Intro:
Hey, I'm Tysnatch. I've been playing barbarians ever since this game was in beta when barb was one of the 2 only select able characters. I've been playing what I can call a BvC since 2008, after testing out various fortitide/thundermaul and immortal king builds myself, then learning how much good enigma can do on a barb. I played UsWest until 2011, when I took a year break from d2. I came back in 2012 to the east server, and since then I've had the barbarians xTSA, xB, and xE. Every ladder I've gotten more and more respect from the people I duel with, who recognize the time and effort I've put into my barbarian, and appreciate that I stay gm all the time. I've put so much time into every choice I've made on a barb, and figured out what I believe to be the best possible builds for a barbarian. I've also done numerous mathematical analyses of aspects of BvC designing, like the systematic proof that Grief is better than BotD, and actually testing the effects of Grief/Beast versus Grief/Grief (Grief/Beast significantly more damage).
This build is designed for Ladder, so 08 items will not be listed.
This is my first real guide for jsp, and I hope you will enjoy.
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pros:
- no real weakness
- high life, high damage, cannot be absorbed
- very good team player through bo/shout/leap
- king of 1v1, good barb can beat anyone in a gm duel
- can take down bmers/modders by himself pretty easy
cons:
- expensive on ladder
- needs prior duel experience to operate
- hates lag
- needs high lvl char, 89 is reccomended as a minimum. 96 or 99 are ideal end levels, and I will explain why later in this guide.
- a few builds will be hard to beat until you learn the technique to deal with them
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Skills:
These are the required skills. Every barb should have these, and if yours doesn't, then you should keep your barb to pvm.
Battle Orders - 20
Axe Mastery - 20
Whirlwind - 20
Prerequisites - 6 (Bash, Conc, Leap attk, Inc stamina, Iron skin, Howl)
Battle command - 1 (optional)
Howl is useful for scattering summons. It doesn't work on shadows, which is quite unfortunate.
Battle command is optional, since you may use HotO + CtA to cast battle orders, or get it from your bo helmet, but you need to ask yourself if those items will be available every time. More in the builds section.
These skills are the skills that make a barb into a bvc
Leap - 12-20
When you leap, hostiled characters within a radius of your character (leap lvl * 0.66 yards) will be knocked back and put into a double FHR animation.
The absolute minimum level to have leap is level 19 when you are wearing the gear set that gives you the LOWEST + to skills bonus. This will let you hit the whole screen, minus the corners.
Level 24 will nicely cover the corners and give you a bit of off-screen rage.
I put 20 points to have a long offscreen reach, which is particularly useful in team matches.
Natural Resistance - 5-6
Depending on your build, you can put 5 or 6 points to have 64 all res with your caster setup on, or with coa/40fcr setup on.
Increased Speed - ~4-5
The additional speed allows to outrun bone spirits when slowed, and helps you synch (I will explain this later). Also, being able to run faster lets you get out of dangerous situations faster.
Depending on your build, you can put 4 or 5 points here.
Berserk - 1
Berzerk is going to be your best friend once you master chainlocking with it. I will explain chainlocking later if you don't know what that is.
Berzerk peirces through a necromancer's bone armor, allowing you to 2-3 hit ko him if he doesn't block. It also bypasses damage reduction, so even if he does block, two hits that get past his shield should kill him.
For stat placement, you should be able to put 100% of your points into vitality, unless you need some extra dex for a secondary weapon.
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Now here's where you have the freedom to customize your barb to your playstyle, while still keeping it's natural assets high.
I will go over a few different builds, and what is different between them.
The Synching Tank
Shout - the rest
Gear changes: High defense enigma, str bo sticks (I'll explain these later.), Eth upped arreats or high defense viso helmet
The Tank is the barb I usually play. He has higher defense, which helps in team duels and vs melee characters, which helps, considering you don't have max block.
The Brawler
Throwing mastery - 1
Double throw - 1
Double swing - 1+ (Increase this skill for more throw damage, but 1 is sufficient)
Shout - The rest
Gear changes: 2x lacerators on switch, 40/15 jewel in arreats(if you use one)
The Brawler exploits the 2x lacerators for casting amplify damage before he comes in for the kill.
Amplify damage is seen as BM by some duelers, so if you chose this build, please leave 2x hotos in your stash.
The Brawler gets more dex then the other builds, so he has a high chance to block.
