The Diablo II Manual is transcribed here. All the manuals of the Diablo games contain a lot of lore of the world of Sanctuary, and is one of our primary sources of information. They contain texts that are meant to be excerpts from books and tomes written in the actual in-world existence of characters, but as a reader you need to be aware of the fact that much of the actual years written down have been "retconed", and is no longer canon. This means that we currently don't know exactly what yearly calendar is actually canon information. However, the actual events that take place are usually somewhat correct, so if you are adding material from the manuals to an article, feel free to add years and events into the article, and we will have to update the article when more accurate information comes out from Blizzard.
Some words have been wiki-linked for easy information navigation, and in some cases the formatting has been changed to work with the wiki. No words below the introduction (this text) has been altered.
Make sure to read all of the manuals:
- Diablo I Manual
- Diablo I: Hellfire Manual
- Diablo II Manual
- Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Manual
- Diablo III Manual
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Contents
The Adept (Initiate, Part II)
(Page 3)
“I have walked the paths; the shadowed roads
that led to terror’s breast. I have plumbed the depths of
Hatred’s womb and scaled Destruction’s crest.
For every secret left unveiled, for every power learned,
I’d sell the remnants of my soul, regardless how it burned.
And still I sought a higher wisdom few could have attained.
‘Though I found it, it would leave me - broken, damned and drained.
For now I find this power gained is more unto a curse.
My spirit burns with every spell and each irreverent verse.
Despite this strength and knowledge earned, I have paid a heavy toll,
Never should’ve traded power for my own immortal soul.”
– C. Vincent Metzen
Getting Around Town
(Page 24)
Waypoints
(Page 27)
The world of Sanctuary is huge and often there are great distances between towns and their outlying regions. During the Sin War, the Horadrim devised a system of magic waypoints to provide instant travel from one place to another. The magics at work have long since been forgotten as the Horadric Mages have all but disappeared. However, these waypoints remain as a legacy to the Horadrim’s once-great power and the value of these devices cannot be denied.
Within every town and at various places throughout each Act you may find waypoints. Click on them to bring up the Waypoint Menu, displaying a list of destinations.
Waypoint Menu - This menu shows all possible locations to which you can travel. Be sure to click on waypoints as you find them to add their location to your Waypoint Menu. Waypoint destinations appearing in gray text are ones you have not yet discovered and activated. You can jump between any waypoints shown in blue text by clicking on its button in the Waypoint Menu. You may also access waypoints from other Acts using the Act Tab in this menu. Since waypoints are saved with your character between games, they are a quick way to bypass areas you have already explored.
Developing Your Character
(Page 28)
=Gaining Experience Points and Leveling Up
One of your primary goals in Diablo II is the development and advancement of your character. As you play through the game you gain experience points by defeating the evil creatures inhabiting the land. As you achieve certain predetermined levels of experience your character “levels up”. You can check your progress towards the next level by examining the narrow horizontal Experience Bar just above your Stamina Bar. When the bar fills up completely, you gain a level. Moving your cursor over the bar displays your current experience points and the points required to reach the next level.
When you level up, your Life and Mana orbs are refilled and you gain points you can use to improve your character’s abilities. Two buttons appear on your screen: the New Stats button in the lower left and the New Skill button in the lower right. Clicking on them opens up screens that allow you to assign your new points to your Stats and Skills.
Character Attributes
Each time you level up, you are awarded 5 points that you may distribute among your four character attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Vitality and Energy. Clicking on the New Stats icon takes you to the Character screen. You can also bring up this screen at any time by pressing the A or C keys or by clicking the Character button on the Mini-panel.
On the Character screen, assign your new points by clicking on the large “+” button next to the attribute you wish to increase. Each click increments that attribute by one point. Once you have allocated all of your Stat points, the New Stats icon disappears from the Play Area.
NOTE: Each Stat point assignment is permanent, so choose wisely!
To help you decide where to assign your points, take a moment to examine the information displayed on the Character Attribute Screen:
Level - This is your character’s current level. New characters start at level 1.
