----------------------------------------
- DIABLO II: LORD OF DESTRUCTION -
- TERMINOLOGY GUIDE -
- FOR D2 LOD VERSION V1.10 -
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Author: Sashanan
Date: 21 September 2005
Version: 1.11
DISCLAIMER
This document is a copyright of Peter "Sashanan" Butter, 2001-2005. All
rights reserved.
You are granted permission to make copies of this FAQ (electronical or
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You are not authorized to upload this FAQ on a commercial website and/or
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This FAQ is protected by international copyright laws and failure to
comply with the terms in this disclaimer will result in legal prosecution.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
==============================================================================
- About this FAQ
- Terminology list
- Item nicknames list
- Other trading terms
- Acknowledgements
- Revision history
- Final words
==============================================================================
ABOUT THIS FAQ
==============================================================================
"Not even Death can save you from me."
-- Diablo, Lord of Terror
When they are not busy clobbering demons or each other, Diablo 2 veterans
typically exchange stories, tactics and hints in the chat channels or
on messageboards. In their discussions, they tend to use many abbreviations
and Diablo 2-specific slang terms. To a newcomer in the Diablo 2 community,
the massive use of such terms can be quite daunting, and a very common
delurk question is "Ok, what do the following 20 terms mean?"
This FAQ exists to help the newcomer get acquainted with common Diablo 2
terminology. I have gathered abbreviations and slang terms often seen in
strategy guides or on discussion forums, and given brief explanations for
each.
The purpose of this FAQ is not to give any kind of strategic advice to
players. The character builds mentioned are not explained in detail, I
have merely pointed out what kind of character the terms typically refer
to. Those who seek actual strategy advice should consult some of the
character-specific guides on GameFAQs, or visit some of the better informed
Diablo 2 sites, such as Arreat Summit (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp) or
DiabloII.net (www.diabloii.net).
Please note: the information in this FAQ was up to date at the time of its
last content update (21 June 2004). It is no longer fully up to date with the
most recent version of Diablo II. Since I've discontinued this guide, there
will likely be no further updates; nonetheless, the information here is not
entirely outdated and should still be of use. Thanks go out to the members of
GameFAQs' Diablo 2 forum for their suggestions; specific contributors
have been named in the acknowledgements section at the bottom of the guide.
The ASCII art header of this FAQ was created with the help of Figlet
(www.surfplaza.com/figlet).
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TERMINOLOGY LIST (total listed: 175)
==============================================================================
All terms are listed alphabetically. In the descriptions I often refer to
other terms in the list. Those have been marked in CAPS.
This list NO LONGER contains the various shorthand nicknames for Diablo II
items; there's a new chapter for that! Check "Item nicknames list" coming
directly after this chapter. Other terms that refer directly to trading
have likewise been moved to their own section.
ACCOUNT SCAM
An attempt to steal somebody's account password on Battlenet, usually with
the intention of relieving him of his items. Popular methods include web
sites which promise free items or other advantages, and require you to enter
your account name and password, or private messages sent on Battlenet
chatrooms, pretending to be system messages requiring you to give out your
password for one reason or another. An attempted account scam reported to
Blizzard staff with proof (such as a chat screenshot) usually results in a
MUTING for the scammer.
ANDY
Andariel, Maiden of Anguish, the final boss in the first act of Diablo 2.
ANDY BOT
Following the example of PINDLEBOT and other popular bots back in v1.09, the
Andy Bot is a v1.10 AI script that has your character do runs on Andariel,
completely automated, while you spend your time doing something else. This
form of online cheating allows players to find items passively, while they
sleep or work. Often defended by the claim that the bot does nothing the
player couldn't do himself, the use of bots on Battlenet is nonetheless
cheating and a violation of the Battlenet EULA, though Blizzard rarely takes
decisive action against this activity. It is often speculated that it is
hard to detect and prove.
ANNIHULUS
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
One of the two unique charms introduced to the game in v1.10, Annihilus
further distinguishes itself from the other (Gheed's Fortune) in two ways:
first, it is the only item in the game to increase the bearer's experience
gains, and second, it can only be obtained through a special subquest on
the realms, namely beating the so-called Diablo Clone. Spawned by conditions
that still aren't entirely clear, but seem to have to do with the selling
of Stones of Jordan to ingame merchants, the Diablo Clone appears in the place
of Super Uniques on the map in random games, and drops one Annihilus charm
when killed. Which, incidentally, is easier said than done as he has killer
stats, far more powerful than the regular Diablo. See also WORLD EVENT.
AR
This can refer either to Attack Rating, a statistic in the game determining
your chance to hit, or the popular Diablo 2 mod Ancestral Recall. This mod
changes many aspects of the game for an entirely new Diablo 2 experience in
single player mode, or multiplayer over TCP/IP. Ancestral Recall can be
downloaded at http://www.planetdiablo.com/teknokyo/
ARREAT SUMMIT
Apart from being the area in Act 5 where you fight the Ancients, Arreat
Summit is the name of the official Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction FAQ.
Statistics, item lists and other useful information on the game can be found
here, and this is definitely a site that should be in any Diablo 2 fan's
bookmarks. It can be found at http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp
ASN
One of the abbreviations often used for the Assassin class, along with SIN.
Referring to them as 'ass' obviously caused confusion and flame wars.
AVENGER
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A Paladin build relying on the skills Vengeance, Conviction and sometimes
Fanaticism. This is a popular Paladin build for playing in Hell mode,
because Vengeance is an excellent source of elemental damage, giving the
Paladin a much better chance to deal with physically resistant or immune
monsters than, for instance, a ZEALOT or MARTYR could. One drawback of
the Avenger build is that massive mana supplies are required to keep using
the spell. For this reason, many Paladins are hybrids between the Avenger
and the ZEALOT, using the latter skill build mostly to recover mana.
In v1.10, the Zealot and Avenger builds have lost popularity in favor of a
revived classic from older D2 versions, the HAMMERDIN.
BAAL RUN
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A game with the specific intention to kill Baal, the expansion set's master
villain at the end of Act 5. These runs, while lengthy and more difficult than
MEPH RUNS, are popular because they yield far more experience, and Baal
generally drops the best items in the game. With the rise of bots for the
purpose of running Mephisto and Pindleskin, Baal runs have become a lot less
popular than they once were. Even those people who refuse to use bots and do
their runs manually generally prefer Mephisto and Pindleskin as targets, and
Baal running has become quite rare.
Baal runs once again became popular in v1.10, not specifically for items but
for the experience. Baal himself, as well as the groups of super unique
minions coming before him, give large chunks of experience in v1.10 and
repeated group runs of the final area of act 5 are one of the better ways of
levelling up quickly on all difficulty levels. Some people actually prefer
to leave Baal and run only the minions.
BARB
Short for Barbarian, one of the game's character classes. Typically used in
combination with another term to describe a specific build, such as FRENZY
BARB, WW BARB, THROWING BARB or SINGING BARB. Barbarians are also sometimes
referred to as 'baba', but barb is preferred by most.
BARD
A somewhat popular term for a SINGING BARB.
BF
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Short for Bloody Foothills, the first area of act 5. This area used to be
notorious for having large collections of puny monsters which are nevertheless
good for experience, and was a popular experience running location in v1.08
and to a lesser extent in v1.09. Particularly FW SORCS thrived here
In v1.10, however, the Bloody Foothills have become a lot less popular because
of the appearance of GUEST MONSTERS in Nightmare and Hell mode. The area is
no longer necessarily a cakewalk, removing its main attraction as an
experience spot. See also BLOOD RUN.
BLACK WALL
A realm problem caused by lag, where your character is unable to advance
further because the area does not expand before him; it's like he is facing a
"black wall". The actual cause of this is either that you have pinged out but
your computer is not yet aware of this, or that you are not actually in the
location you think you are; your computer let you walk on, but on the server
you got stuck around a corner or something. In the latter case, black wall
problems can often be solved by backtracking, and when you get near the point
where you got stuck your character will suddenly "teleport" to his actual
location. Another way to figure out where you really are is to drop an item,
as it will not fall at your feet, but at the place where you actually are on
the server right now; obviously this should not be done with a valuable item,
particularly not with other players around!
BLOOD RUN
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A game with the specific intention to clear out the Bloody Foothills area.
This was the the most popular level building technique in the online
Diablo 2 community back in v1.08, but lost popularity in favor of COW RUNS in
v1.09 and BAAL RUNS in v1.10.
BO
Battle Orders, a lvl 24 Barbarian skill from the Warcries skill tree that
temporarily increases maximum life, mana and stamina for the Barbarian and
any nearby allies. This is a very party-friendly skill, and makes Barbarians
very popular in party games. If you get enchanted with Battle Orders, it will
look like your life and your mana drop, because the maximums are increased but
the current totals remain the same. Don't panic, you're still as sturdy as you
were, except you can now use a well or leeching to get your life up to a
higher total than normal (easily twice what you normally have if the Barbarian
has maxed out Battle Orders, and most do), and mana will now regenerate
faster. If you are enchanted with a second Battle Orders while the first is
still in effect, and it has the same level as the first, the duration is
reset. If it is of a different level, however, the first Battle Orders is
cancelled, life and mana return to normal, and THEN the second one takes
effect. This can be a needless waste of life and mana, so if a party has
multiple Barbarians it is best if only one of them uses Battle Orders.
BOTD
Breath of the Dying, a new runeword in v1.10. Pretty powerful one, too.
BS
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
This refers to either of the Necromancer's two most powerful ranged attacks,
the Bone Spear and the Bone Spirit. In v1.09, since the latter skill was more
popular, the abbreviation usually applied to that one. In v1.10, it's vice
versa; Bone Spear is now the preferred skill with most players. Incidentally,
if another player tells you that the tactic you are using is 'BS', he is
typically not referring to either skill. :)
BOS
Burst of Speed, an Assassin skill which boosts both her walking, running and
attack speed.
BOWAZON
An Amazon build using a bow as her main weapon. This build has become
incredibly popular in the expansion due to the existence of the Buriza.
Bowazon is also probably the first instance of a build name made by combining
the weapon/skill used with the class name to create some sort of horribly
unenglish hybrid word (other examples including HAMMERDIN and SUMMONMANCER).
BUGGED ITEM
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
An item with mods that it shouldn't have, created by a server glitch or a
hack. These items typically have impossible mods, and can be quite powerful as
a result. One particularly popular mod on bugged items was decreasing
dexterity, because of the SKILL BUG. Various exploit to create bugged items
have existed in the past, but v1.10 seems to have finally gotten rid of them
for good. Either that or any bugged items that are created are deleted soon
after. At any rate, whereas bugged items were all around during various
intervals in v1.09, you do not see them all over the place anymore, a definite
plus. See also MELDED ITEM.
BURIZA-DO KYANON
An extraordinarily powerful crossbow that is relatively easy to find, the
Buriza-Do Kyanon quickly became one of the most exploited weapons in the D2
expansion. The name is Japanese and translates to 'Blizzard Cannon'. Since
v1.10, it has lost most of its popularity in favor of the Windforce; probably
due to the fixing of the GA/PIERCE BUG.
BURIZON
A somewhat mocking term for a Bowazon using the unique Ballista, the Buriza-Do
Kyanon. Nearly every Bowazon in the expansion used to use this weapon, and
they became common enough that they got their own name. In v1.10 they are much
less common since the Buriza has lost most of its popularity. Heck, Amazons in
general have lsot most of their popularity.
CB
Charged Bolt. Initially thought to be a fairly mundane skill for the
Sorceress, its popularity increased immensely when it was discovered this
skill can do massive damage at high levels, when combined with the skill
Lightning Mastery. This has resulted in the rise of a new Sorceress build, the
CB SORC. Note: CB can also stand for Colossus Blade, see CCB.
CB SORC
A Sorceress build that relies on the skills Charged Bolt and Lightning
Mastery. The idea of this build is to either spread lightning damage over a
large field, hitting many monsters at once, or hitting one big enemy like a
boss point blank, causing him to take damage from 20 or more bolts at once. CB
Sorcs typically have Energy Shield and a fairly high Vitality to protect them
from harm, as the effective use of their skill forces them to get pretty close
to their opponents. CB Sorcs usually have a powerful backup skill in either
Fire or Cold as well to help them deal with lightning resistant or immune
monsters.
