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Loca`ne
28-06-2004, 20:05
WW/Conc Barb Hybrid v1.2

This isn't a complete guide but it's a start, I will update as my current barb
grows. While mine is a polearm barb, I think this could be substituted with any two-handed weapon wielding barbs.

What you'll find in here is a completed list of skill points, stat points and some eq suggestions all the way to end game. This really doesn't give you any room for customization other than the equipment. I'm sure for those more skilled than myself however, they could find skills to switch points around in.
You might find a few mistakes in here in which case please notify me at warbeck77@juno.com or post at the bottom. Thanks.

Skills: Name Points Description/Comments

Max these:
Battle Orders 20 lovely synergies again, boost are a must have max'd

skill.
Weapon Mastery 20 as I said before, my barb is a polearm but any two-handed

weapon will work.
Concentrate 20 the #1 single opponent attack, synergies help this one do some

evil damage and when max?d... Baal beware.
Whirlwind 20 self-explanatory.

Past 1 point:
Shout 13 lovely synergies and stats boost.
Natural Resistance 5 a must have for nightmare and hell.

Honorable Mentions:
Taunt 1 prereq, good to have with partied with casters; they'll love you

for it.
Battle Commands1 must have, and synergies make it last for over 3 minutes!
Iron Skin 1 good for the extra def.
Increase Stamina 1 if you're going to pvp, prereq for speed.
Increase Speed 1 good for pvp.
Leap Attack 1 a must have for any barb build.
Berserk 1 you have to have at least 1 point here. Synergies do the rest.
Find Item 0 I didn't put anything in here because you can get an item/helm or possible weapon that'll give you the skill for free. If you absolutely must have it as a skill... dump a point into it at the sacrifice to shout or NA (natural resistance)

Worthless Prereq's:
Howl 1 umm, why? Oh right prereq.
Battle Cry 1 meh.
War Cry 1 minimal damage, useless.
Bash 1 mostly useless after you get Con.
Leap 1 totally useless once you get leap attack.
Stun 1 totally useless, stun doesn't last long enough to help.


Allocating skill points: The first is obvious, pump mastery and drop points into prereqs as they become available. Once you WW open pump that dropping 1 point into Berserk after you pass the penalties that WW has up to 8. Max WW then drop 10 pts into Conc., then the 10-13(player preference) pts into shout and finally finish off by max'n BO and toping off Conc. Any extra skill points should be dropped into Natural Resistance.

Stats: Listed by weapon.

Swords:
STR: No more than enough for Sacred Armor 232.
DEX: No more than enough for Colossus Blade 110. (That?s blade not

sword)

Maces:
STR: No more than enough for Thunder Mallet 253.
DEX: None.

Axes:
STR: No more than enough for Sacred Armor 232.
DEX: No more than enough for Glorious Axe 55.

Polearms: What I'm using
STR: No more than enough for Sacred Armor 232.
DEX: Great Poleaxe or Giant Thresher 99-140.
Damage Min/Max 1753 - 4711
Conc Min/Max 3553 - 9549
WW Min/Max 2350 - 6317

Spears:
STR: No more than enough for Sacred Armor 232.
DEX: No more than enough for War Pike 106.

The others:
VIT: Dump everything left over here.
ENE: none, none, none, I don't think anyone can stress this enough. Do NOT place points in energy. Equipment, War Cry's and in an emergency pot's will always cover this end. Barbs just don't need mana that badly.

Allocating stat points: This is more on player preference. I find though that doing a 5/5/5 split unit Dex max is reached helps. This means, drop 5 points in str, then dex, and then vit as you get them.

Equipment: All eq suggestions I give are for end game only.

Like I said earlier, this can be left up to your imagination but I can give you a few points in the right directions.

Weapon: 4 words, Breath of the Dieing. This has got to be one of the best mods on a runeword I've ever seen, if you can afford it or happen to have the runes it takes. Damage and AR rule the day with your barb... find it, use it, live by it. Leech is just extra godliness if you find it.

