as the other melee classes. This means you need to be more strategic, potentially employing spells like Stone Curse in order to keep enemies from running away while you are fighting them. Bard's have the second highest Magic of any class, second only to the Sorceror, and so playing a somewhat hybrid style can make sense.

Bard's also have more Mana than Hit Points, meaning spells like Mana Shield are much more valuable to them than other classes. With some gear, they can read all spellbooks in the game, giving them higher levels in spells than any character other than the Sorceror. Their main disadvantage and challenge comes from their slower attack speed and lower health, meaning you need to take advantage of a wide variety of skills to play through the game. There's nothing keeping you from playing a Bard as a hybrid of melee character and mage, using swords when you want, and magic when you want as well.

I Want to Take Things Easy

If you want to sit back, relax, and destress from a complicated day then the melee classes are for you. Barbarian, Monk, and Warrior are all great for this. It's simple, attack monsters, earn experience, pick up gold and items. Nothing more to it than that.

I Want Variety

If you want variety, I suggest to play the way that I did, and play all six classes at once. Each is quite unique, maybe not quite to the extent of Diablo 2 classes, but close. There is a lot of gear that you can share amongst your characters using the Cornerstone of the World quest, and a lot of benefits in finding better equipment that come from playing them all through the game together. It's a bit patient to play so many characters, but well worth the reward in my opinion.

If you don't have the time and just want to play one class with the broadest experience, then I recommend the Bard. You'll get the most of what all the other classes have with the Bard with her ability to fight just shy of any other melee character and cast spells at the same level as the Sorceror.

Note: As always, feel free to PM me if you have additional questions about any of my posts.

So I challenged myself to beat the old Diablo 1 with all six classes including the ones available with Hellfire. It took me about six months to do this, playing them all at the same time, though I didn't play that regularly at times. If you would like to try beating that game, there are some lessons learned I can pass on.

I have class specific guidance in each of the following posts:

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Barbarian

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vdpssf/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_barbarian/

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Bard

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vehr1a/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_bard/

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Monk

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vfs0ow/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_monk/

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Sorceror

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vgciyg/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_sorceror/

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Rogue

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vh5snc/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_rogue/

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with the Warrior

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vi29ww/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_the_warrior/

I also have a post about picking a class, if you are unsure which one will work best for you:

Diablo Hellfire: How to Pick the Character that is Right for You

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vjtyy8/diablo_hellfire_how_to_pick_the_character_that_is/

This post is about general lessons I learned, somewhat independent of each class, applying to all of them.

Pick Equipment for Survivability

Flux and Bolty list ideal equipment in their own high level guides, these are somewhat applicable to trying to beat the game for the first time, but not entirely. The first time you try to beat the game you want equipment that will make it easier to survive. Ideal setups can wait until later, when you are level 40+ and have the survivability problem well in hand as a result of your high level. At that point you can swap out for Dragon's Rings of Wizardry, the Royal Circlet, and the like for staying in the dungeon as long as possible. Here is a list of equipment and how it helps survivability that I used on the characters:

The Undead Crown - Outside of the Rogue and the Sorceror, this helmet is absolutely the best for survivability. Life steal keeps you fighting, without having to take the time to cast a Healing spell, and each extra swing you can take is one more monster dead.

Obsidian Jewels - Maximum resistances are huge in Hell, the reduction in damage is down to a quarter of the original with maximum resists. Taking that much less damage allows you to take more hits before you need to heal, and keeps you swinging your weapon and killing enemies.

Harmony Jewels - Harmony is more valuable the lower level you are, since hit recovery depends on whether or not monsters do more damage to you than your level. Faster hit recovery means you get back to attacking that much faster, getting that little bit more life from leech, and surviving that little bit easier.

King's Weapons of Speed/Haste - The extra To Hit, Damage, and Attack Speed from these types of weapons keeps you killing enemies and leeching life constantly. Outside of the Rogue and the Sorceror, I was always using this type of weapon, appropriate to the class played.

Awesome Plates of the Mammal - High Armor Class and extra Hit Points are huge for survivability, being hit less often, and when you do get hit having more health to draw upon are huge advantages. I can't say enough good things about this type of armor. The amount of hit points you can gain from a Full Plate Mail bought at Wirt's is more than you can get on any other piece of equipment.

Jewels of Thieves - Half damage from all ranged attacks due to the bug in Hellfire makes a huge difference in your ability to take shots from ranged attackers. There are rooms full of Arch Liches and Advocates that become possible to head into simply from having this type of Jewel.

It's Great to Have Book Reading Gear But You'll Use It Seldom

Almost all spells improve as you level them up, and having book reading gear allows you to read higher level books. For the Sorceror this is obviously key, for other classes it can be enough just to max Healing. Outside the Sorceror I only ever cast Healing, except for the Bard where I would use Stone Curse to make up for my lack of attack speed to stun lock enemies. But having maximum Healing is still worth it, each level decreases Mana cost, allowing you to stay in the dungeon for longer. I never used the advanced tactics in Bolty's guide, including Teleport. The only time I used Teleport was to isolate Diablo from the other monsters around him.

For the Sorceror there are core spells, you can effectively ignore the rest. Firebolt and Charged Bolt at low levels. Fireball and Chain Lightning at high levels. Mana Shield, Stone Curse, and Golem are useful. Other than that, I never needed to cast anything else. Even Town Portal, one scroll each time you head into the dungeon is all you need.

Healing Potions are Useless

I never use Healing Potions, Mana Potions and the Healing spell are so much more efficient. You can stay in the dungeon much longer using this method than using any Healing Potions.

Each Class is Unique

Playing each class with their own unique style helps. I have read a lot about people taking Rogues and making them minimages. This is even more tempting for the Monk and the Bard with their even high Magic attributes than the Rogue. However, I found playing like this didn't make the most sense. Each class plays best played to it's own individual strengths, and so they do provide some variety to the game, which is nice.

Barbarians are great with two handed axes, don't bother playing them with a shield, they simply don't need it. For a Barbarian the only spell that is of any use is Healing, don't bother casting anything else.

Bards are great with two swords equipped and no shield. The attacking three monsters at once is a huge advantage, and as soon as you equip a shield of another weapon type in your off hand you lose that advantage. The only exception to this might be if you are lucky enough to find a Civerb's Cudgel to combine with your King's Sword of Speed/Haste for triple damage against demons. This might make giving up the three monsters attacked at once advantage worth it, for the triple damage. Bard's benefit from Healing and Stone Curse, that's the only difference in spells used I would suggest. Stone Curse because the Bard can't stun lock, and has greater Mana due to their increased Magic attribute.

Monks are amazing with two handed staves, any other weapon type or shield is a waste. They also only need to cast Healing, even Town Portal I find better to use scrolls than have my character cast it. Monks do amazing with Arkaine's Valor due to unique armor counting as one category lighter and their Armor Class bonus for light armor. My Monk was the last character to switch out for an Awesome Full Plate.

Sorceror's are best at magic, by far. Play them that way. Even triple immunes are vulnerable to some spells, like Stone Curse and Golem. For triple immunes you may break down and attack them with your staff, but even monsters who resist fire or lightning still succumb to Fireball and Chain Lightning. I found that Sorceror still played best without a shield, an Arch Angel's staff is just too good to pass up for the extra Fireball damage and better Golem.

Rogue's are best with a Bow. Skip the idea of using them as Minimages. They really only need Healing for the few times they do get hit by enemies who come close enough or ranged attackers.

Warrior's are the only class where a shield really makes sense, enjoy it. They are a more defensive fighter than any of the other melee classes. They also only need Healing as a spell, they can deal with any monster well with their sword and stunlocking.

Shopping is Key if You Want Great Gear

You'll find the gear you want faster shopping than you will in the dungeon by far. Griswold shopping and Wirt shopping are faster in Hellfire due to the jog mechanic. Also remember the Griswold trick with one item of each type: Amulet, Armor, Axe, Blunt, Bow, Helm, Ring, Shield, Staff, and Sword. Great gear can be found this way.

Wirt takes much longer to shop than Griswold. I found just about all my great gear on my lists from Griswold on the way to shop from Wirt. Only selling one item at a time makes Wirt much slower to shop from. He's the only place you can get a Merciless Long War Bow of the Heavens, and an Awesome Full Plate of the Mammoth. He's well worth shopping, and making a point to shop for better and better gear from Griswold on the way over.

It Can Be Very Advantageous to Play All Six Classes Together

I did the same thing when I was playing Diablo 2, with PlugY and shared stash. The Cornerstone of the World quest in level 13 of the Crypt allows you to have shared stash in Diablo 1. Playing through the game with all six characters, your chance to find good gear rises incredibly. You can also pool gear together for Griswold shopping which is a huge benefit. Essentially I would play each level with all six classes before moving on to the next, which might seem tedious, but when you play each class differently I found to be a lot of fun. If you have the patience, I highly recommend playing that way.

Be Careful With Shrines

Some shrines permanently decrease your character's Mana Points. Be very careful with shrines, always save before touching one.

Eventually You Stop Picking Items Up

Eventually you stop picking items up because you just don't need to anymore. All the best items come from shopping anyway, and you can stay down in the dungeon longer if you don't return to town for selling gear. At this point, the only things I would pick up in the dungeon are unique Circlets and Maces for the last remaining pieces of equipment I would like. Anything else just isn't of use to me.

Don't Play the Dungeon Start to Finish

My path through the dungeon was not linear. I repeated some levels a few times for gear, and skipped over other levels entirely. Hellfire makes this possible in single player, and it's a huge advantage of the expansion. Play only the levels you really want to and need to.

Diablo: Hellfire is a Lot of Fun

I know the game was initially disliked when it came out, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and got a lot of play time out of it with the six unique classes.

Note: If you would like to ask me any more questions, just PM me!

So I challenged myself to beat the old Diablo 1 with all six classes including the ones available with Hellfire. It took me about six months to do this, playing them all at the same time, though I didn't play that regularly at times. If you would like to try beating that game, there are some lessons learned I can pass on.

To get a link to a post about a different class use the following link:

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with all Six Classes

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vixghz/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_all_six_classes/

General Note: I played through the game without duping items unless absolutely necessary. You don't need to do so to beat the game.

