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Jan 21 2017 09:36pm
1.14d - Leaper Barbarian a.k.a. The "Dragoon" Barbarian



Tired of the same old builds? Want something new? Look no further. I present to you, the Leap Attack Barbarian, also known as the Dragoon Barbarian.

A. Introduction

I will begin with a disclaimer that this character is not viable for any kind of competitive dueling. You will only find any success in public games, and even then it is a game of chance. However, what I can promise you is a great deal of enjoyment and lulz as well as the sweet satisfaction you receive when successfully 1 shotting your opponent after leaping around like a goon.

The entire fabric of the leaper barbarian is tied around the fact that leap attack has the highest ed% of any skill in the game, even over that of charge. In addition, he has the ability to leap over most ranged, and some melee attacks while avoiding damage.

That being said, there are some clear points to focus on: Damage, ATTACK RATING, Survivability (life, fhr, res, defence, dr%, frw). Damage and Attack rating are critical. You cannot attack quickly, so landing the hit and making sure that your hit does a significant amount of damage are the most important.

Important notes: Each +skill into Leap attack adds 30 ed% and 15% ar. These points are very valuable when compared to other barbarians. Also, I HIGHLY recommend leveling your barbarian to lvl 90, due to the chance to hit equation: Chance To Hit = 200% * {AR / (AR + DR)} * {Alvl / (Alvl + Dlvl)}

B. Contents

A. Intro
B. Contents
C. Gear/Inventory
D. Mercenary
E. Stats
F. Skills
G. Using him.
H. Ending Notes


C. Gear/Inventory

You should be around these values after gearing up:

~5k-30k Physical Damage Leap Attack
~2k-11k Whirlwind
~5.5k+ life with bo
~32k Ar w/ Angelics (~19k w/ Highlords and Ravenfrosts)
~75 @Res in hell (if using high res torch/anni and a couple charms)
~86% Fhr breakpoint
~13k defense

Helm: -Arreat’s Face w/ Pdiamond (or gg +AR jewel)- obvious winner with Fhr, Ar, +skills, Res, Dex, Str. Not too expensive either.

Armor:
1. Fortitude (Archon Plate for light armor and high defense)- Has the Enhanced damage%, which no other armor can come close to. And you’re going to be going for the one hit KO, so damage is a must. Also has nice Res.
2. Enigma (Archon Plate) - +skills to make up for damage lost, +frw. If you find that you are can easily hit and 1shot the competition without fortitude (bowazons, necros, and sorcs), I recommend Enigma for the extra dodge factor

Belt:
1. IK Belt - +Lr, +Fr, +str, and +fhr (with other 2 IK pieces). Altogether, the 3 IK pieces gives +125 AR on top of their other bonuses. (individually, Dungos might seem better, but the combo of belt, gloves, and boots here is better than the alternatives)
2. Thundergod’s Vigor – Situational (for sorb). If using this belt, you should change your belt and glove options as well.

Boots:
1. IK Boots – AR, Life, 40%frw, and +2combat skills (with 2 more pieces of IK), this belt has everything this build needs. Don’t laugh. While other builds might benefit more from goreriders or waterwalks, this build needs the extra AR.
2. Goreriders – Gores give +deadly strike and cb%, which are nice, particularly when not using IK.

Gloves:
1. IK Gloves - +str, +dex, but more importantly fills out the 2nd IK slot (there are not many gloves of significance for this barb anyway)
2. Hellmouth/Steelrends/Dracul’s Grasp gloves – Situational. Sorb, +str, or open wounds. There are not many gloves which benefit your build in a huge way.

Ammy & Rings:

1. Angelic set. AR, AR, AR. At the end of the day, this set adds an additional 15k AR

2. Highlords ammy, ravenfrost, ravenfrost. Only if you find yourself consistently hitting your enemy can you switch to this. The highlords adds additional damage through +skills and deadly strike. Raven adds ar, cold sorb, and cbf

Weapon: Ethereal Botd Warpike- This is absolutely a MUST. No skimping on the ethereal either. The added damage is the difference between 15k and 30k damage. The warpike is superior over all others, in that it has a weapon range of 4, which allows for more hits, as well as having near damage to the Thundermaul.

Switch: -1x Pair Bo sticks- I prefer the shout boost that bo sticks give over the +1 skill from the Hoto + (+3 bo) Cta combo. Plus this is much cheaper.


