Currently using a 647 1H and it has served me well, but now I need an upgrade to facilitate progression in Act 2. I don't have the necessary time to heavily invest in proper gold farming, and my auctions rarely sell despite being blatantly underpriced. I've wrangled up 1.3M so far, averaging about 180-200K per day.
Anyhow, I'd like to make the jump to an 800+ weapon. I'm specifically targeting crit dmg, LoH and STR in my AH searches, but best dps I can come away with (US AH) is 760 or so. I've got the patience to round out an even 2M, but even that isn't enough to afford most of the 800+ weaps I've seen with those affixes.
Just wondering if I should bite the bullet and settle for sub-800 and accept that what I'm looking for is beyond my means, or if you guys who know the AH better than I can attest that I just haven't searched diligently enough and that an 800+ 1H with those affixes commonly appear for 2M or less.
Alright well, last night I switched to the build I mentioned in my previous post above, and holy crap it made a much bigger difference than I was expecting. Small increase to dps and large increase to survivability. Picking up war cry and nerves of steel has put me up to just under 9k armor now, and all resists are just above 300 with arcane and physical being 370-ish. With WotB up I just face tanked every champ mob I came across. I thought I would really miss Battle Rage, but no not really, I was still doing more dps (thanks, ruthless!) even without it.
I'm kicking myself for not swapping out EQ in favor of WotB earlier. When I pop that at full fury I'm hitting 45k dps and just destroying act 1 champ mobs. Didn't try act 2 yet because it was basically just a test run last night and I didn't have much time to play, but I tore through act 1 inferno as if it were act 1 hell. In fact the only time I died at all was once when I got wall-trapped inside arcane + plague pool. All this without changing my gear at all. I feel pretty confident I can get through act 2, assuming perhaps one or two gear upgrades along the way (mainly for some additional AR, my armor, hp and dps seem fine).
To be fair, I likely would suffer the gear check in act 2 if I was trying to progress, but the truth is I just haven't bothered because I've taken a couple characters through that act and know that my barb needs some better gear/stats. So its not like I'm flinging myself against a brick wall and languishing over it, I'm just patiently farming act 1 knowing full well act 2 would probably be a problem.
My build was always intended from the beginning to be an offensive build that manages to survive somehow, rather than a tanky build that can occasionally kill things. I played a tank in WoW, been there done that, I want firepower, which is mostly why I've eschewed War Cry to this point.
EQ has certainly been helpful, its hard not to notice 2000% dmg ticking away, but not so much so that I wouldn't consider dropping it. It has its limitations too, such as teleporting mobs or mobs that naturally want to flee.
After all the valuable feedback in this thread so far, I'm now aiming to give this build a try tonight:
Dropped bloodthirst and inspiring presence in favor of nerves of steel and ruthless. Also traded EQ for WotB and dropped BR in favor of war cry. Couple dps tradeoffs (gain with WotB and ruthless, lose with WC) but overall should be a noticeable difference in survivability.
I am indeed using 1H+shield setup. My dps is about 13k unbuffed, just under 20k with BR up and full fury. Got roughly 180 all resist but have a couple (physical, arcane) near 300. 54% reduction from armor (can't recall the actual rating value). Don't remember specifics on much of my gear but I do know my weapon is 670-ish axe.
I say my gear isn't so great because I've never bought a single piece of gear for my barb. My main toon is a wizard and all my funds have gone to upgrading him, so the barb basically gets the hand-me-downs I've found along the way. This will likely be changing though, as I'm finding myself enjoying the barb much more than my wizard.
I know some folks swear by leap, and I agree it is really useful, but between that and FC I've just enjoyed so much more utility with FC. Not to take anything away from leap, it has certain advantages too, but I personally find them to be on roughly equal ground, making it a personal preference thing and FC gets my preference.
You guys were quick to agree I need war cry: impunity in my build, which is fine, now just need to decide what to drop in favor of it. I could drop EQ/WotB, but I would certainly miss having a powerful offensive cooldown for burning elites. Hmmmm.
