Hi all;
I'm a friend of Sin's, and he asked me to post this guide here. I've finally gotten my first all-xpac barb to the point where he can solo 8 ppl hell games with reasonable efficiency (note--even though I can cruise through the Foothills, I still pale in comparison to FW sorcs; on the other hand, I find my solo mf runs actually easier with my barb because of his durability). As of this writing, I am lvl 79. Please note, this is a PvM/magic find guide only. I've taken a brief hiatus from dueling with my barbs since they effectively have no chance against the most poular classes. This build certainly would not fair well (although I'll give a few pointers that have helped me nail some pks `=] )
First, here's the most important thing I can say about playing a barb--you MUST get a Cruel elite weapon. Unless you want to be some sorc's waterboy, do whatever you have to do to get one of these. They make ALL the difference in the world. Now on to the discussion.
Strategy:
I opted for the high damage/high life/low defense route. I tried building a barb around high defense, but with an almost constant use of berserk (see below), I quickly realized that defense in hell is pretty much a waste of time. Sure, you don't get hit very often, but if you stick to ww you kill things about, oh, once a month. `=]
Stat Points:
165 Str
55 Dex
250 Vit
Rest undecided.
These are the reqs to use Glorious Axes (my weapon of choice). I have my 55 dex with items, and I get AR elsewhere. I pumped up my str to 165 naturally to keep flexibilty in equipment choices as well as for the extra damage. What I do with the rest of my stat points depends on what gear I find. I am focusing next on getting a Harlequin's crest. Presuming I do, the rest of the points will go into str for extra damage. The 40% life boost from the crest will be plenty. I would NOT (as much as it pains me) opt for the tweaker route (low str, -reqs weapon) simply because you will want all the damage you can get.
Skill Points:
20 Axe Mastery
20 WW
20 Berserk
~12 BO (Pumping to max)
7 NR
1 Speed
1 Find Potion
1 War Cry (I will pump this as feasible, once BO is maxed)
1 in all prereqs
Axe mastery and ww seem self-evident. With the 50% physical immunity in hell, you MUST have berserk to kill with any kind of speed. Since berserk leaves you vulnerable, high life (and hence BO) is also a MUST. Also, since I take my share of damage, Find Potion is fairly useful. It keeps me in full rejuvs, and keeps me from cursing all the full rejuvs I left by bosses when my belt was full. `=]
As for the others, you can get plenty of speed from equipment and charms. You can get by with fewer points in NR, but I like the cushion.
Equipment:
Weapons: I obviously like axes, but lets run through the possibilities.
Axes: Good damage (avg and minimum), better speed than spears and maces, 150% damage to demons, fairly low reqs, range 4
Swords: Good damage (avg and minimum), better speed than spears and maces, high reqs, range 3
Maces: Good Avg damage, but low minimum. slow, 150% damage to undead, no dex needed, range 3
Spears: Good Avg damage, but low minimum, slow, high reqs, range 5
Polearms: Good damage (avg and minimum), better speed than spears and maces, high reqs, range 5
One thing not to be taken too lightly is relative weapon value. EVERYONE wants a cruel war pike or collossus sword. Axes, Maces, and Polearms are relatively cheaper (see below).
I picked axes basically for all of the above: I like the damage, the dex reqs are not very high, the 150% to demons is VERY nice (all the end of act bosses are demons), the speed is easier to compensate for than spears or maces, and range 4 is plenty in hell (again, as we will see below).
My Stuff
The piece d'resistance (pardon my French `=P ) is my axe: 450 Cruel Glorious Axe of Alacrity (20% IAS). I came by this gem for Aldur's Advance and 300k gold. I dare say a similar war pike or sword would fetch MUCH more (to be honest, I think I got a steal). I have since socketed it with my hell reward (only one #$%##@$!! socket) and added a 40% damage jewel, so the final figures are:
241-499 Cruel Glorious Axe of Alacrity (20%)
With this beauty, I do 2164-4521 berserk and 1328-2751 WW
The only problem I have is the lack of AR on the weapon. With berserk, there is really no problem, but still, all the AR you can get helps. With Items, I have:
4847 AR Berserk
2748 AR WW
I'd like more WW AR (wouldn't we all `=] ), but it works.
The next most important thing for a barb is leech. Here I would recommend at least 10/10. I have 10 life/11 mana and I do fine--but more life leech is always nice.
