After experimenting a bit on single player I figured out a build that i really like, using which I was able to beat hell with the paladin using no potions (meaning zero health, mana, rejuv, antidote potions for myself or my mercenary) and dying zero times in the process. Not only did I beat every boss, but I also cleared every map, killing every monster (except maybe a few who took the den of evil approach and hid from me). As far as I know, to date I am the only person to ever complete this challenge. I used shrines and wells as they were available and when things got too rough used a town portal, but only to swap out some equipment pieces to add the needed damage reduction, resistance, or damage, correlating with the monster type who was beating me down.










Equipment used:

Helms:
Vamp gaze, 35ed/15ias jewel
Dream Demonhead
Shako, gul runed

Armors:
Enigma
Fortitude
Natalya's, BerUmBer runed
Gladiaton Bane, Ber runed

Weapons:
Azurewrath, shael runed
Heart of the Oak
Obedience on mercenary

Shields:
Gerke's Sanctuary, 10max/8str/8dex jewel
Spirit

Belts:
Thundergod's
String of Ears

Gloves:
Venom Grip

Boots:
Infernostrides
Natalya's

Rings:
Stone of Jordan
Nature's Peace
Dwarf Star
Rare 6% mana leech, 13str, 6all res
Rare 4% life leech, 6 all res

Amulets:
Mara's
Crescent Moon
Magic 21 damage reduced, 90mana

Inventory:
Torch
Annihilus
11 5all res small charm
random resistance small charms

Skills:
Zeal/Magic Hammer hybrid, and sometimes smite

Defiance Aura act 2 mercenary

Had a lot of fun doing it, and loved playing this game; been playing for about 20 years now, and it feels good to know I have learned it, and learned a thing or two. As far as the future, I might try to repeat this challenge with another character class, but in my opinion I beat diablo 2, which was supposed to be an infinite game, and I beat it without reaching level 99 or completing the holy grail item collection, which are two other possible ways of beating this game. Lastly, I completed this challenge using fairly inexpensive equipment, and if I wasn't able to have enigma, the ber runes, annihilus, torch, or the 5 all resist small charms, I believe it is still possible to repeat this achievement (it would take longer that's all). The low cost, low stats requirement of this build is appealing to me because I do not like bots or cheats, and, for instance, where was a legit player to collect all those sojs to get an anni charm? Oh, and just to reward me, one of the monsters dropped a Lo rune which I used to make that fortitude (somewhere in act 2, but I started the run without fortitude armor). Making this post I guess I just wanted to brag, but maybe on another level, to inspire people to give up cheats and hacks, and to relearn love for the game.

P.s. though the paladin did perfectly, my mercenary died about five times...

P.p.s. this thread is my post #888 just to make it that much better.



This post was edited by FlowingStream on Sep 17 2021 10:33pm