Hardcore stories

Sorry if there have been many similar threads already, I appreciate that not many people play Hardcore.

I would just like to hear from some other players. Favourite build? Hardest build? Most gut wrenching Death? Most annoying Death? Lowest level Death? Highest level reached / most successful char? I'd love to hear your hardcore stories!

I've just started dabbling myself, I knew it would happen eventually, the added danger appeals and my absolute favourite thing to do is play through the game with a new char, untwinked. My first foray is a druid. Currently lvl 43 in NM act 2. I've been going down the fire route but considering switching to Wind, I'm not sure. So far I haven't had too many near misses, apart from with Andy when slightly inebriated...

In a weird way, I am looking forward to my Death. Curious to see what will kill me!

Janet the Java wrote: 2 years ago

Most annoying Death?

Your connection has been interrupted.
Interchangeable with random lag spikes.
The reason for pretty much every Death back when still trying HC so...no more HC.

Janet the Java wrote: 2 years ago

Most annoying Death?

Player killers... if I play hardcore again, it will be by myself.

Schnorki wrote: 2 years ago

Janet the Java wrote: 2 years ago

Most annoying Death?

Your connection has been interrupted.
Interchangeable with random lag spikes.
The reason for pretty much every Death back when still trying HC so...no more HC.

Ha, well that would do it. Although I must say that I've never died to or had a problem with connection errors unless on a dodgy connection (e.g. on a train, using my phone as a hotspot).

I have died plenty of times due to PS4 loading times though, when the controller starts rumbling and you're still looking at those blasted doors then you're in trouble...

Have never encountered a PKer because I mostly play private games with a couple of friends.

I remember a hardcore Death when I was a kid and didn't understand as much about the game. I was in the

Chaos Sanctuary on a WW Barb, and for some odd reason my strategy with this character was LIFE LEACH GOOD.

I had a life leach

Circlet, rings, ammy,

Blood Gloves,

Skin of the Flayed One chest...I mean, if it had leach on it, I wanted one. I can only imagine what my cumulative leach was.

So, there I am in

Chaos Sanctuary, WWing through a pack of knights and something punches me in the face HARD. I don't remember if this is before or after they removed

Iron Maiden from

Chaos Sanctuary, so it may have been that. Either way, suddenly, I'm dead, but a single frame of my WW ticks AFTER my Death somehow and heals me to full. Since the game already decided I was dead, I had the Death screen, but my character was still standing there, full life, grunting while enemies attacked him and stuff. I could walk around with him, but couldn't attack or do anything because of the Death screen. Eventually, after wandering around 'dead' in CS for a while, I decided to leave and rejoin game to see what the game thought about my situation. My barb was truly dead at that point.

But what a funny way to die, eh? Almost thought I'd found some mystical way to resurrect my barb!

Winterkill wrote: 2 years ago

I don't remember if this is before or after they removed

Iron Maiden from

Chaos Sanctuary, so it may have been that.

I actually kinda miss that. I mean...it was dumb as hell...but something about that "curse of instant Death for any WWing barb" was genuinely entertaining.

Janet the Java wrote: 2 years ago

Have never encountered a PKer because I mostly play private games with a couple of friends.

That's great. I'm trying to cultivate some decent folk to play with this time around.

I love hardcore mode in D2R! My most frustrating Death was losing connection while dual boxing a Paladin and I think Assassin, though it could have been a sorceress. I was in Act 1 Hell, they were probably level 75 or so, and I lost connection to both rigs running through the Jail. When I reconnected, somehow the Paladin had died but the other survived. That was super annoying!

The most shocking Death I had was also with a Paladin. He was level 85 or so and running through

The Forgotten Tower. He was literally one-shot by one of the archers. I don't know if he had been cursed, maybe had

Conviction applied, or what.... But I was full health plowing through

Fallen and goats, and suddenly I had died.

I have had 3 or 4 characters die at level 89. A druid, a sorceress, a barb, and a paladin. But in December I got my first HC char past level 90. She is currently a level 93

Nova sorc and can take on anything other than ubers. I didn't play HC in original D2 because I never trusted the servers, and I've definitely lost a minimum of 2 characters to lost connections, but it doesn't stop me! Also, I just feel like the game has a lot more playability in hardcore mode. Softcore gets a little boring without the thrill of Death as a possibility.

Schnorki wrote: 2 years ago

Winterkill wrote: 2 years ago

I don't remember if this is before or after they removed

Iron Maiden from

Chaos Sanctuary, so it may have been that.

I actually kinda miss that. I mean...it was dumb as hell...but something about that "curse of instant Death for any WWing barb" was genuinely entertaining.

I miss it too sometimes. Of course, from the perspective of endgame farming, having an area as lucrative as

Chaos Sanctuary locked basically to casters only would be stupid, hence the change perhaps. But, from the perspective of someone playing through the game as a linear RPG, it was a fun challenge! Figuring out how you'd snipe casters around their knights, or pull knights away from casters, or beef up a merc to deal with them, having certain abilities just off the list of options, it was a blast! It made Diablo's lair frightening.

I'm plannin some challenge after I'm done with season 2. The idea is 8ppl offline hc from scratch - strict solo, no trades, but no lags = smooth stable gameplay. Eager to see how far I'd go with first starter, and when/if he dies, what crap I'll have stacked for next char to follow up.

