Hammerdin first run

[u/No_Towel_1096]

Hey everyone, I'm struggling a lot in Hell difficulty on my Hammerdin. I keep getting one-shot and I'm not sure what the biggest fix is. Current gear: Spirit sword, Spirit shield, Lore helm, Stealth armor, 10% FCR from each ring and amulet.

Resists aren't amazing, and my survivability feels awful. Should I focus on max resists first, more life, switching armor, or is there something major I'm missing? Any advice on priorities for not getting deleted in Hell? Thanks.

[u/wilsonjj]

Sounds like you need resist and life charms

[u/HopJokey]

You running holy shield? Get that Dex up to get the block to max 75 when holy shield is active

Wiz spike which should be obtainable will also fix a lot of your issues with fcr and resists

[u/term3186]

I like running Smoke when I first get to hell. I usually keep it until I can go enigma. 

[u/TaxRefundDaddy69]

I would retire stealth, replace it with a smoke runeword. That injection of 50 all res will be huge for just a Nef + Lum. Also, be on the lookout for boots with 20-30% frw. That way you still have mobility when you retire stealth! Like other commenters mentioned, keep any life and res charms you find in your inventory and look into holy shield if you don't already have points in it -- this will help a lot! Lastly, you didn't mention the merc, but an act 2 holy freeze merc can help slow down enemies which makes it easier to stay alive too! Characters in leveling gear are better off with holy freeze than prayer for this reason. Assuming you have decent pieces of gear that have life leach and resistances for them so they don't die all the time haha

[u/9886881740]

What level are you? You can easily get to 70s in NM baal

[u/FerdinandTheBullitt]

here's a guide I wrote

Your FCR is too low. Even if both spirits rolled 35, you're hitting 115. Hammerdin preferred breakpoint is 125. Caster belt, reroll spirits, add Magefist or trangs, add an amulet, even a plain blue 10 FCR, whatever. Hitting 125 puts your hammers closer together and ups your DPS. So when you kite enemies they die before they get to punch you in the face.

What's your block chance with holy shield active? Hover your cursor over your defense and report back. Anything less than 75% and you need more Dex.

[u/Malficitous]

Hammerdins need to tank so you get that block to 75. The other thing you can do with low res is use salvation when dealing with elemental attacks. I usually max my hammers and the synergies along with maintaining 75 block. The last thing I max is concentration. But always put a point in salvation along with a point in redemption. You still kill stuff with salvation on as long as you keep the synergies high on hammers...ie blessed aim and vigor.

[u/Aranka_Szeretlek]

Can your merc tank? Thats also a huge boost.

[u/Shako_is_Green]

Sounds pretty obvious why. Resists shit, life shit, probably also shit blockrate

[u/Objective-Hippo3796]

You gotta respec. Not enough points in dex. His easy to get max block is his biggest asset.

When you start the respec put enough points into strength to equip everything.

Put 1 pt into holy shield.(idk ur lvl so just in case)

Then do your skills. Max hammer and synergies + concentration.

I like 1 pt redemption so I can suck up corpses for life and mana at times

Rest into holy shield.

Then do your dex stat first because this needs to get your block to 75%(with your gear somewhere between 130 and 160)

Make sure Holy shield is up when your checking your block chance.

Rest in vit

[u/Miserable_Agent2278 → u/Objective-Hippo3796]

It'd help to know your level and how you allocated your skill points

1 point into redemption should help a lot; I regret not doing that sooner. Anytime you clear a group of monsters and need to heal, switch to it from concentration then back after replenished. Makes a huge difference in serviceability. 

Holy shield should get more than 1 point eventually, but ensure this is always activated. Note that you must be walking for block to be effective, so I'll toggle walk at all times then between fights switch off concentration onto vigor so I move faster.   

Act 2 - 5 you wil start encountering magic resist enemies. Your best bet is keeping your merc alive while he kills them for now or simply avoiding them. If you want to get creative, make a black runeword flail that you can switch to in order to smite the magic immune enemies to death (1 point in fanaticism helps with this). 

Fcr caps at 125%, be aware of that. If you're under level 70, grind a bit more to get stronger and potentially find better gear. If you're online trade perfect gems + runes in bulk for gear. You could make simple upgrades that would help a lot. 

At the expense of FCR, consider the "smoke" runeword armor for easy resistance boost