First we'll start with what my character looked like at the end of the process, but I'll provide plenty of detail on how I got there. Here's my character's stats:

Name: K

Class: Warrior

Level: 37

Experience: 95 239 239

Next Level: 107 834 823

Strength Base: 250

Strength Now: 270

Magic Base: 50

Magic Now: 70

Dexterity Base: 60

Dexterity Now: 80

Vitality Base: 100

Vitality Now: 120

Life Base: 455

Mana Base: 156

Armor Class: 241

To Hit: 184%

Damage: 115-140

Resist Magic: Max

Resist Fire: Max

Resist Lightning: Max

Here's my character's equipment:

Head: The Undead Crown - Armor Class: 8 Durability: 100 Life Steal: 0-12.5%

Note: I know many people recommend the Royal Circlet as the best possible headgear for Hellfire, I was never able to find one, it's quite a rare item. Besides, I like the Undead Crown better, the lifesteal really makes a difference in the amount you need to heal yourself with spells or potions. You can't get lifesteal on your weapon as well as Speed/Haste, and Speed/Haste is too valuable to pass up. So I will likely wear The Undead Crown until level 50 even if I find the Royal Circlet in one of my future runs. I increased the durability of the Helm with Blacksmith Oils I found over the course of beating the game.

Amulet: Obsidian Amulet of Harmony - Resist All: +40% Fastest Hit Recovery

Note: Two Jewels with Obsidian are needed to get to maximum resists, and I was able to find this amulet shopping Griswold. I know many people forego Harmony on their jewelry when maximizing their gear. This is because as you level up, you are less likely to be put into hit recovery by enemy attacks. Hit recovery is only relevant when you are hit for damage equal to your level as a Warrior. This means each time you level up, you are that much less likely to ever go into hit recovery. Now that I have beat the game, switching this out for an Obsidian Amulet of the Zodiac is the better option. But as I was working to beat the game, there were many times I benefitted from the Harmony suffix for sure.

Left Hand: King's Bastard Sword of Speed - Damage: 6-15 To Hit: +94% Damage: +174% Durability: 60

Note: This sword is nearly perfect, in the future it would be nice to find slightly more to hit, but that is nearly impossibly rare. Speed is used because Speed and Haste actually both give the same attack speed, so finding a sword of Haste is more for style points than for any practical reason. I used a bastard sword because it is the highest damage of all one handed swords.

Armor: Awesome Plate of the Mammoth - Armor Class: 74 Armor: +134% Hit Points: +73 Durability: 90

Note: This armor was sold by Wirt, it's not perfect, but it's very good. Perfect would be 75 Armor Class, +150% Armor, and +80 Hit Points. But that would be over Wirt's price limit. It took a lot of shopping to find one this good.

Right Hand: Awesome Gothic Shield of the Tiger - Armor Class: 18 Armor: +148% Hit Points: +50 Durability: 60

This shield isn't perfect, but it's close. Perfect would be a Tower Shield instead of a Gothic Shield with 20 Armor Class. You can also get Holy shields from Wirt for a brief time, I tried shopping one at level 21, but found it was too tedious. A few hours of shopping, and I never saw one, so I gave up.

Left Ring: Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac - Resist All: +39% All Attributes: +20

Note: Maximum resists are fantastic. I love the Zodiac as suffix to boost To Hit, Damage from Strength, and Hit Points from Vitality.

Right Ring: Drake's Ring of Thieves - Mana: +50 Half Trap Damage

Note: This jewel was chosen based on a peculiarity of Hellfire. The Thieves suffix affects all ranged damage dealt to the character, not just trap damage. As a result the fireballs of Advocates, the spells of Arch Liches, and all other ranged damage is cut in half. You can't get a Dragon's jewel of Thieves, that combination is impossible, only Drake's can be found. To find this type of jewel, you must shop Griswold extensively at character level 21.

Book reading gear:

Note: I keep gear that adds to the Magic attribute specifically for the ability to read higher level spell books. The maximum benefit of this gear comes when you have a Dreamflange, however I have not found one yet. Dreamflange adds 30 magic on your weapon hand, 10 more than the Sorcery suffix that is the highest you can find on magic weapons. Without Dreamflange, the total increase to magic is +165, which is significant when reading spell books. With this type of gear, a Warrior can reach more than 212 Magic, allowing him to read almost all of the highest level spell books. That said, I only use magic for Healing anyway.

To be honest, there is only one spell level that matters on the Warrior: Healing. You can easily get that to level 15 with this type of gear.

Head: Helm of Sorcery - Armor Class: 5 Magic: +20 Durability: 30

Amulet: Drake's Amulet of Wizardry - Mana: +48 Magic: +30

Note: You don't need the Drake's prefix, I just happened to find +30 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Left Hand: Brutal Sword of Sorcery - Damage: 2-10 Damage: +86% Magic: +20 Durability: 40

Note: You don't need the Brutal prefix, I just happened to find +20 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Armor: Plate of Sorcery - Armor Class: 50 Magic: +20 Durability: 75

Right Hand: Shield of Brilliance - Armor Class: 3 Magic: +15 Durability: 24

Note: This shield needs to be shopped at a low level from Griswold, shields can't get anything better than Brilliance as a suffix for Magic.

Left Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Right Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Note: I was able to get my Healing to level 15, all levels of Healing help reduce the Mana cost.

Strategy for building up the character for beating the game:

There are some specific tips and tricks I can provide for how I took the character through the game. The Warrior plays similarly to all other melee characters, except for the shield. The shield allow blocking, making the Warrior more defensive than the other melee characters. You also cannot hit three enemies at the same time, which makes the Warrior a much slower killer than the other melee classes. He can stunlock enemies, though, which is a huge advantage over the Bard.

In terms of gear, I kept an eye out for any better gear I could find in the dungeon. This includes book reading gear. When you first start out, there's always little upgrades you can make that will improve your character.

The first time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. The Ring of Truth was my objective here, the +10 Hit Points, -1 Damage from enemies, and +10% Resist All is very valuable when you are first starting out. It will take you a long while in the dungeon to find a better ring than this, and Griswold also won't sell anything better than this for a good long while as well.

The second time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. A second Ring of Truth was my objective here, and I wasn't willing to dupe it.

The third time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, levels one through four, making sure I didn't get the Poisoned Water Supply quest. This is because that quest is mutually exclusive with the Skeleton King quest, and I wanted the Undead Crown from King Leoric for life stealing. This is the first piece of end game gear that I was able to find, and nice and early on in my quest. Life stealing helped me out tremendously throughout the whole time I was working my way to the end game.

Watch out for Black Deaths in these levels of the dungeon. If you get them, it can be worth it to restart your run. The trouble with Black Death's is that each time they hit you, you permanently lose 1 health. This is just too steep a price to pay, so it's best to avoid them entirely.

After my third time through the dungeon I performed my first shop. This was for a perfect +15 shield of Brilliance. The window of opportunity to find one at Griswold is short, as quickly you are too high level for him to sell one. To shop Griswold, just keep creating new Normal games, and checking out his wares. What Griswold sells does not depend on game difficulty, only character level. So for all your shops, Normal difficulty works, you don't ever need to shop at Nightmare or Hell difficulty. A perfect shield of Brilliance will only cost you a few grand in gold.

The next times through the dungeon were focused on level five only. I kept entering at the Catacombs entrance and played the first level of the Catacombs until I got the Arkaine's Valor quest. This Armor is well worth the effort to retry the level a few times. The Fastest Hit Recovery on the armor is the point in this. You can wear Arkaine's Valor all the way through Nightmare/Hell if you don't find any other source of Fastest Hit Recovery. Only when you find Fastest Hit Recovery on a jewel is it worth trading this Armor for something with much higher Armor Class. At low levels, Fastest Hit Recovery is just too valuable to pass up. When I found a level five with the quest, I continued on to levels six through eight.

I continued on through levels nine through twelve. However I did these in a special way. The first level of the Hive is also a level nine, just like the first level of the Caves. I played through level nine in both the Caves and the Hive, then level ten in both the Caves and Hive, and so on. I was doing this to get to the Crypt, and to enter it, you need to complete the Hive. This gives you the Cathedral Map. The Cathedral Map was the only item I duped. This was to make sure if the bug occurred where the Crypt resealed, I had a second copy of the Map available to get back into it and continue exploring. This bug I experienced a fair number of time playing through Hellfire, it's fairly common.

The reason I wanted access to the Crypt was for the Cornerstone of the World quest that appears on level 13 or the first level of the Crypt. I was playing through the game with all six character classes at the same time, and the ability the Cornerstone of the World quest gives to trade gear between characters was a big part of how I found ideal gear for beating the game with. Let's say you find a great axe while playing through as a Bard, it's a complete waste without this quest to trade gear. But if you do use the Cornerstone of the World quest you can trade ideal gear amongst your characters and have a much easier time beating the game with each.

After the Caves and the Hive I performed my second shop. This was for the Drake's Ring of Thieves that you are most likely to find at level 21. It's the second piece of endgame gear I was able to find as I was building up my Warrior, and it makes a great impact for him. Melee monsters you usually kill before they can get to you, but ranged attackers you have no option but to take some of their hits. The half damage from all ranged attacks is really nice, and the extra mana gives you the ability to cast more spells. It's a patient shop, it can take a long time to find one of these rings, but the patience is well worth it. It will cost you about 22 500 gold, which is an amount you should easily be able to gather at this point in the game. I also attempt to shop for a Holy Shield of the Tiger from Wirt at level 21, but gave up on it after a few hours and none of them showing up.

I continued on to levels 13 through 16, doing the same thing as I had done for the Caves and the Hive, going through each level in both Hell and the Crypt before going on to the next. At the end of this process your level is likely to be in the high 20s, still not enough for shopping for the best gear at Griswold yet, but I found that you didn't need that for Nightmare. With Arkaine's Valor and a Drake's Ring of Thieves, you have enough to be able to fight your way through Nightmare.

I skipped over levels one through twelve in Nightmare difficulty. Instead I took my duped Cathedral Map and started on Hell and the Crypt right away, again doing them level by level. In Nightmare you need to start being more careful. Only trigger a few enemies at a time, dealing with them in groups of three or less if at all possible. At the end of Nightmare you should be at low 30s for level, which is ideal for some serious Griswold shopping.

Between Nightmare and Hell I did a lot of Griswold and Wirt shopping. I had to shop for the Awesome Full Plate of the Mammoth, Awesome Shield of the Tiger, Obsidian Amulet of Harmony, and the Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac. There is a trick you can use for the Griswold shopping if you have enough money. Griswold will offer items at least 80% as expensive as the items you are carrying in the following categories: Amulet, Armor, Axe, Blunt, Bow, Helm, Ring, Shield, Staff, and Sword. Note that you do not need all categories for the trick to work. So for a Warrior, having an expensive ring, amulet, shield, sword, and armor are enough to see better and better items of those types. Shopping is a very patient experience, I spent a few days on it, but it is absolutely critical for gearing up for Hell difficulty. Wirt shopping is very patient, it takes longer than Griswold because he only sells one item at a time. This means you have to be much more patient in finding the item that you really want.

When I had a full set of equipment, I started on levels 13 through 16 on Hell difficulty. With the right equipment, you should have no problem with Hell difficulty. I'll share some things about how I approached Hell difficulty, because it does take some skill and practice.

The biggest thing is to only take on a few enemies at a time. This is hugely important, if you get surrounded, you are dead. The Warrior is great against enemies in small groups. I did not use the Teleport spell for the telekilling tactic, instead I made a point to learn just how to chase monsters who flee so that I could corner them and deal with them that way. Learning positioning in this game is a huge advantage.

Diablo himself is best dealt with by making sure you have a full belt of Mana Potions and Healing regularly.. For Na-Krul, make sure to read the books in the right order when activating him. The weaker version of Na-Krul is no problem for the Warrior. Stun lock really helps with these bosses, so fight them 1 on 1, isolate them from all other enemies around them.

Final Note: If you want any more details on how I did something, just PM me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I am able.

So I challenged myself to beat the old Diablo 1 with all six classes including the ones available with Hellfire. It took me about six months to do this, playing them all at the same time, though I didn't play that regularly at times. If you would like to try beating that game, there are some lessons learned I can pass on.

To get a link to a post about a different class use the following link:

Beat Diablo 1: Hellfire with all Six Classes

https://www.reddit.com/r/Diablo/comments/1vixghz/beat_diablo_1_hellfire_with_all_six_classes/

General Note: I played through the game without duping items unless absolutely necessary. You don't need to do so to beat the game.

First we'll start with what my character looked like at the end of the process, but I'll provide plenty of detail on how I got there. Here's my character's stats:

Name: Erin

Class: Rogue

Level: 37

Experience: 98 768 264

Next Level: 107 834 823

Strength Base: 55

Strength Now: 103

Magic Base: 70

Magic Now: 103

Dexterity Base: 250

Dexterity Now: 283

Vitality Base: 80

Vitality Now: 128

Life Base: 307

Mana Base: 279

Armor Class: 269

To Hit: 191%

Damage: 73-107

Resist Magic: Max

Resist Fire: Max

Resist Lightning: Max

Here's my character's equipment:

Head: Veil of Steel - Armor Class: 18 Durability: 68 Resist All: +50% Light Radius: -20% Armor: +60% Mana: -30 Strength: +15 Vitality +15

Note: This helm I am using until I find a Royal Circlet. Royal Circlet ends up being the best helm possible, but it is ultra rare and I have not found one yet. Veil of Steel comes with some nice advantages: 50 all resistance is great, good Armor Class, and plus to Strength which helps me wear Full Plate Mail. The subtraction from Mana is not so hot, that's a great reason to trade this out for a Royal Circlet when I get the chance.

Amulet: Obsidian Amulet of Harmony - Resist All: +40% Fastest Hit Recovery

Note: One Jewel with Obsidian is needed to get to maximum resists, and I was able to find this amulet shopping Griswold. I know many people forego Harmony on their jewelry when maximizing their gear. This is because as you level up, you are less likely to be put into hit recovery by enemy attacks. Hit recovery is only relevant when you are hit for damage equal to your level as a Rogue. This means each time you level up, you are that much less likely to ever go into hit recovery. Now that I have beat the game, switching this out for an Obsidian Amulet of the Zodiac is the better option. But as I was working to beat the game, there were many times I benefitted from the Harmony suffix for sure.

Left Hand: Merciless Long War Bow of the Heavens - Damage: 1-14 Damage: +163% All Attributes: +13 Durability: 60

Note: This bow I shopped from Wirt, it was the hardest shop I did for any of my equipment. Many people quote the Massive Long War Bow of Swiftness as the best in slot, but in Hellfire it doesn't allow you to shoot arrows any quicker, it just makes their travel time quicker. So in Hellfire, this is the best in slot bow. I would love to find one with 172% damage or higher for maximum damage. I'd also love to find one with +15 all attributes that would allow me to wear Full Plate Mail without the Veil of Steel strength bonus.

Armor: Awesome Plate of the Lion - Armor Class: 75 Armor: +147% Hit Points: +58 Durability: 90

Note: This armor was sold by Wirt, it's not perfect, but it's very good. Perfect would be 75 Armor Class, +150% Armor, and +60 Hit Points. It took a lot of shopping to find one this good.

Right Hand: Empty

Note: The bow I have is a two handed weapon.

Left Ring: Dragon's Ring of the Zodiac - Mana: +60 All Attributes: +20

Note: More mana is fantastic for the Rogue. I love the Zodiac as suffix to boost To Hit, Damage from both Dexterity and Strength, and get my Strength up for wearing Full Plate armor.

Right Ring: Drake's Ring of Thieves - Mana: +50 Half Trap Damage

Note: This jewel was chosen based on a peculiarity of Hellfire. The Thieves suffix affects all ranged damage dealt to the character, not just trap damage. As a result the fireballs of Advocates, the spells of Arch Liches, and all other ranged damage is cut in half. You can't get a Dragon's jewel of Thieves, that combination is impossible, only Drake's can be found. To find this type of jewel, you must shop Griswold extensively at character level 21.

Book reading gear:

Note: I keep gear that adds to the Magic attribute specifically for the ability to read higher level spell books. The maximum benefit of this gear comes when you have a Dreamflange, however I have not found one yet. Dreamflange adds 30 magic on your weapon hand, 10 more than the Sorcery suffix that is the highest you can find on magic weapons. Without Dreamflange, the total increase to magic is +165, which is significant when reading spell books. With this type of gear, a Rogue can reach more than 212 Magic, allowing her to read almost all of the highest level spell books. That said, I only use magic for Healing anyway.

To be honest, there is only one spell level that matters on the Rogue: Healing. You can easily get that to level 15 with this type of gear.

Head: Helm of Sorcery - Armor Class: 5 Magic: +20 Durability: 30

Amulet: Drake's Amulet of Wizardry - Mana: +48 Magic: +30

Note: You don't need the Drake's prefix, I just happened to find +30 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Left Hand: Brutal Sword of Sorcery - Damage: 2-10 Damage: +86% Magic: +20 Durability: 40

Note: You don't need the Brutal prefix, I just happened to find +20 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Armor: Plate of Sorcery - Armor Class: 50 Magic: +20 Durability: 75

Right Hand: Shield of Brilliance - Armor Class: 3 Magic: +15 Durability: 24

Note: This shield needs to be shopped at a low level from Griswold, shields can't get anything better than Brilliance as a suffix for Magic.

Left Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Right Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Note: I was able to get my Healing to level 15, all levels of Healing help reduce the Mana cost.

Strategy for building up the character for beating the game:

There are some specific tips and tricks I can provide for how I took the character through the game. The Rogue plays differently to all other characters on account of using a ranged weapon. For this character you want a bow, she's just too good with it, she fires faster than any other character and is slow with melee weapons. The damage done by a Rogue with a bow is lowest of all the classes, but she fires so quickly it doesn't matter. You can't get life steal with a bow, but this doesn't tend to matter because enemies die before they get close enough to attack you.

In terms of gear, I kept an eye out for any better gear I could find in the dungeon. This includes book reading gear. When you first start out, there's always little upgrades you can make that will improve your character.

The first time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. The Ring of Truth was my objective here, the +10 Hit Points, -1 Damage from enemies, and +10% Resist All is very valuable when you are first starting out. It will take you a long while in the dungeon to find a better ring than this, and Griswold also won't sell anything better than this for a good long while as well.

The second time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. A second Ring of Truth was my objective here, and I wasn't willing to dupe it. I continued on after this for the rest of the Church.

Watch out for Black Deaths in these levels of the dungeon. If you get them, it can be worth it to restart your run. The trouble with Black Death's is that each time they hit you, you permanently lose 1 health. This is just too steep a price to pay, so it's best to avoid them entirely.

After my second time through the dungeon I performed my first shop. This was for a perfect +15 shield of Brilliance. The window of opportunity to find one at Griswold is short, as quickly you are too high level for him to sell one. To shop Griswold, just keep creating new Normal games, and checking out his wares. What Griswold sells does not depend on game difficulty, only character level. So for all your shops, Normal difficulty works, you don't ever need to shop at Nightmare or Hell difficulty. A perfect shield of Brilliance will only cost you a few grand in gold.

The next times through the dungeon were focused on level five only. I kept entering at the Catacombs entrance and played the first level of the Catacombs until I got the Arkaine's Valor quest. This Armor is well worth the effort to retry the level a few times. The Fastest Hit Recovery on the armor is the point in this. You can wear Arkaine's Valor all the way through Nightmare/Hell if you don't find any other source of Fastest Hit Recovery. Only when you find Fastest Hit Recovery on a jewel is it worth trading this Armor for something with much higher Armor Class. At low levels, Fastest Hit Recovery is just too valuable to pass up. When I found a level five with the quest, I continued on to levels six through eight.

I continued on through levels nine through twelve. However I did these in a special way. The first level of the Hive is also a level nine, just like the first level of the Caves. I played through level nine in both the Caves and the Hive, then level ten in both the Caves and Hive, and so on. I was doing this to get to the Crypt, and to enter it, you need to complete the Hive. This gives you the Cathedral Map. The Cathedral Map was the only item I duped. This was to make sure if the bug occurred where the Crypt resealed, I had a second copy of the Map available to get back into it and continue exploring. This bug I experienced a fair number of time playing through Hellfire, it's fairly common.

The reason I wanted access to the Crypt was for the Cornerstone of the World quest that appears on level 13 or the first level of the Crypt. I was playing through the game with all six character classes at the same time, and the ability the Cornerstone of the World quest gives to trade gear between characters was a big part of how I found ideal gear for beating the game with. Let's say you find a great axe while playing through as a Bard, it's a complete waste without this quest to trade gear. But if you do use the Cornerstone of the World quest you can trade ideal gear amongst your characters and have a much easier time beating the game with each.

After the Caves and the Hive I performed my second shop. This was for the Drake's Ring of Thieves that you are most likely to find at level 21. It's the second piece of endgame gear I was able to find as I was building up my Rogue, and it makes a great impact for her. Melee monsters you usually kill before they can get to you, but ranged attackers you have no option but to take some of their hits. The half damage from all ranged attacks is really nice, and the extra mana gives you the ability to cast more spells. It's a patient shop, it can take a long time to find one of these rings, but the patience is well worth it. It will cost you about 22 500 gold, which is an amount you should easily be able to gather at this point in the game.

I continued on to levels 13 through 16, doing the same thing as I had done for the Caves and the Hive, going through each level in both Hell and the Crypt before going on to the next. At the end of this process your level is likely to be in the high 20s, still not enough for shopping for the best gear at Griswold yet, but I found that you didn't need that for Nightmare. With Arkaine's Valor and a Drake's Ring of Thieves, you have enough to be able to fight your way through Nightmare.

