Potions are not essential for survival in Diablo II since most characters have hit point regeneration equipment and/or mana and life leech, but they are definitely needed in emergencies and against tougher monsters.
Drinking potions is easy due to how the belt works. Only four slots display, but you can have 8, 12, or 16 slots in a belt, with the other layers stacked up out of sight unless/until you hover your pointer over the belt. When you drink a potion any layers up above it will drop down, like a vending machine, keeping the bottom row full as long as possible. Picking up potions restocks the belt as well, stacking like potions up so you have columns or red, blue, or purple.
Besides the healing, mana, and rejuvenation potions, there are others for specialty uses such as thawing, poison cure, and refreshing stamina. There are even throwing potions that you most certainly wouldn’t want to drink, even if you were allowed to do so.
Fill Rate
All mana and healing and mana potions fill over time, taking around 5.12 seconds for all mana potions, and different values for healing potions. The amount of points you gain is averaged over the time, so if you drink a 200 point potion, you’ll gain around 40 points per second for around 5 seconds.
If you drink two (or more) potions in a row, the total point fill is averaged over the total time, which adds up. Drinking a 50 and a 200 point potion at the same time will give you 250 points over 10 seconds, or around 25 per second. For this reason you do not want to drink greater with minor potions, since you’ll fill up more slowly than you would with just the greater potion. This can be bad if you are in an emergency and out of rejuvenation potions.
The same addition and averaging works any time you have one potion filling and drink another one, though the second one is just added to however much you had left to go on the first one.
Double Fill Potions
Sometimes when you drink a red or blue potion you will get double the listed points from it, over the normal 5.12 seconds time. This is a game feature that’s not well known, but quite beneficial. This is determined by the following process[1]:
Pick a random integer, A, between 0 and your (Vitality/Energy – 1) (inclusive).
Pick a random integer, B, between 0 and 99 (inclusive).
If A is larger than B, congratulations! You gain double health/mana.
The chance to receive double healing is:
If Vit is odd:
% chance = (Vit - 1) ^ 2 / (Vit * 4)
If Vit is even:
% chance = (Vit - 2) / 4
This can be approximated to (Vit/4 = % double heal). To figure your odds for Mana Potions, just substitute your Energy for Vitality in the equation, they are exactly the same in other respects. Simplified, this is .25% chance per stat point, or 1% per 4 stat points, or 5% per 20 stat points.
This holds true up to 200 points in Energy or Vitality. Above 200 your % chance is affected by diminishing returns, to the tune of this formula:
% chance = 100 - (10100 / Vit)
Check the stats in the table below for a few sample values.
Energy or Vitality
Chance of doubling
Energy or Vitality
Chance of doubling
Energy or Vitality
Chance of doubling
20
4.5%
220
54.1%
420
76.0%
40
9.5%
240
57.9%
440
77.0%
60
14.5%
260
61.2%
460
78.0%
80
19.5%
280
63.9%
480
79.0%
100
24.5%
300
66.3%
500
79.8%
120
29.5%
320
68.4%
520
80.6%
140
34.5%
340
70.3%
540
81.3%
160
39.5%
360
71.9%
560
82.0%
180
44.5%
380
73.4%
580
82.6%
200
49.5%
400
74.8%
600
83.2%
Healing Potions
Drinking a healing potion fills a certain number of points every time, depending on the potion type and which class your character is. These figures are the same for D2 or D2X.
Potion
Amazon
Barbarian
Necromancer
Paladin
Sorceress
Assassin
Druid
Fill Rate
Minor Healing Potion
45
60
30
45
30
45
30
7.68 seconds
Light Healing Potion
90
120
60
90
60
90
60
6.4 seconds
Healing Potion
150
200
100
150
100
150
100
6.84 seconds
Greater Healing Potion
270
360
180
270
180
270
180
7.68 seconds
Super Healing Potion
480
640
320
480
320
480
320
10.24 seconds
Mana Potions
Mana regenerates and can be leeched back in D2 and D2X, so most warrior characters never add a point to their Energy, and get enough mana from leech and +mana items. Drinking a mana potion fills a certain number of points every time, depending on the potion type and which class your character is. The original five Diablo II characters have steady rates that are unchanged in the Expansion, while the Assassin and Druid have more irregular stats.
Potion
Amazon
Barbarian
Necromancer
Paladin
Sorceress
Assassin
Druid
Fill Rate
Minor Mana Potion
30
20
40
30
40
30
40
5.12 seconds
Light Mana Potion
60
40
80
60
80
60
80
Mana Potion
120
80
160
120
160
120
160
Greater Mana Potion
225
150
300
225
300
225
300
Super Mana Potion
375
250
500
375
500
375
500
Other Drinkable Potions
Image
Potion Type
Effect
Antidote
Cures poison instantly.
Rejuvenation Potion
Refills 35% of mana and health instantly. *
Full Rejuvenation Potion
Refills 100% of mana and health instantly. *
Stamina Potion
Refills Stamina instantly.
Thawing Potion
Thaws a frozen or chilled character instantly.
(Does not work against the Holy Freeze Paladin Aura.)
* Neither type of Rejuvenation Potion is subject to the doubling that all mana and health potions can do, as described at the top of the page. You’ll always get 35% and 100% regardless of your Clvl, stats, etc. Note that partial rejuves will do a lot more than even super healing/mana potions once your character has very high mana or hit points.
Throwing Potions
To throw a potion equip the stack in your weapon slot, select throw to the left or right click, and go for it. Barbarians can dual wield two stacks of potions, or a potion and a weapon in the other hand. In the Expansion you can use your weapon switch slot to hold a throwing potion and switch back and forth.
All characters throw potions at the same rate, have the same range (anywhere on the screen you can target with a direct line of sight) and all potions travel at the same rate of speed in the air. Potions are thrown in an arc, so it takes a potion several seconds to reach the target.
Exploding potions have a radius; any targets in the radius will take the full damage. Poison potions create a gas cloud that lasts for a varying amount of time; any targets that pass through the cloud while it lasts will turn green and take the full damage. Poison potion damage doesn’t stack, if you hit a monster while it’s still green, the damage over time is simply reset.
Exploding potions deal fire and physical damage. Monsters may resist or be immune to one or both of these. Total damage assumes no resistances.
Item Level: Monsters must be this level or greater to drop this item.
All throwing potions stack up to 10 in D2 and 25 in D2X. They are sold and dropped individually in D2. In the Expansion they can not be purchased, only found, and monsters drop them in stacks of 3.
There are no Exceptional or Elite throwing potions, what you see here are the only ones in game. This of course makes them too weak to be of much use on the higher difficulty levels; their primary use is as crowd control on Normal.
Throwing potions yield a fair bit of gold when sold. Though nigh-meaningless to veteran characters, low-level characters may appreciate this.
Item
D2 Properties
D2X Properties*
Fulminating Potion
Radius: 2
3-5 Fire Damage
Radius: 6
5-15 Damage
Clvl Req: None
Exploding Potion
Radius: 3
6-8 Fire Damage
Radius: 3
16-30 Damage
Clvl Req: 12
Oil Potion
Radius: 6
9-10 Fire Damage
Radius: 2
26-64 Damage
Clvl Req: 20
Strangling Gas Potion
Creates a poisonous cloud.
Poison Damage: 28
Poison Damage: 24
Clvl Req: None
Choking Gas Potion
Creates a poisonous cloud.
Poison Damage: 75
Poison Damage: 72
Clvl Req: 16
Rancid Gas Potion
Creates a poisonous cloud.
Poison Damage: 168
Poison Damage: 96
Clvl Req: 24
* Properties seen in the game for D2X throwing potions do not at all match up with the stats listed in the game files.
Quest Potions
Both quest potions are used briefly, and are mostly decorative.
Image
Name
Effects
Potion of Life
Act Three, quest reward from Alkor.
“Right Click to permanently add 20 to life”
Potion of Thawing
Act Five, quest item from Malah to free Anya from Prison of Ice
“Use potion to thaw Anya”
Potion UI Tips and Shortcuts
Place in your belt
To out option in your belt from your inventory, hold SHIFT and Right Click the potions. The game will try and stack them in the right spots according to the type of the bottom pot. You must have space available.
Potions from Vendor
At the vendor, SHIFT and Right Click a potion and your belt will instantly be filled to the max with that type of potion. For example, if you have an empty 4×4 belt and want to have one column of health and 3 columns of mana, do this:
Right Click a health potion Shift+Right Click a mana potion Shift+Right Click a health potion
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