Cranium Basher any good?

[Trakiel]

Back in 1.09 my fury druid used this weapon and did a ton of damage and plowed through hell without much of a problem. I've just come back to the game and recently had one drop from pindle, which makes me want to remake my druid. I'm noticing though that none of the fury druid guides really meantion the weapon. It was good back in 1.09; is it not good anymore? I know it has a high lvl & str requirement, but the damage and stats on the weapon still seem pretty good. Is it that new weapons & runewords now outclass it or have changes in 1.10 & 1.11 made it not good anymore?

[Jary]

Funny enough.. not really :P The new runewords are great, especially in a dueling environment, but most of them lack the Crushing Blow that some of the classic uniques like Ribcracker, Windhammer, Stormlash, IK crusher (set sry), Earthshaker or Cranium Basher have. Cranium basher has the most crushing blow compared to any other item (besides lw, but that items stupid lol) and it offers pretty good damage too.. the only thing it lacks a little in is Speed. Might wanna check the Ias calculator, 'cause it might require as much as 40%+ ias to reach a descent speed..
Yeah, a lot of the guides in our stickies are pretty narrow in their selections 'cause they're pretty build specific... and the fact that we hadn't had a legitimate "Pure FUry" guide in forever and a half didn't help... otherwise yeah, Cranium Basher deffinitely deserves an honorable mention even if isn't gonna be in the top 3 choices for 2-hand, thanks for bringing that up.

I like the fact that some of the classic weapons still hit just as hard if not harder than some of the big Runeword items these days in PvM, it allows more room for other builds and creativity.

[Verashiden]

It's all right. Most guides don't show it because pound for pound a Ribcracker will outclass it in everything but damage. If, however, you're making a Titan Wolf, it's quite a nice weapon.

[Trakiel]

I should've specified that I'm PvM only, since I play single player. It also means that if I wanna make runewords I have to find the runes myself, which makes it more difficult, hence my desire to use the Cranium Basher.

What's a Titan Wolf? (looks like some build digging for me!)

[Verashiden]

Titan Wolf is a Fury Variant, the difference being you put EVERYTHING (unless you want block >.>) into strength, rather than simply enough strength for gear. So no points into Vitality. It's a fun build that churns out stupidly large amounts of damage.

[Trakiel]

It's a fun build that churns out stupidly large amounts of damage.

I like the sound of that. I looked for a build guide in the sticky, but didn't find one. Have a link to one?

[Jary]

I'm not sure we do, even so not for Cranium basher.

If you think through your build, it gives you a good idea what you'll need:

Skillz (lvl 88+)
20 Fury
20 Lycanth
10-20 Werewolf (****ChECK IAS CALCULATOR! This will tell you how many points you'll need!!!)
20 HoW (for damage)
1-5 Dire wolf (improves grizzly's life for tanking mobs)
1 grizzly (only for taking damage and tanking)
1-5 carrion vine (you kill, he eats, you live. simple as that

Items
You're not gonna have a lot of life. You wont put many points into dexterity, and you might even need a good amount of off weapon "increased attack speed" items to swing fast with Fury with that big hulk of a maul, but you'll have to check.

Helm: Jalals. Rockstopper.. crown of thieves. All good options. If not, any nice pelt or helm that offers life, skills, resists.
Armor: IK armor. Prolly the best you can do, just adds amazing bonuses, resists and stats... an easy way to get the whole package for cheap, and its effective too
Weapon: Cranium Basher 'shael'.
Gloves: IK gauntlets. If not, Draculs.. then bloodfists. I would say bloods first, but survivability comes first especially when you're low on life.
Belt: IK belt. If not, string of ears is way to go.
Boots: IK boots. If not, Aldurs.
Ammy/rings: Anghellics ammy, ring (provides huge life/AR boost you'll need). 1xRavenfrost (provides "cannot be frozen" and a great AR boost too)

Additional note: check the IAS calculator for weapon speed on Cranium. Make sure you select lvl 20+ for Werewolf too. Remember, the lower IK set offers +25% ias by itself, so if you did need an extra boost it helps. Also, with all 4 of the pieces, you get a nifty 10% life leech on top of the amazing damage, life, AR bonuses...
you might actually wanna check here to get an idea if you aren't sure:
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/ite...l#immortalking

Stats
Strength: Enough just to use Cranium (note: generally we'd say ALLGOHERE! but since this is SP and rather untwinked, you're not gonna have the torches & annis, etc to get by just using base vita. You just wont, you'll get slaughtered)
Dexterity: none. (no need to block. Provided you have anghellics & IK.. your set for life ^.^)
Vitality: If I were you... as you level I'd occasionally sneak a couple points in here, here or there, so that you do have a descent amount of life. "Titan build" is an ideal build, there's nothing that says "absolutely all strength", so put as many points where you have a comfortable amount of life. If you're dying more.. put more in here, that simple. Of course after you have enough to use weapon, you can load up points here. Do the math, factor in how much strength you're gonna get from IK, charms, etc and subtract from your strength req of Cranium Basher.)
Energy: HAHAHAHA...none :P


mm.. that's about it I guess. That's my 2cents gl

[Trakiel]

Thanks for the info Jary. I've tried using the IAS calculator linked in the sticky but I'm not sure if I'm entering the correct info. I'm not entirely sure how WIAS and OIAS interact; is there a faq somewhere that explains the basics of IAS?

[Jary]

Sure np dude. I'll figure it out for you... well, gotta go eat, but then I'll figure it out for you

[Verashiden]

I'll get it, Jary. You'll be hitting 12/7 Fury, but you NEED Werewolf to be at least skill level 11 to achieve that. After that IAS won't mean anything. This is also assuming a Shael in the Basher.

Also, I'd like to argue with Jary and say that you should do a true Titan Wolf, not his... watered down version >.>. You just have to fight intelligently and engage small mobs instead of running into the middle of a pack, paws swinging. As such, I suggest you max Dire Wolves as part of your skill build. They'll tank a healthy amount of damage for you and will allow you to pick off the most dangerous enemy first. Also, you can always summon Fuzzy McGrizzly and have him tank a boss almost indefinitely. Besides, it's always fun running around with a pack

Jary, Get on DII