News Flash!
Smurf R&D Labs Uncovers MF Secrets - Ultimate Barbarian Guide


Smurfs have slaved relentlessly over the past year and
a half in research and development of the perfect magic find character.
This project has been kept TOP SECRET...
Until Now!

Forget you Paladin.

Forget your Sorceress.

The Ultimate Magic Finder is HERE!




Follow this guide and you will get richer than
inventing a time machine and buying Microsoft stocks!*

*[Actual results may vary]



Section 1 – The Skills


Before little barbarians head off to Barbarian College, they have to think about what major they'd like.
Thinking is difficult for most barbarians, so they opt for the simple choice, whirlwind.

Barbarian philosophers have long since debated the all important question:

FRENZY OR WHIRLWIND?

The Smurf Research Labs decided to settle the endless debate amongst Barbarian philosophers, all two of them, once and for all.

The Smurf Labs conducted a series of single-blind correlational studies between barbarian skills and quality item yield.
The Smurf Laboratories experimented on over 10 level 90+ Barbarians to find absolute harmony between skills, gear and mercenary.
No animals were harmed in these tests, just barbarians.

Documented below are the findings of the Smurf Team.


MF Whirl Wind vs Frenzy Comparison Tables
- Compiled by Smurf Analysts

Whirlwind Pros:

• Can Hit Multiple Monsters
• No Synergies, thus freeing skill points

Whirlwind Cons:

• Whirlwind Will Not Trigger Life Tap
• Low damage to a single target
• Poor attack rating
• Weak Vs bosses
• Spinning in circles leads to loss of brain cells

Frenzy Pros:

• Moving really fast is the shit
• Life tap allows you to never to pot or juv
• High damage
• Good attack rating
• Effective against single targets or narrow areas, such as Travincal
• You can position yourself between monsters and your merc to keep it alive
• Gains damage every level up to 99
• High attack speed bonus compensates for the lack of base IAS on Last Wish

Frenzy Cons:

• Takes many skills to synergize
• Trouble handling mobs well (Areas like catacombs level four with pesky resurrecting devilkin)

The Verdict:
Frenzy is your friend
Whirlwind Sucks (For mf'ers)


Skill Distribution:

Combat Skills
Bash - 1 point (Pre Req.)
Stun - 1 point (Pre Req.)
Concentrate – 1 point (Pre Req.)
Berserk – 1 point (to kill physical immunes)
Double Swing – 1 point (Put any points left after taunt here – For high lvl barbs only)
Double Throw – 1 point (Pre Req.)
Frenzy - Max

Masteries
Axe Mastery – Max (Or Sword, see gear section)
Increased Stamina – 1 point
Increased Speed – 1 point
Iron Skin – 1 point
Natural Resistance – 1 point

Warcries
Howl – 1 point (pre req)
Shout - 1 point
Battle Orders – Max
Battle Command – 1 point
Taunt – All remaining points here.
Find Potion – 1 point (pre req)
Find Item – Equip Gear, then put points in this skill until it is level 16.
This will give a 49% chance of success, diminishing returns makes more points ineffective.

Using Stat Points
(Assuming A Rushed Character)

1. Have Anni and Torch in Inventory
2a. Equip Rings and Amulet
2b. If you decide to use swords (see gear section) add dex points until you reach 106.
3. Add points in Strength until you can equip an item, then equip it.
4. Repeat this process until all items are equipped.
5. Add all remaining points into Vitality.

*Note
It is possible to use base strength and “glitch” on your enigma.
- Wear high strength gear (amulets, rings or helm) to equip your enigma. Then remove unnecessary items.
- This allows you to put all points into vitality.

This post was edited by Papa Smurf on Dec 31 2007 05:31am

Section 2 – The Items


Helpful notes for everyone when choosing gear:

• Don’t load up with so much mf that you can’t kill quickly.
• Avoid all items that freeze enemies or deals cold damage on you or your merc.
  This will shatter enemy bodies and not allow you to use your find item skill.

Examples of items to avoid:

• Ravenfrost
• Fortitude (Chilling armor will shatter bodies)
• Act 2 Holy Freeze Merc (Big no-no)
• Pride
• Doom
• Ice
• Duress
• Fcr will help you use find item more efficiently (20% allows 2nd Breakpoint)

Now for the items!
When choosing your items, remember that some people are rich, some people aren’t.

IF YOU'RE RICH, GO TO SECTION 2A.

GO TO 2B IF YOU'RE POOR, LIKE THE GUY BELOW.



