No, that is not normal. There is a relatively rare bug where boss type opponents can have a fast, overpowered attack. If you are playing the Developer's Cut version of the game, the easiest solution would be to load the save in the Developer Mode version, bring up the cheat window (F11) and enable god mode until you get past that point.

Otherwise, lowering the difficulty level may help (it will reduce the damage done, hopefully enough it is no longer a one hit kill).

Do you have your creature active? If it (or a summon, if you know or have any jewellery with such spells) is in front of you, it may get targeted first, giving you time to attack (or use Hide in Shadows). It might help to drink an armour and/or healing potion, etc, just before the fight.


One person with D2:ED who ran into this problem used CheatEngine to fix their health until they got past Ba'al.

Where's the trick to Ba'al?

[Not Sure if Bug][Spoilers]Killed Instantly




Are you playing a warrior build? Other than summoning your creature and maybe an occasional cast of the Healing spell, what are you doing to use mana? In the original release of D2:ED I never bothered with high mana special attacks like Thousand Strikes, but a couple levels of Mana Leech may help. I maxed Mana Efficiency (level 5 in D2:ED) and usually went with Increased Mana as my second choice on armour, after Life Line.
In DKS with my ranger I also boosted Mana Efficiency and used the Increased Mana enchantment, and there were few places I had trouble with mana that a couple potions could fix.