-Axes and Knives-*
Ethereal Lacerator - This is by far one of the best throwing weapons in the game hands down. With nice damage, 30% ias, 33% chance of open wounds and best of all, 33% chance to cast level 3 Amplify damage on striking. With the amp skill you will no longer have to worry about physical immunes on monsters because it removes the immunity, and in PvP it will double your damage! Although the hit causes’ monster to flee can be annoying, it does help if you get swarmed to keep a few monsters off your back. All around the benefits outweigh the downfalls of this axe, a defendant A+ for this item. Try all you can to get a pair of decent ethereal Lacerators, non ethereal ones are really easy to get but the ethereal ones can be far and few between.
The Scalper - The ethereal versions of these can get higher damage than an ethereal Lacerator, but the scalper lacks the amplify damage. Scalpers are a bit slower also. The ethereal ones are the best and can be upgraded to flying axes. I would not recommend going out of your way to buy these things, if you come across them go ahead and use them but you would be better off putting your time into finding a Lacerator instead. In all a decent weapons with 20 ias, 33% open wounds and the 25% bonus to attack rating is good.
Gimmershred - These throwing axes are very nice for killing monsters. With a stack size of 240, you won’t have to go to town to repair as much. They have a nice 30% increased attack speed and massive fire, cold and lightning damage. Great axe for killing but I still think Lacerators are better.
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Ethereal Warshrike - Warshrikes are VERY VERY fast! These guys can hit some insane speeds and are the fastest of all the unique throwing weapons. The damage is not too impressive unless you can find some ethereal ones. These knives are ladder only too, so if you are on non ladder they will be harder to get. These knives have a piercing attack at a 33% chance which means they knife will penetrate your target and pass through hitting anything behind it, they also have 50% deadly strike which doubles your damage and 30% increased attack speed. My favorite thing about Warshrikes is that they have a 25% chance to cast nova on hit, which looks really cool :-). I do not recommend these unless you have the ethereal versions, but use the non eth ones till you get eth ones. A Lacerator and a Warshrike work very well when used together with double throw.
Deathbit - These knives are great for lower levels when you are in nightmare with your throw barb. They offer 40% deadly strike, a bonus to attack rating and mana + life leech. The ethereal versions are by far the best and you can upgrade them to flying knives if you are on ladder. The recipe to upgrade to an elite unique weapon is Pul rune + Lum rune and a perfect emerald. I only suggest upgrading ethereal ones otherwise the damage is too low. Even though these knives lack ias, their base speed is decent.
-Javelins and Spears-Demon Archs - These spears have great speed with elemental damage and life leech. The only downside to javelins is their stack size is so low at 80. The ethereal Demon Archs are impressive its just it sucks having to wait around for them to repair because you will run out very quickly.
Gargoyles Bite – These spears are really sweet when they are ethereal, providing over 300 max damage. Even with no weapon ias these spears have a nice base speed, but again the quantity of 80 is their downfall, but still a fun weapon to use in duels while they last.
Wraith Flights – Nice damage but way to slow to be used for anything. Only use these if you have NOTHING else to use.
6.) Items + Charms DiscussionOk first off I’m going to cover shields. Obviously you can’t use a shield with double throw, but if you are making a Melee oriented PvP Thrower you might want to have a shield for some extra defense. You will have high dexterity already so blocking will not be an issue, Stormshield is obviously you best choice against Melee characters with its 35% damage reduction and fast block. The 156 strength can be a bit high, but throw a Hel rune or -15% req jewel in your SS and the requirements will drop down to 136 which is more attainable. You could also use the Phoenix runeword in a monarch for the high 350-400% enhanced damage and redemption aura, a fun shield but again very expensive, and if I were you I would rather spend runes looking for the ethereal throwing weapons.
-Helmet-*
Arreats face- By far the best helm available for a barbarian, with +2 barb skills, 20% bonus to attack rating, +20 str and dex, +2 combat skills and 3-6% life leech +30 all resists and 30% faster hit recovery. There is really nothing better than this helm. Socket it with a Ber rune if you want damage reduction or a 15% ias jewel or damage jewel works nice too.
Crown of Ages- Great helm with +1 skills, 30% fhr, +20-30 all resists, +10-15 damage reduction, and 1-2 sockets. A very good helm but the 174 strength can be a bummer to reach.
Vampire Gaze- Nice helm with duel leech, damage reduction and magic damage reduce, although does not come close to Arreats, if you have this throw it on your
mercenary
Guillaume’s Face- Helm with 30% fhr, 15% deadly strike (double damage) 35% chance of crushing blow, and +15 strength.
