Torchlight 2, one of the best dungeon crawling loot fests on PC, has a lively modding community, adding tons of new content and balancing the game. These mods range from minor, like a slight change to your UI, to enormous changes, like dozens of hours of new content.
To the gamers out there versed in modding their games, like the fans of Fallout and Skyrim used to having over 150 mods working at once, Torchlight is a different change of pace. Torchlight, due to technical limitations, has a limit of 10 mods running at once. That’s why this list includes mod-packs as opposed to specific mods within those packs, that way you can get the most bang for your buck!
Additionally, Twinfinite has tested the compatibility of all 10 of these mods working at the same time, resulting in very few bugs and no game crashes, however every gaming rig is different and results may vary. This list was ordered to show which mods you should download first, but always make sure to check the description of every mod you use to make sure the order in which you load the mods in-game is correct!
Synergies Mod
Best Torchlight 2 Mods
This is probably the most important mod on this list, because it is enormous. The Synergies mod might as well be considered an expansion pack for the game, considering it adds a ludicrous amount of original content while also reworking vanilla content. In addition to three new classes, the mod adds new towns, new dungeons, and even revamps new game plus, adding new content to the higher tiers of playthroughs, such as unique legendary weapons, new awesome looking armors, and even new bosses.
Of all the mods on this list, this is objectively the most important, because without it you’re missing out on a lot of crazy cool content. However, this mod may be problematic for some, because it makes the game quite a bit harder, being balanced around the harder difficulties. Additionally, this mod may kill a lot of players’ framerate, because you’ll often run into literal hordes of enemies ranging in the dozens, which, unless you have a crazy powerful computer, is going to bring the game to a halt at times. If you don’t have a moderately strong computer, you might have no choice but to skip this one.
Nevertheless, if you don’t have framerate issues, mowing down tons of enemies is incredibly fun and makes the combat a much more satisfying experience.
This post was originally written by Babak Abrishamchian.
Torchlight 2 Essentials
Best Torchlight 2 Mods
This does a lot, but unlike Synergies, this mod is all about improving your Torchlight experience by bundling other mods together as opposed to Synergies, which makes it a whole new game. The Torchlight 2 Essentials modpack is a collection of, well, essential mods. The mods in this pack are all heavy in content, such as new classes, new dungeons, and new pets, but are still
Most of these are very good quality-of-life mods like Minimalist Loot Borders, which aims to unclutter the screen when tons of loot is scattered around the ground, or the Respec / Restat potions which let you reset your character’s stats by purchasing an item in-game. However others are much more substantial, and make noticable changes to gameplay. Examples include Arkham’s Armory, which adds tons of new unique weapons to the game, or Blank’s Landmarks which adds tons of new dungeons with new layouts.
BAGMOD
Best Torchlight 2 Mods
One of the best things about dungeon crawlers is loot, selling that loot, and getting even better loot! Sometimes, or rather all the time in Torchlight, you’ll run out of bag space and would rather not send your pet back to town to sell your junk gear. BAGMOD fixes this, by increasing the size of your inventory, stash, and shared stash by adding tabs for organization.
By having three pages worth of inventory space, you can focus less on managing your loot and waiting for your pet to come back from town, and get back to hacking and slashing!
JPCC’s HUD Pack
Best Torchlight 2 Mods
An important part of dungeon crawlers is a clean, cohesive UI. Torchlight 2 doesn’t have a bad UI, but there’s nothing wrong with improving on it. JPCC’s HUD pack mod mixes tons of mods to improve the game’s HUD, making it easier to see what you’re doing. This makes improvements on your toolbar, portraits and their information, and even improves the appearance of your inventory without affecting the BAGMOD mod.
StarterPets Extended
Best Torchlight 2 Mods
See, its great to have a ferret, but what about a Dragon, or a Warbeast? The mod StarterPets Extended gives players this option. Yes, it could be considered cheating to let you start with what’s essentially an end-game pet buff, but don’t act like you wouldn’t love to have a flying Dragon right from the get-go?
