The Necromancer is voiced by Michael McConnohie.

[edit] Multiplayer
Unlike the original Diablo, Diablo 2 Items was made specifically with online gaming in mind. Several spells (such as auras or war cries) multiply their effectiveness if they are cast within a party, and dungeons, although they still exist, were largely replaced by open spaces.

Multiplayer is achieved through Blizzard's Battle.net free online service, or via a LAN. Battle.net is divided into "Open" and "Closed" realms. Players may play their single-player characters on open realms; characters in closed realms are stored on Blizzard's servers, as a measure against cheating, where they must be played every 90 days to avoid expiration. Online play is otherwise nearly identical to single-player play. The most notable difference is that online maps are generated randomly, with a new map for every game a player enters -- but offline, single player maps are retained in computer memory, though only for a single difficulty setting at a time. For instance, if you play on normal, complete it, and start playing Diablo 2 Items nightmare, your previous normal maps will be reset and your new nightmare maps will be saved in their place. Any switching between the three difficulty levels results in the saved maps being reset.

As the game can be played cooperatively (Players vs. Monsters, PvM), groups of players with specific sets of complementary skills can finish some of the game's climactic battles in a matter of seconds, providing strong incentives for party-oriented character builds. Up to eight players can be in one game; they can either unite as a single party, play Diablo 2 Items as individuals, or form multiple opposing parties. Experience gained, monsters' hit points and damage, and the number of items dropped are all increased as more players join a game, though not in a strictly proportional manner.

Players are allowed to duel each other with all damage being reduced in player Diablo 2 Items vs player (PvP). The bounty for a successful kill in PvP is a portion of the gold and the "ear" of the defeated player (with the previous owner's name and level at the time of the kill).

Patch 1.10 included the option of playing with a ladder character. The ladder system can be reset at various intervals to allow for all players Diablo 2 Items to start fresh with new characters on an equal footing. Ladder seasons have lasted from as short as nine months to over a year. When a ladder season ends the ladder population is transferred to the non-ladder population with all items that player is holding. Certain rare items and rune words are available only within ladder games, although they can be traded for and exchanged on non-ladder after the season has ended.

There have been at least 22 patches; the latest major patch was released on Jun 17, 2008. Through the patch history, several exploits and issues have been addressed (such as illegal item duplication), as well as major revamps to the game's balance. Not all patches have affected Diablo 2 Items directly, as several were designed to address issues in the expansion to the game and had minimal effects on Diablo 2 Items. The game is currently in version 1.12. The precise number of patches is impossible to determine as Battle.net has the capability of making minor server-side patches to address immediate issues