Diablo 3 is known for its vast areas crawling with, sometimes at a breakneck pace, almost every enemy in Hell and survival is paramount. Potions and spells in Diablo 3 are only a small fraction of what's available to survive and thrive in this classic. Having methods to stay alive is going to be necessary to avoid having to respawn and getting frustrated repeatedly. Nowhere is that truer than playing in Hardcore mode where you only have one life.

How to kill The Skeleton King
Diablo 3 has had some life to it with the game's seasons modes keeping the game fresh with new loot, cosmetics and more. For the player though, a new character needs to be created which means that the previous season's progress doesn't continue. With new characters being created all the time, let's look at some methods to stay alive and crush those nasty demons.

Upgrading In Diablo 3
In Diablo 3, you begin with nothing but a weapon, and it's an extremely weak one at that. Priority number one is to get equipment to defend against attacks and dish out damage to enemies. When starting, loot absolutely anything and everything (Including things like stumps and logs) so it can either be equipped or sold to get items from vendors or materials such as gems and crafting items. With each fight, you'll gain experience which will help to level up, get stat points and new abilities. With experience in mind, there are killstreaks so kill as many enemies in a row to get an experience bonus which will raise your levels quicker than killing one enemy at a time. Be sure to spend those leveling up stat points wisely as a point in intelligence might not be as valuable as a point in vitality to start with. While getting new equipment check if they have empty slots to add gems. Each gem that can be put to a piece of armor or weapon is capable of giving stat increases, extras on abilities, and more. These will be your first steps to making a character stronger no matter which class is selected.

Fighting in Diablo 3
The hordes of enemies will be non-stop in Diablo 3 except when entering the safety of a town. Being ready for anything is an understatement. On the bottom left of the screen is the blue globe which represents mana, the red bar which represents health and a yellow/gray bar that represents experience. Once the red bar is at zero, it's the end of the journey, so keeping an eye on it is most important above all else. Below these bars are the abilities that have been short keyed and the most important one is the health potion one. It will be the furthest short key on the left side of the screen and do not be shy about using it. It does have a cooldown but the good news is it can never be depleted. There will come a time when there will be a ton of enemies coming at you at one time, so don't be afraid to run away a bit and funnel enemies in a narrow area to have less coming at you. Running is also a great tactic to allow your mana to recharge to be able to get some great attacks out in the field. Sometimes the best offense is a great defense so unleash everything you have if you feel overwhelmed.

Skills in Diablo 3
There are a large number of both active and passive skills in Diablo 3 and each one serves a unique purpose based on the class. Each class has its own sets of skills and it can be difficult to choose a specific skill as the best one. A gamer's unique play style is going to shine here and allow skills to dictate how successful they will be in staying alive. A good example of a skill that can work well to mitigate enemies is while playing the Witch Doctor class has a skill called Grasp of the Dead which is an area effect skill that deals damage but also slows enemies. Some skills are purely offensive or defensive and for beginning players exploring the skills and trying them out has great value. The more skills you are aware of and know how to use, the better your repertoire to handle various enemies and change from one skill to the next. Some fights might need more ranged skills and some might need more close-quarters combat skills. Evaluate the situation and adjust as needed but this knowledge of each skill for the chosen class will be invaluable. A further note to this is the rune slots. These give a small boost depending on the skill they are attached to. If we use the Grasp of the Dead example mentioned above, different runes can reduce the cooldown to cast it, increase the damage it deals or even have a chance to summon a Zombie Dog. Each skill has five possible runes that make combat a bit easier to come out on top.

Advanced Survivability Tactics in Diablo 3
In Diablo 3, level 70 is the first target to reach for any new character class. This is where the game opens up and staying alive proves even more challenging. The Torment difficulties, which go up to Torment XVI, give higher levels of loot, experience, and gold but at a price. These are not for the faint of heart and the higher the level, the harder the challenge. A word of advice is to stay on the current difficulty level you're on until you can defeat bosses in a few shots. Anything further than that and you're asking for long, drawn-out fights that will leave you vulnerable and make it harder to survive. Once level 70 is reached, all the levels you go up will give you a bonus point that you can put for any of the four major stat groups. This will allow stronger characters and more powerful attacks so choose carefully where the points get distributed. Have a goal to get a set of armor. Sets will give specific bonuses for each equipment beyond the first piece. This can also be true of rings and neck pieces. A final note, don't forget to roll. This might sound silly but rolling helps in getting out of jams where escape is favorable rather than going toe to toe. It can also help to change position and get a more favorable attack angle.