Cold493
11-02-2004, 05:30
There seem to be alot of questions regarding the IK barb. I currently have a
level 88 IK barb that uses WW as his main attack and wanted to offer some
thoughts on skills, stats, sockets, charms, mercs, strategys. Please note
this a purely PvM guide and this is my first one ever. Some people may be skeptical about using a set since for all purposes in previous versions they were useless. IK set is definetly not useless and may or may not be better than the some of the best unique setups. It is certainly cheaper to get. The only expensive piece of equipment is the armor. So now that we got some basics lets get started. First we will look at the IK set and what it ends up giving us.
Equipment:
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Helm: IK Will
Defense: 160-175 (varies) (Base Defense: 35-50)
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 65
Durability: 55
(Barbarian Only)
+4 To Light Radius
+125 Defense
37% Extra Gold From Monsters
25-40% Better Chance Of Finding Magic Items (varies)
+2 To Warcries Skills (Barbarian Only)
Socketed (2)
This helm has three very good modifications; magic find, +2 to warcries, and
the two sockets which are very useful and key to this build.
Weapon: IK Stone Crusher
Damage: 231 To 318 (274.5 Avg)
Required Level: 76
Required Strength: 225
Base Weapon Speed: [10]
+200% Enhanced Damage
+200% Damage To Demons
+250% Damage To Undead
40% Increased Attack Speed
Indestructible
35-40% Chance Of Crushing Blow (varies)
Socketed (2)
Adds 211-397 Fire Damage (2 items)
Adds 7-477 Lightning Damage (3 Items)
Adds 127-364 Cold Damage, 6 sec. Duration (Normal) (4 Items)
+204 Poison Damage Over 6 Seconds (5 Items)
Adds 250-361 Magic Damage (Complete Set)
As you can see while this mauls actual damage isnt that high it more than
makes up for it with Crushing Blow, elemental damage, and enhanced damage to demons and undead. It also has two sockets. The total elemental damage done is 1803 which is enough that you can handle physical immunes if your solo in Hell.
Armor: IK Soul Cage
Defense: 1001 (Base Defense: 487-600)
Defense: 1301 (Base Defense: 487-600)
Required Level: 76
Required Strength: 232
Durability: 60
+400 Defense
5% Chance To Cast Level 5 Enchant When Struck
Poison Resist +50%
+2 To Combat Skills (Barbarian Only)
+25% Faster Hit Recovery (2 Items)
Cold Resist +40% (3 Items)
Fire Resist +40% (4 Items)
Lightning Resist +40% (5 Items)
+50% Enhanced Defense (Complete Set)
This an excellent armor with a complete set you get +40 to all resists
essentially with and extra 10% poison resist, FHR, decent defence, enchant,
and +2 to combat skills. Even though the enchant skill seems useless, it
triggers fairly often and gives you a bunch of extra AR and damage.
Belt: IK Detail
Defense: 89 (Base Defense: 41-52)
Defense: 194 (Base Defense: 41-52)
Defense: 247 (Base Defense 41-52)
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 110
Durability: 24
16 boxes
+36 Defense
Lightning Resist +31%
Fire Resist +28%
+25 To Strength
+105 Defense (2 items)
+25% Faster Hit Recovery (3 Items)
+100% Enhanced Defense (4 Items)
Damage Reduced By 20% (5 Items)
+2 To Masteries (Barbarian Only) (Complete Set)
What can i say you get DR resists, strength and a high defence with a complete set.
Gloves: IK Forge
Defense: 108-118 (varies)(Base Defense: 43-53)
Defense: 228-238 (varies)(Base Defense: 43-53)
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 110
Durability: 24
+65 Defense
12% Chance To Cast Level 4 Charged Bolt When Struck
+20 To Dexterity
+20 To Strength
+25% Increased Attack Speed (2 items)
+120 Defense (3 Items)
10% Life Stolen Per Hit (4 Items)
10% Mana Stolen Per Hit (5 Items)
Freezes Target +2 (Complete Set)
Another great set item, the dual leech is key as well as the freezes target
which makes it so monsters cannont be revived. The IAS is nice but not super important for WW since WW relies on only the IAS on the weapon. You also get a nice boost to Strength and Dexterity as well.
Boots: IK Pillar
Defense: 118-128 (varies) (Base Defense: 43-53)
Defense: 278-288 (varies) (Base Defense: 43-53)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 125
Durability: 24
Assassin Kick Damage: 39-80
+75 Defense
40% Faster Run/Walk
+110 To Attack Rating
+44 To Life
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (2 items)
+2 To Combat Skills (Barbarian Only) (3 Items)
+160 Defense (4 Items)
Half Freeze Duration (5 Items)
This is probably the weakest item in the set, you get nice life and AR
bonuses, the mandatory faster run/walk. The best mod here is +2 to combat
skills. Even though they are the weakest item they are still very good boots.
