Barbarian's at 49 are expensive characters to build. While only average in 1v1, Barbarians really shine in Team Duels; They grant allies a massive life boost and have massive life. The barb below is primarily used in tvt, but can also 1v1. The emphasis on this build is Speed, Damage and Life.

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Gear:

When it comes to gear you have to be able to adapt to your opponent, dual wielding vs casters, Shield in ffa, shaft+string vs physical, stealth + mavina belt when you need the speed and stacked res (from armours) when you need it. Without further ado:

Weapon(s)

1. Ethereal replenish quantity 450 ed 2sox rare Legend (does not need ias)/ highland Blade (10ias minimum). This is the dream weapon. All barbarians @ 49 look for this.
2. Ethereal replenish quantity Fools 300 ed 2sox rare Legend (does not need base ias) / Highland Blade ideally with 10ias (or 30ias). The next best thing. the AR actually DOES help ALOT.
3. Ethereal Oath Highland Blade. This is what 99% of all 49 barbarians will be running around with. This is what I use.
4. Ethereal Oath Small Crescent. Less range, but more damage.

Note: Most people will use swords over axes due to the range. (range 3 vs range 2). Since the mass ban there are very few swords on the realms that can beat the mods on Oath. The fools sword in the picture, was deleted in the ban.

Switch

1. x2 3 bo spears/swords. If your in TVT's you can facet the swords!

Armour

1. shaftstop (eth zod-bugged shaft for more defence) jewel 9 str/ 9 dex / 30 ed / 60 ar (or nearest to these mods)
2. 4sox Dusk with x4 jewels 30ed 30 cold 9 str (vs Cold sorcs, and when shaft is not needed)
3. 4sox Dusk with x4 jewels 30ed 30light 9 str (vs Foh, or java's or Pika/faceted sorcs.)
4. Stealth/Duress/Temp 4sox 30cold res. If you can not afford expensive jewels for res setups in armour, these would be viable, cheap alternatives.

Note: you should have a shaftstop and a cold res armour in stash, any other armours are a bonus, but not a requirement.



Boots

1. IK Boots. combined with IK Gloves gives +ar and +ias. This is on top of the 40 FRW, 110ar and +Life.
2. 1.08 boots. (30frw 1x str 1x dex + res adds) (stormtracks). Great for stacking res and stats.
3. Goreriders. Some barb players swear by these boots over IK. its a matter of personal choice.
4. Wartravelers/Aldurs/Nats

Note: The IK combo is hard to beat, I also have 1.08 boots and Goreriders in stash though.

Gloves

1. Immortal King Gloves.
2. 1.08 gloves with 1x str 1x dex + life + mana + res
3. 20ias 15dex 9 str + res
I have to admit that I only use IK Gloves. 20 STR 20 DEX is hard to beat.

Amulet

1. Rare amulet: +1 barb + life + mana + adds.
2. 100life/120mana Magic amulet
3. Crafted amulet: 1babr 7x life -psn length reduction +10frw + adds
4. Angelic amu**
5. 3BO amulet (place this in your invent.)

Note: The U.S. realms have the best duped amulets for 49 barbs (Fiend Sunder), Europe does not have anything that can compare. Its actually hard to beat a 100life/120 mana amulet though.

Rings

1. 120 ar 15 str 15 dex 90+ mana +res. You want your ring to be as close to these mods as possible.
2. Raven 20dex 250ar. your 2nd ring should always be a Ravenfrost. CBF.
3. angelic ring**

Shield

1. Eth rep Rare Grim or hyperion shield with 2 sox and +added defence.
2. Artisans Dragon of Deflection with x3 str/dex/30ed (or Artisans Tower / Gothic / shield of deflection)
3. Eth Hyperion Sanctuary (some use for BVB) // Gerkes. << I do not advocate the use of either of these.

Note: for shields you want to get as many stats as possible. 3 jewels as close to 30ed 9 str 9dex 60 ar is what you are aiming for here.

