Diablo: The Hell 1

What the mod gives in general:

• Support for modern OS (Windows 10+)

• Ability to play in windowed mode (and fullscreen), resolution adjustment

• Multiplayer (via Tunngle or UDP)

• Fixes of original game bugs and exploit removal

• More content: spells, items, color schemes, monsters, bosses, uniques, quests, sounds, music, etc.

• Improved atmosphere

• Tons of new and improved mechanics

What the mod gives specifically:

• Support for all new Windows versions

• Adjustable resolution, windowed mode

• Smart difficulty: starts easy, ends in hell (Doom mode)

• Hundreds and thousands of subtle changes not noticed at once

• Item availability depends on dungeon level, difficulty, monster and player level

• "Vise" system: cannot quit game inside dungeon (multiplayer) or save/quit during battle (singleplayer)

• Over 700 level color palettes

• Nearly 400 base and about 900 unique items

• Improved/fixed/expanded animations and sounds

• Well-balanced traps

• About 220 monster types and nearly 580 uniques

• Boss strength and AI depend on difficulty, mode, and dungeon level

• Unique uber-bosses on third difficulty in multiplayer

• Dynamic multiplayer difficulty depending on number of players

• Dungeon architecture depends on difficulty

• Set (orange) items available for each class

• Fixed and balanced old spells, added new ones

• Cooldowns for powerful AOE spells

• More music unlocked as you progress

• Much, much, MUCH more...

Additional Game Information

Inventory Items

• This includes everything you equip on your character and use in your inventory or belt.

• The main difference between Diablo 1 and The Hell is how item durability works: items break when their current durability reaches 1. After that, the maximum durability starts to decrease, and once it hits 0, the item is completely destroyed.

• Item availability depends on the dungeon level and difficulty mode. All items become available as drops only when you reach the 'doom' difficulty. Additionally, in singleplayer mode, the availability of items is influenced by your character’s base stats, meaning you won’t find items that are too far from your attribute range.

• Like in Diablo 2, you can transfer potions (life, mana, holy) to your belt by Shift+Left Click.

• The hotkey to switch weapons is V.

• Scrolls have been replaced with stones called “relicts.”

• Magic books may require your character to be at a certain level to use them.

Magic Spells

There are several types of magic damage in The Hell, ordered by strength:
Fire > Lightning > Arcane (Magic) > Physical > Holy

Fire spells are the most varied and powerful, while holy spells deal the least damage, making undead the toughest foes for pure casters.

Spells can be offensive, controlling, or self-buffs. Here’s an overview:

• Fire Bolt, Charged Bolt, Holy Bolt: basic low-level damage spells. Holy Bolt also knocks targets back on impact.

• Arcane Star: an arcane magic damage spell for those who thought spell damage is just fire or lightning.

• Inferno, Lightning: attack enemies rapidly (about 20 times per second) for the spell’s duration.

• Chain Lightning: not present in this mod.

• Healing: restores health, effectiveness depends on your base vitality.

• Reflect: increases melee damage taken from monsters and reflects 400% of it back to them, similar to Diablo 2 Paladin’s “Thorns” skill.

• Fire Wall, Lightning Wall, Rings of Fire/Lightning: crowd control spells that don’t deal direct damage.

• Elemental: a self-targeting physical damage spell that doesn’t affect undead.

• Force Wave: a physical crowd control spell.

• Bone Spirit: drains a percentage of the target’s current hit points; ineffective against undead.

• Nova Spells: highly damaging spells with cooldowns to prevent spamming.

• Fury: works differently for each class, modifying battle stats; grants triple shot except for Assassins.

• Fire Blast: main offensive fire spell with splash damage.

• Ball Lightning: a high-damage spell without splash damage.

• Hydra: similar to Diablo 1’s Guardian, but the number of Hydras is limited by the spell’s level.

• Golem: deals physical damage that monsters cannot resist and teleports close to the caster if it gets too far away.

• Stone Curse: petrifies enemies, making them immune to damage; Golems ignore cursed monsters. Some enemies are immune to this effect.

• Flash: a magic damage spell that deals massive damage at very high levels.

• Mana Shield: all damage is absorbed by mana instead of life, but with an increased mana cost. Starts at 200% mana cost on spell level 1 and decreases quickly with higher spell levels.

On hotkeys

• Standard F5 - F8 are still there.

• Non-adjustable TH hotkeys listed below.

• I - inventory

• Enter - group chat

• Alt + Enter - quick switch between window mode and fullscreen

• C - character sheet

• Esc - main menu

• Tab - map

• P - pause game

• F9 - F12 - adjustable quick multiplayer messages (messages can be altered in 'hellmsg.ini')

• ~ - display setup menu (in-game)

• F1 - Fury

• F2 - Healing

• F3 - Reflect

• F4 - Mana Shield

• Q - Teleport

• W - Fire Wall

• E - Lightning Wall

• R - Fire Nova

• T - Lightning Nova

• Y - Arcane Nova

• U - Holy Nova

• O - Town portal

• A - Fiery blast

• S - Lightning ball

• D - Arcane Star

• F - Stone Curse

• G - Golem

• H - Holy Bolt

• J - Flash

• K - Inferno

• L - Lightning

• X – Force Wave

• B - Bone Spirit

• N - Flame Ring

• M - Lightning Ring

• Z - Elemental

• Ctrl – Hydra

• V – weapon switch

Character Classes

The Hell offers six classes to choose from: Paladin, Scout, Mage, Monk, Assassin, and Gladiator. None is strictly better than the others — each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

Paladin

• Skill: item repair — each repair reduces the item’s max durability by 1.

• Specializes in fighting with one-handed weapons and shield. Decent with bows as support, but weak with axes and terrible with staves.

• Deals +25% damage to undead and nearly +100% with Holy magic.

• Good at Healing spells but overall a weak caster.

• Excellent at blocking attacks with a shield and has good damage absorption.

Scout

• A pure ranged fighter, using only bows — but she’s so good, nothing else is needed. Fast, accurate, and capable of deadly critical hits. Poor with swords and maces, and awful with axes and staves.

• Skill: seeing — can spot monsters in darkness and through walls (highlighted in red) and detect traps.

• Better at absorbing ranged damage but weak in melee. Vulnerable to surprise melee attacks (like hidden or warping enemies).

• Highly agile, which boosts accuracy with fire or lightning arrows.

Mage

• Unrivaled at casting spells but terrible with weapons.

• Skill: spell recharge — unlike original Diablo 1, it lowers item current durability.

• Has low life and the lowest life regeneration but high mana and strong mana regen. Lowest melee damage absorption.

• If you’re used to Sorcerers being top-tier in Diablo 1, forget it — here Mage is on par with others.

Monk

• The most versatile fighter. Skilled with every weapon type — not just staves like in Hellfire.

• Handles axes, bows, fists, blades, flails, and staves with ease. Blocks exceptionally well, except when using a bow or axe.

• High dexterity lets him dodge melee attacks and arrows better.

• Skill: telekinesis — mental powers and more.

• Weak caster, but decent at supportive magic like healing and defensive walls.

Assassin

• Silent and deadly mixed fighter focused on speed and critical hits. Uses supportive magic. The worst at using bows — truly awful.

• Skill: identify.

• Preferred style: dual one-handed weapons.

• Fast attacks, damage stacking, critical chance, and force make her the top DPS class. Perfect for quickly killing bosses.

• Has slightly better ranged damage absorption and is very dodgey, making monsters less likely to hit her. Requires high armor but has a modest health pool. Cannot block attacks. Moderate melee damage absorption.

• Good caster — second only to Mage.

Gladiator

• The master of hand-to-hand combat and surprisingly skilled with crossbows (not just melee).

• Not a good caster but excels in melee and crossbows. When wielding a crossbow, he can deliver powerful critical hits, second only to Scouts.

• Best with axes and dual swords or maces. High base damage but weaker critical hits.

• Skill: reflect.

• Has the highest health regeneration and hit points, plus insane melee damage absorption.

• Blocking is awkward but rarely needed. High stun resistance, hit points, and damage absorption let him ignore blocking and keep fighting through heavy hits.

Quest Locations

In singleplayer, there are special areas called quest zones. They are unique in some ways.
You cannot save your game while inside a quest zone — saving is completely disabled.

You also can’t cast portals or use stairs until you clear the area of monsters. This lockdown is called a “Vise.”
When the lockdown ends, you’ll hear a horn sound — that’s your signal that portals and stairs can be used again.

Another thing about these zones is that your character may get temporary penalties while inside. These can affect things like life and mana regeneration, damage reduction (DFE), armor class, attack and cast speed, resistances, accuracy, and even block some spells.

I don’t recommend using fragile “glass cannon” builds in quest zones because your main goal there is to survive, not to die.