CompanyofThree’s Variant Brawler Mini-GuideOverview:Introduction
Skills
Stats
Item Setups
Desynch Throwing
Lacerators verse Warshrikes
Why We Don't Use Arreats
About Throwing Weapons
About Widowmaker
Highlords verse Other Amulets
Basic Strategies
Introduction:Hello everyone, this is my take on the Brawler build which is a Throwing/ Whirlwind Hybrid barbarian. My first Player verse Player character was a throw barb and I constantly upgraded him with new gear and different skill layouts to make him the most versatile character he could be. I recently sold my Brawler, named HurlingObjects, but now I’m ready to share my build with you young-ins.
More accurately this character is a Barb verse Caster (BvC) with a double Lacerator switch to proc Amp Damage. Now, why is this a good combination? Well, this is the most effective way to make a PvP throw barb as it’s extremely hard to kill someone just by throwing; this way, you throw until you proc Amp, and then Whirlwind them for incredibly high damage. For the people reading this going “well when you throw I’ll just stomp you, jajajajaja was EZ” you’re an idiot. The way this build is made is that the throwing damage is much lower than it will be if you went 50%throw and 50% whirlwind, so you don’t even need to throw for some of the duels. To see how this is accomplished, read on.
Skills:Since this is more of a BvC than a thrower, our skill set is going to look very much like a normal BvC’s would:
Combat Skills- 20 WW, 1 Double Swing, 1 Double Throw, 1 Berserk
Combat Masteries- 20 Axe Mastery, 20 Throwing Mastery, 1 Increased Speed, 1 Iron Skin, 1 Natural Resistance
Warcries- 20 Battle Orders, 1 Taunt (optional), 1 Battle Command
Rest into Leap
You’ll notice that there is only 1 point into Double Swing and only 1 into its synergy Double Throw, why is that? The skill setup is thus because we will only be throwing to proc Amp Damage off of Lacerators, so by only doing 1 skill point in both of those we will be able to pump up Whirlwind damage by maxing that. In public PK games it is possible to pick off noobs by throwing, but otherwise in more serious duels you only want it for the proc ability.
Throw damage is usually pretty low anyhow, projectiles (Lacerators) only travel about a screen distances, they can be blocked, and they have to hit, all without you dying. Very tedious work! So it is because of this that we will be using Whirlwind most of the time and DT only for proccing Amp, and sometimes not at all.
Stats:This can be a little bit tricky because it depends on the stats of your torch and anni, ravenfrosts, and faster cast rate rings. The idea here is we always want our Lacerators to be glitched. What does this mean? Glitched Lacerators require 112 dexterity to wear, so when you stat dex and can only wear your Lacerators with your charms (i.e. you stat 111 hard points into dexterity, then you gain +40 stats from torch and anni, now you have 151 dex and can wear your Lacerators) and to your enemies you will *blink* every time you throw.
Strength- Enough to wear Crown of Ages; 174
Dexterity- Enough to wear Lacerators with faster cast rate rings; 112 (without gear/ inventory I have 47)
Vitality- Rest
Energy- None
If we dump all our points into Dexterity we will be a glass cannon and our projectiles won't be glitched, so only stat enough Strength to wear Coa and enough Dex to wear Lacerators
Our other aims are
38 FCR (63 FCR occasionally, barely ever)
48 FHR
Item Setups:The way this character is setup is that the build revolves around Highlords amulet and a BvC attack mentality, thus allowing us the greatest throw damage while having the best whirlwind damage. Here I will list out the main setup and swap gear and if you believe that another item is better and will benefit the build better, read further down as I will present the arguments for why this is the absolute best setup.