Using the mod, it doesn’t take you out of the experience as much as you’d first think, as you eventually get used to the unique pet being less of an actual pet and more of an ally.
The Endless Dungeon
Best Torchlight 2 Mods
Bring Out Your Dead Book
Its all in the title with this mod, because the Endless Dungeon is exactly that. Well, not really its actually a 26-floor dungeon but that’s still the longest the game has to offer. Every time you go into the dungeon, the order of those 26 floors is different. On top of that, the enemies in the dungeon start at your level, and get tougher as you get deeper in. To put it simply, its the end-game dungeon the game was missing before.
8 Player Multiplayer
Best Torchlight 2 Mods
This is the mod for the madmen, and the social. Imagine playing Torchlight with 8 of your friends all using the Synergies mod, hacking and slashing through hordes of enemies in a flurry of spells and other attacks. Now, actually assembling 8 people to play Torchlight 2 together may be difficult, but it would undeniably be legendary.
Do be warned though, if you’re going to take the plunge into an 8 player LAN party, make sure you and your friends have beefy computers, because this is going to cost a lot of computing power.
Blank’s Landmarks
Best Torchlight 2 Mods
Now, if you read the Torchlight 2 Essentials, you’d notice the Blank’s landmarks mod was already a part of this list. The problem, is that if you want to run both Synergies Mod and Torchlight 2 Essentials, you’ll need to install Blank’s Landmarks standalone. This is because of minor incompatibility issues, but if you download this mod on its own, you shouldn’t run into any bugs. Dungeon crawlers can get very repetitive, especially if you’re playing on your own. That’s where Blank’s Landmarks come in! This adds tons of new layouts for dungeons, meaning dungeons you’ve visited before will have new areas you haven’t seen in the game.
They’re very creative and make a huge difference when exploring dungeons.
Awesome Classes
Best Torchlight 2 Mods
Sick of playing the game’s original 4 classes? This mod adds a whopping seven unique classes, all with unique skills and skill trees. Although they all use weapons already in the game, the weapon mods included in Synergies and Torchlight 2 Essentials should help with variety in customization. There are some crazy fun and interesting classes in here, namely the Dragon Prince and Dread Pirate.
The Dragon Prince mixes the toughness of berserkers with the fire and summoning of mages and necromancers. Its a very easy-to-play class that has some really interesting skillsets. The Dread Pirate is easily the most unique class in this mod, focusing on using a sword and a gun, which no other class does. Crazy skills for the class include throwing barrels of gunpowder at your opponent, or summoning skeleton pirates to help you. You can expect as much variety in the other five classes for this mod!
Ultimate Boss Chests
Best Torchlight 2 Mods
This mod completely revamps the rewards for beating bosses. When you beat a particularly strong boss, you expect a mountain of loot to come raining out from either the boss, or the chest they were guarding. Sometimes in Torchlight 2, you get to the end of a dungeon, beat the boss, and you’re just kind of disappointed. Sometimes the loot isn’t very interesting, or maybe there isn’t enough of it. There’s nothing worse than digging through dozens of pieces of loot and realizing nothing in there is better than the gear you already have.
Ultimate Boss Chests basically upgrades all the loot you’ll be getting from beating a boss. This may be interpreted as cheating for some, which is understandable, but if you’re playing with the Synergies mod at the highest level, you’re both going to need and deserve the better loot you’re getting from those tougher bosses.
Have any mods you like that didn’t show up on this list? Let us know in the comments below!
Runic Games has said it doesn’t have any plans to bring Torchlight 2 to consoles, a representative for the company has told VG247.
When asked whether the firm had plans to bring the RPG over to current or next-gen systems, we were told there were “no plans for Torchlight 2 on consoles,” as noted above.
The original Torchlight was released on Xbox 360 back in March 2011, after being announced for the console as well as PlayStation 3 in August 2010; however, since Microsoft became the acting publisher for the XBLA release, the PS3 version was scrapped.
