Can You Beat D2R With Poison Only (and I Mean ONLY)?

[@okapi111]

Nice challenge to see, ehm hate to say it but what about the thorns damage 😅

[@zarfen]

Oh my... just... How did I not notice that when I was playing OR editing the video? 😅 I went to check on the character, and it's from the Nagelring I found from Andariel. So I guess I technically failed the challenge then! Haha, good find.

[@Ghost-gd5xn]

came here to say this.. challenge failed XD Try again haha...

[@Oxyggs]

@@zarfen That's okay, I think we can forgive a measly 3 points of occasional non-scaling damage. Equiping cool ring more important than being anal about rules!

[@tuvsanaabatmunkh]

😂🎉 mr. detective

[@Minseok0311]

Guilty but forgiven XD

[@ottowilliamhalim4116]

wow not even physical damage to a door. respect.

[@heyitsfp]

That poison shrine boost to almost level 3 was oddly satisfying to watch.

[@ciprianhosu385]

That poison shrine idea for getting past level 1 was genius!!

[@Miraihi]

Wouldn't poison gas throwable potion also work?

[@mapron1]

@@Miraihi they require level 6 unfortunately

[@Dominik40301]

How dare they limit posion potion to lvl 6!

[@Dominik40301]

Also, dont know if they remade it in ressurected, but i remember damage potions were quite useless in later game, they delt no damage

[@JeanMarceaux]

Backlogs used the same strategy in his poison only run, actually

[@mysticalplatypus87]

Even with the thorns damage, that still deserves a huge well done 👏

[@zarfen]

Thanks 🫡

[@thecaneater]

Not pure poison. Run nullified.

[@MsToshi1990]

@@thecaneater do it better. Comment nullified.

[@MrBimboMetal]

I appreciate how you named him AliceCooper for a Poison run. I see you are a man of culture.

[@zarfen]

I’ve been waiting for someone to comment on it 🤝

[@ma5ticore]

I was looking for this comment. You guys rock 🤘

[@SebastianGraves]

LOL wow. That was really awesome. Using the shrine to get a free level was pretty clever. Good video man.

[@zarfen]

Thanks man! Glad you liked it.

[@chrishubbard64]

Using that poison shrine to get the initial level was brilliant. I cant believe just how much exp you got there. A couple more kills and you would have leveled TWICE!

[@HappySack]

Awesome run, as someone who made a Poisonmancer the other draw besides poison nova is that the lower resist curse also reduces poison resist to deal with poison immune enemies.

[@psychoticax645]

Teleport charges to get through the poison immune wall was by far the most high iq move i've seen. I would have NEVER thought of that if I was doing the same challenge run.

[@quint3ssent1a]

Idk, seems pretty average IQ to me. Anyone who played sorc a lot (basically anyone at all, sorc is good for grinding gear for other characters) knows that teleport is busted and there are few ways to even get it to non-sorc characters as well.

[@darkhorsedre]

@@quint3ssent1a 100% I used to know the level and vendor to get it from (act 3, level 19?) and not to mention dropping a random tele charges amu

[@MMA-mh9uv]

@@darkhorsedre on any non-sorc character, I always shop a tele staff. Shop it at Ormus at level 23, it'll be red because you need to be level 24 to equip it.

[@just_a_guy_on_yt3853]

I have seen someone do a similar challenge by leading one of the barbs roaming around to the door an have them "open" it

[@brunobraganca5982]

my fav class is sorc, so that was my first thought.. "just teleport bro"

[@zarfen]

A bit of a different video this time. I really enjoyed making this, so please let me know if this is something you would like to see more of. I'll go back to grinding for loot in the next video though! Have a great day and may all your drops be jaw-dropping!

[@wat5713]

This was a fun watch. Challenge runs are always fun and interesting to watch.

