Diablo Characters

There are three characters in Diablo, the Rogue, Sorcerer, and Warrior, and three more were added in the Hellfire expansion pack, the Monk, Bard, and Barbarian. This page provides basic information about the characters. This information can also be found on the individual character pages, along with more context and discussion of their relative strengths and weaknesses.

All tables and figures on this page courtesy of Jarulf's Guide.

Starting/Max Stats

The characters in Diablo and Hellfire start off with different stats, and gain different bonuses with each level up. All attributes, life, and mana can be vastly increased with equipment. Each level up also provides 5 attribute points to distribute as you see fit.

• All four attributes, life, and mana are listed with their starting / maximum values.
• Attributes turn golden when they have reached their maximum values; life and mana never turn golden.
• The maximum life and mana values in this table are for a naked character.
  • Maximum mana will be adversely affected by activating one of the bad shrines.
• Characters do not gain their life/mana bonus for reaching level 50.

Class	Strength	Magic	Dexterity	Vitality	Life	Mana	Level up Bonus
Warrior	30 / 250	10 / 50	20 / 60	25 / 100	70 / 316	10 / 98	+2 life, +1 mana
Rogue	20 / 55	15 / 70	30 / 250	20 / 80	45 / 201	22 / 173	+2 life, +2 mana
Sorcerer	15 / 45	35 / 250	15 / 85	20 / 80	30 / 138	70 / 596	+1 life, +2 mana
Monk	25 / 150	15 / 80	25 / 150	20 / 80	45 / 201	22 / 183	+2 life, +2 mana
Bard	20 / 120	20 / 120	25 / 120	20 / 100	45 / 221	35 / 231	+2 life, +2 mana
Barbarian	40 / 255	0 / 0	20 / 55	25 / 150	70 / 416	0 / 0	+2 life, +0 mana +1% resistance to all

Max Stats with Equipment

Maximum stats with equipment. Diablo / Hellfire stats listed for the Warrior, Rogue, and Sorcerer (unique rings were added in HF that allowed greater stat boosts than in D1). These figures do not include the two pieces of unique jewelry that move a % of life/mana to each other.

Class	Strength	Magic	Dexterity	Vitality	Life	Mana
Warrior	425 / 485	225 / 285	225 / 285	265 / 325	796 / 916	533 / 568
Rogue	230 / 290	245 / 305	415 / 475	245 / 305	681 / 741	690 / 718
Sorcerer	220 / 280	425 / 485	250 / 310	245 / 305	618 / 618	1196 / 1216
Monk	385	315	375	305	741	728
Bard	370	360	360	340	761	865
Barbarian	490	235	280	375	1091	470

Attributes

The characters derive different benefits from the points they add to their various attributes. For example, Warriors get more life per vitality point than Sorcerers, who get more mana per magic point than do Warriors. Attribute points from leveling up and elixirs are treated the same as points added by equipment.

• The Barbarian can not add any magic points, but can gain magic from equipment. The mana he derives from his magic points is the same as a warrior's, in that regard.
• The monk suffers an AC penalty when wearing chain or plate armor. This makes it impossible to raise his AC as high as the other characters. His highest AC still comes from high defense plate, but his AC will be much lower than any other character's in the same chain or plate armor equipment. (Though much higher when naked or in light armor).
  • Unique armor plate is counted as mail, and unique mail as leather, in this penalty calculation.
• Barbarians only receive half AC from their shields.

Class	from Vitality	from Magic	Armor Class
Warrior	2 life per vit	1 mana per magic	Dex/5 + AC (items)
Rogue	1.5 life per vit	1.5 mana per magic	Dex/5 + AC (items)
Sorcerer	1 life per vit	2 mana per magic	Dex/5 + AC (items)
Monk	1.5 life per vit	1.5 mana per magic	Plate: Dex/5 + AC (items) Mail: Dex/5 + AC (items) + .5 x Clvl Light: Dex/5 + AC (items) + 2 x Clvl Naked: Dex/5 + AC (items) + 2 x Clvl
Bard	1.5 life per vit	1.75 mana per magic	Dex/5 + AC (items)
Barbarian	2.5 vit per life	1 mana per magic	Dex/5 + AC (items) + Clvl / 4 Shield AC counts 50%.

Max Attainable Attributes

255 magic is required to read higher than level 5 or 6 in most spells. Rogues and Warriors can not attain that in Diablo, but can in Hellfire, with the right equipment.

Class	Max AC (naked)	Max AC (maxed stats)	Max AC	Max to/hit (naked)	Max to/hit (maxed stats)	Max to/hit
Warrior	12	45 / 57	349 / 401	80	162 / 192	392
Rogue	50	83 / 95	385 / 425	175	257 / 287	487
Sorcerer	17	50 / 62	350 / 390	92	175 / 205	405
Monk	130	175	419	125	237	437
Bard	24	72	413	110	230	565
Barbarian	23	56	370	77	190	390

Maximum Defense

There's no point in calculating the maximum defense possible, since above a certain level it becomes meaningless, once you've reached the minimum to/hit value for monsters. Instead here are minimum defense values a character needs to lower the monster to/hit to the minimum, automatic level.

Character Level	Armor Class
30	325
35	315
40	305
45	295
50	285

Maximum Blocking/Dexterity

The following dexterity values are required to block as many hits as possible. (The amount that will actually be blocked depends on what your character is doing, their blocking speed recovery, and the monster you are facing.)

Character Level	Dexterity
25	170
30	160
35	150
40	140
45	130
50	120

Damage

Damage done by players is composed of two parts, character damage and weapon damage. The character damage is based on your character’s stats and can be calculated with the formulas below. To that damage you add the damage of your equipped weapon (or weapons if your Bard is dual wielding).

Melee Damage

The following formula are used to determine weapon damage. These formula are fairly arbitrary, and were created to fit the long term character design theories. In other words, the game designers wanted Warriors to do more damage than Rogues, and much more than Sorcerers, with equivalent equipment. So they tweaked these formulas to make that design a reality. If the math is not your favorite thing, refer to the large, "naked character comparison" table below, since it's much easier to understand.

Character	Melee damage formula
Warrior	Str·clvl / 100
Rogue	(Str+Dex) · clvl / 200
Sorcerer	Str·clvl / 100
Monk with staff or bare-handed	(Str+Dex) · clvl / 150
Monk with other weapons (or only shield)	(Str+Dex) · clvl / 300
Bard with at least one sword	(Str+Dex) · clvl / 150
Bard with any weapon(s) except sword	Str·clvl / 100
Barbarian with axes and clubs	Str·clvl / 75
Barbarian except for axes and clubs	Str·clvl / 100
Extra bonus for Barbarian without shield	Vit·clvl / 100

Notes and special circumstances:

• All Bow character damage is doubled for player versus player except for Rogues. (Warriors may actually do higher damage than Rogues in PvP, but their much slower firing speed and lower to/hit undoes them.
  • There are quite a few bugs associated with fire and lightning arrows which makes them deal erroneous damage (way too high or no additional damage at all).
• Bard: Damage enhancements from the king’s and merciless series of prefixes (+% damage) are added together if they occur on both weapons. It is then applied to the sum of both weapons’ damage. Damage from enhancements of the slaughter series (+1-20 max damage) is only applicable to the weapon it comes on.
• Barbarian: May use a maul and two-handed swords in one hand. (With a shield in the other. Can not dual wield weapons.)
• Barbarian: His bonus damage for not using a shield does not apply if he is using a staff.
• All magical damage is halved in player versus player combat. (Since high level spells are so damaging there would be nothing but one-hit kills otherwise.)

As already stated, you add weapon damage to the damage above to get the final damage. Some ”weapons” don’t have any damage listed and are given below. Shield damage only applies if you wear no other weapon and hand/feet damage only applies if you have no other weapon or shield equipped.

Special weapon situations	Damage
Hands/Feet except for Monk	1
Shield except for Monk	1 - 3
Feet or shield for Monk	clvl/2 - clvl

• The special damage for a Monk using his feet or just a shield will never be below those values listed for non Monks (min and max damage checked separately).

Bow Damage

The following formula are used to determine bow damage. Every character but the Rogue suffers a substantial damage penalty when using a bow, on top of the fact that they fire much more slowly and with less accuracy. If the math = do not want, refer to the large "naked character comparison" table below, to see character to character stat comparisons.

Character	Bow damage formula
Warrior	Str·clvl / 200
Rogue	(Str+Dex) · clvl / 200
Sorcerer	Str·clvl / 200
Monk	(Str+Dex) · clvl / 600
Bard	(Str+Dex) · clvl / 500
Barbarian	Str·clvl / 600

Naked Character Damage Comparison

The following table is an encapsulation of the character damage forumulas presented above. These stats show the damage that level 50 characters with maxed attributes would do with weapons of all types. (Lower level characters will do less damage.) To determine the actual damage with equipment on, you must add the weapon damage and factor in various modifiers to character damage.

These figures are not meant to be used to calculate actual damage, though. They're presented to provide a rough comparison of damage between the characters, and to show their various strengths and weaknesses. Note the Sorcerer's utter uselessness with a bow, the Monk's deceptive power with a sword, the Barbarian's utter dominance with all melee weapons, etc.

• Be sure you cross-reference these values with the attack rate figures listed below, since swing speed is as or more important than damage, for most characters.

