Not a complaint, just my impression…
Prior to the patch I was kind of struggling with two characters, my javazon and werewolf druid…
With the Javazon, I didn’t have how to break the lightning immunity so I tried bowzon fire and ice and javazon mix of physical and lightning, but both were super weak.
With the druid I was progressing but very slowly, not enough damage.
Today after the patch I tried the bowzon and javazon physical and lightning (jab and fury) and it was actually quite easy…
As for the druid, I was progressing well then I realized the game was set to difficult 8 which I would never be able to progress prior to the patch. Changed to difficult one and it became super easy…
Are you having similar experience / impression as me?
have you looked at the patch notes and class updates?
Yes! Hell is easier now, especially for melee builds. They kinda killed the the block animations when attacking, which for me is a very bad choice (simplifying the game to be more zug zug), not sure with FHR, but with my testings i kinda still don’t see interruptions even with 0 FHR. Aand overall buffing skills ofc it will be easier… -_-
Mechanics core to d2… Why the hell did they touch those things that no one ask…
I’m still stuck on the final blue freeze-giver boss in Act 2, where I am inside a tomb in some desert… 
I am necro with skele-pals and a sand golum and my friendly bow/arrow follower from Act 1.
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Cast Iron Maiden curse on Duriel, and spam clay golem every time it dies. Also get A2 mercenary, and give them Thawing(yellow) potions, for extra cold resistance.
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Depending on the class, spec, and synergies you are using, you may find yourself with a modest to moderate boost in output. For instance my bowazon was taking ages to kill things in Act 1 Hell with her Harmony (Matriarchal Bow) runeword, but is able to progress a fair bit faster thanks to the guided arrow + multiple shot synergies. Best of all is I didn’t have to change a thing, though I could probably use a respec to move some points around for the cold/ice/freezing arrow skills to better balance mana costs.
Found myself a Burrito today and am considering hunting the runes down to up that to Elite for more punch on the high end as my alternate weapon.
If I recall, most of the damage a burriza is from the max dmg/lvl and upping it just increases req substantially.
at lvl 99: non upped: 99-412, 110 str, 80 dex req. Upped: 96-520, 163 str, 77dex. This is the best possible case, your max dmg will be lower cus you will be at a lower level. Maxroll char planner OP
I wasn’t aware one can equip A2 mercs with potions. I only see spaces for their helmet, chest armor and weapons but nothing else such as rinks or ambulets.
I was half way with leveling to next level so I couldn’t activate iron maiden. I did however killiate that Duriel boss. The A2 merc had some effect around my deadlings, some redish effect spinning below 'em.
I equipped myself with tons of thawing potions and as many charms as I had to provide me with antifreeze ability.
Thanks for your input. I passed and graduated to next Act. 
You can’t equip them, you have to feed them to your Merc. On controller you press the left trigger and use D-pad to give your merc a potion. Or you can open inventory and use left trigger and use cursor and A button. Every Thawing potion you give him lasts for 30 seconds, so giving him 4 of them increases his cold resists for 2 minutes. On keyboard and mouse I think you press the Shift key and select the potion number to give it to your merc, or you can just pick up the potions from inventory and drop them on your Merc’s picture. This also works for Antidote potions when fighting Andriel.
Hope this helps…
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all games are zug zug. even the souls games. i wish people would get over this idea that games are " hard"
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Summoners need Act 2 merc for auras. Makeing their minions stronger. You can give mercenary health potions when fighting to survive.
Duriel can be a pain at start.
One of 2 things can happen:
You put Life Tap on him or you do multiple runs to summon skellies then enter with merc and army against him.
Eventually, he’ll die.
Or you can play multiplayer and hope some1 will help you…all those things will take time.
A good chunk of it is +max damage, but you still do get a good 100+ damage from upping it, well worth it IMO even with the strength requirement increase.
option 3, decrip so he can barely move… that’s my go-to for all bosses on a necro… watch them go soooo slow.
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People that think Dark Souls is hard never played NES games. 
Dark Souls players: “This boss 3 shots me, WTH…”
NES players: “Everything in the game doesn’t one shot you and you get to respawn? Easy.”
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I think a lot of people might over-value Vita on Bowa and fall into that “str req bad” logic that a lot of builds use.
It’s def a weird way to think about things if you aren’t used to it. Cause you have to look at it like “losing ED from DEX, is damage higher from base or ED” not losing Life.
I suppose so, it’s all math at the end of the day though. I rather take 100 max damage over an extra 50 stat points any day.
For a might/pride build with max dex, each point of weapon damage is worth about 2-3 dexterity points of damage or there abouts.