First HC Account Ever

[SyCoMiDgEt]

Hello All And Thanks To Reading This Thread.
I Normally Play Softcore West/East Ladder But Im Now Going To Start Playing
HC!

I Just Need Ideas On The Best Character For Getting Through Norm/NM/Hell And Being Able To Some How Get Items That Are Descent

Im Guessing Maybe A Sorc Would Be Best But I Have No Idea!

[Arusha]

if you can afford some basic sorc items that is a good way to get started mfing, if you don't have anything to start with typically people suggest summon necros or trapsins because their safe and pretty fun both can solo their way through the game safely and w/o great gear
welcome to hardcore

[SyCoMiDgEt]

Ok Thanks

I had already started a summoner thinking that would be easiest lol
but i was just making sure

[zzzackkk]

I started with a summon necro not too long ago and I've beaten the game and am already lvl 80. If any char can do it, a summoner can. The only thing I don't like about I sometimes got bored because I had no need for anything because I always seemed to be safe. It's not a build that will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole way to hell.

[dyolf]

a summoner is a good choice, but i would start up a orb/tk sorc as well. they can help each other out quite well, and you can start using items sooner.
the summoner is more dangerous to play than you might think: you are so safe most of the time that you tend get cocky, run ahead of your army or get too close to enchanted uniques.

[MYK]

Hello All And Thanks To Reading This Thread.
I Normally Play Softcore West/East Ladder But Im Now Going To Start Playing
HC!

I Just Need Ideas On The Best Character For Getting Through Norm/NM/Hell And Being Able To Some How Get Items That Are Descent

Im Guessing Maybe A Sorc Would Be Best But I Have No Idea!

Go Ahead And Make Whichever Character You Like Best. Chances Are You'll Feel Most Comfortable And Probably Die Less The First Time Around.

I Hope We Can Make You Feel Welcome Around Here.

Best Of Luck~

[Tai.]

Personally, I don't like starting with a Necro, as you're so "safe" you make mistakes and don't get the feel for HC. You have this bubble around you all the time so the one time it isn't there - DEEDS.

Cheers
-Tai

[come back zinc]

Go Ahead And Make Whichever Character You Like Best. Chances Are You'll Feel Most Comfortable And Probably Die Less The First Time Around.

I Hope We Can Make You Feel Welcome Around Here.

Best Of Luck~

Well put, Myk. When you don't have the capital to invest in good gear, familiarity is key.

There are normally two cases you can find yourself in when new to HC. In the lower case, you take things slow and die once or twice, maybe not at all, normally leading to some degree of success. The upper case pertains to those people who try continually to play the same way they did in SC and who will always die in late Normal or early NM. Some people always return to this upper case (through impatience or ignorance) and are unable to properly capitalize in an HC environment.

[MasterMynd]

Well put, Myk. When you don't have the capital to invest in good gear, familiarity is key.

There are normally two cases you can find yourself in when new to HC. In the lower case, you take things slow and die once or twice, maybe not at all, normally leading to some degree of success. The upper case pertains to those people who try continually to play the same way they did in SC and who will always die in late Normal or early NM. Some people always return to this upper case (through impatience or ignorance) and are unable to properly capitalize in an HC environment.

I was going to mention something about the OP's use of Title Case, but between you an MYK, I think it got covered beautifully.

Brilliant! :laugh: :jig: :wink2:

[Tor Land]

Look at socialism's sorc guide - I have yet to die with this build. Although she will never get past Hell chaos sanctuary alone, you can get to hell mephisto, which is her goal(and clear the way to act5 for her with another char later).

[SyCoMiDgEt]

Thanks For All The Replys xD
Well Im Actually And Sin And Amazon Fan So Maybe Ill Make My Trap/Kicker

That Way I Can Lay Down Traps And Kick Some Extra Damage Into Em xD

[SyCoMiDgEt]

HC Is Like SC Right? You Have To Be Hostiled In Town? And Cant Go Through Tps

[oOmpie]

Yeah that's the same, however DON'T play public games, dude...

Simple as that. Just don't...

[Tai.]

Technically the game wants you to be in town when you hostile people.

However, many of the immature script kiddies out there aren't big fans of it and thus you can't assume people are playing by the rules

[MrBill]

Hello All And Thanks To Reading This Thread.
I Normally Play Softcore West/East Ladder But Im Now Going To Start Playing
HC!

I Just Need Ideas On The Best Character For Getting Through Norm/NM/Hell And Being Able To Some How Get Items That Are Descent

Im Guessing Maybe A Sorc Would Be Best But I Have No Idea!

(1.) Easiest (it's a tie IMO) are:

"Death Sentry Lightening Trapper Assassin"

Advantages: Fade eliminates resistance problems (so you can wear quite a bit of MF gear), clears entire rooms with one wave of Death Sentry Corpse Explosions (DS is the single most powerful PVM attack in Diablo, by such a wide margin that it IMO seriously unbalances the game), Cloak of Shadows to shut down almost all ranged attackers, Mind Blast to handle very dangerous packs, very powerful Shadow Master minion (particularly if you prebuff her with + to Shadow Disciplines items), "Treachery" 1.11 body armor is probably the best of the new Runewords as it gives excellent bonuses for relatively easy to find runes. Also has decent hit points.

