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Nov 20 2019 07:10am
Hi there,

what are your experiences with viable + soloable "non-mainstream-builds" in classic?

for example:

Poisonmancer --> viable until + a3 hell?
Nova-Sorc --> viable until ?
Ranger (hf + raven) --> ~ viable until + a4 nm
Zealer --> viable until + a4 hell (but f**** slow?)
Smiter --> viable until + a4 hell (but f**** slow?)
Warcry Barb --> ?

Think im going to make a ntc char next season with one of these.. :)
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Nov 21 2019 01:30pm
Many non mainstream builds are only viable in solo play
Stick mainstream if you plan to play multiplayer

Also I'd only recommend these if you plan to truly play the game and not just rush to the end. Otherwise you can make the char in jamella and single and save yourself the trouble
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Nov 21 2019 02:50pm
My thoughts


Magic arrow: Lubna wrote that it works, but you need A LOT of patience
Pure Valkyrie - supposedly there was a guy who beat the game with it in LOD, but not viable in classic. I made one for memes and standing in town, but I managed to kill like 5 lamers
Fend - bugged, very irritating to play, when you start missing due to fend bug you get angry. You end up using jab, which is single target and too slow.
Magezon (Ice arrow + fire arrow) - I tried this and simply didnt like it. I guess someone very patient could make it work up to A3 hell, but it it is very weak and slow. I think concentrating just on cold is a bit better (even if you cant kill immunes), but still feels bad.

Poisonmancer --> viable until + a3 hell; will not work in a4
Skeleton summoner: somehow popular build, allows for a bit "chill out" playstyle, but in classic it is irritating to play, without merc hard to get first bodies. Very slow in Act4 hell even with good gear. Works till act3 / not that good vs bosses
Golemancer - never tried it, but as far as I know it does not work - too low dmg to do anything (this one I put on list, but I never tried)

Warcry barb - in classic you drink a LOT of potions, to make it work you need paladin friend who gives you regen aura (healer paladin - I knew only 1 of them in classic). You are very slow. I managed to kill 3-4 BAD players in PvP, because they got stun locked, but the build is baaad
Double throw - does not work in classic due to no rare throwing weapons (can work in VLLD)
Frenzy - I never tried it in classic, but supposedly it works, still is much worse to whirlwind
Concentrate - I really tried it, it feels terrible to play

Ranger - can use 2 auras + bow (for example lightning + cold). Very slow. In order to work you need prepatch ravenclaw (at least 1 still exists in classic -> it has level 20 (? or 30?) explosive arrow). With normal ravenclaw it sucks to play / too low dmg; I think act2 hell is top
Charge - I tried it, with 1 h weapon you cant kill anything in PvP, with 2h weapon you can sometimes oneshot a crap sorc, but character feels like paper and dies fast. PvM it is nightmare to play. Also if you one shot their sorc, they bring necroman and put you in bone prison 0/10 I dont recommend
Smiter - too slow, I think technically you can beat game with it, but it will take hours. Some used Smiters for Travincal hell, but whirlwind barb / hammerdin are 42342352 better for that. Also, those monsters that spawn other monsters (e.g. in River of flame) are a gigantic problem for smiter, they often spawn faster than you can kill them. This is a problem of many chars in this list too (e.g. Concentrate barb, frenzy etc)
Vengeance- just bad, you cant even one shot stuff with it... so you can barely progress.
Conversion - I actually never tried it, but since I NEVER seen one, I assume not viable at all. As far as I know monster dmg is too low when compared to monster HP. Even if you convert them, they wont do anything.
Cold zealer - can clear a4 hell but slow (preferably cold + physical)
Light zealer - can clear a4 hell but slow (preferably light+ physical)
Fire zealer - never tried, but tons of fire immunes in a4 hell will be a big problem
FOH healer paladin - meme build, use FOH to heal others so they dont die in CS. Others prefer a hammerdin who can kill stuff, also it cant do anything on its own. I think they used such builds when they cleared game using naked chars in hardcore (full game clear 8 player team, so one was dedicated healer). Also classic is dead, so no more CS anyway; people would appreciate a hammerdin.