Experience Points - This is the amount of experience that your character has already earned. You gain experience whenever you or your party members defeat monsters in combat.
(Page 29)
Next Level - This is the amount of experience necessary to achieve the next level.
Strength - Strength increases the total amount of damage inflicted by your attacks. It is also a factor in equipping weapons and armor. Displayed near your Strength are your attack damage ratings associated with the skills you have selected for the left and right Action Icons.
- Attack Damage - The top Attack Damage field represents the damage for the skill that’s currently selected in your Left Action Icon, while the bottom Attack Damage field represents the skill selected in the right Action Icon. Whether the action is an attack, a skill, or a spell, the damage displayed in the field represents the current action. The higher the number the more damage your character can do per attack. If a field is blank, then the action selected in that slot does not directly cause any damage.
- When playing as a Barbarian, and wielding two weapons, you see two numbers within these fields. These numbers represent the Attack Damage for each of the weapons held.
Dexterity - Dexterity is a factor in equipping certain weapons. It also helps determine how often your melee or ranged attacks will succeed, and it affects your character’s ability to defend against attacks – that is, your Attack Rating and your Defense Rating:
- Attack Ratings - The top Attack Rating field is the action selected in your Left Action Icon, while the one beneath represents the Right Action Icon. The higher the value the more often your character’s attacks will actually land blows in battle. Magical attacks and non-combat skills do not have attack ratings and, if such a skill is selected in an Action Icon, the associated field is blank.
- When playing a Barbarian wielding two weapons, you will see two number ranges within this field. These ranges represent the Attack Rating for each of the weapons held.
- Highlighting the top Attack Rating field with your cursor displays the likelihood that your attacks will hit creatures whose level is equal to your own.
- Defense Rating - The Defense Rating indicates how well your character can avoid being hit in combat. The higher the value the less often your character will be hit. Highlighting the Defense Rating field with your cursor displays the likelihood that a creature of your level will hit you.
Vitality - Vitality determines how much life your character has and how far you can run without resting.
- Stamina - Stamina affects how far you can run. Having more stamina allows you to run farther before tiring out and being forced to walk.
- Life - Life is the amount of damage your character can endure before he or she will die. Life does not automatically regenerate. It must be replenished by drinking healing potions or by visiting an NPC with the power to heal. There are some items and skills, however, that regenerate life.
Energy - Energy determines how much Mana your character possesses.
- Mana - Mana is your character’s spiritual essence. Each time certain skills are used, such as the Fire Bolt of the Sorceress or the Double Swing of the Barbarian, some of this Mana is consumed. When you run out of Mana, your character is temporarily unable to cast spells or use certain skills. Over time, your Mana regenerates.
(Page 30)
Stat Points Remaining - This shows the number of statistic points you have available for distribution among your attributes. When you gain a level, you earn five points to distribute to your attributes.
Fire Resistance - The likelihood that you will resist damage from a fire attack. The more resistance you have, the less damage you take from fire attacks.
Cold Resistance - The likelihood that you will resist damage from a cold attack. The more resistance you have, the less damage you take from cold attacks.
Lightning Resistance - The likelihood that you will resist damage from a lightning attack. The more resistance you have, the less damage you take from lightning attacks.
Poison Resistance - The likelihood that you will resist damage from a poison attack. The more resistance you have, the less damage you take from poison attacks.
- Normally the numbers that represent your character’s current statistics appear in white. However, when a magical item or other magical effect has boosted a statistic or attribute, the number appears in blue.
The Skill Tree
Each time you level up, you earn a new skill point. Skills are special abilities that shape the individual nature of your character. By choosing different skill paths, you have numerous opportunities to customize your characters, resulting in a different playing experience.
Clicking on the New Skill icon takes you to the Skill Tree screen. You can bring up this screen at any time by pressing the T key or by clicking on the Skill Tree button in the Mini-panel.
The skills displayed on the screen are laid out in branching order. Skills available to your character are divided up into three primary areas represented by the named tabs along the right side of the Skill Tree menu. Left-click on each tab to switch between the primary skill areas.
