**Another one of those 'try out this build post'...
Like every barb out there, I played whirlwind endlessly, and tried the 2H hammer build, and been trying other builds. After playing around with aoe specs, I use this build for farming keys, MP8, and Ubers MP6 (I have only tried mp6 uber so far). The video is MP8. Ultimately I wanted to try a cleave/aoe damage spec. This seems like it's worth it. There are a couple different abilities you can use, and runes, I'll explain why I chose what I chose.
I have no idea what gear level you need for this. Keep in mind i have zero life on hit, only 2.8% life steal with 450-500 resist, but also have 3pc IK, -20% melee reduction and do mp8. High damage and crit, lots of crit is what you want.
Video (this is just an act1 key run, elites and warden. Skipped a bunch of trash.): http://youtu.be/IIZ2zTwtKTw
Spec and stats. http://us.battle.net...3/hero/13347415
In video, I was testing out SOJ & Hellfire ring . 98k unbuffed, 138k w/shout. WIth my dps rings, 112k unbuffed, 151k w/shout.
Resists 450-500~
LIfe on hit: 0
Life Steal: 2.8%
Armor: 5800~
Health: 51.7k
Crit: 55% (49% w/hellfire ring)
Crit dmg: ~400%
Atk speed: 0-6% depending on ring useage
Passives:
Ruthless
Weapon Master
No escape
Abilities + Runes
Cleave - Broad Sweep
Rend - Blood Lust
Leap - Call of Arreat
Wrath of the Berserker - Insanity --- OR -- Overpower
Battle Rage - Marauder's Rage
Ancient Spear - Harpoon
Spec Info, ability choice explanation
Cleave - Broad sweep, overall was the best. The extra flat damage felt better overall than the other runes., You don't need the extra fury, or the scattering blast, or the slow. The only one left is Rupture, which is actually very very fun on lower mp levels with mass mobs grouped up. When you slay multiple enemies at once with a cleave swing with rupture rune, everything just dies instantly from the explosions.
Rend - Blood lust for the heal, the extra dmg and extra range runes just arent worth it to lose the heal
Leap - Call of arreat to group enemies up for easier cleaving & rending. Change to iron impact for more survivability.
Wrath of the berserker - It's either the 100% damage or the thrive on chaos rune. I found the 100% damage better, as with this spec you cant burn enough rage to keep thrive on chaos going.
--OR--- Overpower - You can use overpower inplace of wrath for more consistent flat damage, as it's another AOE that you can use instantly while using other abilities, unlike revenge. Also, cleaving multiple mobs helps reset the CD faster. A few good runes, just use your favorite.
Battle Rage - Take the extra flat damage. Bloodshed was the only other decent one for this spec because of the AOE dmg from when you crit, however I found it not worth it over the extra flat damage.
Ancient Spear - Harpoon. This is a must have for this build. No other rune is worth it. You want lots of crit for this to be effective. The passive ability (no escape) allows the cooldown to reset when you crit. So if you can harpoon lots of mobs, even with a lower crit rate, good chance it'll reset the CD.
Play style
It can vary but this is basically it. Jump into mobs + rend + cleave, then pull more mobs in with harpoon, refresh rend and keep cleaving. Or you can start out with a harpoon + rend. Always, always make sure rend is ticking. It heals and does great damage especially with crits.
For elites, jump out of frozen, jailer, pools, etc, and harpoon enemies back to you. As long as you can take the hits, try to always pull more enemies into you, to rend more mobs and get more healing.
Some mobs you cannot spear them back to you, like tree's for example. You can use the spear, if it crits, as effective range damage.
Last note, if you go against a fire chain elite, or have tons of mobs on you, sometimes the game is trying to process all of those hits and your character will 'spaz' out, do the dodge animation, and you'll feel lagged. Sometimes it's hard to get a rend off, and you'll die. So every once in awhile just step back a bit and then rend.
End
Whirlwind is still better for faster farming. Hopefully some people enjoy this spec though, it's a hell of a lot of fun. It's also great for group player, especially with range classes. Just pull enemies back and tank them for your range friends.
