Ideal HC Solo Build?

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silkshatter

Diabloii.Net Member
Ideal HC Solo Build?

Hi... I'm a long time D2 player, first time poster... so please bear with me...

I always play Hardcore, pure characters, single player. I'm looking for the ideal build to take me to the end game...

I recently lost a lvl80 HC LF Javazon (Durance of Hate, Lvl2... Stygian Doll - instant death!). This character worked well for me until that point - it seems my 977 life was not enough.

I've read that the fishymancer could work well, but can this take you through solo?

I've also come to the conclusion that armor is relatively useless, and that Life acts as armour - I know I'll get hit, so I may as well be able to absorb it. Thoughts?

thanks
 
Intolerance

Intolerance

Diabloii.Net Member
I'd go with a Summoner. Back when there was a beta for 1.10, I played through single player as such. I don't have a ton of experience with them, but they do have the luxury of Skellies as a meat shield, which makes HC all the more safer (might merc for the win). Decrepify + Clay Golem (slow target) vs. bosses = they are owned. Amp can break physical immunity, too.
 
Master Zap

Master Zap

Diabloii.Net Member
silkshatter said:
Hi... I'm a long time D2 player, first time poster... so please bear with me...

I always play Hardcore, pure characters, single player. I'm looking for the ideal build to take me to the end game...

I recently lost a lvl80 HC LF Javazon (Durance of Hate, Lvl2... Stygian Doll - instant death!). This character worked well for me until that point - it seems my 977 life was not enough.

I've read that the fishymancer could work well, but can this take you through solo?

I've also come to the conclusion that armor is relatively useless, and that Life acts as armour - I know I'll get hit, so I may as well be able to absorb it. Thoughts?

thanks
Click to expand...
I reccomend you get a shield and have 60% or more chance to block (cap at 75%)

977 life is low on a char that is melee and will need to walk up to packs of baddies and wack em, I'd say shoot for a minimum of 1100 life (before bo/sage)

Fishy's can easily beat the game (naked if you wanted too)
Hammerdins are so popular because they work great!
Javazons are a good pick too, you can always rebuild
anything further I'd suggest you try the sticky's at the top of the page.

Welcome to the board :thumbsup:


I hear you can make a Passive only zon using only cracked items and pwn the game if you have the patience of a zen master and Jedi like d2 skills.... (reffering to the superdave thread on the zon forum)



 
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BongoFury

Diabloii.Net Member
Personally, I don't like the Fishy for HC. Max Corpse Explosion is excessive, 15 hard points is adequate. And I prefer a big Dim Vision over the points in BS.

For a Purist SP, I would not go the blocking route. 60 strenght and the rest in vitality is the way I would do it.

Another good option for a Purist Sp Guardian would be a lightning Trapper. Max Ltg Sentry, Death Sentry and Fire Blast, 17 in Shadow Master after plus skills, one in Mind Blast and Cloak of Shadows. Fade will help you with resists that you may be lacking from items. This build will give you Physical (merc and shadow), Lightning and Fire damage, which will get you through almost any combination of immunities. And MB and CoS are some of the best safety skills in the game.
 
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oakienko

Diabloii.Net Member
armor rating isn't useless, but it is a supportive stat and second to most defensive mechanisms in the game, especially block.
 
Raver

Raver

Diabloii.Net Member
A summoner is always the best character to use to beat the game (IMO). A wind druid has always been a close second for me because of the life that oak will give you. In the end it comes down to your play style, if you don't mind sitting back and letting your minions do the work go for a summoner, if you like to be in the action and feel "safe" go for the wind druid.
 
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silkshatter

Diabloii.Net Member
Interesting - I haven't tried a wind druid yet. I started the summoner and he's lvl 22 and walking through Act2 on p=8 so far. I find the build is actually a lot of fun to play too (I have a 77 bonemancer and he's okay... but gets swarmed a little too easily).
 
Socialism

Socialism

Diabloii.Net Member
The rave reviews of Nightfish's Summoner build are very accurate. Dim Vision is great. Hint: Don't hop vs. Diablo before you get Decrepify, and look around for the "clay golem" trick.

Other decent suggestions: Look over the Sorceress forum for the MeteOrb and BlizzBaller builds; secondarily, the Orb/Charged Bolt and Orb/Firewall hybrids.

