Re: Starting my first HC character... tips?
I am pretty much a n00b compared to most posters here. I have been working on a untwinked, single-pass HC guide and I haven't had the courage to create a thread for it. Here is what I have so far:
A Guide to Untwinked, single-pass HC play, V0.1
A common tournament type is for untwinked, single-pass HC characters. This guide is about getting such characters through Normal with the maximum amount of loot. This is written for the player who hasn't played untwinked, single-pass characters in a while.
Note: I have been playing Diablo II for years and haven't had much success, so I recently starting scouring this board for all the types I could find. This is a compilation of that search and some things I have researched. A lot of this comes from jiansonz's
Guide to Untwinked, Single-pass, early game Magic Finding, which I strongly recommend reading. This guide doesn't repeat the why's behind the MF advice. As I don't have the experience that most of the posters here have, I probably have quite a bit wrong, so I beg your indulgence and request your feedback.
Difficult Level
This assumes that the player will play at /p8 with the exception of Act Bosses and the Countess. The Countess should be killed at /p1 to maximize rune drops. Killing Act Bosses at higher than /p3 doesn't provide any better drops (but does provide better experience).
Estimated character level (clvl) when finishing each act:
Act 1: 20
Act 2: 25-28
Act 3: 33-35
Act 4: 36-39
Act 5: 45-50
Attributes
Strength
All of your points go here first until it reaches 36, then that may be it for a long time. If you are planning on equiping a weapon that requires a strength greater than 36, then you will need to increase your strength accordingly. The next point in the game where you need to have a particular Strength number is 63 at the start of Act 5 at approximately level 39.
Dexterity
If you have a melee character, you will want to have 75% chance of blocking. Any character with enough Dex for 75% chance of blocking will have enough Dex to have a 95% chance to hit. How much Dex you need depends heavily on the % Block of the shield that you use.
In Act II, Drognan sells Bone Shields of Deflecting. Assuming that you are level 20 when you arrive at Act II, you should have the following Dex points to have 75% blocking with that shield:
Paladin - 58 Dex, 2.1 dex points per level there after
Amazon/Assassin/Barbarian - 62 Dex, 2.3 points per level there after
Druid/Necromancer/Sorceress - 65 Dex, 2.5 points per level there after
Energy
Depending on your build, you may need some points here. For HC, it is generally better to drink potions and have a large amount of life than spend points on Energy
Vitality
Where you want to put your points. Assuming a Str of 36 and no points in Energy, then your Vitality at level 20 for melee/non-melee characters should be:
[Drat! My calculations for Vitality and hp's are wrong!]
At level 39 at a Strength of 63 and no points in Energy, here is what you Vitality should be for melee/non-melee characters:
[Ditto!]
Trading and Gambling
In Normal, there is a cap for the item level (ilvl) sold in trading sales: 12 in Act 1, 20 in Act 2, 28 in Act 3, 36 in Act 4 and 45 in Act 5. There is no cap for gambling. Ilvl for gambling items is -5 to +4 of your character's level (clvl) and the ilvl of shopping items is up to clvl+5.
Trading is best for picking up items with very particular values, such as a number of sockets or certain +skills. Gambling is best for picking up items not available for trading.
