He is not a natural warrior, but chopping down trees in the wilderness fringes of Mount Arreat has steeled his body. He uses the tool his hands are most accustomed to, his axe, along with the physique his environment has endowed him with to thrive in this hell on earth.
A more experienced fighter might engage enemies in close combat, but the woodsman recognizes the importance of playing to his own strengths. He employs hit and run tactics, and long range assaults to accomplish the same end. He outpaces his enemies, using his superior conditioning to make them fight on terms that he dictates.
Fury
In few numbers, The Woodsman's "Tactics" skills serve only as utility; However, when found en masse, they double as a superb source of fury. Stomp, Leap, Charge, and War Cry, along with the damage he deals, give him all the Fury he could use. Combined with the high Fury-Efficiency of his Axe Throw and Whirlwind, he would be hard pressed to ever run out. However, when Fury must be conserved, The Woodsman can use Whilrwind as long as he likes without any Fury Drain.
Damage
Tactics: The Woodsman's mobility and fury generating skills are actually composing a large part of his damage. Jumping in and out of combat, and charging through large groups of enemies (every 5 seconds) will quickly add up to large amounts of delivered pain.
Whirlwind: The bread and butter for barbarians in D2, this skill serves now as a multipurpose, fury efficient move that works in almost all settings. Since it has a set cost of 16 fury, you can plan ahead for what to follow this skill up with. Note: A stomp followed by 4+ seconds of unreturned whirlwind damage is quite nice.
Throw Weapon: Acting like a physical version of "Chain Lightning" in D2 (theoretically), this skill now acts as a partial AoE damage dealing move, as well as an multi-target slow. Factoring in the low Fury cost, and the barbarian's other high mobility moves, this skill pushes The Woodsman's "unreturned damage" potential through the roof.
Survivability
Avoidance: The nature of the woodsman's strengths keeps him at a distance from mele attackers. He uses his multi-target throw to slow the enemy down, while employing Leap or his 5-second-Charge to speed himself up. When he is in close range, he ensures his opponents are stunned with Stomp.
Resistance: The harsh wilderness elements are nothing new to the woodsman. Both War Cry and his "Superstition" charm allow him to brush off elemental attacks as easily as he would a cold day of chopping wood.
Regeneration: Time is The Woodsman's friend. He forces the enemy to match his own pace by slowing or stunning them, and increasing his own mobility. All the while, his "Inspiring Presence" is regenerating his health by the second. The massive amount of unreturned damage the woodsman puts out is also transformed into life via his own "Bloodthirst".
Escape: Stomp, Charge, Leap, and and Whirlwind can all be used to allow The Woodsman to seek temporary shelter where his enemies cannot follow; The unforgiving wilderness of Mt. Arreat
Runes
1. It was very hard to decide which rune to use for Furious Charge. I was torn between two: "Furious Assault", and "Juggernaut". The life bonus of Juggernaut was very tempting, but I realized that I would only benefit from that if I used it toward the end of a confrontation. Additionally, since the Woodsman will be avoiding damage through mobility, stuns, and slows, more life might not be ideal. "Furious Assault", however, doubles the mobility, damage, and Fury Generation granted by Charge. I opted for FA.
2. The runes I was considering using for Whirlwind were "Dust Devils", "Hurricane", and "Eye of the Storm". In the end, I chose "Eye of the Storm", since it made the Fury Requirement of Whirlwind constant. If I know exactly how much fury each WW will use, then I can adapt to that and get better at when/how I use WW in conjunction with my other skills. More damage and speed are nice, but streamlining the process is better imo.
3. Leap Attack, by itself, seems week. However, it allows for just enough fury, and mobility to push this build over the top. By combining it with the "Launch" rune, you can use Leap Attack in any situation: To create or remove distance between you and the enemy. If it were possible to guarantee a 100% stun on landing, I would have opted for that rune, but patch 13 took away that option.
4. I chose "Foot of the Mountain" for Stomp because it gave me enough fury to use WW immediately after stomping. However, If you don't have any problems maintaining Fury, "Wrenching Smash" sounds absolutely amazing. Combine that with 4 seconds of WW, and it would just be absolute carnage. "Trembling Stomp" adds 210% damage to your stomp, but I'd rather have extra fury to put into throw or WW. "Deafening Crash" adds a slow after the stun, but most things stunned are going to be dead in 4 seconds, so the usefulness of that slow is questionable.
5. For War Cry, I was torn between "Impunity" (resistance) and "Invigorate" (life). The Woodsman's mobility will allow him to avoid mele damage at will. Ranged damage, such as magic, however, will be mostly unstoppable. The added resistance to the elements makes him well rounded defensively.
6. Passive Skills - "Bloodthirst" was chosen for obvious reasons. "Inspiring Presence" was chosen since, most of the time, the woodsman will be out of range of the enemy, or stunning the enemy. Having a constant health regen here is crucial. "Superstition" makes the woodsman even more impervious to elemental attacks (his one weakness).
