I have assembled what appears to be the standard Trav Zerker Barb setup. Grief, Shako, Skulders, Laying of Hands, War Travs, the usual shit. 75 Fire Resist, 75 Lightning Resist, 3500+ Life.

I'm about 200 runs in and sometimes I randomly (like 20% of the time) just get fuckin slammed and I can't figure out what the specific cause it. It doesn't SEEM to be the hydras. Is it the council normal attacks paired with my 0 defense because of berserk? The mega stack of Might Aura, Curse, Extra Strong? I'm level 86 and still just randomly die unless I run around and potion. Something feels off here and I can't put my finger on it.

I did try switching to Arreats Face/Stormshield instead of Shako/Rhyme but it did not seem to matter much in terms of survivability. Leech life seems to do very little when using berserk. Any tips or is this just a common occurrence?

probably amp
dont take > 3 trav members at once
and use the stun cry to stun most minions

trav monsters deal a great amount of damage with amp, they have competent physical burst damage amplified by auras and amp damage and affixes
hydras are fully negated on you with 2x dwarf star, even if you have -100% resists. The MDR negates them alone
furthermore they are subject to the same stacking rules as any unique: having lightning enchanted + (fire or cold) enchanted results in them releasing invisible fire/cold explosions every time they are put into hit recovery. Which can be on hits that deal enough damage, or knockback, or leap, or war cry. That tends to rapidly shotgun people down with no visible cause

They also have conviction sometimes

Better use ww with berserk

Ww can leech life when needed

Or use howl (longer range and duration). Deal with the three uniques first. If they are in separate rooms, you might be able to fight them 1-2 at a time. Then, taunt them one at a time to reverse the howl effect to finish them off. This is a very safe way to play imo- 1 monster isn’t scary even when amped. But the whole group can be scary even without cursed.

Use WW and berserk

This post was edited by babun1024 on May 25 2022 12:04pm

Amp + convic is kinda deadly combo

can confirm with my ww barb. every once in a couple of hundred trav runs, my otherwise completely indestructible barb just WWs through the council and comes out dead on the other end. it's weird. it's not amp, since ismail makes sure you're always amped

more damage. you need crushing blow prevent monster heal and if all that fails more damage.

If they are all in one huge pack with some dangerous affixes, it is worth your while to stretch them out a little bit and give yourself a little bit of air. That way you can feel out their damage potential when you feel it might get dangerous.