Ive heard a few tips… resistances are key and don’t face-check open doors. Got any tips for surviving Hardcore? Kinda wanna try something new, in all my decades of playing this game I never touched HC
Don’t put any item in personal stash. Until level 11-12 almost every single point goes to vita and not str/dex. Signon’s set is subpar better use death gloves+sash+hsaru’s boots. Your biggest challenge is going to be chaos sanctuary and the fight against Diablo. Have a plan how to face him with your char or you’ll be toast.
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Practice escape + save exit during panic attacks.
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Make TPs a good distance from enemies when bailing, or you will be swiped immediately coming back.
Beware of duriel, probably your biggest worry behind Diablo. If I’m going solo I over prepare for them.
When you feel your most confident is most likely when you will die. Take your time, go heavy life until you can afford to switch off.
Patience.
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- Do not mess with fanat death lords until you’re super geared.
- Avoid Dolls in baal runs and meph runs like the plague
- Don’t blind teleport until you understand map layouts. Hug the halls, mobs tend to gather in middle of rooms.
- MAX BLOCK, Every single build don’t care what you’re running. MAX Block =75%. Once you understand HC and have some play time you might think about running vita builds but only when seriously geared.
- Leave game when hostiled. There are pk hacks out again. Even if boss is about to die just leave. You can get screen casted from 15 screens away.
Play slow, play with a friend for body loot if you can.
Do NOT take a bloody hills TP from a random dude.
Do NOT be the first into a baal room TP until you’re geared.
In Hell you want Max resist and Max block
If you have to sub out skiller charms for Resist charms you do it.
GL and stay safe
Edit.
One of the best starter toons for hc is Trap sin. Great killing power. Gets an extra merc essentially with talent. Great killing power. Has Fade for early resist and Dr. Great leveling power with fire traps.
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- Max Block
2.Defense is important - PDR goes a long way especially in lower player games
- 50 %DR is deairable, or more if you plan to do cs a lot
well my first tip is… don’t…
too many people get mad at dying because they died because of something outside of their control…
if you are not okay with dying to a lagspike, getting PKed, losing internet or power, game or computer freezing/crashing, and losing all your progress dont play hardcore.
then play softcore and then just delete your character when you legitimately die.
Before u play hardcore you need to understand, accept and fully acknowledge you are choosing to give up control of when you can play your character and can lose access to it and all your item for ANY REASON and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.
if u can accept that then play hardcore.
if u are going to get mad your lvl 96 died due to some bird hitting a transformer causing your block to lose power and whine about it on the forums… then go play softcore.
by choosing to play hardcore you are choosing to give away all rights to when your character can be played… i dont want to see any more “complaint” threads about it.
Know what you are getting into.
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First, this is important to note. especially for online if you cannot accept a stupid death like this person listed above then don’t HC. When you come online and complain we’ll pour a shot, drink to the dead, and tell you to suck it up and level again. Now, you can do the “legit death” version on SC for multiplayer or keep a backup on SP so if you die to a BS reason (much less likely) you only lose so much. I personally play SP for HC and SC for MP because I don’t feel like playing HC when relaxing on my couch playing on my PS5.
Tips for HC (assuming experience in D2)
Don’t play the best class play the class you are most comfortable with and understand the best. I’ll ignore Necromancer as it is arguably the best class for HC and my main class but my second most comfortable class is Druid and, as such, I usually make it farther playing Druid than I do playing something I don’t as often that most people would argue is better for HC like Sorc. Comfort allows you to understand where you can and cannot push and also just helps with your reactions to situations.
Resistances are your friend. Stack them wherever you can. Unless you are losing a VERY good item take Resistances (and absorbs later) where you can without sacrificing too much offensive power. Defensive prowess in HC is worth slightly more than Offensive prowess assuming you haven’t gone too far in one direction.
Enjoy the experience and the grind. If you just want end game all the time then I wouldn’t play HC. Part of the fun of HC is the grind and if you can’t stand that then don’t do it. I’ve had a 99 Necromancer for HC and I’ve lost them on Diablo in Normal… the entire time whether GG End Game Gear or blues is fun to me
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Here you go 
Nm hell part is not yet reworked but i can link you old one with old d2 pictures.
I think the most important tip is to be afraid, be very afraid. Don’t take unnecessary risks. If your health is low go to town and buy some potions. If you take a big hit, immediately hit your rejuv and back off, and only then look for what hurt you.
I’d only recommend HC if you like playing the game. All of the game. Because you’ll be playing all of the game many times over.
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If people are hanging around the front of town, or by a WP - they are probably waiting to PK you.
Shields are great - but they dont count when running (or they do but at 1/3 % chance to block i think), nor does defence. Either get used to being pwned by archers etc or get to walking when in combat. A barb with 4k life will still get caught out when running, so other classes will suffer also.
Resists always maxed.
Every drop of vitality you can manage.
Mitigate the enemies damage. Consider Reapers toll for merc for lovely slow AE through decrepify - or other similar items/skills.
Enjoy! And you will soon see that its HC or nothing. SC is poo.
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Prepare to lose your character.
It will happen.
No need to rant in forum about disconnects, etc.
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Die 15 times and you will figure out what to look for.
I’ve seen people play way too defensive. If you want to play a very safe build that’s fine, but if you want to play a fairly squishy sorceress as you would play softcore, totally doable.
As long as you don’t do something very stupid, like sit in a group of monsters in chaos with no bo, you will be fine.
Take your time to understand how monsters move and attack. I’d use a character your most comfortable with. Try to keep full rejuvs on your belt as much as you can. Lightning and fire resistance are very important. Add a ton of vitality and work on gaining enough power on your character to run instances of things like NM countess to obtain runes for some extra power efficiently. Have goals in mind of runewords you want to make on the way and methods to gather the items necessary to make them.
Last tip of the day, any char which isn’t sorc or wears enigma is much safer with cannot be frozen. Easiest way to obtain is death’s sash, trang belt, rhyme in a tower shield etc.
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I did the same as you about 3 months ago. It’s keeps the game fresh to start anew. The meta is different as you need to survive.
Max res, leave immediately if hostile pops up, build relationships.
startet a trapsin, now lvl 40…
question;
if u have a dc and stay ingame for a few seconds and u placed your traps, they are firing and merc is still active or they just idle?
Everything is still active other than you.
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You WILL lose your beloved character - if thats okay then go for it.
I recommend playing a REALLY safe character (like a trapsin). Also, farming a place like nm cows, then hell cows (places where its almost impossible to die before you quit the game) is FAR smarter than taking a poorly equipped sorc and doing mephisto runs.