First of all, id like to say i am not newb to diablo3. I got around 1k hours played and got all 10 caracters to level 60 (5HC-SC). My SC barb is level 52 paragon. Sorry everyone about my english, it is not my first spoken language.
Being away from home (and from diablo 3) for two weeks, i tought this might be the right opportunity to start a discussion about an hybrid build i have been developping and found very efficient. The meaning of efficient here being relative as you all know, it depends on what you want to achieve.
1. The build
This build as the title involves, is an hybrid build between the HOTA and Tornado-WW build.
This build maintains the core skills of the WW build but drops both common WW active fury generators. Those fury generators are replaced by other fury generating means: Unforgiving, Immortal kings 5set bonus and merciless assault. The build can also work without Ik 5set bonus or Unforgiving but result in efficiency loss. Altho it might seems like dropping the primary would result in fury starving, this is not the case. (altho you can sometimes lend a few normal attacks if you dont monitor carefully your fury)
I would recommend this build to barbs wielding a Skorn with a full IK gear since this is where you are most efficient.
2. Requirements
This build as the same requirements as the usual Tornado-WW build but it is best played with a 2H imo because of the punching impact it delivers when using HOTA. My barb at paragon lvl52 as the following stats (approximate values):
Basically, this build takes its place somewhere in the middle of the Tornado-WW build and the HOTA build. I did not monitor everything deeply but my testing proved this build to be successfull. I am having a blast playing this build. I would say that this build would best be used for key farming and high mp runs.
Its pros are basically the same as the Tornado-WW build, lots of life return and mobility while also having the punching impact of the HOTA build.
The cons compared to a WW build are loss in berserkers uptime and occasionnal fury starving resulting in mobility loss due to the fact that you cant cast sprint. If you count Templar with Inspire, you get 5 fury/sec regeneration. Since sprint costs 20 fury to cast, if you are out of fury, you need to wait 1sec in order to cast sprint again. Also, since you drop your third passive for Unforgiving and War cry for Merciless assault, this results in less survivability. Another thing to mention is that Ice climber boots are usually considered BIS for barbs and since you want to have a IK 5set bonus, you need to trade those for IK striders.
The "myth" of the 2h not being able to sustain WOTB must be adressed here. Dual-wielding yelds better fury regeneration thus resulting in higher WOTB uptime. But with my barb, i can maintain WOTB almost indefinitely with only 2 mobs on the screen while wielding a skorn.
4. How to use it
Basically, the idea is to activate Battle cry, sprint and then go trough with merciless assault (spawning tornadoes on the way). Afterwards, use the usual ww-sprint combo until you get full fury. Then, stop and Bash things to the ground with HOTA, rinse and repeat. One last thing to mention is that when there is not a lot of mobs on the screen, you dont want to use HOTA until you are empty because this is where you will be most fury starving and the result will be you, using basic attacks thus DPS drop. This issue can easily be avoided with good fury monitoring. Never empty your fury using HOTA.
I choosed to replace War cry for Merciless assault because it is the best fury generating secondary skill. It is basically spammable when there is a pack of 5 mobs resulting in high fury regeneration. But, War cry would still work very well.
5. Pushing the monitoring further
I have not been testing fully trough that build idea. I hope i did not forget to mention anything in this post but i would be very glad if some people would try-test and offer feedback, comments and constructive critisim about this build. I have all it takes to make a video of me streaming trough mp4-5-6 with this build but i am not used to this kind of stuff and i am pretty sure that some people would gladly do this and put it up for people to see how good (or bad) this build performs. If you are interested in seeing the build in action, you can message me in game (game tag: Moontracker#1833). And btw, i am playing in HC right now and passed my gear to a friend of mine so you will not be able to check my gear atm.
hey! just created my account here to congrat you for the nice build. I'll try it and see what I can get!
But.. I can't buy the full IK set right now.
You told it was not unfeasible, but very nice to have.
Could you elaborate on your opinion of no IK 5 piece?
Furious charge and sprint seem to be redundant. Are you using furious charge as an escape, a mobility skill, a fury generator, or ?
