Project Diablo 2 (PD2) is a free fan modification of the original Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, not of Diablo II: Resurrected. The mod runs on its own servers with its own launcher. You can download it from the official Project Diablo 2 site.
The base game: Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
Diablo II was released in June 2000 and developed by Blizzard North. The expansion Lord of Destruction (LoD) followed a year later. It is an action role-playing game with an isometric view and is still regarded as one of the defining games of its genre.
- Story: In the dark fantasy world of Sanctuary, the player pursues the "Dark Wanderer", who carries Diablo, the Lord of Terror. Diablo wants to free his brothers Mephisto and Baal. The base game tells the story in four acts and ends with the fight against Diablo in Hell. LoD adds a fifth act that leads to Mount Arreat, where Baal threatens the Worldstone.
- Classes: The base game has five classes: Amazon, Necromancer, Barbarian, Sorceress and Paladin. LoD adds the Assassin and the Druid. Each class has three skill trees of its own, with points to spend on every level-up. On top of that you distribute attribute points among Strength, Dexterity, Vitality and Energy.
- Loot: The heart of the game is the hunt for items. There are normal, magic, rare, set and unique items. Some have sockets for gems, jewels or runes. The Horadric Cube combines and transforms items.
- What LoD added: The expansion introduced runewords, specific rune combinations in socketed items that unlock strong bonuses. LoD also brought charms, jewels, a weapon swap and a larger stash. Mercenaries can be equipped and accompany the player through all acts.
- Difficulties and modes: You play through Normal, Nightmare and Hell, with enemies and loot growing stronger each time. In Hardcore mode a character's death is permanent.
- Multiplayer: Up to eight players can play and trade together on Battle.net. Ladder seasons regularly reset all characters to zero.
PD2 builds on exactly this foundation.
Who is behind PD2?
A team of modders led by the streamer SenpaiSomething started the project. He streams regularly on Twitch and talks about the mod's development there. PD2 is a pure community project without any involvement from Blizzard.
Since when?
The first season, "The Awakening", started on 6 November 2019 and immediately pushed the servers to their limits. Since then PD2 has run in ladder seasons like the original. Every season brings balance changes and new content.
What makes PD2 special?
The mod stays very close to the original but fixes many old weaknesses:
- Runes, skills and items have been rebalanced, and there are new spells such as Meteor and Twister.
- There are new challenges, entirely new skills and PvP support.
- For the first time the game runs at 60 frames per second.
- Quality-of-life features include a larger, shared stash and a loot filter. For the endgame there is a map system and uber bosses.
You can find every detail on items, runewords, skills and season changes in the Project Diablo 2 Wiki.