13 replies to this topic

[KageKaze]

I had been asked a couple times what Barbarian build I've been using as I've been putting out information on Patch 1.0.7.  I decided to share here with you fellow barbarians to see what you thought and to give some ideas for alternatives to the standard Whirlwind Tonado build.  I imagine this might not be new to many of you, but I wanted to get feedback and see what you guys thought of it.

Build:
http://us.battle.net...XSkR!XZV!ZZaZca

Gear:
http://us.battle.net...923/hero/975455

Passives:

• Berserker Rage
  This passive is the main driving force behind the high amounts of damage the the skills can produce.  Furious Charge generates fury, so as a primary attack I'm able to keep the damage high due to the natural fury generation.  This also allows Rend to do more damage and thus more healing, making this not only a DPS passive but a survival one.
  
• Ruthless
  This passive was chosen as it was the highest DPS increasing passive for my gear level.  If other passives will help you get more DPS, then you may want to choose those.
  
• Tough as Nails
  Another passive chosen due to gear.  This gives me the most armor for my gear and helps increase survivability.  If you have good defensive gear and don't feel the need to use this, feel free to replace it with another DPS passive to help with life regen and killing speed.

Skills - Runes:

• Bash - Onslaught
  This skill was chosen due to the high amounts of Fury it can generate.  It is also one of the harder hitting primary skills.  The other runes for Bash could easily replace Onslaught depending on what kind of playstyle you prefer.
  
• Rend - Blood Lust
  This skill by itself will generate a huge chunk of the damge for this build.  It's intended to hit a huge group of enemies and give you back health quickly with the use of Blood Lust.  Since Rend updates its damage as your stats change, you can put down rend and get your fury back to have the damage and healing increase.
  
• Leap - Iron Impact
  I personally like mobility.  Leap is perfect for moving around the battlefield.  If I need to get out of a tight spot or if I need to chase down a fast moving opponent, this is an excellent skill for both.  Iron Impact combined with Rend - Blood Lust means I can jump into a large group of opponents even when low on health in order to recover.  The 3 seconds of high armor will prevent most damage from comming in and the life regen of Rend will quickly fill your health bar.
  
• Furious Charge - Merciless Assault
  Again, I favor mobility.  This skill will do quite a bit of damage to larger groups of enemies. As long as you hit 4-5 enemies you should be able to spam this move very quickly.  Dashing through enemies with this skill typically makes the enemy play a brief flintching animation, keeping them in place and interrupting some skills.  It also makes sure you keep moving so the enemy has a hard time hitting you.  Combine this with the fact that Furious Charge has a few invulnerability frames, you can even use this skill defensively to avoid things such as arcane beams or frozen orbs.  Even if you only hit 3 enemies, this reduces the cooldown so much you can simply move to another possition in the 4 seconds you have to wait to do it again.  This skill provides a high amount of damage and only becomes an issue when you have a single target to worry about.
  
• Battle Rage - Marauder's Rage
  A simple and easy choice for keeping damage high.  This synergizes very well with Berserker Rage.  Since the buff now lasts for 2 minutes before it needs to be refreshed, this was a no brainer for increasing the damage of both Rend and Furious Charge
  
• War Cry - Impunity
  This skill can be replaced with whatever you want.  I kept it as a carry over to the days when it was much harder to survive as a melee character.  I find it helpful and it synergizes well with Leap - Iron Impact so I have had no desire to change it.  Hardened Wrath would provide more defense for my current gear, but I have typically played with Monks and other high resist characters in the past making this one a better choice for them.

Video of the build:

Edited by KageKaze, 21 January 2013 - 12:39 AM.

[sythan]

I`m curious why would you use any other 2h weapon over scorn. As to the build its creative I personally am not a big fan of 2h builds but the main point is you're having fun playing the game the way you like

[HolyHermit090]

Im glad to see a lot more people are experimenting with different build. Its a unique idea and I will defiantely give it a go. I have a similar idea for monks, where I use diabos to farm faster than i would with dual weilding. If you wish to look so, check out my channel on youtube, its called: Holy Hermit

Vigilance is a versatile weapon, so it can very well be used by monks as well.Heart Slaughter is another viable option along with Warmonger (well known). For monks exclusively, flying dragon is the best choice.

[KilltroX]

I use the exact same build...and I sense a bit of déjà vu...   In fact, that is where I first saw that build and then used that build till now. The only difference is that your build has the Tough as Nails passive and that other one has Weapon Master. But as you said, it depends on your gear. My gear is good enough to play without that.