I do like the versatility of this build and will try it later.
Furious charge should not be used as mobility, since you stop moving for a small but significantly irritating time after use.
Furious is for generating fury and "oh shit" moments.
While sprint is for steady fury gen, dmg and also mobility.
So if I don't need it for the oh shit moments, what would you suggest putting in it's place? Have you messed around with anything else there?
If you want to keep the fury aspect, there is war cry, ancient spear, overpower, revenge and threatening shout.
War cry is good if you need the defense.
Ancient spear if you wanna get some lone ranged mob.
Overpower if you want to stay offensive and have a high CHC.
Revenge if you want offense and defense.
Threatening Shout also for defensive purposes.
If you like to stay into the crowd, and don't have any problem with defense, I suggest Overpower.
A little defense needed, Revenge.
Some more defense, Shout.
Even more, War cry.
And if you prefer to kill the ranged mobs using something other than tornadoes, Spear.
hey! just created my account here to congrat you for the nice build. I'll try it and see what I can get!
But.. I can't buy the full IK set right now.
You told it was not unfeasible, but very nice to have.
Could you elaborate on your opinion of no IK 5 piece?
As stated, the 5 piece bonus helps but it is not something you absolutely need. You either need to have Unforgiving or the IK 5set piece that is a certainty. If you run out of fury, it will slow you down a lot, if you monitor you fury decently, it will not affect you that much.
Furious charge and sprint seem to be redundant. Are you using furious charge as an escape, a mobility skill, a fury generator, or ?
I do like the versatility of this build and will try it later.
It could be used as a mobility skill if as stated by Kyoob, if used on long distances. I use it primarly as a fury generator but it also deals awesome damage by itself/tornadoes and life return at the same time.
I did not mess a lot with other secondary generating fury and have not tried dropping fury generators for other non-consuming skills like revenge, overpower, ignore pain or even an odd choice like earthquakes mountain call. I guess all of these could work if you can manage fury decently. One thing to mention is that since merciless assault as short cooldowns (from 10 to 0 sec), it means that if you get fury starved, you will get out of this situation more efficiently.
I deeply encourage you guys to post comments, build variations or even streams if you want. I wont be playing D3 as far as the 8th of febuary since i am very occupied by work right now. When i am back, i will mostly play hardcore but when i feel my connections latency is bad, i will turn on to my SC barb and see what else could work.
Thanks to all for posting and keep the post running.
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Being away from home (and from diablo 3) for two weeks, i tought this might be the right opportunity to start a discussion about an hybrid build i have been developping and found very efficient. The meaning of efficient here being relative as you all know, it depends on what you want to achieve.
1. The build
This build as the title involves, is an hybrid build between the HOTA and Tornado-WW build.
"The Unforgiving build"
This build maintains the core skills of the WW build but drops both common WW active fury generators. Those fury generators are replaced by other fury generating means: Unforgiving, Immortal kings 5set bonus and merciless assault. The build can also work without Ik 5set bonus or Unforgiving but result in efficiency loss. Altho it might seems like dropping the primary would result in fury starving, this is not the case. (altho you can sometimes lend a few normal attacks if you dont monitor carefully your fury)
I would recommend this build to barbs wielding a Skorn with a full IK gear since this is where you are most efficient.
2. Requirements
This build as the same requirements as the usual Tornado-WW build but it is best played with a 2H imo because of the punching impact it delivers when using HOTA. My barb at paragon lvl52 as the following stats (approximate values):
- 160k unbuffed DPS
- 50% crit chance
- 8.5% life steal
- 40k life
- 600 allres
- 1.2 IAS
3. Its usefulness, pros and cons
Basically, this build takes its place somewhere in the middle of the Tornado-WW build and the HOTA build. I did not monitor everything deeply but my testing proved this build to be successfull. I am having a blast playing this build. I would say that this build would best be used for key farming and high mp runs.
Its pros are basically the same as the Tornado-WW build, lots of life return and mobility while also having the punching impact of the HOTA build.
