Okay so I've been doing a little bit of calculating with the basis of the barb that I currently have to do a full optimization.
the next version of this guide will be how to optimize your frenzy barb. basis of optimization will be to pick a set the desired amount of life and character level and determine the skill and stat point distribution to maximize damage

in the advent of 1.13, the berserk synergy is practically obsolete since there is no reason to not use a reapers might merc, and the critical strike percentage has also increased from weapon mastery.

i have only done quick comparisons, but it would appear that vitality points add more life than str points add damage, so a vitality stat build is likely better. then to reach the desired amount of life you would alter how many points you need to invest in battle orders. fewer points in battle orders means more points for synergies.

lets work through the optimization logic:

frenzy, weapon mastery, double swing, and taunt add up to 80 skill points
the way i would build a barb, there are 18 points of prereqs and other useful skills that I use to kill faster and stay safer, you may have fewer
at level 90 there are 101 skill points = 83 points left to decide

so a full titan skilled frenzy barb gets 3 points into battle orders
with +3 bo sticks and an enigma build you can easily get a 2500 life frenzy barb

i will need to graph the functions against each other to get a true optimization, but i dont have time for that now, just keeping you posted on the process idea, input is welcome

okay, I did some calculations based on grief pb, highlords, guillaumes, gores, might merc and three different armors: none, enigma, fortitude

titan style skill setup max vita has

damage
9497.602
10044.285
11945.438

life
3574.35
3666
3710.35


same skills setup with max str

damage
12328.932
12875.615
14776.768

life
867.75
890
1003.75

clearly that is not enough life to live on but the % increase in damamage is
29.811
28.188
23.702

but you probably cant keep that barb alive


but if we aim for 2500 life we get a % increase in damage of
11.77
11.129
9.358

and the damages are
10615.447
11162.13
13063.283

K, some questions about a new build...

I rly do not like to prebuff, the gear i wear is what i wanna use is my motto...

That said, i wanna build a new 1.13 ladder Frenzy Baba who's gonna hunt Org sets / torches / Uber Dia.

Some of my questions now:
1: Is it stupid to use Azure with one of the maces (Scheaffers/stormlash/Stone Crusher)? Azure is needed for Baal with his spawns are easyer to kill with it.
2: Why is soe better than dungo?
3: If i use Cham on Guillarme's, i can use another ring than Raven... is that a good idea?
4: For the all-round Frenzy you say Forti is best to use... why not in UT?

Tia for the answer(s) & have fun!

Note: We Barb lovers are very happy I.M. i gone!!!

SoE is usually used in PvM because of the life leech, the LL gained from SoE is generally regarded as more beneficial than +vita gained from dungos

As for the Cham in Guill, its your char do as you please, you can easily cham the helm to use another ring. It is hard to beat CBF, dex, and AR though.

I've never Uber before, but I'm pretty sure other armors are used for the survivalbility factor.


Woohoo Babas!

This guide is way better than my guide, its a good thing the mods are so good at their jobs and stickied this best guide ever and not my guide, i mean, it clearly has the most up to date information and the author is logged on at least once a week to answer any questions and pm's and is extremely knowledgable about frenzy.

I'm so glad that blizzard got rid of IM, making the game easier for melee builds is the best thing they could have done. Diablo 2 is way better now that the only pvm challenge it had is now gone.

have you ever done much testing on death weps vs grief weps?

actually i have been doing some of that yes

not analytical or theoretical testing, but i have been playing with them and looking for differences


I have been coming to like dual grief pb's more and more every time I play, since the ITD and lack of needing to switch, added damage to demons, and higher pure physical damage. it is easier to use and does more damage in full games

however, in 1-3 player games, the grief + death combo kills faster. what happens is when the monsters have that little life, they die in one hit anyway, and the death has more CB so it is able to help kill the bosses a bit faster. the stipulation is AR, with grief you really dont need AR since the ITD and -25% target def for vs special monsters that works with battle cry to make them a cinch to hit no matter what your AR is.

so it depends on what you use your barb for
if you want to kill bosses faster, get a couple AR charms and use grief/edeathcs, this includes ubers
otherwise dual grief is a great choice, and you can even put 1 pt in ww for those mass groups of small monsters who just take a lot of hits because there are a lot of them, so grind them up with 2 frame attack!

if you want to do it all fast and dont want to weapon switch, then frenzy is not the build for you





april fools xD

Why wouldn't death go in a pb as well for the attack speed?

because it would do piss poor damage

the reason death is a viable weapon is because you can make it out of an ethereal weapon, essentially giving it another 150% enhanced damage, and the colossus blade has a high average damage to be modified by this enhanced damage modifier.
phase blade has a low average damage and cannot be ethereal, it is always indestructible, but the damage modifier on grief simply adds to the weapon damage instead of modifying it by a %.
the combination of a fast and a slow weapon gives you an atypically fast attack speed with frenzy. i am still trying to get the calculations to come out right, my matrix algebra is not as good as it should be, but soon I should be able to show that the combination is a very fast attack speed.