Body
Runeword
Enigma (for pvm) Jah + Ith + Ber
+2 To All Skills
+45% Faster Run/Walk
+1 To Teleport
+757 Defense
+ (0.75 Per Character Level) +1-74.25 To Strength (Based On Character Level)
Increase Maximum Life 5%
Damage Reduced By 8%
+14 Life After Each Kill
15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+ (1 Per Character Level) +1-99% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based On Character Level)

Stone (for pvp) Shael + Um + Pul + Lum
+60% Faster Hit Recovery
+220-260% Enhanced Defense
+300 Defense Vs. Missile
+16 To Strength
+16 To Vitality
+10 To Energy
All Resistances +15
Level 16 Molten Boulder (80 Charges)
Level 16 Clay Golem (16 Charges)

Unique
None worth your time

Helm

Runeword
Lore with nice LR and good mana, a cheap and easy helm.
+1 to all skill levels
+2 Mana per Kill
Lowers Damage by 7
30% Lightning Resistance
+10 Energy
+2 Light Radius

Unique
Areats Face (pvm for total mods) is there really any other choice?
+2 To Barbarian Skills
+2 To Combat Skills
+150-200% Enhanced Defense
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
+3-6% Life Stolen Per Hit
+30% Resistance To All

Gloves
Unique
Steelrend (pvp or pvm) if you are looking for damage and def
+(170-210) Defense
+(15-20) to Strength
+(30-60)% Enhanced Damage
10% Chance of Crushing Blow

Draculs Grasp (pvm) if you are looking for leech
+(90-120)% Enhanced Defense
(7-10)% Life stolen per hit
25% Chance of Open Wounds
5% Chance to cast level 10 Life Tap on striking
+(5-10) Life After Each Kill
+(10-15) to Strength

Belt
Unique
Verdungo's Hearty Cord (pvp or pvm) DR, tons of life and life replenish? uber.
+(90-140)% Enhanced Defense
+(30-40) to Vitality
+(100-120) to Maximum Stamina
10% Faster Hit Recovery
Damage Reduced by (10-15)%
Replenish Life +(10 - 13) ((0.977 - 1.270) Life Per Second)
Nosferatu's Coil (pvm) gotta love leech, helps to have IAS to get to that break point
+15 to Strength
+2 Mana after each kill
Slows Target by 10%
10% Life stolen per hit
+10% Increased Attack Speed
-3 to Light Radius

Boots
Unique
Gore Rider
-25% Item Requirements
+15% Chance of Deadly Strike
30% Faster Run/Walk
+15% Chance of Crushing Blow
+10% Chance of Open Wounds
+160-200% Enhanced Defense
+10 Increased Durability
+20 Stamina

Ring1*
Unique
Bul Kathos Wedding Band
+0.5 Life per Clvl
+1 to All Skills
+3-5% Life Stolen Per Hit
+50 Stamina

Ring2*
Unique
Ravenfrost
Adds 15-45 Cold Damage, 4 seconds cold length
Cannot be Frozen
Absorbs 20% Cold Damage
+15-20 to Dexterity
+150-250 to Attack Rating
5% Chance of casting Slvl 5 Frost Nova When Struck

Ammy
Unique
Highlord's Wrath
+35% to Lightning Resist
Adds 1-30 Lightning Damage
20% Increased Attack Speed
+1 to All Skills
+0.375% Chance of Deadly Strike per clvl
Attacker Takes 15 Lightning Damage

Crescent Moon
+11-15% Mana Stolen Per Hit
Magical Damage Taken Reduced by 10
+10% of damage taken goes to mana
-2 Light Radius
+45 to Mana
+3-6% Life Stolen Per Hit

Poor man's item substitute
As I'm finding, items are ... very hard to come by for the items poor player. I use whatever I find basically but for those that don't like just that then here are a few suggestions.

1: Gamble, take the time to build up max money in your stash... don't need to max your on hand gold. And Gamble for items you really need. Sometimes Anya is kind, sometimes Ghead is kind, rarely do I find anything off the other 3 but this is just personal experience. This takes time so be patient.
2: Trade: gems, runes, and even some sets can be valuable to the right person. I had someone offer me 5 different uniques for just my Sigon's Gloves! Most of the uniques were junk but there were two worth my time and I traded happily as I happened to have a spare set.
3: Rares: Amy you find with decent mods you'll want to keep, never throw away anything with leech and a decent char req lvl. Mule when possible because you want to build an items bank. All rares you'd need are based on what you don't already have. Also think ahead to when you'll build a new char class. Resistances are the thing I tend to over look but they are VERY important in nm and hell. You get something prismatic with other decent mods... do NOT sell that puppy. Especially if it's +20% or more.

