PvP Berserk Barb Guide - 2011 - Version 1




Foreword
As this is my first proper guide I am quite happy to receive constructive criticism, I am quite sure I have missed things, or failed to explain things properly, feel free to make such comments.



Introduction

What is a zerk barb?
A zerk barb is a barbarian who uses the berserk skill as his main attack, he may use other skills and balance it with more traditional skills such as whirlwind, but using berserk is always his initial strategy.

What is berserk and why use it?
Berserk is a close-quarters melee skill that converts the physical output of the attack into magic damage, it also sets the defense of the barbarian to zero for a short duration. These characteristics of the attack are positive and negative; being a magic damage attack the effective damage done to opponents is high as it is not subject to damage reduction, having zero defense can leave the barbarian vulnerable.

Aims of this guide
This guide is intended for PvP use, while it can kill monsters without too much trouble it is not intended for that purpose.
The guide seeks to achieve max block, max damage reduction (DR) (or at least very close to max), and maximum attack speed (or at least 1 breakpoint down under exceptional circumstances).
This zerk barb will be for general purpose PvP, it doesn't seek to have the maximum possible damage or the highest possible resistance, rather it seeks a balance to make it suited for a wide range of opponents.

About defense
Given that berserk reduces defense, and given that this guide aims to be for general purpose, the guide doesn't worry too much about the character's defense.

Breakpoints
For reference here are the breakpoints for barbarians:




Equipment
With the zerk barb there are many choices for each equipment slot, these will be discussed in this section.

Helm

Crown of Ages http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/uhelms.shtml#coa
Usually worn for increased DR%.

• Damage reduction - depending on other equipment this isn't a particularly useful attribute, though if you choose to dual wield it could save your bacon.
• Resistances - The more the merrier.
• 2 sockets - This could prove to be an extremely useful attribute to have.
• FHR (30) - Very useful indeed for achieving our desired breakpoint.
• Skill (+1 all) - Useful to have an extra skill all round.

Arreat's Face http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/normal/ubarbarian.shtml
My helm of choice.

• FHR (30) - Again, very useful.
• AR% bonus (20) - Possibly doesn't add up to a huge amount, but certainly a useful mod to have.
• Skills (+2 barb, +2 combat) - These skills make a huge difference.
• Life leech (3-6) - Not massively useful in PvP, but sometimes it can make a difference.
• Resistances (30)
• Strength (20)
• Dexterity (20)

Visio http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/magic/pre.shtml
Stats on visionary helms can be almost anything, they are worn for the AR per character level. If you could find one with amazing stats then it would probably be the best helm to wear, but I don't posses such a thing so I can't say how useful they are.

Guillaumes http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/sets/sets6.shtml
Usually worn to gain a damage boost.

• FHR (30)
• Deadly strike (15) - Useful for increased damage.
• Strength (15)

Shield
In order to achieve max block we want to wear a shield.

Stormshield http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/ushields.shtml
This is massively useful for achieving max block, it also provides a load of resistances and damage reduction. This is definitely the best all-round choice.

Phoenix http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runewords-110.shtml
Used for the large ED% bonus, also has a life bonus and increased maximum light and fire res. Though it does have the annoying feature of casting firestorm on striking which really slows the attacks. Also, achieving max block with this shield costs a lot of dexterity as it has no intrinsic bonuses to blocking.


Boots

Gore Rider http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/exceptional/uboots.shtml
These are good, general-purpose boots, you can choose to have them upgraded or not.

• Open Wounds (10) - Often a useful attribute, particularly for protracted duels, it is advisable to have at least 10% chance of open wounds.
• Deadly Strike (15)

Shadow Dancer http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/uboots.shtml
A nice alternative to gore rider, the strength requirement is fairly high at 167, but if you can wear stormshield then you can wear these.

• FHR (30) - A great source of FHR.
• Dexterity (15-25) - A nice bonus to go towards max block.

Gloves

Dracul's grasp http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/ugloves.shtml

• Strength (10-15)
• Life leech (7-10)
• Lifetap (5%) - It triggers very rarely, but when it does trigger it can be a real help.
• Open wounds (25%) - Another useful source, and quite a high chance.

