Polearm Barbs

[netcode]

Polearm Barbs

I hear polearm barbs aren't that good... but yet the do the most damage compared to any other weapon in the game? so why am I hearing over and over again that they are so bad?

I am going to use bonehew which has a damage of 609 and max out WW and polearm mastery alongside with BO and then pop some points into increased speed/iron skin/natural resis

that should sum it up.. in THEORY shouldn't that do more damage then any other weap? but when I calculate it I am only looking at around 2k damage.. thats NOTHING.. :cheesy:

 

[OiMan21]

that should sum it up.. in THEORY shouldn't that do more damage then any other weap? but when I calculate it I am only looking at around 2k damage.. thats NOTHING.. :cheesy:

most polearm barbs are titans, which means they put all their stat points into strength for the huge damage bonuses. polearm barbs are very good for pvm, but there are better choices for pvp. goodluck

edit: also, if you are somewhat rich you might want to try using eBotD Great Poleaxe

 

[mstrnicegui]

With the minimum edmg% on bonehew and the minimum 20/20 in ww/mastery, I calc out 2.8k max. With +5 all skills and perfect edmg%, the dmg is 3.5k max. with 39x 3 max fine charms the max dmg is 4.2k.

If you get an eth version, then the max dmg of the best setup I had listed is raised to 6k dmg. Remember, things like botd have totally ruined the perspective on dmg. If you try calculating the dmg on a number of different unique weapons, you'll see the dmg on them isn't so high. Also, ww is a very low edmg% skill, so the per-hit dmg is going to be lower than conc or zerk.

 

[Deced]

I've been debating for several days whether I want to make a polearm barb or a sword barb myself.

But no matter how I crunch it, it seems outside of personal preferences in terms of looks, there is no real good reason to use polearms. Just none. Even in the cases where polearms are heavily damaging, Crushing Blow seems to make the point a fairly minor one, when compared to the huge difference in survivability that an axe or sword barb have in comparison.

It bothers me a bit that axes just reign supreme in this version. Just like how everything was obsolete to swords in 1.09 and how lances ruled the day in classic.

 

[repoarto]

Make a leaper with polearm

Polearm has longest range so use that to advantage


Leaper is or is it the "hardest" to master and use skillfully?

But anyway, i did 48 passion colossus voulge(eth) leaper and he does 1k-12k damage 13%critical/15%deadly strike hopefully give some double rolls ^^
Life about 3,2k with bo

Now i just have to practise use him ^^

-Arto-

 

[mstrnicegui]

bah, shields are totally overrated in pvm. While hal is right that survivability goes up with a shield, it is easily substituted with warcry.

 

[rikstaker]

I've been debating for several days whether I want to make a polearm barb or a sword barb myself.

But no matter how I crunch it, it seems outside of personal preferences in terms of looks, there is no real good reason to use polearms. Just none. Even in the cases where polearms are heavily damaging, Crushing Blow seems to make the point a fairly minor one, when compared to the huge difference in survivability that an axe or sword barb have in comparison.

It bothers me a bit that axes just reign supreme in this version. Just like how everything was obsolete to swords in 1.09 and how lances ruled the day in classic.

You seem to be filtering/ignoring out the good reasons to use polearms.More damage a minor point? On what grounds are you saying that? Crushing blow?-You cant kill be crushing blow alone, but you can kill by damage alone, crushing blow helps you kill faster thats it & by no means can it replace a high damage weapon.It removes a % of remaining life before the final damage is dealt & each subsequent cb triggers therefore do less & less damage.

Someone said above-range..I'll give you more reasons-profile:

1.Two unique polearms that are fully endgame capable & effective-tombreaver & bonehew,the former packing an array of ultra useful mods in resists,mf etc..*Gui missed something important in his calcs again(later on that)*
2.Highest damage,range5,highest damage to dex requirement ratio lwbp weapon:great poleaxe-the best pvm weapon in the game.
3.Giant thresher-you asked for looks-it doesnt get better than this-same range but somewhat lower damage than gpa & slightly higher dex requirement but packs looks unmatched by any except the mancatcher(but its damage is lame)

offense is the defense of pole barbs. besides If I had to make a shield barb for pvm-I'd rather make a zealot.

