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Amazon Basin Hardcore Gaming Guide

INTRODUCTION

So you think you're gonna play hardcore, huh? Well - you're not alone! As of this writing, Diablo II LoD is five years old, and many players have turned to hardcore mode as a way to extend their interest in the game. And some others just find it more engrossing - when you die, you're dead, so you better pay attention! Curious or unusual situations that caused a stray death here and there in softcore become things that you have to watch out for and identify quickly in hardcore, lest your 90's-level character suddenly find itself clad in robes.

What follows is a fairly comprehensive list of things to be aware of in Diablo II: LOD. This is not meant to be a list of rules by any means - it is meant to help make you aware of the concerns that commonly come up. This is an attempt to summarize the combined experience, knowledge & wisdom of the Basin HC community over years of gaming. It may not apply to every situation. Above all, communicate with the people you are playing with. Everyone has a different style, and it behooves us all to accommodate each other to some degree. Try to find out what your partner's strengths and weaknesses are as soon as possible, their likes and dislikes. Don't be afraid to advertise your own weaknesses. Remain flexible and keep the greater good in mind. Before we go any further, let it be stated - no one is going to shun you for innocent mistakes - we all make them at the beginning (and the middle and the end even!) - but when you're new to Basin hardcore, you should remain open and receptive to comments from more experienced Basin players. Even if you know all there is to know about the game itself, we have our own etiquette that is quite different from ordinary Battle.net. The key to everything is communication and attitude.

FIRST STEPS

Before you enter a Basin hardcore game, you should know a few things

• Be ready to party up and set loot.
• Never hostile anyone - if you do this, it's grounds for being banned from the Basin, no questions asked. Avoid even threatening it in jest.
• When you are questing with others in-game, be ready to play as a cohesive party. This means playing a certain role, looking out for the welfare of your fellows, staying with the party, and observing the guidelines set out in this document. See the Party Considerations section for more.
• If you think something is useful enough to pick up, remember to put it on the ground in town, to be split amongst the party per the Basin guidelines - if you're in doubt whether an item is good enough or important enough, just ask. Almost everything has a potential usefulness, as useable gear, as crafting/cubing fodder, or just to sell for gold. This process may seem tiresome at first to some of you, but it's important to do it. This does not mean you have to pick up anything YOU don't think is worth picking up. It is not an instruction to bring every blue, yellow or socketed item back to litter the ground in town.

Build up and mule often

If you want to play hardcore, chances are you'll have the most fun if you approach it with an eye to the long haul. Building one character up and up and up, only to have him die, and then having to start it all over again can be an exercise in frustration. Most people who start hardcore do it this way. Round about the 3rd death, you might be starting to think, "wow, what if I had saved those cool gloves from act V normal that I didn't need?" Or maybe "Boy I sure wish I didn't have to start again from level 1!" Which brings us to two very useful practices.

1. spend time muling off decent items from your regular playing characters to a safe, non-playing character. When you die, you lose your inventory and your backpack. Your charms are gone. That great item you just found a few games back but didn't transfer is now gone. Mule early, mule often.
2. build more than one character at a time. It's a lot easier to take when your loss is just one of a stable of characters. You can get right back in the saddle without going all the way back to the Blood Moor. You can supply your younger characters with hand-me-downs and items bought from vendors in other acts and difficulties.

A death is always going to be an unhappy eventuality, but it is inevitable. It will happen. Having a farm system of mules and other characters softens the blow.

If you wish to transfer in an open AB game with characters not currently in the game, you are required to:

• Obtain explicit permission of all players already in the game before starting to transfer. Explicit permission is only given if every player in the game has actively said, "yes."
• Obtain explicit permission from new players as they arrive before continuing to transfer. If permission is denied by a newcomer, you are allowed to re-enter the game with one other character to retrieve your items, prior to returning with your playing character.
• Neither transfer when permission has not been explicitly given, nor question the choice of those who do not give permission.

Getting Looted

Getting looted really helps to take some of the sting out of losing a high-level character. This is why playing in Basin games is so much safer than playing in pubbies. PKing is the most serious rules infraction that you can make in a Basin game, and nowhere is that more true than in Hardcore. Even threatening such an act among players you don't know is grounds for an instant ban from the Basin.

Because of this, all players in a Basin hardcore game give each other loot (and of course party together in one large party) - that way we can be there for each other when the Grim Reaper comes along to collect his fee. Whenever you enter a Basin game, it's vital to remember to set loot as you are joining the party. Likewise, when someone new comes in, always say hello and set loot. Maybe remind others to set loot. If you die in a Basin game with other players in it, chances are you'll get your gear back. If you die and no one is in your act, maybe you can still be looted. For example, if you're in act V and someone else is in act III, it is possible, other players will come and help power the looter to act V to where you are. Note: this is not a guarantee or a promise of any kind - sometimes it doesn't work out.

How To Loot

It's important to be careful when looting a corpse when dangerous monsters are lurking nearby. You will want to get it done quickly in case the dead player lags and drops out of the game unlooted, but you must balance this with the need to avoid additional death among the looting party. In a hot area, get out through a portal asap, then don't return til you've mustered the necessary strength or strategy to put the odds in your favor. Piece together the details of the threat you are facing. At this time, the dead player can see what's around his body, so his/her input can be very helpful. Decide how to handle it, what skills should be used, who is going to be doing what, etc. Here are number of options and variations:

• Regroup and kill the monsters, then perform the loot. Pick a strategy, get BO'd up, try and get reinforcements or have someone bring in a different char (an overpowered high-level character, or a barb or druid w/life boosters being the best ideas, usually).
• Have someone park the boss or boss pack, i.e. lead them away to a distant part of the map. This works better in some situations than in others.
• Perform a 'ninja loot', avoiding the monsters, and running to the body to pick up gear, then retreating. Make sure to clear as much space in your pack as possible - if an item is too big for the available space in the backpack, it can't be picked up.
• A variation of the ninja loot should be done if the player is very likely to drop. In this case, you click on his body to pick up some gear, then open your stash drop it on the ground. Repeat this step until all gear is retrieved and the corpse disappears (easy to tell on the minimap, as when the pink icon representing their body disappears, they are completely looted).

INDIVIDUAL CONSIDERATIONS

There are a number of things that you'll want to consider right off that are different from softcore play. The attributes of the characters you build will be different - they will need to be more geared towards safety and survival, not solely maximum killing speed.

Hitpoints/Vitality

The standard rule of thumb is to make sure your life equals at least 10x your level. Most HC players actually would consider that a conservative number. This is of course before the life-adders that a Barbarian (with Battle Orders) or a Druid (with Oak Sage) can add to the party. Life is what it's all about - there's no second chances. The two main ways to achieve more life points are placing more points into vitality, and carrying life-boosting charms.

To reach the end of the game in Hell your character will take many thousands of hits. Most will be from normal monsters. But some inevitably will be from bosses and their minions. Some will come while you are amped. Some will be critical hits. Some will come from monsters enhanced by Might, Fanaticism, or Extra Strength. At least a few will come from some combination of those deadly mods. Unless you have enough Vitality to survive one of those blows you will soon be wearing robes.

Rejuvenation Potions

As a hardcore player, you have to learn to keep a constant eye on that lifeball on the lower left of the screen. When you take a big hit, and you need to keep fighting, immediately chug a rejuvenation potion. Don't wait. Don't take a chance. Drink. Always keep at least one row of purple rejuvenation potions on your belt. In normal, the small ones are usually fine, but beyond that you'll need the fat ones that restore all your hitpoints (and mana) in an instant. The only way to get those before hell is to cube them - 3 small purples makes one big one, or if you're really strapped, 3 reds, 3 blues and a chipped gem will make one small purple, and 3 reds, 3 blues and a standard gem makes a large purple. Don't run around trying to conserve these - use them to stay alive. If you don't have any, ask another player for a couple. If you are running out and you need more than you can find, play in an easier area til you're strong enough or your stock is built back up.

By the time you leave Act IV in Normal you should be playing exclusively in the top third of your life ball. If it dips below that in anything resembling routine battle, remember that you are just one curse, one boss mod, or one hit from the end of your character’s career. And soon – not later – that hit will come. Even if you’ve got a big enough red ball to take on the enemies the game throws at you it won’t do much good unless your ball is full.

