Players who have played Diablo 2 for a while are already aware of this, but those who started with Diablo 3 may be in for a rude awakening in Diablo 2 Resurrected, as you are not allowed to freely respec your abilities and skills. Instead, you will receive one skill reset for each difficulty level (Normal, Nightmare, and Hell) that you complete. This does mean that you’ll be a little less likely to experiment with your specs than you would be in Diablo 3, for example. Because once you’ve used up your three free respecs, you’ll need to be prepared to grind if you want to make any more changes, assigning your skill points to each level represents a bit of an investment.
The good news is that getting your initial respecs is very simple, which will assist you in getting your bearings in D2R. Obtaining the first respec option is automatic and comes as a quest reward — your very first quest reward in the game! Complete Akara’s “Den of Evil” quest, which can be found at the start of Act 1. You’ll notice that after you speak with Akara about turning in, a new option appears on her conversation menu: Reset stat/skill points. Ackara operates under the classic “everyone gets one” policy. But keep in mind that each difficulty has a limit of one per player. Once you’ve used it, it’s no longer there.
However, even if you have used all of your reward respecs, you are not completely out of luck. You can also grind it out on Hell difficulty, but there is a catch: you must be playing on Hell difficulty to do so. Simply put, you must complete the Normal and Nightmare difficulties, and you must have already used your Act 1 respec on the Hell difficulty in order to complete this mission.
Do you still want to experiment with a different look and feel for your current character? Next, begin farming act bosses for their random drops in order to gain access to their unique items in D2R. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
- Act 1: Andariel drops the Twisted Essence of Suffering; Act 2: Duriel drops the Twisted Essence of PainWhen Mephisto drops the Charged Essence of Hatred in Act 3, it is considered a sign of evil.
- Burning Essence of Terror — a weapon used by Diablo in Act 4 of the game.
- Baal drops the Festering Essence of Destruction in Act 5 of the play.
All four of these items can be combined in the Horadric Cube (acquired in Act 2) to create a Token of Absolution. Use your token in the same way you would a potion, and presto! Due to the Hell difficulty, you have reset all of your skill and ability points (which should be quite a few by this point). Technically, you are free to repeat this process as many times as you want. However, the term “grind” is appropriate in this context because cultivating these essences is neither simple nor quick.
Are you in a strange limbo state where you’ve earned and used your Normal difficulty reset, but you haven’t made much progress as a result? After that, you might want to think about creating a new character. The benefits of creating a new character include receiving a fresh build as well as the opportunity to earn a respec with Akara by completing the “Den of Evil” quest.
Yes, you have a limited number of respec options. However, the replayability of Diablo 2 cannot be denied; even 20 years after its release, people are still playing (and streaming) the original title! That legacy is carried forward by D2R, which features updated 4K graphics as well as quality-of-life enhancements.
