Game Mechanics

The rules behind every blow, step and coin. The formulas follow the original game; the changes are listed at the end.

Combat #

Every blow, arrow and spell first rolls to hit, then rolls its damage. A chance is a percentage: a roll from 0 to 99 must come out below it.

Your blows

Chance to hit: level + Dexterity / 2 + the class bonus + to-hit from items − the monster's armor, between 5% and 95%. Armor-piercing items add to it.
Damage: the weapon's roll, plus its percent bonus, plus flat damage from items, plus the class damage bonus (see each class).
Bare hands: 1 damage (1–3 with a shield). The Monk hits for level / 2 to level.
Critical strike: The Warrior only: a chance equal to his level, in percent, to deal double damage.
Weapon types: Against undead, maces deal +50% and swords −50%. Against animals, swords deal +50% and maces −50%. Items that triple damage against demons do so.
Stone: A monster turned to stone is always hit.

Arrows

Chance to hit: level + Dexterity + the class bonus + to-hit from items − the monster's armor − (the arrow's flight time in ticks)² / 2, between 5% and 95%.
Damage: the bow's roll, plus its bonuses, plus the class damage bonus: the full bonus for the Rogue, half of it for everyone else.

Spells

Chance to hit: Magic + the class bonus − 2 × the monster's level, between 5% and 95%. Distance does not matter.
Damage: depends on the spell: see Spells. A monster that resists the element takes a quarter; one that is immune takes none.

Class bonuses to hit and to block
Class	Melee	Ranged	Spell	Block
Warrior	+70	+60	+50	+30
Rogue	+50	+70	+50	+20
Sorcerer	+50	+50	+70	+10
Monk	+50	+50	+50	+25
Necromancer	+50	+50	+70	+15
Druid	+60	+50	+60	+20
Assassin	+65	+60	+50	+20

Monsters against you

Your armor: the armor of your gear (with its percent bonuses) + Dexterity / 5.
Melee: the monster's to-hit + 30 + 2 × (its level − your level) − your armor. At least 15%, or 20% on depth 14, 25% on depth 15 and 30% on depth 16.
Arrows: the monster's to-hit + 30 + 2 × (its level − your level) − 2 × the flight time in ticks − your armor.
Spells: 40 + 2 × (its level − your level). Arrows and spells hit at least 10% of the time (20%, 25% and 30% on depths 14 to 16).
Traps: arrows 100 − your armor / 2 − 2 × the flight time; other trap missiles 40.
Damage: the monster's roll, changed by the "damage from enemies" modifiers of your items, at least 1. Thorns items strike back for 1–3.

Blocking

When: With a shield in hand (the Monk also with a staff, bare hands or a lone one-handed weapon), while you stand still or attack.
Against blows: Dexterity + the class bonus + 2 × your level − 2 × the monster's level, between 0% and 100%.
Against missiles: Dexterity + the class bonus − 2 × (the monster's level − your level), between 0% and 100%. A missile of an element you resist cannot be blocked, and neither can lightning, flames on the ground or acid pools.
Effect: A block stops the whole blow. After the block animation you keep your footing for a moment (see stagger).

Hit recovery

A monster flinches when a hit deals at least its level + 3 damage, and turns to the attacker. Hidden, Stalker, Unseen and Illusion Weaver flinch from every hit. A spell or arrow the monster resists never makes it flinch. For yourself, see stagger.

Resistances #

Your resistances: Fire, lightning and magic resistance come from items. Each stays between 0% and 75%.
Effect: A missile or spell of that element deals its damage minus your resistance. Acid counts against magic resistance.
Side effects: A missile you resist never staggers you, and a missile of an element you resist cannot be blocked.
Monsters: A monster that resists an element takes a quarter of that damage; one that is immune takes none. Nothing resists physical damage.

In Hell

On Hell, monsters use their Hell resistances: 55 of the 88 monster types gain a resistance or an immunity, 37 of them an immunity. Unique monsters keep their own resistances. Your own resistances are the same on every difficulty.

