                      ____  _       _     _       ___ ___
                     |  _ \(_) __ _| |__ | | ___ |_ _|_ _|
                     | | | | |/ _` | '_ \| |/ _ \ | | | |
                     | |_| | | (_| | |_) | | (_) || | | |
                     |____/|_|\__,_|_.__/|_|\___/|___|___|
                              | |    ___ |  _ \
                              | |   / _ \| | | |
                              | |__| (_) | |_| |
                              |_____\___/|____/

                   ----------------------------------------
                   -    DIABLO II: LORD OF DESTRUCTION    -
                   -         TERMINOLOGY GUIDE            -
                   ----------------------------------------

Author: Sashanan (sashanan@hetnet.nl)
Date: 16 November 2001
Version: 1.02

DISCLAIMER
This document is copyright 2001 Sashanan. All rights reserved.

You are allowed to do the following:

- Make copies (electronical or physical) for your own, personal use;
- Post this FAQ on a non-commercial, freely accessible web site. My 
permission is not required, however, the FAQ must be posted in its full, 
original form, including this notice, and credited to Sashanan.

You are not allowed to:

- Make money off this FAQ in any imaginable way.
- Post this FAQ on a commercial site without my explicit written 
permission.
- Use this FAQ, or part of it in magazines, guides, books, etc. without
my explicit written permission.
- Edit this FAQ in any way, use it as a basis for your own FAQ, or post 
this FAQ without giving proper credit. This is considered plagiarism.


=================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
=================

- About this FAQ
- Terminology list
- Acknowledgements
- Revision history
- Final words

===========================================================================
ABOUT THIS FAQ
===========================================================================

When they are not busy clobbering demons or each other, Diablo 2 veterans
typically exchange stories, tactics and hints in the chat channels or
on messageboards. In their discussions, they tend to use many abbreviations
and Diablo 2-specific slang terms. To a newcomer in the Diablo 2 community,
the massive use of such terms can be quite daunting, and a very common
delurk question is "Ok, what do the following 20 terms mean?"

This FAQ exists to help the newcomer get acquainted with common Diablo 2
terminology. I have gathered abbreviations and slang terms often seen in
strategy guides or on discussion forums, and given brief explanations for
each.

The purpose of this FAQ is not to give any kind of strategic advice to
players. The character builds mentioned are not explained in detail, I
have merely pointed out what kind of character the terms typically refer
to. Those who seek actual strategy advice should consult some of the
character-specific guides on GameFAQs, or visit some of the better informed
Diablo 2 sites, such as Arreat Summit (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp) or
DiabloII.net (www.diabloii.net).

The ASCII art header of this FAQ was created with the help of Figlet
(www.surfplaza.com/figlet).

===========================================================================
TERMINOLOGY LIST
===========================================================================

All terms are listed alphabetically. In the descriptions I often refer to
other terms in the list. Those have been marked in CAPS.

ACCOUNT SCAM
An attempt to steal somebody's account password on Battlenet, usually with
the intention of relieving him of his items. Popular methods include web
sites which promise free items or other advantages, and require you to enter
your account name and password, or private messages sent on Battlenet
chatrooms, pretending to be system messages requiring you to give out your
password for one reason or another. An attempted account scam reported to
Blizzard staff with proof (such as a chat screenshot) usually results in a
MUTING for the scammer.

AR
This can refer either to Attack Rating, a statistic in the game determining
your chance to hit, or the popular Diablo 2 mod Ancestral Recall. This mod
changes many aspects of the game for an entirely new Diablo 2 experience in
single player mode, or multiplayer over TCP/IP. Ancestral Recall can be
downloaded at http://www.planetdiablo.com/teknokyo/

ARREAT SUMMIT
Apart from being the area in Act 5 where you fight the Ancients, Arreat
Summit is the name of the official Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction FAQ.
Statistics, item lists and other useful information on the game can be found
here, and this is definitely a site that should be in any Diablo 2 fan's
bookmarks. It can be found at http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp

AVENGER
A Paladin build relying on the skills Vengeance, Conviction and sometimes
Fanaticism. This is a popular Paladin build for playing in Hell mode,
because Vengeance is an excellent source of elemental damage, giving the
Paladin a much better chance to deal with physically resistant or immune
monsters than, for instance, a ZEALOT or MARTYR could. One drawback of
the Avenger build is that massive mana supplies are required to keep using
the spell. For this reason, many Paladins are hybrids between the Avenger
and the ZEALOT, using the latter skill build mostly to recover mana.

BAAL RUN
A game with the specific intention to kill Baal, the expansion set's master
villain at the end of Act 5. These runs, while lengthy and more difficult than
MEPH RUNS, are popular because they yield far more experience, and Baal
generally drops the best items in the game.

BALLISTA
A certain type of crossbow. When people talk about "the Ballista", they are
usually referring to the unique Ballista known as Buriza Do-Kyanon. Apparently
this name is difficult enough that people keep forgetting it, hence "the
Ballista". See also BURIZA.