The cons compared to a WW build are loss in berserkers uptime and occasionnal fury starving resulting in mobility loss due to the fact that you cant cast sprint. If you count Templar with Inspire, you get 5 fury/sec regeneration. Since sprint costs 20 fury to cast, if you are out of fury, you need to wait 1sec in order to cast sprint again. Also, since you drop your third passive for Unforgiving and War cry for Merciless assault, this results in less survivability. Another thing to mention is that Ice climber boots are usually considered BIS for barbs and since you want to have a IK 5set bonus, you need to trade those for IK striders.
The "myth" of the 2h not being able to sustain WOTB must be adressed here. Dual-wielding yelds better fury regeneration thus resulting in higher WOTB uptime. But with my barb, i can maintain WOTB almost indefinitely with only 2 mobs on the screen while wielding a skorn.
4. How to use it
Basically, the idea is to activate Battle cry, sprint and then go trough with merciless assault (spawning tornadoes on the way). Afterwards, use the usual ww-sprint combo until you get full fury. Then, stop and Bash things to the ground with HOTA, rinse and repeat. One last thing to mention is that when there is not a lot of mobs on the screen, you dont want to use HOTA until you are empty because this is where you will be most fury starving and the result will be you, using basic attacks thus DPS drop. This issue can easily be avoided with good fury monitoring. Never empty your fury using HOTA.
I choosed to replace War cry for Merciless assault because it is the best fury generating secondary skill. It is basically spammable when there is a pack of 5 mobs resulting in high fury regeneration. But, War cry would still work very well.
5. Pushing the monitoring further
I have not been testing fully trough that build idea. I hope i did not forget to mention anything in this post but i would be very glad if some people would try-test and offer feedback, comments and constructive critisim about this build. I have all it takes to make a video of me streaming trough mp4-5-6 with this build but i am not used to this kind of stuff and i am pretty sure that some people would gladly do this and put it up for people to see how good (or bad) this build performs. If you are interested in seeing the build in action, you can message me in game (game tag: Moontracker#1833). And btw, i am playing in HC right now and passed my gear to a friend of mine so you will not be able to check my gear atm.
But.. I can't buy the full IK set right now.
You told it was not unfeasible, but very nice to have.
Could you elaborate on your opinion of no IK 5 piece?
I do like the versatility of this build and will try it later.
Furious charge should not be used as mobility, since you stop moving for a small but significantly irritating time after use.
Furious is for generating fury and "oh shit" moments.
While sprint is for steady fury gen, dmg and also mobility.
If you want to keep the fury aspect, there is war cry, ancient spear, overpower, revenge and threatening shout.
War cry is good if you need the defense.
Ancient spear if you wanna get some lone ranged mob.
Overpower if you want to stay offensive and have a high CHC.
Revenge if you want offense and defense.
Threatening Shout also for defensive purposes.
If you like to stay into the crowd, and don't have any problem with defense, I suggest Overpower.
A little defense needed, Revenge.
Some more defense, Shout.
Even more, War cry.
And if you prefer to kill the ranged mobs using something other than tornadoes, Spear.
As stated, the 5 piece bonus helps but it is not something you absolutely need. You either need to have Unforgiving or the IK 5set piece that is a certainty. If you run out of fury, it will slow you down a lot, if you monitor you fury decently, it will not affect you that much.
It could be used as a mobility skill if as stated by Kyoob, if used on long distances. I use it primarly as a fury generator but it also deals awesome damage by itself/tornadoes and life return at the same time.
I did not mess a lot with other secondary generating fury and have not tried dropping fury generators for other non-consuming skills like revenge, overpower, ignore pain or even an odd choice like earthquakes mountain call. I guess all of these could work if you can manage fury decently. One thing to mention is that since merciless assault as short cooldowns (from 10 to 0 sec), it means that if you get fury starved, you will get out of this situation more efficiently.
I deeply encourage you guys to post comments, build variations or even streams if you want. I wont be playing D3 as far as the 8th of febuary since i am very occupied by work right now. When i am back, i will mostly play hardcore but when i feel my connections latency is bad, i will turn on to my SC barb and see what else could work.
Thanks to all for posting and keep the post running.