The Brawler Barb is a barbarian that uses throw/ww as their main attacks. This barb may not be the strongest of its class but it sure is fun to play and can be pretty versatile if played correctly and geared correctly.
I don't like to rant so let's cut to the chase.
Stat/Skills:
Strength - enough to wear gear
Dex - 118 dex total (you will be using a small charm that has 2 dex on it to glitch your non eth poons, 118 dex is the non eth poon requirement)
Vita - Rest after strength/dex
Energy - None
Skills:
Warcries - Max Battle Orders, 1 to Battle Command, and of course all the pre reqs to get to these.
Masteries - 1 inc stamina, X inc speed (depending on charm choice, you should have atleast 130 frw though so base it off that), 1 iron skin, 1 Natty Res. Personally I have 10 to throw mastery to increase throw damage and 15 spear mastery to increase ww damage. However this is preference, if you want more throw damage then simply substitute some spear mastery for more throw mastery vise versa if you want more ww damage. I would say have AT LEAST 1000 dmg for ww on shield side.
Combat Skills: 1 bash (pre req), X double swing and X double throw (At least 1 though for the skill). Adding more to double swing adds damage and adding more to double throw adds attack rating, I prefer the damage though. You can also substitute some throw mastery into some double swing if you'd like but, mastery adds critical which is very helpful.
Gear:
The gear can be a little pricey and may be a little hard to obtain so be prepared. But I will also try to give cheap/easier options. I will list realistic options for both, not gear that will cost thousands of irl cash to make.
Helm - 3 Whirlwind 60 + life 2 sockets, any other mods are great like inc speed, bo, combat masteries etc. Should have 20ed, 9 dex jewels as minimum stats in helm, bonus on jewels is res, ar, life. Depending on what resistances you get from amulet and rings you will figure out what resistances you need on your jewels. If you cannot get a magic helm with life then get a 3 WW, 3os helm, you can get nice bonuses like bo, inc speed, natty res, etc.
Armor - 3 socket 80 life low strength armor socketed with 20ed 9 dex jewels with res, ar, or life. Again, depending on what resistances you get from amulet and rings you will figure out what res you need from jewels.
Shield - I personally use a 30/20/5 rep/ 8 dtm/ 14 all res, 2os kite shield. Something like this is your best bet with rep life and some other mods. If you can't get a rep shield then use a 3os 30/20 kite shield they work perfectly fine as well. Socket your shield with damage jewels for WW damage. You don't need stats on jewels just damage.
Belt - String of Ears. No other option really, you should not need a res belt and the 15% DR and 15 MDR on String is very helpful.
Gloves - Bloodfists. 40 life, 5 min damage, 10 ias...great gloves for a Brawler. A 10 ias, 5 rep life, res gloves could do the job as well but if you don't need res then bloodfists all the way.
Boots - Sanders is by far the best choice. 40 frw, AR, Great stat booster. Don't use res boots unless you absolutely need them because you will be losing a lot of life, AR, and 10 frw which hurts alot, also making you use more 3frw charms or more into inc speed.
Amulet - 1 Barb, stats, life, life rep, mana, resistances amulet. A mixture of these will get the job done, try to get a good chunk of res from your amulet and rings.
Rings - min dmg, ar, stats, rep life, 60+ mana, resistances. Again a mixture of these will get the job done. And again try to get a good chunk of res from rings and amulet.
Weapons - Okay so you want 2 non eth HARPOONS to use double throw with. Yes you will have an eth set but if you don't want to wait for them to rep after every duel then you NEED non eth poons.
Non Eth Poons - Ideal stats are 30 ias, 100+ ed, AR. Anything else is a bonus like amp, - req (if you can find 2), increased stack size etc. You will need 2 of these.
Eth Rep Poons - Ideal stats are 30 ias, 120+ ed, AR. Again anything else is bonus. If you get one that has 2wc on it then it helps alot. You only really need 1 of these for ww/shield side but getting 2 is a big help. You can swap shield out with another eth poon for higher WW damage for duels that you don't need your shield for. I also single throw and double throw with eth poons as well.
Side note - If you cannot find good erep poons then you can use Robo nagas for a cheaper option to WW. If you do use robo nagas you will not be able to throw on that side obviously and you may lose damage. You will want to socket it with 2x shaels and 4x damage/-15 requirement jewels to get that high strength down. Also instead of skilling spear mastery you will need to skill axe mastery for nagas.
Another side note - I HATE CUBE BUFFING! That being said I don't do it but you can if you want to and it may be a good option if you cannot afford some high end gear. That's why getting 2wc on some poons is really helpful. Like I said though you may need to (especially for life because statting for 118 dex takes a lot away) if you cannot find high end gear.
Charms - The most important thing is to have ONE 3 max damage, 20 ar, 2 dex small charm. The 2 dex will glitch your non eth poons (make them invisible). When you throw them they are also invisible too which is very helpful.
You want to also have ATLEAST 130 frw. That being said you will want X amount of 3frw, 3 max damage, 20 ar small charms.
After you feel like you have enough frw use 3 max damage, 20 ar, 15 life small charms for the rest of them.
