Life Leecher Barb -Build

[ohjeohje]

People having problems killing stuff in CS because Iron maiden? I might have solution for it. Please note that this build is mainly maded for NM and Hell CS running and no means other places!

So what your barb need is life leech and lots of it, we aim to 50% at least. So what weapon to choose, I have 2 options either Martel de Fer (good durability) or Lance (for range, but bad for durability). But I personally love Lance because you need dex and with this gear you dont really get huge AR though Sigon does help some (unless sacrificing life leech for angelic combo).

Anyways I go for stats

Str = 110 for lance or 169 for Martel
Dex = 88 for lance or base for Martel (though AR might be problem after that but sigon set helps)
Vita = rest points to it
energy = not needed

Skill points

WW = 20
Mastery = 20
BO = 20
BC = 1
resists = 1-5 points (if want max resists or you have very good rings to boost resists)
rest points, spend where ever you want aka prequireties (SP?) :)

Go for the gear now!

total Life Leech % = 0%

Armor = Greyform for the resists and dex boost or Boneflesh for open wounds and some AR ;)

total Life leech % = 5%

Rings = Poor mans choice is 2x Cathans rings adding whopping 12 life leech but if you are richer I would pick Str, DEX, 6% life leech and resist ring for sure

total life leech % = 17%

Amulet = The Eye of Etlich, nuff said 7% life leech and cold dmg is enough to choose this amulet and +1 skill is nice bonus.

total life leech % = 23%

Boots and helm = No other choice than sigon helm and boots. Whanna know why? 2 items gives 10% life leech and Sigon helm gives nice AR boost per level, this is must choose and some AR from boots and MF too ;)

total life leech % = 33%

Belt and gloves = Deaths belt and gloves. Giving precious 8% life leech and bonus immune to cold and all resists too (15%) and poison too with 30% ias if need to beat without WW.

total life leech % = 41%

Weapon = finaly best part, 6 socketed weapon with P.Skulls each givin 4% life leech and 3% mana. So totally 24%, This part can be changed as if you are exping somewhere else than CS with high damaging weapon or you want to kill diablo with 300 dmg weapon.

total life leech % = 65%

this 65 of course heavily lowered when playing in hell as 1/4 giving 16% life leech but still is very good amount.

Enemies to look out before engaging = NONE, Multiple Lightning shot enchanted monsters should not give any problems when whirlwinding through but I recommend be cautious when lower resist or aura is present. Iron maiden is not problem anymore, just WW through and watch how your life goes up every time they hit you and you hit back.

Negative sides = Low dmg but can be fixed with rattlecage for crushing blow or partieng with concentration paladin. And major thing is that repairs cost like fortune, so be ready to grab 35k stuff to sold to vendors to earn money to repair ;)

With this LIfe leech and huge Life with BO, You can solo CS without fear of dying.

Questions or comments just ask!

[norvi11erogers]

Have you actually tried this? Pretty sure your damage would be too low with that 6 socket weapon, and also pretty sure that im will still do more damage than you will leech.

[goomba]

to me at least, this seems about as effective as just using gtoes and rattle, or flesh with bo sticks, or a wand that "ignores target's defense"

sure, you won't die from WW through the hoards with IM blanketing you, but you sure won't do much killing either. Niether is going to be especially quick at clearing a CS.

I'm not a slave to remembering each and every item, but it would also appear that there is very little fhr in this build? zero fhr, combined with a WW that ends in the middle of a hoard, and a single mana stealer = quick death.

if the only point is nm/normal cs's, the xp loss isn't as big of a deal, may as well just blast through norm (zero exp loss from dying) and if careful, one can clear a nm cs, and minimze death from IM by combining leap+stun, and careful application of WW (and going after the obvliions first)

[ohjeohje]

Have you actually tried this? Pretty sure your damage would be too low with that 6 socket weapon, and also pretty sure that im will still do more damage than you will leech.

Well my 83 lvl HC does this in CS runs in Hell, usually killing lord de seis and/or going for middle TP for CS (for other players to join) and I personally can clean 2-3 players Hell CS with this barb alone, but bigger parties I usually just go for Lord de seis with help of auras. NM this build kills fast and normal i dont see point going at all.

With maulers you could use 200% bonesnap (minimun %) to get some kills but have to be extra careful.

And this build items are easy to get, not like uber 300 dmg weapons etc, only problematic could be good EYE amu or death set gloves/belt.

edit again: Sure Manaburns give some problems but I rarely WW randomly to pack of monsters if I see boss monster there without first looking it stats.

