leap attack as main skill??

[halohalo]

This may sound dumb, but is there any barb using leap attack as their main skill? Seems like this skill, if maxed with synergy, has the most output of damage. There are drawbacks too, but the damage is good enough that someone might have thought of a way to get around the bad sides? Just a curiosity. :D

[stuartpierce]

Many versions ago, I had a Leap Attack + Whirlwind barb that was great. Leap Attack was excellent for jumping over fireballs and getting to the leaders of monster packs. Great for bosses, too.
Whirlwind took care of my crowd control. Haven't played a barb in years, though.

Stuart

[DiiNightGyr]

Many versions ago, I had a Leap Attack + Whirlwind barb that was great. Leap Attack was excellent for jumping over fireballs and getting to the leaders of monster packs. Great for bosses, too.
Whirlwind took care of my crowd control. Haven't played a barb in years, though.


i dont think i've ever seen a leap attack barb...altho it's high dmg, u can only hit one thing at a time, so no crowd control, plus things can move while you're in midair leap, so you can miss or get led into a bad situation (giant monster packs, etc).....i think ww or conc is better in every situation, and if you want the knockback/fhr effect, just go with leap (no attack)

[Halciet]

Leap Attack was used as a main attack with Whirlwind way, way back in like 1.06 or so, but LA is so hard to control that it's not very effective.

If you want to give it a try, search the forums/google for a "booyaka" barb build.

-Hal

[XDoomasX]

LA is realy nice and powerfull skill, for crowd control leap is enough.

Short leaps backs of monsters and then short LA to one hit kill them, one by one;)

Here you go http://www.froglicker.net/d2/leap.html Booyaka guide

[Muzzy Roberto]

There's a 'Dragoon' guide on GameFaqs.com, and that would be a Leaper who uses spears... like Dragoons do on Final Fantasy Games... Check it out there. Granted, it doesn't tell you much, but it's nice to know that somewhere, someone thought that a Dragoon class, one of the lamer FF classes, would make a nice build in Diablo 2.

[TheDanRathersProject]

One of my friends made one is 1.10 and used ik set I think. He was able to kill almost any char in PvP that just stoud there and let him leap atack on them. When people found out he was a leap atack barb they would jutst move when they saw him leap.

[halohalo]

I mean, instead of leaping to monsters away from you, you could still use LA to the monster 'right beside' you (without the leaping animation that is).

So, I was suggesting to use LA in place where you would normally use Berserk or Conc. Your barb will not jump, just do the dmg right there where he stands. whoever tried this would know what I mean.

Max LA will do over 800% ED, compared to less than 400% ED of conc with max synergy. LA will have more AR too. That and a weapon mastery will give you nearly +1000% ED with +500% AR. You don't spend more points compared to conc build either.

Well, am I missing something here?

[Halciet]

Conc cannot be interrupted, while leap attack can. Similarly, conc boosts your defense on swing, making you harder to hit, and you don't actually spend more points getting the damage up there, since the synergy - Battle Orders - is maxed on every barb build in creation anyways. The bash synergy is pointless, as is the berserk one. Furthermore, you have to have a point of conc on pretty much every combat barb build (since every barb needs a point of berserk, and conc is a prereq for it), while you don't need leap attack unless you're going whirlwind. Conc also only costs 2 mana, and can be used many more times per second than leap attack can.

-Hal

[Zipje_en_Zopje]

Funny, I'm making a new leaper right now ...

Halciet, although he is 100% correct, forgets 1 thing: Concentrate is the most boring skill ever created in a video game! You're basically standing in a pack of monsters, holding the attack button until your target dies and then start over on the next monster ...

Instead, there is something incredibly fun about jumping all over the screen, either by leaping for stunning everything on screen or leap-attacking to smash things.

Leap-attacking a monster right next to you does not work however - you'll do the damage of a normal attack even though you make the leap attack sound. Crowd control is thus a pain as leap has a very short stun length.

I have not invested anything in Berserk: killing a PI with Zerk is just too slow. With high defense and good leap, you can jump ove the PI-mobs instead and forget about them. But maybe I'll sink some points in Whirlwind by late hell to take on crowds.

[BardBernard]

I mean, instead of leaping to monsters away from you, you could still use LA to the monster 'right beside' you (without the leaping animation that is).

So, I was suggesting to use LA in place where you would normally use Berserk or Conc. Your barb will not jump, just do the dmg right there where he stands. whoever tried this would know what I mean.

Well, am I missing something here?

I'm pretty sure that if you attack with leap attack but don't get the jump animation then you have just done a normal attack. If you want to attack the nearby monster with the leap attack bonuses hold Alt and do a leap attack on the nearby ground. When your barb lands he'll attack any monster in range.

[jgreg7]

Effective, maybe not. But I am working an IK LA barb through NM right now, and he is enormous fun to play! I love the way he sails across the screen and brings the hammer down! (The booyaka guide (http://www.froglicker.net/d2/leap.html) is also a fun read in its own right.)

I can confirm the result about monsters at close range. Despite the LA sound (and corresponding mana loss), it only does a normal attack. I have been using bash to push them far enough away, or more often howl when several monsters are nearby. Once you get started the knockback from each LA will keep them at a suitable range. Another technique that helps is to alternate between two monsters, rather than focus on one at a time. This is particularly effective when your merc is mobbed, and you can go back and forth over his head.

The LA bug, where the skill gets frozen out until you save&exit, is a bigger annoyance. However I've just reached clvl 57, and only experienced it twice so far.

[fredsta54]

pressing alt and using leap attack will let you la them even when they are in melee range


Having played the booyaka la barb, heres my .02

It is fun, but ik set is all visuals, although on a budget it is good. If i were to remake it, i would definately use a range 5 big hurty weapon. Like an ebotd war pike. With fortitude. And all those other nice hurty weapons.

Dont put a point to whirlwind. If you do, it will end up being your main attack.










Fred

[Neurofuzzy]

LA can be fun in PvM (I used to have an LA barb long ago), but it is pointless in PvP (nobody is stupid enough to stay there and wait until you land, and "tanker" builds like other barbs and some palys block 75% of the attacks, have high def and use DR items, so it is very seldom a one hit kill).