The only char that worked for me in HC

[atera]

The problem with wind is to have any accuracy with tornado's you have to be toe to toe with your target. Thats to risky for me in hc unless my character has really good items. I like to stick with a ranged attack if at all possible...I guess you could replace bear with cyclone armor (although without the rest of your points in wind talents you would get up to 300-400 damage asorbed...and since your resistances are ignored in the calculation that could be wiped out in one hit. Bear has saved me multiple times as it can actually hold baal by itself and such. This also free's up your merc to nail the crap out of things without getting hurt (nice when you don't have a good merc yet). Everyone plays different.