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Feb 27 2023 05:56am
Hey guys, I have a Frenzy barb with 2 Grief swords (PB and Zweihander) and a Death CS. He does great everywhere, but I was wondering about axe alternatives for a change of pace. I always play alone, so he need only handle p1.

I have the runes to make these axes in BA:

Grief
Beast
Doom

I was thinking of Beast and Doom together. Or would the damage fall off by a lot without Grief? Any experience you have is welcome, I don't wanna waste the runes.
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Feb 27 2023 10:42am
Hi,

I am no expert in this area, I would like to discuss frenzy options further now that sunder charms exist and all that. From my experience here is what I've encountered.

I have played frenzy many times over the years. I have used dual grief pb's, dual death eth ettins, and dual death BA's. I have also used dual rune master ettins, however the repair frequency was not manageable. I would do full clears of L85 areas in p8 public games. I found dual death worked the best.

Grief does more damage, but death made killing bosses (diablo, baal, ubers) so much more efficient. My clear times including bosses were faster with death/death, and mana leech was never an issue.

TL:DR; These setups were used before the mana burn fix. Mana leech was much more important pre-patch for mana burn.

Using dual griefs I also struggled with mana/life leech. With 3.5k life, potions are nearly useless in p8 for how fast monsters deal damage. I used LOH and not dracs for gloves.

What are you looking for in a beast/doom setup? You will have frequent repairs, grief/grief will deal more dmg, and doom is great for survivability but this should not be needed in p1 games. Beast/doom does not provide mana or life leech, so this would have to come from other equipment.
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Feb 27 2023 12:41pm
Quote (1971m1 @ Feb 27 2023 01:42pm)
Hi,

I am no expert in this area, I would like to discuss frenzy options further now that sunder charms exist and all that. From my experience here is what I've encountered.

I have played frenzy many times over the years. I have used dual grief pb's, dual death eth ettins, and dual death BA's. I have also used dual rune master ettins, however the repair frequency was not manageable. I would do full clears of L85 areas in p8 public games. I found dual death worked the best.

Grief does more damage, but death made killing bosses (diablo, baal, ubers) so much more efficient. My clear times including bosses were faster with death/death, and mana leech was never an issue.

TL:DR; These setups were used before the mana burn fix. Mana leech was much more important pre-patch for mana burn.

Using dual griefs I also struggled with mana/life leech. With 3.5k life, potions are nearly useless in p8 for how fast monsters deal damage. I used LOH and not dracs for gloves.

What are you looking for in a beast/doom setup? You will have frequent repairs, grief/grief will deal more dmg, and doom is great for survivability but this should not be needed in p1 games. Beast/doom does not provide mana or life leech, so this would have to come from other equipment.


Well, I'm looking for a build that's fun (i.e., not just Grief) and doesn't suck for P1. I've never played axes and wanted to try them out. I wouldn't mind slowing down a little on my clear speed, as long as it was fun (auras, effects, ctc, etc). However, if the "fun" builds are just way less efficient, I'd love to know before I commit the runes.

I like the defensiveness that Holy Freeze provides when I do Terrorized Zones, especially when I encounter cursed, extra strong mobs. I could also put Doom on the A2 Merc and also get his Might aura, although Emilio often lags behind.
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Feb 27 2023 01:52pm
doom/beast would be able to handle p1 fine. repairs on BA will get very annoying though. i think death bas or death/ebotd would be more fun. i'm a believer that stormlash is bis for frenzy barbs especially one lower player count. it's got static field and crushing blow. it's kind of hard to get your hands on 1 though.
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Feb 27 2023 03:25pm
It is too bad they did not allow A5 frenzy mercs to use axes. Beast/doom would be amazing to have on that merc. They do NOT lag behind, the AI is great for keeping up to a frenzy barb.

A note on phase blades vs zweihanders: the reach of the zweihander may cause the phase blade to be missing when attacking. Have you noticed this?

I was playing with a barb yesterday that uses grief BA/eBOTD BA. He mentioned he goes through ort runes for repairs on his grief like crazy, 1 ort per 3 runs and this is with whirlwind and not frenzy. How do you feel about the repairs on the zweihander so far? Is it superior? What does a full durability repair cost and how long does it take to break?

Zerker axes break fast and are uncomfortably costly if using gold. It's not a complete deal breaker (pun intended), but every 50k spent is 50k I could spend gambling circlets etc.
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Feb 27 2023 03:35pm
2 x Grief PB

e: If you want test something differend then 2 x Death Eth BA

This post was edited by Soppamies on Feb 27 2023 03:36pm
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Feb 27 2023 05:59pm
Quote (1971m1 @ Feb 27 2023 05:25pm)
It is too bad they did not allow A5 frenzy mercs to use axes. Beast/doom would be amazing to have on that merc. They do NOT lag behind, the AI is great for keeping up to a frenzy barb.

A note on phase blades vs zweihanders: the reach of the zweihander may cause the phase blade to be missing when attacking. Have you noticed this?

I was playing with a barb yesterday that uses grief BA/eBOTD BA. He mentioned he goes through ort runes for repairs on his grief like crazy, 1 ort per 3 runs and this is with whirlwind and not frenzy. How do you feel about the repairs on the zweihander so far? Is it superior? What does a full durability repair cost and how long does it take to break?

Zerker axes break fast and are uncomfortably costly if using gold. It's not a complete deal breaker (pun intended), but every 50k spent is 50k I could spend gambling circlets etc.


I repair after a full cow level or full chaos sanctuary solo run. Not sure how much it costs, but I've never had issues and I just pick up gold from mobs. I read somewhere that Frenzy used the range of the main hand only (or maybe the longest of the two). Haven't noticed the shorter sword missing. Not certain, though. I'd love to be sure.

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