02-26-2004, 12:48 PM
I finally started playing hardcore after several years of softcore and I must say it is more "thrilling" but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't know the game pretty well.
I would like to discuss the best way to amass Diablo wealth when starting from nothing. My goal is to build up my supply of gear and trade goods so that I can play some of the more gear dependent builds. Because I'm starting with nothing that rules out any build that relies on eq for damage or leech.
First builds I'm considering:
Lightning Sorc: Pros - Charged bolt will work through normal and nightmare. Cons - Charged is almost a melee skill, mana potion dependent
Fire Sorc: Pros - Leaf Staff. Cons: Not Hell Viable
Cold Sorc: Blizzard requires heavy synergies to be useful, orb isnt available till 30 making those first 30 few levels painful. Well synergized blizzard shreds meph for easy runs.
Hybrid Cold/Fire Sorc (orb/fball). Pros: Levels well, hell viable Cons: No "artillery" skill makes boss runs dangerous.
Summon Necro: Pros - Skillers easy to find. Very safe build. Cons - Killing speed is haphazard, slow to do mf runs
Bone Necro: Pros - White Wand. Skills scale very well. Hell viable. Cons - Mana potion dependent
Poison Necro: Pros - White Wand. PNova has wide area. Cons - Not Hell Viable
Trap Assassin: Never played, assume it would be very safe since you would scout with traps
Elemental Druid: Damage seems haphazard, Wind seems to need to get very close to targets
Hammerdin: Refuse to play, hammer is a broken unbalanced skill
Melee or archer builds can survive with thrift store gear however I think they would move too slow and be too party dependant for bosses to be starter classes.
I originally started a bone necro but switched to fire sorc when I found a +3 fball +2 warmth staff with 2 sockets. My fire sorc made it to 28 and was doing very well in normal when I stupidly went afk and came back dead. I restarted a hybrid sorc who is currently level 22 and will hopefully make it through nightmare to do tunnel and pit runs.
The char I am finding gear for is a conviction zeal paladin who I'm afraid won't survive to get conviction without a little assistance. I'll make a new thread with gear suggestions in a little while, I would like to focus this discussion on just the pros and cons of starting with various builds.
Cheers!
I would like to discuss the best way to amass Diablo wealth when starting from nothing. My goal is to build up my supply of gear and trade goods so that I can play some of the more gear dependent builds. Because I'm starting with nothing that rules out any build that relies on eq for damage or leech.
First builds I'm considering:
Lightning Sorc: Pros - Charged bolt will work through normal and nightmare. Cons - Charged is almost a melee skill, mana potion dependent
Fire Sorc: Pros - Leaf Staff. Cons: Not Hell Viable
Cold Sorc: Blizzard requires heavy synergies to be useful, orb isnt available till 30 making those first 30 few levels painful. Well synergized blizzard shreds meph for easy runs.
Hybrid Cold/Fire Sorc (orb/fball). Pros: Levels well, hell viable Cons: No "artillery" skill makes boss runs dangerous.
Summon Necro: Pros - Skillers easy to find. Very safe build. Cons - Killing speed is haphazard, slow to do mf runs
Bone Necro: Pros - White Wand. Skills scale very well. Hell viable. Cons - Mana potion dependent
Poison Necro: Pros - White Wand. PNova has wide area. Cons - Not Hell Viable
Trap Assassin: Never played, assume it would be very safe since you would scout with traps
Elemental Druid: Damage seems haphazard, Wind seems to need to get very close to targets
Hammerdin: Refuse to play, hammer is a broken unbalanced skill
Melee or archer builds can survive with thrift store gear however I think they would move too slow and be too party dependant for bosses to be starter classes.
I originally started a bone necro but switched to fire sorc when I found a +3 fball +2 warmth staff with 2 sockets. My fire sorc made it to 28 and was doing very well in normal when I stupidly went afk and came back dead. I restarted a hybrid sorc who is currently level 22 and will hopefully make it through nightmare to do tunnel and pit runs.
The char I am finding gear for is a conviction zeal paladin who I'm afraid won't survive to get conviction without a little assistance. I'll make a new thread with gear suggestions in a little while, I would like to focus this discussion on just the pros and cons of starting with various builds.
Cheers!
Step 2: Acquire and train a monkey. This step may take some time.