Amulet for an IK WW barb: Crescent Moon or Highlord?

[Wanchu]

I am building a WW IK barb for PvM mostly. As I am now level 55, I can only wear 4 of the 6 items from the set., so I only get life leech from the gloves, but not mana leech, so I am looking for a Crescent Moon amulet, because it will give me mana, mana leech and some damage taken goes to mana.

When I reach enough level to wear the other IK items, I will get 10% mana leech from the gloves, so maybe Crescent Moon will not be the better amulet from then on. Following the IK barb guide in this subforum here (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=164067) , I should get a Highlord amulet (as I can't get the Metalgrid because I play open character, not ladder). That would give me higher damage because of the deadly strike, and +1 to all skills.

Which amulet do you think will be best for me after I get all IK items: Crescent Moon or Highlord?

These are the stats for both:

Crescent Moon
Required Level: 50
10% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+45 To Mana
3-6% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
11-15% Mana Stolen Per Hit (varies)
Magic Damage Reduced By 10
-2 To Light Radius
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)

Highlord's Wrath
Required Level: 65
+1 To All Skills
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+ (0.375 Per Character Level) 0-37 % Deadly Strike (Based On Character Level)
Lightning Resist +35%
Adds 1-30 Lightning Damage
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage Of 15
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)

[PhatTrumpet]

Highlord's... no-brainer.

[Tankmobile]

highlords for DS
use the crescent moon till you can use rest of ik though :smiley:

[aiwa]

HL.i use it.

[inanefedaykin]

Highlords, but if you have it I suggest angelic ring+ammy and ravenfrost.

[Tankmobile]

noooo, bad choice. dual ravens and highlords, OR dual rings angelics+ammy

[Romasm]

Edit: didnt read carefully, ignore the metalgrid part^^

metalgrid, bk ring and ravenfrost is an nice treasome also..

But in your question for HL vs crescent moon, its highlords imo

+ i dont think u want to go pvp with IK, and thats why i think u shouldnt use angelic combo at all

[Wanchu]

I think 2 angelic rings + angelic ammy is better than 1 angelic ring + 1 raven frost ring + angelic ammy, because the bonus to attack rating is around 3 times (200 from raven frost compared to around 600 per angelic ring) better in each angelic ring than in raven frost ring, and it seems to me that maybe the only important loss is 5-10 to dexterity from the raven frost. And as I level up, the attack rating bonus from the angelic rings will increase, it is another advantage.

@Romasm: I am not going pvp very frequently, so it doesn't matter a lot. I play open character, so I can't use Metalgrid, it is ladder only, if I am not mistaken.

What do you think?

[PhatTrumpet]

But if you don't use at least one Ravenfrost how will you get Cannot Be Frozen (which is pretty much an essential mod for any non-caster build)?

[Bohana]

WW barbs can live without CBF.

[Wanchu]

I think that being frozen is even good for a WW barb, because you walk slower, so stay longer close to enemies, and have more time to hit them, so more hits per WW.

[inanefedaykin]

Thats bull, the only people that want that are the people that don't know how to whirl.

[Wanchu]

Thats bull, the only people that want that are the people that don't know how to whirl.

Could be, I still have a lot to learn :smiley:

[Tankmobile]

nope, its people that obviously do PvM, and know from experience, reading guides and knowing game mechanics that its true...
trust me, i prefer having CBF, for the run/walk, and conc'ing...
but its not that they dont know how to whirl, its a perfectly good (and some would argue better) way of whirling thorugh large monster packs....

[PhatTrumpet]

WW barbs can live without CBF.
A Sorceress can live without Teleport but that doesn't make it a good idea...

Granted, if all you do is whirl (which isn't really the way to play a WW Barb), and you have plenty of FRW to make up for the slow from being chilled, then sure, you'd be alright most of the time (better off than most other non-casters). I still wouldn't go without CBF, though, and I highly doubt the added AR would outweight the benefits of having CBF.

[Wanchu]

@PhatTrumpet: Are you sure that the +1400 Attack Rating difference won't outweight CBF? It is a big difference, so if you could please confirm, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

There has been good points in this thread. I will make a summary with the important properties that have been discussed, in order to make it easy for everyone to think about which option is best. It is time to decide, could you all please say which option do you think is best in the summary and why? Thank you Thank you Thank you :smiley: With level 75 and average values, the main differences are:

Option A) highlord + 2 raven frost
+1 To All Skills
+ 28 % Deadly Strike (Based On Character Level)
+400 To Attack Rating (varies)
Cannot Be Frozen
+18 To Dexterity

Option B) Angelic amulet + 2 Angelic rings
+115 Life
+1800 To Attack Rating (Based On Character Level)
+10 Dexterity

[Wanchu]

I have to add that I am having problems with explosive monsters or lightning enchanted or fire enchanted, I guess it is because I don't have enough life (around 850 at the moment, level 57). Considering that I added to vitality all the stat points not needed for strength to wear the IK armor at level 76, I would get only +68 life points.

Don't you think that makes the option B (Angelic amulet + 2 Angelic rings) better because of the +115 life?

[ericlala]

2 ravens are actually 30-40 dex so average is 35

[Wanchu]

2 ravens are actually 30-40 dex so average is 35

True, my fault. I only added the dex of 1 raven, which is +17,5 average. 2 ravens means +35 dex, as you say.

[stephan]

I have to add that I am having problems with explosive monsters or lightning enchanted or fire enchanted
LE/FE monsters are bugged and do an awful lot of damage. Stay away from those if you can. 115 life even before BO is not going to save you there.

[Darkflight]

LE/FE or LE/CE makes the monster release the death explosion by FE or CE everytime it releases charged bolts sometimes. I mostly experience this with those zombie-types who leave a poison cloud upon death. Very deadly, escpecially if you use something like Firewall.

[Wanchu]

OK, I have decided. As everyone thinks CBF from raven frost is essential, and as I also like the extra +AR and +life from the Angelic items, I will mix options A and B. That is, 1 Angelic amulet + 1 Angelic ring + 1 raven frost ring.

That was suggested by inanefedaykin, and though I didn't like it at the beginning because I didn't value CBF as much as now, it seems to be the best option now, and it is what I am going to get.

The new option, has these properties (as before, average values and character level 75):
Option C) 1 Angelic amulet + 1 Angelic ring + 1 raven frost ring
+1100 To Attack Rating (varies) (Based On Character Level)
Cannot Be Frozen
+28 To Dexterity
+95 Life

Thank you all for your help :smiley: I'm glad I have finally decided.

[Reneirwolfcastle]

If you don't like the idea of raven frost you could always cham the IK armor for CBF and use the angelics jewelry.

3 angelics will give you +2000+ (1000+ each ring) AR and +30 dex (10 from each) which also adds to your AR and 115 life.