[fledgeling]

my bonesnap barb used to have 29% leech (7etlich, 10sigon, 12rings) and often could survive iron maiden (barely)
but the problem was that with bonesnap+goblins the damage was still not satysfying in my opinion

btw. dont the obvilion knights around seis have mana burn? sometimes a random monster hits me and I lose all mana (or is there some curse?)
I sometimes lose mana when get hit by a random monster in random acts

[ohjeohje]

yes CS has naturally mana burner monsters there

[Fearlessone]

...this 65 of course heavily lowered when playing in hell as 1/4 giving 16% life leech but still is very good amount.
Iron maiden is not problem anymore, just WW through and watch how your life goes up every time they hit you and you hit back.
Negative sides = Low dmg but can be fixed with rattlecage for crushing blow or partieng with concentration paladin. ...With this LIfe leech and huge Life with BO, You can solo CS without fear of dying!
16% life leech after the hell penalty is factored in still isnt much. In the old days before 1.10, u had to have at least 30% life leech to have a reasonable chance of surviving an IM. 40% would usually give u a very good chance. Now in 1.10, thats nothing, only 10% really. Of course, u are using low dmg weapons....

Well, u are playing not in 6-8 person games, but 2-3 peeps or even solo. So u are performing in a 2 person game with no enhanced dmg like a barb does in full game with +150+% ed. Still, I see IM kill so fast, that I am skeptical like some of the other guys here that u could survive it for long. This is especially if u get ahold of any conc aura. That will make up for most of the lack of dmg and therefore u will be = SPLAT.

My necro has given out LifeTap in Nm and Hell cs games, and it hardly keeps any barbs alive. That is because they have high dmg weapon and conc aura on them and have long ago given up on any life leech items to save them. Even life tap seems to be part of the leech nerf in hell. Its very depressing to see barbs die when I use it, in the before times they ALWAYS survived.

BARB SURVIVAL IN CS:
If u want to survive IM as a ww barb in the hell cs, there are a few ways. U dont ww when any mages are present(unless u have a low dmg weapon), u check out the area ahead of u and if ok, u leap or run back and ww away. Most of the time, tho, there will be mages ahead of u. U will have to taunt the mob ur way, where the mages wont be able to curse u. Problem is, they sometimes follow u around corners,and sometimes u miss seeing one hiding behind an obstruction. This is very bad for HC. U can also get a respectable lvl of warcry and use it on the 2-3 mages around. Then ww them, sometimes using howl and then warcry to have nice clean targets. This is not possible with boss Oblivions or champs. Stun doesnt work on them like it used to. Remember that skill, stun? What a joke that Blizzard nerfed it.

Use warcry/berserk on monsters and mages if there is more than one mage around and they are spread out. U have to use the warcry first, otherwise the mage will decrep u during the berserk. Berserk isnt much good with a low dmg weapon in a large sized game, unless conc aura is present. Fan is even better for this skill :sunny:

Beware conc aura, fan aura, or amp/decrep cursing necros in the cs. These will all raise ur dmg greatly and are applied to IM. Some have said that crushing blow isnt applied to IM. Somewhere I read that a successful crushing blow first applies the crushing blow % on the monsters life, then applies the damage from the swing.

Never assume that since u are very close to a mage on the cartoon screen, that u really are close in Blizzards computer. A warcry or quick hit with the left icon(have leap, berserk or wimpy skill here) will tell u if u are in decrep range or in IM range. Mages really right next to u cannot IM, they can only decrep.

It was well known years ago to use a lower dmg weapon in the CS. Some barbs tried to use the 6 pskulld items. It wasnt necessary then cuz leech hadn't been nerfed. For HC and the leech nerf, it might be necessary to use this type of weapon if u insist on ww'ing. If u have a necro friend, ask for LifeTap. Also, his minions or other players will indeed be necessary to kill boss and champ mages - these have to be killed one at a time, while the rest of the party/minions have the remainder 'tied up'.

[Creon]

What was the IM return in 1.09? I've always thought 10%, but thinking about it, that sounds low.

[Fearlessone]

...U can also get a respectable lvl of warcry and use it on the 2-3 mages around. Then ww them, sometimes using howl and then warcry to have nice clean targets. This is not possible with boss Oblivions or champs. Stun doesnt work on them like it used to.
Let me clarify this, cuz it takes only one boss or pack of champs to ruin a HC barb. Howl does not ever work on oblivions, any bosses or any champs, or oblivion champs. Warcry does, but only about 20% of the casts. Meanwhile, the champs will move away from u and spread out, making it very dangerous to ww the warcry-stunned mages. Berserk is a very slow way of killing, they will decrep u before a successful warcry gets thru. Its just best to have other party members near the remainder of oblivions on or just offscreen. Then take a harmless swat at the boss or champ mage of interest to see if he is really near u, and ww away; or try to warcry-stun him.

Years ago, warcry always worked on bosses and mages. It was nerfed. Stun too was nerfed, but the high cast rate of warcry gives it an advantage over stun. Poor Alastor, the famous stun barb.


