3rd barb now

[nuitariwolf]

hi all, well my concentrate barb is lvl 53 in hell act 1 holding his own-(with grap gear, ), remade my ww barb now lvl 53 in hell-(just needs a good polearm), so now i wanna make a double swing barb, so i need idea's on skills.

1 lvl bash, lvl 9 double swing, but not sure as to skills would be good, i know a double swing barb needs vit, so what should i put str / dex at as i'm gonna try and get vit to 300, what type of weapon would be good war/battle hammers are slow, i also have full death set and ithras set, dusk deep helm, rockfleece armor, eye of etlich amulet, 2 caths rings, goblin toe boots.

any advice would be helpfull.


westell lvl 53 concentrate barb in hell

nuitariwolf lvl 53 polearm ww barb in hell

talonsblade lvl 1 doubleswing barb in normal

sitka lvl 16 glass canon in normal

these are my chacters i play mainly depends on how i feel like playing in mood to work on double swing now. i play on uswest realm account name nuitariwolf.

[TraderScope]

I usually decide if my chars are any good at lvl 80'ish in hell.. Your approach seems similar to people I knew that made around 30 lvl 20 characters in WoW :D

[EagleEntek]

Ive been building a frenzy barb (twin weapons) for some time now and i found the Iceblink armour is a definate plus as it freezes monsters that are not cold immune which can save you getting pummeled.

You could try the frenzy guides in the barb section as they contain some usefull tips for double weapon barbs, mainly the use of the warcry that stuns the monsters - i imagine this will be very usefull for hell where you need to really batter monsters before they go down.

Dont underestimate taunt either - being shot to pieces by groups of fanatic enhanced skeleton archers is a real pain but taunting the minions away from the boss and tackling em at close range really saves yer butt.

Im pretty sure you can have at least 1 battlehammer - i was told that the doubleswing / frenzy attack speed has alot to do with only 1 weapon in the right (or is it left) slot - so if you have a slow and fast weapon, put the fast weapon in the right hand and your battlehammer attacks at the same speed.

On another note - your biggest problem is going to be to get your dmg up to kill things - i went for 200 str myself with a battlehammer, iceblink and a large exec swrd - works rahter well - i halved the mastery pts to get dmg on swrd and mace.

[nuitariwolf]

hi, well talonsblade is lvl 20 with lvl 1 bash, lvl 9 double swing, lvl 1 ironskin, still havent figgered out rest of skills yet, 90 str / 50 dex with 5 stat points and 10 skill points left. right now wearing full death set-(glove/sash/2 swords)
darkglow armor, duskdeep helm, 2 caths rings, eye of etlich amulet.

was thinking of wearing goblin toe boots for 25% crushing blow and boneflesh 25% open wounds, so thinking of putting 4-6 skill points into the r/w skill for walk/run speed. i am thinking of maxed warcry or taunt or maybe both, max ironskin and 10 natural resists, not to sure yet.

[HegemonKhan]

*ONLY the barbarian can use 2 weapons at same time with ONLY 3 skills: frenzy, double swing, and double throw.

*the LEFT BOX on the character equip screen (the character's RIGHT HAND. sorry no lefties in diablo 2) is suppose to be the "weapon" hand.

*the RIGHT BOX on the character equip screen (the character's LEFT HAND. sorry no lefties in diablo 2) is suppose to be the "shield" hand.

*LEFT BOX of character equip screen=character's RIGHT HAND.

*RIGHT BOX of the character equip screen=character's LEFT HAND.
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VERY IMPORTANT:

HOWEVER, the item u put FIRST into EITHER left or right box on the character equip screen is thought of as your "weapon" by the game (i think. at least it is the top stat on the character screen for weapon damage or AR).
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for frenzy, double swing, and double throw:

frenzy, double swing, and double throw is effected ONLY by your "weapon" hand's (LEFT BOX on character equip screen OR the character's RIGHT HAND) weapon speed (and IAS, from any/all gear, including the weapon). continued below....
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VERY IMPORTANT:

**ALSO, it is the weapon that the character swings/uses FIRST!**
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so for example: if the LEFT BOX on your character equip screen (OR character's RIGHT HAND) is a 40% IAS cutlass and your RIGHT BOX on your character equip screen (OR character's left hand) is a "slow" battle hammer, THAN frenzy will be at the speed of the 40% IAS cutlass and not the "slow" battle hammer.
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VERY IMPORTANT:

RANGE DOES MATTER. if your first equiped LEFT BOX character screen (OR character's RIGHT HAND) weapon is a range 3 naga and your second equiped RIGHT BOX character screen (OR character's LEFT HAND) weapon is a range 1 battle hammer, THAN, unless u move your character yourself manually up to 1 range of the monster, u will NOT hit the monster with your 1 range battle hammer since you'll be swinging at the monster from your range 3 naga's distance of range 3.
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for all of the above reasons, it is best to use the SAME item type weapons (for only 1 mastery) AND ranged weapons (easier on u. u don't have to deal with the hassle).

[HegemonKhan]

sorry for double post, but it is better if i separate these posts
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frenzy barb:

str (damage) VS vit (life)

defense skills (shout, iron skin, taunt (taunt is also synergy of frenzy that gives more damage too, so IMO is better than battle cry), battle cry) VS offense skills (frenzy, its synergies=taunt-double swing-berserk, weapon mastery) VS stun skills (war cry) VS resistance skills (natural resistance)

much more limited on skill choice. much more thought is required for a frenzy build. as u can see u can't do all those skills
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double swing barb:

str (damage) VS vit (life)

more attack speed (frenzy) VS less attack speed (no frenzy)

defense skills (iron skin, shout, battle cry > taunt (IMO), taunt) VS offense skills (double swing, its synergy=bash?, weapon mastery) VS stun skills (war cry) VS resistance skills (natural resistance) VS more attack speed (frenzy) or less attack speed (NO frenzy)

because double swing only has 1 synergy=bash?, u have more skill points to decide where to put them. if u use bash with frenzy than its the same amount of pts, 60 sk pts, as a frenzy build uses
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if u used the skill and its syergies:

frenzy: 60 sk pts. (frenzy, synergies=taunt-double swing, most poeple do NOT get the berserk synergy for frenzy as that be 80 total sk pts)

double swing (with frenzy for more attack speed): 60 sk pts. (double swing, synergy=bash?, frenzy)

double swing (with OUT frenzy): 40 sk pts. (double swing, synergy=bash?)

if u do these, u can see u don't get much sk pts for the other skills.

using up 60 sk pts doesn't leave much left for other skill options.

using up 40 sk pts leaves more left for other skill options.

frenzy (especially) and even bash barbs are a very difficult balancing act that requires veteran knowledge for making a good build which i don't yet possess.

i have no idea how to make a successful-powerful frenzy or double swing barb.