HC Barbs!.. How are you guys doing?

[lanceuppercut]

You really should try cleave with the exploding corpse rune. It is by far the fastest skill to level unless you go full crit/fury build with a 2hander, wich is not likely in hardcore.

Instead of focusing on life on hit, just build vita. Put items with +vita +str in all the slots that you can and gem everything with amethysts (altho, I kept my helm red gemmed until lvl 55 to lvl faster). In normal, nm and even hell, life is king on a barb. Its not until you start to approach the final 2 acts in hell and inferno that you should start prioritizing all resistances.

If you feel fragile, just skill for mitigation/tanking and go public. I got through most of NM with pathetic gear at the time (since I wasnt using the AH) just by stacking vitality and using: Seismic slam with stun, cleave with explosion, leap with iron impact, ignore pain with duration increase, the AOE stun with wrenching smash and Warcry with increased armor and then just grouping up in public games or with friends. You can keep the mobs almost permastunned with wrenching smash + seismic slam with stun and still have amazing mitigation due to iron impact + ignore pain when the stuns wear off. You also do decent damage with the exploding corpses rune for cleave.

It might not sound like fun, but it really is. Its even a viable solo build until a3 hell.

Frenzy is not the way to go before 60 unless you are dual-wielding.

Typed that my original post on my blackberry on the way to work, so not exactly detailed so here goes with a bit more detail..

I am dual wielding, albeit with daggers as i'm not fond of the slower attack speeds on other weapons. When i get to 50 i think i'll be looking at reduced level req items as i've been doing that for my DH as i can get more dps from higher level bows that what is available at the actual levels but LoH will need to be taken into account so that reduces my options quite a lot.

My usual gameplan (as bad as it may be) is to leap into the middle of a crowd slowing them and ground stomp with the rune to suck and stun them. if i get into trouble slap a bit of revenge on and ignore pain if it looks like they aren't going to be bashed into oblivion any time soon and if its a tough champion pack then WotB.

So you can probably see why I'm looking at LoH/frenzy.

I'm planning on keeping the red gem in my helm until 60 tbh, then the fun can begin. At the moment, I've got half red and half pruple gems for str/vit, the flawless ones iirc, waiting till i hit lvl45 and i've got a sweet +150 vit plus 2 socket pair of pants i can change into to help with the +vit side of things.

I will have a look at exploding corpse when i get home and properly reevaluate my equipment.

[Jonasbro]

Im pretty sure I would never have made it to lvl 60 with a build and gear setup like that

Then again, im not used to it, you are, so you might be perfectly fine until inferno!

[UnnamedPlayer]

Alright, update.
These are my stats with enchantress and shout. Still never been to a2, but after weapon upgrade I'm going to try it. Any suggestions? I know, I lack life on hit, but LoH gear costs really alot. Is it essential?
9787b7cd.jpg

[lanceuppercut]

Im pretty sure I would never have made it to lvl 60 with a build and gear setup like that

Then again, im not used to it, you are, so you might be perfectly fine until inferno!

I don't mindlessly beserker-rage my way into every pack but generally it's that, full on, in your face action which is why I'm looking seriously at LoH.

And playing HC means I can only get it wrong, once, so all the healing is welcomed!

[DeluksZ]

Alright, update.
These are my stats with enchantress and shout. Still never been to a2, but after weapon upgrade I'm going to try it. Any suggestions? I know, I lack life on hit, but LoH gear costs really alot. Is it essential?
9787b7cd.jpg

Is it essential? Not (by others' experience) Is it advisable? Yes. But it all depends on your progression. I think I won't care buying LoH until Act III. At that point I won't risk going further into the dungeons until I get some decent amount. But for Act II I think you are kinda ready. Maybe you can boost your resists just a bit more to make it smoother, but your dps, armor and HP seems fine.

[oOmpie]

Had some more time, now lvl 57. Levels are taking frickin' long now :o

The switch from vit to @res paid off, I am progressing nicely and pretty safe now. Made it into A3, currently working my way to the Larder.

stats: 48k hp, resists between 215 and 260, 5.5k armor, 3.5k dps. Had to switch to an ugly shield though, it was the only affordable one that had a decent block rate ^^
Later on, when I get millions from the AH and stuff, I'll buy her a stylish shield again

[VHD]

Anyone lose their barb tonight? Massive lag bomb hit a ton of HC (and SC?) players about 10 min. ago. Bnet forums are raging already: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5978858196

We lost a lvl 55 Monk. RIP.

[lanceuppercut]

need someone to take a critique at my skills/passive for my lvl41 barb, focusing mainly on speed using daggers/life steal build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...XTP!ZYV!ZaZabZ

-bash: yes frenzy is faster when up to speed but i find myself getting knocked out of my attack animations once or twice, which never happen with bash as i think the reverbs that onslaught adds "fill in" the slow bash speed so it seems like i'm attacking faster. still undecided as have heard nothing but good things about frenzy:sidearm :/
-revenge: do i really need the 8% life steal instead of 5%? when i get to it, i'll take the 30% chance rune of course but i'm now eyeing up the critical damage rune. although playing HC, i should take all the extra healing i can get, right?
-ground stomp: i can see no better rune for the in the way i play, bringing in enemies to be up close and personal once i've leapt into the crowd!
-leap: until i get the final rune for the 100% stun, i'm stuck with this as a cheap armour booster, i can't see a use for the other runes for me unfortunately
-earthquake: here's where it gets contriversial, i previously had ignore pain as it seemed like a no brainer but switched to this. my reasoning is that im not seeing enough reason to need ignore pain at the moment and earthquake is a good area effect with no fury cost (with that rune). this may get switched out for call of the ancients for boss fights though
-wotb: of course the extra damage rune but i'm not liking the 120 sec cooldown for escaping freeze/etc

-relentless: buffed i'm at 18% (or 19%) chance and 100% crit damage, do i *really* need this??
-weapon master: as i'm using daggers, 15% flat damage all the time is nice, but there is that 30% brawler passive at lvl45 i'm eyeing up which sounds right up my alley as in NM, there isn't much reason for me not to stand there and tank it all and i tend you jump in anyway
-tough as nails: i can't see anything better for defense but i am thinking long term, to replace either this or relentless with the lvl60 passive and changing the earthquake rune to something else.

the only thing i am dependant for fury on, is wotb and earthquake which means that after leaping in, bashing, gs and bashing even from 0 fury, i would have enough for a wotb in a very short time, esp if earthquake has no fury cost.

