Draft Lld101 Level 49 Conc Barbarian - Topic

Member

Posts: 51,746

Joined: Jan 19 2007

Gold: 15,520.00

Jan 27 2023 01:29pm

LLD101 Level 49 Melee Conc Barb

Introduction to PvP and LLD/MLD PvP

Player vs Player (PvP for short) was an integral part of the game Diablo 2 : Lord Of Destruction (D2LOD). While the PvP community as a % of the total D2LOD population was small, the pursuit of PvP gear invariably made Player vs Monster (PvM) players rich, with players repeating the Leveling, Magic Finding, Upgrading and Selling process each ladder season. This pursuit of PvP items also applied at lower dueling brackets. Low Level Dueling ("LLD") encompasses the dueling brackets 9, 18 & 30 and 49, both "Click and Hold" melee dueling and "standard" dueling in the blood more. Level 9 PvP is typically referred to as Very Low Level Dueling or "vLLD" while Level 49 PvP is typically referred to as Mid Level Dueling or "MLD". There are some slight variations to the dueling brackets from time to time i.e. Level 12's with restrictions and characters above level 49, with restrictions, respectively. Duels take place in the Blood More in normal difficulty ( Melee duels "Click and Hold" might sometimes take place in Inner Cloister) and Mana Potions (and all other potions) are never used. Users have played LLD for decades, spending sometimes years to perfect their characters. Some players to this day are still trying to perfect their character. The Journey to perfection of a PvP character has restarted in the game Diablo 2: Resurrected (D2r) and with changes to the game (FHR, new mechanic's, new items, redundant or missing guides) a new set of guides is being written to support new and old players coming to the game. The journey to perfecting a character may involves tens of hours of effort - its a labor of love and is often frustrating (item availability in particular!), never the less, we all need a HOBBY, and for some people, this is it.

As with all PvP dueling brackets in D2r, the goal is to perfect your character as best you can in order to increase your Life/Damage sothat you can take more hits or kill your opponent faster. The lower the bracket, the more your gear will play an integral part of your success. For Melee only duels the skill lies in perfecting your character, and therefore the closer to perfection, the closer you will be to winning. In this regard players will always seek to Min-Max their characters to perfection. Min-max is a gaming term used to describe the process of minimizing your weaknesses and maximizing your strengths. This means having your character rushed through normal, nightmare and hell, completing Anya and all Stat/Skill Quests (get a friend to help otherwise you might level up by accident), getting a perfect inventory and equipping your character with the best gear possible.

Introduction to Level 49 Melee Dueling

(A) Limitations to dueling at Level 49 : This dueling bracket (as with all LLD dueling brackets) has skill, stat and item limitations not seen at in High Level Dueling. (Required Level max = 49 after all). In addition there are not many classes that are viable in Melee-Only duels. As a consequence you are limited by the number of viable classes, which invariably will only have 1 build. The 3 main builds, at this time, are Conc Barb, Shaper (Wolf) and Smiter. All of the builds at this level will broadly use the same Set, Unique and Rare gear.

(B) Damage modifiers at Level 49 : Broadly, this is the same as at HLD - Grief is level 59 so thats out, BOTD is also out. Highlords is out, Stormshield is out. The standard (or rather "starter" weapon for MLD is Eth Oath Highland Blade (HLB) or a Eth Oath Small Crescent (SC). Perfected rare weapons are 40ias/450ed/20max/2sox and 40ias/300ed/20max/2sox (typically but not exclusively, HLB; SC.). Noting that there are HLD Melee-Only tournaments you are competing against HLD players for gg Rare Weapons. These weapons can cost more then 50,000fg.

(C) Jewels - the go-to at this level bracket : As with rare weapons you are competing against High Level dueling players for jewels, noting high level duels are typically level 42 "30ed 9str 9dex 60ar". The only exception re: Jewels MLD vs HLD is that at level 49 the best IAS jewel is 30ed/15ias. A 40ed/15ias is above level 49 and costs way more. Sockets - Ohm and Lo are both over level 49 so they are out, as are Cham/Ber. Um could be considered in a weapon if you already have enough IAS (unlikely) but a ED/AR/ REQ/STAT jewel is probably the best you can put in a rare weapon.

(E) Charms - There are more positives then negatives when it comes to dueling at level 49 - Grand charms are cheap. Skillers would typically cost under 200fg (1PC/30Life) while Max AR Life (10max/76ar/30life) would cost under 400fg. The downside is that at present 3/20/20's cost about 9000-9500fg (better to use 3/17/20's for now at 1000fg each), or variations of 20life/36ar small charms which are (broadly) more within everyones price range at this time.