CE
Corpse Explosion, a Necromancer skill. It was once considered the most
powerful skill in the game, but a variety of different nerfs have turned it
into a shadow of what it once was. The only reminder of what this skill could
once do lies in the boss Nihlathak, who uses this skill with considerably
more power and range than a player Necromancer could.
CGEM
Chipped gem (of any kind), which used to be part of a popular horadric cube
recipe in v1.09 and was thus used as a currency for player trades as well.
Pretty much not used in trading anymore, although perfect gems still are.
CHARGER (or CHARGADIN) (This info has been updated for
D2 v1.10.) A Paladin build which relies on a powerful two-handed weapon and
the skill Charge to cause as much damage as possible with a single attack. The
damage of the Charge is normally boosted with Fanaticism. While extremely
powerful, this build is not very effective against groups of monsters,
and therefore usually reserved for PVP Paladins. These typically use
Holy Freeze to slow their target, and/or Vigor to increase the speed of
their Charge (switching to Fanaticism just before the Charge impacts),
and aim for one hit kills.
The Charge build gained new popularity in v1.10 due to the fact that Paladins
charge much more quickly now and charges have thus become hard to avoid.
CHIPPED GEM ECONOMY
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
An alternative to the familiar SOJ ECONOMY, introduced in v1.09 when the
CHIPPED GEM RECIPE was added to the game. Since many people used this
recipe to try and create powerful swords, and the chances of getting one
are so low that they need a lot of chipped gems, these common items actually
gained some trading value. Ideally, low level players would find a lot of
chipped gems early in the game and can trade those for the many unique
items experienced players come across in their item runs. Originally the
chipped gem and SoJ economies were apart, but SOJ INFLATION then caused the
two to touch. Many people considered 40 chipped gems (the maximum that can
fit in a trade window) to be equivalent in value to one Stone of Jordan,
and trading one for the other is common.
The above information refers to v1.09 trading only; v1.10 has shifted the
economy drastically with the addition of many new items and horadric cube
recipes. Also, the chipped gem recipe that made chippies so popular for trade
no longer exists in v1.10.
CHIPPED GEM RECIPE
Introduced in v1.09 and removed in v1.10, this was a Horadric Cube recipe that
gave chipped gems a new use. By putting 3 chipped gems (any kind, including
skulls) and one magical (blue) sword of any kind in the cube, a new magical
sword of the same type was created, guaranteed to have two mods (both a prefix
and a suffix) as well as 3 sockets. With a few of the elite swords in the
game, this recipe had the potential of giving the Cruel mod which greatly
enhances the weapon's damage. The most popular kind of sword to use for
this recipe was the Colossus Blade (see CCB).
The existence of the chipped gem recipe created the CHIPPED GEM ECONOMY in
v1.09. While this probably overpowered recipe no longer exists, a great many
new recipes were added in v1.10 and gems of all kinds remain useful.
CLOSED
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Refers to the Diablo II Battlenet REALMs. The main difference with playing
on OPEN is that on closed, characters and their equipment are stored on the
server rather than on the user's computer. This makes the use of item and
character editors impossible. As a result, while open battle.net is
literally swamped with hacked characters and items, the realms are free of
this kind of cheating - although certain hacks exist that even work on
closed, so calling it cheat-proof would go a little too far.
While there has pretty much always been cheating on the realms, v1.10
definitely took care of much of the problems that v1.09 had in this regard.
Many kinds of cheating still exist, but it isn't nearly as bad as it once was,
and certainly not comparable to how bad it was back in Diablo 1 (which
basically only had OPEN Battlenet and did not have any realms). We can only
hope that things will continue to move in this direction and future Blizzard
products will leave even less opportunity for online cheating.
CONC
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Can refer to either Concentrate (a Barbarian attack skill) or
Concentration (a Paladin aura). In most cases it will refer to the latter,
which wasn't very popular in v1.09 but sees mass use again in v1.10 due to the
reemergence of the HAMMERDIN build. Concentration is unique in the fact that
it normally only boosts physical damage, but it also provides a solid damage
bonus to Blessed Hammer. It also stacks neatly with Fanaticism, both providing
the party with a damage bonus, so that having two Paladins in the party with
these two auras can really boost the party's damage through the roof. And you
can probably imagine what happens if you add a mercenary or a third Paladin
with the Might aura, as well.
CONSTRICTING RING
A grossly overpowered ring thought up by Blizzard, but then disabled from
dropping before LoD was actually released. The stats to the Constricting
Ring are in the game code, can be found on DiabloII.net, and were even up
for a long while on Arreat Summit before the webmaster was informed that
the item didn't actually make it into the game. Summed up, the Constricting
Ring gradually drains life from the caster, but adds a ton of resistances
and magic find, and had a required level of 95 to use.
Constricting Rings eventually found their way onto the realms anyway due
to the efforts of hackers. The most likely theory is that they are MELDED
ITEMs much like Occy Rings are - rings on which the stats of the Constricting
Ring (which were still in the game code, just not active) have been moved.
Some people claim the Constricting Rings on the realms are in fact legitimate
finds made in v1.07, but this isn't possible for several reasons. First of
all, there never *has* been a phase in which v1.07 ran on the realms, not even
"for a few days" as many people claim. Furthermore, as you will see if you
install LoD right off the CDs and then take a look in the game code without
patching to v1.08 or v1.09, the Constricting Ring is already disabled even in
v1.07. Finally, the Constricting Ring "conveniently" showed up at the exact
same time the common melded items like Occy Rings and Wizardspike Gauntlets
did. If they had existed all that time, they had certainly been duped and
showed up before. Not that it matters all that much how they made it into the
realms now, of course. They weren't meant to be there, but they are, much like
the waves of hacked items that exist these days and turn the realms into a
mockery of the "cheat-free environment" they were supposed to be. In v1.10,
most MELDED ITEMs seem to be gone at the hands of the RUST STORM, but I've so
far been unable to confirm if the same thing happened to the many Constricting
Rings flying around.
COOKIE CUTTER
A generic term referring to a character that uses a specific powerful skill,
item and/or bug exploit to gain power very quickly. Examples from previous
versions of Diablo 2 are the Blood Golem/Iron maiden Necromancer and the WW
BARB (neither of which is as powerful as they once were). v1.09 examples
included the BURIZON and the FW SORC.
CORPSE POPPING
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A common phenomenom back in v1.09, Corpse Popping referred to the loss of
currently equipped items upon dying, due to the fact that you already had a
corpse on the ground. This game mechanic was sometimes used by malicious
players to attempt to steal your items - they'd kill you, drop a collection of
mundane items on and around your corpse, then distract you with attacks while
you'd make a run for your corpse. The risk here was that you accidentally
picked up and auto-equipped one of the mundane items just before getting your
corpse, in which case not all items from your corpse are retrieved and it
stays on the ground. If you were then killed, the items that you did get from
your corpse "popped" and could be stolen by the other player.
This problem was fixed in v1.10 in a somewhat questionable way, by allowing a
player to have multiple corpses. Every time you died, the items you carried
then remained on your corpse, and your previous corpse remained also. While
this sounds great in theory, if you exited the game and entered a new one,
only your most recent corpse would travel with you to appear at your feet in
town, and so any items that were on older corpses could not be retrieved. In
other words, once you have died more than once in a game, you *have* to get to
your old corpse somehow if you want your items back; and that can be hard if
there is a player killer camping it.
CORRUPTION RIFT
One of the earliest famous hacked items on OPEN Battlenet, the
Corruption Rift is a small charm that adds 100% to MF and +7 to all skill
levels. This is of course an outrageous addition, especially since many
players pack 20 or more of these items and reach levels of power that are
completely off the chart. The Corruption Rift can only be created using an
item editor - it is not part of the actual game and can never be found
legitimately. No charm in the actual game, not even the largest ones, can add
even +1 to all skills (the closest thing is +1 to a particular skill tree).
The Corruption Rift is of course only one of many such widespread hacked items
on Open Battlenet, as anybody with an item editor can make and dupe all the
gear they desire, and it probably pales in comparison to some of the other
crazy stuff that has been made, but it's still among the most famous ones.
COW RUN
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A game with the specific intent to clear the not-so-secret Cow Level. This was
usually done in Hell mode in v1.09, when the cows were worth a lot of
experience and also about the only monsters found without any kind of
resistance. Various changes in v1.10 have all but killed off the Cow Level as
a source of experience or items, once again turning it into the easter egg it
was always meant to be; for fun, not for profit.
CRAFTING
The creation of special rare items using the Horadric Cube and a number of set
recipes involving a magic item, a rune and a gem. Crafted items have a number
of automatic mods and a couple of random ones in addition to them, making
crafted items potentially very powerful (for example, a crafted ring which has
life leech by default could have a very high leech percentage if life leech is
rolled as a random mod as well). Due to the existence of crafting recipes,
certain perfect gems and low level runes actually have some trading value in
large numbers, because crafting a good item usually takes quite a few tries.
All crafting recipes can be found at Arreat Summit at
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp.
CS
1. Short for Chaos Sanctuary, the final area of act 4, and the one where you
will fight Diablo. This is generally considered to be the toughest area in the
game. Even high level characters will think twice about going in here in Hell
mode without backup.
2. Since v1.10, the Amazon skill Charged Strike has become more popular, so CS
now often refers to that instead of the Chaos Sanctuary. SPEARAZON builds
centered around this skill are often referred to as CS Zons.
D
Diablo, Lord of Terror. Figures that only the demon who gave the game its
name would get the privilege of being abbreviated to a single character.
DENTIST
A somewhat mocking term for a Necromancer build focusing on the use of Teeth.
These are mostly experimental builds not intended for serious play, though
some people have achieved astonishing results with this usually ignored skill.
DEX
Short for Dexterity, one of the four primary statistics of any character. It
is particularly important to Amazons, whose bow and javelin damage is
increased by it, and Assassins, whose damage relies on both Dexterity and
Strength.
DIMINISHING RETURNS
This refers to certain mods in the game making less and less of a difference
if you pile on more of it. Two examples are MF and IAS. The system of
diminishing returns also applies to nearly every skill in the game - the first
few points you put in a skill make more of a difference than the last few
before maxing it out.
A common misconception about diminishing returns, particularly in relation
to MF, is that having "too much" of it would actually decrease its
effectiveness. This is never the case, just like putting more and more
points in the Amazon skill Critical Strike wouldn't suddenly start
decreasing the % chance after a certain "turning point". With MF, like with
every other point where diminishing returns apply, as the stat increases
it starts to make less of a difference. It never stops making a difference,
nor does it ever invert.
DR
Damage Reduction, a modifier found on items that directly reduces physical
damage taken in combat. DR is generally much more effective than a high
defense rating, which merely reduces the chance to be hit and needs to be very
high to be of any use late in the game. DR is only found on certain specific
unique items. The most popular of these are (these are all v1.09 items):
There are a few more items with DR, but those mentioned above are considered
the top v1.09 DR items in the game. New popular DR items in v1.10 include
Leviathan, Verdungo's Hearty Cord, Crown of Ages and the Enigma runeword.
NOTE: There are also items that reduce physical damage by a set number,
including magical and rare ones. These, however, are not nearly powerful
enough to have a significant impact on the damage taken in hell mode or from
other players. Only the items with percentage based DR are considered useful,
and all the items mentioned above have some trading value because of it.
DROPHACK
This particularly nasty hack allows you to crash the D2 client of another
player, booting them from the game instantly - except that the server needs
a few seconds to realize that they're gone, and in that time the player will
stand motionless and defenseless. The most cowardly kind of PK may use this
to kill off hardcore players without giving them any chance to flee or
retaliate. It is just yet another hack that makes hardcore dangerous to play
with people you do not know, no matter how careful you are.
v1.10 fixed the regular drophack, but a method to drop people from a game and
make them unable to join a new one for several minutes still exists. I am not
sure if the player character will still stand defenseless in his old game like
before, but either way it's still very annoying.
DUELING
Combat between players which may or may not be subject to rules that have been
agreed upon in advance. Duels which occur between random people who do not
agree to any rules are generally known as PUBLIC DUELS. See also PVP.
DUPE
A clone item that has been created through DUPING.
