Best weapon type for use with Weapon Master?

[Insicor]

Does anyone have any thoughts for weapon choice on a DPS barb? Currently I'm using a 2-handed mace for the +10% crit chance, which seems incredibly helpful so far. The IAS for polearms seems like it would be nice for bosses or single targets, and the overall bump in damage for swords also seems okay.

[Athenau]

Assuming you have no other damage buffs, sword is the best until you get to 150% crit damage, where the axe/mace +crit chance overtakes it.

[Buran]

I use a hand axe; combined with Weapon Master and Ruthless and some items I have a 42% crit chance and around a x3.5 the damage in the critical hit (Berserk rises the chances to 52%). Mighty weapons could be interesting to some WW builds due the extra +3 fury x hit, but overall I like more the extra % chances, or at least that was my choice until Inferno Act II. The thing is at this level enhancements in the % of critical hit chances are easy to obtain from gear, so I'm not sure about the convenience of using a entire pasive slot just for a +10% that can be filled from other sources. Once you have a solid 35-45% chances the rate of criticals are just insane. At high levels Weapon Master doesn't looks as crucial as before. Ruthless + WM was integral part of my game, but now seems that at least one of them is a bit redundant. High end game is all about balance...

[galzohar]

Swords, or with high enough critical damage axes/maces. If you're using the seismic slam and WotB+EQ+IP build, then maces are best as they are the slowest, though I understand EQ is currently bugged and doesn't crit, but still your seismic slams will do a lot more damage and use your fury much more efficiently.

Even with WW you'll need the axe/mace because your crits heal you.

In any case, builds that use weapon master require a lot more gear to be inferno-viable than builds that just try to go full tanking mode, so keep that in mind.

[Insicor]

Swords, or with high enough critical damage axes/maces. If you're using the seismic slam and WotB+EQ+IP build, then maces are best as they are the slowest, though I understand EQ is currently bugged and doesn't crit, but still your seismic slams will do a lot more damage and use your fury much more efficiently.

Even with WW you'll need the axe/mace because your crits heal you.

In any case, builds that use weapon master require a lot more gear to be inferno-viable than builds that just try to go full tanking mode, so keep that in mind.

How much more are you talking about, compared to the prices of SoE, SS, Justice Lantern, Helm of Command, and high LoH weapons? The whole reason I switched from tank was because I had none of those items which are all prohibitively expensive, and was still getting killed in two to three hits from stuff in Act 3, despite having pretty good stats otherwise (40k health, 12k armour, 1100 average resists, 15k DPS). So I switched out my weapon for a 1100 DPS 2-hander with high crit damage (only 1.3 million), got one other piece of gear, changed my gems from vit to str, and swapped out my defensive passives, and powered my way through Act 3 with only 37k DPS. I mean I did die a lot, but it was still better than the alternative of hitting an impenetrable wall. I imagine Act 4 might prove a challenge again, but I still can't see making upgrades to my DPS that cost as much as the aforementioned four legendaries.

[galzohar]

If you want to make a non-tank barb work at the same places that one would want to invest in SoE, justice lantern and helm of command. I don't find SS very cost-effective, though if you're not using helm of command and justice lantern its low block value isn't as important. But you can get reasonable 3700-4700 shields for less than a million.

Sure, the best tank items are expensive, but the best DPS items are even more expensive. In the end you'll have to look for good deals and items that give you best reward for the gold no matter what spec you choose, but I think with tank spec it is easier to find more value for less gold and progress further with the same budget. DPS barb does farm faster as long as he doesn't have to die multiple times to get some elite packs down (which you probably will without totally out-gearing the content, since some just won't stand in your earthquake). For act 1, since not much gear is needed, farming with a DPS spec is probably preferable. But for act 2 if you want to farm efficiently you'll need so much gear that you might as well just go tank and use less gear and also have an easier time transitioning to act 3.