Hi, i started a frenzy barbarian (^^) a while back and he's coming to the point where he needs those items to push him further. I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice as to what runewords or equipment have desirable auras or curses that compliment the frenzy barb and his merc.
Cheers
Shakey|||Quote:
Hi, i started a frenzy barbarian (^^) a while back and he's coming to the point where he needs those items to push him further. I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice as to what runewords or equipment have desirable auras or curses that compliment the frenzy barb and his merc.
Cheers
Shakey
Wel here is what I suggest. Get a beastz for main side. for offhand choose a powerful zerk weapon such as greifz, edeathz (most powerful for PVM), e death cleaver zod. Or you could use doomz on main side and beastz on off hand if you wanted also.
For the curse, go with lifetap so get dracs. Its ow and lifetap cast is pretty much a must for frenzy.|||Thanks for the reply
So use a 6 socket axe, spair socket for zod? I'll give it a shot. Are there any good armours for stacking?
Shakey|||for max damage its decrep might merc and dual grief. brand a1 merc is also a possibility but hard to keep alive. remember to use enigma to get decrep procced easily and keep merc dps up|||my frenzy barb stackith the auras.
doom/Blessed aim merc
beastz/lwz. run anywhere, do anything(but pvp)
stashed azurewrath.|||Quote:
Thanks for the reply
So use a 6 socket axe, spair socket for zod? I'll give it a shot. Are there any good armours for stacking?
Shakey
WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
runewords have to be exact; for example enigma runeword requires exactly 3 sockets in the armor for the 3 runes, no more or less. If you have a spare socket, it's wrong.
oh, don't use my armor example for pvm, that was socketing example, try fortitude or something else|||Quote:
runewords have to be exact; for example enigma runeword requires exactly 3 sockets in the armor for the 3 runes, no more or less. If you have a spare socket, it's wrong.
oh, don't use my armor example for pvm, that was socketing example, try fortitude or something else
Have you tried it yourself? Enigma is awesome with a reaper's merc, getting high dps both from the decrep cast and mercs weapon too, which the forti would be missing. And of course the much faster movement|||Could i just get a definite on this zod subject? How can you put a zod in after the runword has been made?
Shakey
Ed:This whole issue revolves around the ability to make the weapon indestructible, and whether you can do so with beast, etc.|||You cant any more legitimately. the only way people do it is the atma hack to make items indestructible in single player..|||Quote:
e death cleaver zod. Or you could use doomz on main side and beastz on off hand if you wanted also.
For the curse, go with lifetap so get dracs. Its ow and lifetap cast is pretty much a must for frenzy.
Quote:
Thanks for the reply
So use a 6 socket axe, spair socket for zod? I'll give it a shot. Are there any good armours for stacking?
Shakey
that is not a runeword... if you dont have the right amount of sockets exactly for the rw you are making, enjoy a nice wep with some rune bonuses.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Need help building a Barb
Hey guys, this is my first post in the forum as im trying to get back into D2 after a 7 year break from the game. I'm trying to build myself a really good barb, something all around. When I say "all around", by that I mean something that can take down monsters and other players alike (if that is even possible anymore). Maybe a really cool WW barb? I have been reading a lot of guids and posts on this forum and some of the terminology seems to confuse me since im basically a noob all over again and a lot has changed. On top of that, the minute I read a strategy, people often come with the typical "oh this sucks, mine will own you" talk without much info as to why. I was wondering if someone out there can help me with a good barb build. Im trying to build a really cool sword oriented barb. Can someone tell me what a good barb build would consist of? What items should I have? What skills should I master?
I greatly appreciate the help and I thank all of you for taking the time out to read this and help me out if you can.|||I'm prejudice toward frenzy barbs. Some cheap ways to get one started are:
Lawbringer runeword in off hand (right slot) built in a 3 socket phase blade: (Amn+Lem+Ko)
The biggest fastest hitting sword you can get in you main hand (left slot)
Treachery armor runeword (Shael+Thul+Lem)
Immortal Kings Boots + Belt + Gauntlets.
Some crafted life leech rings.
Resist all amulet of some kind
Health Charms
Skills based on standard frenzy + synergies. The rest is up to you. You could pump natural resists if you are low on +skills gears. You might want to think about getting what merc and merc weapon you will be after next. Early game I would encourage you to get a holy freeze merc with an Obedience runeword polearm for him. If you can pull this stuff together you will have a build that will keep up in pretty much any game and its not that expensive. Not compared to WW barbs anyhow.|||this was long, but i was REALLY bored at work! hope you enjoy.
barb's aren't too hard to set up for success with plenty of flexibility, It's what I love about them. Here's a few places to get started:
Pick a main damage approach. the popular ones are WW, Frenzy, Concentrate builds, as well as beserk builds, double swing (slight variation of frenzy), but WW/frenzy/Conc are the 3 most common. there's guides for all of them in the stickies, read up on them and pay attention to the synergies and pick the best ones to max. weaposn mastry is a subset of this...pick based on what you plan on using (or hold off on masteries till you get higher and find your weapon). with respecs it isn't as critical, i often will put a single point in each mastery I think ill use and respec later.
The key with Barb survivability is the battlecries. Just about every build I've seen (aside from singers and eccentric ones) max Battle Orders and Shout, with everything else one pointers (or more pending your desire). The key is that those 1 pointers are still used a ton. You get far more out of them then the single point you put in. here's a few tips on those:
Warcry - crowd control skill #1. stuns mobs for a BRIEF time, but usually long enough to get off something else. like a leap. or a howl. or run screaming like a little girl (I do this allot in hell).
Howl - CC#2 - make em run! I use this far more then warcry, especially on large boss packs in hell. all the mobs BUT the boss run away, and i can take down the boss, eliminating those pesky fenaticism and might auras that they give their packs (thats usually what gets ya, not the boss but the pack of 10 mobs that he has buffed up with his auras). After that the pack is usually easy. this is a popular spot for me to sink extra skill points for the added time/distance.
Grim Totem - Howl not enough control? use GT on a downed mob and they will constantly run away (again except for the boss). You can pick them off 1 @ a time pulling them in with taunt, or if your a WW barb you can just whirl in a tight radius around the totem, they get hit as they come back in (and run back out again hehehehe....)
Taunt - this is great for those irritating ghosts that hang out over the river of flame (where you can't reach them) and drain your mana. taunt pulls them to melee range, and reduces their offensive stats. also good for pulling back individual mobs that are howled. Or puling in ranged archers that wont come in on their own. or pulling a mob off of your merc that is hitting him too hard for your comfort. very flexible tool.
Find Item - Often overlooked, I've gotten a ton of decent stuff off of those extra horks. I make it a point to hork every boss pack i kill, and i hork the non boss mobs in the pack as well, since im already there. best find so far this ladder horking is a Vex off of a little demon thingy in hell act 1. thats just to show that its worth it. hork everything. kill hork kill hork. with this shout barbs essentially have 50% or more loot rolls then any other class.
other things to consider:
1) Beserk - this 1 pt wonder is your Physical immune tool. I never have a need for anything else but this. It helps to have a shield if you're zerking nasty amped packs in hell tho, as it strips your defense, but you still can block. I keep a shield in my inventory, you may want one on switch if you need the speedy access. the ghost packs in hell can hit nasty hard if the boss has auras, the shield can help.