Helm: Crown of Ages (Ber Ber)
Main helmet, offers us the best mods in one package; 1 skill, DR %, 30 fhr, resistances
Armor: Enigma
The only armor option; 1 skill, teleport, 45% FRW, massive strength boost, and 8% DR
Weapon 1: eth Lacerators
Weapon 2: eth Lacerators
Our main throwing weapons, go for ethereal for more damage and lower dexterity requirement; 33% CTC amp
Switch: Grief Berserker Axe & Beast Berserker Axe
Our switch setup, after Amp is procced quickly switch to this to WW them to death
Gloves: Trang-Oul’s Bracers
Best gloves option; 20% FCR, 25% more poison damage, and 30 cold resistance
Belt: Arachnid’s Mesh
Best belt option; 1 skill, 20% FCR, and 10% slow
Boots: Goreriders
Amazing boots, too many mods not to pass up
Ring 1: 20 Dexterity/ 200+ AR Ravenfrost
Ring 2: 20 Dexterity/ 200+ AR Ravenfrost
Main rings; Cannot Be Frozen, dexterity for Lacerators, and AR for hitting
Amulet: Highlords
The idea that the build revolves around… ; ~30-35% deadly strike, 1 skill, and 30 lightning res
Stashed Gear:Griffon’s Eye Diadem – for 63 FCR against fast teleporting casters
Guillaume's – for Hammerdins and Bonemancers
Open Wound Belt (24 fhr/ 10% OW/ strength/ life/ life leach)
2x 10 FCR/ 15 Dexterity/ 90+ AR/ life rings – when replacing missing FCR when Arach’s or Trang’s is stashed
Hsarus Boots and Belt – if you feel the need for slighty more AR
Rare throwing weapons – for style or for pubbing out pure throw attack
Thundergods and Inferno’s – optional sorb gear to take the edge of off lightning and fire casters
Widowmaker (Nef or Hel) – useful for a very far ranged attack to haze opponents
Inventory:20/ 20 Barb Torch
20/ 20/ 10 Anni Small Charm
4x 5 all res/ 5 FHR small charms (4 more in stash when using Griffs)
Mix between life resistance charms and max damage/ AR/ life charms
Desynch Throwing: Desynch is a nifty little glitch in the game programming that we’ve all seen paladin class characters and bow amazons abuse. Desynch is the glitch that does not take into account the FRW charms in a characters inventory, thus you’ll appear slower to an enemy whereas on your computer you’ll be running at full speed. This same concept can be applied to your gear as well; by only being able to wear your gear through the strength and dexterity bonus through charms you can appear naked, or half naked, and your throwing weapons will be invisible and every time you throw you will disappear off the screen for a fraction of a second. Makes dodging projectiles and hitting you just a slight bit harder
Lacerators verse Warshrikes: So why Lacerator? Well, the whole idea of this build is a Barb verse Caster who can throw, proccing Amp, allowing him to do more damage. That being said, Lacerators is the best run for your money as the requirements are low and easily obtainable and the chance to cast Amp Damage is the best on any weapon throughout the game.
“But Warshrikes have 50% deadly strike, that’s similar to the effect of Amp Damage” you’re half right. While Warshrikes have 50% deadly strike when thrown, the DS only applies to the throwing weapon. What this means is that you have to throw, hit the person continually, and kill them without dying and keeping them within a screen of you. A very complicated task if you’ve ever played a pure thrower. Amp Damage, on the other hand, stays on the opponent allowing you to switch weapons and Whirlwind them for much greater and faster damage which you would not be able to do if you swapped Lacerators for Warshrikes.
Why We Don't Use Arreats:If you're on a welfare budget and can't afford a Crown of Ages, then yeah, Arreats is fine and the same can be said of any of the gear; if you can't afford it find cheaper alternatives. But if you can afford the listed gear, don't waste your money by buying Arreats. While it does offer nice stats and bonuses (2 barb, 2 barb combat, 30 fhr, strength and dex) it doesn't offer damage reduction. Damage reduction is crucial to this build as we can't block and will only have 8% DR through Enigma, which is not enough to survive verse physical chars. Guillaume's also offers 35% Crushing Blow and 15% DS which are amazing mods against magic dealing opponents such as Hammerdins and Bonemancers that Arreats doesn't stack up too. Lastly, Griffon's Eye is used for the 63 FCR breakpoint and Arreats has no FCR... It seems like a nice helmet, but compared to the other options it is beat.
