Hi! I'm new to this, and started Barbarian

[Rizzice]

Yeah, so I have no idea what stats or skills I should be going for. I have 4 sword mastery and 1 bash.. I suppose I want to be pretty good at PvP (if barbs can be good at that @_@), and also able to do pvm pretty well...

I have a bunch of crap like chainmail and stuff -_-.. but yeah. Also what equipment shold I be looking for.. I don't really know how to find good stuff.

And if anyone wants to help me out.. i'm *rizzice on LoD west ^_^

[xpumafangx]

!!HI WARM WELCOME TO THE BARBARIAN FORM!!

Now Check this out. AXES>SWORDS

Now read up on the guilds that are here for you in this forum. Yes that is right the guilds are just for your eyes only. SHHH DON'T TELL ANY ONE ELSE. Also I made it so no one else could read this so only you and I can read what I type.

Question what kind of items do you have. Like name them off. I am talking about the best of the best you have. I will help you out with addvice.

[Rizzice]

Axes? Why? Are you sure.. I see so many barbs with dual sword or sword/shield.. axe attack slow and if its blocked or missed then -_-

My best item is a normal bone helm, and a eth crystal sword (1 socket). I also have a sigon gauntlet i can't use yet and a artic belt.

And if you do justify axe > sword, should I restart (has 5 sword mastery)


Yes that is right the guilds are just for your eyes only. SHHH DON'T TELL ANY ONE ELSE. Also I made it so no one else could read this so only you and I can read what I type.


I read this even when I was logged out :lol:

[xpumafangx]

I read this even when I was logged out

HACKER!!!!!!!! J/K


Yes see we are talking High end axes and high end swords.

Like for exp.

For botd 1 handed weapons

Berserker axe range 3 damage 24-71

CB range 3 damage 25-65 one handed

Yes you could use the CB 2 handed every once and a wile. It does help out with casters. But it is alot better to just use a wizard spike.

[Omikron8]

It has been beaten to death that One handed Axes ARE better than One handed swords. They are usually just as fast, do the same or better damage and have way more choices in unique weapons than the many crappy unique elite swords out there. As for PvP i'll be blunt, PvP is a rich man's game and even for an average build you still require some considerable wealth. Get a blizzard MF sorc (ask in sorc forum) to hell meph to farm for some items for your barb and stuff to trade for barb gear.

YES restart your barb

The two common cookie cutter builds are:

20 axe mastery
20 battle orders
20 whirlwind
20 shout
1-5 natural res
1 speed
1 berserk

OR

20 axe mastery
20 battle orders
20 concentrate
20 shout
1-5 natural res
1 speed
1 berserk

If you follow the builds above and are focused on one handed weapons (i personally hate shields on barbs, barbs have enough life/defense anyways to survive easily without a shield), these should be your stats

Enough strength for your end-game gear
Enough dexterity for max block with shield of choice, shields choices are usually stormshield, whistan's guard (set round shield), gerke's sanctuary, moser's blessed circle, "rhyme" grim shield/troll nest
Rest in Vitality
ZERO in energy

[Grandar King of Trolls]

Yeah, axes are faster so they require less increased attack speed to hit attack breakpoints. They do slightly more max damage. They also require less stat points. And you get all this for a weapon with the same range as a sword.

As to two-handing a sword in pvp agains casters, yes, it can help. But dual wielding an axe and a wizard spike is better. Well, so says Hal. And what Hal says around here goes. ;) Personally, I only pvm.

And Puma is right also about reading the guides. There is a sticky here full of them. I suggest reading them all. You'll find something you like and learn a lot about barbs in the process.

As to rebuilding, I'll leave that up to you. If you decide you want ot use axes, then you should do it. However, using axes isn't really required and is mainly going to help someone doing some major tweaking with a decent ammount of wealth. Since this is your first barb, I personally wouldn't worry about it. Find out what you like and you can rebuild him later. That is what most of us wind up doing.

Anyway, welcome to the world of barbs. You've come to the right place to learn about them. :)

[Grandar King of Trolls]

Omikron, you stole my post :)

[Omikron8]

Yes well i was typing my post at the same time that you posted yours. Anyways i am still intrigued by your avatar O_O.

[Grandar King of Trolls]

Yeah, I had some sort of funky db error again. It's cool. I was just messin. :)

Yeah, made the avatar myself. 1337 photochop skillerz... woot heheh

[Zangeif]

Is there a way to make sure you always hit with your zerker when dual wielding with a wiz spike?

[Rizzice]

Whats wizard spike? Yeah I"m going to restart.. but do people even rush others nowadays? This isn't my first barb.. I just quit for like a year lol. I had awesome stuff on my last acc -_- it got deleted and i forgot how to play lol. I had occy rings and quad isted monarch shield and a load of MF stuff.