After that, you want IAS. I use goldwrap for 10% and some nice rare gloves with 20%. That seems to be plenty when coupled with teh 20% on my weapon. If you don't have an IAS weapon, you may want more IAS from Items (2 Sigon's Items are a nice start)
Other than that, since we are talking pvm magic find, look for high mf, resists, life, and mana on your gear. Oh--and as much AR as possible. I use the following:
+2 barb skills helm with life and some resists (switching to 73% tarn soon and harlequin's quest ASAP `=] )
Wealth Armor (416 D Wyrmhide)
4/4 dual leech prismatic ammy with life and mana
20% ias gloves with 5% AR bonus and MF
6% life leech ring with AR and 30% MF
7% mana leech ring with AR and 30% MF
Goldwrap
Boots with MF and resists (You could opt for Goblin Toes here for leveling--in a solo game, though, MF is more useful)
<rant> One side note: yes, I admit my rings are dupes. I have similar but lesser MF rings on other characters--and these are the only dupes I use. If you are offended, so be it. I look at it this way: Barbs need very specific gear to be viable, let alone good mf-ers. If I use this one advantage to balance out some of the advantages of other classes--sue me. I used to be VERY anti-dupe (and I still wouldn't duel with dupes), but after they've done all they can to cripple the barb, I'll use these rings, thank you. <end of rant> `=]
Charms:
Same rules as equipment. I like +life, AR, damage, resists, speed, and MF (who doesn't?). One thing--be sure to have at least 1 poison damage charm to keep monster healing down to a minimum. Cold damage doesn't hurt either.
Tactics:
OK--here's the nitty gritty of being a barb--how do you kill things. Basically it's this:
1) BO (duh)
2) WW to fill your orbs (targeting non-immunes helps here `=P )
3) Berserk until you start to suffer some damage
4) WW to refill your orb
5) Repeat
When killing mixed immunes/non-immunes, I always save some non-immunes for last so I can ww them to leech back life. Using this approach, I can solo 8 most places in hell. (Baal's minions are still a bit troublesome `=] So are frenzy guys and LEBs--full rejuvs can see you through, though--and here's where find potion is handy).
One quick tip--I have Berserk on my left button and WW on my right button. If I run out of mana (or get drained) clicking ww when right next to a monster will initiate a normal attack so you can leech.
Oh, yeah--anti-pk tips:
Sorcs--leave the game `=]
Tanker barbs--haven't seen a tanker PK in xpac
Druids--Kill any Spirit of Barbs, then ww works nicely
Assn--the ones I have seen are 1 hit ww kills
Zons--if you are in the Foothills (where most PKs seem to hunt) use the walls to get close, then ww. DON'T be afraid to use pots. We're talking anti-pk here. Do whatever it takes. Most PK zons are too stupid to run effectivley. if you find a good one using Pincers--leave the game <sigh> `=\
Necros and Pally--haven't seen one of those either. I'd say the old rules still apply. For thorns/IM, get lots of leech and a low damage weapon (I wouldn't want t o hit them with WW with my Glorious Axe).
Anyway, I hope this is useful. Any feedback, comments are appreciated
JEB90
US West
I'm a friend of Sin's, and he asked me to post this guide here. I've finally gotten my first all-xpac barb to the point where he can solo 8 ppl hell games with reasonable efficiency (note--even though I can cruise through the Foothills, I still pale in comparison to FW sorcs; on the other hand, I find my solo mf runs actually easier with my barb because of his durability). As of this writing, I am lvl 79. Please note, this is a PvM/magic find guide only. I've taken a brief hiatus from dueling with my barbs since they effectively have no chance against the most poular classes. This build certainly would not fair well (although I'll give a few pointers that have helped me nail some pks `=] )
First, here's the most important thing I can say about playing a barb--you MUST get a Cruel elite weapon. Unless you want to be some sorc's waterboy, do whatever you have to do to get one of these. They make ALL the difference in the world. Now on to the discussion.
Strategy:
I opted for the high damage/high life/low defense route. I tried building a barb around high defense, but with an almost constant use of berserk (see below), I quickly realized that defense in hell is pretty much a waste of time. Sure, you don't get hit very often, but if you stick to ww you kill things about, oh, once a month. `=]
Stat Points:
165 Str
55 Dex
250 Vit
Rest undecided.
These are the reqs to use Glorious Axes (my weapon of choice). I have my 55 dex with items, and I get AR elsewhere. I pumped up my str to 165 naturally to keep flexibilty in equipment choices as well as for the extra damage. What I do with the rest of my stat points depends on what gear I find. I am focusing next on getting a Harlequin's crest. Presuming I do, the rest of the points will go into str for extra damage. The 40% life boost from the crest will be plenty. I would NOT (as much as it pains me) opt for the tweaker route (low str, -reqs weapon) simply because you will want all the damage you can get.
Skill Points:
20 Axe Mastery
20 WW
20 Berserk
~12 BO (Pumping to max)
7 NR
1 Speed
1 Find Potion
1 War Cry (I will pump this as feasible, once BO is maxed)
1 in all prereqs
Axe mastery and ww seem self-evident. With the 50% physical immunity in hell, you MUST have berserk to kill with any kind of speed. Since berserk leaves you vulnerable, high life (and hence BO) is also a MUST. Also, since I take my share of damage, Find Potion is fairly useful. It keeps me in full rejuvs, and keeps me from cursing all the full rejuvs I left by bosses when my belt was full. `=]
As for the others, you can get plenty of speed from equipment and charms. You can get by with fewer points in NR, but I like the cushion.
Equipment:
Weapons: I obviously like axes, but lets run through the possibilities.
