Following is a guide to get you through some of your first inferno runs after you've completed hell and reached level 60.
Since barb seems to have the hardest time in inferno, both soloing and finding a role in a group I think a guide like this might help a lot of ppl out and it will also provide a good spot to combine all usefull information and discussions!
Barbs are VERY gear dependant and you'll notice that once you get your gear up and go back to hell it has become as easy as normal and nightmare once were.
The same happens for act1 of inferno and somewhere in the future the other inferno acts will becomes the same,
It's SOOOOO much in the gear level you're using!
This guide will initially be focused on getting you through act1, solo after you've just dinged 60.
After that I'll be adding some alternative builds for grouping and diving into act2.
Most builds won't be completely of my own creation (or not at all) and found somewhere on these or other forums.
Many have been discussed here and there on the forums, I'm just hoping this guide will highlight them and help more ppl.
Coming out of Hell (and going back to farm it)
So you just killed Diablo on hell, gratz! Goodjob imo, the end of hell starts to be a pain for most barbs, specially since you tend to get undergeared around that point unless you've been lucky with item drops.
Now ofcourse you want to jump straight into inferno and keep whailing around your 300dps 2hander which was working for you in hell!
You should try for a seconds ... you'll come running back to the forums pretty soon xD!
Now the most painless path to take is farming act4 (or act3) in hell a couple of times more,
you should also revert to this if you feel inferno is to stressful or if you just want to relax a bit
Also consider that boosting one of your mates through act3/act4 hell is useful for you and you make your mates very happy too!
But if you have some gold you can step into inferno by quickly grabbing some stuff from the AH with less with 200k I guess.
Preperation before getting into Inferno
First step before you go into inferno; you should prepare yourself for a lot of deaths, it's part of the game and part of the fun.
Second; buy a nice stack (50~100) of Mythical Health Potions, they're not that expensive and you're gonna need them (though most of the time they won't be enough xD).
Third; check up on your gear, identify the pieces that are really low level or have really bad stats.
Check the auction house for some cheap alternatives (filter on max buyout price) so that at least you gear is end-hell level.
Ensure you have a decent weapon, it's probally the easiest way to boost your success in inferno!
A 600~700dps 2hander (or ~600dps 1hander if you insist) should be required, you can easily find a blue 650dps 2hander on AH for under 50k.
Focus on getting good stength and decent vit.
Keep in mind that higher level items will have more armor, so try to only use gear that is lvl60 required or 58+ if you must.
That will ensure that you have decent armor and most likely those items will have a decent amount of stength.
Minimal Stats to aim for
Try to aim for 10k damage at least, 30k hp would be nice to have too ...
(All) Resistance and Armor will be important once you're gearing up in inferno, but the build I'll be feeding you won't need it yet!
Stats for 'normal' inferno farm
The point where I was able to drop the crazy Seismic Slam focused builds and change to the more 'normal' or 'barbarian-like' builds is around:
40k HP
4.5k armor (with 2h, without passives or shouts ~ you should get either a passive, shout and/or shield to boost it though if you wanna go into melee)
200~250 all resistance
13k damage (with Ruthless, imo the best passive we have)
if you swap in a shield and War Cry with that 4.5k armor then you'll go up into the 8k orso, giving you a very nice damage reduction and combined with 40k HP, the resistance and decent damage you can now go back to standing in the middle of a pack spamming revenge <3
Builds / Tactics
Now there are ofcourse many different builds, which could all work equally well and a lot of the choices depend on personal preference and playstyle!
I'll initially present you with two builds.
The first build will be the most akward kiting build, while the others go a bit more to 'normal' builds and once you can pick up some new gear in inferno you'll be able to switch over.
They're both focused on kiting around mobs and spamming them with Seismic Slam since this does decent damage and keeps you safe.
Combined with our Wrath of the Berserker cooldown for elite packs this will get you through act1.
Kiting with Seismic Slam
That's what it's all about and you gotta learn to love it!
It's not that bad and you can quickly get the hang of it, basicly just try not to get into melee at all at first.
Once you get the hang of it, you can go in to melee to finish off some zombies with Bash, giving you easier rage to keep going with Seismic Slam spam on the next pack :-).
Build 1
This build focus completely on spamming Seismic Slam, ensure you have a 2h Mace or Axe and when soloing take the scoundrel for the increased crit too!
With this build you should keep up Battle Rage all the time so that all your crits give back crit.
Combined with the passives (GET AN AXE OR MACE!) and scoundrel all the crits with Seismic Slam should keep your rage up.
War Cry is used when you're low on rage and need it badly, you can move in to finish off the last mobs of a pack with Bash to get some rage, but be careful if your gear is still crap.
Furious Charge is for those bad situations where you get surrounded (vortex etc).
You can also replace this with Sprint or Leap depending on what you like better.
Wrath is what allows you to tear down elite packs quickly, try to make sure you got max rage before you go for it.
If you feel comfortable playing without a movement skill, replace Furious Charge with Earthquake, if you throw that down with Wrath up any pack will be dead before you know it!
Or if you can't take down elite packs quick enough, then taking Earthquake over Furious Charge is also the way to go :-)
Build 2
This build is a spin off from build 1 and focuses a lot less on only spamming Seismic Slam and allows you to go into melee some to bash some zombies.
Having Furious Charge, Ignore Pain and Superstition allows you to get into melee more.
Ignore Pain has a fairly low cooldown so you can use it on normal packs np, just try to have it for elite packs or kite the pack until it's up.
We keep Unforgiving so that you can still go kiting if you get into bad situations.
Imo this build is more fun to play and since you can get away with it once you've replaced your first few items with inferno gear (or very good hell gear) I sugest you try it when you get tired of the first build.
Build X
Once you're getting more and more inferno gear you'll probally get more HP, armor and resistance.
At some point you'll be able to go back to the builds you played in Hell.
Myself I'm still playing with Seismic Slam since I really like the skill and still sometimes need to kite a bit (plus you can protect ranged party members with it nicely).
But I'm back to being able to use skills like Revenge or Overpower and tanking mobs.
spending money on AH is easier indeed, but if you can't (spend all your money on crafting or smt) then farming hell act4 is decent gold and items.
The second build is once you're fuckin tired of only spamming Seismic, you can be kiting with Seismic Slam on normal packs in combination with some Bashing. When you run into a elite pack you just pop Wrath, Earthquake and spam combination of Bash and Seismic,
it's A LOT LESS Seismic Slamming then the first build and a bit more fun :-)
spending money on AH is easier indeed, but if you can't (spend all your money on crafting or smt) then farming hell act4 is decent gold and items.
The second build is once you're fuckin tired of only spamming Seismic, you can be kiting with Seismic Slam on normal packs in combination with some Bashing. When you run into a elite pack you just pop Wrath, Earthquake and spam combination of Bash and Seismic,
it's A LOT LESS Seismic Slamming then the first build and a bit more fun :-)
Let's just leave the kiting to lesser mortals, like Wizards and Witch Doctors.
Barbs jump & cleave their way, regardless. Upgrade that gear until you stop dying. I'm only bashing & kiting champion packs, but in clusters of trash mobs I embrace them with my 2-handler and Revenge spam.
I very much agree with that, but you'll need to do some stupid kiting to get into farming act1 unless you're gonna spend a couple of days doing hell act4 and act2 is more painful so again a (semi)kiting spec can help you a lot
Why? Do you have 10k HP? Mythical Health Potions are better.
Now the most painless path to take is farming act4 (or act3) in hell a couple of times more
No, I prefer to spend 200k at the AH and get some Inferno starting gear and farm (what I can) in New Tristram outskirts Inferno. The loot in Inferno ( + Crafter receipes/Materials) is much more important than going back to Hell IV.
You have three HIGH Fury spenders, you can't spam Seismic Slam with that build.
Kiting with Seismic Slam
What? And Fury from where? You can't say that 2 Seismic Slams while running is called kiting. You can't kill shit with that, only if you have a 1.2K DPS Two-Handed Mighty Sword.
If you're going to Kite, get a shield + strong %VIT , while your Wizard/DH buddy nukes them. Else, go full melee with Revenge.
Good read, though.
Im pretty sure he means soloing bud. You can in fact kite/seismic slam kite with his setup and be able to kill shit.
The whole put a shield on and "tank" with revenge makes me think you have never been to act 2 and beyond. Go ahead pray you think you can revenge your way to victory.
If you want to progress into act2 and beyond this build will stop working since the mobs there are a lot more anoying with more ranged abilities, more damage and more health!
So you should be farming act1 and gathering gear (loot it or sell what you loot and buy it) to get as tanky as you can get.
Most barbs who can do anything at all in act2 are running around with at least:
- 40k hp,
- 500 all resist (with warcry rune, without it's about 320ish),
- 8k armor (with warcry, without it's about 6.3k)
- shield & 1hander
- between 5k and 10k damage
so that's the stats you should be working to get in act1 and when getting close to it start trying your luck in act2 when you feel like it.
There's an asian barb who solo'd everything with the following:
I'd go for a different rage builder I think but it looks like a solid build and his stats are sick, but his damage is rather low, confirming that we don't have to chase damage stats so badly.