Andarials Visage- Thrower friendly helm with +2 skills, 20% increased attack speed and life leech. If you can afford this than you can get an Arreats, so just stick with Arreats.
-Armor-*
Fortitude- By far my favorite armor for any situation, 300% enhanced damage, 25-30% all resists, +life per character level and casts level 15 chilling armor when struck. Can’t go wrong here.
Duress- Cheaper alternative to Fortitude, 40% fhr, ed, 15% crushing blow, 33% open wounds and resists. My second choice if you can’t afford a Fortitude.
Stone- High defense armor with 60% fhr and resists, great for dueling melee characters.
Enigma- Ahh the old ball and chain Enigma, so long have we barbs leaned on this pillar of faith for out teleportation needs. Nice armor with increase to strength per character level, +2 skills, 45% faster run/walk, increase to life and magic find, 8% damage reduce and of course teleport. Very good if you want to go with base strength, but than again I would rather throw a few points into strength and wear fortitude.
Treachery- Armor made for an assassin but has some really cool thrower mods. 45% ias, 20% fhr cold resist, and the coolest part, chance to cast venom on striking and fade when struck. Venom will give you some nice poison damage while fade makes you look ethereal and gives you resists, damage reduction and curse length reduce. All around a very nice armor for a cheap price.
-Belt-*
Razor Tail- Great belt offering piercing attack (33% chance to pierce), +10 max damage,+15 dexterity.
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Noferatu's Coil - Awesome belt with 10% ias, +15 str, life leech and slows target by 10%( this is a lot of times considered bad manners in PvP, but most of the time people won’t notice it).
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Verdungo's Hearty Cord- Great belt which is better for Melee thrower with 10-15% damage reduction, 10% faster hit recovery and a massive +30-40 to vitality.
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Crafted Blood Belt- These belts always get open wounds on them, other mods to look for are + strength, faster hit recovery, resists and life.
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Thundergods Vigor- Belt with max light resist and light absorb, +20str and vit, great for those pesky trappers.
The reason I have all the belts * is because they are all good and I use all of them.
-Gloves-Draculs Grasp -Great gloves with chance to cast life tap, 7-10% life leech, 25% chance of open wounds, +10-15 to strength and +to life after each kill.
Bloodfists - Awesome gloves for any level, 10% ias, 30% faster hit recovery, +5 min dam, +40 life
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Crafted Knockback Gloves – Knock back is an awesome mod to get, craft these gloves till you get some with 20% ias and you have some sick gloves. If they happen to spawn with high +strength or dex, or even both you have made some of the best gloves in the game.
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Crafted Blood Gloves- Craft these until you get some with 20%ias, 10% crushing blow is the highest, plus you can also get str and dex on them and resists. If you are able to make some 20% ias ones with 10% crushing blow I would suggest you use those indefinitely.
-Boots-Gore Riders- By far the best boots for a throw barb, 30% faster run, 10% open wounds, 15% deadly strike and 15% crushing blow.
Sandstorm Treks - Nice boots with 20%faster run, 20% fhr, +10-15 str and vit, and high poison resist. Gore Riders are still better in my opinion.
Waterwalks- Great boots with life, dexterity, faster run and max fire resists.
Hotspurs- These come in handy when fighting fire using opponents with the high fire resists and increase to maximum fire resist.
-Rings and Amulets-*
Angelic Combo- The Angelic amulet and two rings are the best combination to be used for PvP. This will give you a hell of a lot of attack rating which you will need for hitting high defense characters. If you need cannot be frozen use a Raven Frost with one ring and the angelic amulet.
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Raven Frost- Great ring with +150-250 attack rating, cold damage, +15-20 dexterity +40 mana, 20% cold absorb (great for sorcs) and most importantly CANNOT BE FROZEN!.
Wisp Projector and Dwarf Star- try and get two of each of these for fighting fire and lightning sorcs/trapasins/foher.
Maras Kaleidoscope- Nice amulet with +2 skills, +5 all stats and +20-30 all reists. (great against casters.)
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Highlords Wrath- Amulet with +1 skills, 20% ias, lightning resist and deadly strike per character lvl.
Cats Eye- Cool amulet with 20% ias, 30% faster run, +100 defense and +25 dexterity.
Rare Rings + Amulets- Keep any eye out for rare rings with dual leech, +attack rating, +damage, +str and dex, and for amulets with +barb skills, leech, +str and dex, Prismatic (all resists) mod and poison length reduction.
