If you can’t afford grief. There really isn’t any reason to make a barb.

yes i have found gface to be the best helm option here by a large margin. the damage i have with my setup now i dont even need to use Amp unless i run into phys immune when using current setup of ebotd wp/gface cham'd and battle cry for -90% defense

i sold my coh which was also a huge help in this build and am using the super budget black hades that i put ort ral and an ED jewel (lol). dual um would have been better if I had them. black hades with even one Ed jewel was actually very noticeable increase in damage over something like a duriels shell or gladiators bane but i miss the coh.

i can afford enigma now so i use that so with gavel on swap and extra gavel in inv for 6 total amps which only need to be used during phys immune spawns repairs are very rarely needed

Yep; one of the old school traditional Cham'd GFace/no Amp builds will clear easily (and without the need for micromanagement), but you should be clearing noticeably slower than with Gavel.
Black Hades is a super nice budget option, too; not quite a CoH, but it's damn good.

Duriel's & Glad's Bane are suggested in the build with the assumption that instead of relying on GFace for your damage scaling, you're using Amp Damage. If you don't use Amp Damage, you'll definitely feel the damage being way slower if you're also using an armor that's purely defensive.
Once you add in Amp Damage to the mix every run, the only thing you need to worry about is whether your Merc has enough Resists/Sustain, and Duriel's/Glad's bane each provide their own advantages in that space.

I've had a couple people tell me they enjoy using Enigma; I'd like to mention that if you want to get back the funds for a CoH, you can sell Enigma, then use Spellsteel on swap for Teleport AND Phys Immune break.
It has 20 Teleport charges + Decrepify, which can also break Phys Immunity with a lower need for repairs than Gavel.

I say this because you seem to only use Gavel vs. Phys Immunity. That's not really the intended purpose of Gavel, but if that's what you do with it, I suspect swapping to Spellsteel + CoH on the Merc might be what you're looking for.

This post was edited by Exokek on Dec 17 2021 07:15pm

i tried the spelsteel and really hate it lol. i ended up just getting a second gavel and leaving it in the inv. spelsteel is like it has everything but a terrible version of it. it has teleport but Najs is much better; the najs has plus skills fcr and like 50 more charges. it has decrepify but it lasts literally 5 seconds. even though it takes off the phys immune those sobs are still really tough to take down so i end up having to use like 4 charges of it. the high level amp on the gavel is helpful because the amp just lasts so long and has such a big radius of effect

This post was edited by kijix on Dec 17 2021 07:19pm

Yeah, I agree; Spellsteel's Decrepify is really a last resort kind of option
Many Barbs either skipped the Phys Immune or had a Berserk on swap instead of having Gavel.

I think you might be well-served by just having a swap Zerker weapon, since it bypasses Phys Immunities.

This post was edited by Exokek on Dec 17 2021 07:51pm

I have some point in doublebswing with dual lacerators on but you have to have max axe mastery to be able to have enough ar to land hits. Chance to cast amp is almost 100% with no need to recharge.

This post was edited by babun1024 on Dec 17 2021 08:11pm

Yep! The only annoying part is the stats & the times where you need to stay swapped a bit too long while your Merc is already popping enemies & you're off the GF set.

I'll need to try this again for another few hours some time, see if I can find the right timings to compensate. The lack of Gavel repair can add up to quite a bit of gold; it's just been pretty clunky in the past when I tried.

Well didn’t read all that ” wall of text ”, but i belive Synonym’s Whirl based GF Barb is most effective and well done guide anyway

https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=38567700

Nope, both work, different approaches.What I'd add to the WW version which I personally use is mobs at shenk. You can leap directly onto him then zerk him after you're done with council. Once he is dead you've got a graveyard of bodies to hork before the cooldown is finished then ng.

Found an Ohm while horking Shenk's mob yesterday with those two ettin oaths I think I can cube a Lo.
I have to say, for ww double ettin oaths are the next best thing before grief. Very high and consistent average damage accross the board while not needing to stat unreasonable amount dex.

This post was edited by babun1024 on Dec 18 2021 03:58am

Loving my new circlet with base fire resist, yet to socket a jewel but yet merc still have 45 fres after conviction. Didnt realise there was conviction spawn til my merc clear everything leaving the boss alone.
Gonna socket a fire resist jewel on him and it will truly become a super lazy setup.