This might not be the fastest playing build, but it's definitely the most fun i think!

[KageKaze]

sythan, on 20 January 2013 - 11:22 PM, said:

I`m curious why would you use any other 2h weapon over scorn. As to the build its creative I personally am not a big fan of 2h builds but the main point is you're having fun playing the game the way you like

My gear is 90% found, either by me or friends that found them while we played together.  So while I could probably find a good scorn, I kind of like the way this weapon has been working out.  Truth is I did find a scorn of my own at some point (still have it) but I believe this weapon had better damage on it.  Also, the sacntuary proc on Vigilance has saved my ass a few times so I really like having it.

HolyHermit090, on 20 January 2013 - 11:39 PM, said:

Im glad to see a lot more people are experimenting with different build. Its a unique idea and I will defiantely give it a go. I have a similar idea for monks, where I use diabos to farm faster than i would with dual weilding. If you wish to look so, check out my channel on youtube, its called: Holy Hermit

Vigilance is a versatile weapon, so it can very well be used by monks as well.Heart Slaughter is another viable option along with Warmonger (well known). For monks exclusively, flying dragon is the best choice.

Might have to take a look as I've been needing to make a Monk.  I wanted to try 2h on a Monk as well, but I just couldn't get past the super slow attack speed.  It didn't feel quite right to me.  Flying Dragon is amazing though, that double attack speed proc kicks some serious ass.

KilltroX, on 21 January 2013 - 12:05 AM, said:

I use the exact same build...and I sense a bit of déjà vu...   In fact, that is where I first saw that build and then used that build till now. The only difference is that your build has the Tough as Nails passive and that other one has Weapon Master. But as you said, it depends on your gear. My gear is good enough to play without that.

This might not be the fastest playing build, but it's definitely the most fun i think!

Ah, I seem to recall that thread.  That's why I had the sneaking suspicion that this might have been talked about before.  I changed my barbarian build so many times during his life that it's hard to keep track.  I didn't think our builds would end up being so similar, I guess that's great minds for you.  Credit where it's due, though, that's a good thread

I just remember loving Merciless Assault while leveling that it saddened me (back when the game was first released) that it just wasn't nearly as viable as all the other defensive skills you needed.  I'm so glad I can use it in a farming/offensive build now.  It's so fun to just tear through groups of enemies.

[KilltroX]

KageKaze, on 21 January 2013 - 12:39 AM, said:

KilltroX, on 21 January 2013 - 12:05 AM, said:

I use the exact same build...and I sense a bit of déjà vu...   In fact, that is where I first saw that build and then used that build till now. The only difference is that your build has the Tough as Nails passive and that other one has Weapon Master. But as you said, it depends on your gear. My gear is good enough to play without that.

This might not be the fastest playing build, but it's definitely the most fun i think!

Ah, I seem to recall that thread.  That's why I had the sneaking suspicion that this might have been talked about before.  I changed my barbarian build so many times during his life that it's hard to keep track.  I didn't think our builds would end up being so similar, I guess that's great minds for you.  Credit where it's due, though, that's a good thread

I just remember loving Merciless Assault while leveling that it saddened me (back when the game was first released) that it just wasn't nearly as viable as all the other defensive skills you needed.  I'm so glad I can use it in a farming/offensive build now.  It's so fun to just tear through groups of enemies.

Well the last post on that thread was on the 2de of November laste year and was on like the 7th or 8th page on the Barb forums, so it's been dead and forgotten by most Good minds...yes we have them

[Baracuda]

I might try this build later

[slayervedran]

KageKaze, on 20 January 2013 - 10:45 PM, said:

I had been asked a couple times what Barbarian build I've been using as I've been putting out information on Patch 1.0.7.  I decided to share here with you fellow barbarians to see what you thought and to give some ideas for alternatives to the standard Whirlwind Tonado build.  I imagine this might not be new to many of you, but I wanted to get feedback and see what you guys thought of it.

Build:
http://us.battle.net...XSkR!XZV!ZZaZca

Gear:
http://us.battle.net...923/hero/975455

Passives:

• Berserker Rage
  This passive is the main driving force behind the high amounts of damage the the skills can produce.  Furious Charge generates fury, so as a primary attack I'm able to keep the damage high due to the natural fury generation.  This also allows Rend to do more damage and thus more healing, making this not only a DPS passive but a survival one.
  
• Ruthless
  This passive was chosen as it was the highest DPS increasing passive for my gear level.  If other passives will help you get more DPS, then you may want to choose those.
  