Trang-Oul's Claws http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/sets/sets7.shtml

• FCR (20) - One of the main reasons to wear these, see the FCR table above.
• Cold resist (30)
• 25% poison skill bonus - Not hugely useful, but in conjunction with an item such as Grief that casts venom this bonus increases your damage and is therefore nice.

Rare Gloves
Personally these are what I wear most of the time, attributes to look for include:

• IAS
• Strength
• Dexterity

Armour

Enigma http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runewords-110.shtml
This will almost certainly be the armour you always wear.

• Skill (+2 all)
• Strength (per level) - Such a huge bonus, this more or less allows you to wear all your equipment.
• Teleport - Vital
• DR (8) - A small bonus, but it all adds up.

Fortitude http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runewords-110.shtml
Hardly ever useful within the context of this guide due to lack of teleport, but included for completeness.

• Chilling armour - Not very useful, but it's a positive bonus.
• FCR (25) - See FCR table above.
• Enhanced damage (300) - The main reason to use this armour is the damage bonus
• Life per level - The bonus varies between runeword rolls.
• Resistances (25-30 all) - Useful to have.
• Max light res

Belt

Thundergod's Visor http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/exceptional/ubelts.shtml
This is my belt of choice.

• Lightning absorb (20#) - It's not much but under certain circumstances it makes a difference.
• Maximum lightning resist (10) - This is a strong reason to wear this belt, it takes the sting out of all light attacks.
• Strength (20) - A very useful bonus.
• Vitality (20)

Verdungo http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/ubelts.shtml

• FHR (10)
• Replenish life (10-13) - Can be useful in long duels, though check your local GM rules to see what the limit on life rep is.
• Damage reduction (10-15%) - This is the main reason for wearing this belt.
• Vitality (30-40)

Arachnid Mesh http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/ubelts.shtml
Generally used for when you need extra FCR or for pre-buffing battle order.

• Skill (+1 all)
• FCR (20)

Bug Belt http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=diablo+2+bug+belt&tbm=isch
If you play on the Europe realm and own one of these then it would probably eclipse all other belts due to the immense bonuses.

• Skill (+1 all)
• IAS (10)
• Life leech (5)
• Strength (15)
• Dexterity (25)
• Resistances (20 all)
• DR (20%) - This much DR% could change your mind about using stormshield depending on DR% available on other equipment choices that you make.

Weapon
This is probably the most important piece of equipment of all, and probably the single item that you will base your build around. The required attack speed depends on the base weapon type, refer to Titanseal's attack speed calculator for reference.

BotD BA http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runewords-110.shtml
I used this on my first zerk barb, using this does require finding quite a lot of IAS from the rest of your equipment.

• IAS (60)
• Enhanced damage (350-400) - Or 415 if you make it in a 15% ED base weapon.
• Indestructible - Get the etheral damage bonus by making it in an ethereal base weapon.
• -25% target defense - This works in PvP
• Life leech (12-15)
• Attributes (30) - So you gain 30 to vitality, and in theory you save up to 30 in strength and dexterity each, this adds up to a sizeable (ballpark figure: 500) life bonus.

Grief PB http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runewords-110.shtml
I use this on my current zerk barb, the small amount of extra IAS required means that you only need ~1 other item with IAS, even for a low IAS roll.

• Chance to cast venom - This is not to be sniffed at.
• IAS (30-40)
• Damage (+340-400) - This is where the grief damage comes from, it causes some problems in the game as it doesn't display in the character screen making your zerk barb look weak, but don't despair, it is really there.
• -25% target defense - This works in PvP
• -Enemy poison res (-20-25%) - This gives a handy bonus to the poison damage from venom when it casts.

Inventory
Torch and annihilus charm, obviously. You need the charms to make up your target FHR, either 48 or 86. And the rest of the charms are down to personal preference though the choice is essentially damage/life/ar or life/res. I currently use all life/res and I have sufficient AR to hit opponents, and I also have a healthy amount of stacked res.


