- Apr 13, 2021
- 156
- 191
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I am a long time lurker from the old forums. My main active phase was during 1.11 until some years after 1.13 came out, after which I took a break from D2.
I played mostly softcore back then and build a good collection of characters, which are collecting dust on one of my hardrives. Some years after D3 and reapers came out I started playing that and was hooked for a good while (2014-2016 ish). My time in D3 also converted me to playing hardcore, to increase the challenge. In the end, I found D3 to be a bit too simplistic and limiting in my choice of items and playstyle, but enjoyed some of the builds there, especially the explosive blast wizard. The stacking of delayed explosions was really enjoyable.
I rediscovered my love for D2 in 2020 and played some mods here and there and dabbled in older versions. During the past weeks and months I have had much more time to devote to D2 and have spent most of my time in HC 1.00, which brings me to the purpose of this post.
I was inspired by @art_vandelay 's post , because i am not a huge fan of Barbs and wanted to try something new.
Totally have to agree with art, Hdin is a powerhouse in 1.00, with some caveats.
The first 20 levels were quite slow and i spent 5 points in smite to make it easier to hit stuff. I was mainly smiting and just hitting things with my weapon. Self-MP helped a bit here to make leveling easier, but it was a bit of a slog to be honest, since I played untwinked. I should have gambled much earlier, but I was relying more on drops, because i did not know any better.
Once I hit lvl 18-22 things went much smoother. I invested into energy quite early (to 50) to have a better mana pool and i think that it is crucial to have any fun. This is probably not necessary on twinked chars, but i like to have more mana available, and this build does not really need too much str or dex.
I leveled concentration and hammers in parallel, but it might be better to raise concentration first or invest some points into redemption earlier than I did (in the late 30s).
I also invested some points (5) into vigor because i did some rushing on the side and it helps with running maps (CS, trist, cows etc).
Other than that there are not many skills needed. I will invest the rest into HS probably, just to see how it performs on higher levels.
The only monster types which were dangerous on N and NM were Duriel, Abyss Knights, Oblivion knights (the element projectiles) and vultures.
In Hell, Duriel was a challenge. His charge hit like a truck, 600 dmg on 750 life and it took quite a few tries to get the positioning right to consistently hit with the hammers. I used a merc as meat shield and managed it after some tries.
Overall the most difficult Act is Act 3, but surprisingly the fetish shamans are not part of that, I could stand in their inferno and not loose any health. Same was true for dolls, their death explosion was only really dangerous in packs
There are a ton of other dangerous mobs in Act 3. Vultures, Trashers, Spiders, and of course the council. Much like @art_vandelay I had to rely on cheese and find a council-member which was not stone skin, mana burn or light enchanted and parked the rest by the dam.
Act 4 was a walk in the park in comparison and only the knights caused any problems and near death experiences. Diablo fell quite quickly and i could tank basically all of his attacks.
My gear was mainly obtained from gambling in the beginning and supplemented later by cows.
Early gear:
Frost burn - great option to solve mana problems. i used it until end NM before I gambled Magefist and Eyeless
Heavenly Garb - Dropped from cow king and increased my survivability
Griswolds Edge - main weapon throughout normal and before hammers. found one in a1 and it carried me far.
Greyform - Overall great armor with tons of useful stats
I beat Diablo at lvl 50 and spent the last couple of days running RoF for xp and gold.
The gear remained the same, so the stats are what I had for all of Hell, minus the vit and 10 energy
Future plans:
I will see how far I can push this character level wise, before I give up or he dies, but my goal for 2022 is to breach lvl 90 which would enable me to gamble some nice but rare amulets.
My plans for other chars are not quite fully formed, but I will definitely build a Goldfind barb, somekind of sorc (non Orb, i dont like that skill) and a Zon (i lean towards jav or spear zon). Maybe i try that mystical thorns/conversion paladin to see how it compares to hammerdin .
This royal bloodline will definitely continue and I will aim to post semi-regular updates in this thread. Who knows in another ten years one of these characters might hit level 99.