[@tarrker]

Very impressive, my friend. I would not have had the patience for that. Not sure why you didn't just reload after hitting a literal wall but, maybe shopping for a teleport staff was quicker? :)

[@zarfen]

I did this in single player, where the map doesn’t reset between games unless you change to another difficulty (which I couldn’t since I was in normal)

[@tarrker]

@@zarfen can you tell I've been playing a lot of modern Blizzard games? "Singleplayer? What's that!?". LoL :P

[@zarfen]

@tarrker haha yeah offline single player seems to be a thing of the past

[@lennyghoul]

The effort and your subtle humor earned a sub. 😁

[@zarfen]

Thanks, I appreciate it!

[@bergstromthesecond]

FYI, you can town portal out of Diablo's bone prison. When you portal back, you do NOT get put back in the time-out pen. Found that one out on finding Uber diablo in place of the countess 😅

[@zarfen]

Good tip, thanks!

[@LilGamingYes]

*A bear lets his pet worm spit on his enemies* 3 legendary Barbarians: You're a true hero!

[@zarfen]

Haha 😂

[@Coooley]

Amazing video, man. Original idea, great storytelling... Just so well done!

[@zarfen]

Thank you, Coooley! Really appreciate it.

[@MosestheGrey]

The character growth and story telling while fighting Diablo was more compelling then anything we have seen from most recent Hollywood movies. Well done.

[@zarfen]

Thank you!

[@azdaze227]

Crazy challenge i wouldnt have thought possible, i probably never would have thought of poison creeper, if i somehow did i never would have thought it could be that effective, and if by some miracle i did figure that out i never ever would have figured out the poison shrine for the first level. Super awesome accomplishment

[@zarfen]

Thanks! 🙂 I never maxed it before either and it surprised me. It’s a shame it falls off so quickly in later difficulties.

[@WuPlaysgames]

@@zarfen poison necro does not fall off late game

[@ItsRayful]

@@WuPlaysgames who asked?

[@ruck-a-tron]

On Normal difficulty, Poison Creeper kicks butt. If you keep pumping points into it, it can easily carry you through early Nightmare.

[@aleksandar5323]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="874">14:34</a> But you can throw as many potions on the ground there as you like, they won't disappear ;)

[@zarfen]

I’ve seen people do that when speedrunning. Didn’t think I needed extra since I had in inventory and cube, but I will for sure next time I do a challenge 😅

[@wermagst]

Regular items (which include potions) do disappear after 10 minutes, magic items after 20 minutes, rares and better after 30. Picking them up and dropping back resets the timer.

[@edk1098]

I really like that you made this video. You give a lot of base info a play with the existing game mechanic. You also show you don't have to go for the best lvl build to have fun and a challenge!

[@zarfen]

Thank you! 🙂

[@spffishty8510]

Well done man! Great narrative and even greater dedication to the mission!

[@lalazao]

"I feel like I maybe missed some lore by ignoring the npc dialogue over the past 20 years" HAHAHAHAHAH At <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="423">07:03</a>

[@-cody_]

watching the werebear tank diablos spells in the bone prison was so satisfying

[@akirasakoda4154]

Zarfen, I love your accent, your vibe, dedication, and honesty. As a decades-long lover of D2, I feel your attunement to the loot slot machine keenly. It's a delight to still be learning about this game all these years later.

[@zarfen]

Thank you!

[@akirasakoda4154]

@@zarfen I found my first Jah in solo play the other day and it immediately sent me on a journey to get a Ber. Lower Kurast hasn't been generous yet, but I'll get there. Crazy how a drop can affect choices!

[@zarfen]

I had a very similar situation! In the end I got lucky with the amount of runs required for the ber in LK but it was still a grind! Good luck!

[@sealsharp]

That is the kind of video the internet serves you in order to keep you from getting a healthy amount of sleep. And i regret nothing. Well played, sir!

