Why do people never explain the down side to a build?

General Discussion
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I’ve been noticing a bad trend with people who showcase certain builds. They never show the reality of the build always pushing for people to use a build as if it’s the greatest thing ever. Without showing the actual problems it will run into and they never go over specific obstacles that actually stop progression by magically seeming never to run into very specific issues that constantly happen on Hell Difficulty

Once such build I’m referring to is the ORB/Wall, sure it’s good and powerful, but what is never shown, is how often enemies in hell difficulty are immune to both fire and cold at the same time, once which means that build cannot deal with it.

This poses a problem because a lot of the time the enemy which is immune to both, is a main enemy that requires to be killed, which the ORB/WALL build cannot deal with.

The player then has to remake the game in order to have the enemy they need to kill, spawn without one or both of those immunities.

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I kind of get it but you should know or find out when you get there that something is going to be immune to you. Characters that deal magic damage have less restrictions, ancients is definitely a no no, but otherwise they clear rather easily.

Plus your merc should be able to handle those for you.

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I have never once ever in the entire history of the original D2 and this game ever had a hireling stay alive for more than 12 seconds in a fight in hell difficulty.

So it’s just another thing I’m tired of is people pulling the same exact thing as I explained above, with hirelings. Like what I explained above the people showcasing these things and pushing people to use them as they’re greatest thing, never show the reality of what actually happens when you put a hireling into that situation.

The reality about hirelings is it does not matter what gear you put on them, they’re always dead within 10 seconds of the encounter every time no matter what they’re fighting and no matter what gear they have. On top of that Saying to keep it alive with pots is impossible, the thing is dead before you even have a chance to give it one.

People that say no they aren’t, or use gear, never actually explain anything, instead they just act as though the hireling does not die, and it can somehow solve any problem…no it cannot and it’s always dead within 10 seconds of anything it fights regardless of gear and it’s impossible to use a potion because it’s dead before you can give it one to use.

That is the cold hard reality of hirelings and the people who act like it’s your fault it cannot stay alive or do something. Regardless of what someone tries to argue the fact is There is nothing you can do to keep that damn thing alive.

So in the end and orb/wall build cannot complete certain areas of the game simply because the enemy that you need to kill to continue is both cold and fire immune at once.

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Why do only the Sith deal in absolutes?

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There is only one mob in D2 really mandatory to kill (to progress) which has two immunities at once, that is one of the Travincal council. If all other mobs are dead he can be handled easily. Requires some positioning and kiting, but it’s called hell difficulty for a reason.
All other mobs are not mandatory, and the Ancients immunity can be changed by just opening a TP (resets them) and try again.

There are a lot of guides on youtube, just search for “d2 merc hell” or something. You may just be underleveled, that’s all. Below a certain level and equipment the merc sometimes just flips over. But as a sorc you also have the best skill to save your merc, which is Teleport. Other classes don’t have this kind of luxury :wink:

And for builds, there is no build that is the best for everything, there are simply not enough skill points to cover more than two immunites (and still be able to kill something).
I’ve looked over a lot of guides mostly on youtube because my D2 knowledge was a bit rusty, and every guide told about the downsides of the build. Orb/Wall is already pretty flexible, I used this build to complete Hell solo.

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Please explain who has both.

Its only unique individual monsters and mercenary can deal with them even without top gear.

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I honestly didn’t read it all, but put a treachery armour and insight thresher on your merc, give him a tals helmet and bam he stays alive 80-90% of the time. Most issues people have are easily rectified.

Edit: Both runewords are easy to make, the tals helmet is dirt cheap usually, like a lem price wise.

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Untrue, Getting Diablo to show up requires the bosses of the seals in the Chaos sanctuary to be killed

I’ve personally had 15 games in a row where I could not get Diablo to show up because 2 of the 3 seal bosses (Lord De Seis and Infector_of_Souls) were immune to both cold and fire and the hireling was dead before it could do anything

Again 15 games in a row this happened

Lord De Seis and or Infector_of_Souls
15 games in a row this happened.

That is 100% false, the merc was dead in a matter of 10 seconds of the encounter so I have no clue to what you or anyone else keeps trying to peddle mercs can do that as if they can stay alive.

I have yet to have what people say on this forum with a merc, actually happen inside the game. This is me saying I tested what people here said very thoroughly and the merc was always dead 100% of the time within 10 seconds.

There was one time the merc managed to stay alive for about 20 seconds but that was obviously a farce because it was one time and never happened again.

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As I said, you use your act 2 or act 5 mercenary to kill them.

My merc rarely dies, you are doing something wrong and you are either under leveled so your merc is also or you gave him bad equip.

I did frozen orb/fire wall run on hardcore and finished hell with untwinked character so its not the game. Just saying.

If your merc is dying to double immune monsters, help him with spamming telekinesis.

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I’ve used every hireling from every act all with the same exact result, it’s dead in around 10 seconds. No gear or what i did stopped that.

All of you pushing those excuses really need to knock it off, it’s obviously you’re just looking to put blame on things that do not matter. As I said I very thoroughly in game tested what people keep saying and it never works, there is no gear or level or anything that matters again I actually tested this and what you and others say doesn’t hold up to actual in game testing.

So did I but the difference between me and you is you didn’t run into an enemy that is both COLD and FIRE immune, plus having someone else in your party that can do other damage doesn’t count.

Ok that first part of your reply doesn’t even make any sense. But that is neither here nor there, The reason the merc is dying because no hireling can withstand a 10 second fight against any enemy in hell, and has nothing to do with the player.

I actually have thorough in game testing regarding hirelings and what people say to do so you all need to stop blaming the player for what the game itself is programmed to do and acting like hirelings can do something they simply can’t.