Skill Choices Remaining - This field displays the number of skill points that you may distribute within your Skill Tree.
Skills - In order to view a particular skill, highlight it to pop-up a description with important information. These descriptions explain what the skill does, for instance, how much damage it causes, its range, and its Mana cost. If you have put at least one point into a skill, its description also details how much the skill would improve at the next level.
Left-clicking on a skill when skill points are available assigns one point to the skill. Left-clicking on a skill when no skill points are available assigns the skill as your Right Action icon.
To apply skill points simply left-click the desired skill. Keep in mind that increasing the effectiveness of an old skill may be more useful than learning a new one.
NOTE: Each skill point assignment is permanent, so choose wisely!
(Page 31)
Only a few skills are available to a new character. More skills will open up as you advance in level and invest in the prerequisite skills. Follow the lines on the Skill Tree and read the skill descriptions to determine the prerequisites needed for the more advanced skills.
Winning the Game and Difficulty Levels
Just because you’ve defeated the minions of Hell doesn’t mean the adventure has to stop. Diablo II offers three difficulty levels: Normal, Nightmare, and Hell. After you’ve completed the game in Normal, Nightmare difficulty level becomes available for that character when selecting it from the Character Selection screen. After Nightmare comes Hell.
When you select a new difficulty level, the world is again randomly regenerated and repopulated with even tougher creatures, as well as more valuable treasure. This allows you to continue to develop your character as far as you wish.
Multiplayer Gameplay
(Page 35)
Hardcore Characters
(Page 38)
After completing the entire game with a Battle.net Realm character, you will have the option to create a new type of character. To create a Hardcore character, select the “Hardcore” checkbox when creating and naming a new character. The important difference in a Hardcore character is that he or she has but a single life. Should your Hardcore character be slain, it is permanently erased from the game. Hardcore characters can only join games with other Hardcore characters.
Hardcore characters are designed for game players who live to ride on the edge of danger. Hardcore characters are ranked on a separate ladder on Battle.net, and receive special honorifics in their names, which appear colored blood red.
Note: Blizzard Entertainment is in no way responsible for your Hardcore character. If you choose to create and play a Hardcore character, you do so at your own risk. Blizzard is not responsible for the death and loss of your hardcore characters for any reason including Internet lag, bugs, Acts of God, your little sister, or any other reason whatsoever. Consult the End User License Agreement for more details. Blizzard will not, and does not have the capability to restore any deceased Hardcore characters. Don’t even ask. La-la-la-la-la, we can’t hear you...
Amazons
(Page 39)
The Amazons are women warriors who hail from a group of islands in the Twin Seas, near the border of the Great Ocean. Only the permanently snow-covered peak of Mount Karcheus breaks the expanses of lush forests on the islands.
The Amazon people are a relatively isolated culture. Adapting over the centuries to their tropical milieu, they have built magnificent cities in the forest canopy. These cities are an architectural phenomenon and a source of great pride to the Amazon people. They do not follow the teachings of the Zakarum, but instead practice a polytheistic religion that adheres to the strict principles of Order. Their oracles long ago predicted the Dark Exile, and they have been preparing to combat it ever since. Amazons regard the destruction of the Three Prime Evils as their destiny, ushering in a new era when mortal men and women can at long last take their rightful place in the universe, no longer merely playthings for the beings of the Outer Realms.
The Amazons are a seafaring people, one of the first to have made trade contact with both the Kingdoms of the West and with Kejhistan in the East. Their prominence in the world’s trade establishment has afforded their warriors the reputation they currently enjoy as cunning strategists and skilled combatants. They are much sought after as mercenaries, being both expert soldiers as well as extremely loyal - as long as the assignment does not conflict with their strict sense of ethics.
Their pantheon of gods consists of a well-defined hierarchy, each member upholding some segment of the balance of Order. It is this strong sense of order that drives the Amazon people to achieve greatness in even the smallest of their endeavors. Their prime deity is Athulua who, with her consort, Kethryes, rules over the seasons and the weather. Under these Goddesses are a wide assortment of lesser deities, each responsible for his or her own sphere of influence among the Amazon people’s daily life. The Amazons believe this pantheon is the remnant of the original inhabitants that settled the islands centuries ago. According to ancient records, they share the same names as these gods, although aspects of their personalities seem to have evolved over the centuries.
