Wow, Diablo 3 Hell is... Hell!

[Shadout 8]

Lvls shouldnt make that much difference, unless its a huge level difference.

 

The equation supposedly is

DR from Armor = Armor / (Armor+(50*mLvl))

 

Likewise from resistance

DR from resistance = Resistance / (Resistance + (5 * mLvl))

Edited July 16, 2012 by Shadout

[Schot 407]

Feeling a bit better about Hell now. Whew! I'm amazed that it could actually become a little easier. I've been stuck in Act 1 at level 60 for quite some time and only today have I pressed forward into Act 2. At the moment I just finished finding Kulle's head. There's plenty of room to improve gear wise but some recent upgrades have made a difference on how well I can handle hits. For the longest time, at level 60, I was playing with 16-18K health which is low compared to other players. Today I brought it up to about 28K and that feels right. I've also tweaked my skill bar which seems to be working quite well. Notable change is I'm using Magic weapon/Blood Magic which gives me life leach. Hits I do can give me anywhere from 500 to 5000 health, turning my damage into a survival ability. Another thing I'm doing a lot more is initiating battle from veeeeery far away. I never used Magic missile much before and so only today realized that it seems to be my farthest reaching of my four signature skills. Even better is that it's last rune makes it seek enemies. I can basically fire it in front of me while running for my life and it will turn around and hit enemies chasing after me, behind me. A nice kiting skill. Lastly and maybe most importantly is that I'm very carefully rationing my survival skills. My "OMG OMG OMG!" skills are Diamond Skin(invulnerable for 6 secs) and Frost Nova which freezes enemies for 3 secs or less. I'm learning to use these only when I really really need to and I think that's key. When serious threat appears on screen my initial response is to use my survival skills directly one after another. Now I do other things to try to reduce how much I rely on them such as kiting, trapping using small doorways etc., hopping into a nearby cave(lately I will clear the entrance of a cave so I can jump into it for safety if I get in trouble up top and vice versa. The important point is to time the use of my survival skills so that they are not cooling down at the same time. I'll try to wait for my 1st used survival skill's cooldown time to reach half before I use my 2nd survival skill.

 

What's most important is to not lose your cool. There's a ton of things that can be done in battle to survive but it's important to practice them. For example:

 

 

• DO NOT aggro elites/champs while on a long narrow bridge or hallway, lol. I did. Probably took me about 2 minutes to get off it. Four Blue Wallers with arcane. I am soooooo lucky I am still alive.
  
• Fighting elites/champs in small areas is bad bad bad. Always try to draw them into large spaces.
  
• If there aren't any large spaces then try fighting near an exit.
  
• If they don't have knockback/vortex you could try getting them stuck in front of a small doorway. That sometimes works for me so that I can fight them one by one close range. You have to of course stay standing in the doorway for this to work.
  
• If you're fighting an elite with immune mobs you'll need to do a lot of running. It usually takes me a few secs to pick out the main target of an elite mob with immune minions. In this case only killing the main target will get rid of them all. I find running around will spread them out enough to get at the main target. At that point I'll likely get in close and use a survival skill in order to allow me to safely do some damage to the target while standing in the middle of the mob. Then I'll kite a bit and repeat. About 3 rounds if I'm doing it well.
  
• Waller or Frozen with Arcane or Fire Chains: Either of the first two affixes with either of the second two affixes are my most feared. Arcane and Fire Chains do the most amount of damage to me. As for Waller or Frozen these two seem to be spammed a lot by elites/champs. So with these combos it's easy to get pinned in one spot and take heavy damage. At the first sign of these combos of affixes(it can be even worse with 3rd and 4th affixes...), you should be... That's right! Running! You should definitely run. This is a very unpredictable situation and even if things have been going great it CAN go terribly wrong. First thing is to check for your exits. Kite towards an exit you may have passed. If no exit then a healing well. If no well then a strategic location such as a large obstruction that you can run circles around in order to kite.
  
• A Waypoint could possibly save your life but it's risky. Using a waypoint requires you to click on a location from a menu after you have clicked on the Waypoint. The teleport is immediate so no concern there but there is a risk that you'll be so frazzled from being close to death that you'll mess up and get killed in the process. If you're going to use Waypoints as an exit strategy then you should practice with normal mobs. Eventually you'll memorize the screen location of the waypoint menu option to click in order to go to town. And believe me. When you're near dead and pull this off you will jump for joy, lol.
  
• Health Potions: I can't remember the last time I used them. Maybe days ago in terms of play time. They are last last last resort! And make sure you have the best. In Hell the potions that drop from kills are much weaker than what you can buy from a merchant.
  
• Use the environment to your advantage. That's what it's there for. Draw a mob into an exploding plant or Grotesque/Corpulent etc.
  

 

I think when it comes to hack n slash gaming that a lot of us are used to being able to point our skills and shoot but in Diablo 3 we're being asked to be much more strategic. When gear is no longer enough to keep us alive it is complex strategy that needs to be thrown into the mix.

[Dags 2]

Wow you guys are way ahead of me, I haven't been able to play much so I am pretty much playing SC when I get a chance to have a dabble. I want to explore every inch of the place and do every side quest I can find before I dip my toes into HC. So far the few times I have been able to play it has been enjoyable. I must wonder though at the replayable aspect of the game, is four acts enough for longevity, though I suppose they will bring out more modules or extenders, at least I hope so.

[Barristan 14]

Wow you guys are way ahead of me, I haven't been able to play much so I am pretty much playing SC when I get a chance to have a dabble. I want to explore every inch of the place and do every side quest I can find before I dip my toes into HC. So far the few times I have been able to play it has been enjoyable. I must wonder though at the replayable aspect of the game, is four acts enough for longevity, though I suppose they will bring out more modules or extenders, at least I hope so.

 

From what I hear, there will be two expansions