[G] Hardcore

#1 - The economy.
Probably the #1 reason to me. I have gear worth 250m+ and 50m in the bank at paragon 39 [note: this was written in December 2012] having never run MF gear or anything. The economy is much fresher because everyone is dying and making new characters, as long as you have the right combinations, there is always a demand for mediocre mid-level gear as everyone is dying and making new characters all the time. Most of my money is made off sales in the 1-5m range, and it's easy for someone to start and just make a few million gold with some starter a3 mp0 gear (you'll have 30k dps which may feel slow coming from softcore, but the amount of stuff that is worth selling makes a huge difference). There also is not always the availability of godly gear, not every high end character looks the same because there might not exist more than one 6% crit mempo on the server, and the highest dps char has something like 260k dps unbuffed.

#2 - Character progression and accomplishment
It's a great feeling to hit 60 for the first time, and if you still enjoy leveling, I definitely recommend leveling it yourself for the first time. If you don't, I'm willing to powerlevel a group of TLers with my archon wizard. Even past level 60, every paragon is one level you didn't die, one piece of gear that you worked for. There is a much bigger feeling of accomplishment.

#3 - The community and playing for the journey
This one is hard to understand til you've really played hardcore, but you come to appreciate the game and the people around you much more by playing hardcore, rather than your gear and the number of gold you have. I regularly see hardcore players donating eachother gold and items found in their farming when they know they'll help out their friends - everyone will die in the end anyway, so you just have to enjoy sharing the game experience with everyone around you. If I find a strength crit mempo, my first thought is no longer "omg I'm so rich now!", it's "maybe my barb buddy could use this!" Coming from softcore you might have a much bigger attachment to your own stuff, but if you let that go, you'll just have a much more relaxed communal experience.

#4 - A new challenge, something fresh to try
If you're like me and played softcore for months on end, you eventually wonder why you're still playing and what else there is to accomplish. HC can be a new challenge, a chance to try a new class, a new playstyle, and make new friends. This alone was enough to get me to try HC.

HC isn't for everyone. You will inevitably die (even if you have godly gear you'll disconnect someday) and that is a fact you must accept. It is a challenge that requires patience and careful attention. On the flip side, it feels a lot more rewarding and satisfying.

Leveling Up
Leveling up for the first time in HC is like a rite of passage. Even if you've leveled up five softcore characters, leveling to 60 the first time in HC actually feels somewhat like a challenge and accomplishment compared to the endless grind that is softcore. I recommend at least leveling your first couple characters to 60 legitimately, and then when future characters die, powerlevel to replace them (I couldn't personally be bothered to level five wizards to 60).

Try to obtain decent items just to make things easier. If it's your first time, get flawless square gems and a cain's set from a friend if you can, and stick a ruby in your helm ASAP. Buy a cheap weapon upgrade from the AH every 5-10 levels (they'll always be better than what you can find at that level), and replace absolutely awful gear every once in a while. This combined with careful play should get you from 1-60 with any class with ease!

Oh, also, if you can't stand playing without movespeed like me - pick up a Scrimshaw (movespeed weapon) at level 15 if you can, as well as movespeed boots asap. From level 33+, Slave Bonds (lacuni junior) is a good option. There are some other good MS legendaries out there - search for all armor / legendary / movespeed to find them!

Starting Inferno
Congrats, you managed not to be a total fuckup and you hit level 60 without dying. Or maybe you did die a few times, I dunno. (Don't worry, I won't laugh at you.)

You should have some amount of gold between 300k and 1m depending on how much you spent and sold leveling up. This should be enough for a few starter pieces. When you first hit inferno, you basically should just be trying to get as much mainstat/vit/AR as possible, along with some sustain - it's always better to start too tanky and work your way down as you get comfortable than try to toe the line and die right after you hit 60. Your goal should be to work up to MP0 A3 inferno farming as fast as possible. If you can get bits of crit on offhand/gloves/rings/amulet then by all means do so, but the goal is first to not die.

Progressing Further
This is where it gets far more class specific, so there will be a lot more info in the class specific sections. Start adding crit to your gear and work towards a build that is less defensive and allows for better farming. Look into sets/legendaries that will be cost effective for your character. Start new ones if you want!

Barbarian is one of the best HC starter classes, along with WD. Fairly forgiving and stress free, barbs can be effective at every gear level and progress well on a starting budget. Due to their many defensive and offensive options in passives and secondary skills, it is very easy to customize your barb based on your comfort and gear to get the best performance as your gear improves.

Pros
- Many defensive skills and methods of sustain
- Simple to gear
- Many viable skill choices for alternative playstyles
- Very viable and survivable on a budget
- Extremely fast and efficient at the top end

Cons
- A bit slow and annoying to level, don't get some of your best skills later on
- Tough to move from the slower tank spec to the fast WW spec without great gear
- Must play solo for ideal farming effiency with WW
- There are a lot of barbs, so high end gear is expensive and hard to find

Leveling Up
Barbs are imo one of the more annoying classes to level. They're easy and simple for a HC first timer, but if you get impatient and like to rush through content, it's more difficult. You have a lot of flexibility building your barb leveling up - you'll probably be using a 1h+shield and some sort of primary+rend+revenge spec with leap and some defensive skills most of the way. Depending on your preferences you can try HotA, offensive passives, etc - really it's up to you. Whirlwind simply does not work without crit and all the correct skills. (Trust me, I've tried.) Still, barb is a great first HC class due to their ability to tank fairly independently of gear.

Starting Inferno
Barbs are one of the easiest classes to progress into inferno with, for aforementioned reasons. Gearwise, you'll be looking to start as tanky as possible, using a 1h, shield, and a bit of LoH to survive. Basically, look str/vit/AR/sockets on pretty much every piece - maybe pick up a lifesteal belt (though with low dps, rend and revenge will be your primary sustain) or crit rings/gloves, but that starts to get a bit more expensive with good stats. Your weapon should be a decent dps 1h with 2/3 of crit, socket, and LoH - you can pick up some LoH on amulet/rings as well, but I actually personally don't find LoH entirely necessary with Rend and Revenge providing a lot of sustain comparatively. Skillwise, you'll likely run something like this:
Frenzy - Sidearm/Maniac/whatever you like, maybe even bash
Rend - Bloodlust - sustain+dps in one!
Revenge - rune of choice - sustain+dps in one AGAIN!
War Cry - Impunity - duh, more defense the better. Some people like the max life one - plugged into EHP calculator, impunity almost always wins.
Leap - Iron Impact - escape and mitigation in emergencies. Don't use it offensively til you know what you're doing!
Wrath of the Berserker - Insanity / Striding Giant - Your "oh shit" button for those nasty frozen jailer arcane packs.
Passives: Start off with three defensive passives, and drop them for dps ones as you get comfortable. Tough as Nails / Nerves of Steel / Superstition are always good choices. If you're really tanky, Inspiring Presence can be really nice, especially in a disconnect/lag situation.

Progressing Further
If Barbarian is your first character, you'll likely be on the tanky shield spec for quite a while - many top end barbs even use variants of this spec if they don't enjoy whirlwind or feel comfortable with it. As your gear improves, you'll switch out a couple defensive passives for Weapons Master/Ruthless to improve your farming efficiency. Your first upgrade progressions should include some of the following, in this general order (though you can feel free to gear in whatever way you choose):
- 12% Movespeed boots with competent str/vit/AR if you didn't get movespeed initially
- crit on rings, amulet, gloves - avoid IAS for now, it doesn't increase your rend/revenge damage, which is your main output
- crafting if you have a bit of money and some bad pieces in craft slots
- begin working towards IK pieces, starting with belt and a second piece of your choosing (gloves is the cheapest, but also very easy to outroll with crafts)
- 24% MS via lacunis, tyrael's, or inna's pants (innas are usually the endgame goal, but it's very hard to find good barb ones, you also need to make up the EHP elsewhere).
- begin adding IAS and consider transitioning into whirlwind at an appropriate gear level (by this point you should have a good feel for your character)

3 piece IK is pretty standard on pretty much every barb, generally the belt, chest, and either boots or helm are used, but you can go the full five piece if you pick up some nice IK gloves or don't like to craft them. Supplement that with another 12% MS piece and some nice rares and you should be good to go!

The second melee class, monks are in the middle of the pack when it comes to hardcore. With less innate tank ability and sustain options as compared to barb, monks will rely on higher defensive stats and sustain than barbs to survive initially. However, monks also have the luxury of One With Everything allowing them to easily obtain high AR numbers. Monks are a great balance between a forgiving melee class and a quick, agile, fun-to-play farming class with the right gear.

Pros
- Melee class with some inherent damage reduction and defensive capabilities
- Very easy to start gearing for beginners - OWE reduces costs significantly
- Can achieve quite high mitigation with OWE and Seize the Initiative
- Can transition into Tempest Rush for faster farming, decently fast with base spec
- Doesn't require a lot of different gear/skill/spec changing for farming in parties, ubers, high MP, etc (other than TR build)

Cons
- Can be difficult and expensive to upgrade past the initial set - you almost always have to drop some resist to make offensive upgrades
- Requires fairly high LoH / LS compared to other classes (no innate sustain other than Breath of Heaven)
- Not as tanky at lower gear levels OR as fast at high gear levels as a barb
- Not a lot of flexibility in build options and skill choices

Leveling Up
I haven't leveled a monk in a really, really, long time, but I'll give as much as I remember... Fists of Thunder / Thunderclap is basically a lock for primary, such a great skill. Among the rest of your skills, you'll usually want a spirit burner (Wave of Light is extremely strong with recent buffs), a defensive mantra, Serenity + Breath of Heaven for survival, and the last slot is up to you! Cyclone Strike, Seven Sided Strike, Mystic Ally are some of the skills I enjoyed using. Passives are honestly up to you, Seize the Initiative will obviously help defensively, beyond that monks really don't gain their best passive options til they are level 60 and have some gear to make use of passives like One With Everything. All general tips for leveling apply, as usual.

Starting Inferno
Monks are one of the cheapest classes to gear with a starter set, but one of the hardest to upgrade past that to improve your DPS without sacrificing defense. As usual, it is always best to start defensive. When you hit level 60, you'll want to pick a single resist to stack for One With Everything - this will significantly reduce your gearing costs and increase your survivability. The resist you pick doesn't matter too much in the long run, but there are a couple factors to consider. First off, if a friend (or me) has a couple of starter monk pieces lying around of a particular resist, that could be an easy way to pick one and build around that resist. If you have some nice vit crafted items that you made while rolling crafts for other characters that have a single resist, that could be an easy way to pick one. If there's a particular legendary you'd like to use that always rolls a single resist (Andariels Visage/Poison, Fire Walkers + Cindercoat/Fire to name a couple), that could be another way to pick one. But honestly, don't worry about it too much - if you really can't decide, maybe just try to craft a couple items and see if you get a half decent one with a resist.

Alright, now that you've decided on a resist, your gear will pretty much be the same as all other classes, with the addition of said single resist. You'll usually want to look for both AR and your single resist on defensive pieces like shoulders, belt, pants, and chest, and perhaps only go for the single resist on pieces that you can roll more desirable affixes on: for example, maybe search for Dex + CC + CD or IAS + single resist on gloves or rings, etc. If you're extremely poor, search for single resist as much as possible and forego all resist unless you can get it cheaply. You'll want a solid amount of LoH, usually on two pieces - some on either your weapon or amulet, and then some more on one of your rings. A starter monk will generally like to have ~1000 LoH and a decent attack speed weapon to make use of it (a fist or sword is usually ideal). You'll of course be starting off with a shield - don't even think about using 2H or dual wield til your gear is much better. Your shield will probably start off as a defensive one with dex/vit/AR/single res/as high block as possible, and then you can add crit in the long run.

Your skill build will likely look something like every monk ever:
Fists of Thunder - Thunderclap
Sweeping Wind - Cyclone (use Cyclone once you have over 20% crit chance, if your crit is under 20%, use a different rune like Fire Storm or Blade Storm)
Serenity - Ascension
Breath of Heaven - Blazing Wrath
Mantra of Conviction - Overawe for damage, OR you can start off with Mantra of Evasion - Hard Target if you're concerned about dying. Mantra of Healing - Time of Need is also another solid defensive option, but I believe Hard Target almost always outperforms it EHP wise.
Last slot is up to you - you'll usually want a defensive movement skill to get out of trouble quickly, like Dashing Strike or Tempest Rush. If you want a damage spell here, Wave of Light would be the way to go.

Progressing Further
Monk is one of the trickiest classes in this section - because you'll have to start looking into high AR numbers instead of high single resist due to single resist being capped at 60 per piece, it can get really expensive and have a lot of tradeoffs to increase monk DPS. Look to improve your DPS on spots like gloves, rings, and amulet while dropping as little survivability as possible. Inna's set is another thing to work towards, the pants and helm are a good two piece to work towards - single resist as the random property will likely be the most cost efficient, but again, you'll likely be dropping a good bit of survivability to do this, so be careful. Your endgame will involve some combination of Inna's set (either 2 piece or 4 piece depending on your build), a possible Natalya boots + ring for the 7% crit bonus, and good rares for a nice full set. A lifesteal skorn or good dual wield weapons with lifesteal are possibilities when your gear gets very good, especially for speed farming low MP. If you choose the lifesteal skorn tempest rush route, you'll be great for fast farming low MP, but you'll need to switch up your set to survive at higher MP.

I haven't played monk at all - if any more experienced monks want to add, please go ahead!

Demon Hunter is, in my humble opinion, the worst class in HC. I say this having played and enjoyed DH significantly - it is not boring nor is it stupid to play DH, but DH is basically mediocre in every sense of the word when it comes to HC. With very little innate survivability, DH players will need to rely on good tactics and quick reactions in order to stay alive, even with very good gear. DH excels at running fast and quickly killing stuff at low MP, but really isn't that much faster than other classes when it comes down to it, and they scale far worse into higher MP. Still, you can run around really fast even when you don't have mobs to kill to reset cooldowns or generate fury. Running fast, fuck yeah, am I right? If that's you, maybe DH is for you.

Pros
- They run really fast, even if there aren't mobs around. Vault + Tactical forever.
- Fun to level, you get all your core skills by level 30-35 I believe.
- Great at melting white mobs on the run.
- Fast-paced and challenging gameplay.
- Some available alternative skill specs to experiment with, can be built in quite a few ways.
- Cheap gear, because not very many people play DH.

Cons
- Definitely the easiest class to die with in many, many situations, both leveling up and later in the game.
- Horrible scaling into higher MP than 1-2, even with great gear.
- No matter how you gear, they take quite a while to kill elites.
- Difficult to achieve good DPS numbers without significantly sacrificing EHP.
- Kinda monotonous in a way, no exciting build to look forward to once you have good gear like WW barb / TR monk / archon wiz / CM wiz.

Leveling Up
Demon Hunter, for the amount I just shit on them, is actually probably one of the most fun classes to level up. With all your core skills unlocked early on and no real game-changing mechanics that you can't take advantage of before level 60, DH is both a thrill and challenge to level. Getting through hell on a DH is also actually pretty hard, even with good gear, so if you like a challenge, try to solo a DH to 60. In terms of leveling up, you'll play somewhat similar to a level 60 DH - Hungering Arrow, a secondary of your choice (usually Elemental Arrow - Ball Lightning or Multishot - Fire At Will), Smoke Screen, Vault, Preparation, and a pet (Bat and later Boar). Passives probably Tactical Advantage, Perfectionist, and Archery, as soon as they unlock. Sharpshooter may be better DPS wise from the time you get it to the time you have 30+ base crit chance. All other rules of leveling apply - make sure to keep your gear in good shape, it's easy to be overconfident with DH until you get into that one shitty spot where you die.

Starting Inferno
This is where it gets tricky. While there aren't a lot of DHs around and gear is fairly cheap, DH runs into the unfortunate problem of having basically no sustain or mitigation, and therefore relying on killing stuff to survive. It's extremely hard to strike a balance between enough DPS to kill stuff fast and enough defense to not get fried when you make a mistake. You really can't run around with a 30k DPS DH like you can the other classes, you simply can't kill tough packs before you run out of discipline and inevitably die. That being said, your gear will basically be standard stuff - 12% MS boots are a must, as much dex/vit/AR as possible on defensive armor pieces, and a good balance of crit and stats on jewelry and gloves. 2H crossbow and quiver is the way to go, for sure. Your crossbow can be a standard crit/socket crossbow or as good a manticore as you can pick up, while quiver can be a DML or a dex/vit/crit/disc rare. I find LoH and LS pretty bad on DH - they don't really have any good skills to make use of this sustain, and no matter what your sustain is, your goal is to kill stuff before you run out of hatred and discipline.

Your skill build will look something like your leveling build. Gloom is awesome and all, but the reality is that you shouldn't be as glass-cannony as you might be in softcore, and smoke screen and vault will help you get out of those nasty packs better than gloom will. Basically, Gloom will be more useful 98% of the time than smoke screen, but that 2% of the time, you'll die if you don't have smokescreen, while if you don't have gloom you can just run away. You can use Sentry/Guardian Turret if you so choose instead of a boar pet, but I personally prefer the boar pet.

Progressing Further
DH has a tough time with gear progression, because it's really hard to upgrade your DPS without sacrificing defense without spending a buttload of cash. 24% MS is a priority, usually via inna's pants - make up the vitality through vit crafting. Keep your AR up as much as possible while adding offensive stats. Natalya two piece, with boots and then either chest and ring (I find the chest far cheaper for the stats it brings, try to pick one up with AR) will boost your DPS significantly. Manticore and DML are the go-to pair for weapon and quiver, and decent ones are actually obtainable fairly cheap due to the small amount of surviving DHs in hardcore. You'll either want to get 3 piece nat or 2 piece inna eventually, with either nat chest or inna chest for the +130 dex bonus (along with nat ring / nat boots / inna pants). 4 piece nat is okay, but good nat helms cost a bogus amount, and you really want to get some good stats on your helm.

A major problem with DH progression is that no matter how good your gear is, you're basically locked into using four defensive skills on your bar, and having no quick way to tear down elites. You can drop the boar/sentry (whichever you choose) for something like cluster arrow or spike traps, but it's always a tradeoff with DH. Sentry is nice for progressing into higher MP/ubers, but DH really doesn't have a good safe option for high MP regardless - just DPS behind a good party.

The kings of hardcore. Many softcore players are surprised when I tell them that Witch Doctor, not barb, is the best HC class. A ranged class with both great DPS capabilities with Soul Harvest, Gruesome Feast, and Zombie Bears giving insane effective DPS and survivability with Spirit Walk, pets, Jungle Fortitude, and Spirit Vessel, WD has it all. WD shines at surviving and farming fast with mediocre gear, being extremely forgiving to mistakes, and progressing fairly well into upper gear levels when you have the money. They aren't quite as strong top end as Wizard and Barb, but given you're about twice as likely to make it there and you can practically fall asleep at your keyboard and not die, WD is a great class for those who worry about... well, anything, WDs pretty much never have to worry.

Pros
- Easy to level - Statistics don't lie!
- Very survivable/forgiving on a budget with mediocre gear - Spirit Walk/Vessel, Pets, and Jungle Fortitude are all extremely strong and not gear dependent
- Soul Harvest, Gruesome Feast, and Zombie Bears allow you to inflate your effective DPS to far above your unbuffed sheet DPS and melt elites like no other
- Spirit Walk allows you to move between packs of mobs like no other, and with pickup radius and Grave Injustice, you'll soon be zoom-zooming everywhere
- Acid Cloud and Rain of Toads have disgusting LoH proc rates

Cons
- Everyone and their grandma plays WD, so there are a million carbon copies of you walking around. Also, pickup radius is really expensive and popular.
- Not a ton of gear and skill creativity, except maybe the zombie dog cooldown build (but even that's not hipster anymore).
- It sort of defeats the point of playing HC if your character can't actually die. In all seriousness, it's a bit less interesting than the other classes.
- You'll be playing the same class as Chosan/notbriancho/jaychohomie/whatever he calls himself now (NOT the teamliquid Chosen!). If you don't get it... you'll get it eventually after playing enough HC and reading enough d2jsp HC trading forum. Really, I just can't think of any more good reasons.

Leveling Up
Leveling a WD is fairly easy - other than zombie bears, most of your core skills are available early on. Primary and secondary you have a lot of options, darts/splinters is good, dire bats is good, there are some fun ones to experiment with. Your four skills will pretty much always be dogs + gargantuan + soul harvest + spirit walk with jaunt. Passives usually Jungle Fortitude, Spirit Vessel, then another of your choosing (generally Gruesome Feast). This will be fairly similar to your early inferno build. All other general leveling tips apply - WD leveling is pretty much cake, really.

Starting Inferno
WD has a very, very strong cookie cutter build at any gear level, as well as simple gearing. Your gear should include as much int/vit/AR as possible on all slots, 500-800 LoH either from your amulet or weapon, and some crit on gloves, rings, amulet, and weapon. WD can usually afford to skimp a bit more on defensive stats to get crit pieces earlier, but again, rather safe than sorry. You'll either want to pick up a Thing of the Deep (even shitty ones are in the 1m+ range, so out of a very beginner price range) or some pickup radius pieces as soon as possible.

Your skill build will likely look something like this:
Plague of Toads - Rain of Toads has amazing LoH proc rate, and can shoot over walls to keep up your life when you get walled in. Definitely the safest primary skill, and not too bad offensively.
Zombie Charger - Zombie Bears is a must for beginning WDs - the damage output is absolutely insane, and in combination with buffs, you'll find yourself tearing through MP0 with very mediocre gear.
Zombie Dogs - I personally like Life Link for mitigation (it's basically a flat 10% mitigation)
Gargantuan - Any rune that you like, Restless Giant is probably the most popular, as it can save you from elites in a DC situation more easily.
Soul Harvest - Vengeful Spirit is the standard rune, but none of them are totally terrible.
Spirit Walk - Jaunt is an absolute must.
Passives: Spirit Vessel is a must, the other two slots will be some combination of Jungle Fortitude, Grave Injustice, and Gruesome Feast. Honestly, I find myself safe enough with WD to drop Jungle Fortitude fairly early, but definitely start off with it til you're more comfortable with your character.

This will be your standard build throughout all of your WD play - later on you can drop one of the pets for Horrify - Stalker, Horrify - Frightening Aspect, or Big Bad Voodoo if you so prefer, but the cookie cutter build will always work effectively.


Progressing Further
Your gearing priorities will include:
- getting pickup radius, as much as possible, either via a frog or a couple armor pieces
- having crit on all crit-available pieces (except helm, since you mostly want 4 piece zuni)
- getting 24% movespeed
- getting 4 piece zunimassa set
- AVOIDING ATTACK SPEED LIKE THE PLAGUE (other than lacunis)
- eventually getting things like a witching hour to boost DPS once your EHP is sufficient

WD has a fairly simple gear progression and it's usually pretty easy to find things to upgrade in my experience, which is not a feeling I've had with all classes (especially DH and monk). Great WD gear is expensive, but fortunately WD is safe enough that you can usually cut some corners as long as you don't cut five corners at once. In terms of skills, as you approach 100k+ DPS with high pickup radius, you can think about running Acid Cloud - Acid Rain instead of zombie bears - this will allow you to clear trash extremely fast and run MP0 super quick. In fact, if you have no mana troubles and 4 piece zuni with high dps, you can even drop plague of toads and run BOTH acid rain and bears - this is mana intensive, but if you kill stuff really fast on low MP, it shouldn't be too much of an issue, and will allow you to shred both elites and white mobs super fast.

WD scales okay into high MP - you'll definitely want to use bears, most likely, as it's pretty mana efficient - and pick up a lifesteal weapon if you plan to run above MP2-3, where LoH will likely not be enough. At this point, you should probably have a good grasp on your character and will have more specific questions than what this general guide can provide! Though, food for thought: if you have a good amount of pickup radius on your armor, a lifesteal skorn can be really strong if you have the money, and the low attack speed will allow you to be extremely mana efficient.

Wizard is my baby, my first hardcore class and the one I've always come back to. With multiple unique builds and skill choices, it can almost feel like having multiple classes at your fingertips. While back in the day when hardcore gear was garbage we were stuck kiting with Blizz/Hydra all day, but now with gear constantly improving and inferno being weakened, more fun specs like CM and archon have been opened up to hardcore players with appropriate gear. There also aren't a ton of wizards, although there are quite a few top CM wizards nowadays, the gear is reasonable and progression is fun. With the Unstable Anomaly buff, wizards actually have okay-ish survival, though it's still definitely a cut below WD and barb and probably worse than monk too. Overall, wizard is a fun, multi-faceted class that's good for experienced players who want a challenge.

Pros
- Lots of unique gear/skill choices to make
- A few defensive options with prismatic armor/blur/unstable anomaly/diamond skin
- Great DPS potential and fairly easy upgrade progression
- Extremely strong and fun at any monster power and situation with good gear
- Great asset to groups as well as very good solo farming potential

Cons
- A lot of your luxuries are not available as a beginning wizard, you'll be stuck in blizz/hydra for a bit
- Not too forgiving to mistakes and bad play, better than it used to be but still a pretty squishy class
- CM can be tiring on your fingers
- Requires significantly different gearsets for different specs (at least to use them ideally)

Leveling Up
Wizards are probably the hardest class to level apart from DH, and unfortunately, they don't really have a great leveling build either. Don't even try to use archon or CM before appropriate level 60 gear, you will definitely get yourself killed. Your build will likely be a variation of the standard blizzard hydra kiting build, which you will also use for starting inferno:
- A primary, I like spectral blades if your gear can survive getting up close a bit, or piercing orb/magic missile for a safer one
- Blizzard - Snowbound, amazing damage for the AP cost, especially since the buff
- Hydra - Arcane Hydra, any rune works, but I like arcane the best - again, very AP efficient
- Diamond Skin - Crystal Shell, a must for mitigation
- Energy Armor - any rune early on, Prismatic Armor @ level 60 - ditto
- Teleport - Wormhole, a necessary escape mechanism

This is definitely the simplest and easiest way to play wizard for the majority of the time, both below 60 and at 60 until your gear can handle better.

Starting Inferno
... will feel much like leveling, if you're on a budget! Similar to all other classes, get up your AR/int/vit as much as possible, crit/IAS as budget allows. I personally feel you don't really need LoH/LS on a blizz/hydra wizard - kiting with diamond skin and teleport should kill stuff fast enough, and you'll more likely have to run away in a tough spot no matter how much sustain you have. Cheap triumvirates are usually the best option in the source spot, paired with a decent black damage weapon with crit and/or socket. Other than that, your gear will be the standard set of rares, with movespeed boots being a fairly high priority.

Progressing Further
Alright! This is where Wizard gets far more interesting, and becomes IMO the most unique and diverse class in the game. At this point you have to decide what you want to progress towards first - Archon, for solo farming low MP (but good for moving up to mp2-3 to take advantage of bonuses when your gear is appropriate), Critical Mass/Freeze, for playing in groups and being especially effective in higher MP, or Blizzard + Spectral Blades + Teleport, for speed farming low MP solo or in groups. The latter of the three will likely be very similar to your leveling build, except you'll drop arcane hydra for magic weapon and begin to use teleport more offensively than defensively. I'll go through a quick rundown of gear priorities for the three builds (clicking on the build name will link you to the cookie cutter variation in a skill calculator!):

Archon:
- Lifesteal weapon with black damage and a socket
- Good triumvirate
- 24% Movespeed (big priority - usually lacunis will be the most reasonable for the price)
- As much sheet DPS as possible, the balance of crit/CD/ias does not matter - just want pure sheet damage
- As much AR/armor as possible, they get multiplied a lot with prismatic and archon

Critical Mass/Freeze:
- As much crit and IAS as possible - 40+ Crit Chance and 2.15+ attack speed highly recommended
- Chantodo wand + source, to help you achieve aforementioned stats
- Two items with 9+ AP on Crit - usually Chantodo weapon and a crit or socket storm crow, or rare helm with apoc (hard to find!)
- solid defensive stats to go along with it
- Movespeed is nice, but not a huge necessity

Blades/Blizzard:
- Crit and crit damage, try to avoid attack speed (to maximize damage per blizzard cast)
- 24% movespeed
- High damage, slow attack speed weapon - ideally a mace or spear with crit damage and a socket (lifesteal not required, but if you have it, you can change spectral blades rune)
- Source ideally would be The Oculus with very high damage, and the two skill bonuses being Blizzard and either Teleport or Spectral Blades

So each of the builds has slightly different ideal gear, but most of them can be used effectively just by changing a couple pieces. For example, it won't totally kill a blizzard/blades build if you have high attack speed, and eventually you'll just mostly be changing your weapon/source/helm for ideal usage.

I plan to make a cute little multiple-choice quiz that will predict what class would be best for you. You know those personality quizzes that you see on survey sites? If anyone knows a good site to make that on, please link me!
For now, you'll have to pick for yourself, based on my pros and cons. Sorry, lazy people!
But really, the answer is probably Witch Doctor.

Play for the journey, not for the end result. Every one of your characters will inevitably die if you play it enough. There's always some stupid situation, some stupid server crash, some stupid router reset that might kill you, and you just have to play with the mindset that you're always gonna enjoy it while it happens. The hardcore community is great, and we all enjoy playing even without the top end gear that softcore players more easily have access to. We all start new characters of all classes, we all band together and help those that had a tough loss, and you'll have plenty of great gameplay experience whether you're a hardcore veteran or new blood.

Use d3up.com and the d3bit utility to calculate your EHP and DPS with gear changes. Especially important for EHP, you may find a lot of surprising and unexpected ways to maximize your EHP. It will help you a lot with making upgrades.

Do not undervalue armor. 10 armor = 1 AR, and for some characters who have armor buffs (i.e wizard prismatic armor boosts armor by a higher percentage than AR), 10 armor > 1 AR. I see so many softcore players wearing ilvl 58 pants and having no +armor gear - both armor and AR mitigate ALL damage, not physical or elemental or whatever.

Be patient with the auction house. Unlike softcore, the kind of item that you need will not always be available, and sometimes not for the right price. You may have to wait days to get an item you want at a fair price. While in softcore there are so many items that things generally have a well-defined value, you can find a lot of deals on HC by being patient.

Read d2jsp Hardcore Trading Forums (Europe), especially as you move into higher gear levels. Starting off, you'll mostly be using the AH, but for buying mid-end items and selling top-end items, jsp is the way to go. Warning: for selling anything but top top items, you can usually get more on the AH than on jsp, but for buyers, jsp contains a lot of great deals. I probably purchase ~30% of my items via d2jsp. In line with the last point - items you want may not be available on the AH, but they may be available on jsp - you never know.

Rather be safe than sorry! Play in groups when possible, always start too safe and then move up in difficulty as you feel comfortable. You don't necessarily have to take this to the extreme of stacking life regen and never leaving MP0, but don't go crazy before your character is ready for it.

Does hardcore use the same auction house as softcore?
No, hardcore has its own auction house, and there is no access to the real money auction house for hardcore characters. However, if you are so inclined, you can usually find people willing to trade hardcore for softcore gold and vice versa. Generally the rate hovers around 1m HC gold to 3m SC gold.

Do I get my jewelcrafter, blacksmith, and stash from softcore? Will I lose my stash if I die?
Jewelcrafting and blacksmithing are separate from softcore - you will have to relevel them and learn all the plans again. Your stash, items, and gold are also completely separate. You keep your stash and gold when you die - those are tied to your account, not to your individual characters. You lose the character, everything it is wearing, and everything in its inventory.

How does the economy compare between softcore and hardcore?
The Hardcore economy is a lot less top-heavy, and many things have value below the top tier of items. In softcore I find item values to often be based on how close to perfect they are, while in hardcore things generally have value more closely tied to their practical use. Since people are dying frequently, there is always a demand for items of all levels, and mid-level legendaries have FAR more value. For example, the cheapest Zunimassa boots are 30-40m, the cheapest Blackthorne pants are ~10-15m, etc. These items don't lose value because many, many characters die with them and have to buy new ones, while in softcore, people are always just looking to upgrade closer to perfection. Still, hardcore prices as compared to softcore prices do take some getting used to, but the economy is far, far healthier than that of softcore.

Is it worth it to craft?
Yes, absolutely - the bound to account crafted items are extremely strong, especially when you have some money to sink into it. Be warned, though, tomes and brimstones are extremely expensive! In hardcore, the general rule is that 1 point of main stat is valued about as much as 1 vitality, unlike softcore, where 180 main / 80 vit would be worth far more than 80 main / 180 vit, for example. Therefore, you usually will want to craft vitality crafts, with the exception of chest pieces - chests natively roll higher vit than main stat, so it's more likely you'll get a better chest when you craft main stat. If you find yourself at a stat imbalance, just swap some gems or change some other pieces! Crafting vit will make it three times more likely you roll something useful - if you roll Dex shoulders that randomly roll 200 strength, that's pretty useless, but if you craft vit items, you can get a lot of things that will be useful for your future characters, or help you start something new when you die.

What ways to die should I beware the most?
The number one bane of Hardcore characters is disconnects, unfortunately, but as for things you actually can control, here are some things you should watch out for:
- Waller with desecrator or arcane in tight spaces, especially if you're playing a class that can't teleport over walls in some way.
- Jailer+Frozen+another damage affix - save your CC breaker skill if you have one!
- Fallen Maniacs in Keep Depths 2 - it's fairly safe to farm here once your character is well geared, but starting out, be careful!
- Poison from the trees in the fields of act 1, especially if you're doing keys on a higher MP, tree poison can melt ANY character extremely fast, no matter your gear.
- The fire grates in Keep Depths 1 - DO NOT walk over these and just pray they don't hit you, teleport/spirit walk/leap/vault across them or go around a different way.

I have a bad internet connection, is hardcore right for me?
Probably not. (I think I'll cover this in another section soon)

What are the best ways to power level in hardcore?
Powerleveling is using a level 60 friend (or paying someone) to carry your character from 1-60. Done properly, you can have a level 60 character ready in about three hours. To get power leveled, put on as much XP boosting gear and vit as you can, and follow your powerleveler around. Usually, you will run mob-dense areas such as Keep 2 or Arreat Crater levels on MP10 until you reach the minimum level for the next difficulty. The powerleveler should use skills that can quickly clear trash mobs and move quickly between packs. I personally prefer Keep 2, as I find that worms are more dangerous than banelings for a low level character!

Is there a general rule about what to vendor and what to salvage?
It doesn't really matter - crafting mats usually cost roughly the same as vendor price, you'd have to check the AH for material costs if you're really into min-maxing, but it's usually pennies either way. Brimstones and Tomes of Secrets, however, are worth quite a bit in HC, at least at the time of this writing!

to fungus, phil, Nethermind, MortalSmurph @ HC America - for being my main crew nearly since I started hardcore, and giving me tons of help along the way
to everyone I've played with, parties are the way to go!
to Valiver, and anyone else who helps with the FAQ - YOUR NAME COULD BE HERE!
to ChoseN, for making great contributions to teamliquid HC players
to wooozy, for being THE FIRST ONE to point out a silly mistake
to you lovely readers who should all play hardcore with me!!!