I skipped over levels one through twelve in Nightmare difficulty. Instead I took my duped Cathedral Map and started on Hell and the Crypt right away, again doing them level by level. In Nightmare you need to start being more careful. Only trigger a few enemies at a time, dealing with them in groups of three or less if at all possible. At the end of Nightmare you should be at low 30s for level, which is ideal for some serious Griswold shopping.

Between Nightmare and Hell I did a lot of Griswold and Wirt shopping. I had to shop for the Awesome Full Plate of the Tiger, Merciless Long War Bow of the Heavens, Obsidian Amulet of Harmony, and the Dragon's Ring of the Zodiac. There is a trick you can use for the Griswold shopping if you have enough money. Griswold will offer items at least 80% as expensive as the items you are carrying in the following categories: Amulet, Armor, Axe, Blunt, Bow, Helm, Ring, Shield, Staff, and Sword. Note that you do not need all categories for the trick to work. So for a Rogue, having an expensive ring and armor are enough to see better and better items of those types. Shopping is a very patient experience, I spent a few days on it, but it is absolutely critical for gearing up for Hell difficulty. Wirt shopping is very patient, it takes longer than Griswold because he only sells one item at a time. This means you have to be much more patient in finding the item that you really want.

When I had a full set of equipment, I started on levels 13 through 16 on Hell difficulty. With the right equipment, you should have no problem with Hell difficulty. I'll share some things about how I approached Hell difficulty, because it does take some skill and practice.

The biggest thing is to only take on a few enemies at a time. This is hugely important, if you get surrounded, you are dead. The Rogue is great against enemies in small groups. Also take advantage of being able to hit enemies from great range. Fire arrows into the darkness, and they can still hit enemies before they are even activated. If you do happen to have a monster come into range before you are able to kill them your equipment will keep you alive handily. Just so long as there aren't a swarm of monsters.

Diablo himself is best dealt with by firing at him from beyond his sight, you can kill him without taking any damage. For Na-Krul, make sure to read the books in the right order when activating him. The weaker version of Na-Krul is no problem for the Rogue.

Final Note: If you want any more details on how I did something, just PM me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I am able.

So I challenged myself to beat the old Diablo 1 with all six classes including the ones available with Hellfire. It took me about six months to do this, playing them all at the same time, though I didn't play that regularly at times. If you would like to try beating that game, there are some lessons learned I can pass on.

General Note: I played through the game without duping items unless absolutely necessary. You don't need to do so to beat the game.

First we'll start with what my character looked like at the end of the process, but I'll provide plenty of detail on how I got there. Here's my character's stats:

Name: Kor

Class: Sorceror

Level: 37

Experience: 95 168 369

Next Level: 107 834 823

Strength Base: 45

Strength Now: 65

Magic Base: 250

Magic Now: 275

Dexterity Base: 85

Dexterity Now: 105

Vitality Base: 80

Vitality Now: 100

Life Base: 146

Mana Base: 782

Armor Class: 71

To Hit: 102%

Damage: 32-40

Resist Magic: Max

Resist Fire: Max

Resist Lightning: Max

Here's my character's equipment:

Head: Thinking Cap - Armor Class: 4 Durability: 76 Mana: +30 Spells are Increased 2 Levels Resist All +20%

Note: Plus two spell levels are where it's at. The extra Fireball damage is what I am getting out of that. Chain Lightning and other spells don't benefit from extra levels, but Fireball and Apocalypse sure do. I used Blacksmith Oils to increase the durability on this to a nice high level.

Amulet: Obsidian Amulet of Harmony - Resist All: +40% Fastest Hit Recovery

Note: One Jewel with Obsidian is needed to get to maximum resists, and I was able to find this amulet shopping Griswold. I know many people forego Harmony on their jewelry when maximizing their gear. This is because as you level up, you are less likely to be put into hit recovery by enemy attacks. Hit recovery is only relevant when you are hit for damage equal to your level as a Sorceror. This means each time you level up, you are that much less likely to ever go into hit recovery. Now that I have beat the game, switching this out for an Obsidian Amulet of the Zodiac is the better option. But as I was working to beat the game, there were many times I benefitted from the Harmony suffix for sure.

Left Hand: Arch Angels Staff of Speed - Damage: 8-16 Spells are Increased 2 Levels Faster Attack Durability: 75

Note: Two more spell levels! I know a lot of people take different suffixes with this type of staff, for example Wizardry. I took Speed because faster attacking Advocates and other triple immunes when they have Stone Curse is valuable to me. I prefer the strategy of Stone Skin and attack to other spells like Apocalypse where maximum mana is of utmost importance. I found Apocalypse just doesn't do enough damage to be worth it.

Armor: Naj's Light Plate - Armor Class: 46 No Strength Requirement Magic: +5 Mana: +20 Resist All: +20% Spells are Increased 1 Level Durability: 75

Note: One more spell level is nice, as well as the extra all resistance. This is the piece of equipment I am most tempted to switch out for an Awesome Full Plate of some kind, for the extra AC. But it's nice not to need any Strength items, and I am able to deal with monsters at a range with the Sorceror if I play well, so I stick with the extra spell level.

Right Hand: Empty

Note: The staff I have is a two handed weapon. I know some people equip their Sorceror with a shield, but I have found it is not necessary. Instead of blocking, I have the ring of Thieves, which halves all ranged damage. That works better in place of blocking for me.

Left Ring: Dragon's Ring of the Zodiac - Mana: +60 All Attributes: +20

Note: More mana is fantastic for the Sorceror, they'll have Mana Shield up all the time. I prefer Zodiac as suffix to Wizardry because I could use the To Hit and Damage with my staff when hitting triple immunes that I have Stone Cursed.

Right Ring: Drake's Ring of Thieves - Mana: +50 Half Trap Damage

Note: This jewel was chosen based on a peculiarity of Hellfire. The Thieves suffix affects all ranged damage dealt to the character, not just trap damage. As a result the fireballs of Advocates, the spells of Arch Liches, and all other ranged damage is cut in half. You can't get a Dragon's jewel of Thieves, that combination is impossible, only Drake's can be found. To find this type of jewel, you must shop Griswold extensively at character level 21.

Book reading gear:

Note: I don't bother with book reading gear for the Sorceror except for very early on. He can get 250 magic naturally, and that last 5 I have from other equipment easily. He has the ability to read books to maximize all spells to level 15.

Spells:

Note: I will list my spell levels and damage. These really matter for the Sorceror, which is why I have all that Plus Spell Level gear equipped.

Stone Curse - Level 20 Mana: 40

Stone Curse stops decreasing in Mana cost at level 8, and stops increasing in duration at level 9. You don't need to max this spell if you don't want to.

Mana Shield - Level 20 Mana: 33

Mana Shield costs and acts the same regardless of spell level, it's only necessary to read one book's worth to use it extensively.

Fireball - Level 20 Mana: 10

Fireball reaches lowest mana cost at level 7, however damage keeps increasing with all spell levels. My damage with Fireball is a whopping 786 - 1 175. Even monsters with fire resistance usually only take one shot to kill.

Chain Lightning - Level 20 Mana: 18

Chain Lightning decreases in Mana Cost until level 13. Because Chain Lightning damage is calculated based on Character Level rather than Spell Level, reading more books never impacts the damage done. My damage is 4 - 78.

Golem - Level 20 Mana: 60

Golem reaches minimum mana at Level 8. Hit Points, To Hit, and Damage done all go up with every spell level. So this is a second spell where all that Plus Spell Level gear pays off.

Apocalypse - Level 20 Mana: 90

Apocalypse reaches minimum Mana at level 11. Apocalypse is another spell that has damage based on Character Level rather than Spell Level. My damage is 37 - 222 which is puny compared to Fireball.

Strategy for building up the character for beating the game:

There are some specific tips and tricks I can provide for how I took the character through the game. The Sorceror plays entirely differently to other characters. For this character weapon choice is not as important a book reading. You can use any weapon you like until the point you are able to buy Angel's staves. The damage done by a Sorceror is all about spells. At low levels I used Firebolt and Charged Bolt until I could switch to Fireball and Chain Lightning. You'll want to use the spell that monsters have no resistance or immunity to in all cases. Getting spell levels in Firebolt and Charged Bolt as high as you can should be your top priority. You'll also want Healing until you can get Mana Shield. By the time you get Mana Shield your Mana will already be significantly higher than your Health.

In terms of gear, I kept an eye out for any better gear I could find in the dungeon. This includes book reading gear until I could max the Magic attribute. When you first start out, there's always little upgrades you can make that will improve your character.

The Sorceror is the character class that will benefit the most from playing through the game with all six classes at the same time. That's because six times the likelihood of finding Thinking Cap and Naj's Light Plate is super useful. You can always trade those items to your Sorceror when you get to the Cornerstone of the World quest in the Crypt. I did not find the Thinking Cap and Naj's light plate with my Sorceror, they were found by other players who donated that unique gear when the time came I was able to.

The first time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. The Ring of Truth was my objective here, the +10 Hit Points, -1 Damage from enemies, and +10% Resist All is very valuable when you are first starting out. It will take you a long while in the dungeon to find a better ring than this, and Griswold also won't sell anything better than this for a good long while as well.

The second time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. A second Ring of Truth was my objective here, and I wasn't willing to dupe it. I continued on after this for the rest of the Church.

Watch out for Black Deaths in these levels of the dungeon. If you get them, it can be worth it to restart your run. The trouble with Black Death's is that each time they hit you, you permanently lose 1 health. This is just too steep a price to pay, so it's best to avoid them entirely.

After my second time through the dungeon I performed my first shop. This was for a perfect +15 shield of Brilliance. The window of opportunity to find one at Griswold is short, as quickly you are too high level for him to sell one. To shop Griswold, just keep creating new Normal games, and checking out his wares. What Griswold sells does not depend on game difficulty, only character level. So for all your shops, Normal difficulty works, you don't ever need to shop at Nightmare or Hell difficulty. A perfect shield of Brilliance will only cost you a few grand in gold.

The next times through the dungeon were focused on level five only. I kept entering at the Catacombs entrance and played the first level of the Catacombs until I got the Arkaine's Valor quest. This Armor is well worth the effort to retry the level a few times. The Fastest Hit Recovery on the armor is the point in this. You can wear Arkaine's Valor all the way through Nightmare/Hell if you don't find any other source of Fastest Hit Recovery. One special advantage for the Monk is that he gets his natural Armor Class bonus when wearing Arkaine's Valor since it counts as light rather than medium armor on account of being unique. This is a great benefit of the monk, the extra armor class. Only when you find Fastest Hit Recovery on a jewel is it worth trading this Armor for something with much higher Armor Class. At low levels, Fastest Hit Recovery is just too valuable to pass up. When I found a level five with the quest, I continued on to levels six through eight.

