Build Suggestions for Untwinked Play

[Niniux]

I play on USWest SC Ladder right now with a friend but when he's not online, I don't feel much like jumping on my Summon Necro and grinding away in the Pits and at Baal. I decided I like the challenge and the idea of HC. I'm also hoping I'll be able to join in random games with people and find a more cooperative environment rather than just Baal Bots.

I've been trying to decide between a couple builds that I could play through HC that could contribute well to a team. Solo play might be tough with one of them.

My thoughts were:

Dark Poisonmancer:
20 in Poison Dagger, Poison Explosion, Poison Nova + 2 for Pre-reqs.
1 in all curses, 10+ in DV
1 in all summoning tree except FG, 10+ for GM.
Last 10 points could go in 1 BA+9BA, theoretically (though unlikely to get to 99)

Cleric:
I forget where the link to the guide is, but basically it's Max Holy Bolt, FoH, Meditation with points in all the helpful defensive auras.

I'm leaning towards the ladder.

Any recommendations on either these two or ANY build? Or even just for HC in general?

[rynke]

well.. u wont find any baalbots in public, or normal baals for that matter.. atleast if u do, theres a big chance itll get ruined by a pk'er.

[AgentMarth]

First, I suggest doing HC on East above anything else.

Second, the Poisonmancer works well, since everyone loves LR. Thing is though, don't bother with DV then since everyone in your party will enjoy LR better.

After the Poison skills, consider boost RS to get you a few tanks. They may not be dealing to much damage, but that's what PN is for anyways, and supplying tanks and LR is very party friendly.

The cleric, well, hes only good if you always play him with a group.

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

I would forget the cleric. HC is not full of trusty people. It's full of people who assume you're either going to do something stupid and get someone killed, or that you might be a PK perhaps. You won't be able to find big running games publically. Most folk play private games. Clerics need people, and frankly, everyone in HC is already built around maximum defense. You're just not going to add much since they already have heal/insight/maxblock and won't be taking much damage anyways, plus, they just don't play stupid usually, so again, don't take much damage.

Necros are awesome in HC. Dim Vision is your friend. Even in parties. Anyone who doesn't appreciate Dim Vision probably doesn't need a party anyways. Everyone can appreciate not getting killed by a pack of gloams they didn't see coming. Dim Vision is so ungodly good. Even in parties. Everyone's safe. Everyone can just blast away. More importantly, you can play on your own even without a party and easily survive even the toughest nastiest places in Hell. Dim Vision is that good.

You could go poison. You could go bone. You could go summons.

I'm a weirdo. I went all curses with CE. I let Dim Vision, my Merc, and a resummonable Clay Golem do the real work while I pick up gold and stuff. I don't even carry health pots...

Cheers,