alright the builds 'done' now to make him good ;)

[Angry]

alright so level 75 or so, not too sure, not that important, here's the build atm:

110 base str (a few to high, but i got the anni later than i hoped and couldn't plan it into my build)
60 base dex (with gear it works out beautifully, no shield)
rest into vit (haven't figured it out cuz i just been dropping all my points here, i have 3k life with bo)

arreats face w/ io for health
smoke armor (its quilted armor right now, waiting to find a low str elite 2 sock armor)
string of ears
raven frost
cathans ring
cats eye
sould drainers
gore riders
viperfork mancatcher w/ ed jewel

20 bo
20 spear mastery
20 ww
4 into nat res to max res w/ gear and +skills
rest into increased speed (i'm a nut, gonna bring it up to skill level 14 after items)

anyhow so here's my situation, i have 23% life leech, 5% mana leech, maxed res and 3k life doing ~2k max ww dmg, give or take a few hundred. the only reason i'm dying a bit is because i seem to have problems leeching, what do you guys suggest i do?

i thought my lifeleech and mana leech were decent but sometimes i have problems keeping it high and sometimes its no problem, any ideas? thanks

[TripDaddyX]

23%LL looks preety good to me,I usually have less and still survive,but 5%ML is a little lacking,try to make this up with a rare dual leech ring(Not to easy to find a "Good" one but its definately worth it,6% Dual Leech on a ring is SECKSI,not to mention other possible mods on a rare).

Another possible problem....Maybe your not landing enough hits?Try to get some AR or Dex charms to bump the AR a bit?

Just my dimes worth,barbs aren't really my area of knowledge.

[Angry]

my ar right now is around high 70's and 80's, which is pretty good imo considering i have a max speed 5 range weapon. i think it might be just the fact that i have no defense right now, i'll work on getting an armor and then maybe a defiant merc...

[TripDaddyX]

Yea without a shield getting hit often might be a problem.Get that armor and that merc,and if your still having problems then scrap the build you suck (JOKE)

IF your still having problems with new armor/merc then come back and post and we'll see what the problem is.

Possibly ditch the Cathans for another Raven?Just an idea.Let me know how it turns out.

[Ash Housewares]

2k damage is pretty low for giving up a shield for, any chance of coming by a more damaging weapon?

I would get rid of the cats eye if you can still meet the spear's dex req, and maybe go for crescent moon or etlich or anything else that'll grant you a wee bit more leech

[Angry]

yeah i know my dmg is a little low, the only thing i might be able to do is to upgrade my hone sundan/

ideally, i'll get the armor and a might merc, and hopefully that'll be enough, but who knows

[Grandar King of Trolls]

20 bo
20 spear mastery
20 ww
4 into nat res to max res w/ gear and +skills
rest into increased speed (i'm a nut, gonna bring it up to skill level 14 after

I think your main problem is your damage. The less you do, the less you leech. The might merc will help some there but ultimately you are just going to need a better weapon. New armor will help a lot, too, but without a skill adding a percentage to defense, the armor will help a lot less.

I would try putting some points into shout over increased speed. Shout not only increases defense, but it synergizes bo, bc, and berserk. Berserk is pretty much a required skill for at least 1 point on a barb if you want to take out pi's ever. Plus, I do believe that run/walk speed is calculated into how many times you hit with ww. The faster you move through a pack, the less chances to hit them you get. Not to mention the diministhing returns on increased speed. I'm sure you already noticed that and that is why you were planning on capping it at 14 anyway.

[jumbo_SHRIMP]

get more deadly strike

phelix

[Grandar King of Trolls]

Good point on DS. A highlords ammy would help a lot. However, the ias woudl be wasted on a ww barb. Hard call. And you already have gore riders. More crushing blow wouldn't hurt, either. Check out steelrends and duress runeword.

[jumbo_SHRIMP]

also, do andy-->eldritch--->shenk repeatedly...

i did that run, and i got 3 (count them 3) dual leech rings in about 2 hours(among other things) all of them have attack rating bonus, 2 of them are prismatic etc...dual leechers are really nice...and between gambling and good rare falls ive found a very nice share of them in the past couple of weeks...another option is crescent moon amulet, these are fairly cheap and have a nice 5/15 (life/mana) dual leech on them, it will take care of your leech problems forever

phelix

[Angry]

alright well the main problem with the amulet is that i'm using cats eye for the dex bonus, cuz i'm trying to max out my health cuz of the shield. it makes it more difficult to raise defense cuz i'm limited in the armor i wear and smoke only increases defense by 70%. i'm looking for an archon plate (or whatever the elite version is) but they're kinda hard to come by for some reason.

right now the best weapon i can see myself getting is an uped hone sundan, but i don't know how much better that is, and if its worth me shelling out for a pul on ladder. if i could find an ethereal hone sundan i'd be all about it, but for now it seems like all i have is teh viperfork.

my first priority tho is the armor, i honestly think that half my problem will be solved there, but after that do you think i should get a might merc or a defiant merc? i'm leaning towards might because i was hoping that me not having a shield could get offset by the over 300 base vitality.

thanks for the input guys

[jumbo_SHRIMP]

even non eth hone sundan with 3 shaels > fork...that crushing blow assasinates things

phelix

[Grandar King of Trolls]

Definitely get the might merc. You can get defense in a better armor.

I seriously suggest the Duress runeword. The Um is the hardest part.

Duress
3 Socket Body Armor
Shael + Um + Thul
+40% Faster Hit Recovery
+10-20% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Adds 37-133 Cold Damage
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
33% Chance of Open Wounds
+150-200% Enchanced Defense (varies)
-20% Slower Stamina Drain
Cold Resist +45%
Lightning Resist +15%
Fire Resist +15%
Poison Resist +15%

Archon plate is the highest def you can get on a light armor. Pit runs drop them a lot.

For your weapon, look into bonehew or tombreaver. Those are nice, too.

[jumbo_SHRIMP]

For your weapon, look into bonehew or tombreaver. Those are nice, too.
he seems to be making a lancer

[Grandar King of Trolls]

Oh yeah, forgot.

[Angry]

do you suggest durress for the enhanced damage only? cuz wouldn't lionhart be better?

[acceleration turkey]

do you suggest durress for the enhanced damage only? cuz wouldn't lionhart be better?

the +20% damage and +25 strength on lionheart is equal to +45% weapon damage. duress has 10%-20% damage and 15% crushing blow. i would say that duress is the better WW armor, although lionheart is not bad.

also lionheart has no defense bonus, so you are better off with duress for a WW character.

lionheart is really life tweak armor for a berserker in my opinion, because it can supply you with enough strength to wear arreats and it has +20 vit and +50 life. between the 80 life from the vit bonus, the 100+ life from the BO multiplication of 50 life, and the 25 fewer base strength ponits needed to wear arreats, lionheart provides you about 400 life. if you want to squeeze more life, lionheart is for you, but since you have already committed so much to base strength, it probably cant help you. the CB and defense of duress make it a better WW armor in my opinion.

[Angry]

alrighty then i'll scrounge around and look for that um rune then...