A guide for team reset speed runs, balancing speed with a chill atmosphere and no pressure. Written by old men, for dads.
Intro
Hi there :)
I’m an old man. I’ve done enough reset team runs in the past to share a few tips for beginners. This guide should get you ~1 hour late compared to trained speedrun teams, so don’t take it as an optimal one but rather as my personal preference in terms of chill/speed balance. Also, I don’t know everything, so please share your tips and tricks in the comments.
I’ll try to write the guide in a noob-friendly way, but please feel free to add definitions or ask questions in the comments too. This is a nice community where everyone can help :)
Context
8 players
Softcore
Lvl 1 to Hell Baal dead
Chill atmosphere, no pressure
Playable on reset date (not too reliant on creating new games when queue times might be long)
Small add: join our EU team on the 23rd :)
General Tips
I’m going to insist on people being focused. This isn’t the most chilled thing I can say to start with, and sorry for that, but you’ll see it helps a lot! As someone who has been the telesorc on a lazy team, … just, be nice with her :)
Define your role before the game starts
Are you in Group B or Group C (useful for Act 2 and Act 5, read below)
Sit comfortably
Have water at hand
Have a 5-minute or 10-minute break between each mode (Normal, Nightmare, Hell). It helps :)
One person should lead the team on voice chat, and the team should always try to be ready and react to the leader. I know this sounds strict, but it saves a lot of time to have the necro join the teleporter when we yell heeeeeeeeelp!
One person should play a sorc that focuses on teleport. This sorc is the key to fast runs, so she should know the game reasonably well, invest her resources into teleporting well, and the group should give her any useful gear found.
The rest of the team is pretty flexible, but you will be fine with something like this:
2 to 3 damage dealers, ideally with at least one non-fire one (like druid, assassin, and a second sorc)
1+ summoners (like necro)
2 paladins (for conviction + salvation), though one can be enough
1 BO barb
The Sorceress 1 (teleport) and Assassin 1 (dps) are the most difficult roles to play
And this is personal preference, but I’ll share it too: all loot goes to telesorc, and is shared randomly after Hell Baal is killed
== Normal ==
‘'’Imo, the normal mode is the hardest. You have to be focused or you can easily lose 1+ hour here.’’’
’'’General tips’’’
Always have blue scrolls (to create teleport portals) with you
Sell almost everything to buy mana pots
Spam your spells, drink pots, a lot, really, a lot. Don’t save mana, save gold for pots.
If you don’t know what to do, feel free to ask, this is a game not a job :p
You might need fire resist and lightning resist. Feel free to socket resistances into a crappy helm or shield.
Don’t lose time on optimization: you can do all this without gear.
’'’Act 1 (~30 min)’’’
’'’Step 1’’’
Paladin 1 runs to Stony Field and makes a TP (use blue scroll) at the waypoint. Finding Rakanishu is useful, just remember where you saw him, we’ll go there later.
Assassin 1 runs to Black Marsh and makes a TP (use blue scroll) at the waypoint. Try to find Cain’s scroll along the way (on Black Marsh).
While they do that, everyone else clears the Den of Evil.
’'’Step 2’’’
Everyone (but the assassin) goes to Stony Field and rescues Cain.
Assassin 1 runs to Countess Tower and leaves a TP.
’'’Step 3’’’
Everyone (but the assassin) goes to Countess Tower and clears it (skip small monsters, only kill champions).
Assassin 1 runs to Outer Cloister and leaves a TP. Feel free to go up to Andariel if you can, but no problem if you need help before that.
’'’Step 4’’’
Servers stable: make a new game and do Trist + Countess in 2 groups.
Servers unstable: all run to Andariel.
’'’Extra points if you:’’’
Find Wirt’s leg and keep it with you (we’ll need it later)
Found 10 FCR rings and gave it to the telesorc
’'’If you did this correctly, you should have killed Andariel easily and you are now in Act 2. Well played!’’’
’'’Act 2 (~25 min)’’’
’'’Our goal in Act 2 is to get the telesorc to level 18 asap. That is why it is better (if servers are stable) to do Countess runs and Tristruns in Act 1. But fear not: you can also get XP in Act 2!’’’
’'’Step 1’’’
Split the group into 3 parts, A, B, and C.
Group A (Assassin 1 + Sorceress 1) runs to Far Oasis WP and gets the amulet, killing beetles, champions, and elites along the way. When you see the Ancient Tunnels, leave a TP there.
Group B goes and finds the Horadric Cube.
Group C kills Radament (in sewers).
’'’Having sorc + sin alone is ideal in terms of XP, but if you need help, ask.’’’
’'’Step 2’’’
Everyone (but Sorceress 1) farms Ancient Tunnels for XP.
