It's only been four days, and I've already had 3 die at level 6 (lol), level 24 (unfortunate), and level 70 (ouch).
Playthrough tips[]
In the early game, by far the worst limitation is stamina. Grab some money from shared stash, buy a belt, and then buying 4-8 stamina potions every trip home vastly increases the leveling efficiency of characters in Act I. After dumping enough points into vitality, stamina becomes basically a non-issue.
The next limitation is mana. Always have at least 8 mana potions in inventory whenever you leave town, and reserve at least 2 columns in the belt for them. At level 14, you can wear items with tir runes, which greatly helps with mana regeneration (except for trapsin).
Join games that rush through acts, then grind levels by yourself if you find yourself falling behind. Milestones I've found helpful:
- Grind Tristram up to level 12.
- Level 20-25: Cows. You need to grind here for a spirit and insight base anyway.
- Level 50-70: Terror zones in nightmare. Most characters face extreme difficulty clearing hell, due to resistances and enemies hitting much harder. Don't be afraid to grind nightmare, particularly durance and catacombs. I've found all sorts of amazing gear in nightmare, including Ali Baba's, skin of the vipermagi, and rockstopper. Terror zones stop giving good exp at about level 75, so you can grind them there while waiting for a good lobby for hell.
Observations on progression[]
Getting past level 24 or so is the biggest time sink, because of the aforementioned stamina and mana issues, and also because you don't have access to the skills you'll be using late game. However, once you do get the skills, you level up insanely fast. Strange that I hadn't really paid attention to it before. My javazon started nightmare act 3 at about level 32, finished it within half an hour, and by the time she got to act 4 she was already in her 40s. Things slow back down by about level 65-70.
The sheer speed at which you can cruise through nightmare with little risk makes me want to just make characters specifically to run hellforge, delete, and repeat. This would only be consistently fast if I can find someone to consistently rush me through normal, though.
Gear[]
Helmet: Any helm with health or mana. At level 14, find a two socket helm and get two tir runes in them. At level 27, make a lore helm. Lore carries you all the way to your first harlequin crest.
Amulet: Any amulet with mana/health/res. When you can, craft a caster amulet. Even the really crappy ones give a bunch of mana and fcr.
Weapon: Spirit for any caster.
Shield: 3 socket shield with 3 tirs. Then Ancients' Pledge. Lidless Wall is a good offensive option.
Body: Stealth can literally be usable all the way to the end game. Skin of the Vipermagi is the best mid-late game unique for casters. Treachery is super nice for those who find an early lem: you can proc it, then put it back in shared stash so that even if you die you don't lose it.
Gloves: Crafted caster gloves. After mana issues are over, crafted blood gloves are really good, particularly for physical characters.
Rings: for casters, this is where you can get fcr. mana on kill and res are also good. Craft caster rings if you are still unlucky by nightmare/hell.
Belt: Crafted caster belts gives fcr and a bunch of mana.
Boots: It is surprisingly easy to get good mf on boots while leveling. FRW is king, though.
My first now-dead sorc managed to get a lem from nightmare hellforge, so I should make a treachery to massively boost survivability.
Merc[]
Act 2 prayer merc with Cure and Insight is run by basically everyone, for good reason. Don't bother finding a good base for them, just find any 3 socket helm and 4 socket polearm. Have a really shitty insight that you can equip to a merc by level 27, and then hunt for the elite stuff you can make for an end-game insight later.
The Cure+Insight combination is so powerful that it's less of a suggested gear option and more of a mandatory one if your health is low. Cure's most valuable attribute is the fact that it cuts down your curse duration, getting rid of the potentially lethal amplify damage proc many uniques have in hell.
Grinding Mosaic Base[]
Cow runs seem the best thanks to their density. Couple of notes:
- Only the claws that have three blades or one single sword-like blade can have 3 sockets; only half of the exceptional and all the elite claws can have staffmods.
- Popping weapon racks (Mephisto, Countess) can potentially drop bases, and they're not too out of the way.
Staying Alive[]
The jump in difficulty from nightmare to hell is extreme. A cold enchanted frost nova would barely tickle most characters in nightmare; in hell, they can practically one shot anyone wearing a cold sunder. There is absolutely no shame in grinding terror zones on nightmare until you hit level ~72.
Hold on to every resist and life charm you see, until your inventory is nearly full. You can start giving the crappier charms to other characters if you can't hold them all. There's no need to be picky.
Farming[]
Catacombs: the big threats are the Tainted. Open doors carefully and be prepared to spam rejuvs. Teleporting is moderately dangerous here; my first level 90 sorc bit it teleporting which was surprising as she hadn't taken much damage. Catacombs are ideally run by cold and fire sorcs.
Forgotten Tower: another good place for a sorc, once you've picked up the appropriate sunder charms.
Arcane Sanctuary: excellent area for javazons. The narrow corridors mean that the risk of death is lower.
Travincal: Best place for a horker barb, but be very careful to stock rejuvs until you hit at least level 75 or so.
Durance of Hate: teleport is an absolute must, thanks to the dolls.
Chaos Sanctuary: Hammerdin is probably best due to the myriad of unavoidable immunities.