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Footwork? Portal parking?

Hello.

I'm not necessarily the greatest player of this game. Surely, it is fun and such, but my Diablo I days, where I was quite a player are gone and my skills (if there were any) withered. In fact, I couldn't really beat Hell/Hell other than teleporting quickly to Diablo and vanquishing him. rolleye

Could someone point out how to do some basic moves that help to survive? What does "portal parking" mean and how to separate enemies properly?

And a word on Hell. I am torn apart between "You can't beat it without a good equipment and wonders on a stick" and "Wow, that Rogue Revival thingy was unbelievable". How is it really?
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Are you talking about Diablo 1, or Diablo 2? You say Diablo 1 in your first sentence, but Rogue Revival was a Diablo 2 variant.
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Diablo 2. (I don't have D1 at the moment) I meant that I was playing mostly D1, I just started playing D2, but D1 was long time ago and my experiences didn't totally carry over.
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"portal parking" - lure a big nasty group (or part of it) to some distant corner of the level, then quickly make a TP and head up it before you get splatted. Then go through the waypoints (or a friend's portal) to get back to a safe spot on the level. Now you can ignore that group, or try aggroing just a handful from off-screen by moving very slowly.

Hell Ladder (and SP/Open) 1.10+ is pretty tedious for a lone physical-based character without spending some time farming equipment. That isn't so true for elemental/magic based characters (like fire/ice/poison zons), who get most of their damage from skills. Good team synergy (concentration/fanaticism, amp damage) can probably make up for things as well.
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Deceptus Wrote:Could someone point out how to do some basic moves that help to survive? What does "portal parking" mean and how to separate enemies properly?

And a word on Hell. I am torn apart between "You can't beat it without a good equipment and wonders on a stick" and "Wow, that Rogue Revival thingy was unbelievable". How is it really?
My answers may be HC biased but they also hold true for SC:

from a stat points view:
- str only as much as needed to equip things
- dex only as much as you need to equip, to hit or to block things; max block is 75%. exceptions to this are Assassin's WeaponBlock skill, Amazon's Guided Arrow skill (auto-hit) or Paladin's Smite skill (auto-hit)
- vit as much as you can muster
- energy stays at base value. the sole exception to this is a Sorceress using EnergieShield

from a skill view:
- choose a maximum of 3 offensive skills to use and stick with them. the more synergies your offensive skills have the harder to perfect them
- get 1-point-wonder support skills like StaticField, Teleport, Smite, MindBlast, BattleCommand or Amazon's D/A/E skills

as a melee player:
- don't rush into unknown territory too fast, you may stir up too much critters. try to lure them, not the other way round
- keep an eye out for Fire-Enchanted bosses especialy when multi-enchanted and Stygian Dolls. their death explosions can 1-hit-kill you
- when swarmed try to "portal-park" them; Foxbat gave a very good example
- as a Barb: if packs get too large use Howl to scare them away or Leap out of range
- as a Paly: Sanctuary can save your butt vs. Hordes of Undead

as a ranged player:
- use a blocker to keep packs busy with a merc or a summonable minion like Decoy, Golems, Shadows, Wolfes ...
- support your merc/minions with curses, auras and/or area effect skills


"How is Hell really?"
.. not an easy question. Your char may be Mr./Mrs. Universe in Nightmare Act 5 while getting slaughtered by Hell Act 1 Zombies or Spike Fiends. The difference in critter lvl, life, dmg, ar and resists/immunities can bring a promising looking char build to a grinding halt. Just telling from my very own experiences, no scaring intended.

One thing that is definately not required to conquer Hell is unbelieveable good equipment.

As far as defense goes all you need are a comfortable red globe (1.000+), moderate resists (50%+) and as melee char some form of block, evade or dmg absorb. The more you have the safer you are.

As offense you should be able to deal at least 2 different kinds of damage because most critters in Hell are immune to at least 1 of the 6 possible damage forms physical, magical, fire, cold, lightning and poison. Of course a melee or non-magical ranged attack without auto-hit feature needs to make a connecting hit to deal any damage. Even in Hell this can be achived by real simple means: get 2 Angelic rings plus one other set part like the Angelic amulet and your enemies defense is one thing less to worry about.

Dr. Disaster
Arthur pulls tiles from the Scrabble bag which by random form into "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?"
Arthur: "Six by nine? 42?"
Ford: "I always knew there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe."
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Quote:Could someone point out how to do some basic moves that help to survive? What does "portal parking" mean and how to separate enemies properly?

That is a pretty broad topic not to mention class/build and play mode (ie, soft/hardcore) specifics.

Something that works in general:

J Walking
This is my usual maneuver when soloing, and when playing a weaker character in a group. J Walking is short of making a complete U Turn and run to safety - Travel till you can see/activate monsters at the edge of the screen then pull back slightly. This does many things-
- It lets you assess the situation you are in, what monsters are there, if they are following and how many. Key up spells.
- Since you are concerned about survival, it is a good rule of thumb to let monster come to you. You choose the battle ground.
- Do the J Walk for minion control. (pull back minions) Some minions will aggro the whole level if you just charge ahead, (get the tanks tanking) while others such as mercenaries, you want to get them in front of you tanking.

Lure/Pull/String/ in that order
(Lure) Activate the amount of monsters you want,
(Pull) Get the monsters to follow to a spot where you will not activate the other mob when you engage the mob you pulled,
(String) Monsters in a mob have different walk speed, pathing AI and obstacles to overcome, making it possible to string out a mob so you can engage each monster one on one.

Target size/shape control - This is a Stringing tactic for range AoE/piercing attacks. As you string out a mob, they will more or less fall in a straight line behind you. So now instead of having target mobs over 180 degrees arc or more, you just need to concentrate on a narrow arc for targeting your attacks. It increases your damage output since monsters are clumped up to take damage from AoE attacks; and it hurts you less since monsters have to get in line for their turn. The most effective way to String is to hug a wall while retreating.

Find a corner - Reduce your profile.

Find a loop - If you have a choice, clear around an outcrop/room so that you have a place to run around and around when you are being chased.

Don't leave any monsters alive, behind you. A measly Fallen can kill you when you are running scared.

Hope this help. I am sure others have much to add thumbsup

KoP
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One quick note on portal parking, from a Rogue who used it a lot smile ...

Make sure you leave a buffer between you and the enemies you are parking, especially if it is a mob. There is no guarantee that the portal will open in front of you. More than one character has been butchered by running into a wall, casting a portal, and having it open behind, right where the mob is.

As for footwork, experience really is the best teacher thumbsup One thing I will say is turn off your auto-run. Your defense drops to 0 when you are running. Walking also allows for moves such as Sirian's patented Tempting Fate ™. That's where you let a monster to swing at you, but WALK out of the way before the blow connects. Probably the easiest monster to practice this on is the Venom Lord types, as it takes them a LONG time to complete their attack animation.

Melee fighting is all about frontage. Simply put, the more enemies that can beat on you, the more damage you are going to take, and the less swings you'll get in due to block/recovery animations. Use the mob's numbers against them by taking a few swings, then moving, attacking the first couple monsters that get to you, then moving again. Whatever you do, DO NOT GET SURROUNDED. If you do, teleport, Leap, Terror, or beat a monster with nothing behind it to get out immediately.

Ok, that was a little more than a quick note on portal parking tongue Hope it helps!

dathon
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."
"It is not the fall that kills you. it's the sudden stop at the end." -- D. Adams
"Don't you hate it when your boogers freeze?" -- Calvin
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