Section 2a: Smurf's Choice
For the Wealthy Elitists


Helms
Steelskull
A melee mf'ers dream come true.
- 10 IAS
- 5% Life & Mana Leech
- Up to 240 ED (Make Sure to Up it!)
- Up to 50% MF
Simply the Best





Jewelry- Amulet & Rings
A nice set of rare jewelry will give you the best return.
Modifiers to look for.
- Barb Skills (Amulet only)
- Life Leech
- Resists
- Magic Find (15% is maximum prefix, 25% is max prefix and suffix)
- Gold Find (80% on Ammy, 40% on Rings)
- Strength
- Attack Rating
- Dex (If using Swords)
- Life Leech
- Faster Cast Rate
- Faster Run Walk (Crafted Amulets)
- Mana (If you tele to meph)

The Beatdown Sticks
Breath of the Dying
- You have to kill monsters some how, right?
- Let the rest of the gear give the MF.

Last Wish
- The weapon that makes you own
- Fade will compensate for your lack of resistance on other gear
- Life tap will let you tank anything
- Might boosts damage
- If those reasons weren’t enough, consider the massive mf per char level bonus.


Dual Berserker Axes vs. Eth Colossus Blade BOTD and Phase Blade LW
-Axes have higher damage
Phase Blade has faster attack & no repair costs

I prefer the damage of berserker axes but if repairs bother you, choose swords.
Put points into weapon mastery according to your choice.

Weapon Swap
Dual Ali Baba
- Massive MF and goldfind boosts.
- Gambling is a logical extension of mf’ing, they go hand in hand.
- Ist or Lem these according to your preference.
- Up These if you choose Sword Mastery or if you have dexterity on Ammy or Rings
- Remember, enhanced damage on these matters! (120 = Max ed and 15 = max dex)

Alternate Possibility
5x Ist Runemaster
- Good for Finishing Act bosses when at low health if Axe Mastery

Gloves
Chancies (Double upped)

Or

Rare Gloves with:
- Ias
- Resists
- Strength
- Goldfind
- MagicFind
- Crushing Blow (Crafted)

Armor
Enigma Runeword
Archon Plate for Low Str Req and high def
(Dusk shroud is good, but has frequent repairs)

Foot Wear
War Traveler’s Battle Boots (Upped)
- Good damage boost
- Great magic find
- Make sure to buy these locally; don’t support Wal-Mart.



Merc – Act 1 Fire arrow
- Casts Inner Sight, gives slight monster AC reduction making them easier to hit.
- Don’t choose cold arrow

Gear
Faith Bow
- Useful fanaticism aura
- 10% Reanimate as returned sucks away some corpses, but fanat is worth the trade off

Good Faith Base Bow Info:

• Damage – Crusader or Hydra bow 42 Average Damage [10] base weapon speed
• Speed – Great Bow 32 Average Damage [-10] base weapon speed
  *Note – Amazon Only Bows do not equip on act 1 merces.
  They are rogues, not amazons (Amazons should only have one breast, these chicks have two)

Chains of Honor
- Provides stacked resists for conviction in travincal
- Damage to demon bonus is huge
- Life Leech
- Use a cubed ethereal 4os armor for this. Keep in mind her low str when choosing your armor.

Giant Skull
- Knockback helps keep monsters away from her
- Gives Str For a better COH armor base.
- Use whatever jewels you have available, ED and IAS is good.
Vex is also good to survive council’s hydras.

Inventory
Gheeds
Anni (High Resists Priority)
Torch (High Resists Priority)
All small charms - Max Damage/Attack Rating/Magic Find
(Leaving a 4x4 open to pick up multiple drops makes ID’ing more efficient.)

Stash
Edge
The 15% Vendor’s price reduction is essential for gambling.
*Surgeon General’s warning: Gambling is extremely addictive, know your limit.


Section 2b: Welfare Option
If you are unemployed or poor or just a scrooge this is your section.
This section is also a great reference if you’re trying to use this as your new ladder mf’er.

Armors
Skullder’s Ire (Ethereal) – Unique Russet Armor
- Good Defense
- Skill is useful
- Massive mf

Treachery Runeword
- Attack Speed
- Faster Hit Recovery
- FADE
- Some Gold Find

Weapons
Anything with high damage and useful killing mods.
Dont worry about having mf on these.

A Few Suggestions (By no means comprehensive)

Runemaster - Unique Ettin Axe
- Socket with whatever is available.
- Remember: Damage First, then MF.

