I just finished Act 1 in Hell with my Barbarian and I need some help with regards to keeping my gear up to par without breaking the bank (no RMAH, just collecting gold as I go and selling items for gold in the AH).
1) What STR and VIT should I be targeting relative to my level? Is there a soft or hard cap on stats?
2) It is usually pretty obvious when my armor needs to be upgraded (I die quick), but how close should I be keeping my armor level to my character's level? A level differential of 5-7 seems to be the falling off point.
3) For leveling through Hell, I've been trying 2H, SnB and DW... do you guys typically switch between 2H or DW and SnB depending on the difficulty of the mobs or just stick with one? Obviously the defense is better with SnB, but 2H w/ Frenzy stacked up is more entertaining (but I'm not sure if I'm really killing any faster when its all said and done).
1) What STR and VIT should I be targeting relative to my level? Is there a soft or hard cap on stats?
No hard cap. You can stack Vitality and get 300k health if you really want to. As far as health, you should probably have (for Act II Hell) about 20k+. I don't exactly remember how much I had, but I remember finishing Hell with more than 40k as a tank, so 20-25k should be good for a DPS. For Strength, just get as much as you can.
2) It is usually pretty obvious when my armor needs to be upgraded (I die quick), but how close should I be keeping my armor level to my character's level? A level differential of 5-7 seems to be the falling off point.
I don't remember ever buying gear from the AH when I was leveling, except weapons. Just browse vendors for Str/Vit gear and buy it if it's an upgrade. If you see a good weapon on the AH for cheap, buy it. Just remember that you'll replace it soon, so don't spend too much.
3) For leveling through Hell, I've been trying 2H, SnB and DW... do you guys typically switch between 2H or DW and SnB depending on the difficulty of the mobs or just stick with one? Obviously the defense is better with SnB, but 2H w/ Frenzy stacked up is more entertaining (but I'm not sure if I'm really killing any faster when its all said and done).
I did all three, actually. I went a tank Vitality stacking Seismic Slam/Ground Stomp/Leap stun build for when I was grouped with my brother (Wizard) for a while, but got bored of not doing any damage and never killing goblins, even though it was fun never ever dying to anything and everything at once.
I found a good level 50 2H axe one day, so I decided to try out a 2H build, and enjoyed that.
I think I spend the most time as dual-wield though. If you can get some cheap weapons with Life on Hit, dual-wield is really good for survivability.
Your build is really dependent on what weapons you have, and what you feel like doing. I would not say that a tank build is needed for anything but Inferno, unless you group with someone else and wanna be an immortal support.
It's good to know that I'm not hitting any caps, even if I may be getting more STR or VIT than I might "need".
I just boosted my MF% and am starting to get some usable drops. In the beta I used crafted gear almost exclusively, but at least in "Normal" difficulty, the crafted stuff never seemed to be better than what I could find on the AH, even with the "max buyout price" set low.
I'm back to DW now, but I think I'll just swap back and forth as I find good deals on weapons. I got my skills tweaked a bit and the damage I'm taking has settled down, but I think I'll keep a shield in my pack since it's just a matter of time before things get rough again.
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1) What STR and VIT should I be targeting relative to my level? Is there a soft or hard cap on stats?
2) It is usually pretty obvious when my armor needs to be upgraded (I die quick), but how close should I be keeping my armor level to my character's level? A level differential of 5-7 seems to be the falling off point.
3) For leveling through Hell, I've been trying 2H, SnB and DW... do you guys typically switch between 2H or DW and SnB depending on the difficulty of the mobs or just stick with one? Obviously the defense is better with SnB, but 2H w/ Frenzy stacked up is more entertaining (but I'm not sure if I'm really killing any faster when its all said and done).
I don't remember ever buying gear from the AH when I was leveling, except weapons. Just browse vendors for Str/Vit gear and buy it if it's an upgrade. If you see a good weapon on the AH for cheap, buy it. Just remember that you'll replace it soon, so don't spend too much.
I did all three, actually. I went a tank Vitality stacking Seismic Slam/Ground Stomp/Leap stun build for when I was grouped with my brother (Wizard) for a while, but got bored of not doing any damage and never killing goblins, even though it was fun never ever dying to anything and everything at once.
I found a good level 50 2H axe one day, so I decided to try out a 2H build, and enjoyed that.
I think I spend the most time as dual-wield though. If you can get some cheap weapons with Life on Hit, dual-wield is really good for survivability.
Your build is really dependent on what weapons you have, and what you feel like doing. I would not say that a tank build is needed for anything but Inferno, unless you group with someone else and wanna be an immortal support.
It's good to know that I'm not hitting any caps, even if I may be getting more STR or VIT than I might "need".
I just boosted my MF% and am starting to get some usable drops. In the beta I used crafted gear almost exclusively, but at least in "Normal" difficulty, the crafted stuff never seemed to be better than what I could find on the AH, even with the "max buyout price" set low.
I'm back to DW now, but I think I'll just swap back and forth as I find good deals on weapons. I got my skills tweaked a bit and the damage I'm taking has settled down, but I think I'll keep a shield in my pack since it's just a matter of time before things get rough again.