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3.1. Super Unique Monsters
3.2. Experience modifiers
4. Experience Calculations
4.1. Solo experience for characters under Level 25
4.2. Solo experience for characters over Level 25
4.3. Experience for characters over Level 75
4.4. Multiplayer experience
4.5. Party experience
4.6. Full example calculation
5. Leveling Techniques
5.1. Solo Parties
5.2. The 'classic' solo method
5.3. Maximum party experience
5.4. Final example
1. Revision History
______________________________________________________________________________
v1.4, 06/05/2001, 1:30pm
Why would anyone update a FAQ nine months after it's been posted in it's
"final" form? Because I re-read it and found some omissions, that's why. :)
Added info on Champions and Uniques, clarified the leveling examples with a
large party, reworded a few things, and revised my "what's missing" section.
v1.3, 09/14/2000, 2:10pm
Work got a lot more satisifying when I realized I could write FAQs and still
get paid for being here. Changed the format a couple of times, added another
extra subsection, and now we're ready for posting.
v1.2, 09/14/2000, 1:40pm
Getting close to finishing; reformatting text.
v1.1, 09/14/2000, 12:45pm
Redesigned the layout, included more information; so much for it just being
a good chart, eh.
v1.0, 09/14/2000, 11:30am
Finished compiling all the data and porting it to Excel; dumped a text
version sorted by act and then by level. Assembled the FAQ.
Welcome to the Diablo 2 Experience FAQ. Here you'll find a nice long list
with all of the monsters on it, listed by act and then by level. This is the
main feature; you can tell what gives the best exp in the area you're fighting
in.
Further down, you'll find the experience mathematics from D2. I highly
recommend becoming at least a little familiar with them, because they control
how much experience you will earn in-game.
And last, but hardly least, I go into my favorite leveling practices,
to help everyone get on the right track.
This FAQ will go through an update when the Diablo II Expansion Pack is
released - time to add all those glorious new Act 5 beasties.. :)
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 2.1: Things I'm still missing! |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
I'm still hunting data for other Named monsters - like Bishbosh, Blood Raven,
that kinda thing. The more I can add, the better.
This chart is organized by act, then by level, then by type. It should be
trivial to compare a Nightmare Act 4 Abyss Knight's level and exp against
that for a Vile Lancer in Hell Act 1 - and that's the sort of info that
becomes most important when deciding where you want to level. ;)
- Notice -
The Monster Chart is oversized, and takes up 97 columns. While this should
pose no problem in web browsers, or even for normal viewing in most
resolutions, your text editor of choice may truncate the lines. I recommend
turning word wrap -off- for this FAQ. Need a text editor? Try out UltraEdit,
findable at http://www.ultraedit.com . It's what I use. :)
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 3.1: Super Unique Monsters |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
Here are the values I know for Super Unique Monsters.
Name Level Experience Act
Normal Night Hell Normal Night Hell
Griswold 5 30 55 191 1797 9393 1
The Smith 10 35 60 181 1393 6948 1
Andariel 12 37 62 1281 9692 47439 1
And keep in mind that while Big D is still the most profitable monster to
kill, experience-wise, that dying five or six times is likely to erase any
gains you might have made.. :)
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 3.2: Experience Modifiers - Champions and Uniques |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
Champion and Unique monsters naturally give more experience than the their
normal counterparts. As such, the experience for these types of creatures
is multiplied.
Champions ==> Exp x3
Uniques ==> Exp x5
The base experience is what gets multipled. Modifications for the number of
players and party divisions happen afterwards.
D2 uses a variety of different experience formulae to determine how many
points you actually get. No matter what formula you're working with, a few
key points of information are necessary:
- Your level
- The monster's level
- The monster's base experience
Two of the three required bits of info are contained on the monster chart,
and your level is easy enough to check.
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 4.1: Solo experience for characters under Level 25 |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
Calculate the difference in levels between you and the monster. At this stage,
it doesn't matter whether a monster is above or below you.
Difference | % of exp
---------------------------------------
0 to 5 levels - 100%
6 levels - 80%
7 levels - 60%
8 levels - 40%
9 levels - 20%
10 or more levels - 5%
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 4.2: Solo experience for characters over Level 25 |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
Once you break level 25, it isn't a straight level calculation anymore.
If a monster is of equal or lower level than you, use this chart to find the
amount of experience you'll get.