In the Amazon culture, only the women serve as warriors, their intrinsic superior dexterity and lithe body structures are better suited to combat in the dense rainforest environs of the islands. Their society is far from stratified, however, as men are responsible for any number of positions in the community, government, and clergy, as well as merchant and agricultural occupations.
Traits and Abilities
While more than competent in hand-to-hand combat, training in the jungles of her native islands has shaped the Amazon’s skill with the bow and missile weapons into one of unparalleled excellence. With the bow, her only rivals are the Sisters of the Sightless Eye. But, unlike her sisters in arms, the Amazon is also highly adept in the use of spears and other thrown weapons. The powers they possess are a combination of Prime magic, Holy magic and ingenious weapon construction.
Barbarians
(Page 40)
It is said that when the world was very young the tribes of the Northern Steppes were given a sacred charge. Somewhere deep within the great mountain, Arreat, lies a source of great power, crucial to the well being of all humanity. The tribes act as guardians of this artifact, and through this sacred duty, have shaped their way of life in observance of this power.
Steeped in mystery and tradition, these people refer to themselves as the “Children of Bul-Kathos,” the great and ancient king. To better protect their lands from outside forces they adopted a nomadic lifestyle, frequently moving within the confines of the Steppes, and maintaining few permanent settlements. Isolating themselves from the world outside their territories, they eschew the use of magics and complex machinery, as they believe these things can only weaken the resolve developed over so many years.
The Children of Bul-Kathos have developed a kinship with the land and have learned to harness the primal energies within nature to enhance their own substantial physical prowess. It is because of this, together with their freedom from the trappings of the outside world, that the Western Kingdoms have historically referred to these tribes as “Barbarians,” an epithet that belies the rich cultural and spiritual history these people truly possess. Although some trade with these curious folk, they do so only along the outermost borders of their lands. All intrusions into the territory surrounding Mount Arreat are forbidden, and warriors from the northern tribes are quick to thwart any incursions. Every attempt at conquest has always been met with fierce and decisive resistance.
An account of one skirmish recounts how hordes of Barbarian tribesmen silently appeared where none had been but moments before. Their bodies painted in mysterious designs and their faces howling as they charged like the fierce mountain winds, the tribesmen descended on the invaders. Fully half of the trespassing army immediately dropped their weapons and fled, the remainder were set upon by the Northmen with fervor that none of the battle-hardened invaders had ever witnessed. No quarter was asked and none was given, but in the end, when the outlanders sounded a full retreat, no chase was given either... at least none that could be observed.
It is interesting that recently, since news of Diablo’s re-emergence has spread, a small number of Barbarian warriors has been seen roving the lands outside the Steppes, prepared for war and seeking information regarding the recent activities of the Prime Evils.
Traits and Abilities
Renowned for their awesome combat prowess as well as their arrogant demeanor, the Barbarians appear to be perpetually girt for battle. Through harsh conditioning, the Barbarians excel in physical combat and tremendous feats of strength. They derive their power chiefly through intense physical training, but they also tap primal energies from the living world around them. They can manifest these or add to their already considerable catalogue of superhuman feats of strength and power.
Necromancers
(Page 41)
As might be expected, the devotees of magic are a segregated lot. They are as leery of students of rival disciplines as a layperson is of all arcane practitioners. None, however, are so widely maligned and misunderstood as the Priests of Rathma.
As with most users of magic, the priests of the cult of Rathma hail from the far Eastern jungles. They reside in a vast underground city located deep within those jungles. Their specific geographical locale is particularly secluded, however, preventing their assimilation into a formal mage clan. But it is this same isolation that allowed them to pursue their distinct kind of arcane science. For it is through the teachings of Rathma, as well as through years of research and physical experimentation, that these men have come to understand and hold sacred the delicate balance of life and death and are able to twist the line that borders the two. For although the minions of Hell have long possessed this power, among mortals the knowledge to reanimate and control the dead belongs to these priests alone. It is this practice that has lead outsiders to refer to them as Necromancers. They truly comprehend the balance of all things, and understand and accept their place in what they refer to as the Great Cycle of Being.
