wolfybarb with a hellslayer

[Ringmaster]

i have a wolfhowl and a hellslayer.

Anyway the attack speed of a hellslayer is very slow so i was thinking about putting a shael in it, but once i can wear the wolfhowl my attack speed should be much higher so i'm not sure if that will be necessary..

the best enhanced damage jewel i have is at 15% but i hear they go up to 40%.. i don't really have much hope for finding one of those.

so i'm not really sure what the best plan of action is, anyone have any thoughts on the matter?

[vknez]

shaeled hellslayer with at least level 11 wereform can reach 14 fpa. thats very slow. if you got already points in axe mastery you can try some other weapons:

botd in war spike, cranebeak+shael - 8 fpa
5 sox rune master (3 shael+2x IAS/ed jewel) - 6 fpa

[Ringmaster]

hmm so yes on the shael?

i'm working with what i got not what i want.

i don't even know the difference between the fpa's is there like a guide somewhere, with gifs?

it'd be helpful >_>

even when i had an amazon i never knew what was going on with it.. cept that faster attack speed was usually a good thing.

Oh and I'll be sure to switch over to one of those frenzy ethereal magic axes that do 3 trillion damage when i save up for it. But right now this is the best weapon i have so i built the entire character around the Hellslayer and the Wolf howl.

[AgentMarth]

IMO, even with a Shael, it will still be way to slow.

I would recommend using a Ribcraker until you save up for something better, its fast (even more so when Shael'd) and IIRC, is boosted by Mace mastery too. Although if you already put into Axe, its a bit of a problem. They can though be found or traded for semi-easily.

If you want to use an axe, your best bet would be a Grief Berserker Axe in the long run (I think) but for now, an Up'd Shael'd Butcher's Pupil is a nice cheaper alternative. A Shael'd Razor's Edge or IAS'd Runemaster could work. Oh, and an Oath sword as well.

TBH, I wouldn't have gone Axe Mastery. Sword gets you Oath or Grief PB, Mace gets something like IK maul or Ribby. Polearm, my favorite, gets you Eth Breath of the Dying Great Poleaxe, or what I personally use, a Tombreaver.

I hate to say this, even more so because leveling a Wolfbarb can be a pain, but I would consider rebuilding to switch weapon masteries.

I think I can link to this calculator, if not, i apologize.

http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/weaponspeed.php?lang=english

I think you just have to use the Druid option with FC since Feral is bugged on it and Wereform is a Druid skill.

[MYK]

Ouch. Yeah, the choices with axes are kinda lame.
Runemaster isn't too bad, though. Shael up a 5 socket one for 100 total IAS, throw on bloodfist and you've got a 6 frame attack.
Ribby is pretty slow.. tops out at 9 frames...
Tomb Reaver with 3 shaels hits 6 frames...

Might as well go with the runemaster. You're not getting too much faster than 6 frames from what I can see.

[Ringmaster]

i just started, this is like my third character and i'm not much of a trader.

I've been rune hunting but i can't make anything special yet, my highest rune is a pul.

Plus i don't even know how good this thing is going to be, it was pretty annoying getting him to level 72 to scrap him to start another one now would be pretty aggravating.

So i'm using a Hellslayer, i slapped a Shael in it and it's much easier to kill things now. it should be faster when i get wolf form, maybe in the future i'll get a faith bow and slap it on a merc.

So what's the bug with fury? i take it, it isn't beneficial?

honestly i just want to play a thrower barb again >_> it's all i could think about leveling this one, but i have a principal to make my characters based on what gear i found.

[phool]

An oath eth war spike/feral axe/champion axe should be only a little way out of reach. I guess in the mean time you could just use a weapon you don't have a weapon mastery in, would still be better than using hellslayer. Shaeled ribby etc. Maybe shaeled buriza. I wouldn't consider a weapon slower than 9 fpa.

[MYK]

i just started, this is like my third character and i'm not much of a trader.

I've been rune hunting but i can't make anything special yet, my highest rune is a pul.

Plus i don't even know how good this thing is going to be, it was pretty annoying getting him to level 72 to scrap him to start another one now would be pretty aggravating.

So i'm using a Hellslayer, i slapped a Shael in it and it's much easier to kill things now. it should be faster when i get wolf form, maybe in the future i'll get a faith bow and slap it on a merc.

So what's the bug with fury? i take it, it isn't beneficial?

honestly i just want to play a thrower barb again >_> it's all i could think about leveling this one, but i have a principal to make my characters based on what gear i found.

It's tough to make a viable wereform character when you go untwinked, or using whatever you find on the way.

Faith isn't a good choice, I think. Wereforms benefit most from weapons with tons of On Weapon IAS. Barbs are just kind of weird. None of their Fast class specific items naturally come with tons of IAS. Or at least not enough to get faster than a real wolf.

[Eilo Rytyj]

Grief Berserker Axe? No. So far, the commonly accepted and statiscically proven best and most powerful weapon for a Wolfbarb is a Grief Phase Blade.

The Faith bow will not help your attack speed much. It's all to do with the differences between on-weapon IAS and off-weapon and skill-based IAS. Generally, on-weapon IAS gives the biggest effect. And in the cases of faster attack speeds, on-weapon IAS gives the only effect, IAS on other gear and from Fanaticism or the Werewolf skill does not work.

So your best bet is to find a naturally faster weapon, rather than try fruitlessly to increase your attack speed via external means. So that means Faith bow is kinda a waste of time.

[Fongalv]

Grief Berserker Axe? No. So far, the commonly accepted and statiscically proven best and most powerful weapon for a Wolfbarb is a Grief Phase Blade.


Hmm...can I know where you got your numbers from? Im not question your credability, would just like to know how effective this would be. Hav you built one yourself? I have just built a wolfy recently and ive found even a shealed azurewrath to be slow after i have used a 4shealed gris caddy. I understand that even the fastest grief PB would not be faster than a shealed azurewrath, not to mention a low ias roll one. Then again, the damage on grief does not show on the character screen, so theres no way to check unless I get my hands on one?

[Romasm]

4 shealed gris caddy is a really nice weapon

[vknez]

Hmm...can I know where you got your numbers from? Im not question your credability, would just like to know how effective this would be. Hav you built one yourself? I have just built a wolfy recently and ive found even a shealed azurewrath to be slow after i have used a 4shealed gris caddy. I understand that even the fastest grief PB would not be faster than a shealed azurewrath, not to mention a low ias roll one. Then again, the damage on grief does not show on the character screen, so theres no way to check unless I get my hands on one?

check this out:

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=612758&page=2

grief pb with 31+ ias have biggest damage over time. against fast running chars you will do better with shaeled gris mace. grief pb (31+ias ) is just 1 frame slower then shael azurewrath