Inventory:

15+/15 + Btorch
15+/15+ Anni
1x Bcombs/Fhr Gcs
5x Bcombs/Life Gcs
2x Masteries/Life Gcs (Can be bcomb as well)
1x fhr/life/ar lc
4x Fhr/maxdmg/ar Scs
4x dmg/ar/life scs
1x cold res/frw

Tome of Town Portal

Or some combination of the above. Focus on ar, damage, fhr for breakpoints, life, and frw
D. Mercenary


Act 2/NM Offensive(Might Aura)-

Helm:
Eth Vamp Gaze

Armor: Fort or Shaftstop- If you want a more defensive merc to tank while you leap, Shafts, if you want him to kill also, then Fort.

Weapon: Pride: Conc Aura + your damage= *drool*

E. Stats

Strength
: As much needed to put on your gear.

Dexterity: None (You don’t have a shield, so blocking is irrelevant, and you get Ar from gear.)

Vitality
: All the rest.

Energy
: None

F. Skills

Warcries
:

1x Howl
20x Shout (last skill to max)
20x Battle Orders
1x Battle Commands

I use shout instead of iron skin for defense, because I can give it to party members, it’s a synergy for Battle commands, and I get the bonus from my Bo sticks.

Masteries
:

20x Spear Mastery
1x Iron Skin
1x Natural Resistance
1x Increased Stamina
1x Increased speed

Combat Skills:

20x Leap(synergy + knockback effect)
20x Leap Attack (Main skill)
1x Bash(Prereq.)
1x Stun(Prereq.)
1x Concentration(Prereq.)
1x Whirlwind(Secondary Attack(will explain later.))

G. Using Him

This character takes practice to use effectively. However, I will give you the basic tips to get you off the ground (pun intended).

CRITICALLY IMPORTANT: Leap Attack works in a less-than-stable manner, in that there are two possible ways to attack an enemy based on how close you are to that enemy upon landing. If you are too close after landing, your character will go through a complete attack animation, which is horribly painful due to your garbage attack speed. However, if you position your landing correctly, it will instead activate a knockback effect which has no additional animation but still goes through the damage check. The allowable landing position takes practice to get the feel for and changes depending on the size of the enemy and their hitbox. However, this is the most important skill to learn to give any viability to this build.

PvM: For bosses and champion monsters, it is recommended to make leaps which are as small as possible to maximize dps. Hold down your right click (where LA is) and position your cursor just slightly in front of your barb for the shortest leap possible. Circle or alternate position until dead.

For mobs, it may be best to just use WW. If you want to use leap, it is best to get the mob to chase you and make very small leaps to take out the front of the pack one by one as they chase you.

It is possible to take on Uber Duriel, Izual, and Lilith, as well as survive in Uber Trist. Your life leech is huge with your damage output.

PvP:

Sorceress:

Fireball: Your leap has a convenient little effect of leaping over most ranged attacks. Meaning you won’t get hit, as long as you’re in the air. So, if the sorc stays in one place, and fires fb’s at you, leap in a zigzag like pattern, over the stream of fire until you land on the sorc. If you miss or she teles, rinse and repeat. However, if the sorc has any skill, then you’re going to want to follow the basic strategy for any sorc. She will tele around you firing fb’s wherever she can. You’re going to want to leap around her, scaring her to the direction you want her to go. For example, follow her with your leap for a bit, careful not to land on an fb, and when you’ve gotten into a rhythm, leap to her left. She will almost certainly tele right. Then leap a little down from her, closing about half the distance, but not the whole way. Then she, out of habit will tele to avoid what she thought was gonna be a direct attack on her. Most likely, she will tele back to the right. Now, she is close enough to you for you to leap on her without her getting away. If you miss, Ww through her(you’re gonna want to have Ww on your left click.). This will usually kill her, if not, rinse and repeat, if you do, congrats. =)
Note: If the sorc decides to camp out with meteor, be careful. Meteor can hit in mid-air, so make sure to leap in just after the meteor is cast, and then leap back out before it lands.

Frozen Orb: The Orb sorc can actually be quite difficult to duel, due to its slow movement. While you can leap over it, when you land, the orb will probably just be finishing up, leaving you still vulnerable to its full blast. The basic strategy applies here as well. However, dodging the orbs is a little more complicated than simple zigzags. If an orb is fired at you from far away, you’re going to want to anticipate where it will end and leap into the center just after it explodes, so all the ice bolts miss you. Progress is slowed this way, but it is necessary. If it is fired from close range, you can leap directly at the caster and most likely avoid the bolts.

Blizzard: Put on a Ravenfrost. Blizzard is one of the few ranged skills that can hit you in the air. So caution is necessary. A smart blizzard sorceress will cast blizz right in front of her and just wait. For the love of god, don’t try to jump in and tank it. You’ll die. You don’t have even close to enough res to survive it. Instead, leap around the sorc as she tries to get the blizz on you. Make sure you’re quick on your feet and leap back into the air before the blizz takes effect on you. Do the same basic sorc strategy, mixed in with this in order to take her down.

Lightning: Simple duel. Follow the same directions as an Fb sorc. However, make note not to jump straight along the lightning, directly over it, as somehow it can still hit you this way. Believe it or not, your greatest obstacle will be T-storm, because, like all attacks that come from the sky, it can hit you in air. As you chase the sorc it will slowly wear down your health. Bring T-gods belt or something of the sort to counter act its damage.

Nova: This is actually quite a difficult duel. Whenever she stops teleing around, leap on her and then immediately leap away. The goal is to land on her just after she casts nova, to get in the center of it, avoiding damage. If you miss, leap attack away and then switch to leap, so she has a harder time following you. When she stops again, rinse and repeat.

Enchantress: Easy. LA around in short, little leaps, until she tries to tele on you and attack you. Your damage will most likely kill her as soon as she gets to you. If not, continue the small leaps until you hit her. Your damage is much greater than hers, so you will win. Avoid long jumps, as it is possible for ALL melee attacks to hit you while in the air. This leaves you vulnerable to her attacks.

Amazon:

Bowazon: Put on Enigma. You will need the extra FRW. Follow the same basic sorc strategy. However, be quick on your feet as the Guided Arrows do still follow you in the air, and are not very welcoming when you reach the ground. Get back into the air as soon as possible. Also, Bowazons do not tele much, and like to run more. This means that instead of tricking them to run the other way, you’re going to want to try and leap around to cut them off. If you’re having a really hard time, use Leap instead of leap attack to stun them while you’re catching up, then switch to Leap Attack for your killing blow. This is an incredibly difficult duel.

Javazon: This is rather simple if they don’t have the farcast mod. Follow the light sorc method until you land on them. However, if you miss, don’t stay around long, as they will probably melee you as long as you’re close. These will also probably have a shield, as well as the dodge effect, so you will miss much more frequently than sorceresses. If they are packing the Farcast mod, then you want to charge them like never before. If they have farcast, then they probably aren’t the best duelers in the world and won’t run much. So you have to hope that your first or second attack land on them, otherwise, you will die. However, compared to most other melee classes, this build does fairly well against fcers.

Assassin:

Trapper: If they use Wake of fire, use Leap to stun them while you leap around and LA them when you can. Lightning Sentry is a bit more difficult. A smart sin will plant the traps around her and sit in the middle, running around, avoiding you. If this happens, turn on Leap, and knock her out of the circle. If this proves too hard, leave around until the traps run out. The sin will eventually get tired and want to chase you. This leaves the sin more open to a straight leap. Stun the sin around with Leap, cutting her running paths off as you chase her. Be careful to dodge the traps she sets. (even though they’re less organized, they’re still dangerous) When you close in, LA on her and knock her out, if you miss, whirlwind through her. Quickly get back into the air, and repeat.

Kicksin: This is very similar to the Enchantress. Small leaps, and she will go down easily.


Whirlwind: This is very difficult if she has nice damage. Never leap over her while she’s in a Ww. Leap to the side of her Ww path instead, and hope the damage connects. If not, leap further away to escape her reach and then try again.

Hybrid(Trap/Ww): Just add the two strategies together. This is a very difficult duel. However, the Ww makes her more slow, which makes it easier for you to catch up to her.

Necromancer:

Poison Nova: Basically the same strategy as the Nova sorc, except a little easier.

Bone Spirit: The same strategy as the Bowazon. Put on Enigma. If he teles a lot, follow the tele strategy, if he runs, follow the running strategy. Also a very difficult duel.

