powertozelda
01-14-2008, 07:19 PM
Tips for beating or surviving in hardcore mode
Ok, as you may know it's hard to maintain playing HC without dying, I know I've did it, and I must say it's hard. However it also up's your skill allot. Here I will tell you some tips I used to complete the game on HC, from the start of act one to the lofty levels in hell mode, this will surely help you. Although you may know some of these already they are here for people who want, or need help, so spamming this thread is pointless if you know some of these tips already you are probably ok. Anyway lets get started.
Having good reset to magic is vital, having magic and regular damage at your disposable can also make dying less easy to come across. Also remember before you get into any major battles make a portal for an easy escape, or just for easy access of the utility's in town, or too heal you and your party. Since some enemy's in the higher difficulty levels have resistants to magic and some to Physical damage, having some way to do a good amount of damage to your enemy's is something you need when getting to higher difficulty levels. Also resistants, is good to have because over the course of the game you will be hit with and fight allot of enemy's with magic damage. Resistants is vital when playing diablo 2 with any character, having resistants will help just as much as having potions and such. When you reach one of the prime evils you will notice that there main forums of attack is magic and if you want to succeed at all you will need something to lower the damage you take from there attacks. The main reason cold resistants is vital, is because when facing enemy's such as Baal, if he slows you down that can give him time to use more deadly attacks on you, as well as slow you down so you can't retreat to a portal as fast, some times resulting in death. Resistants to all magic attacks will help allot, each type of magic damage has it's own way to effect you, some less worse then the others, but at some point in the game you will run into a monster, that does one or the other in magic damage, so having any way to reduce there damage will help allot.
Although some may think poison is not as bad as cold, however when facing monsters with poison being hit over and over wile poisoned can bring your life down fast, thus resistants to poison can help also, same go's for the other form of magic attacks. Another thing that people forget is to be alert, some times running into a room with allot of monsters can get you trapped, and if trapped and get hit multi times can result in a fast, and bad death. Be alert, draw the enemy's out one at a time if you have to. Defense is good too, remember that in HC mode imbuing and socketing items is important, using your imbue to early is not smart, because each act you progress you will find better items, some times find better items then the one you imbued, thus you'll have little need for that item anymore. I know most people can't save it to long without going insane, but if you want to be successful hold on to it for awhile. Hirelings are a big part of staying alive too, although sometimes they get in your way they can take some of the focus off you, witch is a good thing. Also if you pick a hire from act 1 or 3 cold type would be your best bet, slowing your enemy's down is a big help.
Necromancer tips
If your using a Necromancer, always have a golem by your side, along with iron maiden, thus you can sit back will a group of monsters hit your golem with iron maiden on the enemy's they take there damage back. If your golems life is getting low from being hit so much make another by the group, also when you spawn a fire golem it does damage as well. Using every possible way of damaging enemy's will help you allot, just as portals will too. Making a portal can give you easy access to life in town. Wile the enemy's are hitting your golem make a portal when your golems life gets low portal back and fully heal him you, and your party then go back through the portal and repeat this until the monsters are dead. That trick can save your life, and keep you and your party healthy. Also poison nova can help all the way to the end. If you find a monster who is immune to poison use lower resistants to make it effect them, the more points you have in lower resist the more damage your poison attacks will do. Having fast or fastest run walk helps allot, it will allow you to run fast, thus making it easy to run up to a group of monsters and use poison nova, run away and come back and do it again until your enemy's are dead and the good thing is, not only will you get allot of exp, items but you can stay out of danger and harm groups of enemy's at a time.
I recommend putting some point into vitality, and getting items that give you life. Having a good amount of life never hurts, in fact thats one of the reasons I was able to succeed the game on hardcore mode with the necromancer. Having a good amount of life helps allot, because the monsters is hell mode do allot of damage, having enough life to stand up or temporarily defend yourself against there attacks long enough to escape or defeat them will give you and edge. An in diablo 2 having a little edge can go along way.
Strength for the necromancer does little if you don't have allot, since I rarely fight enemy's as I would with the barbarian the only thing I need strength for is to be able to wield certain items and use good armor. Another thing is, if you reach nightmare mode and want to find strong armor. Go to act 4 the pandemonium fortress, go to the guy that repairs and sells items look at his armor, if he does not have anything good save and try again or walk out of town and back in thus reseting the item list, until he has some good "Godly type armor" that you can buy. If you find 3 small rejuvenation potions, turning them to full rejuvenation potions can give you an edge will fighting diablo or other boss type enemy's. Because his lightning inferno takes damage down fast having rejuvenation potion's can bring it up fast and give you a chance to land in some good shots, it's risky though...
Barbarian tips
When using the barbarian there is up sides and down sides, likewise for the other characters to. Although powerful, you may have some trouble. For instance when fighting the minions of destruction, you may have a hard time.
Because they stun you and do allot of damage and have allot of life fighting them all at once is really hard. Use leap attack, try to draw them away from the group one at a time. Putting skill points in natural defense/resistants can help. Also using moves such as bash can make your attack faster. Equip bash to your right hand skills and leap or leap attack to your right hand for a good jump attack combination. Also making a portal before you go into battle can make for a easy escape with the barbarian. If your in trouble leap over to the portal and go heal or fix yourself up, and prepare for another attack "if you choose". Early in the game start out with bash, figure out what kind of items you feel your going to use and add skill points to it thus upping your attack and etc. for that type of weapon. Also using bash with a slow item can make the attack speed faster, and better aim wise. If you get trapped in a group of enemy's damaging you it can be a fast death, thats why I stated not to be reckless, don't run into a room unprepared. Because of a big chance of getting stuck in the middle of enemy's attacking you from all over you must slowly check out the room. Like stated above, having life and good resistants can help allot in the diablo 2 universe.