Had a good Death fighting my way throo nightmare catacombs with my friend. We found level 3 but i decided to split up and look for the waypoint.
I had a

Wall of the Eyeless (classic btw) and was blowing everything away easy.
I ran throo a door and got in to the middle of skinny room with a large wall of barrels along one side. As soon as i got to the middel of the room a running demon pack of lighting ball jerks surround me. I managed to run to where they came from to get a good fireing lain i thought... but they came back around both sides of the barrels FAST. Surrounded me and did the devil's dirty work form him RIP BoneBerg

Those things hit hard! I've made it to A2 hell with my first char (lvl 73 fire druid), the immunities have been troubling but he's quite a safe build with the summons. Really need some better gear so might spend some time in Stony if I can... Resistances are a problem at the moment, I was lucky enough to find

Death's Guard early on, so I've upped this and swapped Rhyme for but need to find some other solutions as well.

Oh, I'm sorry. I saw you got the achievement the other day, and I was going to ask about your adventure so far.

And so my first HC journey ends in the blasted

Spider Forest (Hell, of course), surrounded by swarms of champion bastard things. I don't know which one took down my level 80 fire druid but I do know that it was swift and brutal. Fair well Hardcore Holly, you will not be forgotten until I start again, which I already have. Trapsin this time!

Every Death is a lesson. I try to study the factors in my deaths like the NTSB studies plane crashes.

My second attempt ended in rather ignominious fashion, I only made it to the

Jail Level 2 on normal, oops. Dressed in nought but my birthday suit, I boldly ran up to and lobbed fire in the face of a lightning enchanted unique goat, Death was swift.

A quick restart and I'm up to act 2 now.

My third attempt has been more successful, I'm through to A4 Hell for the first time. Durance was pure stress, there were hundreds of dolls and the map was a disaster, I never want to go there again.

I have a a couple of dilemmas now though. For context, I'm a lvl 78 lightning trapsin, I have just maxed all the

Key skills and synergies.

Gear dilemma: currently rocking Smoke, a Spirit sword and Rhyme for cbf, with vast majority of stat points in vitality. A 4os

Monarch dropped yesterday. If it was softcore I wouldn't hesitate but if I replace Rhyme, my only other options for cbf are

Duriel's Shell and Spirit Shroud. I'm a bit worried about the drop in life and resistances if I respec to be able to use the

Monarch, but maybe it's ok if I take the

Duriel's off my merc and give him Smoke? I had an upped

Death's Guard on my Druid before he snuffed it, what an excellent utility item that is.

Max block dilemma: I simply have no clue whether going for max block is worth it?

Skills dilemma: what's best on HC after maxing the synergies?

Shadow Master? But I feel like that needs a ton of points to actually be effective. Maybe it's better to pump points into

Mind Blast, BoS,

Fade?

Excellent drop at the end of my latest session though, got an

Um.

Crescent Moon on Friday, here we come.

Can you give a bit more details on what you have in your skills now ?

As for CBF, sooner or later you'll get a

Raven Frost, and then your life will be easier to drop Rhyme.

GG !

Janet the Java wrote: 2 years ago

I have a a couple of dilemmas now though.

There will always be another attempt! I went through like 6 or 7 javas before I got my main one up to 93. I have an 80 trapsin that is not rocking anything note worth. Heart of the Oak, Treachery, Spirit. Set and rare pieces for everything else. I forgot how I was playing as I have ben away for a year although I have always focused on the importance of resistances over things like cannot be frozen.

Cbf is nice, but for me I place it as a cherry on top. Almost all of the res is maxed but iirc I struggle with lightning immunes still with my merc. I stopped caring about block after playing my java's enough I just don't need it with the leg work, if I was going to tele then I would think differently.

Java is my fav and really all I play. Lemme know if you want a partner in crime.

Edit: After playing so many I came back last week for S3 and on my first java I'm at 81 in a few days, the more you play one class the easier it becomes each time with what you learned. You'll know how to grow them and what your 'next level' break points your looking to get to are, ok I get to this point then I need this basic gear, then I can get to that point, then I need to get res, ect.

Edit Edit: 3 Minutes after the edit I got a 15% attack speed jewel, my main uses a

Kira's Guardian right now with one of these jewels, now I know I'll be looking for that in a trade. It gives me cbr, all res, fhr, and then faster attack. Perfect for the long wait until something better comes along.

When you find what works for you once, you can get back there so much easier when you die. These are examples to not stress to much over right and wrong, sorry for the rant lol.

Necrarch wrote: 2 years ago

Can you give a bit more details on what you have in your skills now ?

As for CBF, sooner or later you'll get a

Raven Frost, and then your life will be easier to drop Rhyme.

GG !

81 in the traps tree (1

Fire Blast, 20 in the 4 lightning skills), then 6 in the shadow disciplines tree (1 each in

Claw Mastery, BoS,

Fade,

Psychic Hammer,

Cloak of Shadows,

Mind Blast). I'm thinking my choices are: more points into some of these (but I think many are 1 point wonders?), push on the

Shadow Master and pump points into that, or consider some sort of hybrid.

@CitationNumber, thanks for the tips.

I'm not too stressed about it, per se, but... I would sincerely like to avoid dying for a while yet.

Current setup is working but clearly my gear is still pretty poor. In general I have leaned towards being conservative and making sure to have good res, cbf, and as much life as possible, especially since kill speed is still ok. I think in this case I will respec for Spirit though, just a question of whether to stick with Smoke until I get Treachery and not worry about cbf for now.