How to gear in SSFHC to survive

I already died 3 times in ssfhc this league.
First one was a jugg, died right when entering maps.
Second was rf inquisitor, very tanky. Died of my stupidity (facetanked malachai slam in map)
3rd time played a jugg, earthshatter: 8 endurance charges, capped res, merciless done (all lab were defence only), around 1k/s hp regen and 4.2k life.. at lvl 72-73 died in a blue map, t2, right before finishing it. I went into a pack of magic mobs, they fired cold or lightining projectiles and I died in half a second. Untill then was very good, tanky, barely took any dmg.

So how to build more defences ? or how to survive in HC ?
All of my builds had capped res, 90% phys red, around 4k hp when entering maps. Rf Inquisitor was immune to ailments, juggs were not.
I plan to redo the rf inquisitor build because I loved it but I hate to spend 10 hrs to get to maps and die in the next 2 hrs there.

My general approach in SSFHC is to stay at a particular tier of map until I haven't taken a large HP "chunking" for multple hours, at which point I move onto the next tier and feel that out for a while.

In early mapping I only roll them magic, and only alch yellows to get the completion (or even regal to minimize number of mods), then go back to magic. I avoid all even remotely dangerous map mods like increased crit, vulnerability, totems (i've had a few horrible rips to some fucked totems), sea witches (who curse you a lot).

I'll just farm those low tier maps slowly harvest-crafting my gear to get more armour or evasion, HP, getting some decent flask mods to cover curses, shock, etc.

I guess I haven't really said anything new here, just take your time. Before I moved to SSFHC I did a softcore SSF practice league and took note of all the things that killed me.

Disclaimer: I'm in trade league this league to practice bossing. Scourge seems rippy AF. Hoping they introduce hard mode at which point I'll try SSFHC :)

"

how to survive in HC ?

The best way is to stack armor, use molten shell and press vaal auras if you know that it's about to get hot. It is better to sacrifice some dmg and get HP/ES (anything what increases EHP) and run blue maps until you lvl up (it gives much profit). If Malach. could 1shot you on map, then it's only a lack of defenses. Even I on soft can tank his slam.

But if to talk honestly...
You are playing POE. This is a completely unbalanced game when talking about rare monsters. They buff each other (especially legion encounters) and their auras stack so hard that even a white mob which stays near them can 1 shot you.

BUT there is also another mechanic which you can't tank or dodge. It's instances crush. No matter what, if you are disconnected during a map near a pack or in the pack of monsters, then be ready to kill Hillock.

Because of the last reason, the answer is: You can't. There are no builds which can do something against crashes. That's why I completely don't see any reason to play HC...because the game itself isn't prepared for a 1 life character and you will keep dying not because of the game mechanic but because of the game raw code

Standing still is death in this game. Perhaps not 99% of the time but those 1% of instances with aura stacked mobs or loads of DD / chaos projectiles / crit chains you're dead.

You only get one life in SSFHC. That's the pain. So you don't play builds with poor mobility. Don't be caught standing still. That's rule #1 in SSFHC.

the responses are pretty on point so far.

But one important thing no one mentioned yet is that u have to know the weaknesses of ur build and try to improve those asap.

As u said, u died both times (that were not u tanking a slam^^) on a Jugg, the second time from monsters that dealt ELEMENTAL damage.

Jugg is a really good catch if u want to mitigate physical damage. He gets alot of endurance charges and can stack up armour. His weakness is elemental damage and maxed (75%) resistances don't cut it.

So when u know that's ur weakness plan accordingly. Get +max res notes, gear ect.
Do everything to get immune to elemental ailments.
U can also try to get block or spell suppression, but the latter is rather hard to get for a Jugg I suppose. (maybe hybrid armour/eva gear if u go IR)

This is probably play style rather than gear. Very likely you are not moving enough, and pushing to maps that you aren't ready for.

Like someone else said, don't move into higher level content until you are taking very little damage. If you regularly take 50%+ damage then back off and play lower levels.

The main goal in HC is to stay alive. Everything else is secondary. If that means fighting mobs ten levels below your character level, then that's what you have to do.

4.2K life is not exactly high life for HC mapping.

You need to constantly move, and stay out of the thick of things. Fight around the edges, instead of running full speed into unknown areas. Use hit and run tactics of needed.

Reroll maps to get rid of ANY mods that you feel are even slightly dangerous. You goal is to stay alive, not hoard currency. So use it to roll safe mods.

Also, you talked about your defense, but didn't mention offense. If you take too long to kill, it gives more opportunities for them to kill you.

4~5k hp is not enough. in the bottom-left side of the passive tree, you should be able get maximum elem res to 80% very easily. and some block and endurance charges you are good to go.
And not roll crazy map mods(crit, multi-projectile, power charges...). and not to stand in a place for more than 1 second(monsters in this game are crazy fast...)

"1k/s hp regen and 4.2k life" if that's all u had then i'msorry to tell you but regen doesn't help against 1 hits and 4.2k hp is nothing like nothing without anything else... also cap res is not even worth mentioning because well you know.

Start with most meta cock hc build you can get. Currently it is tr champ. But inq rf isnt horrid either. Jug is justin bad place, it is not tankiest accendancy for a long time now, and has zero damage, and damage is also wondefull defence. Once you in reds have bases and currency you pick some less metacocky.

Oh and best of luck, hc ssf aint easy, but rewarding once you make it.

have fun starting over. Or wake up and play the game normally.