Other hardcore tips:

Always play at the proper chapter. Don't progress too fast without the levels to back it up.

It's easily possible to have cleared all of normal and enter Nightmare as low as level 25. It's very common to do exactly that in softcore, but it's a terrible idea on hardcore.

How do you determine which chapter you should be in? Take a look at the public games list. You don't need to join a public game, just look at the menu. You won't have the option to join a public game for a chapter you haven't cleared yet, but it also won't let you join a public game you outlevel. You can use that menu to check the level range for each chapter. The rule of thumb for hardcore is to be in the top half of that level range.

Let's say you are level 27. You have access to public games from Act 2.9 The Scouring of Caldeum to Act 4.2 The Light of Hope all in normal mode. You shouldn't be playing any further than Act 3.3 -Breached Keep. Why? Because it has allowed public levels of 23-31 and 27 is the midway point of that range. You could be higher level than than the midpoint of a range but you really don't want to be lower.

Monsters have levels. Armor is less effective against higher level monsters. For example: If you had 1000 armor and were fighting a level 25 monster vs a level 30 monster, that 1000 armor would be 4.44% less effective against the level 30. You can check their levels on websites like d3db.com.

* % Armor damage reduction = [Armor/(Armor+monster lvl*50)]*100

7.3.4 Utility Skill

Defensive
*Slow Missile / Various runes: I've never really used this skill but it warrants a mention for how useful it can be survivability-wise if you are scared of ranged attacks in a given area, whether they be arrows, firebombs, wasps or a mix thereof.

Conjuration
*Magic Weapon / Various Runes: More damage means killing monsters faster. Very popular skill.
*Familiar / Sparkflint: Same as above.

7.3.5 Archon

Why a category of its own for Archon? Because no other skill can have such a huge impact on gameplay.

If your dps is high enough, you can permanently stay in archon form (except vs bosses, obviously) and as such, every other active skill you have doesn't matter. Because of this, Archon can be terrible or great for your survivability. Terrible because you lose your frost nova, diamond skin, teleport, etc... Great because you can get a teleport with a shorter cooldown, more armor, more resists, more damage and unlimited arcane power.

Bonus: Archon is AWESOME to powerlevel friends.

7.3.6 Passive skills

*Blur: Melee attacks can hurt a lot. This helps reduce the hurt.
*Evocation: Use your important skills more often. Lovely.
*Glass Cannon: A blessing and a curse. This can provide a substantial damage boost, at the cost of survivability. I wouldn't risk it but it is up to you.
*Astral Presence: Helps you channel some spells longer, or start casting big spells like meteor or blizzard more often.
*Illusionist: A potential lifesaver if it gives you teleport at the right time.
*Cold Blooded: EVERY type of damage is increased against chilled and frozen enemies. A must if you use Blizzard and/or Frost Nova.
*Galvanizing Ward: Life regen. I think the amount it gives is too small but some people swear by this skill.
*Critical Mass: An amazing skill once your crit chance becomes high enough. It can potentially allow you to cast spells like diamond skin nonstop.

7.3.7 Sample builds

My current build while leveling to 60.

My softcore critical mass build.

An example of level 60 Melee Wizard Build.

I added points 2.18 & 2.19, and planned section 99.0 for contributions like tautology's post.

7.4.0 The Barbarian

The barbarian is a very solid contender in hardcore, which is surprising considering the fact that as a melee class, he needs to get close and personal with the nastiest monsters out there.

The main reason the barbarian does so well in hardcore is because he has an outstanding array of skills for both damage and defense and also some excellent skills to boost armor and survivability. Add the fact that he has numerous runes that heal a % of his hp rather than a flat amount and you end up with a winning formula

7.4.1 DPS Skills

Primary:
*Frenzy / Various Runes: Frenzy is an amazing skill. By boosting attack speed it boosts you dps and also allows you to proc everything your gear gives you more often (life on hit, freeze on hit, etc...). Frenzy is very popular because it boasts 4 amazing runes. Sidearm’s thrown axe can proc life on hit on top of giving extra damage, triumph heals you, smite is very impressive when mixed with good attack speed and maniac is a considerable damage boost.
*Cleave / Broad Sweep-Rupture: Not as popular as Frenzy, but a still a good skill to clear packs of monsters.

Secondary:
*Whirlwind / Various Runes: The damage isn’t bad but the greatest strength is in how versatile it is as a DPS skill that also doubles as an escape skill seeing how it allows you to move through monsters. Hurricane helps you cover more ground, especially when coupled with Sprint, whereas Blood funnel can provide substantial healing with enough crit.

