I have to say... Barbarian life leech seems a little out of control. Of course no one knows exactly how all of it will work, but it seems like they have so many leech abilities compared to other classes. Also, I think it's pretty obvious that the Barbarian is the favored class of Blizzard and the one that the most work has been put into.
I mean you look at a build like this based around thorns and life regen. (You could sub out Inspiring Presence for Nerves of Steel perhaps, but I wouldn't).
+30% base DR (Melee Bonus)
+50% armor
+50% armor
+50% thorns damage
+10% max life
+2% max life/sec regen
+890 life/sec regen
-25% enemy damage
3% all damage as life
[Revenge]- 5% max life per target hit
[Rend]- 6% rend damage as life
[Furious Charge]- 6% max life per target hit
[Frenzy]- 12% max life/6sec when killed by Frenzy
The only thing I can think of is that the crowd control abilties that other classes have will make up for this disparity... which I could see because this particular Barbarian build has no CC at all. We'll find out how balanced it all is.
Also, remember that the developers are testing the game in Inferno mode as well. I assume so, because they can't nerf skills just according to the beta. I believe the Barbarian has a lot of thron and life steals because unlike the Monk who can heal them self, the Barbarian have to relie on other method to keep himself alive.
The barb has huge armor bonus because he needs it. He has not an ton of ranged abilities, summons and traps. they were messing around barbarian survivability for quite an while and i think it's fixed after the 30% raw bonus.
I have to say... Barbarian life leech seems a little out of control. Of course no one knows exactly how all of it will work, but it seems like they have so many leech abilities compared to other classes. Also, I think it's pretty obvious that the Barbarian is the favored class of Blizzard and the one that the most work has been put into.
I mean you look at a build like this based around thorns and life regen. (You could sub out Inspiring Presence for Nerves of Steel perhaps, but I wouldn't).
+30% base DR (Melee Bonus)
+50% armor
+50% armor
+50% thorns damage
+10% max life
+2% max life/sec regen
+890 life/sec regen
-25% enemy damage
3% all damage as life
[Revenge]- 5% max life per target hit
[Rend]- 6% rend damage as life
[Furious Charge]- 6% max life per target hit
[Frenzy]- 12% max life/6sec when killed by Frenzy
The only thing I can think of is that the crowd control abilties that other classes have will make up for this disparity... which I could see because this particular Barbarian build has no CC at all. We'll find out how balanced it all is.
Remember revenge and furious charge have been buffed to 6 or 8 % I believe, so its even better. I think with the barn we wont need traditional "life steal", but we can just use revenge and furious charge to return HUGE amounts of HP. e.g. one furious charge that hits 5-6 mobs will return approx 50% of your max hp.
Yeah, you can see that a lot of barbarian life regen works off max life too while other classes it's % of damage.
In fact... it might be necessary to separate the life regen builds depending on what stats you get. Because if you focus on increasing your HP your damage will suffer and vice versa.
Thorns might be more appropriate for having a huge life pool, while stacking damage with life leech skills + passives would be the more traditional way to regen life.
Yeah, you can see that a lot of barbarian life regen works off max life too while other classes it's % of damage.
In fact... it might be necessary to separate the life regen builds depending on what stats you get. Because if you focus on increasing your HP your damage will suffer and vice versa.
I dont think getting decently high HP means your dmg has to suffer. I will be trying to max my HP whilst also getting good dmg. The way I see it I will be going for armor that has +life on it over +armor (if there is a choice between those 2 stats) because I will be using iron impact, war cry and the armor passive. When it comes to items for damage like weapons I will always be going for the highest weapon dmg with +dmg stats.
I think lifesteal will be even more important than D2 since we can't chug potions anymore. I love the barb... I really hope he's viable in Inferno. With all the talk about how hard inferno is, I'm a bit worried for the melee classes. Hopefully, the DR and lifesteal will be enough to keep them alive though
You never know, builds like this that don't add anything to group play or without any situational skills (only ground stomp) may not be as good as they look. Maybe up until Nightmare.
You never know, builds like this that don't add anything to group play or without any situational skills (only ground stomp) may not be as good as they look. Maybe up until Nightmare.
Capable of close quarter crowd control, while range players nuke em.
Self healing, plus health drops from enemies, you're basically a self healing tank.