[@RavenKitten]

that was amazing. i learned a lot in that video. thanks for taking the time to make it. Raven

[@Crateron1]

This was a very cool challenge, congratulations for completing it! Very clever way to level up at the beginning! If you ever decide to revisit this challenge in some way, here are a couple of ideas: - The tele staff you used to jump over the barricades in act 5.....the earliest you can get it is from Ormus on act 3, and you can use it to escape Diablo's bone prisons as well, instead of having to tank his attacks while inside the prisons. - With the amount of poison damage the Poison Creeper was dealing near the end of act 5, I don't think it is possible to kill Achmel with poison, even after breaking the immunity with a level 1 lower res wand (if breaking his immunity is even possible with such a wand). So, it was a good idea skip him. As for the Minions of Destruction, it might be possible to kill them after applying lower res to them, but I'm not sure and that may need testing, especially against Lister.

[@sam7bam]

Amazing concept for a run. Hope to see more silliness. But yeah... I had a "?" when you equipped the Nagelring. Easy oversight, I suppose.

[@Bob-it4sm]

Saw this video pop up on KZbin front page without being logged on. Youre moving up there Zarfen. Keep it up.

[@zarfen]

That’s cool! Thanks for letting me know :)

[@wickedblade4751]

I would never attempt any of these challenges myself but not only are they entertaining to watch I always learn a ton of stuff about the game!

[@Erbsengeneral]

got an lvl 88 poison necro. was able to get a anni in ladder. it took me almost 4h to kill diablo, because of his regeneration and resistances. it only worked with a jade-tan-do and a golem and and slowing curse with frost damage. i completly broke the animations, and did not get any damage by diablo. but every repair at town was like a speedrun. luckly, he has no generation while poisioned. it was a pain in the butt.

[@quagmier3]

I loved the creative challenge. Well done.

[@Xenozfan2]

That was such a fun story! I kind of want to play a Poison Creeper druid now...

[@jprocetti]

Correct me if I'm wrong but Strangling Gas is Poison Damage.. you could avoid the poison shrine strat (but the shrine looks cooler hehe) do not throw them at the target but at the ground and i think you are fine with pure poison.

[@zarfen]

They do deal only poison damage, but they require lvl 6 to be used.

[@jprocetti]

@@zarfen lol lvl6 thats too much.

[@zachariasd8288]

Cool thing about the creeper is that everytine you cast it, it instantly attacks whatever you aim at and leaves vines behind so you can just recast it for mass early game damage. I always use poison creeper through normal shirs op

[@Parasmunt]

The Necro can do this easily, even untwinked

[@xurben1]

This is what keeps d2 alive after 20 years. :). Well done!

[@zarfen]

They sure did something right with this game! Thanks :)

[@antaress8128]

Wow. Good job! I like that you didn't quit when you encountered obstacles but thought your way through. Well done!

[@zarfen]

Thanks! The obstacles made it a really fun challenge to do.

[@G1ingy]

No joke, I literally was forced to kill Diablo with nothing but poison gas potions because my werebear druid was so trash that it couldn't last even a few seconds against him. So I was forced to trap Diablo against a corner, run out to pelt him with poison gas, and everytime my potion supply was low, I'd return to town to "repair" the potion to restore my stock...also, back then you can restore throwing potion stocks by repairing them.

[@wolfdyne]

Different type of video, but I really enjoyed it! Would definitely watch some other challenge videos!

[@zarfen]

Thanks for the feedback. I really enjoyed making it and it seems well received, so I’m planning on doing more!

[@Sheahova]

Poison is definitely the hardest mathematical form of dmg in the game. People confuse more poison dmg as more dmg.

[@Wilioc]

I think the title should be "finish diablo 2 with only POISON CREEPER" thats actually impresive haha well done

[@mrgordonduncan]

Brilliant mate!! This had me laughing right to the end, especially the ancient fight with the piller obscuring line of sight😅

[@zarfen]

A laugh is the best compliment I could ask for. Thanks for the comment! That pillar had me laughing too. I sat there and just watched for much longer than shown in the video.

[@mrgordonduncan]

@@zarfen Just to think that challenge up is massive credit to ya! If you do any more, I'll be sat ready with the popcorn🤣 Plus I love Diablo2! Thanks again

[@NanjNol]

Lower resist RULEZ. How about party-playing together with Necromancer in further difficulty?

