D2 Survivors mark D2 SURVIVORS

D2 Survivors beginner guide

I wrote this from the changelog quest line and from three guides that repeat the same first character. Keys and file setup stay on their own pages so this one can stay about decisions.

Pick a class you can read

Barbarian with Double Swing is the first-character suggestion in the written starter notes, because the attack is obvious and the life pool forgives a mistake. Amazon is the class people actually submit most often. Those are different facts. If you already know a bow skill, start there. The full split is on classes.

Move the whole time. A card that adds damage to the skill you already cast is easier to judge than a second button you forget to watch. On Nightmare you get 8 skills and 8 passives. On Hell you get 10 and 10.

Act I quest, without a timer script

Scroll of Inifuss is the quest item from Treehead WoodFist. Take it to Akara, get the Key to the Cairn Stones, deal with Rakanishu, enter Tristram, and free Cain. That chain is in build 20261022.1. I am not attaching a minute-by-minute route. The older six-minute act table is from build 2026.1018.8.

Left click picks up, right click equips, Shift plus left click sells. Gold and gear carry between runs. A death does not. On Normal, Nightmare, and Hell you return to the previous Baal checkpoint. In Terror you also lose 10 percent of that level's experience.

Leave in a way you can resume

Esc, Save and exit, wait until the main menu is up, then close the tab. From build 20261022.3, Continue restarts the act as it began; gains made inside that act are at stake until its end. Export a copy before you switch browsers. The click path is on save transfer.

Questions

What class should a new player pick?

Written guides say Barbarian and Double Swing. The leaderboard says Amazon is submitted most. Both can be true.

Do items and gold stay after I die?

They carry between runs. Death still rolls the run back to the last Baal checkpoint, or costs Terror experience.

Where are the controls?

On the how-to-play page. This page assumes the keyboard already reaches the game.

Keep reading

ControlsClick the game before the keys work.Next: endgameTerror and Hardcore after Baal.BarbarianThe usual first build.

Sources checked 2026-10-28

Source scope: the developer's FAQ, changelog, client and leaderboards are one publisher, not independent corroboration. Build-specific figures and leaderboard numbers without an explicit external corroboration are single-source records at the date above. A video title alone does not verify numbers inside the video.