Monster Level | % of exp
---------------------------------------
Higher than yours - * Ratio applies *
Equal to yours - 100%
5 under or less - 100%
6 under - 80%
7 under - 60%
8 under - 40%
9 under - 20%
10 or more under - 5%
If the monster is higher level than you, a ratio applies. This ratio is ..
Experience * (Player level/Monster level)
The experience you get determines which percentage of the monster's level
you currently are. For example, if you're Level 30 and fighting a Level 40
monster, you will get 75% of the experience that monster is worth.
Exp gained = Base Exp * (30 / 40)
= Base Exp * (.75)
= Base Exp * (75%) [to think of it another way]
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 4.3: Experience for characters over Level 75 |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
When you reach Level 75, experience penalties start getting used.
Penalty Listing
----------------------------------
Level 75 - experience cut to 1/2.
Level 80 - experience cut to 1/3.
Level 85 - experience cut to 1/4.
Level 90 - experience cut to 1/5.
These penalties are applied at the end of the experience calculation. These
aren't cumulative; reaching Level 80 doesn't mean your exp gets cut by half,
then by a full third more. You'll simply make one third of the experience
that you used to.
Monster experience and life will increase when more people are in the game.
The Exp and Hp are generated when a monster is activated - when you wander
into it's area and it starts coming after you. If a lot of people are in,
and you activate 20 monsters, and then everyone leaves, the monsters stay
just as strong as they used to be.
Monster Life = HP * (# of players in game)
So, with two people in, the monster has twice as much life; three people,
and it gets three times as much life; etc.
Multiplayer also has fun effects on the experience value of a monster.
Monster experience values don't just multiply for the number of players
involved. Experience follows this formula:
Monster exp = Base Exp + (# of players - 1)*((2/3)*Base Exp)
An Example -
With a five man game going, assume a monster has a base exp of 1000.
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 4.5: Party experience |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
When you're in a party, and other members of the party are in the same area,
you share experience with them. By 'same area' I mean 'same named area if you
were to hit Tab and check where you're at'.
The amount that you get after sharing is determiend by a party experience
calculation.
Exp gained = Monster's Exp * Exp fraction
Exp fraction = Your level / (total of all party member levels)
An Example -
A Level 40 character is playing with a Level 25, Level 35, Level 15, and a
Level 37. All of them are in the same area, so the formula applies.
.. you get a little more than one-fourth what the monster itself is worth.
Next, Experience is multiplied by another percentage that's on a sliding
scale, which is based on the difference between your levels - like single
player exp.
Difference | % of exp
---------------------------------------
0 to 5 levels - 100%
6 levels - 80%
7 levels - 60%
8 levels - 40%
9 levels - 20%
10 or more levels - 5%
Lastly, when you're in a party, the player who delivers the final blow
receives an experience bonus of 10% for that kill.
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 4.6: Full example calculation |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
Taking our five-man game, let's assume that all members are partied, and
that they are all in the same named area. The party comes across a single
monster with a base exp of 1000, and our Level 40 character gets the
killing blow. This monster will be Level 40 in order to make sure we get
100% of its experience.
Everyone wants to know what the best way to level is, but there's no
definitive method. The reason for this is because of the variable experience
gain.
If you really want to make your life better, you'll sit down with the chart,
do some of the exp calculations, and figure out what Act (and what area in
that Act) gives you the best return for your time.
Another great way to learn where to level is to compare and contrast. Go to,
say, Act 4 in Nightmare difficulty, hop on down to the River of Flame, and
kill for five minutes. Write down the exp you've gained. Next, go to Act 1
in Hell difficulty, skip over to the Cold Plains or Dark Wood, and go wild
for another five minutes. Write down your exp. See what the results are.
Keep in mind that how often you die in a given Act at a given difficulty is
very important when figuring out where to level; at anything over Normal, it's
better to fight a little bit longer in a lower Act than to risk a 5% or 10%
experience drop due to an untimely death.
That said, here are some leveling techniques that help you make the best use
of your time. :)
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 5.1: Solo parties |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
Get into a large public game or a large private game, and party up with at
least one person - and then go to different named areas. When you kill
something, you'll get full points, since the rest of your party isn't
around for the calculation to occur. Plus, being in a party lets you see
where everybody's at, so that you don't step on anyone's toes.
Unfortunately, you don't get the 10% exp bonus unless the other party members
are in the same named area as you. In addition, this system has a big
downside - you have to watch monster levels more closely due to the sliding
exp scale you're on. If you fight something too far out of compliance, you'll
get pathetic experience as a result.
