BOTD + Medusa's gaze

[Athanaric]

BOTD + Medusa's gaze

I'm thinking of making a barb, as I have not made one since I dont even know when, I need a bit of help.

I noticed Medusa's gaze has a chance to cast lower resist, and that combined with the poison nova of BOTD seems like a good combo. Although I dont know if its a sin to be a sword/shield barb, or if this strat is any effective whatsoever.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Master Zap]

Re: BOTD + Medusa's gaze

lets see , level 20 poison nova = 427-468 (447 avg) poison damage over 2 seconds. level 7 lower = -51% enemy res. This should put your effective poison damage at about 675 avg poison damage over 2 seconds. If you were to pair this up with trang gloves 25% poison skill boost you'd be doing about 843 avg poison damage.

Could this work? Sure. It's not a powerhouse, but hitting with botd regardless of the poison is going hurt. The str on the shield is a major turnoff for me. The Slow is another nice boost offered. with a arachnid mesh belt you'd get a total of 30% slow which is very noticable.

IMO I think a synergised Botd using necro without Medusa's and a point in lower res can make better use of the ctc if your shooting to build around this. Another fun necro project that I've personaly made is syngerised bone spirit from the Oath runeword. This ends up being pretty powerful

good luck, the off builds are often the most fun even if they dont "GFG" every pvp and pvm situation.


ps , if you could manage it , and want to go all out for the barb's poison nova

use arreat's faceted with poison facet
trag gloves and Bramble armor.
use 1-2 deathweb's on switch and flash this after a nova.
make sure you dont have a source of venom like found on grief or treachory
stack some high damage poison charms.

 

[Athanaric]

Re: BOTD + Medusa's gaze

Yeah I'd much rather an off build that might not be a powerhouse but can kill somewhat. I might go with the trang/bramble.

You say youre turned off by the str of medusas. Like I said I havent made a barb in a while, is it better to pump vit over str?

Also whats the best way to avoid IM? Although the lvl44 nova I would cast when I die might be worth it XD

 

[TheReadMenace]

Re: BOTD + Medusa's gaze

It's usually smarter to get just enough strength to use your equipment. You might kill *slightly* faster with pumped up str, but you'll survive muuuch better with pumped vit. Add that to the Barbarian's best skill, BO, and you'll never be afraid again.

And the best way to not die from IM? Recognize the areas where you can be cursed with it and be wary. :grin: