Pure Damage Berserker

[Ikon The Hologram]

Pure Damage Berserker

Would a pure damage berserker be a viable build? I've gotten really bored with the cookie cutter builds as of late and havn't been playing much D2 at all...but this idea has me interested again.

By pure damage berserker I mean a barb who focuses all his gear on huge damage. I think it would be really fun and I have some stuff laying around that he could put to use. Gear setup would be something like this...

Arreats
Fortitude (something cool looking haha..)
Ebotd TM (high %)
60% Rends
Highlords
2x Ravens
Goreriders
Dungos
Torch...Anni...Bunch of Bcombs maybe

The damage with a high enough lvl berserk and this setup would be *Ridiculous*...but do you think I'll swing fast enough? Will howl+taunt be enough for crowd control or will I need warcry? If so...is lvl1 warcry effective with enough +skills?

Lemme know what you think.

 

[Spankeh]

Re: Pure Damage Berserker

Besides the TM, whats the difference between yours, and ANY other barb build, item wise....
Also, any barb that needs warcry skill is wasting time crying, and not killing...

 

[Ikon The Hologram]

Re: Pure Damage Berserker

Clearly there isnt much of a difference item wise, but the few differences could make or break the barb imo...the tmaul raises the question of whether or not I can swing fast enough...and this question raises the additional question of whether or not I can afford to use my steelrends+dungos and sacrifice the extra frame that IAS gloves+nos belt would provide me with...

I dont have a barb with enough str to test the attack speed of the tmaul+highlords, thus, the creation of this topic. With a 2 handed berserker being a fragile build as is, I beleive that the build wont be successful if I cant swing fast enough to cut through mobs without being overwhelmed...and I'll scrap the idea if the tmaul/rends combo proves to be a bad option, seeing as the entire point of this build is doing the most damage possible with a barbarian.

And as for the warcry thing...I was thinking the same thing :thumbsup:

 

[NightShade]

Re: Pure Damage Berserker

1.7 attacks per second
About 24000 damage per zerk swing before crit

If you don't know how to howl/taunt you will die, alot.


Theoretically critical crushing blows will do more initial damage depending on your target, but I know what you mean.

 

[Ax2Grind]

Re: Pure Damage Berserker

10FPA is the limit with two-handed attacks, I believe, and checking the calculators linked in the Statistics section, I see that with Breath of the Dying in a thunder maul (60%WIAS) and SLvl15 Fanaticism, you'll need 65%IAS more to reach it. This assumes an Ice Rogue with Faith would need 45% more outside of Highlord's Wrath, and that you're maxing Howl, Shout, Berserk, Mace Mastery, one into each of the tertiary masteries, leaving 23 total leftovers. You'll still need very high attack rating or Battle Cry to make the damage worth it - if you're not hitting anything, it doesn't matter how much damage you are capable of.

A pure Zerk skill set doesn't include Battle Orders, so if you're playing solo then taking the points from BCry may be necessary, but it's going to mandate Sharp/Fine charms for damage and AR. Playing with a pure Concentrate build would solve that, since a party member can provide the warcry, but you haven't gone into that detail. It could work, but he should probably carry the other pieces raising the damage, like a Heart of Wolverine charge and Pride on a nightmare Desert Warrior.

That's pure damage, and I can't think of anything else other than a combat shrine (ouch).