The Howler
War cry - 1
Shout - The rest
Gear changes: 63fcr setup almost all of the time, 2x hoto or hoto+cta on switch
The Howler exploits the stun on war cry to fhr lock his targets with quick whirlwinds.
The Widower
Shout - The rest,
Gear changes: Widowmaker with Um or Hel, 20ias +knockback +dex gloves can be helpful. Also look for dex on your barb circlet.
Widowmaker is one of the best tools a barbarian ever found. We can lure trap sins out of their fields, make hammerdins have to stomp us, and much more.
Um is the preferred choice for a widowmaker. 25% open wounds helps maximize the damage output of a widowmaker.
You can use hel rune if you don't want to put any points into dex. The 20ias gloves help widowmaker hit a higher ias breakpoint, and the dex helps wear a widowmaker especially with an um.
The knockback can interupt charging paladins, synching hdins will hate you forever.
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GEAR:
On ladder, BvC is one of the most expensive builds to construct. There are some things you can compromise on items, but there are others than you simply cannot do without.
I will list a welfare build for people too poor to fill the inventory, but the gear listed is all required.
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Helmets:
CoA is primarily used because BerBer can be put in its sockets for 31% damage reduction, allowing BvC’s to go toe-to-toe with good Windys and Smiters.
Arreats face or a Barb circlet will be your second helmet. Put a 20/15 in your arreats to increase your res/hp, because you will be using it when you need res.
If you get a Barb circlet, you will put the 1 additional point into speed and resistances that I mentioned earlier, because you will not be wearing arachnids as a primary belt.
On the circlet, you must have
+2 barb skills
+20% fcr
+ 20% resist all
2 sockets
You can use a plain magic 2barb/20fcr/2os circlet if you're really poor, but you're probably better off just using arreats.
Now on the circlet, you can get other mods that can help you in various ways.
10fhr gives you +40 more life via your inventory, so think about it.
+41-60 life is more valuable than 10fhr.
+mana can help you teleport for a longer period of time, which is helpful for 63fcr builds and times that you need to teleport without ravens on.
30% frw can help you synch on the Tank barb, it can help you outrun bone spirits, wsg out of traps (explained later), and helps you avoid hammers. If you can find this on a circ, it's a keeper.
%Viso mod can be nice to have on the circlet, but it really only helps vs hdins.
+Dex adds attack rating, and helps to wear widowmaker/lacerator.
+Str gives 1% enhanced damage per point, but it's not something to strive for. Also, you cannot have str on the Synching Tank barb, or he won't synch.
The jewels that go in are pretty hard to find on ladder, so I will list some alternatives.
The best jewel to use for all purposes is 2x 7fhr/9str/9dex/10res. If you can't get that, your next choice should be 9dex/15res x2.
If you decide "Fuck dex, I'm only ever going to wear this circ vs casters only ever ever ever," than you can get 20/15s or something. I don't recommend it.
If you want to stack ias vs a necro's golem to get some extra zerk breakpoints, or if you want the widowmaker/lacerator breakpoint, you can put in a 40/15 in your helmet. Remember that this will mess up your resists.
You can also use what's known as a dr circlet, for certain matchups. I won't get into it much because I do not like the idea, but I will bring it back up later in the builds section.
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Armor
Enigma? It's the only choice. You won't be able to wear anything without your enimga on either.
I've tried fortitude, and I don't like it. It’s really only useful if you’re using glitching it on, because hard points in str hurt your other matchups.
Imo teleport + Widowmaker/Lacerator is way more useful then a fortitude.
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Weapons
Grief/Beast. The only choice. I have tested the damage output of other axes, and nothing else measures up, unless you're thinking of using a Malice zerker axe against a pesky ES sorc.
Remember that you need +34% ias on grief to hit the last whirlwind breakpoint. If your grief doesn't have 34 or more ias, you will hit about half as much damage.
You also need at least 34 str on your beast to wear a coa, so don't forget that. Some people may need more than 34, do the math for your barb.
Normally though, Grief/Beast will be all you need. I really can’t recommend malice axes or EDC. They are subpar when compared to grief's massively consistent damage. Remember that minimum dmg is more important then maximum, and Grief has the highest minimum dmg of any 1h weapon in the game.
