Help with a cheapish Whirlwind Barb!

[mingus]

I've been looking for a cheap whirlwind barbarian but haven't been able to find one, perhaps because that sort of build never comes cheap... If anyone can give me some tips on what stats, skills and mid-range armour I could use to have a chance in Hell, it would be greatly appreciated:thumbup:

All I know is to max WW, have enough strength and dex for equipment and put the rest in vitality. Also what are the good runes to look for early on and in NM?

Thanks, this will help a lot!

[Dyn]

You could try and Immortal King WW barb ? there fun to play with and are fairly cheap compared to other types of WW barbs.

[Zelator]

You could try and Immortal King WW barb ? there fun to play with and are fairly cheap compared to other types of WW barbs.

Vouch. IK barbs are plain awesome to play. Just get leech and a Ravenfrost and you're good to go!

[mingus]

Cool I'll do that then, thanks. Where do you usually find that sort of equipment? Always Hell or in Nightmare sometimes? I have no idea about finding good equipment... Do you gamble?

Thanks

[sevencreature]

If you are playing on b.net, everything except for armor is PG stuff - usually 2-3 per piece. IK maul is fairly common drop on Hell difficulty, you can get the ton of the other equipment from NM Meph quite easily.

Armor is a bit tougher to find, moderately expensive to trade for. But I think you can do without IK armor for a while (with only the rest of IK set) just fine.

[Lizardking]

Just use a high def armor with some holes in it and maybe some life till you find the IK armor.
Last ladder i got the whole IK set free (except the gloves) !

[Zelator]

Use 'Smoke' runeword as armor till you get IK armor! Works perfectly fine.

[IVfluids]

I built a cheap skate one last season (for fun) with absolutely no runewords and no complete IK set, just run of the mill items for the most part.

For mainly pgems you can get most of these items if your willing to accept the fact that they won't have the greatest stats (you get what you pay for).

- Helm: Any Arreat

- Body Armor: Any Shaftstop or Duriels shell. Shaft has good damage reduction and 60life. I took Duriels for the resists, +life and Cant Be Frozen.

- Belt: Lot's of goodies to choose from. Low dungoes for 10fhr, damage reduction and some life. String of Ears for life leech and damage reduction. Nosferatu's Coil for life leech, strength bonus and slows enemy mod.

- Gloves: Soul Drainers or any cheap set of Dracs. Dracs are the better of the two as they offer life leech, open wounds and str bonuses. Soul drainers have mana and life leech though, not that bad either.

- Boots: Any Gore Riders. The worst ones can be had for pgems.

- Weapon: IK Maul with 2x Shael runes.

- Jewelry: Angelic Ring(s) and Amulet. Add one Ravenfrost if you opted for Shaftstop armor so you can have Cant Be Frozen mod.

- Grab the most available torch you can find.

Act 2 Merc of your choice: Crown of Thieves or Tal Rashas helm, Shaftstop armor and any Reapers toll and he will have some very serious life leech to keep him alive.

For a few more pgems you can get 2x lem/ko and upgrade your armor and your mercs armor.

Having the leet gear out there helps but it is in no way completely necessary to survive in hell, it just makes it easier. I managed to build that barb and his merc with some pretty cheap every day items and he ripped through hell like it was no tomorrow, that is not to say that I didn't run in to any difficulties (Throne Room last wave solo comes to mind), but I was able to run over 98% of hell and do Ancients for people that needed help.

Although, the IK set is not overly expensive either and everything but the armor can be had pretty cheap. If you get really lucky on your rush to hell, you can snag an Um or higher rune and then purchase the armor. Any way you cut it, you can build a barb that will get it done for a small price.

[rikstaker]

cheap ww weapons that can reachlast ww breakpoint(with shaels):-
Ik maul
Bonehew
low end Tomb reaver
ribcracker
----
belt-strings
boots-goblin toes are fine if you cant afford gore riders
armor-shaft
helm-areat or guilaaumes face/ik helm
gloves-Laying of hands(hands down-owns all demons-which is like half the game-not to mention act bosses)

[Bad Boy For Life]

How much extra ias does thata IK stone crusher need to reach the last breakpoint? Does it need 2 sheals for 40 ias or is 2 fervor (15 ias) jewels for 30 ias enough?

[rikstaker]

30 ias is enough.