I’ve done a paladin and got him to hell, I respeced into BH. I’m lvl 70 now and am still getting slaughtered whilst going against Andy Act 1. I looked up online that people need to be at least lvl 60 to face the Ancients on act 5 Hell. I’m thinking how the hell???
I have a Spirit sword, Ancients Pledge shield, lore helm, Smoke full plate armour (cannot seem to get anything better) and misc gloves, belt and boots. My rings and amulet have res on them as well as +1 to combat skills.
I would have thought that this would be enough to at least do up to Duriel but I can barely survive. My BH are stupidly op but my survivability is just terrible even though my defence (with holy shield) is 1300+ and my resistances are abouve 65%.
I can’t find any decent runes to make anything better runeword wise. My merc dies way too often yet I have a nice bit of armour on him and an Insight weapon on him.
I just cannot remember how I was able to do hell in D2 lod original.
Any helpful tips would be most appreciated. Btw, plz don’t say farm nightmare as the position of the Black marsh waypoint is literally shouldering the Countess’ tower.
Pump some points into dex for blocking sh*t
I got myself around ~125 dex with a zaka shield (75% blockchance)
If you think you gonna facetank anything on hell - no, it won’t happen. So just pay attention to your positioning… Your gear is a nice mid/entry level.
You can lvlup a bit in act 1 on Countess runs. Also you can try to bump your block chance to 75%, this is helpful. Also, don’t forget about Redemption aura
Your defence is zero if you are running. Are you running?
Make a Treachery runeword in a decent armor for your merc and look for an elite polearm to make Insight (or Obedience if you don’t need the mana). Try to use a fast polearm, preferably thresher or giant thresher, but any elite will do. Get a helm with leech like Tal’s. He should be able to facetank most mobs apart from bosses with that. The Pits in Tamoe Highlands is a good place to look for bases for runewords.
As others have said, get enough dex for max block with maxed holy shield. You can shop or gamble a belt with resistances and big +life. This is really just a rough stretch until you get a break with a decent item or a better MF set-up. Farming NM Meph for a bit at this point isn’t uncommon.
Thank you all for your replies.
To answer a few of your questions.
Phalaenpsis and Sargathanas - My dex is under 100 still as I don’t have much from charms or items that add to it. I’ll pump my next few levels into dex to help with my block chance.
Ghostlight - I do run as I try to speedrun countess but I never knew (even playing the old D2) that running turns defence to zero, thank you.
Cerb - I’ll look into a Treachery runeword for my merc, but am low on the mid tier - high tier runewords, which is why I am aiming for countess runs but am failing lol. Thanks.
Alot of newbies underestimate Vitality and spreading stats too much (like wasting points on energy).
Try not to go too crazy on Dex - 75% is a target, you will get a bump to this number by lvling Blessed Shield as well.
My stats are - Str 80, dex 70, vit 155, energy at base 0 points.
My goal was to be at high health but forgot about a few dex points
Make sure to look up Mr llama’s guide on maps on youtube. It will cut down the time you spend in the tower significantly. That being said, it should be pretty decent xp for you right now.
@Cerb - Thanks, I have checked Mr llama’s guides, they are very helpful. The only regret I have is not searching for a staff with teleport on it. That would have saved me a lot of time as I’m struggling to shop for one lol.
I’m level 72 now by just doing Tower runs. The only snag I find with it as a BH build are those female archers, they are too fast and deal way too much dmg compared to the ghosts and goatmen. Ah well, at least the xp is good for a level 70+ character so far.
Make sure your resistances are good, having them low makes hell a lot lot tougher. Id suggest trying to hit 75% faster cast rate aswell, will help with downing the boss a little faster.
As others have said getting 75% block while holy shield is active is a must, use vigor to increase your movement speed instead of running.
I also put one point in to redemption aura for some massive heals, saved my life many many times and if you’ve got +skills that will boost up alot. My merc kept dying/ getting stuck all the time so would hardly ever benefit from the insight i gave him but using redemption from pack to pack id always be sitting on 100%.
If you’re fighting a tough pack of mobs switching to that aura will keep you alive, when one or two die it heals for like half your health bar also mana. Wouldn’t play paladin without it now.