Beginner's Guide to Build Selection

[jamesL]

slow killing speed for skellies? try the bloody hills while still in normal difficulty (i HATE going into that place with my summonancer...)

you're minions will often attack one or two at a time on those narrow stairs and paths... while waiting for them to finish their loooong work on the monsters (players 8 will drive you insane) and you can't even get a coffee or something and then come back, because you have to dodge those stupid catapult shots all the time (!!)

really ?

I'm playing on battle.net and I find it extremely easy and fast
by the time I get to bloody hills I have 20 in raise skeleton, 1 in skeleton mastery, 1 in clay golem and 1 in amplify damage, and I have a barbarian merc
I just run around spamming clay golem behind the enemy and amplfy damage on top of them
my merc and skeletons are all over the place killing stuff, we move up the hill pretty quickly
of course I don't know how normal mode battle.net compares with players 8 single player; maybe battle.net is easier

[Hrus]

/players8 command give monsters +350% HP. The same as if the BNet game is full (8 players total), but you are playing solo elsewhere.

[Elementrix]

Thanks for making this. I was going to ask a question about a general statement about each class for pvm since I just signed up 4 minutes ago.
I think I decided on my classes. My favorite is the Sorceress since I like Elemental spells and such. I might start off with the Fishymancer because it might be a better first choice than a Sorceress. I still can't decide on Meteorb or Blizzballer though.

[Hrus]

You will not regret going with sorceress. First few levels are hard (don't be afraid to take the biggest 2handed axe and just smack the monsters with it - sorcs are surprisingly fast with 2h axes and mauls), but later on they really rocks. Also because of teleport and great AoE skills they are primary choice for all kind of runs.

[Elementrix]

You will not regret going with sorceress. First few levels are hard (don't be afraid to take the biggest 2handed axe and just smack the monsters with it - sorcs are surprisingly fast with 2h axes and mauls), but later on they really rocks. Also because of teleport and great AoE skills they are primary choice for all kind of runs.

Thanks that definitely makes me want to go Sorceress, now to choose Meteorb or Blizzballer.

[assaema]

I've created a new Microsoft Excel worksheet listing monster resistances and immunities in Hell Acts 1-5, which allows you to filter the data and calculate hit points with varying number of players and different monster classes.

Unfortunately it doesn't list resistances and immunities for the Diablo clone and the Pandemonium Event, since these are exclusively on-line and I'd be unable to verify them. The worksheet hasn't been protected since doing so doesn't allow the filter to be used. If anybody has any questions or comes across any errors, let me know. A more advanced Excel user could certainly do better, but it gets the job done and it should be reasonably easy to use. Below are a few notes on certain aspects of the worksheet.

Class
Monsters can be Normal, Minion, (Super) Unique, Champion (includes Fanatic and Ghostly), Berserker, Possessed and Boss. Clicking on the cell above the Class column will allow you to select different classes from a drop-down list, changing the class of all applicable monsters listed below. Hit points will be recalculated accordingly.

Note that I haven't taken into account the random Unique or Champion monsters that can be spawned by Monster Shrines due to both the rarity of these shrines and my lack of understanding of their mechanics. It seems as though they'll transform the nearest normal monster into a Unique (without minions) or a Champion, but I don't know how the game selects shrines and in which areas they won't spawn.

This should only be an issue with dependent monsters (e.g. Fallen) or monsters whose spawning is determined by location on the map (e.g. Fallen encampments) rather than Levels.txt. If need be, complete the final stage of the calculations using the following multipliers, and round down.

[VirtueVsVice]

Love the guide. The "Fishymancer" is indeed a good one to start off with. A Fishymancer was my second character I made, and I obliterated everything from Duriel to Mephisto without dying once. Too bad it somehow got deleted. >=(

[Ltdx]

is there a build for a bear sin?

[NASE]

Sure.
It's not really a starter build though. Check out the stickies in the assassins forum as you can find a completely list of all (most) builds there.

[oeath]

Wow thanks heaps for the guide really useful for starters