Axes: Good damage (avg and minimum), better speed than spears and maces, 150% damage to demons, fairly low reqs, range 4
Swords: Good damage (avg and minimum), better speed than spears and maces, high reqs, range 3
Maces: Good Avg damage, but low minimum. slow, 150% damage to undead, no dex needed, range 3
Spears: Good Avg damage, but low minimum, slow, high reqs, range 5
Polearms: Good damage (avg and minimum), better speed than spears and maces, high reqs, range 5
One thing not to be taken too lightly is relative weapon value. EVERYONE wants a cruel war pike or collossus sword. Axes, Maces, and Polearms are relatively cheaper (see below).
I picked axes basically for all of the above: I like the damage, the dex reqs are not very high, the 150% to demons is VERY nice (all the end of act bosses are demons), the speed is easier to compensate for than spears or maces, and range 4 is plenty in hell (again, as we will see below).
My Stuff
The piece d'resistance (pardon my French `=P ) is my axe: 450 Cruel Glorious Axe of Alacrity (20% IAS). I came by this gem for Aldur's Advance and 300k gold. I dare say a similar war pike or sword would fetch MUCH more (to be honest, I think I got a steal). I have since socketed it with my hell reward (only one #$%##@$!! socket) and added a 40% damage jewel, so the final figures are:
241-499 Cruel Glorious Axe of Alacrity (20%)
With this beauty, I do 2164-4521 berserk and 1328-2751 WW
The only problem I have is the lack of AR on the weapon. With berserk, there is really no problem, but still, all the AR you can get helps. With Items, I have:
4847 AR Berserk
2748 AR WW
I'd like more WW AR (wouldn't we all `=] ), but it works.
The next most important thing for a barb is leech. Here I would recommend at least 10/10. I have 10 life/11 mana and I do fine--but more life leech is always nice.
After that, you want IAS. I use goldwrap for 10% and some nice rare gloves with 20%. That seems to be plenty when coupled with teh 20% on my weapon. If you don't have an IAS weapon, you may want more IAS from Items (2 Sigon's Items are a nice start)
Other than that, since we are talking pvm magic find, look for high mf, resists, life, and mana on your gear. Oh--and as much AR as possible. I use the following:
+2 barb skills helm with life and some resists (switching to 73% tarn soon and harlequin's quest ASAP `=] )
Wealth Armor (416 D Wyrmhide)
4/4 dual leech prismatic ammy with life and mana
20% ias gloves with 5% AR bonus and MF
6% life leech ring with AR and 30% MF
7% mana leech ring with AR and 30% MF
Goldwrap
Boots with MF and resists (You could opt for Goblin Toes here for leveling--in a solo game, though, MF is more useful)
<rant> One side note: yes, I admit my rings are dupes. I have similar but lesser MF rings on other characters--and these are the only dupes I use. If you are offended, so be it. I look at it this way: Barbs need very specific gear to be viable, let alone good mf-ers. If I use this one advantage to balance out some of the advantages of other classes--sue me. I used to be VERY anti-dupe (and I still wouldn't duel with dupes), but after they've done all they can to cripple the barb, I'll use these rings, thank you. <end of rant> `=]
Charms:
Same rules as equipment. I like +life, AR, damage, resists, speed, and MF (who doesn't?). One thing--be sure to have at least 1 poison damage charm to keep monster healing down to a minimum. Cold damage doesn't hurt either.
Tactics:
OK--here's the nitty gritty of being a barb--how do you kill things. Basically it's this:
1) BO (duh)
2) WW to fill your orbs (targeting non-immunes helps here `=P )
3) Berserk until you start to suffer some damage
4) WW to refill your orb
5) Repeat
When killing mixed immunes/non-immunes, I always save some non-immunes for last so I can ww them to leech back life. Using this approach, I can solo 8 most places in hell. (Baal's minions are still a bit troublesome `=] So are frenzy guys and LEBs--full rejuvs can see you through, though--and here's where find potion is handy).
One quick tip--I have Berserk on my left button and WW on my right button. If I run out of mana (or get drained) clicking ww when right next to a monster will initiate a normal attack so you can leech.
Oh, yeah--anti-pk tips:
Sorcs--leave the game `=]
Tanker barbs--haven't seen a tanker PK in xpac
Druids--Kill any Spirit of Barbs, then ww works nicely
Assn--the ones I have seen are 1 hit ww kills
Zons--if you are in the Foothills (where most PKs seem to hunt) use the walls to get close, then ww. DON'T be afraid to use pots. We're talking anti-pk here. Do whatever it takes. Most PK zons are too stupid to run effectivley. if you find a good one using Pincers--leave the game <sigh> `=\
Necros and Pally--haven't seen one of those either. I'd say the old rules still apply. For thorns/IM, get lots of leech and a low damage weapon (I wouldn't want t o hit them with WW with my Glorious Axe).
Anyway, I hope this is useful. Any feedback, comments are appreciated
JEB90
US West