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When asked what other nuggets of wonder were being concocted in the bubbling stew over at Runic, we were told that the firm wasn’t at liberty to “share yet what may be in development,” but they’d be happy to let us known when something concrete was ready to be announced.
Last we heard, Ruinc Games was still planning to release a Mac version of Torchlight 2, but it had run into some “unexpected complexities” with it simultaneously alongside its “scramble to ramp up on [its] next project and get it moving forward.”
A date or any further details to share regarding the Mac port of Torchlight 2 were unavailable.
Runic announced that back in June that Torchlight 2 had sold over 2 million copies since its release on PC in September 2012.
The milestone was hit during the Steam Summer Gateway sale, and we know Pat contributed at least €5 to the Torchlight 2 pot during that time.
I've spent the weekend mainlining Runic's Torchlight II. As of this writing, my level 39 engineer has killed 8,800 monsters, collected 161,207 gold, imbibed 535 potions, broken 771 crates and urns, and caught 9 fish.
This game is much more of a beast than its predecessor; in terms of scale and ambition, it's right up there with the biggest names in loot-collection and click-based combat. And so of course, Blizzard's Diablo III looms large over the entirety of Torchlight II. How could it not?
Below, I've catalogued some of the many ways that the two games are different.
As I've been playing, it's been very difficult to evaluate Torchlight II on its own terms, rather than constantly thinking 'Oh, so X is different from Diablo III in Y way.' Rather than letting all that mess get into my review, I thought I'd write down my impressions of the campaign about 18 hours in, and put them entirely in the context of Diablo III. Hopefully that will get all the comparisons out of my system.
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But let's get this out of the way: If you liked Diablo III, you will almost surely like Torchlight II. Both games feel similar at their core, both have the same randomly generated replayability, and both games are satisfying in the same compulsive, clicky way. Seriously—this doesn't have to be some winner-take-all deathmatch. Both games are fun, and the two can co-exist. That said, if you didn't like Diablo III but have liked past Diablo games, Torchlight is different enough from Blizzard's newest game that it just may be your thing.
Here we go:
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No Internet Required
Diablo III:Internet Only | Torchlight II:Internet? What Internet?
Blizzard made the controversial decision to require an internet connection for Diablo III at all times, but Torchlight II can be played offline in single-player. While I do like the idea of a persistent, online world, in the end, I think that Blizzard's always-on requirement was and is too much of a headache. Torchlight II's approach is the clear winner. What's more, you can bring it to your next LAN party.
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Read more ReadFaster, Avatar! Kill, Kill!
Diablo III:Easy does it. | Torchlight II:Time for another level!
Torchlight II feels much faster than Diablo III—you'll level up much more quickly, and that speed sustains throughout the game. The result is a steady drip-feed of new skill- and stat-points, and everything feels a touch less grind-y. As a result of all that leveling, you're going to have a lot more skill points to divy up. Which means you'll have to make..
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Decisions, Decisions
Diablo III:Pre-ordained skill trees. | Torchlight II:You choose everything.
In Torchlight II, you'll have far more control over your character build. I've been playing as an engineer, and have been choosing from among three different skill trees, each of which are tied to a different kind of combat—two-handed, sword and shield, or gadget-based. It feels much more like a standard RPG (or more like Diablo II) than the slot-based, interchangeable upgrades of Diablo III.
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Bring Out Your Dead Torchlight 2017
On a related note, it's also worth mentioning that Torchlight II's skill trees are much more permanent—you can undo your last three skill upgrades in town (for a price), but you can't just swap your skills around all willy-nilly like you can in Diablo III. It's more restrictive, but also truer to its roots. It could be that you can fully re-spec on New Game + or something; I'm not that far yet. It'd be nice! But when it comes down to it: Not counting the mouse, Diablo III has four hotkeys for powers; Torchlight II has ten.
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More Character Flexibility
Diablo III:Very limited skill combinations. | Torchlight II:Choose your own play-style.