Elite packs can add more: Pyrebound elites are immune to fire, Stormcaller elites to lightning, and Warded elites resist magic, fire and lightning (see elites).

Stagger and poise #

Stagger: A blow staggers you (hit recovery) only when it deals at least 1/12 of your maximum life. Smaller blows still hurt, but you keep moving, attacking or casting.
Poise: For 12 ticks (0.6 s) after a stagger or a block ends, blows cannot stagger you again or start a new block animation. A blocked blow is still blocked; you just keep acting. A stagger in progress is never restarted.
Knockback: Some monsters knock you back a step. The push always happens; it staggers you unless you are poised.
Faster recovery: Items with faster hit recovery shorten the stagger.
Changing level: Poise ends when you take the stairs.

Class	Hit recovery frames	Lasts
Warrior	6	0.3 s
Rogue	7	0.35 s
Sorcerer	8	0.4 s
Monk	6	0.3 s
Necromancer	8	0.4 s
Druid	7	0.35 s
Assassin	6	0.3 s

Running and stamina #

In the dungeon you run while run mode is on (R, the default) and stamina lasts. In Hollowmere the "Run in town" option decides, and running there is free.

Speed: Running crosses a tile in 4 ticks instead of 8: twice as fast as walking.
Maximum: 40 + Vitality + 2 × level. At level 1: Warrior 67, Rogue 62, Sorcerer 62, Monk 62, Necromancer 72, Druid 67, Assassin 62.
Running: costs 0.5 stamina per tick, 2 per tile.
Recovery: Anything else (standing, walking, fighting, casting) restores 1/128 of the maximum per tick: empty to full in about 6.4 seconds.
Out of breath: At 0 you walk until stamina is back to a quarter of the maximum.
Refills: A level up, a potion of rejuvenation or full rejuvenation, and the start of a new difficulty fill it.
Pace changes: Wolf form moves 25% faster, Stealth 20% slower and Shadow's Edge 20% faster; they apply to walking and running alike.

Experience #

Experience comes from slain monsters. Level 50 is the highest; once you reach it, experience stops.

Level	Experience	From the last level
1	0
2	2,000	2,000
3	4,620	2,620
4	8,040	3,420
5	12,489	4,449
6	18,258	5,769
7	25,712	7,454
8	35,309	9,597
9	47,622	12,313
10	63,364	15,742
11	83,419	20,055
12	108,879	25,460
13	141,086	32,207
14	181,683	40,597
15	231,075	49,392
16	313,656	82,581
17	424,067	110,411
18	571,190	147,123
19	766,569	195,379
20	1,025,154	258,585
21	1,366,227	341,073
22	1,814,568	448,341
23	2,401,895	587,327
24	3,168,651	766,756
25	4,166,200	997,549

Level	Experience	From the last level
26	5,459,523	1,293,323
27	7,130,496	1,670,973
28	9,281,874	2,151,378
29	12,042,092	2,760,218
30	15,571,031	3,528,939
31	20,066,900	4,495,869
32	25,774,405	5,707,505
33	32,994,399	7,219,994
34	42,095,202	9,100,803
35	53,525,811	11,430,609
36	67,831,218	14,305,407
37	85,670,061	17,838,843
38	107,834,823	22,164,762
39	135,274,799	27,439,976
40	169,122,009	33,847,210
41	210,720,231	41,598,222
42	261,657,253	50,937,022
43	323,800,420	62,143,167
44	399,335,440	75,535,020
45	490,808,349	91,472,909
46	601,170,414	110,362,065
47	733,825,617	132,655,203
48	892,680,222	158,854,605
49	1,082,908,612	190,228,390
50	1,310,707,109	227,798,497

Monster level

A kill is worth the monster's experience × (1 + (its level − your level) / 10), rounded down, and never less than nothing: from 10 levels below you, a monster gives no experience.