----Creon: Jarulf did some work on this and somehow found out what the level of Iron maiden was for the oblivions. I forget the exact facts. But it became established that ur leech had to be about 40% to match the iron maiden returned damage.

[Creon]

I remember 40% being the magic number, but I was just checking through the 1.10 patch notes and found this:
"- Life leeching is now determined by each monster type and reduced below
100% in Nightmare and Hell Difficulties."

I could have sworn that the 1/2 penalty in Nightmare and 1/4 penalty in Hell were always around, and I distinctly remember believing they existed as far back as 1.06. This is where I've always got the number 10% IM return, since that would be 1/4 of the 40% life leech number. What was this change in the notes? Was it only meant for how undead no longer leeched life?

Edit: Just looked through more notes and found this in 1.07:
"- Player can no longer steal Life/Mana from certain monster types."

Now I'm really wondering what the change was...

[Fearlessone]

That's for Lod which began in May 2001. There were a few days, around 1.07, during the beta testing for LoD, where Blizzard suddenly raised monster hitpoints, slapped on global physical resistance, raised elemental resistances, etc...perhaps even the shield dex formula too. There was quite an outcry, alot of peeps just didnt have the builds or gear to deal with it. After a few days, Blizz returned it to normal. Then in a month, LoD came out, with pretty much the same changes, for Nm and hell. This included the leech nerf.

I cant remember if the leech nerf was initially applied to classic. The dex shield formula was indeed, in 1.08, and then withdrawn after a month cuz it was so blatantly unfair, i mean who can get 140 dex here. So into 1.09, the leech nerf did NOT exist in classic, only in LoD. 1.10 then applied the 1/2 Nm and 1/4 hell nerf. The patch info isnt going to say anything about what was done to classic, it never does....

As for "player can no long steal mana/life from certain monster types" thats probably skellies, remember everyone beng upset since the sewers were a primary exp place?

[Creon]

That's where my confusion came from. In 1.09 I played both Classic and Expansion, so I must have been informed about the 1/4 leech in Expansion and assumed it applied to Classic, too. I knew the 1.07 note was meant for Skeletons, hence the edit. The game has been post 1.06 for so long that I guess I just blur a lot of that through 1.09 time together, now.

[WarlockCC]

I have a 1.09 CS barb and they worked really well with a mere 30%

Just tested it with 41% ll in Hell CS and I died very fast.
Then I tested it with 57% ll and I still died with a couple of my own hits.
I used :
5% from undead crown
5% from greyform
3% from rare gloves
10% from sig boots and belt
12% from 2 rare rings, 6% per ring
6% from rare amy
16% from a 6 sock martel de fer, 4PS 1 Psaph and 1 Peme.
A martel which I have had for a very long time, cause I remember it helped my first barb cross the durance of hate.

This build is not viable for me in the sense that you cannot out-leech IM. You might as well slap on more resists and WW carefully as usual. So excuse the hard verdict, but for me, this build is but a tactic for a barb to survive CS a bit better. Warcry the Oblivions and then take them out.

[Fearlessone]

Then I tested it with 57% ll and I still died with a couple of my own hits....So excuse the hard verdict, but for me, this build is but a tactic for a barb to survive CS a bit better. Warcry the Oblivions and then take them out.
I agree, the 2 extra pskulls wouldnt have kept u alive. Perhaps if u had used a lance, the extra str could have been put into life, remember the original poster built a vitabarb and he claimed to just ww away and not die. I am skeptical even with the higher life. When u ww, u can hit for up to 8 times, i cant remember if this applies to long ww's too, been a long time since i read this somewhere. Now if u have lousy attack rating, then maybe that will save u :laugh: I think this is possible in Nm, but hell? ...very skeptical.

The tragic thing about this is, in HC, even if u have a 99.9% of not being IM'd when u are ww'ing, that 0.1% is quite possibly going to get u killed, even if u have carefully selected ur equipment. U will prob ww about 30 times in a run. In 33 runs, thats 1000 ww's. Now in 100 runs, methinks u are dead....sorry.

[Tetsume]

i think my IQ just dropped from reading this build

[WarlockCC]

in 1.09 this was a viable build. Back then I could out-leech IM
I just kept on WW'ing even though I had IM on me and still got life back.
but no more. I don't think you can out-leech WW anymore. Only way to survive is to use a lot of potions and a crushflange or a Gnasher. Melee chars are just fooked. Simple as that. You can go for pure ll and still die in a few hits.

my 1.09 CS barb is a vita build with a snap.

In 1.1x there is no fast way to CS with a barb. you have to be carefull.

You can either do lots of damage and kill yourself trough IM
or do little damage and then not leech enough back to keep yourself alive when you are not IM'd.

The post did get my hopes up, that I might revive my CS barb and that barbs might have meaning again in CS, but alas, shattered dreams cut deep. :(