[@Selet101]

You never would have killed Wave 5 honestly. They have 95 poison resist and health regeneration. unless you kept them clumped in a corner unable to move, they would heal whatever damage they took from the poison creeper between each hit. That's why you were able to do damage when they had you trapped up top. You would have needed lprobably 15-20 more levels before you could just face tank them to kill them. I'm kind of surprised you didn't use poison potions though. while not great damage, it would at least allow you to do damage between the poison creepers attack cool down.

[@wermagst]

Poison actually stops regeneration, you just need to make sure the mobs are constantly poisoned. Kiting them over the "brushes" that the creeper leaves on the floor and some throwing poison potions would help that.

[@tarrker]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="529">8:49</a> - Oooh, oooh! I know this one! Many creatures in D2 have two states they can be in. One is the normal state with all the normal status effects and what not. But, the other, is partial invulnerability. Where they can't be hit by normal attacks or abilities. The first time players might see this is the birds in act 2 when they sort of fly up a bit. In a similar fashion, the druid creeper vines burrow and it's the same, exact effect just with different animations. The only way to hit creatures that are burrowed or, flying or, whatever is with universal damage... No idea what it's called but, avid D2 players will know what I'm talking about. Basically any spell that hits everything on screen within a certain radius. Not just regular aoe spells. But, like the Paladin's Holy Fire or the Sorc's Shock spell. Sorry if my explanation's a bit awkward. I don't know the literal programming of the game or anything like some people seem to. But, I've been playing D2 off and on for over 20 years so, I definitely picked up a thing or two. LoL :)

[@Cave-a-lier]

Je n'ai pas encore regardé la fin, je laisse déjà un commentaire, je suis fan de tes vidéos !

[@procow2274]

I figured shrine whould be the answer. Poison creeper got buffed in d2r. I don't know what toueant by hard to aim though you can just recast it to put it somewhere specific

[@Skkra]

Great challenge run! Some really creative setups.

[@zarfen]

Thanks!

[@OneIdeaTooMany]

I just finished watching an anime called Failure Frame where the main character levels up primarily using poison to kill things. Not sure why but this video just felt so satisfying to watch...

[@xlatheblackdragon705]

Thanks for showing all the challenges and how you overcame them. Ggwp

[@FluxOperation]

Your Diablo videos are so good. I haven’t looked but if you haven’t done a D1 video yet I would recommend that.

[@weixinyew772]

the video length is about 18mins. I thought i would fast forward most content but i ended up watching every single second. It is a video of a man trying out the most frustrating skill on diablo. Well done bro!

[@zarfen]

The poison creeper actually kind of impressed me with its damage against trash mobs but it was extremely frustrating against bosses for sure!

[@weixinyew772]

@@zarfen i also didn't know that the most efficient way to use a poison shrine is rounding mobs up with so much patience

[@mihata-gaming]

Amazing! Thank you so much for making this a reality!

[@zarfen]

Thanks, man!

[@saussie22]

Awesome! You have so much patience it is unreal!

[@tHiNk413]

Just discovered your channel, gives me good memories and your humour is excellent, thanx!

[@pj7308]

Sometimes I think I really like Diablo 2, but then I see people commit to 1000 runs, builds, or challenges like this and it makes me realize I’m mid

[@edmonkeys3]

Same. I go back it thinking it would be the same fun, but it turns out like "god this is slow, and old"

[@enjoijamesx]

Interesting video lol. Like seeing weird challenges like this. Good vid brotha

[@zarfen]

Thanks, glad you liked it!

[@paveldrotar4493]

Too bad we're no longer on version 1.09 :-) The Tao of Poison exploit was epic.

[@UberUdder09]

really well done.. never give up!

[@VladimirLadev]

I can listen to you talk for ages. Thnak you for the great video!

[@zarfen]

Thanks! Glad you liked it

[@o0oSM00THo0o]

Beautiful video, I feel like a watched a narrated story. Fun watch!