Rage:
*Earthquake / Various runes: A very impressive AoE spell, its only downside being the cooldown, which can be reduced with the right rune and passive.

Might:
*Furious Charge / Merciless Assault or Dreadnought: The damage for this skill is quite good, if you aim it well it can hit a lot of enemies and it knocks them back slightly, which prevents them from hitting you for a second. Merciless Assault allows you to spam this ability and Dreadnought makes it a potent healing skill. As if that wasn’t enough, this skill makes you move through enemies, thus making it viable as an escape ability too.

7.4.2 Defensive Abilities

Defensive:
*Ground Stomp / Wrenching Smash: Stunning monster is always nice, stunning a large amount of them is better, making sure you have a bunch of them to overpower/revenge is the best.
Bonus: It’s a great party flavor and could save your friendly neighborhood Demon Hunter/Wizard.
*Ignore Pain / Various Runes: Another great survivability skill. I’m personally a sucker for Ignorance is bliss, coupled with Wrath of the Berserker/Insanity, you can stand in anything and heal yourself back to full in a sec. All the other runes are also very good, for various reasons, except for Bravado. Mob rule will make monks love you and contempt for weakness is also quite good at healing you since it procs life on hit.

Might:
*Revenge / Vengeance is Mine: The biggest downside is needing to be hit to become active, but 4 fury and 8% life healed times the number of monsters you hit is impressive.
*Overpower / Revel: Similar to the above albeit much easier to use repeatedly with a crit build.

Rage:
*Call of the Ancients / Duty to the clan: This skill is good as a defensive skill because it distracts monsters and gives them other targets for a little while. It isn’t the greatest skill but it is very fun.

7.4.3 Escape Abilities

Defensive:
*Leap / Iron Impact: Probably the most necessary skill in hardcore. Its targeting is impeccable (unlike teleport), it’s free, generates fury and gives you a very generous armor boost.
* Whirlwind: I only mention it again because it is easy to forget it can help you escape being surrounded.
*Furious Charge: Same as whirlwind.

7.4.4 Utility Skills

Defensive:
*Sprint / Various runes: Running faster is always nice and this skill also has a good selection of runes. Rune like the wind can provide good dps, great when coupled with whirlwind. Marathon is nice to reduce downtime when leveling, or to get away from threats.

Tactics:
*Threatening Shout / Falter: Damage reduction for you and your party.
*Battle Rage / Marauder’s Rage: A huge dps increase and a must for any dps build.
*War Cry / Various runes: Another amazing skill that almost everyone uses. Impunity is the most popular rune because it drastically increases survivability for both you and your party. Invigorate is good to powerlevel a friend.

Rage:
*Wrath of the Berserker / Various runes: A personal favorite of mine, it boosts almost every stat possible and makes you immune to frozen monsters’ ice bombs. The Insanity rune is a humongous dps increase & striding giant can provide you with extra survivability.

7.4.5 Passive skills
*Ruthlessness: An amazing dps skill, I do not know of a single DPS build that does not include this.
*Weapons Master: Same as above and also fairly versatile, in the sense that you can shop for a weapon that gives you the preferred bonus.
* Nerves of Stell & Tough as Nails: I mention these two together because they are staples of defensive builds and the reasons why barbarians are the kings of armor.
*Superstition: A very good third skill for defensive builds.
*Inspiring Presence: Another option for a defensive build, 1% life regen is quite good afterall.
*Berserk Rage: Another dps skill.
*Bloodthirst: Good on normal and nightmare but its effectiveness drastically lowers on later difficulties.
*Relentless: Another option for defensive builds seeing how it can save your ass in a pinch.
*Brawler: Another dps skill, good for farming, albeit useless against bosses.
*Boon of Bul-Kathos: Good skill to have if you use 2 or 3 of the abilities it affects.

7.4.6 Sample builds

An example of an inferno DPS build.

An example of an inferno tank build.

An example of the infamous "Double Tornado build" you can see on youtube videos.

7.5.0 The Demon Hunter

The Demon Hunter is an ambiguous class. On one hand you have the least survivability, on the other you have the easiest access to a huge dps.

I am of the opinion that the Demon Hunter can be one of the trickiest classes to play in hardcore because there is very little you can do to mitigate damage but if you play well, very few other classes can match your dps. This high dps can lull you into a false sense of security so always remember how frail you really are.

7.5.1 DPS Skills

Primary:
*Hungering Arrow / Puncturing Arrow: Very good dps, even moreso when the arrow pierces. What makes this skill shine in my eyes is the fact you can hide and still do some dps since it homes in on the enemy.
*Entangling Shot / Various runes: Mostly useful if you like the peace of mind of snaring your enemies and knowing it will take them longer to reach you. Even better with the right passives.