Overview of Level 49 Melee Conc Barb

Conc Barb's have always been a main stay of Melee dueling. With High Defence, High Life and High Attack Rating they are very competitive at Level 49, noting the other classes do not have the Luxury of BO (which is above level 49). The standard Conc Barb Build at Level 49 uses relatively easy to obtain items and charms. Thereafter you might spend months if not years looking for rare upgrades. Arreats, Angelic Combo, Raven, Immortal King Gloves (or Rare), Immortal King Boots (or Gores), String of Ears, Shaftstop (or Stone/Prudence or Eth Rep Magic/Rare), Oath (or Rare) and either a Sanctuary or a 30/20 3 socket (or magic/rare) Shield. Charms would be either 1mastery/30life or 10max/76ar/30life and 3max/20ar/20life or 20life/36ar. Note that vs certain builds you want 45% DR (Shaft+String) and vs other builds you want Higher Defence (Stone/Prudence/Rare). You may also experiment with Cruel (450ed) instead of Fools (800ar) weapons and using another Amulet/Ring combo then Angelic vs Wolf Shapers (which typically have low life)

Pros to the Build

Easy to make with attainable gear
Cheaper then almost every other dueling bracket
Affordable
High Life
High Attack Rating
High Defence

Cons to the Build

Can be very expensive to perfect (but this applies at all brackets)
Slow attack speed

The Items that make the build

Helmets

1. 200% enhanced defence Arreats Face - the standard helmet.
2. Guillaume's Face - Players are invited to experiment with this helmet vs low defence characters (Wolf Shapers)
3. Rare Eth Rep 5BO Enhanced Defence Class specific Helmets. Non ERep 5BO visio 1 and 2 Sox helmets need to be amazing to beat arreats, and these would typically be sold for 200,000fg+ to HLD players.

Use Maxroll when considering a rare Class Helmet for your Conc Barb (invariably Arreats is better due to high Def and AR).

Amulet

1. Angelic Amulet (incombination with Angelic Ring)
2. Rare Ring 2 Masteries 60 life 15str 15dex (good looking finding something like this)

almost impossible to beat the AR Bonus on angelic's. If you can find a rare Amulet and a matching rare ring this will however give you a massive life boost.

Body Armor

1. Shaftstop - 30%DR - Hard to Beat.
2. Stone (Boneweave or Dusk Shroud 15% enhanced defence)
3. Rare Eth Rep 2sox armor

With Rare Eth Rep armors you will find yourself competing with HLD players (i.e. expensive). Nothing wrong with Stone in the meantime.

The Weapon

With various trading platforms and more focus on Melee dueling at HLD then ever before (and MLD weapons fall into this "pot") it now realistically possible already for players to get their "end game" weapon - provided they have the fg for it. Even if you dont have 50,000fg you can still get an insane weapon. At present dream weapons are selling for 40,000fg+. The key considerations for these weapons are 40IAS and/or 2Sox and the Visionary Mod. You can stil get weapons better then Oath - these would be Eth Rep 400-450ed with low (or no) IAS (or 300ed Visionary), and you would then use 30ed/15ias Jewels to reach your desired breakpoint.

1. Oath HLB
2. Oath Small Crescent
3. Rare Eth Rep Weapon Fools Mod
4. Rare Eth Rep Weapon 400-450% ed

A comment on weapons - Oath is the Breath of the Dying of MLD - it grants mass IAS (50) and very good enhanced damage (up to 355%). it is therefore quite hard for a rare weapon to beat it.
With a HLB you need a total of 72% IAS for 11FPA Conc or 117% IAS for 10FPA Conc. I play 11FPA.
With a Small Crescent you need a total of 70% IAS for 11 FPA Conc or 105% IAS for 10FPA Conc.

The below are realistically the weapon bases you can look for with Eth Rep
(this is from warren's calculator, if any errors I will revist on a later date)

This is what a perfect Oath looks like ( very hard for a rare to beat this ) and beside it is the best sword that I have seen to date for MLD. Your really looking for IAS on a rare in order to use a -15% Req Jewel (boosts your life noting the Str Requirements on HLB's is high).

Shield

1. The starter shield : Artisans (or Jewellers) Tower/Hyperion/Dragon Shield of Deflecting. You can also consider the runeword "Sanctuary" in Hyperion.
2. 30/20 2Sox 50%-200% enhanced Def Rare Hyperion/Dragon or Shield
3. Eth Rep 30/20 2Sox 50%-200% enhanced Def Rare Hyperion/Dragon or Shield

Rings

1. Angelic Ring
2. 120 AR 15 Str 15 Dex 30 Life

Your losing about 1000ar if you use are ring/amulet combo instead of angelic's but you gain about 200~250life.
Your losing about 500ar if you use use dual Raven and a gg rare Amulet

Belt

1. String of Ears 15/15. Its impossible to beat this belt. The only reason to use another belt is if you want additional IAS (IK Combo) or want to play around with Open Wounds Crafted Belts
2. IK Belt
3. Crafted 24fhr 10OW 80 Life Belt

Gloves

1. IK Gloves + Boots Combo
2. Rare Gloves 20ias 9str 15dex + Adds (or remove a stat and then Eth+Rep+200% Defence)

Boots

1. IK Boots + Gloves Combo
2. GoreRiders

Gores are probably best vs Shapers.

This post was edited by ferdia on Jan 28 2023 06:52am