Best untwinked barb mfer.

[crawlingdeadman]

i intend to ask this question of all the class forums eventually, but i want to know what each individual class experts thinks.

What is the "best" untwinked version of a barb?

what i am looking for is a char that can, with relative ease get to act one hell and preferably above with the intent of being an mfer. a few benefits (as i see them anyway) of having a barb be the initial mfer of say a new ladder season;
1) only requires one (or two if frenzy) good piece of equipment to be "effective" a good weapon
2) has good res, life, mana with out any gear at all.
4) melee has an easier time with lvls 1-30 than many "caster" types
3) and most important 2xdrops with find item.

to date i have only one truely successfull barb char (war cry). i am currently attempting a semi-untwinked frenzier to help me decide this question myself.

so, what kind of barb can put a few extra points into an early skill/synergy for easier time in norm, and can make it to hell to kill pit like creatures easily while wearing ptopaz/mf equip (but not needing 2x botd to do it). a perfect char is not what im looking for a few extra points in nat res or spreading a few around a couple of masteries, as well as a bit more str are to be taken into consideration. i'd think that lvl 75-80 would be the target for mfing act one hell w/o "good" gear, tell me if im way off.

im not looking for a guide im looking for opinions, that said a rough sketch of what you would expect for skills wouldnt hurt.

i Searched around a little to see if this had been asked before but coulndt find that it had...if it has please direct me to it :thumbsup:

[inanefedaykin]

I voted conc but changed my mind as the vote was going in.
Berzerk is easily the best skill for this. All you really need is a big hurty weapon, a shield and a level 20 war cry.

[inanefedaykin]

Crawl, you should post some silly reply that doesn't really add anything in order to bump this.

[Darksteel]

I 2nd Zerker. Hell you can get buy with using howl and taunt to pick and choose which mobs to fight. And even untwinked you should be able to kill most mobs in 1-2 hits because of zerk's massive damage. Also is nice against bosses once again because of the massive damage.

[Lyrs]

Cast Buffs
Cast Howl
Cast Taunt
Cast War Cry or Battle Cry if boss
Kill it
Create Grim Totem/Hork
Repeat

[WebDragon]

I agree with the Berzerk barb assessment because:

1. Unresistable, big damage.
2. Use of a shield for blocking and bloster resists.
3. The inherent loss of defense from Bezerk makes it easier for you to use a 4 ptopaz gothic shield all the way to hell, since you won't have defense when it counts anyway.

I'd also like to propose a WW Polearm barb, because:

1. Bigger damage. Much bigger damage. Crowd killing. We all know that mfing is a balance between mf and killing speed. This guy will have the speed.

2. The lack of a shield is offset by the fact that the monsters will actually have to contend with your "shouted" defense.

3. You can still put 1 point into bezerk because its already synergized. Put a decent 1-hd weapon on switch with a shield, and you'll have the choice of both as fits the situation.

20 into Shout, Bo, WW, Mastery, 1 into bezerk, BC, Nat Resist, Iron Skin, FI. 7 prereqs, that's achievable by level 81. Rest of the points split between nat resist and FI.

[PhatTrumpet]

Concentrate is slow even with decent gear while Whirlwind requires mana leech and a relatively specific type of weapon (good damage, sufficient base speed, enough ias, and decent range) to be effective.

Another vote for Berserk ("Other").

[crawlingdeadman]

thanks all for your responses, it's been interresting so far. i of course didnt even think of a zerker. i would like some more feedback on this though. 206 views, 12 votes and 6 replies? is it b/c most people have no experience with untwinked barbs? vote, give a short reason, critique someone else's reasoning. everyone and his dog makes a sorc for mf...blah. i want to kill once and get 2x the drops a sorc could.

[Lyrs]

Farming is the key issue. It's more difficult to get to Hell Mephisto without teleport.

[PhatTrumpet]

A Barb with decent FRW / Increased Speed, Howl, and Leap / Leap Attack actually does surprisingly well. A Berserk build would more than likely have all of that... it's the tanking-Hell-Meph part that could get a little hairy. Maybe use a Life Tap wand and switch to Concentrate?

[WebDragon]

I'd think that you'd want to farm something more accessible, like the pits. You should be able to get there in no time, and no one in there is physical or magic immune. Also, if you want to go for mass killing, maybe solo nightmare cows?

As for playing untwinked barbs.. To be honest if I start a new ladder with a barb, which I've done once already, I just make him an IK barb. All the peices are pgem fodder, which you should be able to collect easily, and you can equip a 1hd weapon + 4 pdiamond shield while you wait for all-important armor. You can bank on a lucky forge drop to trade for it, which I did, and did get lucky. Otherwise, just wear all the ik peices you can get sans armor and weapon, and wear a 4 ptopaz armor + a shopped or low lvl runeword 1hd mace + 4pdiamond shield. You will have to lean on your merc a lot in that period, but mercs can be made to kill in early hell quite easily with a little shopping.

That should not only hold you off until you get the armor, but also, with 2 ptopazes in the helm, will give you a decent amount of mf, between 194 and 209. Then just run the pits until you accumulate enough to trade for an IK armor.

Once you get the armor and complete the set, at the very least you'll have a very durable character that can pretty much run anything. It might not be fast, but it sure is doable, especially key runs, with dkeys being a peice of cake. A ptopaz in the armor will push your mf to 240, without sacrificing any killing speed.

Run, Leap, Kill, Hork. :azn:

[sirwhere]

I've returned to b.net recently after 3 years absence (untwinked, thus) with a frenzy babo.

Man, does he suck or what. Doing 200-500 damage in hell barely puts a dent through monsters (couldn't find better weapon so far), and we're talking 1 person games. If it wasn't for a lucky goblin toe drop and a Raven Frost trade, I'd have put him on hold and made a sorcie. (Not going back to nightmare... I hate downgrading.. lol.)

The build MAY be viable without crushing blow if you manage to farm two 3-socket elite swords off late nightmare and stick King's grace into it. That's what I'm doing right now :)

Whirlwind is definitely out. You need a huge weapon and lots of leech. Both are difficult to get, if not outright impossible.

Berserk + warcry is probably the best bet for a newbie baboster. Use a shield (you'll get rather raped if you don't - I've been there), and keep the mastery of choice open for the first good drop that comes. Use a babo helm in the meantime for some mastery in the weapon you're using at each moment.

Don't worry about magic find. It hurts your resistances (badly!) and runes and socketables is there the money is anyway. With a good rune or two, you'll get whatever else you need. A vulpine item or two would be great as well, to keep the mana for warcry filled up.

After gathering stuff for new characters, the baboster can still be used for countess and travincal/meph runs.

Oh, and you'll have an easy time with the ancients (for a change!). Zerk/shield/potions owns them... lol. The flayer jungle will be exasperating, though. But you can always run over it.. lol. Try a prayer mercenary too. Lessens the strain on the potion keyboard.. lol.

[PhatTrumpet]

Why is it that everyone seems to favor Berserk but all the votes have gone to WW, Frenzy, and Conc...?