- Mar 17, 2020
- 25
- 36
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I've been playing this game off and on almost since it came out (started back in 2002 or so), and I've almost always played summoner characters. I always wanted to get a Summon Druid to work, but it was rough for all the obvious reasons. I discovered this forum way back in 2004-2005 or so (well, the other one) and have been playing off and on since then.
Here's the embarassing part: I can't seem to get a character to play easily through Hell difficulty. Even if it's level 82-85 or so, I find my merc dying frequently, and unless I really pay attention, my life bulb gets deleted and I find myself corpse running. Maxed resists, a belt of purples, doesn't seem to matter much, unless I'm playing a character with summons I have huge difficulties surviving. Strafe Amazon with valk, any necro, or druid builds with a grizzly are the only ones I've really done well with.
So my question is this: What am I missing? Is my gear terrible? Do I need to take time to farm NM Meph or NM Pindle to get some uniques to take into hell? I generally have +5 or so to skills, but I've never reached a clearspeed that makes me feel safe, even on /p1. I see posts from back in the day where Nightfish recommends getting rid of the summons to do more damage and "DPS Tank" the enemies, but that's never worked for me.
So what am I missing? Any advice for someone who knows a ton about game mechanics (including the weird poison creeper mat interactions, nextdelay, lasthit, and even trying to accurately calculate firestorm damage on a fire druid), but can't seem to keep a character reliably alive?
My suspicion:
I bet the issue is that I have seen videos of pitzerkers doing their thing and I am playing too aggressively for my gear level. My merc is underleveled for mlvl 85 (since they're usually 75 or so when I start Hell) so they get killed fast, and then if I'm playing a caster character they get overwhelmed without the mana regen from insight. I think maybe I just have to level a bit and get xp at NM Pindle/Meph/Baal before starting in alvl85 zones.
I'm hoping for any advice to a player who understands calculations, builds, and mechanics...but maybe not the more subtle skills of how many enemies to pull, how fast to go at what gear levels, and how to gear up an untwinked character toward the end of NM without the summon safety blanket. Any tips appreciated, thanks!
Here's the embarassing part: I can't seem to get a character to play easily through Hell difficulty. Even if it's level 82-85 or so, I find my merc dying frequently, and unless I really pay attention, my life bulb gets deleted and I find myself corpse running. Maxed resists, a belt of purples, doesn't seem to matter much, unless I'm playing a character with summons I have huge difficulties surviving. Strafe Amazon with valk, any necro, or druid builds with a grizzly are the only ones I've really done well with.
So my question is this: What am I missing? Is my gear terrible? Do I need to take time to farm NM Meph or NM Pindle to get some uniques to take into hell? I generally have +5 or so to skills, but I've never reached a clearspeed that makes me feel safe, even on /p1. I see posts from back in the day where Nightfish recommends getting rid of the summons to do more damage and "DPS Tank" the enemies, but that's never worked for me.
So what am I missing? Any advice for someone who knows a ton about game mechanics (including the weird poison creeper mat interactions, nextdelay, lasthit, and even trying to accurately calculate firestorm damage on a fire druid), but can't seem to keep a character reliably alive?
My suspicion:
I bet the issue is that I have seen videos of pitzerkers doing their thing and I am playing too aggressively for my gear level. My merc is underleveled for mlvl 85 (since they're usually 75 or so when I start Hell) so they get killed fast, and then if I'm playing a caster character they get overwhelmed without the mana regen from insight. I think maybe I just have to level a bit and get xp at NM Pindle/Meph/Baal before starting in alvl85 zones.
I'm hoping for any advice to a player who understands calculations, builds, and mechanics...but maybe not the more subtle skills of how many enemies to pull, how fast to go at what gear levels, and how to gear up an untwinked character toward the end of NM without the summon safety blanket. Any tips appreciated, thanks!