Ironman
Taking Diablo2 Hardcore to the limit...


What is a Diablo II "Ironman"?

I'd like to start off by saying that unlike what you may have heard, Ironman is NOT the grushed level 9 HC duels "to the death". Ironman is opposite to this both in being strictly pvm and by actually "staying alive".

The Ironman concept is simple: A team is composed of 8 new characters who will form a group that fights together, and survives together. This group's members cannot sustain in the game very long if they don't stick together, level up together and defend one another. The key here is team work. The uniquity of this team is that it must never wear any sort of equipment or hold charms of any sort in their inventories. The character will remain naked forever. What's more, the character must never be allowed to use offensive spells or summon any form of helping units along the way, aka the druid/necro summons, aka the assassin's shadow and the amazon's valkyrie. The characters will use the simple "Attack" starting skill they have throughout the game.

Which characters are basic for the survival of this team?

It is known that a team with a potential to succeed in both nightmare and hell mode must consist the following characters:

A barbarian
A sorceress
A druid
An Amazon
An Assassin
A paladin
The other 2 slots are free for negotiation


Stats recommended for investing?

Strength- You won't be using any gear, so nothing here.
Dexterity- I've heard some ideas about putting some dex points here for an assassin, but it is up to you.
Vitality- In my opinion, everything here, if you want to survive at all in hell naked.
Energy- No, No. No?... NO!

What is allowed and what is forbidden regarding skills & spells regarding the characters?

Amazon (Main field of expertise and role in the party: Tank)




Javaelin & Spear skills
Nothing here is allowed, nor can be used, since you will require a weapon to use any of the skills. Character must stay naked.

Bow & Crossbow skills
As said regarding J&S skills, this tree is left blank as well.

Passive & Magic skills
This is the only tree allowed to invest points at, since the skills in here are considered buffs.

Inner sight- A must have skill, this will reduce the monsters' defense, enabling our naked characters to perform powerful single attack hits even in hell.

Inner sight Info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Mana Cost: 5
Radius (yards) 13.3
Duration (seconds) 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84
Enemy Defense -X 40 65 90 115 140 165 190 215 260 305 350 395 440 485 530 575 635 695 755 815

Critical strike- Chance to do double physical damage. In nightmare and hell mode we will rely solely on the sorceress' enchant ability to inflict damage. Frankly, our physical damage will count for nothing, hence this skill is allowed yet useless.

Dodge- A must have passive trait to the amazon, providing her the "Tank" rank in the group. Grants a chance to move out of the way of a melee attack while standing still. This should be maxed as well as the other 2 passive dodge skills (evade and avoid).


Dodge info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Chance to Dodge Melee % 18 24 29 34 37 40 42 44 46 47 49 50 51 52 52 54 54 55 55 56

Avoid- A must have passive trait to the amazon, providing her the "Tank" rank in the group. Grants a chance to move out of the way of a missile attack while standing still. This should be maxed as well as the other 2 passive dodge skills (evade and dodge).


Avoid info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Chance to Dodge Missile % 24 31 36 41 45 48 50 52 54 55 57 58 60 61 61 63 63 64 64 65

Slow missiles- Not allowed.

Penetrate- Additional chance to hit. In short, some small amount of added AR. Not really needed based on the fact that enchant will provide enough ar and that conviction and inner sight will reduce the monsters' defense to a level where a lot of AR isn't needed. Allowed but not recommended.

Decoy- Not allowed.

Evade- A must have passive trait to the amazon, providing her the "Tank" rank in the group. Grants a chance to escape any attack while moving. This should be maxed as well as the other 2 passive dodge skills (avoid and dodge).

Valkyrie- Not allowed.

Pierce- A chance that your missile will continue through its victim. "What missiles?" Allowed but completely useless.

In the end, a good solid tank should possess these (hopefully maxed) abilities:
avoid,evade,dodge and inner sight.


Assassin (Main field of expertise and role in the party: Damage-Dealer(DD))



Martial Arts skills
Tree skill not allowed.

Trap skills
Tree skill not allowed.

Shadow Disciplines skills

Claw Mastery- Allowed but useless. Cannot use a claw.

Psychic Hammer- Not allowed.

Burst of Speed- Speed buff. Allowed.

Cloak of Shadows- Powerful debuff skill, used to further reduce the monster's defense and even provide semi-invisibility. Allowed. Level of skill investment - Moderate to high.

Weapon Block- Which weapons, exactly? Allowed but useless.

Fade- Most recommended, most powerful buff skill for an assassin to possess. Maximizing is essential. Reduced curse effect, +@ resistances. What more is needed?