Skills

While skill builds are similar to softcore play, there are certain skills usually considered useless or relatively unimportant in SC that afford you a worthwhile defensive advantage in hardcore. This includes the Amazon's Dodge/Avoid/Evade skills, a Sorceress' Energy Shield and Frozen Armor, for example - there are others. Check the Basin Technical Forums for discussions containing more in-depth advice on each character class as well as hardcore-specific strategy considerations.

Resists

In general, you should strive to carry maximum or near-maximum resistance to Fire, Cold, and Lightning. It is desirable to keep Poison resistance in positive territory too. Communication among players in a group about their resistance levels is highly recommended before traveling into harm's way. The below recommendations are just that, recommendations, and individual players may hold different views.

In normal difficulty, it is important to get significant fire and lightning resistance. LEBs can really cause damage quickly, and you will need the fire resist for the Summoner and onwards from there. It is this writer's opinion that minimal cold res is safe enough in Normal diff.

In nightmare, you need to max your fire and lightning for sure, and have significant cold resistance. Boss explosions scale up in damage with the number of players in the game, and you need to be ready to survive them.

In hell difficulty, multiple mods mean that multiple elements will be contained in the attacks of each boss. A boss explosion will contain all elements with which it is enchanted. The lightning bolts of an LEB will contain charges of the other elements with which it is enchanted. These are things that can kill you instantly if you don't have good resistance to fire, cold and lightning.

Item Scarcity and Drop Sharing

Just as in softcore games, all drops are shared among all the players in the game. The thing is, good things are less plentiful than they are in the softcore world, as unlooted deaths cause items to be permanently lost fairly frequently. Charms are obviously lost on character death, as is mercenary gear. A list of items that you would expect to easily obtain for a typical SC build is usually far more difficult and perhaps impossible to lay hands on right away in HC.

This becomes important as you pick up treasure throughout the game. Something that would be ordinary in softcore might be very, very useful to a hardcore player. There is more emphasis on all forms of crafting and cubing, so items suited to that activity are sought after. For example, the low-strength high-defense armors such as Scarab Husk etc are in high demand. And when there is a really good drop of one of the unique elite items in the game, it is a time of great celebration. Someone in the game is going to get to keep it! The usual drop rules apply - just keep in mind, be generous and try to make sure everything gets a good home. What goes around comes around, and as long as you assume you'll get nothing, you'll usually end up pleasantly surprised!

This is not to say that everything must be accounted for - many players will pick up and sell, for example, useless wands and other items that have plus skills to them and are highly valued by town merchants for some inexplicable reason. It's simple - be generous and unselfish.

Hot WPs/portals

Typically when a player enters the game and joins in the action, someone casts him or her a portal. It is highly recommended that one always make sure a portal is safe before passing through it. Players will often ask "safe tp?" or, if casting one for an arriving player, state "tp up" to help out. This is a good habit to get into.

It is very important in a Basin game to try not to leave hot waypoints or town portals around. A hot portal/wp is one that is surrounded by a nasty group of monsters that could be lethal to someone coming through unawares. This is almost always a boss or boss pack that proved too difficult to handle and required retreat by the first player or party to come in contact with them. Here are some scenarios and recommendations for proper disposal of the threat.

• A wp that is swarmed - If it is possible, players should regroup and eliminate the threat. Consider approaching from a different direction (i.e. from the next contiguous area). If you can't kill the monsters, players should consider switching games and let the current game die. If the group decides, you can wait until everyone ingame has reached a convenient point, then switch games. If this is the case, be sure to announce the hot WP to everyone new that enters game.
• Portal from a portal shrine - same as above
• Portal cast by a player - If eliminating the threat is not feasible, the player(s) with portal in question can recast the portal in a different, safe area.

Despite all efforts, sometimes games are left empty with hot portals or waypoints in them. If you come upon an empty game, you might be best off creating a new one and letting the old one die.

Overconfidence

The number one killer is overconfidence. Right when you think you're invincible, that's when it'll happen. Maybe you just beat a top boss, maybe you just grew into a new piece of gear. Take a moment to remember that you're still vulnerable, or maybe just switch to another character. Also pay attention to laggy conditions and your own state of mind. Are you too tired to concentrate? Are you on the phone? Are you trying to play and chat via whispers to someone else at the same time? All these things indicate that you should TP to town til you can pay attention, or just quit for the night. Continuing could not only put yourself in danger but your fellow party members as well.

And speaking of fellow party members, that brings us to the most rewarding part of playing hardcore "Basin-style," and that's team play.

PARTY CONSIDERATIONS

For many players used to public battle.net, this will be the hardest adjustment to make, and perhaps one of the most intimidating aspects of playing in a Basin hardcore game. But remember, and it bears repeating, no one is going to hold an innocent mistake against you for the rest of your Basin career (and if you truly feel someone from the Basin is treating you unfairly, despite any attempts by you to work it out personally, here's a link to our Emergency document). The most important thing is to keep communicating, have a good attitude, and learn from everything that happens. People disagree, different interpretations are possible, and you're welcome to question or discuss anything you don't "get" or you disagree with. Sometimes an extended discussion is better held in the Amazon Basin D2 Forums. The best place for a serious HC strategy discussion is the Hardcore room. We also trade battle stories and chat about what goes on in games in the more casual Hardcore Resting Room. Our Strategy forums are also great places to find answers. Remember to try a search and/or visual scan of what's already been written to try and see if the discussion has already been explored - this is standard forum etiquette.

This section is, again, not so much a set of rules as such, but an attempt to establish a reference for some of the kinds of things that people can expect from each other in Basin games. You may not experience 'great co-op play' in your very first week of Basin gaming. But if you stick around, it will happen, and hopefully more often than not.

Lag

When a party member is standing still, especially in the heat of battle, not attacking but just taking hits, you are likely watching the effects of lag on that player. He has temporarily lost touch with the game server, and nothing he does takes effect, such as healing, attacking or running away. At this point, make every effort to protect that player. Try to stop the monsters from attacking by leading them away, casting minions to distract, perhaps a barbarian can taunt the monsters away, a necro can cast Dim Vision or an assassin Cloak of Shadows, so the monsters out of range ignore the player until the lag spike ends or the player can exit or drop from the game. If the character is not where you are, run back to them, and establish a perimeter in case a monster that's woken up late comes to call.

Some skills cause horrendous graphics lag for players with less than state of the art computers, especially when in a large party. Be sensitive to this, if you're asked to tone something down or stop using a certain skill. If your favorite is on this list (Fire Wall, Lightning Sentry, Volcano, Armageddon, lots of Revives/Summons, Frozen Orb, or any skill that you know can cause others graphics lag), you might even ask ahead of time if others will have a problem if you use that skill. The key is communication.

Difficulty levels

Normal is the easiest (duh), and it is probably advisable to start your career with us in this mode, unless you're really confident and knowledgeable. It is fairly forgiving, and most experienced players have the skill (and the gear) to avoid getting killed outright by your newbie mistakes. However, some nights you may find mostly new people, and the company of long-time Basiners is less plentiful. That's because some experienced players tend to spend as little time as possible in Normal, opting to turbo through to Nightmare and Hell. You will find a lot better gameplay in Nightmare - it's a bigger challenge, and here you really need to start to pay attention to what your teammates are doing. Finally, Hell difficulty requires the highest level of trust and confidence. Nasty bosses can spawn just about anywhere, and even characters with 7,000 hitpoints can die in one hit.

Poweracting (PA) or Cheesing

Defined as playing your character in an area that is too difficult for him to play through alone, but accompanied by other characters that can win through. This is most commonly thought in terms of rushing players through act bosses so that they can reach the more fruitful (experience-wise) areas of act V, or the Secret Cow Level. But it also includes anything that shortcuts the normal sequence of gaming, including such things as giving waypoints.

• Please don't assume that everyone present would like to be poweracted.
• Please don't assume that other characters will be willing to cheese you.