Complete IK set bonuses:
+3 To Barbarian Skill Levels
+450 To Attack Rating
+150 To Life
All Resistances +50
Magic Damage Reduced By 10
Display Aura
Ok now I want to show some quick overview of important stats from the IK set.
Resists:
Cold: 90
Fire: 118
Lightning: 121
Poison: 100
+ Skills (including +3 to all Barb skills):
+7 to Combat Skills
+5 to Masteries
+5 to Warcries
Rings:
The ideal coice here is one Bul Kathos Ring for the +1 to all skills, life
leech and + to life along with a Ravenfrost for cannot be frozen, +to attack
rating from dexterity and +to AR on the ring along with cold absorb.
If this combo is too expensive it does not matter really what rings you use
since you will be able to get maximum resists without rings or amulets and you already have leech from the gloves. Look for +life since it will be doubled with your battle orders and any other useful mods.
Amulet:
There are two nice choices here. They basically cater to two different
playing styles. You can either take a Highlords Amulet for the deadly strike and +1 to all skills. The benefit of this is higher damage. The other amulet is Metalgrid which gives you higher defence and a lot more attack rating. I chose metalgrid because the more often you hit the more you leech and the more damage you do to a crowd. It's basically a throw up between these amulets. If you have one of these already just use it, otherwise I prefer a Metalgrid.
Sockets:
With IK set you will have 5 slots to fill, two on the maul, two on the helm and one you can add on the armor. The two on the maul needs to end up giving you another 30ias so you can hit the last WW break point for speed, so most people just use two shaels. However if you can afford it ed/15ias is much better. The helm and armor should all get ed jewels and if you can afford it ed/life or ed/str or ed/any other mod you want.
Charms:
This is pretty basic, but nice to know. An annihulus charm really helps an IK barb since it lowers the amount of points you need to put in strength and lets you put more in vitality. Life charms are nice since you can at least double the life they give you. You dont really need AR charms with metalgrid but you would need some if you use Highlords. Any other nice charms you'd like to use.
Weapon Switch:
2 x Echoing Weapons (+3 to warcry)
This gives you and your party higher life and higher defence and you can get them very easily from Malah in Act 5. Just look every time you go to do a baal run you'll have two in no time.
Skills:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
20pts Battle Orders
20pts Mace Mastery
20pts Whirlwind
20pts Shout
1pt Leap
1pt Leap Attack
1pt Howl
1pt Battle Command
1pt Natural Resistances
1pt Increase Stamina
1pt Increase Run/Walk Speed
Rest Iron Skin
A point in berserk is not necessary like it is in most barbarian builds because the IK maul has elemental damage. The two points spent on increases Stamina and Run/Walk Speed are useful but not necessary, you could put them in Iron skin if you would like.
Stats:
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Strength: Enough to use IK armor with all other Ik items on, str charms and annihulus. This ends up being somewhere in the 170 area. Just make sure your barb will be able to use the armor. Don't forget you get a total of +45 to str from IK set items.
Dexterity: Base
Vitality: Everything else
Energy: Base
Mercernary:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
The best choice here is obvious it's an Act 2 Nightmare Offensive Merc. This gives you might which increases your damage. The key thing for your mercernary is life leech which will enable him to stay alive and not need constant monitoring. For this reason I'm going to suggest the following gear:
Helm: Tal Rashas
Armor: Any decent armor
Weapon: Reapers Toll with an Amn rune
There is alot of variations here and this is far from the best setup your merc may be able to have. I hear the Delirium rune word makes a very good helm, but I have no experience with it. This is the setup my 89 mercernary for my sorceress uses (currently leveling my Barbs merc) and he stays alive against almost everything. If you want more information on this I'm sure smoeone on the forum will answer your questions.
Strategies:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
If you have followed my guide your barb will be pretty much unstoppable. there only a few things that can kill him that you need to look out for. One of these is getting surronded by Minions of Destruction when lister has mana burn on. ITD monsters are an annoyance and finally Champion Death Lords in packs and Iron Maiden will rip you in half. Other than that you can tank almost anything, souls are no problem. You will not be the fastest killer ever, but you are practically invincible, just look out for Iron Maiden, it will be your most common form of death. Dont forget about leap attack to get out of trouble as well.
