Diablo 2 Resurrected PvP guide: explanation, interest, what I need to know I need to know, etc. All the information to understand!

Why PvP? The origins with Diablo 2

A little history before starting this guide! If you haven't played, played little, or soloed Diablo 2, you shouldn't know it but it does rhyme with PvP. It was one of the major activities of the game, with that the rush of the ladders. There are three reasons for this phenomenon:

• apart from the new seasons there was not much to do on D2, at the time even the Ubers weren't available yet
• Moreover, the other activities that occupy you in Diablo 2 Resurrected were completely different:
  • the farm was much less necessary, a lot of people used map hack, duplication and bots allowing even those who didn't cheat to find exchanges very easily. Bigger runic words were recoverable after a week or two of a new ladder
  • the experience taking, the leveling was also much simpler, you could gain experience very easily in Uber, and once that was corrected the bots were doing Baalruns in a loop, you just had to find a part, this that only took a few seconds. On D2R I sometimes take thirty minutes to find a good Baalrun!
• the mechanics of Diablo 2 were very advanced at the time! Compared to its HnS competitors, you had a lot of means to build your character but also of playing technique to perfect, requiring a very good mastery of your character.

Thus, PvP quickly settled on Diablo 2! On the contrary, he's still struggling to find his place on D2R, even if the first tournaments are starting to arrive (and no, I'm not the only one to organize some!), For the opposite reasons above:

• the leveling is complicated and rather long, finding a good Baalrun without a game which bug remains very difficult
• the farm has a central place, the objects and runes are much harder to find since there is no more cheating

So there is much less room for PvP, although it is an activity that really deserves to be known, especially for new players!

Basic PvP Rules

PvP has specific rules implied between players, much like what I explained to you for Baalruns. Here are the main rules:

• if you participate in a tournament, you must consult, know and apply the rules
  • each tournament has specific rules, which can go up to several pages, in particular prohibiting or limiting objects and skills
• the matches always take place in act 1 at the exit of the city, generally in Hell but sometimes in Nightmare
• no bug, exploit or abuse allowed, the same for desynchronizations
• mercenaries are prohibited, except mercenary tournaments of course
• no life or rejuvenation potions, mana potions allowed, forbidden to take wells or shrines or which boost or heal you in a certain way
• once the match has started, you cannot exit the map
• before the fight, each player must indicate that he is ready to fight, for example by indicating "g" for "go"
• a single element absorption object or max resistances
• you must show your equipment if an admin asks you to, some tournaments also require that you show your inventory to your opponent if requested. If there is a request, it is therefore forbidden to leave, change zones, return to your safe, etc., the best is to stay fixed to prove your good faith!

Level and equipment to have to start PvP

Here's what I recommend if you want to get started in PvP. This is a minimum of statistics that are quite simply attainable, but which requires some adjustments to your character:

• 75% to all resistances
• reduced damage, think of Shako, Coa, Verdungo, String of Ears in particular, allowing to reduce physical damage
• mobility, not to mention Enigma, you will have to dodge and quickly move, movement spell like Charge Paladin, Teleport sorcerer, movement speed for Amazon, etc.
• health, aim for 1500 health without buffs. For this and without CTA, the easiest way is to have a level 85 + and to have well distributed your statistics in vitality (+ energy if you play sorcerer ES)
• a level at least 85, as I indicated it to you above, with ideally 90. You can always aim for 87 or 88 being easily reached
• as soon as possible take a CTA, even if it seems expensive, bad CTAs with 1 or 2 battle orders cost only 2-3 Ists and are very powerful!

Absorbs the elements

Much more technical subject but which you must understand, it is the absorption of the elements. Mechanic that allows you to heal yourself when you take damage from an element. Elemental damage is generally stronger and easier to target than physical attacks, so elemental absorption is handy to avoid getting torn apart. However, too much element absorption would be abused, and that is why the common practice is to limit absorption to a single element. This is also why a player can ask a tournament admin for his opponent to show his equipment, for example when you see that you are doing literally 0 elemental damage to your opponent! In order to put everyone on an equal footing, here is the list of useful absorption items. There are others but these are less profitable because it requires changing an import part of your equipment. There are also two types, absorption in% and in gross value, much less powerful.

• Rings:
  • Dwarf Star, Dwarf Star: 15% fire absorption
  • Frozen Raven, Ravenfrost: 20% cold absorption
  • Feu Follet, Wisp Projector: 10-20% lightning absorption
• Amulet:
  • Rising Sun, Rising Sun: 0.74 fire absorption per level
• Belts:
  • Snow Breeze, SnowClash: +15 cold absorption
  • Thunder of the Gods, Thundergod's Vigor: +20 cold absorption
• Gloves:
  • Hellmouth, HellMouth: 15 fire absorption

You also have some specific absorption class items, but not very useful.

Max resistances

The alternative to absorption is the maximum resistances, also allowing you to reduce your sudden damage, to the limit of one by also counting your items.

• Boots :
  • Spur Arden, Hotspur: 15% max fire
• Amulet:
  • Nokozan: 10% max fire
• Gloves:
  • Venomous Embrace, Venom Grip: 5% max poison
• Belts:
  • Snow Breeze, SnowClash: + 15% max cold
  • Thunder of the Gods, Thundergod's Vigor: + 10% max lightning

By Alchemists, October 2021