Introduction And Guide to Amazon/Barbarian - Guide for Diablo

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Introduction 
HEY ALL ITS THE BAD BAD WOLF [[email protected]].I AM SORRY I COULD NOT PUBLISH 
THE WHOLE DIABLO,BUT IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM IN ANY STAGE OR ANYTHING JUST EMAIL ME 
AND I WILL REPLY YOU BACK.HAVE FUN
INTRO:-------------------
Since the beginning of time, the forces of order and chaos have been engaged in an 
eternal struggle to decide the fate of all creation. That struggle has now come to 
the mortal realm... and neither man nor angel will be left unscathed....
a
Diablo, the Lord of Terror and the youngest of three prime evils, awoke from his 
long sleep with plans to free his exiled brothers, Mephisto and Baal. But, a 
nameless hero stood in Diablo's way, confronting the Lord of Terror in the hellish 
labyrinth beneath Tristram. Diablo's spirit could never be truly destroyed, so the 
hero made the noblest sacrifice of all. He took the spirit of Diablo into himself, 
hoping that his own strength of will could contain the demon within.

The hero could never have known that his selfless act would not only ensure Diablo's 
victory, but irrevocably damn his soul for all time.

Welcome to GameSpot's official Diablo II game guide. Within this mammoth guide, 
you'll discover a wealth of statistics, strategies, and solutions for one of the 
most popular games of all-time, Blizzard's incredible Diablo II.

Inside this loaded official Diablo II game guide, you'll find:
·	The Amazon: This section introduces you to the Amazon character class, 
covering attributes, skills selection, and strategies. Here you'll find suggestions 
on choosing your skills to improve your Amazon character.
·	The Barbarian: Head here for an introduction to the Barbarian character 
class, with strategies for applying attribute points, acquiring skills, and 
perfecting combat techniques. The section also includes suggestions for choosing 
your skills to improve your Barbarian character.
·	The Necromancer: This section introduces you to the Necromancer character 
class, covering summoning minions and applying attribute and skill points. Inside 
you'll also find suggestions for choosing skills to become a Necromancer like no 
other!
·	The Paladin: Here, you'll find an introduction to the Paladin character 
class, featuring strategies for applying attribute points, acquiring skills, 
learning importance of hotkeys, and supporting fellow party members. The section 
also includes suggestions on choosing skills and improving your Paladin character.
·	The Sorceress: Head here for an introduction to the Sorceress character 
class, complete with strategies for selecting attributes, acquiring spells, applying 
skill points, and perfecting combat techniques. Inside you'll find suggestions on 
choosing skills and improving your Sorceress character.
·	Act I walk-through: This section features a complete walk-through for Diablo 
II's Act I. The walk-through sections include solutions to all quests, the location 
of important quest items, and vital information on monsters, townspeople, and 
dealing with boss creatures.
·	Act II walk-through: This section includes a complete walk-through for 
Diablo II's Act II.
·	Act III walk-through: This section includes a complete walk-through for 
Diablo II's Act III.
·	Act IV walk-through: This section includes a complete walk-through for 
Diablo II's Act IV.
·	Experience points chart: The chart depicts the experience points needed for 
each level up to 99.
·	Shrines: Look here for a list of Diablo II shrines and their functions.
·	Potions: This section explains the various potions you'll discover in Diablo 
II.
·	Weapon and armor statistics: This section includes charts revealing the base 
statistics for Diablo II's common weapons and armor.
·	Gems and skulls: Here, you'll find the magical properties for Diablo II's 
gems and skulls, including their effects when socketed in a weapon, shield, or helm.
·	Unique monsters: This section includes the list of unique monsters 
encountered in Diablo II, their unique attributes, and their location. 
Chapter 1 - Amazon Skills and Strategies 
"Skilled with the spear and the bow. She is a very versatile fighter..."

With skills in bow, crossbow, javelin, and spear, the Amazon is absolutely fierce 
with ranged weaponry. The power of the Amazon lies in specializing her skills. 
Choose your route early - either spear or bow - and advance through that 
particularly skill tree. Attempting to become both a spear and bow player weakens 
the Amazon's overall power. Choosing the spear route can give the Amazon both thrown 
and melee weapon power. Hit-and-run attacks prove effective, but you'll definitely 
want ranged weaponry in your arsenal to dish out damage from long range.

