Diablo III tips and tricks guide

Use The Stash to Trade Items Between Your Characters

Your Stash is now shared between all of your characters in Diablo III. Now you can use your stash to mule weapons between each character. The change is a bit of a double-edged sword: though it is now easier to get items to characters that need them most, the shared item bank will fill up more quickly. You will only start off with 14 slots to store all your extra loot between all characters. It cost 10,000 gold each time to add 14 slots to the stash and 100,000 to add a new tab. You can have up to 5 tabs of bank with 70 slots per tab totaling a max stash size of 350 slots. But gold will not be stashable since it is also a shared resource between all your characters. Hardcore heroes will also have a separate shared stash than non-hardcore characters.

Horde Blue Items and Use Them Wisely

Crafting your own magical (or blue) items is a new addition to Diablo III. Early in the first act you will get the ability to break down blue items into their magical components and recombine those reagents into other magical items. So be sure to save all your blue items in Act I to break them down for crafting material. The new items have random magical attributes and pretty good base stats. You can also spend money to train the crafter, leading to better, higher-level gear and new crafting recipes.

This becomes a balancing act, however. If you break down too many items you won't have very much money. Also, if you spend too much money upgrading your crafter, you might not have the cash to pay them to make you the gear or expand your Stash.

So break down those blue items, just remember to sell them when you start hurting for gold.

Your Guide to Monster Spotting

There are tons of monsters in Diablo III, some spit acid, some charge you and some spawn more monsters. But they all come down to one basic strategy to beat them: keep clicking!

There are a few rare and magical monsters you have to watch out for. There are blue champion monsters that come in packs and have some sort of ability. So far weve seen teleporters, Nightmarish monsters who cast fear spells on players and knockback monsters. There are Wallers that raise stone barriers to block you off or trap you in a three-walled prison. Also there are jailers who root players in place. These packs of champions are guaranteed to drop some decent magical loot.

Monsters with gold names are unique enemies that spawn randomly with random properties. They usually spawn with a couple minions that share their properties but arent as tough. Its a good idea to take out the minions before you start on the master, so you dont have a lot of special abilities procing all the time.

If you ever see a treasure goblin, kill it! Kill it as fast as you can! These little misfits will run around the stage dropping bits of gold as they go. They drop some nice blue items when they die, but if you wait too long they will summon a portal and disappear forever.

Racking up the Exp

There are plenty of ways to get a few extra experience points in Diablo III. Blizzard added a massacre exp bonus for chaining multiple kills together. As long as you are hitting enemies and keep the kill count going without stopping for a moment, scoring at least five kills. However, it usually takes more than 30 monsters to equal the exp of that normally gained from killing one. This system is more for fun than any serious exp grinding.

Keeping the kills coming and the body count high is much easier with a few pointers: Some monsters such as the Tomb Guardian and the Wretched Mother spawn weaker monsters, so you should give them time to raise little armies before you start attacking if you want get a high kill score. Also herding monsters into one big group can help ratchet up the massacre-o-meter. Melee characters might want to consider attacks that help them bridge long distances. The Barbarians leap ability is more than up to the job, and the Monks Fist of Thunder with the Thunderclap rune lets them teleport to enemy mobs.

Also if you are really serious about getting exp, equip some gear with the Adventurer prefix. It adds a few exp for each monster killed, and if you have a full set it can really start to add up.

Use The Environment to Fight for You

There are many interactive and destructible elements in Diablo IIIs environment. Support planks bearing a load of heavy rock walls are primed to take out a group of menacing opponents. Players can also unchain a chandelier to stun monsters below its heavy iron frame. But dont fret too much if the circumstances dont line up perfectly you will get an achievement for using the environment against enemies, but no extra exp.

Shrines return in Diablo III, with all the bonuses and goodies we remember. Be sure to get ready to use those shrine buffs after you touch the poll, because they only last for two minutes. So dont be shy about tagging one right in the middle of battle for some extra gold, experience or protection. Also Shrines buffs are now shared between players, so no need to get competitive like in Diablo II.

Lastly be sure to explore every part of the map before moving on to the next area. Every map is randomly generated during every playthrough, with random dungeons, monsters and even quests. You never know what might be around the next corner. And it will make sure you activate the ever important Waypoints, which let you teleport back to the area. Often the game will send you back to earlier waypoints to open up previously inaccessible zones.

How to Play Well With Others

There are a few multiplayer additions in Diablo III. The biggest change is the loot separation. Each player receives their own gold and loot that others cant see. This will make other players seem kind of crazy as they zig-zap over ghost gold you cant perceive, but dont worry, cause you look crazy too. Also you wont feel greedy for snatching up all the blue items you want.

Though you wont be able to use the two-portal trick anymore, every player has a battle standard in town that lets other players teleport to that players location. Just click and port.

Play with Gameplay Options

There are some pretty awesome benefits that come with messing around with Diablos Gameplay options. You can have the game display damage being dealt to and by all on-screen parties, enemies health bars or how much you and your allies are being healed for.

One of the greatest advantages is checking the Show Advanced Tooltips option. It will show you exactly how much damage your spells do and how each of them works. It replaces a general statement like Haunts an enemy with a spirit, to Haunts an enemy with a spirit, dealing 575 percent weapon damage as Arcane over 12 seconds. It is really helpful and gives you exactly the information you need.

Also, if you dont like being locked down with what spells you can cast check out the Elective mode. It lets you map any spell you want to an open ability slot on your tool bar. Its really useful for those who like to kill outside the lines.

More Diablo Guide Goodness on the Way

Well that's all the tips we have for now. Check back over the next couple of weeks for out in-depth class guide, our boss guide and our crafting guide. Until then, keep on clicking.