There are three different difficulties in Diablo II: Normal, Nightmare and Hell. Upon completing Normal, the player then has the option to continue on to Nightmare, and once Nightmare is finished, Hell opens up.
If playing classic Diablo II, this happens when Diablo is defeated. If playing Lord of Destruction, Baal must be killed to unlock the next difficulty.
Changes[]
Each difficulty plays through the same acts, areas, quests and monsters, but with changes to make it harder for the player and to adjust the areas for higher level characters. A player might be around lvl 40 when defeating Baal in Normal, so upon entering Act 1 in Nightmare he will still be lvl 40. In Normal Difficulty, the Fallen encountered in the Blood Moor are Level 1, so their level is increased in Nightmare to match the player.
Normal[]
- Hirelings and Summons deal 50% damage to Act bosses.
- Titles for Completion: Slayer (Normal); Destroyer (Hardcore)
Nightmare[]
- Increased monster levels and stats (hit points, defense, damage, etc.)
- Monster resists are often buffed, making them more resilient to damage.
- Player and Hireling resistances are reduced by 40.
- Death results in a loss of 5% of the experience required to reach the next level. Retrieving your corpse restores 75% of the lost experience.
- Hirelings and Summons deal 35% damage to Act bosses.
- Duration of Freezing and Chilling effects and AI-affecting curses (Dim Vision, Confuse, Attract) are reduced by 1/2.
- Life and Mana Leech effects are reduced by 1/2.
- Static Field cannot reduce a monster's health below 33%.
- Many area maps are increased in size.
- Act V has additional "Guest Monsters" from other acts to increase the difficulty.
- Titles for Completion: Champion (Normal); Conqueror (Hardcore)
Hell[]
- Further increased monster levels and stats.
- Nearly all monsters have at least one Immunity. For a complete list, see Immune Monsters.
- Player and Hireling resistances are reduced by an additional 60, for a total of -100.
- Death results in a loss of 10% of the experience required to reach the next level. Retrieving your corpse restores 75% of the lost experience.
- Hirelings and Summons deal 25% damage to Act bosses.
- Duration of Freezing and Chilling effects and AI-affecting curses are reduced by 3/4.
- Life and Mana Leech effects are reduced by 2/3.
- Static Field cannot reduce a monster's health below 50%.
- Many area maps are increased in size.
- Act V has additional "Guest Monsters" from other acts to increase the difficulty.
- Titles for Completion: Patriarch or Matriarch (Normal); Guardian (Hardcore)
In addition, there are two events that only occur in Hell Difficulty and on Ladder:
- Uber Diablo: A more powerful version of Diablo that randomly spawns in the world. Drops an Annihilus. Also known as DClone.
- Pandemonium Event: A secret area that can be unlocked where the player fights all three Prime Evils in extremely powerful versions. The last of them to die drops a Hellfire Torch. Also known as Chaos Tristram.