Yw

To follow up on this, do you not solo melee often because caster is better when soloing or is this a preference? Caster > melee when solo?

Probably more likely because he spends more time climbing as a group than soloing.

Given the lack of groups on HC I spent the majority of my WL and HH climbs this season soloing. In my experience I definitely believe melee to be the easier of the two to solo with. Caster is more fun for sure but melee felt alot smoother.

Go with Paladin.
... Higher strength than Samurai when using swords, also has more Intelligence since you are going to use Heal charm in ACC slot.

Use Stat gear.
... Faster killspeed can also compliment reduced amount of attacks.

Use Retribution / Salvation for abilities if you are only going to use 2 abilities.
... Since in this setup you are NOT using EE armor, you will charge up these abilities faster than Powerstrike when confronting 2+ monsters.

Heal type charm in ACC slot, UNLESS you can afford an EE / Stat charm on Main [I can (if I want) use my 55 Wild with 57 ee / 30 str and works out great]
... Helps you stay in cata longer and reduces the amount of shrines you need to use... Shrines should only be used in 3x EP confrontations [This is what I have come to notice]

Guessing SC.
85-95 Base vita
35 Base Intelligence - this gives you more mana pool and decent heal capacity if using nice high EE charm in ACC slot.

Collecting Shrines:
Use +2 / +3 modded items during your climb and save as many +5s upwards for later levels

My Strength Armors:

35 plate (40 str)
55 leather (57 str)

Use your EE armor @ 45 to 55
____________________________

You can test above, you can also go back to what you normally do using a Paladin and also add Retribution as a 3rd Ability.
Everyone else practically gave you great advice, my advice is only on a personal play style I use on Hardcore, the difference
is, I use 57 Intelligence armor instead of Strength @ level 55 upwards.

I'll definitely give it a go!

Levels 1-~45 went mostly the same as I'd be climbing with a standard build, I guess.
It was very smooth at levels 55-65, but later it's become very difficult. I guess this build can be strong but with decent heal charms. My 40 lvl is like 100 ee, and my 55 lvl is 90 ee so... they're temporary and I don't feel like I need a super good lvl 40 or 45 but a decent mq one could make this build op.

So you went with only 2 Abilities?
Salvation
Retribution

If so, you can alter the amount of points you put in them to your liking to counter any issues, I tend to go with more Salvation to help me stay a little longer in catacombs. You can also opt for more intelligence... up to 50 base points, this gives you more mana and also a little bit higher heal capacity.

It depends on what you are comfortable with, if you keep testing this out, you will find the runs vary at times.

Hope this helps... I can use my level 25 focus upto level 73, but, I don't use 2 abilities, I use only salvation... but that is because I am trying to get the best out of my 7ml / 6 AP and Power Shot... if it gets harder for me, or I feel bored I do swap to a level 55 Wild @ 57% ee and 30 Str.

This post was edited by izParagonzi on Jan 28 2019 10:19pm

Yeah I went with 2 and I was distributing points evenly between those 2. I ended up with 35 int and 105 vita. I would use the ability to gain some health using a lvl 1 whistle or spam the heal charm at lvl 1 whistle when I ran out of shrinables but it took forever and all of my mana to heal that 7k health heh.
I'll try to get a better heal charm if that helps the ability, does it much?

Next climb I'll try 1 ability only

This post was edited by Grigo on Jan 29 2019 05:16am

I do things differently than what you are doing.

1. My heal charm is on my Main slot, not ACC, thus you need higher EE for ACC placement.
2. I only go with around 95 to 100 vitality, I also play with 35-45 intelligence, thinking of 50 later on when using Retribution.

Why do you spam whistle level 1 just to cast healing on yourself? You may as well just regen since you need to regain the mana used. Remember to use the crap +1-+4 shrines as you climb, and save all the +5s and above for higher levels... at times you MAY have to regen, so 1 or 2 regen items in vault.

I don't use regen gear, I don't whistle when exploring, I do however whistle on a Well when it hasn't disappeared at high level like 70+.

Forgot to ask, but, your character is really a Monk right? So that means, even though you are playing as a Paladin, you still need to get to level 77 to MQ?

Also post your full MQ setup, I want to see what other mods are if any.

EDIT: You have a really nice strength charm for main... wondering if you can test out your heal on main around level 65, but, only if you are using Retribution and Salvation.

This post was edited by izParagonzi on Jan 29 2019 06:52am

I spam whistle 1 to heal myself at the expense of most of my mana because it gets me through to level up. I don't use heal while fighting the explore minions because I have weak heals and I find it better just to focus on killing them asap.
At what % do you just salvation to heal yourself? I usually wait for at least 100 but then again, I went salvation and retribution evenly so my salvation heals weren't that good + I have it as a secondary charm.

Yes, I believe I must go to 77 for the MQ. I'm currently at 72 and I don't have the MQ available to me.
And yes, my strength charm is quite nice so I don't know if taking a heal as a main charm would be that good, I'd need a really good EE heal charm I guess.
My main goal while solo climbing is magic find so I don't really care that much about GPs but rather on killing mobs.