Are ccbq's even good anymore? They were supposedly the best weapon to get as a barbarian back when I was playing.

And i'm confused:
If you follow the builds above and are focused on one handed weapons (i personally hate shields on barbs, barbs have enough life/defense anyways to survive easily without a shield),

I thought shields were good? I remember in PvP shield was an essential to the win.. the one gold lettered monarch shield.. forgot the name of it..

And axes.. will I be using 1h or 2h? If they're better why do people still use swords? And are barbs a good char to start with? Or should I get a "mf" guy first?

Btw, anyone on LoD west I can talk to?

I just scanned some of the stickies too.. wtf is a wolfbarb/singerbarb.. etc? Are those just diff builds? What is the best one for PvP? I know I'm poor, but I want to be prepared when I get stronger so I don't have to remake. What are some other builds?

[Halciet]

Wizardspike is an unique elite dagger that has bonuses such as 75% all resists, faster cast, +mana per level, and +% mana. It is used on pvp barbarains in their off-hands against casters, since it maxes out their resists, gives them more mana for using whirlwind, grants them 50% more hits from duel wielding, and the faster cast is useful for enigma barbs for teleporting.


CCBoQ are fairly weak nowadays, with all of the hugely powerful unique and runeword weapons that have been introduced. Breah of the Dying is far and away the best all-around weapon now, when socketed into an ethereal berserker axe.

Shiels ARE great, that person was just posting their opinion. Statistically, the benefits of a shield are insane, and they are still required for melee pvp. Stormshield is the gold-lettered one you were thinking about.

Axes, you're going to want to go one-handed, since they are the best 1h weapons in the game. The majority of the populace still uses swords because they think they look "cool" (I think they'e just overcompensating for lackage in other areas, tee hee), and because they have the idea burned into their brains that swords are still the best weapons around. The truth is though that axes are better 1h weapons and polearms are better 2, and since everything can be used in chip recipes now, swords have lost a lot of ground.

Starting with a barb is fine, though you'll want to make a mf character as well, to supply him with gear. Sorcs are generally best for that (namely blizzard for Meteorb sorcs).

Wolfbarbs, Singerbarbs, Concbarbs, Berserkers, Frenzy Babas, etc, are all just different builds. Some focus on using very specific gear (wolfbarbs), while the majority are based on different skills.

Whirlwind is still the best pvp build, and virtually the only one you can use in cross-class duels against casters and such.

-Hal

[Grandar King of Trolls]

Zangief:
I don't think you can force the wizzy to not hit. But I do think that you get an increasd chance to hit with it on. Hal knows more about this than I do.

Rizzy:
Wizard Spike: http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/udaggers.shtml

Yes, people rush each other. Usually for forge drops, but you are going to want those.

ccbq's aren't where it's at anymore. Now it is ebotdba's (ethereal breath of the dying berserker axes... uber runeword)

Shields are good for iron barbs. If you WW, then they aren't all that necessary. It depens on what you want to do with your build.

I would suggest one handed with an axe. There are much stronger options for 2-handed weapons than axes. Take a look at berseker axes for one-handed axes.

Wolfbarbs and singerbarbs are just different builds, yes. Though I don't think either is best for pvp. I don't do pvp, so I really can't say. I would suggest either a concentrate barb (hal's build) or a ww barb.

It is pretty much impossible to make a first build pvp powerhouse in a barb. That is, unless you already have enigma, ebotdba, anni, arreat's face, etc etc. The strength req's are the kicker. Unless you are building a titan bab (all str so more damage), then you are going to want to pump vitality as much as possible. To do that, you are going to want to put as little into strength as you can and still use your gear. It's tricky, for certain. Some guys have their entire stashes full of item swaps and +str items so they can pre-buff and then get all their equipment on again before pvp'ing.

In short (too late), the idea is that you plan out your build around the +str items you have in your equipment. If you don't have all of your stuff before you build your character, then you wont' be able to wear all of it without putting more points into strength. This is why I don't PVP.

[Grandar King of Trolls]

Heheh, more post pwnge, Hal. :)

Man, that is like the third time today a combination of my crappy DNS servers, having tons of work to do, and the rpgforums' db errors has made my posts come in after someone else's saying the same thing. Dang it.

[Rizzice]

Lol, thanks for the responses. If I don't use a shield, what would I use? You recommend 1h axes..If that ethereal thing is ethereal.. how do you repair it when it breaks? Also.. how do I start off getting items? I forgot how I went about it a while ago.. somehow I got really rich. But right now.. I'm not getting anything at all!