About Throwing Weapons:These really have no practical use on this character but they’re nice to have for trophy value, style, or if you want to mess around and just Double Throw pub n00bs. Here are some stats you should consider when looking at throwing weapons:
Increased Attack Speed
Fools Mod
Cruel Mod
Knockback
Ethereal
Replenish Quantity
Increased Stack Size
Try and combo these stats for trophy worthy weapons. If you are interested in learning more about throwers, or throwing weapons, check out these guides:
The Ultimate Throwers Handbook V1.01The Ultimate Throw Barb GuideThe Brawler > A Bvc/thrower Hybrid By DeathwingerAbout Widowmaker:Widowmaker is a nifty bow and is not usually utilized on a BvC due to their lack of a need for dexterity. With a Brawler, however, you will have some dexterity and to overlook Widowmaker would be a mistake. What Widowmaker does is takes up two weapon slots and offers you the ability to cast Guided Arrow. Now, by itself that doesn’t seem like something great, but in combo with Lacerators you can proc Amp Damage from screens away.
By using a Widowmaker and a Grief/ Lacerator switch (Lacerator is needed for Amp Damage and Grief does better WW damage than Beast or another Lacerator) you can shoot 1-3 GA’s, switch to Grief/ Lacerator, wait for Amp to proc, then telestomp and destroy your opponent. This is the same idea that bowamazons use when they shoot GA and have a CTC switch, allowing their opponent to have a curse modifier without having to get near the opponent.
Highlords verse Other Amulets:Highlords is the crème-de la-crème of amulets in this setup. Why? Deadly Strike. This build aims for incredibly high damage through Amp and critical/ deadly strikes. Once Amp has been procced it is quite possible to decimate the enemy within seconds. Let us compare other amulets against Highlords;
2 barb/ 10-20 fcr amulet – Now, why anyone would have a FCR amulet on a BvC is beyond me. It would be retarded to equip this because it doesn’t matter how much life, strength, mana, or resistances you gain, they won’t stack up to potentially 8k+ damage
Angelics Ring/ Amulet – All you gain from this is an Attack Rating boost and a loss of 10 dexterity, thus making another calculation for you to figure out on how to keep your Lacerators glitched at all times. Yes, the AR boost is nice, but you can easily swap out Arachs and Goreriders for Hsarus boots and belt combo which give 900-990 AR (depending on level) and then equip the 2x FCR rings over Ravenfrosts, all the while allowing you to keep Highlords on for the Deadly Strike and maintaining 38 FCR.
Rare Stat Amulet – You’re not a BvB, again, this is a retarded choice because Enigma takes care of strength and you need MINIMAL dexterity to hit 112, so extra life compared to double damage is an easy decision.
Basic Strategies:This is pretty basic stuff, if you want to discuss a specific match that you’re having trouble with (i.e. Brawler verse Javazon or Brawler verse Smiter) post it here and I can delve into a much deeper discussion on tactical game play. But as it is, here is the basic strategy of this class:
1.) Playing with Amp (casters, javazons, melee characters, and others) – what you want to do is run/ teleport around defensively until you feel you’re in a comfortable playing position. Start throwing Lacerators in the general direction that your enemy is in via your mini-map and when they come on to your screen/ in the vicinity of your screen, start leaping like crazy to throw them into knockback animation. This allows for an easy time throwing because you have your opponent stun-locked; alternate between throw and leap and when Amp procs quickly switch weapons and telestomp and triwhirl until dead.
2.) Playing without Amp (BvCs, Smiters, Bowzons, Hybrid Sins, and others) – Play this like a regular BvC and bide your time by leaping and teleporting, and when you feel you have an opening telestomp and whirl until dead / berserk ‘em in the face!
3.) Playing with Widowmaker – shoot 1-3 GA’s and switch to Grief/ Lacerator for Amp, rinse and repeat until you land it and then run up on them and attack relentlessly until they’re dead or Amp runs out, in which case back off and start hazing them again until they are Amped.
That’s the rough outline for this character, I hope you enjoyed the read and learned something.
Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day
This post was edited by CompanyOfThree on Jul 19 2010 01:39pm