IK viable?

[ragnar_ii]

I dont have much experiance with an WW IK barb at all. Ive heard people say that IK is good and others say IK sucks. Basically I want to know if not having a shield will surely get me killed sooner then i am expecting. Thanks.

OT-Is anybody else having problems accessing these forums from diabloii.net? Im getting an error saying that it cannot be found.

[sahlakh]

I dont have much experiance with an WW IK barb at all. Ive heard people say that IK is good and others say IK sucks. Basically I want to know if not having a shield will surely get me killed sooner then i am expecting. Thanks.

OT-Is anybody else having problems accessing these forums from diabloii.net? Im getting an error saying that it cannot be found.

Ik barb is OK for PvM, and taking account the factm how cheap the whole set is, it's pretty GOOD. If you want to play a barb and can't afford items like Duress, SS, oath, go for it.

I wouldn't build one because:

- no shield
- bad dr
- lowish dmg
- lowinsh defense
- bad range

+ remember it has pros too :)

Things you need too pay attention: amp, extra fast, fanaticism - when you get hit many times in a row, you're screwed, since the leech is the key.

[ragnar_ii]

ok, thanks for the info. I already have SS and now that ive read your post I made an eth 284% CS oath. I can probably get duress although I have a +1 skill valor sitting around. Guess ill make duress, cuz valor requires lvl 85. thanks again.

[baalos]

If you have a ss then I would say build around it, i guess. But I am here to tell you IK barbs rock. I took mine up to almost lvl 94 before I died. Sure, no shield, but with max resists and over 10k armor, they can live almost forever. Just need to be sure you don't blindly ww into im and you should do fine.

[PhatTrumpet]

IK is just about the best you can do as far as cheapness and effectiveness go. As long as you can get the armor for Mal or less, the rest can be gotten for a small number of pgems. Upwards of 40% CB and all the enhanced damage to demons/undead really makes the weapon shine; the gloves/belt/boots combo is used by many, even non-Barbs; and I won't even bother going into the partial set bonuses.

That being said, I made my own version of a cheap yet effective Barb, and he is turning out extremely well. Here's his setup:

Arreat's (unsocketed, would like a nice ed jewel for it though)
Highlord's
eth 'Oath' CS (currently 322% but I had to roll it four friggin' times before I got anything above 242%... he killed pretty well even when it was a low roll, too)
536 def 'Lionheart' Wyrmhide (a greatly underestimated runeword... I probably could've gotten a higher def armor but I figure a Wyrmhide is more useful if I ever retire this guy)
146 def 'Rhyme' Hyperion (CBF... didn't have a Ravenfrost when I thought up his setup)
Laying of Hands (350%ed to demons!!!)
high-ish String (7/15/14 I think)
Waterwalks (mainly for the increased max fire resist, I built him for Trav runs)
7% Manald
some random dual leech rare ring (3/5 with cold and poison resist iirc)

At lvl 87 he's got maxed Sword Mastery, WW, BO, Shout, and is currently dumping points into Zerk. On top of the usual one-point wonders, I also got Find Item for horking the council, and Battle Cry which I have never used and probably never will.

He just recently cleared 3.6k life, and with his Might Merc he does something like 5k Zerk and 3k WW with 55% Deadly Strike and 350%ed to demons. With so much dmg to demons he hardly suffers from a lack of CB, as most monsters that go down easier with CB are bosses (demons). I've taken down Andariel a few times, and her health bar looked more like a pure Fireball Sorc was pelting her than a Barb was chopping her down.

It's been said before, but I really think SS is overrated on Barbs. Barbs have very high life and can leech back quickly. The only times my Barb has ever really taken noticeable damage was when I ran into cursed, might or fanatic, extra strong council members (people will tell you that you need to wear GA when running Trav, but that's a crock of sh*t... my 80/75/75/75 resists work fine). When you are amped, DR really doesn't help all that much, because amp is not just a simple double damage curse. It actually reduces your physical resistance by 100%. So instead of -100% DR, with SS on you have -65%... really not a very significant difference. So why do I wear String? Well, mostly for the leech and MDR, but the 15% DR doesn't hurt.

Back to the IK issue: I think if you want a Barb that can kill in larger games (slowly, but still faster than anything short of a very expensive Barb build) IK is the way to go. The 40% CB on the weapon is more than you can get from any other build without either sacrificing a lot of gear or paying big for a runeword weapon like Doom or something. But if you just want a build that can solo Trav, Pit, Act5, etc. I'd rather go with a shield build.

Man, this turned out way too long, and I've completely lost my train of thought...

[Ankeli]

tbh next season (hah, hoping for it) my first char will be an IK barb :) i merely need to grab an ist from my hellforge and i get the whole set -.-
ptopazing the sockets i get 200'ish mf and can run any god damn monster :)

[PhatTrumpet]

I think you'd be hard pressed to get the entire set for an Ist rune at the beginning of a ladder season. It takes a while for people to start running high lvl areas safely and accumulate wealth, whereas everyone who goes through hell Hellforge will have a decent rune to their name. Sacred armors don't drop all that often either.

[ragnar_ii]

well since I did make an oath CS and already traded for SS im definitly going to go with that route. Plus he was only mainly gonna be used for soloing runs, so it works out with what you said. Thanks.

OT-seriously tho, nobody is having problems accessing the forums from diabloii.net? i have to log on through rpgforums.net. And when i do that, every loads so SLOW. On average a page will load in about 1.5-2 minutes.

[LuckyDwarf]

seriously tho, nobody is having problems accessing the forums from diabloii.net? i have to log on through rpgforums.net. And when i do that, every loads so SLOW. On average a page will load in about 1.5-2 minutes.

I'm not having problems coming here, since my home page is this hardcore forum. :) For the past 2-3 years, or however long I've been here, this place has loaded really slowly, even with my Roadrunner connection. I don't complain though, great place.

Lucky

[sorcees]

I think you'd be hard pressed to get the entire set for an Ist rune at the beginning of a ladder season. It takes a while for people to start running high lvl areas safely and accumulate wealth, whereas everyone who goes through hell Hellforge will have a decent rune to their name. Sacred armors don't drop all that often either.


After reset, within a week, lots off people are MF'ing in HELL.
And you can do a hellforge a day.

[Moosashi]

Well, I actually have an IK barb and I love him. Not having a shield has not been a problem for soloing any area in hell (just don't use zerk for your main attack). Defense with IK set is enormous and that, imo, is the key to the build's success. Each piece of armor except the helm (which has high def by itself) gets huge defense bonuses from the set. With shout - and now some points in iron skin - my defense is around 14k Most monsters in hell have about a 15% chance to land a blow. It's also very easy to get max resistances, the set alone, without any other gear or charms will get you pretty close. Another bonus: since you don't have a shield and you're using a maul, you don't need much dex. A ravenfrost and the AR bonus from the set should take care of any chance to hit problems. Put all those extra stat points in vitality and you'll clear 4K life easily.

Offense is clearly the disadvantage of the build, but it's still fairly strong. My barb does 3k-5k listed damage. Some of that is poison damage from the maul, but it's still plenty to kill basically anything in a 1 player game on the first or second pass. Don't forget the demon/undead ed on the maul either. If you feel cheesy, got to the pit (where everything is a demon or undead) and you'll totally pwn.

I've built a fair number of barbs in my time, and this one is one of the best.

[TheDarkSide]

As most have said Ik is a good overall set . I was running mine around today as I found a 40 CB Ik Maul and needed 5 strength to equip it . The one I originally had was 39 CB and I Hel'ed it for some reason . I guess cause I didnt want to get the 225 strength originally . Now I got the 80 Ias IK maul going and WOW its fun . I ran Baal , Trav , Pits , and Ancients way on my way to level 82 and was amazed how easy it was . Your in for some good times if ya can get the set completed ..

[Ankeli]

guess this has been said but the only thing that can kill an IK barb is your own stupidity, Iron Maiden :)

My iK baba confronted DK's in wsk3 and suicided @ lvl 94. he had survived countless tppk's and other obstacles without a problem til that point :(