-Charms-Mods to look for in charms would be grand charms with +1 barb masteries, +life, small/large charms with +max damage and attack rating, strength or dex mods, or even Warcry grand charms if you want a higher battle orders.
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Annihilus- Try and get one of these, Uber Diablo drops this: +1 skills, +10-20 all stats, +10-20 all resistances, +5-10% experience gained.
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Hellfire Torch- Do whatever you can to get a hold of a Barbarian one, this charm offers +3 skills, +10-20 all stats and resists, and 25% chance to cast Diablo’s firestorm on attack, which looks awesome with throwing weapons and does decent fire damage.
-Build Setups-Now that we have seen some of the items available for our throw barbs, let’s take a look at some suggested setups for each specific build.
The Pure ThrowerHelm: Arreats Face
Armor: Fortitude
Belt: Noferatu’s Coil
Boots: Gore Riders
Gloves: Crafted Blood Gloves
Amulet: Highlords
Rings: Raven Frosts
Weapons: Set of 2 Eth Lacerators and set of 2 Eth Warshrikes
PvP Thrower (Caster Killer)Helm: Arreats Face, Kiras Guardian
Armor: Fortitude, Treachory, or Enigma
Belt: Crafted Blood Belt with resists
Gloves: Crafted Blood Gloves
Boots: Gore Riders, Hotspurs, or Sandstorm Treks
Amulet: Maras
Rings: Raven Frosts, Wisps, or Dwarf Stars(depending which element)
Weapons: Set of 2 Eth Lacerators and set of 2 Eth Warshrikes
PvP Thrower (Melee Oriented)Helm: Arreats Face or Crown of Ages
Armor: Fortitude or Stone
Belt: Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Gloves: Crafted Blood Gloves
Boots: Gore Riders
Amulet: Angelics
Rings: Angelics
Weapons: Set of 2 Eth Lacerators
The Thrower HybridHelm: Arreats Face
Armor: Fortitude or Enigma
Belt: Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Gloves: Bloodfists or Crafted Blood Gloves
Boots: Gore Riders
Amulet: Angelics or Highlords
Rings: Angelics or Ravens
Weapons: (Throw) Set of 2 Eth Lacerators or Eth Warshrikes (Second Attack) Any weapon you see fit for using with Whirlwind/Bezerk/Frenzy.
If you go with axe mastery for your attack you can use Lacerators with your second attack but the attack range for them is 1.
8.) PvP StrategiesThis is where it really takes a lot of practice to get good at dueling. There will always be builds out there stronger than you, but the satisfaction you get when you kill someone with your thrower will be very well earned, because it is very challenging to kill many cookie cutter builds, but it is not impossible.
Vs. Melee Characters: These can be some of the hardest fights in the game, mainly against WW barbs and Smiters. Smiters are near impossible to kill, you best bet is to keep running and throwing. Leap really shines in PvP with its knock back so experiment with it and use it to your advantage. If you are a thrower hybrid you might be able to take out WW barbs or Smiters a little easier, it all depends on their setup. Just remember when fighting melee opponents, that distance is your best friend.
Vs. Casters: Casters can be a very fun duel for you. Use the appropriate resist absorb gear for the type of caster you are fighting. Use leap to your advantage as most casters have low block and faster hit recovery, stun them with leap and throw like mad. If you have teleport it may be easier but you will not have very much mana to teleport very far, or as fast as the caster.
Vs. Bow/Javazons: Get in close right away and try to stun them with leap, throw leap, rinse and repeat until they are dead.
Vs. Other Throw Barbs: This is where the most fun is, it all comes down to who does higher damage and better skills. Use all your thrower knowledge to outsmart them and grind `em down.
9.) EpilogueAs the barbarian entered the Throne a shadowy figure approached him, “It is too late for you my child,” the figure said in a dark haunting voice. The barb looked at him with a shroud of disbelief, suddenly, Madawc emerged from the cloak and stabbed the barbarian in the chest with his newly found Winged Harpoon. The spears point penetrated the Barbarians armor and stuck out his back like a blood covered stake, and he fell backwards, Lacerators clinking as they hit the ground. Madawc laughed as the blood pooled on the ground next to the barbarians body. “Mess with the best, Die like the rest,” he said to himself as he patted the Flayer Shaman on the head for reviving him.
Thanks to everyone who made this guide possible, friends, family, everyone on the forums and of course,
Madawc This post was edited by BruteForce on Oct 19 2007 03:15am