I continued on through levels nine through twelve. However I did these in a special way. The first level of the Hive is also a level nine, just like the first level of the Caves. I played through level nine in both the Caves and the Hive, then level ten in both the Caves and Hive, and so on. I was doing this to get to the Crypt, and to enter it, you need to complete the Hive. This gives you the Cathedral Map. The Cathedral Map was the only item I duped. This was to make sure if the bug occurred where the Crypt resealed, I had a second copy of the Map available to get back into it and continue exploring. This bug I experienced a fair number of time playing through Hellfire, it's fairly common.

The reason I wanted access to the Crypt was for the Cornerstone of the World quest that appears on level 13 or the first level of the Crypt. I was playing through the game with all six character classes at the same time, and the ability the Cornerstone of the World quest gives to trade gear between characters was a big part of how I found ideal gear for beating the game with. Let's say you find a great axe while playing through as a Bard, it's a complete waste without this quest to trade gear. But if you do use the Cornerstone of the World quest you can trade ideal gear amongst your characters and have a much easier time beating the game with each.

The Defiler in the Hive was when I found I finally had to switch from Firebolt to Fireball. Firebolt just wasn't doing enough damage to cut through his fire resistance.

After the Caves and the Hive I performed my second shop. This was for the Drake's Ring of Thieves that you are most likely to find at level 21. It's the second piece of endgame gear I was able to find as I was building up my Sorceror, and it makes a great impact for him. Melee monsters you usually kill before they can get to you, but ranged attackers you have no option but to take some of their hits. The half damage from all ranged attacks is really nice, and the extra mana gives you the ability to cast more spells. It's a patient shop, it can take a long time to find one of these rings, but the patience is well worth it. It will cost you about 22 500 gold, which is an amount you should easily be able to gather at this point in the game.

I continued on to levels 13 through 16, doing the same thing as I had done for the Caves and the Hive, going through each level in both Hell and the Crypt before going on to the next. At the end of this process your level is likely to be in the high 20s, still not enough for shopping for the best gear at Griswold yet, but I found that you didn't need that for Nightmare. With Arkaine's Valor and a Drake's Ring of Thieves, you have enough to be able to fight your way through Nightmare.

I skipped over levels one through twelve in Nightmare difficulty. Instead I took my duped Cathedral Map and started on Hell and the Crypt right away, again doing them level by level. In Nightmare you need to start being more careful. Only trigger a few enemies at a time, dealing with them in groups of three or less if at all possible. At the end of Nightmare you should be at low 30s for level, which is ideal for some serious Griswold shopping.

Between Nightmare and Hell I did a lot of Griswold shopping. I had to shop for the Arch Angels Staff of Speed, Obsidian Amulet of Harmony, and the Dragon's Ring of the Zodiac. There is a trick you can use for the Griswold shopping if you have enough money. Griswold will offer items at least 80% as expensive as the items you are carrying in the following categories: Amulet, Armor, Axe, Blunt, Bow, Helm, Ring, Shield, Staff, and Sword. Note that you do not need all categories for the trick to work. So for a Sorceror, having an expensive staff, ring, and armor are enough to see better and better items of those types. Shopping is a very patient experience, I spent a few days on it, but it is absolutely critical for gearing up for Hell difficulty.

When I had a full set of equipment, I started on levels 13 through 16 on Hell difficulty. With the right equipment, you should have no problem with Hell difficulty. I'll share some things about how I approached Hell difficulty, because it does take some skill and practice.

The biggest thing is to only take on a few enemies at a time. This is hugely important, if you get surrounded, you are dead. The Sorceror is great against enemies in small groups. Sometimes you can't help but activate extra monsters from your Chain Lightning. Just make sure to kill them before they get close enough to strike you. Learn enemies Immunities and Resistances! If you need help with this, the internet knows, you can always look up a new enemy when you first encounter them. The trickiest monsters are the triple immunes, for them I have a strategy.

For triple immunes use Golem, Stone Curse, and your staff. Stone Curse lasts for a long time, and even if you are hitting for low damage, it all adds up fast if you have a Staff of Speed. The Golem is also wonderful for absorbing enemy fire until you get the chance to Stone Curse.

Diablo himself is best dealt with Golem and Fireball as the Sorceror. For Na-Krul, make sure to read the books in the right order when activating him. The weaker version of Na-Krul is no problem for the Sorceror with Apocalypse, it stun locks him.

Final Note: If you want any more details on how I did something, just PM me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I am able.

So I challenged myself to beat the old Diablo 1 with all six classes including the ones available with Hellfire. It took me about six months to do this, playing them all at the same time, though I didn't play that regularly at times. If you would like to try beating that game, there are some lessons learned I can pass on.

General Note: I played through the game without duping items unless absolutely necessary. You don't need to do so to beat the game.

First we'll start with what my character looked like at the end of the process, but I'll provide plenty of detail on how I got there. Here's my character's stats:

Name: Steven

Class: Monk

Level: 37

Experience: 101 357 348

Next Level: 107 834 823

Strength Base: 150

Strength Now: 170

Magic Base: 80

Magic Now: 100

Dexterity Base: 150

Dexterity Now: 170

Vitality Base: 80

Vitality Now: 100

Life Base: 265

Mana Base: 240

Armor Class: 227

To Hit: 245%

Damage: 105-127

Resist Magic: Max

Resist Fire: Max

Resist Lightning: Max

Here's my character's equipment:

Head: The Undead Crown - Armor Class: 8 Durability: 100 Life Steal: 0-12.5%

Note: I know many people recommend the Royal Circlet as the best possible headgear for Hellfire, I was never able to find one, it's quite a rare item. Besides, I like the Undead Crown better, the lifesteal really makes a difference in the amount you need to heal yourself with spells or potions. You can't get lifesteal on your weapon as well as Speed/Haste, and Speed/Haste is too valuable to pass up. So I will likely wear The Undead Crown until level 50 even if I find the Royal Circlet in one of my future runs. I increased the durability of the Helm with Blacksmith Oils I found over the course of beating the game.

Amulet: Obsidian Amulet of Harmony - Resist All: +39% Fastest Hit Recovery

Note: Two Jewels with Obsidian is needed to get to maximum resists, and I was able to find this amulet in the dungeon. I know many people forego Harmony on their jewelry when maximizing their gear. This is because as you level up, you are less likely to be put into hit recovery by enemy attacks. Hit recovery is only relevant when you are hit for damage equal to your level as a Monk. This means each time you level up, you are that much less likely to ever go into hit recovery. Now that I have beat the game, switching this out for an Obsidian Amulet of the Zodiac is the better option. But as I was working to beat the game, there were many times I benefitted from the Harmony suffix for sure.

Left Hand: King's War Staff of Haste - Damage: 8-16 To Hit: +100% Damage: +175% Durability: 75

Note: I lucked out Griswold shopping and found a perfect staff, full 100% to hit and 175% damage. I used a war staff because it is the highest damage of all staves.

Armor: Awesome Plate of the Lion - Armor Class: 75 Armor: +147% Hit Points: +58 Durability: 90

Note: This armor was sold by Wirt, it's not perfect, but it's very good. Perfect would be 75 Armor Class, +150% Armor, and +60 Hit Points. It took a lot of shopping to find one this good.

Right Hand: Empty

Note: Monks fight best with staves or no weapon at all. I picked stave because you get more damage, and the ability to hit three enemies at once. This is extremely valuable when you have more than one monster attack you at a time. The ability to put them all into hit recovery keeps them from being able to hit you.

Left Ring: Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac - Resist All: +39% All Attributes: +20

Note: This is the second obsidian jewel, bring the total resist all to 78% which is more than maximum. I picked Zodiac as the suffix for the extra health, damage, armor class, to hit, and mana.

Right Ring: Drake's Ring of Thieves - Mana: +50 Half Trap Damage

Note: This jewel was chosen based on a peculiarity of Hellfire. The Thieves suffix affects all ranged damage dealt to the character, not just trap damage. As a result the fireballs of Advocates, the spells of Arch Liches, and all other ranged damage is cut in half. You can't get a Dragon's jewel of Thieves, that combination is impossible, only Drake's can be found. To find this type of jewel, you must shop Griswold extensively at around character level 21.

Book reading gear:

Note: I keep gear that adds to the Magic attribute specifically for the ability to read higher level spell books. The maximum benefit of this gear comes when you have a Dreamflange, however I have not found one yet. Dreamflange adds 30 magic on your weapon hand, 10 more than the Sorcery suffix that is the highest you can find on magic weapons. Without Dreamflange, the total increase to magic is +165, which is significant when reading spell books. With this type of gear, a Monk can reach 245 Magic. For the full 255 required to read all spell books of level 15 you absolutely need a Dreamflange, so I am hoping to find one over time.

To be honest, there is only one spell level that matters on the Monk: Healing. You can easily get that to level 15 with this type of gear.

Head: Helm of Sorcery - Armor Class: 5 Magic: +20 Durability: 30

Amulet: Drake's Amulet of Wizardry - Mana: +48 Magic: +30

Note: You don't need the Drake's prefix, I just happened to find +30 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Left Hand: Brutal Sword of Sorcery - Damage: 2-10 Damage: +86% Magic: +20 Durability: 40

Note: You don't need the Brutal prefix, I just happened to find +20 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Armor: Plate of Sorcery - Armor Class: 50 Magic: +20 Durability: 75

Right Hand: Shield of Brilliance - Armor Class: 3 Magic: +15 Durability: 24

Note: This shield needs to be shopped at a low level from Griswold, shields can't get anything better than Brilliance as a suffix for Magic.

Left Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Right Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Note: I was able to get my Healing to level 15. For maximizing all spell levels to 15 I'll have to be patient and find a Dreamflange.

Strategy for building up the character for beating the game:

There are some specific tips and tricks I can provide for how I took the character through the game. The Monk plays similarly to other characters. For this character you want a stave ideally of speed or haste. The damage done by a Monk with a stave is significant, since he can strike three targets with each swing. With life steal, which you can get from the Undead Crown starting very early in the game, you will have great survivability. The one major downside of the Monk is damage, his damage just can't get as high as a Barbarian or Bard, though it is slightly higher than a Warrior.

In terms of gear, I kept an eye out for any better gear I could find in the dungeon. This includes book reading gear. When you first start out, there's always little upgrades you can make that will improve your character.

The first time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. The Ring of Truth was my objective here, the +10 Hit Points, -1 Damage from enemies, and +10% Resist All is very valuable when you are first starting out. It will take you a long while in the dungeon to find a better ring than this, and Griswold also won't sell anything better than this for a good long while as well.

The second time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. A second Ring of Truth was my objective here, and I wasn't willing to dupe it.

