Median XL - HC tips

Keep video recording and if you die because of some server problem / lag / DC / desync (to some extent - desync is an engine problem that affects everyone), contact me (Aahz#9903 on Discord) with link to that video and you'll probably get resurrect (rollback).

• use /time on the video (if the situation allows, or keep recording and do it in the lobby)
• when you suspect a lag, press TAB to show ping value (enable it in settings/interface first)
• you can use OBS's Reply Buffer function to save last XX seconds of video (tutorial)

Beware Higher zones (top right) - permanent Blizzard effect

When monsters around turn dark grey, look for Ominous Guardian - when you kill it, corrupted druid spawns so better be prepared and clear area from monsters first.

Corrupted Bosses have a 20% chance to spawn the designs and 1% chance for a Tenet:

• Corrupted Werewolf: drops Tenet/Design of Judgement
• Corrupted Werebear: drops Tenet/Design of Restraint
• Corrupted Wereowl: drops Tenet/Design of Vigor
• Corrupted Seer: drops Tenet/Design of Wisdom
• Corrupted Hunter: drops Tenet/Design of Conflict
• Corrupted Naturist: drops Tenet/Design of Harmony

DO NOT ever stand on top of Manoruk, he can cast a nova which can 1hko if you do.

When you experience signs of desync like:

• rubberbanding
• taking damage without apparent reason
• can't interact with objects
  immediately teleport (blink/warp) away to sync your position with server

If teleporting doesn't work it probably means your connection has dropped and you can try to save&exit, but it's possible (if you were in the middle of fight) you have already died so better be recording and use /time command asap to have solid proof in case you died...

In "desync zones" like Kingdom of Shadow or Bremmtown use TP as often as possible to keep your position synced

If you are playing with people whose servers are placed on a different continent, please keep in mind that lags may occur.

Malic projectiles apply a dot (I believe fire), can't be blocked even tho you hear the block sound, can be avoided
Malic can teleport you around (sometimes into an already landing meteor) and summon bats at the same time
Malic periodically summons a random minion from the zone (physical golem, totem pillar, lightning spectre, frost elemental)
Don't let bats hit you as they will drain you to 1 hp REALLY REALLY fast (I think it's poison but no resistances will help you whatsoever, at least it stops when you reach 1 hp)
Lucion casts the dot curse if he's in range and not mindcontrolled
Lucion periodically casts fire pits around himself once he's enraged which happens around 50-60% boss hp (huge fire dmg if you get hit) but they don't harm you if he is mindcontrolled
I recommend clearing the area around before you start or during the fight while Lucion is mindcontrolled
Recommended resistances are 80-85 fire, 80-85 lightning, 75+ cold and 80-85 poison

Destroy just the first 2 pillars and the last 2, ignore the rest.
If you attack has big AoE stay in the bottom corner during the fight to avoid accidently destroying more pillars.
Don't stay near the Manoruk (center) because his nova can shotgun you.
Phys res is the most important there, also have poison at least 84%

• Keep your warp skill (blink, teleport, jitan's gate) cooldown all the time, a.k.a always using it when possible
• Try to have short cooldown warp skill, I.E max blink, or at least teleport from void charm. Jitan's gate is not recommended.
• Try to not have block if possible, because block causes so much desync, but instead get avoid/def as high as possible (200k def without avoid, or 70% avoid and 80k+ def)

Useful links

• Hardcore And High Survivabilty Softcore Scosglen/Lab Builds guide by midknight
• Solfege's Melee sorceress guide has valuable information about every uber/boss.
• Minh's All Guides to Median XL especially All Ubers part (autotranslated from Vietnamese)

Generally not a very dangerous area, but fresh 115 in there, monsters can hurt. Specially if you get swarmed by hawks, they hurt. The lightning spell from the towers can also hurt if u have no res whatsoever. So just don't get cocky, and clear stuff from a distance as much as possible. If you are melee, don't rambo in without gear and clear as you walk up

This area is one of the first scary places to die if you don't know what to expect. Monsters are invisible and they will swarm you quickly. You need good physical resistances or summons and good aoe clear. The minibosses can hit hard too, so definetely do not try to facetank them unless you know what you are doing. IF you dont have summons, play around with act 2 shapeshifter mercenary, he will tank for you. Generally just pre-shoot ur skills / attacks as much as you can, (with ground attacks from this patch) it should be a bit easier to kill them before they swarm, just remember they are invisibile and swam you easily.