Some dueling strategies for the Brawler (I'll start with the fun duels first)
Necromancer - Train the spirits and when he is name locking you you should have enough frw to get enough time to throw some poons in there to break bone armor/damage. After his bone shield is off it gets easy just be patient. If you train the spirits right you can go in and do a WW on him which should take a good chunk of life/bone armor. If they are not name locking and kind of shooting a spirit here and there WAVE your poons, remember they can't see them too. Just slowly hold down double throw and move it like a wave at them so you have a good chance of hitting them.
Trapper - If they are being defensive then wave your poons at them or try and use your best judgement to aim. Hitting them from afar will make them chase you so once they start doing that you can start WWing them. Always wsg (weapon switch glitch) when dueling a sin because when they start mind blasting you don't want to get caught in it. If they get close enough and start mind blasting wsg and ww into them, they probably won't try to do it again lol. You can even chase them wsging and wwing be careful though they can be slippery.
Kicker - Whip shield out and WW.
Windy Druid - If they are being really defensive then try to throw and kill some summons (remember killing summons will give you life so if he re summons then it's no big deal). Name lock throwing is the best for these guys because the poon will go through the summons directly into dudu. You can also move in and WW as well (WITH SHIELD OUT), you should be able to out damage him making him tele away/run away.
Fury - Whip shield out and WW.
Mauler - Whip shield out and WW.
Hammerdin - These can be tricky. You can namelock throw them which can land some good hits but if they are on your ass then just ww the opposite way they are chasing. They will be synching so you won't see them but keep WWing at all times if you see them chasing or you see them near you when they synch then hammer. NEVER CHASE A HAMMERDIN, you will be murdered by hammers. If they run away try to namelock throw them again and if they are keeping their distance and lazing try to wave your poons or better yet get a namelock but that can be tough depending on how far they are staying away.
Charger - Whip shield out and WW.
Libby - Basically a weaker hammerdin vs a barb. So refer to hammerdin strategy.
Foh/Smite - Unless built very good then these guys are usually pretty easy. You can't block smite so you can swap shield out. Wave poons if they are charging around FOHing and namelock as well. If they get close WW them and if they smite WW them. Your WW should be able to out damage smite making them go back to FOH lol.
Bowazon - Try to stay a good distance away from them and wave poons at them. You will not be getting close enough to namelock. Land some nice throws on them and they might move in on you, if they do you can namelock throw them or move towards them to WW. You should be able to outrun them so if they get close enough try to land some good WW hits but DO NOT CHASE if they don't get close. Stay on their ass when they do get close though and keep WWing. If they get distance from you then go back to waving poons to try and finish them off. Some zon players are really slippery though so be careful. You might find yourself trying to wave poons and not getting hits while your getting hit by their GA.
Plague Zon - These can be annoying. KEEP YOUR DISTANCE and try to wave poons at them. Don't stop moving for long though because you don't want to get hit by one of these. Never get close and never WW unless your already poisoned and your going in for the kill because you don't have much time left. So keep your distance and wave poons, if they get low enough you can go in for the kill with a WW. Having a Poison Length Reduction Shield or Amulet is very helpful for these duels so it might be good investing in one.
CS Zon - If they chase (which they kind of have to unless legit f/c but legit f/c > EVERYTHING) just WW in the opposite direction they are chasing and they will get destroyed.
Fire Ball Sorc - Pain in the ass to duel. Keep moving and waving poons when you can at them. They can tele until the cows go home so just be weary of throwing poons because you have to time them well. If they try to stomp you then WW of course but never chase and try to WW they will just tele away and spam more fireballs. If they are ES then forget it lol unless they stomp you and you WW the shit out of them.
Blizz Sorc - Another pain in the ass to duel. Again try to wave poons and at the right time get a namelock. They can't spam blizz like fb sorcs spam fireballs so you can get some good hits by namelocking. I wouldn't suggest chasing and trying to WW. If they are near you and you think you can to them before they tele then go for the WW, if not stay back and wave/namelock poons. They are usually ES so yea...pretty tough for a Brawler. Keeping some cold stack gear in stash doesn't hurt anything either.
Firewall Sorc - Try to land some good namelock poons on them, they are a little slower than the other sorcs but usually are tankish. They get pretty close to name lock firewall you so if you can get a WW in then go for it. Don't chase them around just like the other sorcs because they will tele away so just stick to namelock/waving poons if you are not close enough to WW.
WW Barb - I don't think anyone in LLD actually bvb's. But if they do then take out your shield and try to land some nice throws on them, that will be your tactic to win. With your shield out you can actually do some good WW damage so if you get some good throw hits then go for a couple WW's on him.
Team Vs Team - The Brawler is really fun in TvT because you can catch people off guard. You can namelock spam some throws into people that are not even paying attention to you and it should take a good chunk of life. Also being able to WW is nice so people can't stomp you. If you are sneaky with the Brawler in TvT he can do some damage.
If you have any questions please pm me. Thank you for reading.
This post was edited by GorillaGuy on Apr 16 2016 01:26am