What's a good build for my first hardcore character in Diablo 2? I want to play a barb, haven't played in ages so I've got no gear functionally, going to be duoing with a bowzon friend and trying to get by with just what we find I think.

I played a ton back in the pre-1.10 days but I don't know a ton about the game after that.

Be a horker.

>>11849467
Is that just being a singer barb but putting a point in item find?

>>11849345 (OP)
If you have to ask, you should probably play softcore to get your legs first.

>>11849345 (OP)

Bowazon is going to be borderline useless, especially after normal difficulty. It's ridiculously gear dependent. Honestly don't do hardcore, you guys are going to die alot, D2 is hard. Summon nec is always good for any soloing or duoing.

it doesn't matter what you play as long as it's a viable build in normal. it's going to come down to how well you remember to stay stocked on potions and tps, and how well you can chew away at mobs while playing safe and avoiding inescapable situations at all costs, which is mostly a test of attention, patience and tedium.

>>11850108
>you guys are going to die alot, D2 is hard
Not really worried about that, I'm sure we will. Just trying to find the barb build that will involve the least dying.

>>11850429
>Just trying to find the barb build that will involve the least dying.
Barb is FAR the most gear dependent class. You will not get anywhere in HC unless you're well familiar with the game.
Summon Druid/Necro (only if we're talking 1.13 or higher for Druid) are probably the most EZ starters.

war cry barbarian or "shoutbarb" is somewhat safe, you will have aoe damage that simultaneously stuns everything near by, and your party buff shouts (increased defense, health, mana) will be more powerful as a result of focusing on gear that enhances shouts in general

you could also go as double throw barb to stay out of harm's way and still pick up decent levels in support shouts

>>11850429

You can only die once in hardcore. A bowa and a barb isn't going to kill shit. Don't play hardcore you're clearing a noob

>>11851871
>You can only die once in hardcore.
I'm aware. Also my question wasn't "Can bowazons and barbarians clear hell??" because the answer is obviously yes, plenty of people have done it.

I also at no point asked "What's the easiest/safest build overall to clear hardcore with?" or "Do you guys think I can do it?!"

I just asked what a good build for a hardcore barb would be. I know they're gear dependent. I know they're not the best or the easiest. I'm just trying to figure out what the best barb build would be given my situation.

>>11851773
Yeah I've heard warcry barbs and concentrate barbs are alright but that the former's damage is pretty low and the latter's a bit slow because they're only single target. I'm leveling with frenzy right now but thinking about switching to warcry once I'm 30 or so.

Make a berserker, you won't have shit for defence anyway. Just scare everything away and have the zon pick them off while you focus-fire the bosses. Also, pick polearms. Finding a colossus volgue and making an insight is probably your most realistic shot at a halfway decent endgame weapon.

>>11851949

Well, the best barb build for soloing is probably frenzy but even then it's not easy. If you do transition into a singer barb your bowazon friend is going to take ages to kill anything too. Warcry doesn't really do significant damage, it's mostly just a stun. Then you hork corpses to up your chances of getting decent drops. Get some magic find if you do this. Either way you're fked on hardcore, though.

If you play a Barb you have to accept slow kill speeds. It isn't too bad in normal, outside of getting out classed by AoE classes. The real difficulty is Hell because you need to be geared to clear any monster at a reasonable rate. You'll be searching for uniques/sets that have crushing blow, deadly strike, and open wounds because your weapon damage will be ass. The best low cost rune words would be smoke, treachery, and obedience. Too bad while something like Oath is reasonable compared to other high tier rune words, you'd need to grind the fuck to get a Mal, Pul, and a good elite ethereal base for it. Even then you'd still need items with CB, DS, and OW.

While your Amazon friend will just need to not be pitted against lightening immune monsters to mass clear rooms.

>>11849345 (OP)
Follow your heart and I cant beleive you even responded to these whiny pussy faggots crying about "nooo broo your gunna dieee brooo nooooo reee"
>>11849650
>>11851871
>>11850108

>>11852361
>Follow your heart
Oh I am. That's why I'm playing a barb instead of something easier. I just want to clear hardcore hell at least once, but I'm still gonna do it my way or it won't matter. My friend knows a lot about the game post 1.10 so he's getting me up to speed too. I just wanted to see some other opinions. We finished act 3 normal today, no real trouble so far. Even back when I played I knew fuckall about pre-endgame itemization though, so now with all the synergies and different new runewords, I'm even more lost. I'm not really expecting any trouble until Nightmare though.

>>11852376
Thats whatsup bro. Im sure you expected the idiots crying instead of giving proper advice. Im oldschool 1.10 like you so I dont really have advice either because the last barb i had was lvl12 HC Low level dueler dual throw!! Which would be fun but all the phsyical immunes might own your ass. Maybe zon with frozen arrows and you go berserk max?