[@zarfen]

Thanks! I’m very happy that it was well received, because I really liked making this style of video.

[@jessebishop5239]

I really enjoyed this video! Great job man! You earned my sub today lol

[@zarfen]

Thanks! I’m glad you liked it

[@almandyn1]

You should use poisonous throwing potions, pure poison damage

[@onatgz]

i like the character name. wasn't expecting it \m/

[@MrTr4d3r]

Nice challenge, I love video like that 😉 Nagel is not a problem, change nothing to the end 😁 Gratz!

[@zarfen]

Thanks! Hehe I did not even look at the stats. Nagel is just a magic find boost, right? 😜

[@AtrociousNightmare]

You absolute madman! That was epic. Long live Vine! The Alice Cooper reference gave me a good chuckle too xD

[@shotbboy]

So sick to see content like this for a nostalgic game

[@kodytiffany5686]

I thought one of the evils would be immune to poison damage. GG I did not think you could; but glad you proved me wrong.

[@KayGeee86]

The best playthrough I've seen 💪✌️

[@zarfen]

Thanks! 🙏

[@Domebuddy]

Ive played through d2 to hell using just poison dagger into poison nova. so yes, but it was painful.

[@Sin_Cena]

Was almost Poison damage only until you put on the Nagelring, but the video was fantastic

[@Ryanheintz665]

Alice cooper LOL fuck ya!! Amazing watch! Ty for the video, appreciated the dedication and the name 😂

[@zarfen]

🤘

[@gnozzy153]

The story of how one man's pet worm saved the world.

[@zarfen]

Alternative title for the video! 😁

[@gtaraya]

that smug look at the door before moving on!😂 VICTORY!

[@greggen63]

Cool vid. Clever way to get started, but I thought: could you use strangling / choking gas potions to begin with? Perhaps I'm mistaken but I think they're pure poison damage? One has a min level requirement I think, or do they both? 🤔

[@zarfen]

Thanks! The poison throwing potions both have level requirements. The lowest one has req. lvl 6. The other I don’t know, but it’s higher :)

[@djbanizza]

I remember that to defeat the Ancients on hell difficulty, I had to fill the whole of Arreat Summit with poison potions because of physical resists they had.

[@SquirrelGamez]

As a big Diablo 2 fan myself, I find this very interesting.

[@McCrocodile6]

Yikes, I noticed the thorns damage right when you killed Baal. I don't think anyone is going to give you any trouble about that though bro. Great Video, I love tests like this.

[@BonkHazard]

"I'm not a fan of the third act." Is anyone a fan of that act? Too mazelike, Shamans melt your life in seconds, Act 3 Mercenary gets shafted in Nightmare and Hell(although I heard Resurrected gave Iron Wolves some buffs so they're actually viable for the later difficulties).

[@zarfen]

It feels so bad to search every corner of the great marsh for the flayer jungle exit, only to find it on the only tiny corner you didn’t check in the spider forest 50 meters from town!

[@BonkHazard]

@@zarfen Oh yes and don't forget everyone's first time in the sewers. Of course I checked the sewers for the final organ! What do you mean the unique shockbat spawns a lever!? Great, now I gotta look for the place where I killed it...

[@jimmylarsson9866]

This dude is just a delight. Insane idea. Love it.

[@zarfen]

Thanks for the kind words.

[@TheRavenShadowsWolf]

If you want survivability without kiting - rings and amulet of Replenish life; Shapeshift into werewolf 1 point (no need to attack - go for Lycanthropy) and invest in Oak Sage. You get a large jump to life and you don't have to attack anything. Also, skulls in the armor.

[@FurrySpatula]

Really great video and concept! Great work as usual

[@zarfen]

Thanks man!

[@civrev]

What's really fun is getting a small group of friends together and agree on using some underpowered builds in hardcore mode 😈

[@samwatkin5975]

that poison shrine start is absolutely genius

[@Happycamper10]

Trick to ancients is to fill ground with potions before starting

[@zarfen]

I thought it would be enough with the inventory full of potions, but considering how close it was I will do that the next challenge!