The third time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, levels one through four, making sure I didn't get the Poisoned Water Supply quest. This is because that quest is mutually exclusive with the Skeleton King quest, and I wanted the Undead Crown from King Leoric for life stealing. This is the first piece of end game gear that I was able to find, and nice and early on in my quest. Life stealing helped me out tremendously throughout the whole time I was working my way to the end game.

Watch out for Black Deaths in these levels of the dungeon. If you get them, it can be worth it to restart your run. The trouble with Black Death's is that each time they hit you, you permanently lose 1 health. This is just too steep a price to pay, so it's best to avoid them entirely.

After my third time through the dungeon I performed my first shop. This was for a perfect +15 shield of Brilliance. The window of opportunity to find one at Griswold is short, as quickly you are too high level for him to sell one. To shop Griswold, just keep creating new Normal games, and checking out his wares. What Griswold sells does not depend on game difficulty, only character level. So for all your shops, Normal difficulty works, you don't ever need to shop at Nightmare or Hell difficulty. A perfect shield of Brilliance will only cost you a few grand in gold.

The next times through the dungeon were focused on level five only. I kept entering at the Catacombs entrance and played the first level of the Catacombs until I got the Arkaine's Valor quest. This Armor is well worth the effort to retry the level a few times. The Fastest Hit Recovery on the armor is the point in this. You can wear Arkaine's Valor all the way through Nightmare/Hell if you don't find any other source of Fastest Hit Recovery. One special advantage for the Monk is that he gets his natural Armor Class bonus when wearing Arkaine's Valor since it counts as light rather than medium armor on account of being unique. This is a great benefit of the monk, the extra armor class. Only when you find Fastest Hit Recovery on a jewel is it worth trading this Armor for something with much higher Armor Class. At low levels, Fastest Hit Recovery is just too valuable to pass up. When I found a level five with the quest, I continued on to levels six through eight.

I continued on through levels nine through twelve. However I did these in a special way. The first level of the Hive is also a level nine, just like the first level of the Caves. I played through level nine in both the Caves and the Hive, then level ten in both the Caves and Hive, and so on. I was doing this to get to the Crypt, and to enter it, you need to complete the Hive. This gives you the Cathedral Map. The Cathedral Map was the only item I duped. This was to make sure if the bug occurred where the Crypt resealed, I had a second copy of the Map available to get back into it and continue exploring. This bug I experienced a fair number of time playing through Hellfire, it's fairly common.

The reason I wanted access to the Crypt was for the Cornerstone of the World quest that appears on level 13 or the first level of the Crypt. I was playing through the game with all six character classes at the same time, and the ability the Cornerstone of the World quest gives to trade gear between characters was a big part of how I found ideal gear for beating the game with. Let's say you find a great axe while playing through as a Bard, it's a complete waste without this quest to trade gear. But if you do use the Cornerstone of the World quest you can trade ideal gear amongst your characters and have a much easier time beating the game with each.

After the Caves and the Hive I performed my second shop. This was for the Drake's Ring of Thieves that you are most likely to find at level 21. It's the second piece of endgame gear I was able to find as I was building up my Monk, and it makes a great impact for him. The half damage from all ranged attacks is really nice, and the extra mana gives you the ability to cast Healing more times. It's a patient shop, it can take a long time to find one of these rings, but the patience is well worth it. It will cost you about 22 500 gold, which is an amount you should easily be able to gather at this point in the game.

I continued on to levels 13 through 16, doing the same thing as I had done for the Caves and the Hive, going through each level in both Hell and the Crypt before going on to the next. At the end of this process your level is likely to be in the high 20s, still not enough for shopping for the best gear at Griswold yet, but I found that you didn't need that for Nightmare. With Arkaine's Valor, the Undead Crown, and a Drake's Ring of Thieves, you have enough to be able to fight your way through Nightmare.

I skipped over levels one through twelve in Nightmare difficulty. Instead I took my duped Cathedral Map and started on Hell and the Crypt right away, again doing them level by level. In Nightmare you need to start being more careful. Only trigger a few enemies at a time, dealing with them in groups of three or less if at all possible. At the end of Nightmare you should be at low 30s for level, which is ideal for some serious Griswold shopping.

Between Nightmare and Hell I did a lot of Griswold shopping. I found the Obsidian Amulet of Harmony in the dungeon, I had to shop for the King's Staff of Speed, Awesome Plate of the Lion, and the Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac. There is a trick you can use for the Griswold shopping if you have enough money. Griswold will offer items at least 80% as expensive as the items you are carrying in the following categories: Amulet, Armor, Axe, Blunt, Bow, Helm, Ring, Shield, Staff, and Sword. Note that you do not need all categories for the trick to work. So for a Monk, having an expensive staff, ring, and armor are enough to see better and better items of those types. Shopping is a very patient experience, I spent a few days on it, but it is absolutely critical for gearing up for Hell difficulty.

When I had a full set of equipment, I started on levels 13 through 16 on Hell difficulty. With the right equipment, you should have no problem with Hell difficulty. I'll share some things about how I approached Hell difficulty, because it does take some skill and practice.

The biggest thing is to only take on a few enemies at a time. This is hugely important, if you get surrounded, you are dead. The Monk is great against enemies in small groups. A Staff of Speed, the Undead Crown, Thieves, Harmony, and full resistances, along with high Armor Class will keep you safe. Strategies I did not use are the Teleport spell. Be very careful about which way you chase enemies. Always chase them away from unexplored parts of the map, and potentially other enemies who could join the flight. You'll get to know the way Succubi, Liches, and Advocates all run away from you. Learn them well, so you can keep them from running away into new enemies and overwhelming force that will kill you. Hell difficulty is all about good positioning on the hex grid.

Diablo himself is a breeze for the Monk, since you can stunlock him. For Na-Krul, make sure to read the books in the right order when activating him. The weaker version of Na-Krul is no problem for the Monk.

Final Note: If you want any more details on how I did something, just PM me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I am able.

So I challenged myself to beat the old Diablo 1 with all six classes including the ones available with Hellfire. It took me about six months to do this, playing them all at the same time, though I didn't play that regularly at times. If you would like to try beating that game, there are some lessons learned I can pass on.

General Note: I played through the game without duping items unless absolutely necessary. You don't need to do so to beat the game.

First we'll start with what my character looked like at the end of the process, but I'll provide plenty of detail on how I got there. Here's my character's stats:

Name: Eris

Class: Bard

Level: 37

Experience: 97 145 249

Next Level: 107 834 823

Strength Base: 120

Strength Now: 140

Magic Base: 120

Magic Now: 140

Dexterity Base: 120

Dexterity Now: 140

Vitality Base: 100

Vitality Now: 120

Life Base: 285

Mana Base: 342

Armor Class: 221

To Hit: 311%

Damage: 122-203

Resist Magic: Max

Resist Fire: Max

Resist Lightning: Max

Here's my character's equipment:

Head: The Undead Crown - Armor Class: 8 Durability: 100 Life Steal: 0-12.5%

Note: I know many people recommend the Royal Circlet as the best possible headgear for Hellfire, I was never able to find one, it's quite a rare item. Besides, I like the Undead Crown better, the lifesteal really makes a difference in the amount you need to heal yourself with spells or potions. You can't get lifesteal on your weapon as well as Speed/Haste, and Speed/Haste is too valuable to pass up. So I will likely wear The Undead Crown until level 50 even if I find the Royal Circlet in one of my future runs. I increased the durability of the Helm with Blacksmith Oils I found over the course of beating the game.

Amulet: Obsidian Amulet of Harmony - Resist All: +39% Fastest Hit Recovery

Note: Two Jewels with Obsidian is needed to get to maximum resists, and I was able to find this amulet in the dungeon. I know many people forego Harmony on their jewelry when maximizing their gear. This is because as you level up, you are less likely to be put into hit recovery by enemy attacks. Hit recovery is only relevant when you are hit for damage equal to your level as a Bard. This means each time you level up, you are that much less likely to ever go into hit recovery. Now that I have beat the game, switching this out for an Obsidian Amulet of the Zodiac is the better option. But as I was working to beat the game, there were many times I benefitted from the Harmony suffix for sure.

Left Hand: King's Bastard Sword of Speed - Damage: 6-15 To Hit: +94% Damage: +174% Durability: 60

Note: This sword is nearly perfect, in the future it would be nice to find slightly more to hit, but that is nearly impossibly rare. Speed is used because Speed and Haste actually both give the same attack speed, so finding a sword of Haste is more for style points than for any practical reason. I used a bastard sword because it is the highest damage of all one handed swords.

Armor: Awesome Plate of the Lion - Armor Class: 75 Armor: +147% Hit Points: +58 Durability: 90

Note: This armor was sold by Wirt, it's not perfect, but it's very good. Perfect would be 75 Armor Class, +150% Armor, and +60 Hit Points. It took a lot of shopping to find one this good.

Right Hand: King's Bastard Sword of Blood - Damage 6-15 To Hit: +97% Damage +173% Durability 60

Note: Bards benefit from wielding two swords, they are able to hit three enemies at the same time with dual swords, similar to the Barbarian or Monk ability. The suffix of Blood does stack with the Undead Crown leading to so very large life leech (5% to 17.5% per hit). An extra 1% damage would boost maximum damage by 1, and a little extra to hit would be nice, but this sword is near perfect as it is. The other upgrade available here is Civerb's Cudgel, unfortunately I haven't found one yet. You trade the damage to three enemies at a time, for the three times damage to an individual target since almost all monsters in Hell are demons. That is massive damage, more than any other class is able to deal, but you need to find one of this rare uniques first.

Left Ring: Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac - Resist All: +39% All Attributes: +20

Note: This is the second obsidian jewel, bring the total resist all to 78% which is more than maximum. I picked Zodiac as the suffix for the extra health, damage, armor class, and mana. You are already over the maximum to hit needed as a Bard with two King's swords, so there's no benefit there.

Right Ring: Drake's Ring of Thieves - Mana: +50 Half Trap Damage

Note: This jewel was chosen based on a peculiarity of Hellfire. The Thieves suffix affects all ranged damage dealt to the character, not just trap damage. As a result the fireballs of Advocates, the spells of Arch Liches, and all other ranged damage is cut in half. You can't get a Dragon's jewel of Thieves, that combination is impossible, only Drake's can be found. To find this type of jewel, you must shop Griswold extensively at around character level 21.

Book reading gear:

Note: I keep gear that adds to the Magic attribute specifically for the ability to read higher level spell books. The maximum benefit of this gear comes when you have a Dreamflange, however I have not found one yet. Dreamflange adds 30 magic on your weapon hand, 10 more than the Sorcery suffix that is the highest you can find on magic weapons. Without Dreamflange, the total increase to magic is +165, which is significant when reading spell books. With this type of gear, a Bard can reach the full 255 Magic required to read all spell books of level 15.

