What hardcore character should I start first?

[discreaderror]

What hardcore character should I start first?

I have a variety of characters I want to start, but I don't really know which to go for. Here's what I'm thinking right now.

Maulbarb- With only needing strength and vitality, there's no worrying about getting his stats right.

Throwbarb- Throwing axes and the like are a blast as a barb, and you only need enough dex to use the items. Beyond that it's all up to skills, and I get a ranged attack. Running out of axes though kinda sucks.

Sorceress- I'm thinking either a firewall or a charged boltress. The charged boltress eats up mana like mad though, and since I play my characters untwinked, that could be tough. Perhaps firewall mixed with a little of something else would have to do?

Necro- Not sure what kind though. I could go the summoner route, but it's difficult to progress in tight areas like the maggot's lair and the like. Perhaps mixing it up with some curses I'd be alright. Maybe I should forgo regular skeletons, use a clay golem and use the skeleton mages to back him up, and perhaps use a lower resist curse on the enemies or something. Or maybe I'll mix it up with curses and poison instead. Another tough choice.

Paladin- I wouldn't know what to do with him. To me he's an average everyday melee fighter, which probably won't last me long.

Bowazon- Could work out really well. Ranged attacks again are good with hardcore since I should be getting hit less, but without good equipment I may not do enough damage, and it's harder to hit faster enemies of course.

Druid- Perhaps the summoner variety, but I'm not sure. I've only used the druid a couple of tiems before I quit playing a year ago, so I don't know where to go with him. Hard to say.

Assassin- I have never used an assassin and wouldn't know where to start. Probably not the best first choice for hardcore.

Any ideas anyone?

 

[Shade]

Go with either of your Barb builds, they should have plenty of life and damage-dealing.

A couple of things to watch out for though: Iron Maiden will be instant death (almost certainly) to a high-damaging melee character, so carry a ranged weapon on switch if you use the MaulBarb. Also, never stand next to an exploding FE monster in NM or Hell. (And never, ever stand next to an FE Ancient)

If you choose the Maul I'd recommend using Concentrate, Shout and Iron Skin to get really high defence to counter the lack of blocking.

 

[Mr_McGee]

I have a variety of characters I want to start, but I don't really know which to go for. Here's what I'm thinking right now.

Maulbarb- With only needing strength and vitality, there's no worrying about getting his stats right.

Throwbarb- Throwing axes and the like are a blast as a barb, and you only need enough dex to use the items. Beyond that it's all up to skills, and I get a ranged attack. Running out of axes though kinda sucks.

Sorceress- I'm thinking either a firewall or a charged boltress. The charged boltress eats up mana like mad though, and since I play my characters untwinked, that could be tough. Perhaps firewall mixed with a little of something else would have to do?

Necro- Not sure what kind though. I could go the summoner route, but it's difficult to progress in tight areas like the maggot's lair and the like. Perhaps mixing it up with some curses I'd be alright. Maybe I should forgo regular skeletons, use a clay golem and use the skeleton mages to back him up, and perhaps use a lower resist curse on the enemies or something. Or maybe I'll mix it up with curses and poison instead. Another tough choice.

Paladin- I wouldn't know what to do with him. To me he's an average everyday melee fighter, which probably won't last me long.

Bowazon- Could work out really well. Ranged attacks again are good with hardcore since I should be getting hit less, but without good equipment I may not do enough damage, and it's harder to hit faster enemies of course.

Druid- Perhaps the summoner variety, but I'm not sure. I've only used the druid a couple of tiems before I quit playing a year ago, so I don't know where to go with him. Hard to say.

Assassin- I have never used an assassin and wouldn't know where to start. Probably not the best first choice for hardcore.

Any ideas anyone?

Maulbarb - Is a viable build but it can be risky in hardcore because of the lack of a shield

Throwbarbs - Although cool you will find it very hard to get through hell untwinked.

Sorc - If you make Frozen Orb your main attack than you can pick and choose your second attack. FO/FW and FO/CB are both viable)

Necro - A summoning necro is probably the easiest and safest character in 1.10. But you really have to use regular skeletons because mages have really crappy damage (any points in mages is a waste imo). Check the fishymancer guide in the sticky at the top of the forum.

Paladin - Blessed Hammer paladins are probably the second easiest character to use once you get used to using BHs. Avenger builds are also very popular but I havent tried one yet.

Bowazons - If you play untwinked you're going to need a lot of patience because you probably won't be doing a lot of damage.

Druid - Wind druids are very popular again check the guides. Summoner druid arent really viable in 1.10 unless u have a lot of patience.

Assassin - Don't have much experience and I'd suggest another character if you've never used one before


So for a good starting character I'd suggest one of these

Fishymancer
Hammerdin
MeteOrb Sorc (you can replace meteor with firewall of CB is you want)
Wind Druid

 

[DarkChaos]

Coming from me, a huge supporter of the necro in HC (yeah, everyone saw it coming ), I would get a Fishymancer.

 

[sam_manzanza]

[Sarcasm] You're full of surprises DC [/sarcasm]
Conc Barbs are always a good option because they are, IMO, the safest character in the game and they are quite easy to make untwinked.

Sam

 

[GooberGrape]

I'd stick with a fishy, conc barbs need really specific weapons and you really don't do much damage without them. Fishymancers also make excellent MF characters, very simple and undangerous for boss/pit runs.


GG

 

[DarkChaos]

[Sarcasm] You're full of surprises DC [/sarcasm]
Conc Barbs are always a good option because they are, IMO, the safest character in the game and they are quite easy to make untwinked.

