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Patch 2.4.3 dropping tomorrow -- patch notes here Some very nice quality of life improvements in here. Console people are getting a bit of love: Added a new "Loot to Cube" skill for controllers in the general skills menu. Using this skill on an item will pick it up and place it in your Horadric Cube, if there is space. Players can now bulk assign stat points using a controller. Finally characters with full inventories can pick up items straight to the Cube without having to drop stuff out of inventory first. Much less tedious. Re-spec'ing will also be a million times faster with the ability to bulk assign points. Cain can now also ID unidentified items that are in the Cube. That is a nice little time-saver. Finally, the changes to Whirlwind sound nice. I am keen to test them out. All the online stuff doesn't concern me as I only play offline single player... but the Magic Find event sounds fun, even if 50% added MF isn't that big of a bonus.

I have been having a blast playing since 2.4 dropped. I'm still offline single player only, didn't bother going online to create a ladder character. Since I finished my 7 Pats/Mats, I have since Mat'd a Blizzard Sorc--probably my fastest clear of the game yet, wow Blizzard kills fast! And then I Pat'd my Summoning Druid. Playing with the whole zoo was great. Not quite as fast as a summoning Necro, but still a pretty fast and easy character to play. I have also been doing quite a bit of MF'ing with my Fireball Sorc. I've got a nice little farming route I do that mostly doesn't have any fire immunes: Andy; Countess (if I'm looking for runes); Stoney Tomb (new alvl 85 area in Act 2); Arachnid Lair (another new alvl 85 area, in Act 3); Meph; Pindle; Eldritch. I can also run Crypt/Mausoleum and Maggot Lair, but the monster density in those places ain't great. Slow and steady I'm improving my gear, upping my MF %, etc. Got quite a few nice drops the last couple days. And then tonight ... Eldritch dropped a Zod! MF doesn't affect rune drops, so it was just a random thing, but still... crazy! First time I've ever got a Zod. Still almost can't believe it.

Patch is live! I only had a few minutes last night to test out a couple of my characters. Zoo Druid is fun. My Singer Barb seems to be killing more efficiently too. War Cry got a damage buff and the mana cost was cut down a bit.

Patch 2.4 is supposed to be coming tomorrow. Here's hoping there are no last minute showstoppers! I'm really looking forward to some of the balance changes. Gonna be fun to try out a Druid that can summon all the wolves, ravens, and bear at once.

My seven Pats / Mats are complete! Druid -- Summoner Druid, later re-spec'd into Wind Druid -- Patriarch howlinwolf Sorc -- Fireball Sorc, later re-spec'd into Frozen Orb / Fireball Sorc -- Matriarch fira Necro -- Summoner / Corpse Explosion -- Patriarch gallagher Barb -- Double Swing / Frenzy Barb, re-spec'd into Singer / War Cry build -- Patriarch ken Pally -- Conviction Zealot -- Patriarch zed Amazon -- Charged Strike / Lightning Fury / Freezing Arrow Javazon -- Matriarch sonus Assassin -- Fire Trapsin, re-spec'd to Lightning Sentry / Death Sentry trapsin in Hell -- Matriarch dee When I got the idea to complete Hell with each class, I wasn't sure if I'd follow through on it... but I've done it! All solo single player, though I did hire mercs to make life easier. Back in the old days, I don't think I ever played a pure trapsin. I was more into the Martial Arts skill tree. Playing this character was a real eye-opener. Incredible clear speed even with very cheap gear. Lightning Sentry is just too good. And then the Corpse Explosions from Death Sentry make short work of lightning immunes). I'm going to move all my Magic Find gear over to the trapsin because she should be able to run pretty much any area of the game pretty efficiently. I also have two other characters on the go: ikea, a hybrid Werebear / Summoning Druid (need the new patch to drop to continue this guy!); and summerbabe, an Enchantress. I think I have just enough high-end-ish gear to make an Enchantress viable in Hell, though it won't be easy. I will probably mix in a lightning spell with leftover skill points. Maybe Nova. It continues to shock me how much I can keep replaying this game without getting bored.

A couple points in the Shapeshifting tree to get Werebear and Shockwave would help a lot. Stunning monster packs with Shockwave would make life easier for the summons. Throw in a Heart of the Wolverine and an Act II merc with Might aura, and those summons should hit pretty hard. Speaking of mercs, they’re also improving the other Act’s mercs in the new patch to make them more useful. Saw this video last night testing out the new Act V Frenzy Barb merc and he absolutely slays. (At the start of the video he’s got fairly expensive gear in the merc, but it looks like he’ll perform well with cheaper equipment too) I’m super excited for the patch to come out.

A Summoner Druid still won’t compare to a Necro for speed. Curses and Corpse Explosion are a big advantage. But allowing the Druid to use all his summons will make it a much more viable build to get through Hell comfortably. Just Dire Wolves or a Grizzly alone struggle to stay alive in Hell. Note this should be a really fun “sit back and let the pets do the work” kind of build.

They are finally going to allow the Druid to summon all his different pets at once! Ravens, Spirit Wolves, Dire Wolves, and Grizzly. You can use them all at once. That’s a big change. I’m really looking forward for this new patch to drop.

Matriarch sonus, welcome to the fold. Six down, only one left to go! Druid -- Summoner Druid, later re-spec'd into Wind Druid -- DONE Sorc -- Fireball Sorc, later re-spec'd into Frozen Orb / Fireball Sorc -- DONE Necro -- Summoner / Corpse Explosion -- DONE Barb -- Double Swing / Frenzy Barb, re-spec'd into Singer / War Cry build -- DONE Pally -- Conviction Zealot -- DONE Amazon -- Charged Strike / Lightning Fury / Freezing Arrow Javazon -- DONE Assassin -- Fire Trapsin My plan was to go all-in on Lightning Fury / Charged Strike and all of their synergies, as a pure Javazon, but I decided to re-spec in Hell and make her a hybrid Javazon / Bowazon to make lightning immunes easier to cope with. In the end I maxed Lightning Fury and Charged Strike for my main attacks with javelin, and Freezing Arrow (and almost maxed Cold Arrow as a synergy) for when I would swap to the bow. This charater was a bit of a glass cannon, and I had to play more cautiously than I did with the Pally that I Pat'd just before, but overall it was still pretty easy. Lightning Fury melts mobs of monsters that aren't lightning immune, and Freezing Arrow freezes everything so that adds some safety. Next up: A Fire Trapsin. I'll have to mix in something else, most likely Death Sentry or maybe the Blade traps, in Hell when fire immunes start popping up all over. But a pure Fire Trap build should get me through Nightmare without much trouble.

Now my Pally, Patriarch zed, is finished with Hell.  Druid -- Summoner Druid, later re-spec'd into Wind Druid -- DONE Sorc -- Fireball Sorc, later re-spec'd into Frozen Orb / Fireball Sorc -- DONE Necro -- Summoner / Corpse Explosion -- DONE Barb -- Double Swing / Frenzy Barb, re-spec'd into Singer / War Cry build -- DONE Pally -- Conviction Zealot -- DONE Amazon -- Charged Strike / Lightning Fury Javazon -- Started a character and got her through to Act II Normal a couple weeks ago Assassin -- Trapsin probably -- Traps-based builds are less gear-dependent and I haven't found decent stuff for a Martial Arts build... still yet to create this character... A typical Zealot would use Fanaticism as their main aura, but I went with Conviction because I happened to have some gear that would add a lot of elemental damage. The defense and resistance debuffs from max level Conviction are great. Very easy play through overall. Zeal + lots of Crushing Blow gear made Act bosses a breeze. Hell Baal went down so fast The biggest challenge for this character was probably Hell Ancients. I had a lot of bad luck with them. Next up is the Javazon.

A bunch of new runewords have been previewed by various D2 YouTubers in the past couple days. Lots of changes coming in the upcoming patch 2.4. New runewords, class/balance changes to encourage the use of a variety of different skills instead of just the cookie-cutter builds for each class, and I think they're also trying to make the Act I, III, and V mercenaries more viable too as most people only use Act II mercs. This is some pretty exciting stuff! A few of the new runewords I looked at look really solid, but sadly they have high runes that I will probably never have as a single player guy. Get those Cham runes outta here please! In other news, my Pally is in Act IV Hell. Pretty smooth sailing so far. He's not the fastest killer, but I have massive defense with maxed Holy Shield, and crazy resistances from my gear. I can't think of a safer melee build than a Zealot, even with crummy self-found single player gear.

Been a while since I bumped this thread. Another character is through Hell, Patriarch gallagher, the summoning Necromancer Druid -- Summoner Druid, later re-spec'd into Wind Druid -- DONE Sorc -- Fireball Sorc, later re-spec'd into Frozen Orb / Fireball Sorc -- DONE Necro -- Summoner / Corpse Explosion -- DONE Barb -- Double Swing / Frenzy Barb, re-spec'd into Singer / War Cry build -- DONE Amazon -- Charged Strike / Lightning Fury Javazon -- Started a character and got her through to Act II Normal a couple weeks ago Pally -- Zealot, maybe re-spec'ing to Hammerdin in later difficulties -- Cruising through the game, in Act V NM now Assassin -- Trapsin probably -- Traps-based builds are less gear-dependent and I haven't found decent stuff for a Martial Arts build... still yet to create this character... edit: Got another Pat, my Singer Barb: Patriarch ken. It seems I forgot to grab Wirt's leg when I went through Act I Hell, so no Hell Cows for ken Oh well. This was by far the easiest trip through Act V Hell so far. It's a super safe build. My Paladin is next up to take on Hell, as he's sitting in Act V NM right now. So far, no need to change away from the Zealot built. He's walking all over everything.

My Switch year in review thingy says I've put 220 hours into D2R It hasn't even been out 3 full months yet I haven't played games this much in ages! Feels good. Still having lots of fun in D2R.

Bump Anybody else still playing? @h2ojunkie @webhead I am still putting a lot of time into D2:R. My Frenzy Barb is now in Act I Hell. Nightmare offered almost no challenge at all. I think Hell will be a different story though. My gear might start limiting me soon. I also started a summoning Necro, which has always been one of my favourite builds. I wasn't going to do it again, but I had to scratch the itch. This character is in Act II NM right now and got there at a blazing fast speed. This is such a fast and fun (and safe) build. At this rate, I might as well go for a Pat/Mat with every class. Druid -- Summoner Druid, later re-spec'd into Wind Druid -- DONE Sorc -- Fireball Sorc, later re-spec'd into Frozen Orb / Fireball Sorc -- DONE Barb -- Double Swing / Frenzy Barb -- In Act I Hell, if lack of gear becomes a problem then I might re-spec into a Singer to increase my odds of finishing Hell Necro -- Summoner / Corpse Explosion -- In Act II NM and can probably clear Hell in a few more days if I don't get distracted Amazon -- Charged Strike / Lightning Fury Javazon -- I found some great gear with my Druid and Sorc, so it should be very doable Assassin -- Trapsin probably -- Traps-based builds are less gear-dependent and I haven't found decent stuff for a Martial Arts build Pally -- Hammerdin probably -- Never played a Hammerdin and they're not super gear dependent, though I could also probably make a Zealot work... but I tried building a Zealot many years ago and found the style of play rather boring. Blessed Hammer might be more fun to work with...

A new member of the I-beat-Hell club: Patriarch howlinwolf the Wind Druid I thought the Assassin was waaaay cooler than the Druid when LoD released back in the day, so I didn't spend much time with the Druid. I still think the Assassin is a really fun class, but I wish I hadn't slept on the Druid all these years. Specifically the Druid's Elemental skills tree. With Cyclone Armor, Twister, Tornado, and Hurricane maxed, this character can handle most of Hell with ease. I just need a merc for dual cold/physical immune monsters. With +skill gear equipped, my main skills were all at level 29. At that level, Cyclone Armor absorbs 1955 fire/cold/lightning damage, which makes this character super safe even in Hell. Tornado was doing over 3,000 damage (physical damage even though it's technically a spell), and Hurricane around 1,500 cold damage. Most things went down rather easily I lucked out big-time and found a Fal rune in Act IV Hell, which enabled me to make an 'Obedience' polearm for my merc. It has a 30% chance to cast level 21 Enchant upon killing a monster, so the merc chipped in with nice fire damage when my Tornado and Hurricane were ineffective. Towards the end of this play through, I got some pretty sweet item drops that would be perfect for an Amazon. The game is basically telling me to play a Javazon next

Man, in wish I had discovered the Wind Druid sooner. This build has been super fun to play. The synergies between the Druid‘s cold/wind elemental skills are fantastic. I’m nearly done Act III Hell and it’s actually been an easier time in Hell compared to my Sorc.

