Hey there all you perplexed people trying to figure out the Barbarian. I've noticed quite a few of you having problems playing this character in Hellfire. First of all to relieve any doubts in your mind, I'm strictly a legit player who spends much of my spare time on the computer playing Hellfire, and/or multiplayer Diablo (using my Rogue Nightshade), some of you may have seen me on B.net. I have a Barbarian that is level 32 right now, and going up fast. I killed Diablo in a regular game, and skipped right to a Hell mode game, figuring I was killing things so easily at the end of my normal game that Nightmare wouldn't be tough enough. I'm looking to finish off Na-Krul this weekend playing in Hell mode, and possibly even getting to the big D himself. If you are wondering how I accomplished this I'll give you a few insights.

I basically have given up all thoughts of ever using magic, so I don't waste time or money on anything magical, except maybe scrolls of golem which came in handy in Diablo's level to kill all the advocates so I didn't have to chase them all over the place. When I first started my biggest problem was getting enough money to buy health.  After a while though the money came and he started hitting better, and the best weapon I found to use was a life stealing one. It kept me from needing to buy health all the time. After completing the Jersey's Jersey quest, and retrieving Theo for the little girl I had a very nice amulet and the Bovine Plate to use. Then my weapon of choice switched in the Cave levels to the Lord's Great sword of Bashing I found, a Unique coughed it up but I don't remember who.

The real secret to the barbarian is don't carry a shield. I know he can carry the Great Sword in one hand, as well as mauls, but resist the urge to use a shield. The added bonus to his damage kills most things in one to two swings as long as it's a good weapon, base damage wise. I killed Diablo only using about half of my belt of full health potions.

Focus all level ups to dexterity at first till that hits its max so that you can hit things immediately (keeping in mind that max dex only gives you a to hit of 81%), then focus on vitality (with one handed weapons the barbarians bonus damage is based on vitality too). Speaking of vital, a weapon with a high bonus to hit is necessary for your success. I used most of my gold to repair, buy health, and buy strength potions. The Veil of Steel was my preferred hat too. Then when I started Hell mode, a funny thing happened. When Rydall showed up in town, he wasn't wearing his armor. I thought that odd and opened inventory to find that where my Bovine Plate used to be, in his armor being worn position, I had a small health potion bottle that had gold lettering for a description. It said it was a Unique item, and would give you the pop up screen on the left describing the Unique item as the Veil of Steel with 0's for all it's attributes, even though you had the gauntlet pointing to the health potion being worn. I threw it to the ground, and it stayed a unique health potion. The witch only offered me the normal amount of gold for selling a health potion too.  Needless to say I wasn't happy.

If you are playing the Barbarian and have the Bovine Plate I would try to kill Diablo without using it and keep it in inventory only, not worn, and see if that allows you to keep it when starting the next new game. I luckily had enough gold to buy an ok suit of armor, but needed better. I found a Battle Axe of Blood which I used to save money on health potions and was lucky enough to save gold enough to buy Awesome Full Plate which gives me better AC than the Bovine did with no minus attributes attached. I used the axe to save more money and still concentrate on using my gold for strength and level ups for vitality. I then found I couldn't defeat things to easily in the Crypts in Hell mode with the axe. The monster would get the first hits in, even though the Barbarian swings an axe faster than a sword, and even the rats were killing my health ball quickly. The solution to that was in a new sword I found, a two handed Kings Sword.  With the high to hit bonus and damage bonus, the sword was doing about 141-161 damage a swing (without a shield) with a to hit of 211%, and the axe was doing only slightly better with a max damage of 172 with only a 116% to hit. But the sword allowed me to hit first and thereby clear the first level of the crypts. I still have the Caves and Hell to do once I finish the Crypts.

I've found the Crypts are causing me to level up once per level of dungeon, so I hope to be a level 36 or 37 by the time I reach the D man. That is my tale and I've found the Barbarian to be a tough character to start, but once you get the strength in the 100's and find a sword or axe with a high bonus to hit, he can be a killer of a character. And don't forget, drop the shield. Aim for hitting monsters first and killing them with a whack or two. He'll start killing 3 things at a time which helps. Oh, and for you Grizwald's Edge people, it doesn't do enough damage to be worth using. I gave up on it immediately in favor of the Lord's Sword. The knockback feature just isn't worth it to me, especially when my hit points are around 411 right now.

Good luck. Rydall

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