• Tough as Nails
  Another passive chosen due to gear.  This gives me the most armor for my gear and helps increase survivability.  If you have good defensive gear and don't feel the need to use this, feel free to replace it with another DPS passive to help with life regen and killing speed.

Skills - Runes:

• Bash - Onslaught
  This skill was chosen due to the high amounts of Fury it can generate.  It is also one of the harder hitting primary skills.  The other runes for Bash could easily replace Onslaught depending on what kind of playstyle you prefer.
  
• Rend - Blood Lust
  This skill by itself will generate a huge chunk of the damge for this build.  It's intended to hit a huge group of enemies and give you back health quickly with the use of Blood Lust.  Since Rend updates its damage as your stats change, you can put down rend and get your fury back to have the damage and healing increase.
  
• Leap - Iron Impact
  I personally like mobility.  Leap is perfect for moving around the battlefield.  If I need to get out of a tight spot or if I need to chase down a fast moving opponent, this is an excellent skill for both.  Iron Impact combined with Rend - Blood Lust means I can jump into a large group of opponents even when low on health in order to recover.  The 3 seconds of high armor will prevent most damage from comming in and the life regen of Rend will quickly fill your health bar.
  
• Furious Charge - Merciless Assault
  Again, I favor mobility.  This skill will do quite a bit of damage to larger groups of enemies. As long as you hit 4-5 enemies you should be able to spam this move very quickly.  Dashing through enemies with this skill typically makes the enemy play a brief flintching animation, keeping them in place and interrupting some skills.  It also makes sure you keep moving so the enemy has a hard time hitting you.  Combine this with the fact that Furious Charge has a few invulnerability frames, you can even use this skill defensively to avoid things such as arcane beams or frozen orbs.  Even if you only hit 3 enemies, this reduces the cooldown so much you can simply move to another possition in the 4 seconds you have to wait to do it again.  This skill provides a high amount of damage and only becomes an issue when you have a single target to worry about.
  
• Battle Rage - Marauder's Rage
  A simple and easy choice for keeping damage high.  This synergizes very well with Berserker Rage.  Since the buff now lasts for 2 minutes before it needs to be refreshed, this was a no brainer for increasing the damage of both Rend and Furious Charge
  
• War Cry - Impunity
  This skill can be replaced with whatever you want.  I kept it as a carry over to the days when it was much harder to survive as a melee character.  I find it helpful and it synergizes well with Leap - Iron Impact so I have had no desire to change it.  Hardened Wrath would provide more defense for my current gear, but I have typically played with Monks and other high resist characters in the past making this one a better choice for them.

Video of the build:

dude,your gear scks ballz
2hand ...no skorn.....plllllz
this build is worthless

try again

[Pietrov]

The build you posted is fine, but it is kinda slow for farming...
So I modified it a bit.
http://us.battle.net...cURP!ZYX!bZZZYc

I have to test it though, to figure out if it is worth to keep Berserker's Rage with both Rend and Sprint, as you need to keep them both up to farm properly.

EDIT:

My modifications seem to work. It's a bit chaotic and you can run out of fury from time to time, but overall the build is quite fun to play. I think I will use it for key-runs, as it is still inefficient for Paragon farming.

In order to maximize your damage output:
(starting from 0 fury)
- Merciless Charge into a mob
- Rend + use Battle Rage
- Sprint a bit around
- Use Bash so you get the bonus damage
- If shit hits the fan pop WotB
- Repeat

The only danger when using this setup is that you will get yourself into a nasty situation after a poorly aimed Charge, so it's down on CD.

Edited by Pietrov, 21 January 2013 - 03:24 PM.

[KageKaze]

slayervedran, on 21 January 2013 - 10:05 AM, said:

dude,your gear scks ballz
2hand ...no skorn.....plllllz
this build is worthless

try again

Ladies and gentlemen, an example on how not to give criticism.  There is nothing constructive here.

I usually take comments like this and try to decypher what could possible be useful feedback, but I'm not sure I can on this one.

So, let's look at the gear.  Most of my gear is found personally.  I don't use the AH and the few pieces I've ever bought were all budget items at the time.  The gear on this character hasn't been touched in months and it's still in a transition state from my character being a Sword and Board user for a very long time.  Aside from spending a bunch of money on the AH, I have to rely on drops and since this character can comfortably farm MP5/6 I feel no need to really run out and do that.  I don't really care about farming MP10.