Secondary:
*Rapid Fire / Various Runes: Excellent DPS and it can be spammed a long time with the proper runes/skills. Good to proc effects such as slow, freeze or stun.
*Elemental Arrow / Various Runes: Another good dps skill seeing how it goes through enemies. Not so great versus a single target but great versus packs, moreso in corridors.

Devices:
*Evasive Fire / Various Runes: Cheap, good dps and can help you get out of the fire.
*Spike Trap / Various Runes: I haven’t the slightest clue how to make a trap build work, but I’ve seen a demon hunter demolish Act 3 champions with a trap build so there is a way to make it work.

7.5.2 Defensive Abilities

Defensive:
*Caltrops / Various Runes: A good defensive skill, a great one when coupled with Vault or Evasive Fire. I would recommend Torturous Ground over Hooked Spines because of diminishing returns making Hooked Spines nearly useless in later difficulties, but Bait the Trap is also very popular.
Bonus: Caltrops can force the Snakemen in Act 2 to come out of invisibility.
*Shadow Power / Various Runes: Very potent healing if your dps is high and some good runes to boot.

7.5.3 Escape Abilities

Defensive:
*Smokescreen / Various Runes: This skill turns you invisible. Great escape skill albeit the cost can be very prohibitive and the effect very short-lasting.

Hunting:
*Vault / Tumble: The other option, much cheaper than smokescreen, and has the advantage of also covering a lot of ground. People usually use smokescreen or Vault but I’ve also seen people use both.
*Preparation / Various Runes: Allows you to use Smokescreen and Vault more often and specifically, a couple more times when you really need to.

7.5.4 Utility Skills

Hunting:
*Companion / Bat Companion: Gives you more hatred, which means you can use some skills longer/more often.
*Marked for Death / Various Runes: Extra DPS versus single targets, great versus bosses, moreso in groups.

7.5.5 Passive skills

*Tactical advantage: 60% movement speed is huge, this can greatly increase your survivability by making sure only the fastest monsters can outrun you.
Bonus: Leveling is very fast when downtime is reduced (i.e. run between quests)
*Steady Aim: More dps, if you can keep monsters away. Better in groups, obviously.
*Cull the Weak: More dps, again, conditional too, albeit easier to fulfill.
*Night Stalker: Good with a crit build, better with attacks that do more hits (obviously).
*Brooding: Life regeneration before monsters hit you and shortly after.
*Archery: A great DPS increase with no conditions, a must have.
*Custom engineering: A must for traps builds.
*Sharpshooter: DPS increase again, you will love it or hate it.

7.5.6 Sample builds

The build I used before getting my DH killed.

A friend's build.

Another friend's half bof half trap build.

No update tonight, too tired.

I think I've knocked a lot of big topics down, I do have a couple more topics in mind but I'll let you guys speak up if there is anything specific you'd like me to cover.

Posted by Methrin at 08/13/2012 05:41 PM

*Smokescreen / Various Runes: This skill turns you invisible and allows you to move through enemies. Great escape skill albeit the cost can be very prohibitive and the effect very short-lasting.

I'm pretty sure smokescreen doesn't let you move through enemies, just makes you invulnerable to hits. Anyone want to clarify? I recall not being able to use smokescreen to get out of surrounds.

Great guide. Well thought out. Thanks!

Posted by LSOLive at 08/14/2012 11:04 PM

Posted by Methrin at 08/13/2012 05:41 PM

*Smokescreen / Various Runes: This skill turns you invisible and allows you to move through enemies. Great escape skill albeit the cost can be very prohibitive and the effect very short-lasting.

I'm pretty sure smokescreen doesn't let you move through enemies, just makes you invulnerable to hits. Anyone want to clarify? I recall not being able to use smokescreen to get out of surrounds.

You can't move through enemies w/ smokescreen. But it's still a lifesaver if you get frozen/jailed.

Good Guide! Recommend for sticky!

No major update tonight, I re-read my guide and tweaked little mistakes.

nice guide! will definitely check this out for my hc char :)

very nice guide.

Very nice quide.

I finally made lvl 60 with my 2 HC characters last night (levelled a DH and Monk side-by-side using pretty much the same gear, except for weapons obviously)

Wanted to write a guide myself, but I think you have said everything I wanted to say and more.

Great tips, thank you. =) I'll be sure to remember this post when I try out my first HC character.

Great tips!

Dun forget reduce lv gear helps to lv faster and safer!