4
Like every barb out there, I played whirlwind endlessly, and tried the 2H hammer build, and been trying other builds. After playing around with aoe specs, I use this build for farming keys, MP8, and Ubers MP6 (I have only tried mp6 uber so far). The video is MP8. Ultimately I wanted to try a cleave/aoe damage spec. This seems like it's worth it. There are a couple different abilities you can use, and runes, I'll explain why I chose what I chose.
I have no idea what gear level you need for this. Keep in mind i have zero life on hit, only 2.8% life steal with 450-500 resist, but also have 3pc IK, -20% melee reduction and do mp8. High damage and crit, lots of crit is what you want.
Video (this is just an act1 key run, elites and warden. Skipped a bunch of trash.):
http://youtu.be/IIZ2zTwtKTw
Spec and stats. http://us.battle.net...3/hero/13347415
In video, I was testing out SOJ & Hellfire ring . 98k unbuffed, 138k w/shout. WIth my dps rings, 112k unbuffed, 151k w/shout.
Resists 450-500~
LIfe on hit: 0
Life Steal: 2.8%
Armor: 5800~
Health: 51.7k
Crit: 55% (49% w/hellfire ring)
Crit dmg: ~400%
Atk speed: 0-6% depending on ring useage
Passives:
Ruthless
Weapon Master
No escape
Abilities + Runes
Cleave - Broad Sweep
Rend - Blood Lust
Leap - Call of Arreat
Wrath of the Berserker - Insanity --- OR -- Overpower
Battle Rage - Marauder's Rage
Ancient Spear - Harpoon
Spec Info, ability choice explanation
Cleave - Broad sweep, overall was the best. The extra flat damage felt better overall than the other runes., You don't need the extra fury, or the scattering blast, or the slow. The only one left is Rupture, which is actually very very fun on lower mp levels with mass mobs grouped up. When you slay multiple enemies at once with a cleave swing with rupture rune, everything just dies instantly from the explosions.
Rend - Blood lust for the heal, the extra dmg and extra range runes just arent worth it to lose the heal
Leap - Call of arreat to group enemies up for easier cleaving & rending. Change to iron impact for more survivability.
Wrath of the berserker - It's either the 100% damage or the thrive on chaos rune. I found the 100% damage better, as with this spec you cant burn enough rage to keep thrive on chaos going.
--OR--- Overpower - You can use overpower inplace of wrath for more consistent flat damage, as it's another AOE that you can use instantly while using other abilities, unlike revenge. Also, cleaving multiple mobs helps reset the CD faster. A few good runes, just use your favorite.
Battle Rage - Take the extra flat damage. Bloodshed was the only other decent one for this spec because of the AOE dmg from when you crit, however I found it not worth it over the extra flat damage.
Ancient Spear - Harpoon. This is a must have for this build. No other rune is worth it. You want lots of crit for this to be effective. The passive ability (no escape) allows the cooldown to reset when you crit. So if you can harpoon lots of mobs, even with a lower crit rate, good chance it'll reset the CD.
Play style
It can vary but this is basically it. Jump into mobs + rend + cleave, then pull more mobs in with harpoon, refresh rend and keep cleaving. Or you can start out with a harpoon + rend. Always, always make sure rend is ticking. It heals and does great damage especially with crits.
For elites, jump out of frozen, jailer, pools, etc, and harpoon enemies back to you. As long as you can take the hits, try to always pull more enemies into you, to rend more mobs and get more healing.
Some mobs you cannot spear them back to you, like tree's for example. You can use the spear, if it crits, as effective range damage.
Last note, if you go against a fire chain elite, or have tons of mobs on you, sometimes the game is trying to process all of those hits and your character will 'spaz' out, do the dodge animation, and you'll feel lagged. Sometimes it's hard to get a rend off, and you'll die. So every once in awhile just step back a bit and then rend.
End
Whirlwind is still better for faster farming. Hopefully some people enjoy this spec though, it's a hell of a lot of fun. It's also great for group player, especially with range classes. Just pull enemies back and tank them for your range friends.
1