Miscellaneous Equipment
Following is a list of other items you might like to keep around:

• BO switch - either CTA + hoto, or a pair of +3 BO spears of some kind.
• 2x angelic rings and amulet - Depending on your equipment you may want to aim for wearing 1 ring and amulet most of the time.
• Highlord's - Possibly your equipment choices mean that you need this extra 20 IAS. But even if you don't it's handy for the deadly strike bonus, and for those times when you need some extra light res (eg: vs FoH etc).
• 2 ravenfrost - You must have some source of "cannot be frozen". My barb is statted for max block with 1 raven, sometimes you may want to wear 2 for the extra cold absorb.
• Dwarf star - for fire abs.
• Wisp ring - for light abs, if you like BM then keep 2.
• Rising sun - for vs stacked auradins.
• Hotspur/infernostride - For the increased fire res, under certain rules hotspur are considered BM.
• Widow maker - The guided arrow on this is very useful, particularly for vs hammerdins, or even for triggering lifetap against distant opponents. I recommend socketing it with "um" rune for the open wounds as the damage of the arrow will only be fairly low.
• Treachery - If you like to be BM and pre-cast fade, personally I don't use this.
• Pre-BO set - +5/6 BO helm, 2*SOJs, arach, +3 BO amulet etc.
• Kira's - Another useful item with a resistance boost, be careful that you have enough strength to wear your equipment without the bonuses from Arreat's.
• Demon limb - Pre-cast enchant for an AR boost.
• Hsarus set boots and belt - When you wear both you gain a huge AR bonus, useful vs high-defense opponents.
• Andariel's visage and other poison resistant equipment - For if you find yourself up against poison-dealing opponents, though probably not worth the space in your stash.

Notes
Against some opponents (eg. hammerdins and necros) you gain no advanatge of using a shield as you don't need max block nor damage reduction. In these cases it is better to either dual wield or to use a big one-handed weapon for more damage. I have no experience of doing this so I cannot comment, but it is something that should be kept in mind.

Skills
There are many skills that you would like to have, but you don't have enough to max them all.

• Berserk - Your main skill, max it.
• Weapon mastery - Max it for a damage and AR bonus.
• Battle orders - Max this for maximum life.
• Howl - A synergy for berserk, put as many points in here as you can.
• Shout - A synergy for berserk, gives a defense bonus so consider maxing this before howl.
• Whirlwind - Always worth a point.
• Leap - At least 1 point, maybe a few more depending on preference.
• Other handy skills - Natural resistance, increased speed, iron skin, all worth 1 point as their level will increase with +skills.
• Battle cry - Lowers enemy and damage, can be useful against high-defense characters.
• War cry - stuns opponents.

Example build
Here is a nice, easy example build:
Enigma (any, I use duskshroud), grief PB (any IAS is OK, but 37+ is desirable so you can negate 10% slow), stormshield "eld" (or "jah" for life, or "ber" for DR%), gore rider (upped, if you like), drac's (more str is better), thundergod's (any), 20 dex ravenfrost, angelic ring + amulet, arreat's face (socket with 40%ED/15IAS for more damage and to easily reach the IAS BP), widow maker on switch (I find it more useful generally than having a little extra life from bo weapons), 4*5fhr SCs, torch, anni, and the rest whatever life SCs you have (I prefer life/res).

You shouldn't have to put any points in strength, stat for max block, the rest in vitality.

With the above setup you have maximum zerk and whirlwind speed, 48% FHR, decent damage, max block, high DR% (or max if you chose "ber" in the shield).



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http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/196/skillscb.jpg/

Duelling Strategy

General tips

Left/right click
I keep berserk on left click and all other skills on right click, skills you may need to keep at easy reach are:

• Teleport - Probably the most used skill.
• Whirlwind
• Throw/unsummon - used for locking.
• leap.

Telezerk
Get used to doing this, it is your bread and butter. Teleport on your opponent and straight away holding left click to zerk while aiming at your feet, this will land a swift blow on the opponent and ties together with chainlocking.

