Best Class Tier List
Beginner's Guide and Best Starting Tips
Leveling Guide: What is the Max Level?
Can You Change Masteries?
List of All Skills
Divinity Guide: How to Get More Points
Gold Farming Guide
Embers of Night Locations
Best Active and Passive Skills to Unlock
How to Gamble Equipment
All Ailments Explained
All Attributes Explained
What is Vitality Damage?
What is Spell Rage?
What is Glancing Hit?
Item Rarity Explained
What is Flow?
Best Unique Items
Death Penalty Explained
How to Quick Sell Items
Easiest Class to Play
Difficulty Explained
How to Increase Damage
Endgame Guide
Hardcore Guide
Missables and Points of No Return
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Titan Quest 2
Hardcore Guide
NEW: 0.1.1 Hotfix 1 ▶︎ All Patch Notes
UPDATED: Early Access Roadmap
★ Check our Beginner's Guide
☆ Meta: Builds | Best Class | Best Skills
★ Walkthrough | World Quests | Bosses
☆ Uniques | Weapons | Armor
Hardcore is an exceptionally difficult game mode that revolves around permadeath in Titan Quest 2. Learn the best ways and tips on how to better play Hardcore mode, what the best builds are for Hardcore, what Hardcore mode is and why you should play it!
List of Contents
Hardcore Mode General Tips
Follow these easy tips and tricks and learn how to stay alive in Hardcore Mode in Titan Quest 2!
- Understand and Practice in Softcore
- Focus on Defensive Modifiers and Skills
- Plan Builds Around Early Equipment
- Pre-learn Boss Attacks and Patterns
- Play Cautiously Over Rushing the Game
Understand and Practice in Softcore
Going for a Hardcore playthrough without prior knowledge of what the journey entails is often a death sentence for your newly made character.
To have a better chance of surviving Hardcore, it would be wise to play through the campaign at least once to get yourself acquainted with the mechanics, enemies, bosses, and quests you will face until meeting the Moirai.
However, this is entirely up to you, as playing through Hardcore blind also gives its fair share of thrill and entertainment through trial and error!
Story Walkthrough and List of Acts
Focus on Defensive Modifiers and Skills
For normal playthroughs, it is paramount that offense comes before defense. However, this philosophy is turned around when it comes to Hard Mode. It would be better overall to set a foundation for your defense through skills, passives, armor, and accessories first before considering how to deal that extra bit of damage!
Plan Builds Around Early Equipment
| Best Starting Class | |
|---|---|
 |
 Warfare Masters of Warfare excel at confronting their enemies directly, slayhing entire armies on the battlefield with a variety of weapons and audacious tactics.
|
 |
 Storm Masters of Storm control the battlefield by conjuring the forces of lightning and ice to rain down on their enemies, and can even embody the storm itself.
 Rogue Rogues are masters of precision, preparation, and evasionn. They strike at their enemies' weaknesses and utilize poisons, then move away before the enemy has a chance to fight back.
|
 |
 Earth Masters of Earth harness the powersd of fire and stone from deep underground to shape and ignite the battlefield, crushing their foes and setting them ablaze.
|
While creativity and damage numbers is welcome in Hardmode, it is generally advisable to plan your build as soon as you start your run and get a few pieces of equipment to base your skills and passives around on. It would also be a boon if you were to start with a class that is a great foundation and easy to build on such as Warfare!
Survivability is a Must
Solid builds for Hardcore mode usually involve builds that can deal significant damage from a safe range or builds centered around tanking hits. As a general rule, follow this statement: build heavily in survivability, and squeeze out whatever DPS you can afterwards.
Another thing to note is that your resistances are crucial for survivability, so try to keep a healthy balance between all of them as soon as possible!
Best Builds
Pre-learn Boss Attacks and Patterns
The brunt of the content that will end most runs is being unprepared and/or underleveled during scripted boss fights. However, even if your equipment or skills are not up to par, you can still get a leg up on said bosses by learning and getting used to their attack patterns!
Play Cautiously Over Rushing the Game
Blitzing through the game with high clear is popular for a reason, but this will not always be the case in Hardcore mode. Generally, it is better to adopt a tactical playstyle that allows you to assess whether or not to take that block/dash or diving in to continue pushing for damage!
- Do not be afraid/ashamed to follow walkthroughs.
- Revisit areas to grind out EXP before crucial progression.
- Make full use of Barrier and Dodges.
- If you have to think twice about whether you need to dodge or not, you probably do
- Lure and fight individual enemies or small enemy clusters one at a time.
- Use ranged attacks, abilities, or items to deal damage from a safe distance.
Beginner's Guide and Best Starting Tips
Best Hardcore Builds
| Best Builds | |
|---|---|
| Fire Whirlwind Battlemage | Ice Shard Overwhelm Elementalist |
| Doom Trick Shot Stormblade | |
Fire Whirlwind Battlemage
| Build Setup | |
|---|---|
 Fire Whirlwind Battlemage Build |
 Earth Enchantment ・Emit an Aura with a 18m radius.
・Aura grants you and allies 20% increased Fire Damage. ・Aura grants you and allies 20% increased Physical Damage.  Ring of Flame ・Active: On use grants 20% increased Movement Speed increased Fire Damage for 6s.
・Passive: While Ring of Flame has Amplify, deals 3 Fire Damage every 0.5s in a 2.0m radius around you. This deals 20% more and has 5% increased radius per Amplify ・Gains 5 Amplify on use and while active gains Amplify for every 15 Energy you spend globally Max 20 stacks. Stacks last 3s.  Sweeping Strike ・Sweep in a circle dealing 120% Weapon Damage in a 4m radius around you.
・Requires Melee.  Battlefield Awareness ・Emit an Aura with a 18m radius.
・Aura grants you and allies +15 Armor.  Grand Magic ・8% increased Spell Damage
・+3 Maximum Energy  Earth Attunement ・8% increased Fire Damage
・6% increased Physical Damage  Earth Wielder ・4% increased Attack Damage
・2% increased Spell Damage  Combustion ・8% increased Fire Damage
・When you kill a burning enemy you have a 25% chance to cause an explosion dealing 7 Fire Damage in a 2.0m radius.  Combat Rush ・Whenever you hit an enemy with a Melee skill, gain 10% increased Damage and 20% increased movement speed for 1s.
 Invoker of War ・Unlocks Spell Rage
・4% increased Spell Damage ・2% increased Attack Damage  Battle Rage ・2% increased Damage
・10% increased Rage Effect |
| Summary: This build is a relatively low-effort set up that is known for its tankiness and reliability with a fire-enhanced Whirlwind that wants to get on top of enemies and spin with Sweeping Strike. | |
Fire Whirlwind Battlemage Build
Ice Shard Overwhelm Elementalist
| Build Setup | |
|---|---|
 Ice Shard Overwhelm Elementalist Build |
 Ice Shards ・Fire 5 ice shards in a cone dealing 6-10 Cold Damage each. Additional hits against the same enemy deals 80% less Damage.
・On use gain Overwhelm while you have an Overwhelm skill equipped.  Storm Nimbus ・Emit an Aura with a 18m radius.
・Aura grants you and allies 20% increased Cold Damage. ・Aura grants you and allies 20% increased Lightning Damage.  Cyclone ・Creates a Cyclone that deals 4 Cold Damage at target location in a 7.0m radius for 10s. Consumes 8 Energy per second while active.
・Deals 5% more Damage per Amplify. ・Cyclone gains Amplify whenever you use a Fire, Cold or Lightning skill (max 10 stacks). ・When Cyclone ends or is recast it loses all Amplify stacks.  Roiling Magma ・Fire a large Ball of Magma that explodes on contact with enemies or obstacles.
・Deals 20 Fire Damage in a 2.2m radius. Ring of Flame ・Active: On use grants 20% increased Movement Speed increased Fire Damage for 6s.
