Diablo II Ultimate Strategy Guide

by baret-g-farkas, Photos (Illustrator)

Diablo II Ultimate Strategy Guide

Genres: Reference, Gaming, Nonfiction, Games, Computer Reference, Technology, Game Design

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2000

Reviews

[Dean Guadagno · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the recent release of Diablo II: Resurrected, I decided to finally sit down to experience a game that I've avoided trying for over 2 decades - and as part of that, picked up this guide to help me through.

Now it's no secret that, in the age of internet, the need for physical strategy guides has waned. This book is a perfect example of why. I read it cover-to-cover, and while it offered nearly 300 pages of story and stats - it was all fairly surface level. A page on Shrine effects - but no context on how to optimize the opportunity. A detailed breakdown of all the character skills, but shallow guidance on suggested builds.

Once upon a time, its claim as an "Ultimate Strategy Guide" would have held true, but with infinitely more content and context on any of the countless Diablo fandom sites, the book offers little else. Coupled with the fact that ALL of its 288 pages are relegated to black-and-white print, the muddled screencaps aren't even particularly nice to look at.

Great to own, but not practical to use nowadays.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diablo II is one of the more addicting games I’ve played. You lose track of time and spend hours destroying monsters and looting every nook and cranny. Thinking about it puts a little itch inside me. That’s partly why I’ve kept this book for so long. My cravings are satisfied in the pages of the guidebook. I’ve no need to spend hours of gameplay when I can browse the talents and create mini-builds in my head. Who’d have thought that a simple point and click (last minute decision mind you) would become one of the major gaming IPs today and thereafter.

[Bud Winn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember buying this right after Diablo 2 came out in June 2000.

[Klock]

Hehehe

[Adrian Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not what it claims to be - an ultimate strategy guide. You will have much better luck checking out the various builds and equipment and attack strategy guides online. It provides a lot of basic information that should be apparent to anyone playing the game and who has read the game manual.

Worse, at times the information is inaccurate at best. And not due to differences in patches. The book is based on patch 1.07. The recipes have been changed as well as gem details so now those are almost all worthless. By the way the book only provides basic Horadric Cube recipes so once again - online is your friend.

It does have a nice breakdown of skills - even though some are inaccurate. If you're running the 1.07 version (HIGHLY unlikely) it does give a nice skill level progression table. But now...with skill detail changes and SYNERGIES - WORTHLESS.

The guide was JUST PASSABLE for when it was written. Don't anyone be an idiot and buy this now. I know a lot of us still play classic D2 and LOD, more so now as we wait for D3. LOL. And a lot of new people only now have discovered the joy of the Diablo universe.

Boiled down - Check the Arreat Summit and other such sites. This books is BLEH.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Strategy Guide has to be the best for Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, believe me I've been playing since 1.12b till 1.13b and it really helped towards me and my friends to make runewords that you will eventually need for player vs player. I fidn this book goes step by step on beating each Act (1-5.) The downside about this guide is that the game is ALWAYS updated during the summer, new runewords are added in the game, and new events aren't added in the book, you want to try tog et the RECENT book (even though it was printed on 2001-2003,) try to get a recent copy so you can actaully expect what WILL happen in those new events that Blizzard added for each patch that they have.
Overall I find this Strategy guide useful for any Diablo 2 player, the thing is that i'm not too big on playing Xpak (if any Diablo II fans know) but playing classic Diablo II without these add-ons with the runewords is better for everyone but even difficult when finding rare items.

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This guide came with the Battle Chest when I bought the Diablo II Expansion Game. It's a role playing game you can play either with others online or as a single player on your computer. I love the game, and this book doesn't make a bad introduction and does have some useful information, enough I'm keeping it on my bookshelf, which is why I'm not rating it lower. I'm not rating it higher because honestly, if you want to learn game strategies for playing your Amazon or Paladin or such, you can find much, much better online by googling.

[Timothy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like had been mentioned earlier, this book is a strategy guide meant for the casual gamer not for the hardcore gamer. If you are a hardcore gamer and are looker for a guide that gives you the tricks to beat the game quickly, this is not the book for you. If you are just looking for more information than the book that comes with the game, then this is a good book for that.