Summoner: A very difficult duel due to the number of targets. I would use Leap to scatter the minions off of him, and then(and this is the only time you should ever do this) directly LA on him. He most likely doesn’t have any massive-damage-doing attacks, so, its pretty safe. He’ll probably tele again though, so you’ll have to scatter the troops again and repeat.


Barbarian:

Leaper: Hahaha. I have no idea. I’m the only one I’ve ever seen, but, hopefully this guide will make them more popular, so my guess is…Small leaps and hope you land just after they do.

Ww: Basically follow the Ww sin strategy. You can also try the Ww approach, keeping your Ww out of their reach, while they’re still in yours. You have the longest range weapon, use it to your advantage. If you can get them to chase you with the WW, you will win, because of this range difference. If they are BvB, or have a shield, you’re screwed.

Concentration: Leap attack is stronger than conc. Try it face to face and hope you hit more than he does, but otherwise, if that doesn’t work, small leaps, yadda yadda yadda.

Thrower: Follow the Bowazon guide….except this is so much easier.

Beserk/Frenzy/Double Swing: Just Leap Attack around them and then back out. Repeat. Eventually they’ll die.

Paladin:

Hammerdin: Hdins are really the only paladin that’re even remotely easy to kill. If they tele on you, leap away and make it onto the offensive. Then just leap to the on the inside ring of hammers, to the southwest of them, whenever they stop to cast.

Smiter: You can’t kill a good one. Don’t try unless there’s no one else. In that case, just do small leaps in front of them, and hope they chase you. If they’re dumb enough, hopefully you’ll hit(happens very rarely) before they kill you. You can also try going all out Ww. Whirlwind around them in a triangle pattern. You have a longer reach than them, so you may be able to keep out of their grasp while still getting them with your Ww.

Fist of Heavens: Another pain-in-the-rump skill that can hit you in the air. Your best bet is to leap on them and keep at it until you land a hit. If you leap away, the FoH will get you and you’ll die. Of course, wear T-gods if you can to take a little bit of the bite off.

Auradin: Very similar the the FoHer. Keep the attack on them. If you run away, the auras can hit you in the air (its also very possible that they are hybrid FoH), and you’ll die. The the auradin just runs circles around you, either try to guess where’s he’s gonna be next and leap there, or s/e and get your smiter to kill him till he leaves. If they know what they’re doing, then this is a very difficult duel.

Zealadin: Basically the same as the frenzy barb. Don’t leap over him, or he’ll zeal you to death.

Hybrid: Any hybrid will probably have smite, in which case they will focus on it to kill you, which calls for the same strategy as the smiter. If they have FoH, never run, or they will kill you with that as you try to escape.

Charger: Ah…the leaper’s second cousin. Fortunately, charge is probably the only melee attack that can’t hit you in the air, So they have nothing to charge on. Just land on them when you get the chance. They’re pretty easy.


Druid:

Lycanthropy: Follow the strategy of a conc barb. It’s basically the same thing.

Wind: If they don’t have summons, this duel is much easier. If they charge you, leap to the left or right of them, and then leap back into the center of the hurricane, hopefully taking them out. Be careful, as the hurricane can also hit you in the air, so try not to stay in the air over him for too long. If he has summons, you’re going to want to follow the same basic rule as the Summoner(necro). Use Leap to get the summons away from him and then leap on him. If the spirit is out of the cane, then go ahead and kill it. It at least gives that precious moment while they stop to recast it. Also be careful to avoid the ‘nados. They can also hit you in the air, so make sure to leap to the side before you leap at him.

Fire: Just watch out for the molten bolder explosion, which can hit you in air, as well as the Armageddon fire rain stuff. Besides that, kill them in any way I’ve explained earlier.

H. Ending Notes/Acknowledgements

Eight years ago, a naïve teenager wrote a guide on how to create a barbarian which he claimed was “a unique… extremely powerful character, capable of one hitting ANY character known to Diablo.” He did not realize just how silly he sounded, using such strong words. Today, this same teenager, grown into adult, looks back on the shadow of his former self with pity. However, the love for the character he created remains. So, with much more seasoned eyes, he returned to write a guide which details, albeit in much more realistic terms, a character which holds a special place in his heart.

Special thanks to Brona121 for the support and helping develop and test this character over the years.



This post was edited by Kunim on Jan 21 2017 09:43pm
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Jan 21 2017 09:46pm
You posted in d3 zzzzz
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