Summary (Normal Diff) - For Solo Barb
I might have grossed over some details at times and made it sound it was a relatively easy run. It was - in comparison to CD Ironman. Normal diff should not present too much of a problem as long as you proceeds with Ironman discipline. Despite some rough spots through out the game such as Coldworm, Duriel, Hephasto, and the Summoner's surprise attack one has to watch out for, it was not until Tom entered NM Tristram I felt "Now, this is more like mid Caves in CD normal diff". Sure there were other tough mobs here and there but none felt like the struggle an IM warrior had to endure as early as Cats in CD where 3 goats can have you locked up and killed in a blink of an eye. But then again…

Making Caves and Hell was not uncommon after we attained more experience with CD IM (although every inch of advance might still be paved with blood, sweat and tear). Did my experience in CD IM make D2 IM seem easier? Or, maybe it helped that I played a dagger using cry babe and a heavily restricted punching barb before the IM attempt?

It took us awhile to learn to drink when we first started Ironman in Classic Diablo. We were always TOO MUCH of a miser with potions pushing it to the limit. Find Potion to Slvl 2 was a good choice beside actually finding more healing potions so I can drink more frequently and mana potions to use attack skills more often, it also helped psychologically.

In Act 1, there is no need to ID anything unless you NEED it, for example, not having any plain weapon to use. Set and unique items that you know will serve you well is worth their ID scrolls if you cannot wait for the one time free ID after rescuing Cain. It pays to memorize or have quick access to the stats of the unique and set items, pay special attention to the user requirements. Ask yourself, "Would the item still be useful when you meet the Clvl and/or pumped the required stats; are the required stats worth the points?"

Combat skills are not too important except against tough bosses when you want to kill quick (not like you have the mana to sustain its usage anyway). Normal Act 1 Monsters die fast enough with just the plain normal attack from the hand axe you are born with. Normal attack, depending on points invested in Mastery, can be good enough for non-boss all the way to Diablo. So the mana used by skills will probably be better used to find potions and save up for the quest bosses, emergency Leap(Attack) and such.

Trouble spots to watch out for:
- Tristram with Cain and multi bosses. If careful not to over activate they fall easy enough without too much danger.

- Smith was not much of a problem if singled out and be ready to drink. This is a dangerous boss that demand all due respect even in Normal diff for its potential one hit kill. I will most definitely employ a different tactic in NM.

- Andariel is just as easy if cares was taken to single her out too. Just be ready to drink drink drink if hit by her poison. If you have any antidote this is the time to load them up in the belt and drink as soon as hit.

- Hall of the dead and as early as the Sewer, you will have a new found appreciation for poison resist when you can't buy healing potion. You will feel the drain on potions. Here is the first time you have to put yourself in danger and take some risk because you want to dive in to get the Unravelers ASAP. Other tactics that will work is casting Find Potion/Item on corpses as you kill them, or, take your time and lure the minions away from the Unravelers so they don't get revived.

- Maggot's lair. Be ready to give it all when exploring lvl 3. As soon as Coldworm is found, be ready to kill quickly. Time to equip the best items you have. If you are not ready, don't make adjustments in the line of sight, run around corners (even if you are going to town) so maggots don't spawn while you are wasting time. If you haven't yet, put a point in Leap so you can get in to attack the adult maggots first to lessen spawning. Try not to kill Coldworm until it's the last one alive. Its poison is deadly, one lucky hit from a measly spawn can kill you when your HP globe hits rock bottom.

- Duriel. Nothing much to say except pre-cast whatever helpful war cries you have, throw your back to the wall… and good luck. Cast an escape TP if you have the time - put TP on a hotkey so that you may cast it at a less pressing time than on entry. I like to cast Battle Order (when available for NM and Hell) last then drink 1 or 2 potions and dive in immediately while the globe is filling up.

- The unique council members above and below ground have a special skill no other monster in the game has - They can cast Healing on themselves. This is not an automatic procedure like normal HP regeneration, or Steal Life or Mana Burn where they regain life by the damage they do to you. They have to cast the spell and go through the animation sequence, although very quickly sometimes. What you want to do then is load up your best equipment to hit hard and fast, keep them in Stun/Bash/Knockback lock if you can. Don't give them a chance to cast Heal.

- Seals Bosses - They maybe tough even when singled out but the bigger threat is when they and their minions appear all at the same time, also cutting off your escape route. You can play it safe by placing a TP next to the seal, escape to town then reenter via the RoF WP. Now that you know where the monsters are it would be an easy task to use Taunt to your advantage

- Diablo - Stun, knockback from Bash or Bear don't work on the 4 act bosses. Just as well - You really don't want to push this guy around. Contrary to popular believes, Diablo's LBOD is quite harmless for any class even with minus lightning resist, or any -mdfe bonus, or blocking. If you have to choose between fire or lightning resist, don't compromise on fire resist. Now, that's not entirely true depending on your happy feet technique and… if you have the nerve to do it . Can you dodge 1 or 2 LBOD while not attacking? Do you have the nerve to teleport right next to Diablo if you are playing a sorceress? The only time you have to worry about the LBOD is before you can close in on Diablo. The LBOD very rarely does any damage when you are standing right under Diablo. In essence, if you can get (walk, Teleport or Leap) to Diablo without dying, all you really have to worry about are his physical and fire attacks.

NM Pre-game thoughts
With Mlvl starting at 26 in Blood Moor to 35-37 in the Cats, my Clvl vs Mlvl will be left in the dust rather quickly. Sooner than later, I will be missing more and more not (always) having AR bonus on weapon and probably not from jewelry either (only if good combo with other stats, and hopefully mana steal to maintain skill usage). Battle Cry would be used more often as a supplement to the AR problem.

I am losing confidence in finding enough swords, more specifically useful magical sword; I have only the Massive long sword (11 dur) with me to take to NM. Massive may have been a nice prefix for normal diff, but for NM and Hell, better affix(es) would need to be at least few grades higher to equal Massive in Norm. In hindsight I would probably be a little more conservative with Sword Mastery. I don't think picking Sword Mastery was a mistake (not yet) because a lot of times up to, and sometimes in Act 4, I was depending on normal attack dur to mana problem. In hindsight I think lvl 4 Sword Mastery would be enough leaving the other 4 for the others: 1 for each Axe and Mace Masteries, and 1 more point for Bash and Leap Attack. What about Spear and Pole Arm Mastery?

Remember this Ironman motto well - Divide and Conquer

I was more hooked by the challenge than I was determined. After what must have been 20-30 minutes with only 3 red potions left (and the Massive long sword broke soon after that) I had my victory and a handful more junk. Direct confrontation with Mr. Bigfoot would have been deadly especially with tons on monsters around. He was taken down entirely with the hit and run tactic - every once in awhile when there was no monster behind him I would LA-and-Walk him much the same as WW-and-Walk.

So now all I have left was a plain bastard sword. End of Cold Plain saw a few socketed tower shields drop but only a plain giant sword. It is apparent that I will need more HP than I have, not just from pumping Vit but Battle Order also. They were hurting me more than it is comfortable without Battle Order. Its such a pain to keep casting BO it deserves a few lvls for the duration and boost of HP. So one point to BO for now.

Blood Raven was not a problem at all this time I got lucky and forced her outside and eventually trapped. The gang outside the Burial Ground was tougher. 607 HP and 10% life leech was not enough. Globe is constantly falling below 1/2 against group of Hungry Dead of 4-5.

I cleared the Crypt and Mulsoleum for more exp. Still 1/5 to 26 entering SF. Mana steal with the plain bastard sword is barely keeping up with Bash usage 28-54. I should steal an average of 2.7 mana enough for Bash, right? No. Don't forget I have to fuel cries in mid battle some times and my ToHit was only 73% vs lvl 25 monsters. I am whiffing too much. Wearing Cathan's seal and rare ring with totaling10% life leech not keeping up damage taken. Sword broke at SF entry and a Knight's scimitar Slaying takes its place. Bash Dmg 22-48. Well that broke too midway in SF. I was lucky to find a superior club and later a short sword Bash Dmg 16-22 and got my lvlup for the pike requirement. Woo a whopping Bash 83-300 and 76% with its 149 AR. Too bad it won't last long with only 22 dur. I have decided, with no magical sword in my procession, to ID a cudgel of Burning (12 dur) dropped by Rakanishu and put one point in Mace Mastery before diving into the Underground Passage. Bash Dmg 25-56 plus 10-16Fire Dmg, 67% ToHit.

The rest of Dark Wood and Treehead did not put up too much of a fuss, but Griswold and Rust Razor the Quick in Tristram sure gave me an attitude. Rusty was truly scary being a MSLEB skeleton archer but luckily I had enough room to Taunt and dealt with his minions first. Just like I did with Gris, I decided I didn't need blocking as much as I need to deal with these nasties quickly with as little contact as possible (after they were singled out of course). Using the rare pike from Hephasto and LA I can reduce contact and risk of being hit by a cursed blow or sparks down to a fifth. Tristram, in comparison to CD was more like normal Caves where it's doable but one must proceed with extreme caution especially in a confined area. The reward from Adria wasn't too bad - Wraith Finger ring: LR 36%, 28 AR, 25 Mana, 2 Life.