BARB
Short for Barbarian, one of the game's character classes. Typically used in
combination with another term to describe a specific build, such as FRENZY
BARB, WW BARB, THROWING BARB or SINGING BARB.

BARD
A somewhat popular term for a SINGING BARB.

BF
Short for Bloody Foothills, the first area of act 5. This area is notorious for
having large collections of puny monsters which are nevertheless worth a lot
of experience. In addition, these monsters have no resistance to fire (not even
on Hell mode) and due to the layout of the area, tend to line up and just stand
there, waiting to be slaughtered. The combination of these properties makes the
Bloody Foothills an excellent level building area, particularly for FW SORCS.
See also BLOODRUN.

BS
This refers to either of the Necromancer's two most powerful ranged attacks,
the Bone Spear and the Bone Spirit. Since the latter skill is more popular, the
abbreviation usually applies to that one.

BLOODRUN
A game with the specific intention to clear out the Bloody Foothills area. This
is the most popular level building technique in the online Diablo 2 community,
particularly among FW SORCS. Typically, a Bloodrun is done within a few minutes,
after which a new game is started to do it all over again. See also BF.

BOS
Burst of Speed, an Assassin skill which boosts both her walking, running and
attack speed.

BOWAZON
An Amazon build using a bow as her main weapon. This build has become incredibly
popular in the expansion due to the existence of the BURIZA.

BURIZA
Short for Buriza Do-Kyanon, the unique Ballista. It is widely considered to be
one of the most powerful bows in the game, and unlike its competitors the
Eaglehorn and the Windforce, it is relatively easy to acquire. Since the Buriza
was introduced in the expansion set, the BOWAZON has become the most popular
character build on most realms. The power of the Buriza lies both in the high
damage it does, and in the fact that it adds the effect of the skill Pierce,
enabling an Amazon to exploit the GA/PIERCE BUG without having to actually
invest in the Pierce skill.

BURIZON
A somewhat mocking term for a Bowazon using the BURIZA. Nearly every Bowazon in
the expansion uses this weapon, and they are now common enough that they get
their own name.

CB
Charged Bolt. Initially thought to be a fairly mundane skill for the Sorceress,
its popularity increased immensely when it was discovered this skill can do
massive damage at high levels, when combined with the skill Lightning Mastery.
This has resulted in the rise of a new Sorceress build, the CB SORC.

CB SORC
A Sorceress build that relies on the skills Charged Bolt and Lightning Mastery.
The idea of this build is to either spread lightning damage over a large field,
hitting many monsters at once, or hitting one big enemy like a boss point
blank, causing him to take damage from 20 or more bolts at once. CB Sorcs
typically have Energy Shield and a fairly high Vitality to protect them from
harm, as the effective use of their skill forces them to get pretty close to
theiropponents. CB Sorcs usually have a powerful backup skill in either Fire or
Cold as well to help them deal with lightning resistant or immune monsters.

CE
Corpse Explosion, a Necromancer skill. It was once considered the most
powerful skill in the game, but a variety of different nerfs have turned it
into a shadow of what it once was. The only reminder of what this skill could
once do lies in the boss Nihlathak, who uses this skill with considerably
more power and range than a player Necromancer could.

CHARGER (or CHARGADIN)
A Paladin build which relies on a powerful two-handed weapon and the skill
Charge to cause as much damage as possible with a single attack. The
damage of the Charge is normally boosted with Fanaticism. While extremely
powerful, this build is not very effective against groups of monsters,
and therefore usually reserved for PVP Paladins. These typically use
Holy Freeze to slow their target, and/or Vigor to increase the speed of
their Charge (switching to Fanaticism just before the Charge impacts),
and aim for one hit kills.

CLEAN
Refers to a socketed item which has not yet been stuffed with any gems,
runes or jewels. This is important in trading, as clean items tend to be
worth more than those which have already been filled up. In some cases,
items are also no longer considered clean if they have been PERSONALIZED.

COOKIE CUTTER
A generic term referring to a character that uses a specific powerful skill,
item and/or bug exploit to gain power very quickly. Examples from previous
versions of Diablo 2 are the Blood Golem/Iron maiden Necromancer and the WW
BARB (neither of which is as powerful as they once were). Current examples
include the BURIZON and the FW SORC.

CORPSE POPPING
The loss of currently equipped items upon dying, due to the fact that you
already have a corpse on the ground. This game mechanic is sometimes used by
malicious players to attempt to steal your items - they kill you, drop a
collection of mundane items on and around your corpse, then distract you with
attacks while you make a run for your corpse. The risk here is that you
accidentally pick up and auto-equip one of the mundane items just before
getting your corpse, in which case not all items from your corpse are
retrieved and it stays on the ground. If you are then killed, the items that
you did get from your corpse "pop" and can be stolen by the other player.
A simple way to prevent corpse popping is never to retrieve your corpse
"under fire". Make sure the other player is gone, or exit the game so you
can retrieve your corpse in peace.

COW RUN
A game with the specific intent to clear the not-so-secret Cow Level. This is
usually done in Hell mode, where the cows are worth a lot of experience and are
about the only monsters found without any kind of resistance. Cow runs are
especially easy to pull off for JAVAZONS, who can use the skill Lightning Fury
to kill off the tightly packed cows very quickly. Cow runs are to Javazons what
BLOODRUNs are to FW SORCS.

CS
Short for Chaos Sanctuary, the final area of act 4, and the one where you will
fight Diablo. This is generally considered to be the toughest area in the game.
Even high level characters will think twice about going in here in Hell mode
without backup.

DEX
Short for Dexterity, one of the four primary statistics of any character. It
is particularly important to Amazons, whose bow and javelin damage is increased
by it, and Assassins, whose damage relies on both Dexterity and Strength.

DIMINISHING RETURNS
This refers to certain mods in the game making less and less of a difference
if you pile on more of it. Two examples are MF and IAS. The system of
diminishing returns also applies to nearly every skill in the game - the first
few points you put in a skill make more of a difference than the last few before
maxing it out.

DR
Damage Reduction, a modifier found on items that directly reduces physical
damage taken in combat. DR is generally much more effective than a high defense
rating, which merely reduces the chance to be hit and needs to be very high to
be of any use late in the game.

ED
Enhanced Damage, a modifier on many weapons in the game. It is particularly
popular if found on Jewels, as socketing ED Jewels in a powerful weapon can
result in massive damage boosts.

FA
The Amazon skill Fire Arrow. A rather mundane and low-level skill which would
be of very little interest were it not for the FA BUG.

FA BUG
Fire Arrow is supposed to add a small amount of fire damage to a bow attack,
which is normally physical. Due to a bug, however, Fire Arrow also converts all
of the physical damage to fire damage. This means that if this skill is used
with a powerful bow, an Amazon can do massive loads of raw elemental damage,
making Fire Arrow a very popular skill to use against physically immune
monsters. Blizzard has confirmed this is a bug, however, and will likely
remove it in a future patch.

FO
Frozen Orb, the most popular cold spell used by Sorceresses. Some use it at
a low level to slow enemies down, then hit them with another spell such as
Nova, Firewall or Meteor. Others invest heavily in Frozen Orb and Cold
Mastery and use it as a primary attack spell. Either way, this is a skill
nearly every Sorceress has in her arsenal.

FRENZY BARB
A Barbarian build relying on the skill Frenzy, which causes him to land
blow after blow very quickly. This is what most Barbarians wielding two
different weapons do (although some are WW BARBS instead). Nearly every
Frenzy Barb also has the skill Berserk to deal with physically immune
monsters.

FW
Firewall, the most damaging skill in the entire game. At a high level it
can span a large area and do massive damage to monsters foolish enough
not to run out of it. This skill is particularly popular in the Bloody
Foothills (so much that a specific build around this skill, the FW SORC,
exists). Outside this area the spell is less effective, but can still be
highly useful in party situations, where melee fighters keep the monsters
in one place.

FW SORC
A Sorceress build focused around the skills Firewall and Fire Mastery,
often with either Thunderstorm or Frozen Orb as a backup. These
Sorceresses are particularly effective in the Bloody Foothills and are
often found doing little else than BLOODRUNs. Some Firewall Sorcs,
however, have become quite creative at using their skill in other areas
as well.

GA
Guided Arrow, an Amazon skill which causes an arrow to hit an enemy
automatically. While powerful on its own, it becomes murderous in combination
with PIERCE due to the GA/PIERCE BUG. See also BURIZA.

GA/PIERCE BUG
Guided Arrow causes an arrow to automatically home in on and hit a monster,
while Pierce allows an arrow to pass through a monster, possibly hitting one
or more other opponents. These two skills are not supposed to work together,
but they do. This creates the bizarre effect of an arrow hitting a monster,
passing through, turning around 180 degrees, passing through again, and
so forth. Needless to say this is an extremely damaging move which results
in BURIZONs being the absolute masters of PVP, and doing very well in PVM
as well. Blizzard has confirmed that GA and PIERCE working together is a bug,
and will likely remove it in a future patch.

HC
Hardcore, a game mode in which the death of a character means he or she is
gone permanently. This forces a player to be far more careful, invest more
points in Vitality, and cooperate with other players in situations where
a specific character type is not very effective. Some players consider
Hardcore to be a very thrilling and challenging way to play Diablo 2, others
think of it as masochism as characters can be lost just as easily to the
dubious efforts of a PK or due to internet latency. To them, the idea of
losing hours of work due to a fluke is not a very appealing idea.

HF
Holy Freeze, a Paladin skill which automatically freezes and slows down
enemies that come near, even those that are immune to cold or have the
"can't be frozen" mod (in the case of hostile players). This aura is
commonly used by Paladins in PVP. It is also used by some of the MERCs
hired in act 2 Nightmare, as well as the act boss in the second act,
Duriel.

