First HC set-of-chars build Hi all, I'm an italian d2xhc player (italian plays 95% sc), I began to play last week again after a 2,5 years stop (I put diablo down 10 days after 1.10 came out, because of personal troubles). So I do not know almost anything about sinergies ^_^ tough I studied a lot in last days. I've built a babafind like in the old days (1.09) now he's lvl 69, but I can't play more than early hell (I know it's a bit early to go there but I just tried). I can't even do safely hell countess runs (searching for runes). Probably my approach to my new life is completely wrong I noticed many things: 1) first of all, wouldn't it be best to play in a more frequented gateway instead of europe? I do not have more than 3 italian friend, and I suppose it's nearly all the italian hc players. More people palying on a server - more choice of games, more friends, more trade etc. 2) it's useful to use 2 cd keys on same pc, to mule effectively and to use ench to make pg grow easily (already done this, I have a 38 lvl soso to ench). 3) my mf baba is not that effective in going in hell with almost-crap equip; this equip is becoming somehow good for mf (4topaz armor, cg, belt+sigon boots for 50% mf, some rares, rhyme tower shield) but it works in meph nm. It's a berserk baba, so it has 20 sword domain, 20 bo, 20 berserk, growing shout and 1 to all others with 5 to elemental resistance. I'm currently using the exceptional executioner sword in all cases (mf & fight). My question is: 1) would it be more funny to play in USA? East or West? The problem is the time fuse I can play in the evening (first afternoon down there) and the lag. 2) should I grow a new mage for example to find in early hell (countess run, andy run) or should I proceed with my baba (I'll make him do 80 lvl by baaling nm before going again to hell, though)? which mage-built (better if not-much-item-dependant) should I use? MeteOrb? Mono-Ice with storm? ChainLightningOrb? I suppose that my tasks will be finding charms + runes + some unique or sets @ early hell or late nm. thanks 4 help
Barbarians are do-able untwinked, but it's pretty difficult to solo hell with them. (as in, very difficult). If you do opt to go with the barbarian, I'd change his gear up (try very hard to get a bit of a better weapon, perhaps an 'honor' runeword to start), go for lots of crushing blow on your gear, and dont make MF a priority. Gotta change out your 4 topaz armor in favor of something with better stats (resists, defense, etc) Try to get a Whitstans gaurd shield, and keep the rhyme on switch. A summoning necromancer, trap assassin or blessed hammer paladin are some pretty easy builds to do hell with, and might allow for more magic find without sacrificing as much killing speed. Alternatively, you mentioned you had 2 keys, and an already made barbarian, you could make a sorceress to do NM mephisto/baal runs and BO her with your barbarian for safety. Good luck! -Matt
My vote, is to build either a Javazon or Trapper and complete all of Hell with them (should be relatively easy, even with crap gear.) Then you can run Andy, Countess, Shenk, Pindle, other act 5 guy above Frigid WP, with easy. As well as NM Cows for charms and the occasional unique. Since you have to cd-keys (I also do.) I basically use the spare for an enchantress and a BO-slave (building a BO slave is pretty easy you can just have him in game while you're other character is questing and he'll leech all the quests, you can go back and level him later.) So, if you have a BO-slave you're Trapper or Javazon would be much more durable and you'll have a much easier time of doing Magic Find runs. If you're into just doing MF runs, after you accumulate some gear build yourself a sorc to teleport right to the bosses/area you're running. Other than that, I've gotten probably 70% of the gear I've found from questing in NM and Hell.
To answer the first question, I probably wouldn't recommend switching to East for more player interaction just because high ping and lag will most likely become big risks, something you can't really afford on Hardcore. I switched from East to West for a bit and the 200-ish ping was about as much as I could handle while still enjoying the gameplay. I'd say up to about 300 is feasible, but that's really something you'll have to check and figure out for yourself. If your ping is decent on East, however, we have a pretty good community that would be more than willing to help you out. Just introduce yourself in "op xbananax" so we know you're not just another kid looking for a free ride.
So if your playing from Europe, your playing @ least 5+ hours ahead that most Eastern players... prob more dependent.... op xbananax has players that are on from various times... so if u do choose to play on East pop on in made your intro and place your D2.net name in your profile. Europe I'm sure has a ton of players... several peruse this forum so maybe your able to game w/ them... u don't have 2 stick w/ just Italian players... since that might limit your choices.
They've covered most of the basics with you, but just as a quick aside because you said you weren't too comfortable with 1.10, how well geared is your merc, and what type is he? I would tend to recommend a Might merc from NM A2 for ya, his jab does a decent job of crowd control, and he's not likely to freeze as many corpses as a Holy Freeze or A3 cold merc. If that's all in order, I'd say go back and do NM Mephy/Baals some more, if you can hit 75 in NM Baals, that will give you an extra 6 points in shout for the extra defense and Zerk damage, and you're rather likely to find gear improvements. If you can find like a goldskin and upgrade it you'll be good for a while, many other low-mid level items will do the job very well as well. East has a good community, and there are generally people in Banana at all hours of the day, even if its only Jugs... A lot of the East gamers though are almost always levelling in baals and CS runs, which can get a bit tiring if youre looking to quest, I don't know if the focus on Europe is the same, but just thought you should know. Cheers -Tai
Hmmm I found East and West to be quite laggy, and there are no much more people than in Europe. So I'll remain in Europe. My baba is doing conc now (lvl:**), the life + mana leech is a great award indeed, and I've done last 10 levels just making early hell many times (countess + andy, not much mf gear, though). I'm getting some average runes from the countess (anyway useful: recently I managed to get a Lionheart), together with my rhyme shield and the exceptional unique exec. sword I manage to solo quite well. My merc is the act2 might one, and has a standard Bonehew (what to put in it? 2 skulls?) found @ andy. It works very well. The breakthrough has come when I did andy hell 1st time for quest with help of a friend and I found a gaze 20 (8 ll 6 ml). I'm playing with it...should I change it for a Areat face? is it worth the effort? Consider I'm playing only to train myself 4 next ladder season...
I would suggest at least a Shael if not 2 Shaels depending on what breakpoint your merc is at right now. If you do go with one Shael put an Amn in the other spot. -hps