DUPE DELETION
The process of deleting duplicated items, as well as the original items that
were used to create dupes from. Blizzard has employed various methods to
delete dupes on the realms, with varying success. Currently (April 2002),
a method seems to be used that is very effective in detecting and deleting
dupes, even on characters that aren't actually being played at the time.
However, it seems that the Stone of Jordan is mostly immune to being deleted
because most originate from classic Diablo 2. Throughout 2002, the main dupe
deletion method that has been used was Blizzard's "dupe scanner", which
compared your items to those of others in the game whenever you left it, and
deleted yours if they were duplicates. For this method, the dupe scanner
relied on a unique item ID that is assigned to each item when the game spawns
it. Unfortunately, this method did not work on items that originally spawned
before the LoD days, and as such it left many items alone, including 99% of
all Stones of Jordan. In addition, the most recent duping method circumvented
the whole scanner by letting the game assign new IDs to duped items as well.
I am unclear on how bad duping is in v1.10, but it definitely still exists.
DUPING
Short for duplicating, duping is the practice of creating exact duplicates
of existing items through illegal means: by exploiting a bug or using a hack,
often a combination of both. Duping has always been around on a small scale,
however in January and February 2002 there have been two massive duping sprees
where easy and reliable methods to dupe items became common knowledge. The
end result was that many previously rare items were now very commonly found
in trades. Trading for a duplicated item is very risky because Blizzard uses
DUPE DELETION methods to track down and erase any duplicated items.
Unfortunately, there's no sure way to tell if an item is duped or not until
it actually disappears on you. The risk of an item being duped is infinitely
higher if it's a popular unique from v1.08 (such as Arkaine's Valor or the
Harlequin Crest) or a very rare and powerful item from v1.09 (such as the
Grandfather or Windforce).
Duping in any way on the realms is a violation of Blizzard's Terms of
Service and doing so may cause your account to be wiped or possibly even
your CD key to be banned. Blizzard first announced taking such measures in
March 2002, much to the relief of all legit players who grew tired of
seeing so many people around them show off their duped equipment.
Various duping methods were found and patched up in Diablo 2's history, but
new ones always came up to replace fixed ones. I am unclear on how bad duping
is in v1.10, but it definitely still exists.
ED
Enhanced Damage, a modifier on many weapons in the game. It is particularly
popular if found on Jewels, as socketing ED Jewels in a powerful weapon can
result in massive damage boosts.
ED can also mean Enhanced Defense (found on armor). This is not quite as
sought after as Enhanced Damage, though, since the difference a high defense
makes for your chances of being hit is quite disappointing, particularly
in Hell difficulty.
ENCHANT BUG
A bug that was temporarily active in v1.09 (but has since been fixed), where a
character that left a game while he was still under the effect of Enchant
would temporarily have a display problem with his level in the chat channels
and was unable to join games for a while.
ENCHANTRESS
Sorceress build centered around the Enchant skill, which has become a fair bit
more useful than it was in previous versions of D2.
ETH BUG
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
This referred to a bug with the Eth rune. When socketed in a weapon, Eth is
supposed to lower enemy defense with 25%. What it did in v1.09, however, was
to create an 'Ignore Target Defense' effect, both against monsters and other
players. For this reason, many CCBs had an Eth rune in one of their sockets,
allowing their owners to hit opponents much more easily. It was certainly a lot
cheaper than using the rune which is *supposed* to give ITD, Jah (and which
didn't work against players besides). The Eth bug also contributed to the
popularity of the Fury runeword, which contains the Eth rune and therefore
gave ITD in PVP.
v1.10 finally stepped up to fix this long overdue bug.
FA
The Amazon skill Fire Arrow. A rather mundane and low-level skill which would
be of very little interest were it not for the FA BUG (which was, however,
fixed in v1.10).
FA BUG
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
In v1.09, Fire Arrow was supposed to add a small amount of fire damage to a
bow attack, which is normally physical. Due to a bug, however, Fire Arrow also
converted all of the physical damage to fire damage. This meant that if this
skill was used with a powerful bow, an Amazon could do massive loads of raw
elemental damage, making Fire Arrow a very popular skill to use against
physically immune monsters.
In v1.10, this bug has been removed but a feature has been added which
partially emulates it. The Fire Arrow skill now converts a % of your physical
damage to fire damage, and this percentage depends on your skill level. Other
elemental Amazon skills have similar effects.
FLASHING
Commonly described in outdated Paladin strategy guides, this referred to
benefiting from two auras simultaneously by switching at the right time. This
technique depends on the fact that an aura that affects the Paladin works
immediately (and is gone as soon as he changes it), but prior to v1.10, aura
effects lingered for a few seconds on targets other than the Paladin after he
switched to a different aura. In this way a Paladin could, for instance,
"paint" his enemies with Conviction and then switch to Fanaticism, attacking
his enemies with the benefit of that aura before the Conviction on them
actually wore off.
In v1.10, auras start affecting targets (friend or foe, depending on the
specific aura) as soon as they are within range, and stop affecting as soon as
they go out or the Paladin changes auras. Flashing is therefore no longer
possible.
FO
Frozen Orb, the most popular cold spell used by Sorceresses. Some use it at
a low level to slow enemies down, then hit them with another spell such as
Nova, Firewall or Meteor. Others invest heavily in Frozen Orb and Cold
Mastery and use it as a primary attack spell. Either way, this is a skill
nearly every Sorceress has in her arsenal.
FOH/FOTH
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Fist of the Heavens, the Paladin's primary ranged attack. Its relatively
low damage makes it somewhat disappointing as a PvM skill, but in duels,
Paladins specializing in Fist of the Heavens (sometimes jokingly called
fistadins or even fisters) and Conviction can be powerful opponents.
In v1.10, Fist of the Heavens receives a lot of extra damage through SYNERGY
bonuses from two other skills, but it remains prohibitively mana expensive to
use in PvM for any length of time.
FRENZY BARB
A Barbarian build relying on the skill Frenzy, which causes him to land
blow after blow very quickly. This is what most Barbarians wielding two
different weapons do (although some are WW BARBS instead). Nearly every
Frenzy Barb also has the skill Berserk to deal with physically immune
monsters.
FW
Firewall, almost from the dawn of Diablo 2 the most damaging skill in the
entire game. At a high level it can span a large area and do massive damage to
monsters foolish enough not to run out of it. This skill used to be
particularly popular in the Bloody Foothills in v1.08, back when that was the
main levelling ground, because monsters often got stuck in the trenches and
were easy to hit en masse. Outside this area the spell is less effective,
but can still be highly useful in party situations, where melee fighters keep
the monsters in one place.
FW SORC
A Sorceress build focused around the skills Firewall and Fire Mastery,
often with either Thunderstorm or Frozen Orb as a backup. These
Sorceresses are particularly effective in the Bloody Foothills and back in
v1.08 (and v1.09 hardcore) they were often found doing little else than
BLOOD RUNs. Some Firewall Sorcs, however, have become quite creative at using
their skill in other areas as well.
GA
Guided Arrow, an Amazon skill which causes an arrow to hit an enemy
automatically. While powerful on its own, in v1.09 it was murderous in
combination with PIERCE due to the GA/PIERCE BUG. See also BURIZA.
GA/PIERCE BUG
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Guided Arrow causes an arrow to automatically home in on and hit a
monster, while Pierce allows an arrow to pass through a monster, possibly
hitting one or more other opponents. These two skills are not supposed to work
together, but in v1.09 they did. This created the bizarre effect of an
arrow hitting a monster, passing through, turning around 180 degrees, passing
through again, and so forth. Needless to say this was an extremely damaging
move which results in BURIZONs being the absolute masters of PVP, and doing
very well in PVM as well. So popular was the abuse of this bug that those
using it were very vocal in defending their position on forums and insisting,
despite Blizzard's statements to the contrary, that it was not a bug.
v1.10 confirmed its status as a bug, however, and removed the problem
entirely. Guided Arrows no longer pierce.
GC
Grand charm. Traders are lazy typers.
GG
"Good game", a generic internet slang term used after a competitive match
against another player. It's a polite phrase that is typically exchanged and
can be initiated by either the winner or the loser. Although some people
also enjoy saying it after they feel they just won a discussion, thereby
gloating over the fact that they "beat the other". That's how it is
usually used on forums.
GI
Gimme Itam, a notorious PVP clan. Their standard of PvP rules is followed
by many people outside the clan as well.
GLITCHED ITEM
A generic term for items that have properties they shouldn't have, in v1.10 it
typically refers to items that have the indestructible mod for no apparent
reason. The cause is that in the early days of v1.10, if you socketed an item
with the Zod rune and then used the cube recipe to free up a socket, the
indestructible mod wasn't properly removed along with the Zod. Thus you'd have
an indestructible item and the socket would be available for something else.
In particularly Arkaine's Valor has been a popular item to use this trick on,
and while the bug that made it possible has been fixed, the items thus created
(and doubtlessly duped since) remain.
GRIEF PLAYER/GRIEVER
Not specific D2 slang, this is a generic internet term for an online player
whose specific purpose is to ruin the game experience of others. He takes
delight in getting people mad at him by a combination of cheating, trolling
and generally unsporting behavior. Grievers are thankfully rare - most
cheaters merely do not realize or care about the fact that they're bothering
other players, and don't do it specifically to piss others off - but they can
seriously get on your nerves when you do meet them. Best solution is just to
squelch them and find a different game, as any attempt to insult or drive off
the griever will only encourage him.
HAMMERDIN
Refers to a Paladin using Blessed Hammer, the Concentration aura (which boosts
its damage) and associated SYNERGY skills for a high damage output. Popular
in early versions of D2 (prior to the days of synergy), the Hammerdin lost
popularity in v1.08 and v1.09 due to serious damage nerfs on Blessed Hammer,
but was once again made a viable build by the changes introduced in v1.10.
HC
Hardcore, a game mode in which the death of a character means he or she is
gone permanently. This forces a player to be far more careful, invest more
points in Vitality, and cooperate with other players in situations where
a specific character type is not very effective. Some players consider
Hardcore to be a very thrilling and challenging way to play Diablo 2, others
think of it as masochism as characters can be lost just as easily to the
dubious efforts of a PK or due to internet latency. To them, the idea of
losing hours of work due to a fluke is not a very appealing idea.
In v1.09, the existence of dangerous hacks designed to kill other players,
such as the HOSTILE ANYWHERE hack or the DROPHACK, have put a serious
damper on the popularity of hardcore mode. These problems seem mostly gone in
v1.10, but the game's increased difficulty (particularly in ladder mode) still
kills plenty of would be hardcore players on its own. Hardcore is still
recommended only for the overly brave or masochistic, or at least, those
players who accept in advance that their character will likely die permanently
along the way, and do not view that as a deterrent for the extra thrill it
offers.
HF
Holy Freeze, a Paladin skill which automatically freezes and slows down
enemies that come near, even those that are immune to cold or have the
"can't be frozen" mod (in the case of hostile players). This aura is
commonly used by Paladins in PVP. It is also used by some of the MERCs
hired in act 2 Nightmare, as well as the act boss in the second act,
Duriel.
HORKING
Slang for using the Barbarian skill 'Find Item', based on the sound of
the Barbarian's grunt whenever he uses this. Similarly, Barbarians who
specialize in using Find Items on large groups of slain enemies (like
in recently cleared cow levels) are called Horkers. This may well be one of
the funniest slang terms that D2 play has spawned.
HOSTILE ANYWHERE
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A notorious hack among hardcore players that apparently allows its
user to declare hostility (and thereby be able to attack you) even
when they aren't in town at the time. This means that potentially, any
ally could become an enemy at any time, making playing hardcore in
public games more dangerous than ever before.
Hostile anywhere no longer appears to work in v1.10; or at least, you don't
hear many people complain about it anymore.
HOW
Heart of Wolverine, a Druid minion that increases the damage of the
Druid and any nearby allies. Along with Oak Sage, another Druid minion
that increases everybody's life, HoW is the most party friendly skill
the Druid has. Which of the two is better (the Druid can only use one
at a time) is a subject of constant debate, although it is generally
agreed that Oak Sage is the preferable choice in hardcore games. The
third spirit minion of the druid, the Spirit of Barbs, is rarely used
at all.
