Login | Register


All times are UTC - 5 hours


It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:14 am




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 5 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Character Ideas
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 11:31 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:28 am
Posts: 1136
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts in this thread should shortly describe the skill layout for a build, the strategy you used, and whether you enjoyed playing the build. Ideally this thread will be worth keeping as a sticky so that new and old players can read it and see if there are any build ideas that appeal to them.

Below are many of the builds I've tried in HU, nearly chronologically since 2005. I've revised the skill distribution to reflect the most recent incarnation of that build. I plan builds around attaining lvl 80, so I toss extra points wherever I feel like. I've never enjoyed a character enough to play it past lvl 95, so my experiences never reflect vita-whoring until I get Anni, LoS or Sammy charms.


Poizon
20 PoisJav
20 PlagueJav
20 Decoy

I later remade this char with 20 DSpray, but that skill didn't exist in the original HU.

Toss a Decoy to clump up a mob, then toss a PlagueJav. Rince and repeat. A very easy char to play, and easy to take down any boss not immune to poison. Gear reliance is low (rares with +3 Javs are easy to roll). This buid can get by without replenishing javs since you only throw once every 5-10 seconds.


Hydra or Chant Sorc
20 Hydra
20 Warmth (originally FBolt)
20 Enchant (originally FBall)
20 FMastery

I've never fully remade this sorc after the synergies from Hydra were changed from FBolt and FBall, but that doesn't matter since Enchant with an Exploding-arrow Bow replaces the FBall I originally used. A later remake used a A1 phys rogue with Chant, and proved overpowered enough that I never played her past A1 NM. The original build was very easy to play since I could plant Hydras at the screen edge when the going was tough. They were particularly effective against bosses that use DragonFlight as a counter, since they get teleported away from me and onto the hydras. This was an excellent build for Nila runs.


FoH Pally
20 HBolt
20 BHammer
20 FoH
20 Prayer (originally I didn't use Prayer, but would nowadays)
I noticed that HU had a lot of undead critters, so I decided that using HBolt as an early-game ranged attack against unleachable undead would be decent, and that FoH would work just as well later (BHammer was too cliche). This was a fun character mainly because early HU had more abusable qualities. For example, this char used saphires in gear to attain 5k mana, with something like 500% mana regen via Mediitation. I then used Wizardspike's 100% mana leach along with Zeal to tank 3 Champ Wyrms. I couldn't kill them, but they couldn't kill me either. This build inspired me to make an aura-healer tank.


Double-Throw barb
10 DSwing
20 DThrow
20 Frenzy
Masteries (I usually use 1pt Spear, Throw, and Axe. Nowadays I'd use IStamina like everyone else)

Originally this build was made with high level StoneSkin, since that had -2Dmg per level, but that skill was quickly changed when it was shown to make barbs nearly indistructible to trash in norm. I've remade this char several patches ago, with IStamina skill. It was alright. I never noticed the bugged throw-damage, but did notice the unavailability of replenishing throwing weapons. I did sadly prove that throwing the last jav in a stack of "Harmony" javs will destroy the item.


HoW Summon Druid
20 DWolves
20 HoWolverine
20 Grizzly

Originally this build used just 3 Dires with HoW, and it was alright. Their damage as quite high with HoW, and they let me easilly solo most parts of normal. Later Grizzly was allowed to be summoned with the Dires, which made the build overpowered for normal difficulty. Very easy to get high +Skills since +3 armor is available to this class by A4/5 norm. I used to use ShockWave to stun trash since it was a pretty boring build. I think I stopped playing it around A5 NM. Would probably be poor in Hell due to the global 50% phys resist.


ShockWave Bear
20 Maul
20 SWave
20 Rabies

Inspired by the effectiveness of SWave with my earlier summoner, I figured that I could poison the mobs while they were stunned. I used Carrion ring to bug out the Rabies, but could have easily placed the points into the synergy instead. Both builds are 40 points afterall. SWave was rediculousely overpowered for normal, doing about 5k per wave around char lvl 50, and castable about 3-4 times a second. It was easy to combine this char with a rogue with amp on strike to destory just about anything, so I changed to an A3 lit merc. Low availability of additional +Skill gear made the char more balanced by end NM. With rabies adding an additional 10/sec dmg, this build was still going strongly by A3 Hell, which is where I remember getting too bored with it to play.


Aura-Healer
20 Prayer
20 HShield

This build was made possibly mostly by the availability of "Insight" in scepters. Originally my aura-healer build was a Smiter deviant, but focusing on defensive auras meant low CBlow gear. He still managed to do very well solo against NM Baal, but in my few attempts to do Baal, server desync would cause me to be locked in a bone prison on the server, but unaware of that client-side. In one fight Baal healed from about 1/2 like 4 times before I gave up. For this char I wrote the "Memoires of a Healer" story to document the build. If I'm asked, then I can repost the story. This build kills trash slowly, but might be alright nowadays with a phys rogue or A3 merc.

I later remade the build with 20 BHammer, 20 FoH, and about 5-10 HBolt. This build was slow killing stuff in Hell, but was otherwise a very versatile build. Soloing Hell Diablo was challenging, but mainly because you have to constantly run to avoid BonePrisons forming on you (they're very magic damage resistant).


Convictor
20 Conviction
20 HShield

This build is exceedingly gear-dependant. It's not really worth trying unless you've already got all the gear lined up for use. Zeal is used with gear that supplies elemental damage to attack (either directly or via spell procs). That damage appears relatively low until you recognize that the -Res% from conviction will negate most defences. The -Def% from Conviction allows almost all Zeal hits to land, so the end result is that the dps of the build against trash is pretty decent. It became more effective in NM and Hell since monsters were balanced around the assumption that their resistances would be intact. The perplexing effectiveness of the build made it enjoyable to play to about A5 Hell, but the gear supply dwindled (same weapon since A5 norm) and I lost interest. I've lost interest with this ladder's incarnation by A1 Hell. It's amusing to note that if you gear your merc the same as yourself, then they're just as effective as you. Recent changes to gear have made this build nearly unplayable.
Gear used:
"Rift" scepter (HelKoLemGul) - 20% lvl 25 Blizz on attack (825dmg per shard)
Dragonhelm - 12% lvl 24 Meteor on strike/struck (300dmg with 450dps)
Elemental Eye set - 25% lvl 25 skills (avg 300dmg) on attack/struck, 432-1610 dmg to attack
Mav's glove/belt - 500-1000 dmg to attack. Recent patches made these items available only in late NM rather than late Norm.
Tiamat's Shield - 25% lvl 33 FNova (270dmg), 25% lvl 33 Nova (350dmg), 10% lvl 20 Hydra (200dmg), 141-580 dmg to attack.
Corpsemourn - 241-640 dmg to attack


Blazer
20 Inferno
20 Blaze
20 FWall
20 FMastery

Originally I built this char to see if FWall had any potential, but by char level 26 I realized that it did not. I remade that char to test Blaze, which seemed promising, and later wrote a post about how strong it was. Only Squelch gave feedback in that post about trying the build for himself, and agreed that it was awfully strong. There is currently a thread about Blaze in the forum. My original build soloed Hell Mephy, although he might have been easier then (chased more often for sure). My current ladder build soloed norm Darkness, Sammy, Spire Guardian, and some other bosses I don't recall. I've yet to solo NM dury since his frenzy attack seems really hard to predict, and I don't quite have enough FRWalk gear to consistently stay ahead of him. Soloing NM A4 Seal guardians was trivial. I pretty much stopped playing this char as of A1 hell due to lack of interest.


DClaw Sin
20 DragonClaw
20 CoShadows
10+ SWarrior
10+ Venom
5+ Fade

This build has been made less effective since the defence boost from CoShadows only lasts 60 seconds now, instead of 4 minutes when I originally made the char. The Shadow Warrior was used to recast the cloak for it's -Def% and AI-disrupting abilities. The SWarrior was a very effective tank since when she's first cast, she will use your right-click skill before engaging the enemy (you can have her cast about 3 skills (i.e. CoS, Fade, Venom) before she starts melee and her AI kicks in). I tried this char because I missed the brainless point-n-click chars like WW barbs and Zealots (Convictor just doesn't feel the same, maybe because they don't leach). Using DClaw for it's 1000% EDamage and ARating along with CoShadow's 1300% EDef made for a pretty solid character. I got bored with her around A3 Hell (got Nat's claw, which was the last thing I wanted to play with)


Top
 Offline Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Character Ideas
PostPosted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 11:38 pm 

Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:31 pm
Posts: 8
Brevan wrote:
Aura-Healer
20 Prayer
20 HShield

This build was made possibly mostly by the availability of "Insight" in scepters. Originally my aura-healer build was a Smiter deviant, but focusing on defensive auras meant low CBlow gear. He still managed to do very well solo against NM Baal, but in my few attempts to do Baal, server desync would cause me to be locked in a bone prison on the server, but unaware of that client-side. In one fight Baal healed from about 1/2 like 4 times before I gave up. For this char I wrote the "Memoires of a Healer" story to document the build. If I'm asked, then I can repost the story. This build kills trash slowly, but might be alright nowadays with a phys rogue or A3 merc.

I later remade the build with 20 BHammer, 20 FoH, and about 5-10 HBolt. This build was slow killing stuff in Hell, but was otherwise a very versatile build. Soloing Hell Diablo was challenging, but mainly because you have to constantly run to avoid BonePrisons forming on you (they're very magic damage resistant).


As always Brevan I enjoy your posts and I find it amusing that I remember your "Memoires of a Healer."

Good times. I remember when I first started venturing into healers. 2k heal making everyone invincible for hell ball, haha. Fun times when 3 barbs just stood there and normal attacked minions.


Top
 Offline Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Character Ideas
PostPosted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 12:04 am 
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:28 am
Posts: 1136
Location: Vancouver, BC
I'm glad that you enjoyed that story :)
You've been playing HU for quite a while, please toss in a similarly short description of a couple builds you've enjoyed.

I forgot a novel build:

Thorns barb
20 IncreasedStamina
20 BattleOrders

This build is very gear-dependent, like the Convictor, so don't bother trying it unless you've already got most of the gear setup already. I chose a barbarian for the thorns build because they can use Taunt (forces ranged attackers to melee), Berzerk (reduce defence to zero to aide my being hit), dual wield (SuicideBranch is critical gear), FindItem (I intended to reclaim life mostly via pots), NaturalRes (I knew gear would be limiting for resistances), and they have high life. In a party, I generally used BO and FindItem, which seems to keep most party members pretty happy. When soloing, I would find-item while things beat themselves to death around me. If the build doesn't sound exciting, that's because it wasn't. It surprisingly soloed NM and/or Hell Mephy quite easily, and trivially soloed NM Leoric (Hell always seemed phys immune). The global 50% phys res in Hell made this char unpleasent to play.
Gear used (I don't remember rings (saphire craft?), or belt):
2x SuicideBranch - 6000% thorns +20% life
8x Thorns jewels in armor/hat - about 2000% to 2400% thorns
Wartrav boots - 500% thorns
Atma ammy - 600% thorns, 6% Amp on attack


Top
 Offline Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Character Ideas
PostPosted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 8:05 pm 

Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2012 9:12 am
Posts: 133
Brevan i know this thread was dead a long time ago but im playing 1.21z solo edition atm and i was struggeling on build... i forever wanted to play a swave and i have a rabies druid lvl 56 a5norm atm i want to trythis out... ill use hero editor to reset my skill but i wonder how would i gear that beast ? and tbh i feel like this should go : 20 oak 20 lycan maybe ? since you played can you tell me some more on that build :D ill start working around it right now but im not really good to start out from trash finding all that by my self i need a direction where to look before starting digging tyvm again this idea sounds great

edit: if you could add the type of merc you used im curious.. was thinking maybe a a3pnb ? or a3cold for the slow


Top
 Offline Profile  
Reply with quote  
 Post subject: Re: Character Ideas
PostPosted: Sun Mar 19, 2017 10:58 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 11:28 am
Posts: 1136
Location: Vancouver, BC
I'm glad this thread was useful to you.