Class	Bare-handed*	Swords	Clubs	Axes	Bows	Staves
Warrior**	125	125	125	125	62	125
Rogue	76	76	76	76	76	76
Sorcerer	22	22	22	22	11	22
Monk	100	50	50	50	25	100
Bard	60	80	60	60	40	60
Barbarian**	202	202 / 127***	245 / 170***	245	21	202

• * To the "bare-handed" value you should add the "weapon" damage of bare hands/feet.
• ** Warriors and Barbarians also get a hidden critical strike bonus at a % = to their Clvl. (Level 30 Warrior would get double damage on 30% of his hits.)
• *** The second value applies if the Barbarian has a shield equipped as well. (His great strength is fighting without a shield. With one he's only slightly more damaging than a Warrior.)

To Hit

Being able to hit your target is of the utmost importance in Diablo and Hellfire. Adding dexterity (and leveling up) helps with this for combat characters, and putting more points into magic (and leveling up) helps with spells. Some characters have hidden bonuses to various types of attack; see below.

• To/hit calculations:
  • Character screen: 50 + Dex/2 + to hit from items
  • Melee: 50 + Dex/2 + to hit from items + Clvl + bonus
  • Arrow: 50 + Dex/2 + to hit from items + Clvl + bonus - distance x damage / 2
  • Magic: PvM: 50 + Mag - 2 x Mlvl + bonus
  • Magic: PvP: 50 + Mag - 2 x Clvl (of the target) + bonus
  • To hit penalty for adacent quarter damage: 70 - 2 x Clvl (minimum 30)
    • (Monk and Bard only; this is calculated for targets immediately to the left and right of the direction the character is facing, since these characters can hit up to 3 enemies at once.)

Maximum To/Hit

These to/hit values are what a character is required to meet or exceed in order to land as many hits as possible on the highest defense monsters in the game (Blood Knights). Lower values will suffice for less well-armored enemies.

• Only 95% of hits can land, regardless of a character's to/hit and a monster's defense. (This value is coded into the combat hitting calculations just to work in some randomization.)

Character Level	To-Hit%
25	215
30	210
35	205
40	200
45	195
50	190

Hidden Hit/Block Modifiers

Hidden to/hit modifiers are always in effect, but are never displayed in the character window.

Class	Melee	Arrow	Magic	Blocking*	Critical Strike Bonus**
Warrior	20	10	--	30	Yes
Rogue	--	20	--	20	No
Sorcerer	--	--	20	10	No
Monk	--	--	--	25	No
Bard	--	10	10	25	No
Barbarian	--	--	--	30	Yes

• * Inherent blocking bonuses are bugged in Diablo and Hellfire. The bonus is always 0, except in the first game a new character plays.
• ** Warriors and Barbarians land a Critical Strike (double damage) on a % of their hits = to their Clvl. For instance, a level 30 Barbarian will deal double damage 30% of the time.

Blocking and hit recovery

Blocking refers to how much time must pass between hits for another successful block to take place. The blocking animation will not always display when you block successfully, though there is usually a sound heard. Characters can not block while walking. Characters can block while in mid-attack or spell-casting animation, but will not show the blocking animation.

Class	Blocking	Fast Block*	Hit Recovery	of balance	of stability	of harmony
Warrior	0.10	0.10	0.30	0.25	0.20	0.15***
Rogue	0.20	0.10	0.35	0.30	0.25	0.20***
Sorcerer	0.30	0.10	0.40	0.35	0.30	0.25***
Monk	0.15	0.10	0.30	0.25	0.20	0.15
Bard	0.20	0.10	0.35	0.30	0.25	0.20
Barbarian	0.10	0.10	0.30 (0.20)**	0.25 (0.20)**	0.20	0.15

• * Fast block = unique items with fast blocking, or magical shields with the "of blocking" suffix.
• ** The Barbarian has an inherently property that's equivalent to a character using the "of stability" suffix when he equips an axe or a club. Therefore, items "of balance" or "of stability" will drop him to 0.20 recovery time when wielding an axe or club. ("of harmony" will take him down to 0.15 in that situation).
• *** In Diablo (but not HF) simultaneously equipping one or more items of all 3 modifiers: "of balance," "of stability," and "of harmony," reduces hit recovery times to 0.05 faster than harmony alone. Warrior 0.10, Rogue 0.15, and Sorcerer 0.20.

Attack Rate

How fast your character swings their weapon (or fires arrows or casts spells) is an enormously important factor in their overall success. The magic number is 0.35 seconds; that's how fast an attack has to be to "stunlock" most monsters. If you can hit them that quickly, with enough damage to break their attack animation, any single target (or 3 targets, for Axe Barbarians, dual wielding Bards, and Staff-wielding Monks) will become helpless before your onslaught. Accuracy counts as well, of course. Swinging does no good if you don't hit, but it's pretty easy to see how the characters were designed by comparing their attack rates.

