Factors that affect the difficulty in TSW mod.

 Well before talk about the issue there is something I want to mention. In the following description it is based on the lv100 characters. So if you play from lv1, such situation may not suit you. You need to adjust or give up some function or whatever. It is because in the early version of TSW, it is not designed for low level characters where normal monsters are overwhelming. For example, a wizard in act1 can kill a new character by one cast. Which means you have to avoid All the cast by wizards. Only one mistake can kill you. I had the experience so I gave up playing from new character, and even though now TSW mod has changed, such event won't happen, I still don't like to do it due to the memory. And also what I want is knowing the limit of the character including my mechanic, not the level up process, I prefer full level characters.

 So I guess we can talk about the factors that affect the difficulty in TSW mod. There are three large aspects that affect the difficulty in my opinion: Skills, Buildings, Mechanics.

1. Skills
   For different characters, there are different skills by careers. So to figure out an available skill system is the first step to play. Paladin for example, dual aura(Holy Fire/Holy Shock+Zeal) Paladin is an available skill system.
   (Thanks to the change or improvement of TSW mod, the skill system is more diverse, which means some skill system is available rather than a joke. This is the good part of TSW mod compared to vanilla Diablo 2. For example, Martial-Art Assassin is available in TSW mod while in vanilla Diablo 2 it is for-fun building. This is based on many big changes, if you want to know the details, read the "Readme.pdf" in the TSW mod documents.)
   
   
2. Buildings
   Once you figure out the skill system, then you need to search for the correct (or best at the moment) items to enhance the skills or meet some requirements case by case. From equipment to charms, including mercenary. Sometimes mercenary needs to consider in Step 1. Again, it depends case by case. And it also depends on your requirements. This is the fun and hard part. You choose which factor is important and select the best items. It is like a puzzle. The more you know, the more choices you have. The harder, the better, and vice versa. 
   Here let me explain why mercenary is needed to consider. In TSW mod, there are two immunities in All monsters in Hell. All of them are unbroken, which means you just need at least three types of damage to be in Hell or you will face a trouble that you have no any solution to certain monster if you have only two types of damage. For me, a single player who wants to go through all Hell scenes, I need to solve this common problem or I can not play in Hell. That is why mercenary is needed to consider, to provide the third type of damage generally. Most careers are hard to get a efficient third type of damage. Well, here the dual aura Paladin is a exception that he can have three types of damage without mercenary. So in this case, we can think at Step 2. If you choose Barbarian, you need to find your mercenary in Step 1 because Barbarian has only 2 types of damage.
   
   
3. Mechanics (Ability to control your character)
   I don't know how foreign players say it actually. The word is the result I googled. So this is the practice step. After you think all the possibilities, it is time to try and see the result. And there is huge difference between pro and newbie. I think I will write another article to explain some mistakes or bad habits that vanilla players would have. Here I just mention it.
   

And if you play from lv1 then level can be the fourth factor. Because at lower level you don't have so many attribute points. Which means lower HP or MP or others. But I usually play full level characters, I don't know how much it can affect. So I am not going to write about this factor.

Those articles are based on my experience. I was a single player in TSW mod. And I have gone through the Hell difficulty with all seven careers in the past versions. But I am not sure I can do it in the current version since the version has changed a lot. Here is a brief to describe TSW mod.