New kind of Barb

[:1]Hi, I was thinking about creating a unique barbarian that uses Paladin auras while shape-shifted into a Werewolf as his main build, and I was hoping for some opinions on such a character. The idea was to create a Barbarian that can use a wide variety of skills, while still maintaining reasonable effectiveness in Hell Difficulty. That being said, I have not tried to make such a Barb yet, so this entire thread is speculation on how it would work out.

The Barb's gear is somewhat obvious.

Helm = Wolfhowl (The more skills it gives, the better)

Armor = Bramble (Gives a level 15-21 Thorns aura)

Weapon = Doom (Runeword Ax/Hammer, gives a level 12 Holy Freeze aura, as well as +2 to all skills)

and

Hand of Justice (Runeword weapon, I'll probably use an ax or a hammer, gives a level 16 Holy Fire aura)

The above items are essentially required for this build, because of the Auras/Skills they provide. The remaining gear is all optional.

Gloves = Dracul's Grasp (For the 25% Open Wounds and Life Steal) or Steelrend (For the Crushing Blow)

Boots = Sandstorm Trek (For FRW and Stamina mods) or Up'ed Gore Rider (For Crushing Blow, Deadly Strike, and Open Wounds)

Belt = Arachnid Mesh (For the obvious +1 to all skills, and Slows Target 10%) or Verdungo's Hearty Cord (For the Health/Vitality mods) or Credendum (For resists and stat mods) or Trang'Oul's Girth (For Life, Mana, and Stamina mods, as well as Cannot Be Frozen)

Rings = Any combination of Stone of Jordan, Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band, Dwarf Star, or Raven Frost. Nature's Peace might be good too.)

Amulet = Mara's Kaleidascope (For +2 to all skills, resists, and stat mods) or Metalgrid (For AR, resists, level 22 Iron Golem, and defense mods)

Charms = Annihilus (For +1 to all skills, resists, and stat mods)

Hellfire Torch (For resists and +3 to Character Skills, although I cannot decide on using a Barb Torch or a Pally Torch.

Captain's Grand Charms (For +1 to Paladin Offensive Auras. This might seem odd, but remember that this Barbarian build uses both Holy Fire and Holy Freeze. Preferably charms that also give resist or attack rating mods, because I've no idea how the resists and attack rating will turn out)

The obvious +Life or +FHR or +FRW Small Charms, but I might go for +Resists or +AR as well.



The Barb's skills are pretty clear by now.

Max out Axe or Mace Mastery, depending on what items the Runeword weapons are made from.

Max out Iron Skin, put 10 points into Natural Resist (dependent on level of resists after wearing gear), 10 points into Shout (dependent on defense rating after wearing gear) Max Battle Orders (For Life and Mana), No points into Battle Command ( I'm sorry, but I don't see the point of sinking 20 points into a skill that adds only 1 point to other skills. That is of course up to you) 10 points into Increased Speed and 10 into Increased Stamina (To move fast while in Wolf Form

No points into Combat Skills, because the Barb will do most of his fighting in Wolf form.

These skills can be reached at around level 80, assuming you did put points into Natural Resist and Shout.



The Barb's Attributes are also pretty clear.

Strength = Enough to wear gear, or you can figure out which order to put on gear that gives the strength necessary to wear other gear, there's a term for that somewhere on this forum.

Dexterity = More or less the same as Strength. You can put more points into this if you find you need more Defense, AR, or Chance to Block.

Vitality = The rest of your attribute points, after Strength and Dexterity are set.

Energy = Zero



So this is my idea for an AuraBarb Hybrid Character. If you have any opinions or suggestions about gear and skills and whatnot, leave a comment below. All comments are appreciated. Thanks.|||Just a quic tought. The charms are "(Paladin Only)" so I think they won't boost your auras granted by items.|||Also, thorns sucks. And yes, the + paladin skills DO NOT WORK with aura's from weapons/armor. In fact, nothing can boost their effecttiveness other than using them like dream helm + shield combo, so that when the both have lv15 holy shock, it becomes lv 30, various masteries like the ones that sorceress has or filling synergies on a paladin character.



If you want to have an effective barb with something like that, your gear should be something like this.

Wolfy

Dragon in a bodyarmor

Dragon in a monarch

Grief pb or beast ba or maybe even phoenix in a high dmg 1hander.

Rest is whatever, aim for AR LL and resists.



ps. You would be crazy to make any weapon in a hammer if it goes for a wolfbarb (unless it's an Ebotd), because you miss the awesome speed it has.|||Why use hoj? Its damage is very low. I would prefer grief pb for a wolf barb.|||Did you read the first sentence of the OP?

Like nurman said, there's no way to increase the level of the aura granted from items, except when you wear multiple items that give the same aura.

Here are some per-hit average damages which can help you decide:

Dragonx2: 225

Dragonx2 + HoJ: 561

Doom: 87.5

Doomx2: 257.5

Dream: 324.5

If you're looking to kill with them Doomx2 with Dream armor and a merc wielding infi might be Hell-viable. Otherwise a Grief PB with pretty much anything in the other slots will do well as long as you've got a decent amount of ED (like from Might/Pride merc, for example).|||That's right, +Pally Skill GC's would not work on a Barbarian. Hadn't thought of that. In that case, filling the inventory with Large or Small charms that give life, defense, or attack rating might be more practical.

Wearing a Dragon armor and a Dragon shield might be effective too. I'd still want to have a Doom as my weapon, just to have some variety with my auras. The problem there is that Dragon is rather expensive, and also a Ladder-Only item, so I would probably run into trouble making one, let alone two of them.

Also, has anyone considered building a triple-fortitude Barbarian? That is, a Barb wearing a Fortitude armor and Dual-wielding two Fort weapons. If I'm not wrong, that would add 600% more defense to the character, and a total of 1200% percent enhanced damage, 600% on each weapon. I've thought about this, but I run into the same problem making Fortitudes as I do making Dragons, except now I have to make three of them. Any thoughts?|||defence is kinda useless because it's reduced to zero when you run. Also blocking, even at low % (25-50) is better.



My final thoughts: wolfbarb needs quite exact gear to be effective. (Grief+ beast + forti + highlords + loh + soe + gores, in short)

You really should leave elemental aura's for either palas and sorcs because they can actually pump out some damage out of them. Heck, Bear and zealsorcs can dish some of the best dps in the game, if they have good gear. (Did I mention it's dual elemental, and in case of bear, fast or zeal, uninterpretable)|||Quote:








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My final thoughts: wolfbarb needs quite exact gear to be effective. (Grief+ beast + forti + highlords + loh + soe + gores, in short)

You really should leave elemental aura's for either palas and sorcs because they can actually pump out some damage out of them. Heck, Bear and zealsorcs can dish some of the best dps in the game, if they have good gear. (Did I mention it's dual elemental, and in case of bear, fast or zeal, uninterpretable)




I completely agree that a sorc or paladin is a much better option but that info about a wolfbarb is just wrong.

I have one that tears through the game and uses exactly two of those items.