Well, I am about to retire my lvl 49 Conc Barb, so I figured that I would post up a guide. First off, a warning, conc duels are some of the most boring duels imaginable. Second warning, this conc barb is built for melee duels, fighting anything that requires you to chase them is a very difficult fight.
That being said, lets go...
The conc barb is a barb that relies on the skill Concentrate as a main attack and massive def and max block to protect him.
Skills: (lvl 49=60 total skills hell rushed)
20 conc
20 battle orders (not only a great skill alone, but also a dmg synergy to Conc)
1 battle command
1 iron skin
14 into weapon mastery of choice
Gear: (Here I went for high def. items where I could without sacrificing much)
helm: highest edef arreats you can find (200edef is perf) socketed with any of a few different jewels (30ed/-15%req saves you 9 str)(I used a rare 30ed/10min dmg/30def jewel)
armor: eth glitched prudence boneweave is my favorite (mine has 2960 def)
weapon: eth highland blade oath (I prefer highland over small crescents due to the range 3 and that you can use 2 handed for more dmg vs certain chars)
amulet: angelic's
ring1: angelic's
ring2: angelic's for gm (no cold dmg)
ring2: raven frost for pubs
shield: sanctuary hyperion
gloves: immortal kings (ik)
boots: immortal kings (ik)
belt: immortal kings (ik)
switch: 2x 3bo weapons (if you want to get fancy you can use 2xdual fal'd weapons, but seeing as I did not do this, I am not going to recommend)
Stashed:
Um'd arreats (edef doesn't matter)
Inv. (i prefer charms i know 100% will not poof, so no 32020s)
10xar/life gcs (132/30 being the best)
10xdef/life scs (30/20 being the best)
I went for def/life scs because: 1, they are much cheaper. 2, I'm a conc barb, more def. isn't bad.
Stats:
str: enough for gear (101 if you use a -15%req jewel in arreats, or 110)
dex: enough for max block: takes 122 dex total (52 base dex)
vita: all the rest
energy: none
My barbs stats to give you an idea:
TheRelentless on E/Sc/Nl
1 handed conc dmg: 1166-3182
2 handed conc dmg: 3380-4932
def w/ shield (since when you need def you use the shield) :15 872
def w/ conc: 32 198
attack rating:19 364
life: 3140
Some dueling tips:
Conc vs Melee: Switch to back hand and Battle Command twice, Battle Orders, Shout. Now point and click and wait for the duel to finish.
Conc vs Bowa: Same starting sequence. To hit her, you have to catch her. While she is running run, when she turns to fire arrows, start to walk to increase blocking.
Conc vs Sorc: Same starting sequence. Same as above, except that you don't need to block. I suggest losing the shield to all sorcs, only possible variation is for good blizz sorcs. Dueling in nm you will be lacking in resists a bit, so switching to the Um'd arreats is enough to get you close to 75% res all. Dual wielding the oath highland blade will give a significant increase in dmg.
Conc vs Smite: Same starting sequence. Best bet is to lose the shield and pray. Most smiters you should kill in 3-4 hits, but getting those hits can be difficult. Good luck.
Conc vs Hammer: Same starting sequence. Another very difficult duel. No shield and dmg arreats is a must. If the hammerdin charges at you, you should have enough def to stop the attack. Other than that, avoid hammers best you can, stay playing defensive and try to get the hammerdin to have to come to you. Remember stay to the south/south-east of the hammerdin.
Conc vs FoH: Same starting sequence. This is the only time I would suggest using both your shield and um'd arreats. Conviction can and will destroy your resists, so just hang on for a tough ride.
Conc vs Trapper: Same starting sequence. With the gear set up, in nm you will have 75% res all with your dmg arreats and no shield. So go for that. These are very tricky duels, chasing down someone that only has to stop every time a trap discharges its 10 shots, can be very time consuming. Best option is to just keep running around avoiding traps and hoping that the trapper makes a mistake.
Well, I hope you enjoyed my first guide.
Questions/Comments are welcomed
This post was edited by Villas Sailor on Nov 11 2007 09:38am