IAS
Increased Attack Speed, a mod found on many items that causes a character
to strike more quickly. Both for BOWAZONS and all kinds of melee characters,
this is a very important mod. Quicker attacking allows you get more damage
in over a certain timespan, reduces the chance that your attacks are
interrupted by monsters attacking you, and allows you to stunlock opponents,
preventing them from striking back. It is important to note that IAS suffers
from DIMINISHING RETURNS, so the difference between 0% and 30% IAS is greater
than between 60% and 90%.

ITD
Ignore Target Defense. This is a modifier found on certain weapons which
effectively sets an enemy's defense to 0, upping your chance to hit them to 95%
under normal circumstances. However, this is still subject to decrease as a
result of a monster having a higher level than you, and it does not work on
enemy bosses of any kind. Some enemies, such as the Minions of Destruction,
also use ITD.

ITEM GRABBER
A hack that automatically picks up any magical, rare, set or unique items
dropped, before they even hit the ground. Variants of this hack apparently
still work even in the latest version of Diablo 2, and are sometimes used on
the supposedly hack-free online realms. Needlees to say the use of such a hack
is cheating, and highly annoying to party members who only want a fair shot at
getting part of the loot. Use of an item grabber is against Blizzard's terms
of service and if found out, may result in reprimands.

JAVAZON
An Amazon build using Javelins as her main weapon, usually in combination with
the skills Plague Javelin and Lightning Fury.Previously, Javazons were an
underdog used only by advanced players looking for a new build. However, the
expansion has introduced the highly powerful unique Titan's Revenge, which has
made the Javazon far more viable. Nearly every Javazon found online uses this
awesome weapon. 

LAGSTER
A mocking name for Lister the Tormentor, the boss of the Minions of
Destruction, because his appearance causes a massive lag burst. 

LEB
Lightning Enchanted Boss. Lightning Enchanted is a nasty mod found on some
bosses which causes them to releaselightning bolts whenever they take damage.
This can be devastating to melee characters who have to stand right next to
them to hit them. Lightning Enchanted is nastyenough on its own, but in
combination with Multi Shot it turns into the killer MSLEB. 

LL (or LS)
Life Leech, or Life Steal. Both terms refer to the same thing: a mod found
on many items which heals lost hit points based on how much physical damage
you deal in combat. For instance, with 5% life leech you regain 5 lost hit
points for every 100 points of damage you do. It is important to note that
this does not work on all monsters (skeletons, for instance, can not be leeched
from) and that it only applies to physical damage.

LOD
Lord of Destruction, the Diablo 2 expansion set.

LOH
Laying of Hands, the most popular pair of gloves in the game. Among some other
useful mods, it massivelyincreases the damage done against Demon type monsters, 
which includes all the act bosses. This makes the Laying of Hands particularly
useful for MEPH and BAAL RUNS. Laying of Hands is part of the "Disciple" set. 

MAPHACK
A hack which reveals the entire map to the player and also adds extra
information such as the location of monsters, other players and items. In
addition it gives maximum light radius and removes all weather effects. 
Unlike most hacks, this one even works on closed realms and is often used by
MEPH RUNNERs to make things easier and quicker. Many players feel that Maphack
bestows an unfair advantage, however, and consider the use of it to be
cheating. Whether or not that is true, using it is certainly not condoned by
Blizzard. 

MARTYR
A somewhat rare Paladin build which relies on the use of Sacrifice, a skill
that greatly boosts damage, but deals a bit of damage to the Paladin as well.
When used in combination with Fanaticism, Sacrifice can deal massive damage
comparable to that of Charge, but much quicker. The downside of this build
is that it deals physical damage only, and that massive life leech is needed
to prevent the Paladin from killing himself: 8% on Normal, and 16% on
Nightmare and Hell. Generally the Martyr is just not as effective as either
the ZEALOT or the AVENGER, and is only played by Paladin experts who want to
try something different.

MEPH RUN
A game with the goal to kill Mephisto, usually on Nightmare or Hell. These
runs are popular because Mephisto drops good items, is relatively easy to
kill, and can be reached very quickly. Most characters can do Nightmare Meph
runs in mere minutes. Hell Meph runs are more hazardous because there are many
powerful monsters in the area around him, but can still be done very quickly
by Sorceresses using Teleport or Barbarians using Leap Attack (either skill
can be used to get past groups of monsters without a fight). Many MEPH RUNNERS
make use of MAPHACK to be able to do their Meph Runs even quicker.

MEPH RUNNER
A character specifically intended to do (usually Hell) MEPH RUNS with. These
characters are almost always Sorceresses, using Teleport to get to Mephisto
quickly and Frozen Orb to kill him. The purpose of these characters is to
gather rare and valuable items to use on other characters, trade with other
players, or even sell on EBay for real cash.