As for Skorn, I have one, but this weapon had better damage potential than the Skorn in my bank IIRC.  I also like this weapon for the sanctuary proc as I discussed in the video.  There's nothing wrong with that at all and is simply an alternative.

The build is far from worthlesss and is changable according to play style.  There are people who don't care for the traditional Whirlwind build and some people really like hitting hard with a large weapon.  In this regard the build is a resounding success.

Pietrov, on 21 January 2013 - 01:33 PM, said:

The build you posted is fine, but it is kinda slow for farming...
So I modified it a bit.
http://us.battle.net...cURP!ZYX!bZZZYc

I have to test it though, to figure out if it is worth to keep Berserker's Rage with both Rend and Sprint, as you need to keep them both up to farm properly.

EDIT:

My modifications seem to work. It's a bit chaotic and you can run out of fury from time to time, but overall the build is quite fun to play. I think I will use it for key-runs, as it is still inefficient for Paragon farming.

In order to maximize your damage output:
(starting from 0 fury)
- Merciless Charge into a mob
- Rend + use Battle Rage
- Sprint a bit around
- Use Bash so you get the bonus damage
- If shit hits the fan pop WotB
- Repeat

The only danger when using this setup is that you will get yourself into a nasty situation after a poorly aimed Charge, so it's down on CD.

Sounds like an interesting modification.  This build was certainly not designed for fast farming.  At least, that wasn't my intention.  It's good to see that it can be modified if efficency is what you're going for.  I think playing to your own personal playstyle is what keeps the game entertaining and being able to modify builds to do that is why I like this skill system.

Personally, I just like the feel of running around and smashing enemies.  I guess I'm trying to say that I like slaughtering things and I'm not concerned with how fast I do it.  If I was, I'd be using the whirlwind tornado build like most other players as that's been proven to be the fastest.

As a side note to that (and this is by no means directed at you, this is a generalization of the game and it's current playerbase), I guess I'm kind of sad to see the game devolve into what's the fastest way to kill and just repeat that over and over.  It's something that Blizzard tried to avoid, but I don't think they ever really could.  It's like back in D2 when boss runs were the thing.  They were so boring after awhile, I would rather run though a whole act again for the fun of it.  This is kind of why I look for different builds that are atypical much like my Sentry Build for the Demon Hunter.  I want to have fun with it.  If they ever increase the monster density in earlier acts to compare to act 3, I could totally see myself just running through the game again just to massacre hordes of undead and demons.

[Pietrov]

Honestly, I am looking for a build that offers decent farming speed and is not the double tornado build
The biggest issue with the matter you touched is that Diablo was always about progress. It just is what the game is about, because for 90% people there is no fun without progress. I hope that Blizzard will go in a direction that allows us to play the game the way we get the most fun out of it without sacrificing efficiency at the same time.

[slayervedran]

KageKaze, on 21 January 2013 - 09:08 PM, said:

slayervedran, on 21 January 2013 - 10:05 AM, said:

dude,your gear scks ballz
2hand ...no skorn.....plllllz
this build is worthless

try again

Ladies and gentlemen, an example on how not to give criticism.  There is nothing constructive here.

I usually take comments like this and try to decypher what could possible be useful feedback, but I'm not sure I can on this one.

So, let's look at the gear.  Most of my gear is found personally.  I don't use the AH and the few pieces I've ever bought were all budget items at the time.  The gear on this character hasn't been touched in months and it's still in a transition state from my character being a Sword and Board user for a very long time.  Aside from spending a bunch of money on the AH, I have to rely on drops and since this character can comfortably farm MP5/6 I feel no need to really run out and do that.  I don't really care about farming MP10.

As for Skorn, I have one, but this weapon had better damage potential than the Skorn in my bank IIRC.  I also like this weapon for the sanctuary proc as I discussed in the video.  There's nothing wrong with that at all and is simply an alternative.

The build is far from worthlesss and is changable according to play style.  There are people who don't care for the traditional Whirlwind build and some people really like hitting hard with a large weapon.  In this regard the build is a resounding success.

Pietrov, on 21 January 2013 - 01:33 PM, said:

The build you posted is fine, but it is kinda slow for farming...
So I modified it a bit.
http://us.battle.net...cURP!ZYX!bZZZYc

I have to test it though, to figure out if it is worth to keep Berserker's Rage with both Rend and Sprint, as you need to keep them both up to farm properly.