Occasionally, you will need to do a lot of "power shopping" - repeatly popping out of town briefly to restock the NPC's inventories so that you can buy the exact item you want:
When you hit level 6 at Rogue Encampment
3 socket Ring Mail from Charsi
2 socket Helm from Gheed
When you arrive at Lut Gholein
Bone Shield of Deflecting from Drognan
Max MF (25%) for both your gloves and boots from Elzix and Fara
When you arrive at the Kurast Docks
Staffs with Teleportation/Enchantment charges
Wands with Confusion charges
When you arrive at Pandemonium Fortress
??? +1 Class Skill items from Halbu and Jamella
Light Plated Boots of Luck (26-35% MF) from Halbu
Staffs with Blizzard/Frozen Orb/Meteor charges
Wands with Attraction/Lower Resistance/Poison Nova charges
When you arrive at Harrogath
3 socket Artisan´s Great Helm from Larzuk
Greaves of Luck (26-35% MF) from Nihlathak/Anya
+2 Skill Tree items from all vendors
Plan for Trading & Gambling
Code:
Lvl 6 3 socket ring mail available at Charsi's
2 socket helm available at Gheed's
Lvl 7 Belt available at Charsi's. 3 rows for potions
Spiked Shield available through gambling. Best shield for a while
Wands with Dim Vision charges and staffs with Frost Nova charges available
Lvl 9 Morning Star available through gambling. Best melee weapon for a while
Lvl 11 Short spear available through gambling. Best thrown weapon for a while. 40/40
Lvl 12 Gamble for MF gloves and boots (5-15% MF). MF Gloves occur more often
Staffs with Frost Nova charges from Akara now useable
Wands with Dim Vision charges from Akara now useable
Lvl 15 Bone Shield available through gambling. Best Normal shield for Str < 75
Lvl 17 Gamble for gloves and boots "of Fortune" (16-25% MF)
Maul available through gambling. Best damage for Str < 99 2H weapon. 69 Str
Blade Talons available through gambling. Fastest Normal claw weapon. 50/50
Lvl 20 Circlets available through gambling
Pike available through gambling. Best damage for Normal Spear/Polearm. 60/45
Lvl ~20 Once at Lut Gholein, buy gloves and boots "of Fortune" from Elzix and Fara
If you have hired a Act 2 Merc, gamble for a Pike
If you have a melee character, buy a Bone Shield of Deflecting from Drognan
Wands with Terror charges available from Drognan
Keep an eye out for 3s Breast Plates for once you have the cube
Lvl 21 War Hammer available through gambling. Best damage for 1H weapon. 53 Str
Lvl 22 Circlets are practical to acquire through gambling
Lvl 23 Plated belt available through gambling. 4 rows for potions
Short War Bow available through gambling. Best bow in Normal for 36 Str. 55 Dex
Lvl 25 Throwing Spear available through gambling. Best normal throwing weapon. 65 Dex
Lvl 27 Start gambling for Boots of Luck
Lvl 28 Great Maul available through gambling. Best damage for 2H weapon. 99 Str
Lvl ?? Once you have 2 circlets of MF and Boots of Luck, gamble for MF amulets
[b]Mercs[/b]
When you get to Act 2, hire an Act 2 merc. The damage increase of a Pike (14-63, 38.5 average) over a bow is huge. If your build/playing style is more appropriate for a rogue, wait until you have some nice gems/jewels and rehire the rogue.
[b]Charged Items[/b]
I have recently started using them. For not a lot of money (relatively), they can fill holes in your character's skill set. Items besides wands and staffs can have charges, but I rarely see them in stores. It is very expensive to recharge items, so I just buy a new wand/staff. Here are the charges I find useful and where I use them:
[u]Act 1[/u]
I find a staff of Frost Nova very useful for the open areas - charge into the center of the group, freeze them, then let your rogue kill the slowed characters. In the Jail/Catacomb areas, a wand of Dim Vision helps with skeleton archer/skeleton mage packs.
[u]Act 2[/u]
Frost Nova/Dim Vision charges will continue to help by slowing/blinding monsters. A wand with Terror charges can move a pack away from a teleport arch in the Arcane Sanctuary if you can't kill from afar.
[u]Act 3[/u]
A staff with Teleportation charges can get you out of bad situations. A staff of Enchant can boost you and your Merc's damage and AR. A wand with Confusion charges can provide crowd control
[u]Act 4[/u]
A wand of Lower Resist can make your elemental attacks more effective against bosses. A wand with Attraction charges can provide crowd control. A staff with Blizzard charges can slow down a pack. A staff with Frozen Orb charges can allow you to send a freezing ball ahead of you
[b]Locations of Note[/b]
[u]Blood Raven[/u]
Because she moves around so much, I find Strangling Gas Potions to be the most effective weapon against her. Throw the potion, run around while she turns green and then when she is about to return to normal color, throw again. Repeat lots of times. When she is almost out of life, sometimes I will charge here and give her the [i]coup de grace[/i]. The Strangling Gas Potions also help keep her minion numbers down.
[u]Caves, Level 2[/u]
There are four tunnels that feed the main area. If you move into the middle of the main area, you will be attacked by 3-4 packs. Instead, move down the left side of the screen, defeat the monsters in the first tunnel, move through that tunnel and then clean out the tunnels at the bottom of the screen. Clear out the tunnel in the middle left last.
[u]Tower Level 5[/u]
Clear the two rooms with money, then switch to /p1 before you go nearer to where the countess resides. Switch back to /p8 after killng the countess.
[u]The Pit, Level 2[/u]
This level is one big monster party room. If you charge to the middle of the room, you will get surrounded. Stick to the left wall and then clear out the room counterclockwise.
[u]The Smith[/u]
The layout of this room on Jail 1 is always the same - to the right of the door is a narrow hallway leading to a room. There is a Devilkin Shaman at the end of the hallway with Devilkins in front of him. A pack of monsters will come from the left. Your goal is to kill all the monsters in the room before killing The Smith. Once you open the door, retreat from the room to kill the pack that charged you and to kill some Devilkins. Once they are dead, go through the door and turn right to kill the Devilkin Shaman. Then go to the left side of the room to kill The Smith.
[u]Andariel[/u]
She is pretty easy to kill and you can probably keep the difficulty level at /p8 for her. /p8 won't give you more drops, but will give you more experience. Having your character and your rogue drink antidote potions before the battle will boost your poison resistance for 30 seconds. Andariel has a -50% resistance to fire (as opposed to 50% resistance to cold and lightning), so toast her.
[u]Radament[/u]
Radament has no resistance to fire and lightning, but does have resistance to cold (40) and poison (50). A staff with Nova charges will damage Radament will clearing out his minions. A staff with Lightning charges provides the most damage an available charged weapon can provide. Once I starting encountering his skeletons, I normally charge his area and attack him directly. I find that if I try to take out his minions before I attack Radament, I can get overwhelmed.
[u]Claw Viper Temple, Level 2[/u]
If you charge into the big room, you will get surrounded by monsters with knockback. Stay in the small room and try to kill all the monsters you can from there before entering the big room.
[u]Summoner[/u]
The Summoner has relatively few HP's (129-172) and no poison resistance, but has a relatively high AC (153) and resistances to fire, lightning and cold (50). If I have summons, I put one on his platform to distract/kill him.
[u]Duriel[/u]
Duriel has a higher resistance to cold (50) than to fire, lightning and poison (20). Having your character and your merc drink thawing potions before the battle will boost your cold resistance for 30 seconds. As 3 of Duriel's 4 attacks (Charge, Jab and Smite) can be blocked, a high blocking is very important
[u]Mephisto[/u]
Mephisto's has 25 cold resistance, 33 fire and lightning resistance, and 50 poison resistance. Take Lightning Resistance charms to withstand his lightning attack
[u]Diablo[/u]
Diablo has 33 resistance to fire, lightning and cold and 50 resistance to poison. Take Fire Resistance charms to withstand his fire attacks. If your character uses elemental attacks, using a wand with charges of Lower Resist will lower Diablo's resistance by 31 for 20 seconds
[u]Nihlathak[/u]
Nihlathak has no resistance to fire and lightning, and 70 resistance to cold and poison. A skill that disposes of corpses is very useful against him (Corpse/Poison Explosion, Redemption, Carrion Vine/Solar Creeper)
[u]The Ancients[/u]
Madawc the axe thrower has 70 resistance to lightning and cold, but no resistance to fire and poison. Talic the WW and Korlic the leaper have 70 resistance to fire and poison, but no resistance to lightning and cold
[u]Baal[/u]
Baal and his minions are very tough to kill. At this point, you should have a well-developed high-damage attack to take them out
Also, if you've never done an untwinked HC, there is no dishonour in leaving a challenge for a later date.
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