2) keep Concentrate on left click and your other combat skills on right (be it WW, frenzy, whatever). Conc is cheap enough and beneficial enough to use as the default swing if you aren't doing anything else. +defense and no interruption are golden.
3) keep your cries on quick hotkeys! as an example if you have to use howl, its usually because you just WW'ed into a pack of nasties, and the boss has a super mana-burn and your right in the middle when it sucks your mana! that's not the time to fumble for that out of reach hotkey to get a howl off. keep em close and personal.
4) best way to acquire gear as a barb is PGEMS! kill all kinds of stuff, and hork them, and save all your gems, and cube them up. real good end game gear can be had usually for pgems. the uber gear is expensive, but it's not necessary, just makes things quicker. cheap examples are : the IK's set (whole thing is cheap cept the armor, but its a great set), string of ears, goreriders, goblin toes, weapon examples that are cheap but good are: Windhammer (conc and WW builds), schaefers hammer (franzy builds), stormlash (frenzy), etc. all uniques, all end game stuff, all go for pgems (or reasonable runes).
Runewords can come in cheap form too. I highly suggest going to the arreat summit (just google it, i never can remember the actual link hehe), and browse the runewords there. You'd be amazed at the mileage you can get out of mid level runewords.
...yeah I was real bored at work hehe|||Obilic welcome to the forum
Here we are welcome to help each other on the post on this forum. Feel free to post on any of the post or make your own post.
Anyways I would say whirlwind barb is a great barb to start out with but consider mana a big problem. A good starter will be the immortal king set if you are poor but be aware the armor is expensive but the rest the gear is very cheap. I remember making my first ik barb and he is hell viable. But there are other great options too. Good luck with the barb that you are planning on making.|||Heyz also welcome to the forum.
I am also starting sort of a barb. although i have a sorc of 90+ who is getting the gear for him. I would like to add that Oath is always an option with high CB and dirt cheap to make. (since countess is dropping mal / pul regularly. I agree with the merc and the obdience beastly weapon!
I was just wondering, how are you in the gear are you really starting? I am not sure what the best barb is for starters. I have had a ww barb that was extreme geared. (botd / grief / beast / and Last wish. DO you have access to those items.
Lastly it is easier for a Frenzy barb to do Uuber trist so that says something about the PVM capabilities. In addition to that Law bringer in a phase blade is awsome and again really cheap! Good luck building yerself a barb!
I greatly appreciate the help and I thank all of you for taking the time out to read this and help me out if you can.|||I'm prejudice toward frenzy barbs. Some cheap ways to get one started are:
Lawbringer runeword in off hand (right slot) built in a 3 socket phase blade: (Amn+Lem+Ko)
The biggest fastest hitting sword you can get in you main hand (left slot)
Treachery armor runeword (Shael+Thul+Lem)
Immortal Kings Boots + Belt + Gauntlets.
Some crafted life leech rings.
Resist all amulet of some kind
Health Charms
Skills based on standard frenzy + synergies. The rest is up to you. You could pump natural resists if you are low on +skills gears. You might want to think about getting what merc and merc weapon you will be after next. Early game I would encourage you to get a holy freeze merc with an Obedience runeword polearm for him. If you can pull this stuff together you will have a build that will keep up in pretty much any game and its not that expensive. Not compared to WW barbs anyhow.|||this was long, but i was REALLY bored at work! hope you enjoy.
barb's aren't too hard to set up for success with plenty of flexibility, It's what I love about them. Here's a few places to get started:
Pick a main damage approach. the popular ones are WW, Frenzy, Concentrate builds, as well as beserk builds, double swing (slight variation of frenzy), but WW/frenzy/Conc are the 3 most common. there's guides for all of them in the stickies, read up on them and pay attention to the synergies and pick the best ones to max. weaposn mastry is a subset of this...pick based on what you plan on using (or hold off on masteries till you get higher and find your weapon). with respecs it isn't as critical, i often will put a single point in each mastery I think ill use and respec later.
The key with Barb survivability is the battlecries. Just about every build I've seen (aside from singers and eccentric ones) max Battle Orders and Shout, with everything else one pointers (or more pending your desire). The key is that those 1 pointers are still used a ton. You get far more out of them then the single point you put in. here's a few tips on those:
Warcry - crowd control skill #1. stuns mobs for a BRIEF time, but usually long enough to get off something else. like a leap. or a howl. or run screaming like a little girl (I do this allot in hell).
Howl - CC#2 - make em run! I use this far more then warcry, especially on large boss packs in hell. all the mobs BUT the boss run away, and i can take down the boss, eliminating those pesky fenaticism and might auras that they give their packs (thats usually what gets ya, not the boss but the pack of 10 mobs that he has buffed up with his auras). After that the pack is usually easy. this is a popular spot for me to sink extra skill points for the added time/distance.
Grim Totem - Howl not enough control? use GT on a downed mob and they will constantly run away (again except for the boss). You can pick them off 1 @ a time pulling them in with taunt, or if your a WW barb you can just whirl in a tight radius around the totem, they get hit as they come back in (and run back out again hehehehe....)
Taunt - this is great for those irritating ghosts that hang out over the river of flame (where you can't reach them) and drain your mana. taunt pulls them to melee range, and reduces their offensive stats. also good for pulling back individual mobs that are howled. Or puling in ranged archers that wont come in on their own. or pulling a mob off of your merc that is hitting him too hard for your comfort. very flexible tool.
Find Item - Often overlooked, I've gotten a ton of decent stuff off of those extra horks. I make it a point to hork every boss pack i kill, and i hork the non boss mobs in the pack as well, since im already there. best find so far this ladder horking is a Vex off of a little demon thingy in hell act 1. thats just to show that its worth it. hork everything. kill hork kill hork. with this shout barbs essentially have 50% or more loot rolls then any other class.
other things to consider:
1) Beserk - this 1 pt wonder is your Physical immune tool. I never have a need for anything else but this. It helps to have a shield if you're zerking nasty amped packs in hell tho, as it strips your defense, but you still can block. I keep a shield in my inventory, you may want one on switch if you need the speedy access. the ghost packs in hell can hit nasty hard if the boss has auras, the shield can help.
2) keep Concentrate on left click and your other combat skills on right (be it WW, frenzy, whatever). Conc is cheap enough and beneficial enough to use as the default swing if you aren't doing anything else. +defense and no interruption are golden.
3) keep your cries on quick hotkeys! as an example if you have to use howl, its usually because you just WW'ed into a pack of nasties, and the boss has a super mana-burn and your right in the middle when it sucks your mana! that's not the time to fumble for that out of reach hotkey to get a howl off. keep em close and personal.
