PoleBarb has to be one of the most difficult to get done safely. They can come out like gangbusters and devistate and then all the sudden you look at the requs of poles and sao OH MY (thoughts are different).
Nercos
Trappers
Druids or most designs
Pallys
Barbs
Javas
Sorcs
All of these can go a long way on nothing but what you find. The deal is eventually you must get some things for some of them to go further.
I always look at my first guy on a new relm, or ladder start like recently in this fashion. I want to OWN NM!!! Hell is Hell, I can get there later but for now I will OWN NM and find what I need to finish Hell from NM. So this means smoe things are basically impossible to have, but at the same time a hughe % of the items this game has falls in NM.
I usually suggest ppl to make a NM Meph runner and build like there is no Hell. Get your rez for NM and load up MF and life stuff and go find things. If you want to get thru Hell so you can get to a higher lvl like 85 for more stats then by all means go for it, find a party and go. Use every resource you have to make sure you get your resists in Hell even if taht means taking a 3-4 socket armor and slapping runes in it for resists, or Gems for stats, mana, life.
There is no prize for style when Baal Dies or the Ancients go down in Hell. There is only one prize and it is you living thru it!
Now if you lost a lvl 49 Barb, it sounds like "without knowing" you may of ran off to NM with less than solid resists?!?!?! Or possibly pumped up some strenght or Dex for some better weapon and went with rather low life and instead of playing conservative you leed the chargs liek most barbs like to do.
Once again, there is no prize for leading the pack and trying to be the King of Killing, there is only one prize which is living thru it. Now this doesnt mean leech like the King of Leeches either, it means do what you can and succeed.
If you like barbs, then go for a Barb but this time look at a sshield. This isnt for block it is solely for resists. The resists to get you thru NM, become higher lvl like 70+ and OWN NM baring those darn FE or MultiEnchants which can kill at any time.
It is very possible to build a Barb with NO MASTERY and do very well in Norm and NM. Mastery only adds a small critical strike, small ARe and in the end it is actually a small ED bonus. This will allow you tow switch weapon classes on demand......oh cool I got this 2 socket sword lets make Steel Runeword and kick butt....OH MY Rakescar Fell cool, toss steel on ground and go AXE......BTW, Rakescar if you find a high ED one is a very good item to upgrade to exceptional, Sol, Ral, PEmerald can you say hello NM Countess give me a SOL....not a difficult thing to get. Other items that can make a STRONG NM character are Steel Driver!! Very low req, up graded can be 300+ Damage with the same runes, and only needs 15 IAS Jewel to hit max speed WW. Rixots Keen.....oh you laugh at me now!!! 100 ED Deadly Strike or Crushing I forget, can you say a Bloodletter wiihtout leech and +skills? Hey we allknow a Bloodleter isnt bad when you are broke!
People trade stuff for PGEMs all the time, items in this catagorey that are good to look for are Buthers Pupil, Headstriker, Hwains Justice (Ya its a pole but masteryless who cares change later). Hsarus set pcs, sigs, many other things along wiht some really good things also, so save those gems.
Charms......dont throw away charms, mule them. Ya those lvl 9 charms are worthless to a lvl 70 but if ya croak isnt it nice to have a bunch of charms to help ya? Besides if you watch the trade forum you will find some of those charms you might normally throw away are actually very tradeable!
Crafting, gambling.......do you ahve to wait till 65+? Hell no! Do you ahve to use Exceptional items to craft? No! Can you get excellent items at lvl 30 gambling and crafting? Well Hell yes you can! Triple resist boots can go a LOOONG way with a character. So pick up all those runes and jewels, pick up armors and wands and sell them and sock up the gold and GAMBLE!!!
There are a ton of ways to succeed at this game and the one that never makes you a success is begging! Another things that doesnt help is being concerned about DAMAGE, be concerned about living first and jsut swing more!
Use your brain, any character can succeed, just most need to be with a party for good success! Resists and Life are KING! GL and have fun!
