Surviving higher difficulty levels

[DaveO]

I've been having some defensive struggles with my Gladiator in Platinum and am wondering how to give him a better chance at making level 140. My current resistances are about 4000 physical, 2500 fire, and a bit over 1000 for both magic and poison. I have Andiell set items(helm, shoulder and arm pieces, and boots) that provide a decent critical hit capability. From the combat arts I've read about for other characters, it sounds like my Heroic Courage is also a bit low at level 65. What sort of resistance numbers should I be shooting for, or do I need to improve Heroic Courage more? I never played thru the higher difficulties in Single Player, and Hardcore has been my first exposure to Platinum.

[sinclsw007]

Always increase HC!

All spare runes for my Glad (i.e. not for CAs I'm using) get converted into HC.

It's worth while getting trade (if you have it) up to your character level so that you can buy gear which boosts your other CAs while you concentrate on HC.

PS start folowing vamps around and being very nice to them, they are notorious rune farms ;) .

[FrostElfGuard]

Or follow my BM around: CorielOneRune.

Actually, I'd prefer to have someone around to pick up the mess (runes).

I don't like to waste 'em, but I only have so much room!!!

Really, a BM doesn't need to eat runes if he shops hard. He's in Plat (parked) right now.