4) best way to acquire gear as a barb is PGEMS! kill all kinds of stuff, and hork them, and save all your gems, and cube them up. real good end game gear can be had usually for pgems. the uber gear is expensive, but it's not necessary, just makes things quicker. cheap examples are : the IK's set (whole thing is cheap cept the armor, but its a great set), string of ears, goreriders, goblin toes, weapon examples that are cheap but good are: Windhammer (conc and WW builds), schaefers hammer (franzy builds), stormlash (frenzy), etc. all uniques, all end game stuff, all go for pgems (or reasonable runes).
Runewords can come in cheap form too. I highly suggest going to the arreat summit (just google it, i never can remember the actual link hehe), and browse the runewords there. You'd be amazed at the mileage you can get out of mid level runewords.
...yeah I was real bored at work hehe|||Obilic welcome to the forum
Here we are welcome to help each other on the post on this forum. Feel free to post on any of the post or make your own post.Anyways I would say whirlwind barb is a great barb to start out with but consider mana a big problem. A good starter will be the immortal king set if you are poor but be aware the armor is expensive but the rest the gear is very cheap. I remember making my first ik barb and he is hell viable. But there are other great options too. Good luck with the barb that you are planning on making.|||Heyz also welcome to the forum.
I am also starting sort of a barb. although i have a sorc of 90+ who is getting the gear for him. I would like to add that Oath is always an option with high CB and dirt cheap to make. (since countess is dropping mal / pul regularly. I agree with the merc and the obdience beastly weapon!
I was just wondering, how are you in the gear are you really starting? I am not sure what the best barb is for starters. I have had a ww barb that was extreme geared. (botd / grief / beast / and Last wish. DO you have access to those items.
Lastly it is easier for a Frenzy barb to do Uuber trist so that says something about the PVM capabilities. In addition to that Law bringer in a phase blade is awsome and again really cheap! Good luck building yerself a barb!
Best 1 Handed Weapon for WW
I'm making a weapon/shield WW barbarian. I'm thinking of using Arreats + Cham (Can't be frozen), Fort Archon Plate, Verdungos, Stormshield (Not Sure What to Socket This With Yet), Gorerider Boots, 2x Angelic Rings + Ammy (Big AR Boost), Verdungos Belt & Dracul Gloves (Good LL). However, what should I use as a weapon? Beast Zerk, Grief, Ebotdz Col/Zerk?
I know WW can't enact Life Tap, so are there better gloves to use that outweight the Draculs Strength, Life Steal & Open Wounds?|||For WW, its all about weapon speed, so find something you like that balances damage to speed. Good choices include:
Grief
Breath of the Dying
Beast
or a REALLY good rare, but the runewords kinda dominate weapon slots.|||OK, so it would be better to go with a 1 handed axe than 1 handed collosus sword?|||grief in PB(berserker axe if u are rich and like to repair), then the rest.|||I see the topic is a bit old, but anywys it fits my question so I'd rather post here instead of making a new one.
For 1-h WW I guess Grief is better. But for WW with 2 axes, woudln't Grief+Beast be better than dual Grief?
Also since Oath is Eth and Grief is non-eth, wouldn't Oath be comparable and a lot easier to make?|||I'm not 100% sure but I think dual Griefs beats the Grief+Beast combo. A perfect eOath small crescent will do 323 average damage which is less than the worst grief roll. More importantly though, grief has ITD and 20% DS. You'll still own hell but it's not Grief :>
Those Oath rolls can be a ***** though. I was pretty lucky with my two small crescents for my whirler (327 and 309 with 3 mals used), but I've done 9 rolls in balrog blades for my zerker, and have yet to get a roll above 250 -_-|||I did some number crunching and with a decked out Titan WW build with enigma the numbers would be following(it ignores OW and chance to hit though, which makes grief a bit stronger than the numbers here show):
Quote:
usage ratio right hand 1:0.7 left hand on average, approximated from durability usage
ED with grief&grief 1 + 7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh) + 0.5 (grief demon ed or beast str)=16.22
ED with botd 1 + 7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh) + 0.9 (botd ed and 30 str)=16.62
ED with grief&beast 1 + 7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh) + 0.5 (grief demon ed or beast str)+1.86=18.08
ED with etomb 1 + 7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh) + 0.77 (undead ed/3)=16.49
ED with rare weapon 1 + 7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh) =15.72
ED with rare mace 1 + 7.7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh)+0.17(undead damage) =16.59
20% CB to 12k life monster at half life:6000*0.2*0.25=300
raw damage with ds & cs and 55 damage from charms(assuming non sup ba on grief and beast to avoid big repair bill, and 37 32020-s)
rare legendary mallet 554*1.89
grief ba 503*1.89
beast ba 231*1.77
rare ba(450 ed, 20 max damage, 2 ohms) 527*1.77
botd gpa 724*1.77
rare CS(450 ed, 20 max damage, ohm and 15/40) 939*1.77
etomb with 4015 and ohm 701*1.77
total damage per 4 frames:
1H weapons
rare lm&rare lm: (1 + 0.7)*554*1.89*16.59=29530
grief&grief: (1 + 0.7)*503*1.89*16.22=26213
rare ba&rare ba: (1+0.7)527*1.77*15.72=24928
grief&beast: 1*503*1.89*18.08 + 0.7*231*1.77*18.08 + 0.7*300=22572
2H weapons
rare CS: 1*939*1.77*15.72=26127
botd gpa: 1*724*1.77*16.62=21298
etomb: 1*701*1.77*16.49=20460
As far as oath, an oath bb as 2h weapon actually does more damage than 2 oath small crescents(ignoring cb and charm damage), as 86.5>49.5*1.7|||Are you summing the ed to demons and undead along with other off-skill ed? That and the ridiculous amount of strength will skew the odds heavily in favour of grief over beast.
As for the oath thing, that's kinda trivial. I won't say anything about your dubious 1.7 coefficient, but any amount of cb will make dual wielding the better choice.|||Quote:
Are you summing the ed to demons and undead along with other off-skill ed? That and the ridiculous amount of strength will skew the odds heavily in favour of grief over beast.
As for the oath thing, that's kinda trivial. I won't say anything about your dubious 1.7 coefficient, but any amount of cb will make dual wielding the better choice.
Try calculating the coefficent yourself, im sure you will find it to be similar(ww until right weapon breaks, compare its dura to left one).
And The demon and undead EDs are both divided by 3. And ridiculous amount of strength: it is damage optimal in pvm, and can get 2.5k life with it which is decent|||Grief berserker axe is best 1h weapon for ww barb. I also go with ss for shield since I want to make a bvb in the future.
I know WW can't enact Life Tap, so are there better gloves to use that outweight the Draculs Strength, Life Steal & Open Wounds?|||For WW, its all about weapon speed, so find something you like that balances damage to speed. Good choices include:
Grief
Breath of the Dying
Beast
or a REALLY good rare, but the runewords kinda dominate weapon slots.|||OK, so it would be better to go with a 1 handed axe than 1 handed collosus sword?|||grief in PB(berserker axe if u are rich and like to repair), then the rest.|||I see the topic is a bit old, but anywys it fits my question so I'd rather post here instead of making a new one.