HYBRIDZON
Amazon players soon discovered that JAVAZONs sometimes get into spots
where a bow would be handy, and BOWAZONs frequently miss the comfort of
the Javazon's Lightning Fury skill. Neither build requires a whole lot
of skill points, and so veteran Amazon players often make a build that
has the skills of both builds, creating the Hybridzon. The typical
Hybridzon is armed with a Buriza Do-Kyanon with which she uses Multishot
and Guided Arrow, and a Titan's Revenge on her secondary weapon tab for
Lightning Fury.
HYDRA PK
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A player killer (see PK) relying on an exploit with the Sorceress skill
Hydra. When Hydra is cast, it will attack any hostile targets within its
range until it runs out. If the player who cast the Hydras returns to
town and then hostiles any nearby players, the Hydras will promptly
attack them. This allows him to launch a sneak attack with Hydras while
he is safely in town, and even allows him to kill people in areas which
PKs normally can't enter (most notably the cow level). Hydra PKing
is considered cheap and without honour, but unfortunately that's exactly
why it is so popular. Most people feel that Hydras should disappear as
soon as their caster returns to town and/or declares hostility to
anybody.
This problem appears to be fixed in v1.10. Most duration spells now fizzle as
soon as you enter town through a portal.
IAS
Increased Attack Speed, a mod found on many items that causes a character
to strike more quickly. Both for BOWAZONS and all kinds of melee characters,
this is a very important mod. Quicker attacking allows you get more damage
in over a certain timespan, reduces the chance that your attacks are
interrupted by monsters attacking you, and allows you to stunlock opponents,
preventing them from striking back. It is important to note that IAS suffers
from DIMINISHING RETURNS, so the difference between 0% and 30% IAS is greater
than between 60% and 90%.
IM
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Iron Maiden, a nasty Necromancer curse that causes anybody who deals physical
damage to take physical damage in return. Players get to deal with this
headache when duelling Necromancers in PVP, or when cursed by the Oblivion
Knights in act 4. Iron Maiden can kill high damage melee characters like
Paladins and Barbarians very quickly. One way to counter it is to use ranged
attacks, which are not affected by IM - for the Barbarian it is important to
note that Leap Attack is considered to be a ranged attack.
Iron Maiden casts on players by Oblivion Knights remains dangerous in v1.10,
but it's not as deadly as it was. It still pays to be careful with physical
attacks in the Chaos Sanctuary though, particularly with ones you cannot end
quickly (Whirlwind and Zeal come to mind).
IRONMAN
One step further than LLD, in an Ironman game a few players create brand new
hardcore characters without any access to existing items on their other
characters. These new characters then form a party and play until everybody
reaches lvl 9, at which point everybody will fight each other in staged
duels or a big free for all, and the last man standing wins. Different
variations exist - to higher levels, mixed characters, everybody the same
character class, et cetera - but this is the basic Ironman idea. The purpose
of this is to not only circumvent the many cheap aspects of high level duels
(just like LLD does), but also to eliminate the equipment factor. Everybody
has to make do with what they find in that particular game. In Ironman, skill
counts more than anywhere else.
Ironman games are traditionally played in hardcore to add an extra level
of finality and excitement to the duels.
ITD
Ignore Target Defense. This is a modifier found on certain weapons which
effectively sets an enemy's defense to 0, upping your chance to hit them to
95% under normal circumstances. However, this is still subject to decrease as
a result of a monster having a higher level than you, and it does not work on
enemy bosses of any kind. Some enemies, such as the Minions of Destruction,
also use ITD.
ITH ITEMS
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
The rage among less scrupulous players in v1.09, Ith items were essentially
hacked equipment on the closed realms. They were created by making a runeword
in an item, then using a third party hack to take the runes out again (not
normally possible). The end result was that the bonuses of the individual
runes are gone, but the other runeword bonuses remained, and the sockets were
free to be used a second time. After putting in powerful (usually duped)
runes and jewels again, this would create items much more powerful than
normally possible. The 'Ith' name was a result of the game being confused
about what runeword was being used here, it's sort of a default string.
By now in v1.10, not only is it no longer possible to create Iths, but the
RUST STORM has pretty much destroyed them as well. While strays might still
exist, you certainly don't see them all over the place anymore.
ITEM GRABBER
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A hack that automatically picks up any magical, rare, set or unique items
dropped, before they even hit the ground. Variants of this hack apparently
still work even in the latest version of Diablo 2, and are sometimes used on
the supposedly hack-free online realms. Needlees to say the use of such a hack
is cheating, and highly annoying to party members who only want a fair shot at
getting part of the loot. Use of an item grabber is against Blizzard's terms
of service and if found out, may result in reprimands. A notorious item
grabber currently still in use is Pick It.
JAVAZON
An Amazon build using Javelins as her main weapon, usually in combination with
the skills Plague Javelin and Lightning Fury.Previously, Javazons were an
underdog used only by advanced players looking for a new build. However, the
expansion has introduced the highly powerful unique Titan's Revenge, which has
made the Javazon far more viable. Nearly every Javazon found online uses this
awesome weapon.
LADDER
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Prior to v1.10, this was just a list of the highest level characters on the
realm. In v1.10, however, all characters on the realm are either ladder or
non-ladder characters, and are kept separate from each other the same way
softcore and hardcore characters are. At the start of a ladder "season", all
character created previously aren't able to enter the same games that new
ladder characters can, thus making sure that all characters on the ladder are
new ones that do not have access to high level friends or stashed items. Thus,
everybody has to start from scratch. It also neatly prevents existing hacked
items from spreading on the ladder, basically giving players a brand new,
clean environment to play in. Ladder mode is also more difficult than
regular games, with improved monsters in nightmare and hell, but allows access
to a couple of unique items and cube recipes that aren't available off the
ladder. The idea is that the ladder will be "reset" every so often to create a
new ladder season, mingling all existing ladder characters (now high level and
outfitted with the best items in the game) with the non-ladder ones, and
giving players yet another chance to start from scratch. At the time of this
writing, however (June 2004), the ladder is still on its first season since
the release of v1.10.
All "ladder only" content in Diablo 2 is also available in any games off the
ladder, so a unique item that on the realms is only available to ladder
players can also be found in any single player, TCP/IP, or open game.
LAGSTER
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A mocking name for Lister the Tormentor, the boss of the Minions of
Destruction, because his appearance caused a massive lag burst in v1.09. This
problem was finally fixed in v1.10; about time, since the MoDs are quite
deadly enough without an unfair lag advantage.
LC
Large charm. Traders are lazy typers.
LEB
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Lightning Enchanted Boss. Lightning Enchanted is a nasty mod found on some
bosses which causes them to releaselightning bolts whenever they take damage.
This can be devastating to melee characters who have to stand right next to
them to hit them. Lightning Enchanted is nasty enough on its own, but in
v1.09, a combination with Multi Shot turned into the killer MSLEB.
LEECHER
Term used for a player who gains experience and possibly swipes items without
actually contributing to the battle. People who get their characters rushed to
hell mode quickly just so they can stand in a corner of the cow level and
gain big experience for the kills scored by others are good examples of
leechers. Generally, experience leeching is accepted as long as the leechers
don't get in the way, but quietly stand in their corner. Leechers who run
after the people doing the actual killing in an attempt to grab any goodies
that drop are much less appreciated.
LL (or LS)
Life Leech, or Life Steal. Both terms refer to the same thing: a mod found
on many items which heals lost hit points based on how much physical damage
you deal in combat. For instance, with 5% life leech you regain 5 lost hit
points for every 100 points of damage you do. It is important to note that
this does not work on all monsters (skeletons, for instance, can not be leeched
from) and that it only applies to physical damage.
LLD
Low Level Duelling, the answer to the many hacked items and cheap skills used
in normal (high level) duels. LLD characters are typically of a very low level,
something like 9 or 18, and do their best to become as powerful as possible
with the restrictions those levels have. It's common for a character intended
for LLD to be RUSHED so that relevant quests (like those that give extra skill
or stat points) can be done on all three difficulty levels. Having such a low
level puts serious limits on what items can be used, but those using the best
gear that such low levels could possibly get usually become surprisingly
powerful, often able to beat characters on much higher levels who aren't so
prepared.
LOD
Lord of Destruction, the Diablo 2 expansion set. It adds the fifth act, the
Druid and Assassin character classes, and countless new items to the game. The
vast majority of online D2 players plays Lord of Destruction.
LOH
Laying of Hands, one of the more popular pairs of gloves in the game. Among
some other useful mods, it massively increases the damage done against Demon
type monsters, which includes all the act bosses. This makes the Laying of
Hands particularly useful for MEPH and BAAL RUNS. Laying of Hands is part of
the "Disciple" set.
MAPHACK
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A hack created by Mousepad which reveals the entire map to the player and also
adds extra information such as the location of monsters, other players and
items. In addition it gives maximum light radius and removes all weather
effects. Unlike most hacks, this one even works on closed realms and was often
used by MEPH RUNNERs to make things easier and quicker. Many players feel that
Maphack bestows an unfair advantage, however, and consider the use of it to be
cheating. Whether or not that is true, using it is certainly not condoned by
Blizzard, and involves another risk at well: many of the versions of Maphack
downloadable on the Internet have had keyloggers added which will help the
hacker who added it to steal your account.
In v1.10, Maphack still remains popular due to its easy availability and
Blizzard's lack of action taken against its use. It is so widespread that many
players who would normally stay clear of cheating have resorted to using it
due to its tempting convenience and to "level the ground" as they feel
everybody around them is using it as well.
NOTE: since I do not condone the use of maphack, any E-mails requesting for
a safe link to download it will be ignored. You will likely find a similar
attitude on the GameFAQs Lord of Destruction board (not to mention the fact
that asking for online cheating methods is against GameFAQs' Terms of
Service), so I wouldn't ask there either. You're on your own finding it, and
many versions out there may have trojans included to snare the hapless
would-be cheater. You have been warned.
MARTYR
A somewhat rare Paladin build which relies on the use of Sacrifice, a skill
that greatly boosts damage, but deals a bit of damage to the Paladin as well.
When used in combination with Fanaticism, Sacrifice can deal massive damage
comparable to that of Charge, but much quicker. The downside of this build
is that it deals physical damage only, and that massive life leech is needed
to prevent the Paladin from killing himself: 8% on Normal, and 16% on
Nightmare and Hell. Generally the Martyr is just not as effective as either
the ZEALOT or the AVENGER, and is only played by Paladin experts who want to
try something different.
MEDIC
A Paladin build focused on healing other characters, using Meditation and
Holy Bolt. Meditation restores mana at a much improved rate (and through a
SYNERGY with Prayer it regenerates hit points as well), and Holy Bolt, with
the proper synergies, heals fairly well now. Medics make decent additions to
parties or to PvP teams, although many PvP rules forbid them.
MELDING
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
The process of using a hack to copy the stats of one item onto another,
creating hacked items which are potentially very powerful. The most common
example of this is the now infamous Occy Ring, which is basically a ring with
the stats of the Oculus orb on it. There are many other examples of melded
items, but Occy rings are probably the most common one. Note: I have been
informed that the Occy Ring is actually not the result of item melding, but of
a v1.09 exploit (now long fixed) which allowed for the importing of hacked
open items into the realms. Either way, though, Occy Rings and most other
hacked items seem to be all but gone in v1.10 thanks to the RUST STORM.
MEPH
Mephisto, Lord of Hatred, the final boss in the third act of Diablo 2.
MEPH BOT
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Quite possibly the inevitable followup to PINDLEBOT, Mephbot is basically
an automated script that plays your character for you while you're not at
your computer, and is specifically designed to do MEPH RUNs. Its reliability
is questionable because it requires the script to find the stairs down to
third level of the Durance, whereas Pindlebot doesn't have to deal with any
randomized areas. Nevertheless, this bot does apparently exist and work
properly, although it's not nearly as popular as its counterpart.
In v1.10, most old bots have lost popularity, although MEPH BOTs are still
around and new ones like the ANDY BOT have come into play since. All of them
are considered cheating by Blizzard but decisive action against their use is
rarely taken.
MEPH RUN
A game with the goal to kill Mephisto, usually on Nightmare or Hell. These
runs are popular because Mephisto drops good items, is relatively easy to
kill, and can be reached very quickly. Most characters can do Nightmare Meph
runs in mere minutes. Hell Meph runs are more hazardous because there are many
powerful monsters in the area around him, but can still be done very quickly
by Sorceresses using Teleport or Barbarians using Leap Attack (either skill
can be used to get past groups of monsters without a fight). Many MEPH RUNNERS
make use of MAPHACK to be able to do their Meph Runs even quicker.
