I give in!

[AtomicKitKat]

My enchantress(not really though, she used chain lightning most of the time for big crowds) was lucky enough to get both Stoutnail and Bloodrise(sold the former in favour of the latter when I got it)

I got to level 23, and went off to face Duriel.

"Looking for Baal?" he growled.
Managed to fire off enough statics to reduce him to 5% hp(estimate) before succumbing. Merc died within the first 2 shots. Thanked my stars I was in SC and had given the merc a PMH Voulge.

Popped back through the portal, pleased to notice Duriel still at 5%. Die the moment I pick up my body.

Pop back in ONE MORE TIME. 2 shots later, he's dead.

50str/50dex/50 vit, base energy, 169 hp(I think)

Why did I die so easily? The Summoner was another massive PITA. A single shot with his Glacial Spike knocked off 3/4 of my orb, around 100+ damage. That's just WRONG, for an area that's supposed to be cleared by a level 20-

Which makes me wonder, whose crack was Blizzard smoking when they did this patch? Did they simply grab the most overpowered character available and say "Let's make it such that they will die 10 minutes into the game"? I wouldn't normally say this, but the cheese of the game has definitely been ramped beyond my current level of adaptation.

[Baajikiil]

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.

[WarBlade]

Get some Energy Shield working, then take on Duriel. Cold Resistance might help too.

[Ruvanal]

Baajikiil:

...gamble some decent resist gear(gloves/belt/boots/helm), particularly cold resist for duriel.

...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. ...

Warblade:

...Cold Resistance might help too.

:huh:
Duriel in normal only has skill level 1 Holy Freeze to add any non-physical damage to his attacks. That is just 2 points of cold damage that has no cold duration. Not worth the effort in my opinon to bother much with.

He is very brutal with the physical attacks that he does use though. A skill level 5 charge that looks like it might have two points in it in which he can hit you. A skill level 15 Jab that has 3 points at which you can be hit. A skill level 7 Smite attack and his A2 attack also has 15 frame stun effect added to it (20 frames in nightmare and 30 frames in hell).

It is these brutal physical attacks that you need to concern yourselves with, not the puny 2 cold damage (with zero chill duration).

[LavCat]

My softcore ladder enchantress faced duriel at I believe level 22. She does not use static, and she found duriel more difficult than she had expected. Once Leharas died (who had been using a superior Malice brandistock) the tide turned against us, and when all her potions were gone she had to leave. This was in a three player game with no one else interested duriel.

She collected her remaining potions from the stash and set off to try again. This time she decided to try a melee approach rather than a bow. There was not much stuff to choose from. We had Fiend Spike, a rare crystal sword with +10% IAS, +77 AR, 1-4 cold damage, repair durability, and two sockets. A flawless amethyst went in one and a jewel of freedom in the other. This gave a 95% chance to hit duriel even if the merc were dead.

This time the battle was more even handed. Leharas might have made it through if she had been more generous with the purple potions. Be that as it may, by the time duriel's health bar was half gone, she was facing him alone. A little girl and her naked sword against the demon. Oh, it was a brave encounter! She had no more potions left to try again, but on the last pot she felled the evil fiend...too late to save Tal Rasha.

[Baajikiil]

That is just 2 points of cold damage that has no cold duration. Not worth the effort in my opinon to bother much with.

I thought that he had the same melee damage added that a skill lvl 1 paladin holy freeze has. Level 1 holy freeze adds more than 2 cold damage...

AS lists lvl 1 holy freeze to add 10-15 damage to melee attacks. With duriel's fast jab/smite, this adds up pretty fast. My skelemancer who fought him would often be at half health from duriel's melee cold damage before his bone armor wore off(zero cold resist).

[Guest]

d2data.net says the "damage" is 2-3 in normal (which is the aura pulse every 2 secs) and the melee cold damage added is null.

The problem I assume is whatever way the damage numbers they get is most likely incorrect, or Holy Freeze works differently with monsters.