Fade info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Mana Cost: 10
Curse Duration Reduced By % 47 53 58 62 65 67 69 71 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 80 81 81 82
Resist All +% 19 27 33 38 42 45 47 50 52 54 56 57 58 60 60 62 62 63 63 64
Duration in Seconds 120 132 144 156 168 180 192 204 216 228 240 252 264 276 288 300 312 324 336 348
Physical Resist +X% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Shadow Warrior- Not allowed.

Mind Blast- Not allowed.

Venom- This is a debative skill. Considered as buff but provides elemental damage of some sort. As far as I've seen, most opinions were that it is allowed. Provides poison to the assassin's attacks.


Venom info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Mana Cost: 12
Poison Damage over 0.4 Seconds 60-80 75-95 90-110 105-125 120-140 135-155 150-170 165-185 185-205 205-225 225-245 245-265 265-285 285-305 305-325 325-345 350-370 375-395 400-420 425-445
Duration in Seconds 120 124 128 132 136 140 144 148 152 156 160 164 168 172 176 180 184 188 192 196

Shadow Master- Not Allowed.

In the end, a good solid damage dealer should possess these (hopefully maxed) abilities:
Fade, Cloak of shadows, Venom & possible synergies.

Necromancer (Main field of expertise and role in the party: Debuffer)




Poison & Bones skill tree
Not allowed.

Summoning Skill tree
Not allowed.

Curses

Amplify Damage- +100% physical damage curse. A bit useful in normal difficulty, after you reach a3 normal, it starts to lose its effectiveness. Allowed. Invenestment - Minimal (1).

Dim Vision- Not allowed.

Weaken- Not allowed.

Iron Maiden- Not allowed.

Terror- Not allowed.

Confuse- Not allowed.

Life Tap- Not allowed.

Attract- Not allowed.

Decrepify- Effect: Target's Speed, Damage and Physical Resistance -50%. Allowed.

Lower Resist- Effect: Elemental attacks do more damage to the cursed monster. Allowed.


Lower Resist info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Mana Cost: 22
Radius (yards) 4.6 5.3 6 6.6 7.3 8 8.6 9.3 10 10.6 11.3 12 12.6 13.3 14 14.6 15.3 16 16.6 17.3
Duration (seconds) 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58
Resist All -% 31 37 41 44 47 49 51 52 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 61 61 62 62

In the end, a good solid debuffer should possess these (hopefully maxed) abilities:
Lower Resist, Decrepify, Amplify Damage.

Barbarian (Main field of expertise and role in the party: Buffer/Tank)




Combat Skills
Not allowed.

Combat Masteries

Sword,Axe,Mace,Polearm,Throwing,Spear Masteries- All allowed, all useless. No gear of any kind is allowed.

Increased Stamina- Allowed. Adds stamina. Useless

Increased Speed- Speed buffer. Allowed. Useless

Iron Skin- Defense buffer. However it only works well with equipment, since it is totally percentage based. So in our case, close to useless.

Natural Resistance- Barbarian's mini, passive version of the assassin's fade. A must-have skill to maximize.

Warcries

Howl- Not allowed.

Find Potion- Not allowed.

Shout- Defense buffer. Effect: Increases the defense of friendly units. Reference to the Iron Skin skill, this is the same opinion- next to useless as a skill, yet quite important as a synergy to Battle Orders, the barbarian's main and cruical buff. Assigned to 'max' this skill only when available skill points come up.

Taunt- Not allowed.

Battle Cry- Not allowed.

Find Item- Not allowed.

Battle Orders- The star-jeweled buff. Must-have, Must-max skill. Increases Mana, Life, and Stamina of party members.


Battler Orders info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Mana Cost: 7
Duration (seconds) 35 45 55 65 75 85 95 105 115 125 135 145 155 165 175 185 195 205 215 225
Stamina/Life/Mana Increase % 35 38 41 44 47 50 53 56 59 62 65 68 71 74 77 80 83 86 89 92

Grim Ward- Not allowed.

War Cry- Not allowed.

Battle Command- Passive Effect: Temporarily increases the skills of party members by 1. Reference to the Shout skill- should be maxed last with Shout.

In the end, a good solid tank/buffer should possess these (hopefully maxed) abilities:
Battle orders, Natural resistance, Battle Command & Shout as synergies (last).

Sorceress (Main field of expertise and role in the party: Buffer)




Cold skills
Not allowed.

Lightning skills
Not allowed/useless (such as energy shield, which is actually allowed).

Fire skills

Fire Bolt- Not allowed.

Warmth- Mana rejuvinator & Synergy to the main buff - Enchant. Must-Max skill.


Warmth info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
% 30 42 54 66 78 90 102 114 126 138 150 162 174 186 198 210 222 234 246 258

Inferno- Not allowed.

Blaze- Not allowed.

Fireball- Not allowed.

Fire wall- Not allowed.

Enchant- Main buff skill. Allowed. The whole point for the sorceress. This will provide enough ar/fire damage to our simple attack skill to damage hell monsters/bosses. Must-max, and as soon as possible.


Enchant info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Mana Cost 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44
Damage 8-10 10-13 11-16 13-19 15-21 16-24 18-27 20-29 23-34 27-39 31-44 35-49 39-54 43-59 46-64 50-69 56-76 62-83 68-90 74-97
Duration (seconds) 144 168 192 216 240 264 288 312 336 360 384 408 432 456 480 504 528 552 576 600
Attack Rating +% 20% 29% 38% 47% 56% 65% 74% 83% 92% 101% 110% 119% 128% 137% 146% 155% 164% 173% 182% 191%

Meteor- Not allowed.

Fire Mastery- Increases the damage done by your fire spells. This is another must-have passive skill for enhancing the Enchant skill. More important than Warmth although Warmth is a direct synergy.


Fire Mastery Info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Fire Damage Increase % 30 37 44 51 58 65 72 79 86 93 100 107 114 121 128 135 142 149 156 163

Hydra- Not allowed.

In the end, a good solid buffer should possess these (hopefully maxed) abilities:
Enchant, Fire Mastery, Warmth.

Druid (Main field of expertise and role in the party: Buffer)




Elemental Skills
Everything is forbidden in this tree skill except for:

Cyclone Armor- Druid's version to assassin's fade / barbarian's natural resistance. A must-have skill to max.


Cyclone Armor info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Mana Cost 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Damage Absorbed 40 52 64 76 88 100 112 124 136 148 160 172 184 196 208 220 232 244 256 268

Twister,Tornado,Hurricane- Synergies of Cyclone Armor. ALLOWED TO SKILL BUT NEVER TO USE. If you want your Cyclone Armor to pack a little extra punch, and you have the skill points for it, go for it. I wouldn't recommend more than 1 point in each, if at all.

Shapeshifting Skills

Werewolf- Buff/Transformation skill. Allowed. Imo, very important to have. Remember that you are allowed to use the werewolf transformation skill but under no circumstances to use its special abilities such as feral rage, rabies and fury!


Werewolf info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Mana Cost: 15
Duration: 40 Seconds
Attack Speed +% 20 28 35 40 45 48 51 53 56 57 59 61 62 63 64 66 66 67 68 68
Attack Rating +% 50 65 80 95 110 125 140 155 170 185 200 215 230 245 260 275 290 305 320 335
Life +25%
Stamina: +25%

Lycantrophy- Passive buff to the Werewolf self-buff. Allowed. Imo, important to have.

Werebear- Reference to Werewolf. Lycantrophy adds to this transformation as well. Allowed, yet in our case, werewolf>werebear, simply because it offers more life, whilst werebear offers more overall defense, which is reliant on equipment in normal situations. Same warning here regarding special abilities.

Maul,Feral Rage,Fire Claws,Rabies,Shock Wave,Hunger,Fury- Not allowed.

Summoning Skills

Raven- Not allowed.

Poison Creeper- Not allowed. Can be allowed to add 1 point if only to reach Carrion Vine.

Oak Sage- Druid's main contribution to the pack. Must-have 1st to max skill. Adds mass amount of life.


Oak sage info:
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Mana Cost 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
Life 60 78 96 114 132 150 168 186 204 222 240 258 276 294 312 330 348 366 384 402
Life +% 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125
Radius X Yards 20 21.3 22.6 24 25.3 26.6 28 29.3 30.6 32 33.3 34.6 36 37.3 38.6 40 41.3 42.6 44 45.3


Summon Spirit/Dire Wolf- Not allowed.

Carrion Vine- Allowed. Helpful summon that replenishes the Druid's life. Taken into your
own consideration, druid player.

Spirit of Barbs/Heart of Wolverine- Buff summons. Allowed. Not recommended compared to what the Oak Sage offers.

Solar Creeper- Same as Carrion Vine, only regarding mana instead. Allowed. Again, taken to your own consideration, Druid player.

Summoned Grizzly- Not allowed.

In the end, a good solid buffer should possess these (hopefully maxed) abilities:
Oak Sage, Werewolf, Lycantrophy, Cyclone Armor, Carrion Vine, and synergies.

Paladin (Main field of expertise and role in the party: Buffer/Debuffer)




Combat Skills
Not allowed/Useless (like Holy Shield which is actually allowed).

Offensive Skills

Might- Effect: Increases maximum physical damage dealt by party members. Already discussed about the issue of physical damage. Hence allowed yet useless.

Holy Fire- Effect: Periodically does Fire damage to nearby enemies. Solo-aura buff. We will use much larger-scale ones. Allowed but pretty useless.

Thorns- Effect: Enemies take damage when they cause melee damage to party members. Allowed but useless.