Butchers Pupil (Upped) - Unique Cleaver

Death Cleaver – Unique Berserker Axe

Schaefer’s Hammer – Unique Legendary Mallet

Any Other High Damage Weapon With Good Mods

Charms
- If you cant find Max/Ar/Mf all in one charm, use damage over mf.
- Gheeds
- Anni Torch if possible (High resists priority)

Merc on a budget
If you can’t afford faith bow for your merc, try these suggestions:

Use an act 2 Nightmare Difficulty offensive mercenary.
- Might will provide a healthy damage boost.
- Makes a great sherpa

Weapon Choices
Bonehew
- Socket with Amn runes for life leech to keep him truckin’.
- Eth is preferred.

Reaper’s Toll
- Nice life leech and critical strike bonuses
- The Decrepify will help keep you alive without shattering corpses, also amplifies damage.
- Eth Preferred.

Helms

Rockstopper
This Helm is the BOMB!
- Fhr
- Damage Reduction
- Mass Resists

Steetskull
- If it’s good for you, it’s good for your mercenary.

Armors

Treachery
- See steelskull notes.

Duriel's Shell
- Since when does Duriel have a shell?
- Does it matter what I type?
- If you've read this far you have too much free time

Part 3 – The How
Okay, so you have your barb ready, congratulations!

Follow these short and easy steps to success and all the godly items on Diablo will be yours!



Most Effective MF Baba Run:
The goal here is to kill as many boses with corspes that you are able to Find Item
I tried to keep the bosses in easily accessible areas to promote efficieny.

1: Eldrich The Reciter
Where to find Him:
Act 5 -> Frigid Highlands Waypoint
This one is easy.
Use the hordes of monsters here to your advantage.
Tele into the fray of battle and frenzy away. Don't be shy about getting hit; use this opportunity to trigger fade from last wish if you have it.
Kill Eldrich. Kill his minions. Find item the corpses.


2: Sharptooth Slayer the Nazi Barbarian Imprisoner
Where to find him:
Continue past Eldritch to your nearest neighborhood Barbarian concentration camp.
Kill him and find item the corpse.
(For the love of all barbarians, please rescue your kinsmen if you have not previously done so.)


3: Threshsocket the hermit.
Where to find him:
Act 5 -> Arreat Plateau -> Tele North West Until you come to Cliffs then, if he's not there, go notheast.
He guards the entrance to the Crystalline Passage.
This guy is one of the most overlooked dude in diablo magic-finding.
Frenzy, if he’s stone skin or physical immune, use berserk.
Kill him, pop him, take the loot.

4: Pindleskin
Where to find him:
Act 5 -> Anya's Portal (Must have previously Rescued Anya)
Careful, despite being a welterweight, this skeleton packs a punch.
Make sure to not tele into the middle of his pack.
Tele in the front or top left corner and use the pillars as shields to stop the charging undead prowlers.
Make sure to stand between the hordes and you merc.
Find item, and get the hell out. You've got places to go.

5: The High Council
Where to find them:
Act 3 -> Travincal Waypoint
Frenzy, frenzy, frenzy, hope for life-tap, frenzy some more. Find a physical immune, berserk, then frenzy some more.
Once life tap triggers, it's smooth sailing.
Tips for merc: Always keep yourself between the council and your merc. If the council start casting mass hydras around your merc and shes taking lethal dammage, teleport to the opposite end of the council and continue your assault.
Also, keep in mind that you shouldn’t town portal or go to durance lvl 1 until the job is done and the corpses are popped, doing so will remove the bodies.

6: (optional) Mephisto & Friends
Act 3 -> Durance of Hate Lvl 2
Kill the council as well as any nearby blood lord bosses.
Kill meph, switch to weapon swap for very last hit.

Other good places to Mf include: The Pits level 1 & 2 (Act 1 - Tamoe Highlands) and Forgotten Tunnels (Act 2 – Lost City – Find the Trap Door)
These areas are both ilvl85 areas, meaning that you can find any item of the game
here.

Stick to single player games for quick kills, more players does not mean better drops.
Only the pits and tunnels will drop more frequently with more players.

That's All Folks!

Hope it helped, tell me what ya thought.



- Smurf

Wow nice guide!

XD

Nice one!

I was scared about the guy in the first picture 8|

Damn


This one gg guide

wow man that was a great guid dude

whats ur frenzy dmg/hell resis/def/MF just curious

nice guide. if you wrote this, you have too much time on ur hands

this is epic funny

i dint read it, but nice.

very nice guide