 Dead Hardcore character after exiting game. Hardcore is a separate game mode in which characters have a single life: death is final. Prior to patch 1.13 it was necessary to complete Normal with at least one character to access Hardcore mode. This is no longer the case. Hardcore characters can be created by checking the Hardcore box when creating new characters.
- If character life is ever reduced to zero, the character and any mercenary or pets die, and a gold text message in the top left corner of the screen informs players what they were slain by. Players are also informed that their deeds of valor will be remembered. Pressing the Esc key to continue will exit the game, after which the dead character can no longer be played and every item equipped or stored in inventory or personal stash is lost.
- However, permitting party members to loot corpses allows them to recover items equipped, although those in inventory and personal stash cannot be recovered (so charms are always lost). Party members must be in the same game when permission is given and when character dies to loot corpse. Dead character also needs to remain in game until corpse has been looted, since corpse is removed upon leaving. Party members should also have enough room in their inventory to store looted items.
- In D2R in LoD and RotW modes items and gold can be safely stored in a shared stash. It is advised not to use personal stash in Hardcore mode.
- In D2 there is no shared stash, but in multiplayer items and gold can be safely stored on other characters, although transferring them is risky on its own.
- Although games cannot be created or joined with dead Hardcore characters, they can still post in the Battle.net chat room.
- There are separate Ladders for Classic Hardcore and Expansion Hardcore (and also RotW Hardcore in D2R). Ladder rank of a dead character will be preserved as long as it is not deleted.
- Names of dead characters can be recycled by deleting them and creating new characters with the same name (although any Ladder rank of the dead character will be lost). If a player does not log in with a dead Hardcore character at least once every 90 days, it expires and can then be deleted by anybody else creating a new character with the same name.
- Different titles are awarded for completing each difficulty level, depending on game mode:
| Title
|
Classic
|
Expansion
|
| Normal
|
Nightmare
|
Hell
|
Normal
|
Nightmare
|
Hell
|
| Male
|
Count
|
Duke
|
King
|
Destroyer
|
Conqueror
|
Guardian
|
| Female
|
Countess
|
Duchess
|
Queen
|
Destroyer
|
Conqueror
|
Guardian
|
Reference
|