And just FYI, with my current setup I'm really not having much trouble in terms of dying or outlasting mobs or whatnot. I've lvled 3 toons into inferno now and the barb is so far the easiest/most powerful of the bunch on an Act 1 inferno difficulty scale. I skipped many more elite packs on my wizard and WD than I am with my barb. For what its worth.
Currently using bloodthirst in my build, but I'm doubting it's value now compared to some other passives. Just wondering if it is generally considered a viable option beyond inferno act 1.
Also using inspiring presence as well, because having to refresh battle rage every 30 seconds makes me want to stab baby elephants. But I suppose I'd be willing to put elephants on the endangered species list in favor of something like ruthless or weapon mastery.
Speaking of ruthless, I hear its a phenomenal passive. But if I don't go full throttle investing in crit, is it still worth it? I currently only have one piece of crit gear (3.5% chance on amulet) and wonder if, at least for now, bypassing ruthless in favor of something else might make more sense.
Lastly, WotB vs Earthquake. Right now furious charge is my only aoe, so earthquake is an attractive option. I also like the fact I can put it down against frozen/knockback/nightmarish mobs and its dmg continues ticking while I'm unable to fight, not to mention it can be used to good effect in single target encounters as well. On the other hand WotB is a wicked single target increase and also synergizes well with revenge and furious charge.
Anyhow, I'm farming act 1 (have only just begun act 2, but gear is still a little too low to expect much progress). Here's my current build:
I'm up to about 200k in repair bills at this point. Not all in one sitting, but rather over the course of the past three days trying to get through that %*U(#)@ spider cavern to get zk's blood. At one point I died so many times that my rez timer said "Just go to bed, tomorrow is another day".
Same thing every time - fast champ packs and nowhere to run. Its beyond unfair that champ spiders get to keep their natural fast affix. Whatever, I'm just venting. I haven't had nearly this amount of trouble in any other area of the game so far. Even the sewers earlier in Act 2 weren't this bad, and there was even LESS room to kite there. Its the damn fast affix, I stand no chance against it in close quarters. So I quit and remake the game, hoping to roll different attribs on the champ packs, and finally get one that doesn't have fast only to realize the mobs have natural fast affix anyhow.
Last night I finally managed to just flee to the opposite side of the map and park the champs there so that I could hopefully skip the whole place by running to the end without fighting anything. I reached Caverns of the Betrayer Level 2, and suddenly my morale improved. Then I zoned in, and the very first pull was jailer/vortex/molten/arcane and I had absolutely nowhere to run. I tried to skip those too and run past, which just lead me to drag those champ mobs into a room containing another pack of champs, and there was no way I was ever getting past all that.
My build is fairly standard and I'm not woefully undergeared for this. I just don't have enough room to operate in that damn cave, and all the fast affixes and natural fast champs have made my repair bills skyrocket. Whatever. You may now proceed with the inevitable chest-pounding alpha-male "You just suck, I didn't have any problems at all" replies.
Please. Cause I could use some assistance, given how many times I died on that last night.
My stats are average. WD isn't my primary toon, my wizard is, and all my gold has gone to funding wizard upgrades. Thus, my WD gear isn't the best. He's at 28k hp, 9800 dps (~13k with soul harvest, but that's not really relevant for the rakanoth fight), 1.9k armor.
Here's the build I've been trying. Unsuccessfully.
It drops your HP? Even better, but this is from a Force Armor perspective. Then again, if you can survive in Act 2 without force armor, by all means, stay away from it. Once its on your action bar, it seems to be rooted there forever Still, I tried running act 2 with 50k hp, and I kept dying. Then I changed my gear to have only 25k hp, and used force armor, and I survived a lot more than I used to.
Of course, it all really depends on your build. You should post it. I am obviously biased towards my own build Oh, as for credentials, I am "halfway" through Act 4 inferno - killed Azmodan, Whatshisface and Rakanoth yesterday.
Most of it is fairly common, though I think I may be part of a dwindling population who still use electrocute in inferno. I do so because it's instant cast, fast spam and can hit from clear across the screen, and along with prodigy its an effective AP generator. Frost nova is also one I don't see in many builds, but every time I've gotten rid of it I wished I still had it. Its been used to good effect as a boss/elite ability interruptor, and it saves my butt vs melee jailers. But of all the skills in my build I would consider changing, this would probably top the list.