Sam

I beg to differ. Fishymancers never even get hit.

 

[jiansonz]

I have found javazons to be very viable and safe characters. You don´t need an über javelin to do good damage. With a strong Valkyrie and some Dodge/Avoid, you are pretty safe. Get a good shield with lots of blocking and resists. Jabbing with Crushing Blow equipment is nice. Even if you don´t find any CB equipment, you can always craft some Blood Gloves.


You can either go with javelin/shield in both weapon switches, or use a bow in one (should you find a good one).

Stat recommendations at the start of Hell (after plusses from equipment):

STR: 98 (Hyperion Javelin. You can also use the three lightest elite armors)
DEX: at least 145 (Winged Harpoon), adjust for blocking after that
VIT: All the rest. Amazons get 3 points of life for each point in vitality, which is nice.

 

[xantir]

Hi, :howdy:
Check out the 1.10 iron barb guide (It`s called "Conc Barb 1.10 guide" or something). It is a nice HC build.

LS(Lightning Sentry) Trapsin is also nice, and kinda safe. (Assa get some bonuses I like: Shadow Master (meatwall). And fade aura\skill).

But the iron barb is a better choice in hc 1.10 I think. Be sure you watch out for Iron Maiden (mostly chaos sanct act4) and Fire Enchanted bosses. Ancients or council are often fire enchanted. Resistance won`t help much.. check out that guide I mentioned. I haven`t tried it but I`m sure it`s great since the iron barb is the build in the game with most def\health. Best of luck to you. !!

- [email protected] -

 

[discreaderror]

Ok, so if I go with a Necromancer and focus on skeletons, I think I'll use defiance. The less they die, the less mana I have to spend to create new skeletons. This means I can focus more on putting points into dexterity so I don't get hit all the time by ranged weapons and I can still spare a few points in strength for some decent armor or a shield. Does that sound like a good plan?

 

[Mr_McGee]

Ok, so if I go with a Necromancer and focus on skeletons, I think I'll use defiance. The less they die, the less mana I have to spend to create new skeletons. This means I can focus more on putting points into dexterity so I don't get hit all the time by ranged weapons and I can still spare a few points in strength for some decent armor or a shield. Does that sound like a good plan?

Go with a might merc. You're skeletons will die rarely by themselves, you will find the added damage far more usefull.

Stats should be something like this

Str - Enough to wear ur gear
Dex - If you want max block go for it but it isnt needed
Vit - might aswell put ur points here
Eng - Isnt needed at all

Dont worry too much about the stats, my fishymancer finished hell with 70 spare stat points IIRC

 

[discreaderror]

My thing about waiting for might though is by the time I get to it I'll be level 45+(assuming I even live that long) and the merc will be maybe level 35. I don't like when my merc is 10 levels behind me because he dies faster, and since I will be depending on him for his aura, I don't want him to become a nuisance.

Besides, i suppose I can always use amp damage if they need to do more damage.

 

[Gouda]

My thing about waiting for might though is by the time I get to it I'll be level 45+(assuming I even live that long) and the merc will be maybe level 35. I don't like when my merc is 10 levels behind me because he dies faster, and since I will be depending on him for his aura, I don't want him to become a nuisance.

Besides, i suppose I can always use amp damage if they need to do more damage.

Trust the guy,

Your best choice is a might merc. They also get a bit better levels now in 1.10, and otherwise just spend an hour leveling him. It will be well worth your time. Anyway, defiance works on the base defense of your skellie (low) and multiplies that by two/three. So almost nothing time 3 is still almost no defense. So A might merc is more usefull, because in 1.10 your skellies now actually do quite a bit of damage, combined with amp. damage for pure overkill!

Have fun,

Gouda

 

[discreaderror]

Well then, which merc should I use in the meantime while I'm waiting to get to Nightmare. Blessed Aim, Defiance, or Prayer?

 

[cft]

Overall, to start hardcore, I would reccomend you play whatever char you are best at. You will already be used to your skills, and won't have to worry about them while you get used to running away more often.

If you are starting HC completely untwinked, then a melee character will have to find his own source of lifesteal. I haven't done this in a little while, but I remember it was a real pain getting a barb to level 20 on just potions

merchants sell more lifesteal weapons than I seem to remember, so you might be ok.

If you are on a PC, I would reccommend the ATMA program to allow you to mule items that your character finds, to help your other characters.

One thing about Hardcore, is that you will make more new characters than otherwise. If you don't want to twink any of them, thats different, but if your self-rules allow you to twink, then saving items can make your next character start off that much easier. I still have my 3 socket hunter bow with a chipped topaz, chipped sapphire, and chipped ruby, which my sorcs would use from about level 6 to about level 20. Whenever she was out of mana, she'd weaponswitch and shoot arrows. The chipped gems made the damage pretty good for acts 1 + 2.

Have fun in HC. You will probably die a few times early. Don't worry. If you did something stupid and got killed, just remember it so you don't do it again. (I lost a nice sorc to a cold enchanted boss in the Catacombs; I was trying to conserve my potion supply so I didn't drink an extra potion, then I was suprised by the blast. Now I always drink the extra potion, when in doubt)

 

[Augustus]

Well then, which merc should I use in the meantime while I'm waiting to get to Nightmare. Blessed Aim, Defiance, or Prayer?

I'm doing the same thing as you. I'm using a prayer merc until Act 2 NM then switching to might. I've done it before, SC. The prayer merc really helps your minions recover between fights (and during for that matter).