PoleArm Barb

[GodSayz]

Hey Everyone,

I would just like to come out and say that I in my entire Diablo 2 career have never made a Barbarian of any sorts. I have mostly just stuck to Assassins and Paladins, they're my jazz so to speak. Now it's time for me to begin making one, I've always wanted to, I've always wanted to make a Pole Arm barb that is. I've just always been skeptical about it because I wonder if they are still even viable. I hardly ever see a PoleArm Barb walking around the realms these days, they are to me at least very rare. Which brings me to my question, if I were to make a PoleArm Barb, purely PvM, would it survive? Which build should I center around? Concentrate? WW? Berserk? Which Pole Arm should I use? Doom? Pride? Cryptic? The reason why I haven't made one yet is because I have no idea where to start. I've checked the guides already and none specifically apply to PoleArm Barbs so I found them very fague and would appreciate a direct solution. Expensive gear isn't out of reach for me by the way, I find myself very well off and can probably afford just about anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I want to start this bad boy already :D

[deathzsoul]

The only reason to use a polearm would be to make a crazy jumping leap attack barb. But regardless of how you make it, be it ww, conc, or leap attack, your killing in pvm is gonna suck.

[stephan]

That's rather harsh. Polearm barbs are perfectly viable as long as you don't plan to dominate 8 player games. Just a 2 shael Bonehew would be enough for a WW barb to solo Hell with.

[hardnfast]

I had one using ebotd ghost spear / fort / arreats / gores / highlords / ravens and he carved up hell.

[rikstaker]

ww polearm barbs are undoubtedly one of the most powerful melee builds in the game & sadly the most underrated.The other being dualwield ww babas which are not so underrated.

Lets consider the damage potential please:
A botd gpa barb with standard gear/fort & might merc can easily dish out upto 12kmax per hit.With ww he will attack 6.2 times per second.Thats 74k damage potential per second right there,not factoring cs/ds.Only high end strafezons can dish out more physical damage over time than that.

Truth is you dont really need a botd to prove it,a double ed/ias jeweled or shaeled bonehew can dish out 7k max easily & thats enough to solo hell(as stephan pointed out) a tombreaver can manage 10k max & it has killer mods & an excellent mf choice.

The advantage polearms have is range-you can use sevreal tactics that way,like skirting the edges of packs,i.e damaging them from a distance-whirling away(effective against dangerous aura/mods pack like frenzy minos).Heck you can even give it a try in pvp against pestering smiters(will need some slow & knockback) & whirling away tactic.

I suggest you give it a shot-the foolish peasants of bnet don't have a clue :p

My guide has a lot of info on polearms & ww(suggest you read it)in my sig:

[GodSayz]

I looked through your guide and it was great, I appreciate it. Have one question though, is there any polearm better than BOTD GPA?

[rikstaker]

None.Its the absolute best weapon there is for 2handed ww.

[sirwhere]

The ebotd ghost spear is comparable to ebotd GPA, but it looks like a kitchen fork........ LOL