For 1-h WW I guess Grief is better. But for WW with 2 axes, woudln't Grief+Beast be better than dual Grief?
Also since Oath is Eth and Grief is non-eth, wouldn't Oath be comparable and a lot easier to make?|||I'm not 100% sure but I think dual Griefs beats the Grief+Beast combo. A perfect eOath small crescent will do 323 average damage which is less than the worst grief roll. More importantly though, grief has ITD and 20% DS. You'll still own hell but it's not Grief :>
Those Oath rolls can be a ***** though. I was pretty lucky with my two small crescents for my whirler (327 and 309 with 3 mals used), but I've done 9 rolls in balrog blades for my zerker, and have yet to get a roll above 250 -_-|||I did some number crunching and with a decked out Titan WW build with enigma the numbers would be following(it ignores OW and chance to hit though, which makes grief a bit stronger than the numbers here show):
Quote:
usage ratio right hand 1:0.7 left hand on average, approximated from durability usage
ED with grief&grief 1 + 7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh) + 0.5 (grief demon ed or beast str)=16.22
ED with botd 1 + 7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh) + 0.9 (botd ed and 30 str)=16.62
ED with grief&beast 1 + 7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh) + 0.5 (grief demon ed or beast str)+1.86=18.08
ED with etomb 1 + 7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh) + 0.77 (undead ed/3)=16.49
ED with rare weapon 1 + 7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh) =15.72
ED with rare mace 1 + 7.7(strength) + 1.68(29 mast) + 1.74(29 ww) + 2.7(24 might) + 0.4(gui socket) + 1.2(loh)+0.17(undead damage) =16.59
20% CB to 12k life monster at half life:6000*0.2*0.25=300
raw damage with ds & cs and 55 damage from charms(assuming non sup ba on grief and beast to avoid big repair bill, and 37 32020-s)
rare legendary mallet 554*1.89
grief ba 503*1.89
beast ba 231*1.77
rare ba(450 ed, 20 max damage, 2 ohms) 527*1.77
botd gpa 724*1.77
rare CS(450 ed, 20 max damage, ohm and 15/40) 939*1.77
etomb with 4015 and ohm 701*1.77
total damage per 4 frames:
1H weapons
rare lm&rare lm: (1 + 0.7)*554*1.89*16.59=29530
grief&grief: (1 + 0.7)*503*1.89*16.22=26213
rare ba&rare ba: (1+0.7)527*1.77*15.72=24928
grief&beast: 1*503*1.89*18.08 + 0.7*231*1.77*18.08 + 0.7*300=22572
2H weapons
rare CS: 1*939*1.77*15.72=26127
botd gpa: 1*724*1.77*16.62=21298
etomb: 1*701*1.77*16.49=20460
As far as oath, an oath bb as 2h weapon actually does more damage than 2 oath small crescents(ignoring cb and charm damage), as 86.5>49.5*1.7|||Are you summing the ed to demons and undead along with other off-skill ed? That and the ridiculous amount of strength will skew the odds heavily in favour of grief over beast.
As for the oath thing, that's kinda trivial. I won't say anything about your dubious 1.7 coefficient, but any amount of cb will make dual wielding the better choice.|||Quote:
Are you summing the ed to demons and undead along with other off-skill ed? That and the ridiculous amount of strength will skew the odds heavily in favour of grief over beast.
As for the oath thing, that's kinda trivial. I won't say anything about your dubious 1.7 coefficient, but any amount of cb will make dual wielding the better choice.
Try calculating the coefficent yourself, im sure you will find it to be similar(ww until right weapon breaks, compare its dura to left one).
And The demon and undead EDs are both divided by 3. And ridiculous amount of strength: it is damage optimal in pvm, and can get 2.5k life with it which is decent|||Grief berserker axe is best 1h weapon for ww barb. I also go with ss for shield since I want to make a bvb in the future.
frenzy IAS
how does ias work with frenzy? i dont like how slow my barb swings when he starts frenzying. do i need to sheal both weapons or can i just do one and keep the other offhand? i seem to remember reading that you really only need the ias on one weapon for it to work on both. i tried searching but couldnt find it again|||ias helps on glove side weapon and base weapon speed helps on both sides|||Just to be clear: The weapon base speed of both weapons as listed on the arreat summit is averaged to give you your effective base speed. Then ias on the main (glove side) is added along with any other ias except that on the offhand weapon (which doesn't count at all).
Use this weapon speed calc * to see what your breakpoints are.|||The primary weapon is the weapon that equipped first. If you switch weapons out then back your primary weapon will always be the one on the left hand side of your inventory screen (above the glove as hubb said). Either way, the [moving running jumping] barb always show the primary weapon in his right hand, so you can always tell.
Use this weapon speed calc * to see what your breakpoints are.|||The primary weapon is the weapon that equipped first. If you switch weapons out then back your primary weapon will always be the one on the left hand side of your inventory screen (above the glove as hubb said). Either way, the [moving running jumping] barb always show the primary weapon in his right hand, so you can always tell.
PVM WW weps?
Have been searching for quite a while and found many different threads suggesting what is the best with varying results. Just wondering what combinations for 1 handers would be considered the best for a WW barb interested in PvMing.|||Grief/Grief or Grief/Beast will be your top two.|||Grief/Grief or Grief/shield would be better for pvm/mf ?|||i disagree mostly cause you will constantly need to repair weapons. i will use 2 ebotd zerkers. nice damage and insane leech.|||PvM SC, you don't need a shield. Makes Grief in PB and you don't need to repair either.|||why ppl prefer grief as botd berserk axe? i play ladder and want to know best weap for ww barb, i think with shield will be better for solo runs?|||Best is loosely found. Both BotD and Grief are strong enough to kill pretty much anything in pvm. Grief does better, but lacks the auto-leech and indestructibility (solved by Grief PB).|||Im currently toting a BotD in a colossus blade and swinging 2h (no dual wield). In all honesty, the mobs aren't going down much faster then when I used it in combo with a grief. either choice will simply kill things insanely fast. I like BotD for the life/mana leech and extra stats. It frees up allot more options in my other gear (the -reqs helps out alot as well when socketing it in a high end weapon)
speaking of pure numbers, Grief/Grief both in PB's put out the most damage, but you wont' honestly feel a huge difference in solo work between that and Botd Or beast. they all are sick killers. and shield is not really needed at all. Most stuff dies too fast with me Cb BotD for a shield to matter. the times i wished i had a shield, Howl and Grim totem are almost better, and faster to use then swapping for a shield.
that given, I still keep a shield around for OS moments, but it's not necessary to build around it.
speaking of pure numbers, Grief/Grief both in PB's put out the most damage, but you wont' honestly feel a huge difference in solo work between that and Botd Or beast. they all are sick killers. and shield is not really needed at all. Most stuff dies too fast with me Cb BotD for a shield to matter. the times i wished i had a shield, Howl and Grim totem are almost better, and faster to use then swapping for a shield.
that given, I still keep a shield around for OS moments, but it's not necessary to build around it.
Singer Barb?
Whats the most damage any1 ever been able to pull out of this 1?