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Fortunately, whatever you choose, you'll still be able to change up your playstyle. That's because the character classes are much more versatile than in Diablo III. I'll occasionally find loot that's restricted to another class, but for the most part, my engineer can do just about anything. She's an up-close-and-personal kinda girl, but she's got a secondary weapon slot for a wicked crossbow, and if she wanted she could even wield an embermage's staff or a berserker's gloves. Of course, some of her bonuses are tied to specific types of weapons, but the game never tells her that she can't use an item.
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Fishing
Diablo III:No fishing. | Torchlight II:Fishing.
Er, basically, that. There's fishing in Torchlight II, just like in Torchlight. Just go with it.
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Also, Pets
Diablo III:No pets. | Torchlight II:So many pets.
Every character has a pet that follows him or her around, and it's one of my favorite additions to the Diablo formula. Basically, instead of one of the three boring NPC followers that solo-players got in Diablo III, you get a cat, or a dog, or a wolf, or other beastie. My engineer's cat, Hans, is a damn sight cooler than any of those three prats from Diablo III, and he's smarter, too—I can send him off to town to sell my loot and even give him a shopping list of potions and scrolls to pick up for me. Sometimes, as a reward, I'll feed him a fish that magically turns him into super-sweet giant spider.
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More Loot, More Numbers
Diablo III:Lots of loot. | Torchlight II:Insane craploads of loot.
If you are into loot, and numbers, then you will loveTorchlight II. It's a hardcore numbers-gamer's kind of game, with vast statistics screens showing your characters' every ability and adjustment.
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Unfortunately, it's also a lot less user-friendly than Diablo III—there's no way to immediately tell, for example, how your item will affect core traits like damage per second and armor rating. There are also three subsets of armor types, one for each element, so you'll have to take a ton of things into account when comparing gear. And you'll be comparing gear a lot.
It can all be a bit ungainly and confusing - if a weapon gives you +10 strength but has a slightly lower DPS than the weapon you're holding, it'd be great to see at-a-glance exactly which one will end you up with the higher DPS (since strength changes your weapon's damage.) Ditto for pieces of armor that raise your physical armor rating magically. It's all a little bit opaque, and while the obsessive stat-counting player may like that, there's so much loot in the game that I can't really keep track of it all.
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More Hardcore. Hardcore-er. Hardercore.
Diablo III:Normal = Always doable. | Torchlight II:Normal = You may even get stuck.
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The stat stuff isn't the only thing about Torchlight II that's more hardcore than Diablo III—the game itself is more difficult and interesting, even at 'normal' difficulty. This may be because of some mid-game tuning issues, but I've found that the latter halves of the second and third acts are difficult, and if I'm not careful, I'll get wrecked even by basic enemies.
It bears mentioning that I'm only playing on normal, and I haven't had any time at all to explore Torchlight II's post-game—it could well be that the high-level Diablo III stuff is every bit as hardcore as Torchlight II, just in a different way. But for a more casual player, Torchlight II is harder core. And yes, just like Diablo III, Torchlight II offers a 'Hardcore Mode' where death is permanent.
Bring Out Your Dead Torchlight 2 Full
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Potion-Fest 2012
Diablo III:Some potions. | Torchlight II:All of the potions.
In Diablo III, I played as a Monk, and as a result had a few abilities that caused me to regenerate health mid-battle. My Torchlight II engineer has no such abilities, and as a result Runic's game is much more about potion-management than Blizzard's is. That's actually kind of cool—it feels a lot more like Diablo II in that way (or at least, what I remember of Diablo II), and combines with the higher difficulty to make the game more fraught.
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Still Just Wrist-Slapping
Diablo III:Not very punishing. | Torchlight II:Not very punishing, in a different way.
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Here's a difference that's also a similarity—both games don't really punish you much for death. In Diablo III, you respawn right next to where you die with some damage done to your armor (Well, unless you're playing in hardcore mode). In Torchlight II, you're given an option: Respawn where you died for a big chunk of gold, respawn at the beginning of the dungeon for less gold, or respawn in town for free.
