best skill dist. for a frenzy barb?

[camper]

hey been lurking for awhile this my first post.
pvm only

right now this is what im shooting for

20 double swing
20 frenzy
20 battle comand
20 taunt or weapon mastery, or shout, or ?
the usual 1 pointers. bo,leap attack,run\walk,berserk,defense skills,warcry

if i max taunt for the synergies i get about 30% mor dmg when using fury than if i went with a weapon mastery, but i lose any chance of critical hits which im not sure will make a difference anyway, and less att rating.

but im not tied down to one type of weapon,so i can use whatever i find, I'm what you'd call item challenged.:thumbsup:

taunt is really only usefull on ranged attackers, and doesnt work on named or bosses. which kinda sucks. but i plan on using warcry against those

with full synergies frenzy will do about 500% dmg

if i use this setup i wont have shout, which could be a problem....maybe

this really isnt about the items as of yet, i know the build is item dependant, but i want the best build possible, hopefully one that can kick butt and take names

MY main question is should i go for taunt? or is there a better choice.
or i am on the wrong track for a sucessful frenzy barb that can survive in hell?


so any ideas, things youd change, stuff i overlooked.
yeaH its a long post.

[Zanifer]

so why max battle command? It's not worth it, why not max BO, that is worth it. B i dont like taunt, its to just, unrealistic, and dont worry about shout, you wont have a shield, so shout will boost defense yes, but not to a point to make it uber succesful. Try to max ias out for 5 fpa, that way your gonna keep em recovering and only getting in minor attacks, unless of course your being raped by a group of baddies. My barb is layed out like this:

20 DS, 20 Frenzy, 11 Zerk [20 at 99, yea right, only go to 90, unless you have major plans], 20 bo, 20 mastery. 1 in inc speed and 1 in nat res. I didnt put one in battle command, i used cta for that, if your not so shall we say, rich on bnet, alter it to your needs of course. But think about things before you go through with em.

[Jankiac]

What is the best to master in? Maces? Swords? ??

[inanefedaykin]

Axes, they have the best damage to reqs ratio.

[Omikron8]

20 axe mastery
20 frenzy
20 bo
20 double swing
rest shout
1 res
1 speed
1 battle command
ZERO taunt
1 find item

[Terenas]

20 axe mastery
20 frenzy
20 bo
20 double swing
rest shout
1 res
1 speed
1 battle command
ZERO taunt
1 find item
I am using a setup similar to this. I am still undecided about getting lvl 10 Taunt.
I currently have no pts in it, and I thought to get Leap and Leap Attack for mobility reasons. I have also thought to raise Shout.
Going from 0 to 10 Taunt would raise my average weapon damage (no charms included) from 2471/3244 to 2601/3415 (approximation, I do not have lcs to check now), while the increase exists it doesn't seem anything to write home about. Shout could be interesting to increase def, but I don't know if it would be that effective, I have +|- 10k DR now.

I could drop Taunt to get Leap Attack/Find Items/Shout instead :scratch:

Bye

[camper]

i got the two mixed up i meant to say BO:rolleyes:

right now im at clvl 45 with points dist. like this

20frenzy
10DS
6BO
1 taunt
1 battlecry
1 run speed
1 in iron skin and resists
and 1 in leap attack.
i think i'll just save points for weapon mastery for when i get good items and put 1 in zerk and find items. the reason im item challenged is becuase i've let my account expire about three times since the game has came out.:shocked:

why 11 points in zerk? isnt 1 all you really need? or is it so you can kill PI's with frenzy?

i was reading one of the guides in the forum and it said to use warcry. is it really as usefull as he makes it out to be? the stun length doesnt seem like its long enough to be usefull.

[Zanifer]

yes, but i do ubers, often, and i often use zerk, i dont jsut frenzy, but charge up speed then frenzy speed still continues for 6 secs when i use frenzy. Plus i like the skill for pis n what not, and its more damage, w/e, dot if you dont like, i only go to 90, but if i were to go to 99, id max it.

[Omikron8]

zerk does NOT ADD magic damage to your frenzy attack

it converts part of your frenzy damage to magic damage

which makes the synergy suck even more

if you really want a PI solution there are much better non-skill options

-dual gimmer on switch or bstar
-reaper toll on merc
-atma ammy on you
-elemental charms

[inanefedaykin]

I spend my last points in zerk for frenziers. It gives pretty good damage on zerk and given that most monsters have some resistance to phys it never hurts.

[camper]

zerk does NOT ADD magic damage to your frenzy attack

it converts part of your frenzy damage to magic damage

which makes the synergy suck even more

what are basing that off?

from the wording in the frenzy skill im pretty sure it takes the percentage of your damage and adds the magic dmg to your total. not convert a portion of it.
besides even with 20 in zerk the added mag dmg to frenzy is kinda low anyway.


so what about warcry? useful 1 pointer? or big waste of time?

[Evrae Altana]

No, the Berserk synergy just converts a percentage of your damage into magical damage; it does not add on magical damage. That's just the way it is.

[Omikron8]

with enough BO life (3k+) and sufficient life leech and some decent res you don't need warcry to survive in hell

the time you waste casting warcry can be used to kill monsters

[Zanifer]

zerk does NOT ADD magic damage to your frenzy attack

it converts part of your frenzy damage to magic damage

which makes the synergy suck even more

if you really want a PI solution there are much better non-skill options

-dual gimmer on switch or bstar
-reaper toll on merc
-atma ammy on you
-elemental charms

i did not mean to imply it adds damage, or that i use it as a strick synergy, the fact that it is a synergy is a plus. but i use berserk as the skill, after i use frenzy, that way i can attack much faster with per magical damage from berserk

[Terenas]

I wasn't sure about taking berserk skill at all, in the end I did and I am not even remotely disappointed, I like to be able to somehow get rid of the pesky U-Baal minions :)
Plus, in general PVM zerk is nice to avoid ohnonotagainIMdeaths.