Whirlwind Priorities

[PyroStock]

Ideally, I would like my WW Barb to have 1pt in the 5 melee masteries so he can use any weapon I find. But I'm guessing that's not viable for PvM HC Hell. So I was wondering what mods on weapons have the highest priorities for WW. I thought Range was most important, but from reading it seems...

1st - IAS/BaseSpeed on weapon (to land most attacks)
2nd - Weapon Damage
3rd - Crushing Blow
4th - Weapon Range (I'm worried I'm underestimating this)
5th - Leech
?

Yet, I'm new to Barbarians and Whirlwind, so what are the most important mods on WW weapons to you? Then I can better decide what Mastery to use and what weapons I have would be best in the end. I'm in SP, no godly runewords. For now I'm thinking Ribcracker at L31 & Windhammer at L68, but no shield & range of 2?

Also I was wondering if it makes a difference where you begin your WW attack. I was thinking of using LeapAttack to get to the enemy quick & then Whirlwind through them.

[flapserdk]

Ideally, I would like my WW Barb to have 1pt in the 5 melee masteries so he can use any weapon I find. But I'm guessing that's not viable for PvM HC Hell. So I was wondering what mods on weapons have the highest priorities for WW. I thought Range was most important, but from reading it seems...

1st - IAS/BaseSpeed on weapon (to land most attacks)
2nd - Weapon Damage
3rd - Crushing Blow
4th - Weapon Range (I'm worried I'm underestimating this)
5th - Leech
?

Yet, I'm new to Barbarians and Whirlwind, so what are the most important mods on WW weapons to you? Then I can better decide what Mastery to use and what weapons I have would be best in the end. I'm in SP, no godly runewords. For now I'm thinking Ribcracker at L31 & Windhammer at L68, but no shield & range of 2?

Also I was wondering if it makes a difference where you begin your WW attack. I was thinking of using LeapAttack to get to the enemy quick & then Whirlwind through them.

For WW weapon speed is very important. If you use windhammer, you need to put a shael or IAS jewel in maul, if you wanna reach 4 FPA attack (6,2 attacks/sec). With out shael/jewel you will only reach 4,1 attacks/sec (66 % more hits per sec !!!)

Speed is always more important than damage for a WW barb, because high attack speed means more hits and more leech.

You have to pick a Mastery (one point is not enought), because you will have trouble with your attack rating when you enter Hell.

Crushing Blow (CB) is a great mod for WW, and an easy way to compensate for low damage, but also Deadly strike, Critical strike and Open wounds.

A long range weapon is nice, but not crucial. An IK maul e.g. has only 2 in range, but it still a great weapon for WW.

More leech means less death, but the exact amount is dependent on the WW speed. My barbs has around 10 % dual leech, and it works fine.

[Inuyasha]

The priorities differ if you are planning on pvp or pvm. Specify, and I'm sure someone will be able to help you out alot more.

But judging by the fact that you're putting 1 point into every mastery, I'm assuming that you're going pvm anyways so your list of priorities should be pretty much the same as what you listed:

1 IAS
2 Damage
3 weapon range (lots more hits)
4 Leech
5 Crushing blow

[acceleration turkey]

range is not very important in pvm...if you whirl across a screen of monsters it doesnt matter how long your weapon is. range is for pvp, so that you can get the first hit and if you are facing a melee opponent who does not have WW, you can stay away from him (smiter, zealot). crushing blow is a lot more important than range...upgraded ribcracker is a better WW weapon than a cruel/quickness warpike.

[Inuyasha]

In PvM having a range 5 polearm really makes a difference for me. Instead of cutting a line you whack everything escept the corners of the screen. Or maybe I'm just hallucinating again.....

[acceleration turkey]

it is certainly nice to have a long range, but as long as there are enough targets on screen it doesnt matter. if you whirl through a thick pack you will score just as many hits with a short as with a long weapon. long weapons keep you safe when you want to work around the outside of a mana burn pack, but even that is more technique than something unique to a long weapon. its a bonus, but not something that you should seek at the expense of other mods such as crushing blow, in my opinion.

[mstrnicegui]

*woops* I didn't see this post get posted, so I made the one below... read that one.

[mstrnicegui]

I second Inuyasha's order of things

1 IAS
2 Damage
3 weapon range (lots more hits)
4 Leech
5 Crushing blow

The first three on the list can only be made on-weapon, so they are most important for ww to appear on-weapon. Leech and cb both can be supplemented off-weapon and it's easier to maximize cb off-weapon than it is leech.

[rikstaker]

I'll have to reaffirm Inuyasha and Gui's order.

Range really does matter.It affects not only the distance from which u can hit targets but also how often u hit them,long range weapons have more targets in range for a check and for a longer time than short range weapons.

Turkeyyy :rant: though theoretically he is right,u cant hit faster that 6.2 aps with 2h weps,whether range 2 or 5.I am not sure if thats what he meant.

The longer range simply provides more targets in range & for a longer time for a check to occur.Hence,it really is a great advantage both in pvp/pvm.

Monsters dont always line up a thick queue.

There is a considerable disparity in perfomance betweek an ik/ribcracker barb and a gpa/gs barb against large/small packs and of course who'd use a range 2 weapon in pvp.

The original question:Rely on battle cry to land hits and go without a point in any mastery,untill u find a weapon which is atleast 200-250 max dmg and reaches the last bp,then start pumping mastery.

rIK

[rikstaker]

Turkey,check ur inbox now.

[acceleration turkey]

Turkey,check ur inbox now.

i messaged you...if you want to test stuff, just get one of those testing programs where yuo can edit pretty much every game value.