warcry/berserk barb

[Deltren]

I heard that warcry works on bosses, Eitehr Way I was making a berserk/ww barb that will use either polearms or poleaxes for the large range. I was thinking of having warcry has my secondary skill aside from concentrate.

I did see a MF barb DW gulls saying he used warcry to do his work. Is this plasuable?

What is your experience with this?

[Fifty Squirrels]

It can work at Normal difficulties and possibly Nightmare, not Hell though.

[OneFromBeyond]

It can work, but it is very mana intensive. The problem in classic is the lack of +skills and that you cannot (efficiently) weapon switch. My primary attacks were to stun the group then take 2 or 3 swings (depending on attack speed) and then stun again. The other option is to use War Cry as your primary skill and use Berserk to finish physical immunes. The only problem with this is mana consumption (be sure to have at least 2 columns of mana/rejuv's at all times)

The best setup that I could find was this:
STATS:
Strength: 100-150: remember that all items have +strength stats so no need to go overboard
Dexterity: none: the AR bonuses from the items and Berserk will help out
Vitality: rest
Energy: none (or very little). I sometimes use 5 points in here if I am having *real* troubles with mana, but usually none. The reward isn't high enough!

SKILLS
Max: (in this order please)
BATTLE ORDERS: doubling your health and mana
HOWL: Synergy for both Berserk and War Cry
BERSERK: Your primary attack. If you are going to mainly use War Cry, just have 5 points in here and use the remaining points on Battle Cry.
WAR CRY: done last of the four because while useful, if you you won't have enough mana/items to use it efficiently until at least level 50 or so.

One-Point Wonders:
TAUNT
SHOUT
BATTLE CRY: excellent skill, and if you get higher than level 81 (yeah right) all additional skills should go in here
BATTLE COMMAND: for the +1 to all skills
MACE MASTERY: a very effective skill, but we don't have enough points to use more. +skill items will help here. It doesn't need to be said, but I'll say it anyway, please dedicate your one mastery point to the weapon that you'll be using!
INCREASED STAMINA
INCREASED SPEED
IRON SKIN
NATURAL RESISTANCES: all of the passives are excellent, but only one point is needed in each as we will have as many +skill items as possible (plus we don't have enough points)
BASH:
STUN:
CONCENTRATE: (above required for Berserk)
LEAP: necessary to increase movement

One of the nice things about a Singing Berserker is that you don't get hit all that much, so defense in PvM isn't that necessary. As far as things to look for in order of preference, here it is:
+ skills
+ mana
+ IAS
+ FCR
+ strength
+ Fire/Lightning Resist
+ damage
+ AR

Here is a (somewhat) optimal equipment setup
HELM: Tarnhelm/3 PSapphire Helm/Sigon's Helm
- for a Singing Barb, it is difficult to say if +72 Mana (as it is doubled with Battle Orders) or +1 skills is more beneficial. The other option is to go Sigon's Helm/Boots for the additional AR, or Sigon's Helm/Gloves for IAS if you don't want to go (or can't) with Death's

ARMOR: Silk's of the Victor/Berserker's/4 PSapphire Armor
- this is the +1 skills. I used Berserker's for the longest time (for the bonus to my warcries).

WEAPON: rare with +2 Barb Skills, +Mana, +IAS
- as all (most) Barb's, you will use a big weapon for Berserking. I also had two +2 Barb swords handy for prebuffing.

SHIELD: None

GLOVES: Magefist/Sigon's/Death's/Rare with +Str/Mana/IAS/resists
- In this spot we will be choosing either IAS or FCR. Only go with Sigon's or Death's if you are using them in combo with the Belt/Helm/etc. A good rare set of gloves can work wonders. Why am I not recommending Frostburns? While the +5% damage looks nice, as well as the percentage gain to mana, it is not recommended because the mana is not added with the battle orders.

BELT: Goldwrap/Sigon's/Death's/rare with +str/mana/resists
- once again, unless going for the Death's/Sigon's combos, a good rare belt will work just as well again here.

BOOTS: rare with 30FRW/+str/mana/resists
- again, a nice pair of rare boots can be found again

AMULET: rare with +1/2 Barb/+str/mana/resists/fcr
- anyone seeing a pattern here

RINGS: SOJx2/+str/mana/resists/fcr/ar
- probably 2 SOJ's would be optimal, but the rare options work again.

If you are playing untwinked or are starting out, just go for items with +mana/fcr/resists/strength overall and you will work out okay. If you want to play weapon and shield, probably a +2 BattleHammer/JaggedStar with a Sigon's Shield for the best +skills work the best. Remember if you go for a big sword that the dexterity requirements make it almost impossible to use.
If you are going the War Cry as your primary skill, I have also found two Shards to be optimal. You would have to have a big weapon in your stash to use against end guys though...

*OneFromBeyond

[Still-Xey-Lover]

Is the warcry barb effective in hell? I'm considering making one for cs runs..decent dmg/crowd control AND horking sounds nice.

[Mikk0]

Is the warcry barb effective in hell? I'm considering making one for cs runs..decent dmg/crowd control AND horking sounds nice.

my 2cents:

ww barb can do hell cs with ease in solo game (1 player). so basic mf barb will be able to do this. you just need some tactics that you'll learn by trial and error.

even war cry/zerk isnt fail safe system and i dont think it would be anywhere near fast (as ww barb would)

[OneFromBeyond]

The warcry barb is better for support in Hell. The damage seems good, but it can take a while (and a lot of mana) to kill things.

*OneFromBeyond

[fledgeling]

warcry barbs arent viable IMO
you will get something like 800max damage which will be pretty slow even with 110fcr
of course you will be able to kill, but it will be pretty slow

basically you need 1 pot of mana per 1 monster

if you decide to try warcry go for max synergies. scrap even the passives and only put points into synergies and BO ~level 15
this way you can max the damage
you will have to drink anyway..

[Fearlessone]

Yes, warcry works on bosses. The damage portion of warcry always gets thru all monsters within range, except for PI's. But the stun works only 20% of the time on bosses, so u just cast alot and they will eventually be stunned. (No stun skills, warcry or smite have their stun portion work on Act bosses such as Andy or Diablo) A warcry barb with gulls, instead of the usual 2 shards for fcr, will be killing slowly in hell games. If he is attacking a boss, he can use shards until almost dead, then switch to gulls for the mf kill.

I've used warcry more than any other player on USWest, so I'm experienced. Berserk needs warcry in late nm and hell and cows to be effective. Your defense is zero with berserk, so u have to look at high block shields or warcry. Berserk needs high damage weapons to cut it in hell, along with ias. I have yet to try it with a perfect steeldriver (40% ias), ias exec swords 200+ dmg are good, i havent tried an ias battlehammer yet. If you are fighting in the chaos sanctuary, u MUST use warcry to kill mages, or they will decrep u and ur killing speed will be ridiculously slow.

Plz look at the other warcry thread up now on the first page: singer pvp something, for more info.