When placing weapons, put grief above the gloves and beast above the boots. Shouldn't be too hard to remember, G over G and B over B. The primary weapon is the weapon that has a hit-check by itself on the first swing of whirlwind so it is important that grief is always the primary weapon. Typically, the first weapon equipped is the primary, but when you switch weapons, the order reverts to primary/secondary; glove/boot. This means if you put a beast on while not wearing a grief, then put a grief on, your beast will be the primary weapon until you switch weapons twice.
Battle Orders Switch
2x hotos give you 105fcr on switch unless you're not wearing any other fcr at all, in which case it gives 63fcr. It also has 40 life rep, so you can escape faster with hotos out then with anything else, while your life goes up.
Hoto+Cta gives 63fcr on switch with 40fcr setups, and 105fcr on switch with 63fcr setups. Cta also has 12 life rep, so you get 32 instead of the original 40. You get +1 boost to battle orders for 5% more life, but you lose +2 to shout. The Howler also loses +2 to war cry if that even matters. If a howler is using a 40fcr setup(I don't know why) then they should use 2x hotos, or else cta can be viable. I reccomend putting Cta in a berzerker axe, and putting it in your primary weapon slot (above gloves), and putting hoto in a scourge so in case you accidently are whirling with your bo switch, or if you're using the fcr on bo switch to stomp someone and warcry them, then you can at least do some damage with your whirlwind.
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Jewelery
Highlords Wrath is your one choice. You will wear this amulet vs practically everyone.
Highlords ias lets you hit the last berzerk breakpoint, and the deadly strike is incredible. The lite res is just a bonus.
2barb/17-20fcr ammy can be used for 4v4, or vs druids in 1v1, but I am a real highlords fan, so I don't give this ammy much credit. Look for res and mana as a bonus, dex and life help too.
Angelics will be your choice vs high defense characters. You can use 1 ring vs most barbarians, and 2 rings vs really high defense barbs, and vs paladins.
2x Raven frost is your favorite ring. The huge dex+ar bonus gives twice the ar any other ring can, and has a solid 40mana stat. 2 ravens are GM on a barb(With less then 150 cold res) vs cold, so pretend it also has a ton of cold resist.
FCR rings can be used, but the times that you will use them vs how much you pay will make you think twice. The mods to look for are 10fcr/100+ar/8+dex/30+life/60+mana/res.
I recommend only getting 1 fcr ring for the 63fcr setup, and not using 2. The only time 2 fcr rings will help you is vs a sorceress, who you should be beating anyway. Shame on you.
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Gloves
Dracul's Grasp is one of your two main gloves, giving a solid open wounds bonus, and a small str bonus. Tap is bm (Some consider it only bm in melee vs melee), so remember that while whirlwind doesn't proc life tap, zerk does. If you see it as gm, then go ahead and zerk with it. You won't be zerking vs any melee characters anyway, but remember that widowmaker and lacerator can both proc tap. Don't wear dracs if you're using widow vs a barb or smiter without an enigma, and don't use dracs+lacerator, because life tap cancels out amp.
The second glove you will be using is Trang-Oul's Claws. The reason I'll use these over Magefist is that Trangs provides a decent amount of cold resistance as well as a slight Grief-Venom damage boost. When you zerk with grief, you proc venom, and trangs adds a couple hundred extra damage.
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Belts
The standard belt is Arachs, giving you 20% FCR, allowing you to easily reach 10 frame teleport* (40fcr). Its +1 skill is a nice bonus. However, the 20 FCR from a barb circlet lets you use TGod’s/Dungos and keep 40 FCR (10 frame teleport). This will be your main belt if you use arreats. This belt can also be used with CoA and trangs for 40fcr teleport and 39dr.
Whenever I get my circlet in a ladder, I am always so excited to put a dungos on as my main belt. 23dr from dungos+enigma is usually enough to take down pub barbs/smiters, so I don't have to change gear. If you don't use a fcr circlet, go for a 40vita/11dr dungos because you won't need the extra dr. If you use a circlet, then go for 15dr dungos with the highest vita you can get.
*Note: 10 frame teleport is how fast a hammerdin will teleport/cast with 75fcr.
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Boots
Gore Riders are some really solid boots, and they work as your only boots if you can't afford the other ones.
30/10 tri res boots are your other shoe. Which 3 resists you want is a choice that lots of barbs cannot agree on.
I personally prefer using cold/lite/poison, because I can wear them vs hybrid sins. If you chose to get max res with gores, fire/lite/cold can be used for stacking.
