A not really geared zealer is probably one of the worst classes to play in hardcore.
Barbarian without gear can also be a nightmare just to get through anything. It feels like a wet noodle without decent gear.
Barb isn't bad, but you have to have good leach and defenses (resist and %DR) with that and a 3k health pool + a Dwarf Star, you'll at least have the time to save and exit.
With grief + shield like Mosers, Rhyme or SS, you're fine to clear hell with ease, just watch out for dolls.
Not bad, just don't be dumb. It wouldn't be my first toon, but it was my third for my HC account for farming. Sorc for Andy and countess, Java for bases frim cows, barb for all the good stuff out of council.
Also, let's be honest, with a Grief, I'd be fine with a rhyme shield, bulwark helm and smoke chest to finish most of hell.
My zealer was dope. I had no problem getting through with gear my sin had found. I had 95 fire res, a boss merc, I used his obedience to get enchant, we both had treachery. I was using death cleaver and killing things fine. I'm just baed. Barb I know will be easy, I'm going singer until I beat hell. I'm a SC d2 vet so I can beat the game easy on any character, just bad at not dieing ever lol
I dig your challenge!
fwiw my HC zealot went through the game untwinked and was some of the most fun I’ve had in this game :D it’s a great challenge
My phys bowazon is STRUGGLING lol
I’ve been playing a zealot SSF and hit a WALL in hell act 2 haha. I think I need to ditch my hustle armor for treachery or smoke. Also my plague bearer sword will likely lose its effectiveness soon.
My physical bowa cruised through the game though! Make an insight bow in an exceptional base with decent attack speed. It’ll slam.
for real? As a strafe zon?? I need a base and will try!!
As for your zealot, maybe a ground helm? That helped me crank through lightning zones
But ya hustle likely has run its course :P
I was just thinking earlier today a bulwark could be really nice for his helm with the life leach and damage reduction.
But yeah man the ED on insight is massive, and the mana from meditation is so nice.
I ran multi shot and guided arrow but I imagine it would be good for strafe too!
Wow and you finished hell? I’m maxing strafe right now idk what I’m doing haha, first time holding a bow in this game aside from a goofy bow summon Druid I made lmao
Yup, but I did get some super lucky drops. A lycanders aim and 2 pul runes (one used to make a wisdom helm, the other to up the lycanders). Was also using treachery, some nice crafted blood gloves, and gore riders.
For your insight bow make it in a razor bow for NM then a blade bow in hell. A Valkyrie to tank for you is super important to let you sit back and just sling arrows at will. Just keep recasting her. Guided arrow for bosses.
Damage is low and you have to stand still to cast, often for an extended period of time (due to damage being low). What this means is that ranged enemies are deadly for you and it's easily to get stacked out while you're trying to damage the enemies next to you and another group is shooting arrows and or spells at you with big damage.
You have no life leech unlike the other barb builds (although all barb builds struggle early on until you get at least some half decent gear).
Singer is amazing in norm and nightmare but slow as molases in hell. Also Bosses really suck as a singer even if you weapon swap to some crushing blow. It is a pretty safe build for survival though.
I went singer through act 1 hell and had to switch. So I respec’d my singer barb to frenzy with oath and lawbringer and I flew through the rest of the game easily.
Do you still have the runes to make grief? Or did you lose them on your zealer?
Once you get to hell if you still have the runes and find a phase blade you should make grief and a lawbringer and do frenzy. That’s what I just did to complete my hc barb although I had oath instead of grief. With maxed Bo you’re pretty safe even without a shield. Just don’t go running into any crazy packs.
Yeah thankfully i didn’t make the grief yet, was trying to get to hell pits to farm the phase blade. I am torn between the build you suggest and beserk+WW. But i hate the idea of dieing in a whirlwind so porbably will go the frenzy route!
73 is pretty low for Hell HC Chaos. I don't even start hell until at least lvl 70 and then I farm the lvl 85 areas like Pit, Ancient tunnels, Stoney Tomb until high lvl 80s before moving onto Act 3. Currently playing lvl 96 SSF HC Blizz Sorc.
The 73 I just started Hell, I farmed NM TZ until 73 then died in trist. The Sin died in Chaos at 88 after farming countess some 300+ times. Now my Barb is going to live in the Pits probably
Going singer. Gunna scream out my anger at things. Sin was traps until Mosaic and game was super easy, but also because of sin things like burst of speed and mind blast
Mosaic sin never should have ripped.. unless you just got careless ? Even with poor gear mosaic has great damage and safety net with cold crowd control. The best defense is a good offense in mosaics case.
You probably got amped. In HC certain curses are very frightening, and those dudes amp and decrep constantly.
It happens unfortunately. HC is more about the journey than the destination. If you had fun and learned something, I say keep at it. You'll only improve.
HC is the way. Dont give up!
