Okay, here is Jacob and Guido guide to Diablo II

We each have favourite characters, but some characters are definitely more powerful than otthers, just think how many barbarians you seen on open battle.net, here are my top three favourite characters: (well, this is wrong now, because the barbarian' smy favourite and i hate being the druid, but anyway- i just couldn't be bothered to update it, just thought you'd like to know!)

1:Assassin you can just run around causing loads of explosions, which is really fun

2:Druid I reckon this guy is actually the best character of all

3:Necromancer once I summoned a total of 60 creatures at the same time !

I reckon Guidos top three is different so here it is:

1: Druid

2:Sorceress

3:Barbarian

One of the most important things that you do, is assigning skill points, after LOTS of playing time, here is our guide to skills, the ones that arent there will hopefully be put in soon.

Amazon:

Assassin: The traps for the assassin are not really worth the skill points in acts IV and V and in higher difficulty so put most of your points into martial arts. Use dragon tail, because dragon kick may do more damage, but it is very awkward to use. Obviously phoenix strike is your best charge up, especially in Hell difficulty, where you can use different amounts of charges for different effects, the others dont even come close. By the way you can have different types of charges e.g. blades of ice and fists of fire at the same time, making a really big explosion. Fade is a really important skill in higher difficulties, because it can get your resistance about 60 points higher than before! There is one trap worth having and that is the corpse explosion one, where the power increases with the death of the enemy. In multiplayer, youre going to be the one at the front, with the barbarians, and paladins, so you need lots of health, mana isnt really a worry, because you only need about ten for each attack.

Barbarian:

Druid: However tempting those spells look, IGNORE THEM THEY ARE CRAP! They only do about 200 damage at high levels, which youll soon find is not enough,, plus 1/3 of the people in Hell difficulty are immune to fire. Start of putting lots of point into werewolf and the werewolf skills, like lycanthrope and eventually fury. The oak sage is probably your best sage, but try out the heart of the wolverine, I like that one more because of the increased damage and to hit bonus. Put lots of points into Dire wolf and bear because youll find that otherwise your bear has hardly any health, or that your dire wolves do about as much damage as a one armed blind deaf stupid, hermit with a haddock. At level 30 you can get the skill Fury (is it called that, I cant remember)Which adds HUGE bonuses to your attack rating and damage as a werewolf. Put loads of points into this skill because its really important.

Necromancer: This character is really fun to play and his minions are helpful for others in multiplayer, but in Nightmare and Hell he just doesnt cut it . His best skills are poison and bone, although the summoning spells are really good in normal mode, A fire golem is not always best, if people are immune to fire in that area an iron golem might be a better option, so put lots of points into golem mastery to improve their life and their speed, which doesnt really make a difference, you are going to have to split up your skill points because nearly all of the necromancers skills are worth it, there are a few curses that are really important like iron maiden, amplify damage and lower resist, but this guy really isnt that powerful so dont play him for to long. Because you probably wont be able to complete the game in hell with him, I couldnt.

Paladin: This character is almost as good as the Druid, if not as good, his main weakness is that he runs like a rinky Dink Goblin with a dafodil shoved halfway up his deep and lugubrious ar-- ... SHUT UP GUIDO, WE ARE MEANT TO BE INFORMING OUR HUMBLE FAN BASE, NOT SCARING THEM AWAY....YEISH. HE HAS A LARGE SELECTION OF GOOD SKILLS, the best attacking skill being Vengeance. This is an inceredible skill that adds 70% cold, fire and lightning damage ontop of your normal attack at level 1! Fist of the heavens is a very good skill throughout the game (after level 30) that does a huge amount of electric damage and also healing holy bolts that damage undead. Holy shield is only good if you have a really good shield and should never be used in conjuction with thorns as with thorns you want the enemy to attack you. The onea that recovers life and mana at 1v1 30 is very good if you're low on health, especially in  Hell.

Sorceress:

You are probably the best judge of items because your items will affect how you play, but always remember that even if a weapon appears to do lots of damage there may be another that adds to resistance, attack bonus or whatever, the same with armour, amulets and anything else. Always activate a town portal before you go to meet a boss so you can run back to it and go through it if you get into trouble, plus if you die you can get back to your body quicker this way.