Alright so today I tried something kinda wild – making decent Diablo 2 characters without blowing all my runes. Seriously, this game can be a real pain when you’re broke as hell. I started fresh with a level 1 Amazon. Found this cracked javelin on the ground five minutes in. Figured why not? Slapped on whatever blue gear dropped from Blood Moor monsters. Looked ridiculous but whatever.
Basic Javazon Setup
Dumped all points into Lightning Fury first. Cleared crowds like a champ. Charged Strike for single targets? Magic. Found a white javelin later and slammed three Perfect Sapphires into it for extra damage. Didn’t even need rune words yet! Farmed Countess in Act 1 with this trash setup. Died maybe seven times to her fireballs. Whatever, corpses are free.
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Merc Savior Move:
- Hired Act 2 Normal Combat Merc (Prayer aura)
- Stuck him with an Insight runeword polearm
- Four runes – Ral Tir Tal Sol
- Seriously farmed Countess till my eyes bled
- Sol rune took FOREVER but finally dropped
Suddenly had infinite mana! Spammed Lightning Fury nonstop. This cheap polearm carried me through Nightmare difficulty. Made a Smoke runeword armor for myself too. Nef Lum in any two-socket chest piece. Lum dropped from Hellforge quest. Only slightly screamed when it happened.
How To Not Die Instantly
Resists sucked majorly in Hell difficulty. Fixed it stupid simple:
- Three Perfect Diamond in a random paladin shield
- Any resistance charm I found – kept em all
- Lore runeword helmet (Ort Sol)
- Raven Frost ring from random unique monster
Holy hell Ancient Tunnels runs became possible! Found Titans Revenge eventually after like fifty million runs. Didn’t even need perfect stats. This thing plus Merc’s Insight carried whole game. Beat Hell Baal wearing literal garbage besides javelins.
Other Stupid Cheap Finds
Made a sorceress alt for magic finding:
- Spectral Shard blade from gambling
- Rhyme runeword shield (Shael Eth)
- Stealth runeword armor (Tal Eth)
- Rocked full blue gear otherwise
Teleported straight to Mephisto with 0% fire resist. Died ten times per run maybe. But found Skin of the Vipermagi armor on third try! 26% resist roll. Threw perfect ruby into it cause no socket quest left. Absolutely illegal how much difference one mid-tier drop made.
Barbarian tried Whirlwind build:
- Two Black runeword hammers (Thul Io Nef)
- Smoke armor again (cheapest resist fix)
- Lore helmet
- Stashed life/mana potions like apocalypse prepper
Works until Act 3 Hell. Then needs actual gear. Whatever. Got his Find Item skill for extra boss loot chances. Worth the headache honestly.
Biggest Lesson Learned?
Runewords beat most uniques early on. Mercs are GODSEND for weak characters. Teleport staff from vendor lets anyone skip mobs. Resistances > damage when poor. And seriously – just farm Countess until your brain melts. Those low runes build foundations for everything else. Still haven’t found Ber rune. Probably never will. Whatever – these setups crush game without it.
