Diablo 2 Tips (Ethereal, Annihilus, Nihlathak, Nightmare)


As with other titles, each item you come across in Diablo 2 is essential to your gameplay. When you progress to higher levels, you come across special objects, including Ethereal items, which you may pick due to their various uses.

So, why is Ethereal good in Diablo 2? According to the items you pick, Ethereal adds a great bonus to your weapons’ damage and armor’s defense. Although they are rare, occurring at only a 5% chance out of the regular items, they will always come in handy during gameplay.

The only challenge is their low durability, but, luckily, you can counter this with the Zod Rune. Also, mercenaries best wield Ethereals since their weapons hardly lose durability; hence, you will have a better shot at defeating your enemies.

When playing Diablo, you will notice that every stage has a special item. Therefore, to learn more about some of these special items, is vitally important.Occasionally, while playing D2, you may bump into Ethereal.

You will notice that they stand out from other regular objects you find in the game. Avid gamers will often get excited about them; therefore, in this first segment, I will talk about their essence and how they work.

Having Ethereal adds an impressive bonus to your damage and defense, depending on the item you select. The best feature is that it increases the damage by 50% and adds the armor’s defense by 50%, despite it only having a 5% chance of being found.

Therefore, your shield will always serve you if it is Ethereal, especially if you don’t suffer a lot of hits. Additionally, these objects are self-repairing unless they break, and you can also use them to make Rune Words. Lastly, Ethereal with Zod Rune will protect you from any impact.

You will find Ethereal in Diablo 2 in about 5% of the items. They are primarily transparent inventory items and usually fall into one of these groups; socketed, rare, magical, or unique. They are typically item flags representing weapons or armor. Note that any item can get this status as long as it has durability.

Essentially, some items are never Ethereal, like bows, rings, amulets, bolts, sets, phase blades, and other outstanding objects with an indestructible tag. Once something is Ethereal, it adds the player bonuses on damages and defense according to the item. However, the item’s durability and needs reduce, and it gets tasking to get repairs the standard way.

The best feature of Ethereal is the bonuses you get, like 50% damages on weapons and the same amount on armor defense. You can use it countless times when you have it on your armor as long as you don’t get too many hits. If you go for improved defense, it will come in handy since it increases your defense by 50%.

You will always have Ethereal with complete durability, a different case from other magical or rare items. Still, the durability is typically half the usual, which brings us to their downside; reduced durability, and inability to repair constantly.

Generally, the objects have 45% less toughness; thus, they still won’t be long-lasting regardless of Ethereal causing the greatest damage. You will notice that their durability is only half while the agility and power fall by 10. Consequently, the value of the items will also drop by more than 75%.

On the positive, Ethereal can self-repair, although this quality will also likely fail when the object breaks, for which the hardiness will stagnate at 0. On the contrary, throwing weapons will retain their durability since they keep increasing in number.

Ethereal will still break despite the self-repairing advantage, and there is no effective remedy, not even the Horadric Cube. Once damaged, it means that you will either destroy or sell them. Alternatively, you can use the Ethereal to create Rune Words, and the plus is that you can reverse the aspect lack of durability with Zod Rune.

This Zod rune is one of the few ways to convert Ethereal to ordinary objects with their usual properties. However, this process has bugs and will only be practical if you set it up before the object’s durability drops to 0. Otherwise, you will not regain the initial stats.

Ethereal is perfect for mercenaries because their weapons hardly lose durability. The merc will have the advantage of additional defense, more power, and indefinite use of the item. It also helps that regardless of the slashed Ethereal pricing, you can still sell them for gold to purchase other items in the game. Remember that the Ethereal will disappear and will never resurface for you to buy them back.

How To Get Annihilus in Diablo 2

Annihilus is the second item in Diablo 2 that provides about a 10% bonus in the game. Ondal’s Wisdom is the other item that serves the same purpose. If you have constantly raked your brain for answers about the Annihilus charm, here are the answers you seek.

The only way to get Annihilus in D2 is to subdue Uber Diablo or its clone when you get to level 70. At this point, the charm will drop, giving you only one charm in your inventory. With this equipment, you get the added advantage of gaining experience.

The other sole item that serves this purpose is Ondal’s Wisdom, making the charm quite prestigious. The Annihilus and Ondal’s Wisdom guarantee a 5-10% bonus, making them a great asset for your gameplay.

Diablo 2’s Annihilus is an essential and exclusive item to have when playing the game. As is the case with Wirt’s leg, you can only acquire one at a time in the inventory. Many gamers state that it is tasking to find it, which makes it even more fun to pursue. It gets exciting, and you will need a lot of game time to get to level 70 to retrieve it. Out of all the special objects in D2, the Annihilus stands as one of the most thrilling.

Your sole task is to defeat Uber Diablo or the clone to find this item. It will be attainable once you get to level 70. Once you complete the mission, the Annihilus will drop to you. It will fall from Uber Diablo at the Battle.net realms. If you have this in your register, you will have the privilege of having one out of two items with bonus advantages. Besides this, the charm also offers you additional stats.