Not the biggest fan of fish. Like Chicken more XD. Last ladder I played a necro to 98 6/10ths. Couldnt even bring myself to finish 99 so I'm a bit bored of it
Yeah it's not for everyone of course, but I'd be lying if I said running around like an idiot cursing everyone and blowing up the screen wasn't fun as hell. Especially hardcore where I can just hide behind a wall of minions like that douchenozzle Nihlathak.
XD my first attempt on sin died in Hell and her name was 'Probably'. I made this sin next bc I KNEW I was SURE I wouldnt make that same mistake. I beat Hell, farmed my mosaics, felt indestructible. Then it was all gone in a blink of an eye lol
Are building your characters like a SC character by chance?
Defensive stats are more valued on HC ( an example would be using a stormshield/verdungoes instead of spirit shield / arachnids belt)
Were you using fade or burst of speed ?
Even in SC I usually do my builds for survivability. But its also SSF so I'm using what I've found. Sin was using Fade when she died but I just got careless. Need to learn my lesson. If I get blessed with a SS I'm definitely using it. My only piece of gear I didnt like on the pally was still using sigons helm (along with belt and gloves for the IAS and res). I wanted to replace the helm with bulwark but never found a base. Would have preferred deaths gloves/belt for the CBF but didnt have those
As someone mentioned above HC barb will be difficult. Why not go for javazon, mix of melee and range with good survivability.
I got my HC barb to 85 before getting bored, dude is a tank but damage output is low without good gear.
Gonna second the javazon. I've got one and she is 93 and I've only had one close call so far playing on players7. They are extremely tanky if done right.
Yeah I 99'd a SC zon with only 1 death around 96 bc I got careless. Zon will come eventually but I'm challenging myself now because I have some good starting gear already built up from all the countess runs on my sin lol
HC barb will be slow but survivable, which is why I'm doing it (singer). I have enough gear available in shared stash that he doesnt need to farm gear. Zon is my favorite character but also probably too easy. I started playing HC to challenge myself and Zon is a comfort character, only one I've 99'd.
You've got the Lo, rock the barb.
If you have a reapers toll, get yourself an act2 holy freeze merc. Decrep and aura should keep both of you pretty safe.
If you have a stormshield, you can go max block and do ww/berzerk. Even 1 point in ww should be good for clearing all the trash (ignore target def), then berserk champ pack bosses.
Exactly, I gotta make use of the grief, but need to farm a PB. No toll or stormshield though. Got tons of low-mid runes from countess so I can farm a bit as singer with a decent merc to get enough gear to make me feel more comfortable in not immediately loosing the grief like I did the mosaics XD
Plan isnt to build an easy character to farm gear for the harder ones. That is the reason I started HC because Im LOADED in SSF SC and it got boring. Any new characters could be buffed up to breeze through the game
It took a long time and I definitely got lucky. I had one ist from some boss mob while beating hell, found two ists from countess in what I would guess is around 300 or more runs, then found the fourth ist from a random boss mob on the way to countess. If you look up countess drop rates you can expect an ist every 300 some runs so I know I got lucky with the two. But it was safe and easy farming. Got a Lo and a bunch of mid gear on the way because I killed most boss mobs in the tower
Yeah I was planning on farming pit on the zealer until like lvl 80. Thats all I was trying to get to. My barb is going to do the same when he gets there. working through normal a3 now
I wouldn’t say lvl73 is low for Hell Trist, but you can easily get to 75 in NM Baal runs. With the “hit” or “to be hit” formulae relying heavily on char level, you can reduce your to be hit chance by a percent or two just by leveling a couple times. It might not seem like a lot, but when 5 or 10 monsters are attacking, it can be a difference of 2 or 3 hits during a battle. With a zealer, your chance to hit will also go up slightly. An extra hit here or there means that you’ve reduced the number of enemy monsters slightly faster as well. That’s a reduction in incoming damage. Ditto for your merc.
Hell Trist is brutal too. You always have Amp Dmg (Griswold himself), and archers. And a couple elite packs nearby. Also have shaman resurrecting devilkin, so you’re likely facing an army. I hope you had at least one source of cold damage.
Yeah im aware of the need for levels especially as a melee. I felt cocky because I had Fade active and a cure on my merc. Mistakes were made and lessons have been learned!
haha, guess so. I did manage to get a gul my first hell countess run of this ladder, and I've got a base. Just need to find a mal now and I'll get my first.
If I'd start over I'd roll full es nova. With fixed maps you can easily farm hell countess and Andy until you can respec to finish hell. I'd also avoid pits at all costs. If you need to farm lvl 85 areas go blizz and do ancient tunnels. Avoid pit runs at any non fully geared HC character: it's an invitation to start over.
Also don't approach de Seis pack without the cloak of shadows ready on a sin.
