Which build for a Hardcore newbie?

HC is a lot of fun and thrills. The best build imo is by far a GLadiator build for a newish player or just for playing a bit through hc in general. For example Sunder with 1 hand and shield. Gladiator has a lot of block which is very helpful.

thank you very much, all of you, for useful content.

I will give the totems/minions more thought and will practice bosses on SC.

I am expecting some deaths alomg the way and understand the importance of keeping reduntant hand-me-down gear in stash for such occasions.

Let's see how that goes. Oh and yeah, I've seen Ziz's tips n tricks, and I know I shall try to die less than he does ;)

So, 20 days later, I'm level 90, still alive, sitting on a few divs. taking it slow n easy in lvl 80 areas.

Turns out, HC isn't THAT hard like some would have you believe, once you focus on survival and actually learn the mechanics you always neglected before.

I'm happy I gave it a shot.

Don't be afraid to run your maps blue until you've got enough juice to upgrade your character, if you've got your passive bonus from that map already that is

Nice one. If you do any of the new maps keep a close eye on the mods. Some of those ones that come from the t17 pool are pretty dangerous.