[@kristopherleslie8343]

Red lightning hose does lightning and physical damage always.

[@zarfen]

When doing the video I thought it was lightning and fire for some reason, but that explains why it still hurt a lot with max fire res.

[@nagashvoidbringer4623]

Nice challenge man ,good to see something different . GG.

[@zarfen]

Thanks man!

[@Iro00]

Poison creeper is a great skill. Cast it as an active skill rather than as a summon and it’s even better. A lot of people don’t understand how OP it can be if utilized properly.

[@Ninjahat]

Dude... Alice Cooper... You made me laugh hard 😂🤣 Perfect 👌🏼

[@headvice2363]

You can play poison only with Necro to. Early poison shrine + Poison Potions (sell one, buy full stack) can help you get lvl 12. Then try to spawn all poison skeleton mages. Get easy lvl 30 and Even clear all difficulties with that build.

[@zarfen]

Hehe yeah that’s a cool strategy. I also had that idea after I already posted this video. Get to level 12 and then summon - unsummon - summon in a safe area until you have an army of only poison mages. Maybe I’ll redo this challenge in the future with s necro

[@Youngbuck3888]

Good idea to try a poison creeper build. I can't say that I ever thought of it and I might try it myself!

[@Youngbuck3888]

Also, you neeeeeeed an andariel visage, that would be sick.

[@ArcheKcU]

i like how rng work on this youtube videos just droping the pelts :D

[@DarkD112]

This was actually the original way my brother almost beat Diablo 2. We've never been ones for guides and just made up a skill configuration, but Diablo ripped through our strongest abilities with no damage. We were driven though and tried a few things. Eventually, we tried poison potions and found they worked better than any of our other skills did. It still pisses me off that games like Diablo force you to use only a few odd skill paths. If you don't follow a guide, you'll find certain fights unbeatable. Whereas the guy who looks up "which skill set works best" can blow through the whole game with ease.

[@tingkagol]

Damn this game still looks so good. I feel like jumping back in D2R.

[@nagumo3216]

Ten Minutes of "FIGHTING", that one was real good :)

[@tilmanr.3299]

So that means at same point in the lore, a poison creeper put Diablos soulstone into it's head. That's plausible now.

[@zarfen]

Haha I like it!

[@KMBPapaRevenant]

This is unique. I like this.

[@RyanJumarPantoja]

Very realistic way of finishing diablo 2.... nice challenge btw....=)

[@defilerzerg9152]

That was interesting. Early game could be a bit less rough if you just used throwing potions with poison, I guess. Now that I'm looking at them, someone is discussing a potion throw barb, which could be a serious contender for this challenge. He even has a Leap skill to clear those pesky A5 barricades with ease :D

[@zarfen]

Even the smallest poison throwing positions require level 6 to use. Felt they weren’t too useful at that point, but they might have helped clear revivers and big groups faster maybe. Leaping to outsmart the OP barricades is a great idea, and quite funny!

[@defilerzerg9152]

@@zarfen , oh, I didn't check the requirement, thought the lowest potion tiers were both accessible from the start. So it would be _very_ rough start for barb until level 6, but then with his passives and shouts he should be pretty efficient. I actually have a throw barb, so I went to Normal and tested it a bit. It was not bad. Double Throw works with potions and they just don't end with high Mastery level (29 would a bit unreasonable for run from scratch, but maybe lower level also works), Leap clears barricades just fine (pretty sure it could also take you out of Diablo's bone prisons), Howl gets you out of monster packs. Since I had a merc I couldn't really test if the damage is buffed by skills, but I managed to kill some mobs when merc was stuck on the terrain, so it's… present. No dependency on summon AI either. All in all, build looks like it could be viable for this challenge, except for how stupid my barb looks with two green bottles in hands

[@jakerichards1988]

I've always wanted to make a throwing potions build and name him SeverusSnape

[@zarfen]

@jakerichards1988 😂 perfect Wish there was some kind of alchemy spell or something to boost potions damage