Need Hell Ancients help

[BilboTeabaggins]

Well, my barb is kind of useless now until I get to around lvl80-85 and the only way I see of doing that is hell baal runs. Can't get there until I get past ancients though so I'm wondering if anybody can lend me a helping hand on the hell ancients. Thanks a ton in advance.

[PestInReace]

If you're playing at Europe realm i sure help. I'm online right now just whisp
*dre.me

[BilboTeabaggins]

Thanks for the offer but forgot to meantion I am East :(.

[STINGER]

Useless Barb? How so? What lvl? what build? item issue? what?

[BilboTeabaggins]

He's WW but is pretty weak at the moment. I was hoping to level so I could use full IK but I messed up early in the stat distribution so I actually have to get around 80 to have enough str to wear the full IK. He can do alright mfing in nm but can't do anything in hell yet where I want him to be so I can set up some of my other chars. lvl69 btw.

[come back zinc]

He's WW but is pretty weak at the moment. I was hoping to level so I could use full IK but I messed up early in the stat distribution so I actually have to get around 80 to have enough str to wear the full IK. He can do alright mfing in nm but can't do anything in hell yet where I want him to be so I can set up some of my other chars. lvl69 btw.

Hang out in the op xbananax channel tonight and I'm sure a group can be put together. I'll help if I'm around, but I'm more of a slow killing tank, at least as far as the Ancients are concerned.

[prion]

i think i have a spare freedom jewel if you want it. that'll let you use maul earlier. you can clean out the sockets later.

regardles of gear, tho, you need a few more levels in order to tweak the chance to hit formula, to be able to do anything in Hell.

[STINGER]

He's WW but is pretty weak at the moment. I was hoping to level so I could use full IK but I messed up early in the stat distribution so I actually have to get around 80 to have enough str to wear the full IK. He can do alright mfing in nm but can't do anything in hell yet where I want him to be so I can set up some of my other chars. lvl69 btw.

What if you take an IK helm and put in some Ameythests for Strenght, IIRc its 10, or its Emeralds I dont want ot look it up, but that is a boost, and then some strength charms or ring or ammy. IK helms are a dime a dozen really, especially ones with less than max MF. I use to run around with one with Topaz and one with Rubies and I toyed making a damage one but he killed so soundly it seemed wasteful. You could even HEL or 15% the armor and remove it later for a better socket if you have some HELs laying around.

So, how much you screw up?

[BilboTeabaggins]

I had some decent gear that I had to glitch on every game but really didn't pay attention how how much I needed for IK since this is my first WW barb in ages. Since I'm pretty poor so anni and torch are out of the question, as well as good charms/ammies/rings I'm just going to make most of the requirement for the armor with natural strength. Even though my vit will take a hit I'll only be mfing early hell so with my high defense from merc and maxed shout on top of the maxed resists from IK, I shouldn't have any trouble with life. I need to pump like 50-70 points into str from here though :(.

[BilboTeabaggins]

Thanks a ton bob for not just the ancients but helping me baal to 76. IK is definitely a million times better than my last setup and I'm doing pretty decent so far adjusting to hell.

[STINGER]

IK Barb Whirler can go just about anywhere as long as he can leech and not have IM to deal with. This opens up tons of lvl 85 areas.....

Pits
Ancient Tunnels
Act 3 Tombs
Act 4 River
Lots of Act 5
...etc (please add to the list I may be forgetting some)

Also, dont forget if you get a bit bored and want to do something else, running Summoner is doable but there are some PIs that need to be contended with but he drops keys, and Countess can pay off wiht keys and runes and even doing Andy and killing your way to her can pay off. Meph runs are doable jsut know that dolls exploding is still death potential, so either run to him or remake games until you get no dolls. Sure, Meph and Andy are "long" runs for a Barb, but its still something you can do if you want.

Many times on my IK I would just go on "killing sprees" and go around and hit all the easier to get to Uniques in the entire game as well as hit all the good 85 areas in full games.......now that isnt as easy now as TPPK is out there. Act 1 has a bunch of easy to get to Uniques, Act 2 has a few like going backwards from Arcane to hit Fire Eye. Act 2 Flayer Jungle can be interesting, lots of things to kill, but drops arent especially good but you have Unique potential like the Tree dude at the end of Flair. Council is easily doable, just dont try and take them on all at once, no sense in risking AMP + FE + whatever else might be around, so pull them out and take a bit more time. Watch out for Heph in Act 4 River, he can be a bad mofo so check his mods and know what you are getting into. Pulling him or the mobs and clearing them seperately is advised. Heph when mana burn can be terrible to manage but he can also spawn other nasty stuff. BTW, while running River look for Udars/Balrogs/Corpse Spitters, you dont want to mess wiht bugs/knights/fingerlings, they just stink in all aspects!

Things to be careful with would be Urns in Act 5, those can really be nasty, its not that he cant handle them its just in fuller games those can be really ugly. Gloams can cause "issues" but really you can handle them, jsut dont think you are indestructable as all it takes is one Boss with Convic to really put a hurting on you.

IM, if you do River dont go near Chaos, those Oblivs can slip out there a bit past the entrance and cast IM on you.

Dont hit the red portals in Act 5, not the Pindle one, its fine, but be aware the others can spawn Oblivs and IM. Also, this build can do Nithlak fine however those Vipers are nasty and if you sont know what you are dealing with in there you might avoid that until you do, and might add more DR before doing it.

All of the lvl 85 areas can produce, they are all equally as difficult really, and you shouldnt be worried about doing them. The Mosoleum is also 85 but IIRC there are many Skellies in there thus leech is limited or non-existant so not good fro a Whirler.

Be shure to get your whirling speed, IIRC the IK Maul needs Shael +15% jool. I went Shaels it was just what I had and didnt wish to try and get some really nice IAS/other good mod jool, but if you have one you could consider it.


Over all the IK Barb "feels" unkillable, but he just like all others have enemies out there that can indeed kill him. If you get into an "I am Godly" thought process and think you can jsut whilr away and not pay attention to mods you are in for trouble, so dont let yourself get too comfortable and lazy. As long as you do that you should live long and prosper!

[BilboTeabaggins]

Thanks a ton for the advice. Ya I'm starting to get into a pattern of places I hit per game but might mix it up a bit if it gets boring.