Disadvantages: Lightening immune monsters (especially those pesky Hell A5 Black Souls that are both Lightening and Poison immune), some parts of the Natalya's set (the claw in particular) can be hard to find. Also the Shadow Master can occasionally Mind Blast and convert monsters that you wanted to kill, although this is a temporary annoyance.

"Summoner Necro"

Advantages: Huge army to protect him (Hell Revives are almost unstoppable), Amp Damage + Corpse Explosion slaughters things real good, Dim Vision to shut down most ranged attackers, most necessary gear can be shopped in town, Trang's set is quite easy to find (except for the hat and belt to some extent), "Bone" Runeword armor (Sol-Um-Um) is one of the best of the 1.11 class-specific body armor types (although it requires two difficult to find runes).

Disadvantages: Fragile (very poor hit points, even if you pour stat points into them), possible resistance problems in Hell (leading to restrictions on how much MF gear you can wear), helpless without minions, Dim Vision doesn't work on Champion monsters, lag problems on slow computers or Internet connections, stair trap problems on some quests (notably the Forgotten Tower in A1 and stairs in Worldstone Keep in A5) where you can get mobbed before your minions take action, difficulties in certain minion-unfriendly areas like the Maggot Lair in A2. Also can be a bit Mana-intensive if you like to spam CE a lot and don't have an Insight merc.

(2.) Second-tier would be:

"Lightening Fury / Plague Javelin Amazon"

Advantages: Devastating area attack through maxed-out Lightening Fury (just wastes everything in sight if it's not LI, although LF is mana-intensive), slower but lethal secondary attack via Plague Javelin (we're talking 20K+ damage here even with mediocre gear), not too many problems with resists since can use a shield, lots of decent throwing spears [particularly rare (yellow) ones -- you don't need a Titan's] will drop as you go through the game and they can be had for almost nothing in trading, almost indestructible minion if you max out and pre-buff Valkyrie (especially with an A2 Defiance merc, this minion must have an enormous Defense Rating as mine hardly ever get hit), decent hit points plus the passive evasion skills makes this character quite durable. Also can switch to a bow if necessary.

Disadvantages: Same as the DS Trapper Assassin, you will run into dual immunes that will give you fits, LF is very mana-hungry (although Plague Java is not). Does not kill as fast as a DS Trapper or as safely as a Summoner Necro. Does not have a dedicated elite set (Mav's is Bowazon-only) although you can make a pretty good substitute from mid to mid-upper range items like Titan's, Thundergod's etc.. "Peace" 1.11 Runeword is a bad joke due to poor bonuses and bugs in the implementation of the CTC Valkyrie attribute (to be fair the Runeword is easy to make, though).

"Fire Elemental Druid"

Advantages: Oak Sage can provide excellent hit points, maxed-out, synergized Fissure spell is absolutely lethal to anything that isn't Fire immune (and Volcano does physical damage for those that are), can surround self with a few minions to keep the heat off, Aldur's set is quite easy to find except for the body armor, character can be quite successful with relatively easy-to-make / find Runewords and unique items or even with rares. Minions (particularly Grizzly) can kill things in Hell, especially if you have a Might merc.

Disadvantages: Fire immunes (dual Fire / Physical immunes are a pain), allocation of skill points between Fire tree and Summoning tree can be tricky, does not kill as fast as a DS Trapper or a LF Javazon, vine minions get killed constantly and require annoying re-conjuration, casting delays for main attacks (particularly Volcano and Molten Boulder) take some getting used to and sometimes you simply can't get one of these spells to initiate where you think it should be able to, "Rain" Runeword armor is a very poor deal for the investment of runes, monsters tend to target the Oak Sage which has stupid AI (it loves to tank... but stinks at doing so).

I have played all of the above builds very successfully through Hell and have survived every time. As always, if you constantly do stupid things (like not watch for Dolls in Hell or not watch for Fire Enchanted bosses in Nightmare, not to mention playing in public Hardcore games past Level 9... ever), no amount of gear or build advice is going to keep you alive.

Best of luck,

Mr_Bill

[zzzackkk]

Well my necro just died at lvl 82, so they're not invincible. In my last post I wasn't sure if I was for starting off with a necro or against it. I would say to make a char that you can constantly get new stuff for but at the same time don't really need to. This way you'll have fun while you play, because there aren't any pub games that you want to join. I personally am not choosing to make an mf'er yet because I like playing semi-untwinked and playing my chars all the way from act1, but that's just me.

Have fun, and good luck.

[SyCoMiDgEt]

HC May Be To Independent For Me Haha
Still Giving It A Try xD