Which build for surviving Hardcore levels 1-30?

[WrathTalon]

Which build for surviving Hardcore levels 1-30?

Folks, after years of softcore, I've decided to give Hardcore a try [gulp]. And am wondering what kind of sorc to make.

I'll be playing in parties, untwinked, and, I assume, levelling up the long, slow hard way (i.e., no rushes).

Since I'll be levelling up the long way, my main concern is: what build will allow me to pump points into low-level skills so I have something to use until I get the high-level skills?

I guess one option would be a lightning sorc. Pump Charged Bolt at the beginning, maybe bring it up to 20 first, and use it for quite a while until I can get my Lightning/CL damage to catch up with it?

Or a Fireball/Hydra build? Pump Fire Bolt until Fire Ball, and Fire Ball until FM and Hydra?

Or some cold build? Pump Ice Bolt lots at beginning and use it until I get Blizzard or Orb?

Which of these would have the easiest time of it making it through levels 1-30?

I've never had to think about this before, because I've always just gotten rushed. This is all new to me...

MageChick, congrats on being a Dad, by the way!

 

[Evrae Altana]

For levels 1-30, fire sorc sounds good. Firebolt is a decent spell in the very early stages of the game, and once you get Fireball, it will become much easier. Light sorc sounds good too.

 

[FrostBurn]

That's the wonders of b.net for you.

It depends if you want to build a cookie-cutter or not. For cookie-cutters, both Meteorbs and Blizzballs can pump FBall at slvl 12 (or IBlast at slvl 6 for the Blizzball). Just make sure that you play carefully, drink health pots when your life bulb is half full, and pump vitality at the early stages. And you already mentioned CB for the light sorc.

For non-cookie cutters, well, if you have the skill to play them, then you will have the ability to know which skill to pump early on. :smiley:

 

[WrathTalon]

For levels 1-30, fire sorc sounds good. Firebolt is a decent spell in the very early stages of the game, and once you get Fireball, it will become much easier. Light sorc sounds good too.

Thanks, Evrae Altana. Guess I'll exclude a cold sorc then.

 

[WrathTalon]

That's the wonders of b.net for you.

Hey, I'm not saying I'm PROUD to have been rushed through lower levels for most of my Diablo career! Just confessing the (only slightly embarrassing) truth. :smiley:

In my (and most people's) defense, getting rushed wouldn't be so attractive if the game didn't make it so *&#@ hard to level up. I love Diablo 2, but it is hideously and maddeningly ill-balanced in this regard. I'm not saying I expect to get a level every ten minutes. But as it is, they are just FAR too slow and long in coming... Diablo 1 was much better balanced in this regard, I think. Though Blizzard may wring its hands over rushing, and consider it a violation of what the designers intended, they should be glad that the rushing loophole was left open, because if it didn't exist, MOST people wouldn't play the game. It just takes too long to develop anything. If much of the attraction of a game lies in the possibility of developing and testing a multitude of various builds, then severely hampering the speed with which a player can actually BUILD a build is counter-productive.

--phew-- Okay, long tirade over. Back to the serious business of playing. :smiley: Man, this hardcore thing is an entirely different world... Whadya mean, I should play carefully?

Seriously, FrostBurn, thanks for the reminder about how different Hardcore is. I still have to learn to quaff a red even when my bulb is half full...

 

[PhatTrumpet]

In my experience, Lightning is the way to go if safety and ease of play are what you're most worried about. Pump Charged Bolt until lvl 12 and from then on it's smooth sailing. Granted, she won't be able to do everything once you gear up and enter Hell, but she will be a very capable key runner.

If you're also concerned about being a decent MFer later on, you might consider Meteorb, but don't pump Fire Bolt right away. Save your points until you can get Fire Ball and do some Countess runs to get Ral and Tir. You can shop a 2os staff from Akara with +3 Fire Ball and stick 'Leaf' in there. You'll be doing gosu Fire Ball dmg at lvl 19 and it'll easily take you all the way to lvl 30.

Remember that if at any point you feel too fragile and that you aren't doing enough damage, just spend some gold and outfit your Merc. Static and Frost Nova as support skills and let him/her do the dirty work.

 

[melianor]

I once played Hardcore for a while and all i did was start out a basic Meteorb and that just worked fine. The first 1-30 levels should not be survival problem. You have to keep one thing in mind. Until you have your Merc the only problem is Andariel.

Against Andariel simply buy all the poison length reduction gear you can and you will be fine. Also keep in mind that you will NOT face Andariel before you are lvl 12-15! Before that you will possibly be dead

Act2: All to consider here are stupid beetles that are lightning enchanted. Theren there is the snake boss and Duriel.

What you should keep in mind with HC is that you can do with any dual-tree build, BUT you just need to slow down a bit and getting rushed will certainly get you killed, so stick in the area where you can kill mobs safely.

The Meteorb i made in Hardcore made it with crap gear right to Hell Baal and some further before she died in a pack of Black Soul minions with boss rop:_

So its nothing that is too scar when you keep in mind that you need to play more secure. Apart form that you can follow the skill point distribution of any dual-tree fire/cold build.

My recommendations:
Hydra/Orb: Here you play on the safe side. You have Fireball, Hydra and Orb. All of those spells can be used from a distance and Hydra even form off screen

Meteorb or Blizzballer: Both of these are pretty even in damage and have useful spells at lower levels too. Just use all you can. Firebolt, Fireball, Frost Nova to slow down huge groups and so on.

Hope this helps.

Main HC mantra:
DONT PANIC, PLAY SAFE AND SLOW.

 

[Noite Escura]

I think he said he'll be playing in parties. Then I think he's aim is a pure tree build. I'd go with either Fire or Cold. I think Fire is better at the start, but Cold(Blizzard) gets stronger after. If the objective is solo playing then is a totally different thing.

 

[RoXoR]

its not hard to lvl up...

 

[MageChick]

Sorry, I really can't contribute to this discussion, HC scares me. But thanks on the congrats. Guess I'm glad I opened the thead (I often ignore PvP and HC specific posts).

 

[melianor]

To the OP. My bad. Playing in a group i would go either pure lightning or cold. There are many fire immunes in Hell and then you will sometimes feel just completly useless. When playing as a group in HC all you need to do is stay way out of the melee carnage that the melee chars will attract. Usually no monsters will concentrate their power on those, especially when melee or ranged chars use their distraction options.

Sorry, I really can't contribute to this discussion, HC scares me. But thanks on the congrats. Guess I'm glad I opened the thead (I often ignore PvP and HC specific posts).

If you decide to join me on Europe Ladder next season i will gladly show you the none scary side of HC. Playing as a team makes it a whole lot easier.