D2R Reach Level 99 with a Hardcore Character

Icon	Achievement Name	Description	Points
	I’m gonna do what’s called a pro gamer move	Reach Level 99 with a Hardcore Character	60

List of D2R Achievements Guide.

Something to note: you can have the best gear in the game, the best techniques, the best builds, and the best teammates and still die and fail at getting this achievement. Because even with all that, luck is still required. The game can crash and you can be disconnected from your match but your character will still remain there for about a minute and can die. Or you could be magic finding by yourself in between runs and go to a hot waypoint while using an old xbox one with terrible load times and die before your screen can even show you what happened. Or you can be rolling with your favorite squad and all doing Baal runs and your BO Barb does a Stun shout on Lister and wipes the entire party when Lister dies because of some stupid glitch thats new that hasnt been fixed that you may or may not even know about. So keep all that in mind when going for this and know that my information was current at the time but I cant keep track of all the new glitches or updates.

I’m all about min/maxing my builds and excellent items are so important to have, but in the rush that comes with cool rare items, please remember your squad and your teammates and share the loot, as THEY are rarer than any item that is gonna drop.

This can be done a bunch of ways, I went with likely the simplest and easiest build. I’ve played since launch day on xbox one and like many I upgraded to a Series X for faster load times or if you dont have a launch edition Xbox One you can get whats called and SSD (i think) and decrease your load times massively, its kinda necesarry. I will list my specific build items when I get back home tomorrow as I’m at a comic con in Tampa right now. I use a Hammer Pally.

I had countless close calls. Some of the more dangerous areas id avoid were Countess and Pit, as good treasure can be had there but in archer city with Fantacism and Might auras can be toasty quick.

Build: you dont need all this fancy stuff but it sure does help. This was my build by the time I finished, min max upgraded constantly along the way. Gave tons and tons of items to friends as they are the real treasures.

Equipment: Crown of Ages (perfect 2 sok, except defense) 352 def with 2 Ber runes, all res 30% DR 31%.
Enigma (Dusk Shroud) 1184 def, 5 off perfect defense roll.
Mara’s Kaleidoscope 2/5/29 (1 off perfect)
HoZ (Umed) 187% ED.
Wizardspike (Isted)
Venom Grip gloves (upped 174 def)
Hot Spur boots (upped) 67 def
Verdungo belt (157 def/ 139%ED/39 Vit/DR 15%)
SoJ
Wisp Projector (19% lightning absorb/12% mf)

Off Hand:

CtA (Crystal Sword) 6/5/3
Spirit (Zakarum Shield) fire res 42%/ 77% rest of resistances.

Inventory:
Tome of Town Portal
Hellfire Torch 17 att/ 19 all res
Annihilus 20/18/10
5 all res small charms with extra stuff on them,
7 faster hit recovery small charms with extra stuff on them,
5 nice perfect combo small charms with various stuff,
1 7% faster run walk/15 all res GC
3 Offensive GC skillers with extra perfect or near perfect stats (mostly life),
2 Combat GC skillers with extra perfect or near perfect stats (mostly life).

Merc: Mercenaries cap out at 98 FYI, also your merc is your lifeline, give him only the best.
Act 2 merc, Holy Freeze skill.
(Ethereal) Fortitude [Sacred Armor base that was near perfect: 2835 defense with a perfect roll/ 148 life, 30 all res].
(Ethereal) Insight [Giant Thresher- 17 meditation, 221% ED, 234% bonus AR, 5 to Critical Strike].
Ansariel’s Visage (Umed) 367 def 9% life steal.
Resistances=
Fire bonus 180%
Cold bonus 210%
Lightning bonus 210%
Poison bonus 280%

Skill Tree: 1 hard point into Prayer (13), Cleansing (13), Defiance (13), Might (16), Fantacism (16), Smite (17), Charge (17).
2 hard points into Holy Bolt (18) this one is useless beyond 1 point since the last update that I played.
8 hard points into Resist Lightning (20) this has a synergy to bring up your max lightning resist 1% for every 2 hard points you invest in it passively.
13 hard points into Holy Shield (29).
20 hard points into Vigor (32), Blessed Aim (35), Concentration (35), Blessed Hammer (36)

Stats: Strength base value =75 (213)
Dexterity base value =114 (156)
Vitality base value = 386 (487)
Energy base value =15 (57).

54% Damage Reduction ( it caps at 50% but doom knight like to curse you n bring it down so any over is great [remember this DR only pertains to physical resistance, so ranged attacks you still take full damage]. Also remember Succubus’ ranged attacks actually count as physical attacks. Be aware of the Soul Killer dolls that explode- they are the most dangerous enemy in the game. Also Black souls are bad especially if you are fighting 3 uniques at once and dont have a Tgods, or Wisp Ring.