Monster level	Experience
10 below you	0%
5 below you	50%
2 below you	80%
Your level	100%
2 above you	120%
5 above you	150%
10 above you	200%
20 above you	300%

A unique monster counts as twice its own level and gives twice the experience.
Elite pack members are 2 levels higher and give 3 times the experience.
On Nightmare monsters are 15 levels higher and give 2 × (experience + 1,000); on Hell 30 levels higher and 4 × (experience + 1,000).
Kills by your golem and your other minions count as yours. A monster gives experience only if you or your minions hurt it.

Difficulty #

A run starts on Normal. When you slay Vorthax, you may descend again on Nightmare with the same hero, and after slaying him there, on Hell.

Rule	Normal	Nightmare	Hell
Monster life	×1	×3 + 100	×4 + 200
Monster damage	×1	2 × (damage + 2)	4 × damage + 6
Monster armor	+0	+50	+80
Monster to-hit	+0	+85	+120
Monster level	+0	+15	+30
Experience	×1	2 × (experience + 1,000)	4 × (experience + 1,000)
Resistances	normal	normal	Hell resistances
Gold piles	by depth	as 16 depths deeper	as 32 depths deeper
Drop level (which base items can drop)	monster level	+15	+30
Elite packs, depths 1–4	1–2	2–3	3–4
Elite packs, depths 5–8	2	3	4
Elite packs, depths 9–12	2–3	3–4	4–5
Elite packs, depths 13–16	3	4	5
Modifiers per pack	1 (depths 1–8), 2 (9–16)	2–3	3

The new difficulty is a freshly made world: new dungeons, quests, shop stock and unique items to find. Waypoints and the town's shortcut stairs must be found again.
You keep your level, attributes, spells, items, gold, the stash and your run record. Life, mana and stamina start full.
Unique monsters get the same life and damage rules but keep their own resistances. Necromancer and Druid minions get stronger too (see Necromancer).

Elite packs #

Every dungeon level (not the town or quest levels) hides packs of 3–4 monsters of one kind that share modifiers. They glow with an aura, and their info box names their modifiers.

Every elite: 3 × life, +2 levels, 3 × experience, +20 to hit, +10 armor.
Loot: Gold they drop is doubled, and 40% of the time they drop an extra item, rolled like a unique monster's drop.
Packs: See difficulty for how many packs and modifiers each depth gets.
Where: Never within 8 tiles of stairs, entrances, a waypoint or you, never in sight of where you arrive, and at least 12 tiles apart.

Modifier	Effect
Swift	It takes an extra step 3 ticks in 10: it walks, attacks, recovers and thinks about 30% faster.
Brutal	It deals 3/2 of its damage.
Ironhide	Its armor is doubled, plus 15.
Pyrebound	Immune to fire. Its blows add fire damage equal to 50% of their physical damage. 0.5 seconds after it dies, its corpse bursts into flame: standing next to it, you take its damage as fire.
Stormcaller	Immune to lightning. When struck, 50% of the time (at most every 0.5 s) it releases 3–5 charged bolts around it, each for (its minimum + maximum damage) / 4.
Soul-leech	Its blows burn as much of your mana as the life they take.
Phasing	When struck, 33% of the time (at most every 1 s) it blinks to a free spot 3–7 tiles away in its line of sight.
Warded	It resists magic, fire and lightning.
Bloodthirsty	It heals 50% of the damage its blows deal to you.
Volley	Its missiles come in threes: two more fly about 15 degrees to each side.

A modifier only appears where it makes sense: Volley on monsters that shoot, Soul-leech and Bloodthirsty on monsters that fight in melee, Phasing on monsters that do not already vanish, and Warded only where it adds a resistance.

Death #

When you create a hero, you choose how death works:

Permadeath: The default. Death ends the run and deletes the save.
Classic: Death returns you to your last save: the death screen offers to load it.

