Hey, to continue my work from link below, I bring you NIGHTMARE AND HELL TOGETHER and this is final part of my little Hardcore series " How to survive Hardcore"
Pictures are from Legacy Diablo 2 because D2R is not out yet.
This part will be slightly different as I made separated ACTS for normal and now I have all together for NM and Hell. I made it like this so I dont have to just repeat stuff, pretty much all dangers from normal are same or even worse for Nightmare and Hell. But there is plenty of new stuff which is different than on normal so I wanted to talk about that.
GENERAL TIPS
- Play well rested
- Dont play drunk or under influence of drugs
- save and exit can save you in many situations
- allow to loot your dead body to your friends and dont leave before they do so.
- always have some full rejuvenation potions in belt
- dont rush the content too fast, this is not softcore, if you die its game over.
- dont collect stuff in stash under personal tabs
- choose your team mates in battle net wisely
NIGHTMARE + HELL
Common places and events which can get you killed
Unique Monsters
All unique monsters are more dangerous on NM and Hell because they will get another +1 ability for every difficulty. Every super unique monster is especially deadly on Hell because they can get more nasty combination of these abilities together. Some monster who didnt have ability on normal like Ancients and Nihlathak will get additional ones on NM and Hell. Normal unique monster will have 3 abilities, some Super Uniques monsters can have even 5.
Alternate way of Player killing:
If you play on Battle net, be prepared for various ways of how players killer will try to kill you. Usual way is hostility and direct attack, but some people like to kill others with unsafe portals. They will gather a lot of dangerous monsters to TP, and then they will tell you that TP is safe. You will go down and most likely die by being overwhelmed by many monsters. So dont go blindly into portals of people you dont know. Same can even create unsafe TP not doing it on purpose, so atleast wait for them to tell you if TP is safe to go in.
Resistances:
Resistances are very important on Nightmare and Hell and they can be difference between Life and Death. Nightmare will lower your resistances by -40% and Hell by another -60%. Try to gather some equip for better resistances before you go to another difficulty and try to always be above 0% atleasts.
Auras/curses:
Unique monsters having Aura Enchanted on NM and Hell will have stronger versions of auras on higher levels, improving dmg of monsters around greatly and also to further distance. Cursed monsters will cast Amplify damage on you which last a lost longer on NM and Hell. Here is list of most dangerous curses and auras you can face:
- Amplify damage curse - it will double all damage done to you by monsters.
- Decrepify Curse - it makes you more vulnerable to physical damage and slows you down.
- Might* - Increasing damage to all monsters in aura radius.
- Fanaticism - Increasing Damage and attack speed to all monsters in aura radius.
- Conviction - Lowers your resistances to elements so non physical or magic attacks will deal a lot more damage to you. This is especially dangerous together with Cold, Fire and Lightning enchanted monsters. Conviction can be basicly game over for you with monsters like Souls so try to always eliminate monster with that aura first.
Fire Enchanted:
Every fire enchanted monster will explode upon death, dealing % damage based on their HP. This is quite dangerous on Nightmare and Hell where monsters have a lot more HP than player. You may easily die to this effect, mostly to monsters who have naturaly a lot of HP. Keep in mind that number of players in game greatly increase number of hit points of monsters and power of fire explosion because of that. Fire explosion deals 50% fire and 50% physical damage. Here is the list of monsters around which you need to be extremely cautious if they are Fire enchanted:
- ACT I - Treehead Woodfist, Griswold, The Smith, The Cow King, Wendigos
- ACT II - Radament, Coldworm the Burrower, Fire Eye, Greater Mummies, Sand Maggots, Blunderbores
- ACT III - Szark the Burning, Stormtree, Council Members, Stygian Dolls(Bone Fetish), Thorned Hulks, Blunderbores
- ACT IV - Hephasto the Armorer, Infector of Souls, Mega Demons(Venom Lords), Regurgitators, Vile Mothers
- ACT V - Shenk the Overseer, Tresh socket, Sharptooth Slayer, Frozenstain, Snapchip the Shatter, Nihlathak, The Ancients, Achmel The Cursed, Bartuc the Bloody, Vental the Unholy, Lister the Tormentor, Blood Lords, Siege Beasts, Overseers, Guest monsters from other acts with a lot of HP
FE+LE+CE:
Some unique monsters can have combination of Fire, Cold and Lightning enchanted abilities which can results in high damage because effects will buff each other.Be extremely carefull around Lighting enchanted monsters because their charged bolts will also have additional fire or cold damage if monster is CE or FE. This can results in getting insane dmg at close range from monsters like that.
ACT Bosses:
Every ACT boss is stronger at Nightmare and Hell, strategies to kill them or prepare for them are generaly same. So be prepared for stronger melee attacks and higher elemental or Poison damage. Generaly speaking are Duriel and Diablo less deadly on nightmare and Hell in comparison to normal where you dont have enough skills yet.
ACT I
Dark Rangers/Archers:
Mostly found in several ACT I maps. you can often see them in Forgotten Tower if you do countess runs and also in pit. They are quite dangerous and deal a lot of damage in packs as they often hits their shots.
Treehead the Woodfist:
Treehead will be more dangerous on NM and hell because of additional abilities and also has more minions with him.
Secret Cow level:
Secre Cow level is not so hard location if you are careful as Cows are not fast, but dont go into their packs as they will easily surround you with great numbers and their damage is not low. Some people can trap the tp with herd of Cows to kill you, or players can lure cows close to red portal so keep that in mind before you go in and ask others if entrance is safe.
ACT II
Scarabs:
Scarabs have naturaly charged bolts released when hit so they will do a lot more damage with bolts if they are LE, CE or FE. Be careful in Maggot Lair where it is hard to get away from that and dont fight Scarabs in corners as you will be hit by multiple charge bolts at once.
Fire Eye
Fire eye is always Fire enchanted and also Extra fast and his movement is kind of unpredictable because of his AI. That makes his encounter more dangerous as he can just run to you before death and you will be hit by fire enchanted explosion.
Fangskin:
Fangskin is already dangerous on normal and he will get more abilities on Nightmare and Hell so be extremely cautious in Claw Viper temple because snakes always hit their charged strike.
ACT III
Souls:
Souls are commonly known and hated enemy monster type on NM and Hell by majority of players and countless players died to them. Their Lightning damage is bugged and it does a lot of damage, so be very careful in locations where they spawn. Here is list of locations where you can find them:
- ACT III - Great Marsh, Flayer Dungeon, Swampy pit
- ACT IV - Plains of Despair
- ACT V - Frozen River, Icy Cellar, Worldstone Keep, Throne of destruction
Stygian Dolls:
Extremely dangerous monster type on NM and Hell. These little guys will explode when killed. Do not be close to them when that happens, always use mercenary to kill them. Be carefull if you have character with teleport as mercenary can sometimes kill them when you teleport in spot with them before you can react as their HP is not high. They deal half Fire and half physical damage with explosion. Here is list of locations with dolls.
- ACT III - Swampy pit, Flayer Dungeon, Sewers, Durance of hate
- ACT V - Abaddon, Infernal Pit, Icy Cellar, Throne of destruction
Zakarum Priests
Common enemy in Kurast locations and Travincal. They can cast Lighting and also Blizzard dealing a lot of damage if you dont have Cold resistance.
Sewers
I mention this location because Dolls and Greater mummies are here. Be carefull as they can revive the dolls. Second level also can sometimes have unique Dolls or
Greater Mummy so dont just rush to Khalim´s Heart without thinking.
Council Members:
Council members are even more deadly on NM and Hell as they will get additional abilities. Same rules apply on higher difficulties to them as on normal, try to kill them one by one by luring them away from others. Be extremely cautious if they are lighting enchanted together with FE or CE. If that is the case, let mercenary kill them.
Bremm Sparkfist:
Honestly better avoid this guy as you dont have to kill him. You can often encounter him while doing Mephisto runs. He is extremely dangerous because he is always lighting enchanted and often have Conviction Aura.
ACT IV
Hephasto the Armorer:
Hephasto is heavy melee hitter on NM and Hell often being buffed by his aura to be even stronger.
ACT V
New monsters in ACT V
ACT V is kind of unique with monster types as pretty much all location will have new guess monsters on Nightmare and Hell so maps have a lot of combinations of them. So be ready to face different monsters than on Normal difficulty.
Bloody Foothills:
First ACT V wildereness map can have a lot of new ranged monster types on NM and Hell so count with that and dont just rush in expecting slow mostly melee monsters as on normal difficulty.
Frozen River:
Quite dangerous place on NM and Hell full of very nasty enemies like Abominables, Souls, Dark Lancers, Claw Vipers and Sirens. If you want to save anya and face bad monster types, I suggest going another game and try it again to maby eget more duable setup.
Pit Vipers:
New type of snake who can shoot Bone spears, They do quite a lot of damage with it as Magic resistance is rarely seens on equip.
Icy Cellar:
Another map full of horrible monster types packed in small place. Dolls, Souls, Hell lords, Pit Vipers, Ghosts, Sirens, Abominables, it basicly doesnt have one normal monster you would like to see so try to avoid this place.
ACT 5 Red portal Pits
Pit of Acheron, Abaddon and Infernal pit will get also new monster types on NM and Hell and will be packed with horrible combinations of them. Also avoid if possible.
Tomb Vipers:
Tomb vipers are rare enemy monster type and they can be found only in last Nihlathak temple level, Halls of Anguish. They have poison cloud attack which is bugged and dealing massive amount of physical damage if you stand in it. It can kill you incredibly fast so avoid poison coulds at all cost.
Nihlathak:
Nihlathak will get +1 and +2 abilities on higher difficulties. He can cast Corpse Explosion which is basicly harmess on normal. It is extremely dangerous on NM and Hell where monsters have more HP and it can even one shot you with low fire resistance. If you are running Nihlathak, skills or abilities which destroy bodies are really needed so he will not be able to cast Corpse explosion on them. Unique ring Natural´s Piece is great here to prevent Nihlathak from using corpses.
Ancients:
Ancients will get additional ability on Nightmare and two abilities on Hell. Ancients Hell is probably most feared encounter in game, and they are very hard to kill. Do not go there underleveled or with poor equip or you will easily die. Melee characters will have a lot more troubles here because they have to face all ancients directly and take a lot of damage. I highly suggest keep using tp to roll best ability combinations on ancients you like so they will get some harmfull abilities. If you play melee character, definitely do not go there without wand with Life tap charges to help you leech back the life from them. Fight will be long so it helps to make few runs to town and drop a lot of potions on ground of arreat summit before you start the fight.
Worldstone keep:
Worldstone keep will get many new monster types and can be very dangerous with some combinations of them. You can find here for example Scarabs or Knights from ACT IV who have curses. Worldstone keep 2 is also often full of Burning souls.
Throne of destruction
This location can be full of very dangerous monsters on NM and Hell, souls, dols, Knights with curses, Greater mummies, Blood lords and many more. Be very carefull at entrance, its not rare to be killed when you enter Throne of destruction level as Burning souls and Dolls can spawn there very close. I was once here basicly insta killed by Burning souls unique pack with Conviction aura. So be ready to go back to Keep 3 level immediately or finger on Full rejuvenation potions. Keep in mind that Greater mummies are able to resurrect unded monsters you already killed like for example Dolls.
If you have additional questions or seek some more tips for hardcore, you can visit me in our discord:
