Alright so I finally got around to finishing all those stupid hard trophies in Diablo 2, holy shit it was a grind. Wanted to share the absolute pain and what actually worked for me, none of that fluffy “just play the game” nonsense. Buckle up.
Starting Off Way Too Confident
Thought, “Hey, I played this game back in the day, how hard can it be?” Wrong. Completely wrong. Jumped straight into Hell difficulty thinking my level 75 Sorceress was hot stuff. First proper trophy attempt was beating Hell Baal. Got absolutely stomped by the Ancients within maybe 20 seconds of spawning them. Legit stared at my screen like an idiot. Realized my gear was actual garbage fire. Shoulders dropped, went back to farming Nightmare Mephisto for hours, felt like bashing my head against a wall. Found absolutely nothing useful for like three days straight. Started questioning my life choices.
The Andariel Wall & My First Taste of Real Pain
The trophy for rescuing Anya on Hell? Nightmare. Literally the worst kind of surprise. Those frozen horrors near her? Instant freeze, instant death for my Sorc. Happened maybe fifteen times in a row. I was losing gold faster than finding it. Figured I needed “Cannot Be Frozen”. Looked it up. Options? Raven Frost ring? Yeah right, impossible drop. Thawing Potions? Oh man, this became a running theme. Had to chug those things constantly. Like, constantly. Started farming Normal Countess for low runes just to make basic “Stealth” runeword armor for more running speed. Embarrassing, but survival first. Finally got her free by running like a maniac past everything, spamming potions like a maniac.
Duriel, The Ultimate Gear Check (and Mood Killer)
Hell Duriel trophy. Forget it. That charge, that freeze aura, the damage. Got one-shotted repeatedly. My Merc folded faster than a cheap tent. Screamed internally. Needed serious solutions:
- Merc Gear: Absolute top priority. Forget your own gear for a bit. Had to farm NM Countess for the Insight polearm runewords (Ral+Tir+Tal+Sol). Focused on getting him a decent base polearm and any armor with life and resists.
- Resists Are Everything: Farmed NM Mephisto again and again specifically for rings, amulets, helms with Cold and Lightning resist. Stacked them as high as humanly possible. Found a crap +35% Cold resist amulet, felt like winning the lottery.
- Tactics for the Tunnel Terror: Learned the hard way – portal right next to his room. Run in, spam the highest damage spell (Frozen Orb for me), die. Respawn instantly, run back in before he fully healed, spit spells until dead again. Used all 10 scrolls once. Felt gross, but it worked.
Took forever. Pro Tip? Play a Paladin. Seriously.
The Countless Countess Runs & RNG Hell
Needed specific runes for high-level runewords to have a chance at the level 99 and Baal trophies safely. Countess runs became my second life. Teleporting to Tower Level 5, clearing, kill countess. Rinse, repeat. Hundreds of times. Highlight? Getting an Ist rune once. Low point? She dropped nothing but low runes and keys for 50+ runs straight. Wanted to cry. Important? Magic Find DOES NOT affect rune drops. Waste of gear slots. Focused purely on survivability and killing speed. Used a Spirit sword, Stealth armor, crap resists everywhere else. Just speed.
The Final Grind & Unexpected Surprises
The level 99 trophy? Pure masochism. Found XP was fastest clearing Chaos Sanctuary and Baal runs relentlessly. Did them solo because public games are chaos even offline. Needed gear way beyond my initial expectations. Finally put together an Enigma runeword for teleport on my Sorc (Jah + Ith + Ber… brutal farm). Changed everything. Speed skyrocketed. The Baal wave trophy? Actually kind of fun until Wave 2 with those poison viper guys. They’d delete my mercenary instantly. Solution? More Thawing Potions for poison length reduction! Unbelievable. Chugged them before starting Baal every single time. Merc survival improved tenfold. Who knew? Blizzard “surprise mechanics”. Last piece was defeating the Ubers for the torch. Holy crap, nerve-wracking. Smiter paladin build made this actually kinda manageable… compared to everything else. Still scary.
TLDR Real Talk: It sucks a lot of the time. Prepare for:
- Massive gear dependency for late Hell
- Mercenary being your lifeline (invest HARD)
- Resists > Damage for key fights (Duriel, Anya)
- Thawing and Antidote Potions being unironically MVP
- Countless, soul-crushing Countess runs
- Accepting cheese tactics (portal spamming)
- Considering leveling a Paladin (seriously)
Got that platinum. Felt good? Yeah. Was it worth the agony? Ask me again in six months when my hands stop shaking. Fuck this game. But also… kinda love it?