Stat Points

Learn how to allocate stat points in Diablo II: Resurrected. Understand Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, and Energy, and their impact on gear, damage, and survivability.

Every time a character levels up they’ll receive 5 Stat Points to distribute among their four stats: Strength, Dexterity, Vitality and Energy. The starting stats for each character are as follows:

Starting Stats by Character

Character	Strength	Dexterity	Vitality	Energy
Amazon	20	25	20	15
Assassin	20	20	20	25
Barbarian	30	20	25	10
Druid	15	20	25	20
Necromancer	15	25	15	25
Paladin	25	20	25	15
Sorceress	10	25	10	35

In general, your starting stats aren’t terribly important, as by Lv17 you’ll have doubled your starting Stat Point spread. In practice, the variation between character’s starting stats just determines how many points they’ll have to drop into Strength and Dexterity to reach their equipment goals before they start investing into Vitality, which is one of the key factors for survivability. In fact, most builds follow the same basic Stat Point allocation goals - enough Strength for gear, in the case of the Amazon and Paladin, enough Dexterity for gear and max block chance, then the rest of their points into Vitality.

The stats themselves are generally only important inasmuch as they affect what gear you can equip and how they influence various derived stats. Strength influences melee weapon damage, Dexterity influences Attack Rating, damage with ranged weapons and your Block Chance with a shield, Vitality will bolster both your Life and Stamina while Energy will determine how much Mana you have.

The four main stats and their derived stats will be discussed in further detail below:

Most equipment in the game will have requirements, including Strength, Dexterity, and Level requirements. Getting your Strength high enough to meet the needs of your gear is a key focus for all builds.

Strength

Derived Stats: Melee Damage

Equipment has weight, and while there’s some nuance when it comes to the armor you wear and how it affects Stamina, when it comes to just equipping items it’s an all-or-nothing affair; either you have the Strength to equip a piece of gear or you don’t. Your character class and skill selection determines what gear you’ll want, which in turn will determine the minimum Strength you need to invest, but generally most characters are looking at reaching 100-150 points of Strength.

You’ll need 50~ Strength for mainstays like Harlequin Crest and Skin of the Viper Magi, while excellent mid-tier Magic Finding gear like Skullder’s Ire and War Travelers will demand closer to 100. Perhaps the most common, most useful, and most Strength-hungry piece of common starter gear, however, is the Spirit runeword. It can be created relatively cheaply in any 4-socket sword (Broad Sword, Crystal Sword and Long Sword - and their Exceptional and Elite counterparts - all suffice) and in 4-socket shields. While the weapons can start being found early in Nightmare difficulty, the shields are tricky for any character who isn’t a Paladin, as the first shield capable of bearing 4-sockets is the Monarch (not a terribly uncommon drop in Act 3 Hell difficulty). This shield requires 156 Strength, and while some of those numbers can be earned with stat-boosting gear, the Spirit Monarch is likely going to demand the most Strength investment out of all your gear - especially for casters. And for new players, it’s definitely an investment worth making.

Of course, characters who earn their living by killing with whatever weapons they possess (rather than with spells) may well face steeper Strength requirements from their chosen weapons, but there honestly aren’t a whole lot of common builds that require more Strength than a Spirit Monarch.

Each point of Strength also increases the melee damage a character deals by 1%. This bonus modifies the weapon damage of the currently equipped weapon, so weapons with higher base damage will see a more significant boost from Strength.

Dexterity boosts Attack Rating, ranged damage, and is required for some gear… but it’s also vitally important for keeping your Block Chance high.

Dexterity

Derived Stats: Ranged Damage, Attack Rating, Defense, Block Chance

While most equipment has weight, some also require finesse, and like Strength, Dexterity is sometimes required to make use of said equipment. This is fortunately much rarer than Strength requirements, typically only affecting weapons like bows, crossbows, daggers, fist-weapons, spears, scythes, flails and one-handed swords. That being the case, most characters can safely ignore Dexterity requirements on gear by simply looking for a different piece of gear - no reason to drop points into Dexterity to use a Spirit Longsword when a Spirit Crystal Sword will do just as well, right?

Some characters either have no choice (most Amazon skills are focused around using bows, crossbows, javelins and spears) or find the investment worthwhile. A Paladin, for example, is a naturally tanky character, as their special class item - Paladin shields - tend to come with a hefty supply of resistances. Since you’re probably going to be married to a shield anyways (especially if you’re a Smiter), you might as well get the most out of it, and this means keeping your Block Chance maxed, which requires a significant Dexterity investment.

Aside from gear, most characters looking to actually strike an enemy with some weapon or projectile (save spells - if a spell comes into contact with an enemy, it’ll hit, barring immunities) need to worry about Dexterity, as Dexterity directly influences a character’s Attack Rating. Without going into too much detail, an attacker’s Attack Rating is oppos