Lightning sorc - it can sort of work, but just feels bad, also immunes in hell / hell CS
Fire wall - I saw some meme builds for it for PvP, but it is generally bad. For PvM tons of fire immunes in hell.
Cold armor - not viable; in PvP I got one level 90 and it can kill some barbs when I get BO from BO slave. Without BO slave (which itself is very lame), it is bad.

Over the years I really tried nearly all char types / skills in both classic and LOD. In classic many skills are simply unplayable. In LOD some of them work due to the ridiculous items / charms, but still feel bad too play.

Reality is that in classic there is a very liimited list of popular builds + some builds that are "kind of" viable, if you accept being like 10 times slower.

The kind of viable builds (= will not make you cry, but stil slow) are: zealers (preferably phiscal dmg from weapon and either cold or light), poison necro (up to a3 hell), summoner (when you get bodies you an roll stuff, but bodies dont move through acts / you cant summon bodies from a5 in classic, since in theory no a5).
If you are patient, you can probably search for some Lubna's comments about amazon builds, he beat game with Magic arrow for example, but it required tons of patience and good positioning. The game requires that even with Strafe (which probably does not work withouth a great bow and even then is very slow).

This post was edited by dropship on Nov 21 2019 02:55pm
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Nov 22 2019 04:33am
ty guys for the ideas!!

Think i'm go for a ww-barb as main ;)
and as NTC-Chars maybe a Nova-Sorc + Poisonmancer.

Too sad, that CB doesn't work with expl. arrow any more, back in the days i had an archer-necro with raven claw, which was quite ok to play :D
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Nov 22 2019 12:40pm
java kinda works, but you wanna get to level 30+ with ench and have some MAEK.
the game has been balanced around LOD and the availablilty of runewords. therefor in classic most builds fell off into unplayable grounds. i tried. for years. ended up using most for nightmare "mid level dueling" back when we had a community

This post was edited by Jamirus on Nov 22 2019 12:41pm
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Nov 22 2019 12:48pm
Quote (gmorkandthewolf @ Nov 22 2019 03:33am)
ty guys for the ideas!!

Think i'm go for a ww-barb as main ;)
and as NTC-Chars maybe a Nova-Sorc + Poisonmancer.

Too sad, that CB doesn't work with expl. arrow any more, back in the days i had an archer-necro with raven claw, which was quite ok to play :D


Nova pairs with orb decently, made one this season, does ok in 1 player games, nova struggles against ghouls and gore bellies though and light enchantments. Pure nova could be a fun nm build. Nova is strong as long as it does enough damage to engage the hit recovery
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Nov 22 2019 02:15pm
Quote (SagittariusA @ 22 Nov 2019 19:48)
Nova pairs with orb decently, made one this season, does ok in 1 player games, nova struggles against ghouls and gore bellies though and light enchantments. Pure nova could be a fun nm build. Nova is strong as long as it does enough damage to engage the hit recovery


before synergies were a thing, nova/frost nova/static was a common sorc build. spare points in warmth/teleport/frost armor/es/tk
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Nov 22 2019 03:24pm
Quote (SagittariusA @ 22 Nov 2019 12:48)
Nova pairs with orb decently, made one this season, does ok in 1 player games, nova struggles against ghouls and gore bellies though and light enchantments. Pure nova could be a fun nm build. Nova is strong as long as it does enough damage to engage the hit recovery


crushing blow does work with exploding arrow?
its just the arrow has to hit and i dont mean the exploding part i mean the actual arrow.
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Nov 22 2019 04:31pm
Barb warcry is good for mfing u can take 2 gull :D add a battle cry to make more dmg,
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Nov 24 2019 04:16pm
Quote (Jamirus @ Nov 22 2019 01:15pm)
before synergies were a thing, nova/frost nova/static was a common sorc build. spare points in warmth/teleport/frost armor/es/tk


Nova sucked prelod. It was only good from 07 to 09 but in that time it was the king, and also thunderstorm pretty much 1 shotted everything at that time as well

Prelod the tweaker orb static sorc was king
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