To be honest, there are only a few spell levels that matter on the Bard: Healing, Mana Shield, and Stone Curse. You can easily get those to level 15 with this type of gear.

Head: Helm of Sorcery - Armor Class: 5 Magic: +20 Durability: 30

Amulet: Drake's Amulet of Wizardry - Mana: +48 Magic: +30

Note: You don't need the Drake's prefix, I just happened to find +30 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Left Hand: Brutal Sword of Sorcery - Damage: 2-10 Damage: +86% Magic: +20 Durability: 40

Note: You don't need the Brutal prefix, I just happened to find +20 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Armor: Plate of Sorcery - Armor Class: 50 Magic: +20 Durability: 75

Right Hand: Shield of Brilliance - Armor Class: 3 Magic: +15 Durability: 24

Note: This shield needs to be shopped at a low level from Griswold, shields can't get anything better than Brilliance as a suffix for Magic.

Left Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Right Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Note: I was able to get all my spell levels to level 15, it's a bit of a grind, collecting gear in the dungeon to get the money for the books. But Adria is easy, just reload your game and her list of available spell books refreshes. She's even easier to shop than Griswold for this reason, no need to start new games.

Strategy for building up the character for beating the game:

There are some specific tips and tricks I can provide for how I took the character through the game. The Bard plays similarly to other characters. For this character you want dual swords including one of speed or haste. The damage done by a Bard with two swords is significant, since the damage and properties of both swords stack with each other. With life steal, which you can get from the Undead Crown starting very early in the game, you will have great survivability. The one major downside of the Bard is swing speed, which even with speed or haste is slightly slower than other melee characters. This means she can't stun lock enemies which is a major disadvantage, and make her hardest to beat the game with.

In terms of gear, I kept an eye out for any better gear I could find in the dungeon. This includes book reading gear. When you first start out, there's always little upgrades you can make that will improve your character.

The first time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. The Ring of Truth was my objective here, the +10 Hit Points, -1 Damage from enemies, and +10% Resist All is very valuable when you are first starting out. It will take you a long while in the dungeon to find a better ring than this, and Griswold also won't sell anything better than this for a good long while as well.

The second time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. A second Ring of Truth was my objective here, and I wasn't willing to dupe it.

The third time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, levels one through four, making sure I didn't get the Poisoned Water Supply quest. This is because that quest is mutually exclusive with the Skeleton King quest, and I wanted the Undead Crown from King Leoric for life stealing. This is the first piece of end game gear that I was able to find, and nice and early on in my quest. Life stealing helped me out tremendously throughout the whole time I was working my way to the end game.

Watch out for Black Deaths in these levels of the dungeon. If you get them, it can be worth it to restart your run. The trouble with Black Death's is that each time they hit you, you permanently lose 1 health. This is just too steep a price to pay, so it's best to avoid them entirely.

After my third time through the dungeon I performed my first shop. This was for a perfect +15 shield of Brilliance. The window of opportunity to find one at Griswold is short, as quickly you are too high level for him to sell one. To shop Griswold, just keep creating new Normal games, and checking out his wares. What Griswold sells does not depend on game difficulty, only character level. So for all your shops, Normal difficulty works, you don't ever need to shop at Nightmare or Hell difficulty. A perfect shield of Brilliance will only cost you a few grand in gold.

The next times through the dungeon were focused on level five only. I kept entering at the Catacombs entrance and played the first level of the Catacombs until I got the Arkaine's Valor quest. This Armor is well worth the effort to retry the level a few times. The Fastest Hit Recovery on the armor is the point in this. You can wear Arkaine's Valor all the way through Nightmare/Hell if you don't find any other source of Fastest Hit Recovery. Only when you find Fastest Hit Recovery on a jewel is it worth trading this Armor for something with higher Armor Class. At low levels, Fastest Hit Recovery is just too valuable to pass up. When I found a level five with the quest, I continued on to levels six through eight.

I continued on through levels nine through twelve. However I did these in a special way. The first level of the Hive is also a level nine, just like the first level of the Caves. I played through level nine in both the Caves and the Hive, then level ten in both the Caves and Hive, and so on. I was doing this to get to the Crypt, and to enter it, you need to complete the Hive. This gives you the Cathedral Map. The Cathedral Map was the only item I duped. This was to make sure if the bug occurred where the Crypt resealed, I had a second copy of the Map available to get back into it and continue exploring. This bug I experienced a fair number of time playing through Hellfire, it's fairly common.

The reason I wanted access to the Crypt was for the Cornerstone of the World quest that appears on level 13 or the first level of the Crypt. I was playing through the game with all six character classes at the same time, and the ability the Cornerstone of the World quest gives to trade gear between characters was a big part of how I found ideal gear for beating the game with. Let's say you find a great axe while playing through as a Bard, it's a complete waste without this quest to trade gear. But if you do use the Cornerstone of the World quest you can trade ideal gear amongst your characters and have a much easier time beating the game with each.

After the Caves and the Hive I performed my second shop. This was for the Drake's Ring of Thieves that you are most likely to find at level 21. It's the second piece of endgame gear I was able to find as I was building up my Bard, and it makes a great impact for her. The half damage from all ranged attacks is really nice, and the extra mana gives you the ability to cast Healing more times. It's a patient shop, it can take a long time to find one of these rings, but the patience is well worth it. It will cost you about 22 500 gold, which is an amount you should easily be able to gather at this point in the game.

I continued on to levels 13 through 16, doing the same thing as I had done for the Caves and the Hive, going through each level in both Hell and the Crypt before going on to the next. At the end of this process your level is likely to be in the high 20s, still not enough for shopping for the best gear at Griswold yet, but I found that you didn't need that for Nightmare. With Arkaine's Valor, the Undead Crown, and a Drake's Ring of Thieves, you have enough to be able to fight your way through Nightmare.

I skipped over levels one through twelve in Nightmare difficulty. Instead I took my duped Cathedral Map and started on Hell and the Crypt right away, again doing them level by level. In Nightmare you need to start being more careful. Only trigger a few enemies at a time, dealing with them in groups of three or less if at all possible. At the end of Nightmare you should be at low 30s for level, which is ideal for some serious Griswold shopping.

Between Nightmare and Hell I did a lot of Griswold shopping. I found the Obsidian Amulet of Harmony in the dungeon, I had to shop for the King's Sword of Speed, King's Sword of Blood, Awesome Plate of the Lion, and the Obsidian of the Zodiac. There is a trick you can use for the Griswold shopping if you have enough money. Griswold will offer items at least 80% as expensive as the items you are carrying in the following categories: Amulet, Armor, Axe, Blunt, Bow, Helm, Ring, Shield, Staff, and Sword. Note that you do not need all categories for the trick to work. So for a Bard, having an expensive sword, ring, and armor are enough to see better and better items of those types. Shopping is a very patient experience, I spent a few days on it, but it is absolutely critical for gearing up for Hell difficulty.

When I had a full set of equipment, I started on levels 13 through 16 on Hell difficulty. With the right equipment, you should have no problem with Hell difficulty. I'll share some things about how I approached Hell difficulty, because it does take some skill and practice.

The biggest thing is to only take on a few enemies at a time. This is hugely important, if you get surrounded, you are dead. The Bard is viable against enemies in small groups. A Sword of Speed, Sword of Blood, the Undead Crown, Thieves, Harmony, and full resistances, along with high Armor Class will keep you safe. Strategies I did not use are the Teleport spell, but I did use the Mana Shield and Stone Curse spells. For the Bard, she tends to have higher mana than health so Mana Shield is very valuable. Since you can't stun lock enemies and prevent them from running away from you when you attack, Stone Curse is very valuable. Be very careful about which way you chase enemies. Always chase them away from unexplored parts of the map, and potentially other enemies who could join the flight. You'll get to know the way Succubi, Liches, and Advocates all run away from you. Learn them well, so you can keep them from running away into new enemies and overwhelming force that will kill you. Hell difficulty is all about good positioning on the hex grid.

Diablo himself is trouble for the Bard. Since you can't stun lock him, and you can't Stone Curse him, he'll be able to regularly get in his high damage attacks. Isolate him from other monsters first, then make sure to use Mana Shield and a full belt of Mana potions. It can take quite a few times to beat him, you need a little luck. For Na-Krul, make sure to read the books in the right order when activating him. The weaker version of Na-Krul is no problem for the Bard.

Final Note: If you want any more details on how I did something, just PM me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I am able.

So I challenged myself to beat the old Diablo 1 with all six classes including the ones available with Hellfire. It took me about six months to do this, playing them all at the same time, though I didn't play that regularly at times. If you would like to try beating that game, there are some lessons learned I can pass on.

General Note: I played through the game without duping items unless absolutely necessary. You don't need to do so to beat the game.

First we'll start with what my character looked like at the end of the process, but I'll provide plenty of detail on how I got there. Here's my character's stats:

Name: Grim

Class: Barbarian

Level: 37

Experience: 98 432 443

Next Level: 107 834 823

Strength Base: 255

Strength Now: 275

Magic Base: 0

Magic Now: 20

Dexterity Base: 55

Dexterity Now: 75

Vitality Base: 150

Vitality Now: 170

Life Base: 498

Mana Base: 129

Armor Class: 208

To Hit: 184%

Damage: 230-279

Resist Magic: Max

Resist Fire: Max

Resist Lightning: Max

Note: For some reason my base mana without equipment is -1 rather than 0, I am not sure why this is.

Here's my character's equipment:

Head: The Undead Crown - Armor Class: 8 Durability: 100 Life Steal: 0-12.5%

Note: I know many people recommend the Royal Circlet as the best possible headgear for Hellfire, I was never able to find one, it's quite a rare item. Besides, I like the Undead Crown better, the lifesteal really makes a difference in the amount you need to heal yourself with spells or potions. You can't get lifesteal on your weapon as well as Speed/Haste, and Speed/Haste is too valuable to pass up. So I will likely wear The Undead Crown until level 50 even if I find the Royal Circlet in one of my future runs. I increased the durability of the Helm with Blacksmith Oils I found over the course of beating the game.

Amulet: Obsidian Amulet of Harmony - Resist All: +39% Fastest Hit Recovery

Note: One Jewel with Obsidian is enough to get to maximum resists with the Barbarian's natural resistance that is equal to 1% per level that he has. I know many people forego Harmony on their jewelry when maximizing their gear. This is because as you level up, you are less likely to be put into hit recovery by enemy attacks. Hit recovery is only relevant when you are hit for damage equal to 1.25 times your level as a Barbarian. This means each time you level up, you are that much less likely to ever go into hit recovery. Now that I have beat the game, switching this out for an Obsidian Amulet of the Zodiac is the better option. But as I was working to beat the game, there were many times I benefitted from the Harmony suffix for sure.