This is a topic where preferences vary widely among members of the community. Some players actually do avoid all forms of cheese. When someone is in an area where they cannot easily survive, it puts a burden on other characters. People will feel required to protect you to some degree, and you are usually just in the way, possibly blocking someone's retreat from a dangerous boss up ahead. Depending on a player's personal gaming ethic, they see it as their duty to die for their fellow party members rather than run away and expose them to danger that might kill them.

This does not mean that longtime players do not cheese each other. They do. But cheesing in a basin game can mean 'stealing' act bosses from other players who are not cheesing. The rule of thumb is simple - everyone else in the game already needs to agree that it's ok if a part of the group indulges in poweracting in the game. If someone there objects, the PA group should make a new game, and warn people who come in that they are PAing. We do not wish to ban all PAing in Basin games - but please do not force it on people.

Individual Classes

Each class in LoD has something to contribute as a party member in a hardcore game. Experienced players know the characteristics of the skills in their build, and know how those skills can augment or potentially detract from the effectiveness of the party. Talented players routinely adjust their techniques when playing in a party, depending on the skills and positioning of the other party members.

Party Roles

Who is the party leader? Who is in front? This is a subject of much debate, and is based on not just character class but also play-style and character build. If you are playing an unusual build (and in the case of many Basin players, that's all they do), you should let everyone know what your role will be. If you're playing a "n00d" character (a variant with little or no armor/defense), you might want to let people know if you would like others to make special allowances for you.

Tanks are usually out front, and their job is to engage the monsters in melee combat. Some tanks deal a lot of damage. Some do not, but they can soak up a lot of damage, and occupy the monsters while the rest of the party uses ranged attacks to bring them down. Typically, tanks include the Barbarian (all builds but possibly the thrower barb), shapeshifter Druids, almost all Paladin builds, melee/martial arts Assassins, spear or javelin-wielding Amazons, and even a nova or melee Sorceress. At the Basin you will find people trying all kinds of unusual character builds and play-styles, so expect the unexpected, not just cookie-cutter builds.

Ranged attackers should position themselves behind the tanks and avoid getting surrounded by monsters if possible. Their job is to provide support and firepower, or use special skills to enhance the killing power of others in the party. Ranged builds typically include the Bowazon, the Sorceress, the Necromancer, the elementalist Druid, the Trapsin (trapper Assassin), and even the ranger Paladin (who wields a bow). Again, just about anything is possible.

Play Speed

Play speed is a part of play style, and varies greatly. A new hardcore player should play slower than usual, but sometimes this seems impossible as the group rushes through the game at top speed. Everyone should be able to intuitively sense if they are rushing ahead of other players, and if you are, you need to slow down. What usually happens is that a player or group running through too fast will "awaken" monsters that will converge in their wake, and if someone's falling behind, they'll be the one trapped in that wake. Then the slower player CAN'T catch up because he/she is busy battling a pack of monsters ALL ALONE! Not good party play. Again, communication is key - tell people if you can't keep up, ask players falling behind if they're ok, and type 'help' if you're getting swamped.

Reading Boss Mods

Get in the habit of reading boss mods. These are the special characteristics that are partly or completely random on everything lower than an act boss, and are spelled out underneath its name. To read them, you have to highlight the boss for long enough to scan that text. It's also nice to communicate those mods to your teamies asap, using shorthand abbreviations. If it's not safe, step back before you do. Some people put a lot of emphasis on watching and communicating boss mods, and some less so, depending on the difficulty/challenge level. It is not a rule, though.

Certain combinations can quickly be lethal, and require special tactics to deal with safely, such as FE bosses while the party is amp'd.

Variants: No-twink, nOOd, and beyond

It's important to be aware of some of the common variant play philosophies that are common at the Basin. They require some adaptation or at least an awareness adjustment on the part of not only the player of that character, but those playing alongside him or her. This is not something we ridicule or look down upon here at the Basin; rather, we encourage it, and many cherish our community for providing the opportunity to try unusual or challenging character builds without being lectured or hassled by other players who think they know how to play the game better.

No-twink or notwink is the act of playing a character that only uses items that drop in its presence or are obtained through shops in town. Such characters may move a bit more slowly and kill less efficiently than a character that is equipped with good or great gear from a player's mules.

Playing n00d, or naked, is the act of playing a character that equips no clothing, hence the term. Commonly the only gear allowed is a circlet, jewelry, and a belt of some kind. Usually low on resists, this type of character survives by engaging enemies more carefully and deliberately.

Handling Challenging Parts Of The Game

There are certain points in the game that are more challenging, where everyone needs to be on their toes and really play as a party. At the Basin there are certain conventions that are followed for these types of challenges, and it is essential to know these if you are to become a trusted Basin HC player.

Are You Ready? (or the "r" convention)

The most important thing is the "r" convention. Whenever you are about to initiate a dangerous action, type "r?" for "ready?" and wait for EVERYONE in the immediate area to answer with "r". This means counting them if necessary.

Dangerous actions include activating the seals in the Chaos Sanctuary, opening Evil Urns, and confronting dangerous bosses or even mini-bosses (Sarina comes to mind). Activating seals or urns, without warning, and ignoring the "r" convention, is one of the quickest ways to cause people to remember you in a negative way.

The Full Clear

Certain very dangerous areas require, according to group wisdom, a full clear before triggering the final challenge. This is essential to know when you play these areas, most notably the Chaos Sanctuary (Act IV) and the Throne of Destruction (Act V).

In the Chaos Sanctuary, we traditionally move to the left wing first, then the center, and finally the right. Most groups prefer to do one of two things:

1. If the party is strongly challenged, the absolute safest thing to do is clear ALL the resident monsters before activating any seals at all.
2. However, the usual strategy is to clear each wing of resident monsters, then trip the seal to kill that wing's boss group while you're there. Please defer to method 1 if anyone feels unsafe, but method 2 is the status quo.

All unneeded seals are left unactivated if possible - most people know which seal releases the boss group (the Vizier, de Seis, and the Infector) for each possible layout - here's the map with the active seals highlighted. Notice that the left and right can be mix and match, not always paired as they are in the image. If we do it right, there should be 2 seals left to trip before Diablo enters - one is left as a safety, so the group isn't confronted by Diablo right after fighting the last boss pack. For the final fight, two people can trip the final seals while the rest wait in the center. Communication is important during this part, and people often like to restock pots or weapons before the fight, so use lots of "r"s etc.

For the Throne of Destruction, it's a little less elaborate. The most important point is not to enter the throne room itself before clearing out all the side corridors of monsters. The reason is so that if retreat is necessary, there are no other monsters to contend with.

Once all of the monsters in the Throne room itself are killed, Baal will activate his corpse explosion on all the bodies left (this causes a little damage and robs your team of corpses to utilize in the upcoming battle). Then the preset groups of Minions will spawn.

1. It is important to pay attention to boss mods, especially on Lister, the fifth spawn.
2. After the Achmel the Cursed, some may need to pop up to Malah for healing and elimination of the poison for themselves and their merc. For this, please cast a tp back from the spawning point, in the area of the archway at the entrance to the Throne room proper. Also nice is if you mention it to your teamies (i.e. type "poison" real quick) - but sometimes there's not time.
3. After Ventar, just before Lister spawns, it's a good idea to retreat toward the entryway to the Throne room, to give a bit of space for tackling Lister's gang.
4. Otherwise, everyone is expected to cast minions and decoys in defense, and engage the monsters.

For the final fight with Baal, like Diablo sometimes a pause is needed for restocking, so wait for everyone to return from town, give the "r" etc, before going through the portal and following Baal to the final confrontation.

PVP

Hardcore PVP is a rare animal at the Basin. We permit no hostiling in Basin games, so this is not something that you should ever see in a regular WeaselTech game. The only exception is dueling by mutual consent, which occurs in private games or special "Hunt" or "Friendly Fire" games, which are occasionally organized out of the Meeting Place forum.

In Closing

We hope that this guide is helpful and answers most common issues in our HC Games. If a guideline is not followed, instead of yelling at each other, please remain civil, whether you're an experienced Basin player or a newcomer. Disagreements are best worked out on your own, through PMs or a well-thought out forum post/thread that focuses on increasing everyone's learning and understanding about playing together as a community. We are here most of all to have fun. See you in the game!