Leveling to 100 - Custom hardcore tips never published

Hardcore
1

I made it to lvl100 on HC a few weeks ago and wanted to put together a custom “survival guide” that is based on a lot of experience with a Rogue… take the advice as you will because theres also specific things you do from your own behaviors , to how good the connection you have to the game.

Category: CONNECTION & LAG

  1. Tip #1 - try to use a dedicated, hard line ethernet connection. Never rely on Wifi , do a trace, try a VPN always monitor your ping/connection ingame, sometimes you need to connect a few times to get the best ping on the cloud server

  2. Tip #2 - Always watch your PING especially during group activities/ world boss

  3. Tip #3 - always ensure theres enough bandwidth available from your client. Ie: your roommate isn’t streaming his dog grooming video at the same time

  4. Tip #4 - some times of day is just high traffic, noticeably so, so do not play at those times. Be discplined in a hc game.

On to the next category of tips

Category: GAMEPLAY & DISCIPLINE

  1. Tip #5 - always play refreshed, focused and attentive. Always have a reason and purpose for what you are doing in the game. Build more defensively than offensively. If you dont Have armor+ on every single piece of armor u have u r playing the game wrong bro with how stupidly important the base stat is currently.

  2. Tip #6 - dont play underlevel, undergeared. Be prepared for transitions from wt2 to wt3, and wt3 to wt4. Dont rush things. Dont challenge stuff too high above your level, until well past 80+. Then you want to only focus on enemies 10+ levels above you

  3. Tip #7 - unfortunately you are also playing against lag so your best combat in game that counters this is your immune bubble. I know it has saved me a few times
    7.5s on amulet is a long time, and can save u from immense lag spike. It has saved me before. So consider having a safeguard in your build. This can also save u from a disconnect in helltide.

  4. Tip #8 - The anti disconnect AFK build - (razorplate based) can eventually create a disconnect build that gives you a chance at surviving in game even if you are DC’d mid combat. I have tested this and was DC’d during a Legion. I have a Rogue with about 12k thorns. Youll have to tweak the build because dexterity affects how much thorn dmg+ u do, but effectively you can acquire enough dmg at lvl90+ to survive AFK certain mobs. With the immune bubble proc, the AFK build can momentarily outlast any local mobs fighting you, thats all. Special high level 10+ mobs , this AFK will most likely fail.

This will be less effective versus hp+ and lifesteal+ mobs though, but thorns build is an effective anti disconnect practice for afk build. Dont expect it to save u from crazy stuff though it just wont tank that much dmg

Category: GAMEPLAY + SKILLS

  1. Tip #9 - Learn all enemies types and attacks. Know when to Push, when to back off. Actually to conquer most of the damn game is about not standing in the wrong killzone spot, so avoiding explodey things is given. But is frontal assault on 3 elites 2 of them windy enchanted, a good solid idea. You have to evaluate these risks consistently and be right.
    Dont forget about every enemy type. One such example are Moon Clan Shamans and their dmg reflect nasty gib orb ability that has claimed many hc player lives, but preparedness is your unbroken ally. Always be prepared with whats ahead with boss fights, encounters and enemy types and mechanics. AVOID certain NM dungeons, for the LOVE of all things holy. Not going to mention what NM dungeons to avoid, do your research. Armor+ stat and DR+ rolls are your go-to’s.

  2. Tip#10 - use whats available here to prevent death!
    remember with death pots - you will always have to farm materials and certain dungeons like sarat+ can net you plenty of beast bones, plus with the escape scroll, for the love of god bind to a button! Remember soft-reset (exit NM dungeon) is 100% legal farming method.

Also the scroll is NOT your way out of CC, you MUST have some anti CC safeguard in your build eg: eluding aspect for rogue provides unstoppable on injury, also shadow step is your defensive friend (you are not really supposed to use this ability offensively in hc mode)

I hope these tips help you survive to 100+ and beyond in hardcore mode, as they helped me. And best of luck my hc peeps out there

5 Likes
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For me, that is the most dangerous time because you are so undergeared.

1 Like
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Thats the focus, and IMO the absolute best gameplay available in the whole game.

I suppose some people enjoy the min-maxing more than others but i tinkered with rolls and gear a lot and gear check cannot be ignored every few levels.

Let me point out how immensely dangerous Wt4 helltides are around lvl65+ but the reward is your first sets of ancestrals. Otherwise the obol folks and vendors dont have ancestrals for you til at least 73.

Its not impossible but forces one to play absolutely at peak. For sure. I did this all solo but its better in groups.

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You forgot to mention the most important tip: Always play with a fresh pair of underwear on!

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lol Peptobismol is your friend…

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I like the tip #7, but it doesn’t always work. Your character need 9 seconds of not being active to log out. Therefore, a 7.5 seconds can kill still

What you can do is to have another PC up and running next to you where you can boot up and load the game into character selection within 7 seconds , to hopefully save it under a DC during Mid combat

But even with that, it doesn’t work most of the time

Apparently, a rubber banding will be saved though. But never a DC

The biggest enemy is the disconnection from the server, which happened to me a couple times already. Your character will still move while other stuff isn’t, your characters can swing stuff but no effects….etc…can’t proc scroll of escape and so on…the next step is a windows announcing that your client is disconnected from the server. Once you logged in, you are deader than dead :joy:

That is why lvl to 100 in HC is such an achievement, a lot of disciplinary and lucks involved. I hope I can make it this time

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You can stack immunity amulet, immunity heart, sorc cheat death, death elixir for about 15-20+seconds of guaranteed immunity (it also takes time for mobs to walk up to and actually kill you) if everything was available on a lag spike or disconnect. I’m not saying that doing all this is recommended or a good idea but it is an option in full or in part for those who want to build that way.

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I play on PS5 and can’t see ping. You lost me right there. :joy:

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Don’t use batteries on Xbox. Connect the controller with a cable! ^^