In Ironman, the items choose you more than you choose the items. You have to constantly adjust to what's available to you and by the time you are use to it, it breaks. Just when you think you are doing ok, you have to get used to your new limitations again - One moment you are using LA and still have enough mana to cast Find Item, the next you are barely getting enough mana to power Bash.

Inventory space is a big problem for a solo character especially for an item dependent class like the barb. In coop, with a sorceress for example, she can probably spare some inventory space to carry stuff for the barb. A team will carry less to-be-xmuted stuff too, such as junk jewelry and gems, because they don't need to carry more than 1 incomplete set of those as a team. Having more drops in multiplayers also put less of a demand on having to carrying spares to the next game. The inventory problem escalates the shorter your sessions are. Every time you quit you have to throw out a bunch of items you know you would need later; that includes using every inventory slot for items and restart the next game with only a belt full of potions.

The Tower monsters and Countess went down slowly and hurt much. I was missing much here with only a plain weapon. BO was boosted to 3. While I am keeping my head above I am not getting a big surplus of Healing potions and now barefoot. I cleared the Tamoe Highland for exp and item. Only thing even worth an ID scroll was a Soldier sabre of Shock. From here on to Jail it's a lot of retreats and using corner traps to limit the amount of foes I have to face at a time. The sabre didn't last long (as well as some lesser weapons I won't be bothered to mention) so back to the plain bastard sword again. I pumped Find Potions to 3 because I can barely keep up now.

A cleaver of Performance turned up before the Smith, so I put one point to axe Mastery. Just about time too because the last of swords is about to break. Not that I planned to use the axe on the Smith, I have another plan for the Butcher. Now all Skill points used up.

Stair Trapping The Butcher
I managed to take 1/3 of the Smith's HP after ~500 arrows (all I have bothered to pick up). This was more of a test than a need in my current situation. The test was actually quite encouraging considering I was only using a hunter's bow (2-6) doing 7-10 Dmg. In the end, I shafted a ring of the Bat 7% out of the Smith in complete safety.

Trapping the Smith, and other monsters, is an indispensable tactic for both solo and multiplayers. There are plenty of grated rooms in these levels to take advantage of. This is quite easily done with a barb or a sorc when they can Teleport or Leap (Attack) through the bars. Be careful of the columns, they can block your Tele or Leap. With the Smith, the room from the Barrack to Jail 1 is always enclosed and barred. Try to lure him to the side where there is only a narrow gap between the bars and the wall (like the pictures above) to restrict his movement. Other classes can sometimes run fast enough into the stair room still leaving the Smith trapped outside. But there is a better way - reverse the trap. Take the Smith into the stair room and escape to Jail 1. TP to town and reenter at the OC WP.

It's getting serious from here on. I was definitely hurting and a whole load of red can go in a blink if I got too bold. After switching in the ring of the Bat I can sustain LA if I don't miss. 1-2 misses, which happened too often, means my Mana ball is drained and I had to switch to Bash quickly. At this point, I almost had to use Find Potion on every kill to keep up potion usage. Lvl'd to 27 - 3 to Vit and 2 to Dex. Inner Cloister has always been a lesson in humility when quill rats represent so much danger. Taunt would see a lot more usage now. Not just here, but everywhere else when a few monsters is a problem by themselves or with a boss. The bonus with Taunt is you don't have to see and target any monster, it will just grab one within range even if it's out of sight.

A couple of nice midget swords turned up: Short sword of Slaughter 2-26 - Bash16-78, and a Gladius of Quickness 8-22 - Bash 34-66, but they didn't even make it to Cats 2. The best find so far was a Salvage cleaver of Worth 20-53. So its out with the last one hander I have and put one point to Axe Mastery. Bash 61-138, LA 83-192 - Quite a difference to the 28-54 Bash with the plain bastard sword. Battle Cry was used to supplement AR deficiency.

After putting on the Death's Hand and a few minor changes boosted poison resist to 37% with 3 antidote potions I was more than ready for Andy. I wasn't all that happy with her drop although it's a decent Rare 2 handed ;( military axe, the Pain Slayer, 39-88 base dmg, Howl, 2-7 Poison, 1-4 Fire, 102 AR - Including Elemental Dmg. Bash 113-240, LA 155-330. I'll eventually, probably next stop, I'll trash this or the Rare pike…

A look around town for an item to imbue before leaving Act 1 found nothing worthy (a giant sword, a hunter's bow and a couple of belts) except the crown I was wearing. Fortunately, that turned out be a decent imbue which will last awhile too.- Armageddon Cowl - 57 DR, 45% LR, 18 life, Fastest Hit Recovery

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