Their culture has subsisted in the shadow of the great mage clans from the earliest days, and in most ways their practice reaches back to a time before magic was formalized into strict disciplines.
Although their art is considered “dark,” and the people of the outside world shun the priests who practice these arts, these mysterious cultists never suffered the epidemic of corruption that plagued the ancient Mage Clans. Pragmatists in the truest sense, they are above temptation. They see death merely as a natural part of life and do not seek to deny its arrival. Their singular knowledge of the unknown allows them to face death without fear. These ideals, coupled with an understanding of the natural balance between Order and Chaos, explain why they have not fallen prey to the influences of evil.
Their desire to uphold this balance has brought the Necromancers forth from the isolation of their remote, dank homeland to destroy Diablo and his brethren. For the mere presence of these Prime Evils on the mortal realm upsets the natural symmetry of not only the mortal realm, but also the Great Cycle of Being, itself. The followers of Rathma seek to right the balance by ridding the mortal realms of non-mortal intervention altogether. They resent any force that would treat humans as pawns in a cosmic game, though they are apparently willing to ally with the forces of Order but only until such time as the balance is restored.
Traits and Abilities
Necromancers have the ability to reanimate corpses of most entities and to control the recently dead. The dead release spiritual energies that haunt the mortal realms. The Necromancer can focus these energies, giving them manifestation in the corporal world. Practitioners of necromancy can curse the very fate of a victim by manipulating the Prime energies flowing through all living things.
Paladins
(Page 42)
During the mid-twelfth century, after the Church of Zakarum had gained prominence in the East, the Church decreed that the visions of Akarat would be spread throughout the known world in order to redeem the masses. Thus, the Church selected a group of its most charismatic and devoted priests and sent them on a mission to proselytize the people of the West.
Unfortunately the Church had not prepared these men for the rigors of travel or the hazards of the world. Those priests who survived their missions recounted tales of harsh weather, inadequate supplies, attacks from bandits and even encounters with horrible monsters. To ensure the success of future missions, the Church set about training holy warriors, Paladins, to accompany and safeguard their missionaries. These “Protectors of the Word” proved to be more successful at converting the native peoples than the Priests they were assigned to defend. Impressing the locals with daring deeds, powerful weapons, and martial prowess was far more convincing than the condemnations of a softspoken monk. However, once the Word had been spread to every major city of the West, the “Protectors of the Word” faded from public view.
Some decades later, Paladins were again called into service. During the height of the Time of Troubles, the Church commenced a second campaign of conversion. This time, however, the unconvincible were deemed to be evil. The Zakarum Inquisition spread through the lands like a tempest, laying waste to all suspected of demonic possession or corruption. Leading this crusade was a new generation of Paladins, known as the “Hand of Zakarum”. These cavaliers of righteousness swept through the lands, expunging the taint of demonic contamination wherever they found it.
In the midst of this bloody crusade, a rebellion arose within the ranks of the Paladins of Zakarum. The rebels condemned the methods of the Inquisition, proclaiming that their new Order of Paladins should protect the innocent, and that the evil corruption they fought was merely evidence of their forebear’s failure. They resolved to fight the true source of corruption, the Three Prime Evils - Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto. And so, these rebellious Paladins left their Zakarum brethren and ventured west.
Traits and Abilities
Paladins use holy magic as gifted by the High Heavens. They must maintain strictly ordered lives, constantly upholding the cause of Virtue and Light. They must never succumb to worldly temptations lest they risk being deceived into following “false lights” — demons masquerading as Heavenly beings.
Paladins may use their skills to increase their prowess with sword and shield, as well as lend blessing “Auras” to themselves and to any who join them. They are particularly effective against the undead, as they know many holy incantations effective against these types of creatures.