Singer Barb Questions

[kidsmokin]

1. Spirit swords or Wizardspikes? Wizzies have more FCR, more mana bonuses and more Resists, but Spirits (not the alcohol :laugh: ) have +skills, +vit (which, as far as I know, are multiplied by Battle Orders). Opinions on the matter?

2. Insight or Echosticks (+3 WC sticks...Echoing ______ ....get it?) on the switch? Should I keep it on the switch or put it on the merc? It seems that If I get a Might merc (which seems to be the Singer merc of choice, correct me if I'm wrong), it may be more valuable to place a Reaper's Toll on the dude to deal with PIs. What is the verdict?

These are obviously Ladder questions :scratch:

Thanks in advance!

[inanefedaykin]

1. +vit isn't multiplied by battle orders. It depends on the rest of your setup and what you're doing with your singer.
2. Again, it really depends on the rest of your eq but 90% of the time it's insight without a question.

My setup for PvM singers
Arreats (I don't go anywhere without my arreats even if it's not the best choice) socketed with sol or ber
Enigma mage plate or Myth mage plate
2xWizzy socketed with your brand of jewel or rune
Arachs
2xSoj
+2 barb ammy with mana
Frostburns
Boots of choice

It gives you stacked res, deeply stacked, a crap ton of mana and 120% fcr.

[JME]

I'm going to briefly comment and hijack a bit.
+vit isn't multiplied by BO, + life is.

If I'm not mistaken, you only need 105 fcr for an 8 frame tele correct?

I was toying with the idea of using dual hotos instead of dual wizzys.

This would give me 100 fcr with the hotos and arachs and I would just have to make up a small amount of that (5 fcr) on the amulet, which shouldn't be too difficult.

Both hoto and wizzy have 15% added to mana, although wizzy has mana regeneration and hoto has a bit of replinish life. Wizzy also has higher resists but hoto has +3 skills. I'm unsure whether I would really need that extra regeneration considering I'd already have an insight merc (I don't mind being slightly dependant).

Arreats +2 skills, 30 All Res
2 Hotos +6 skills, 70 All res (average rolls for two)
Enigma +2 skills
Amulet +2 skills
SoJs +2 skills
Arachs +1 skill
Torch +3 skills, 15 avg resists
Anni +1 skill, 15 avg resists

This would leave me with a level 21 (68 resist all) Natural resist after battle command and 1 hard point.

So after anya and everything I would have 228 resist all, of the 175 resist all needed for max in hell. Admittedly, not as heavily stacked, but still quite good and usually stacking is unnecessary. Plus the extra +skills will help my damage from warcries, BO, etc.

Of course, I guess in the end wizzy is a lot cheaper...

Maybe I'm just typing it out so I can look at it. :scratch:

[zarfen]

Why don't do 1 hoto and 1 wizzy? It would look fugly, but still...

I don't see why people would not use dual hoto's if they can afford it resist-wise (and ofc wealth wise as well :tongue:), and as long as you reaches max I think you're set for pvm, since conviction bosses aren't that common.

I have no experience with singers, but from what I heard you should not sacrifice being able to keep WC going for more +skills (more damage), since iirc it's pretty heavy on a barbs mana.

[inanefedaykin]

My suggestion was heavily influenced by the need for a budget. Truth be told, after a certain point +skills are acctualy a liability and can hurt you.

Here's a super tank singer

Wizard spike with fhr jewel
2/20/2 Rare circlet with 2xSol runes
Enigma Mage Plate or Dusk Shroud
Crafted 2/20 barb ammy with either PDR or Life
Stormshield with Sol rune
Arachs
2xSoJ
Bloodfists
Treks or Waterwalks

[OneFromBeyond]

Any singer can pretty much clear PvM with the following setup

Arreat's Face
2x Spirit
Myth Armor
+3 Warcries Amulet
Insight Merc

big weapon on switch for Berserk

with that setup listed above, you will have +11 to warcries, +8 to Barb skills and +10 to Combat skills, which is more than enough. The only thing left is to hit the 105fcr. I do it with two 10fcr rings, and 10fcr on my amulet and gloves.

*OneFromBeyond