Hello all,


I'm a long time lurker of d2jsp, esp you guys the PVM section. Many of you completed d2 walkthrough on p8 offline etc etc. I've also attempted hc sorc on player8 to die to nm cows by not paying attention. Ouch it hurt, the hours and items lost; so lesson learned. Do not play while having drinks lol. However I've only attempted HC and softcore with fireball/fo sorc-- and im sick of playing sorc! So my questions is, what other class can solo the game on p8? on top of this; I'm sort of sick of Runewords making the game easy(enigma and alike!) I'm okay with using Spirit bcus that isn't too too crazy. One of my big issue is old school UNiques have no real-game use and value. I remember back in the day finding Arkaine Valor and it felt so awesome, then Vamp gaze..etc so on . After watching Mrlamma explain how to obtain Gull dagger by gambling-- it hit me-- I want to play HC again. And I need help setting some fun rules for myself. Clearing an area? no save n exit? always p8? and as he explains gull dagger gambling, I went online and spent about 30-40 mins gambling for Rixon's Keen short swords (with lvl 6 amazon) and I got it. Then wacked a bunch of monsters with it ((on amazon) and it was kida fun. I would like to find those (crappy?) items that are appropriate for my current level/ class. Truth to be told, I never looked at TC lists until yesterday-so im still enjoying learning the game, yet I have always had diablo on release. I just want to play it for fun with fun goals and challange and not rush through it to lvl 90 in 5 hours. Please share your game rule ideas and suggestions--no Sorc please!

and keep in mind im starting fresh, and am currently convincing my brother to try HC for first time and obey these "rules" for the games difficulty/fun/reward satisfaction feelings. Thank you for reading my rambling.

First of all, pretty much ANY build can be completed on /P8 HC. Just more often then not, some builds require much more time MFing/Crafting than others.

The “safest” character build in my opinion is the Fishymancer. It’s a summoning necro that utilizes Corpse Explosion. It’s stupid efficient and crazy safe when you have 10-20+ summons plus merc n golem. Makes /P8 a cake walk. This is an example of a build that can complete the entire game Normal thru Hell with scraps for gear lol.

Other builds require much more top-tier gear to complete the game I’m addition to significantly more added risk.

I started playing D2 in my high school years about 12ish+ years ago (damn im getting old. Fuck lol) and I mostly played Bnet with cookie cutter builds. Like Hammerdin, Fury and Windy Druids, as well as Sorceresses.

It was about 7-8 years ago that I started playing SP and doing HC runs. So glad I did. I play HC Bnet om D2R here and there but overall SP HC is the waaaaay to go. IMO, it’s so much better (unless you play with friends and none of my friends are big enough nerds to play with me lmao).

So I’ve been playing for more than 10 years. I’ve done all of the major builds on /P8 since then and so I’m tired of playing the cookie cutter builds. I now exclusively play odd and/or highly restricted builds that are usually labeled as “trash” Lolol. But that’s what is fun for me

You need to play different builds to find out what’s fun for you.

The top tier builds if you want to expand past a traditional Sorceress build would be these:

Summoning/CE Necro
(Safe, powerful, and cheap to build)

WW or Zerker Barbs
(Moderately safe, powerful, moderately cheap)

Hammerdins
(Moderately safe to safe [depends on gear and play style], powerful, cheap to moderately expensive [depends on what gear pieces you use and sub out])

Werewolf and Werebear Druids
(Safe, moderately powerful to powerful [depends on gear], cheap to moderately expensive [also depends on gear]

Windy Druids
(Safe, powerful, cheap)

Trapsin
(Safe, powerful, moderately expensive)

Now you can make any of these builds super expensive but they can play the game on /P8 relatively cheap.

But I’ve found that it’s more fun to play play an absolutely awful build that uses shit skills and gearing them up with the best stuff I can find, gamble and craft in order to grind thru the game on /P8. It’s much more rewarding that way.

For example, my favorite build of all time is a medic/healidin. And this exclusively relies on the merc to kill things lol. But I find it so fun to make my passive healing absurd thusly creating an invincible merc lol. Plus I don’t feel super useless cause it can shred (and I mean dominate) undead and demon enemies via Holy Bolt when geared and built properly.

All in all, HC can be a bitch more often than not but it makes you truly appreciate the game and forces you to build characters thru drops instead of trading away for gear appropriate for your build. It forces you to heavily consider more rare items or crafts and to use your respects more carefully. So I’m super conscious to make sure I allocated enough strength and dex for more mid-end game pieces and to save a respec for when/if a BIS item drops. Plus it makes you consider more defensive builds vs soft core where ppl just make glass cannons.

Some fun restrictions can include maybe only using certain item types like only use magic, rare or crafted items only.

Or perhaps building an off-the-wall character that’s a blend of a couple builds like a Fire Druid that uses Summonings.

Or perhaps you create a rule that the first unique to drop in each difficulty must be equipped the entire time throughout the duration of that difficulty. So a Stoutnail drops in normal A1 at the beginning of you walkthrough. Then Stoutnail will be your weapon that is used throughout the entirety of normal until you can into NM.

Or maybe with each act you HAVE to buy 1 piece of armor from the town’s vendor and use it at all times during that act. Once you go into the next act then you can sell it and use something you found but you must buy another, different piece of gear to use for that act.

Perhaps you force level caps on your character. Must kill normal Blood Raven before level 6 or can’t be past lvl 35 or 40 when kill Diablo for the first time.

Maybe you create a character that must use skills in all three trees or for each difficultly you must only use 1 skill tree at a time and must switch (respec) every time you advance into a new difficulty. For example, you create a 100% Shadow Disciplines Sin for Normal and once you advance to A1 NM you are required to respec into another skill tree so you are a Martial Artist Sin for the remainder of NM and once you get to Hell you must respec into a Trapsin

There are so many combinations you can do. What matters is that it’s fun for you and it’s your own style.

In regards to convincing your brother to playing with you, y’all can do HC Bnet and play characters that compliment each other. Like have a long range and/or support character with a tanky melee character. But it took me getting bored of playing D2 without consequences till I wanted to try HC

But it’s a double edged sword as you know lol. It’s so rewarding but deaths suuuuuuuck and can be soul crushing lol

This post was edited by Astrological on Jan 4 2022 04:51pm

Last comment hahahaha

But about restrictions, HC /P8 is usually the only restriction most ppl need lmao. It can be brutal af to build a character that way. Takes a lot of time and patience.

I don’t add a lot of restrictions cause my shitty ass builds are hard enough to play with. But if you decide to continue with HC SP, post a WT about it. I’d love to follow along.


I wish more ppl posted WTs like back in the day instead of only a few ppl here and there. Keeps the forum alive imo.

Good luck on your future endeavors and
Hopefully you can get your bro to join the hell that is Hardcore Diablo haha