How do the experience points work in Diablo II?

Question

I am in the nighmare version of the game. Every time I get killed, I lose experience points. How many points do I lose? Is there a point where I can retain the points I have so I don't lose them when I am killed?

Answer 1

In Nightmare and Hell difficulty settings, whenever your character dies, he or she suffers a loss of gold and experience points. In games of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, if you recover your corpse at the location of its demise, you can regain 75% of the experience points you lost. If, however, you choose to 'Save and Exit' out of your current game in order to restart and recover your body in town, you will not regain any of your lost experience.

Answer 2

When you die in either Nightmare or Hell mode, you'll lose gold and experience points. Obviously, gold isn't that big a deal; there's always plenty more to be had. But losing experience points is a drag, and it gets worse as you get to higher levels (where more and more points are required to level up).

It's important to remember that, in those modes, when you die, you'll get back HALF the experience points you lost if you go back and retrieve your corpse (as opposed to exiting the game and re-entering, or starting a new one). BUT...if you're in a really tough spot and it's possible (or likely) that you'll die multiple times, cut your losses and exit the game.