Bottom line is builds like orb/wall are halted as soon as they encounter any enemy that is immune to both cold and fire. You can’t kill it solo, so you have to exit the game and remake it, then hope that those enemies do not spawn again immune to both your attacks.

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We still don’t know your current level. And I can simply not believe that your merc dies if you’ve cleared the other mobs (who are not immune to both fire and ice) and feed him a rejuv pot or two for this one mob. Lord de Seis’ minions are fire immune only, so he will also be alone. Again, you have the most powerful tool to re-position your merc which can be used offensively and defensively. Lord de Seis is ultrafast and keeps running away? Port your merc next to him and let him stab im once or twice, repeat.
Your merc is dying? Port him away, feed him a rejuv or normal pot if he’s not poisened.
Use static to get both of the said mobs to 50% so your merc has only half of the work to do. You might also want to use a holy freeze merc to slow down enemies.

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I honestly appretiate your feedback as i am working on my own guide and this will help me to know what to focus and what to explain.

I must say that you are wrong about the mercenary, as you probably are not that experienced yet.

I dont know your level, but you should be atleast lvl 75 in act 4 hell.

About your mercenary. Go to nightmare and hire the one with holy freeze aura, preferably one on your level or very close. I dont know about your options with items and most importantly runes. Maybe you found some stuff you can use.

Weapon
Preferably something with decent dmg and life leech. Higher damage will help because dead enemy cant do dmg to your merc and life leech will help him sustain longer and survive. Even exceptional insight(runeword) weapon will be enough for killing. If you dont have eth polearm with 4 sockets, try to run few cows nightmare. If mephisto/diablo/baal nighmare to get some decent unique weapon. Also there is one decent set weapon too, set bill(hwanin). If you have some runes, you can even make obedience if you have decent weapon polearm base with 5 sockets. Merc will be beast with obedience even if it is not in elite polearm.

Armor
Usualy you will want something with resistances so merc can have 75% on hell. You can make treachery, lionheart or Smoke for him. Check them out. Some nightmare or even normal unique armors are also useful, duriels shell is great. Or anything with high def, life leech or open wounds.

Just open wounds can help your case, if that procs from merc attack, monster will keep getting dmg on its own for some time.

Helm
You can find some decent helm if you farm NM bosses few times, something with life leech would be great.

So how to deal with double immunity in your case? Let merc to get aura first, go to cold planins snd let him kill few fallens to activate his aura, then he will keep freezing monsters around him which greatly helps as monsters cant attack him so fast.

Use telekinesis to lower hp of monster to 50% and if monster is especially tough, spam telekinesis to monsters against object or wall to help your merc in his fight.

If he doesnt have great items, yes he will be dying sometimes, just play smart, dont just let him run into big packs of monsters and just tank. Use teleport to go back if he is taking too much heat and heal him.

Chaos sanctuary is especially dangerous so yes your merc will be dying there a lot, just keep healing him with potions and take it very slow.

I hope this helped.

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OK do me a favor instead of coming up with one thing after another to say the problem is the player and just accept that what people claim to do doesn’t work.

FYI I was level 84 when I did this testing. And The hireling died no matter what. So it’s not the level, it’s not the gear, it’s not what hireling you get either.

Now I’m really going to put a damper on this whole thing by saying try to solo hell difficulty with an ORB/WALL sorc in Classic.

This whole thing as gotten to the point where it’s now coming across as it’s just a group of people are just trolling people by talking about something they full well know it wont work but yet make topics and post replies artificially reinforcing their scam just to see if anyone will fall for it.

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Really? Cause I use my Merc to kill cold immunes for me and unless he gets completely overwhelmed…which DOES HAPPEN OCCASIONALLY he has plenty of life steal and attack speed to keep himself fed. The only time he’s glass is when he catches amp damage and the unique has extra strong extra fast.

You’re just salty cause you can’t seem to get it to work for you.

Here is what my hireling uses currently:

  • The Reapers Toll
  • Tal Rasha’s Horadric Crest
  • Atma’s Wail

For a total of only 25% LS / 10 Replenish Life / 30% Faster Hit Recovery

Here is the big kicker that really is key for my merc, using teleport to “place” him on enemies and to remove him from immediate danger allowing him to regain control of his life steal.

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Upload a video of your gear and your merc’s gear and you attempting CS and we’ll tell you what you are doing wrong. Otherwise, be quiet.

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Did you even bother reading my tips how to make your merc more viable? I am really trying to help you dude but it seems that you are not interested in improving or listening and you just want to complain instead of finishing hell. So which is it?

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Gee, all the folks who have been using their merc to stomp those dual immunes must be wrong! Only this one fella on this forum must be right! Everyone else is BS-ing!

Yeah with that kind of attitude, your poor sorc is going to be bad and stay bad.

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See you people post all this garbage as if the average people even have half that gear…Me personally have watched 16 people all say different gear.

What you’re saying is one thing, but in the game that really doesn’t work Stun locks prevent that and yet here you are trying to pass it off as stun locks don’t matter

This is what I originally posted this topic about exactly what all of you are doing. You’re pushing people to use things as if it’s the best thing in existence and has zero problems, and no one is bothering to focus on any of the bad stuff and downfalls with this that are the reality of it.

And you’re trying to bury what I’m saying so people don’t know how it really is.

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So you are here just complain and troll then right?

People are trying to help you but you dont want to listen. You just want to push out your opinion even if you are wrong no matter what.

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I don’t take people seriously who only have their say so and who trash people if they don’t roll over and accept their word as fact

Unlike some people on this forum when you pull this with them, I’m just not going to converse with most of you any more because you will all continue to use the whole we says so" yet you never prove anything or talk about any of the downfalls.

It’s like you cannot have anyone point out serious flaws in your talk. So when you cannot get them to agree with you, out comes the bashing, name calling, reporting, flagging, and whatever else.