MF
Magic Find, a mod found on many different items which increases the chance
to find magical, rare, set or unique items as opposed to normal or socketed
ones. It is often hoarded by MEPH RUNNERS to increase their chances of finding
good items. Many characters have both standard combat gear and MF equipment,
switching to the latter only when they are trying to find good items (MF gear
tends to be less effective in combat). Particularly Sorceresses and Barbarians
are popular MF characters: Sorceresses because their skills are deadly even
without any combat equipment, and Barbarians because they can dual wield
weapons with high MF values such as the Gull Dagger or the Blade of Ali Baba,
and have the skill Find Item which basically gives them a second chance at
a good drop whenever they take down a boss. Once Magic Find goes beyond 110%,
it suffers from DIMINISHING RETURNS, however more MF is always better than
less.

ML (or MS)
Mana Leech or Mana Steal. Both terms refer to the same thing: a mod found
on some items which helps recover spent mana based on how much physical damage
you deal in combat. For instance, with 5% mana leech you regain 5 mana points
for every 100 points of damage you do. It is important to note that this does
not work on all monsters (skeletons, for instance, can not be leeched from)
and that it only applies to physical damage. Many melee characters rely
exclusively on mana leech to be able to keep using their skills, and do not
invest in Energy at all.

MOD
In lowercase letters, 'mod' refers either to an enhancement on a boss or an
item, or to a patch used to modify the game in single player mode for a new
gaming experience. (AR is a popular example of the latter.) Spelled as MoD, it
refers to the Minions of Destruction, a group of very quick and powerful
monsters fought just before the final confrontation with Baal. They are feared
not only for their quick movements, ITD and high damage, but also for the
high latency their appearance tends to cause online and/or on low-end systems.

MR (or MDR)
Magic damage reduction, a mod found on many items. It reduces the damage any
magical effect deals to you by a set amount. For spells which linger for a
while, such as Firewall and Meteor, this applies every second. In previous
versions of Diablo 2 it applied to every frame, which resulted in even a few
points of MR significantly reducing or even eliminating the damage from
frame-based spells, including Diablo's lightning hose.

MS
Multi Shot, a property found on some bosses which causes them to fire whatever
projectile they might use multiple times with every ranged attack. This is
generally not such a dangerous mod, except when seen in combination with
Lightning Enchanted. The combination of these two results in the feared MSLEB.

MSLEB
Multi Shot, Lightning Enchanted Boss. A boss on Nightmare or Hell that spawns
with both of these modifiers is easily one of the worst monsters you will ever
encounter. Due to Multi Shot, the boss releases far, far more lighting bolts
than he normally would whenever he takes a hit. Furthermore the bolts are
closely stacked, which means you typically get hit by many at once,
particularly at close range. An unlucky melee character can easily be killed
at full health from only a single hit. MSLEBs tend to slaughter parties,
particularly careless ones.

MULE
A character specifically made to hold spare items in his inventory and stash,
either until a character intended to playing can put them to use, or to be used
in trading. The process of bringing items found by playing characters to mules
is known as MULING.

MULING
Bringing one or more items to a character specifically created to hold them:
a MULE. This is common practice with online players who always have less stash
space than they seem to need. There are three common muling methods:

1. Muling alone. The player creates a passworded game and stays in it for at
least five minutes, then drops the items he wishes to transfer and leaves. Due
to him having been in at least five minutes, the game will stay up for five more
minutes even without any players in it. This gives the player the time to log on
with his mule and reenter the game, picking up the items he left.
This method is somewhat risky because disconnections, time outs and other nasty
surprises can result in the game being wiped or the player being unable to log on
in time, resulting in the loss of the items.

2. Public muling. The player joins a game where other people are playing, finds
a safe spot where nobody is likely to stop by, drops his items, logs off and
quickly brings in his mule to retrieve the items. This is a very risky method of
muling, as you cannot be sure the game will still be up when you return (or,
even more frustrating, full), and if another player comes across the items you've
dropped, chances are he'll take them. This risk can be reduced by finding a good
spot to drop the items to be muled: towns are bad spots, but deep inside large
open areas (like the deserts in act 2) or optional dungeons are typically good
places. Of course the mule needs to have the proper waypoints to actually reach
the equipment you left for him!

3. Muling with a friend. This basically involves starting a game with somebody you
know and trust, giving him your items, leaving the game, coming back with your mule
and getting your items back. Needless to say doing this with a stranger is a naive
and risky move, but if you frequently play with friends you can rely on each other
for absolutely safe muling. Even if a disconnect occurs, your friend will still
hold the items he took from you so he can give them back to you in a different game.

MUTING
A commonly used reprimand by Blizzard against people attempting to scam
accounts or generally creating havoc in chat channels. When muted, a player can
no longer chat or send private messages, they can only talk in games. In
particular, this makes setting up trades next to impossible as this is
usually done outside games.
 
NECRO
Short for Necromancer, one of the character classes in the game. The general
impopularity of the Necro, caused by several NERFs over time, has resulted in
no particular builds having become famous.

