Re: Starting HC from scratch!!! What build??
Just to add my two cents' worth, although I haven't yet made it all the way through Hell with this build yet, so far my (currently) Level 72 Necromancer, "Mr_Hate", has had by far the easiest time of any build that I have so far tried in Hardcore Diablo II, and I've tried just about all of them, namely conventional Fishymancers, LF Javazons, LS/DS Trapper Assassins, Meteor/Orb Sorceresses, the works.
He has been solo'ing since about the start of the new ladder and has been playing exclusively on US East Battle.Net in password-protected, 1- or 2-player games.
His build:
-- Max Skeleton Mastery
-- Max Skeleton Mage (gets you 10 Mages with Level 25 in this skill)
-- Enough points in Skeleton for 8-9 meat shields, not counting Revives
-- (So far) enough points in Lower Resist to get -47% resist on targets
-- A few points in Corpse Explosion (vital in Hell for those stupid "Stone Skin Physical Immune Magic Resistant" bosses that it keeps throwing at me, also very useful for blasting your way through doorways; note that you can use CE very effectively with either Amp or Lower Resist as your curse -- I can't see a big difference in its ability to kill, with either of these curses, seems to be the same whichever one you use)
-- Fire Golem and Revives, via "+x to..." staffmods on wand and shrunken head (the latter made into a Rhyme Runeword for blocking, MF and resists); ends up being Golem with about 2K hit points and 6-7 Revives; by doing this way you don't have to spend so many precious skill points on pre-requisites
-- Act 1 Fire Arrow Mercenary with Edge Runeword (in a Spider Bow, nice IAS there), giving Thorns aura for a little supplementary physical damage reflection when your minions get hit by monsters
At least in Act 1 of Hell, this build has been so powerful -- it just steamrollers over virtually every boss pack I have run into, even packs with 2 or 3 bosses with nasty mods like LE, Might, Extra Strong, etc. -- that I'm actually starting to feel sorry for the monsters :whistling:; they don't stand a chance (we'll see about Champion Gloams and Frenzytaurs in Act 5, when and if I live to see those Acts...), so far I have never lost more than 2 Skeletons or Mages in any encounter, no matter what I have had to fight.
Contrary to popular opinion, Thorns very definitely does add a noticeable punch to your otherwise largely ranged attack army in Hell, and that's using Lower Resist as the curse (e.g. not Amp which would restore Level 15 Thorns to its full 800% damage reflect).
There are only two caveats that I'd warn you about, regarding this build:
-- You are going to be slurping mana potions, so fast that your tongue will be permanently painted blue, particularly when you are first raising your army and when you are spamming CE, because of course in Hardcore you have to pour virtually all your points into Vitality (I put a few into Energy when starting out, but haven't done so since about Level 30). Personally this doesn't bother me but some players may find it annoying. (Note that if you play with somebody whose Mercenary is using Insight, this problem instantly goes away.)
-- I struggled a bit at the low levels, especially from about 20 to 30 which was when I had to take on normal Diablo (challenging but fun, because when I first tried it my minions didn't have Summon Resist -- meaning "one fire nova and 'poof goes the army'") and normal Baal (this one was very frustrating, involving repeated trips to rebuild my army... that mana-draining Hoarfrost of his will just drive you nuts, and it actually does a significant amount of damage even if you have good resists, because you simply have so few hit points to start with, at these low levels). I strongly suggest that you somehow get some Revives before taking on normal Baal as he chews through your regular minion army in very short order. Of course, this is little different from what a conventional Summoner Necro has to deal with.
I think this part of my trip would have been much easier if my merc had had an Edge bow at the time, but as luck would have it, I wasn't able to cube an Amn rune until I got to Act 5 in Nightmare, so in effect I was playing at a handicap during this time.
I'll let you know how it turns out, but so far, this has been a very viable build, and if you play with elemental attackers like Sorceresses or Lightening Trappers, you'll be the most popular kid on the block. YMMV...
Cheers
Mr. Bill
