Diablo II - Skills ~ The Legion of Angels Guild ~

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· Amazon Skills	· Passive & Magic Skills
	· Bow & Crossbow
	· Spear & Javalin
		· Necromancer Skills	· Curses
			· Poison & Bone
			· Summoning
· Barbarian Skills	· Combat
	· Combat Masteries
	· War Cries
		· Sorceress Skills	· Fire Spells
			· Lightning Spells
			· Cold Spells
· Paladin Skills	· Combat
	· Offensive Auras
	· Defensive Auras

Skill Basics

Starting Skills

All 5 player character classes start with the same 2 basic skills - Attack and Throw.
"Attack" attacks with the equipped weapon (or weapons, in the case of the Barbarian.) "Throw" throws a throwing weapon.
Necromancers also start with the "Unsummon" skill to destroy minions previously summoned by the player.

Number of Skills

Each character class may develop 30 more unique skills. These 30 additional skills are divided into 3 skill tabs (approximately 10 per tab). The skills in each tab are arranged into a Skill Tree -- much like a Tech-Tree in a real-time strategy game.

Passive and Active Skills

There are two general classes of skills - Passive and Active. Active skills require you to explicitly cast or use them. Passive skills are not cast, but have implicit or automatic effects. Masteries (a type of Passive skill) are in effect whenever the item or skill to which the Mastery applies is used. The Paladin's Auras (another type of Passive skill) are in effect whenever readied as the right mouse skill button. Aura skill button icons are golden.
All Active skills except Attack, Throw, Unsummon and Sacrifice use Mana. Most Passive skills do not use Mana. The Mana cost and other information about a skill is shown, when you move the cursor over the skill icon.

Red Skill Icons

When a Skill icon is red, the Skill cannot be used - either because of a lack of Mana, because an item that the skill requires is not equipped, or because that skill cannot be used in town.

Additional Skill Points

You receive one extra skill point to distribute each time your character reaches another level of experience.
Some quests give extra skill points for a reward. These can only be used one time.
Some items give from 1 to 3 extra skill points. You receive the skill point only when you have the item or weapon equipped. These bonus skill points do not allow you to advance down the skill tree unless you already have a point in that skill. So a item that gives +1 to Teeth for the Necromancer does not enable you to place one point into Corpse Explosion at level 6 until you put at least one point into Teeth.

Skill Caps

There is a skill level cap of 20. You cannot put more than 20 Skill points into a specific skill. You can however raise a skill over the 20 skill point limit by using items that give +1 to +3 to skills, etc and the Barbarian Warcry Battle Command. Above the 20 cap, you cannot have more than 30 points into a single skill which you can get through the use of Items, Skill Shrines, and the Barbarian's Battle Commands.
You can only put another skill point into a skill for each character level past the required level for that skill. For example if a skill requires your character to be level 6 you have to wait until your character is level 7 before you can put assign another skill point into that skill. You can however save up skill points and put one skill point into all of the skills that open up when your character reaches the next level in the skill tree (6, 12, 18, 24, 30). For example if you save all your skill points into level 6 you can put one point into each of the Level 6 skills.

Basic Skill Point Spending Strategies

Skill Point Planning

You receive one skill point per level, and several quests offer additional skill points.
Your success or failure in battle can greatly be determined by how you spend your skill points. Careful thought and planning can save you from backtracking to get to a skill you didn't notice and can prevent wasted points. Remember that once a skill point is spent you can never get that point back so it's important to choose wisely. While you may be able to survive by just throwing a skill point into whatever, your character may not be the best it can be.

Pick Several skills to focus in rather than all skills

You may be able to get one skill point into all of the skills on the skill trees eventually but this may not make the best character. Generally it's best to focus in several skills rather than putting some points into all of them. Many skills and spells become truly powerful as you focus quite a few points into them. The first three skill points might not be enough to see the full power of those skills or spells. While it's great to have a skill for every job, generally you will have a lot of under powered skills if you spent a point in everything. Non focused characters may have trouble defeating the more powerful unique monsters, bosses and difficulty levels.

How to spend your skill points

Come up with a plan. Know where your next skill point is going to go before you get it. If you do get a skill point before you're ready, save it until you know where you can best spend it. Don't be afraid to ask other people for advice or consult Online guides such as this for advice and information on what each skill point can do for you.

Live for today or plan for tomorrow

Theres two main ways of spending your skill points.

Just let me play the game - Spend your points as you get them in what you feel like it as you go along
In this plan you spend your points as you get them in the skills that are available at the time. You advance along the skill tree in a normal fashion. Use lower level skills as long as you can building them up until a more powerful skill is available. This is a great plan for the casual gamer. Do you just want to beat the game on normal and move on to another character? This is the plan for you.

Use this plan if:

· You are first time player
· You are not a "power" player
· You don't care about spending skill points in skills you may only use for a certain period of time
· If you want your character to be as effective as possible in the early part of the game.

The Skill Point Hoarder or Power Gamer Plan

Only spend points in what you will always use, and save skill points for late game skills such level 18, 24, and 30 skills. This skill point strategy is for advanced players. You must be skilled enough to get by without spending your points each level. This strategy is for the long haul, especially when going for Level 18 and Level 24 skills which may not reach their full power until you've defeated the game on normal and are on your way into Nightmare difficulty.

In this plan you only spend a skill point if it It unlocks a skill you plan to focus in, such as skill along the tree to your desired final skill. A skill point is only spent on a skill that you plan on using for the rest of your character's life even into Nightmare and Hell difficulty levels. The play as you go plan will still work on Nightmare and Hell difficulty however it will take you a while to catch up to the power of the late game skill builders.

Use this plan if:

· You are a power gamer
· You want a challenge
· You love optimizing skill points
· You want to be weak early on but powerful quickly at higher levels
· You can't stand spending a skill point on a skill you may outgrow.
· You plan on using your character in Nightmare and Hell.

For the power gamer, the alternative to the play as you go style is to save as many skill points as possible for later skills. Often the later skills are the most powerful, but this isn't always the case. You get by through the lean early levels without spending all of your skill points by any means possible including using your friends to help you kill monsters until you reach a high enough level to unlock your desired skills. The Barbarian, Amazon, and Paladin have an easier time with this style of skill point planning because they are dependant on equipment. The Barbarian can find a good weapons to survive without spending too many skill points. The Paladin can use a shield and a good sword or one handed weapon to level up. The Amazon can find good bows, or rely on Critical Hit, and Javelins to level up. For the Sorceress and Necromancer, this style of play can be very challenging. They can use Bows or Cross Bows, to supplement their skills or survive on staves and wands that give free skill points.