Helmet

1. Arreat 9str 9dex +30 ed etc. Most barbs will say arreats is the best possible. Better helmets might be out there, but you will only see these once a year, because they are so rare.
2. 1barb 30frw +life +2sox +adds circ. mass FRW etc.
3. Barb class specific helmet with +ww +bo +skills etc (used for Oath SC setup, where you need less str)
4. Guillames. can be used in tandem with Goreriders and a OW belt.

Note: Its nearly impossible to get a good circ or good 3sox WW helmet. Arreats, like Oath, beats nearly everything in this catagory.

Belt
1. String of ears
2. Thundergods
3. IK Belt
4. Mavina belt - used for the additional FRW when you dont need String of Ears.
24fhr 10 Open Wounds 7x life +30 cold res +. can be used with Goresriders+Gulli.

Note: You should have String, Mavina and Thundergods in stash, and use as appropriate.



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Invent:

1amy 3wc. this is better then 1 3/20/20. your very own small prebuff! BO, and then switch amy's.
19x 3/20/20
10x 5frw 17mana
10x 5frw/20ar/3max

Note: 3frw's work as well, you just wont be as fast. The one thing you will notice here is that the charms is what makes this build expensive!

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Skills:

1 Battle Command
20 Battle Orders
20 Sword mastery (or axe mastery)
1 bash
1 stun
1 concentrate
1 leap
1 leap attack
1 WhirlWind
1 Shout
1 Howl
1 Iron Skin
1 Natural Resistance
1 Increased Stamina
7 Increased Speed

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Congratulations! You have made a cookie cutter Barbarian. Before going into detail for each class please note: take your time when dueling. wait for your opponent to make a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes and when using a barbarian you have to be ready to pounce when your opponent makes that fatal error!

Now, this is what you are up against:

Amazons.

Bowazons, Hard.

Use 45 Dr and String. Always have your shield out. You need to chase these down and hope that they make a mistake. Try to only WW when you expect to hit them, dont WW needlessly. The more mana you have, the better. (this is why you need mana on your rare ring and amulet.) You need to be able to guess correctly where the amazon is running and try to WW her at the right moment. This can take alot of practice! Beware of the amazons sync ability (turning invisible through mass frw/wsg.). A final tip: remember that amazons only have so much mana and stamina. they can run out
of both, especially if they are dex-damage build.

Plaguezon, medium.

Pretend the zon is a bowa but be very careful of his throws. Try to time your attack just after he has thrown something at you (and missed hopefully!) You could try wearing an item with -% psn length reduction. Ensure you have enough res to deal with any facets. Beware of the poisen cloud!

Java, easy-Medium.

Small ww's are the key here. You should get the hang of these duels after a few duels. If the java wants to tank you, great! Like most builds, you really need to get on top of them as quickly a you can and dont let them escape.

Sorc's.

ESFB, Hard.

ESFB's are one of the best 49 builds out there. They basically have unlimited mana, They can tank you if you don't WW properly and they have a gigantic range advantage. Similar to when playing with a java or a Melee Druid, you need to keep moving and try to fool the sorc into teleporting too close to you. 85Res is really a must and on europe we even allow teleport on the barb in this matchup. (1) no tele + sorc can only use liless or (2) tele and no restrictions on ESFB. These duels can be VERY LONG. If at all possible, wear some rep life gear. Dodge fbs and hopefully the sorc player will get too agressive and make a mistake.

Orb, Medium.

The key here to to be patiant and never chase your opponent, let him come to you. If you are not careful you will eat a lovely orb. A barb always has to remember vs blizz/orb they will always run out of mana very quickly - dodge orbs until they try to tele in front of your path and then go for it. If your instincts are telling you that your opponent's teleports are too small - rush him.

Blizz, Hard.

Blizz sorc's are very hard to beat because they can auto hit you from the edge of their screen. You need to have enough cold resistance on to ensure that you do not lose massive life from any one blizzard. You need to be fast here and try to lure your opponent close enough to you.

Light Sorc, Medium.

A light sorc is pretty much like an Orber - they need to get close to hit you. See Orb strategy.

Paladins.

Libby, Medium-Hard.

