Thought I'd share some info on leveling here, it used to take ages of play just to get to level 40 for me but the last few character builds took a few days to get to 70-80.

Firstly know what build you are making, this determines what skills you need and what you don't need so you don't waste skills. Concentrating your skills in certain attacks and their complimentary skills which add bonuses.

One of the strongest all around builds is a Hammerdin, Paladin with Blessed Hammer and Concentration complimentary skills Vigor and Blessed Aim you can't go wrong with one of these builds in your arsenal. Use Google to check out other builds.

If you have a friend to help you, do Tristram runs until you reach 15. If not start from the beginning and do Den of Evil quest, if you have a Sigon set and some Strength charms getting Strength to 65 will allow you to wear the complete set from level 6. This a good all round set for early stages. You could speed up leveling through this stage by joining games called "levelup" or similar with characters in the teens, the more players in the game the better.

Get a rush to act 5, these games will be called "bus" or "act 1-5" or similar. You can't do ancients yet until level 20 but thats ok you need to level up in act 2 in Tal Rasha tombs until 20. Get a friend to do the Tombs with you or join a game called "Tal-x" or "Tombs" again the more people in the game the better.

From 20 to about 25 do Diablo runs, these games will be called "dia-x", or alternatively you can do the secret cow level games are called "cow-x". More players better.

You should find another rush to follow to get the Ancients and do Baal's minions. Don't kill Baal until about 35-40 or unless it says you can not complete the last quest. Finishing Baal quest means it moves you on to nightmare games and it is harder to get back on normal baal runs. These games will be called "baal-x" or similar.

From 35-40 get a nightmare rush but don't finish the last quest until you are about 55-60. Look for Diablo or Baal runs to level up. If you find a good one that consistently increments games stick around till 60.

Same again for Hell, get a rush finish the last quest if you can. Then do Diablo and Baal runs, you should level up pretty quickly until about 80.

Some times it is hard to catch a rush from Act 1 if you are relying on joining games for a rush, so if your not getting help try to get to 40 before going into Nightmare and 60 for Hell so you can do Act 1 yourself. From there it should be easier because Act 2 takes longer to complete in rushes.

Don't forget to go back and complete Den of Evil, Radament's Lair, The Golden Bird, Lam Esen's Tome, The Fallen Angel, and Prison of Ice quests as these permanently add to skills, stats or resistance.

It is really worth considering buying some gear from here on, especially items like the Annulus and Hellfire torch because these are impossible to find normally.

Thanks to all the people that do rushes and runs for this to leveling guide to work.

Summary:
Tristram till 15
Tal Rasha Tombs till 20
Diablo or Cows till 25
Baal till 35-40
NM Diablo and Baal until 55-60
Hell Diablo and Baal onwards.

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Originally Posted by Dave

I love this game, can't wait till D3 comes out.

p.s Cow level is the bestt.

cow level got nerfed nerdddddddd, like 10 years ago. You were originally able to get rushed all the way to hell act 5 at lvl 1, then were able to run around hell cows till you hit 80, took about 4ish hours. They recently patched g-ubers, they made it so that mephistos minions don't give exp, meaning you can't go from lvl 1 to 90 in about 3 hours