gf barb question

[mackscynox]

i decided to play barb for goldfinding and gambling. just checked Mal's guide but still have some questions.

equip: Wealth, ChanceGuards, Infernostride (or some rare i found with ~80gf with res), Goldwrap, lemd CrownofThieves, 2x DwarfStar, 75gf magic ammy, a few 35-40gf grandcharms.

i shall use a a2 merc with pride. maybe i can give another Wealth/CrownofThieves to him but should try his survival.

except weapons i stated what i shall use and my problem is here.

questions:

1. can dual (maybe upgraded) alibabas handle councils in hell? is FindItem skill affected by alibabas? i intend to use dual EBotdZerkers for killing and dual AliBabas while corpse popping. does this work? or should i find some +WC weapons/heartcarvers instead?

2. does MF affect GF? does more MF means less gold drop? according to that i may switch some items i intend to use. i dont have all items i stated so dont want to spend for unnecessary items.

3. i dont have CBF (cannotbefrozen). i thought with frenzy's speed i wont need it. should i use a ravenfrost for CBF? but raven gives cold damage.

4. i dont have any other damage modifiers (DeadlyStrike, CrushingBlow). do i need?

i appreciate any other suggestions. my aim is to get 500k in each run so no need to max everything. survival > GF

thanks in advance.

edit: pride freezes target. should find another weapon for him :(

[Khagan]

As far as I remember well (just started back): pride freeze target, which is not good (corpse cold explose = no find item). Use ebotd GT on your merc.

I heard about frenzy GF barbs, but mine does not need to hit to kill hell counsil: your merc should be the killer, you don't hit. You leap ! (and warcry just a bit, but mostly leap).

I think MF and GF are independant, but for my GF barb I prefer GF over MF and I got 2x 6 lem'd crystal swords.

I don't have CBF me neither, but my merc is the killer.

[Ladvarian]

1) Ali-babas will help your find item in adding to your GF and MF. Switching weapons when you hork the corpses is a good way to increase your gold piles that drop. To me heartcarvers are a waste, especially if you can have Ali-babas instead.
2) Simple answer is that having one or the other or both won't effect the other drop. So have both if you want.

As far as equipment. If all you are after is gold I might suggest finding a rare belt with 80% GF, but other good mods. If you are wanting to MF council as well then keep Goldwrap since that is the only belt that has MF on it. There are many threads and guides for Gold Find Barbs do a small search. Too bad that none of these that I know of are stickied or referenced in the posts about guides of the forum like the rest are. Good luck gambling.

[SnickerSnack]

1. can dual (maybe upgraded) alibabas handle councils in hell? No, not even close. is FindItem skill affected by alibabas? I'm not sure what you mean. MF/GF does affect those drops. i intend to use dual EBotdZerkers for killing and dual AliBabas while corpse popping. does this work? Yes. or should i find some +WC weapons/heartcarvers instead? You won't be able to kill anything with WC sticks, and you won't have much mf/gf with heart carvers.

2. does MF affect GF? No. does more MF means less gold drop? No. according to that i may switch some items i intend to use. i dont have all items i stated so dont want to spend for unnecessary items.

3. i dont have CBF (cannotbefrozen). i thought with frenzy's speed i wont need it. should i use a ravenfrost for CBF? but raven gives cold damage. I don't know, my gf/mf barb just Warcries while the merc kills. My merc uses Obedience and only shatters a corpse about every other run.

4. i dont have any other damage modifiers (DeadlyStrike, CrushingBlow). do i need? If you're running solo, then not really. It wouldn't hurt though.

Edit: Once you get some gold together, gamble sashes and light belts with a level 25 character wielding edge (ideally 24, but I like to use edge). This gives the best chance for getting tri res with gf. Be prepared to spend several hours on it though.

[mackscynox]

thanks for the answers.

this barb shall just be for GF. no need to max MF. i shall use some rares with high GF instead of goldwrap and infernostride (my rare belt and boot gives ~35 to all resists total and more GF than uniques).

i am not sure if a a2 might (for example) merc with eth obedience can kill council safely just because of hydras. any example of gear with fire absorb on helm or armor is appreciated (any name).

i thought +4 FI on heartcarver would prove useful but not worth i see. i didnot mean to use it to kill, just to hork corpses.

the warcry+killermerc build looks like summoner necros, which just curse (warcry in barb) enemies and waaaaaaaiiiiiiiitttttt........ i dont like that style. i should be in action:D but shall try if merc can handle for me.

[Ladvarian]

i thought +4 FI on heartcarver would prove useful but not worth i see. i didnot mean to use it to kill, just to hork corpses.

When I first heard about the heart carvers I thought so too, but let me try to explain why I came to my conclusion not to use them.
The +Find Item can be bought by skill points invested into Find Item instead of an item. Gold Find cannot be bought with skill points.

You gain a lot of GF and MF when you instead dual wield Ali-babas when you hork. With a GF barb you will probably find that you can max or put a fair amount of your skill points into Find Item. Some guides recommend even maxing Find Item for every last percentage point. Even then it is only about a 50-50 shot if you will get a second drop or not. What gold does drop will then be multiplied a lot if you instead use the Ali-babas.

P.S. Level 20 Find Item is only a 51% chance of getting a second drop. I can imagine that it only increases by 1% for every 2-3 skill points invested after 20. So even with maxed Find Item and the dual heart carvers you would only have about 53-54% of a second drop. I'd much rather have those drops that do drop multiplied by more GF. But to each his own. Good Luck

[SnickerSnack]

i am not sure if a a2 might (for example) merc with eth obedience can kill council safely just because of hydras. any example of gear with fire absorb on helm or armor is appreciated (any name).