If you go cold/lite/poison, you can use aldurs boots for stacking fire res.
If you go fire/cold/lite, you can use treks to stack poison (if you feel the need to beat poison necros)
I find that the situations that you need to stack fire are very rare, and usually only happens when there's a team with conviction paladin or the sorc is using a merc with infinity.
If it's a sorc using infinity, I just put on 2 dwarf stars, because it's a bm duel now, and it works fine.
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Charms
Annihilus - 20 stats (important)
Hellfire Torch - 20 stats (important)
Just try and get the most res you can on these.
0-8 3max/20ar/5fhr scs. Use these to hit 48fhr with different setups. You won't need many if you use arreats.
0-8 5fhr/5res scs. These can be used to hit max res with gores if you think the open wounds and ds = more damage.
0-2 132ar/45life gc. If you can't get at least 16-19 ar on all of your small charms, you're going to need a few of these.
0-1 6max/48ar/8fhr lc. Barbs need 48fhr, so we can ride off that 8. 48ar is more than two 3max/20ar/5fhr scs. You usually need to keep this with you, but you can stash it for more 3/20/20s vs melee chars.
0-1 451 poison sc. Don't use this all the time, because poison charms in your inventory cause a glitch that makes deadly strike not activate, which means your damage will drop. Keep this guy in your stash. Only pull this out in defensive duels, where the goal is to hit and run.
An example of this would be vs an es sorc. You can let open wounds and poison drain their hp down while you life rep with your hotos. Or vs a defensive synching hdin, who stays off your map all the time. 451 scs are also helpful on a Widower barb for the same reasons.
26-33 3/20/20 scs. These are the best charms you can use on a barb. The life gained from small charms is better than the 1 dmg and slight ar boost from using grand charms. I've tested this. If you are poor, you can use 10max/60+ar/30+life gcs.
Use however many you need based on the duel.
IF you cannot afford good charms, then just mix 110+ar grand charms with 19-20 life small charms.
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Misc/Stash
Thundergod's Vigor: The strongest piece of gm lite sorb. Use this with a barb circlet for 40fcr vs trap sins/cs zons/lite sorcs. If you use arreats, you can use it vs cs zons, and you can use it vs the other two if you have a fcr ammy.
Wisp: See above. Good for beating bmers, and it lets you sorb while having 63fcr setup on.
Dwarf Star: Your other best ring. Wear 1 of these vs fire chars for gm sorb, and 2 vs modders/bmers. You can wear one of these vs necros or cs zons as well, because the reduce magic damage helps a lot. Remember that you lose 40mana from raven.
Demon Limb: Your weapon vs bmers. Use this when you are getting bmed to get a slight edge. Socket this with a 5% fire damage facet for maximum win.
Stormshield: Your defense vs strong barbs and zealots. Socket this with an eld rune to increase the block chance. With no pts into dex, and my +dex circlet on, my barb hits 51% block chance with no pts into dex.
Metalgrid: This ammy has one use only, which is beating v/ts. The ar from 2 ravens and a metalgrids is very close to the boost from angelics, but you also get that 35 lite res to stack vs foh. Don't use metalgrids if you can't get a decent one, 425/30+.
Eth upped Arreats/High def viso: This helm can be used with stormshield to increase your potency in bvb/bvz matches. Try to get a 700+ def eth arreats, it helps your defense a lot.
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Bo cube
To make your barb the best that it can be, you need what is called a bo cube. This technique is used by amazons to get battle orders while wearing both a bow and a java, and used by ghost sins to hold 2x 6venom claws and buff venom.
We are going to make it work for us. Put this cube in your inventory. Put a 6bo helmet in here, put your arachs in here, put 2x sojs (or bks if you're cheap), a +3 warcry amulet, and a +1 warcry grand charm.
Depending on which setup you use, this can add between 8 and 11 to your battle orders, which is way more valuable than 4x small charms. If you are wearing coa or arreats and you're wearing your arachs, than just put your dungos in here instead.
This also lets you switch between 40fcr/39dr with coa to 20fcr/50dr with coa/dungos quickly, so you can switch them in the battlefield.
Bo cubes are bm in BvB, but if you don't have max block, than I won't judge you if you use it vs barbs anyway.
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This post was edited by Tysnatch on Oct 6 2013 09:15pm