General Game-play, controls, and hotkeys help

1. Basic attacking and moving

The mouse moves your character around.

Click a monster and your character will begin using their current Left Click skill.

A new character is always set with Melee Attack as default

Usually the right click is also... with the exception of the Sorceress and Necromancer who's right click will be set to skills given by their starting weapons.

- Note on the Necromancer: Right click is set to Summon Skeleton. To summon it, you must kill a creature/monster first, then (When Summon skeleton is still set as right click) right click the creature/monsters corpse to raise the skeleton. For more information on how to use this skill... refer to the Skills Wiki Forum. -

- Note on the Sorceress: Right click is set to Fire Bolt. Simply right click (When Fire Bolt is still set as right click) and she will shoot a firebolt. For more information on how to use this skill... refer to the Skills Wiki Forum. -

Note: I would not suggest exploring town much until you have explored the Blood Moor a little bit.

Once you walk out, find a creature/monster and left click it, your character will begin to melee attack it.

Your character will get experience for the kill. The white bar above your yellow stamina bar is your experience. When it fills up. You gain a level. Refer to other sections of the forums for information on leveling up.

2. Using your Inventory Screen.

Note: Refer below to the Hotkeys section on how to open your inventory.

When on your inventory screen you will see two sections. Above is what your character is wearing. Below is what your character is holding in their "backpack".

The section at the top is referred to as your Gear. You can wear helmets shields rings amulets (Or in simple terms: A Magical Necklace) armor boots and gloves.

Note on The Expansion: Charms are items that give you bonuses for being in your inventory. They will not work in your stash OR if you store them in a Horadric Cube (Even IF if the cube is in your inventory).

3. Using your Character Info Screen

Note: Refer below to the Hotkeys section on how to open your Character Info Screen

You see four Attributes

(These numbers are based on Classic gear requirements and do not accurately depict Expansion character requirements).

Note: The following lists are based on Diablo II Classic and do not necessarily reflect Expansion stats.

Strength

Strength slightly Increases your base damage but only by insignificant amounts.

Strength is really only necessary for gear requirements.

A quick tip on not spending too much on strength.

(These numbers are based on Classic gear requirements and do not accurately depict Expansion character requirements)

Paladin: Paladins generally need around 50-60. Experts can get away with not adding any points into strength but only because they have the right gear available to work with.

Barbarian: It all depends on the gear choices you use. Barbarians are very versatile, ranging from using 100 Strength for Battle Hammers to 170 Strength for Martel De Fers.

Necromancer: Necromancers generally need around 45-50. Experts can get away with not adding any points into strength but only because they have the right gear available to work with.

Amazon: An Amazons strength all depends on if they are going to use Javelin, Spears, or Bows. There are many different kinds of bows with many different strength requirements. There are also Lances with require 110 Strength.

As far as Javelins go, and Amazon will need no more than 40-50 Strength... Experts can get away with not adding any points into strength but only because they have the right gear available to work with.

As Far as Bows go an amazon will generally need around 60-90 Strength.

As far as Spear Amazons go, well I wouldn't ever suggest making one but if you insist (lol), then use about 40-60 Strength.

Sorceress: A sorceress only needs about 45-50 Strength unless it is an MFer (For a Definition of an MFer refer to the MFing thread). An MFer will need to use heavier gear and 80 strength is perfect. Experts can get away with not adding any points into strength but only because they have the rightgear available to work with.

Dexterity

Dexterity is very important for Melee characters.

Casters will never need Dexterity.

Dexterity increases the chances that you will land a hit on a creature/monster/opponent.

To see the percentage that you will hit the last monster/creature you hit scroll your mouse over the Attack Rating box/s.

Dexterity is also used as a requirement for gear just as strength is.

Now, assuming you do not have the perfect gear to work with (Because with Angelic Rings and Amulet, there is no need to add dexterity at all) there isn't necessarily a set # of points necessary for a melee character. The only tip I can give for people who do not have Angelics available is... if your attack rating percentage drops below 80%, start adding points into dex until it is.

Now I know I have been going on about Angelics so I will now explain it. When paired with the Amulet, the rings will add more than enough Attack Rating to make you hit anything accurately. When making an online character, NEVER add points into dex for accuracy, use Angelics instead.

Instead of listing the classes I am going to list certain weapons that require dexteriity to use.

Lances: 88
Gothic Bows: 118
Certain heavier swords/maces may require around 35-55... if it costs anymore than that, it is probably not worth it.
Executioners Blade: 70

Vitality

There is not much to say here except that you can never have enough Vitality. This increases you HP. If you think you have the right amount of Strength, Dexterity, and Energy, then Vitality is where your points go.

Energy

Energy increases your mana and your stamina. At higher levels your stamina will not matter much, so focus on Mana. Much like dexterity, how much energy you need all depends on what kind of gear you have available. If you have gear that adds a total of 100 or more mana, you wont need to add much to energy at all. Over B.Net it is strongly recommended that you rely solely on your gear for mana and never add points to energy.

4. Hotkeys

Note: For a quick rundown on every Set or Default hotkey, when in-game, press Esc > Options > Controls.

There are two kinds of Hotkeys I will talk about. Shortcuts and Skill Hotkeys.

Shortcuts

I will list the important ones.

Note: Just as you can press the hotkey to open it, it will also close it.

i = Inventory

Tab = AutoMap

c = Character Info

Skill Hotkeying

For new players this is a very confusing process but is very necessary to play the game effectively.

Click your left skill and every skill you can use on the left will show up like so...

Hover your mouse over the skill you would like to hotkey and press the F1 key. An F1 will appear in the top corner of the skill saying it is hotkeyed to F1. If you have multiple skills hotkeyed (You can use all of the F keys for this, just do not hold the Ctrl key while hotkeying) you can use the mouse-wheel to scroll between the skills. (That is only if your mouse has a Mouse-Wheel).

Of course you can also hotkey your right side skills too but your mouse-wheel will not be able to scroll them.

5. A couple important things

When you kill some creatures/monsters, press the ALT key and the name of every item on the ground will show up so that you know exactly what has dropped.

When buying potions, Instead of right clicking them multiple times, Hold shift and right click them. This will fill your belt up with that potion instantly (If your belt is split between Mana and Health, make sure the first row is organized likewise first)

Well you have just learned the basics to playing Diablo II, you are now WELL ahead of your predecessors. When you think you got it down, continue reading in the forum, there is still much to learn.