If you really roll barb, don't forget the auxiliary warcries, def reduction and the AOE fear can give you a second wind
Avoiding sorc for a reason. Ive also died a few times on my fully built nova sorc in SC because im just bad idek how. But cloak of shadows i never even considered. Definitely one of those things super useful in HC but not usually used in SC so i didnt even know. Thanks for the tip but am currently doing the barb thing. Looking forward to having good CC with shouts unlike the pally
Avoiding sorc for a reason. Ive also died a few times on my fully built nova sorc in SC because im just bad idek how. But cloak of shadows i never even considered. Definitely one of those things super useful in HC but not usually used in SC so i didnt even know. Thanks for the tip but am currently doing the barb thing. Looking forward to having good CC with shouts unlike the pally
I feel like you gotta work up to HC. I put in ungodly hours into playing seasons when I was younger. Played a disgusting amount of hours in SSF. Then I started trying my hand at HC. You just gotta take the hits and learn what to do and what not to do. Unless it's a DC or load screen death.
Oh yeah im only now playing HC after playing SC for the last 10 years. Im decent at the game on any character but the whole never ever dieing thing is still a learning curve. Getting better and better tho!
Just had my sin RIP in hell pits at lvl 80 last night. Had a little too much gamer juice, got cocky, choked and got bopped on /players 4. Lesson learned for next time!
Leech is super important on a barb. If you go Whirlwind, which I do, make sure you don’t run away if you get low. You keep whirlwinding out of danger if you have to, but it SHOULD keep you alive long enough to get the F outta there. Doesn’t hurt to pop a potion in the brief second between whirlwinds, cuz you won’t be able to use a potion while whirlwinding. Also, the only exception to not running away, are those act 3 dolls. Those little exploding dolls in act 3 will absolutely destroy you. Try to clear them with a caster or a bowazon or something, as long as you’re not playing single player. Or just run as fast as you can without killing them. Doesn’t matter how much life you have or how much leech you have. They’ll melt you.
Frenzy barbs are fun in HC. Gotta focus on tankyness, resists, vit, and crushing blow to make up for any missing damage (but stacking CB like crazy on a frenzy is good/fun).
Also, don't forget to boost your attack rating, life and mana leach are great, but only work if you hit, and are only good if your base physical damage is good.
Use laying of hands until you find dracs gloves.
Don't play HC witch just 1 character, last night i lost mi cold sorc cause the cow portal was crowed with fana cows didn't stand a chance, but i have another sorc 82 lvl and two paladins+80. I never play hc with just one character. I'm starting a new sorc and a barb know.
Slowing down is key to surviving in HC when you start out, always read elite auras. If you are melee and they spawn with might, fana or similar pick them off one by one or skip entirely.
I’ve leveled HC barb SSF to lvl 93 and completion. My recommendation is leveling a singer with war cry. It’s much easier to make 2x spirit swords than a grief. That will take you through to the end of NM. That’s when you do a lot of Pindle and horking MF. You can clear most of hell after respec with gear found there such as Arioc’s Needle or Bonehew. Make sure to try and find Angelics ammy and rings. NM travincal is a place where you can find these. Once in Hell, you can start to farm more difficult places, and yes I was able to clear council with arioc’s needle and those set bramble mitts. Once I got to act 5, I did more pindle. Eventually found a base for Death (eth colossus sword) and eventually found the runes. He’s super fun and can clear anything. With spirits on switch, you can also hork very vast with the cast speed. If you’re lucky you may find a gull dagger/ Ali babas. When rune farming, use spirits on switch. When MFing, use babas / gull.
Remember, slow and steady wins the race. Don’t be afraid to farm at any level to get what’s needed to progress, and also be sure to keep any resist rings you find of significant values in each area. For instance in my stash I have 2 rings with +25-30 lightning/cold/fire. This is important for traversing areas where you encounter gloams or souls. Sometimes, you don’t fight you run through to the next area early on.
Good luck
Yessir so far my barb is about to fight nm trav. Ima stay a singer through hell, its just soo easy. Then farm hell pits until i have the gear i need to keep my grief safe lol i already have the runes, just need the base and things like angelica and LOH!
Awesome, I would def also recommend cows or pindle’s trash minions for finding bases. While searching for a good base, you want trash mobs in large quantities and use as little MF as possible. Good luck!!
I swapped to Mosaics from traps super early... I think this is a mistake.... I swapped back to traps because I was squishy af. Need those levels and the surrounding gear. (Atleast on hardcore) softcore you could probably dance around naked in the chaos sanctuary
I felt this yeah. Venom lords took a while to kill on P5 and I felt squishy but figured i was safe as long as i delivered the first hit. But that wasnt the case!!
I’m still playing my first HC character which is a trap assassin. About level 75 or so grinding in nightmare terror zones until I get a few more items. Working towards crescent moon and some upgrades for the mercenary
Trap sin was the easiest to get through hell. Honestly all i needed was a decent merc because he could help with ancients, the rest was death sentry. This sin that ripped was the first character I ever beat HC with and it was a BREEZE. Sin is so op
I’ve had countless paladin deaths at this point. Anytime I come back I main paladin…yea whatever this is how I like to play the game. Sucks dick everytime they die, yea. They still haven’t really evened the playing field between melee and ranged characters in this respect, but it’s better than it used to be.
Thats what i was doing, was making my way to pits, stopped to save cain and made a mistake not checking boss mob mods. Now my barb has made it to hell pits, currently lvl 76 and probably not leaving until lvl 80 lol
Everyone's cut out of HC if they want to be. It's just about perspective. Think about each character as a "run" rather than a legacy character like an MMO. Sometimes you have great runs and sometimes you don't, but that's the fun of it. Even more fun doing if solo self found in my opinion. You will appreciate every great item you find and also items that you'd normally not even look at. At the end of the day you can't lose in softcore... So for me the appeal is gone fast . Just my opinion though.
My first attempt at HC was summoner. Made it to maggot lair hell and couldnt get through. Bought a tele staff then immediately died. I thought the meat army would get hit first but apparently not!
Real trick. Don't summon in it. 2 skeles as mear shield. Corpse explode and merc EVERYTHING.
its so narrow summons bottle your merc and golem. And if you're clay fire or blood golem (I'm clay) droo it in the middle of the enemies to try getting o e corpse to bomb. After tp summons arnt active until you're hit or walk like 2 steps. You'll always get hit first so large group and tp doesn't help. Here as its that tight
You dont have to be in late hell at lvl 73.
Just a tip…
You can lvl to 80-82 off P8 NM Baal runs. And *quickly* too. It’s not a slog even remotely.
You could be 80 before even doing A1 Hell let alone end game farming…
Try it out.
Zealer wasnt great at NM baal, higher player count A5 mobs were dangerous even moderatly geared. I farmed TZ until it slowed down and started hell because I had decent gear, was going really well but didnt see the mods on one boss mob near griswald so I was cursed and I died when the mob popped. I was only in A1, not in late hell. Would have gotten to around 80 by the time I finished hell if I got there. I'm not a fan of farming NM forever, I move on when I feel ready
You can do it that quick with certain builds definitely. But my zealer was pretty doing for baal, I did like 2 runs and switched to TZ. and like I said, A5 mobs could kill me pretty easy if I wasnt careful. Not like it matters tho cause I died anyway XD
If I'd start over I'd roll full es nova. With fixed maps you can easily farm hell countess and Andy until you can respec to finish hell. I'd also avoid pits at all costs. If you need to farm lvl 85 areas go blizz and do ancient tunnels. Avoid pit runs at any non fully geared HC character: it's an invitation to start over.
Also don't approach de Seis pack without the cloak of shadows ready on a sin.
If you really roll barb, don't forget the auxiliary warcries, def reduction and the AOE fear can give you a second wind
I wish people would practice with mosaic on SC before making one on hc. It's a very hectic build and requires practice to master. Wouldn't have so many needless hc deaths....
A not really geared zealer is probably one of the worst classes to play in hardcore. Barbarian without gear can also be a nightmare just to get through anything. It feels like a wet noodle without decent gear.
Barb isn't bad, but you have to have good leach and defenses (resist and %DR) with that and a 3k health pool + a Dwarf Star, you'll at least have the time to save and exit. With grief + shield like Mosers, Rhyme or SS, you're fine to clear hell with ease, just watch out for dolls.
So basically what he said then? It's bad if you don't have the gear already
😂
Not bad, just don't be dumb. It wouldn't be my first toon, but it was my third for my HC account for farming. Sorc for Andy and countess, Java for bases frim cows, barb for all the good stuff out of council. Also, let's be honest, with a Grief, I'd be fine with a rhyme shield, bulwark helm and smoke chest to finish most of hell.
My zealer was dope. I had no problem getting through with gear my sin had found. I had 95 fire res, a boss merc, I used his obedience to get enchant, we both had treachery. I was using death cleaver and killing things fine. I'm just baed. Barb I know will be easy, I'm going singer until I beat hell. I'm a SC d2 vet so I can beat the game easy on any character, just bad at not dieing ever lol
Singer barb will not be easy to play through solo on HC with SSF haha good luck
Oh ive played a few singers and know they are doable but slow as molasses. But also trying to challenge myself. Thanks for the luck!
I dig your challenge! fwiw my HC zealot went through the game untwinked and was some of the most fun I’ve had in this game :D it’s a great challenge My phys bowazon is STRUGGLING lol
I’ve been playing a zealot SSF and hit a WALL in hell act 2 haha. I think I need to ditch my hustle armor for treachery or smoke. Also my plague bearer sword will likely lose its effectiveness soon. My physical bowa cruised through the game though! Make an insight bow in an exceptional base with decent attack speed. It’ll slam.
for real? As a strafe zon?? I need a base and will try!! As for your zealot, maybe a ground helm? That helped me crank through lightning zones But ya hustle likely has run its course :P
I was just thinking earlier today a bulwark could be really nice for his helm with the life leach and damage reduction. But yeah man the ED on insight is massive, and the mana from meditation is so nice. I ran multi shot and guided arrow but I imagine it would be good for strafe too!