[mrmud]

need someone to take a critique at my skills/passive for my lvl41 barb, focusing mainly on speed using daggers/life steal build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#aVYXTP!ZYV!ZaZabZ

-bash: yes frenzy is faster when up to speed but i find myself getting knocked out of my attack animations once or twice, which never happen with bash as i think the reverbs that onslaught adds "fill in" the slow bash speed so it seems like i'm attacking faster. still undecided as have heard nothing but good things about frenzy:sidearm :/
-revenge: do i really need the 8% life steal instead of 5%? when i get to it, i'll take the 30% chance rune of course but i'm now eyeing up the critical damage rune. although playing HC, i should take all the extra healing i can get, right?
-ground stomp: i can see no better rune for the in the way i play, bringing in enemies to be up close and personal once i've leapt into the crowd!
-leap: until i get the final rune for the 100% stun, i'm stuck with this as a cheap armour booster, i can't see a use for the other runes for me unfortunately
-earthquake: here's where it gets contriversial, i previously had ignore pain as it seemed like a no brainer but switched to this. my reasoning is that im not seeing enough reason to need ignore pain at the moment and earthquake is a good area effect with no fury cost (with that rune). this may get switched out for call of the ancients for boss fights though
-wotb: of course the extra damage rune but i'm not liking the 120 sec cooldown for escaping freeze/etc

-relentless: buffed i'm at 18% (or 19%) chance and 100% crit damage, do i *really* need this??
-weapon master: as i'm using daggers, 15% flat damage all the time is nice, but there is that 30% brawler passive at lvl45 i'm eyeing up which sounds right up my alley as in NM, there isn't much reason for me not to stand there and tank it all and i tend you jump in anyway
-tough as nails: i can't see anything better for defense but i am thinking long term, to replace either this or relentless with the lvl60 passive and changing the earthquake rune to something else.

the only thing i am dependant for fury on, is wotb and earthquake which means that after leaping in, bashing, gs and bashing even from 0 fury, i would have enough for a wotb in a very short time, esp if earthquake has no fury cost.

I would take cleave for leveling instead of bash. Once you get to later stages of hell you can switch it out for frenzy.
Leap with armor is a great skill, 300% extra armor is enormous and with the 10 second cooldown on leap you have a large uptime.
Unless you are really twinked (i.e cant die) I would pick warcry instead of earthquake for a big defensive bonus.
wotb with insanity is one of your best skills, keep it.
For passives I would go with the one that gives you 25% extra damage when at full rage together with at least one defensive passive (either tough as nails or the other armor related passive). The last could be another armor passive or weapon master depending on how safe you feel.

[oOmpie]

Bash: Go for it. Working with Frenzy myself, but been using Bash also. Seems ok for NM.

Revenge: Just switch to the extra dmg rune. Later on Provication is the way to go, but up to that point I use the dmg buff. First character was Vengeance as well, but I simply don't seem to need the life steal.

Stomp: Don't change a thing, imho.

Leap: Using Charge myself. Not only does it provide me with an escape mechanism, but it also allows to tear large groups of enemies a new one in no time. Maybe I need to switch it up to life steal charge later on, but up til now (A3 hell) it is unnecessary and I'm till loving Merciless.

Imho when using Merciless you can ditch earthquake. I hardly ever use it, except for the occasional bossfight. Yes, for SOME champ packs it might help, but tbh I hardly ever find slow moving packs the dangerous ones. So either ancients would seem a better option, or something else like Warcry (Invigorate), which is immensely helpful.

Quake: Only time I used it on my current barb is for Hell Belial with the reduced cooldown rune. But even then it's only really effective when WotB is up, so the reduced cooldown hardly helps and I might have been better off with a dmg rune. Maybe I'll try that with the Larder when I get there

WotB: Brad and butter for elite pack purging. Easy mods: charge in, wrench stomp, pop WotB, stand still and hack away til all are dead. Harder packs (arcane enchanted comes to mind), walk in (or charge when enough enemies are on the way in), pop WotB and while repositioning to stay out of harm's way make sure to take out at least one or two of the pack, then kite/stomp the rest.

Passives: I use Tough as Nails, Superstition and Master (using spear, so IAS boost). Used Relentless at first, but I started taking big elemental damage from late NM onwards. Changed Relentless to Superstition and that worked great. The brawler just does not seem very good to me, even when I'm mostly a very "in their face" kind of player, especially since you are not big on Fury spenders Berserker Rage would seem a better offensive option.

Just try this for a bit: put in Charge/Merciless, approach the first large group of enemies you can find and ravage through it. From 5 enemies up hit it's instant cooldown, so you can just charge back and forth through the crowd like it ain't no thing. Or when grouping them closely together you can charge them in short bursts. Charge staggers, so you can push entire close groups back while hitting them pretty hard AND hardly get hit.