I would go for option 2. Quite clearly. The damage you see on your character sheet has crit calculated in it, so if you are still going up by 2,1k damage, then that is after the crit you lose. Losing 60 int means you lose 6 resist to all, but the damage that you lose with your int has already been factored in thec hanges you see.
So really, your question is:
Option 1: +800 hp, +500 DPS, -6 resist and -health globe heals
Option 2: +530 hp, +2100 DPS, -5 resist all and health globe heals
Your HP is more than enough at the moment. Heck, you could probably drop it down further, to give Force Armor a run for its money
Thank you for the input. Just to clarify, the 2nd option DROPS my hp by 830, not increase. Also, I currently do not use Force Armor in my build. Does this information affect your recommendation, or does it remain the same regardless?
My current stats are 38k HP and 21k dps. Act 2 inferno.
Right now I'm using a source offhand that gives, in addition to bonus damage, 100+ INT, +crit dmg, +3400 health globe.
I've recently found two blue source offhands that seem like upgrades. This is where I could use some advice. I apologize, I'm not at home right now so I don't have the exact stats. However, I do remember the relevant differences.
OPTION 1 - equipping this one would boost hp by 800 and dps by 500. I would lose ~60 INT as well as the crit dmg and health globe heals.
OPTION 2 - equipping this one would drop my hp by 830 but boost my dps by 2100. I would also lose ~50 INT as well as the crit dmg and health globe heals.
Or, obviously, just keep the one I'm using and sell one or both of these.
What would you do?
EDIT:
Sorry, had to adjust the hp drop of option 2, it was more significant than what I originally thought.
Also, since spirit walk is about as mandatory as it gets, its helpful to remember that you can use it to run through enemies. If you've kited to the end of a narrow corridor, pop SW when the enemies catch up and run right through them and start kiting in the opposite direction. Then use your other snares such as grasp and zombie wall to hold them off long enough for the SW cooldown to reset. Repeat.
Ummmm... am I missing something? Doesn't swapping gear void your nephalem stacks? That's been my understanding, at least.
Nope, only swapping skills does.
While this needs fixing, voiding NV on gear swap would be a crappy way to do it, then you can't even upgrade your items with a new drop without effectively leaving the game.
All the wasted years! Where has my life gone?!?!
Seriously though, thanks for clearing that up for me. Wish I'd have known this all along.
As a side note, if this really does need fixing, then why not just remove one neph stack per item swapped? Discourages all-out wardrobe swapping but doesn't harshly punish for finding an upgrade along the way.
I can solo Ponyland easily, atm sitting at 86.5k dps, 93.5 dps with Scoundrel hysteria(50%uptime I have 33% critchance), 121 after 5 soulharvest stacks, and the only thing I change from that build is using Soul Harvest instead of Zombie Bears.
Just curious, but if thats the case then why keep vision quest? Seems to me if you don't have zombie bears chewing up your mana supply then you could swap VQ for something like spiritual attunement or jungle fortitude.
The three easiest ways to substantially increase your dps:
1. Weapon. Pay attention to the dmg listed on the weapon. Having +INT on it is nice as well, but focus more on the actual dmg. This is your most important piece of gear, so don't skimp on this. Shell out the big bucks on the AH for a good one.
2. Magic Weapon with Force Weapon rune. Takes a skill slot, but gives a substantial increase do your dmg.
3. Glass cannon. I personally don't run with this, but if you're willing to sacrifice survivability, you'll notice a hefty dmg increase.
Beyond those three things, its all about stacking INT and VIT, and in some cases attack speed.
What you need to know about attack speed is that it does increase your dmg indirectly. Hydras will shoot faster and disintegrate will tick faster, for example. However, it can also be a bad thing because it can rapidly deplete your AP (such as with disintegrate). Spammable spells and damage-over-time spells benefit the most from attack speed. Hydra, ray of frost, disintegrate, blizzard, and all of your signature spells are good examples. Harder hiting, AP-expensive spells such as arcane orb and meteor are much less ideal for attack speed.