Resistances on Hell mode: Fire 90% (bonus +373%)
Cold 75% (bonus +330%)
Lightning 79% (bonus +311%)
Poison 80% (bonus +341%).

I played with a focus on Magic Finding until I was level 94, then I hardly did any Magic Finding till I got level 99. I’ll list my techniques as some of them L8fty shared with me and my squad after he hit #1 to maximize effeciency. The more players in the game the more XP that can be earned. I think Diablo caps out at 7 players, and Baal at 3 or 4. I was killing Diablo solo in many games starting out as I would TP through Worldstone/Throneroom for my squad while they did the waves while I was doing Diablo, then I would TP in and me and another high level would kill Baal by ourselves. The more people at the kill area the more ways the XP is split. Thats why Baal should be shared with no more than 2 people for max XP. I also did me and another sharing XP on Diablo but in the later levels it really helps if you can get his XP alone. At level 98 no elite enemy in the game will give you even 1,000 xp. Lister even gives just under that. So at that point you are only gonna gain real XP from Baal and Diablo kills. Some people say Nithalak also but hes too risky for my liking with glitches in the past n corpse explosion stuff so I just stay away from him to play it safe. When I did Diablo I would seal pop but i would not search for runes or items after as time was XP n meaned more to me than any item I could find. I would share my loot with anyone in town or waves as they are the reason we would be getting so much XP. And me and my buddy would be doing the TPing making it fast for the matches to get done. I would do big damage but not as big as could be because damage wasnt my builds main goal, safety n defense was without sacrificing too much speed.

Theres a lot too this game and I cant possibly cover it all here but you kinda need to know almost everything to get this achievement. It can get boring so I like to keep the party chat going. I would divide it up and set daily XP goals. I started playing in October and unlocked this whenever it said I unlocked it (I cant recall) anyways less than a year. Lifty187um was able to get this achievement in about 2.5 weeks on ladder and has been a great friend and shared a lot of his strategies with me and my squad. Please let me know if you have any questions, thanks! And really, best of luck!

This trophy might be close to impossible to get for the average gamer and to be honest as to why this is even a part of this trophy list is beyond my comprehension. This trophy requires you to reach level 99 with a hardcore character, which is no easy feat at all.
Note – This trophy is best undertook online to utilize the ability to party up and get a better exp bonus from having a full party.
Things to know before starting this trophy:

• There is the possibility of server instability resulting in a huge lag spike, server lag that could result in your immediate death regardless of saving and quitting (this could potentially cause other issues of course like rubberbanding back and forth, or characters who have enigma or sorceress character with the ability to teleport can cause you to double or even triple teleport into a group of enemies causing your player to be slain or have massive damage inflicted on to them)
• There is the possibility of another more powerful player going hostile against you and killing you while you’re playing in a public game, so if someone hostiles you in hardcore just leave the game immediately to reduce the risk
• There is the ability of the game crashing on you in an online game and your character will remain in-game for several seconds after the game crashes until it catches up and realizes that your character dropped. You could be signing back in and coming back to a dead character.
• Saving and quitting on a console is a rather long process, although it can save your character’s life it must be done instantaneously to save your character.
• A “Hardcore” character is a character that has 1 single life to live and if that character dies he/she is dead permanently.
• No Blizzard will not revert the changes if you die to lag or server issues, this is purely a play at your own risk mode.
• No, you can’t reload a save or do anything about it but sit there and try again and again until you eventually get it

If you thought getting to level 99 on a softcore character was a long and hard endeavor this is by far the most challenging thing you will ever undertake in your entire diablo 2 adventure.
Please refer to It’s only 3,520,485,254 XP for more information on the level 99 grind.
Tips for playing hardcore mode through normal:

• Play everything safe (you only have 1 life to live)
• Make sure to constantly be moving away from dangerous attacks, poison clouds, lightning shocks, fireblasts, and everything else
• Stack as much resistances as you can
• Prioritize defense and resistances before damage and weapons (the main goal here is to survive)
• ONLY proceed to the next area when you are over-leveled and over-powerful to make the next zone easier to complete (do this for each act)
• Use your potions and carry a stock of them
• Use antidote potions for poison
• Use thawing potions for frozen make sure to get the skill point and stat point quests and finish those for an added boost

Nightmare/Hell difficulties:

• You MUST have max or close to max resistances, defense, and a LOT of life when attempting either of these difficulties it is imperative.
• If you ever find yourself in a pickle or trapped by enemies PAUSE THE GAME AND QUIT! do not attempt to risk it especially lightning enchanting enemies and fire enchanted as they blow up and deal their health in damage to you and it could mean instant death.
• Take champion mobs and unique monsters slowly and make plenty of space for you to run around to dodge their attacks.
• Keep your surroundings noted at all times, don’t run into traps or acid clouds to poison yourself.
• You are able to dodge enemy projectiles as once they are fired they travel in a straight line at you so you’re able to sidestep them.