I want to do a full normal to hell play through with a new (to me) build. The goal is to buy relatively cheap gear so I don’t have to grind and mf my own stuff. I’m a dad with limited time and just want to have some fun.

Play through rules:
Uniques, Rares, and Magic items only. No Runewords!
Softcore - going to play mostly on xbox and controls are not great
Beat all content without help

So far I’m interested in:
Zeal pally with a cool Zod’d weapon eventually
Fury Druid same as above
Fire claw Druid using one rune word (flickering flame)
Old school 2h ww barb

Other suggestions?

zerk barb with shield ?

Melee sin?

Seems like you want to kill 1 by 1... Conflicting with your limited time

I see you are looking for something new, probably because you are bored of meta.

I’d suggest to give HC a try*. It should give you more fresh excitement than any SC build, even off-meta.

If so, summon necro is cool and you can play even ssf.


*Full disclosure - I know nothing about playing d2 with a controller.

Shockwave druid would be pretty good/ easy but using dual spirit is going to be way cheaper/easier than any shit uniques

Seems more like you want to play a melee build

Martial Arts assassin seems fun (it sucks but should be able to clear hell on its own)

P1 ?

Go summ Druid just make sure you get a source of amp or decrep

Can shop a ctc amp a2 merc wep under lvl 15

limited time, have fun, and you wanna play phys melee with gear limitations? You sure m8?

Tiger Strike Dragon Tail. You would only need to spend a bit of time gambling or farming cows/high level areas for higher tier boots for the difficulty. Its the most viable MA build IMO.