Blessed Aim- Effect: Increases Attack Rating. We've talked about the contribution of AR from Enchant and deemed it sufficient. More important auras will play part in this group. Allowed.

Concentration- Effect: Reduces the chance that your attacks will be interrupted. Increased melee damage is again, not what we're after. Allowed.

Holy Freeze- Effect: Periodically slows enemies nearby. Mimic of Holy Fire, therefore same reference. Allowed.

Holy Shock- Effect: Periodically does Lightning damage to enemies within a radius. Third twin to the Holy-Damage auras. Same reference. Allowed.

Sanctuary- Effect: Damages and does knockback to the Undead. Ignores Physical Resistances and Immunities Of Undead Monsters. Not allowed.

Fanaticism- Effect: Increases your Attack Rate and Attack Rating. Increases damage for all party members. Not recommended, as our paladins will play in a much more defensive or a much more debuffing manner.

Conviction- Effect: Reduces enemy Defense and the Resistances of monsters. Main debuffing aura. Must-have skill. Reduces the defense so we can hit, and the resistances to cut down immunities and other monsters strong enough to resist our Enchanting power. Allowed.

Defensive Auras

Prayer- Effect: Heals all party members. There are better auras than this. Allowed.

Resist Fire/Cold/Lightning- These are single-res buffing skills. I recommend that by taking 2-3 paladins in the party, that either one takes up at least 1 single-res aura to max, then use when needed, mainly against main act bosses. Allowed.

Defiance- Effect: Boosts the Defense of all party members. Defense means nothing to a naked char. Allowed.

Cleansing- Effect: Reduces Poison and Curse duration and provides heal for all party members. This is Prayer's daddy. Very powerful, very recommended. Allowed.

Vigor- Effect: Increases Speed, Stamina, and Stamina recovery for all party members. Who cares really? Allowed.

Meditation- Effect: Boosts Mana recovery for all party members. We don't really care.. Allowed.

Redemption- Effect: Periodically attempts to redeem corpses for Health and Mana. 1 point wonder skill. A hearty recommendation for any paladin, buffing or debuffing.

Salvation- Effect: Increases all Elemental resistances for all party members. Must-have skill for a buffer paladin. Max this first.

Now there are two ways the Paladin branches- Buffer and Debuffer:

1.In the end, a good solid buffer should possess these (hopefully maxed) abilities:
Salvation, 1-2 single-res auras (priority to fire/lightning, from personal experience), Cleansing and synergies.

2.In the end, a good solid debuffer should possess these (hopefully maxed) abilities:
Conviction, 1-2 single-res auras (priority to fire/lightning, from personal experience), Cleansing and synergies.


Where should I level up at?

Recommended settings will be:
Levels 1-15 A1 Norm (May have to do a few trist runs)
Levels 16-25 A2 Norm (May have to do a few tomb runs)
Levels 26-35 A3 Norm (May have to do a few kurast bazaar runs)
Levels 35-45 A4 Norm (Chaos runs)
Levels 45-50 A5 Norm (Baal runs)

By the time you reach level 50, you will have your own setups and acknowledge the group dynamics, realizing the full necessity of team work and know where to go from there, according to your own preferences.

What is the goal of Ironman?

Finishing the game in the normal, nightmare and hell modes without any gear/charms ever used.

How come I've never heard of it?

Ironman is an old concept that vanished some years ago, and now is quite unknown to the majority of the Diablo 2 community.

Wait, wait! I have a few more questions..

Anyone wishing to join on this epic adventure, or has any interest in it, is free to pm me/post your questions here for further advice & question answering.
I know I didn't discover America with this but I thought this old fire in D2 should be rekindled and even if this reached a few players that haven't heard of this type of gameplay before, I've done my part.

Special Thanks To...
-Me! For my tolerance of writing this entire thing for the past 3.5 hours
-The Arreat Summit for providing the skill info's & pics
-You! Yea, you! For reading this and making your own comment.

Regards, Synonym

AWESOME!

So what is the name for lvl 9 duels to death?

I have no idea, but so many people nowadays call them Ironman.. I played d2 for 8-9 years and back when I first started the game online, this was ironman. I guess people just forgot about this type of gameplay

ironman pvp

i played d2 for that long too, however, online (aka cbn) from early 1.09 (though i played on previous patches in single ^^)



Thanks!

Suppose you come across say, a Griffon's Eye or something else in that category (including high runes).

Now, would you, as a team, leave it there on the ground?

Can you resist the temptation to pick it up and store it on another char?

This post was edited by Faelwen on Oct 13 2009 06:06am

Except of course that this concept isn't D2 ironman any more than the lvl 9 pvp stuff.



Your version is a very non-standard variation, and should not be treated as the accepted Irnoman rules for D2. There are minor variations to the above, but that is pretty much the essence of it.

This post was edited by AyeCaramba on Oct 13 2009 06:09am