I played mostly softcore back then and build a good collection of characters, which are collecting dust on one of my hardrives. Some years after D3 and reapers came out I started playing that and was hooked for a good while (2014-2016 ish). My time in D3 also converted me to playing hardcore, to increase the challenge. In the end, I found D3 to be a bit too simplistic and limiting in my choice of items and playstyle, but enjoyed some of the builds there, especially the explosive blast wizard. The stacking of delayed explosions was really enjoyable.
I rediscovered my love for D2 in 2020 and played some mods here and there and dabbled in older versions. During the past weeks and months I have had much more time to devote to D2 and have spent most of my time in HC 1.00, which brings me to the purpose of this post.
King Maahes
I was inspired by @art_vandelay 's post , because i am not a huge fan of Barbs and wanted to try something new.
Totally have to agree with art, Hdin is a powerhouse in 1.00, with some caveats.
The first 20 levels were quite slow and i spent 5 points in smite to make it easier to hit stuff. I was mainly smiting and just hitting things with my weapon. Self-MP helped a bit here to make leveling easier, but it was a bit of a slog to be honest, since I played untwinked. I should have gambled much earlier, but I was relying more on drops, because i did not know any better.
Once I hit lvl 18-22 things went much smoother. I invested into energy quite early (to 50) to have a better mana pool and i think that it is crucial to have any fun. This is probably not necessary on twinked chars, but i like to have more mana available, and this build does not really need too much str or dex.
I leveled concentration and hammers in parallel, but it might be better to raise concentration first or invest some points into redemption earlier than I did (in the late 30s).
I also invested some points (5) into vigor because i did some rushing on the side and it helps with running maps (CS, trist, cows etc).
Other than that there are not many skills needed. I will invest the rest into HS probably, just to see how it performs on higher levels.
Things to look out for
Normal and Nightmare were fairly easy for the most part. The most difficult or tedious parts are in act 2, mainly the maggot lair, but with some patience and positioning it is doable.The only monster types which were dangerous on N and NM were Duriel, Abyss Knights, Oblivion knights (the element projectiles) and vultures.
In Hell, Duriel was a challenge. His charge hit like a truck, 600 dmg on 750 life and it took quite a few tries to get the positioning right to consistently hit with the hammers. I used a merc as meat shield and managed it after some tries.
Overall the most difficult Act is Act 3, but surprisingly the fetish shamans are not part of that, I could stand in their inferno and not loose any health. Same was true for dolls, their death explosion was only really dangerous in packs
There are a ton of other dangerous mobs in Act 3. Vultures, Trashers, Spiders, and of course the council. Much like @art_vandelay I had to rely on cheese and find a council-member which was not stone skin, mana burn or light enchanted and parked the rest by the dam.
Act 4 was a walk in the park in comparison and only the knights caused any problems and near death experiences. Diablo fell quite quickly and i could tank basically all of his attacks.
Gear
My gear was mainly obtained from gambling in the beginning and supplemented later by cows.
Early gear:
Frost burn - great option to solve mana problems. i used it until end NM before I gambled Magefist and Eyeless
Heavenly Garb - Dropped from cow king and increased my survivability
Griswolds Edge - main weapon throughout normal and before hammers. found one in a1 and it carried me far.
Greyform - Overall great armor with tons of useful stats
I beat Diablo at lvl 50 and spent the last couple of days running RoF for xp and gold.
The gear remained the same, so the stats are what I had for all of Hell, minus the vit and 10 energy
Future plans:
I will see how far I can push this character level wise, before I give up or he dies, but my goal for 2022 is to breach lvl 90 which would enable me to gamble some nice but rare amulets.
My plans for other chars are not quite fully formed, but I will definitely build a Goldfind barb, somekind of sorc (non Orb, i dont like that skill) and a Zon (i lean towards jav or spear zon). Maybe i try that mystical thorns/conversion paladin to see how it compares to hammerdin .
This royal bloodline will definitely continue and I will aim to post semi-regular updates in this thread. Who knows in another ten years one of these characters might hit level 99.