Amazon Attributes 
Like the Barbarian, the Amazon is primarily a weapons-based combat class (unlike the 
Sorceress with her spells and the Necromancer with his minions) with an affinity for 
ranged weapons, though melee combat is certainly plausible. Thus, strength and 
dexterity will be extremely important to the Amazon player, whether you take the bow 
or javelin skill route. You'll need the strength to wear the toughest armor and 
pound out some increased damage. Dexterity increases the Amazon's chance to hit and 
her defensive rating.

Diablo II is extremely customizable. There's really no right or wrong way to develop 
your character's attributes or skills - it's solely up to you! You choose your 
character's attributes; you choose your character's skills; and, through finding 
items and gold, you choose your character's equipment. Use these tips and strategies 
in the character class sections as suggestions on how to mold your character. Keep 
in mind that there are thousands and thousands of combinations and no right or wrong 
way to proceed through the game.

As a general guideline, for every five attribute points you receive (from each level 
advance), you could place two into strength, two into dexterity, and one into 
vitality (or every other one into energy). Once you reach level 10 or so, you'll 
likely want to start pumping more into energy as you approach the higher skills 
available in the bow, javelin, and passive skill trees. If you desire the some of 
the best armor, such as plate mail, raise your strength around 65, then concentrate 
on the other attributes –which by this time will be vality and 
energy.                                             -Amazon Equipment 
With skills sets focusing specifically on bows and crossbows or javelin and spears, 
it's important for the Amazon player to make a selection early to maximize skill 
choices. This section examines the Amazon's possibilities and the useful skills 
along each route.

The Bow and Crossbow Route
Choose the bow and crossbow skills should you desire to emphasize pure ranged 
weaponry. The magic arrow skill is especially useful, both early and throughout the 
entire game. The more points added to the magic arrow, the cheaper the mana cost. By 
its 13th tier, magic arrow is free, though it's cheap and efficient at sixth or 
seventh tier. Magic arrow is nice because it doesn't require arrow ammunition, which 
could prove helpful in a pinch.

You'll find both the cold and fire arrows useful; the higher cold arrow skills can 
freeze opponents as well as inflict cold damage. Slowing opponents down is often as 
useful as inflicting damage points. You'll likely want to select both cold and fire 
arrows for the early and mid game; use the cold arrows against fire-enchanted unique 
enemies, while employing fire arrows against the cold-enchanted unique enemies.

TIP:
The Amazon's bow skills can provide fire- and ice-enchanted arrows. Instead of 
attempting to acquire all the skills, use gems to alleviate additional skill needs. 
For instance, if you wish to study skills in fire arrows (and subsequent exploding 
arrows and immolation arrows), try to find sapphires to place in a socketed bow to 
provide cold damage. Then again, if you choose to acquire the cold-arrow skills, 
such as cold arrow and ice arrow, try to find rubies to use in a socketed bow.

Critical strike is an important passive Amazon skill used in both ranged and melee 
attacks - don't neglect critical strike even if you're a bow player! Critical strike 
works best around level 6 or 7, where you've raised the chance for double damage to 
approximately 50 percent.

Be prepared to use a lot of hit-and-run tactics with ranged weaponry. With bows, you 
can't afford to get trapped inside a horde of monsters. Use inner sight to decrease 
a monster group's defense rating and slow missiles to slow down enemy ranged 
attacks. Penetrate and pierce are also important higher-level bow skills (though in 
the magic portion of the Amazon's skill tree).

The Javelin and Spear Route
Selecting the javelin or spear route offers both melee and ranged opportunities with 
skills associated with each style of play. The jab and critical strike combination 
is the Amazon's melee bread and butter. As mentioned in the bow section, boost 
critical strike up to its sixth or seventh level to inflict double damage 
approximately 50 percent of the time. Couple this with the fast jab attack (and 
eventually with a powerful weapon), and you can dish out significant damage. Jab 
also operates at the same speed regardless of your weapon's speed; for instance, if 
you are holding a slow pike, jab performs at the same level of quickness as if you 
were holding a basic spear.

The Amazon's javelin skills emphasize both poison- and lightning-based attacks, with 
separate skills for thrusts and thrown strikes. Lightning is the most powerful 
elemental attack and should certainly be explored by the javelin Amazon player. 
Poison can prove effective, but lightning is typically more efficient; though you'll 
likely place points in the poison skills, use more in the lightning-based attacks.

