Warrior at a glance.
He is hopeless at casting spells. Not much better at firing a bow, and very expensive to run in terms of getting his very expensive equipment repaired all the time. Why do we still admire him? Perhaps it is because of our sentimental feelings towards our crusading ancestors who carried swords to battle against evil. Or maybe we are all depraved, and enjoy the thought of watching severed limbs fall to the ground at close quarters. Or is it because the Warrior class in Diablo is just as unique as the other classes and has the wonderful ability of being able to walk up to some of the toughest baddies in the game and thump them right on the nose...... And get away with it..!
In order to maintain this ability, there are some things you need to know. When somebody says "Choose the Warrior, he's the easiest to control", this is simply not true. A warrior who runs around the dungeon with a 'Gung Ho' attitude won't make it to level 2 never mind defeating Diablo himself on level 16. He needs to learn 'Control', when to retreat. When to heal himself. (And if it's a multiplayer game, to appreciate his colleagues, and not take ALL the treasure just because he gets to it first.)
Equipping your Warrior
If he is going to be able to go 'toe to toe' with the Enemy, then he needs to remember that they won't always like it. They might well try and give you a good bashing too. This means that you need a very very strong defence. Try and find (or Buy) a strong suit of armour, helmet and a good shield. (Forget double handed weapons, you need the extra protection of a shield at all times). Always go for equipment that has an extra attribute (Or two) that will be of use to you. Items "of the Blood" will help you as you will receive some healing each time you kill something. Look for items of 'Jade' or 'Emerald' to raise your immunities to magical attacks. Now that you can defend yourself OK, you are going to need to find something you can use to smash the scum with. Find the best single-handed weapon you can, this will probably be a sword or flail. You need a weapon that does a lot of damage to the enemy, so look for weapons "Massive", "Lords", "Masters".of "Blood", "the Bear","Maiming","Leech", "Bashing". Other Items that improve your abilities are always going to be valuable to you, look out for ones that improve your Magic rating, It will be desperately low and if you want to cast any decent spells at all you will need to improve it. As you are going to be taking flack from the bad guys, it might be worth finding something of "Harmony", or "Haste" to get you out of trouble when lots of monsters gang up on you together. Whenever you are in town, have a look and see if Grisley has a suitable upgrade for you. It will be expensive though if he has because he drives a hard bargain. The other source or equipment is "Peg", he is a guy who lives just the other side of the river near the entrance to the caves. He usually has a great piece of kit for sale, it's usually worth buying what he has just so that he re-stocks with something else.
Healing
Your magic ability is so low that it is only the foolish (or desperate) Warrior who use healing spells or scrolls. This is slightly less true at higher levels (when you have more Mana), but you should definitely try and do the bulk of your healing with potions. Try to heal between battles with 'Potions of Healing' and when you have to heal mid battle, try to do it with 'Potions of Full Healing', using the number keys (1-8).
Spells
Most of the spells available are of little practical use to the Warrior. However, try to get "Town Portal" early on, it saves all the hassle of having to buy and carry around all those scrolls. The other Spells worth learning if you have high enough Magic, are "Guardian","Stone Curse" and "Golem". The latter two are best used together, to take out 'Uniques' like the nasty "Lazarus". This is also a good way to tackle enemies who fire missiles/magic before running off.
The Witch
You are unlikely to need to go to the Witch very often if at all to buy anything. But you will find lots of books, scrolls and staves, that you will want to sell to her. To save a lot of time walking backwards and forwards in the town, it is best just to dump all this unwanted gear in a pile near the town centre. Then just take it all over at the same time when there's enough to justify the trip. There are exceptions to this rule (See below).
Elixirs
After you reach level 20 and are allowed onto "Nightmare", the Witch will start to stock the Elixirs. You should check to see if she has any everytime you are in town (And at least once per Dungeon Level), until you are "Maxed". You will find that the Elixir of Vitality is much rarer than the others. So at this point it usually best to start putting more of your 'Level up' points onto this attribute.
