I am going to make a pure pvp barb with eth botd GPA and I am having a very difficult time deciding what equipment to use. The biggest question I seem to be facing is whether I should use open wounds.
Open wounds equipment against barbs would be 1400 def duress+draculs+gore riders. Open wound equipment against non-melee would be enigma+draculs+gore riders.
Non open wounds equipment against barbs would be 220 up'd pul'd shaft (1843 max defense)+steelrends+war travs. Against non-melee I'd use enigma+steelrends+war travs.
The point is, does open wounds really count? I calculated open wounds damage and at lvl 90 (73% with draculs+duress+gore riders) it comes out to 66.7 damage per second for 8 seconds (533.4 over 8 seconds). Is this enough to warrant the extra damage I'd lose by using the non open wounds setup?
Here is the other question: if I use the open wounds setup against melee would I have enough damage reduction with 15 dr verdungos? Also, would shaft+verdungos (45% reduc) be viable against melee or should I invest in an upped ber'd arreats to get to 50% (this is ladder btw ^^)? Lastly, would I have enough OW against melee when using shaft+draculs+gore riders?
You need to have a shield or you will be at a ridiculous disadvantage to duelers with shields. You will be taking 4 times the dmg since they will have 75% block AND 50% pdr.
The only way you could beat shield duelers regularly is with the hit and run tactic using ow. And ow will be enough to do dmg in pvp.
thanks for the input. However, one thing that I've never heard mentioned is range. In my experience, the biggest advantage of using a 2-handed wpn is not damage but range. Most barbs, smiters, zealots, will only have a range of 3 while I will have a range of 5. I don't intend to trade hits with another barb but to ww outside of their range if possible. I am thinking of using the shaft+draculs+gore riders instead of war travs+steelrends because 45% ow isnt too bad.
Here's another question: do you need ow for dueling casters? Maybe I should always use gore riders+draculs for the 45% ow instead of wasting money on steelrends/war travs.
Basically what I'm saying is the only way to survive melee pvp without a shield is to load up on ow and make short whirls and get the hell away while you wait for ow to do its business. The most important thing is to only allow yourself the chance to get hit while you are attacking and attack for the shortest time possible. Still, it's far from a sure thing. Even with a range 5 weapon, it will be hard to ww outside of their range, because while you're ww you have no control over your movement and you're moving slowly.
Against casters, open wounds is great because it often causes those ranged attackers to come at you and be offensive and to let down their guard a bit.
ok thanks for the advice, i guess I will go draculs+goreriders for all setups. Do you think 45% ow is good enough against casters/duelers? Versus other barbs should I use duress (15% dr/78% ow) or shaft (45% dr/45% ow)? Thanks for your help.
I used to believe that ow was a small amount of damage so i didn't try and get as much of it as possible. Then recently while playing my necro i encounterd some lvl 90+ barbs and ow hurts. I belive that ow probably took away 3/4 of my life. For Ow to be most effective try and lvl yur char past lvl 90 also.
Well 45% is as high as you can go without sacrificing important gear, so yes it is high enough. Also, OW is less important when you are using a 2 hander since your base damage is so much higher.
To be honest, you really won't have much of a chance vs shield barbs, but that is ok, just try to duel casters instead, as you will do much better against them than a shield barb would.
Well I am stupid because I realized gores only give 10% ow. With dracs thats only 35% ow which is very lame. Maybe i should just go steelrends+war travs for much better damage like you say. Sigh... I really wanted ow to work.
As far as dueling other melee chars, my barb last season actually did very well but couldnt beat the best. I thought that ow would boost my chances of beating them since they block/resist so much of my damage. Ill also make more improvements on this barb and hopefully be able to beat other shield barbs.
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