What's the best Barbarian Build?

krunchyfrogg · Post by **krunchyfrogg** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 3:37 pm

I want to tank my way through D2.

I need weapon and feat suggestions.

Grimar · Post by **Grimar** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 5:21 pm

i never play barb, and i dont have any clue about what is good.. but i have heard that the whirl barb is good....

Noober · Post by **Noober** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:54 pm

When I was playing, it was unquestionably the WW Barb. I would imagine the with Grief, the WW Barb is only more effective. A WW Barb should be able to easily steal more life/mana then it takes (though Iron Maiden hurts...or more accurately kills). Items would generally revolve around sufficient mana and life steal, whilst maximising damage.

Skills are (for a cookie-cutter):
20 WW
20 BO
20 Axe Mastery
1 Berserk
1 Frenzy
1 Natural Resistance
1 Increased Speed

Don't forget to dual-wield (infinately superior in PvM to Wep+Shield)!

telemantros · Post by **telemantros** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 12:18 pm

[QUOTE=krunchyfrogg]I want to tank my way through D2.

I need weapon and feat suggestions.[/QUOTE]

There are 2 common builds for the Barbarian.

1. Concentrate Barb

Skills:
20 Concentrate
20 Bash
20 Battle Orders
20 Shout
20 Bezerk
Rest of points in pre-req's

Stats:
Enough Str. for gear
Enough Dex for gear
Rest into life
0 Mana

Some may ask, why not put 20 points into a weapon mastery and ignore bezerk? Because if you use bezerk when iron maidened you won't die, (although you will have 0 defence). With this build you will have massive life, defense, and tank very easily. Killing speed is slow however unless you have a grief, botd, ect.
(Note: Use a shield with this build!)

2. WW Barb
20 WW
20 Battle Orders
20 Weapon Mastery of your choice
10-20 Shout
Rest of points you can place whever you want really, maybe another combat skill such as concentrate. Killing speed for crowds is good with high damage weapon and this build is better in dueling games if you play online. Fun build.

Stats are the same as the first build. Barbs are the one of my two favorite classes along with the sorceress.

Happy hunting

moltovir · Post by **moltovir** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 12:21 pm

You forgot the Frenzy Barbarian.

telemantros · Post by **telemantros** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 12:30 pm

[QUOTE=moltovir]You forgot the Frenzy Barbarian.[/QUOTE]

True, Frenzy Barbarians can be viable but to be effective in Hell difficulty in the new 1.10//1.11 patches, you need some good gear. Frenzy Barbs can do crazy damage with insane speed but they have 2 drawbacks, no shield and low resistance. Thus, you will get hit, a lot.

There was a Frenzy build thread already, I believe, so I won't post one but as was already mentioned in that thread, try to focus on Damage reduction items such as (Shaftstop, Vampire Gaze, Chains of Honor, ect); items that have good life leech (Botd, Honor); and items with good resistance (Arreat's face, Chains of Honor, Mara's Koliedscope (sp?), ect).

Happy Hunting

moltovir · Post by **moltovir** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 1:32 pm

Frenzybarbs have no more trouble with resists than any other Barbarian build, and they need no more damage reduction or leech than any other build. You don't need better gear than any other barbs, in fact I've brought all three types of barbarians to Patriarch or Guardian without twinking. I think you forget that not all people can afford crazy gear like Chains of Honor and BotD. Good whirlwinders have no shield too btw

Imo, Mara's is too often seen as the super amulet for all builds, while in fact there are much better amulets (a good rare amulet with dual leech, +2 barb skills, prismatic resists and stats boni beats Mara any day).

telemantros · Post by **telemantros** » Sun Sep 11, 2005 4:30 pm

[QUOTE=moltovir]Frenzybarbs have no more trouble with resists than any other Barbarian build, and they need no more damage reduction or leech than any other build. You don't need better gear than any other barbs, in fact I've brought all three types of barbarians to Patriarch or Guardian without twinking. I think you forget that not all people can afford crazy gear like Chains of Honor and BotD. Good whirlwinders have no shield too btw

Imo, Mara's is too often seen as the super amulet for all builds, while in fact there are much better amulets (a good rare amulet with dual leech, +2 barb skills, prismatic resists and stats boni beats Mara any day).[/QUOTE]

I am aware that people have difficulty affording those items, I myself usually can't. I was only suggesting items that would be usefull, by no means were those the only items to be used. Was just trying to be helpful.

moltovir · Post by **moltovir** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:37 am

I know that and appreciate it, but there are far too many build guides out there all saying you need dual BotD, Mara's, 2 Bul Kathos rings and what else just to survive in Hell. In truth, all you need to survive in Hell is a little knowledge of game mechanics, and skill.

