IK barb experts or anyone else :)

[littlenec]

Ok I am building my first barb, after 50 or so sorcs and necros etc.

going the ww and conc route.

but I have a question on skills for low leveling
what skills do you use from 12-30?

after 30 is it ww from then on to attack everything?

right now I am level 15 with full sigons set and a Bloodrise
Morning Star.

NOT doing bad at all. one in bash for tough guys and a few in mace mastery.
most points in str with some in vitality. DAMN this guy is a tank and a half.

act 2 merc....not so good LOL
spend most time either keeping him alive or just saying f'it and going on alone.

just want to ask for skills and when to use them

thanksBIG TIME to Cold439 for the ik guild and also to everyone else in that threat that posted.

ps what is the +3 warcry item that requires very little dex?
can it be shopped, what level ?


little

[theshadow]

use WW's prereqs
well, echoing balanced knife can do the job and it shoppable from malah in act 5 nm and act 5 hell
not so sure about nm but if someone can confirm that would be nice ;)

[rikstaker]

I seriously advise against going the ww/con route.U get enough plus to skills with the set to bring a one point con upto ~10,with bk ring etc,combat chrm & battle commands.There is nothing harmful with ww/con 20/20,but the sacrifice will have to be shout,meaning lower defense for you & ur merc.

Besides with ww,u'll be using conc against manaburners & unleechables only,and a level 10 con (actual 1) easily provides more damage and ar than maxed out ww,it is surely capable of tackling what ww cant,trust me, 'what' isn't much.

it is the speed of con,with a 2h weapon it is slow.I have taken my ik barb to level 90,and never do I switch to conc,why: caz there are ways around for mana burn and unleechables:

1.I use angelics,apart from ar boost :gives 20% dmg to mana

2.Will is socketed with an ith rune(15% to mana) apart from an ed jewel.

3.Using long whirls against mana burn packs is a good tactic,since even if u are manaburned mid ww,u would still continue and hitting enemies further up,will fill up the ball again,and if used right,u wont have any problems against them.If they are PIs as well,then using howl/taunt take them, one by one with zerk,see... now if u come across PI mana burn packs,u wont be very pleased with ur con/ww build.

I have zerk on myleft & ww on right,works well.

re leveling up:

pump mastery till u get bo,pump bo till u get ww,pump ww till max,pump bo till max,pump mastery till max,pump shout till max,rest in ironskin.

use a 1 point con till 30 of course,use hwanins bill with shael from 30 onwards,though it isnt a maul,it reaches the bp,provides ar and does adequate damage.

get a might merc,reapers toll is ideal from him and do I need to brief a necro on benefits of decripify? an eth/non eth shaft will keep him safe.

wracries +3 weps can be bought in hell act 4 & 5.

rIK

[littlenec]

rikstaker will follow your advice and big thanks for your post.
lots of little things that will make build a lot easier to get going.

one thing why did some of the people replying to the guide say NOT to
max ww..
something about deminishing returns or some such.

thanks again for your help
little

[rikstaker]

rikstaker will follow your advice and big thanks for your post.
lots of little things that will make build a lot easier to get going.

one thing why did some of the people replying to the guide say NOT to
max ww..
something about deminishing returns or some such.

thanks again for your help
little

My pleasure,I am the self fancied IK expert around here,hence its rikstaker & not risktaker.

All those people were suggesting a little variety,no harm in that,but I prefer perfection & tuning,I've always been a harsh critic of two combat skill builds.

In the end,the choice is yours.There is no such thing as diminishing returns on ww.

Bottom line-The set works best with ww,since u can unleash all the crushing blow & elemental damages(the real strength of the set) 3x faster than berserk & concentrate.

IK tip of the day: The maul has a short range,in danger zones with hard hitting range monsters like gloams,assign ww to left click(use shift to whirl),taunt to right click & taunt all the gloams/archers,taking a step back each time after taunting two monsters,they come at you in a nice & straight line,so just ww them like no tomorrow. :thumbsup:

rIK

[littlenec]

anything into battle command?

I have zerk on myleft & ww on right,works well.
so 1 in zerk?

concentrate 1
pump ww till max 20
pump bo till max 20
pump mace mastery till max 20
pump shout till max 20

rest in ironskin.

do you or have you used find item?
looks like it has to be pumped way up to be usefull???

[rikstaker]

1-battle command
1-zerk
1 taunt
1-battle cry
1-warcry
1-natural resists

(these are the skills aka one point wonders (for this build) u'd have to use occasionally-apart from prereqs)

I dont recommend increase stamina,speed.

well.. I didn't invest any in find item,if u are looking to do dome mf,than go ahead,just 1 point is sufficient,+skill boosts it enough moreover it suffers from diminishing returns,so yes dump the rest into ironskin.

rIK

[kfowler]

IMO, Max BO first, WW second, Shout third, and weapon mast last. Put you reamining points into Iron Skill. Everthing else gets one point.

Since this is your first barb, a side note. When you complete your IK set and your in hell always find out who has the higher bo/shout levels in a game if there are other barbs. My non ik barb has a bo/shout level of 32/32 without switching to +5 barb helm or ammy. With IK, 2 BK rings, +3 warcry ammy, anni, say 1 wc gc, and max bo/ shout you'll be reaching 32/32. Most IK's aren't going to use that combo. It's just good manners imo. Also, it's still advantageous to you to use 2 echoing weapons on switch. I believe you'll net +2 more to your wc even after breaking the IK set +3 all skills bonus.

[mstrnicegui]

yes, 2 echoing weapons will give you higher level bo than the full set bonus.... I think I was at lvl 30 bo/shout using echoing weapons without using any extra +skills outside of the weapons.

[littlenec]

so far here is where I am on stats.
level 75

137 str
26 dex
161 health
10 energy
=====
134 unused

1 shout, battle cry,battle command,ironskin,bash, stun,conc,leap,leap attack
3 shout
20 battle orders
20 ww
13 mace mastery
========
17 unused



what should I do with stats ?
I am using
arreats
shaftstop
string of ears
IK gloves and boots
ravenfrost
manald (had to use it could not leach mana, was using angelic)
angelic ammy
hwains justice

have not found ik armor yet...

might merc using
yari with amn and shael, 1 open socket
duriels
8-7 vampire gaze



thanks for any and all help

little

[Halciet]

Shout, then mace mastery, and finally Ironskin.

Read the IK Guide listed in the guide post.

-Hal

[littlenec]

stats. Not sure what to put all of them in

[Halciet]

Sorry, only saw the 17 left over skill points in my sleep-deprived state.

Still, the IK guide would have you covered. All you need is 187 base strength, at most, and the rest goes to vitality. No need for dex or energy :) Since you're getting closer to the armor, might wanna go ahead and get your str up to 187 base and then pour everything from there on out into vit.

-Hal

[littlenec]

thanks Halciet, I posted everything just to make sure.
I was not sure if I needed any dex or energy....
just str and vitality.
kinda like a typical warrior me big ...hit hard...duh

:)



little

[Gothrius]

wracries +3 weps can be bought in hell act 4 & 5.

rIK

I bought an echoing Gothic Sword from Hratli in act 3 hell difficulty just today.

Unrelated thread question: is it possible to, say, get a rare item that has echoing and high level enchant charges on the same weapon? I'd doubt it ... but such a weapon would be much more convenient than toting a Demon Limb everywhere.

[Halciet]

Goth, rare weapons can only get +2 to all skills in a tree, so you can't manage echoing =/

-Hal