Even with the powerful throwing skills, a javelin-based Amazon player will likely 
come back to jab and the passive critical strike time and time again. A strong 
Amazon player can take out tough, Act IV bosses with a beefy jab and critical strike 
rating (assuming a powerful thrusting weapon is being held). Be ready to cycle 
through other skills, particularly the throwing lightning skills (or poison if you 
prefer), should you desire to switch to ranged combat and knock down enemy health 
from the safety of long range. 
 Applying Amazon Skill Points - Bow 
You receive a skill point each time you advance a level (plus you'll receive more 
from completing particular quests, such as the Den of Evil quest in Act I). It's 
important to plan your skill choices ahead. Some high-level skills have multiple 
prerequisites, meaning you must follow two paths down the tree to reach that 
particularly skill. Further, it can be a tough decision whether or not to add 
multiple points into a particular skill - and how many should you add?

Naturally, your skill choices will follow your playing style. As a norm, for your 
first time through, you should concentrate on either the bow or javelin skills. That 
way, you can beef up particular skills in that tree and not waste points on weapons 
you aren't using all the time. Out of all the character classes, the Amazon is 
perhaps the most specialized, at least on the first time through the game. Wasting 
points on unneeded skills, at least at that time, can prove costly when you reach 
the tougher unique enemies and boss monsters in acts three and four.

There's certainly no right or wrong way to choose skills. All skills can prove 
useful under the right circumstances, with the right equipment, and for the 
particular player. Keep in mind that some skills have two prerequisite skills. Even 
if you reach a particular skill's prerequisite level - such as level 18 and the 
guided arrow - you must also have already acquired multiple shot and cold arrow to 
use the new skill. Plan ahead and consider hoarding skill points until the higher 
skills appear.

In this section, you'll find a 30 skill point example for an Amazon player 
specializing in bow and crossbow weapons. This is simply a guideline, and it's very 
likely you'll find better combinations to suit your personal style.

NOTE:
The plan presented below is one of thousands and thousands of potential 
combinations. For the most part, the plan is presented to illustrate the reasoning 
behind skill choices and isn't meant to be the only, the best, or even one of the 
best ways to spend your points. Everyone will have their personal preference - which 
was certainly the case around Blizzard's development offices where virtually every 
member of the QA team had their own personal style!

Magic arrow - 7 skill points
Inner sight - 1 skill point
Critical strike - 6 points
Cold arrow - 2 points
Fire arrow - 2 points
Slow missiles - 1 point
Dodge - 1 point
Avoid - 2 points
Evade - 2 points
Decoy - 1 point
Ice arrow - 2 point
Penetrate - 2 points
Pierce - 1 point

This is only one of thousands of possibilities for a high-level Amazon (30 skill 
points, not counting skill points you would receive completing quests or boosted by 
magical items). Magic arrow is a useful skill, especially to raise to higher levels; 
magic arrow actually costs less mana the higher the skill level. Raise the skill to 
around seven or eight, and it barely costs any mana to use the magical arrow (which 
is useful, since it won't use regular arrow ammunition). Cold and fire arrow provide 
nice alternatives, depending on the current opponent, with an emphasis on cold 
witnessed by the selection of ice arrow. The selection of slow missions and decoy 
not only supply decent defensive magic, but pave the way for valkyrie, a must have 
once you're above level 30, at the next skill point.

Early in the game, you can use magic arrow in combination with fire arrow to 
eliminate most early beasts. Place inner sight on a hotkey so you can quickly access 
the skill; inner sight decreases a target's defense and affects all monsters within 
a certain radius. Start pumping points into critical strike; eventually, you'll want 
the skill up to five or six, so you're doing double damage approximately 50 percent 
of the time.

During the middle game, you're still employing magic arrow, certainly at a low cost 
by this point, along with cold, fire, and ice arrow. Penetrate helps increase your 
attack rating for all ranged attacks, and slow missiles can provide some safety in 
dangerous situations against ranged attackers.

Late in the game, pierce, a passive skill, provides a chance that your ranged attack 
will hit its target and continue to hit through others. You're still using magic 
arrow along with your elemental attacks. You should have powerful bow weaponry at 
this point, potentially with gems and other magical properties to further increase 
damage.
Applying Amazon Skill Points - Javelin 
If you aren't concentrating on bow skills, you're going javelin. As stated 
previously, there's no right or wrong way to make these selections. Some players 
might excel one way, while others choose a completely different set of skills. You 
could even finish the game pumping all your points into a single skill - though 
expect quite a challenge! Keep in mind, in most instances, it's beneficial to plan 
ahead and aim for certain skills. Consider holding points until you reach a certain 
level, so you can distribute lots of points immediately into your preferred or 
favorite skills at this new level.