Im hearing lows 1000's|||That's about right. You can play around with it on the skill calc.|||2023 - 2070 personally could probably pump that up for the expense of alot of mana|||+3 Warcries/+3 War Cry Magic Barb Pelt
Any +2 Armor
'Heart of the Oak' x2
Arachnid Mesh
Sounding Amulet
Any +1 Ring x2
Annihilus, Torch, 9x Sounding
Battle Command
War Cry: 2208 - 2254, 63 Mana Cost
It's not ideal, the mana cost is way too high. 1000-1500 is a comfortable level for PvM.|||Quote:
...
War Cry: 2208 - 2254, 63 Mana Cost
It's not ideal, the mana cost is way too high. 1000-1500 is a comfortable level for PvM.
Don't quite argee here. This is one of those "don't put a single point in energy, energy is the devil" reasonings
. If you get a good mana regen rate, and invest some in mana, you can get a barb to regen that much. I'll give the numbers a spin when I get home and can access the arreat summit for the damn formula (I'm at work behind a firewall that blocks half the net - the juicy part 
). I've done the math for infinicasting teleport, fireball, charge, CE,... and all of those have infinicast possibilities. And with the high lvl BO you'll get with this char I think it's fairly easily acchievable.|||Quote:
+3 Warcries/+3 War Cry Magic Barb Pelt
Any +2 Armor
'Heart of the Oak' x2
Arachnid Mesh
Sounding Amulet
Any +1 Ring x2
Annihilus, Torch, 9x Sounding
Battle Command
War Cry: 2208 - 2254, 63 Mana Cost
forgot the shrine
Quote:
It's not ideal, the mana cost is way too high. 1000-1500 is a comfortable level for PvM.
i agree with this completely.
Quote:
Don't quite argee here. This is one of those "don't put a single point in energy, energy is the devil" reasonings . If you get a good mana regen rate, and invest some in mana, you can get a barb to regen that much. I'll give the numbers a spin when I get home and can access the arreat summit for the damn formula (I'm at work behind a firewall that blocks half the net - the juicy part ). I've done the math for infinicasting teleport, fireball, charge, CE,... and all of those have infinicast possibilities. And with the high lvl BO you'll get with this char I think it's fairly easily acchievable.
i'll be interested in seeing this. will you be going for the 105% bp?|||Quote:
Don't quite argee here. This is one of those "don't put a single point in energy, energy is the devil" reasonings . If you get a good mana regen rate, and invest some in mana, you can get a barb to regen that much. I'll give the numbers a spin when I get home and can access the arreat summit for the damn formula (I'm at work behind a firewall that blocks half the net - the juicy part ). I've done the math for infinicasting teleport, fireball, charge, CE,... and all of those have infinicast possibilities. And with the high lvl BO you'll get with this char I think it's fairly easily acchievable.
Yeah, I'll be interested in seeing a good set-up that centralizes around max damage too. Just how much energy are we talking about here though? 1 point of energy gives 1 point of mana to a Barbarian, with BO at 180%, 50% from SoJ, and 5% from Arachnid, that's a 235% boost to mana, so 200 points in energy would give you ~700 mana (would have been ~2400 life), which is around only 11 casts of War Cry.|||Quote:
Yeah, I'll be interested in seeing a good set-up that centralizes around max damage too. Just how much energy are we talking about here though? 1 point of energy gives 1 point of mana to a Barbarian, with BO at 180%, 50% from SoJ, and 5% from Arachnid, that's a 235% boost to mana, so 200 points in energy would give you ~700 mana (would have been ~2400 life), which is around only 11 casts of War Cry.
hmm i solved my short mana prob by throwing few Serpent's SC but if you stuff your inventory full of charms like that your total dmg would suffer|||My current ladder Singer uses a different set up and finishes at level 94.
Skills
20 Warcry plus synergies
20 Battle orders
1 Battle Command
1 Iron skin
1 Natural Resists
1 Leap
Gear
2 20 barb (cost me lem) no other stats to note socketed perfect sapphire
Enigma Mage Plate
Arachnid mesh
3 warcrys 10 FCR amulet
2x soj
Frostburns
Silkweaves
Now I have In my possession 2x Hotos for bo switch and occasional use but these proved the worst possible weapons for PvP and PvM. Now Wizardspike seems like the only option but to be honest. Wizardspike still doesnt cut it because Mana based on character level isn't effected by bo which is a waste.
The best possible set up in my opinion is 1x spirit and 1x wizardspike with the richer people moving onto the dual spirits for the mass mana 2 all skills and huge FHR. Spirits only weakness is the resists and if you can make that up elsewhere Spirit is the better choice.
Now in top end gear 1 point in natural resists can provide 60+ all resistance with 1 point in it.
Quick basic calculation
60 Natural resists
75 wizardspike
30 anya(temp)
20 Torch+anni
185
My current singer stats are
110 FCR
86 FHR
6.5k Health
1.7k mana
50 all resists in hell
1931 - 1977 Warcry damage.
I need a much better circlet to safely lose the second wizard spike its kinda risky running around with 2x spirit.
Reason for leap is for mostly for PvP to stun sorcs a little to make the initial warcry easier to land.
With my Ideal Circlet/Tiara and some more mana charms I think I could creep into the 2.6k mark without a sacrifice in damage.|||i did testrun the build with almost(no barb helm) perfect gear.
Realistically though, it would be better to have one of the weapons as beast, and reaper/botd merc weapon(or use brand bow on a low defense setup) as merc is the main damage source, lol.
Im hearing lows 1000's|||That's about right. You can play around with it on the skill calc.|||2023 - 2070 personally could probably pump that up for the expense of alot of mana|||+3 Warcries/+3 War Cry Magic Barb Pelt
Any +2 Armor
'Heart of the Oak' x2
Arachnid Mesh
Sounding Amulet
Any +1 Ring x2
Annihilus, Torch, 9x Sounding
Battle Command
War Cry: 2208 - 2254, 63 Mana Cost
It's not ideal, the mana cost is way too high. 1000-1500 is a comfortable level for PvM.|||Quote:
...
War Cry: 2208 - 2254, 63 Mana Cost
It's not ideal, the mana cost is way too high. 1000-1500 is a comfortable level for PvM.
Don't quite argee here. This is one of those "don't put a single point in energy, energy is the devil" reasonings
. If you get a good mana regen rate, and invest some in mana, you can get a barb to regen that much. I'll give the numbers a spin when I get home and can access the arreat summit for the damn formula (I'm at work behind a firewall that blocks half the net - the juicy part ). I've done the math for infinicasting teleport, fireball, charge, CE,... and all of those have infinicast possibilities. And with the high lvl BO you'll get with this char I think it's fairly easily acchievable.|||Quote:+3 Warcries/+3 War Cry Magic Barb Pelt
Any +2 Armor
'Heart of the Oak' x2
Arachnid Mesh
Sounding Amulet
Any +1 Ring x2
Annihilus, Torch, 9x Sounding
Battle Command
War Cry: 2208 - 2254, 63 Mana Cost
forgot the shrine
Quote:
It's not ideal, the mana cost is way too high. 1000-1500 is a comfortable level for PvM.
i agree with this completely.