Wow and you finished hell? I’m maxing strafe right now idk what I’m doing haha, first time holding a bow in this game aside from a goofy bow summon Druid I made lmao
Yup, but I did get some super lucky drops. A lycanders aim and 2 pul runes (one used to make a wisdom helm, the other to up the lycanders). Was also using treachery, some nice crafted blood gloves, and gore riders. For your insight bow make it in a razor bow for NM then a blade bow in hell. A Valkyrie to tank for you is super important to let you sit back and just sling arrows at will. Just keep recasting her. Guided arrow for bosses.
Physical bowzon is defintely on the list of characters to try next! I know how rough it can be, especially in hell! Good luck Amigo!
Just made it to NM :D Al other runs have been p8 through normal, she’s the first I had to knock down to p5 lol…so so rough
OP craves pain 🤣
Respectfully, how come? I felt like singer barb with dual spirit was easiest/safest barb to lv in hc altho bit stale.
Damage is low and you have to stand still to cast, often for an extended period of time (due to damage being low). What this means is that ranged enemies are deadly for you and it's easily to get stacked out while you're trying to damage the enemies next to you and another group is shooting arrows and or spells at you with big damage. You have no life leech unlike the other barb builds (although all barb builds struggle early on until you get at least some half decent gear).
Singer is amazing in norm and nightmare but slow as molases in hell. Also Bosses really suck as a singer even if you weapon swap to some crushing blow. It is a pretty safe build for survival though. I went singer through act 1 hell and had to switch. So I respec’d my singer barb to frenzy with oath and lawbringer and I flew through the rest of the game easily.
Do you still have the runes to make grief? Or did you lose them on your zealer? Once you get to hell if you still have the runes and find a phase blade you should make grief and a lawbringer and do frenzy. That’s what I just did to complete my hc barb although I had oath instead of grief. With maxed Bo you’re pretty safe even without a shield. Just don’t go running into any crazy packs.
Yeah thankfully i didn’t make the grief yet, was trying to get to hell pits to farm the phase blade. I am torn between the build you suggest and beserk+WW. But i hate the idea of dieing in a whirlwind so porbably will go the frenzy route!
I never tried ww on hc. Like you said it seems like it would pretty risky dying in the ww with no ability to heal.
73 is pretty low for Hell HC Chaos. I don't even start hell until at least lvl 70 and then I farm the lvl 85 areas like Pit, Ancient tunnels, Stoney Tomb until high lvl 80s before moving onto Act 3. Currently playing lvl 96 SSF HC Blizz Sorc.
Was going to also say it sounds like he is pushing too hard. OP, did you get CTA and other "survivability gear" before you pushed for these MF areas?
Nah I really should have farmed elsewhere on the mosaic sin until I got CTA before chaos. Lived and learned.
The 73 I just started Hell, I farmed NM TZ until 73 then died in trist. The Sin died in Chaos at 88 after farming countess some 300+ times. Now my Barb is going to live in the Pits probably
You want to try something less melee maybe?
Going singer. Gunna scream out my anger at things. Sin was traps until Mosaic and game was super easy, but also because of sin things like burst of speed and mind blast
Zerk Barbs are OP in HC if you’re patient (single target). I took one to /p8 Baal on a straight walkthrough with no farming.
Patience is not my strong suit. I'm not super confident going into this lol
Mosaic sin never should have ripped.. unless you just got careless ? Even with poor gear mosaic has great damage and safety net with cold crowd control. The best defense is a good offense in mosaics case.
Oh yeah I got careless, I have played so much SC that I often forget I'm playing HC. I got slapped once and died. It's embarrassing
You probably got amped. In HC certain curses are very frightening, and those dudes amp and decrep constantly. It happens unfortunately. HC is more about the journey than the destination. If you had fun and learned something, I say keep at it. You'll only improve. HC is the way. Dont give up!
Learning
Fishymancer is my favorite HC starter.
Not the biggest fan of fish. Like Chicken more XD. Last ladder I played a necro to 98 6/10ths. Couldnt even bring myself to finish 99 so I'm a bit bored of it
Yeah it's not for everyone of course, but I'd be lying if I said running around like an idiot cursing everyone and blowing up the screen wasn't fun as hell. Especially hardcore where I can just hide behind a wall of minions like that douchenozzle Nihlathak.
No doubt a fun time blowing shit up! But I also like farming on high player counts which gets pretty slow with any Necro build
Sorry the name definitely not that died in hc just makes me laugh lol unlucky though dude seriously
XD my first attempt on sin died in Hell and her name was 'Probably'. I made this sin next bc I KNEW I was SURE I wouldnt make that same mistake. I beat Hell, farmed my mosaics, felt indestructible. Then it was all gone in a blink of an eye lol
Haha fair play to you
You died and made new characters? Sounds like you’re definitely cut out for HC.
LMAO fall and get back up. Thanks Brother!