Well I hoped you liked reading this guide any comments, things I forget or general flames will be appreciated. I know there isn't much to an ik guide since most of the equipment there is no choice for, but it seems alot of people talk about it and wonder about whether to use WW or Concentration. I strongly lie in the the WW side of that battle. Just to let you know, at level 88 with a might merc I have 4.3k life, 18k defence, and do around 5500 damage (I'm pretty sure this is the damage but I can't actually remember). I'l post the damage later tonight.
level 88 IK barb that uses WW as his main attack and wanted to offer some
thoughts on skills, stats, sockets, charms, mercs, strategys. Please note
this a purely PvM guide and this is my first one ever. Some people may be skeptical about using a set since for all purposes in previous versions they were useless. IK set is definetly not useless and may or may not be better than the some of the best unique setups. It is certainly cheaper to get. The only expensive piece of equipment is the armor. So now that we got some basics lets get started. First we will look at the IK set and what it ends up giving us.
Equipment:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Helm: IK Will
Defense: 160-175 (varies) (Base Defense: 35-50)
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 65
Durability: 55
(Barbarian Only)
+4 To Light Radius
+125 Defense
37% Extra Gold From Monsters
25-40% Better Chance Of Finding Magic Items (varies)
+2 To Warcries Skills (Barbarian Only)
Socketed (2)
This helm has three very good modifications; magic find, +2 to warcries, and
the two sockets which are very useful and key to this build.
Weapon: IK Stone Crusher
Damage: 231 To 318 (274.5 Avg)
Required Level: 76
Required Strength: 225
Base Weapon Speed: [10]
+200% Enhanced Damage
+200% Damage To Demons
+250% Damage To Undead
40% Increased Attack Speed
Indestructible
35-40% Chance Of Crushing Blow (varies)
Socketed (2)
Adds 211-397 Fire Damage (2 items)
Adds 7-477 Lightning Damage (3 Items)
Adds 127-364 Cold Damage, 6 sec. Duration (Normal) (4 Items)
+204 Poison Damage Over 6 Seconds (5 Items)
Adds 250-361 Magic Damage (Complete Set)
As you can see while this mauls actual damage isnt that high it more than
makes up for it with Crushing Blow, elemental damage, and enhanced damage to demons and undead. It also has two sockets. The total elemental damage done is 1803 which is enough that you can handle physical immunes if your solo in Hell.
Armor: IK Soul Cage
Defense: 1001 (Base Defense: 487-600)
Defense: 1301 (Base Defense: 487-600)
Required Level: 76
Required Strength: 232
Durability: 60
+400 Defense
5% Chance To Cast Level 5 Enchant When Struck
Poison Resist +50%
+2 To Combat Skills (Barbarian Only)
+25% Faster Hit Recovery (2 Items)
Cold Resist +40% (3 Items)
Fire Resist +40% (4 Items)
Lightning Resist +40% (5 Items)
+50% Enhanced Defense (Complete Set)
This an excellent armor with a complete set you get +40 to all resists
essentially with and extra 10% poison resist, FHR, decent defence, enchant,
and +2 to combat skills. Even though the enchant skill seems useless, it
triggers fairly often and gives you a bunch of extra AR and damage.
Belt: IK Detail
Defense: 89 (Base Defense: 41-52)
Defense: 194 (Base Defense: 41-52)
Defense: 247 (Base Defense 41-52)
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 110
Durability: 24
16 boxes
+36 Defense
Lightning Resist +31%
Fire Resist +28%
+25 To Strength
+105 Defense (2 items)
+25% Faster Hit Recovery (3 Items)
+100% Enhanced Defense (4 Items)
Damage Reduced By 20% (5 Items)
+2 To Masteries (Barbarian Only) (Complete Set)
What can i say you get DR resists, strength and a high defence with a complete set.
Gloves: IK Forge
Defense: 108-118 (varies)(Base Defense: 43-53)
Defense: 228-238 (varies)(Base Defense: 43-53)
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 110
Durability: 24
+65 Defense
12% Chance To Cast Level 4 Charged Bolt When Struck
+20 To Dexterity
+20 To Strength
+25% Increased Attack Speed (2 items)
+120 Defense (3 Items)
10% Life Stolen Per Hit (4 Items)
10% Mana Stolen Per Hit (5 Items)
Freezes Target +2 (Complete Set)
Another great set item, the dual leech is key as well as the freezes target
which makes it so monsters cannont be revived. The IAS is nice but not super important for WW since WW relies on only the IAS on the weapon. You also get a nice boost to Strength and Dexterity as well.
Boots: IK Pillar
Defense: 118-128 (varies) (Base Defense: 43-53)
Defense: 278-288 (varies) (Base Defense: 43-53)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 125
Durability: 24
Assassin Kick Damage: 39-80
+75 Defense
40% Faster Run/Walk
+110 To Attack Rating
+44 To Life
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (2 items)
+2 To Combat Skills (Barbarian Only) (3 Items)
+160 Defense (4 Items)
Half Freeze Duration (5 Items)
This is probably the weakest item in the set, you get nice life and AR
bonuses, the mandatory faster run/walk. The best mod here is +2 to combat
skills. Even though they are the weakest item they are still very good boots.