With the minimum edmg% on bonehew and the minimum 20/20 in ww/mastery, I calc out 2.8k max. With +5 all skills and perfect edmg%, the dmg is 3.5k max. with 39x 3 max fine charms the max dmg is 4.2k.

If you get an eth version, then the max dmg of the best setup I had listed is raised to 6k dmg. .

Here he goes again…

What about might? You account for 39 finevitas & not might for a pvm barb? Isnt that typical of pvp rather? What kind of calculations are those? WW barbs get the highest ed% from might & +5 skills is pretty low,pvm barbs attain higher than that.Factoring all that & a mere 25 max from charms the damage can hit upto 5.5 k max on a high end one non-eth one.

Your comment on shields just saved you from my wrath. :cheesy:

Rik

 

[Shanksie1337]

I have 2 WW barbs, the "standard" axe/ss and a titan polearm barb, and tbh i can't remember the last time i played with the boring axe/ss version. He just seems so boring, plain. dull and common.

Playing in a Baal run, and being asked what WW damage you do by a weapon/ss ww barb is so pleasing when you press "c" and see that thanks to nice aura's you are spinning round and dishing out almost 20k WW damage. It makes their ~7k seem kinda diddy And this is with poo charms, no 3/20/20's, infact iirc i have about +10 max in total coming from all my charms.

For PvP - i'll state here from the offset that i mean fun "unpro" pvp with m8's as opposed to public pvp or organised league/team pvp - he is sooooo much fun aswell. He 1 hit's most char's, or failing that he can 1 WW most chars.

If you wanna "play hard - go pro" and generally take pvp much more seriously than i do, then an axe/ss is the only way to go. But if you want serious buckets of fun, both pvm and pvp then make a titan polearm whirler

 

[Synkindu]

Hmmm I am currently making a polearm barb for mf purposes. I will also you this char for rushing and such maybe a small bit of dueling for fun. I have 100 base str and 100 base dex the rest was going to shove into vit. Would it be more advisable to go titan or be a mixture? When I use him for mf his gear won't give him the best of def but when i put his non-mf gear he should be pretty sturdy.

 

[Shanksie1337]

It's up to you really, but my titan is invincible with ~2.4k life after BO, and i use him to mf when i am after greys/white etc, tho he has found the odd unique/set keeper.
I also use him to clear certain places when i am doing Hell rushes, infact if i could be bothered putting an enigma on him then i am sure that the Chaos Sanctuary would be the only problem area.

 

[Deced]

rikstaker, I was speaking in the context of an overall character, who includes pvp as somewhat of a goal, if not the ultimate goal. In that regard, it seems, from what I've read on these forums, that axes are the way to go, and not polearms.

 

[snowieken]

I'm having heaps of fun playing with my concentrate Polebarb. So hey.

 

[rikstaker]

rikstaker, I was speaking in the context of an overall character, who includes pvp as somewhat of a goal, if not the ultimate goal. In that regard, it seems, from what I've read on these forums, that axes are the way to go, and not polearms.

No wonder..the easiest thing to do in these forums is follow the crowd.

Rik

 

[Live]

For some strange reason my post wasnt submitted, so I'll write it again. I have a polearm barb myself and he is also a mf barb. He uses a Tomb Reaver like you are, but you will need atleast a 2 socket one. That way you can socket a Shael for the breakpoint and a P Skull for mana leech (and thats enough mana leech) My barb is great for pits and low acts, but once you reach act 4-5 it becomes difficult. You should have a "Might" merc along with you always and get rid of the ammy and mf rings. Put on a raven frost so you dont get frozen and slowed down and Angelic Ring/Ammy, trust me, nothings worse then not being able to hit monsters especially with low mana leech. There are lots of ways you can gear yourself up, but it all depends on how you like the look of your barb. Anyways, Polearm barbs work well, just not in high places like chaos or act 5. You'll have fun with him, but honestly you'll get tired of always having to swap items and hork up monsters for items and eventually you'll get bored of him and decide to make another mf char after lvl 84-87

Ugh, nevermind, I was looking under the wrong thread. Sorry :cheesy:

 

[Ryu_Khan]

Just wanted to throw my hat into the Titan aspect - only 1.8k life here at clvl72 and having a blast. But then I just love killing things quickly instead of safely.