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Anyhow, I'd like to make the jump to an 800+ weapon. I'm specifically targeting crit dmg, LoH and STR in my AH searches, but best dps I can come away with (US AH) is 760 or so. I've got the patience to round out an even 2M, but even that isn't enough to afford most of the 800+ weaps I've seen with those affixes.
Just wondering if I should bite the bullet and settle for sub-800 and accept that what I'm looking for is beyond my means, or if you guys who know the AH better than I can attest that I just haven't searched diligently enough and that an 800+ 1H with those affixes commonly appear for 2M or less.
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I'm kicking myself for not swapping out EQ in favor of WotB earlier. When I pop that at full fury I'm hitting 45k dps and just destroying act 1 champ mobs. Didn't try act 2 yet because it was basically just a test run last night and I didn't have much time to play, but I tore through act 1 inferno as if it were act 1 hell. In fact the only time I died at all was once when I got wall-trapped inside arcane + plague pool. All this without changing my gear at all. I feel pretty confident I can get through act 2, assuming perhaps one or two gear upgrades along the way (mainly for some additional AR, my armor, hp and dps seem fine).
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My build was always intended from the beginning to be an offensive build that manages to survive somehow, rather than a tanky build that can occasionally kill things. I played a tank in WoW, been there done that, I want firepower, which is mostly why I've eschewed War Cry to this point.
EQ has certainly been helpful, its hard not to notice 2000% dmg ticking away, but not so much so that I wouldn't consider dropping it. It has its limitations too, such as teleporting mobs or mobs that naturally want to flee.
After all the valuable feedback in this thread so far, I'm now aiming to give this build a try tonight:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WSRVkP!bcZ!cZbccZ
Dropped bloodthirst and inspiring presence in favor of nerves of steel and ruthless. Also traded EQ for WotB and dropped BR in favor of war cry. Couple dps tradeoffs (gain with WotB and ruthless, lose with WC) but overall should be a noticeable difference in survivability.
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I say my gear isn't so great because I've never bought a single piece of gear for my barb. My main toon is a wizard and all my funds have gone to upgrading him, so the barb basically gets the hand-me-downs I've found along the way. This will likely be changing though, as I'm finding myself enjoying the barb much more than my wizard.
I know some folks swear by leap, and I agree it is really useful, but between that and FC I've just enjoyed so much more utility with FC. Not to take anything away from leap, it has certain advantages too, but I personally find them to be on roughly equal ground, making it a personal preference thing and FC gets my preference.
You guys were quick to agree I need war cry: impunity in my build, which is fine, now just need to decide what to drop in favor of it. I could drop EQ/WotB, but I would certainly miss having a powerful offensive cooldown for burning elites. Hmmmm.
And just FYI, with my current setup I'm really not having much trouble in terms of dying or outlasting mobs or whatnot. I've lvled 3 toons into inferno now and the barb is so far the easiest/most powerful of the bunch on an Act 1 inferno difficulty scale. I skipped many more elite packs on my wizard and WD than I am with my barb. For what its worth.
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Also using inspiring presence as well, because having to refresh battle rage every 30 seconds makes me want to stab baby elephants. But I suppose I'd be willing to put elephants on the endangered species list in favor of something like ruthless or weapon mastery.
Speaking of ruthless, I hear its a phenomenal passive. But if I don't go full throttle investing in crit, is it still worth it? I currently only have one piece of crit gear (3.5% chance on amulet) and wonder if, at least for now, bypassing ruthless in favor of something else might make more sense.
Lastly, WotB vs Earthquake. Right now furious charge is my only aoe, so earthquake is an attractive option. I also like the fact I can put it down against frozen/knockback/nightmarish mobs and its dmg continues ticking while I'm unable to fight, not to mention it can be used to good effect in single target encounters as well. On the other hand WotB is a wicked single target increase and also synergizes well with revenge and furious charge.