Amazonwise, the Lightning Fury/Frozen Arrow combo is a nice, safe, ranged hybrid that many have been pleased with.

Try a Hammerdin at some point~ it's cheesy and has some fat problems in cramped areas, but that's all doable with a decent mercenary and some creative wand usage.

Look for Nightfish's untwinked Berserker guide. That's gold, too.

I agree with BongoFury on the Fireblast/Lightning Trapper - if she were a real girl (preferably half Chinese half Brazilian, 5'8" ish, ~115 lbs stacked, speaks Spanish, can kick my *** with Kung Fu, is smarter AND funnier than me, acts unpredictably and impulsively, has a very assertive personality with no inhibitions or shame), I'd make sweet love to her. Over and over again. Until the day I die, preferably from horizontally-related exhaustion.

Looks like there are a ton of Toronto-based D2 players on this site... we should all hop downtown and get some boozing going, argue about whether or not max block is necessary, then threaten to PK each other. Yeah? Yeah!

Whoa. That went OT fast.
 
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rotan

Diabloii.Net Member
Yeah summoners are probably the safest build to start off with. I started my first necro as a summoner for the ladder reset and I'm lvl 70. Took me a while before I discovered decrep - man that curse made a world of a difference! NM Baal is nothing more then a joke as he gets pounded by my crew in slow motion! The only downside for me is the time to MF the main bosses is very slow and I don't have decent MF since I haven't had any good MF equipment drops as of yet.

I personally love sorcs and hammerdins - but I die way too fast. Stay away from public games - that's where you'll find those loser lamers and their tppks.
 
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silkshatter

Diabloii.Net Member
I'd like to try a Hammerdin at some point too. I had read that they were much more powerful prior to 1.10 - are they still viable beyond 1.10? And after your two synergies and BH are maxed, what is recommended? (that gives 60 points, I believe, to max your BH damage)
 
rachil0

rachil0

Diabloii.Net Member
Hammerdins are more powerful now than they ever were in 1.09. And although I didn't play the game much prior to 1.09, I can't imagine them ever being stronger than they are in 1.10/1.11.

A max damage hammerdin is an 80 point investment. In addition to blessed aim and vigor, concentration boosts hammer damage (but unlike a synergy, concentration must be selected on right-click). IIRC, the damage bonus from conc is 50% the %enhanced damage listed on the skill. It applies like a mastery, not like a synergy. The final damage is:

(hammer base)*(1 + blessed aim %ed + vigor %ed)*(1+conc %ed/2)

A good skill plan is to save most of your early points, but have 5-6ish points invested in blessed aim by the time you hit 18. At 18, put 1 point into conc, hammer and vigor. After 18, put a point into vigor and blessed hammer at every level up until you exhaust your saved up points. From there on, max hammer. Then max vigor, then mix and match blessed aim with conc until everything is maxed out.

You can do the math to figure out the exact hammer/synergy/conc placement for maximum damage at each level up, but I wouldn't bother since you can't really screw up your point investment. Eventually you'll end up at the same place no matter what you do.

Holy shield is a must-have skill, max out your blocking with enough dexterity. Other good investments are 1 pt into meditation, 1 point into redemption and 1 point into salvation.

The real reason to put off investing in conc for so long, is that you'd prefer to run other auras for as long as you can (so pump synergies instead of conc). Redemption, salvation and vigor can help you scoot along through nightmare with weak equipment, and the hammer + pure synergy build will do plenty of damage without conc. In the event you party with another hammerdin running conc, you can share his aura and will probably outdamage him too.

Once you hit hell, you'll want conc more often because you'll need all the damage you can get. By then you've hopefully scraped together enough equipment to have decent resists w/o salvation and decent mana regen without redemption/meditation.
 
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Rygor

Diabloii.Net Member
Another thing good about the hammerdin, is the runeword Spirit is pretty easy to make and dual wielding Spirits (for a weapon and shield) will really pump up your damage. The only problem I ever have is finding the 4 socketed swords or shield to make them, the runes are plentiful enough if you do a few nm countess runs.

But I personally prefer the Summon Necro. He's safe, easy, and pretty fun. Corpse Explosion + Amp can pretty much clear any room with enough bodies, and the build is very customizable since you can max your skeletons and skelly mastery at around level 40.
 
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