For some reason there is no lvl 30 Conc Barb guide so I decided to make this real quick as they are the KING of CLICK and HOLD
Lvl 30 Concentrate Barbs are very common characters in the melee scene. They are very well balanced characters due to high defense, uninterruptible attack, and high life.
FRW = Faster Run Walk
FHR = Faster Hit Recovery
FBR = Faster Block Rate
IAS = Increased Attack Speed
FPA = Frames Per Attack
BO = Battle Orders
WC = Warcry
BP = Breakpoint
RW = Runeword
1) Goals
2) Skills
3) Stats
4) Breakpoints
5) Gear
6) Inventory
7) Strategies
1) Goals
Aim for 1.8k+ life. You can get way higher based on sockets, jewelry, and helm choice.
Aim for 1.5 k + dmg
Minimum 7k ar
Minimum 10k defense while concing
Res, fhr, mana, and frw are not important. CLICK AND HOLD REMEMBER
2) Skills
You have got 41 skills points when fully rushed to hell with all skill quest's. Here is what I found to be the most optimal distribution:
Combat skills:
1 bash
1 stun
13 concentrate
Warcry skills:
1 howl
1 shout
7 battle orders(synergy for concentrate. hell yeah)
1 battle command
Combat Masteries:
15 weapon mastery of choice
1 iron skin
You could choose to pump more into shout/iron skin over Mastery for more defense but I feel it is not necessary. You can play around with them a little.
3) Stats
Strenght: enough for gear which will depend on gear and weapon choice. Ornates and Executioner Swords will put a lot of strain in this area without -requirements. At least strength adds enhanced damage.
Dexterity: Enough for max block. 85 for a grim shield and swordback hold.
Vitality: Rest goes in here
Energey: None
4) Breakpoints
FHR
From my experience is not important as concentrate is uninterruptible.
FBR
The frame we will be aiming at is 20 % FBR (frame 5. You will be achieving this with with a 30/20 grim shield. You'll have to settle for frame 7 with swordback hold).
IAS
Rather than show tables I'll just post basic weapons/gear pairing needed to hit certain fpa.
Naga:
25% ias from IK combo - 13 fpa (honor runeword naga)
25% ias " " and 30% ias on weapon - 11 fpa (rare/robo naga)
25% ias " " and 50% ias on weapon - 10 fpa (rare naga)
Zweihander/Rune Sword:
25% ias from IK combo - 12 fpa (honor runeword zweihander)
25% ias " " and 10% ias on weapon - 11 fpa (robo/rare zweihander/rune sword)
25% ias " " and 30% ias on weapon - 10 fpa (" ")
10% ias from Bloodfist and 50% ias on weapon - 10 fpa (" ")
Executioner Sword:
25% ias from IK combo - 14 fpa (honor runeword executioner)
25% ias " " and 10% ias on weapon - 13 fpa (robo/rare executioner)
25% ias " " and 30% ias on weapon - 12 fpa (" ")
25% ias " " and 50% ias on weapon - 11 fpa (" ")
Although they look sexy executioner swords are too slow and have to high reqs to be considered unless you have some godly prepatch one. Same for battle hammer which I didn't even bother to list.
5) Gear
I will propose budget friendly items and a godly item(perfect end gear)
Helm:
Choice 1: Eth/rep grim helm/grand crown. Shoot for 300+ def and 2os. Life/visionary/skills would be great adds. I wouldn't really consider a 1os unless you are on a strict budget.
Choice 2: +1 barb/+3 bo/2os barb helm. Life/other useful staff mods and visionary(if rare) would be great adds again. This has the potential to add large amounts of life at the cost of defense.
Choice 3: +1 barb/+3 bo/eth/rep/2os exceptional barb helm. Same as choice 2 but could get over 200+ defense on helm allowing it to be the best overall choice. Only one I've ever seen is mine. So goodluck.
Armor:
Non-optional: Eth/rep/2os Ornate Plate. Shoot for 1200+ defense. These have become extremely common and are not expensive so do not settle for 1os. I've seen plain 1300+def/2os go very cheap. Find one with -requirements, life, or both. These are a little more rare but there are a few out there.
Amu:
Choice 1: Angelics. Reasons should be obvious. High life and attack rating
Choice 2: +1 barb/+80 life magic amulet. Since you don't need mana or rep life really for that matter shooting for high life is the goal.
Choice 3: +1 barb/stats/life rare amulet. Ideally it should get you an equivalent of more than 80 life to beat the magic.
Rings:
Choice 1: Angelics
Choice 2: AR/stats/life rare ring. Again shoot for as much life gain as possible. Mana and rep life are not very important so don't waste money on those mods. Look for min damage instead.
You can choose using 2* Angelic rings, or 1* Angelic and 1* rare with min dam, ar, str/dext, and life or 2* rares.
Gloves:
Choice 1: IK. Paired with belt gives ias, defense, and ar.
Choice 2: Bloodfist. Would only use this if you plan to wear SoE and will not hit another fpa bp with IKs on. Up it once to a perf 56 defense.
Belt:
Choice 1: IK. obviously
Choice 2: String of Ears. 15% damage reduction and perf defense would be ideal.
Boots:
Choice 1: Sanders. Attack rating and 15 stats.
Choice 2: Goblin toes. This should be the choice you go with. Crushing blow helps a lot against other melee chars. Up it once to a perf 90 defense.
Shield:
Choice 1: Swordback Hold. Open wounds is great and can really help you out. Up it once to a perfect 134 defense. Remember that when it is up you will need to use a jewel with lvl 25 req or less.
Choice 2: Artisan's xx shield of deflection or 30/20/2os rare shield with good mods.
Choice 3: eth/rep 30/20/2os grim shield. Aim for 400+ defense. Have become much more common thanks to shops.
Weapons:
My favorite part.
Choice 1: Honor runeword (naga/zweihander). Decent damage, +1 skills, str, rep life, DEADLY STRIKE, ar, etc... so much to love with this.
Choice 2: Robo naga/zweihander/runesword. Really only robo naga would be viable. Only use this if you really feel you need to be swinging faster.
Choice 3: Eth/rep rare naga/zweihander/executioner/runesword basically any base as long as you get high amounts of damage and ias.
Jewels:
You will have around 5-7 sockets available. Look for as much damage as possible. Ideally you will want min/max damage jewels. You get a lot of enhanced damage from skill tree so no need for that in your jewels. Look for some with useful 4th mods such as stats, attack rating, or defense in that order. Make sure your highest requirement items use jewels with -15 req.
6) Inventory
If you can afford it then get 40x scs. get 3 max/20 attack rating/15 life or 15 life/20defense. You could play around with mixing charms to find something you like but I feel 3/20/15s are best.
If you can't afford that, get Gcs 9-10/xx/20-25 and the rest scs but than this build probably isn't for you.
7) Strategies
I will give the most detailed and proven strategies as possible.
Say go and wait for opponent to say go. Hover mouse over his head and hold down left click (extremely important not to make a mistake when doing this). Make sure you're walking.
Although most of this guide is common knowledge to the lld community I just though I would write it so that any newcomers could see it and not have to keep making threads asking about it. If I missed anything let me know guys.