I'll update this later
Ok, as you may know it's hard to maintain playing HC without dying, I know I've did it, and I must say it's hard. However it also up's your skill allot. Here I will tell you some tips I used to complete the game on HC, from the start of act one to the lofty levels in hell mode, this will surely help you. Although you may know some of these already they are here for people who want, or need help, so spamming this thread is pointless if you know some of these tips already you are probably ok. Anyway lets get started.
Having good reset to magic is vital, having magic and regular damage at your disposable can also make dying less easy to come across. Also remember before you get into any major battles make a portal for an easy escape, or just for easy access of the utility's in town, or too heal you and your party. Since some enemy's in the higher difficulty levels have resistants to magic and some to Physical damage, having some way to do a good amount of damage to your enemy's is something you need when getting to higher difficulty levels. Also resistants, is good to have because over the course of the game you will be hit with and fight allot of enemy's with magic damage. Resistants is vital when playing diablo 2 with any character, having resistants will help just as much as having potions and such. When you reach one of the prime evils you will notice that there main forums of attack is magic and if you want to succeed at all you will need something to lower the damage you take from there attacks. The main reason cold resistants is vital, is because when facing enemy's such as Baal, if he slows you down that can give him time to use more deadly attacks on you, as well as slow you down so you can't retreat to a portal as fast, some times resulting in death. Resistants to all magic attacks will help allot, each type of magic damage has it's own way to effect you, some less worse then the others, but at some point in the game you will run into a monster, that does one or the other in magic damage, so having any way to reduce there damage will help allot.
Although some may think poison is not as bad as cold, however when facing monsters with poison being hit over and over wile poisoned can bring your life down fast, thus resistants to poison can help also, same go's for the other form of magic attacks. Another thing that people forget is to be alert, some times running into a room with allot of monsters can get you trapped, and if trapped and get hit multi times can result in a fast, and bad death. Be alert, draw the enemy's out one at a time if you have to. Defense is good too, remember that in HC mode imbuing and socketing items is important, using your imbue to early is not smart, because each act you progress you will find better items, some times find better items then the one you imbued, thus you'll have little need for that item anymore. I know most people can't save it to long without going insane, but if you want to be successful hold on to it for awhile. Hirelings are a big part of staying alive too, although sometimes they get in your way they can take some of the focus off you, witch is a good thing. Also if you pick a hire from act 1 or 3 cold type would be your best bet, slowing your enemy's down is a big help.
Necromancer tips
If your using a Necromancer, always have a golem by your side, along with iron maiden, thus you can sit back will a group of monsters hit your golem with iron maiden on the enemy's they take there damage back. If your golems life is getting low from being hit so much make another by the group, also when you spawn a fire golem it does damage as well. Using every possible way of damaging enemy's will help you allot, just as portals will too. Making a portal can give you easy access to life in town. Wile the enemy's are hitting your golem make a portal when your golems life gets low portal back and fully heal him you, and your party then go back through the portal and repeat this until the monsters are dead. That trick can save your life, and keep you and your party healthy. Also poison nova can help all the way to the end. If you find a monster who is immune to poison use lower resistants to make it effect them, the more points you have in lower resist the more damage your poison attacks will do. Having fast or fastest run walk helps allot, it will allow you to run fast, thus making it easy to run up to a group of monsters and use poison nova, run away and come back and do it again until your enemy's are dead and the good thing is, not only will you get allot of exp, items but you can stay out of danger and harm groups of enemy's at a time.
I recommend putting some point into vitality, and getting items that give you life. Having a good amount of life never hurts, in fact thats one of the reasons I was able to succeed the game on hardcore mode with the necromancer. Having a good amount of life helps allot, because the monsters is hell mode do allot of damage, having enough life to stand up or temporarily defend yourself against there attacks long enough to escape or defeat them will give you and edge. An in diablo 2 having a little edge can go along way.
Strength for the necromancer does little if you don't have allot, since I rarely fight enemy's as I would with the barbarian the only thing I need strength for is to be able to wield certain items and use good armor. Another thing is, if you reach nightmare mode and want to find strong armor. Go to act 4 the pandemonium fortress, go to the guy that repairs and sells items look at his armor, if he does not have anything good save and try again or walk out of town and back in thus reseting the item list, until he has some good "Godly type armor" that you can buy. If you find 3 small rejuvenation potions, turning them to full rejuvenation potions can give you an edge will fighting diablo or other boss type enemy's. Because his lightning inferno takes damage down fast having rejuvenation potion's can bring it up fast and give you a chance to land in some good shots, it's risky though...
Barbarian tips
When using the barbarian there is up sides and down sides, likewise for the other characters to. Although powerful, you may have some trouble. For instance when fighting the minions of destruction, you may have a hard time.
Because they stun you and do allot of damage and have allot of life fighting them all at once is really hard. Use leap attack, try to draw them away from the group one at a time. Putting skill points in natural defense/resistants can help. Also using moves such as bash can make your attack faster. Equip bash to your right hand skills and leap or leap attack to your right hand for a good jump attack combination. Also making a portal before you go into battle can make for a easy escape with the barbarian. If your in trouble leap over to the portal and go heal or fix yourself up, and prepare for another attack "if you choose". Early in the game start out with bash, figure out what kind of items you feel your going to use and add skill points to it thus upping your attack and etc. for that type of weapon. Also using bash with a slow item can make the attack speed faster, and better aim wise. If you get trapped in a group of enemy's damaging you it can be a fast death, thats why I stated not to be reckless, don't run into a room unprepared. Because of a big chance of getting stuck in the middle of enemy's attacking you from all over you must slowly check out the room. Like stated above, having life and good resistants can help allot in the diablo 2 universe.
I'll update this later