MEPH RUNNER
A character specifically intended to do (usually Hell) MEPH RUNS with. These
characters are almost always Sorceresses, using Teleport to get to Mephisto
quickly and Frozen Orb to kill him. The purpose of these characters is to
gather rare and valuable items to use on other characters, trade with other
players, or even sell on EBay for real cash.
MF
Magic Find, a mod found on many different items which increases the chance
to find magical, rare, set or unique items as opposed to normal or socketed
ones. It is often hoarded by MEPH RUNNERS to increase their chances of finding
good items. Many characters have both standard combat gear and MF equipment,
switching to the latter only when they are trying to find good items (MF gear
tends to be less effective in combat). Particularly Sorceresses and Barbarians
are popular MF characters: Sorceresses because their skills are deadly even
without any combat equipment, and Barbarians because they can dual wield
weapons with high MF values such as the Gull Dagger or the Blade of Ali Baba,
and have the skill Find Item which basically gives them a second chance at
a good drop whenever they take down a boss. Once Magic Find goes beyond 110%,
it suffers from DIMINISHING RETURNS, however more MF is always better than
less.
ML (or MS)
Mana Leech or Mana Steal. Both terms refer to the same thing: a mod found
on some items which helps recover spent mana based on how much physical damage
you deal in combat. For instance, with 5% mana leech you regain 5 mana points
for every 100 points of damage you do. It is important to note that this does
not work on all monsters (skeletons, for instance, can not be leeched from)
and that it only applies to physical damage. Many melee characters rely
exclusively on mana leech to be able to keep using their skills, and do not
invest in Energy at all.
MOD
In lowercase letters, 'mod' refers either to an enhancement on a boss or an
item, or to a patch used to modify the game in single player mode for a new
gaming experience. (AR is a popular example of the latter.) Spelled as MoD, it
refers to the Minions of Destruction, a group of very quick and powerful
monsters fought just before the final confrontation with Baal. They are feared
not only for their quick movements, ITD and high damage, but also for the
high latency their appearance tends to cause online and/or on low-end systems.
This final problem has been largely fixed in v1.10, however.
MR (or MDR)
Magic damage reduction, a mod found on many items. It reduces the damage any
magical effect deals to you by a set amount. For spells which linger for a
while, such as Firewall and Meteor, this applies every second. In previous
versions of Diablo 2 it applied to every frame, which resulted in even a few
points of MR significantly reducing or even eliminating the damage from
frame-based spells, including Diablo's lightning hose.
MS
Multi Shot, a property found on some bosses which causes them to fire whatever
projectile they might use multiple times with every ranged attack. This is
generally not such a dangerous mod, except when seen in combination with
Lightning Enchanted. The combination of these two results in the feared MSLEB.
MSLEB
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Multi Shot, Lightning Enchanted Boss. Up to v1.09, a boss on Nightmare or
Hell that spawned with both of these modifiers was easily one of the worst
monsters you could encounter. Due to Multi Shot, the boss released far,
far more lighting bolts than he normally would whenever he took a hit. In
v1.10, Multishot and Lightning Enchanted mods no longer affect each other,
taking this particular danger out of the game.
MULE
A character specifically made to hold spare items in his inventory and stash,
either until a character intended to playing can put them to use, or to be used
in trading. The process of bringing items found by playing characters to mules
is known as MULING.
MULING
Bringing one or more items to a character specifically created to hold them:
a MULE. This is common practice with online players who always have less stash
space than they seem to need. There are three common muling methods:
1. Muling alone. The player creates a passworded game and stays in it for at
least five minutes, then drops the items he wishes to transfer and leaves. Due
to him having been in at least five minutes, the game will stay up for five
more minutes even without any players in it. This gives the player the time
to log on with his mule and reenter the game, picking up the items he left.
This method is somewhat risky because disconnections, time outs and other
nasty surprises can result in the game being wiped or the player being unable
to log on in time, resulting in the loss of the items. WARNING: Muling alone
is *not* possible on Open Battlenet, where a game will disappear the instant
you leave it.
2. Public muling. The player joins a game where other people are playing,
finds a safe spot where nobody is likely to stop by, drops his items, logs
off and quickly brings in his mule to retrieve the items. This is a very risky
method of muling, as you cannot be sure the game will still be up when you
return (or, even more frustrating, full), and if another player comes across
the items you've dropped, chances are he'll take them. This risk can be
reduced by finding a good spot to drop the items to be muled: towns are bad
spots, but deep inside large open areas (like the deserts in act 2) or
optional dungeons are typically good places. Of course the mule needs to have
the proper waypoints to actually reach the equipment you left for him!
3. Muling with a friend. This basically involves starting a game with somebody
you know and trust, giving him your items, leaving the game, coming back with
your mule and getting your items back. Needless to say doing this with a
stranger is a naive and risky move, but if you frequently play with friends
you can rely on each other for absolutely safe muling. Even if a disconnect
occurs, your friend will still hold the items he took from you so he can give
them back to you in a different game.
MUTING
A commonly used reprimand by Blizzard against people attempting to scam
accounts or generally creating havoc in chat channels. When muted, a player
can no longer chat or send private messages, they can only talk in games. In
particular, this makes setting up trades next to impossible as this is
usually done outside games.
NECRO
Short for Necromancer, one of the character classes in the game. The general
impopularity of the Necro, caused by several NERFs over time, has resulted in
no particular builds having become famous.
NERF
The term commonly used for the downgrading of a skill or item in Diablo 2.
Nerfing is Blizzard's usual response to skills or items which turn out to be
overpowered. This is much to the dismay of players who have built characters
based on these skills/items, and see their hard work being destroyed overnight
because suddenly they deal only half the damage they used to. As a result,
every patch results in at least some players complaining.
NG
'Next game' or 'new game'. Used by a player to suggest or announce that a new
game be made. For instance, if a cow run has just been completed and one of
the players wants to suggest to the others to do a new one, he'd say "ng?".
Runs are often numbered as well, and in that case people often just call the
next number to indicate a new one is being made. For example, if a game called
cowrunz-005 was just completed people who intend to make a new one will
usually call out "006" and leave to make it.
NK
Naked killing, the act of killing a player who currently has no equipment
because he died before, and has not yet been able to get his corpse back.
Repeatedly naked killing a character so that he cannot get to his items is
considered to be in poor taste and very unsporting, and thus popular among
GRIEF PLAYERS.
NM
Short for Nightmare, the second difficulty mode out of three. Normal and Hell
are not normally abbreviated, Nightmare is. Diablo 2 players tend to be lazy
typers.
NRG
Short for Energy, one of the four primary statistics of any character. It
is particularly important to characters who use mana-eating skills regularly
and cannot leech it back in melee combat. Particularly Sorceresses and
Necromancers need to build up their Energy.
OPEN
Refers to Open Battlenet, as opposed to the CLOSED REALMs. Characters created
to be played in single player mode and/or TCP/IP can be taken to Open
Battlenet as well, and can be played there. The disadvantage of Open, however,
is that because characters and equipment are stored locally, many people use
character and item editors to create godly characters with hacked, overpowered
equipment. It gets a little frustrating to try and play a legitimate character
when you are surrounded by cheaters, which is why most online players choose
to play on the realms instead.
PALLY
Short for Paladin, a popular character for use in parties because his
beneficial auras help party members in addition to himself. Paladins have had
their skills strengthened and weakened a lot over the various patches.
Currently the Paladin is considered one of the more challenging classes to
play - while powerful, he is forced to engage in melee to be truly effective,
and has no good way to deal with large groups of enemies. Physically immune
enemies can be a pain for him as well, hence the AVENGER build.
PERSONALIZED
An item which has had the name of its owner added to its name, which is the
reward for one of the quests in Act 5. Personalization does nothing except
adding the name, and is therefore a rather mundane quest reward. Furthermore
personalized items may be worth less in trade to those who do not wish to have
to look at another player's name on their item. Because of this, and the fact
that a very tough opponent needs to be defeated to finish the quest, many
players skip it.
PI
Physical Immune, a boss mod which results in complete immunity to any physical
attacks. Magical damage (raw magic, poison or one of the three elements) is
needed to damage these enemies. Physically immune enemies are of no concern to
Sorceresses but can be a real pain for melee characters. Some monster types
found in act 5 spawn with physical immunity by default in Hell mode, resulting
in entire packs of these annoyances.
PIERCE
An Amazon skill which allows her arrows and javelins to pass through an enemy,
possibly hitting one or more foes behind him. This skill is great for crowd
control. It comes by default on the unique crossbow BURIZA, which is one reason
for it having been as popular as it was back in v1.09, before the GA/PIERCE
BUG was fixed.
PINCERS
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Cleglaw's Pincers, a commonly found and rather mundane set item except for
the fact that one of the modifiers behaved strangely up until v1.10. It was
supposed to slow a target by 25% upon hitting. When used in combat against
other players, however, it first negated any faster walk/run mods and THEN
slowed the target even more; some people have also reported that it stacked,
causing further hits to make you slow down to a crawl. Fortunately, the
various bugs with slowing mods seem to have been mostly fixed in v1.10.
PINDLEBOT
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Pindlebot is basically an AI script that plays your character for you, doing
magic find runs on PINDLESKIN. It is through Pindlebot that suddenly, many
more people than ever before do endless runs against Pindleskin, now that they
don't actually have to face the tedium of doing it themselves. With Pindlebot,
people can leave the computer on before going to school, work, or bed, and
find Windforces on their account upon returning to the computer.
The use of programs like Pindlebot is illegal per the Battle.net terms of
service and also frowned upon by most players - although the number of botters
is growing steadily, with obviously significant impacts on the realm economy
(the supply of previously rare items has gone up, dramatically dropping
prices). Many players also believe botters to be responsible for more lag on
the realms,which is probably true because with so many people running bots,
the realms have more players logged in on them than usual. Whether or not a
bot-run character, creating new game sessions every minute for hours on end,
actually creates more lag than a normal player would is unclear.
In v1.10, Pindleskin is no longer a viable MF target, which has pretty much
put an end to pindlebotting. But not to botting in general, as new bots were
created to run new popular targets; ANDY BOT, for instance.
PINDLESKIN
A super unique monster at the entrance to Nihlathak's temple in act 5. There
would be nothing particularly interesting about him, except that in v1.09 on
Hell mode, he was capable of dropping items in the weapon lvl 90 and armor lvl
90 classes, something which even Baal could not. Thus Pindleskin, being an
easy to reach and even easier to kill target, could drop virtually every item
in the game, although the odds were hopeless. Nonetheless, a great many
players would run Pindleskin for hours on end in hopes of finding something,
and eventually an AI script (PINDLEBOT) was created to do it for them.
In v1.10, Pindleskin is not a viable MF target anymore and people have looked
to new places to satiate their everpresent hunger for more loot.
PK
Player Killer (the person), or Player Killing (the action). This refers to the
act of seeking out and killing other players in regular games, as opposed to
PVP, which is mutually consenting duelling. Particularly in hardcore PK'ers
are considered a menace. Nevertheless Blizzard has willingly included the
option to kill other players as a design feature and has so far been unwilling
to add any protection in the form of hostility needing to be mutual to allow
players to attack each other, or placing a "no PK" option on a game when you
create it. Minor fixes were introduced to try and put a stop to PK attacks
relying on flaws in the game to make clean, unavoidable kills, but stories of
players getting killed without ever having a chance to flee or fight back are
still commonplace on D2 forums.
PLAYERS X
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A powerful command available in single player mode, that allows a player to
simulate having more players in a game. That means more items are dropped and
monsters give more experience, but they also have more hit points. This
command can be used to create a more challenging game, but it also allows a
player to do more level building than usually possible on single player, which
is especially useful late in the game. To active the command, simply type the
chatline 'players X', without the quotes, where X may be any number between 2
and 8. For instance, to simulate 8 players you would type:
/players 8
The game gives confirmationo that the game has been taken place, and you'll
soon notice the difference if you come out of town. Note that using the
players X command in the middle of a game works, but it does not affect the
monsters already on screen or close to you.