Complete IK set bonuses:
+3 To Barbarian Skill Levels
+450 To Attack Rating
+150 To Life
All Resistances +50
Magic Damage Reduced By 10
Display Aura
Ok now I want to show some quick overview of important stats from the IK set.
Resists:
Cold: 90
Fire: 118
Lightning: 121
Poison: 100
+ Skills (including +3 to all Barb skills):
+7 to Combat Skills
+5 to Masteries
+5 to Warcries
Rings:
The ideal coice here is one Bul Kathos Ring for the +1 to all skills, life
leech and + to life along with a Ravenfrost for cannot be frozen, +to attack
rating from dexterity and +to AR on the ring along with cold absorb.
If this combo is too expensive it does not matter really what rings you use
since you will be able to get maximum resists without rings or amulets and you already have leech from the gloves. Look for +life since it will be doubled with your battle orders and any other useful mods.
Amulet:
There are two nice choices here. They basically cater to two different
playing styles. You can either take a Highlords Amulet for the deadly strike and +1 to all skills. The benefit of this is higher damage. The other amulet is Metalgrid which gives you higher defence and a lot more attack rating. I chose metalgrid because the more often you hit the more you leech and the more damage you do to a crowd. It's basically a throw up between these amulets. If you have one of these already just use it, otherwise I prefer a Metalgrid.
Sockets:
With IK set you will have 5 slots to fill, two on the maul, two on the helm and one you can add on the armor. The two on the maul needs to end up giving you another 30ias so you can hit the last WW break point for speed, so most people just use two shaels. However if you can afford it ed/15ias is much better. The helm and armor should all get ed jewels and if you can afford it ed/life or ed/str or ed/any other mod you want.
Charms:
This is pretty basic, but nice to know. An annihulus charm really helps an IK barb since it lowers the amount of points you need to put in strength and lets you put more in vitality. Life charms are nice since you can at least double the life they give you. You dont really need AR charms with metalgrid but you would need some if you use Highlords. Any other nice charms you'd like to use.
Weapon Switch:
2 x Echoing Weapons (+3 to warcry)
This gives you and your party higher life and higher defence and you can get them very easily from Malah in Act 5. Just look every time you go to do a baal run you'll have two in no time.
Skills:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
20pts Battle Orders
20pts Mace Mastery
20pts Whirlwind
20pts Shout
1pt Leap
1pt Leap Attack
1pt Howl
1pt Battle Command
1pt Natural Resistances
1pt Increase Stamina
1pt Increase Run/Walk Speed
Rest Iron Skin
A point in berserk is not necessary like it is in most barbarian builds because the IK maul has elemental damage. The two points spent on increases Stamina and Run/Walk Speed are useful but not necessary, you could put them in Iron skin if you would like.
Stats:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Strength: Enough to use IK armor with all other Ik items on, str charms and annihulus. This ends up being somewhere in the 170 area. Just make sure your barb will be able to use the armor. Don't forget you get a total of +45 to str from IK set items.
Dexterity: Base
Vitality: Everything else
Energy: Base
Mercernary:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
The best choice here is obvious it's an Act 2 Nightmare Offensive Merc. This gives you might which increases your damage. The key thing for your mercernary is life leech which will enable him to stay alive and not need constant monitoring. For this reason I'm going to suggest the following gear:
Helm: Tal Rashas
Armor: Any decent armor
Weapon: Reapers Toll with an Amn rune
There is alot of variations here and this is far from the best setup your merc may be able to have. I hear the Delirium rune word makes a very good helm, but I have no experience with it. This is the setup my 89 mercernary for my sorceress uses (currently leveling my Barbs merc) and he stays alive against almost everything. If you want more information on this I'm sure smoeone on the forum will answer your questions.
Strategies:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
If you have followed my guide your barb will be pretty much unstoppable. there only a few things that can kill him that you need to look out for. One of these is getting surronded by Minions of Destruction when lister has mana burn on. ITD monsters are an annoyance and finally Champion Death Lords in packs and Iron Maiden will rip you in half. Other than that you can tank almost anything, souls are no problem. You will not be the fastest killer ever, but you are practically invincible, just look out for Iron Maiden, it will be your most common form of death. Dont forget about leap attack to get out of trouble as well.
Well I hoped you liked reading this guide any comments, things I forget or general flames will be appreciated. I know there isn't much to an ik guide since most of the equipment there is no choice for, but it seems alot of people talk about it and wonder about whether to use WW or Concentration. I strongly lie in the the WW side of that battle. Just to let you know, at level 88 with a might merc I have 4.3k life, 18k defence, and do around 5500 damage (I'm pretty sure this is the damage but I can't actually remember). I'l post the damage later tonight.