Left Hand: King's Great Axe of Speed - Damage: 12-30 To Hit: +97% Damage: +175% Durability: 75

Note: This axe is nearly perfect, in the future it would be nice to find slightly more to hit, but that is nearly impossibly rare. Speed is used because Speed and Haste actually both give the same attack speed, so finding an axe of Haste is more for style points than for any practical reason. I used a two handed axe rather than a sword or maul because it does the most base damage of all the two handed weapons.

Armor: Awesome Plate of the Lion - Armor Class: 71 Armor: +149% Hit Points: +56 Durability: 90

Note: This armor was sold by Griswold, it's not perfect, but it's very good. Perfect would be 75 Armor Class, +150% Armor, and +60 Hit Points. It took a lot of shopping to find one this good.

Right Hand: Empty

Note: Barbarians can use two handed swords and mauls with a shield, however they lose their bonus to damage from Vitality for doing this. The Barbarian really doesn't need a shield to be effective with his ability to do massive damage and steal life, he can afford not to block hits and still survive handily in the dungeon.

Left Ring: Dragon's Ring of the Zodiac - Mana: +60 All Attributes: +20

Note: This jewel is perfect, I found it shopping from Griswold. Barbarians have extremely low mana, so the plus to mana helps them a lot. All attributes is the best option for suffix because they benefit from Vitality in two ways, more health, as well as more damage. They benefit from Dexterity in terms of more Armor Class and To Hit. And they do gain 1 mana per Magic point, making the total mana benefit from this ring 80, or roughly 2 casts of a heal spell.

Right Ring: Drake's Ring of Thieves - Mana: +50 Half Trap Damage

Note: This jewel was chosen based on a peculiarity of Hellfire. The Thieves suffix affects all ranged damage dealt to the character, not just trap damage. As a result the fireballs of Advocates, the spells of Arch Liches, and all other ranged damage is cut in half. You can't get a Dragon's jewel of Thieves, that combination is impossible, only Drake's can be found. To find this type of jewel, you must shop Griswold extensively at around character level 21.

Book reading gear:

Note: I keep gear that adds to the Magic attribute specifically for the ability to read higher level spell books. The maximum benefit of this gear comes when you have a Dreamflange, however I have not found one yet. Dreamflange adds 30 magic on your weapon hand, 10 more than the Sorcery suffix that is the highest you can find on magic weapons. Without Dreamflange, the total increase to magic is +165, which is significant when reading spell books. Even with this type of gear, a Barbarian can never reach the full 255 Magic required to read all spell books of level 15. To boost your spells beyond that level, you need to keep an eye out for shrines in the dungeon that boost spell levels. I have not yet found any of these shrines, but as I play after beating the game, I am hoping to find some I can use to boost my spell levels even further.

To be honest, the only spell level that matters on the Barbarian is Healing. You can get that to level 14 with this type of gear.

Head: Helm of Sorcery - Armor Class: 5 Magic: +20 Durability: 30

Amulet: Drake's Amulet of Wizardry - Mana: +48 Magic: +30

Note: You don't need the Drake's prefix, I just happened to find +30 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Left Hand: Brutal Sword of Sorcery - Damage: 2-10 Damage: +86% Magic: +20 Durability: 40

Note: You don't need the Brutal prefix, I just happened to find +20 Magic at Griswold with that extra prefix.

Armor: Plate of Sorcery - Armor Class: 50 Magic: +20 Durability: 75

Right Hand: Shield of Brilliance - Armor Class: 3 Magic: +15 Durability: 24

Note: This shield needs to be shopped at a low level from Griswold, shields can't get anything better than Brilliance as a suffix for Magic.

Left Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Right Ring: Ring of Wizardry - Magic: +30

Note: I won't list all my spell levels with this character, honestly the only one that matters is Healing, which is level 14.

Strategy for building up the character for beating the game:

There are some specific tips and tricks I can provide for how I took the character through the game. The Barbarian plays different than any other character. For this character you want an axe, eventually an axe of speed or haste. The damage done by a Barbarian with a two handed axe is highest amongst any character in the game, except for the Sorcerer with spells. With life steal, which you can get from the Undead Crown starting very early in the game, you will have great survivability.

In terms of gear, I kept an eye out for any better gear I could find in the dungeon. This includes book reading gear. When you first start out, there's always little upgrades you can make that will improve your character.

The first time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. The Ring of Truth was my objective here, the +10 Hit Points, -1 Damage from enemies, and +10% Resist All is very valuable when you are first starting out. It will take you a long while in the dungeon to find a better ring than this, and Griswold also won't sell anything better than this for a good long while as well.

The second time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, only level one and two, making sure I had the Poisoned Water Supply quest. A second Ring of Truth was my objective here, and I wasn't willing to dupe it.

The third time through the dungeon I played Normal difficulty, levels one through four, making sure I didn't get the Poisoned Water Supply quest. This is because that quest is mutually exclusive with the Skeleton King quest, and I wanted the Undead Crown from King Leoric for life stealing. This is the first piece of end game gear that I was able to find, and nice and early on in my quest. Life stealing helped me out tremendously throughout the whole time I was working my way to the end game.

Watch out for Black Deaths in these levels of the dungeon. If you get them, it can be worth it to restart your run. The trouble with Black Death's is that each time they hit you, you permanently lose 1 health. This is just too steep a price to pay, so it's best to avoid them entirely.

After my third time through the dungeon I performed my first shop. This was for a perfect +15 shield of Brilliance. The window of opportunity to find one at Griswold is short, as quickly you are too high level for him to sell one. To shop Griswold, just keep creating new Normal games, and checking out his wares. What Griswold sells does not depend on game difficulty, only character level. So for all your shops, Normal difficulty works, you don't ever need to shop at Nightmare or Hell difficulty. A perfect shield of Brilliance will only cost you a few grand in gold.

The next times through the dungeon were focused on level five only. I kept entering at the Catacombs entrance and played the first level of the Catacombs until I got the Arkaine's Valor quest. This Armor is well worth the effort to retry the level a few times. The Fastest Hit Recovery on the armor is the point in this. You can wear Arkaine's Valor all the way through Nightmare/Hell if you don't find any other source of Fastest Hit Recovery. Only when you find Fastest Hit Recovery on a jewel is it worth trading this Armor for something with higher Armor Class. At low levels, Fastest Hit Recovery is just too valuable to pass up. When I found a level five with the quest, I continued on to levels six through eight.

I continued on through levels nine through twelve. However I did these in a special way. The first level of the Hive is also a level nine, just like the first level of the Caves. I played through level nine in both the Caves and the Hive, then level ten in both the Caves and Hive, and so on. I was doing this to get to the Crypt, and to enter it, you need to complete the Hive. This gives you the Cathedral Map. The Cathedral Map was the only item I duped. This was to make sure if the bug occurred where the Crypt resealed, I had a second copy of the Map available to get back into it and continue exploring. This bug I experienced a fair number of time playing through Hellfire, it's fairly common.

The reason I wanted access to the Crypt was for the Cornerstone of the World quest that appears on level 13 or the first level of the Crypt. I was playing through the game with all six character classes at the same time, and the ability the Cornerstone of the World quest gives to trade gear between characters was a big part of how I found ideal gear for beating the game with. Let's say you find a great axe while playing through as a Bard, it's a complete waste without this quest to trade gear. But if you do use the Cornerstone of the World quest you can trade ideal gear amongst your characters and have a much easier time beating the game with each.

After the Caves and the Hive I performed my second shop. This was for the Drake's Ring of Thieves that you are most likely to find at level 21. It's the second piece of endgame gear I was able to find as I was building up my Barbarian, and it makes a great impact for him. The half damage from all ranged attacks is really nice, and the extra mana actually give you the ability to cast Healing some of the time rather than just having health potions. It's a patient shop, it can take a long time to find one of these rings, but the patience is well worth it. It will cost you about 22 500 gold, which is an amount you should easily be able to gather at this point in the game.

I continued on to levels 13 through 16, doing the same thing as I had done for the Caves and the Hive, going through each level in both Hell and the Crypt before going on to the next. At the end of this process your level is likely to be in the high 20s, still not enough for shopping for the best gear at Griswold yet, but I found that you didn't need that for Nightmare. With Arkaine's Valor, the Undead Crown, and a Drake's Ring of Thieves, you have enough to be able to fight your way through Nightmare.

I skipped over levels one through twelve in Nightmare difficulty. Instead I took my duped Cathedral Map and started on Hell and the Crypt right away, again doing them level by level. In Nightmare you need to start being more careful. Only trigger a few enemies at a time, dealing with them in groups of three or less if at all possible. At the end of Nightmare you should be at low 30s for level, which is ideal for some serious Griswold shopping.

Between Nightmare and Hell I did a lot of Griswold shopping. I found the Obsidian Amulet of Harmony in the dungeon, I had to shop for the King's Great Axe of Haste, Awesome Plate of the Lion, and the Dragon's Ring of the Zodiac. There is a trick you can use for the Griswold shopping if you have enough money. Griswold will offer items at least 80% as expensive as the items you are carrying in the following categories: Amulet, Armor, Axe, Blunt, Bow, Helm, Ring, Shield, Staff, and Sword. Note that you do not need all categories for the trick to work. So for a Barbarian, having an expensive axe, ring, and armor are enough to see better and better items of those types. Shopping is a very patient experience, I spent a few days on it, but it is absolutely critical for gearing up for Hell difficulty.

When I had a full set of equipment, I started on levels 13 through 16 on Hell difficulty. With the right equipment, you should have no problem with Hell difficulty. I'll share some things about how I approached Hell difficulty, because it does take some skill and practice.

The biggest thing is to only take on a few enemies at a time. This is hugely important, if you get surrounded, you are dead. The Barbarian is very tough against enemies in small groups. An Axe of Speed, the Undead Crown, Thieves, Harmony, and full resistances, along with high Armor Class will keep you safe. Strategies I did not use are the Teleport spell, or really any spells other than Healing for that matter. For the Barbarian, the axe is enough. His speed swinging that is equivalent to the Warrior's speed with swords, so you can stun lock enemies. Be very careful about which way you chase enemies. Always chase them away from unexplored parts of the map, and potentially other enemies who could join the flight. You'll get to know the way Succubi, Liches, and Advocates all run away from you. Learn them well, so you can keep them from running away into new enemies and overwhelming force that will kill you. Hell difficulty is all about good positioning on the hex grid.

Diablo himself is no problem for the Barbarian. Stun lock him, and you'll be able to take him out no problem. For Na-Krul, make sure to read the books in the right order when activating him. The weaker version of Na-Krul is no problem for the Barbarian.

Final Note: If you want any more details on how I did something, just PM me and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I am able.