Every time I get to Hell, I just cant seem to progress. I just run into a mob that one shots me everytime. I'm trying a blizz sorc this time. The cold immunities are just sooo abundent, it makes me useless in most areas, I need all these high level runes, but cant step in the forgotten tower without instant death. I only made this char to farm for my barb, BC he has no gear to survive hell. It seems all the gear to survive hell is in hell, but you cant farm hell unless you have said gear. I dont like trading or buying gear. Any tips??????

Trade or buy gear.

do you play lod or d2r?

It is typical. If you take a look at the monsters' stats in hell, you quickly understand why and how it is possible to die fast.

http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/monsters/

Been playing hardcore the last .. many many years, and i've learned through trial and error that you don't venture into hell mode before you have at least semi-decent gear on your character and do decent damage. You should have +50% resists, any less than that and you take large damage hits, especially from lightning and cold, but sometimes also fire. I've just gone through act 3, and the death lords' fireballs deal about 150-200 damage EACH, with 0% fire resist. I have 1200 hit points so running into a pack of them blindly is the same as getting ko'd. Even with somewhat decent gear now, i still have to be careful. Some monster packs get obscene modifiers, extra strong+might, cursed, any elemental enchantments or several, you just have to keep your distance.

If you play d2l, not d2r, then i suggest you read up on quest bugged boss runs. Stick to diablo and baal, and do that in all acts until you've geared and leveled up properly before you go to the next act.

I would also say, play the game properly, don't buy decked out characters. Maybe one or two key gear pieces is okay, but the game is meant to be played properly. Not cheated through from buying decked out characters.


That was hardcore though, saying this for softcore: You can go through the game without good gear, but as you have found out, it's not much fun, one is squishy as paper, take obscene amounts of damage from anything and waste so much time retrieving the corpse all the time. Also losing experience and gold.

I would almost say to you to start playing hardcore, if you care about dying easily, play hardcore, you'll appreciate the progress that much more. The game will feel more rewarding and you will put more effort into making sure you know what you're doing.

Sorry, i meant the dark lord monster type.

http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/monsters/act1-vampire.shtml

Yea I mainly play D2R, but I play LOD SP HC, which yes is much slower and I appreciate it. I'm really just trying to get something to endgame SC in D2R to have some endgame fun, since I've never done it. I just got some help and went through Hell with my Blizz sorc. I'm rockin a Spirit sword with ancients pledge kite shield, Stealth Ghost Armor and Lore Shako cap (not MF Shako). Also have some good MF uniques to swap, currently just farming Pindleskin for better gear. May add Andy and Mephisto in the run, to get Tal rasha set or Arachnids Mesh, but Yea getting to ANdy and Meph are just the worst runs. I also have a barb which I ran WW through classic and that was honestly really fun, but when I converted him to Expansion he became utterly useless, dying to Monsters in NM.

u can farm terror zones for cold sunder

if u dont have baal quest done, farm a good merc to clear thrones

sounds like your gear is fine for starting out hell

look up how to moat trick mephisto and farm him

This is more LoD related (maybe D2r):

Your merc? Type, gear etc?

Do you use "funneling technique?" (this is where you Draw the monsters into a line+) using closed in spaces or backtracking (teleporting backwards) and using your Sorc skills like Static (as long as it has a great radius)?

To further this strategy, you use Glacial spike to Freeze NON immune and blizz them, and let your merc kill cold immune(s) while you static them.???

It is not just about gear, tactics or strategies make your build more effective.

This is very true.