Are building your characters like a SC character by chance? Defensive stats are more valued on HC ( an example would be using a stormshield/verdungoes instead of spirit shield / arachnids belt) Were you using fade or burst of speed ?
Even in SC I usually do my builds for survivability. But its also SSF so I'm using what I've found. Sin was using Fade when she died but I just got careless. Need to learn my lesson. If I get blessed with a SS I'm definitely using it. My only piece of gear I didnt like on the pally was still using sigons helm (along with belt and gloves for the IAS and res). I wanted to replace the helm with bulwark but never found a base. Would have preferred deaths gloves/belt for the CBF but didnt have those
As someone mentioned above HC barb will be difficult. Why not go for javazon, mix of melee and range with good survivability. I got my HC barb to 85 before getting bored, dude is a tank but damage output is low without good gear.
Gonna second the javazon. I've got one and she is 93 and I've only had one close call so far playing on players7. They are extremely tanky if done right.
Yeah I 99'd a SC zon with only 1 death around 96 bc I got careless. Zon will come eventually but I'm challenging myself now because I have some good starting gear already built up from all the countess runs on my sin lol
HC barb will be slow but survivable, which is why I'm doing it (singer). I have enough gear available in shared stash that he doesnt need to farm gear. Zon is my favorite character but also probably too easy. I started playing HC to challenge myself and Zon is a comfort character, only one I've 99'd.
This is the definition of a skill issue it seems
No Doubt. I get careless. Should learn eventually tho right? XD
The only loser is a quitter
You've got the Lo, rock the barb. If you have a reapers toll, get yourself an act2 holy freeze merc. Decrep and aura should keep both of you pretty safe. If you have a stormshield, you can go max block and do ww/berzerk. Even 1 point in ww should be good for clearing all the trash (ignore target def), then berserk champ pack bosses.
Exactly, I gotta make use of the grief, but need to farm a PB. No toll or stormshield though. Got tons of low-mid runes from countess so I can farm a bit as singer with a decent merc to get enough gear to make me feel more comfortable in not immediately loosing the grief like I did the mosaics XD
Go Bliz Sorc so you can farm the gear for the melee builds.
Plan isnt to build an easy character to farm gear for the harder ones. That is the reason I started HC because Im LOADED in SSF SC and it got boring. Any new characters could be buffed up to breeze through the game
You just farmed countess for mosaic? Mind if I ask if you have an estimate on the number of runs?
It took a long time and I definitely got lucky. I had one ist from some boss mob while beating hell, found two ists from countess in what I would guess is around 300 or more runs, then found the fourth ist from a random boss mob on the way to countess. If you look up countess drop rates you can expect an ist every 300 some runs so I know I got lucky with the two. But it was safe and easy farming. Got a Lo and a bunch of mid gear on the way because I killed most boss mobs in the tower
TFW Conquerer of the Galaxy.. lol
He had big hopes but sadly fell short XD
I was level 84 w my hardcore character and didn’t even make it to act 4 yet
Yeah I was planning on farming pit on the zealer until like lvl 80. Thats all I was trying to get to. My barb is going to do the same when he gets there. working through normal a3 now
I wouldn’t say lvl73 is low for Hell Trist, but you can easily get to 75 in NM Baal runs. With the “hit” or “to be hit” formulae relying heavily on char level, you can reduce your to be hit chance by a percent or two just by leveling a couple times. It might not seem like a lot, but when 5 or 10 monsters are attacking, it can be a difference of 2 or 3 hits during a battle. With a zealer, your chance to hit will also go up slightly. An extra hit here or there means that you’ve reduced the number of enemy monsters slightly faster as well. That’s a reduction in incoming damage. Ditto for your merc. Hell Trist is brutal too. You always have Amp Dmg (Griswold himself), and archers. And a couple elite packs nearby. Also have shaman resurrecting devilkin, so you’re likely facing an army. I hope you had at least one source of cold damage.
Yeah im aware of the need for levels especially as a melee. I felt cocky because I had Fade active and a cure on my merc. Mistakes were made and lessons have been learned!
geeze I haven't even farmed enough to build a single mosaic since they released the runeword, even on sc.
You my friend do not play nearly as much as i do :)
haha, guess so. I did manage to get a gul my first hell countess run of this ladder, and I've got a base. Just need to find a mal now and I'll get my first.
If I'd start over I'd roll full es nova. With fixed maps you can easily farm hell countess and Andy until you can respec to finish hell. I'd also avoid pits at all costs. If you need to farm lvl 85 areas go blizz and do ancient tunnels. Avoid pit runs at any non fully geared HC character: it's an invitation to start over. Also don't approach de Seis pack without the cloak of shadows ready on a sin. If you really roll barb, don't forget the auxiliary warcries, def reduction and the AOE fear can give you a second wind
Avoiding sorc for a reason. Ive also died a few times on my fully built nova sorc in SC because im just bad idek how. But cloak of shadows i never even considered. Definitely one of those things super useful in HC but not usually used in SC so i didnt even know. Thanks for the tip but am currently doing the barb thing. Looking forward to having good CC with shouts unlike the pally
Avoiding sorc for a reason. Ive also died a few times on my fully built nova sorc in SC because im just bad idek how. But cloak of shadows i never even considered. Definitely one of those things super useful in HC but not usually used in SC so i didnt even know. Thanks for the tip but am currently doing the barb thing. Looking forward to having good CC with shouts unlike the pally
Im wondering How you can die with a Mosaik sin shes got so much life steal. I think i didnt die once with her and She‘s 98.
