by Amelia Schaffer

Created on: November 25, 2010

The "Hellfire" expansion for "Diablo" contains additional levels, quests, items and characters. In addition to the Rogue, Warrior and Sorcerer, which are available in Diablo, players can choose from the Monk, Bard and Barbarian. The latter two characters, however, are hidden and must first be unlocked.

An official patch, Hellfire 1.01, is required to access the Barbarian test character. In addition to installing the patch, you must create the file "command.txt" with the text "bardtest;barbariantest" and save it in the same folder as Hellfire in order to play as the Bard or Barbarian. Because the Bard and Barbarian are unfinished, they do not have their own graphics; the Bard uses the same graphics as the Rogue and the Barbarian uses the same graphics as the Warrior.

The Barbarian starts out with 40 strength, 0 magic, 20 dexterity, 25 vitality, 70 life and 0 mana. These are very similar to the Warrior's starting stats, except that the Warrior has 30 strength and 10 magic. The Barbarian's maximum base stats, according to Jarulf's Guide, are 255 strength, 0 magic, 55 dexterity, 150 vitality, 416 life and 0 mana. The maximum possible stats when the Barbarian is equipped with items that increase certain stats are 490 strength, 235 magic, 280 dexterity, 375 vitality, 1091 life and 470 mana. Each time the Barbarian levels up, he gains +2 life and +1% resist all.

The Barbarian's skill is Rage. It gives a twelve-second boost to strength and vitality (two times the character level) and dexterity (one and a half times the character level). Afterwards there is a twelve-second drop in strength, vitality and dexterity by the same amount, and the Barbarian's life is decreased by two times his vitality. (Because of a bug in the program, however, clicking any item in the inventory will restore the lost life.)

Because he cannot gain magic, except from items, the Barbarian must focus on building up brute strength. His weapon of choice is the axe, which he can use to hit three enemies at once, although he can wield two-handed swords and clubs in one hand along with a shield. His maximum dexterity is low, so the focus should be on finding items that increase his dexterity (and therefore its chance to hit).

The Barbarian may not be a subtle and interesting enough character for more experienced players because of his lack of magic. He can be frustrating against monsters with ranged attacks, because he cannot use spells to make them stop moving (Stone Curse) or to move towards them (Teleport). He can survive a lot of damage while chasing them down, but doing so can become tedious on the higher levels.

The Barbarian is a good character for beginning players, however, because of his straightforwardness. There is no need to build up magic and learn spells, only to increase the Barbarian's strength and vitality. The Barbarian has the highest maximum strength and life of all the "Diablo" characters, and is therefore the best character for melee attacks. His vitality makes it easy to deal with large swarms of attacking creatures and to beat the game without dying a single time.

(Originally published at Suite101.)

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