Low level Dueling Leap Barb

[The_Animus]

I intent to make a lld leap barb that will be lvl 24 in order to one up those pesky lld chargers (or just die trying, either way its fun). I intend to use bonesnap and on switch some other weap with a high block shield.

Hopefully I will have 27 skills to use, 23 from lvls and 4 from quests and they will be put into mace mastery leap and leap attack.

Unfortunetally I haven't been in the lld scene for quite a while. Not since my lvl 9 sin and previous leap barb back in classic.

So what are the best lvl 24 items I can get for this build?
Assuming I'm too poor to get these, what are some good items that I can actually get?
What would be the best way to set my skills for max benefit?
And finally can I have my shield/sword on, leap attack at them and in midair switch to bonesnap and have it do the bonesnaps dmg?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Knarl]

First off, good luck. You'll need it. :p

Second, I would suggest the following itemwise:

Bonesnap
Angelic Ammy + Rings (You'll want lots of AR for this)
Max Jeweled +skills barb helm
Twitch or Max Jeweled Gothic Plate
Sanders Boots

Then either Deaths gloves + belt or Bloodfists + deaths belt...I'm not sure how much IAS would be ideal with a build like this...if you find you don't really need a lot of IAS, go with the superior mods of bloodfist.

Skills:
1 Howl
1 Shout
1 BO
1+ Leap*
7 Leap Attack
1+ Mace Mastery*


*Since leap gives a 10% synergy bonus to leap attack, and mace mastery gives 5% dmg and 8% AR, plus critical strike (with diminishing returns), you'll have to decide how much you want to put in each.

I would suggest putting 5+ into mace mastery, but no more than 10 since the critical strike really gets minimal bonuses after that, and the rest into leap.


And as far as I know, when you are leaping, you cannot switch weapons, drink potions, scratch your butt, or do anything else until you land. So switching in midair is not a viable strategy.

[NightShade]

er....


Go to 27.


Easy easy easy wepons to be found. You aim to 1 shot kill.


Bloodfists (you need absolutely 0 Ias)
Deaths belt
Eth HONOR wepons. That singular honor Tabar or Partizan (if found in nm, they will always have 5 socks) out damages the bone snap and adds + skills.
Angelics
Max dmg hat
Max dmg armour
Sanders boots.

And inv full of sust/sharps.

Personally I'd go for the damage of leap over a mastery, you end up with 500%ed instead of 473% with 17% chance to crit.1 point into your mastery Your wepon should take care of that.

On switch, if you wan't...I suppose...an honor one hander with a sheild. Don't see the point really. I'd go for +bo sticks since your life is terribly low generally speaking.

Paladins get 700+ %ed at that level if they went straight charge. Charge is also the easiest thing in the world to kill with. You'll be lucky if you break even, but you'll have more fun

[The_Animus]

I've got the bonesnap, bloodfist, sanders, a 3 socketed breast plate, and a 14 max dmg charm.
I still need a 3 socket helmet of some sort. I question the 4 sock gothic plate, as I'd prefer to need as little str/dex as possible to use weapon and armor and use rest for vit.

I'm pretty poor so gettin the max's will be hard. I dont know if I can afford honor either.

[The_Animus]

I was looking at the items. A partizan has much to high str and dex.
A tabar has 24-58 dmg with 101 str req. A war club has 53-78 dmg with 124 str. Both have the same range and speed.

I think I'm gonna try and use an honor war club. I checked out honor and the runes should be easy. I am gonna have really crappy life total I think, but lots of damage. Hope I can get the first hit. Since I have such high dmg anyways I wonder if I should just socket my helm and armor with p-rubies instead of max dmg.

The purpose of the shield switch btw is so that I can have it on until I'm about to leap, giving me blocking ability. When I want to leap, I just hit w and click right away and when I land I hit w again. Might not be as easy as just repeated leaping, I dunno.

I need to find angelics though. Anyone play on west hc ladder? If so I got some stuff to trade for them.

[Mert1]

war club is no advantage. You wont get 4 sockets in it unless you find 5 socketed in hell or get lucky roll with cube recipe. Better try that on eth martel/lance
Reason behid using partizan is it always gets 5 sockets. Dmg of eth honor partizan is 141-300, superior slightly better (317 or so)

[Matt]

Animus, not so sure thats the best hc build... your life will simply be too low. I dueled some 18 chargers with my DECKED out level 27 charger (near perfect gear, lots of life charms, rest damage charms, max blocking, and though I beat every single 18 and 24 charger, but some of them did enough damage to probably 1 hit ko a leaper.
Without a shield, you WILL die too soon I think, if you could afford an invintory full of 15 life smalls, you would have better odds of survival, but thats just not realistic i dont think (from what you said about your wealth)
I like leapers a lot, but without near perfect gear, I'm afraid you wont last long, the first level 18 1hander you meet will go like this:

You leap
He blocks it
He backs up a step
He charges you
A. you die
B. You get knocked back, and he charges again, killing you.

As soon as a charger gets an open shot at a shieldless character, its game over, you might ko a few of them before you die, but I'm sorry to say death looks pretty inevitable to me, and in order to KO anyone, you will need a lot of +max jewels in your gear, which is a pretty expensive build to die in 1-3 duels. I'm sorry to sound so negative, but I dont think a leaper is a great build to begin with, espically for someone who is not too wealthy, its a great way to blow your wealth on 3 duels, save your dueling gear, mf some more, and make a jabber or kicksin, or maybe a zealot to counter the chargers.

