So I've perused the forums here for quite some time and have been registered for a while. I know there used to be barbarian guides here that didn't just valid builds, but also tips and recommendations for gear, stats and things to gem and farm towards. Obviously a lot of things have changed since 2.01, but is there anyone that is reassembling some sort of Barbarian guide?
I'm just about to level to 60 (I'm at 59.75, so give me about 10 minutes once I get home) and I have been doing reasonably well with a whirlwind lightning build that leland814 had posted (http://www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-class-forums/barbarian-bastions-keep/81219-lightning-barb-very-fun-and-fast-paced-build). Now I obviously don't have anywhere close to gear that is what you guys would consider passable, but I don't even really know where to start. My gear has been consistently replaced as a work through Hard difficulty and as soon as I hit lvl 60 I'll either do a quest reset or wait until clearing RoS and then do it.
I seem to have good survivability, especially with packs of mobs because whirlwind keeps me pretty well healthy and going for rage. Bosses take forever because I can hit them and keep myself alive, but its like chopping down a tree with a hatchet. I mostly gem for strength because, hey, barbarians like red, right?
I mean, at this level should I be farming for certain Blacksmith recipes or just making runs, killing bosses? Should I be gemming differently? Should I be focusing on stats beyond damage, strength and vitality? Any recommendations would be well appreciated!
You should drop your offhand for a shield, because you have such a strong mainhand and such a weak offhand you're actually reducing your damage by using that offhand weapon, though if you had a shield you would be adding to the damage by boosting stats. Or in the ideal scenario you would use another strong 1handed weapon. Your gear is not so bad, helmet, legs and shoulders could do with replacing but otherwise it's alright... Definitely dump the offhand weapon though. Gemming for strength is fine and you have the basic idea just like all classes with stacking crit chance + crit damage %. What should you be farming? You should replace those weak points and then get ready for the expansion, assuming you are going to play it there is not much reason to fuss over lvl60 items too much.
As for spec, there are a tonne of good specs now. I personally use.
Frenzy - Sidearm
Rend - Bloodlust
Ground Stomp - Trembling Stomp
Furious Charge - Merciless Assault
Warcry - Invigorate
Battle Rage - Marauders Rage.
So you might ask why I play this spec? There is no downtime waiting for cooldowns feeling like a wet flannel, you have high burst and good control aswell as an escape mechanic, along with good self healing. Ground Stomp for me regularly crits over 2.5mil per target, sometimes above 3million or 4mil + in group play, and along with that it stuns everything in the area for 4 seconds, which means it will not only save your life countless times but it's also a big hitting attack. Furious Charge with the above rune is an escape mechanic that (with + physical % gear) can also hit for well over 2million per target, due to the rune it has no cooldown in large packs, meaning you can quite realistically spam it.
What about Rend? 0.5% of max life healing on that rune results in some big healing on large packs and 1000% weapon damage is a massive amount of damage, in aoe packs Rend is one of the most powerful spells you have, it's not as visual as a ground stomp with the burst but in actual overall damage Rend is incredible.
I'm able to comfortably farm T6 with this build and can breeze through Torment 4 difficulty, I sometimes quickly switch to an ancients + WOTB spec for bosses for the ultimate burst, but I really don't like the concept while just playing as the dps lost during the downtime is not even close to being made up for with the uptime.
Thanks! This is exactly the type of feedback I was looking for. I got the MH weapon just about the same time that I got to lvl 60 and it seems that lately I can only maintain a whirlwind when I am completely surrounded by a large pack, so I really haven't been diggin the Whirlwind spec recently. I'm not sure if it is the lack of a decent OH weapon or the something with Rage generation come lvl 60, but it just doesn't seem to be working.
I actually also just looted a Skorn, but with the either the random stats or with the bug on 2-handers right now, it is actually only about 1100 dps as a 2-hander...kind of ridiculous.
So with your build are you typically running a 1-hander+shield or a 2-hand? Just wondering if I should watch out for a nice 2 hand once RoS lands.
Also, can you explain the "stacking crit chance + crit damage %". I typically have been looking to increase both equally because neither one means much if the other is low, but are there certain numbers I should be shooting for?
What are your recommendations for Paragon points for a barbarian? I've mostly been doing Strength (duh), Crit Strike Damage, Life %, and Gold %. Any better ideas?
Personally I am currently running with a 1-H+shield, as thats the only decent upgrades I found whilst taking the first few steps in Act V last night after RoS launch.
But before RoS I quite liked the 2-hander rather sluggish playstyle. In terms of comparing 2H to DW to SnB (sword and board), DW and SnB are similar in terms of playstyle with the SnB option having a heavier focus on defense obviously although shields come with very decent offensive stats. However there's a big difference in playstyle between DW+SnB and 2H, and some skills work better with one option than with the other, rend and furious charge are great examples of this as they are based on weapon damage.
Fury gen is much slower with a 2-hander than with DW/SnB, and it can take some time adjusting to the difference, I know I had a hard time my self.
In terms of numbers to shoot for, a good rule of thumb is to have 10 crit dmg for every 1 crit chance. Likewise for comparing resists to armor 10 armor for every 1 resist.