Do you recommend not getting rushed and just going through the acts by myself so I can pick up and earn money slowly? I got rushed through normal on this barb.. except I can't beat baal cuz I'm only level 6, but I already have like 60k gold, and bone helm/chain mail etc...

Also.. what are some essentials to each build? Is there anything I can work on that will still keep my options open to whichever build I want? (skills/stats)
Also.. you said WW build is probably best for PvP.. whats that like? What are the ups and downs of each build (or can I find that somewhere o_O)?

[Halciet]

It takes a lot of patience and persistance to find good thigns with MF, so it might take you awhile.

If you DON'T go 1h/shield, use polearms or spears. The great poleaxe and ghostspear are the best 2h weapons in the game, with a slight not to the poleaxe since it requires more str, less dex, thus making it have more damage.

As for ethereal weapons and breakage: this doesn't matter for BotD, since it makes the weapon indestructable. Thus, you get all of the bonuses and none of the penalties.

The essentials of virtually every build are typically Battle Orders, a Mastery, and often Shout, with one point in berserk/natural resist/battle command. Stat wise, you generally go for just enough str to wear your gear, either enough dex to use your weapon or get max block else none at all, and the rest into vitality.

What exactly are you wanting to know about ww and pvp?

-Hal

[Grandar King of Trolls]

The ethereal thing we are talking about is the breath of the dying runeword. It has a zod in it, so it makes whatever you put the runeword into indesctructible. People prefer ethereal items because of this since they give a percentage to enhanced damage.

I would suggest not rushing, but that is a personal taste sort of thing. You really are going to need a magic find character early on, and a bliz sorc or meteorb sorc are probably your best bets.

As to ups and downs of the builds, you can generally find that just from reading the guides here on the forum. At the very least, you can get a good idea of what each one is like.

For ww, your barb spins in circles and hits everything in his path really fast. Kind of like the tazmanian devil. All builds have strengths and weaknesses. Frenzy is really fast but damage takes a hit and you get no shield, concentrate is slow but has good damage and high defense, berserk has incredible damage but takes a huge defensive cut, whirwhid is the only barb attack that can really rip through packs of enemies, but you get a massive damage nerf. etc etc etc

[Grandar King of Trolls]

ARRGH!! Again! 3 times in one thread. :(

[Rizzice]

Whats the WW build, Halciet? And how is it the best barb build at PvP?

And to trolls: don't i need mf equip to mf?

[Grandar King of Trolls]

You will find mf equipment as you play. Most of it is really cheap. The benefit of using a sorc is that they can survive and kill quickly with mf gear. And they can teleport, which is down right necessary for speed considerations.

You'll want stuff like nagelrings, chancegaurds, goldwrap, and 4xperfect topazes in an armor, 3xperfect topazes in a helm. Believe me, this stuf will drop for you. I just started an mf sorc in the new ladder season. I don't play that much, and already have around 300mf on her.

[Omikron8]

Whats the WW build, Halciet? And how is it the best barb build at PvP?

And to trolls: don't i need mf equip to mf?

The whirlwind build is what i posted in my previous post above. Remember that for pvm whirlwind is a MUCH more item dependent barb build than a concentrate barb. Whirlwind requires a weapon to hit the necessary breakpoints (at least first breakpoint for sword or second for 2 hander) and some significant damage. At level 20 whirlwind only gives around +100% ED and it is now affected by run/walk speed. The faster you move the less hits you will get on a single target.

[Halciet]

WW barbs are the best pvp barbs simply because the attack is mobile and AoE, meaning that you don't have to stop in order to keep attacking. Against casters, any barb that has to stop to attack is typically screwed, because even at the fastest swing rates, a caster can easily teleport or run out of your way.

-Hal

[squigipapa]

The majority of the populace still uses swords because they think they look "cool" (I think they'e just overcompensating for lackage in other areas, tee hee)
-Hal


LOL! That's funny! Then again I use swords on my frenzy barb.. but they're phase blades.. short, jagged and chubby... not saying anything .. just describing the sword! :)

btw hal, that looks awsome..

Halicet
Barbarian Moderater

although ..

Halicet
Barbarian. Moderater.

Would look better.. :)

[Halciet]

btw hal, that looks awsome..

Halicet
Barbarian Moderater

although ..

Halicet
Barbarian. Moderater.

Would look better.. :)

Lol, thanks squigi; I agree, your way would look cooler =)

-Hal

[cephas]

ARRGH!! Again! 3 times in one thread. :(

I love you,
You love me,
We're a happy family,
With a great big hug,
And a kiss from me to you,
Won't you say you love me too.

I love Barney... :lol: