You play the role of a demon hunter and you have 4 characters to choose from:

Jacob, Hector, Bruce and Caleb

In Inferno mode, which is where you'll usually find me playing, the objective is to complete 4 encounters and then defeat the end of game boss, Abaddon.

Each encounter gets progressively harder and you'll face a variety of minions to kill during those encounters, the minions are:

Wendigo, Incubus, Manalishi, Creator, Headsman, Warlock, Bruiser, Reaper, Hellion Bat, Furion Orb and finally Abaddon.

These minions can be raged indicated by a red outline (deal more damage) or defensive (deflect bullets or carry shields).

You currently have 8 main maps to choose from and the boss level, with the exception of the boss level, each map has an environmental effect that will start if any player does not reach the chronostone in time.

Some of these effects include, meteors, lightning storms and fog to name just a few, the type of effect you'll see depends on the map you're playing on.

You have 3 different types of gemstones. These appear during the game for different situations, the gemstones are Chronostone (blue), Healthstone (green) and Soulstone (red).

Chronostone - This appears randomly somewhere on the map and if not destroyed before the timer reaches zero will start an environmental effect, some are harmless like fog that lower the visibility, but some are more dangerous like meteors, those will do you damage so destroy this stone as soon as possible.

Healthstone - Self explanatory. Only the player that destroys this stone will receive the health.

Soulstone - If a player dies in co-op this stone will appear, try and break it before a minion steals it or you'll be chasing it around the map like the other stones too, once broken, it frees the dead player and gives them full health and the weapon upgrades they had before they died.

Chronostone Exception - This is my own technique but it's very effective if done right and on the higher difficulties can save your life, if you have a lot of raged minions on the map and the effect is one that will hurt you, you can leave the chronostone so the environmental effect happens, this will clear a percentage of the raged minions making the game a little easier and saving your bombs/explosives for when you need them the most. A map like Museum which has fire eruptions is very effective against the raged minions. Just be aware that the minions can die and so can you.

I can't emphasise this enough, these will save your life so use them when you need to. In random areas on each map (not the boss level) you'll see a small wooden box with bombs/explosives inside, these are Dynamite, Alchemist Bombs, Cluster Bombs, Shrapnel Grenades, Sticky Bombs and my personal favourites, Impulse Mines.

These I use to kill any raged minions or defensive minions that might be following me, you'll also see gas canisters scattered throughout the map, use those too by firing at them and they'll pierce and then explode, again be aware that these can damage you too so only use them if you have a lot of health.

You have a variety of weapons to choose from and my personal favourite is the shotgun upgraded fully later becoming the Arsonator, a very nice and powerful weapon. Each weapon can be upgraded by picking up an upgrade box, just make sure that before you pick it up you want to upgrade the current weapon you're using.

You also have melee attacks you can perform if you prefer the CQC approach, I rarely use these melee moves as I prefer long ranged weapons rather than taking too much damage if I get surrounded, melee can be effective in certain situations so try it and see for yourself. It is very effective against defensive minions.

You also have special weapons on each level and these can be nice to use at times, they range from RPG, Grenade Launcher and Flamethrower to name just three, you'll have to search the map for these if you want to use them. If you die you will not respawn wth these weapons and only one can be carried at once.

The object is for me to survive each encounter and I try to make that a little easier by using the environment around me, I never use the evade moves, they can get me into more trouble at times so I use melee (front kick) to give me room to move and decide what my next plan is.

The gas canisters which are scattered throughout the level can be used to kill a large group of minions that might be following me or any raged ones that are within a group meaning I'll take more damage trying to get through the group to the raged minion.

Kill the raged ones first, a minion that is raged can deal some serious damage so kill these as soon as possible, use the gas canisters or bombs/explosives you've picked up to kill them quickly. NEVER let the raged minions build up too much, they can kill you in a few hits on the higher difficulties.

Prioritise Your Target
Raged minions take priority but some of the minions can kill you very quickly so you need to kill the high damage minions as quick as possible, 4 wendigos in a group are not much of a threat but 4 reapers in a group are deadly and can kill in seconds.

Scream and Run
OK, you don't have to scream but I will suggest running if you're facing a lot of high damage minions, use bombs/explosives, gas canisters or melee (if possible), failing that run away (scream if you want :P) and always fight them on your terms, I always pick my fights, it could be height advantage, distance or I just need more bombs/explosives.

If you've managed to get to Abaddon, well done, it's very difficult as a new player but you're almost there. You'll face a few weaker minions during this battle so watch for those spawning as they can give you ammunition or a weapon upgrade.

Abaddon has 3 types of attack, a fire wall that will spread towards you or another player if it's co-op, homing meteors and a (slightly homing) pod containing a defence Bruiser, the homing meteors can be shot but shoot them quickly as they can deal a high amount of damage.

The homing pod can also be shot but if it lands and spawns the Bruiser, deal with him quickly to avoid his ground stomp that can freeze you on the spot. Tap the melee button to break the stun. (Thanks to Egg_Chen for the reminder).

The fire wall is more dangerous and can deal a high amount of damage if you're caught in it so try to avoid it, he will send the fire towards you or another player 3 times, this is very important, if the fire hits a skull pile, which you can see on the level, it will spawn a skull on the top of that pile, if the fire hits that skull again it will deal a massive amount of damage so try to avoid the fire hitting it or stay away from the skull if it does as it will explode on contact. If the skull starts to flash red it's about to explode so stay away from it.

The skull that appears has to be kicked or punched using a melee attack towards Abaddon, if the skull hits him it will lower his armour, as seen in the top right corner of your screen, continue doing this until his armour has gone, once his armour is down he will turn red and then open fire with everything you've got to do as much damage as possible before his armour regenerates, you can also kick the skulls that might be around to deal him more damage while his armour is down. Use the same technique until he's dead. If you die, you will not respawn.

I usually play nightmare in solo and sometimes in co-op as it's a nice challenge and I thoroughly enjoy this game in either mode. You'll find me sometimes hosting or in one of your online games every so often as I like to help some of the new players, if you do, say hello to your fellow demon hunter :D