Dimmu Borgir
Diabloii.Net Member
The "Black Dragoon" PvM Guide
So yeah, after much experimentation, I managed to create a successful Dragoon beyond the standard stuff.
DISCLAIMER: You WILL die a lot with this character. This character is not godly, and this character takes a lot of skill. You can NOT mindlessly click on mobs and watch them die. This build is for people who want something fun, and for people who want something different.
I'll just start things off with the skill allocations:
20 Leap
20 Leap Attack
20 Weapon Mastery (I chose Axe)
20 War Cry
20 Howl
Put any remaining points into one-point wonders (Iron Skin, Increased Speed, etc.) or War Cry synergies.
Now, first off you may be wondering... "Why no Battle Orders?" I've gotten lots of pissy comments from people when I tell them I don't HAVE Battle Orders to help out their health. But in order for this vuild to work successfully, you can't afford to put points into it. Other builds do just fine when focusing on Vitality, Battle Orders is just a big bonus that you don't really NEED, unless you intend to by godly, and we've already established that this build doesn't serve that purpose.
Now, to answer your other questions... Why Howl and War Cry? these are your two main crowd control skills... combined together they make this character possibly the BEST crowd-controller in the game. You're using War Cry for the stun, not for the damage.
The general idea here is, when you're in a mob, do a rapid combo of War Cry and then Howl. All your enemies will be stunned and frightened (If not all of them are the stun gives you enogh time for another Howl), and entire armies will flee from you once the stun wears off. This is the root of the name "Black Dragoon"... Black was taken from terms like "Black Magic" and "Black Metal", both of which are used to describe something that is intended to strike fear into the hearts of others. Well, seeing armies run away from a single Barbarian... I'd say that's striking fear into something.
You're going to be doing a lot of F1-F2-F3 etc. skill switching with this character. My personal style is to keep Leap on your left click, and hold down Shift when you want to use it. Leap into a mob, set your right-click to War Cry, perform War Howl (War Cry-->Howl), then switch your right click to Leap Attack and pick them off.
Equipment is up to you, you all should know by now what the good stuff is. As for weapon, though its not the best two-hander you can get, I prefer an Ethereal Beath of the Dying Glorious Axe, 'cause it just plain looks cool. Note that you WILL want to use a two-hander to maximize the damage output of Leap Attack.
Enjoy. Like I said its not a GOOD build, just an extremely FUN one... and not to mention you look completely badass when you're taking out a mob.
The only thing left I'm still sort of working on with this build is how to properly deal with bosses.
Note that you are NOT invincible while you are Leaping. Melee attacks, strangely enough, will still "hit" you. They won't judging from isuals, but the instant you land, each hit will take effect all at the same time! Quite a few times I've Leapt over a crowd and fallen flat on my face dead when I landed. So be careful.
Though if you're playing your cards right with the crowd control, this shouldn't happen.
So yeah, after much experimentation, I managed to create a successful Dragoon beyond the standard stuff.
DISCLAIMER: You WILL die a lot with this character. This character is not godly, and this character takes a lot of skill. You can NOT mindlessly click on mobs and watch them die. This build is for people who want something fun, and for people who want something different.
I'll just start things off with the skill allocations:
20 Leap
20 Leap Attack
20 Weapon Mastery (I chose Axe)
20 War Cry
20 Howl
Put any remaining points into one-point wonders (Iron Skin, Increased Speed, etc.) or War Cry synergies.
Now, first off you may be wondering... "Why no Battle Orders?" I've gotten lots of pissy comments from people when I tell them I don't HAVE Battle Orders to help out their health. But in order for this vuild to work successfully, you can't afford to put points into it. Other builds do just fine when focusing on Vitality, Battle Orders is just a big bonus that you don't really NEED, unless you intend to by godly, and we've already established that this build doesn't serve that purpose.
Now, to answer your other questions... Why Howl and War Cry? these are your two main crowd control skills... combined together they make this character possibly the BEST crowd-controller in the game. You're using War Cry for the stun, not for the damage.
The general idea here is, when you're in a mob, do a rapid combo of War Cry and then Howl. All your enemies will be stunned and frightened (If not all of them are the stun gives you enogh time for another Howl), and entire armies will flee from you once the stun wears off. This is the root of the name "Black Dragoon"... Black was taken from terms like "Black Magic" and "Black Metal", both of which are used to describe something that is intended to strike fear into the hearts of others. Well, seeing armies run away from a single Barbarian... I'd say that's striking fear into something.
You're going to be doing a lot of F1-F2-F3 etc. skill switching with this character. My personal style is to keep Leap on your left click, and hold down Shift when you want to use it. Leap into a mob, set your right-click to War Cry, perform War Howl (War Cry-->Howl), then switch your right click to Leap Attack and pick them off.
Equipment is up to you, you all should know by now what the good stuff is. As for weapon, though its not the best two-hander you can get, I prefer an Ethereal Beath of the Dying Glorious Axe, 'cause it just plain looks cool. Note that you WILL want to use a two-hander to maximize the damage output of Leap Attack.
Enjoy. Like I said its not a GOOD build, just an extremely FUN one... and not to mention you look completely badass when you're taking out a mob.
The only thing left I'm still sort of working on with this build is how to properly deal with bosses.
Note that you are NOT invincible while you are Leaping. Melee attacks, strangely enough, will still "hit" you. They won't judging from isuals, but the instant you land, each hit will take effect all at the same time! Quite a few times I've Leapt over a crowd and fallen flat on my face dead when I landed. So be careful.
Though if you're playing your cards right with the crowd control, this shouldn't happen.