What type of weapon?

I'm thinking of makeing a Barbarian and wonder wich of the 6 types of weapons I should choose. Most seem to choose swords, but I have no ide why. Are swords more plentifull either at end lvl or lower lvl, do they have higher attack speed or what makes them desirable?

I would like to see my barbarian with axes, but not if it's vastly underpower compaired to swords. Also is it best to use a 2h weapon or dualwield?

Also what sorts of skills would be nice to go for as a PVM(I'm not interested in PVP), barb? I see there are many guides in the sticky, but it doesn't say if they're ment for PVM,PVP, grouping or if it requires lots of pricy gear. I got a druid and I think I will keep him my main, so if I'm going to buy something expensive it would most likely be for him.

If anyone can point me to a nice inexpensive PVM solo build it would be nice. I can read up on it myself, but reading through 30+ guides to find the one that fits best seems rather time consumeing, so I'm hopeing for a little help.|||Swords are common because a lot of runewords work in swords and they have good damage range. Axes are good as well. Berserker Axes are a popular and powerful choice. Dual wielding generally gives more damage. A WW Barb is a good all around PvM build.|||I've been looking in the threads for WW build, but they all seem to be PVP builds or the link doesn't even work anymore. Also won't a WW build rely on gear later on to kill those with high resistance or that are immune to physical dmg?

Beserk sounds better for dealing with those mobs and to kill bosses, but does it require loads of healing potions to keep it up or something since it won't have any defense at all? Also it might be a bit slow on killing little once like fallens and the pygme once in act 3? I'm a tad unsure on what to go for here.

Also I've considered axes they seem to have a slower attackspeed than swords, how will that effect the different skills?

What does PDR, BvC and BvB means?

I've been thinking maybee going for something like this build?

http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=235929|||There is a lack of FAQ/beginner-type guides covering the basics, but if you just read the stats and skills parts of 2 or 3 of them, most of it becomes fairly obvious.

IMO double swing is by far the best for while you're leveling up, then whirlwind once you've got decent weapons. The berserker is my favourite barb but I ended up playing my whirler a lot more since (like you guessed) it gets annoying as hell having to individually click on everything you want to kill. 1 point whirlwind helps for this, if you're speed running though then it's more efficient to use a pure whirler. And since you max shout (a berserk synergy) and a weapon mastery when going WW, berserk is strong enough anyway.

Conc/WW has always seemed like a dumb build to me since both skills are pretty safe and do physical damage. Why have two skills that essentially does the same thing? I suppose conc is a good way to handle mana burners if your equipment is mediocre, but once you get better stuff you'll have no reason to use conc rather than WW. So ye... that's probably the best starter build. One thing I would change though is to put 1 point into every war cry except grim ward, as war cry and battle cry are both very useful.

What class of weapon to use is a question that comes up a lot for some reason. Since you have respecs you don't have to choose one when you start and stick to it. Like Dr Clock said many of the better runewords can be made in swords and axes so they're the most popular choice. For untwinked play you can put 1 or 2 points into the mace/axe/sword masteries and use whichever weapons you find.

BvB: Barbarian vs Barbarian

BvC: Barbarian vs Caster

PDR: Physical Damage Reduction