My Sorc -- henceforth known as Matriarch fira -- finished Hell at level 81 I basically used nothing but Fire Ball starting from level 12 until when I hit Act IV NM, where fire immunes start appearing, and then I re-spec'd to use a hybrid of Frozen Orb, Fire Ball, and Meteor. Ended up with: - Max points in Frozen Orb, Fire Ball, and Meteor - 10 points in Cold Mastery and 8 points in Fire Mastery - 1 point in all prereqs, and 1 point in each of Frozen Armor, Static Field, Telekinesis, Teleport, and Warmth My modest end-game gear, all found along the way: Sword: 'Spirit' (TalThulOrtAmn) Battle Sword (+2 all skills and other nice bonuses) Shield: 'Spirit' Monarch (another +2 all skills, helpful resistances, other nice bonuses) Armor: 'Smoke' (NefLum) Scarab Husk (Big resistances!) Helm: 'Lore' (OrtSol) Hyrdraskull (+1 all skills and lightning resist) Gloves: Magefist Boots: Natalya's Soul (big boost to walk speed plus extra cold and lightning resist) Belt: random magic belt with fire resist Amulet: magic ammy with +2 to cold skills Rings: rare rings with resists and reduced poison length Also, I outfitted my merc (Act II NM) with an 'Insight' (RalTirTalSol) Grim Scythe, which grants a high level Meditation aura, part-way through Hell. That was a game-changer. Never ran out of mana again with his Meditation aura. I got pretty lucky turning up a Lum rune fairly early on in Hell, which enabled me to make the 'Smoke' rune word. The Monarch shield didn't turn up until I was in the WSK in Act V! It can be tough finding a Monarch to make a 'Spirit' shield. Hell Cows are done, so this character is retired. I can recycled some of the gear with another character later if needed. I might equip her with some budget Magic Find gear for funsies. Might turn up something decent running Hell Andy and Meph.

Mephisto be dead The High Council was actually more of a handful than Meph. I made it as far as the River of Flame in Act IV Hell. Took me fooooorever to get through the Plains of Despair, one small step at a time. Sweet Jesus, I hate Burning Souls Lightning bolts just come flying across the screen before you can even see or target them. My poor merc bit the dust a few times from these out-of-nowhere attacks Clearing the City of the Damned was easy compared to the Plains of Despair. edit: Diablo is dead too

Act II Hell is done. Bye bye Duriel

I got my Sorc as far as the Catacombs in Act I Hell. Level 70 now. Starting to progress more smoothly and easily compared to when I started Act I. Got some better gear for my character and the merc. Rune words with +skills have given my spells a nice boost, and I just made an 'Insight' polearm for the merc which has been a huge help. It grants a pretty high level Meditation aura when equipped, so I basically never run out of mana anymore. That makes life so much easier. I'll see if I can handle Andy this evening. If that goes smoothly then I'll probably run her a few more times to see if I can get some interesting drops. A SoJ or two would be lovely... edit: Andy's down Went back a few more times and got nothin' good, so we've moved on to Act II. Now that I've adjusted to immunities in Hell, things are going quite smoothly again, albeit at a slower pace of progress.

I just beat NM last night with my Sorc. I re-spec’d in Act IV NM to add a second element though. I basically got that far using nothing but Fireball, but fire immune monsters start appearing in Act IV NM, so it was time to change things up. Now Frozen Orb is the main skill, with Fireball and Meteor used as fallback options against cold immunes. Hell is gonna be a slog. I’ve already bumped into some very annoying fire and cold immune uniques. My merc has to take care of those. He dies a lot though I’m pissing away gold resurrecting this guy all the time.

The trials and tribulations of my Druid: - A pure Summoning Druid just ain't cutting it in Hell, so I re-spec'd to be a hybrid Werebear / Summoner (Grizzly) - The hybrid approach worked better, but I couldn't turn up a decent weapon... so I re-spec'd again to be a Wind Druid - The Wind Druid is performing *much* better and I'm starting to make some progress through Act I Hell now - Of course, not long after the re-spec, I'm clearing out the Crypt and Mausoleum and I get a unique club (Nord's Tenderizer) drop that would have been *perfect* for the Werebear... I ain't re-spec'ing again Also, my Fireball Sorc is steamrolling through NM. I'm in Act III now.

Act I Hell serves as a wake-up call for my Druid. I need to re-think this character to make it work…

Aaaaand my Druid has completed Nightmare at level 61. Not too shabby. For Baal, I switched from wolves to a grizzly because I was burning through mana pots re-casting the wolves. I have Summon Spirit Wolf, Summon Dire Wolf, and Summon Grizzly all maxed out now, so I might have to just roll with the grizzly in Hell. The thing is such a tank, hits hard too, and it gets nice synergy bonuses from points in the other two summons.

I loved playing the Assassin, but it can be rather gear-dependent. Though the Barb is too and I’ve been played one lately… I finished Normal with my Barb this morning, and then cleared out the Cow Level for good measure. Drops were mostly trash though. Baal was quite a bit easier than Diablo. I’ve now got my Barb and Sorc at Act I NM, and the Druid at Act V NM. Might as well see if I can push the Druid through to Hell before I play the Barb or Sorc more.