In this section, you'll find skill examples for an Amazon player specializing in 
javelin and spear weapons (30 skill points shown). Once again, this is simply a 
guideline, and it's very likely you'll find better combinations to suit your 
personal style.

NOTE:
The plan presented below is one of thousands and thousands of potential 
combinations. For the most part, the plan is presented to illustrate the reasoning 
behind skill choices and isn't meant to be the only, the best, or even one of the 
best ways to spend your points. Everyone will have their personal preference - which 
was certainly the case around Blizzard's development offices where virtually every 
member of the QA team had their own personal style!

Jab - 6 points
Critical strike - 6 points
Magic arrow - 1 point
Inner sight - 1 point
Power strike - 1 point
Dodge - 2 points
Slow missiles - 1 point
Poison javelin - 1 point
Lightning bolt - 3 points
Avoid - 2 points
Decoy - 1 point
Charged strike - 1 point
Evade - 2 points
Plague javelin - 1 point
Lightning fury - 1 point

Naturally, this is just one of many possibilities for a high-level, javelin-oriented 
Amazon player. This example includes 30 skill points, not counting skill points you 
would receive completing quests or by using unique or magical items. Jab is the 
javelin player's bread and butter; once you reach level 6, it ceases to include a 
damage modifier penalty. Critical strike is also a must; at level 6, you're 
inflicting double damage approximately half the time. Magic arrow can be used as a 
simple, unlimited ranged attack (it doesn't cost much either). Finally, this 
guideline focused on the lightning attacks, the most powerful element and one that 
will likely inflict more carnage than the poison-based skills. Further, you're just 
one skill point away from selecting valkyrie.

In the early game, you'll concentrate on jab and using magic arrow for your ranged 
attack. Be sure to employ inner sight when you approach difficult areas to decrease 
enemies' defense ratings. Continue to boost jab and critical strike to easily defeat 
most early beasts. You should continue to increase these skills throughout the 
middle game as well.

During the middle game, you'll switch off jab with your lightning attacks, including 
power strike and lightning bolt. You may also use the poison attacks, though it's 
likely you should concentrate on the lightning element. Your increased jab and 
critical strike will continue to serve you well; don't forget to employ inner sight 
inside each difficult and crowded enemy area.

In the late game, the jab and critical strike combination is still living strong, 
especially with a powerful spear or javelin. Lighting fury, gained at level 30, is 
extremely powerful and capable of taking on multiple targets. Continue to switch 
through the lightning attacks (for thrown spears) and jab for melee combat.
Amazon Skills 
The Amazon's skills are separated into javelin and spear skills, bow and crossbow 
skills, and passive and magic skills.

Javelin and Spear Skills
This section covers the Amazon's javelin and spear skills, offering each skill's 
description, level prerequisite, skill prerequisite, and useable mouse button.

Jab
Description: Attack with multiple rapid thrusts using a javelin or spear weapon
Level prerequisite: 1
Skill prerequisite: None
Mouse button: Left or right

Power Strike
Description: Add lightning damage to javelin and spear weapon attacks
Level prerequisite: 6
Skill prerequisite: Jab
Mouse button: Left or right

Poison Javelin
Description: Magically enhances your thrown javelin to leave a trail of poison clouds
Level prerequisite: 6
Skill prerequisite: None
Mouse button: Left or right

Impale
Description: Increases attack damage but rapidly degrades the weapon
Level prerequisite: 12
Skill prerequisite: Jab
Mouse button: Left or right

Lightning Bolt
Description: Magically converts your thrown javelin into a bolt of lightning
Level prerequisite: 12
Skill prerequisite: Poison javelin
Mouse button: Left or right

Charged Strike
Description: Adds lightning damage to javelin and spear weapons and releases charged 
bolts on impact
Level prerequisite: 18
Skill prerequisite: Power strike, lightning bolt
Mouse button: Left or right

Plague Javelin
Description: Magically enhances your thrown javelin to release clouds of poison upon 
impact
Level prerequisite: 18
Skill prerequisite: Lighting bolt
Mouse button: Left or right

Fend
Description: Rapidly attacks multiple hand-to-hand targets
Level prerequisite: 24
Skill prerequisite: Impale
Mouse button: Left or right

Lightning Strike
Description: Adds lightning damage to javelin and spear weapons and releases chain 
lightning upon impact
Level prerequisite: 30
Skill prerequisite: Charged strike
Mouse button: Left or right

Lightning Fury
Description: Changes a thrown javelin into a powerful bolt of lightning that splits 
on impact
Level prerequisite: 30
Skill prerequisite: Plague javelin
Mouse button: Left or right
Bow and Crossbow Skills
This section covers the Amazon's bow and crossbow skills, offering each skill's 
description, level prerequisite, skill prerequisite, and useable mouse button.

Magic Arrow
Description: Creates a magical arrow or bolt that does extra damage
Level prerequisite: 1
Skill prerequisite: None
Mouse button: Left or right

Fire Arrow
Description: Magically enhances your arrows or bolts with fire - always hits
Level prerequisite: 1
Skill prerequisite: None
Mouse button: Left or right

Cold Arrow
Description: Magically enhances your arrow or bolts by adding cold damage and a 
slowing effect; cold arrows only do half of their regular damage - always hits
Level prerequisite: 6
Skill prerequisite: None
Mouse button: Left or right

Multiple Shot
Description: Magically splits one arrow or bolt into many
Level prerequisite: 6
Skill prerequisite: Magic arrow
Mouse button: Left or right

Exploding Arrow
Description: Shoot an arrow or bolt that explodes on contact, damaging all enemies 
nearby - always hits
Level prerequisite: 12
Skill prerequisite: Fire arrow, multiple shot
Mouse button: Left or right

Ice Arrow
Description: Magically enhances your arrow or bolt to freeze your enemies - always 
hits
Level prerequisite: 18
Skill prerequisite: Cold arrow
Mouse button: Left or right

Guided Arrow
Description: Gives your arrows and bolts the intelligence to track your target or 
seek one of its own - always hits
Level prerequisite: 18
Skill prerequisite: Cold arrow, multiple shot
Mouse button: Left or right

Strafe
Description: Magically splits on arrow into several that target multiple nearby 
enemies
Level prerequisite: 24
Skill prerequisite: Guided arrow
Mouse button: Left or right

Immolation Arrow
Description: Enhances arrows or bolts to cause severe fire damage and creates a pyre 
upon impact - always hits
Level prerequisite: 24
Skill prerequisite: Exploding arrow
Mouse button: Left or right

Freezing Arrow
Description: Magically enhances your arrow or bolt to freeze entire groups of 
monsters - always hits
Level prerequisite: 30
Skill prerequisite: Ice arrow
Mouse button: Left or right 
Passive and Magic Skills
This section covers the Amazon's passive and magic, offering each skill's 
description, level prerequisite, skill prerequisite, and useable mouse button.

Inner Sight
Description: Illuminates nearby enemies, making them easier to hit for you and your 
party
Level prerequisite: 1
Skill prerequisite: None
Mouse button: Right

Critical Strike
Description: A chance that your attacks will do double damage
Level prerequisite: 1
Skill prerequisite: None
Mouse button: Passive

Dodge
Description: A chance that you will dodge a melee attack when standing or attacking
Level prerequisite: 6
Skill prerequisite: None
Mouse button: Passive

Slow Missiles
Description: Illuminates nearby enemies and slows their ranged attacks
Level prerequisite: 12
Skill prerequisite: Inner sight
Mouse button: Right

Avoid
Description: A chance that you will elude a missile attack when standing or attacking
Level prerequisite: 12
Skill prerequisite: Dodge
Mouse button: Right

Penetrate
Description: Increases your attack rating for all ranged attacks
Level prerequisite: 18
Skill prerequisite: Critical strike
Mouse button: Passive

Decoy
Description: Creates a duplicate of yourself that draws fire from enemies
Level prerequisite: 24
Skill prerequisite: Slow missiles
Mouse button: Right

Evade
Description: A chance that you will elude a melee or missile attack when walking or 
running
Level prerequisite: 24
Skill prerequisite: Avoid
Mouse button: Passive

Valkyrie
Description: Summons a powerful valkyrie warrior to fight alongside the Amazon
Level prerequisite: 30
Skill prerequisite: Decoy, evade
Mouse button: Right

Pierce
Description: Your missiles have a chance to pass through enemies that they hit
Level prerequisite: 30
Skill prerequisite: Penetrate
Mouse button: Passive
Chapter 2 - Barbarian Skills and Strategies 
"He is unequaled in close-quarters combat and mastery of weapons..."

For melee warfare, there's no better choice than the impressive Barbarian. The 
Barbarian skill tree offers masteries in various hand-to-hand weapons and powerful 
damage enhancers, including bash, double swing, leap attack, and whirlwind. If you 
desire to seek out the best hand-to-hand weapons, get the best armor, and fight toe-
to-toe with Diablo II's fiercest creatures, select the Barbarian and prepare for 
intense melee combat.

Barbarian Attributes 
It's little surprise that strength takes precedence among the Barbarian's 
statistics. You receive five attribute points per level, and you should pump at 
least two into strength each time you gain a new level. You want to reach the 60s as 
quickly as possible, so your Barbarian can wear suits of strong armor; don't neglect 
dexterity, though, which determines chance to hit and defensive rating. You're going 
toe-to-toe with most monsters; you'll need defense, and you must hit the beasts more 
than they hit you.

Vitality and energy aren't as important initially, especially if you're using the 
find potion skill to search corpses for healing potions - it's possible to remain 
healthy with the abundance of potions alone. Early in the game, put extra points 
into vitality with some into energy every so often. As a Barbarian, you should have 
enough strength to take on most enemies without the need of mana-using skills. Once 
you reach some of the higher levels and gain access to the more powerful skills, 
such as double swing, leap attack, and, eventually, whirlwind, you should start 
diverting more points into energy to keep your mana supply high.

TIP:
Mana-stealing weapons can turn a high-level Barbarian into a juggernaut. Cherish 
each mana-stealing magical weapon you find. Seek out skulls, which can be used in 
socketed weapons to steal both life and mana from the enemy. A Barbarian with mana-
stealing weaponry and the whirlwind skill is a devastating combination - the more 
monsters to whirlwind, the better!

The Barbarian in Combat 
The Barbarian doesn't shy away from getting his hands dirty - the Barbarian excels 
in close-quarters combat with multiple hand-to-hand weapons. This section details 
the Barbarian in combat and how to improve the Barbarian's destructive power by 
acquiring mastery skills, war cries, and special attacks, such as leap attack.

Weapon Mastery
A Barbarian can specialize in one of six different weapon-types - sword, axe, mace, 
pole arm, throwing, spear - through use of the skill tree. It's possible to find 
dominant weapons in each category, so you could succeed with any route. Don't limit 
yourself to a single weapon mastery; if you pump a bunch of points into sword 
mastery, but later find some unique axes, you may have to decide to either waste an 
excellent axe or the improved sword mastery.

Further, the biggest improvement is gained by simply putting one point into each 
skill (nearly 30 percent to damage rating). Be ready to improve multiple weapon 
masteries, but don't go overboard. Swords and axes are plentiful and powerful in the 
early game; pole arms can be powerful late-game weapons. Maces carry 150 percent 
damage to the undead. With sufficient mace mastery, you can buzz through Diablo II's 
second act and its abundance of undead monsters.

TIP: If you have a choice between a socketed weapon full of gems or a weapon with 
inherent magical properties, it's often best to use the gem-socketed weapon. The 
socketed weapon will be less expensive to repair, a constant concern for the 
aggressive Barbarian. If you aren't careful, you could run out of gold keeping up 
with the high cost of magical item repair.

You'll eventually want to combine your weapons mastery with a skill like double 
swing, which enhances the Barbarian's ability to carry a one-handed weapons in each 
hand. When two weapons are equipped, double swing attacks two targets if possible or 
one target twice. An improved weapon mastery skill combined with dual-weapon (of 
that mastery type) double swing is a powerful combination.

TIP: You can actually carry two two-handed swords - one an each hand. You can't hold 
two two-handed axes this way, but you can use the swords. Keep this in mind should 
you desire this route and wish to improve sword mastery and double swing skills.