If you are playing v1.09, skip the / (so just type players X where X is the
number of players desired), and note that there will be no confirmation. It
still works, though. Before v1.09, the command has no effect.
PA
Short for POWERACTING.
PGEM
Perfect gem (of any type), usually used in horadric cube recipes, and as a
trading currency with other players.
POWERACTING
Another term for RUSHING.
PRIV
Private game, i.e. one protected with a password that only the players you
gave the password to can enter.
PUB/PUBBY Public game, i.e. one without
password protection that any player on the same realm can enter.
PUBLIC DUELLING
Duelling in an uncontrolled, open environment with players you do not know.
To most people, public duelling means having to deal with people who not only
use every cheap skill in the book, but frequently rely on hacked items as well.
To some, whopping an Ith user with legit gear is the greatest PVP fun that can
be had - many others prefer to steer clear of public duelling and play in
controlled environments instead.
PVM
Player vs Monster, the way most people play the game. This is done either
solitarily or in parties with other players.
PVP
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Player vs Player, aka duelling. This refers to two (or more) players fighting
each other. This is different from PK in the sense that both players agree to
the duel in this case. Duels generally follow a set of rules, which include
no potion using, no running into town, and sometimes, no use of certain items
like the PINCERS and no use of mercs. Many players build characters
specifically intended for duelling.
I have never been much into PvP myself and haven't been keeping up with
developments on this front in v1.10, so I cannot really make any
recommendations regarding good PvP characters. However there are many FAQs on
this subject (and as many different opinions as there are FAQs), and most
forums have a couple of PvP experts as well.
QUARK
A set of Ith items on USWest personalized by a character named The_Quark, this
was a new generation of ITH ITEMS. Like most other hacked items, they have
been largely removed by RUST STORM and if they still exist, they do so in
relative obscurity.
RANGER
An interesting Paladin build using a bow. Some of the Paladin's skills, most
notably Fanaticism and Holy Shock, work remarkably well with bows, making
this build somewhat viable. They are not as powerful as BOWAZONS or more
classic Paladin builds like the ZEALOT or the AVENGER, but for an alternative
build, they are surprisingly capable.
REALM
Any of the servers on closed Battle.net, where characters and items are stored
on the server and cheating is far less common than on OPEN. Currently there
are six realms in existence: USWest, USEast, Europe, Asia 1, Asia 2 and Asia 3.
Interestingly Asia 3 has only existed as long as the expansion has, and as a
result no SOJ ECONOMY exists there. Rather, runes were the currency on that
realm in v1.09.
RES
Resistance, a mod found on many items. Resistances help to reduce the damage
taken from fire, cold, lightning and/or poison attacks. This is particularly
important in Nightmare and Hell mode, where the innate resistances of your
character are reduced well below zero and elemental attacks can cause massive
damage if you do not find the right equipment to counter this.
RB
Short for rollback.
ROLLBACK
This is restoring a database to the state it was in at an earlier time. For
Diablo 2, this can mean that several hours or even days of realm play are
"reset" and everythins is returned to what it was like before. This is an
extreme measure that has been taken in the past to fix severe realm bugs or
duping. Since a rollback cancels everything that happened in the meantime,
there is always somebody who found a great item or levelled up their
characters a lot, and will not be amused when all that progress is gone.
Hence, rollbacks are rare.
In v1.09, various exploits existed to force a rollback situation on a specific
game, and these exploits were central to various duping methods. It is unclear
if there are any forced rollback methods currently known and used in v1.10,
but it seems likely that if there aren't any now, new ones will be found
eventually. D2's cheating history certainly suggests that cheaters tend to be
one step ahead of Blizzard.
RUSHING
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Also known as POWERACTING, this is the process of having a high level character
get a low level one through the game, killing the act bosses for him. This
can have several purposes, such as making this low level character ready for
duelling (by giving him access to all the quest rewards), to allow him to gain
levels quickly in hell cows without actually playing most of the game, to ready
a character for MF runs, that kind of thing. There are people who frown upon
rushing and insist that every character in hell mode should have gotten there
on his own, but this kind of cooperation is inevitable in online games, and
many players who enjoy being high level more than getting there are thankful
for the possibility to reach Patriarch status in less than 30 minutes.
v1.10 has made rushing somewhat harder and more time consuming by placing
stricter requirements on which quests must be completed in order to advance,
but with a little extra effort it is still quite possible.
RUST STORM
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Blizzard's code name for their operation to wipe hacked items from the
realms with the release of v1.10. It was almost as effective as people hoped
it would be, destroying most of the hacked items present on the realms and
continuing to keep their numbers low. While it probably didn't get all of
them, hacked items are no longer all over the place the way they pretty much
always were in v1.09.
How it will work, what exactly it will
SC
Small charm. Traders are lazy typers.
SCAM
A generic term referring to tricking other players. Most commonly seen in the
online community are ACCOUNT SCAMs and TRADE SCAMs.
SHOCKADIN
Paladin build centered around the Holy Shock skill and its synergies. Also
sometimes known as a TESLADIN.
SIN
An act that is wrongful in the eyes of God. Er, no wait, the Diablo 2
definition. 'Sin' is one of the two common abbreviations used for the Assassin
character class (the other one is ASN).
SINGING BARB
An alternative kind of Barbarian who does not use his weapon in combat, but
relies exclusively on various War Cries. Unlike other Barbarian builds,
singing Barbs (also known as BARDs) require a vast supply of mana. If that
can be provided, they are surprisingly effective for what is essentially an
experimental build.
SKILL BUG
A bug exploit that flared up in February/March 2002. It involved using a
BUGGED ITEM to decrease your dexterity stat below zero, after which it was
possible to boost your skills up indefinitely. The result was people with
ridiculous skill levels (up in the thousand rather than the normal maximum
of 20) running around creating havoc in Hell games: Sorceresses with Charged
Bolts filling the entire screen, Paladins with a Holy Fire that clears out
the entire Cow level within three seconds of him entering the portal,
Barbarians with a Battle Orders giving you six digit hit points, et cetera.
The exploit has been fixed by Blizzard and not been seen since.
SKILL SYNERGY
A featured introduced in v1.10 to make skills give passive bonuses to each
other. See SYNERGY.
SMITER (or SMITADIN)
An interesting Paladin build based on the skill Smite, which uses the
Paladin's shield to attack. While normally low in damage, Smite can be
powerful if used with the right shield (the class-specific Paladin-only
shields in the expansion can do good damage) in combination with the skill
Holy Shield which boosts Smite damage. The true power of Smite, however, lies
in the fact that it automatically hits and stuns the target. Smitadins are
sometimes seen in PVM as well as PVP, and while they are rare, the players who
use them claim they are highly effective.
SOJ
Stone of Jordan, the most famous unique from classic Diablo 2 which continues
to have a great impact on the expansion. Back in previous versions, it was
possible for a high level player to use a gambling trick to collect these
useful rings at a steady pace.
SOJ ECONOMY
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
This refers to the Stone of Jordan being the currency in many high-level
trades in Diablo 2 and the expansion. Previously, when they could still
be obtained easily in gambling, many high level players had a good stock of
these. Now, however, they are much harder to come by, and the stock decreases
for various reasons while unique and set items become more and more plentiful.
The unfortunate result is that there is massive deflation and many items
previously worth X SoJs don't even fetch a single one anymore. Nevertheless
many players persist in using the SoJ as currency, even though it has already
become one of the most valuable items in the game. This has made trading
harder than ever.
The Stone of Jordan dominated the economy in v1.09 as a form of currency on
many realms for an extended period of time. Nothing changes more quickly than
the player economy in D2, though, and thus the value of SoJs went up and down
a lot over time, usually in response to new SoJ duping causing inflation, and
at certain time intervals on certain realms the SoJ ceased having any trade
value altogether. Nonetheless, in v1.10, the SoJ is still often used as
currency in off-ladder trades.
SORC
Short for Sorceress, one of the game's character classes. In the early days
of the expansion this was the single most commonly seen character, but when
people started to discover the potential of the Buriza Do-Kyanon, the BURIZON
became very common as well. In v1.10 the Sorceress is not at her peak, though
she remains to be a viable character.
SP
Single Player. Refers to playing alone with a locally stored character, as
opposed to a character stored on a closed realm. Single player mode means you
will not be able to party up (except on Open Battlenet or in TCP/IP games) and
makes trading non-existent, but it eliminates the issue of lag and gives you
access to the powerful PLAYERS X command. Successfully taking a character
through Hell difficulty in single player, without any cheating or outside
help, is generally considered an impressive feat.
SPEARAZON
An Amazon relying on the use of spears in melee combat. This was once a
popular build due to the skill Jab being bugged - it allowed them to use even
the slowest of weapons at an awesome pace, stunlocking single opponents and
leeching life by the bucketful to survive against enemy groups. When Jab's
speed bug was fixed, the Spearazon sort of faded away, and is now rarely
seen. Nearly every Amazon in existence is either a BOWAZON or a JAVAZON.
SPEEDZON
One variation of the BOWAZON, the Speedzon strives to achieve the fastest
attack speed possible with her bow. This is done by using one of the fastest
bows in the game (ideally Windforce, though most have to settle for cheaper
ones) and a lot of equipment with Increased Attack Speed mods. The ultimate
goal is to achieve the maximum possible bow fire rate, which allows one arrow
to be fired every 7 frames. Once every 8 frames is more common, though.
Speedzons avoid using the BURIZA, which is powerful but much slower. Many of
them have become Speedzons because they feel using the Buriza is cheap,
and want to try something different.
STR
Short for Strength, one of the four primary statistics of any character. It
is particularly important to characters who use melee weapons. Normally it
is built up to match the requirements for whatever equipment the character
intends to use at a high level. For Paladins and Barbarians this tends to be
far higher than for Necromancers and Sorceresses.
SUMMONMANCER
Term referring to Necromancers specializing in the summoning tree. A more
popular term for the same set of builds is ZOOKEEPER.
SYNERGY
Synergy in general means that the total is more than the sum of its parts. In
Diablo 2, it refers to certain skills providing passive bonuses to another;
for instance, the Paladin's Zeal skill gets a damage boost based on how many
points that same Paladin has put into his Sacrifice skill. He doesn't actually
have to *use* Sacrifice for this, just having it gives his Zeal the extra
damage. Introduced in v1.10, synergy bonuses have been added to a lot of
skills for all the characters and are mainly intended to encourage players to
sink points in the lower level skills too, rather than saving them all up
until a high level skill becomes available. It also makes a lot more builds
viable and has generally increased the range of different class builds used on
Battlenet. Some builds remain clearly superior to many others, but it's a good
attempt.
TANKAZON
An interesting Amazon build meant specifically to perform TANKING for
another character. These Amazons typically have damage reduction gear and
invest heavily in the three passive dodging skills (Dodge, Evade and Avoid)
to allow them to survive close encounters. Some of them even use one handed
melee weapons and shields, which is of course against the default nature of
the Amazon.
TANKING
Getting up close to a monster, keeping it in place so that long distance
attackers can strike it safely. For instance, in v1.09 COW RUNs, it was common
for tough Paladins or Barbarians to get up close and keep the cows from
overrunning the Sorceresses and Javazons that fight from a distance. A
character used for tanking is also referred to as a tank.
Tanks are often mentioned in Sorceress guides, since a Sorceress is much
more effective if she doesn't have to back off all the time. With a good
tank (for instance, a Barbarian mercenary or a tough party member), she
is much more effective because she can spend all of her time casting
spells rather than running to create more distance.
TCP/IP GAME
An online game session in which one player hosts and other players join his
IP address. This allows players to play together online without using
Battlenet. Locally stored characters can be used to play on TCP/IP, and as
such it is not cheatproof per sé: however TCP/IP games are usually played
among trusted friends. This is the preferred mode of play for players who
wish to be able to play with their friends, but also want to be able to
play the same characters offline.
TESLADIN
Paladin build centered around the Holy Shock skill and its synergies. Also
known as a SHOCKADIN.
THROWING BARB
A Barbarian build using Double Throw and Throwing Mastery to cause as much
damage as possible from a distance. This was perhaps inspired by the Ancients
in act 5, as one of them uses Double Throw and actually does a lot of damage.