Focus on getting as much of your gear with +all resist and vit, we're gonna need that badly!
Also eventhough the above builds might work for farming act1, try to find friends so you can try some more defensive builds (which at some point you have to convert to anyway) and it's more fun to play too
If you want to progress into act2 and beyond this build will stop working since the mobs there are a lot more anoying with more ranged abilities, more damage and more health!
So you should be farming act1 and gathering gear (loot it or sell what you loot and buy it) to get as tanky as you can get.
Most barbs who can do anything at all in act2 are running around with at least:
- 40k hp,
- 500 all resist (with warcry rune, without it's about 320ish),
- 8k armor (with warcry, without it's about 6.3k)
- shield & 1hander
- between 5k and 10k damage
so that's the stats you should be working to get in act1 and when getting close to it start trying your luck in act2 when you feel like it.
There's an asian barb who solo'd everything with the following:
I'd go for a different rage builder I think but it looks like a solid build and his stats are sick, but his damage is rather low, confirming that we don't have to chase damage stats so badly.
Focus on getting as much of your gear with +all resist and vit, we're gonna need that badly!
Also eventhough the above builds might work for farming act1, try to find friends so you can try some more defensive builds (which at some point you have to convert to anyway) and it's more fun to play too
Jesus, 108k health
I have half of his resist and half of his health
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Following is a guide to get you through some of your first inferno runs after you've completed hell and reached level 60.
Since barb seems to have the hardest time in inferno, both soloing and finding a role in a group I think a guide like this might help a lot of ppl out and it will also provide a good spot to combine all usefull information and discussions!
Barbs are VERY gear dependant and you'll notice that once you get your gear up and go back to hell it has become as easy as normal and nightmare once were.
The same happens for act1 of inferno and somewhere in the future the other inferno acts will becomes the same,
It's SOOOOO much in the gear level you're using!
This guide will initially be focused on getting you through act1, solo after you've just dinged 60.
After that I'll be adding some alternative builds for grouping and diving into act2.
Most builds won't be completely of my own creation (or not at all) and found somewhere on these or other forums.
Many have been discussed here and there on the forums, I'm just hoping this guide will highlight them and help more ppl.
Coming out of Hell (and going back to farm it)
So you just killed Diablo on hell, gratz! Goodjob imo, the end of hell starts to be a pain for most barbs, specially since you tend to get undergeared around that point unless you've been lucky with item drops.
Now ofcourse you want to jump straight into inferno and keep whailing around your 300dps 2hander which was working for you in hell!
You should try for a seconds ... you'll come running back to the forums pretty soon xD!
Now the most painless path to take is farming act4 (or act3) in hell a couple of times more,
you should also revert to this if you feel inferno is to stressful or if you just want to relax a bit
Also consider that boosting one of your mates through act3/act4 hell is useful for you and you make your mates very happy too!
But if you have some gold you can step into inferno by quickly grabbing some stuff from the AH with less with 200k I guess.
Preperation before getting into Inferno
First step before you go into inferno; you should prepare yourself for a lot of deaths, it's part of the game and part of the fun.
Second; buy a nice stack (50~100) of Mythical Health Potions, they're not that expensive and you're gonna need them (though most of the time they won't be enough xD).
Third; check up on your gear, identify the pieces that are really low level or have really bad stats.
Check the auction house for some cheap alternatives (filter on max buyout price) so that at least you gear is end-hell level.
Ensure you have a decent weapon, it's probally the easiest way to boost your success in inferno!
A 600~700dps 2hander (or ~600dps 1hander if you insist) should be required, you can easily find a blue 650dps 2hander on AH for under 50k.
Focus on getting good stength and decent vit.
Keep in mind that higher level items will have more armor, so try to only use gear that is lvl60 required or 58+ if you must.
That will ensure that you have decent armor and most likely those items will have a decent amount of stength.
Minimal Stats to aim for
Try to aim for 10k damage at least, 30k hp would be nice to have too ...
(All) Resistance and Armor will be important once you're gearing up in inferno, but the build I'll be feeding you won't need it yet!
Stats for 'normal' inferno farm
The point where I was able to drop the crazy Seismic Slam focused builds and change to the more 'normal' or 'barbarian-like' builds is around:
40k HP
4.5k armor (with 2h, without passives or shouts ~ you should get either a passive, shout and/or shield to boost it though if you wanna go into melee)
200~250 all resistance
13k damage (with Ruthless, imo the best passive we have)
if you swap in a shield and War Cry with that 4.5k armor then you'll go up into the 8k orso, giving you a very nice damage reduction and combined with 40k HP, the resistance and decent damage you can now go back to standing in the middle of a pack spamming revenge <3
Builds / Tactics
Now there are ofcourse many different builds, which could all work equally well and a lot of the choices depend on personal preference and playstyle!
