Haz 5 Hardcore...how?

[A Falling Piano]

Any tips for this? I've beaten everything else, but I cannot, for the life of me seem to get through Hardcore on ANY stage at Haz 5. Dead to two hits of chips damage every time.

Help?

[Wheredoyoukeepthechocolate?]

As someone who has over 100 haz 5 hardcore clears under my belt, my best tips are as follows.
1. You're going to have to play less greedily. There will be times where you'll simply have to leave a gold or nitra vein behind. If there's a 30% chance that you'll take a hit when going for that gold in the corner of the map, it's probably not worth risking your run to pull it off.
2. Value things that give you breathing room. This mostly takes the form of cryo effects, knockback, and weapons that target the nearest enemy. Few hardcore runs will be successful without at least one weapon that fits in one of these categories. The cryo cannon gets a special shout-out. It's normally good weapon, but it becomes far better in hardcore.
3. Armor and HP upgrades are not entirely useless. If I'm offered an epic or legendary armor or hp upgrade, I might take it if no other good upgrades are offered. Not being one-shot by weak enemies in the later stages can absolutely save a run. Don't give up good damage upgrades to get there, but don't assume that survivability upgrades can never be taken.
4. Skew somewhat toward immediate power over long-term payoff. If I'm offered an epic luck upgrade in stage 1, you can bet I'm still taking it. But I'll tend to pass on things that only pay off in the late game if I have to sacrifice current power to obtain them. For instance, taking a weapon that is super weak until you get it to 18 is hard to justify. Even if it's insane at 18, there's a good chance you'll die before you can get there because you'll be too weak in the short-term.
5. Many sub-classes are better than others. Juggernaut and recon are pretty weak in this mode since the value of their class features is only realized when you get hit.
6. Play on crystalline caverns to start off with since it's the easiest biome.

Good builds for this mode:
-Tinkerer engineer with the plasma/akimbo warthog shotgun
-Interrogator driller with the wave cooker as your carry weapon. Take the nano-waves overclock at 6/12 and the freeze overclock at 18. Be sure to pick up the cryo cannon and prioritize the extra beams on it.
-Heavy gunner with the thunderhead as your carry weapon. The thunderhead is arguably the strongest weapon in the game. If you get it to 18, it will pretty much solve your damage dealing needs. Be sure to include the cryo cannon for breathing room.
-An all medium and all projectile build on either the classic or sharpshooter scout. The synergy enabled by having four weapons that each share two tags means you're going to get a lot of upgrades that apply to all your weapons.

Here's a hardcore guide from my friend Enlsen. He's arguably the best hardcore player out there and he's beaten every biome with every sub-class on haz 5 hardcore. I think this is the best resource out there for the mode.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T87uBKfexKqAeDSwwe23W2M8jexUk8v96wr-YVfRlAE/edit?usp=sharing

[HumanMirthquake]

Originally posted by Wheredoyoukeepthechocolate?:

plasma/akimbo warthog shotgun

I love the idea of wielding two shotguns akimbo lol

[Wheredoyoukeepthechocolate?]

Well, the second shots come out of your butt. Do with that info what you will.

[TheSneakyBun]

i did all biomes with driller [interrogator] build but also need a lil luck on your side.

[BANISHED]

Get level 5 ASAP so you have 2 weapons and if one of the two weapons you have has a good first overclock try and rush it.