EDIT:

My modifications seem to work. It's a bit chaotic and you can run out of fury from time to time, but overall the build is quite fun to play. I think I will use it for key-runs, as it is still inefficient for Paragon farming.

In order to maximize your damage output:
(starting from 0 fury)
- Merciless Charge into a mob
- Rend + use Battle Rage
- Sprint a bit around
- Use Bash so you get the bonus damage
- If shit hits the fan pop WotB
- Repeat

The only danger when using this setup is that you will get yourself into a nasty situation after a poorly aimed Charge, so it's down on CD.

Sounds like an interesting modification.  This build was certainly not designed for fast farming.  At least, that wasn't my intention.  It's good to see that it can be modified if efficency is what you're going for.  I think playing to your own personal playstyle is what keeps the game entertaining and being able to modify builds to do that is why I like this skill system.

Personally, I just like the feel of running around and smashing enemies.  I guess I'm trying to say that I like slaughtering things and I'm not concerned with how fast I do it.  If I was, I'd be using the whirlwind tornado build like most other players as that's been proven to be the fastest.

As a side note to that (and this is by no means directed at you, this is a generalization of the game and it's current playerbase), I guess I'm kind of sad to see the game devolve into what's the fastest way to kill and just repeat that over and over.  It's something that Blizzard tried to avoid, but I don't think they ever really could.  It's like back in D2 when boss runs were the thing.  They were so boring after awhile, I would rather run though a whole act again for the fun of it.  This is kind of why I look for different builds that are atypical much like my Sentry Build for the Demon Hunter.  I want to have fun with it.  If they ever increase the monster density in earlier acts to compare to act 3, I could totally see myself just running through the game again just to massacre hordes of undead and demons.

everything u are saying is cool bro and all but u are just not efficiant with that shit....
tomorrow if some other build becomes better we will all start using it .hell i dnt have 500 years to live so when i play d3 for hour or 2 I want to maximaze my gain.efficiency

ur dps is low  for faceroling elites ( they take most of ur time anyway ) and ur build is slower then ww build .so all in all it is bad.
I used to 2hand rend and hota and jump and shit ...but at the end of the day it just aint worth it

[Spnez]

slayervedran, on 22 January 2013 - 08:49 AM, said:

everything u are saying is cool bro and all but u are just not efficiant with that shit....
tomorrow if some other build becomes better we will all start using it .hell i dnt have 500 years to live so when i play d3 for hour or 2 I want to maximaze my gain.efficiency

ur dps is low  for faceroling elites ( they take most of ur time anyway ) and ur build is slower then ww build .so all in all it is bad.
I used to 2hand rend and hota and jump and shit ...but at the end of the day it just aint worth it

Some of us do it for the fun and not "efficiency".
Also, he could be doing it on MP 3-4 and going really faster if that's what he wants.

@ OP

Nice build, will try when i can.
I'm a huge Sword & Board and 2H lover.

[KageKaze]

slayervedran, on 22 January 2013 - 08:49 AM, said:

everything u are saying is cool bro and all but u are just not efficiant with that shit....
tomorrow if some other build becomes better we will all start using it .hell i dnt have 500 years to live so when i play d3 for hour or 2 I want to maximaze my gain.efficiency

ur dps is low  for faceroling elites ( they take most of ur time anyway ) and ur build is slower then ww build .so all in all it is bad.
I used to 2hand rend and hota and jump and shit ...but at the end of the day it just aint worth it

I believe I understand where you're comming from, however I think you're missing my point.  There isn't really a way to be faster than WW, because the spec is by far too good.  I'd not want to see it nerfed because it's an intersting spec and I don't think you could nerf it without it becoming far too difficult to use.

Some of us, however, aren't as concerned with killing as fast as possible and want to have fun with how we kill.  Typically when I make a build I go with a theme and try to find a way to make it viable.  In this way those who want to change up how they kill to bring back enjoyment to their farming can do so.  Certainly it's not as fast as a whirlwind, but it can kill monsters and stay alive with minimal issues.

Spnez, on 22 January 2013 - 01:10 PM, said:

Some of us do it for the fun and not "efficiency".
Also, he could be doing it on MP 3-4 and going really faster if that's what he wants.

@ OP

Nice build, will try when i can.
I'm a huge Sword & Board and 2H lover.

Indeed, I could have brought down the MP to make things faster, but I like my MP somewhere in the middle where the mobs are still a challenge but I don't die a lot   Efficiency be damned.

If you try the build I hope you enjoy it.  I find there's something facinating about being able to just run through enemeis repeatedly.