As far as paragon, I change it up and experiment alot. In general I aim for the movement speed cap though, so whatever I'm short of the cap goes into movement speed and then the rest into strength if any. Either crit strike or dmg for offensive, depending on which I need the most. Have been running with atk speed as well for boosting effectiveness of life on hit. My weakest point was all res when they introduced the new paragon system, and I feel you get a pretty good value for your points in there, however life regen is quite powerful as well. I havent needed % life, nor armor due to high ammounts of str and vit on gear. For utility it's a toss-up between life on hit, works well with DW/SnB and high atk speed, area damage if using alot of single target abilities I kinda want to try a resource cost reduction build as well at some point. Really pick your weakest point.
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I'm just about to level to 60 (I'm at 59.75, so give me about 10 minutes once I get home) and I have been doing reasonably well with a whirlwind lightning build that leland814 had posted (http://www.diablofans.com/forums/diablo-iii-class-forums/barbarian-bastions-keep/81219-lightning-barb-very-fun-and-fast-paced-build). Now I obviously don't have anywhere close to gear that is what you guys would consider passable, but I don't even really know where to start. My gear has been consistently replaced as a work through Hard difficulty and as soon as I hit lvl 60 I'll either do a quest reset or wait until clearing RoS and then do it.
I seem to have good survivability, especially with packs of mobs because whirlwind keeps me pretty well healthy and going for rage. Bosses take forever because I can hit them and keep myself alive, but its like chopping down a tree with a hatchet. I mostly gem for strength because, hey, barbarians like red, right?
I mean, at this level should I be farming for certain Blacksmith recipes or just making runs, killing bosses? Should I be gemming differently? Should I be focusing on stats beyond damage, strength and vitality? Any recommendations would be well appreciated!
Thanks!
As for spec, there are a tonne of good specs now. I personally use.
Frenzy - Sidearm
Rend - Bloodlust
Ground Stomp - Trembling Stomp
Furious Charge - Merciless Assault
Warcry - Invigorate
Battle Rage - Marauders Rage.
So you might ask why I play this spec? There is no downtime waiting for cooldowns feeling like a wet flannel, you have high burst and good control aswell as an escape mechanic, along with good self healing. Ground Stomp for me regularly crits over 2.5mil per target, sometimes above 3million or 4mil + in group play, and along with that it stuns everything in the area for 4 seconds, which means it will not only save your life countless times but it's also a big hitting attack. Furious Charge with the above rune is an escape mechanic that (with + physical % gear) can also hit for well over 2million per target, due to the rune it has no cooldown in large packs, meaning you can quite realistically spam it.
What about Rend? 0.5% of max life healing on that rune results in some big healing on large packs and 1000% weapon damage is a massive amount of damage, in aoe packs Rend is one of the most powerful spells you have, it's not as visual as a ground stomp with the burst but in actual overall damage Rend is incredible.
I'm able to comfortably farm T6 with this build and can breeze through Torment 4 difficulty, I sometimes quickly switch to an ancients + WOTB spec for bosses for the ultimate burst, but I really don't like the concept while just playing as the dps lost during the downtime is not even close to being made up for with the uptime.
I actually also just looted a Skorn, but with the either the random stats or with the bug on 2-handers right now, it is actually only about 1100 dps as a 2-hander...kind of ridiculous.
So with your build are you typically running a 1-hander+shield or a 2-hand? Just wondering if I should watch out for a nice 2 hand once RoS lands.
Also, can you explain the "stacking crit chance + crit damage %". I typically have been looking to increase both equally because neither one means much if the other is low, but are there certain numbers I should be shooting for?
What are your recommendations for Paragon points for a barbarian? I've mostly been doing Strength (duh), Crit Strike Damage, Life %, and Gold %. Any better ideas?
Thanks for all of the help!
But before RoS I quite liked the 2-hander rather sluggish playstyle. In terms of comparing 2H to DW to SnB (sword and board), DW and SnB are similar in terms of playstyle with the SnB option having a heavier focus on defense obviously although shields come with very decent offensive stats. However there's a big difference in playstyle between DW+SnB and 2H, and some skills work better with one option than with the other, rend and furious charge are great examples of this as they are based on weapon damage.
Fury gen is much slower with a 2-hander than with DW/SnB, and it can take some time adjusting to the difference, I know I had a hard time my self.
In terms of numbers to shoot for, a good rule of thumb is to have 10 crit dmg for every 1 crit chance. Likewise for comparing resists to armor 10 armor for every 1 resist.
As far as paragon, I change it up and experiment alot. In general I aim for the movement speed cap though, so whatever I'm short of the cap goes into movement speed and then the rest into strength if any. Either crit strike or dmg for offensive, depending on which I need the most. Have been running with atk speed as well for boosting effectiveness of life on hit. My weakest point was all res when they introduced the new paragon system, and I feel you get a pretty good value for your points in there, however life regen is quite powerful as well. I havent needed % life, nor armor due to high ammounts of str and vit on gear. For utility it's a toss-up between life on hit, works well with DW/SnB and high atk speed, area damage if using alot of single target abilities I kinda want to try a resource cost reduction build as well at some point. Really pick your weakest point.