BO no go?

[snow_crash]

I was starting my new LoD S/S barb yesterday, when one of my good friends comes in to help out. Well, we play for a bit, then i ask him about stats, he said around 190 str, 120 dex, and rest in vit. That seemed pretty good, but then he said, not to max BO, b/c the new patch frecked it up. He said to max iron skin instead. He wanted my skills to look such.

20WW
20 mastery
20 shout
20 iron skin

when i was planning on doing

20WW
20 mastery
20 shout
20 BO

Should i take his advice and no go on BO, or is he just crazy?

[Halciet]

The patch didn't ruin it in any way, it just made it so +vit items, +%life item, and + life/level items are not counted in the BO formula. It still gives a massive amount of life, however, taking into account any straight +life items you have and all of your natural vit, which usually ends up being several thousand, not to mention the boost to conc damage and shout/bcom durations.

BO is still the staple skill for all barbs, you definately need to max it. Besides, most whirlwind barbs max bo, shout, mastery, ww, and ironskin anyways, over the course of their career.

-Hal

[snow_crash]

that's what I was planning on doing. Lol, I posted this right before I took a shower this morning at like 6:30, nice quick reply Halciet.

[Halciet]

lol, I am perpertually logged on. Gotta love being an IT/CS major.

-Hal

[JohnofTesh]

Here is the only non-maxxed BO version of Barbarian I know of. My 2-handed berserker only has 1-pt in BO. With items it is at lvl 9. But since I am playing 2-handed, I have only enough points in strength so that Arreats, War Travelers and an annihilus charm gets me up to the requirement of my axe, 0 points in energy and 0 points in dexterity (no need for block and I get my AR elsewhere). At lvl 91 I have about 460 points in vitality, so for my level of Battle Orders I have +3500 life (some vita charms in the mix to help get me to that). That is plenty of life for when I solo and adequate life for a 8 player Baal run if I am the only Barb in the game. If there is another Barb in the game I can count on having 4000 - 6000 life depending upon their level of BO.

With a might merc and an ethereal BotD Glorious Axe I do 9k-15k berserk dmg (if there is a nice pally present my max is 22k). Using Laying of Hands and Highlord's and mixing in War Cry and Battle Cry I can kill 2-5 of each group as they appear. I always look for the unique in each group as my first or second target. (excepting Achmel as he is magic immune.)

[StrikexForce]

95% of all barbs max BO, and you should too.

[Ezail3]

Strike is the armor on your barb (avatar) shaftstop??

[JohnofTesh]

95% of all barbs max BO, and you should too.
By not maxxing BO I was able to max Howl and Shout for an extra 190% dmg on my Berserk. If I planned on playing in an 8 player game for the rest of my life you might be right, but I don't. For 99% of the Barbarian builds you are right - for mine you are wrong.

[banditto1969]

For the rare occasion that you are the only barb it makes you valuable having 20 points into BO because you double everybodys hps.

But what I find is there is ALWAYS a barb with higher BO then you. And one thing to note is it seems like diminishing returns. Like having lvl20 give me 2200 on one of my chars (trying to remember exactly so don't cut me down) but getting BO'd by a guy with lvl30 BO only bumps it up to 2400.


My point is set your BO lvl for YOU, not everyone else. If it means you only pump 15 points into it to devote points to something you use then do it.

[JohnofTesh]

For the rare occasion that you are the only barb it makes you valuable having 20 points into BO because you double everybodys hps.

But what I find is there is ALWAYS a barb with higher BO then you. And one thing to note is it seems like diminishing returns. Like having lvl20 give me 2200 on one of my chars (trying to remember exactly so don't cut me down) but getting BO'd by a guy with lvl30 BO only bumps it up to 2400.


My point is set your BO lvl for YOU, not everyone else. If it means you only pump 15 points into it to devote points to something you use then do it.

I agree with you that you build around what works for you. I am glad to give my low level of BO to anyone who wants it (a 59% increase in life and mana). But I refused to build my character to increase the viability of others. I hate baal runs - I make good kills, get good drops and a sorc ducks in and picks it up. I find all my best stuff soloing. Baal runs are a transient thing for me, so it just didn't make sense for me to pump up my BO when it doesn't fit my end game. I contribute to the party with high level War Cry, high level Shout, Taunt and Howl. Knowledgeable players understand, others don't. I warn that my BO is low before I cast it, and sometimes I get lectured. I shrug and move along. Lvl 92 now and my life is over 3600, just a few more....

[StrikexForce]

Strike is the armor on your barb (avatar) shaftstop??


its an early 09 screenshot using shaft and fury bb, notice the color of the arreats which i happen to like much more than the current one :). ive been too lazy to take a current screenshot and have someone cut it down for me to 75x75 or whatever the size limit is, i forgot.

[Ash Housewares]

I should make an avatar of one of my beloved deleted chars