Noober · Post by **Noober** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:45 am

Just some questions telemantros:

Firstly, are your Barb builds PvM, and if so why do you bother with Shout?
Secondly, why 20 points into Berserk as opposed to 1? It is a rarely used skill and the Attack Bonus/Damage and Critical Strike of combat masteries are extremely useful. Not to mention the benefilts of maxing Berserk aren't all that great (and the synergy is just 1%).

@Moltovir, isn't a dual leech ammy only availible non-ladder (can't get them 1.10+)?

moltovir · Post by **moltovir** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:36 am

Dual leech rings are not possible anymore (unless... I think you can craft them with the Blood ring recipe, it'll have only 3% life leech at best though), but I've gambled and crafted quite some dual leech amulets in the last few months.

telemantros · Post by **telemantros** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 9:48 am

[QUOTE=Noober]Just some questions telemantros:

Firstly, are your Barb builds PvM, and if so why do you bother with Shout?
Secondly, why 20 points into Berserk as opposed to 1? It is a rarely used skill and the Attack Bonus/Damage and Critical Strike of combat masteries are extremely useful. Not to mention the benefilts of maxing Berserk aren't all that great (and the synergy is just 1%).

@Moltovir, isn't a dual leech ammy only availible non-ladder (can't get them 1.10+)?[/QUOTE]

Those builds were geared towards PvM, although WW could be PvP. I put points into Shout and bezerk because I play on HC. When I'm lvling in the Chaos Sanctuary, I have tendency to become Iron Maidened a lot, so I switch over to beserk as to not die and still kill things. Shout is just a personal preference and it really depends on your gear if you will need it or not. If you already feel that you have decent defense, don't worry about shout, but I always love having the highest defense as possible. Just a personal preference.

Noober · Post by **Noober** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 3:27 pm

Well my view is defence if practically useless outside BvB duels (WW is one of the more skill intensive builds as you must WW at the right range to avoid being hit etc.), including PvM. But isn't a single point is Berserk more then enough for you, I mean you shouldn't be in the Chaos Sanctuary much?

Btw, @Moltovir: out of interest, which guides say you need dual-BotD?

moltovir · Post by **moltovir** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 6:33 am

I went to the battle.net forums builds thread and checked most of the Barbarian builds. There was one that didn't have the word "eth botd zerker" in it.

skatar · Post by **skatar** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 2:15 pm

rings

[QUOTE=moltovir]Dual leech rings are not possible anymore (unless... I think you can craft them with the Blood ring recipe, it'll have only 3% life leech at best though), but I've gambled and crafted quite some dual leech amulets in the last few months.[/QUOTE]Actually , I traded for a crafted ring
8/9 duel leech 17 strength etc , on 1.10 .

Noober · Post by **Noober** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 9:10 pm

[QUOTE=moltovir]I went to the battle.net forums builds thread and checked most of the Barbarian builds. There was one that didn't have the word "eth botd zerker" in it.[/QUOTE]

Ah, but surely none suggest dual-BOTD? And on non-ladder with some reasonably skilled trading a low BOTD shouldn't be that hard to come by. And Grief only needs one high rune...your crafted ring would probably be more expensive

.

moltovir · Post by **moltovir** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 10:03 am

Not really, because I craft it, I don't trade for it

skatar · Post by **skatar** » Fri Sep 23, 2005 6:42 pm

[QUOTE=moltovir]Frenzybarbs have no more trouble with resists than any other Barbarian build, and they need no more damage reduction or leech than any other build. You don't need better gear than any other barbs, in fact I've brought all three types of barbarians to Patriarch or Guardian without twinking. I think you forget that not all people can afford crazy gear like Chains of Honor and BotD. Good whirlwinders have no shield too btw

Imo, Mara's is too often seen as the super amulet for all builds, while in fact there are much better amulets (a good rare amulet with dual leech, +2 barb skills, prismatic resists and stats boni beats Mara any day).[/QUOTE]
Frenzy , yes indeed . Who wants to walk when you can run !
( I HATE WALKING )
I have one frenzy barb decked out with bk set and various other mundane
equipment that anyone could get , and he can hell just fine

.
No trouble with resists either .
A hybrid frenzy / singer can be very effective .