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The Build: http://d3db.com/tool.../barbarian/5352
He is not a natural warrior, but chopping down trees in the wilderness fringes of Mount Arreat has steeled his body. He uses the tool his hands are most accustomed to, his axe, along with the physique his environment has endowed him with to thrive in this hell on earth.
A more experienced fighter might engage enemies in close combat, but the woodsman recognizes the importance of playing to his own strengths. He employs hit and run tactics, and long range assaults to accomplish the same end. He outpaces his enemies, using his superior conditioning to make them fight on terms that he dictates.
Fury
In few numbers, The Woodsman's "Tactics" skills serve only as utility; However, when found en masse, they double as a superb source of fury. Stomp, Leap, Charge, and War Cry, along with the damage he deals, give him all the Fury he could use. Combined with the high Fury-Efficiency of his Axe Throw and Whirlwind, he would be hard pressed to ever run out. However, when Fury must be conserved, The Woodsman can use Whilrwind as long as he likes without any Fury Drain.
Damage
Tactics: The Woodsman's mobility and fury generating skills are actually composing a large part of his damage. Jumping in and out of combat, and charging through large groups of enemies (every 5 seconds) will quickly add up to large amounts of delivered pain.
Whirlwind: The bread and butter for barbarians in D2, this skill serves now as a multipurpose, fury efficient move that works in almost all settings. Since it has a set cost of 16 fury, you can plan ahead for what to follow this skill up with. Note: A stomp followed by 4+ seconds of unreturned whirlwind damage is quite nice.
Throw Weapon: Acting like a physical version of "Chain Lightning" in D2 (theoretically), this skill now acts as a partial AoE damage dealing move, as well as an multi-target slow. Factoring in the low Fury cost, and the barbarian's other high mobility moves, this skill pushes The Woodsman's "unreturned damage" potential through the roof.
Survivability
Avoidance: The nature of the woodsman's strengths keeps him at a distance from mele attackers. He uses his multi-target throw to slow the enemy down, while employing Leap or his 5-second-Charge to speed himself up. When he is in close range, he ensures his opponents are stunned with Stomp.
Resistance: The harsh wilderness elements are nothing new to the woodsman. Both War Cry and his "Superstition" charm allow him to brush off elemental attacks as easily as he would a cold day of chopping wood.
Regeneration: Time is The Woodsman's friend. He forces the enemy to match his own pace by slowing or stunning them, and increasing his own mobility. All the while, his "Inspiring Presence" is regenerating his health by the second. The massive amount of unreturned damage the woodsman puts out is also transformed into life via his own "Bloodthirst".
Escape: Stomp, Charge, Leap, and and Whirlwind can all be used to allow The Woodsman to seek temporary shelter where his enemies cannot follow; The unforgiving wilderness of Mt. Arreat
Runes
1. It was very hard to decide which rune to use for Furious Charge. I was torn between two: "Furious Assault", and "Juggernaut". The life bonus of Juggernaut was very tempting, but I realized that I would only benefit from that if I used it toward the end of a confrontation. Additionally, since the Woodsman will be avoiding damage through mobility, stuns, and slows, more life might not be ideal. "Furious Assault", however, doubles the mobility, damage, and Fury Generation granted by Charge. I opted for FA.
2. The runes I was considering using for Whirlwind were "Dust Devils", "Hurricane", and "Eye of the Storm". In the end, I chose "Eye of the Storm", since it made the Fury Requirement of Whirlwind constant. If I know exactly how much fury each WW will use, then I can adapt to that and get better at when/how I use WW in conjunction with my other skills. More damage and speed are nice, but streamlining the process is better imo.
3. Leap Attack, by itself, seems week. However, it allows for just enough fury, and mobility to push this build over the top. By combining it with the "Launch" rune, you can use Leap Attack in any situation: To create or remove distance between you and the enemy. If it were possible to guarantee a 100% stun on landing, I would have opted for that rune, but patch 13 took away that option.
4. I chose "Foot of the Mountain" for Stomp because it gave me enough fury to use WW immediately after stomping. However, If you don't have any problems maintaining Fury, "Wrenching Smash" sounds absolutely amazing. Combine that with 4 seconds of WW, and it would just be absolute carnage. "Trembling Stomp" adds 210% damage to your stomp, but I'd rather have extra fury to put into throw or WW. "Deafening Crash" adds a slow after the stun, but most things stunned are going to be dead in 4 seconds, so the usefulness of that slow is questionable.
5. For War Cry, I was torn between "Impunity" (resistance) and "Invigorate" (life). The Woodsman's mobility will allow him to avoid mele damage at will. Ranged damage, such as magic, however, will be mostly unstoppable. The added resistance to the elements makes him well rounded defensively.
6. Passive Skills - "Bloodthirst" was chosen for obvious reasons. "Inspiring Presence" was chosen since, most of the time, the woodsman will be out of range of the enemy, or stunning the enemy. Having a constant health regen here is crucial. "Superstition" makes the woodsman even more impervious to elemental attacks (his one weakness).