12-06-2003, 09:05 AM
I've found that in my Ladder HC play, the game has been slightly harder, but still playable.
Yes the summoners glacial spike hits harder, but if you notice, his firewalls seems to be much less overpowered. They used to be his real killer. IMHO in HC, 169 hp would mean it's not yet time to take on Duriel yet. It's not uncommon for someone to lvl up till 25+ in arcane/canyon runs before moving on. Also, parties are an option.
Give it some time. Take a little while to gamble some decent resist gear(gloves/belt/boots/helm), particularly cold resist for duriel. Cube up a few rubies, and add them to an act2 shopped 3 socket breastplate. If you can get them up to "ruby", the life bonus will go a long way at such low lvls. Assuming you're a melee enchantress, the highest blocking you can get would obviously be best. Shop untill you find a decent sheild with increased block in act2. Drink thawing potions before entering tal's chamber. The potions won't stop the slow, but they will add to your cold resist against his cold melee damage. Be sure to stay close to Duriel while fighting him, even when using static. If you are right next to him, he won't use his charge attack. Collect all the Healing potions(any higher than light healing) you can, and save them for the duriel fight. Create a savage polearm for your merc. You may not want to bother with all these little things, but in untwinked HC play, they are common.
That said, I do believe that Duriel has been significantly increased in power in 1.10. Weaker builds tend to have trouble with him. In normal, powerful melee builds usually have no problem. Barbs with sheilds, druids with huge life, necros with summons, assassins with blocking and cobra strike, and others take him on without that much difficulty. Ranged attackers, and fragile melee builds are at much more of a disadvantage vs him, and often have trouble. You should have seen my HC warcry barb solo him in hell...
Personally, I'm pretty pleased with the average difficulty in 1.10, from normal to hell. Normal is easy, and any decently thought out build(and a few badly thought out) can handle it. NM starts to test you, especially in act5, but also is not that much of a challenge. Hell though, can be real rough. Not so much the act bosses, but the random leaders can be brutal. As long as you skip the glaring errors(tomb vipers, gloams, dolls ect), I think that bliz did a pretty good job.
It is unfortunate that the more interesting builds get hit hard to make the game more difficult for the power builds. Just think of it as more of a challenge to succeed despite adversity. I've never played an enchantress, but as I understand it they can hold their own alone, but really shine in parties. Perhaps some of the Lurkers who have played one can further advise you.
Yes the summoners glacial spike hits harder, but if you notice, his firewalls seems to be much less overpowered. They used to be his real killer. IMHO in HC, 169 hp would mean it's not yet time to take on Duriel yet. It's not uncommon for someone to lvl up till 25+ in arcane/canyon runs before moving on. Also, parties are an option.
Give it some time. Take a little while to gamble some decent resist gear(gloves/belt/boots/helm), particularly cold resist for duriel. Cube up a few rubies, and add them to an act2 shopped 3 socket breastplate. If you can get them up to "ruby", the life bonus will go a long way at such low lvls. Assuming you're a melee enchantress, the highest blocking you can get would obviously be best. Shop untill you find a decent sheild with increased block in act2. Drink thawing potions before entering tal's chamber. The potions won't stop the slow, but they will add to your cold resist against his cold melee damage. Be sure to stay close to Duriel while fighting him, even when using static. If you are right next to him, he won't use his charge attack. Collect all the Healing potions(any higher than light healing) you can, and save them for the duriel fight. Create a savage polearm for your merc. You may not want to bother with all these little things, but in untwinked HC play, they are common.
That said, I do believe that Duriel has been significantly increased in power in 1.10. Weaker builds tend to have trouble with him. In normal, powerful melee builds usually have no problem. Barbs with sheilds, druids with huge life, necros with summons, assassins with blocking and cobra strike, and others take him on without that much difficulty. Ranged attackers, and fragile melee builds are at much more of a disadvantage vs him, and often have trouble. You should have seen my HC warcry barb solo him in hell...
Personally, I'm pretty pleased with the average difficulty in 1.10, from normal to hell. Normal is easy, and any decently thought out build(and a few badly thought out) can handle it. NM starts to test you, especially in act5, but also is not that much of a challenge. Hell though, can be real rough. Not so much the act bosses, but the random leaders can be brutal. As long as you skip the glaring errors(tomb vipers, gloams, dolls ect), I think that bliz did a pretty good job.
It is unfortunate that the more interesting builds get hit hard to make the game more difficult for the power builds. Just think of it as more of a challenge to succeed despite adversity. I've never played an enchantress, but as I understand it they can hold their own alone, but really shine in parties. Perhaps some of the Lurkers who have played one can further advise you.