Diablo 2 Resurrected Multiplayer Guide: How to Play With Friends

Playing multiplayer with friends makes just about any game better and Diablo 2: Resurrected is absolutely no exception. In fact, Diablo 2 was originally created with multiplayer gaming in mind. Some skills are specifically crafted to complement and synergize with other players, such as war cries and auras, which can result in deadly combos that make blasting through content a breeze, especially farming the Secret Cow Level. Diablo 2: Resurrected makes playing with friends even easier, no LAN cables or dial-up modem required! In this guide, we will detail exactly how to play with friends and get your multiplayer adventure started in Diablo 2: Resurrected.

How to Play Multiplayer With Friends in Diablo 2: Resurrected

Firstly, make sure the character you want to play with is in the ‘Online’ tab of the character select screen. Offline players are stored on the player’s hard drive, while online characters are stored on Blizzard’s database. Offline characters cannot play multiplayer in Diablo 2: Resurrected and there is no way to transfer characters from one tab to the other, so as to prevent cheating and keep multiplayer as fair as possible.

Select the character you wish to play as and click on the ‘Lobby’ button. From here, go to the ‘Create Game’ tab and enter the name you wish to call your game. This name will be what your friends will search to join you, so make sure it’s (reasonably) sensible. If you don’t want strangers joining your game, create a password to make the game only accessible to those you supply the password to. Select the difficulty, the max player count (up to 8), the maximum level difference players can join at, if you would like to enable friends to join you through your friend list, and, finally, if you would like to enable ‘item spacing’, which is a new feature to Diablo 2: Resurrected that widens the space in which items drop.

If your friend is the one hosting the session, simply click the ‘Join Game’ tab and type in the game name and password your friend has sent you. If they have enabled the ‘Friends List Joining’ option when creating their game, you can simply join via your Battle.net friends list, Playstation Network or Xbox Live, instead.

How to Join Open Multiplayer Games in Diablo 2: Resurrected

Open the ‘Lobby’ screen from the character selection screen and make your way to the ‘Join Game’ tab. Here, you will find a list of currently open games available to join, as well as how many players are currently playing. Simply select the name of the game you would like to play and press ‘Join Game’. You can also search for specific game names if you would like to join a non-password-protected game.

Cross-Play & Cross-Progression in Diablo 2: Resurrected

Unfortunately, cross-play is not an option in Diablo 2: Resurrected. Players can only play with other people on the same platform as them. Cross-progression is an option, however. Players are able to resume play of their online characters across multiple platforms by linking the respective platforms to their Blizzard account.

For example, a PC player could log off and continue playing the same character on their Nintendo Switch. Cross-progression is currently the only way to play your characters with friends on a different platform, with the drawback of having to buy another copy of the game.

Visit our guide on how to identify items for free in Diablo 2: Resurrected to outshine your friends with the best armour and weapons. Diablo 2: Resurrected is available for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch.