It took over 50 hours of playing time, but MacroBioBoi (opens in new tab) finally they did it: they completed the “first fully unleashed solo ever self-found Hell pacifist Sorceress run” in Diablo 2: Resurrected.
In terms that will be more familiar to people who aren’t Diablo 2 speedrunners, Macro beats Diablo 2: Resurrected on the hardest difficulty setting without attacking anything, using only items they found during the run. (“Twinking,” in Diablo 2 parlance, means using the trading system to give character items.) Diablo 2 speedrunners had come up with theoretical ways to complete the run, but Macro was the first to actually do it.
“The only people who ever walked past Normal had tapped a character with modified gear to see if it was possible,” they told PC Gamer.
The Diablo 2 speedrunning community has developed a detailed set of rules that define what constitutes a pacifist run. You can’t attack, of course, but there’s more to it. You also can’t force anything else to attack, set traps, or use harmful auras. For the most part, the damage you inflict has to come as a direct result of a creature choosing to attack you. To accomplish that, Macro loaded up their sorceress with “chance to cast” items and abilities that sometimes cause a spell to be cast when their character takes a hit. By the end, they had armor that caused them to cast the powerful area-of-effect Nova spell whenever an enemy hit them. They also threw points into Cold Armor’s passive abilities, which increase defense (the sorceress doesn’t have many hit points) and deal cold damage to enemies that hit them.
Macro, who holds the Pacifist Paladin speedrun record in Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction on Normal at 2h 25m 45, thought switching to Resurrected would make things easier for this Hell difficulty run. That’s not how it went.
“I thought this run would be tough, but with the addition of Synergies to the Nova ability in Diablo 2: Resurrected [bonus damage for related skills]I thought it would actually be a lot easier than in Lord of Destruction,” Macro told PC Gamer. “That quickly fell apart after eight hours of trying to get a specific spawn pattern for the Seal Boss Lord De Seis at the Chaos Sanctuary. I wouldn’t be able to survive his henchmen long enough to kill him, and if you die and go back to town, he’ll often throw an endowment buff on himself that makes him regenerate faster than any amount of Nova procs from my gear could produce. “
My background is in microbiology and science in general, so I’ve always been inclined to ask the impossible questions.
To deal damage faster than Lord De Seis could restore health, Macro needed an item that gave their character a 5% chance to use Blaze, a spell that causes a burning spot on the ground. If Lord De Seis were in the fire, he would take damage every frame, preventing him from regenerating. (The full explanation is even more complicated than this; it’s in the video (opens in new tab) enclosed above, from about 5:05.)
“I had to force him into that fire, and he’s a very difficult monster to manipulate to move,” Macro said. “We’ve actually been lucky that on my last try he didn’t give himself and after about 10 kills, we got him.”
It’s a great feat, but Macro, who has been playing Diablo 2 since they were a kid, is already streaming another attempt on the run, this time with a Paladin. Unlike the Sorceress, Macro says the Paladin has no abilities that can kill Lord De Seis.
“I have to use a very specific weapon from Mephisto in Nightmare to have a chance to do it,” Macro said. “It’s called Boneslayer Blade, and it takes me about five minutes to kill Mephisto every time I do it. I started the challenge two days ago and I’m re-streaming it all so people can see me suffer.”
MacroBioBoi streams on Twitch and also covers Diablo 2: Resurrected for Maxroll. However, they are not a Diablo 2 purist and after they finish their current run they will think of Diablo 4.
“I come from a very heavy MMORPG background (EverQuest and WoW) and it looks like Diablo 4 will bring a lot of social gameplay that I really miss playing most ARPGs these days,” Macro told PC Gamer. “I like the restriction on trading BIS equipment [the best items], and its sheer aesthetic seems like a nice return to form after Diablo 3 and Diablo Immortal. Unlike most Diablo 2 players, I’m a Diablo 3 fan, but the aesthetic was lacking for me. Add to that the Necromancer is a starting option for you to play, and they won my pre-order.”
When socializing is over, I wouldn’t be surprised if Macro started building characters according to unreasonably restrictive rulesets in Diablo 4 as well.
“My background is in microbiology and science in general, so I’ve always been tempted to ask the impossible questions,” they said, “and if there’s no answer, I test something until I figure it out.”
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