Hmmmm.......



Mercenary:

Obedience
Thresher
Two Hand Damage: 84 - 991
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 114
Required Dexterity: 87
Fingerprint: 0x3d6a5dfb
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
All Resistances +29
370% Enhanced Damage
+219 Defense
40% Faster Hit Recovery
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
30% Chance to cast level 21 Enchant when you Kill an Enemy
-25% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Ethereal
Requirements -20%
+10 to Dexterity
+3 - 14 cold damage with 3 sec Duration
25% Target Defense
+10 to Strength
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Hel Rune
Socketed: Ko Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Eth Rune
Socketed: Fal Rune

Hel Rune
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Weapons:
Requirements -20%
Armor:
Requirements -15%
Shields:
Requirements -15%

Ko Rune
Required Level: 39
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Weapons:
+10 to Dexterity
Armor:
+10 to Dexterity
Shields:
+10 to Dexterity

Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Weapons:
+3 - 14 cold damage with 3 sec Duration
Armor:
Cold Resist +30%
Shields:
Cold Resist +35%

Eth Rune
Required Level: 15
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Weapons:
25% Target Defense
Armor:
15% Regenerate Mana
Shields:
15% Regenerate Mana

Fal Rune
Required Level: 41
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Weapons:
+10 to Strength
Armor:
+10 to Strength
Shields:
+10 to Strength


Guardian Angel (used eth stone archon plate for a while)
Templar Coat
Defense: 1170
Durability: 31 of 31
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 108
Fingerprint: 0x4caa99ca
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
184% Enhanced Defense
20% Increased Chance of Blocking
+1 to Paladin Skill Levels
+4 to Light Radius
30% Faster Block Rate
48 to Attack Rating against Demons (Based on Char Lvl)
+15% to all Maximum Resistances
Ethereal
Lightning Resist +30%
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ort Rune

Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
Weapons:
+1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor:
Lightning Resist +30%
Shields:
Lightning Resist +35%


Crown of Thieves
Grand Crown
Defense: 310
Durability: 45 of 50
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0x1175453d
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+25 to Dexterity
+50 to Life
+35 to Mana
172% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +33%
11% Life stolen per hit
93% Extra Gold from Monsters

Name: Durga
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Off-Nightmare
Experience: 57719280
Level: 78
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 174/184
Dexterity: 139/174
HP: 1487/1537
Defense: 1069/2549
AR: 1166/1166

Fire: 204/164/104
Cold: 171/131/71
Lightning: 201/161/101
Poison: 171/131/71


Click that: http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=2417&size=big&cat=502

And that: :fire:http://diablo.incgamers.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=2438&size=big&cat=502:fire:
That might have been with Stone on, which would put his fire res at 119 in hell --> 44 points overstacked.

I'm sure my runs are slower than yours, but I can pack on a lot more gf/mf. Plus, after getting a fury druid to level 82, I'm in the mood for a slower pace. I can see the appeal of a frenzy based build though.

[zerth]

Depends on the Act2 might merc equipment obviously.

I am using these:

eCoT (15 IAS)
eBonehew (Shael + 40ed/19gf jool)
Fortitude

These make it a walk in the park on /p1-3, even when the superuniques spawn with spicy stuff like conviction, fire+lightning enchanted etc.

You can do relatively good with cheap stuff like Duriel's, eObedience, Guilame's, Reaper's Toll...

Basically anything with maxed resists and 10+ ll works. Then maximize DPS and minimize cold damage. CBF is not important (holy freeze will freeze you regardless of it anyway).

[mackscynox]

i tried my first few runs, merc fighting fiercely with all and my coward barb crying like a kid :D earned sth like 400 in each run average but a bit slow. i didnot try the other way (barb doing what he is meant to do:)) cause still need stuff for barb.

i think i shall be crying like a kid to all the councils. if it shall help merc i shall switch to beast for fanaticism.

i plan to use giantskull (15ias and some @resjew) + bonehew (2amn=14ll) on merc

i am undecided on armor. gangel is too good but thinking of ethgladiators because of DR/MDR/CBF stuff. anyone tried equiping merc with DR/MDR stuff? shall this work?

OR

anyone tried act 5 merc?

[SnickerSnack]

DR/MDR: Nope, haven't tried. If you use a high level battle cry, then enemies have a 50% damage penalty, so the merc effectively has 50% DR already*. Some DR/MDR might help, but my merc does fine without it**. If you use BC, then your merc will almost always hit, take reduced damage, and if he does decent damage, will leech back any life that is lost (the 95% hit rate is crucial here). I'd rather focus on getting the best ias break point that you can.

As far as MDR is concerned, I think that 75% fire res is fine. For a while, I had it stacked to 119 (capped at 75) so that I could ignore conviction. I now use Guardian Angel so that his fire res is 90. I don't remember how he does against conviction with GA. Remember, he leeches life very quickly, probably at least 500 life per second.

Act 5 Merc: I haven't tried it, but I'd imagine that you'd have serious trouble getting the same damage output without a might aura. If you use something like Grief, Last Wish, or BotD, then sure. Try it. Edit: if you use fortitude for the armor, then you should be fine.

* I don't know how BC debuffs stack with buffs like might. I would assume that it stacks with it, not before or after.

** Notice the screen shot where he took on the fanaticism/might council while amped. He did fine, but in that case, DR might help. I don't recall if I had to feed him rejuvs.