Knockback weapons can be useful in many situations, but could pose problems late in 
the game, especially against life-stealing creatures or if you're already 
overwhelmed with beasties. The Barbarian's double swing and other bonuses to damage 
and attack rating often mean your best course of action is to get toe-to-toe, 
assault quickly, and finish off the beast as quickly as possible. Knocking back the 
creature could just prolong the battle and open you to damage from other creatures. 
  The Barbarian War Cries
Perhaps the most useful war cry isn't technically a war cry - the find potion skill 
can save the Barbarian in a pinch and especially save the Barbarian loads of gold 
best used to improve or repair weapons and armor. Dump at least three skill points 
into find potion over time; with so many monsters to fight, you'll be scoring free 
potions with unparalleled success. This particularly comes in handy during Diablo 
II's fourth and toughest act; the Barbarian can often find full rejuvenation potions 
replenishing both health and mana points. Three points into find potion should be 
sufficient, but if you near five or six, you'll have a 50 percent chance of finding 
a potion in each corpse.

TIP:
A corpse can only be searched once by find potion or find item. Once you've searched 
the corpse, the corpse is no longer a useable item - even by a Necromancer in your 
party who might wish to use the corpse to raise a skeleton!

Other decent Barbarian war cries include shout, which raises you and your party's 
defensive rating, and taunt, which taunts an enemy creature into fighting you. Taunt 
can be especially useful when dealing with a dungeon's riff raff (such as Act I's 
fallen or carvers). Often these little creatures run from you on sight or after 
you've killed off their shaman leader. Use taunt to keep them close, so you don't 
have to run out searching for them.

The higher level war cries, such as battle command and battle orders, are best used 
in multiplayer games. If you're choosing to play the Barbarian through the single-
player game, without party assistance, you're likely better off using the skill 
points for more offensive-based skills, such as double swing, leap attack, and 
whirlwind. Further, you can stack some of the war cries to compound their 
improvements to you and your party.

TIP: Choosing what skills to select isn't the only decision you have to make. Often 
it's wiser to save your skill points and keep them unused. Then, once you reach a 
particular prerequisite level (6, 12, 18, 24, or 30), use them all to improve one of 
the higher-level skills. For instance, you could save up the skills you earn by 
advancing the first five levels of the game, then use one in bash and the rest in 
double swing (double swing requires bash). This is just one example of thousands of 
possibilities.

Barbarian Leap and Leap Attack
The Barbarian's leap and leap attack skills are a must - not only because they're a 
prerequisite for the Barbarian's über-skill, whirlwind, but because they are 
extremely handy defensive and offensive skills respectively.

To be blunt, leap can save your butt in a dire situation. Since the Barbarian excels 
at close-range melee combat, it's highly likely that the Barbarian will become 
overwhelmed with enemy attackers. With a click of the mouse button, the Barbarian 
can leap away to safety. The amount of points into leap determines the radius of the 
jump. One point should be sufficient, but if you desire a larger leap, use more 
skill points, though you're likely to see more benefits by using those points in 
offensive skills.

TIP:
You can also use leap to jump across gaps in the walkway, such as two catwalks 
separated by otherwise impassable land. Examples of these can be found in the arcane 
sanctuary and Kurast sewers!

Leap attack is devastating and functions like a ranged attack. If you're within an 
enemy's range and successfully click on the monster, your Barbarian's leap attack 
blow will connect. Placing additional skill points into leap attack increases radius 
(how far you can leap from) and damage potential. Its mana cost is relatively high, 
however, especially for Barbarian players not concentrating on the energy attribute. 
Don't overuse the attack if you must conserve mana. Leap attack is best used when 
there are one or two tough creatures remaining; in a crowd, leap attack can work, 
but the action is so chaotic it's difficult to remain aware of what's occurring 
around you. With only a few monsters to content with, though, you can perform the 
leap attack, then retreat quickly and follow up with another without even being 
touched.

TIP:
Leap attack is particularly devastating in player vs. player multiplayer killing!

Battling Tough Beasts
It's likely the Barbarian will have the weapons and strength to take on most of the 
unique enemies and boss monsters head on, but don't neglect to use skills to your 
advantage. A good technique when approaching a unique enemy, boss, or simply tough 
monster is to use shout to raise your defenses, then use a combination of leap 
attack and double swing as a hit-and-run burst. You must keep mana reserves high (or 
have high energy points) with mana potions, or you'll run out fairly quickly.

By the time you reach Diablo, you should possess most of the offensive skills except 
whirlwind - if you can advance to level 30 before facing Diablo, though, do so! 
Whirlwind is a huge asset against the game's boss creature. Using leap to avoid 
Diablo's fire and lightning attack, then following up with whirlwind, is an 
effective combination. 
 

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