Safest class for hardcore - ultimate?

[Kayderim]

I want to platinum this game if possible, but i already tried oathkeeper, shaman, and soldier, i failed with them all, i don't know how i am dying but most of the time my characters are doing fine, until they get exploded out of nowhere and i lose all my progress, and i didn't even managed to get to elite yet.


I started another playthrough with necromaner and i plan to keep this time, is there a safer or "better" ranged class that could get me through normal - elite - ultimate hardcore?

Also, in the distant future, i want to get all classes to level 100, in that case, what can i do with the other classes to help the melee ones? I guess if i could farm some very good gear for them, it would make things much easier, is there any other ways my characters could help each other?

EDIT: My necro died at level 13, i summoned a pillar boss and it appeared trapping my character and i couldn't run, so he just slapped me to death, so yeah

[Joja]

The furthest I've gotten is defeating Shar'Zul in HC. The best advice I can give you is learn when to hit the Esc button and quit. You could have full resistances and a butt load of HP, and all it takes is the wrong combination of debuffs from multiple monsters. It's definitely the one thing that I hate about this game, those times where you're steamrolling through everything after carefully selecting skills, gear, add-ons, even potions to help with bosses etc, but that one random group that lowers resistances and makes you vulnerable at the same time, combined with getting mobbed in where you can't move.

As far as ranged, a dual wielding inquisitor is super fun, and a Grenado/Lightning Jacks build for demolitionist is super fun. But again, every single class, dual class, will have it's strengths and weaknesses that only takes the wrong combination of monsters to bring you down almost instantly.

Keep exploring builds that feel fun for you, and don't get bogged down into getting it right. There are way too many opinions and options for that.

[Kayderim]

Originally posted by Joja:

The furthest I've gotten is defeating Shar'Zul in HC. The best advice I can give you is learn when to hit the Esc button and quit. You could have full resistances and a butt load of HP, and all it takes is the wrong combination of debuffs from multiple monsters. It's definitely the one thing that I hate about this game, those times where you're steamrolling through everything after carefully selecting skills, gear, add-ons, even potions to help with bosses etc, but that one random group that lowers resistances and makes you vulnerable at the same time, combined with getting mobbed in where you can't move.

As far as ranged, a dual wielding inquisitor is super fun, and a Grenado/Lightning Jacks build for demolitionist is super fun. But again, every single class, dual class, will have it's strengths and weaknesses that only takes the wrong combination of monsters to bring you down almost instantly.

Keep exploring builds that feel fun for you, and don't get bogged down into getting it right. There are way too many opinions and options for that.

hm, yeah, i was enjoying oathkeeper a lot, especially when i got the pets, i guess i'll give it a try again, but this time i will really take my time and grind a lot, and this time i will be putting every point in physique. Hopefully it can survive until i get him stuffed with resistences from soldier

[Joja]

Actually in hindsight, I would say Storm Totem Shaman was probably the easiest for me in terms of range. If you got that and combined it with a pet build for either Briarthorn, Hellhound or Blightfiend and get their threat generating skills, that seems like it'd be pretty good.

[kekkuli]

Warlord, nuff said.

[Kayderim]

thx guys, what can you say about devotions? I had no idea on what to put aside the lion.

Is there any way to make eye of reckoning steal hp from enemies while i use it? That would be ideal

[x]

Have you beaten softcore already? If you haven't, I highly recommend getting to level 100 ultimate, and beat all super bosses in softcore before trying hardcore.

Shaman, oathkeeper, and soldier are the three safest classes, generally. I have a fire strike purifier (inquisitor + demo) and it's fun, but very squishy, not good for hardcore probably.

You need to overcap your resistances, move slowly, and learn to avoid certain areas. Use components from level 1. You don't have to kill every boss in hardcore on every character in every difficulty.

For devotions, try turtle, ghoul, and bat.

Try checking out some of the hardcore guides. I think there's some good ones on youtube, reddit, everywhere. Of course they could be very spoiler heavy. If you haven't beat softcore, 100% go back to do that. I can't tell, but reading your posts, it seems you're new to the game. Ultimate can be freaking hard if you don't know the game's mechanics.

[madrigal]

Originally posted by Kayderim:

thx guys, what can you say about devotions? I had no idea on what to put aside the lion.

Is there any way to make eye of reckoning steal hp from enemies while i use it? That would be ideal

Pick devotions that help your damage type. Also get devotions that add resist reduction for your damage type.

Ghoul and Scales of Ulcama devotions give lifesteal to any build. Ghoul is easiest to get and a lot of builds use it.

Oppressor (Oathkeeper + Necromancer) EOR build is heavy on lifesteal with conversion to Vitality damage. But it needs the right gear. Not really a beginner build.

[DirtyMick]

The main thing that helps surviving hardcore, is knowledge. Knowing what to avoid, what damage types enemies do, so you know when you NEED a certain resist for sure, knowing what MIs make your build much better, and where to get them. If you haven't been using grimtools yet, you may not be ready for hardcore, especially if you're dying on easy ass normal difficulty.

My suggestion to start out, is make a soldier, go forcewave spam with a 2 hander. Go to grimtools, click item database, click item skill modifiers, choose forcewave, look at shamblers heart and obsidian cleaver. Aim to get those. Get a fleshwarped casque MI once you get to act3. Max forcewave nodes (try to hardcap these as close as you can, 26/16, 22/12, 22/12 or whatever their max is) and war cry nodes (dont need to hardcap these, just softcap), go menhirs bulwark for your exclusive (I usually go olerons rage while leveling, but I have a lot of items to help me survive so I don't need bulwark). Get physical conditioning 10/10, scars of battle 8/8, and 8/8 the other passive that gives you phys damage and elemental and slow resist. Once you have all that, you can choose your second class. Go either shaman or oathkeeper. Main thing is, get a shamblers heart, an obsidian cleaver, and a fleshwarped casque. These drop from specific enemies, so you don't need to rely on rng, other than having to kill them a few times possibly to get the item to drop.

Devotions: get assassins blade (name might be wrong, but I mean the one that has -phys res on it) and bind it to forcewave. Get dryad and bind it to warcry, now your warcry heals you everytimr you use it. Get ghoul, behemoth, and the rest really don't matter that much, but pick things that fit with phys damage or defensive devos.

I've leveled dozens of chars on hardcore and have literally never died while leveling a soldier. I do die sometimes during the leveling process, but never with soldier. Trust me, this is the easiest way.

[mikeydsc]

As above you sound new to the game so welcome aboard the hype train.

Yea, if you are struggling on vet, ultimate will outright kill you. As said make a full run thru softcore because if you keep going on HC, your days and tombstones are going to keep growing.

Some bosses have multiple stages and if you arent ready good bye toon # xyz.

You havent even met the harder monsters yet, like the ones that will remove all your buffs, or the retaliation types that can one shot you with your own damage - fun times.

[Kayderim]

Originally posted by mikeydsc:

As above you sound new to the game so welcome aboard the hype train.

Yea, if you are struggling on vet, ultimate will outright kill you. As said make a full run thru softcore because if you keep going on HC, your days and tombstones are going to keep growing.

Some bosses have multiple stages and if you arent ready good bye toon # xyz.

You havent even met the harder monsters yet, like the ones that will remove all your buffs, or the retaliation types that can one shot you with your own damage - fun times.

I actually managed to beat the game with a soldier, but i stopped on elite, i think the problem was that i was trying to rush too much, i was constantly underleveled in the areas, i didn't think much of it because i was killing the mobs around like nothing, but then i got comboed to death by the bosses.

I'm running again with oathkeeper but this time i'm taking it very slowly and trying to be at least 2 - 3 levels above the monsters i'm fighting

[x]

just fyi it's normal for monsters to be above your level, the game is balanced around that. later on, you may encounter enemies level 110+.

[mikeydsc]

Originally posted by x:

just fyi it's normal for monsters to be above your level, the game is balanced around that. later on, you may encounter enemies level 110+.

This poster got it right.
Vet its normal to be 3 to 5 levels under
Elite 5 to 8 levels under
Ultimate you can be 7 to 10+ levels under. Champions and bosses are stringer and they can be almost immune to your damage types. RR (resist reduction) is uber important in ult, but in vet and elite you can skate by a bit.

This is why folks tell you to run the full game. Plus on ultimate there are secret quests that can whip the floor with you.

[Laciel]

Anything with soldier should be pretty safe.

On Normal difficulty just make sure you have all your resistance maxed (always have MAX POISON and ELEMENTAL then focus on Pierce and Vitality) or as high as you can (40%+ aether, chaos). Stun and Bleed resistance should be easy to obtain on soldier.

On Elite make sure to have some decent Defensive/Offensive Ability and Armor Absorbtion.

If you want to beat HC first try and do all the achievements i would recomend Death Knight.
You can target farm Krieg's Set on Elite difficulty.

You will need to watch your Offensive and Defensive ability and try to keep DA at 2300+(on Ultimate). Make sure to farm all the Fraction reputations for augments because you will need them.

Resistance Reduction is mandatory for Ultimate and for aether Death Knight you can get a lot of RR from Spectral Wrath (necromancer), Arcane Bomb (devotion).

Do not play on veteran it is pretty pointless and it will only slow you down (on any character).

[Kayderim]

Originally posted by Laciel:

Anything with soldier should be pretty safe.

On Normal difficulty just make sure you have all your resistance maxed (always have MAX POISON and ELEMENTAL then focus on Pierce and Vitality) or as high as you can (40%+ aether, chaos). Stun and Bleed resistance should be easy to obtain on soldier.

On Elite make sure to have some decent Defensive/Offensive Ability and Armor Absorbtion.

If you want to beat HC first try and do all the achievements i would recomend Death Knight.
You can target farm Krieg's Set on Elite difficulty.

You will need to watch your Offensive and Defensive ability and try to keep DA at 2300+(on Ultimate). Make sure to farm all the Fraction reputations for augments because you will need them.

Resistance Reduction is mandatory for Ultimate and for aether Death Knight you can get a lot of RR from Spectral Wrath (necromancer), Arcane Bomb (devotion).

Do not play on veteran it is pretty pointless and it will only slow you down (on any character).

I already picked Oathkeeper as my first class, so i will be going for warlord, i'm level 20 and i still haven't crossed the left bridge at devil's crossing, atm i'm playing normal + hardcore.

do you think the life steal from ghoul on eye of reckoning is enough to sustain the damage taken? i'm putting every point i get from level up on physique, but i still get to half health from time to time, i only got the lion as devotion, where should i go from here? The ghoul?

[Laciel]

Originally posted by Kayderim:

I already picked Oathkeeper as my first class, so i will be going for warlord, i'm level 20 and i still haven't crossed the left bridge at devil's crossing, atm i'm playing normal + hardcore.

do you think the life steal from ghoul on eye of reckoning is enough to sustain the damage taken? i'm putting every point i get from level up on physique, but i still get to half health from time to time, i only got the lion as devotion, where should i go from here? The ghoul?

Not sure about life steal on eye of reckoning because i personally don't use eye of reckoning that much (i just not like how the skill behaves). If you want high life steal use Twin Fangs devotion.

If you go for shield use Overguard and you should be pretty safe. As i mentioned before try to get resistances as high as you can. For Krieg's laboratory and the boss make sure to have at least 30-40% aether resistance.

From Oathkeeper you can get Ascension for really good damage absorption and Presence of Virtue for Offensive Ability + Shield bonuses.

I would personally sink most points to Soldier to get the passives (Shield Training, Decorated Soldier and Scars of Battle), War Cry (to reduce enemy % damage which is a must later on) and Menhir's Bulwark for some good survivability. This will probably result in lower damage output but better to be durable than squishy.

To be honest there is a lot of stuff to cover and i can't really give you a guide on what to do exactly every step of the way. What i did to clear hardcore on 1st try was experimenting in softcore and finding the best MI drops to use and carefully plan out what i will do (which took a lot of time :D).

Make sure to check grim tools for items that will boost your favourite skills or give you + points to X skill.

Best of luck.