For instance, when you equip it in Diablo 2, you obtain a +1 skill and an additional 10-20 on every resistance. Moreover, the charm provides +10 to 20 on top of all attributes and around 5-10% on all experience you have attained. All these are the bonuses up for grabs when you have the Annihilus, explaining why it is one of the most coveted items in D2.

Also, you can spawn Uber Diablo in the game. You only have to sell about 70-120 rings from Stone of Jordan. When you make the sale, you will immediately get a confirmation message that Diablo is around. This Diablo variation is one of the toughest enemies to beat but is a worthy contender if it means getting the Annihilus charm.

How To Get To Nihlathak in Diablo 2

As with most games, Diablo 2 involves tasks and missions that you must complete before getting to the next level. To get to Nihlathak, you need effective and reliable insights to prepare for the challenge. Read on to learn how to get to Nihlathak in Diablo 2.

Nihlathak lives in the Hall of Vaught, and you can find him at either of the four-pointed levels. However, before Anya’s rescue, he lived in the left side corner of Harrogath before fleeing. Nihlathak’s residence is below two other Halls, the Halls of Anguish and the Halls of Pain.

Therefore, you will need to find Anya to open the red portal to take you to your destination. This portal remains open unless you activate the way in the Halls of Pain, which will close it indefinitely.

Nihlathak is a quest monster, and you should dispatch him if you need to complete the Betrayal of Harrogath quest. Given his skill levels, which are native to Necromancer, it may be a challenge to bring him down. Some of his intimidating skills include Nihlathak’s Arctic Blast and Corpse Explosion. However, you can easily kill its Minions if you have a weapon powerful enough to destroy them.

Since Nihlathak can revive them, you will be safer if you utilize freeze attacks when escaping the Minions infested regions. It is also advisable to avoid Nihlathak’s corpse explosion zones or any melee attacks. He also teleports over short distances; hence, he can disappear without your notice.

The most effective way to subdue it effortlessly is with exceptional skills and amour. You can grab an energy shield, fire absorb and resistance, and a reliable damage reduction level. This way, you won’t be very vulnerable to Nihlathak.

If you defeat him, you can find your way back by opening a new portal or tracing your path back to the waypoint and seeking Anya’s assistance. Technically, eliminating Nihlathak closes the portal you used.

However, you can still have it open once your quest is over. Note that the mission is the key to winning the Betrayal of Harrogath. Although, initially, you need to rescue Anya from her ice prison because she is the only one to guide you to Nihlathak’s hiding spot. After the quest, you’ll return to Harrogath, and Anya will personalize an item for you as a reward for killing the dreaded monster.

What Level Should You Be for Nightmare in Diablo 2?

Diablo 2 has several difficulty levels, including Nightmare, Normal, and Hell. Each level has different realms that you should fight your way through to get to the next stage. Therefore, you may wonder how you get to Nightmare in Diablo 2.

Once you beat Baal in the Normal difficulty, you can create and join Nightmare. Generally, this difficulty begins at level 40, although you can meet the monsters as early as 36. In Nightmare, you may have enemies and quests like those in Normal, but they would be tougher and causes more damages. In Diablo 2, a character dies and loses the experience from earlier levels unless you change your characters to Hardcore.

Suppose you want to develop your skills and experience; you can avoid jumping into Nightmare after defeating the Normal difficulty. For some players, joining the Nightmare level depends on several factors such as your gameplay character, skills, and the items you have. Some characters can fight fierce monsters at early stages. Hence, if you are comfortable dealing with challenging fights, you can easily hit Nightmare at earlier levels.

Otherwise, the enemies at this level have increased hitting points, unlike those you had in Normal. Monsters drop unique items in Nightmare, and typically lower-tier objects can start falling at act five. The common ones have a 10% chance of dropping a useful item, while Champions and Bosses have a 20% probability.

Nightmare has some exceptional features. For one, you lose 5% of the experience you need to level up whenever you die. Secondly, reviving your corpse retrieves 75% of your stat, while act five has extra monsters to make the levels more challenging. Some players would rather remain at act five of the Normal while at level 36.

Here, the Nightmare monsters are on higher ground, making it easier to hit you. Besides, at this point, you have a low resistance to attacks, and using melee isn’t effective. The rewards that you gain for defeating Normal difficulty include the ability to create hardcore characters, join Nightmare and get new titles. Luckily, the same applies to beating Nightmare to join the Hell level.

Finally

One of the best aspects of Diablo 2 is getting unique items that help improve your gameplay. For example, you can find Ethereal that increases your weapons’ damage and armor’s defense, although they have low durability. They also have other shortcomings but are still a great asset to your registry.

They are also pretty rare but are best for use with mercenaries whose weapons are always hardy. The Annihilus charm is another special item that increases your skill, resistance, attributes, and experience. In Diablo 2, it is also best to prepare for tough enemies like Nihlathak and tasking levels like Nightmare. However, they are very rewarding to defeat, and you will have the best gaming experience.

Bal Kang

Bal Kang is a technology expert based in the UK, with experience across a number of technology areas from phones, tablets, computers to gaming.

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