Combat
OK, this is the fun bit for Warriors. If you've been playing Diablo with one hand up to now, then you need to learn about the shift key. Basically, it locks your feet in position while you are holding it down. This means that you will no longer have the problem of your Warrior wandering off, to where you left clicked by accident mid-battle.
Try not to get surrounded by monsters, a Warrior surrounded by 8 monsters will take damage at an alarming rate. Standing up to a wall or corner will lessen this risk, but getting cornered can be just as big a problem.
The type of monsters that the Warrior will have the greatest problems with are ones that fire missiles or magic. As you don't have a distance weapon, you are forced to charge in and attack one at a time while comming under fire from all the others. There is little you can do here, except put on your toughest armour and heal as required. The dynamic archers found on the Catacomb levels can be a real pain, they try to lure you deaper where more of their allies lurk. Try to adopt their stratagy here, and lure them through doorways, so that you can attack them one at a time. Once you have the spell "Stone Curse", this problem will all but diminish.
The Butcher
Found on level 2 in his own square room, the one full of blood, this guy is the first oponent who's going to give you a real headache. (Probably more for the Warrior than the other classes). There are various tricks for beating him with a bow, but your lack of proficiency with a bow means that it could take some time to kill him this way. Anything up to half an hour of left-clicking. The most sensible way to despense with this monster is going to be to wait. Just continue on through the dungeon levels, and return for him when you reach character level 12-13. It will still be a tough fight, but if you have a decent sword, and something 'of Harmony', you should pull through. When he dies, he will leave the "Cleaver" that you can sell for 10,500 gp. (Or if you're on Multi-player, a good random magic item)
King Leoric
He is a tall Skeleton wearing a crown and carring a long sword, He has a strong shining aura that you can see on the ground around him. You should watch out for this aura, it will be visible through walls.
How you defeat his royal highness, is going to depend on which mode you're playing in. Let's first assume 'Single-player'. When you enter his chamber, pick the little Skellies off one by one as usual. Try not to move forward more quickly than you have to. Be aware that the monsters have "Trigger" distances, and you could do with only triggering one Skeleton at a time, especially when Leoric does show up. If you are sucessfull, and manage to get him on his own, he should pose little problem. If you find yourself comming under fire from Skeleton archers, then withdraw, and lure Leoric into a quieter area, where you can battle in peace. When he dies, you'll find his crown, that you'll probably want to wear for the next few levels.
Now if you're facing level 3 alone on 'Multi-player' mode, you've got your work cut out. Leoric could be anywhere on the level, and will be surrounded by loads of lesser skeletons and archers. Unless you are level 15 or more, I would sugest moving very slowly on this level, until you find the stairs to level 4. If you are unlucky enough to bump into the big guy, do not engage. He moves at the same spead as you, so as long as you keep moving, he shouldn't catch you. Make for the stairs down, if you can. If you think you can't get to them because of other monsters, then you must retreat, up to town. And try your luck on level 5 (By going into the "Catacombs". When you do return for Leoric, and kill him, he will have a juicy random magic item for you.
The Red Bat
On level 5, you may bump into a bright red Bat. He is bad news until you are level 13-14. He moves faster than you and has very fast attack. If you aren't ready to face him yet, then bypass the level, and return for him later.
Diablo
Before opening his quadrant, make absolutely sure the entire level is clear. When ready to face him, remember what you are going to find inside. Lots of blood knights, and those wizard guys as well as Satan himself. If you have a decent amount of spells then this could help you.. a bit... If you have the spells, then Teleport into the quadrant, cast a load of fire walls, or gardians, then port out again. Doing this a few times will seriously weaken the enemy troops. If you are spelless, then you should raise your resistance to Fire to the max possible, you may also get caught by a Flash or two if you'r unlucky. Get all your best gear together, then flip the switch. When the quad is opened, move VERY slowly towards it. If you are lucky Diablo will come out alone, if this happens, then retreat away from his home making him follow you before you let him close in. When you are ready, just keep hitting and healing until he dies. It is worth noting that if you place the cursor in the center of his back while you attack him, you will hit him more often.
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