While Sorceress 1 looks for the Horadric Staff.
Then, Assassin 1 and/or Sorceress 1 runs to the Arcane Sanctuary.
’'’Step 3’’’
Sorceress 1 teleports to the Summoner (buy pots, drink pots).
Everyone kills the Summoner.
Everyone clears the Tomb.
Everyone kills Duriel.
’'’Extra points if:’’’
Those who hired a mercenary wrote which aura they took in the chat so we don’t have 8 times the same merc!
’'’This was the hard part of playing Diablo 2. Now, everything is going to be easy.’’’
’'’Act 3 (~20 min)’’’
’'’Goal: let the sorc TP, help her when she needs help, and get XP in the meantime.’’’
’'’Quick reminder of the locations for the sorc:’’’
For Khalim’s Eye: Spider Forest (WP) → Spider Cavern (WP)
For Khalim’s Brain: Flayer Jungle (WP) → Flayer Dungeon
For Khalim’s Heart: Kurast Bazaar (WP) → Sewers
For Khalim’s Flail: Travincal (WP)
’'’Step 1’’’
Sorceress 1 teleports to Organs (Spider Forest).
Assassin 1 stays next to the portals and joins Sorceress 1 every time she drops a TP (to kill elite groups or to clear an area).
Everyone else clears extra Tombs for XP.
’'’Step 2’’’
As a team, kill Travincal, kill Mephisto (you should be around level 19ish).
Note that you can spawn Travincal in P1 in a new game and have the team join after to make things easier. This requires a stable server though.
’'’Act 4 (~10 min)’’’
Assassin 1 runs to Izual and asks for help (whole team joins).
Sorceress 1 teleports to Chaos Sanctuary.
Whole team joins Sorceress 1 for Diablo.
’'’Act 5 (~20 min)’’’
’'’Remember to feed the Sorceress 1 with gear, pots, and gold when she asks for it.’’’
’'’Step 1’’’
Sorceress 1 teleports to the key quests.
The team joins when she is asked to.
Remember that you can kill and spawn Ancients in P1 if needed (normally you don’t need that).
Kill Baal.
’'’Step 2’’’
Go to Act 1 and open the Cow Level.
Clear it. Get 4 socket weapons for Spirit / Insight / whatever.
’'’Step 3’’’
Create new game.
Group B Baal runs with Sorceress 1.
Group C Cow runs with Assassin 1.
’'’Rinse and repeat until level ~35 (less if faster, more is easier).’’’
== Nightmare Mode ==
You don’t need to do anything fancy. Just let the sorc TP in player 1 (in another game), help her when she asks for help, and give her Battle Order from the Barbarian.
’'’Act 1’’’
In game 1 (nightmare), Sorceress 1 teleports.
In game 2 (nightmare), everyone goes and gets Wirt’s leg and stops to join the sorc as soon as she asks for it.
’'’Act 2’’’
The team leaves for a minute so the Sorceress 1 can teleport in player 1.
Sorceress 1 teleports to the altar (amulet) but waits for the team.
Everyone joins, builds staff, clears Summoner.
Kill Duriel.
’'’Act 3’’’
Sorceress 1 teleports.
Everyone gets
XP (Andariel, Countess, …) and joins when asked to.
’'’Act 4 & 5’’’
Sorceress 1 teleports.
Everyone joins when asked to.
Nightmare Cows.
== Hell Mode ==
Same thing, just let the sorc TP in P1 and don’t hesitate to XP in another game, for example in Nightmare Chaos or Baal runs. Just, be there for her when she asks for help. Be a good teammate :)
’'’That’s it. Well played.’’’
== What skill should I level? ==
‘'’Sorceress 1 aka Telesorc’’’
Max teleport, have points in Static to help the team.
You don’t need a strong source of damage, but you can use Nova or Cold Nova.
43 str, 50 energy, everything else in Vitality.
’'’Assassin 1’’’
You are the DPS: invest in Fireblast and Wake of Fire.
Need mana? Drink pots. This is stupid but it works.
’'’Druid (DPS)’’’
Use the Fissure skill, level its synergies too.
’'’Barbarian’’’
Battle Orders is why you are here, but some do the early game with leap and respec for BO.
’'’Necromancer’’’
Some teams play with a bone necro, but I like to have a summoner. It makes everything easier for everyone. So, go skellies, investing points equally between Summon Skeleton Warrior and its Mastery.
Remember to have curses and use them, mostly Lower Resist that helps your team A LOT.
’'’Paladins’’’
You be auras. Use Holy Bolt at the beginning then respec for Conviction or Salvation.
’'’Amazon’’’
I tend to not use them so feel free to help in the comments :p
== Conclusion ==
I hope this helps someone one day. Feel free to share tips, correct mistakes, and hf!