Either way you drop nothing when you die. The death screen shows what killed you and the record of the run.

Slaying Vorthax on Normal or Nightmare keeps the run saved, so you can go on to the next difficulty. On Hell, his death ends the run (see difficulty).

Gold #

Purse: Gold is a number in your purse: it takes no room in the pack and has no limit. Stores take their price from it, and a sale always fits.
On the ground: Gold still drops in piles of up to 5,000. A pile holds 5 × L to 15 × L − 1 gold, where L is the depth (16 more on Nightmare, 32 more on Hell), plus one eighth on depths 13 to 16.
Auto-pickup: Option, on by default: each step onto a new tile takes the gold on it and on the 8 tiles around it.
Elites: Gold dropped by an elite is doubled.
Selling: A store pays a quarter of an item's value (at least 1 gold).

Auto-sell plain gear

Option, off by default (Options → Gameplay). Picking up a normal-quality weapon, armor, shield or helm that Tostig or Sabine would buy turns it into gold at once, at the price they would pay.

Magic and unique items are always kept, since identifying them is part of the game.
A weapon that would go into an empty hand is equipped instead.
An item you lift onto the cursor (inventory open) is never sold.

Runs saved with gold piles in the pack, the stash or on the cursor pour them into the purse when loaded.

Inventory #

Pack: 10 × 4 cells.
Belt: 8 slots for small items you use: potions, scrolls and the like.
Stash: A 10 × 8 iron chest in Hollowmere. It keeps items between visits and across difficulties, but no gold.
Compare: Hovering gear you could wear shows what you wear now and how your stats would change.

Refill belt

Option, on by default. When you use a belt potion or scroll and the pack holds the same kind, the one from the pack is used instead, so the belt slot stays filled. With none in the pack, the same kind is taken from the rightmost matching belt slot after it.

Sort

The Sort buttons on the inventory and the stash repack everything: gear from the top-left, column by column, tallest first; one-cell items (potions first) from the bottom-right corner, so they form a rack beside the belt. Items of a kind sit together. If no layout fits, nothing moves.

Durability and item wear

Item wear is an option, off by default. With it off, weapons, bows, shields and armor never lose durability, so nothing breaks or needs repair. With it on, the original rules apply:

A melee hit that lands wears your weapon one point 1 time in 30; each arrow shot wears the bow 1 time in 40.
Each block wears the shield (or a staff in the left hand) 1 time in 10.
Each stagger wears your armor 3 times in 4: the helm 1 time in 3, otherwise the body armor.
At 0 durability the item breaks and is lost. Tostig repairs for gold; the Warrior's Item Repair is free but lowers the maximum durability.

Arrows never run out.

Respec #

Sabine brews a Draught of Undoing for 50 gold × your level². It returns every attribute point you spent on level-ups, to be spent again on the character sheet.

Bonuses from elixirs, shrines and quests stay.
Life and mana are restored afterwards, so the draught can never kill you.
Items whose requirements you no longer meet stop working until you spend the points again.
Heroes saved before points were tracked get a one-time estimate: everything above the class's starting values counts as spent.

Level	Price (gold)
5	1,250
10	5,000
15	11,250
20	20,000
25	31,250
30	45,000
40	80,000
50	125,000

Sabine also restores your mana completely whenever you talk to her, as Brother Ansel restores your life.

Movement #

Options → Gameplay → Movement chooses how your hero moves. Monsters, missiles and every combat rule stay on the tile grid either way.

Free: The default. Your hero moves at any angle from an exact position, turns at once and slides along walls; the body is a circle with a radius of 0.32 tiles. The speed matches the grid: a tile in 8 ticks walking and 4 running, at any angle. Hold the mouse button to keep steering. You walk through your own minions.
Grid: The original movement: steps from tile to tile in eight directions, each step finished before the next order.
Run in town: Option, on by default: faster walking in Hollowmere, free of stamina.

