What is playable untwinked in 1.10?

[Occhidiangela]

Whoa, Holy Thread Necromancy Batman!

I find it funny that I posted advice about a Hammerdin, since over 2 years after that post I started playing Diablo II again in Single Player for a few months. My first character? A Hammerdin :P

But after a physical hard drive failure (awakening to one horrible grinding sound), the characters were lost and with it my want to continue playing.

Cheers,
Munk

As of May 2007, a simple and effective build is still

No twink Javazon

Max Charged Strike
Max Lgt Fury
Max Poison Jav
Max Plague
No valk. One point in Decoy for tactical usage.

Any + skills you can get is nice bonus. Easy places to find it?

Sigon's Shield, if you fid it.
Gambling for + zon circlets
Gambling for + zon amulets
You will find Zon javs, save your imbues for Ceremonial or Matriarchical Zon javs.
Easy to gamble + 1 Jav skills gloves.

If you find a two socket hat/circlet, save an ort. When you find a Sol, which usually drop for you by the end of NM, you have +1 skills.

All said and done, easy to get to 24 skills just by stumbling over it.

We can get into an esoteric discussion about when and why to put points into Pierce, but higher pierce makes for a more lethal Lightning Fury for thinning out mobs, Charged Strike owns large bosses.

I have killed Hell Diablo in less than a minute with CHG strike, going face to face.

Merc Choice?

That varies. I'd recommend an Act II Might or Holy Freeze merc, though I tend to go for Defiance mercs just because. *shrugs* Personal Taste. The key to killing Hell Ancients is a high mana pool, and either an insight merc or a Merc with high life steal. The Plague Jav fully synergized really helps, as do boots of run walk speed to stay out of their way.

YMMV

Occhi