New to HC - what will kill me?

[Ever]

I'm curious about what will kill me - what should I be on the lookout for? What are the widowmakers in hardcore? I have two 60's in SC, but I simply feel that this has only taught me to be careless.

I'm in A2 NM, and I'm finding myself fearing fear itself. Will those frozen orbs kill me, or will they hardly scratch? Will this big hammerarm-swinging-beast-thing in A4 one shot me? Not being able to learn from experience (IE death + respawn) is...killing me!

I'd love a list of what to look out for, which to me basically mean what will one and two shot me, what combos kill the most HC, what Acts kill the most HC, etc. I searched for some guides on this to no avail. Thank you.



A lil about-me: long-time Diablo fan. Never ventured into HC, and I'm feeling the need for some extra excitement with this title. Furthermore, I'm a "social" gamer and find that the HC community may be a little more fitting for my style.

[lanceuppercut]

IMO, always have something that can break CC's, frozen has never killed anyone, chain frozen then being set upon, that has claimed its fair few heroes!

also fallen maniacs in a3 are a right pain in the arse, pray you don't get a jailer/waller/fast pack!!

[Crunchy II]

Your right about carelessness, it does kill! I started a HC Barb and tried to do an achievement at SK, it distracted me and I died at level 9. Hah!

[magicrectangle]

I'm curious about what will kill me

Overconfidence, generally. When you start feeling like you have a pretty good handle on the content you're doing, and you start to take little risks like engaging packs without your cooldowns, or without healing up, or you just aren't paying as close of attention because it is "easy." That's when you'll die.

If you gear properly, nothing should one shot you. Things like oppressor charge are certainly up there on the risk-o-meter, but if you've been stacking enough vit/armor/resists you can take a few.

Fallen maniacs are definitely up there. The keep depths level 2 has claimed many a hardcore hero. There are some other places with that monster type, but most of them are avoidable. Keep depths 2 you have to go through for the quest to progress.

[entranced]

This is what i've learned about 1 shots, having progressed just past Inferno SK, solo with a WD summoner.

1 shot:
- Molten death explosion from a rare spawn event in A1 hell 1 shot my first guy.
- Act 2 giant hammer guy (if you have avg to below avg hp).
- A3 hell Azmodan fireball, if it has been chasing you for long enough - 1 shot my guy with 33k hp. The fight was a little hair-raising even with 40k hp.
- A4 hell Diablo phase 3 bone prison can do 30k.

2 shot:
- Skeleton King in NM+ can easily 2 shot you with his initial attack (don't know what it's called).
- Fallen Maniacs (act 2, act 3) - these guys might as well be one shot, because sometimes you'll die from 3 of them hitting you before even knowing what killed you - especially in act 2 (got "1 shot" once). In the deserts watch for the rare Lost Ship treasure digger - red maniacs appear out of thin air; in the Oasis watch for the eastern altar of summoner+spawning green maniacs; in the zones just before Kulle's Lair watch for the red ones everywhere as well (i actually suggest re-rolling when you get a Fallen version of those Kulle zones).
- hell Diablo WD clone - Zombie Bears can 2 shot you if your stats aren't up to par.
- Mortar in Inferno. Not 2 shot per se, but if you stand in it for 3 seconds you're dead.

[DZJB]

What class btw?

I'm a bit like you actually. Started HC a little while ago after playing a lot of SC (D2 and D3). And I'm already up to 2 casualties (lvl 56 Monk and lvl 57 Barb). So close to 60! Here is my advice:

1) I'll echo the remark about overconfidence. You're killing things easily, so it's easy to get distracted from dangerous stuff. Guess most of us learn this the hard way. Even if you don't get into trouble 99% of the time, it's the 1% you need to be worried about.

2) Don't panic. See a lot of frozen orbs? Don't worry, just stop attacking and run away. Don't pop your cc breakers right away, or you'll regret it. Run into a hard frozen elite pack with a barb? Save that Wrath until you get into trouble, don't pop it too soon.

3) Have your escape skills ready. This is what killed me. Both times. Got cornered with Leap on cooldown with my Barb, and got stuck as well with my Monk without having Lashing Tail Kick or Tempest Rush to get away. I switched to Sweeping Wind for extra damage because I felt confident.

Good luck

[Ever]

Thanks for the replies. I posted this on two other forums and by far got the most comprehensive answers here.

Edit: Barbarian

How many molten explosions does it take to kill a barb with average health in Hell and Inferno?

[magicrectangle]

Assuming you're properly geared for the place you're at, a barb should be able to take 3-4 molten explosions. Not that you should, but you can. Even my witch doctor, a molten explosion takes less than 1/3 of my hp in a1 inferno. (40k hp, 600 res all, 4k armor)

That said, there's not really a reason to get hit by them. I tested to see how hard one would hit when I knew I had spirit vessel ready, but I don't really recommend that with your barb. Just don't let them hit you, they're easy to avoid.

[oOmpie]

Most has been said before. The game actually scales rather well up to Inferno, so the biggest risk until then is overconfidence.

I do find Bonesnapper (the hammer A2 guy to do ridiculous amounts of damage now and then, but other than that paying attention is your best bet.

One thing I want to add though, take real good care when you shuffled skills on your bar. This cost me my last Barb. I had acquired a decent lower level requirement weapon (she was at 54) and to accoutn for the fact that I was tearing everything a new one I decided to switch to a more defensive build, yes, you read that right
I wanted to prevent getting overconfident by the amount of DPS and then get surprised by how much that single dude that DOES get close is dishing out. Turns out I end up in a champ pack fight and pop the wrong skills at the wrong time causing my to get stuck on multiple stacks of molten and desec.

Long story short, take it easy when you switch skillsets and skillbar layout.

[DZJB]

I do find Bonesnapper (the hammer A2 guy to do ridiculous amounts of damage now and then, but other than that paying attention is your best bet.

There is a way around Shatterbone.

Just run past him, he'll get stuck in the narrow road part before you enter Alcarnus. He won't be able to do anything, so you'll get to pick him off with the greatest ease.

The only thing you need to worry about is a random elite pack in the beginning of Alcarnus. So I'd suggest switching to WW to be able to get back to the WP, just in case.