Nevertheless, throwing barbs used by players can only deal physical damage and
typically do not last in late Nightmare and Hell. They are somewhat effective
in PVP, though.
TP
Town Portal. Often when somebody says 'TP' they are asking you to send them
one. Unfortunately many players think they will get quicker results if they
ask it twenty times per second.
TRADE HACK
An old hack which has recently become more popular. It allows
a malicious player to pretend he's trading an item to you when in fact his
trade screen is empty (you only see the item but it isn't actually there).
This results in a nasty surprise when you complete the trade and find you have
gotten nothing. The trade hack can be recognized by the fact that if the trade
window is opened, the item that's supposedly for trade is already in the
window (due to the way the hack works it must be placed before the trade is
actually initiated). If this happens, do not trade.
Blizzard obviously does not condone the use of this hack and will hopefully
find a way to shut it out in the next patch. Until then, it is safest only to
trade with people you know, and if you must trade with strangers, to pay very
close attention.
Not much is heard about trade hacks in v1.10, suggesting most or all of them
have been fixed, but TRADE SCAMs remain ever popular.
TRADE SCAM
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
A generic term applying to people trying to steal your items through false
trades. In some cases people use a TRADE HACK for this, but a more common
scam which does not require any hacks is to replace the item to be traded
with one that looks alike, but is of less quality. For instance, somebody
might offer you a SoJ for your item, place it in the window, but then when
you are about to finalize the trade claim that he has to make room in his
inventory, and abort it. After a few seconds he opens up the trade again
and once again places a ring in the trade window - but this time it is
a mundane magical one, not the SoJ he placed before. Many players
carelessly forget to double check and just hit agree, trading away their
valuable goods for a worthless item.
Unfortunately this kind of trade scamming is not illegal in any way (assuming
no hack is involved), and Blizzard can do nothing about it. The responsibility
to look before you click agree lies with the player. ALWAYS pay attention
while trading, and do not trust a stranger if you have no reason to. Never
put yourself in a position where the outcome of the exchange relies on a
stranger keeping his word.
One relatively new scam in v1.10: the Annihilus and Gheed's Fortune are two
charms that cannot be placed in the trade window, so a popular scam now is to
tell people you'll trade them one if they drop their item first. You can
probably imagine what happens if you do.
TREASURE CLASS (TC)
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Items in Diablo 2 are sorted in various treasure classes, and every
monster has certain odds to drop from certain treasure classes when they
die. This is how the game determines which enemy can drop which item, and
how likely they are to do so. The ground rule is that as an item is in a
higher treasure class, fewer monsters can drop it, and the odds of it
dropping are lower too. Treasure classes are multiples of 3, with TC 3
being the lowest and TC 90 the highest.
In v1.09, even Baal could not drop any TC 90 items and had very poor odds for
TC 87 items, so for items in those two treasure classes (this included
Windforce, Grandfather, Stormspire, Immortal King's Soul Cage and various
others), people relied on act 5 super uniques instead, with PINDLESKIN being
the most popular target. Major changes in treasure classes and the item
finding mechanics in v1.10 have shifted the focus away from Pindleskin and
back to either boss running or quickly clearing out areas with multiple easy
to defeat enemies which nonetheless have good odds. One surprisingly popular
area these days is The Pit in act 1, for instance.
TROJAN HORSE
A variant of a standard virus, trojan horses are introduced into software
deliberately (they do not infect and spread on their own like viruses do),
and sleep there until the program is activated. When the program is run,
the trojan horse activates as well and does whatever it was programmed to
do. In most cases, this is a form of interaction with the creator of the
trojan horse. Whereas a virus would just start spreading itself through your
E-mail and then probably delete files or mess up other things, a trojan
horse typically does such things as log your keystrokes and mail them to
its creator, or disable your firewalls, open your ports, and set you up to
be hacked by the trojan's creator. Trojan horses are named after the
mythological Trojan Horse because they do basically the same thing: you
think you are running a harmless file, but within lurks a threat you did not
see.
Trojan horses which are of specific interest to D2 players are those that are
frequently added to various third party programs (mostly hacks) relating to
Diablo 2. SubSeven is a good example. These trojans are typically keyloggers
specifically geared to logging your account name and password and sending it
to whoever added the keylogger to maphack, pindlebot or whatever else you
were using. The end result is obvious: one day you log in and your account
is no longer yours.
Protection against trojan horses can be achieved in much the same way as
against viruses: use an active virus scanner that scans all incoming files
and anything you are about to run, keep it updated, and don't download files
unless you know exactly what they do. For a Diablo 2 player, that means:
hands off the cheats. Every time you download a hack or a bot, you are
putting your accounts at more risk from trojans than Blizzard's wrath, and
you can expect very little pity or assistance on forums if your attemps to
cheat on the realms cost you your account or your items.
TS
Thunderstorm, a Sorceress skill that's very popular to use in addition to
her other attacks. Thunderstorm works passively over a certain duration,
hits automatically, and at a high level, causes quite a bit of extra
damage for only a little extra mana. While Sorceresses generally don't
use Thunderstorm as their main attack, it is a part of almost every
build.
v1.07 VALOR
Making good use of the gullibility of some online players and the fact that
many people think all v1.08 UNIQUES are better than their v1.09 counterparts,
some scammers have resorted to the trick of selling an Arkaine's Valor as
a 'v1.07 Valor' with different stats. These Valors have the same regular
mods as v1.09 Arkaine's Valor, but have +1 to all skills. They are, in fact,
just regular v1.09 Valors on which the skills spawned particularly poorly -
+1 to each of the seven classes, instead of +2 to some and +1 to others as
you usually see. They are the worst kind of Arkaine's Valor around, but
are often offered as a novelty 'v1.07' item, and too frequently sold as such
to people who are easy to fool.
There is, in fact, no such thing as a v1.07 unique for two reasons. First,
v1.08 didn't change any item stats, so they're the same. Second, v1.07 was
never playable on the realms. It is the version you are running if you
install LoD off the CDs and never patch it, but on the realms, v1.08 has
been active from the very moment LoD was available (barring the beta, but all
traces of beta characters and items have been deleted in realm wipes prior
to LoD going up).
This also disproves the rumour that the CONSTRICTING RINGS widespread on the
realms in v1.09 were in fact legitimate v1.07 finds.
v1.08 UNIQUES
When v1.09 was launched on the realms in August 2002, it brought many
changes to the game in general, but in particular to unique items. Nearly
every one of them was overhauled with new stats. The majority of items
were improved to make them more tempting to collect and use, but a few
that were considered overpowered in v1.08 were downgraded.
What Blizzard did not do, however, was to apply these changes to existing
items. So any items that had been found in the v1.08 days just kept their
old stats. This was considered fairer to the players that had found them,
but Blizzard apparently underestimated DUPING. Instead of there being
a handful of very valuable and prized v1.08 versions around of the items
that were toned down in v1.09, they are all very numerous and very duped.
When you see a v1.08 version of an item for trade, it's typically one of
those items that was more powerful in v1.08 than it is now - most notably
the Harlequin Crest and Arkaine's Valor, but there are others. Do keep
in mind that v1.08 cannot be found anymore, were found in small numbers
in the v1.08 days, and as such any one that finds it way into a trade
now is very, very likely to be duped. As in 99% chance. No item is
more likely to disappear on you one day than a v1.08 unique is.
V1.10
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
The big one! Diablo 2: LoD has run on version 1.09 for a very long time,
and since April 2002, Blizzard has officially announced the attention to
overhaul the game significantly in the (possibly final) v1.10 patch. The patch
was a very long time in coming, but eventually arrived in late 2003 and
sparked new interest in the game among many players, both oldtimers and
newcomers. Apart from a host of balance changes, new features (including many
new unique items) and a variety of bug fixes, v1.10 involves a major rewrite
of the code which rendered existing editors and MODs useless, but made the
creation of new mods easier and made more aspects of the game possible to be
modded.
By all expectations, v1.10 will be the last major Diablo 2 patch.
V1.10 BETA
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
With the long development cycle of v1.10, a public beta was eventually
released both to appease the masses and to help iron out the bugs, of which
there were still many. There have been two beta versions of v1.10 out (the
second one being named v1.10s), and both were made available in the middle of
2003. In october 2003, v1.10 finally came out on the realms.
V1.10S
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
The second and last v1.10 beta, this fixed a lot of character skill issues
(but not all) and other important bugs prior to the release of the full
version of v1.10 in october 2003.
VIT
Short for Vitality, one of the four primary statistics of any character. It
directly determines your hit point total, which makes it a popular stat for
every character. Typically, characters build their Strength and Dexterity
only as far as their intended equipment requires, put only as many points
in Energy as they really need (and rely on mana regeneration and/or leeching
instead), and dump everything else in Vitality. The Bowazon is the only
exception: she typically builds up both Dexterity and Vitality, and some
daring Bowazon players do not touch Vitality at all, building Dexterity
exclusively. On Hardcore, Vitality is valued more than ever because death
is permanent there.
WB DRUID
A Druid build using the Werebear form and the appropriate skills. Werebears
deal a lot of damage and have a good crowd control skill, but many players
feel they are too slow. Because of this the Werewolf build is considerably
more popular.
WHITE RING/WRING
One of many hacked items in v1.09, the White Ring was nonetheless one of the
more ridiculous ones, granting stat gains beyond belief (including total
immunity to elemental damage due to 95% absorb). v1.10's RUST STORM seems to
have torn through their numbers to the point where you rarely hear about them
anymore.
WORLD EVENT
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
The 'world event', one of the biggest rumours when v1.10 was close to
release, refers to the spawning of the Diablo Clone in random games and his
consequent dropping of the ANNIHILUS charm if he is defeated. The exact
conditions for the world event to occur aren't clear, however. It is obvious
that it has something to do with random messages popping up saying "X SoJs
sold to merchants", however nobody seems to be quite sure if these messages
are actually the result of people selling Stones of Jordan, or just random
server messages that merely *imply* they have to do with selling SoJs. Either
way, though, this happens on the realms only.
WW
This can refer either to Whirlwind, a popular Barbarian skill, or Werewolf,
a Druid skill.
WW BARB
A Barbarian build based on the powerful Whirlwind skill. Whirlwind Barbarians
exist in both single and dual wielding variants, are sometimes combined with
the Frenzy build, and usually have Berserk as well to deal with physically
immune enemies.
WW SIN
An Assassin build based on the Whirlwind skill. While normally only available
to Barbarians, a v1.10 Assassin can also get this skill by using the Chaos
runeword.
WW DRUID
A Druid build using the Werewolf form and the appropriate skills. Werewolves
don't deal as much damage as Werebears, but they are incredibly fast and can
amass amazing hit point totals. They can deal effectively with both single
enemies and groups, but their major weakness is the lack of a good skill to
deal with physically immune enemies, as the Druid's elemental skills cannot
be used in a wereform.
ZEAL BUG
In v1.09, when a Paladin using the Zeal skills misses with his first strike
(or it is blocked), none of the other strikes could still hit the target. They
would all automatically miss too as if the Paladin was cleaving thin air.
While this bug was apparently fixed in v1.10, Zeal remains a chancy skill that
just doesn't appear to work the way it's supposed to, and misses more than you
would expect it to. This is one problem that v1.10 just didn't get right.
ZEALOT
A Paladin build using the skills Zeal and Fanaticism to achieve an incredible
attack speed. With sufficient life and mana leech this kind of Paladin can
just keep going. Dangerous enemies are those who are so quick that the
Paladin can get stunlocked by a group of them, bosses which are Lightning
Enchanted, and worst of all, physically immune monsters. The latter are a real
problem in Hell mode and that is where Zealots usually fail. Therefore this
build is often combined with that of the AVENGER, which is easily possible
because the Avenger uses Fanaticism as well and Zeal only needs a few points
to be effective.
ZOD BUG
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
The Zod rune, the rarest one in the game, can make an item indestructible
if you socket it. This is obviously only of interest if the item in
question is ethereal, as otherwise it can just be repaired every so often.
Ethereal items can't, and Zod allows you to put some of those ultra high
damage/defense ethereal items to use without breaking them.
In v1.09, there was a problem with the Zod rune, however; a bug that could
reset the durability of the Zodded item to 0, essentially breaking it and
causing you to lose both the valuable Zod rune and the doubtless expensive
item you socketed it with (if it wasn't expensive, why waste a priceless Zod
on it?). This bug has thankfully been fixed in v1.10.