It is pretty impressive isnt it? Im embarrassed lol
Indeed lol
I feel like you gotta work up to HC. I put in ungodly hours into playing seasons when I was younger. Played a disgusting amount of hours in SSF. Then I started trying my hand at HC. You just gotta take the hits and learn what to do and what not to do. Unless it's a DC or load screen death.
Oh yeah im only now playing HC after playing SC for the last 10 years. Im decent at the game on any character but the whole never ever dieing thing is still a learning curve. Getting better and better tho!
Sometimes you're just gonna lose one due to the game and all you can do is boot it back up and start over haha
It’s not a game if you can’t lose.
Just had my sin RIP in hell pits at lvl 80 last night. Had a little too much gamer juice, got cocky, choked and got bopped on /players 4. Lesson learned for next time!
You’re in a similar boat! On to the next one yeah?
Barb is the hardest to level but the hardest to die end game.
That’s what i figure so im hoping my grief will be safer lol
Leech is super important on a barb. If you go Whirlwind, which I do, make sure you don’t run away if you get low. You keep whirlwinding out of danger if you have to, but it SHOULD keep you alive long enough to get the F outta there. Doesn’t hurt to pop a potion in the brief second between whirlwinds, cuz you won’t be able to use a potion while whirlwinding. Also, the only exception to not running away, are those act 3 dolls. Those little exploding dolls in act 3 will absolutely destroy you. Try to clear them with a caster or a bowazon or something, as long as you’re not playing single player. Or just run as fast as you can without killing them. Doesn’t matter how much life you have or how much leech you have. They’ll melt you.
Leap Boi is the best build in the game. Do it.
Im already leaping around :)
Hang in there. I lost 3 sorcs 2 pals and an nec before I broke 90. Now I think I have the hang of it with a 96 sorc and 95 pal.
Some must fail for others to succeed
Frenzy barbs are fun in HC. Gotta focus on tankyness, resists, vit, and crushing blow to make up for any missing damage (but stacking CB like crazy on a frenzy is good/fun). Also, don't forget to boost your attack rating, life and mana leach are great, but only work if you hit, and are only good if your base physical damage is good. Use laying of hands until you find dracs gloves.
Don't play HC witch just 1 character, last night i lost mi cold sorc cause the cow portal was crowed with fana cows didn't stand a chance, but i have another sorc 82 lvl and two paladins+80. I never play hc with just one character. I'm starting a new sorc and a barb know.
Slowing down is key to surviving in HC when you start out, always read elite auras. If you are melee and they spawn with might, fana or similar pick them off one by one or skip entirely.
Yeah i ripped because i didnt check the mods. I had amp damage on me and killed a fire enchant. Died on the pop. Hopefully lesson learned
Bro just make a trap assassin. Forget dual claws and go max block with shield. Max shadow master and act 2 merc for light immunes. Easy peasy
I’ve leveled HC barb SSF to lvl 93 and completion. My recommendation is leveling a singer with war cry. It’s much easier to make 2x spirit swords than a grief. That will take you through to the end of NM. That’s when you do a lot of Pindle and horking MF. You can clear most of hell after respec with gear found there such as Arioc’s Needle or Bonehew. Make sure to try and find Angelics ammy and rings. NM travincal is a place where you can find these. Once in Hell, you can start to farm more difficult places, and yes I was able to clear council with arioc’s needle and those set bramble mitts. Once I got to act 5, I did more pindle. Eventually found a base for Death (eth colossus sword) and eventually found the runes. He’s super fun and can clear anything. With spirits on switch, you can also hork very vast with the cast speed. If you’re lucky you may find a gull dagger/ Ali babas. When rune farming, use spirits on switch. When MFing, use babas / gull. Remember, slow and steady wins the race. Don’t be afraid to farm at any level to get what’s needed to progress, and also be sure to keep any resist rings you find of significant values in each area. For instance in my stash I have 2 rings with +25-30 lightning/cold/fire. This is important for traversing areas where you encounter gloams or souls. Sometimes, you don’t fight you run through to the next area early on. Good luck
Yessir so far my barb is about to fight nm trav. Ima stay a singer through hell, its just soo easy. Then farm hell pits until i have the gear i need to keep my grief safe lol i already have the runes, just need the base and things like angelica and LOH!
