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.