Returning player looking for a beginner friendly HC build

Hey everyone,

TL;DR is the first paragraph.

I'm looking for a beginner-friendly build which has to be:
- Super low budget (first character on this league, noob player), self found would be fantastic if possible
- "Unkillable": the tankiest build possible, with a margin for error, designed for Hardcore (as a noob I'll probably try it in Breach SC first, but it still has to be HC friendly)
- Can clear all content after farming the necessary items
- Fun/Easy to level. I.E. it would be great if I can start levelling as soon as possible with something resembling the final build and not having to level with something completely different then switch super late to the "real" build because some specific gear is required.

Preferred classes are Duelist/Marauder/Ranger but I'm okay with everything.

I tried to follow some of the most famous builds on the forum (Blade Flurry Assassin, etc) in Breach SC but as a "new" player (I played during beta but I just came back to the game a few weeks ago after several years) I'm just not having fun: levelling is a pain in the ass, I'm dying every 30 min at level 60 in Cruel A4 (yeah I know...) to bosses, I absolutely CAN'T do any breach without getting destroyed, can't do Labyrinth, can't find any gear upgrades...

I'm aware of the basics of the game: I mostly invest in Life/ES nodes while levelling, I don't facetank and try to kite, I'm using my flasks to clear debuffs, etc... but I'm still getting destroyed and I feel like I'm not progressing at all.

I just want not to die and be able to eventually clear all content, even if I have to take it slow. I'm absolutely okay with grinding/farming hard to be able to clear the hardest encounters, but I still want to be able to finish Merciless (including Labyrinth) and go to something like... T10 maps (?) without too much trouble and without requiring some super hard to get unique items. Is it possible?

I looked at many builds in the forums but this is super confusing, a few are tagged "low budget / tanky" but when I read some of the comments people are saying they require insane gear to be able to do damage and be tanky...

Any advice? What are the top builds that meet my criteria (the 4 points in the first paragraph), if they even exist?

Thank you very, very much for your time!

Two-handed Earthquake Juggernaut should be everything you're looking for. Or Slayer if you want more clearspeed but a little bit less tankyness. Level with Sunder until you get a good 4-link with EQ - Less Duration - Melee Physical Damage - Increased Area of Effect (Concentrated effect for boss fights).

Budget is super low, can go self-found even. Can do any map. Very good labyrinth runner if that's something you're interested in doing. Marohi erqi or Hezmana's Bloodlust will be good enough for everything but the very high level content. I've used each of the mentioned weapons to reach lvl 90 in HC leagues before.

Take some of the generic Two-handed damage nodes and melee damage nodes from passive tree before dedicating to a specific weapon type. Get resolute technique as soon as possible. Use ancestral warchief for some nice damage boost against bosses.

Unkillable won't happen your first time in the game as its heavily tied into knowing what to expect, safest noob friendly builds are the league starters and the easiest of those are totem builds so pizza stick or ancestral warchief really there are multiple guides for both on the marauder forum i'm sure.

EQ Jugg as mentioned above is a relatively safe bet as well, they get very high physical resistance and a host of defensive options for free so would make a good choice if you wanted to hit things yourself. You might get gimped by SSF luck on weapon drops though.