Alright, let’s get into this Diablo 2 boss farming speedrun tier list. Been seeing people argue endlessly about which character is truly the fastest for boss runs, especially on repeat runs. So, I decided to actually sit down and test this nonsense myself. No more guessing, just pure, unadulterated boss smashing.
First thing I did? Rolled a fresh character on Battle Net for each class I wanted to test. Yeah, it took ages. Gearing them up decently was step two. We’re not talking perfect gear here, cause who has that? I aimed for solid, achievable gear for someone actually farming bosses consistently. Think Spirit swords, Smoke armors, maybe a Shako if lucky enough to drop. Standard stuff you could realistically gather.
The Raw Testing Phase
I picked bosses everyone targets: Andariel, Mephisto, Diablo, Baal. And Duriel, cause why not, though he’s tricky. My method was brutal: start a game, teleport/run my ass off to the boss as fast as possible – absolutely no killing trash mobs unless completely unavoidable – kill the boss, grab the loot, note the time, then exit game and do it again. Rinse and repeat. A hundred times for each class on each boss? Felt like it. My fingers were numb.
The clock started the instant the game loaded and stopped the instant the boss died. Recording splits was messy with sticky notes everywhere. Pure chaos, but I needed real numbers.
Who Actually Crushed It?
Alright, here’s the messy reality, boss by boss:
- Andariel (Act 1): Expected Sorceress to dominate. She did. Teleport is just stupid good here. The Cold tree Blizzard build melted Andy in like 3 seconds. Lightning Sorc was nearly as fast, just depended on lucky hits sometimes. Nothing else came close, really.
- Duriel (Act 2): This guy sucks. Teleport is still king for getting there quickly, but killing him? Different story. Mercs died constantly. Found my Javazon surprisingly quick here – Throw a few Lightning Fury jabs, done. Paladin using Smite locked onto him like glue and just hammered away efficiently. But the Sorc still had the best overall time ’cause she arrived so damn fast, even if the kill took a couple extra seconds.
- Mephisto (Act 3): The Teleport wall. Again. Sorceress wins unless you’ve got a Barbarian with serious Find Item luck gambling for Enigma runes, which I wasn’t testing. Blizzard Sorc made short work of him in his little moat spot. Hammerdin came close cause Charge gets you around quickly and Hammers murder Meph if you position right, but nailing that perfect positioning every run is tough. Sorc just tele-spammed onto his platform and unloaded.
- Diablo (Act 4): Big D himself. Another spot where Teleport is huge. The Chaos Sanctuary layout is a pain otherwise. Sorc killed him fast. But my Trapsin? Holy crap, she was a dark horse. Dropped some Death Sentries and Lightning Sentries, kept feeding corpses into them, and D just evaporated way faster than I thought possible. Faster than my Hammerdin most runs. Javazon also did great here with Lightning Fury clearing the seals sometimes faster than others.
- Baal (Act 5): The granddaddy. Teleport essential for the Throne Room waves and Baal. Sorc wins again. However… my Smiter Paladin built purely for Uber Tristram showed up. Holy crap. Forget killing waves efficiently, his waves took forever, but once he got to Baal? That Smite just pounded Baal into dust literally in seconds. For pure boss kill speed at Baal, Smiter was insane. But for the entire Baal run start to finish? Sorc still pulled ahead overall.
So, What’s the Actual Tier List?
Based purely on speed for repeating boss kills – grabbing a key, opening the boss door, killing the boss, resetting the game – here’s the harsh truth:
- S Tier (No Brainer): Sorceress. She has Teleport. It makes her that much faster getting places, and her killing power is top-notch. Blizzard and Lightning both wreck face. If you just wanna kill bosses repeatedly super fast, start here.
- A Tier (Really Fast Killers): Paladin (Smite/Hammerdin for specific bosses), Javazon, Trapsin. These guys kill specific bosses exceptionally fast, sometimes faster than the Sorc if they can get there without teleport. But without Teleport, their travel time usually keeps them out of S tier for overall runs. Smiter crushes bosses physically, Hammerdin has massive spell damage, Javazon Lightning Fury clears screens including bosses, Trapsin traps melt high HP targets.
- B Tier (Solid Options): Frenzy Barbarian, Wind Druid. They can do it, but it’s noticeably slower. Frenzy Barb needs good weapons to chop fast and runs faster than others, but not as fast as teleport. Windy Druid’s Tornado hits hard, but casting it accurately sucks sometimes, and the travel time issue persists. Still viable, just not “speedrun” fast.
- C Tier (Don’t Bother for Speed): Summoner Necro, Fury Druid. Oh man. My Necro? Getting the army to the boss room alone was a nightmare. Minions get stuck constantly. The kill might be safe, but it’s incredibly slow. Fury Druid – fun for whacking things, but getting there? Uphill both ways in the snow. Actual boss kill speed was mediocre. Save these for fun or specialized runs.
The Cold, Hard Takeaway
Teleport is the single biggest cheat code in Diablo 2 farming. There’s a reason everyone uses Sorc early ladder. She wins overall speed for accessible boss farming. End of story. Period. Other classes can be amazing boss killers once engaged, and some like the Javazon or Trapsin get closer than others, but lacking that instant travel hurts them for pure speedrun-style farming. My Smiter made me laugh with how fast he deleted Baal’s health bar, but getting him through the Worldstone Keep? Yeah, no.
So yeah, there you go. Did the boring, repetitive testing so you don’t have to. Trust me, the numbers don’t lie. Get yourself a Sorc if pure speed is your goal. Otherwise, pick your poison – but know the travel time tax you’re paying.