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Rules       KoPhanTom - Solo Barb

Welcome to the Forge!
In Diablo, a core of dedicated gamers seeking extra challenge
played a variation called "Ironman". A team of typically 3 players, one of each class, would enter the dungeon and never return to town (or at least use its services) until they or Diablo were dead. Restart in town was not allowed, only resurrection. One game, done with each level in order, start to finish. Despite thousands of such game attempts, scant few, known as Ironman Champions, have succeeded...

This is the Diablo 2 edition of the Forge. Clasic Diablo Ironman info can be found here.

It is my wish to make this guide as comprehensive as the original Forge for Classic Diablo. This will indeed be a very ambitious undertaking. The many classes each with their own set of skills and choice of specialization, which also means an almost infinite interlocking skill combinations are mind boggling. This will be a very time consuming project, especially with 2 new classes on the horizon it may even be a never ending effort - that may span over a period of months and perhaps years. For this reason, and now that we have a working rule set for D2 and a victory story, I chose to open this section right now instead.

Much of the up coming info you will find here will no doubt be collaborative works ranging from forum discussions to coop play testing to contributions. The Forge is therefore dedicated to all the Ironman fans out there, and a special THANKS to the Forge gang for their valuable inputs and the shaping of the D2 Ironman rule set.

What you will find here:
Under the General heading
- Rules
- General Ironman game play: Psychology, Communication, Items, When lvling up, Potions, Skills, etc.
- Basic tactics
- Monsters
- Layout
- Advanced tactics

Under the Classes Heading
Class/solo specific Tips

Under the Multi Player heading
Multi-player Tips
Team makeup and interlocking skills

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Ironman Rules
- Party of all new characters, no gifts/trading/playing with outsiders in any way.
- Party is on its own, no use of town NPC's except where required by quests. Players may speak to NPC only while it has an "!" over its head, and then only do the business relating to the quest.
- When a character dies, it is eliminated. Period. Effectively Hardcore whether the game is played HC or Soft.
- Ironmen fight what they face, and must clear a clean "path" from town to the Act boss, killing all bosses seen on the way or known to be in an area along the path.
- All quests must be done. All waypoints must be visited.
- Once an Act is finished, you may not come back to it.
- No repeating areas to gain experience
- Game may be halted and recontinued when any WP is found or Act finished
All players must be present in game continuations. It's a party game.

Key Implications:
- No repairs, no buying/selling, no gambling whatsoever.
- No town healing except incidental when NPC has '!'. Cain ID is a one time Act I bonus.
- Resource management, weapon durability, and deciding what to ID, become key issues.
- "Optional" areas, not on path and not involved in a quest, remain optional. It's a trade off between some extra experience, additional chances to die, and taking longer to finish an already long and grueling game.
- Free mercenaries will be received in Acts 1 and 3. They may be used, and will likely die due to lack of town-NPC-regen. New mercs may NOT be hired.

 

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FAQ

Q: Scrolls
When you have many scrolls taking up inventory space you are allowed to purchase tome(s) to store them. Just make sure you discard the same amount of scrolls that come with the tome.

Q: Is it cheesy to lvlup a certain character by letting him/her solo an area?
No, the soloist takes on extra risk and uses up more resources, and at the same time taking exp from the group. This strategy is often practiced in CD Ironman - a mage would let the warrior get ahead for 2 to 4 clvls.

Q: Should I play my Ironman in Hardcore?
All variants play by the honor system, Hardcore receives no special recognition. A realm HC character shows you have completed a certain act/diff, but it still doesn't prove you played by the rules. Its simple - if you cheat, you suck! In the CD days, we have seen a few claims of Ironman victories but the experienced players can tell the difference from fakes.

Q: Are auto heals by receiving and ending quests okay?
Yes, only when the NPC has a "!" over his/her head. Do not interact with any NPC without the "!"

Q: What if I lagout?
You may rejoin the game and proceed as normal. If you lagout and return dead (Death can occur even from a spike at the wrong time) you (and your partners in multi) would have to decide if lag was the cause. If you honestly think lag/spike was the cause then count yourself as alive.

Q: What if I lagout and cannot rejoin game.
In multi-players, it is up to your partners to decide if they would carry on without you, or stop the game at the next WP. In either case, you can rejoin the next game without penalty except any quest reward you might have missed - Redoing quest or area is not allowed, and you may not solo to catch up. This also means if your partners go ahead and finish an act boss, they don't want you in the team anymore ;p

If the game crashed all items you have left on the ground are considered lost. It is recommended you keep in inventory or stash any desirable item when playing on bnet.

Q: do the WPs from areas like Sewers in Act 2 and Halls of the Dead need to be found?
Yes, all waypoints must be found and paths cleared.

Q: Should the Cube quest be repeated?
Since all WPs must be found, the extra lvl would be optional...

Q: Can I save imbues for later?
The "Once an Act is finished, you may not come back to it." rule means you have to do it before you leave Act 1


 

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