Concentration Barb Weapon?

[Sylverfish]

Fellas I'm new to the barb toon and I'm looking for a little advise. I was thinking about making a Concentration Barb using a B'Star (why, because I have one). Is that ok or am I making a big mistake maxing mace weapon?
Thanks in advance

[squigipapa]

No, you should know that you can't even kill a quill rat in hell if you don't have a perfect 415% ED ethereal BOTD Zerker axe!!! just grab one of thoese and you'll do fine.. :)

I'm totally jokeing by the way .. sarcastic mocknig of deluded thoughts of some people that play this game ..

As for your original question. There are a lot of good mace class weapons out there that would benifit from mace mastery. You could always opt to turn your barb into an IK conc barb later on and the maul would benifit from mace mastery. it really depends on what you like. If you're playing untweaked, I'd suggest leaving your mastery for last, saving the mastery's points and only useing them once you find your end game weapon.

[Sylverfish]

Thanks for the advise and yes you get my attention with the botd comment

[Halciet]

The only flaws with mace-class weapons are that they generally have a slow base speed (which is important for a conc barb, as it determines how much IAS you need) and they don't have a nice 1 hander that gets 6 sockets, incase you ever DO want to make BotD. On the upside, they have a nice selection of uniques to use. You'll want to replace Baranar's in the future, as it doesn't hold up as well as it used to in hell, but it'll get you there in one piece.

-Hal

[Sylverfish]

So the better choice would be to go with a Sword or axe? Squigipapa is on to something with his advise to wait until the end to do mastery. I should be able to muttle through nm without it. Thanks for the response Hal. I'm anxious to try out this build.

[squigipapa]

Ya Sylverfish,
Holding off on the mastery is a really good idea if you don't know what you're going to use. Hal is totally right on with the one vs the other things (wow imagine that, Hal knowing something about conc barbs.. :)) As for my personal preference, I go with axes.. They have huge damage 2 handers, the highest damage one handed weapon in the game (zerker axe), can be used in blood recipes, can get any number of sockets.. and the list goes on.. however, I'm just paraphrasing the same type of things that Hal talks about in his conc barb guide, which if you haven't read yet, I highly suggest you do, it's like the conc barb bible!.. It's stickied at the top of this forum .. seriously, if you haven't read it .. do so .. you won't regret it .. :)

[LeTHaL_BaNaNa]

sux that berserker axes look so dumb on a barb, who should in fact be wearing huuuge swords, or a big 2 handed weapon. imo, one of the best weapons except for the over-used faaaar too expensive runewords is the death cleaver berserker axe. it has everything you want, deadly strike, dmg, speed, -% defence, so it makes it an excellent weapon for any barb build. due to the high deadly strike chance, the dmg output gets quite close to that of a BOTD berserker axe. my death cleaver wielding berserk barb does really well in hell, doing massive dmg (~3-8k per hit :o ), so i guess it would work really well with concentrate too!

[Halciet]

Aww, shucks Squigi, you make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Well, it's either that, or dinner.

Anyhoo, I will chime in support for Squig's mention on the axe. Axe is by far the best 1h weapon around, I use it on all my conc barbs and my pvp whirler.

-Hal

[sir goatscelot]

Bah! Don't listen to these guys mocking mace class weapons ;) It really depends on whether you are playing twinked and what equipment you are planning on using. You can't tell me that Nords or Stormlash, or for that matter some cool runewords, would not be good just as good as anything out there :) Jmho. Heck upgrade Ribcracker muahaha!

[Halciet]

Ack-hem:

On the upside, they have a nice selection of uniques to use.

Still, the base speed on most mace weapons is slow, which hurts for conc, and the lack of a 6-socket 1-hander is a pity

-Hal

[luis19]

if u have the money an eth botd zerker or kingslayer zerker prolly would be the best choices.
well if ur pvp anyway.

if ur soley pvm, u could use alot of weps, but i would still reccomend using an 1 handed axe and shield for optimum dmg/speed and survivablity. 2handers get good dmg but many high dmg ones like a greater poleaxe have slow speed and u lose 75%block and mods like resist and dr from not using a shield

[squigipapa]

Bah! Don't listen to these guys mocking mace class weapons ;) It really depends on whether you are playing twinked and what equipment you are planning on using. You can't tell me that Nords or Stormlash, or for that matter some cool runewords, would not be good just as good as anything out there :) Jmho. Heck upgrade Ribcracker muahaha!

Hey!! I'm not downing mace class weapons.. :) .. my IK barb is my favorite character.. just for all around versitility, and choice I see the axe as unbeatable. My favorite weapon is my superiour ethereal champion axe. (and I just found another ethereal champion axe in the pits that will fetch 6 sockets.. WooHoo!

But seriously, there are just so many options with axes, 1 handed or 2 handed, loads of runewords, crafted axes, nice low, medium & high level uniques. The other thing, which is important to me is the fact that if I make a cb botd, the only character that can use it 1 handed is a barb. on the other hand if I make it in a zerker axe, I can lend it to a druid, or a pally, or hell even my enchantress.. because any class can use it with one hand.

When it comes to high end runewords I like to make them in weapons and armor that is versital and useable not only by the character that I'm primarly makeing it for but for others as well, if I feel like playing around..

[Dogbert]

Runewords with runes noone should have.