If you're new to the Diablo series then you may need to take awhile to find your footing with the latest version of the game—Diablo III.
While the game is easy enough to get a grip on, we've decided to compiled a helpful little guide, or primer of sorts, to get you on your way to killing demons and wearing their bloodied possessions like some kind fantasy version of Buffalo Bill—minus the lotion.
So here's all that you need to know beyond clicking on monsters to kill them.
1. You can hold down your mouse button while you have an enemy selected to repeatedly attack it. You don't have to click for each attack. Knowing this might just save you from destroying a few mice.
2. Every player sees their own individual loot and drops. No one can see the items dropped for you on the ground, so don't leave a Legendary weapon lying around expecting your friend to pick it up. Instead, pick it up and trade it with them.
3. Unlike items, health orbs are seen by every player. Picking up a health orb will heal you and all nearby players.
4. Hold the CTRL button while mousing over an item on the ground to reveal its stats. You won't have to burden your inventory by picking it up. This will provide you with a comparison between the item on the ground and the equivalent item you have equipped.
5. With your inventory screen open, holding the ALT key while hovering over an item allows you to compare an item with your off-hand item. Handy for dual wielders!
6. Dual wielding weapons gives you a 15% attack speed bonus.
7. Gold is picked up automatically. Your character is equipped with magnets that sucks up all the gold around you.
8. Hitting the ALT key allows you to view the names of all the items on the ground for 10 seconds. You can change the duration in the options.
9. There is a "Force Move" (titled "Move") command that is unbound by default. Binding it to one of your additional mouse buttons (assuming you're using a gaming mouse) can be handy for forcing your character out of a tight situation.
10. If you're playing a ranged character class (Witch Doctor, Wizard, or Demon Hunter), you can hold down the mouse button and hit the SHIFT key to stop and attack at the direction you're pointing in.
11. Like World of Warcraft, it's possible to link your items in the chat box by shift-clicking an item with the chat box open. This allows other players to view the items you link.
12. Items in white and gray text are common drops and sell for next to nothing beyond the first act. Unless you really need the gold, don't fill your inventory with them.
13. You can inspect other players and look at what they're wearing by right-clicking their character portrait.
14. Magical and rare items are worth more as crafting materials. Instead of selling them to the vendor, salvage them instead.
15. Remember to equip your follower. Hit the "F" key to bring up their inventory and skills.
16. Invest in a bigger stash instead of creating different characters to act as mules. The time you spend transferring items between your characters could be better spent on actually playing the game.
17. If you play with a steady friend, designate one player as the party's blacksmith have the other focus on jewel crafting.
18. Crafting artisans are account-wide, so don't worry about leveling up your artisans with specific characters. Everything you do with with your artisans will be carried over to all your characters.
19. Leveling up your artisans and craftsmen is important for salvaging items, socketing items, and crafting powerful gear. Don't neglect them.
20. In addition to providing you with something to read while you're not killing monsters, Lore books provide experience points. Collect them all!
21. Lecterns are only activated by individual players, so be sure to click on them when you see them.
22. Never leave a game while in a dungeon. It'll start a countdown timer and leave you helpless unless the countdown is disabled. If you want to leave a game, do so in the safety of town.
23. Treasure goblins will disappear if you don't kill them fast enough. Kill them as soon as you see them. They tend to drop a lot of gold and magical items.
24. Elective Mode allows you to customize your skills without adhering to the categorical restrictions in the default mode.
25. Enabling advanced tooltips in the options allows you to see more details and statistics of your skills.
26. Press the "G" key to plant your banner on the ground. Show off that Feat of Strength achievement you got from playing in the Closed Beta with it.
27. Press the "Z" key to get up close and personal with your character. Be sure to take a screenshot!
28. Press the "X" key to view the health bars of all the monsters on screen.
29. The Numpad buttons on your keyboard allows your character to say pre-recorded lines that are both audible and appear in the chat box. Useful if you're not on Skype or Mumble.
30. You need to get a character to level 10 to unlock Hardcore mode.
31. People are going to know you by your BattleTag, not by your character's name.
32. "Magic Find" increases your chance to find better items. It is a statistic that averages out between all players present in the game.
33. Finding the best items in the game is easiest with exploration and killing elite packs of monsters instead of bosses.
34. Monsters scale up in health and damage output depending on the difficulty and the number of players in the game. You will not get more experience points for being in a game with more players. Instead, all players will do more damage. This differs from Diablo 2, which forced players to group up to gain experience at a reasonable rate.
35. There is an XP penalty to killing monsters too different from your current character level. If the level difference is less than 5, there is no penalty. If the difference is between 5-10, there is a small penalty. If the difference is over 10, you'll only receive 5% XP for killing the monster. You will gain bonus XP for killing monsters up to 3 levels above your level.
36. High grade gems must be crafted. They cannot be found.
37. Traders' inventories can be reset by creating or joining a new game.
38. You can teleport to another player by creating a town portal and selecting a player's banner.
39. You can reassign and map your skill keys to whatever works for you, and you'll have the option of using two different set ups for each command. If you have a mouse with many buttons, be sure to assign your skill keys to those.
40. You can earn money from the Real Money Auction House (RMAH) by selling your items there. In the RMAH, you have the option to earn "Battle Bucks" or cash it out through PayPal. "Battle Bucks" reside in your Battle.net account and cannot be cashed out. You can use "Battle Bucks" to buy items on the RMAH without spending real money.