Quote:
Don't quite argee here. This is one of those "don't put a single point in energy, energy is the devil" reasonings
. If you get a good mana regen rate, and invest some in mana, you can get a barb to regen that much. I'll give the numbers a spin when I get home and can access the arreat summit for the damn formula (I'm at work behind a firewall that blocks half the net - the juicy part ). I've done the math for infinicasting teleport, fireball, charge, CE,... and all of those have infinicast possibilities. And with the high lvl BO you'll get with this char I think it's fairly easily acchievable.i'll be interested in seeing this. will you be going for the 105% bp?|||Quote:
Don't quite argee here. This is one of those "don't put a single point in energy, energy is the devil" reasonings
. If you get a good mana regen rate, and invest some in mana, you can get a barb to regen that much. I'll give the numbers a spin when I get home and can access the arreat summit for the damn formula (I'm at work behind a firewall that blocks half the net - the juicy part ). I've done the math for infinicasting teleport, fireball, charge, CE,... and all of those have infinicast possibilities. And with the high lvl BO you'll get with this char I think it's fairly easily acchievable.Yeah, I'll be interested in seeing a good set-up that centralizes around max damage too. Just how much energy are we talking about here though? 1 point of energy gives 1 point of mana to a Barbarian, with BO at 180%, 50% from SoJ, and 5% from Arachnid, that's a 235% boost to mana, so 200 points in energy would give you ~700 mana (would have been ~2400 life), which is around only 11 casts of War Cry.
|||Quote:Yeah, I'll be interested in seeing a good set-up that centralizes around max damage too. Just how much energy are we talking about here though? 1 point of energy gives 1 point of mana to a Barbarian, with BO at 180%, 50% from SoJ, and 5% from Arachnid, that's a 235% boost to mana, so 200 points in energy would give you ~700 mana (would have been ~2400 life), which is around only 11 casts of War Cry.
hmm i solved my short mana prob by throwing few Serpent's SC but if you stuff your inventory full of charms like that your total dmg would suffer
|||My current ladder Singer uses a different set up and finishes at level 94.Skills
20 Warcry plus synergies
20 Battle orders
1 Battle Command
1 Iron skin
1 Natural Resists
1 Leap
Gear
2 20 barb (cost me lem) no other stats to note socketed perfect sapphire
Enigma Mage Plate
Arachnid mesh
3 warcrys 10 FCR amulet
2x soj
Frostburns
Silkweaves
Now I have In my possession 2x Hotos for bo switch and occasional use but these proved the worst possible weapons for PvP and PvM. Now Wizardspike seems like the only option but to be honest. Wizardspike still doesnt cut it because Mana based on character level isn't effected by bo which is a waste.
The best possible set up in my opinion is 1x spirit and 1x wizardspike with the richer people moving onto the dual spirits for the mass mana 2 all skills and huge FHR. Spirits only weakness is the resists and if you can make that up elsewhere Spirit is the better choice.
Now in top end gear 1 point in natural resists can provide 60+ all resistance with 1 point in it.
Quick basic calculation
60 Natural resists
75 wizardspike
30 anya(temp)
20 Torch+anni
185
My current singer stats are
110 FCR
86 FHR
6.5k Health
1.7k mana
50 all resists in hell
1931 - 1977 Warcry damage.
I need a much better circlet to safely lose the second wizard spike its kinda risky running around with 2x spirit.
Reason for leap is for mostly for PvP to stun sorcs a little to make the initial warcry easier to land.
With my Ideal Circlet/Tiara and some more mana charms I think I could creep into the 2.6k mark without a sacrifice in damage.|||i did testrun the build with almost(no barb helm) perfect gear.
Realistically though, it would be better to have one of the weapons as beast, and reaper/botd merc weapon(or use brand bow on a low defense setup) as merc is the main damage source, lol.
Diablo Newbie, need some help with my barb!
Hi, running a barb, my first d2 character (my RL friends persuaded me to play it before D3, which we'll all be playing, comes out), through hopefully all three difficulties. Even though I'm playing on ladder, I plan on playing solo all the way through; I figured that might play a part in any advice you guys can give. This is where I'm at currently:
Progression: Level 33, second quest in NM Act I
Build: 20 sword mastery, 1 inc stam, 1 inc walk/run, 1 iron skin, 1 natural resist, 1 bash, 1 double swing, 1 double throw, 10 frenzy
Gear:
Weapon 1: Coldsteel Eye Cutlass (amn) 27-72dmg 6%/7% dual leech, 50% deadly strike
Weapon 2: rare 11-20dmg falchion with 1-7 lightning damage and 5% LL
Armor: Sparking Mail (133def, +1-20 lightning dmg, 30% lightning resist, 11lightning dmg return)
Helm: Sigon's Visor (56def, 30 mana)
Gloves: rare 12def, 9stam, 1str, 9 poison resist, 15 AR
Boots: 13def, half freeze duration
Belt: 6def, 17 fhr, 17 poison resist, 1dmg return
Amulet: 13 life, 6 all resists
Ring 1: 58ar, 4% LL
Ring 2: 5% ar bonus, 69ar, 19mana, 12cold resist, MDR 2
GC: 7% faster run/walk
GC: 1-31 lightning dmg
sc: 4 ar (not percent lol), 1-2 cold damage
Some thoughts:
I think obviously a lot of people's first recommendation would be to get shout/battle orders/battle command and start putting points into battle orders. But yeah, I'm too lazy for that; it really ruins my hold right click and fly across the screen with frenzy mojo when I have to stop and cast three abilities. Life is rough right? That being said, please help me with the knowledge that I will be using this suicidal and ill-advised build.
1) My gear is awful. Aside from the overall crappy-ness of it, the helm, gloves, and boots are barely better than a white item haha. If you have suggestions for some really cheap yet effective uniques, I'd greatly appreciate it.
2) I have a magic ring (6% lifeleech, DR 2), is that better than the attack rating one I'm wearing right now?
3) I've been keeping that cold damage SC in my inventory since the beginning of the game under the impression that the cold damage slows the movement and attack speed of monsters I attack, did I assume correctly and is it worth keeping?
4) Does leech on a weapon apply to both weapons, and similarly, does the 1-31 lightning GC apply to both weapons?
5) How important is the 17% fhr on my belt? I tried to do some research and saw that the second breakpoint is at 15%, but frankly I have no idea what that means and how it impacts my gameplay.
6) If I've learned anything so far, it's that I underestimated two things. First, running while frenzied is far more fun than I had anticipated. Second, I can't believe how owned I get whenever I become cold-slowed. I think I'm too poor to afford a Ravenfrost; are there any cheaper alternatives to become "cannot be frozen"?
7)Even though I passed on battle orders and shout, I'm not disinclined to spend points to live longer, I'm just too lazy to cast spells. So, should I put more points into Iron Skin and/or Natural Resist? If so, how many more?