I'll initially present you with two builds.
The first build will be the most akward kiting build, while the others go a bit more to 'normal' builds and once you can pick up some new gear in inferno you'll be able to switch over.
They're both focused on kiting around mobs and spamming them with Seismic Slam since this does decent damage and keeps you safe.
Combined with our Wrath of the Berserker cooldown for elite packs this will get you through act1.
Kiting with Seismic Slam
That's what it's all about and you gotta learn to love it!
It's not that bad and you can quickly get the hang of it, basicly just try not to get into melee at all at first.
Once you get the hang of it, you can go in to melee to finish off some zombies with Bash, giving you easier rage to keep going with Seismic Slam spam on the next pack :-).
Build 1
This build focus completely on spamming Seismic Slam, ensure you have a 2h Mace or Axe and when soloing take the scoundrel for the increased crit too!
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#aeSiPk!ZYh!ZYZYZZ
With this build you should keep up Battle Rage all the time so that all your crits give back crit.
Combined with the passives (GET AN AXE OR MACE!) and scoundrel all the crits with Seismic Slam should keep your rage up.
War Cry is used when you're low on rage and need it badly, you can move in to finish off the last mobs of a pack with Bash to get some rage, but be careful if your gear is still crap.
Furious Charge is for those bad situations where you get surrounded (vortex etc).
You can also replace this with Sprint or Leap depending on what you like better.
Wrath is what allows you to tear down elite packs quickly, try to make sure you got max rage before you go for it.
If you feel comfortable playing without a movement skill, replace Furious Charge with Earthquake, if you throw that down with Wrath up any pack will be dead before you know it!
Or if you can't take down elite packs quick enough, then taking Earthquake over Furious Charge is also the way to go :-)
Build 2
This build is a spin off from build 1 and focuses a lot less on only spamming Seismic Slam and allows you to go into melee some to bash some zombies.
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#aeSRPT!Zhe!ZYZbZb
Having Furious Charge, Ignore Pain and Superstition allows you to get into melee more.
Ignore Pain has a fairly low cooldown so you can use it on normal packs np, just try to have it for elite packs or kite the pack until it's up.
We keep Unforgiving so that you can still go kiting if you get into bad situations.
Imo this build is more fun to play and since you can get away with it once you've replaced your first few items with inferno gear (or very good hell gear) I sugest you try it when you get tired of the first build.
Build X
Once you're getting more and more inferno gear you'll probally get more HP, armor and resistance.
At some point you'll be able to go back to the builds you played in Hell.
Myself I'm still playing with Seismic Slam since I really like the skill and still sometimes need to kite a bit (plus you can protect ranged party members with it nicely).
But I'm back to being able to use skills like Revenge or Overpower and tanking mobs.
spending money on AH is easier indeed, but if you can't (spend all your money on crafting or smt) then farming hell act4 is decent gold and items.
The second build is once you're fuckin tired of only spamming Seismic, you can be kiting with Seismic Slam on normal packs in combination with some Bashing. When you run into a elite pack you just pop Wrath, Earthquake and spam combination of Bash and Seismic,
it's A LOT LESS Seismic Slamming then the first build and a bit more fun :-)
I very much agree with that, but you'll need to do some stupid kiting to get into farming act1 unless you're gonna spend a couple of days doing hell act4 and act2 is more painful so again a (semi)kiting spec can help you a lot
Im pretty sure he means soloing bud. You can in fact kite/seismic slam kite with his setup and be able to kill shit.
The whole put a shield on and "tank" with revenge makes me think you have never been to act 2 and beyond. Go ahead pray you think you can revenge your way to victory.
So you should be farming act1 and gathering gear (loot it or sell what you loot and buy it) to get as tanky as you can get.
Most barbs who can do anything at all in act2 are running around with at least:
- 40k hp,
- 500 all resist (with warcry rune, without it's about 320ish),
- 8k armor (with warcry, without it's about 6.3k)
- shield & 1hander
- between 5k and 10k damage
so that's the stats you should be working to get in act1 and when getting close to it start trying your luck in act2 when you feel like it.
There's an asian barb who solo'd everything with the following:
I'd go for a different rage builder I think but it looks like a solid build and his stats are sick, but his damage is rather low, confirming that we don't have to chase damage stats so badly.
Focus on getting as much of your gear with +all resist and vit, we're gonna need that badly!
Also eventhough the above builds might work for farming act1, try to find friends so you can try some more defensive builds (which at some point you have to convert to anyway) and it's more fun to play too
Jesus, 108k health
I have half of his resist and half of his health