I don't know. Lifesteal never struck me as that strong of a perk to be honest.
Given the choice I would go for more armor, health and magic resist instead of stealing back life. The reason being that Life Steal only works when you are dealing damage. And there are certainly situations in which you cannot deal damage for some time. Anyone who played WW Barb in D2 knows that if you miss your Leech or you get crowd controlled you are basically dead.
I also feel that with Health Globes, Lifesteal is even less of a necessity.
If Inferno doesn't require you to go for a Lifesteal build, I would always choose more utility over Lifesteal. And if Inferno requires you to take a build which invests heavily in Lifesteal, something is wrong with Barbarian's design.
Personally, I'd rather increase my dodge chance, as that's 100% damage reduction. You take zero damage.
With that being said, the Monk will be a stark competitor in PvM + PvP.
Keep in mind that Witch Doctors and Monks have a LOT of self-healing abilities (mostly Rune effects), while Wizards and Demon Hunters have craploads of slows and stuns so that they don't have to get hit in the first place.
If you try to make the d3 beta "difficult" by playing entire games naked, you'll find that Potions and Health Orbs become awfully scarce, awfully fast. Once we get to harder difficulty levels, self-heals will be extremely valuable for all classes.
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I say that because of their sturdiness wearing heavy armor, their maneuverability, their upfront burst, and their life-steal.
I certainly see the Barbarian as being one of the most likely candidates for nerfs upon the release of the game..
Do you agree? Or do you feel there are more likely classes to be in the front of the line for Blizzard spankings?
I mean you look at a build like this based around thorns and life regen. (You could sub out Inspiring Presence for Nerves of Steel perhaps, but I wouldn't).
http://us.battle.net...YSch!cdV!acYbZc
+30% base DR (Melee Bonus)
+50% armor
+50% armor
+50% thorns damage
+10% max life
+2% max life/sec regen
+890 life/sec regen
-25% enemy damage
3% all damage as life
[Revenge]- 5% max life per target hit
[Rend]- 6% rend damage as life
[Furious Charge]- 6% max life per target hit
[Frenzy]- 12% max life/6sec when killed by Frenzy
The only thing I can think of is that the crowd control abilties that other classes have will make up for this disparity... which I could see because this particular Barbarian build has no CC at all. We'll find out how balanced it all is.
Remember revenge and furious charge have been buffed to 6 or 8 % I believe, so its even better. I think with the barn we wont need traditional "life steal", but we can just use revenge and furious charge to return HUGE amounts of HP. e.g. one furious charge that hits 5-6 mobs will return approx 50% of your max hp.
In fact... it might be necessary to separate the life regen builds depending on what stats you get. Because if you focus on increasing your HP your damage will suffer and vice versa.
Thorns might be more appropriate for having a huge life pool, while stacking damage with life leech skills + passives would be the more traditional way to regen life.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WRYUSh!bcV!acYcbc
This is more of a thorns build. You can stack thorns + vitality with less damage gear. Might be terrible vs single targets though lol
I dont think getting decently high HP means your dmg has to suffer. I will be trying to max my HP whilst also getting good dmg. The way I see it I will be going for armor that has +life on it over +armor (if there is a choice between those 2 stats) because I will be using iron impact, war cry and the armor passive. When it comes to items for damage like weapons I will always be going for the highest weapon dmg with +dmg stats.
Capable of close quarter crowd control, while range players nuke em.
Self healing, plus health drops from enemies, you're basically a self healing tank.
But like your said, you never know.
Given the choice I would go for more armor, health and magic resist instead of stealing back life. The reason being that Life Steal only works when you are dealing damage. And there are certainly situations in which you cannot deal damage for some time. Anyone who played WW Barb in D2 knows that if you miss your Leech or you get crowd controlled you are basically dead.
I also feel that with Health Globes, Lifesteal is even less of a necessity.
If Inferno doesn't require you to go for a Lifesteal build, I would always choose more utility over Lifesteal. And if Inferno requires you to take a build which invests heavily in Lifesteal, something is wrong with Barbarian's design.
With that being said, the Monk will be a stark competitor in PvM + PvP.
If you try to make the d3 beta "difficult" by playing entire games naked, you'll find that Potions and Health Orbs become awfully scarce, awfully fast. Once we get to harder difficulty levels, self-heals will be extremely valuable for all classes.