Any input will be appreciated
|||Firstly I'd definatly say put points into BO and Shout, they are great skills and if you get them high enough you very rarely have to recast them. I set mine to f1 f2 f3 Battle command, BO, Shout and f5 is howl (Since i play a berserk, but yours can be anything you want) and switch through them. They greatly affect your ability to survive and I can't see you going solo through hell without them. And if your frenzy i'd suggest maybe a 1point in berserk to deal with physical immunes, but these dont come around until hell.
Collect PGems or flawless and cube them, it will be able to buy most lower end uniques that will help you get going. Check out the unique sword section on blizzards page for a good list, since there all different it all depends on where you want to go.
the elemental damage charms affect both of your weapons, leech on rings / other armor affects everything but im unclear as to whether or not leech on one weapon will transfer over to another, so no answer from me there.
FHR comes into play if your getting hit alot and are trying to cast/attack/get away. its hard to notice the first BP but it helps, but not alot is needed unless your planning on running through alot of crap(Hordes of things) or PVPing.
as far as frozen comes, not offhand can i remember something other then deaths belt thats low level that has cannot be frozen, but its kinda a twink item and people would like some currency for it, but JJ's (junk jewels) Pgems and crafting runes would be the way to start.
Hope this helps some|||Thanks for the tips Rofle.
I got my hands on a Ripsaw Flamberge and a Ginther's Rift dimensional blade. The Ginther's seems to do more damage, but I can't really tell. Anyone have input on which is better?|||Hey to answer a few of your questions:
the life leech or magic / elemental damage is for one sword / mace or what ever weapon only!
Second i cannot stress enough how important BO is. I usually max bo first as because i live by the rule: You cant deal damage when you are dead. In addition the bigger mana pool AND the ability to buff your merc (act 2 nightmare offensive merc has a + damage aura OR the defensive has frost aura) Both are very nice, i use to stick with the might aura because barb usually has more probems dishing out damage then with staying alife (haha IF you skill bo)
I also encourage to have a look at the Law bringer runeword, extremely cheap and very affective, one of the best frenzy pvm rune words. (the curse it casts is damn good, also makes the monsters slower so you dont really need the frost aura anymore which means you can take the might (damage) aura. Obdience is a good rune word, as rune should not be the biggest problem with hell forge and the new rune drop chance increase.
About buying items, yes pgems is the way to go, aswell as low runes, some "packages" can be sold for pul or other nice runes.
a lot of luck in diablo, you did not pick the easiest class to start with +)|||I just finish writing a guide on frenzy barbs with a newcomer focus. Its got a sum of odd bits of info that's accumulated over the years. It might help.|||The mods of one weapon do not apply to the other. The mods of everything else, including charms, apply to both.
Hawkmail has Cannot Be Frozen.
BO, at least, should be maxed.
You should make a Necro, or a Sorc, and harvest items with that. Caster classes are less dependent on good gear than melee classes.
If an item has a gold or green name, you don't need to tell us anything other than the name and what you socketed it with. We already know what it does.
This website will be helpful to you: http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp.../uniques.shtml|||welcome to D2 and barbs!
Yes, max BO. BOBOBOBOBO. sounds snarky, but you'll understand what we mean the second you hit late NM or enter Hell. second the thought of trading (unless your also going naked/natural/whatever). a few pgems can get you nice stuff on the forums.
Spirit shroud also has cannot be frozen
Voice of reason RW has it as well (relatively cheap RW to boot) with some nice elemental damage
some excellent mid level weapons that can be traded for:
Coldsteel eye is good
aldurs rhytm mace (has life/mana leech and sockets! sorta slow tho)
headstriker sword (sick damage, not much else)
Butchers pupil (great overall weapon, very nice damage)
most the mid level RW's already mentioned...lawbringer works great in an exceptional sword (use a fast one since it's base IAS is slow, put it in offhand for best results). msot of LB's damage is elemental/magic, so a faster weapon is better then a slower one,
take the points you have in sword mastery, put 10 in frenzy, and 10 in BO, finish maxing BO as you level, then start working on frenxy synergys, don't worry as much about mastries until you start to accumulated your end game gear. maxing a mastery early on can be very limiting, especially if this is your first toon and you are collecting gear as you go.
kudos on the guide Zod! very nice. fills an important gap too....far too many of the guides are based on end game play and gear, and don't' mention as much the leveling process (i've even seen a few that recommend getting rushed to hell, I guess that's why they don't bring up the leveling process).rushing isn't a bad thing, just makes it difficult for those who want to play the game through and need tips.|||A couple more suggestions:
Since you're still in your 30's and near the start of nightmare, I would go back to normal and go kill baal 10-15 times to see what you get. He drops good items and at your level you'll still get a lot of experience from fighting him and his minions. After killing him several times, you should have some nicer gear to go into nightmare with.
Then, once you get to the end of act 3 nightmare and kill mephisto, go back and kill him ~20 times more before you move on to act 4. He drops very very well compared to how easy he is to kill, and you should get some good things from him that can last you well into hell.
People above have given you great suggestions for armor and for weapons. I agree with spirit shroud, lawbringer and butcher's pupil especially. Another good and really cheap option is "honor" runeword in a good base, like a zweihander. Only problem is it is SLOW, so you'll need to carry it in your off hand.
As for other useful items, i'd look for the IK set gloves, boots and belt. They can drop from NM Mephisto, are easy to trade for (only a pgem or two each usually), and have great partial set bonuses if you can equip all 3. They will last you all the way through hell mode. As for helms, a fantastic cheap option is Tal Rasha's mask. It can also drop from NM Mephisto, and with 10% dual leech and tons of other great stats, is the best low-value helm you can get that will last you through hell.
Best of luck with your new barb!
-f
P.S. ginther's is better than ripsaw.
Progression: Level 33, second quest in NM Act I
Build: 20 sword mastery, 1 inc stam, 1 inc walk/run, 1 iron skin, 1 natural resist, 1 bash, 1 double swing, 1 double throw, 10 frenzy
Gear:
Weapon 1: Coldsteel Eye Cutlass (amn) 27-72dmg 6%/7% dual leech, 50% deadly strike
Weapon 2: rare 11-20dmg falchion with 1-7 lightning damage and 5% LL
Armor: Sparking Mail (133def, +1-20 lightning dmg, 30% lightning resist, 11lightning dmg return)
Helm: Sigon's Visor (56def, 30 mana)
Gloves: rare 12def, 9stam, 1str, 9 poison resist, 15 AR
Boots: 13def, half freeze duration
Belt: 6def, 17 fhr, 17 poison resist, 1dmg return
Amulet: 13 life, 6 all resists
Ring 1: 58ar, 4% LL
Ring 2: 5% ar bonus, 69ar, 19mana, 12cold resist, MDR 2
GC: 7% faster run/walk
GC: 1-31 lightning dmg
sc: 4 ar (not percent lol), 1-2 cold damage
Some thoughts:
I think obviously a lot of people's first recommendation would be to get shout/battle orders/battle command and start putting points into battle orders. But yeah, I'm too lazy for that; it really ruins my hold right click and fly across the screen with frenzy mojo when I have to stop and cast three abilities. Life is rough right? That being said, please help me with the knowledge that I will be using this suicidal and ill-advised build.
