

The way a Class Build Guide is formatted varies depending on the author. The way a character is developed is easily formatted into writing, giving insight to other players on how and why a build should be built like it is. New and old players alike often refer to friends or internet for class builds when it comes to creating a new character.

For example, the following will make the term Hammerdin obvious: It's a Paladin class focusing on the spell Blessed Hammer. Accustomed players will be able to deduce not only what skills a build uses when seeing or hearing the name of a build, but will also know how a character will fight in game and roughly what character stats and gear will look like of that build. On the other hand, the Fire Sorceress is a Beginner Build that seamlessly transitions into a Meteorb Sorceress, but not all characters are fortunate enough to have powerful low-level skills that’ll be relevant throughout the game.Please read Help:Writing Build Guides (Diablo II)Ī class build is a generalized way of describing the way a character will fight. Once you’re Lv25~, you can respec to a Hammeradin. But if you’re new and alone, you don’t have the gear or the friends - the perfect setup for the Fire Auradin beginner build. If you have such gear, perhaps the Hammeradin is viable from Lv18, and if you have friends to mooch off of (don’t feel bad - the Hammeradin will repay its debts with interest once it’s up and running) you can reach Lv18 without having to do much heavy lifting yourself. Even then, once they’re unlocked the build doesn’t exactly start out as a powerhouse - some further investment (and perhaps some caster gear) is recommended. The Hammeradin is a much better build in the long-term, but you don’t unlock its two key skills - Blessed Hammer and Concentration - until Lv18. It’ll perform amazing through most of Normal mode, starting to lose steam around Act 4, but capable of pushing through to Nightmare. The Fire Auradin is a good example of a beginner build.

These are also intended to be budget builds - you’re expected to be able to start one of these characters fresh, with no hand-down gear and no friends to boost you through the game, and still make it through at least the majority of Normal difficulty without much fuss. Instead, they’re designed to get you through as much of the game as possible, and when they become obsolete you can respec to something more suitable for later difficulties. These builds aren’t designed for end-game play, in fact, most of them will perform poorly in higher difficulties. To that end, we’re also going to include “Beginner Builds” for every character in the game. While this guide will include - indeed it’s centered around - end-game builds and magic finding runs, how you get started is important, too.