• Rogues can do pretty well with a sword/shield setup, but they're just 0.05 of a second slower than the Warrior, and that twentieth of a second is what lets him stunlock enemies and take out mages and witches before they can flee, and what keeps her from doing so. (Of course she can do it with a bow, so all is not lost.)
• Sorcerers are feeble with all sorts of weapons (but actually have one of the faster attacks with just a shield), and they can not cast spells quickly enough to stunlock with them. Not that they especially need to, since spells do so much damage.
  • There aren't any items that increase casting speed in Diablo or Hellfire (though plenty were added in Diablo II.)
• Monks are very slow with all one-handed weapons, but are deadly with staffs. They can also hit (kick) fast enough to stun lock empty handed, or with just a shield, something no other character can manage. They only hit one target at a time that way though, compared to up to three at once with a staff.
• Bards swing all weapons at the same speed as Rogues, except for bows, with which they are much slower. This makes playing a Bard melee style an interesting task, since they can do enormous damage with their dual wielding, but can't quite stunlock fleeing enemies. Their high mana and variety of weapons have to make up for that inability.
• Barbarians are weapon masters, and can achieve stunlock with one handed swords or maces as well as two-handed axes. When using one-handed weapons, Barbarians are 0.05 faster with maces than swords; hence the two values listed in the table below.

Weapon	Suffix	Warrior	Rogue	Sorcerer	Monk	Bard	Barbarian
Swords & Clubs	Normal & Readiness	0.45	0.50	0.60	0.60	0.50	0.45 / 0.40
	Swiftness	0.40	0.45	0.55	0.55	0.45	0.40 / 0.35
	Speed & Haste	0.35	0.40	0.50	0.50	0.40	0.35 / 0.30
Axes	Normal & Readiness	0.50	0.65	0.80	0.70	0.65	0.40
	Swiftness	0.45	0.60	0.75	0.65	0.60	0.35
	Speed & Haste	0.40	0.55	0.70	0.60	0.55	0.30
Staffs	Normal & Readiness	0.55	0.55	0.60	0.40	0.55	0.55
	Swiftness	0.50	0.50	0.55	0.35	0.50	0.50
	Speed & Haste	0.45	0.45	0.50	0.30	0.45	0.45
Bows	Normal & Readiness *	0.55	0.35	0.80	0.70	0.55	0.55
	Swiftness *	0.50	0.30	0.75	0.70	0.55	0.55
Shields	--	0.45	0.50	0.45	0.35	0.50	0.45
Bare hands & feet	--	0.45	0.50	0.60	0.35	0.50	0.45
Spells **	--	0.70	0.60	0.40	0.60	0.60	0.70

• * In Hellfire, Readiness and Swiftness make the arrows move faster, rather than the character fire more quickly. This essentially ruins the modifier since it lowers the total damage dealt over time (since it takes longer to fire the same number of arrows), but makes the arrows slightly more accurate over longer distances. (Since projectile accuracy decreases by time, not by distance.)
• ** Spells cast without a target (such as Flash, Infravision, Mana shield, etc) are .05 faster than spells that target where the cursor is pointed. Thus Phasing or Warp are better escapes from being mob stunlocked than Teleport.

Hellfire Triple Hits

All three characters added in Hellfire have the ability to hit three targets at once; the one they aim directly at and the monsters immediately to the left and right of the targeted space. This can only be done when properly-equipped -- Monk with staff, Barbarian with axe, Bard while dual-wielding -- and it makes these characters capable of dealing far more damage over time, especially against large groups of enemies. Tactics are required to take advantage of this ability; it's useless if you position yourself so that only one monster can come at you at a time.

The easiest way to use this ability is to back into a corner and swing out, diagonally. Standing against a wall and swinging diagonally towards the monsters (instead of parallel to the wall) also works well, as does positioning yourself in a three-wide doorway, of the type that are commonly found on the Hell levels.

Another way to use this talent is to stand in single width doorways. These are commonly found in the Church, Cats, Caves, and Crypt. Rather than standing back a space, as a Rogue, Warrior, or Sorcerer would, stand right in the doorway. Monsters will swarm at you, but since there are walls to your sides, they can only come straight on, or diagonally from the left or right. This technique will enable you to clear rooms up to three times as fast as if you waited through the doorway to challenge the monsters one at a time. You must be powerful enough to hit and kill them quickly, of course, since you're potentially exposing yourself to triple the damage as well.

An axe-wielding Barbarian stands in the doorway of the Chamber of Bone and swings straight ahead, enabling him to mow down the Horrors three at a time.