Inferno

[Marius]

Good thing about the hardcore auction house is that it remains unaffected by inferno exploits. You're lucky to find an 800 DPS weapon on it.

[Yurtles]

I swear if it wasn't for damage reflect I'd be 100 times further along in inferno. Curse you, you beautiful glass cannon of a demon hunter.

[RaTTuS007]

shadow power with gloom, is great for dmg reflect affixes.

[Scarface.au]

Struggling a bit as a monk on inferno atm :\ half way through act 1 as well...

[GoToadGo]

Killed The Butcher after a few tries and accidentally resetting my Valor stacks

[Auld]

Struggling a bit as a monk on inferno atm :\ half way through act 1 as well...

It is very hard as a melee character..I feel your pain :*(

[Bronze_D]

at the moment at least, melee characters use deviant and bizarro builds to have any degree of efficiency at cruising or farming inferno...

barbarians for example uses the throw or more recently the super sprint build...

they seems odd and what not and well.. very uncharacteristic of the class, but they work... for now at least (blizzard seems keen to cut off anything remotely fun with any of the class that are applicable to inferno at times).

monk i would presume have something similar.

right now quite a few recent builds for inferno are centered around life on hit... given the degree in which they work (barbarians super sprint build for example are quite effective as silly as it looks) i suspect blizzard isn't going to leave it alone so better find out whatever it is monk are using right now for inferno and use it before they nerf it.

[Marius]

My early hardcore inferno strategy is actually going to revolve around the blacksmith. You can roll Act 2-level gear with a maxed out blacksmith using tomes of secrets from act 1. Just takes a lot of time and gold, but is possible.

Once you get act 2 gear, you can try your hand at Whimsyshire, which doesn't have the annoying invisible/invincible mobs of Act 2.

And from Whimsyshire, can get the gear needed to not die in Act 2.

There's a clear progression I can see. Going to take months though.

right now quite a few recent builds for inferno are centered around life on hit... given the degree in which they work (barbarians super sprint build for example are quite effective as silly as it looks) i suspect blizzard isn't going to leave it alone so better find out whatever it is monk are using right now for inferno and use it before they nerf it.

Blizzard have actually stated they don't mind people finding powerful combos, and won't be going nerf-happy with them. What they're against is using skills to bypass gear checks. Hence why smoke screen got nerfed, because it completely removed the need to actually wear armour. Since on hit is purely a gear ability, I doubt it will be nerfed.

[Bronze_D]

The on hit itself probably not, but the abilities that takes advantage of them are different story...

barbarian's super sprint for example is centered partly on life on hit applying on it's abilities hit pattern to work (otherwise they get obliterated).

[aetherfox]

at the moment at least, melee characters use deviant and bizarro builds to have any degree of efficiency at cruising or farming inferno...

barbarians for example uses the throw or more recently the super sprint build...

they seems odd and what not and well.. very uncharacteristic of the class, but they work... for now at least (blizzard seems keen to cut off anything remotely fun with any of the class that are applicable to inferno at times).

Don't like those gimmick builds. I'm playing a Barb because I like melee classes, so I'm using a standard melee build that can farm Inferno Act 2 (consistent boss kills with 5 NV stacks with the rare deaths). At this point, Inferno Act 1 is a joke, Butcher dies in under 30 seconds and champion packs last barely 5 seconds, and I have merely "ok" level of gear, there's still lots of room for improvement. For example theoretically you could roll 200+ str and 200+ vit on every gear, while I'm running just under 100 each. I'm not sure what the later acts are like, we'll see... a lot of the unhappiness is due to "class jealousy" where Ranged get it easier.

[aetherfox]

Actually I found this useful, for people who're wondering what level of gear you need to do what in Inferno (for a Barbarian)

Farm Build
1. Frenzy (Sidearm)
2. Revenge (Provocation)
3. Warshout (Impunity)
4. Furious Charge (Dreadnaught)
5. Wrath of the Berzerker (Insanity)
6. Earthquake (Aftershock)

Passives
1. Ruthless
2. Weaponmaster
3. Nerves of Steel

Self Buffed stats with Enchantress companion.

46k HP
16k DPS
8300 Armor
700 Resist All
34% Block 15% Dodge

Act 2 will be playable with these stats. It was a bit of a shock to me: I completed Act 1 with only 37k HP, 7000 armor, 300 Resist All, 20% Block and 12k DPS.. walked into Act 2 and got absolutely massacred. Upgraded my gear, and suddenly breezing through Act 2.

It is surprising how much difference upgrading the stats can make. I'm literally taking half the damage I was before: the Wasps only hit me for 4k each now instead of 10k, and having 34% block is downright amazing when you get swarmed by those invisible snakes.

I reckon about 800-900 Resist All is my ultimate target.

[Sathias]

Interesting aetherfox, I played a Barb up till Hell Act 2 but have now swapped to a Wizard. I'm assuming you are using a one hander and a shield?

[Marius]

I do think there's a tipping point for gear.

Unfortunately so many people don't get to the tipping point then scream about defense being unimportant. :/

[aetherfox]

Interesting aetherfox, I played a Barb up till Hell Act 2 but have now swapped to a Wizard. I'm assuming you are using a one hander and a shield?

Yes, using a one hander and shield. If I could start over I'd use a 2H I think, but both seem equally viable at this point. I'm just too far invested down the shield path now (have a good 1H weapon, decent shield and the Command Helm).

[aetherfox]

I do think there's a tipping point for gear.

Unfortunately so many people don't get to the tipping point then scream about defense being unimportant. :/

I suspect that being "good" at Diablo3 (for melee at least) should be translated to "being good at playing the AH"....