[2.0] Rathik's Power leveling guide for ALL class and builds. Added [2.0] videos. HC compatible.

"

Barandis wrote:

I just finished leveling my second character with this method. What a joy to play. You're just unstoppable. I'm not exactly a careful player and could never play hardcore without changing the way I play, and this was the first time I'd ever gotten into Merciless without dying once. So again, thank you to Rathik for getting this info out there.

I want to talk about Blood Magic, what you need to do to use it, and what it does for you. You definitely want to be using this gem, but it's the fourth red in a linked group and that makes it next to impossible to use at Level 24, when it becomes available.

Level 30 is the key. You can start using Blood Magic then, because you can use Lioneye's Paws, which take RRRR pretty easily. But what this also means is that you're not using your mana for anything anymore. So why not pop a 60% and a 40% aura in somewhere and make some use of it? Hatred and Purity of Elements go pretty well. (Rounding might mean that you need a Reduced Mana as well, but I was leveling one for my final build anyway.)

Besides that, that means you can drop Goldrim, between having the resist aura and presumably changing to resist rings by this time. Which means you can use an armor-based helm and put your RRRR setup there, leaving you free to switch to The Blood Dance at level 44.

So Blood Magic lets you attack all you want without worrying about mana, gives you extra DPS by making auras possible, and allows you to switch later to some pretty good leveling and farming boots if you want to. Can't argue with that.

And finally, I can't say enough about jewelry. Rathik listed all of the uniques in his original post, pieces that you want to hold onto for leveling future characters, but do that with your rings and amulets too. I had this waiting for me from my prior run when I got to level 35:

Spoiler

And what a huge difference it made. They carried me all the way to level 62, when I switched into my target spec.

"

Artificed wrote:

Thank you this method is amazing.

"

godlyatheist wrote:

Hi,

I'm trying this with my which but after level 25 the damage just seems to be really bad. I don't have the Meginord Belt because I can't afford it yet. Why is my melee damage only 14-150 instead of couple hundred like yours? I have goldrim, 2x blackhearts, wanderlust, perandus shield, life/str belt, crap chest, hp amulet.

"

Rathik2 wrote:

"

godlyatheist wrote:

Hi,

I'm trying this with my which but after level 25 the damage just seems to be really bad. I don't have the Meginord Belt because I can't afford it yet. Why is my melee damage only 14-150 instead of couple hundred like yours? I have goldrim, 2x blackhearts, wanderlust, perandus shield, life/str belt, crap chest, hp amulet.

Thats pretty much your problem. You need the belt and some decent facebreakers.

"

Mafiaso wrote:

@godlyatheist: Make sure you dont wear a weapon. Equiping any weapon decreases your damage.
( it's stupid i know)




am dying too quick now that am cruel act 3 against range/projectile mobs.
My dps is 1500.

Now here's a question can someone summarize the auras i need for this build??
auras drains alot of mana. Am lvl 45 about 400 mana.

Please help