90 fire+ poi res, lot of plr( astro charm is a must here), 50 pr ofc. Then u need decent life, melee dev is welcomed. My spear with 16-18k hp can tank 3 nuke b4 dying.

You can use Mystic Orbs on set pieces - check your breakpoints and add FCR+FHR MO as needed.

Ascendent Riftwalker has 4 attacks :

• Retaliate : there's a cold animation above him and he get immortal shortly before, avoided by staying close
• Fire aura : there's a fire animation above him and a cold circle and a shambler appear at the same time somewhere around, shortly after the animation change and most of the arena get hit by big fire damage / sec, unless you stay inside the cold circle. There's a few places on the edge of the maps that work as well but they're very small and unreliable.
  He can spam them so stay alert
• Lightning swirl : See which direction he's facing to know where he'll throw it
• Rift storm : some happens randomly without him doing anything, and I think it depend on your position a little bit, but he can cast lots of them in one go.

The common strategy is max lightning resist to not care about the swirl, and stay close most of the time, only moving to get in the cold circle. You can attack him anytime

(Tips by Lynderika)

Farming

• Meteors from Temple Spires are the most dangerous here - best to have max fire res and as much life as you can (15K) and dont tank them ofc
• Cold beam from Kraken guards can also be dangerous with low cold res - aim for 82-85% cold res and it also chills you (bad if you sustain - LoMA - relies on fast attack)

Boss

• Check Istaryu's Guide to Triune boss fight
• If Lucion keeps attacking you after charming him either quickly TP to town or go to melee range with him.

There's a Dominate oskill on Druid Helms (craft/rare/magic) which is much better for charming Lucion because it has fixed 20s duration and short cooldown.

Don't stand in the blood ritual circle, otherwise you will get 200% res penalty (red eye status nears mana pool), and easily get one shot. Instead, just stand close by the circle, while baiting for inarius to be inside it, and deal dmg when he's vulnerable. If you're close by the circle and still get red eye status, just move outside a little bit to removing it, or abandon the turn to be safer

This uber is dangerous with melee build, especially trap rat, they will melt you quickly, try to get PR first and come back later.

Summon or melee merc shouldn't be here as they will draw out the barrels from >1 screen and these barrels are usually invisible. For assur, make sure to have 320-360 fire res (320 can be OK, but try to get 360), because he has pierce

Recommended resists while leveling:

• A1 normal: 10% - 20% fire, poison
• A3 normal: 50% all res, light/cold higher if possible
• A4 normal: 75% fire res
• A5 normal - 105: 75% elemental res
• 105+: >75% elemental res depends on ubers

1. Life 16k - 20k, no more, no less (exception is pal)
2. Need high avoid/defense/claw block, normal block is not recommended on HC (the lower the better)
3. Max breakpoints: 3-4 fpa fhr/fbr (fbr if having block, even a little), 5-6 fpa attack/cast
4. Slow target 25% to slow laz, 10%-30% Magic res
5. Melee devotion is a must
6. Pick a route that doesnt depend on teleport (if having normal block, even a little)
7. For each laz pounce, either hit ONE normal atk to slow or cast purify (first time can be both)
8. After done 7, run for 0.3-0.5s to avoid tremor from totems, then walk and stand constantly to reset purify cooldown, as well as avoid deathstrike
9. Pick one long straight section of the map to out run laz and go around clear groupies/totems, to reset
10. laz will pounce if he loses his sight on you, either far distance (1 screen) or block by obstacle, use this for 9 and kite laz around the map
11. No proc, no reanimate (from gear, charm, skill,...)
12. Only single target attack allowed (no aoe skill, no aoe weapon,...) for slow
13. Must have Cannot be frozen
14. The higher life regen, the better, and better if regen to %hp
15. Do not purify laz when standing far from him

Basically, need to achieve 15% cth from mobs by having def 200k+ (or lower if having block/avoid, still the more the better). Be aware to invest FBR if having block. FHR/FBR should be 5fpa or lower. Lastly, some life sustain will be a big help

Try to get some physical resistance. Watch out for the Amazon defender’s arrow spam.

A1 jail levels: be careful, try to cap resistance. Especially cold is useful.

When you get to 3rd act and kill mephisto - feel free to farm uniques from him till you craft all the uniques you need.