Quick question on build...

[munroebagger1]

Ya'll are so frickin thorough with your guides and posts in here that my head is spinning. Basically I would like to know the following:

Keep in mind that this is my first time to the barb forum and that I have never made one before. My first guy will be the test so I am pretty much picking his skills based on what items i have:

20 in shout and battle orders
1 in battle command
This seems to be the basics for all builds, right?

I am currently level 15 and need to get some more damage, bash at level 1 isn't cutting it any more. I am therefore ready to commit points to mastery but wow there are a lot of choices, and I figure that if i choose poorly now i will be hurting later.

Weapons I have right now are:

Lightsabre
Griz caddy (4 open sockets)
Rune master (5 open sockets)
Gimmershred
Doombringer
Crescent moon phase blade
Demon limb
Nord's tenderizer
...That's about it i think

So. I was kind of thinking gimmershred and go throw/double hand, but if even if i get another gimmershred is it do-able as a two hand swing weapon?

Otherwise I will just throw the darn things but am worried that; A: my aim sucks so in hell i will miss a lot -- B: throwing just isn't the best bet for a new barb -- C: I don't have any lower throw weapons so will be in trouble (i.e. impossible to do) until level 70 -- D: I would be better off doubling 2 swords or maces and just stay with the swing if I want to go two hand.

Other option I have is to go 1 hand and use Stormshield. If this is the best starter option which of the above weapons would be best suited.

Thanks to any who reply, and I will definitely be back with more basic question soon, like later tonight...

[Halciet]

I probably wouldn't go throwing; it's entertaining, but it's not the greatest attack you can manage.

I strongly support your idea of taking up stormshield; nothing beats the bonuses provided by a good shield. In that instance, axes are far and away the best weapons you could use, so you might consider doing some trading or MFing in attempts to get yourself a decent one (rune isn't a bad start at all, and gimmer uses axe mastery when wielded in melee), or else use one of your other weapons like Nord's to carry you through hell. You can always remake when and if you become wealthy enough to afford something along the lines of a BotD berserker axe or Death Cleaver.

You've got the right idea about warcries, so as long as you pick a supporting mastery and combat skill, you should be fine. Don't fret having low damage at 15; damage will be low until you get up a good ways and get some of the good skills/weapons going.

-Hal

[munroebagger1]

Halciet,

Thank you for the advice. I would like to add a few questions in follow-up to your suggestions:

1: I was reading through your concentration guide and pretty much the only not BOTD weapon you mention is Crescent Moon, even though you say axe would be best. Is axe the best option (i.e. start on axe mastery now) assuming I don't get death cleaverBOTC ever or at least for a long time.

2: You mention using Nord's to get through/to hell, but if i am working on axe mastery won't i be losing out on useful bonus's?

3: The axes i currenly have (other than the gimmer and rune) are coldkill, butcher's pupil and guardian naga. Without upgrading (might take a while so not an option right now if this is even a good idea -- forget upgrades for the present time) are any of these good until i get to the level for gimmer (70) and rune (72).

Recap: which of these will be best one-handed to level: butcher's, guardian naga, coldkill.

Which end game (for now) is best: gimmer or rune, and again assuming I don't have a ton of good jewels/runes sitting around, what should I put in the naga if it is the best.

Thanks again. This is a huge help.

[mstrnicegui]

Any of the elite 1 handed axes are pretty damn good. Death cleaver is the best. Butcher's pupil best of what you listed for mid-game. Runemaster is better for endgame as long as you have some ias jewels to speed it up a bit.

[munroebagger1]

Mstr, thanks, I will go with the butcher then and see what happens. Most importantly though i can throw a point or 2 in mastery. I do have shael runes, so maybe a mix of them and ias/ed or just ed will work out fine. Again this is barb # 1 so no biggie if it all goes horribly wrong.

If anyone else has any advice they wish to impart please feel free. I will appreciate any help ya'll care to give.

[rikstaker]

Whats your build? Concentrate?..Start upping battleorders & place your mastery points late.

Pupil is a nice choice..For endgame,use death cleaver,with ed jewel & dont even think about runemaster.Like Gui said,you can speed it up,even for ww,net nice damage, but it just got +5 max cold resist & cbf :cheesy: It leaves much to be desired in ds etc department where pupil & cleaver excell.There are better options,you can upgrade your pupil if you want.I sayd stick to cleaver for endgame.

Rik

[xpumafangx]

Yes cleaver is a dam fine choose. In this department.

[mstrnicegui]

Of course it doesn't have much in the way of mods, but for style it could score big with an ethy version zoded and filled with ed/ias and ed/max jewels. I saw a post once where someone did the math. A perfect eth one does more dmg than a perfect eth botd zerker. It's even more expensive than a botd, but it's sweet. Anyways, it's viable enough for endgame to use a regular runemaster with ed/ias jewels if you wanna go that route. Otherwise, get yourself a death cleaver or up the pupil.

Only a nice rare could net more style points than the perf runemaster I was mentioning. At least that's my opinion.

[rikstaker]

Gui:Nothing rong with that..it got potential...But I am a smart investor, zods/jewels have better uses.

Rik

[munroebagger1]

Well it appears that at some point I ran my pupil down to zero durability and then threw it out... I had no thoughts of making a barb at that time. So i am stuck using scalper until i get to the level to use gimmer. As runemaster seems to be an okay weapon I will throw some jewels/runes in there and try it out also. After all, I highly doubt I will get a cleaver or BOTB, and as I have no concept of how good they are I don't think I will notice that my barb is not uber. If i can kill in hell with gimmer/runemaster and storm shield then I will count myself fortunate.

Rik, yes I am going to follow Halciet's concentrate guide and see where that leads me. From my experience with other builds, as long as skills/stats are placed properly and my hell gear is better than vendor bought junk, I may kill slower than ya'll are used to but I will still be doing okay.

I will continue to do a few mf runs to flush out my gear but as of now this is what I will use. Also note that I wanted this guy to be my "Hell tough area mfer" such as Baal, crys passage, etc... So his gear will be tailored to that somewhat.

Actually, before i get to gear, in Hal's guide he mentions that if you plan to mf to consider additional points in find item after the basic build in complete. What % would be good to have that skill at? AND, while we are on the rambling subject of skills, 1 point in WW is good right?

Ok gear:

Arreats (ptopaz most likely)

Skulders (ptopaz) also have GA and Que Heg which Hal mentions as viable, but I need the mf.

Verdungo or goldwrap but I think I will need the PDR more

Dracul's or chance, again i think the non-mf ones will be required to survive

Stormshield (um if i get one otherwise pdiamond)

Sandstorm trek (pretty much the only decent boots i have)

Raven frost and angelic (i don't have any of the good ammy's or even a rare for barb, so I might as well use the angelic ammy and therefore one of the rings)

Annihilus and gheeds, plus any resis I am missing (no barb skillers at all)

And of course my gimmershred or runemaster (socketed with shael's and low ed jewels)

If anyone has made it this far in my poorly formatted post (i apologize) can you just let me know if the above gear will allow me to mf SOLO in hell in any area, and maybe a venture or two into public games.

Thank you.

[mstrnicegui]

it seems as though your first-choice gear when put together will work well.

1. FI = with two echoing weapons, arreats, skullders and bcommand, you'll have this skill up to at least lvl 12 with just one point investment. It has serious diminishing returns after lvl 10, so that one point should be enough.
2. WW = gimmers cannot reach the last ww bp (though it does the first) and it's range 1, so it's not a great choice. Runemaster with 45% ias will hit the last ww bp and at range 2 it's not the best, but ain't bad. Also important is how many sockets your runemaster has, I forgot to ask. If it has 5 sockets, it would work out well. With 3 it's virtually useless as all the spots would have to be filled by ias.

[munroebagger1]

Mstr, The runemaster has 5 sockets, i was thinking 3 x shael for 60 ias and then whatever ed jewels i can get. i think the best one i have currently is 29% with a little resis on it. What would be an acceptable ed jewel % wise, i.e. 29 % would be okay but don't put less than 25% in. Or would i mess it all up if the ed jewels are less than 30-35 % ?

[rikstaker]

Well it appears that at some point I ran my pupil down to zero durability and then threw it out...

:cheesy:

Isn't pupil indestructible? Anyway place just 1 point in find item..it suffers from steep diminishing returns..even with moderate plus to skills,u can net a decent second try chance.

29% ed is ok,but decide what u'll be using it for.If it is for ww,u need 45% ias in it i.e 3 sockets either way.

Rik

[mstrnicegui]

yep, 29% ias is plenty especially with extra mods.