I've never beaten the game in HC and all my characters usually die in act one hell so I am trying to make sure that my Wind druid is ready. He is level 71 with about 1900 HP and full resists in NM. Stash is mainly full of life charms.

Helm: Lore pelt with +2 Tornado
Armor: Stealth in demonhide
Weapon: Spirit
Shield: Mosers with 2 Perfect Diamonds (I also have a grim shield I can make Rhyme which would have cannot be frozen)
Gloves: Magefist
Belt: Rare with some resists and life
Boots: Aldurs
Ring 1: Caster with 10% FCR
Ring 2: Rare with resists
Amulet: +2 Elemental druid skills

Act 2 merc with unique armor and helm and insight. I have the runes but not the base for an obedience. I doubt I'll find a reapers toll so I might have to use an act 5 merc with lawbringer.



I doubt I will find a Stormshield so I could go max block with the Mosers or the rhyme shield or max health with a spirit monach. As of right now he destroys but we all know that things change in Hell. What are the weak links and what can I reasonably change?

This post was edited by GelatinousCube on Jun 1 2021 06:31pm

I would mf for viper over stealth and maybe string of ears over your rare belt for the dr. Lots of life and resist charms too. I'm sure more experienced people will chime in.

As Pious said, viper and soe are gonna be big upgrades for you. As for rhyme, you don’t need cbf since you’re a caster. Frozen doesn’t change fast speed, only attack/run.

If your merc has exceptional base it might be decent, but aim for eth exceptional or even elite, which can be found I believe in wsk in nightmare. Maybe even before. As for helm, tal/grim will be good for merc for life leech. Those are goals before he’ll, otherwise you’d struggle. When you’re decently geared and you’re ok with chugging mana pots, a5 merc with lawbringer is best. Huge nado damage boost, will help tank, and all around cc.

For hell you need 163 fcr and 99fhr

That’s going to be hard if not impossible for beginning hell. If he could safely run pits he could work his way up to that.

yea viper + strings should be ur goal
lawbringer can add alot of safety aswell

u can also get some more easy lvls till atleast 75 from nm baal

Thanks everyone. I'll do a bunch of meph, chaos and baal runs to look for string of ears, viper, and level up. Starting out in hell I'll keep an eye out for an elite ethereal base for lawbringer, obedience, or insight.

For lawbringer, should I be looking for an ethereal phase blade?

eth Legend sword is a good base for lawbringer

Here's a video of a walkthrough from start to finish on hardcore. It might help with some ideas.

As mentioned above, viper should be crucial for 99fcr breakpoint.
Its the best breakpoint for pvm druid on low budget as you can easily hit maxblock and still have decent cast rate, damage and health.
Try running some meph for possible gulli for Merc/vipermagi.

Are you playing players8?
Cos if you're on players1, your current build should be good enough imo