Diablo 2 Resurrected has 3 levels of difficulty each with a few settings that spread over varying differences. In this guide, we walk through every level of difficulty you can play, what are the settings required for the same, and finally, all the differences among the difficulties. You can find them mentioned below.

Diablo 2 Resurrected Difficulty Levels, Settings, and Differences

Table of Contents

The Three levels of Difficulty in Diablo 2 Resurrected are Normal, Nightmare and Hell. These can’t be set to your preference if you’re playing the game the first time. The differences between each of these reflect increased health damages to the player as well as other aspects like skill effectiveness and enemy damage. In addition to the difficulty levels, there’s an additional mode of playing Diablo 2 Resurrected which is the Hardcore mode. This is the one that’s going to drive you to insanity. We’ll explain all about it in this guide. Here’s more on the Difficulty Levels, their settings, and differences in Diablo 2 Resurrected.

Normal Difficulty in Diablo 2 Resurrected

The Normal Difficulty is where you begin and attempt to complete the game by understanding what the game will demand in further difficulty levels. Since all three levels follow the same storyline, path, and quests, all you have to do in Normal Difficulty is play the game and understand the plot. Here, you’ll have to defeat Diablo and Baal in act 5 after which, you can start a new game run and attempt a higher difficulty.

Nightmare Difficulty in Diablo 2 Resurrected

The Nightmare Difficulty is the exact same game, with some modifications since the level is now no longer on the basic difficulty. You’ll face stronger enemies with increased health that deal more damage among other increased challenging situations. Remember, you will have to complete the game on Normal before you can play Nightmare. Here are all the differences between Normal and Nightmare Difficulty.

Hell Difficulty in Diablo 2 Resurrected

The Hell Difficulty level works to chaperone the nightmare difficulty to the limit. Here are all the differences between nightmare and hell difficulty levels in Diablo 2: Resurrected.

  • To unlock the Hell difficulty, you have to complete the game by defeating Baal in act 5 on Nightmare difficulty.
  • Once you start a new game, you can select the Hell difficulty.
  • If you felt act 5 on Nightmare was a task and a half, wait until you encounter the might of act 5 on Hell.
  • The enemies spawning on Hell are more than Nightmare.
  • These enemies appear more frequently and will take considerably more to kill compared to Nightmare.
  • Moreover, dying in Hell causes a massive 10% loss of experience.
  • Similar to the Nightmare difficulty, you can retrieve your corpse and get 75% of the lost experience points back.
  • As iterated earlier, doing Corpse Runs really benefits you here and in Hell, it’s quintessential to go for these when you die.
  • In addition to buffs, almost all monsters are immune to a given element, which may increase to more elements depending on the monster.
  • This simply means you can no longer rely on strong elemental builds to counter enemies.
  • Your creatures and mercenaries take a massive hit with their immunities, losing out a total of 100 resistance points.
  • Moreover, your Character too loses out on 100 resistance points as well. This is a 60 point additional reduction from nightmare’s 40.
  • To add to this, the creatures and mercenaries now deal 25%(1/4th) of their normal damage to story bosses at the end of the act.
  • Similarly, Health and Mana drain properties lose 25% of their strength on skills and items.
  • Furthermore, status effects like Chill or Freeze that make enemies slow for a given timeframe, have their time reduced to 25% of their total duration.
  • Like Nightmare, for those with a strong Sorceress build, your Static Field spell now won’t reduce enemy health under 50%.  This is an additional 17% hit compared to Nightmare.
  • However, with all these difficulties, the rewards returned in Hell are higher.
  • Chaos Runs in Hell yields a huge loot that benefits you in-game should you beat Diablo.

Hardcore Mode Difficulty in Diablo 2 Resurrected

If you wish to enter a realm of anguish, frustration and push the limits of your tolerance- you may select the Hardcore mode in Diablo 2: Resurrected. What this mode basically does is, let you suffer and make you live to regret it. Here’s more about the Hardcore Mode.

  • You can choose to play the Hardcore mode when selecting your character.

  • At the bottom right of the screen lies the Hardcore Mode skull.

  • You may select this to begin your pursuit of challenges in D2R.

  • The Hardcore mode keeps all storylines, locations, items, potions, bosses, and other attributes preserved based on the difficulty you select.

  • However, the one, single most significant catch is this:

  • ONCE YOU DIE, YOU DIE!

  • Blizzard too has very specifically, explicitly, rather humorously stated this in the Diablo 2 Resurrected manual.

  • As we’ve iterated above, you may choose to play Hardcore if you hold nothing dear and can contain extreme levels of frustration.

  • However, after a few dances with the devil- you’ll realize the Hardcore mode is the only challenge you’ll want to overcome.

  • We strongly recommend players refrain from attempting the Hardcore mode unless they’ve gotten through the Hell difficulty a couple of times or more.

That’s all there is to all the difficulty levels, their settings, and differences in Diablo 2 Resurrected. We hope this guide was of assistance to you. At GamerTweak, we constantly update our Diablo 2 Resurrected section to keep you up-to-date with the game. This includes guides for quests like the Sisters to the Slaughter, Tips, and Tricks for things like Chaos Runs, and even Cheat enablers and trainers for Diablo 2 Resurrected among much more.