NERF
The term commonly used for the downgrading of a skill or item in Diablo 2.
Nerfing is Blizzard's usual response to skills or items which turn out to be
overpowered. This is much to the dismay of players who have built characters
based on these skills/items, and see their hard work being destroyed overnight
because suddenly they deal only half the damage they used to. As a result,
every patch results in at least some players complaining.

NM
Short for Nightmare, the second difficulty mode out of three. Normal and Hell
are not normally abbreviated, Nightmare is. Diablo 2 players tend to be lazy
typers.

NRG
Short for Energy, one of the four primary statistics of any character. It
is particularly important to characters who use mana-eating skills regularly
and cannot leech it back in melee combat. Particularly Sorceresses and
Necromancers need to build up their Energy.

PALLY
Short for Paladin, a popular character for use in parties because his
beneficial auras help party members in addition to himself. Paladins have had
their skills strengthened and weakened a lot over the various patches.
Currently the Paladin is considered one of the more challenging classes to
play - while powerful, he is forced to engage in melee to be truly effective,
and has no good way to deal with large groups of enemies. Physically immune
enemies can be a pain for him as well, hence the AVENGER build.

PERSONALIZED
An item which has had the name of its owner added to its name, which is the
reward for one of the quests in Act 5. Personalization does nothing except
adding the name, and is therefore a rather mundane quest reward. Furthermore
personalized items may be worth less in trade to those who do not wish to have
to look at another player's name on their item. Because of this, and the fact
that a very tough opponent needs to be defeated to finish the quest, many
players skip it.

PI
Physical Immune, a boss mod which results in complete immunity to any physical
attacks. Magical damage (raw magic, poison or one of the three elements) is
needed to damage these enemies. Physically immune enemies are of no concern to
Sorceresses but can be a real pain for melee characters. Some monster types
found in act 5 spawn with physical immunity by default in Hell mode, resulting
in entire packs of these annoyances.

PIERCE
An Amazon skill which allows her arrows and javelins to pass through an enemy,
possibly hitting one or more foes behind him. This skill is great for crowd
control. It comes by default on the unique crossbow BURIZA, which is one reason
for it being as popular as it is. See also GA/PIERCE BUG.

PINCERS
Cleglaw's Pincers, a commonly found and rather mundane set item  except for the
fact that one of the modifiers behaves strangely. It is supposed to slow a
target by 25% upon hitting. When used in combat against other players, however,
it first negates any faster walk/run mods and THEN slows the target even more;
some people have also reported that it stacks, causing further hits to make
you slow down to a crawl. Amazons, in particular, can exploit this to severely
slow down an opponent in PVP and get an easy kill in. For this reason Cleglaw's
Pincers are generally considered unfair to use in duels. It is unclear whether
the way the slowdown effect on Cleglaw's Pincers works is a bug.

PK
Player Killer (the person), or Player Killing (the action). This refers to the
act of seeking out and killing other players in regular games, as opposed to
PVP, which is mutually consenting duelling. Particularly in hardcore PK'ers
are considered a menace. Nevertheless Blizzard has willingly included the
option to kill other players as a design feature and has so far been unwilling
to add any protection in the form of hostility needing to be mutual to allow
players to attack each other, or placing a "no PK" option on a game when you
create it.

PLAYERS X
A powerful command available in single player mode, that allows a player to
simulate having more players in a game. That means more items are dropped and
monsters give more experience, but they also have more hit points. This command
can be used to create a more challenging game, but it also allows a player to
do more level building than usually possible on single player, which is
especially useful late in the game.
To active the command, simply type the chatline 'players X', without the quotes,
where X may be any number between 2 and 8. For instance, to simulate 8 players
you would type:

players 8

The game gives no confirmation of any kind that the effect has taken place,
however you'll soon notice the difference if you come out of town. Note that
using the players X command in the middle of a game works, but it does not
affect the monsters already on screen or close to you.

PVM
Player vs Monster, the way most people play the game. This is done either
solitarily or in parties with other players.

PVP
Player vs Player, aka duelling. This refers to two (or more) players fighting
each other. This is different from PK in the sense that both players agree to
the duel in this case. Duels generally follow a set of rules, which include
no potion using, no running into town, and sometimes, no use of certain items
like the PINCERS and no use of mercs. Many players build characters
specifically intended for duelling. The BURIZON is probably the most powerful
duelling build currently in existence, followed closely by certain types of
Sorceress and Barbarian.

RES
Resistance, a mod found on many items. Resistances help to reduce the damage
taken from fire, cold, lightning and/or poison attacks. This is particularly
important in Nightmare and Hell mode, where the innate resistances of your
character are reduced well below zero and elemental attacks can cause massive
damage if you do not find the right equipment to counter this.

SCAM
A generic term referring to tricking other players. Most commonly seen in the
online community are ACCOUNT SCAMs and TRADE SCAMs.

SHAKO
A certain type of elite helmet. When people mention "the Shako", they
typically refer to the highly powerful (and rare) unique Shako known as
Harlequin Crest. This is widely acknowledged to be the best helm in the game,
but few players actually have one.

SILKS
Silks of the Victor, a powerful but affordable suit of armor that, among other
things, improves a character's mana leeching. Not many suits or armor exist
that have this mod. It is a particularly popular armor for AVENGERs who need
all the mana leeching they can get.

SINGING BARB
An alternative kind of Barbarian who does not use his weapon in combat, but
relies exclusively on various War Cries. Unlike other Barbarian builds,
singing Barbs (also known as BARDs) require a vast supply of mana. If that
can be provided, they are surprisingly effective.

SMITER (or SMITADIN)
An interesting Paladin build based on the skill Smite, which uses the Paladin's
shield to attack. While normally low in damage, Smite can be powerful if used
with the right shield (the class-specific Paladin-only shields in the expansion
can do good damage) in combination with the skill Holy Shield which boosts
Smite damage. The true power of Smite, however, lies in the fact that it
automatically hits and stuns the target. Smitadins are sometimes seen in PVM
as well as PVP, and while they are rare, the players who use them claim they
are highly effective.

SOJ
Stone of Jordan, the most famous unique from classic Diablo 2 which continues
to have a great impact on the expansion. Back in previous versions, it was
possible for a high level player to use a gambling trick to collect these
useful rings at a steady pace.

SOJ ECONOMY
This refers to the Stone of Jordan being the currency in many high-level
trades in Diablo 2 and the expansion. Previously, when they could still
be obtained easily in gambling, many high level players had a good stock of
these. Now, however, they are much harder to come by, and the stock decreases
for various reasons while unique and set items become more and more plentiful.
The unfortunate result is that there is massive deflation and many items
previously worth X SoJs don't even fetch a single one anymore. Nevertheless
many players persist in using the SoJ as currency, even though it has already
become one of the most valuable items in the game. This has made trading
harder than ever.

SORC
Short for Sorceress, one of the game's character classes. In the early days
of the expansion this was the single most commonly seen character, but when
people started to discover the potential of the Buriza Do-Kyanon, the BURIZON
became very common as well.

SP
Single Player. Refers to playing alone with a locally stored character, as
opposed to a character stored on a closed realm. Single player mode means you
will not be able to party up (except on Open Battlenet or in TCP/IP games) and
makes trading non-existent, but it eliminates the issue of lag and gives you
access to the powerful PLAYERS X command.

SPEARAZON
An Amazon relying on the use of spears in melee combat. This was once a
popular build due to the skill Jab being bugged - it allowed them to use even
the slowest of weapons at an awesome pace, stunlocking single opponents and
leeching life by the bucketful to survive against enemy groups. When Jab's
speed bug was fixed, the Spearazon sort of faded away, and is now rarely
seen. Nearly every Amazon in existence is either a BOWAZON or a JAVAZON.

STR
Short for Strength, one of the four primary statistics of any character. It
is particularly important to characters who use melee weapons. Normally it
is built up to match the requirements for whatever equipment the character
intends to use at a high level. For Paladins and Barbarians this tends to be
far higher than for Necromancers and Sorceresses.

THROWING BARB
A Barbarian build using Double Throw and Throwing Mastery to cause as much
damage as possible from a distance. This was perhaps inspired by the Ancients
in act 5, as one of them uses Double Throw and actually does a lot of damage.
Nevertheless, throwing barbs used by players can only deal physical damage and
typically do not last in late Nightmare and Hell. They are somewhat effective
in PVP, though.

TRADE HACK
An old hack which has recently become more popular. It allows a malicious
player to pretend he's trading an item to you when in fact his trade screen
is empty (you only see the item but it isn't actually there). This results
in a nasty surprise when you complete the trade and find you have gotten
nothing. The trade hack can be recognized by the fact that if the trade
window is opened, the item that's supposedly for trade is already in the
window (due to the way the hack works it must be placed before the trade is
actually initiated). If this happens, do not trade.
Blizzard obviously does not condone the use of this hack and will hopefully
find a way to shut it out in the next patch. Until then, it is safest only to
trade with people you know, and if you must trade with strangers, to pay very
close attention.

TRADE SCAM
A generic term applying to people trying to steal your items through false
trades. Recently some people use a TRADE HACK for this, but a more common
scam which does not require any hacks is to replace the item to be traded
with one that looks alike, but is of less quality. For instance, somebody
might offer you a SoJ for your item, place it in the window, but then when
you are about to finalize the trade claim that he has to make room in his
inventory, and abort it. After a few seconds he opens up the trade again
and once again places a ring in the trade window - but this time it is
a mundane magical one, not the SoJ he placed before. Many players
carelessly forget to double check and just hit agree, trading away their
valuable goods for a worthless item.
Unfortunately this kind of trade scamming is not illegal in any way,
and Blizzard can do nothing about it. The responsibility to look before
you click agree lies with the player. ALWAYS pay attention while trading.

