Single cd-key solo play Ladder HF rushing works

[Crystalion]

How cruel for such elegance to be removed by the, now clarified, ability to dive down into the durance without killing the council.

Well, there is usually the ability to add extra constaints to a problem to "re-vitalize" it in the face of such prima facie "waste" of clever thinking.

In this case it is somewhat interesting to ask if one can "solo" into Hell residency while being clvl 1?

Once you get to nightmare you might be home-free, because you can (softcore) die to wipe your xp... the only problem being if an act boss kill pushes you into clvl 2+ by itself.

Poison and Open Wounds are among the nicer ways to facilitate such an endeavor, because they can potentially kill a mob for you, giving you credit, without giving you xp (by virtue of the fact that you're conveniently lying on the floor, dead). And, of course, Poison Javalin is interesting for this reason, although you'd have to be clvl 6.

Firebolt and Teeth won't carry effects or poison and Smite won't carry poison. This leads us to guess that a clvl 1 Paly, who got a skill point by killing the final monstor in the Den (no need to kill more and risk leveling up), might be able to Smite Things to get OW on them. Of course the OW from a clvl 1 is probably pretty pathetic. And getting in close enough to deliver the smite before croaking is a phenomenally nasty constraint (vs. the act bosses in question).

But, whether one finds solutions or dead-ends, the journey is the reward. Id est, I find it fun to puzzle out regardless.

Since Smite is theoretically possible, but rather problematic, I'm inclined toward Teeth (slvl 1 via clvl 1 Den trick). This raises the question of whether the xp for a kill of Andy+Meph+Diablo in normal for a clvl 1 pushes them to clvl 2+. I don't know the answer to that off-hand (and calculating it is tedious, since I'd require in-game verification anyway).

Should a clvl 1 "soloist" prove possible, a Mongoesque writeup of "geez, D2 is a really easy game, here's how I beat it at clvl 1!" would be amusing, along the lines of...

"I made the scene in Sanctuary looking for action with my trusty Firebolt Staff. The Grrls there were bitchin that the land was overrun by demons--cool! I was so excited! So I walked and walked and walked and walked, but I didn't see any. Bummer. Finally I found this goth chick having a bad hair day, but one Firebolt smoked her sorry ass. Since this place was so, like, not happening, I decided to hitch a ride East, with Warriv, who says he's got a 'caravan master', which I think is, like, a tricked out SUV or something..."