Brevan(2009) wrote:
ShockWave Bear
20 Maul
20 SWave
20 Rabies

Inspired by the effectiveness of SWave with my earlier summoner, I figured that I could poison the mobs while they were stunned. I used Carrion ring to bug out the Rabies, but could have easily placed the points into the synergy instead. Both builds are 40 points afterall. SWave was rediculousely overpowered for normal, doing about 5k per wave around char lvl 50, and castable about 3-4 times a second. It was easy to combine this char with a rogue with amp on strike to destory just about anything, so I changed to an A3 lit merc. Low availability of additional +Skill gear made the char more balanced by end NM. With rabies adding an additional 10/sec dmg, this build was still going strongly by A3 Hell, which is where I remember getting too bored with it to play.
  • Take my builds with a grain of salt because I'm not trying to make the strongest builds possible. I prefer to play builds that I consider interesting ("Would that even work?"), and often if they're too strong I'd weaken them (maybe sub-optimal gear or mercs) to make the battles more engaging. I don't get especially attached to chars, so often ignore them as soon as they stop being interesting (i.e. when I can predict their future and don't feel the need to confirm it).
  • The merc was A1 (any type would be fine) changed to A3 Lightning. A3 P&B would work fine too, I believe back then their aura reduced enemy PoisRes even though their spells did magic damage, so they're ideal for poison chars. My choice back then was made to avoid a merc with the same element as me (and maybe to see if SWave would let the A3 merc survive consistently, which I'm pretty sure it did (trash is stun-locked most of the time)).
  • I remember using Whichwild String (Amp onStrike) bow for the A1 merc because the Amp let SWave do more damage. By Hell this strategy wouldn't be very useful, since the low level of Amp via procs combined with the relatively low SWave damage isn't efficient.
  • I can see via the v1.21z webpages that the CarrionRing's charges of PoisVine were replaced with an oSkill (so wouldn't be very important to the build anymore).
  • I remember maxing SWave before doing much with Rabies, since it got very strong very fast. With that in mind it might be worth making a new Druid, just so you can enjoy the early cheeziness of the build before it mellows out. I'm not sure if +SShifting GCs would be enough to make it efficient end-game, but they are the obvious Skiller to collect for this build (improves all skills).

One weakness of the build is that your damage relies largely on caster gear (+Skills, -EnemyPoisRes, FCRate, etc), but if you're intending to play solo, then you'd probably be better off going for tanking gear (+HP, +PhysRes, +PDR/MDR, etc). You won't kill bosses quite as fast, but last I recall the earlier versions of HU were all about surviving 1-hit KOs from bosses and healing via Juvs (i.e. play whatever build you enjoy for Trash, but re-gear for bosses to max your life and ignore your trash-clearing build for a boss-killing build). With that in mind, certainly go with Lycanthropy and Oak if you like (I'm not sure the Oak would survive well during bosses, and they're the only time you'll need it).

You'd probably want to keep an eye out for Dracul's Grasp gloves (LifeTap onStrike), since LifeTap returns life before leach resistance is considered. You could use these with CrushingBlow (Schaefer'sHammer (lots of HP), Demonlimb (stacking slow% is awesome for bosses), etc) and some fast attack (maybe 1-pt Fury) to bring down bosses. I recall SWave wasn't very good for bosses in NM/Hell since their PhysRes is pretty high while SWave's damage didn't really grow much after Norm (I'm pretty sure 15k-20k DPS was pretty low back in v1.21z). You could probably make SWave work fine for NM though, especially if Rabies damage is added in.

I recall for HUv1.21z and v1.3 that Diamonds in low gear were extremely effective for low levels, and in general getting your PDR/MDR equal to about your level is a great strategy for Norm. If you play a Caster, then I used to enjoy a simple 6-socketed crystal sword with gems for -%EnemyRes even into NM and Hell. It's very effective and a decent use of Larzuk's Socket Quest (gives max sockets). There're better weapons out there, but the versatility and low cost of those swords is pretty nice.


Top
 Offline Profile  
Reply with quote  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 5 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 30 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron