Monster Immunity Workaround for solo player?

I haven’t played this game since I was a kid and coming back to it I was surprised when I hit Hell difficult and started encountering immune monsters. I couldn’t remember them at all, I’m sure that I remember that I could do all content with all characters when I was a kid? - It is probably me not remembering correctly.

In any case, after doing a bit of read-up on immunities I find out that there is only one (1!) build that can ignore immunities and hit all monsters, the “Blessed Hammer” build. I think: “okay that is stupid, only one build to choose from when playing solo?” but I proceed to make a Paladin because I just want to play solo and am not interested in grouping up with other players to deal with immunities.

Now I am a “Blessed Hammer” paladin and I have never been so unhappy- I really really dislike this skill. ANY other skill in the game and I could live with it, but I really really really hate the way it functions and I simply can’t like it even though I really tried to learn how to use it. It feels baaaad.

I really want to play the game, but it feels like I’m forced to either play in a group, play “Blessed Hammer” - or alternatively, to re-load areas to try and swap immunity monsters out and skip groups that have immunity in general… but this feels… wrong? The “flow” in playing becomes “stuttering” when you have to leave areas all the time to check if you are facing the “wrong” kind of immune monsters, and not being able to clear all areas also feels wrong to me, I usually kill everything in every map.

Why is there no way to mitigate immunities? Have I missed something glaringly obvious that lowers resistance so that I can actually play the game solo as any character without having to play “Blessed Hammer” build, join groups, reload areas or run away from immune monsters?

I can almost imagine some replies to this post: “you just want the game to be easy” - but I assure you this is not the case. If these immunities can be mitigated by some hard-to-execute mechanic I wouldn’t mind that at all. It’s the; “play this one build” or “just run away” aspects I really dislike, but if that is the way it is I guess I’ll just have to move on and say this game is not for me. Which is sad.

4 Likes

One way to fight immunities should be lower immune as it is, but sometimes some monsters have high immune that they still resist.
Imho no monster should have that high immune lowering resistance should mean all monsters now can die.
They should make some charms with high damage fire, cold or light. So attacking these should help with immunes.
So either you go life or kill immunes.
If they get rid of immunes then i would expect monsters to have more attacks and be tougher as immunes will just make the game span of this game smaller and easier.

another “get rid of immun mobs” post…

every char has possibilities to deal dual element dmg or physical and magic, if u are focused on 1 element build u will fail
merc is important anyway

just check it out!

2 Likes

The nu gaYmer is truly pathetic

2 Likes

You found wrong info.

Not suprised, hammerdin sucks without enigma.

There is several ways how to deal with immune monsters. So wrong question, ask differently. This one doesnt make sense. It would be like asking why is there nothing to do to not get wet when it rains.

I play solo with an assassin martial arts dual claw and the immunities are by no means any impediment to playing the hell difficulty. It’s not true that only one build is possible to bypass immunities.

What I think is a bit exaggerated are some monsters that have two immunities. It’s not a impediment either, but sometimes it feels like the developers wanted to shove difficulty down the throats of players, and sometimes the solution is simply ignoring them.

2 Likes

Stop trying to do everything with one element. Go dual element or work with physical damage mixed in.

1 Like

You need 3 schools of damage, to deal with bad situations. I have Lightning (very strong), Fireball/Hydra (medium) and Physical on the Merc. And it is not plain sailing, many times I just skip, Save&Exit even. Or continuous visits to Malah to remove curses and poison…

But I say this using teleport. A lesser geared class would struggle greatly. You cannot always skip if something is in your way,

There’s always one thing you can do which people often forget: skip. You don’t have to kill every monster that crosses your path. There’s also other things people forget, like, get creative. Or utilize your mercenary. Or use some gear swaps. Or simply have a more balanced build that utilizes 2+ elements in the first place.

1 Like

Probably and old post, Blessed Hammer was able to negate resistance of demons and undead, but they removed that feature in patch 1.13 and thus it no longer can.

Personally I hate Blessed Hammer as well and if you do not have very strong gear you might want to respec, especially if you dislike the skill, its very powerful but needs good gear and what does power mean when you don’t like playing it.

Conviction lowers enemy Cold/Fire/Lightning resistance and can often break those resistances, this doesn’t help you when using Blessed Hammer (Magic Damage), but should you respec it is nice to know.

Holy Bolts (from the skill itself or from Fist of the Heaven) ignore Magic Resistance on Demons and Undead and a fister can be quite strong with cheap gear, however it only functions in area’s filled with demons and undead, if you don’t have a telestaff you will really really hate going through the Maggot Lair for example.

You can shop for wands with Lower Resist charges, again won’t help with hammerdin, but should you want to go for Holy Fire or Holy Shock it can help.

If you stick to blessed hammer there is not much to be done for the immunes unless you can pimp your merc enough that it can kill them for you.

As a Pally, you have access to Vengeance, Conviction and Sanctuary… and can use a weapon that deals elemental damage on your switch.
Never played a Hammerdin, but as a zeal/fanta melee guy, all content is playable.

1 Like

Javazon with ETH Titan + stormshield :slight_smile:

You can rock all the game ( except uber Tri )

1 Like

Monster immunity work around:

Specialize in more than one damage type and/or reduce resistances with Conviction aura (infinity runeword)/lower resist curse (wand charges).

1 Like

If your a Barb, use Berserk against physical immunes.
Sorc use a double element build, you will still see mini-bosses Fire and Cold immune but that’s why you have a Merc.

Paladin Hammer is good, you will find magic immunes, so weapon swap to another skill/aura. FOH is good but animal type mobs don’t respond to holy bolt, just the lightning part, some time lightning immunes are hard to kill.

Lightning based skills will have a difficult time in act 3 hell unless they have a secondary spec or the Infinity rune word on the Merc.

I don’t play enough Assassin, Druid and Necro to comment but as you can tell, having 2 elemental damage types helps. Or have a godly Merc.

Immunities are a hallmark of this game, they can be worked around. I think you need to look at your chosen build.

I would approach this problem from a different way. Instead of “trying to find a character that can clear Hell difficulty”, I would “pick a character I would like to play with and ask questions regarding how to make that character able to beat Hell difficulty”. In this way you would enjoy the game more as you can “attach to your liked character” instead of trying to “like a character that you are forced to play with”.

The list of characters that cannot beat Hell difficulty are these:

3 Likes

I’m solo player in most of cases. I have 2 laptops side-by-side and 2 accounts. First has blizzard sorc and second has multiple classes that I play with her based on my mood. I never have issues with immunes and it’s fun. Thanks to this I don’t need Enigma. Sorc/Hdin, Sorc/Traps are my favorite combos.

work around immunity for solo player > dont solo

“work will be easy if you don’t do it”

1 Like

Get a wand with lower resist charges for monsters you have to kill

1 Like

Not every build is meant to kill everything. Shocker. Every build does have areas it’s exceptional at. Either learn where your chosen build excels and stick with that or learn to play with others that compliment the immunes you can’t kill. You don’t like Hammerdin? Make friends with someone that does. When they aren’t around stick to areas you can clear. Don’t need to change the whole game for everyone because solutions for your issue require some effort on your part.

I cuss this game every time I play it. I never come ask for change to make it easier for me. I just find ways to get better at difficult content. And if I just can’t kill something then I make something that can.

Another thing that helps is getting higher level. Then you can live long enough to find a solution to problems. Immunes don’t bother you much if you’re higher level than they are. You can kill everything around them and then move on, basically unscathed. If it’s like Baal’s minions, being higher level let’s your merc live long enough to kill for you. Stay back and draw a couple out at a time. Heal the merc with potions. Use thaws and antidotes. Manage him. Being solo often means you can’t just zerg the whole pile at once. Take your time.

Play Diablo 3 for no immunes.