Hardcore

[Cullhaven]

There isn,t quite the same frisson about PoE hardcore as there was about DII - at least if you die you still have the said toon in normal mode - but I am having a go anyway.

After a bit of reading I an attempting a Poison Arrow Bowazo... erm Ranger with a bit of multi arrow for lifeand mana leach.. In the skills bit I thought get shedloads of life and eveasion and go for things like Thick Skin, Diamond skin, Iron reflexes, Celerity, Golems blood and did I say, lots of life?

Anyone tried HC and anything to add, or tips etc? Would the poison arrow negate the chances of one-shotting yourself against reflector critters?

 

[Emmon]

While the + %life is good for survivability i avoid grabbing strength for it because of the stats you get from it. I too initially took the Alan Lee famous form of "more life is best" strategy for my few first characters.

+10 Strength: +5 life, +2% melee physical damage
+10 Dexterity: +20 accuracy, +2% evasion
+10 Intelligence: +5 mana, +2% energy shield

However just 5 life per 10 strength is pretty pants and while it can allow you to wear big AC armours, they slow you down. What i find most reliable to stay as un-hittable as possible. With mobility and map awareness and always have a "dispels frozen" magical health or mana flask as a "oh blimey" button.

Also its handy to know if you hold shift your character will force fire while stationary, handy for bow people as you can fire arrows off the screen to check for monsters / pull mob packs from afar.

 

[Chick]

I've never really got into hardcore.
Probably should - but never quite make it!

 

[Swither]

pffft still not finished standard with my toon, lol suppose I am just plodding along.

 

[Chick]

Started playing some hardcore for races over the weekend.

point 1: i'm terrible. literally awful. More practice is required s going to work on it.
point 2: the Descent: Champions races are brutal hard.
point 3: race - bah can't even survive..... scored a whopping 2 points over 5 characters!

Going to try a Nemesis Templar for a bit. And not die to that fire mini-boss ofc.

 

[Artanix]

I hit lvl 16 on my first try as a marauder. Granted, I did find the most OP yellow item within about 3 minutes, pretty much lasted me the whole run!

 

[Chick]

Died at 17 on my 2nd try Reave-Shadow. Finding a Legendary Sword and Neck really helped.
Thinking that a sword/board Templar lik eThis for Nemesis practice. Probably wouldn't really work for races though unless you got really lucky ?

 

[Cullhaven]

All I will say is what I did, which was old school DII really. LIfe and evasions for at least first umpteen levels. Also Use Ranger with multi, fork and +crit support and any life leech. damage boosts in passives should come way down the line. THis said I only went as far as lev 20 I think in hc.Went back to domination to play out the Ranger there to see where I should be going with passives past 20.

Keep an eye on yer red bulb and at the merest sign of anything remotely dangerous - RUN AWAY! It sounds obvious but the amount of folk who try and slug it out then die in hc is phenomenal.

 

[Chick]

the amount of folk who try and slug it out then die in hc is phenomenal.

'sup

 

[30ftSmurf]

I've parked my Domination league characters & gone full Nemesis for the moment, getting ready for some hilarious deaths since I still have no clue how to properly play out boss fights.

Got 3 projects on the go:

A stupidly fragile & bound to die cold witch (nova, fp) who I was initially using to get used to a farming style I wanted to use for Endless Ledge races (it works, it's not that pretty), may transition to some sort of inferno hilarity.

An attack speed focussed claw shadow idiot (reave/frenzy/double/dual strike) who I cannot imagine will survive past much of cruel because I decided all I needed to do was rush as many attack speed nodes as I could.

A properly designed Ethereal Knives/Mana shield scion who is going to die just as I get to the point where I feel I've actually made a build work.

Race-wise I've been enjoying the dominion champions races (where I've been trying a rain of arrows based ranger build), the endless ledge races (where I just spam frost nova until it becomes ineffective and I die) & the 12 minute burst races (where I either leg it to ledge and read the global chat spam)

Group cutthroat races look hilarious

 

[30ftSmurf]

Not seen many folks online at all over the holidays, you probably all have lives or something.

My EK scion is now mapping & I've got a freezing pulse witch who I need to trade up to Chaos Innoculation gear for Merciless. Various other alts/projects sitting around in normal - based on found gear I'm trying to get some sort of tri curse build on the go but I've not worked out how the hell I will make it kill things effectively.

 

[30ftSmurf]

Protips4h4rdc0r3: If your laptop has a hibernate button, disable it. Especially if it's right next to your volume controls.

I either just escaped a death, or my latest duellist project is dead.. we'll see when my laptop recovers.

Edit: I live! Full set of events..
"volume is low, I want to hear my character slaying these mobs.."
"Ah crap, I've hit the sleep/hibernate button, I do hope I have enough life/defense"
*laptop resumes & I'm staring at an almost empty health bubble*
<expletives, running & mashing all potions until at a safe spot>
Guild chat: wow
*laptop shuts down (probably due to me having mashed the power button)*
<expletives>
*reboot & log in to a char still in nemesis, sweet*

Possibly not the intended hardcore rush, but I'll take it

 

[Chick]

loooool. Good skills mate

I went through a stage of some how, mainly in races, hitting esc once too often and auto-clicking "exit POE" rather than closing the menu. Much rage and tension....