----------PC / DIABLO 2 + DIABLO: LORD OF DISTRUCTION ---------STRATEGY TO DEFEAT DIABLO AND BAAL ---------Written by CHU Vegetta Here we will see a basic strategy to beat Diablo (Act 4) and Baal (Act 5). First of all we have to say that each character of the game has his unique skills and powers, so we will take advantage of them to fight Diablo and Baal. Let's see how you can defeat them. 1) PALADIN Paladin is and excellent fighter. Give to him heavy weapons like long swords or hammers and a heavy armor. You will fight Diablo and Baal face to face. Also buy a lot of health (or rejunevation) potions. Use the spells "resist fire" , because Diablo and Baal use fire type attacks, "throns" to return damage to any enemy who attacks on you, "zeal" to land multiple hits and cast the spells "holy bolt" or "fist of heaven", because both Diablo and Ball are weak to those spells. A level 5 "holy bolt" or "fist of heaven" inflicts massive damage to those bosses. Also "vengeance" is a great spell that does standard/ lighting/ fire/ cold damage at the same time. Last but not least, when Diablo and Baal cast their most powerful spells (Diablo-lighting inferno and Baal- destructive strike) they make a gesture before they do it. Beware when they do it, because those spells are often one hit K.O. Try to dodge them and then hit. 2) BARBARIAN Barbarian is another one excellent fighter. He is really tough and he has great resistances. A great idea is to teach him "double swing", so he can hold two weapons. Increase the spells "natural resistances" and "iron skin" to improve his resistances and defense. Also teach him the skill "berserk" to make him a real fighting machine ("berserk" increases damage, attack rating and magical damage). Buy swords/ axes/ hammers what ever you like, a good armor and a lot of health or rejunevation potions. As you see, you will fight Diablo and Baal face to face. While fighting, use the warcry "battle orders" to increase your life/stamina/mana. Do not afraid of them. Go close and hit. When they cast their powerful spells (Diablo-lighting inferno and Baal-destructive strike) dodge it and come back again to hit them. 3) SORCERESS Sorcerss is a very strong magician. Unfortunately she can't take heavy weapons and armors. On the other hand she can use stuffs/ wards, so she gains extra skills points or resistances. Also buy a lot of mana or rejunevation potions. When you fight Diablo and Baal don't ever go close to them. They can kill you with just one hit. Stay away and cast some of your massive spells. Use the spell "static field" to knock down some health points quickly (A level 6 "static field" when you do it 3-4 times, they lose about half of their life) and "energy shield" to absorb damage. Fire type spells won't have effect on them, so use cold or lighting spells. Spells such as "chain lighting", "lighting", "blizzard", "glacial spike" does a lot of damage. If you see that things go wrong use the spell "teleport" to escape, recover and go back again to fight. 4) NECROMANCER Necromancer is the other magician of the party. Unfortunately when he battles big bosses like Diablo, Baal he isn't so effective as the other characters. His spells are useful when he fights large groups of minions, however they don't inflict massive damage to bosses. Also he can't take heavy weapons and armors, so he is weak to melee attacks. You need to be smart to beat Diablo and Baal. First of all, buy stuffs that increase your resistances and a lot of rejunevations potions. When you battle them raise a fire golem to distract and also absorb their fire attacks (add enough skill point in "golem mastery to imrove your golems). All of your other minions are weak and can't fight them. Cast the spell "bone armor" to protect your character and curse them with "amplify damage" to reflect the damage you receive or "decrepify" to slow down the enemy. Use the spells "bone spirit" or "poison nova" to attack them, these are his most powerful spells. Don't ever go close to them, they can defeat you with only one hit. Let golem fight them for you. A good idea is to use the spell "bone prison" to imprison both golem and boss and let them battle each other. Also use "bone prison" if you see that they come real close to you. 5) AMAZON As you know, Amazon uses javelins,spears and bows. When you battle Diablo and Baal, take javelins or a bow to apply the great strategy . Make sure that your skills "critical strike" and "evade" are high level. "Critical strike" increases the chance to do double damage and "evade" increases the chance to espace a hit while moving. Also the summoned creature "valkyrie" may help you. Buy a lot of rejunevation and stamina potions. Now the only thing you have to do is run around Diablo/ Baal and attack them with javelins or arrows. If you decide to use bow, cast a "freezing arrow" or "exploding arrow", if you like javelins cast the "lighting fury" or "charged strike" (i suggest those two javelin attacks because you can shoot multiple lighting bolts). 6) DRUID Druid is a great fighter and elemental magician. He is specialist in hammers, shape shifting and nature magic. There are two ways to defeat those big bosses. The easy way and the hard way. The hard way is to fight them as druid (no shape shifting) and that means that you will take a risk. Buy a hammer, rejunevations potions, summon a "grizzly" to distract them and "spirit of barbs" to reflect damage or "oak siege" to increase your life. Also cast "hurricane" to do massive ice damage, "cuclone armor" to absorb damage and go to battle. The easy way is to use your shape shifting magic. That means that you change either "Werewolf" or "Werebear". First of all make sure that you have enough skill points in "Lycanthropy" to improve those two transformations. If you decide to change into Werebear use the skill "Maul" to hit them (Maul increase attack rating by 20% and boosts damage 25%). Also summon a "grizzly" and "spirit of barb". If you decide to change into "Werewolf" use the skill "Fury" to do multiple attacks (Fury increase attack rating by 7% and damage by 17% per skill point added). Also summon a "grizzly" and "spirit of barb". Advantages of "Werebear": Defense is increased and you inflict more damage. Advantages of "Werewolf": Both attack rating and attack speed are increased. 6) ASSASIN Assasin is a skillful fighter and trap maker. There are two ways to defeat those bosses. The first way is to place traps around bosses and wait until they are dead. I suggest the trap "lighting sentry" that shoots lighting strikes. The fire traps won't damage them because they have high resistances to fire. Also you can place the trap "death sentry" if there are dead enemies. In addition you can summon "shadow warrior" to fight at your side. The second way is to fight them face to face but you will take a risk. Assasin doesn't have a lot of health by default (unless you put a lot of skill points in stat vitality) and her special weapons (claws,katars) don't inflict a lot of damage on them. However she has some great martial art skills. If you decide to fight them face to face make sure that you have enough skill points in "cobra strike" to steal mana and health, "blades of ice" to add cold damage to your hit and "phoenix strike" which is her most powerful martial art spell (increase attack rating, add fire/cold/lighting damage). APPENDIX Some Horardic Cube recipes 1) 1 perfect gem of each type + 1 amulet ---> Prismatic amulet 2) 3 rings ---> 1 amulet 3) 3 amulets ---> 1 ring 4) 1 ring + 2 topaz ---> Coral ring 5) 1 ring + 1 ruby + 1 exploding potion --->Garnet ring 6) 3 health potion + 3 mana potions + 1 gem ---> 1 Full rejunevation potion 7) Tome of Town Portal + Wirt's Leg---> Secret Cow Level. When you complete the game (make sure that you have defeated Baal) go to Rogue Encampment/Act1, put a tome of town portal and the Wirt leg in the horadric cube and press the transume button. If everything is right a red portal will open to the cow level.