HC Barb advice

[VHD]

I'm looking for skill/item advice for my hardcore barbarian - any input or suggestions will be appreciated.

I'm currently lvl 47 and always run with a demon hunter and witch doctor. We are early in Act 3 NM.

This is my current skill build: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...XRT!bdV!aZZaYb
(just swapped out Cleave for WotB).

I'm was dual wielding but just switched to a shield. Most of my items are str + vit. I'm at 2.2k dps with 15k hp and 3k armor. My typical role in our party is aoe stunning and tanking for my (slightly) higher dps ranged teammates. I'm using WotB + Earthquake to help with champion packs.

I'm mainly looking for advice on my skill build, but also curious about dual-wield vs shields...

[omgmir]

My advice.

Drop Earthquake for Revenge.
Drop Bloodthirst for Berserker Rage (dmg) or Superstition (tank).
Sword + Board always. 2H is an option in SC, but in HC you really always want a shield.

[ZappaFan]

Using a 2H weapon through Normal is fun and very doable. Once you start NM I think a shield is pretty darn near mandatory. Although at some point I will try to test that theory.

[Raesene]

My barbarian is currently in Act 3 normal and has been playing dual-wield frenzy. Most of my play experience so far has been... terrifying (but in a fun way).

I have no idea if it will be viable in the later difficulties, but I certainly intend to try! I try to heavily favor items that provide me with a lot of life leech. Also, my dps seems so ridiculous with frenzy, that I've been able to get away with mixing in quite a bit of INT and DEX into my gear to supplement all the armor I get from Nerves of Steel. Nothing crazy, but I have higher than average dodge and resists than most barbarians my level, and I don't appear to be giving up a lot for it. Each mitigation stat has diminishing returns after all.

I don't think I could take revenge out of this build, it's just too good.

[Felix]

We are some who have been testing that theory for a while, I'd like to add.

[JomDarbert]

I would recommend the following adjustments:

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculato...XRk!bcV!aZbaYa

When you can:
1) Change Revenge to Provocation rune ASAP
2) Change Warcry to suit your group's needs - most likely you'll want to switch to Impunity eventually.

You have 3 emergency buttons with this build that make you much harder to kill - Leap, Ignore Pain, WotB.

You'll almost always want to take Revenge. It's simply too good to give up in most situations. Spam that button as often as you can - it does a good amount of damage and will heal you up nicely. Stuns are nice, but the stun duration is just too short to rely on them (especially in Hell).

On shields:
I would use one unless you're comfortable with your armor levels (I found around 7k to be the "sweet spot" for myself). Note that generally with two handed weapons your attacks are a bit slower - that split second between finishing an attack and leaping to safety could be the difference between life and death.

[VHD]

Thanks for the info guys. I keep hearing how good Revenge is, but I'm just not in the habit of using it yet. I'll work on changing that.

I do find that Earthquake + WotB for 4000% aoe dmg is handy for taking down champion packs, but I can try letting that one go...

My barbarian is currently in Act 3 normal and has been playing dual-wield frenzy. Most of my play experience so far has been... terrifying (but in a fun way).

I have no idea if it will be viable in the later difficulties, but I certainly intend to try! ...

I've been dual wielding up to half-way through Act 3 NM. No problem at all.

[DeluksZ]

I don't wanna sound hars but we have a topic dedicated exactly for HC barbarians in the forum here

[VHD]

I don't wanna sound hars but we have a topic dedicated exactly for HC barbarians in the forum here

No offense taken. Yeah I've spent a fair amount of time browsing that thread - in hindsight I suppose this probably should have been a part of that thread...

A mod can close this thread and I'll continue further discussion in the HC Barb thread.