1) My gear is awful. Aside from the overall crappy-ness of it, the helm, gloves, and boots are barely better than a white item haha. If you have suggestions for some really cheap yet effective uniques, I'd greatly appreciate it.
2) I have a magic ring (6% lifeleech, DR 2), is that better than the attack rating one I'm wearing right now?
3) I've been keeping that cold damage SC in my inventory since the beginning of the game under the impression that the cold damage slows the movement and attack speed of monsters I attack, did I assume correctly and is it worth keeping?
4) Does leech on a weapon apply to both weapons, and similarly, does the 1-31 lightning GC apply to both weapons?
5) How important is the 17% fhr on my belt? I tried to do some research and saw that the second breakpoint is at 15%, but frankly I have no idea what that means and how it impacts my gameplay.
6) If I've learned anything so far, it's that I underestimated two things. First, running while frenzied is far more fun than I had anticipated. Second, I can't believe how owned I get whenever I become cold-slowed. I think I'm too poor to afford a Ravenfrost; are there any cheaper alternatives to become "cannot be frozen"?
7)Even though I passed on battle orders and shout, I'm not disinclined to spend points to live longer, I'm just too lazy to cast spells. So, should I put more points into Iron Skin and/or Natural Resist? If so, how many more?
Any input will be appreciated
|||Firstly I'd definatly say put points into BO and Shout, they are great skills and if you get them high enough you very rarely have to recast them. I set mine to f1 f2 f3 Battle command, BO, Shout and f5 is howl (Since i play a berserk, but yours can be anything you want) and switch through them. They greatly affect your ability to survive and I can't see you going solo through hell without them. And if your frenzy i'd suggest maybe a 1point in berserk to deal with physical immunes, but these dont come around until hell.Collect PGems or flawless and cube them, it will be able to buy most lower end uniques that will help you get going. Check out the unique sword section on blizzards page for a good list, since there all different it all depends on where you want to go.
the elemental damage charms affect both of your weapons, leech on rings / other armor affects everything but im unclear as to whether or not leech on one weapon will transfer over to another, so no answer from me there.
FHR comes into play if your getting hit alot and are trying to cast/attack/get away. its hard to notice the first BP but it helps, but not alot is needed unless your planning on running through alot of crap(Hordes of things) or PVPing.
as far as frozen comes, not offhand can i remember something other then deaths belt thats low level that has cannot be frozen, but its kinda a twink item and people would like some currency for it, but JJ's (junk jewels) Pgems and crafting runes would be the way to start.
Hope this helps some|||Thanks for the tips Rofle.
I got my hands on a Ripsaw Flamberge and a Ginther's Rift dimensional blade. The Ginther's seems to do more damage, but I can't really tell. Anyone have input on which is better?|||Hey to answer a few of your questions:
the life leech or magic / elemental damage is for one sword / mace or what ever weapon only!
Second i cannot stress enough how important BO is. I usually max bo first as because i live by the rule: You cant deal damage when you are dead. In addition the bigger mana pool AND the ability to buff your merc (act 2 nightmare offensive merc has a + damage aura OR the defensive has frost aura) Both are very nice, i use to stick with the might aura because barb usually has more probems dishing out damage then with staying alife (haha IF you skill bo)
I also encourage to have a look at the Law bringer runeword, extremely cheap and very affective, one of the best frenzy pvm rune words. (the curse it casts is damn good, also makes the monsters slower so you dont really need the frost aura anymore which means you can take the might (damage) aura. Obdience is a good rune word, as rune should not be the biggest problem with hell forge and the new rune drop chance increase.
About buying items, yes pgems is the way to go, aswell as low runes, some "packages" can be sold for pul or other nice runes.
a lot of luck in diablo, you did not pick the easiest class to start with +)|||I just finish writing a guide on frenzy barbs with a newcomer focus. Its got a sum of odd bits of info that's accumulated over the years. It might help.|||The mods of one weapon do not apply to the other. The mods of everything else, including charms, apply to both.
Hawkmail has Cannot Be Frozen.
BO, at least, should be maxed.
You should make a Necro, or a Sorc, and harvest items with that. Caster classes are less dependent on good gear than melee classes.
If an item has a gold or green name, you don't need to tell us anything other than the name and what you socketed it with. We already know what it does.
This website will be helpful to you: http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp.../uniques.shtml|||welcome to D2 and barbs!
Yes, max BO. BOBOBOBOBO. sounds snarky, but you'll understand what we mean the second you hit late NM or enter Hell. second the thought of trading (unless your also going naked/natural/whatever). a few pgems can get you nice stuff on the forums.
Spirit shroud also has cannot be frozen
Voice of reason RW has it as well (relatively cheap RW to boot) with some nice elemental damage
some excellent mid level weapons that can be traded for:
Coldsteel eye is good
aldurs rhytm mace (has life/mana leech and sockets! sorta slow tho)
headstriker sword (sick damage, not much else)
Butchers pupil (great overall weapon, very nice damage)
most the mid level RW's already mentioned...lawbringer works great in an exceptional sword (use a fast one since it's base IAS is slow, put it in offhand for best results). msot of LB's damage is elemental/magic, so a faster weapon is better then a slower one,
take the points you have in sword mastery, put 10 in frenzy, and 10 in BO, finish maxing BO as you level, then start working on frenxy synergys, don't worry as much about mastries until you start to accumulated your end game gear. maxing a mastery early on can be very limiting, especially if this is your first toon and you are collecting gear as you go.
kudos on the guide Zod! very nice. fills an important gap too....far too many of the guides are based on end game play and gear, and don't' mention as much the leveling process (i've even seen a few that recommend getting rushed to hell, I guess that's why they don't bring up the leveling process).rushing isn't a bad thing, just makes it difficult for those who want to play the game through and need tips.|||A couple more suggestions:
Since you're still in your 30's and near the start of nightmare, I would go back to normal and go kill baal 10-15 times to see what you get. He drops good items and at your level you'll still get a lot of experience from fighting him and his minions. After killing him several times, you should have some nicer gear to go into nightmare with.
Then, once you get to the end of act 3 nightmare and kill mephisto, go back and kill him ~20 times more before you move on to act 4. He drops very very well compared to how easy he is to kill, and you should get some good things from him that can last you well into hell.
People above have given you great suggestions for armor and for weapons. I agree with spirit shroud, lawbringer and butcher's pupil especially. Another good and really cheap option is "honor" runeword in a good base, like a zweihander. Only problem is it is SLOW, so you'll need to carry it in your off hand.
As for other useful items, i'd look for the IK set gloves, boots and belt. They can drop from NM Mephisto, are easy to trade for (only a pgem or two each usually), and have great partial set bonuses if you can equip all 3. They will last you all the way through hell mode. As for helms, a fantastic cheap option is Tal Rasha's mask. It can also drop from NM Mephisto, and with 10% dual leech and tons of other great stats, is the best low-value helm you can get that will last you through hell.
Best of luck with your new barb!
-f
P.S. ginther's is better than ripsaw.
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