Anyhow, I'm farming act 1 (have only just begun act 2, but gear is still a little too low to expect much progress). Here's my current build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WSRViT!dcX!cZbcab
And here is the one I'm considering switching to:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WSRViP!bcY!cZbcaZ
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Same thing every time - fast champ packs and nowhere to run. Its beyond unfair that champ spiders get to keep their natural fast affix. Whatever, I'm just venting. I haven't had nearly this amount of trouble in any other area of the game so far. Even the sewers earlier in Act 2 weren't this bad, and there was even LESS room to kite there. Its the damn fast affix, I stand no chance against it in close quarters. So I quit and remake the game, hoping to roll different attribs on the champ packs, and finally get one that doesn't have fast only to realize the mobs have natural fast affix anyhow.
Last night I finally managed to just flee to the opposite side of the map and park the champs there so that I could hopefully skip the whole place by running to the end without fighting anything. I reached Caverns of the Betrayer Level 2, and suddenly my morale improved. Then I zoned in, and the very first pull was jailer/vortex/molten/arcane and I had absolutely nowhere to run. I tried to skip those too and run past, which just lead me to drag those champ mobs into a room containing another pack of champs, and there was no way I was ever getting past all that.
My build is fairly standard and I'm not woefully undergeared for this. I just don't have enough room to operate in that damn cave, and all the fast affixes and natural fast champs have made my repair bills skyrocket. Whatever. You may now proceed with the inevitable chest-pounding alpha-male "You just suck, I didn't have any problems at all" replies.
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My stats are average. WD isn't my primary toon, my wizard is, and all my gold has gone to funding wizard upgrades. Thus, my WD gear isn't the best. He's at 28k hp, 9800 dps (~13k with soul harvest, but that's not really relevant for the rakanoth fight), 1.9k armor.
Here's the build I've been trying. Unsuccessfully.
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/witch-doctor#aeUdZP!bVW!aacZab
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http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/wizard#UcYRXS!cXU!aaZbaZ
Most of it is fairly common, though I think I may be part of a dwindling population who still use electrocute in inferno. I do so because it's instant cast, fast spam and can hit from clear across the screen, and along with prodigy its an effective AP generator. Frost nova is also one I don't see in many builds, but every time I've gotten rid of it I wished I still had it. Its been used to good effect as a boss/elite ability interruptor, and it saves my butt vs melee jailers. But of all the skills in my build I would consider changing, this would probably top the list.
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Right now I'm using a source offhand that gives, in addition to bonus damage, 100+ INT, +crit dmg, +3400 health globe.
I've recently found two blue source offhands that seem like upgrades. This is where I could use some advice. I apologize, I'm not at home right now so I don't have the exact stats. However, I do remember the relevant differences.
OPTION 1 - equipping this one would boost hp by 800 and dps by 500. I would lose ~60 INT as well as the crit dmg and health globe heals.
OPTION 2 - equipping this one would drop my hp by 830 but boost my dps by 2100. I would also lose ~50 INT as well as the crit dmg and health globe heals.
Or, obviously, just keep the one I'm using and sell one or both of these.
What would you do?
EDIT:
Sorry, had to adjust the hp drop of option 2, it was more significant than what I originally thought.
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Seriously though, thanks for clearing that up for me. Wish I'd have known this all along.
As a side note, if this really does need fixing, then why not just remove one neph stack per item swapped? Discourages all-out wardrobe swapping but doesn't harshly punish for finding an upgrade along the way.
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0
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1. Weapon. Pay attention to the dmg listed on the weapon. Having +INT on it is nice as well, but focus more on the actual dmg. This is your most important piece of gear, so don't skimp on this. Shell out the big bucks on the AH for a good one.
2. Magic Weapon with Force Weapon rune. Takes a skill slot, but gives a substantial increase do your dmg.
3. Glass cannon. I personally don't run with this, but if you're willing to sacrifice survivability, you'll notice a hefty dmg increase.
Beyond those three things, its all about stacking INT and VIT, and in some cases attack speed.
What you need to know about attack speed is that it does increase your dmg indirectly. Hydras will shoot faster and disintegrate will tick faster, for example. However, it can also be a bad thing because it can rapidly deplete your AP (such as with disintegrate). Spammable spells and damage-over-time spells benefit the most from attack speed. Hydra, ray of frost, disintegrate, blizzard, and all of your signature spells are good examples. Harder hiting, AP-expensive spells such as arcane orb and meteor are much less ideal for attack speed.