It's a bit weird, since you can usually sprint through the dungeon really quickly and save yourself some money, so you're really just paying for some time. Which feels a tad arbitrary. But then again, Blizzard's armor-damage was also just a tax on time and money, so I guess I'm not much of a fan of either approach.
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No Real-Money Auction House
Diablo III:Want loot? Buy it! | Torchlight II:Want loot? Play the game!
Adding this one because it's a not-insubstantial difference, even though I don't use the RMAH: Torchlight II has no equivalent to Blizzard's Real-Money Auction House, and so no way to pay to get the best gear. If you want good loot, you'll have to earn it in the game.
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Better Bosses
Diablo III:Decent bosses. | Torchlight II:Excellent bosses.
So far anyway, I've found Torchlight II's bosses to be more varied and interesting than the bosses in Diablo III. I'd usually run up to Blizzard's bosses and just start wailing away, maybe drinking a potion if I needed to, until they died. In Torchlight II, bosses follow varied attack patterns, use environmental tricks to trap and disorient you, summon clones and minions, and generally follow more interesting routines. It also helps that the game feels, as stated above, a little more difficult.
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It's a Whole Wide World Out There
Diablo III:Linear, fast-paced narrative. | Torchlight II:Feels more exploration-based.
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Something about Torchlight II's world feels more open and fully realized than Diablo III. Which is weird, given that Diablo III has such exhaustive lore and such an involved story, but something about the apocalyptic, heaven-and-hell nature of Diablo III's story left the world feeling like little more than an arena for battle, especially in Acts III and IV.
Torchlight II, on the other hand, has a world that feels more lived in—the enemies you're fighting aren't always demonic invaders, often they're just the beasties that roam a particular area. Fungus monsters inhabit caves, roach-beasts skitter from hidey-holes, and werewolves leap out of cottage basements. It feels more like you're exploring and less like you're breathlessly running from point A to point B. I find that preferable.
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Storytelling Shortfall
Diablo III:Silly, cockamimi story. | Torchlight II:Somehow even more nonsensical.
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Here's something I never thought I'd say: Torchlight II manages to have a story that makes even less sense than Diablo III. No, really! I'm sure that fans of the first game will understand what the heck is going on, but I played a good bit of Torchlight back in the day and I often have literally no idea what the hell is going on in Torchlight II. That's not to say it really hurts the game, it's just surprising that Blizzard's mess of a narrative still feels more interesting than Torchlight II's gobbledygook hodgepodge.
That said…
Superior Sidequests
Diablo III:Mostly forgettable sidequests. | Torchlight II:Lots of sidequests, mostly meaty.
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Torchlight II has some really good sidequests. Overall, I'd say they're more interesting than the sidequests on offer in Diablo III. In fact, given that the main story feels like a bunch of random sidequests, the whole of Torchlight II just sort of feels like a ton of quests over a big, sprawling world. That's more my speed than Diablo III's breathless sprint against the forces of darkness, and as Torchlight II opens up more and more, I bet that feeling will only grow.
What do I mean by Torchlight II opening up? Well..
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The Future's Bright
Diablo III:Get your mitts off our game! | Torchlight II:Please, mod our game!
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The biggest difference between Diablo III and Torchlight II is one that we haven't seen yet. Namely, that Diablo III is completely closed and controlled by Blizzard, while Runic has invited the modding community to tweak and re-invent Torchlight II however they want.
That means that we'll be seeing new, user-generated content for Torchlight II for the coming months and even years. As much fun as the basic click-loot-click flow of Torchlight II is, I sense that Runic's smartest decision may have been to put the future of their game in the hands of their fans, rather than holding all of the cards for themselves.
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So, there you have 'em: My impressions regarding how Torchlight II stacks up with its most obvious rival after 18 hours spent playing. I'm still banging away at the game and doing more multiplayer (which is still something of a question mark until it's been out in the world for a bit), and will have a full review later this week. And in that review, I promise that I'll keep talk of Diablo III to a minimum.