barb setup

[smeer]

Hi, most people use Dracul's Grasp on a ww/frenzy barb, primarily because Dracul's Grasp are great for ubers due to lifetab and OW is great for PvP

However for a WW/frenzy barb in PvM I think LoH are superior vs Dracul's Grasp. You're merc can use The Reaper's Toll and start Decrepifying
Lifetap is not needed in exept for ubers, Lifetap doesn't activate when you ww, and lifetap doesn't work well in combi with decrep.

I prever decrep most of the time, PI's are just a laugh even without beserk.
You can simply stand in the middle of a pack of Wraith's with a Wraith boss with fanatism and amp curse. Take a step back, so you're merc can hit a few times, decrep will activate and the Wraith pack will do way less damage, due to 50% less dmg and slow, but most important PI will be removed, which enable you to do damage and leech again. They were always a pain for my barb and often I ignored them or beserked them. Beserk works, however beserk has the disadvantage the you can't leech, defence will be 0 and since you are constantly manadrained, a pack of Wraith's with a Wraith boss with fanatism and amp curse will give you some serious trouble.
However decrep will work far better. Maybe if you have pride that would be better then Reapers, but I wonder....

So I choose LoH and use reapers on my merc, instead of dracul (and doom on my merc). I only switch to dracul when I need to kill ubers

I'd like to hear your opinions/experience...

[Spankeh]

OMFG!!!

Finally someone around here has some brains, to understand the mechanics of this game.
Seriously, ive been ethugged around here, because its such a whack way to build a frenzy barb.

I salute u smeer.

LoH best gloves for frenzy, but your implementation of Decrepify, while ok, can be improved.

Ready?

Instead of relying on your merc to cast decrep, use this combo with your LoH.

Grief pb main hand, and Lawbringer pb off hand.
Use these as switch weapons, while still keeping your main weaps.
Its a STUNNING combo, that equals ebotdz and edeathz for general pvm play.
Check out what decrep curse and sanctuary aura combined can do for your Grief pb, and Undead OMFG.

The -50% to monster physical resists is just pure gold for more damage and more leech (mana and life) GG :thumbsup:

Other good thing about decrep, is the damage reduction.
And in two effective ways:

1. 50% reduced damage dealt from monster, and..
2. 50% slower attack speed.

What that means is the amount of damage leaving the monsters' axe is halved.
It also means that the amount of times the monster swings/attacks is halved.

Thats equal to 75% damage reduction, before you factor in your own damage reduction items into the equation.
While i love Amplify Damage curse, it doesnt have this massive damage reduction like Decrepify

So yes, LoH great glove for frenzy, specially if your main weaps are a little slower like Colossal Blades/Swords or Ettin Axes or even for Berseker Axes.

Hats off to you.. :thumbsup:

[smeer]

Spankeh, thanks for the feedback.

Nobody else has an opinion about decrep (reapers) :rolleyes: ? Reading all the post I am sure there are some out there...:wink3:

[philippics]

Spankeh, that's an awesome switch to use. The knockback and ignore resists of sanctuary make all undead (including ob knghts) a breeze. Berserk works especially well here because only one enemy is engaged at a time.

What would be a good main weapon combo though? Grief pb + lawbringer pb does alright in this capacity, although lawbringer essentially doesn't do anything against non-undead monsters after it has cast decrep. So in not so many words:
1) Grief + lawbringer pb
2) Grief + grief pb
3) Grief + lastwish pb
4) ???
Which combo does best against the non-undead?

[Spankeh]

Probably Grief pb + Grief pb for massive damage to demons.
But since you have a mix of undead and demons all the time, Grief and Lawbringer is godly.
Only downfall with this combo is not enough life and mana leech, so i switch back to main weaps, which (i use) ebotdcb and edeathcb to top up my 2 bulbs after a couple of swings.
Once Decrep is cast (even on phys immune undead and demons) main leech weapon will take care of anything pretty quickly

And last thing, Last wish casts lifetap, so this will counter decrepify, so avoid, unless your ubering (im attempting ubers next week with no lifetap, see how we go lol)