-Matt

[NightShade]

Charge smite zeal smite zeal

gg

[Mert1]

good 18 lvl chargers will have 500 pvp dmg
for those using 10 maxes maybe 700
thats not enough to 1 hit kill a good barb

[soulmanz]

ive asked this a couple of times and no-one has replied to me with the answer. i heard that LA is bugged to 1/1000 damage in pvp, is this still true.

otherwise read the booyakasha guide, not for gear but for tactics.

never, ever, ever forgot leap. you should have what? about lvl 5 leap?

the radius knocksback. against nice duelers i wouldnt do this but vs cheap kill chargers (not all chargers are like that) i dont mind. just leap them into a corner. leap, leap, leap, leap. it will keep them in hit recovery and unable to attack. if you leap attack at them and miss, leap away. if the chase you with charge hopefully your leap will knock them back when you land, stopping their attack.

use the alt button. alt means you dont see names, and therefore chan leap attack even if right next to the enemy.
combos work well too, bash and then leap attack straight after will land you right next to them without fear of an attack. just land the bash first!

anyway, hope that helps.

[Matt]

I say a good level 18 charger WILL win the duel, and get the ear. I dueled some of the best on east (or so i hear from various sources) with my 27, and i say, from experience, they WILL win. 700 life in 1 hit aint too shabby, took a high roll from one, and it carved off ~650 life on my paladin, I won both times, but any good level 27 1h charger should win it. A Very well built level 27 leaper will do ok too, but if the level 18's dont get him, the 27 paladins will. Its a matter of having no shield, a shield is basically a nessicity, except in VERY rare cases, and I dont think this is one of them, (actually, i cant think of any cases where no shield is truely a viable option except a disposadin)
A paladin doing MORE damage, with a tad less life, and max blocking WILL beat a 27 leaper. And the guy building it does not sound too rich (not insulting you, dont get me wrong, just saying that you probably cant afford the top notch charms/jewels from your earlier posts) So, it will come down to a level 18 paladin: Less life, equal damage, 75% blocking. Result? Can probably beat the less that "par" ones.
A level 27 paladin: more life, more damage, 75% blocking. Dont see how hes gonna win it.

Matt

[NightShade]

They can get 2 quick charges off before you could even hope to land a leap, they win. Don't fight them.

[soulmanz]

nightshade, leap or leap attack? you can leap at your own feet, so you can land a leap before they can land a cross screen charge, believe me.

look at the numbers, a 18 paly will use what? lvl 6 charge, lvl 15 or so might for max damage. % = 225 + 300 + 180
= 705 % ED

leaper 18, lvl 1 LA, lvl 12 leap, lvl 8 mastery
100% + 120% + 64% = 284% ED (15% chance critical)

leaper loses by huge margin, even leap cant make up for it.

lvl 27 leaper, lvl 19 LA, lvl 10 leap, lvl 1 mastery
640% +100% +28% = 768% (3% crit)

lvl 27 paly, lvl 20 charge, lvl 10 might.
575% + 200% + 130% = 905%

again paly wins.

if you had a lvl 27 might merc around, that could work in your favour by 100% extra, still not enough vs lvl 27 charger, but you could also be pretty confident the merc will die quick.

so a lvl 27 booyaka can beat a lvl 18 charger, and vs lvl 27 paly is not too bad either. remember that barbs will have more life, and more raw damage.

about the shield, if a paly does well with a shield and 1 handed weapon for charge, so can a barb for leap attack. use a shield, get an ok percent block that doesnt hurt your damage output (shield with increased % block). sure you wont be a true booyaka, but it will even it a bit.

or be a booyaka, your damage will totally kill his, but you will hit 1/4, he will hit each time. can you live with that?

so the things a paly does better - %damage increase, ease of attack, speed of attack, cheaper blocking

the things a barb does better - raw damage, life, leap (hit recovery extraordinaire), at lvl 27 BO comes in as well for 10% less damage, chance of critical, attack from behind obstacles.

its up to you, but if played properly, the barb can do well.

note that these calcs were done assuming max damage is aimed, with a partial rush.

[Matt]

Theres more to it than the numbers though.. I belive its an eth BOTD thundermaul wielding assassin capable of the most damage in the game, but its sure not the best dueler. The barb has NO blocking, and that means 3/4 of the duels, he will lose by default. The pally's charge is much much much easier to use (i speak from my own experience here, so its an opinion, but one many people would agree with) Leapers can do 10k pvp damage, and still lose 5/6th of the duels they are in. If they get blocked, game over. If they miss, Game over. If the pally plays well, forcing the barb to leap, then moves and charges as he wins.. well you know.

-Matt

[Mert1]

yes, leapers are same style that charge, but dmg lower and life better
dont think they more fun than chargers

maybe play varb for fun after you tried 100 charger builds maybe

[soulmanz]

Theres more to it than the numbers though..The barb has NO blocking, and that means 3/4 of the duels, he will lose by default.
-Matt

read what i wrote, i said that the barb can use a 1 hand weapon and shield too. at lvl 27 the damage output is similar to an 18 charger, so why not use a shield if they can get away with it?

and never forget leap!

sure it is harder to use than charge, but so is any build. it is however one of the few builds that can stand up to a charger. if you dont want to be a charger, leapers are not as cheap (cheap kills that is) and a lot more fun (my opinion).

[Matt]

Thats true that at 27 a leaper can stand up to an 18 paladin... but he still is no match for a 27 paladin. I'm not saying its a hopeless build, Its just not the right one for taking down chargers. If you want an anti charger, make a zealot, a kicksin or a jabber, but not a leaper, an "equally well build" leaper and charger of the same level will nearly always result in a win for the charger. I agree they are fun, but its not a good way to beat a charger.