Helms: anything that's got +all skills & at least 2 types of res. Other mods to look for would be mass amounts of mana(ene) or life(vit).
Body: Very high def is your goal here. Depending on lvl and armor type, you'll want a minimum of 2 types of res here as well, large boosts to life and life replenish are very desirable.
Belt: 2 res types, large life/mana boost, and faster hit recov are the mains.
Gloves: increased IAS always a plus, 2 res types minimum, leech a major plus... (never throw anything away with leech and has a decently low lvl, 30 would be my limit before I?d sell them)
Boots: Everyone should know this, faster run/walk, faster hit recov and 2 res types minimum.
Rings: Leech, leech, leech, and dual leech if you are extremely lucky. 2 res types (you seeing a pattern here?), most other mods are bonus if you can get leech on your rings
Ammys: Leech, skills, prismatic (all resistance) = godly. Realistic... leech with skills is decent, leech with prismatic uber decent, skills with prismatic decent. All other additional mods are just gravy.

4: Runewords & Crafted(if you are really desperate): We are talking cheap here so the items aren't uber but they are worth your time and you could already build them most likely if you've been saving items.
5: Uniques: I find that most uniques aren't really useable or they are uber and the best you can get... the ladder are the ones that you can't afford anyway so not really worth the time. Maybe a few of my old school favorites, Gorefoot(boots), Frostburn(gloves), Manald Heal(ring), Eye of Etlitch(ammy). A few of them are worth your time if you are lacking in specific areas. They are relatively common because they are from before the x-pac. If you can trade for them... keep them until you've got a duplicate.

Playing this build & the choke points.
Per a request this section is an addition I hadn't thought of. I find this build is very good for Meph, act5 wp1 (don't remember the monsters names but there is a unique monster just north of the the wp and then the socketing quest boss just south both have been known to drop decent rares, uniques and sets), and Baal minion runs with a party for xp.

Choke Points:

Norm: I found that I didn't have any real problems in normal with this build. I didn't die once until I tried to solo Baal at lvl 31 (h.c. char players are cringing at this point).

Nightmare: Ok because I'm only lvl 50ish and using very substandard equipment this is getting very hard. If you find yourself having a hard time with nm then I suggest looking into your eq first. Try to get around 20-30% res each after nm penalties. The more in Lightning the better as you'll find the usual LE monsters scattered. FE, eew, explosive death is deadly, let your merc get in those last few hits, max his FR and he should live. CE, these are more of a pain with mobs but you should have your WW max?d and if you have a decent mana leech... you'll be ok. I haven't gone past act 1 yet because I'm trying to get a feel for the game and do some exceptional item finding. More on this as I get threw it.

Hell: Haven't reached this difficulty level yet, will post more on this as I get to it.

* Rings and Ammy's are so diverse and over argued that I just put up a few ideas. Any suggestions here would be accepted and possibly added.

***tip: it's good to have a friend with you, someone you trust not to be grabby to help you through the wp's and boss's, don't ever accept rushes for forge or drops these are YOUR drops and the best the boss's will give you, and you only get the forge 3 times(norm, nm, & hell) per character. You WILL cry when you see that zod rune drop in hell and have to give it up because someone gave you a rush for it.***

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Thanks for reading my build, it's a work in progress, all errors will be fixed, this guide will also grow and I pull in more information at my convenience.
All suggestions/comments/error fix's can be posted below or emailed and I will
accredit you for them if implemented. www.diabloii.net & www.battle.net/diablo2exp/ for having so much info for me to pull from.

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v1.0 to v1.1 changes
Runeword helm changed to Lore because Delirium doesn't exist in non-beta patch. thx to rikstaker for the correction.
Unique boots changed to Gore Rider because Sprokets doesn't exist anymore in 1.10. thx to Halciet for the correction.
How to play this build section, How to handle the tough spots section, & Poor man's item substitute section. Suggested by WebDragon.
Thx to Fishmonger for pointing me to this area www.battle.net/diablo2exp/.
Spell checked and grammar corrected thx to ms word ;)
First attempt at formating as well.

