Shout - BO - Conc Barb

[Grignr]

Shield-less iron-barb, so I can focus on massive Defense and Damage. Plausability scale? Should I go for Swords, on the off-chance I find a shield or a one-hander so good I cant live without it, or go with Axes or Hammers or Polearms for mastery?

[Halciet]

The stat placement differences between 2h and 1h builds would make it unplausible to try and make a 2h build that would adapt later for 1h if you found a good shield. The amount of dex you would have to pump to effectively use a shield if you found it would be totally wasted using a two-handed weapon, so you should just focus on one or the other. Characters level very easily these days anyways, so you can always rebuild later.

As usual, of course, I will throw in my cautionary remark about using a conc barb with a 2h weapon. It's not that they won't work fine, it's just that A, a shield just adds so much to the character in terms of defense (both through actual def and blocking/mods/socketing space), and B, conc is a "normal" swing type attack, meaning it doesn't have fixed breaks for 1h/2h weapons like whirlwind, but rather determines the swing speed based on the weapon you choose. Thus, slower base speed weapons have a larger impact on the amount of IAS you need when put into the IAS calculator.

Taking into account that most 2h weapons are in the 10-20 attack speed range and the swing speed penalty they receive in the formula for being 2h in general, it's hard to get to a decent speed using them. I.E. a berserker axe will get to 9 frames at 125% ias. IK maul, one of the faster 2h weapons thanks to its inherent 40% ias, two sockets, and base of 10 instead of 20, would only get to 12 frames at that amount.

Just something to think about.

-Hal

[Chimaira]

Didn't know that 2h had a speed penalty except for Zeal where only 1-handers get 4 frames.. Is this only for Barb/concentrate or is it general??

[Halciet]

For any normal type attack, 2h weapons calculate slower, even if they have the same base speed as a 1h weapon. For example, compare the breakpoints for a ghost spear and a berserker axe; both are base speed 0. The breaks for the berserker axe are 75% ias for 10 frames and 125% ias for 9 frames. The ghost spear, however, has breaks of 78% for 12 frames, 117% for 11 frames, and 194% for 10 frames.

-Hal

[Chimaira]

Thanks alot Hal:) Never really played much with normal attacks with frenzy, zeal and such.