Re: Best barb for HC?
Heya's
I've read a few of the guides, but can't seem to make up my mind on a build, they seemed to be geared towards max damage when perhaps in HC I should go with some extra form of defense. Is there any builds that use shields? Or is a frenzy barb the way to go?
I'd say the most pure defensive build there is, is a singer. It's the only real mass crowd controlling build out there, but it is quite expensive to make it worth your while, especially if you are going to solo things. For group PvM, he is a great supporter; crowd controlling, weaking monster defensve & damage and somewhat of a damager (for the real damage you'd need some tight gear). Not recommended for soloing HC bosses if your gear isn't great.
Barbarians are handicapped in a sense, as many other direct physical damagers like zeal paladin; they're not able to take big crowds down really fast like, say a blizzard sorc can. Now, I'm speaking really low budget or only using items you find yourself. This applies to bosses as well, mainly because you need high crushing blow to take down bosses fast. A smiter with last wish, exile & dracul and various crushing blow items will kill the bosses really fast with crushing blow while not losing damage because of the high chance to cast and keep a Life Tap curse up. Also, without very high AR you will not hit too much.
Perhaps, if you want to be normal combat barbarian, you could make the classic BvB build, with weapon, shield (maxblock) and heavy armor. As you might know, this build wants high defense and high ar. In pvp this build is also focusing on open wounds, but this isn't really the PvM'ers forte. Don't expect to see yourself as the top damager once you reach hell. You will be a supportive player with BO/shout/battle command no matter what build you choose to play.
Also, 1 thing I don't understand is many of the guides is they suggest having the minimum required str/dex for whatever items you use, does that mean the reliance for dmg and attack rating is purely on items and masteries? Is that enough?
1% STR for a barbarians generally means 1% enhanced damage. 1 dex means AR and higher chance to block. So why isn't this recommended to max out? Mainly because, even with high defense, damage reduce & AR, if you don't have high vita, you will die. In PvP, life must be high. In hardcore, life is vital (wow a pun -.-) as well.
If you choose to use a defensive shield such as Stormshield, get enough dex to get max block. However, if you will only use items you find, you'll probably need to get some hell of a lot of dex to max block out with the shields you can expect to find.
If you get your hands on an offensive shield, say a Phoenix Monarch (runeword with above 250% enhanced damage) then you'll, once again, need to much dex for max block to make it worth your while. Any barbarian can excel in both pvp and pvm with strength and dex just enough for your gear, mainly because items can have modifiers which makes that 1% ED from 1 STR to seem unnecessary.
All in all, be defensive if you choose to play HC as barbarian in a PVM team. Be supportive, and be cautious. Natural resist, shout, BO, leap and so on, are there for a reason. Despite we are the largest characters, we are not the strongest in PVM.
Ps. Use only berserk or do nothing at all (except war cries) in Chaos Sanctuary.
