HC Druid Summoner

[Munkay]

Funny, I've always found big D to offer little challenge relative to the battle to clear the CS, unless I'm playing a minion-based character (in which case my experience is more in line with yours).

Whether it's Diablo himself or the CS that proves to be the most troublesome depends highly on the build. Melee characters will generally have a harder time with Diablo, since they are more susceptible to being hit by chainlightening, frozen hand, or fisure style fire. A ranged build has more freedom to dodge his attacks, and the only definite hit is the ring of fire which can be easily offset by a few reds.

Chaos Sanctuary favors the character with better crowd control. Whether this be provided by the player themselves (alert methodical players can walk melee characters through without too much fuss), or the build (a la amazon using decoy for example). Personally I play a very fast and hard pushing style of Diablo II, but give the due pause that is needed in CS and subsequently it's not too big of a deal. Resists of course factor into the "slow and methodical" part.

With all of that said, if you are a ranged character that relies on minions, I think its pretty clear cut. Minions give good crowd control, making CS occasionally tough but nothing compared to Diablo. Diablo is probably the biggest PITA for any summoner I've ever played (Nec or Dru), for the above mentioned problem with melee damage.

Cheers,

Munk