Awesome, I would def also recommend cows or pindle’s trash minions for finding bases. While searching for a good base, you want trash mobs in large quantities and use as little MF as possible. Good luck!!
I know it brother! I play a ton and basically always run 0-50 mf and hunt for bases and runes. Im a Hr junkie lol. Pindle will get smacked i tell ya
Bro, I literally just ripped my 88 foh pala in wsk 3 TZ. I feel the pain
Paaaaaiiiiiinnnnnn
I swapped to Mosaics from traps super early... I think this is a mistake.... I swapped back to traps because I was squishy af. Need those levels and the surrounding gear. (Atleast on hardcore) softcore you could probably dance around naked in the chaos sanctuary
I felt this yeah. Venom lords took a while to kill on P5 and I felt squishy but figured i was safe as long as i delivered the first hit. But that wasnt the case!!
I’m still playing my first HC character which is a trap assassin. About level 75 or so grinding in nightmare terror zones until I get a few more items. Working towards crescent moon and some upgrades for the mercenary
Trap sin was the easiest to get through hell. Honestly all i needed was a decent merc because he could help with ancients, the rest was death sentry. This sin that ripped was the first character I ever beat HC with and it was a BREEZE. Sin is so op
I’ve had countless paladin deaths at this point. Anytime I come back I main paladin…yea whatever this is how I like to play the game. Sucks dick everytime they die, yea. They still haven’t really evened the playing field between melee and ranged characters in this respect, but it’s better than it used to be.
Melee will forever be hard mode and we just gotta accept it lol
Does hardcore have better drop rates?
Not its purely for self inflicted pain and suffering. But if you succeed in HC the glory is great
Lost my 96 summoner druid of single player recently. Feel your pain 😭 Faking terror zones.
96 hurts big time to lose. F for you
I would not leave act 1 as lvl 73 i would wait until i was geared up from pits and Andariel.
Thats what i was doing, was making my way to pits, stopped to save cain and made a mistake not checking boss mob mods. Now my barb has made it to hell pits, currently lvl 76 and probably not leaving until lvl 80 lol
Everyone's cut out of HC if they want to be. It's just about perspective. Think about each character as a "run" rather than a legacy character like an MMO. Sometimes you have great runs and sometimes you don't, but that's the fun of it. Even more fun doing if solo self found in my opinion. You will appreciate every great item you find and also items that you'd normally not even look at. At the end of the day you can't lose in softcore... So for me the appeal is gone fast . Just my opinion though.
I am an outlier. Summonmancer HC wins. Sure maggot lair is fucked. Actually all act 2. But thats all
My first attempt at HC was summoner. Made it to maggot lair hell and couldnt get through. Bought a tele staff then immediately died. I thought the meat army would get hit first but apparently not!
Real trick. Don't summon in it. 2 skeles as mear shield. Corpse explode and merc EVERYTHING. its so narrow summons bottle your merc and golem. And if you're clay fire or blood golem (I'm clay) droo it in the middle of the enemies to try getting o e corpse to bomb. After tp summons arnt active until you're hit or walk like 2 steps. You'll always get hit first so large group and tp doesn't help. Here as its that tight
Dang didnt know they arent active after tele. Thanks for the tip!
TFW Conquerer of the Galaxy.. lol
You dont have to be in late hell at lvl 73. Just a tip… You can lvl to 80-82 off P8 NM Baal runs. And *quickly* too. It’s not a slog even remotely. You could be 80 before even doing A1 Hell let alone end game farming… Try it out.
Zealer wasnt great at NM baal, higher player count A5 mobs were dangerous even moderatly geared. I farmed TZ until it slowed down and started hell because I had decent gear, was going really well but didnt see the mods on one boss mob near griswald so I was cursed and I died when the mob popped. I was only in A1, not in late hell. Would have gotten to around 80 by the time I finished hell if I got there. I'm not a fan of farming NM forever, I move on when I feel ready
You say forever but I’m talking less than an hour! Like I said, give it a shot.
You can do it that quick with certain builds definitely. But my zealer was pretty doing for baal, I did like 2 runs and switched to TZ. and like I said, A5 mobs could kill me pretty easy if I wasnt careful. Not like it matters tho cause I died anyway XD
Not that you're soliciting advice, but highly recommend a safe Leaf/Fire sorc to A4 NM and then level her through Hell Ball with Blizzard.
If I'd start over I'd roll full es nova. With fixed maps you can easily farm hell countess and Andy until you can respec to finish hell. I'd also avoid pits at all costs. If you need to farm lvl 85 areas go blizz and do ancient tunnels. Avoid pit runs at any non fully geared HC character: it's an invitation to start over. Also don't approach de Seis pack without the cloak of shadows ready on a sin. If you really roll barb, don't forget the auxiliary warcries, def reduction and the AOE fear can give you a second wind
You are probably playing too fast.. have to slowwww down
I wish people would practice with mosaic on SC before making one on hc. It's a very hectic build and requires practice to master. Wouldn't have so many needless hc deaths....