Builds I like
>Javazon
Extremely strong the entire game. Amazing clear Act3 hell is a bitch, but jab and patience can do it. Clears cows like a slaughterhouse.
>meteorb
Usually levelling to 32ish as fireball, but maining frozen orb is awesome, and you get spare points for fire damage to kill cold immunes. Not great in p8, lacks the damage, but p1 is very strong.
>blizz sorc
Insane damage, and with emilio, you can easily beat p8 hell. Just teleport past cold immunes.
>Light sorc (200fcr is especially fun)
Weaker than coldsorc until you get amazing gear but it scales so hard. Line based piercing skills are fun.
>Claws of thunder asn
Very smooth normal and nightmare, but drops off hard in hell. I love expending the charged in a big hit.
>Hybrid zon (freezing arrow + java)
Weaker than straight java, but can do p8 all content and not feel miserable in some areas.
>Bone necro (not abusing corpse explosion)
Not fast, but the only immunities you care about are 1 wave on act5 hell. Again, line based piercing skills are fun.
>Fishymancer
Any retard can complete hell mode on a naked char on hardcore. Corpse explosion is busted. Legitimately the only hard part is norm duriel and diablo.
>Riftsin
Needs a gul rune, but is very cool, spamming frozen orbs by kicking is fun.
>Lightning trapsin
Another build for smooth normal and nightmare, but this one also does pretty well in hell due to Corpse explosion.
>Fissure druid
Easiest later normal and nm ever. Bosses are a little slow. But the clear is great! Too bad that fire immunes are so ungodly common in hell. With infinity and a lower res wand, you can do p8 baal waves extremely fast, but killing baal himself is too slow.
>Rabies druid
Really fun, but it sucks outside of early/mid nightmare.
>Bowazon
Fun, but too gear dependent damage.
>hammerdin
Fuck hammerdin.

>>11852417
I've always just liked paladins and barbs. I kind of thought about trying a zealot or something, but yeah fuck hammerdins. I actually made a hammerdin in like 1.09 before it was even viable, just because I thought the skill was so funny I wanted to try and make it work. It sucks that it's like THE paladin thing now.

>>11850429
Play Necro and Pally. Get fire aura then curse them lower resistance because once you’re in Hell Necro has to carry. Once you’re on He’ll difficulty you need curse to damage anything.

>>11852445
Zealdin is much more fun than any barb

>>11852376
Generally Barbs go frenzy for fast movement speed, attack speed, and to dual wield. Whirlwind if they like the skill even though it was nerfed for LoD. Berserk if they want most enemies to not resist them in Hell but need to manage mobs through howling because you will become an easy target to hit. Or concentration for a slow but safe build for more defense upon attacking and a chance for your attack to not be interrupted.

Leap attack and double throw don't become good until the Ressurected version of the game.

i'm legally retarded and managed to sneak in my first HC hell victory with a summon-mancer. i dont think you can't really screw up with that one as a starter test, its very gear-lite and you can pass stuff onto your buddy


the only parts where i sweated bullets were duriel and diablo on normal since they tear through your minions at that point, then durance of hate on NM and hell because of the possibility your army of skeles might accidentally kill those little exploding bone dudes near you, so you'll have to go in with just your clay golem. everything else is chill

>>11852445
>It sucks that it's like THE paladin thing now.
Why does it suck? Just because it's popular?

>>11853201
It's just kind of weird to me that the signature skill of the paladin is summoning a bunch of tiny little ghost hammers

>>11849345 (OP)
Barb is an absolute shit pick for returning to the game especially on HC.
Bowazon or basically any Sorceress build is a much better option, as they are far less gear dependent. I'm not saying Barb is impossible just you'll have to do a shit load of extra grinding. Paladin is ok but that's more skill dependent and if you're not confident in your ability to kick ass as him then I would recommend someone else. Assassin, Necro, and Druid are all viable but I personally hate playing as them so unless that's your thing I can't recommend them.
This is talking specifically about HC, if it was just standard I would tell you to pick whatever the fuck you want because you're never really at risk of losing anything.

>>11849345 (OP)
play project diablo 2 or d2r instead. I dont care about your political takes on nu-blizzard nor do I care if you believe the amazon looks like a tranny.

>>11853681
Assuming d2r means the remaster, I am. If I remember right you can't play HC in the original without beating the game once, and I was just curious about the remaster too. I kind of like the controller layout for using multiple skills, but I kind of feel like precision targetting would be impossible with it so I'm not gonna let myself get used to it for NM and Hell.

>>11853702
>If I remember right you can't play HC in the original without beating the game once
No, its always avilable

>>11852514
>Play ... Pally
God's telling me this too. We found three pieces of Sigon's within like an hour.

>>11849493
You do w/e, mate, but you just hork, yo.

>>11854767
Right now I'm just horking when I use a mana pot to get the most out of it since the big ones fill me up too much.

>>11854789
Hork moar, mate. Do it.

>>11855717
but my mf...............

>>11857118
>my mf...............
Get it up, mate.

>>11849345 (OP)
Download

Projectd2 and play what ever build you like thank me later