Diablo 2: Resurrected

Changing difficulty in Diablo 2: Resurrected makes the isometric ARPG more of a challenge, but it also means better gear can drop, and more EXP can be earned. The three difficulty levels can even be made more challenging to gain additional EXP.

However, it's not as simple as choosing the preferred difficulty from the start, and players must do a specific task in order to unlock the option of changing difficulty in Diablo 2: Resurrected.

How to Change Difficulty in Diablo 2

diablo 2 resurrected character creation screen with difficulty options

There are three difficulty ranks in Diablo 2: Resurrected: Normal, Nightmare, and Hell. Normal is playable from the start of the game, and when the final boss, Baal, is defeated, players will unlock Nightmare difficulty. Then, when players kill Baal on Nightmare, they will unlock the last difficulty, Hell.

Changing to Nightmare or Hell must be done from the main menu, as the difficulty cannot be changed when in a game session. Players are free to switch between difficulties as often as they like, but any quest they are in the middle of will reset to the last checkpoint they reached on that difficulty. It's a good thing to know even before starting Diablo 2: Resurrected.

Diablo 2 Difficulty Differences

Completing Normal, Nightmare, and Hell is considered 'beating' Diablo 2, but getting a character to max Level or finding a perfect build (like the amazing Lightning Sorceress build in Diablo 2 Resurrected) are additional challenges players can try. Here are all the major differences in Nightmare and Hell difficulty in Diablo 2:

Nightmare Difficulty Differences in Diablo 2

Increased chance of finding Exceptional items (10% from regular monsters, 20% from Bosses and Champions).
Dying takes 5% EXP from the current amount needed to level up (Characters will never drop a Level).
Unique and Champion Monsters gain a 75% damage bonus.
Monsters that can cast skills gain 3 levels to their magical attacks.
Increased monster levels and stats (hit points, defense, damage, and more).
Increased monster elemental resistances.
Random Boss monsters gain a second random Monster Modifier.
Most Superuniques gain one random modifier to add to their preset properties.
Characters suffer a 40% resistance penalty.
Diablo 2: Resurrected Mercenaries and Summons do 35% damage to Act Bosses.
Effects of using Freezing, Life/Mana Stealing, and Chilling Curses are halved.
Static Field will not reduce a monster's hit points to less than 33%.
Some levels have a larger exploration area.

Hell Difficulty Differences in Diablo 2

Normal monsters have a 30% chance to drop Exceptional items, and a 20% chance to drop Elite items.
Bosses and Champion monsters have a 40% chance to drop exceptional items, and a 40% chance to drop Elite items.
Dying takes 10% EXP from the current amount needed to level up (Characters will never drop a Level).
Unique and Champion Monsters gain a 66% damage bonus.
Monsters that can cast skills gain 7 levels to their magical attacks.
Further increased monster levels and stats (hit points, defense, damage, and more).
Random Boss monsters gain a third random Monster Modifiers.
Most Superuniques gain a second random modifier to add to their preset properties.
Character resistances take a 100% penalty.
Mercenaries and Summons do 25% damage to Act Bosses.
Life/Mana Stealing is cut to 2/3 effectiveness, with many Hell monsters, especially Superuniques, having additional penalties to leech.
Effects of using Freezing, Life/Mana Stealing, and Chilling Curses are only 1/4 effective.
Static Field will not lower a monster below 50% of its hit points.
Some levels have a larger exploration area (including the Monastery Barracks in Diablo 2: Resurrected).

Using the 'PlayersX' command (With X being the number of players the game will simulate) on the PC version of Diablo, or playing with others (up to eight players) will further increase monster Levels and EXP gain in all difficulties.

Changing difficulties and the player count will also alter the effectiveness of the best farming spots for each act in Diablo 2: Resurrected.