For running and stamina in the dungeon, see stamina.

Saving #

Save anywhere: Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on a Mac) or Esc → Save Game saves and you keep playing; Esc → Save & Quit saves and returns to the title screen.
Autosave: The game also saves on every level change and when the browser tab is hidden.
Continue: Continue on the title screen resumes the run. One run is kept per browser, in its local storage.
Save codes: Save Code on the title screen shows your run as a text code to copy, and loads a pasted code in any browser. Codes carry a checksum, so a code cut short is refused instead of loaded. Loading asks before it replaces a run.
Death: Permadeath deletes the save when you die; Classic keeps it to reload.

Changes from the original #

Unhallowed plays by the rules of Diablo (1996): the formulas, items, monsters and balance follow the original. These are the deliberate changes, compared with Diablo 1.

System	Diablo 1	Unhallowed
Heroes	Warrior, Rogue and Sorcerer.	Seven: also the Monk, Necromancer, Druid and Assassin, with class arts at levels 1, 6, 12, 18 and 24 and class-only items.
Stagger	Any blow of at least your character level in damage makes you flinch.	Only a blow of at least 1/12 of your maximum life staggers you, and a moment of poise follows each stagger or block.
Running	You walk everywhere.	Run in the dungeon with stamina (R). "Run in town" makes the town walk faster, free.
Elite packs	None.	Packs of 3–4 monsters with shared modifiers on every dungeon level: tougher, with better loot.
Difficulty	Nightmare and Hell are chosen when a multiplayer game is made.	Slaying Vorthax opens Nightmare, then Hell, for the same hero in a new world. The difficulty rules are the same.
Waypoints	Only the shortcut stairs from town to depths 5, 9 and 13.	Waypoints in town and on depths 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14; walk up to one to light it.
Stash	None.	A 10 × 8 chest in town that keeps items, also across difficulties.
Gold	Piles of up to 5,000 that fill pack cells.	A purse with no limit that takes no room. Piles on the ground drop as before.
Gold pickup	Click each pile.	Auto-pickup gold (option, on by default) takes gold from your tile and the 8 around it.
Refill belt	None.	A used belt potion or scroll is replaced by the same kind from the pack (option, on by default).
Sort	None.	Sort buttons on the inventory and the stash.
Auto-sell plain gear	None.	Plain weapons and armor you pick up turn into their sale price (option, off by default).
Sabine's services	Only the healer restores anything, and spent points are final.	Sabine restores your mana whenever you talk to her, and her Draught of Undoing returns your attribute points for 50 × level² gold.
Quest items	Picking up a quest item advances its quest.	The same rule, which also knows the rewards on Nightmare and Hell; runs saved before it are repaired when loaded.
Compare tooltips	None.	Hovering gear you could wear shows what you wear and how your stats would change.
Movement	Tile by tile in eight directions.	Free movement at any angle at the same speed (the default); Grid restores the original steps.
Item wear	Gear wears out and breaks.	Option, off by default: with it off, gear never wears.
Key bindings	Fixed keys; spell hotkeys on F5 to F8.	Every action can be rebound in Options → Controls; spell hotkeys default to W, E, D and F. Esc, Alt, Shift, Ctrl/Cmd and the mouse stay fixed.
Gameplay options	None.	Options → Gameplay: Movement, Run in town, Item wear, Auto-pickup gold, Refill belt and Auto-sell plain gear.
Portal hover	Hovering a portal's tile names it.	A portal can be hovered anywhere on its art. It lights up, with a rune ring on the tile you step into, and says where it leads; a click walks onto it.
Death	Load your last save.	Permadeath (the default) ends the run; Classic returns you to your last save. Nothing is dropped.
Saving	Save anywhere to your disk.	Save anywhere in the browser, autosave on every level change, and save codes to carry a run to another browser.
Black Death	Each of its hits lowers your maximum life for good.	No monster lowers your maximum life.