This is my writeup of a particular way of playing through Diablo II. The idea is for a team of characters to be untwinked but cooperative, by the following rules.

• Seven hardcore characters, one of each class, in solo single-player. The goal is to complete hell difficulty and reach Hardcore Guardian with each.


• I'll play the seven in parallel, one act at a time. Once all characters have completed an act, they can trade freely among each other until beginning the next act.


• No items from anywhere else or otherwise interacting outside this set of characters.


• No mods. This means no expanded or shared or external stash, characters keep and trade only what they can carry.


• No mods also means no realm-ladder-only runewords or uber bosses, or loot filters or anything else that's not part of the standard unmodded game of Diablo 2.


• No respecs.


• No farming; no repeating areas or rerunning bosses; each character makes a single pass through the game.


• No other restrictions not listed above. All character builds and skills and items and mercs are allowed. Any use of the players-X command is allowed. Save and exit is allowed.


• If a character dies, what to do is yet to be determined; I might decide to replace it with another of the same class, or continue without them.

There is more detail about the rules here. Also, this is on original Diablo II Lord of Destruction patch 1.14, before the Resurrected re-release.

I actually played through this format multiple separate times, because I loved it so much. Here are the writeups for each:

• Season One: Bonemancer, Trap assassin, Javazon, Whirlwind barbarian, Wind druid, Lightning/Cold sorceress, Hammerdin


• Season Two: Bowazon, Poisonmancer, Phoenix Strike assassin, Fist/Vengeance hybrid paladin, Werebear druid, Frenzy barb, Fire/Lightning sorceress


• Season Three: Zealot paladin, Spearazon, Blade Fury assassin, Berserk barb, Fire elemental druid, Glacial/Firewall sorceress, Golem/Corpse Explosion necromancer


• Season Four: Kicker assassin, Singer barbarian, Summon/Armageddon hybrid druid, Elemental bowazon, Poison/Bone hybrid necromancer, Smite/Shock paladin, Hydra/Orb sorceress


• Season Five: Physical bowazon, Claw assassin, Enchant sorceress, Smite/Hammer hybrid paladin, Concentrate barb, Poisonmancer again, Rabies/Fire Claws elemental werewolf druid