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 5.2: The 'classic' solo method |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
To get the max exp per kill, go into a large public multiplayer game. Fight
monsters that are your level or higher. Higher level monsters will subject
you to the experience fraction calculation, but it's better than fighting
below your level, and getting 40% exp or less.
By staying solo, you get all the benefits of multiplayer exp (+ two thirds
experience per player) without having to share any of it. Also, killing high
level monsters may not be as much of an expeirence drain; the ratio is based
only off your level, instead of the base always being the same but you only
getting a portion of the total experience value.
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 5.3: Maximum party experience |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
Partying *seems* to have serious drawbacks - the percentage of exp being
based off what part of the total party level you represent being the biggest.
However, if parties are used properly, they can be the fastest way to level.
Form a big game (lots of people are always a necessity!) and form a party
with several other people. Have everyone go to the same named area, and then
have everybody split up in a different direction.
This is more fair when everyone's around the same level, since party
exp is distributed according to what percentage of the total levels you
contribute. However, even when the levels aren't near one another, there
are still benefits.
First, there's the 10% exp bonus for making a killing hit. This rocks the
house on big monsters, especially in 8 player games, where the monster's base
exp is cranked up.
Second, you get free exp from everyone else who's killing in your area.
While you may only get a percentage of the exp for what you kill, everyone
else is also giving up that same percentage of their kills to you.
Third, this is speedy - four people can rock an area much faster than one
can.
While one player in an 8 player game can max his exp by being solo, it takes
a relatively long time to clear, say, all of Lower Kurast on through
Travincal. By comparison, four people sweeping across the city can clear it in
a single pass, pooling exp and sharing it, and netting 10% bonuses on every
kill they make. Party members should only gang up when a monster is too strong
to take solo.
While the total experience gain is lower than that for the classic solo
method, you can clear things three to four times as rapidly. If you run out of
things to kill, start a new game. The net result is that while classic soloing
gets you the full experience for your kills, a distributed in-area party can
reach that same experience value in one third or one fourth the time, by
mass-clearing large areas in short order.
Example.
Say that a warrior is able to clear all of Act IV in two and a half hours,
dueling with each separate monster individually. The total experience comes
out to, for sake of argument, two million.
A party of six people of similar levels starts clearing Hell. Due to the there
being six people in the game, all of the monsters are worth 3.3x as much as
normal: (6 - 1) x (2/3) exp == 3.3 x exp = 330%
Each of these six people is of a similar level, and will pull in approximately
1.1mil per sweep of Hell. However, the six people can clear Hell in an hour,
instead of two and a half.
Assume that the party, and the single player, just do Hell over and over and
over.
==
After one hour ..
==
Single player: 400,000 exp
Six man party: 1,100,000 exp each
==
After three hours..
==
Single player: 2,200,000 exp
Six man party: 3,300,000 exp each
This is also inaccurate: Each person will have *more* exp than that, because
they'll be getting +10% off anything they kill.
Partied killing is the absolute fastest way to level, when it's done right.
I utilized this system to go from Level 45 to Level 48 (9.7mil exp) in five
hours time. That's enough experience to go from Level 1 to 30.
How do you get a party together that's of a similar level than you? Easy.
Create a game with level restrictions.
This also helps to keep high leveling duelers from invading your lower level
game.
.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| 5.4: Final example |
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------'
Assume our five man party runs into a pack of 1000 base exp creatures, all of
which are Level 40 (as above), and everyone engages one seperately for a kill.
All members are partied.
Experience = (Your monster, with bonus xp) + (pooled exp from the others)
= (1332) + (4 * 965)
= 1332 + 3860
= 5192 experience in the time it takes to kill one each.
6. Credits and Contact Info
______________________________________________________________________________
- Credits
Blizzard Entertainment, for some of the finest games around. A part of my
life has been devoted to Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo.
GameFAQs.com, for providing the best online gaming resource that I've ever
encountered. Without that site, where would we all be?
Daniel Meyer, for pointing out that I was missing information on Champions
and Uniques.
- Contact Info
Do you have something to add? A correction that needs to be made? A question
that wasn't answered? Send it over to . I'll try to get an
answer back in short order, and, if appropriate, I'll incorporate the change
into the next version of the FAQ, with full credit to the author.
(c) 2001, by Brian Kern
Limited reproduction rights as assigned.