TS
Thunderstorm, a Sorceress skill that's very popular to use in addition to
her other attacks. Thunderstorm works passively over a certain duration,
hits automatically, and at a high level, causes quite a bit of extra
damage for only a little extra mana. While Sorceresses generally don't
use Thunderstorm as their main attack, it is a part of almost every
build.

VIT
Short for Vitality, one of the four primary statistics of any character. It
directly determines your hit point total, which makes it a popular stat for
every character. Typically, characters build their Strength and Dexterity
only as far as their intended equipment requires, put only as many points
in Energy as they really need (and rely on mana regeneration and/or leeching
instead), and dump everything else in Vitality. The Bowazon is the only
exception: she typically builds up both Dexterity and Vitality, and some
daring Bowazon players do not touch Vitality at all, building Dexterity
exclusively. On Hardcore, Vitality is valued more than ever because death
is permanent there.

WW
This can refer either to Whirlwind, a popular Barbarian skill, or Werewolf,
a Druid skill.

WW BARB
A Barbarian build based on the powerful Whirlwind skill. Whirlwind Barbarians
exist in both single and dual wielding variants, are sometimes combined with
the Frenzy build, and usually have Berserk as well to deal with physically
immune enemies.

WB DRUID
A Druid build using the Werebear form and the appropriate skills. Werebears
deal a lot of damage and have a good crowd control skill, but many players
feel they are too slow. Because of this the Werewolf build is considerably
more popular.

WW DRUID
A Druid build using the Werewolf form and the appropriate skills. Werewolves
don't deal as much damage as Werebears, but they are incredibly fast and can
amass amazing hit point totals. They can deal effectively with both single
enemies and groups, but their major weakness is the lack of a good skill to
deal with physically immune enemies, as the Druid's elemental skills cannot
be used in a wereform.

ZEALOT
A Paladin build using the skills Zeal and Fanaticism to achieve an incredible
attack speed. With sufficient life and mana leech this kind of Paladin can
just keep going. Dangerous enemies are those who are so quick that the
Paladin can get stunlocked by a group of them, bosses which are Lightning
Enchanted, and worst of all, physically immune monsters. The latter are a real
problem in Hell mode and that is where Zealots usually fail. Therefore this
build is often combined with that of the AVENGER, which is easily possible
because the Avenger uses Fanaticism as well and Zeal only needs a few points
to be effective.

ZON
Short for Amazon, one of the games character classes. Since the dawn of time
the three main classes of Amazon have been called BOWAZON, JAVAZON and
SPEARAZON. Lately the Spearazon has become pretty rare, but the other two
are more popular than ever due to the existence of new expansion items such
as the BURIZA and Titan's Revenge.

===========================================================================
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
===========================================================================

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the regulars of the GameFAQs'
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction board for their helpful advice regarding
the game. Many of them have contributed indirectly to the creation of this
FAQ.

Also, I would like to thank the following individuals for suggesting the
inclusion of the following terms:

Asmodeus: Mule and Muling.
ScarWars27: IAS, LL/LS, ML/MS, NM and Clean.

===========================================================================
REVISION HISTORY
===========================================================================

The latest version of this FAQ can always be found at GameFAQs
(www.gamefaqs.com). If you found this guide somewhere else and you are
looking for an update, I recommend you check GameFAQs to see if a newer
version exists than the one you have.

v1.0: (13 Nov '01) First release of the FAQ.

v1.01: (14 Nov '01) A few minor corrections and a few more terms added
in, courtesy of ScarWars27.

v1.02: (16 Nov '01) Added the terms Mule and Muling, as recommended by
Asmodeus, as well as SP and Players X.

More terms may be listed in future updates, however I cannot say when
those will be.

===========================================================================
FINAL WORDS
===========================================================================

For questions, comments, suggestions, praise and criticism regarding this
guide, contact the author, Sashanan, at sashanan@hetnet.nl. Any serious
mail will be answered. Please put "Your Diablo 2 FAQ" or something like
that in the topic.

Note that I cannot answer any questions regarding gameplay. Mails on this
subject will be ignored. This is not because I'm too arrogant to share
my knowledge, but because Diablo 2 is a very large game in which many
different approaches can be successful. My opinions on how to play will
vary greatly from those of other veterans. If you're looking for gameplay
advice, therefore, you're better off visiting a good information site or
discussion forum.

I recommend the following sites:

Arreat Summit (www.battle.net/diablo2exp)
DiabloII.Net (www.diabloii.net)

I also recommend the Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
discussion forums on GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com). Both have a large
population of experts who will be more than willing to give you their
opinion on how to play the game (if you ask nicely). I myself am a
regular on the Lord of Destruction forum, so if you insist on obtaining
my advice, you can find me there.

If you wish to do anything with this FAQ except for just reading it, check
the Disclaimer section at the top of the FAQ to find out what you can and
can't do.

Thank you for reading!

"Much that I bound, I could not free. Much that I freed returned to me."
(Lee Wilson Dodd)

This document copyright 2001, Sashanan. All rights reserved.