Early in v1.10 another Zod bug existed, but this one worked to the player's
advantage. By socketing a Zod and then removing it with the new "socket
cleaning" recipe in v1.10, the socket could be freed up again but the Zod's
indestructible mod inexplicably remained on the item. This bug has now been
fixed, but existing items that benefitted from it still exist on the realms.
ZON
(This info has been updated for D2 v1.10.)
Short for Amazon, one of the game's character classes. Since the dawn of
time the three main classes of Amazon have been called BOWAZON, JAVAZON and
SPEARAZON. Lately the Spearazon has become pretty rare, but the other two
are more popular than ever due to the existence of new expansion items such
as the BURIZA and Titan's Revenge.
While they were probably the most used character class in v1.09, closely
followed by the Sorceress, Amazons have lost some of their popularity in v1.10
due the lack of SYNERGY bonuses on their most popular skills. They remain
popular for MF runs in crowded areas (like The Pit) though, where Strafe has
become quite an effective skill.
ZOOKEEPER
A Necromancer build focusing on the summoning tree; specifically, one that
uses a lot of different minions at a time. So not just a golem, but usually
revives and both types of skeletons as well. Also referred to as a
SUMMONMANCER.
==============================================================================
ITEM NICKNAMES LIST
==============================================================================
As I found that the terminology list was getting cluttered with shorthand
names for various items, usually used in trading, I figured it was about
time to separate the list into two. The main list above no longer contains
refererences to Diablo II items, and this new chapter attempts to be a
complete list of often used terms for items. It's perfect for a would be
trader getting mighty confused by the lingo used in the channels or on
trading forums.
In this list, items that are not legitimate have been marked with a star.
I define "not legitimate" as not being findable in the game itself, but
only introduced to the realms through hacking. It does not include once
legit but now 100% duped items like the Raven Spiral, but it does include
Iths, Occy rings, "bugged" strings and stuff like that. These items are
not legitimate and while many of them were deleted in v1.10, there may still
be strays. There is no telling if such stray items may still be deleted in the
future, so let the buyer beware. Be aware that the GameFAQs Terms of Service
forbids the trading of hacked items on its forums, and so do many other
trading forums.
All item nicknames are listed in the following format: the commonly
used nickname, the actual ingame name of the item, and any additional
comments in parantheses.
This list is far from complete and does not include most items specific to
v1.10 and beyond. Furthermore, many of the hacked items listed on it no
longer exist.
NICKNAME INGAME NAME COMMENTS
#/# [el] d/lu Rainbow Facet Example: 5/5 C die: 5% cold
dmg, -5% enemy cold res, effect
triggers on death (rather than
level up)
# rends Steelrend # is ED percentage
290 ??? Small Charm of ??? small charm with 290 poison dmg
3/20/20 Fine Small Charm of Vita +3 max dmg, +20 AR, +20 life
7% MFSC Small Charm of Good Luck 7% magic find
40/15 (#1) Ruby Jewel of Fervor 40% ED, 15% IAS
40/15 (#2) Ruby Jewel of ??? 40% ED, +15 max dmg
BK ring Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
BotD Breath of the Dying runeword v1.10 only
BString * "Bugged" String of Ears hacked item
BValor * "Bugged" Arkaine's Valor hacked item
Burrito Buriza-Do Kyanon, unique mocking name
Ballista
Buriza Buriza-Do Kyanon, unique
Ballista
CCB Cruel Colossus Blade 200-300% ED
CCBQ Cruel Colossus Blade of 200-300% ED, 40% IAS
Quickness
CCS Cruel Colossus Sword CCB is usually preferred
COA Crown of Ages
COH Chains of Honor runeword
CTA Call to Arms runeword
Con Ring * Constricting Ring hacked item (see term. list)
Fury BB "Fury" Balrog Blade runeword (Jah, Gul, Eth)
GA Guardian Angel, unique
Templar Coat
GF The Grandfather, unique
Colossus Blade
Griz Griswold's Legacy rarest set (paladin oriented)
Havoc * Havoc Mark Jewel hacked item
Hex * Hexing Small Charm hacked item
HOTO Heart of the Oak runeword v1.10 only
HoZ Herald of Zakarum, unique
Gilded Shield
IK The Immortal King somewhat popular barbarian set
Ith (#1) Ith rune not usually traded (no value)
Ith (#2) * "Ith" type hacked item or hacked items (see term. list)
armor
Mav M'avina's Battle Hymn somewhat popular amazon set
Nat's Natalya's Odium popular assassin set
Occy The Oculus, unique
Swirling Crystal
Occy Ring "Stone of Jordan" with "melded" hacked item (see term.
Oculus stats list)
Shaft Shaftstop, unique Mesh
Armor
Shako Harlequin Crest, unique
Shako
Silks Silks of the Victory,
unique Ancient Armor
Skullder's Skullder's Ire, unique
Russet Armor
SoJ Stone of Jordan, unique
Ring
SS (usually) Stormshield,
unique Monarch
Tal's Tal Rasha's Wrappings popular sorceress set
Tal's mask Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest,
set Death Mask
Tgods Thundergod's Vigor
Trang's Trang-Oul's Avatar popular necromancer set
WF Windforce, unique Hydra Bow
White ring * Ring (white lettering) hacked item
Wisp Wisp Projector
YATM Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest, "Yet Another Tal's Mask", name
set Death Mask mocks how common it is
==============================================================================
OTHER TRADING TERMS
==============================================================================
Since slang that has to do with trading is only of interest to those who
actually do trade (realm players only and then only a group among them),
I've decided to separate slang that specifically relates to trading from
the main terminology list, as well.
(1s), (2s) etc.
This refers to the number of sockets available in an item, for example
(2s) would mean the item has two sockets.
#OS
Number of open sockets; people will use this term to ask for or advertize the
number of unused sockets the item for trade has.
clean
This means an item that has either not been socketed at all, or
of which all the sockets are empty; i.e. the buyer can still customize
it himself. Usually it means the item has not been personalized either,
although not everybody cares about that.
dirty
An item that has been socketed with something; usually the term "dirty"
implies that it was not a particularly common or desired way to socket it,
so the value is lower.
E/W/Eu/A
US East, US West, Europe, and Asia realms, used in trades (on forums) to
indicate where it is taking place. Adding the realm is obviously not necessary
when you're in a trading channel on Battlenet.
eth/ethereal
This is an ethereal version of the item with boosted damage/defense, but
it cannot be repaired. Usually this lowers the value, unless it is of no
concern on this item (value unchanged) or actually desirable (value raised).
Some items which are worth more when ethereal are mercenary pikes,
Skullder's Ire, high ED% cruel weapons, Hellslayer, Bartuc's Cut Throat
and Titan's Revenge.
FT
for trade.
HC/SC
Hardcore/softcore, often used in trades to indicate where it is taking place.
id
Identified. Many people prefer to trade for unidentified items (in
the case of sets/uniques) as it is widely believe those are less likely
to be duped (questionable). As such, identified items tend to go for
a little less.
ISO
In Search Of, used to indicate the trader is hoping to get these items
from others.
L/NL
Ladder/no ladder, often used in trades to indicate where it is taking place.
legit
Legitimate, by which the player usually means that it wasn't duped. Not that
it means a thing, because anybody would say that if they think it increases
their chances of striking a good deal.
NR = NT
No Reply = No Thanks, basically means the trader will not respond to your
offer unless he intends to accept it. Considered rude by some players.
NR = FO
No Reply = **** off, basically means the trader will not respond to your
offer unless he intends to accept it. Considered rude by all players.
PC
Price Check, means the trader isn't necessarily interested (yet) in
buying/selling but wishes to know what the item in question is worth.
unid
Unidentified. In the case of sets/uniques where the item type
leaves no doubt which item it is, unidentified items tend to be worth
a little more because many people believe they are less likely to be
dupes. This obviously doesn't work with items where you can't tell
what it is as long as it's not identified (e.g. unique rings), or
where the value greatly depends on how high a certain random stat on
it is.
up'd
Upgraded, as in made exceptional/elite through horadric cube recipes.
wug
A disgusting but often used term, wug stands for "what u got", and
is the lazy typer's way of asking you to make them an offer on one of
their items.
wuw
Similar to wug, this one means "what u want", and really isn't any better. You
can probably also imagine the exchanges that these two terms cause. "trade?"
"wug" "wuw" "wug?" "wuw!" "WUG n00b?!" "WUW WUW WUW!" (This also demonstrates
why I gave up on D2 trading.)
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the regulars of the GameFAQs'
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction board for their helpful advice regarding
the game. Many of them have contributed indirectly to the creation of this
FAQ.
Also, I would like to thank the following individuals specifically for
their suggestions for one or more of this FAQ's updates:
This likely final version of the Diablo 2 terminology guide is dedicated
to Kao Megura, a legend in GameFAQs FAQ writing who has been an inspiration
to many of us, and whose legacy will continue to help gamers and inspire new
authors for many years to come.
===========================================================================
REVISION HISTORY
===========================================================================
The latest version of this FAQ can always be found at GameFAQs
(http://www.gamefaqs.com). If you found this guide somewhere else and you are
looking for an update, I recommend you check GameFAQs to see if a newer
version exists than the one you have.
v1.0: (13 Nov '01) First release of the FAQ.
v1.01: (14 Nov '01) A few minor corrections and a few more terms added
in, courtesy of ScarWars27.
v1.02: (16 Nov '01) Added the terms Mule and Muling, as recommended by
Asmodeus, as well as SP and Players X.
v1.03: (27 Nov '01) Added the terms Closed, Open, Realm, TCP/IP,
Corruption Rift and Pindleskin.
v1.04: (01 Apr '02) The realms change quickly, and I've updated a few
outdated statements (particularly regarding Bloodruns and the SoJ
economy). Also added entries for bugged items/skill bug, dupes and
dupe deletion, as well chipped gems and colossus blades.
v1.05: (24 Apr '02) More additions! Following suggestions made by
Unknown PC, a handful of new terms have been added.
v1.06: (6 Jan '03) 20 new terms added and several updates done to
existing ones, to more accurately reflect the state of the realms near
the end of 2002. I am sorry to say things looked brighter in April 2002.
v1.07: (31 Mar '03) 10 new terms added: Constricting Ring, Havoc Mark,
Ironman, Ladder, Occy Ring, Quark, Trojan horse, v1.07 Valor, v1.08
uniques and Zeal bug. Updates to 4 existing terms: Bugged items, duping,
PvP and v1.10.
v1.08: (15 May '03) 8 new terms added: 3/20/20, 40/15, Annihulus, CCS,
dupe, skill synergy, unid and Zod bug.
v1.09: (12 Aug '03) Addition of the item nicknames and trading slang
chapters. Updated some information regarding the v1.10 beta.
v1.10: (21 Jun '04) Major update made necessary by the changes that D2 v1.10
brought to the game. Some new terms added and countless old ones updated to
better reflect which info is no longer valid now that v1.09 is a thing of the
past.
v1.11: (21 Sep '05) Updated contact info.
This guide is no longer supported and there will likely be no future updates.
===========================================================================
FINAL WORDS
===========================================================================
For questions, comments, suggestions, praise and criticism, please contact
the author, Sashanan, at sashanan.faqs@gmail.com. This e-mail address is for
FAQ feedback only. Any serious mail will be answered.
Note that I cannot answer any questions regarding gameplay. Mails on this
subject will be ignored. This is not because I'm too arrogant to share
my knowledge, but because Diablo 2 is a very large game in which many
different approaches can be successful. My opinions on how to play will
vary greatly from those of other veterans; besides, I haven't played
seriously in a long time and the game has evolved a lot since then. If you're
looking for gameplay advice, therefore, you're better off visiting a good
information site or discussion forum.
I recommend the following sites to help answer your D2 questions:
I also recommend the Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
discussion forums on GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com). Both have a large
population of experts who will be more than willing to give you their
opinion on how to play the game (if you ask nicely).
If you wish to do anything with this FAQ except for just reading it, check
the Disclaimer section at the top of the FAQ to find out what you can and
can't do.
Thank you for reading!
This document is a copyright of Peter "Sashanan" Butter, 2001-2005. All
rights reserved. Disclaimer at top of document.