Libby's can be a fun duel from the barbs perspective. Predict sync, keep things unpredictable try and catch them mid-charge for the good hits. They have great life and dr and massive unabsorbable damage so they WILL take a pounding, that said, a couple of great crits and they'll be in trouble. NEVER chase libby's and be wary of not whirling for extended periods - they may get brave and charge you down!

Foh, Hard.

Wear TG and res armour. Try to catch them when they get too close to you.

Smiter, easy-medium.

Barbs should have a range advantage here, range 3 vs range 2. dont ww through your opponent, try to clip him instead. If they camp just ww in and ww out, never ww non stop at them giving them many hits. If they use range 2, then use your range advantage. Some smiters will charge into places they think the barb will ww to next, giving them enough time to wait and smite the barb - if they do this then the barb should also guess where the smiter will charge next as 1 of these hits (25% block on smiter) could really decide the outcome.

Zealer, easy-medium.

see smiter comments above.

Druid.

Rabies/fury, Hard.

Rabies>Barb, 3 rabies should kill you. There's not much to say here, try to use your range to clip them.

Fury Druid, Easy-Medium.

There are no (good) Fury Druids @49 on europe realm, and if there are, they wont be good in a day. The shaper needs 100% perfect equipment to have a small chance at success. Treat them as a smiter / zealer.

Ele-Druid, easy-medium.

I personally like Kill the oak first, but you can also rush the druid, as this strategy works as well. Look for an opening, kill. This matchup can be hard
if you dont have enough frw. If you have the FRW, take a hit, rush the dudu, kill it. I always enjoyed these duels.

Assassin's.

Light Trapper, Medium - Hard.

Wear Thundergods (Assassin>you otherwise). The assassin should be doing over 6K damage on dual claw setup and have alot of frw. Try to lure the assassin away from their traps or try hit and away tactics, alternatively if you catch the trapper away from traps, chase it down quickly, dont let them cast any traps!

Necromancer. (PNB)

Bonespirit/Spear, easy-medium.

Your not going to come across (m)any poisen necro's or summoners. Make sure you have enough frw on (and damage armour). some Barbarians dual wield, some will single wield. Just remember: Dont wear a shield! Damage is what you want here. Small ww's are key here again.Stay on them, a couple of good whirls will kill them. You should be able to out-frw them and thankfully spirits are (usually) easy to avoid. Don't whirl the golem if its avoidable! A good necromancer's will use spear so be unpredictable in your approach pattern before you get on top of them. The Necromancer will use walls and should move a bit like an amazon - tanking your hits and making you run the wrong way. The key is to do
small whirlwinds while staying on top of the necro.

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This post was edited by ferdia on Dec 8 2009 03:40pm

1st post.

i have a new guild and a nice personal Rank.

This post was edited by Octogenarian on Dec 8 2009 03:41pm

Solid.

Pretty nice guide overall, I really don't understand the faceting the bo sticks though unless that was a joke or something

yes, x2 +3 bo is all you want on bo switch Leevolka had facets on his ladder baba though, i think he used it in tvt when he was low on life and his enemies were all around him (assists his allies on death). MLD life is not as high as HLD life, therefore its actually viable.

This post was edited by ferdia on Dec 8 2009 03:49pm

You die while boing, the person who killed you with get damaged and go kiss akara

pictures of my barb here:

http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21230039&f=103

Thanks Dennis, i have that barbs ear...somewhere

Note, previously several people commented on his barb's mana - i think he addressed those people at the time - i believe he could use +mana gear as well.

for the record my barb looks like this:

Shaft + String + Shield.



DamageDusk (lightres) + Mavina + dual Wielding.



I should mention that i use 24 sc's frw, in case your wondering about the life. my FRW is I believe 178%. Chris wanted as much FRW as possible while maintaining a minimum of 3K life.

This post was edited by ferdia on Dec 8 2009 04:43pm

edit: the 178 frw is not including 36frw from skill. (214+ frw).

This post was edited by ferdia on Dec 8 2009 04:59pm

yes, i actually like(d) the barb. :-)

i will rate the guide later. but good work, m8.

voting for: replacing elusive's useless guide in the guide section!

This post was edited by dyl4nd0u on Dec 9 2009 12:13am