Chain-locking
The art of maintaining a namelock on your opponent while teleporting and attacking. When you click your opponent to attack attack and they move away (walking or teleporting) keep the zerk button pressed, select teleport on right-click, right-click to teleport and immediately zerk at your feet, hopefully (and with skill and practice) your will straight away regain your left-click name lock, This process can be repeated over and again.

Leap
Stun your opponent briefly by performing a short leap.

Defensive opponents
Use widow maker against these, make them bring the fight to you.

Mêlée duels
Since berserk sets your defense to zero a mêlée duel will end quickly and not in your favour, so as an alternative you can use the concentrate skill as it is a pre-requisite. It has lower damage and AR than your main skill but it's not too bad.

Hit-and-run
Sometimes you want to perform a single tele-zerk and then run way, this is used against opponents who aren't expecting it and/or those with high defense.

Widow maker
Get some practice using this bow, it is very useful. Its main purpose is to trigger open wounds, causing your opponent to want to attack you. Get good and firing and running, firing and running.

Battle cry / war cry
Use these to stun and lower the defense of enemies, battle cry is especially useful against opponents that are hard to hit.

Specific Opponents

Sorceress (any element) Difficulty: Easy
When it comes to fighting a sorceress there are only 2 variables: ES and MB, and the only 1 of these that really matter is MB as it can make dueling them a little bit harder.
You may wish to alter your equipment to increase your FCR breakpoint, you should certainly try to have some open wounds as this tends to hurt sorcs a lot and is especially useful because a sorceress will generally play defensively against you. If circumstances allow it then consider wearing either an abs item or an increased res item, or if it is a BM duel just put both on. Due to their low defense this opponent lends itself well to chainlocking, so get plenty of practice in. You will be able to tank most sorcs easily, those that you can't (either they have huge damage or they have max block) be prepared to use whirlwind, this will prevent you from getting hit quite to much and will allow open wounds to trigger a bit more readily.

Sorceress mêlée Difficulty: Easy
Zerk (or concentrate, see above) them until they die.

Amazon - bow Difficulty: Easy
Since you have max-block and high DR% this is a very easy duel, and the quickest way to dispatch them is to use whirlwind, not very exciting for a zerker but there you go, although zerking them is very easy also due to them having low life.

Amazon - java (and hybrids) Difficulty: Medium
The trouble with these is the dodge skills, hitting them can take forever, but when you do they will be dead. Probably you will want to put thundergod's on for this duel. If you find yourself having trouble then do some super-short whirlwinds as this will help keep them stun-locked. Hybrid amazons fall into this category because of the javelin component to that build, if you catch them using their bow against you then treat them as a bowazon.

Paladin - smite Difficulty: Very hard
Unfortunately berserk is of very little use against an opponent that always hits, your best best is to either hit-and-run (see above) or play as a whirlwind barb, at least you have max DR%.

Paladin - hammer Difficulty: Tricky
Sometimes you get a hammerdin that is really easy, or is played very badly, these are no problem, it's the others that are a bugger. If they are jodering or otherwise playing defensively then use widow-maker, this works like a charm against a charging paladin and is also useful for getting rid of their oak (which causes difficulty for zerking). If they teleport onto you then you need to be in their blindspot, the exact location of this depends upon the range of weapon you are using, it is generally underneath them and slightly to the left. Once in the blind spot you can zerk away at them, but be prepared for them to realise they aren't hitting you and teleport on you again, often it is best to try 3 or so zerks and then teleport to a safe spot.

Paladin - FoH Difficulty: Easy
You have enough stacked res available to nerf most of their damage, you can either just run after them or use tele-zerks. If they manage to keep out of your range well enough then get out the widow maker.

Druid - Tornado Difficulty: Easy-medium
Most druids have low blocking and low defense, in which case it is really easy to zerk them down, though in this duel you will benefit a lot from having a high FHR breakpoint as the tornadoes can stun you at just the wrong moment. You might like to whirlwind their wolves/bear (this is where that life leech comes in handy, it can recharge you surprisingly quickly) in order to get a clean shot at them. Often a druid will have low-ish FHR as well, so use your leap to your advantage. If you anticipate them teleporting onto you then use war cry to stun them a little, this can make a huge difference, especially if you end up tri-whirling them. If they play defensively then use widow maker with drac's, maybe you will get lucky and trigger open wounds, though at the very least you have a chance to hit them.

