So due to the delayed d3 release, I thought I'd play some good old HC D2 for a while. It's literally been about 3-4 years, so I could really use some help. I wanted to try a class that could be somewhat similar to the ones in D3, but due to the mechanics that might not even be possible... but at least I'll get the feeling of having to be careful back.
Does anyone have a build (or a link to one) of the above mentioned three classes that is truly rock solid for HC? I looked around but there are soo many builds and ppl flaming each other etc. so i have no idea what's actually good and whats trash. If you have any that you'd like to share, that'd be great!
Moreover, do you think any of these classes will be similar to its d3 counterparts? (i assume that assassin is the closest to monk... which is what I think I want to play).
Also, I have no gear, twinks, nothing. So it needs to be something that will actually survive until the point they become good. I kind of want to stay alive :P.
What about a summonmancer? The witch doctor is a hybrid of the D2 assassin & necromancer if I'm not mistaken so the playing the necro would be comparable, and having a wall of minions to hide behind would be pretty safe.
The witchdoctor is not a combination of the necromancer and assassin. He gets zombie, while the necromancer gets skeletons, golems, and should get spirits. The witchdoctor is all about voodoo while the necromancer is all about life and death and preserving the balance.
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Just as the Scorpion hunts...
Silently Lurking...
"Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted." ~ Ezio Auditore de Firenze
I'm rolling a HC Fire Sorc. Hydra and Fireball. It's super fun, but starts to lose it's effectiveness on late Nightmare, and is helpless in Hell with all the immunes. I just killed Nightmare Andariel. Hydra is the best looking skill in the game by far.
The OP asked for something with mechanics similar to something in D3. I've made a reasonable case for that & you've disproved nothing about any of the similarities.
The WD has some similarities to the Necro but it is closer to the Druid. WD does not really have anything in common with the Assassin. The DH has more in common with the Assassin.
Now to the OP
The summoner is a nice character to start since you do not need too much gear to get through normal and nightmare. Hell can be tricky but it can be done even with limited gear. I have done it a few times with very poor items including only using normal or exceptional gear. The key to the summoner is getting max resists and getting +skills. I never bothered with block since you should not be getting hit that often.
The sorc can be quite difficult to start with especially going into hell. You will want to give the act 2 hireling the runeword that has conviction when equipped. I like the Holy Freeze Act hireling for the Sorc. The HF helps to slow monsters and HF adds cold damage to the merc. The conviction aura will also help the merc to hit and it will make the merc do more cold damage. The merc will also do quite some lightning damage as well. For the sorc you want the merc to do as much damage in other elements if encountering monsters immune to your primary skill tree. The other 2 slots will need to be items that will keep him alive.
I would go with placing most skill points into a single tree and let the merc take care of the immunes. There are some strong dual tree sorcs but I like the single tree versions more.
The Assassin:
You can go many ways with her and can be very good with limited gear.
You can go the full trapper build (Fireblast/and the other traps with a point into Blade Fury). I like Blade Fury with all Assassins since you can use that skill to leach or to use it to ctc on strike gear.
Also for melee you have many options to go with and can be very good.
The Barbarian:
Can start of quite slow but can be very strong in Hell. I find the Concentrate Barbarian as the best build for HC. You can choose to go 1-handed/shield or 2-Handed. I always go 2-handed since I would rather place more points into strength or vitality and the Barb has slow block speed. For the 2-handed I usually go with the elite Maul. It does take quite some strength to use but the more strength you have the more damage you do. Some players complain that you will have poor hit rate with no points into dexterity but you should not have too much problem if you invest in some of the lesser used warcries since some of will reduce the damage the monster does as well as lower there defense. I would only put one point into berserk since placing more than one will make concentrate do less physical damage so that means less leach. If facing PI you will can switch to Berserk and that will take care of most monsters. Your defense will be bad but if you use the other less used warcries you will do fine.
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I find that my blizzard sorc could solo hell baal starting around level 84 (full tal's set though - it helps a lot), and I can easily solo hell andy and countess with full MF gear (I'm currently around 600% including charms). Basically the merc kills cold immunes, and I kill everything else. I use the Holy Freeze merc since the slow keeps things in my blizzard longer. The build needs no gear at all to function well even in hell - just stay away from everything and let the merc soak all damage. Use teleport to get the merc in place.
1 point in warmth
1 point in telekinesis
1 point in teleport
20 points in blizzard
20 points in cold mastery
20 points in ice blast
20 points in ice bolt
The build sucks until you can actually get blizzard (level 24?) but then it's OP forever. I recommend building up to where you can solo MF Baal and Meph, and just own them over and over and over until you have the gear you need to get through the next difficulty level. Probably do through level 42 Normal, then level 72 NM, and that should get you into Andy/Countess runs for runes and loot until you're geared enough to clear Meph. You will, however, want help with Diablo's sanctuary... there are just too many cold immunes in there to solo clear it.
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Does anyone have a build (or a link to one) of the above mentioned three classes that is truly rock solid for HC? I looked around but there are soo many builds and ppl flaming each other etc. so i have no idea what's actually good and whats trash. If you have any that you'd like to share, that'd be great!
Moreover, do you think any of these classes will be similar to its d3 counterparts? (i assume that assassin is the closest to monk... which is what I think I want to play).
Also, I have no gear, twinks, nothing. So it needs to be something that will actually survive until the point they become good. I kind of want to stay alive :P.
I forget if there's many hardcore builds or not in the DB, but you could try searching here: http://www.diablostrategy.com
"...deemed the successor of the Necromancer..."
Skull of Flame = Fire Blast
Mass Confusion = Mind Blast/Confuse
Horrify = Terror
Wall of Zombies = Wall of Bone
Firebats = Wake of Fire (both conal fire AoEs)
Gargantuan ("It summons a large zombie minion similar to the Necromancer's summon golem spell.") = any necro golem
Sacrifice = Corpse Explosion/Death Sentry
Summon Zombie Charger/Dog = Raise Skeleton/Revive
Granted the similarities to the assassin aren't as strong as the similarities to the necro, but I stand by my comparison.
Unless a Blizz employee says outright that the witchdoctor is a replacement for the necromancer and somewhat of the assassin.
Now to the OP
The summoner is a nice character to start since you do not need too much gear to get through normal and nightmare. Hell can be tricky but it can be done even with limited gear. I have done it a few times with very poor items including only using normal or exceptional gear. The key to the summoner is getting max resists and getting +skills. I never bothered with block since you should not be getting hit that often.
The sorc can be quite difficult to start with especially going into hell. You will want to give the act 2 hireling the runeword that has conviction when equipped. I like the Holy Freeze Act hireling for the Sorc. The HF helps to slow monsters and HF adds cold damage to the merc. The conviction aura will also help the merc to hit and it will make the merc do more cold damage. The merc will also do quite some lightning damage as well. For the sorc you want the merc to do as much damage in other elements if encountering monsters immune to your primary skill tree. The other 2 slots will need to be items that will keep him alive.
I would go with placing most skill points into a single tree and let the merc take care of the immunes. There are some strong dual tree sorcs but I like the single tree versions more.
The Assassin:
You can go many ways with her and can be very good with limited gear.
You can go the full trapper build (Fireblast/and the other traps with a point into Blade Fury). I like Blade Fury with all Assassins since you can use that skill to leach or to use it to ctc on strike gear.
Also for melee you have many options to go with and can be very good.
The Barbarian:
Can start of quite slow but can be very strong in Hell. I find the Concentrate Barbarian as the best build for HC. You can choose to go 1-handed/shield or 2-Handed. I always go 2-handed since I would rather place more points into strength or vitality and the Barb has slow block speed. For the 2-handed I usually go with the elite Maul. It does take quite some strength to use but the more strength you have the more damage you do. Some players complain that you will have poor hit rate with no points into dexterity but you should not have too much problem if you invest in some of the lesser used warcries since some of will reduce the damage the monster does as well as lower there defense. I would only put one point into berserk since placing more than one will make concentrate do less physical damage so that means less leach. If facing PI you will can switch to Berserk and that will take care of most monsters. Your defense will be bad but if you use the other less used warcries you will do fine.
barbarian. slap on two axes, have some mana leech and life leech. frenzy the sht out of everything. /gg
"to the worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish."
1 point in warmth
1 point in telekinesis
1 point in teleport
20 points in blizzard
20 points in cold mastery
20 points in ice blast
20 points in ice bolt
The build sucks until you can actually get blizzard (level 24?) but then it's OP forever. I recommend building up to where you can solo MF Baal and Meph, and just own them over and over and over until you have the gear you need to get through the next difficulty level. Probably do through level 42 Normal, then level 72 NM, and that should get you into Andy/Countess runs for runes and loot until you're geared enough to clear Meph. You will, however, want help with Diablo's sanctuary... there are just too many cold immunes in there to solo clear it.