-

v1.1 to v1.2 changes
Name Changed: Friend told me this was more of a hybrid.
Formating fixed: v1.1 looked just horrid.
Polearm damage ranges with suggested eq added, requested by xanth.
Coming soon: NM choke point suggestions/tips.

LeTHaL_BaNaNa
28-06-2004, 20:55
don't like this guide too much ( i assume it is pvm? no shield barb in melee pvp = death, so... ), it's pointing out the obvious mostly. everyone knows botd is the best allround melee weapon there is.

5: Uniques: I find that most uniques aren't really useable or they are uber and the best you can get...

i think there are loads of great uniques, but ppl having 20 botd's just slap on a botd and are finished with their build. upgraded ribcracker, bonehew, reapers toll, tombreaver, upgr steeldriver... all great unique 2 handed fast weapons, yet highly effective, and way cooler and more stylish than using botd imo.

also, (upgraded) shaft or lionheart (though it has low def :/ ) are both waaaay better for pvm (and cheaper :thumbsup: ) than enigma. i'm really not a big fan of enigma for a barb, only useful mod on it is the str bonus, and frw in pvp, the rest of the mods are ok-ish, but not really worth the high runes.

finally you say

Battle Cry 1 meh.
War Cry 1 minimal damage, useless


why put a point in it when it's useless anyways? :confused:

Loca`ne
28-06-2004, 21:02
thanks for your input.

to your first comment. Re-read what I said or I'll spell it out. Uniques are either 1 useless or 2 the best of the best you can get.

pvm yes. more pvm the pvp but just because I don't have a shield doesn't make me insta-dead. I've played with a ww s/s barb and his life was so punny he died to spellcasters in 2 spells and pally's were just mean. This guy will have more life but like I said... more pvm than pvp, don't plan to rule the pvp pit with this build. It's just if you wanted to slap on a few pvp eq he'd do well vs casters.

Enigma... that is NOT a pvp armor... I'd think this is more than obvious because I listed Stone in there as the pvp alternative. Much higher def with res's.

I think that might be my mistake, I listed them as prereq's when they might not be. I'll double check and correct if this is the case. Thanks again for your comments they help me to rethink sertain things or reafirm my own ideas.

cheers,
Loca

LeTHaL_BaNaNa
28-06-2004, 21:23
lol, i totally read that wrong :/ thought it said they are either useless or not the best you can get... sry for that :) but still, if you say so, point out which uniques you mean :) but you are right in what you said then.

and i also strongly suggest you change the part where you list the gear with the dots on the side a bit, it's quite unoverseeable (is that an english word? ).

but i agree, pvm with such a barb is pretty cool, i made my first IK barb like this, and eveno though i didnt really use conc that much', except vs bosses/uniques, it's a solid and effective build :)

Loca`ne
28-06-2004, 21:39
lol, i totally read that wrong :/ thought it said they are either useless or not the best you can get... sry for that :) but still, if you say so, point out which uniques you mean :) but you are right in what you said then.

and i also strongly suggest you change the part where you list the gear with the dots on the side a bit, it's quite unoverseeable (is that an english word? ).

but i agree, pvm with such a barb is pretty cool, i made my first IK barb like this, and eveno though i didnt really use conc that much', except vs bosses/uniques, it's a solid and effective build :)

No need to appologize, everything else you said was correct. This build could be fun is the eq was right for pvp on casters but other melee's would pwn you.

As for the uniques, I did list a few in my suggested eq.... The dots are well, kinda neccisary mostly because without it's even harder to read. 'unoverseeable' is close enough but I think you might have been trying for unreadable or hard to look at. Without the use of HTML or my own webpage to link to so that I could use HTML this is the best I can do for now without spending hours trying to format.

This build pwns nm meph and baal. It rarely takes me more than a minute or 2 to do both solo and even less with my pally friend both of us in the low to mid 50's. However I do have some of the eq I listed in my suggested equipment so that deffinately helps out a ton. The fact that I got 2 dual leech rings with prismatic on them is just uber. I'm very happy with this build so far. Once I get all the equipment and the lvls to use him I'm going to want to see how he stacks up in Hell.

*edit-loca* btw the 2 skills you pointed out were infact NOT prereqs and will be removed from the guide. Thanks so VERY much for pointing that mistake. Credit deffinately given on this one :-D

Chinesef00d
29-06-2004, 02:46
BATTLE CRY IS NOT USELESS. It's great when your about to get surrounded for some DR and it helps you hit more often since in Hell you need 6K+ AR to get 95% to hit on Act 5 monsters.

Halciet
29-06-2004, 04:39
Enigma... that is NOT a pvp armor... I'd think this is more than obvious because I listed Stone in there as the pvp alternative. Much higher def with res's.

Wait, Enigma is not a pvp armor? The whole point of engmia is for pvp, it's one of the best armors around for whirlers in multi-class pvp. You can use it to keep your stats low, it has damage-to-mana to refill your mana globe, and the point of teleport greatly helps out against casters; trade out your shield for a wizardspike when you go against them to up your resists/mana/tele speed, and you can really tear them up.

Secondly, I agree with the above poster. Battle Cry is one of the absolute best skills around, lowering damage and greatly increasing chance to hit against difficult enemies. Likewise, Howl is one of a barb's best tools when used in combination with Taunt.

-Hal

rikstaker
29-06-2004, 09:07
wait up Loc I didnt say delirium does'nt exist,I said the stats on delirium,meaning the chance to cast confuse,terror & mind blast have been reduced in the final.

rikstaker
29-06-2004, 14:01
warcry a prereq?,and warcry isnt supposed to kill anything,it is used for stun effect which also nullifies monster block(tried & tested,attack any high block monster like frenzy minos or undead knights using zerk or con with an itd weapon with & without warcry).

Loca`ne
29-06-2004, 14:29
Wait, Enigma is not a pvp armor? The whole point of engmia is for pvp, it's one of the best armors around for whirlers in multi-class pvp. You can use it to keep your stats low, it has damage-to-mana to refill your mana globe, and the point of teleport greatly helps out against casters; trade out your shield for a wizardspike when you go against them to up your resists/mana/tele speed, and you can really tear them up.

Secondly, I agree with the above poster. Battle Cry is one of the absolute best skills around, lowering damage and greatly increasing chance to hit against difficult enemies. Likewise, Howl is one of a barb's best tools when used in combination with Taunt.

-Hal
to be honest I never use them. Taunt sure... I use that a lot when I'm cleaning up the straglers. Howl, Battlecry... never ever used them, never will... I find them useless because of my typically high AR anyway. But this build has a few minor points you can move around and if you feel that putting one point here or there is more helpful than I do... by all means. ;)

Oh and enigma... I look at it and see that I can get 1k more armor with stone... however I'm not a pvp'r so I'm not really good at judging what is and isn't good pvp equipment. Still, I'd use stone if I were to pvp instead of pvm, if I were to even think of using this build as pvp... which I wouldn't... no shield would make it very... umm... interesting. ;p

Loca`ne
29-06-2004, 14:30
wait up Loc I didnt say delirium does'nt exist,I said the stats on delirium,meaning the chance to cast confuse,terror & mind blast have been reduced in the final.

hmm, I must have read your post too fast at the time... I'll get the new stats and see if it's still worth having.

thx again rik

Loca`ne
30-06-2004, 08:33
This build has just eaten it's way to hell, did a few baal minion runs with random ppl for the xp, built my ebotd great poleaxe (which is just uber btw at 389 ed 14 ll 7 ml). Killed baal solo after I got the weapon without even one pot.

Hell seems too easy from all the talk I've heard but maybe it's just because I'm only in act 1 right now. IM and lag seem to be my only deadly adversaries at the present moment.

All and all I'm very happy with the build. His res's aren't in the negatives in hell. He's max res in nm 6000 def with cries 8k AR with cries and that jumps astronomically with demonlimb that I picked up for a few charms (thx to Hal for that idea). Hope someone else tries this build sometime... I'm enjoying the hell outa it.