Druid - Fire claws / fissure Difficulty: Easy
Fire claws druids are a joke, though a good one may require hotspurs. Tele-zerk a fissure druid.

Druid - Fury / fire claws Difficulty: Easy-medium
Fury druids can take you by surprise sometimes, though ones that good are rare. Make sure you use concentrate and not berserk, and then basically go toe-to-toe. Don't forget you can whirlwind them if they give you trouble.

Druid - Rabies Difficulty: Medium-hard
Unless you have a huge amount of poison res it can be very hard to kill them once they have poisoned you as their general strategy is to just walk away at that point making them tough to hit (especially if they are max block, and they will be). Try to do as much damage as you can before you take the rabies as this is the only time they will be offensive, make them chase you as you whirlwind for example. Once you are poisoned try to telezerk them, though be careful as they may switch to fury.

Necro - Poison Difficulty: Easy
You might need to stack some poison res, but generally a simple tele-zerk is all that is needed.

Necro - Bone Difficulty: Easy-hard
The main problem with these necros is that the clay golem will slow you down, if you have any stacked IAS equipment then now is the time to wear it. Avoid spirit trains, watch out for invisible projectiles and play offensively.

Assassin- Trap Difficulty: Easy-medium
Thankfully you will have enough life and resistances to be able to tank all her traps, so one strategy is to just hold the zerk namelock, when she teleports away then you can perform a nicely timed tele-zerk. Sometimes trappers will play very defensively, jumping around all over the place, use your leap to give you a chance to attain the namelock. If all else fails play as a whirlwind barb.

Assassin- Whirlwind Difficulty: Easy
Just stand and use concentrate, if she back off for a second then tele-conc, feel free to use whirlwind yourself, even with 1 point your will beat her.

Assassin - Hybrid Difficulty: Easy-medium
The whirlwind part doesn't really affect you, so treat them as trappers.

Barbarian - Whirlwind Difficulty: medium-hard
Even with 1 point in whirlwind you should have an advantage over BvCs due to your max block, so it entirely possible to play like a smiter (using concentrate of course, see "Mêlée duels" above), if in doubt you can whirlwind too. If they try to whirlwind away then shoot some arrows at them. The trouble starts if you meet a BvA or a BvB because whirlwind has a fundamental advantage over concentrate, certainly you will struggle to conc them, let alone zerk them.

Barbarian - Zerk Difficulty: easy-hard
Well, this could go either way if you both just go toe-to-toe, though statistically things like defense, AR and damage will have a part to play in this duel so if the other zerker is built as more of a pure mêlée character then you will be at a big dis-advantage, but if he is general-purpose as well then who knows who will win. You can use concentrate to avoid dropping your defense to zero. You can also allow him to attack first in order for his defense to drop to zero before you strike.



Videos
I made some fun videos recently of PvP zerk barb play, if you're interested in play-style for this build then take a look, there are a few nifty tricks displayed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p19TAPDte-w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um1VpWeCL4o



References and Further Reading
Berserk description at battle.net - http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/barbarian-combatskills.shtml#berserk
Unique barbarian helms - http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/normal/ubarbarian.shtml
Titanseal's attack speed calculator - http://diablo3.***/tips/calcs/speedcalc_titanseal/speedcalc_english.php

omg disaster ~~
low/10
fake/10
statswithblessedaim+fana+oakd+defiance/10

l2read ^^

1 pic failed testic

edit: imo zerker is HC PK 1 shot pew pew not for pvp in softcore^^

This post was edited by lifo2 on May 5 2011 01:35pm

Dunno what all this means, sorry.


One of the pics doesn't show?

Guess he meant this?

pvp zerk is fun
most fun is to 1 hit kill auto tp hackers with 2 hander

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6WtAZSEgXo

Guillaumes gives 35 cb

Could be, but not to worry, that was only a text link to the same image.