Hardcore for New Players

Guide for new players starting off in Hardcore

Words

I've only played Hardcore and like you have died early a few times each league that release and then move on. When I started trying to learn the game I was looking up builds and trying to follow them but learned the hard way that these are end game builds and may even be leveled as something else.

The short version of this guide: Focus on Life/Defensive before worrying about anything else. If you do want to use a build look up specific builds for new players or leveling builds but don't stress to much as anything with the proper survival focus can finish the acts (campaign). Worry about META and MAPS(post-game) builds after getting through the acts. It will be much easier to build a second character after having acquired currency and items anyway.

Reason for this guide:

Non-Hardcore is not interesting and I think there is a small subset of players like me and wanted to share some tips to save some headache and get a jumpstart. If you are already at the point you have made it through the acts (campaign) in hardcore you can skip the guide completely.

I have got much farther not using a build then the times I tried to follow a "meta build" but I have died 1x this league and have played a few characters until death other leagues. IMO it would be better to accept some deaths even the highest level and fastest to 100 players have deaths and use it as a chance to roll a new build.

Honestly the builds won't make much sense until you at least make it deeper into the acts. Now that I've got a little more experience the key takeaway IMO is that alot of builds you find online are Endgame builds and some other build might be used as a "leveling" build. As end game builds can require specific items or reaching a threshold in a stat. Like you I tried to follow a build and felt super fragile. Also these builds might be able to survive in the hands of an experienced player who knows what to avoid but lead to deaths when played by new players.

Instead for your first character I would beeline your closest Health and/or Regen node and invest in that. Decide if your want evasion or armor next and grab that. This should get you to a level where you get to see at least some variety of skill gems and choose one focusing Primarily on Survival and grabbing things that make that skill do more damage on the way. Don't underestimate the power of the support gems you can get early as well.

Build Health and/or Regen before committing to a damage type. If you do find a skill you like still build defensive while looking for things that boost that skill as you grab defensive nodes. At some point you might hit a wall where you just simply are not doing enough damage but that is likely "fixable" at least through the acts.

Look for new player or leveling guides. Most builds are end game with 6 links and expensive and heavy investment items and without understanding mechanics it can be confusing to parse what is nice to have what is need to have. Even the "low budget" guides vary widely on what that means and the currency system is complicated as well The guides assume understanding of mechanics. Many players level something other then what they play endgame.

If in trade league there are some uniques that are "garbage" for mid and end game builds but have no level requirement and can give a real big buffer for newer players to get farther.

An example for one orb of alch:

Crown of Thorns
Vine Circlet
Energy Shield: 178
Item Level: 18
+170 to maximum Energy Shield
Reflects 5 Physical Damage to Melee Attackers
+25 Physical Damage taken from Attack Hits
Pain Attunement

There are some key points I think that are important to keep in mind:

-Start of game need to get some energy shield/health and/or regen then start working on some armor/evasion this increases the "effective HP" more then just 1 or the other quicker.

Act 3 elemental resists start to matter Act 4 even more and Act 5 has a few "hard checks"

*spoiler*
Act 5 has the first boss that actually feels like a boss even for tanky bois and your elemental resist and DPS will matter. At this point you really need to have a movement ability like one of the blinks as well.

Then Chaos resist really starts to matter. Again its best to work on before this point as there is a chance to encounter rares/strongbox etc that can really surprise if you don't have along with Spell Suppression.