・Passive: While Ring of Flame has Amplify, deals 3 Fire Damage every 0.5s in a 2.0m radius around you. This deals 20% more and has 5% increased radius per Amplify ・Gains 5 Amplify on use and while active gains Amplify for every 15 Energy you spend globally Max 20 stacks. Stacks last 3s.  Raging Mind ・Unlocks Spell Rage.
・6% increased Spell Damage ・4% increased Cast Speed  Storm Attunement ・8% increased Lightning Cold Damage
・8% increased Cold Damage  Storm Guidance ・10% increased Projectile Damage
・8% increased Projectile Homing ・8% increased Projectile Range Grand Magic ・8% increased Spell Damage
・+3 Maximum Energy |
| Summary: The Ice Shard Overwhelm Elementalist build is an easy-to-use set up that can deal high amounts of damage from range while having a consistent flow of Energy. | |
Ice Shard Overwhelm Elementalist Build
Doom Trick Shot Stormblade
| Build Setup | |
|---|---|
 Doom Trick Shot Stormblade Build |
 Blink ・Instantly teleport to target location.
・While this ability is on cooldown, you can reactivate it once to teleport back to the start location.  Trick Shot ・Throws a hidden blade dealing 13-18 Pierce Damage.
・Infinite Penetration. ・10m Projectile Range.  Mark for Death ・Mark your target.
・When you hit the marked enemy, you deal an extra 10% of the hit as Vitality Damage. This Damage cannot critically hit. ・This effect ends, when the target is no longer your Mark.  Vanish ・Gain 30% increased Movement Speed, 30% increased Damgae for 6s.
 Barrier ・Create a Barrier around you that absorbs damage and decays over time.
・Total is determined by your Free Barrier and Energy Barrier. ・On cast, consume 0 Energy to gain up to 105 Barrier. ・Cost is based on Barrier Conversion Rate (1 Energy = 2.3 Energy Barrier) Raging Mind ・Unlocks Spell Rage.
・6% increased Spell Damage ・4% increased Cast Speed  Arcane Influx ・3% increased Energy Regeneration
・1% increased Energy Storm Guidance ・10% increased Projectile Damage
・8% increased Projectile Homing ・8% increased Projectile Range  Accuracy ・6% increased Damage
・10% increased Critical Hit Chance  Taste for Blood ・10% increased Vitality Damage
・12% increased Lifesteal  Shadow Arts ・8% increased Spell Damage
 Dismantling Tactics ・Deal 12% increased Damage to your Mark
・When you kill an enemy, deal 5 Vitality Damage to your Mark |
| Summary: The Doom Trick Shot Stormblade Build is a set up known for its ability one-shot enemies with max Doom stacks using Trick Shot. However, due to its squishy nature, players are advised to hone their dodges and barriers. | |
Doom Trick Shot Stormblade Build
What is Hardcore Mode?
Mode With Permadeath
Hardcore Mode does not increase the difficulty of Titan Quest by increasing the stats of the dangers you encounter, but makes challenging the gods more dire by introducing a permadeath system.
Permadeath simply means that when your character dies, they stay dead, forever roaming the River of Styx.
Can Change Back to Normal Difficulty via Ritual
If you were able to reach Pyrgos Village without suffering a death, you can conduct a ritual to revert back to a normal playthrough and remove the permadeath system on the shrine just above the town!
Why Play Hardcore Mode
Give Yourself a Challenge
While Hardcore mode does not particularly reward your efforts with exclusive items, it does give you enough time in honing each mastery and class combination. Besides, going for a Hardcore run is a great way to spend the time before the next update comes out!
Titan Quest 2 Related Guides
Titan Quest 2 Walkthrough and Guides Wiki
Best Guides for Beginners
Puzzle Guides
 Fiend's Hollow Brazier Puzzle Guide |
 Altar of Hermes Location |
Game Information
 What is Solo Self Found (SSF)? |
 Game Length: How Long to Beat |
 How to Save |
 How to Hide Helmet |
- | - |
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Hardcore Guide
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