Best for a lead/tank char?

Best for a lead/tank char?

I don't want to jump right out and assume barbarian (what with the way things are in 1.10 and all) but I was just wondering what the best type of 'lead' character is. By 'lead' I mean a character I can beef up to do pit runs & collect the various (legit) goodies I've seen for trade in channels & stuff that I've never actually SEEN with my own eyes (let alone possessed). I wanna start one from scratch and pretty much use him to assist my other chars (namely my druid) in getting better gear & overall progression.

Any suggestions would be gladly appreciated but keep in mind, I am starting him from scratch so no "Get him the Godly Guys Gear of Awesomeness" 'cos, well, that's what I'd be attempting to do with this char. Of course, future equipment suggestions are more than welcome.

 

Well if you want a good starting out (untwinked) MF character, do a hammerdin or skellymancer. (or maybe a sorc.)

If you want a good tank do a barb or a zon. (or maybe a pally.)

There is a difference, be specific.

 

Well, by tank (and yeah, using the term very loosely in this sense of the word), someone who can do a particular run without dying 1,000 times before finding whatever it is I'm looking for & not necessarily one who takes all the heat in a players 8 game. Though, yes, primarly I would be looking into MFing more than anything.

I had a skelliemancer previously but once I got to mid-NM he (well, his minions) got mercilessly slaughtered. Maybe a Hammerdin would be in my better interest this time around, in that case.

 

Hammerdin will give you the best balance between tanking ability, killing speed, and ease of play (no godly items need here).

Of course, the best tank is this.

 

I'd love to see Baal's face when I roll into the Worldstone Chamber in that baby, heh heh heh.

 

A skelemancer can pretty much use store bought equipment and your minions kill stuff while you just sit there and cast amp dmg here and there :teeth:.

 

My skelly mancer got owned at norm diablo.........

 

I went back to Norm at like lvl70 or so and took on D.. I swear it reminded me of one of the final battle scenes from RotK with the ghosts on the Oliphaunt.

 

A good zealot can be a house.

 

For primary MFing, I'd go w/ a Meteor/Orb sorc. You can't beat Teleport, and w/ a Defiance merc she should have little problems w/ many of the popular mf spots (does well in Pits, Meph, Andy, Pindle, Shenk, and Eldritch)

Skellimancer is nice too, and fun. A bit slower than a sorc, but can MF anywhere. Its also pretty cheap to build. Max skeleton mastery and summon. 1 point amp does in monsters. Corpse explode the crowds. And the big key is to hire a might merc. Yer skellys kill in almost half the time w/ him around. A well-built mid 70 lvl skellimancer can beat hell baal

 

Ya ... but every time Diablo does that stupid thing where he raises his arms and a trail of fire travels accross the ground ... that damn tank gets hot as hell!
And forget about the flayers ... those little buggers can get right thru the hatch of the tank. The last thing you want is to be stuck in close quarters with those buggers ... :lol:

 

Then all you need to add is heat resistant shields A la Star Trek and you are all set.

 

No I am your evil twin

 

But you don't look like me?

 

Yes I do look at my avatar!

 

I want some kind of gatling gun for them flayers, than i'll even go flayer Hunting!!

 

That type of tank would wreck major havoc in the Worldstone Chambers and the Throne Room. The problem is how the hell would that thing get through the portal behind Baal after killing all his minions?

 

It's a magic portal. One size fits all!

There is also a gold colored portal that leads to a room full of ethereal digglers of destruction!

 

Woo digglers!

 

keep in mind, you won't be able to solo most bosses until you get decyptify and clay golem, as they make killing ALL bosses super easy.
I uses a merc until I was level 25 for my summoner, and then I just did the baal run rush to 80.
I can't solo hell diablo or hell baal because my resists are very bad, but I can solo hell mephisto for magic find purposes, but recently I switched to using a pure blizzard sorceress with all synergies for hell mephisto, its 10x faster, since she has teleport, same killing speed once I get down to him though.