Untwinked Concentrate Build for New Ladder

[vahauser]

Untwinked Concentrate Build for New Ladder

Greetings,

Since everybody is starting untwinked for the new ladder, what is good untwinked gear for a Concentrate Barb?

I haven't played a Barb before. I will be playing Hardcore, so my stats will lean towards max block (Dex) and life (Vit).

Is there any untwinked gear that is especially useful to look out for for a Hardcore Concentrate Barb?

 

[Forney]

Re: Untwinked Concentrate Build for New Ladder

Good untwinked gear would be something with life tap charges and a bunch of crushing blow. Sigons set and a decent weapon will get you farther than you think aswell (belt, boots and gloves give good bonus if you don't want the whole set). For hardcore keep block 50% or higher, doesn't have to be max block to be effective, and remember to walk if you want to block.

The only thing that will be able to kill you if you take things at a decent pace will be iron maiden, so in areas that are at high risk for IM i have Berserk on a hotkey so i don't have to sit an wait for the curse to be overwritten or disappear.

I'm sure there will be more qualified posters for gear choices and vit vs dex but those are my $0.02.

 

[Barloc]

Re: Untwinked Concentrate Build for New Ladder

I was thinking sigon or similar high-block shield, perfect diamond(s) in the shield. You'll fair even better with plain ol' multi socket helm/armour etc with various ral,ort,tal and thul runes in em to beef up your resist.

Resist, block and weapon are all you need to tank. Challenge= finding a really good weapon.

I was also thinking you need to beat Hell difficulty before you can go HC.

 

[Aldeth the Foppish Idiot]

Re: Untwinked Concentrate Build for New Ladder

This is going to be my first character on the ladder reset as well. Keep your Meteorbs, Summoners, hybridzons, and any other rush character you come up with. I'll go with Mr. Indestructible any day of the week. And with one point in find item and some echoing weapons, I'll be a decent mfer to boot.

The challenge, as Barloc rightly points out, is finding a weapon. My plan is to put one point each into sword, axe, and mace masteries early on, so I can use whatever I find, but hold off on pumping a mastery until I'm pretty far into the game. Other than the initial point spent, I'll definitely max Concentrate, Battle Orders, and Shout before I even consider pumping a mastery, so along with prerequisites, I'm probably looking at being level 60ish before I need to decide on a weapon.

 

[vahauser]

Re: Untwinked Concentrate Build for New Ladder

What are good characteristics of a weapon for this build? I'm guessing Prevent Monster Heal or Open Wounds would be good, as well as Crushing Blow. Am I on the right track?

 

[Aldeth the Foppish Idiot]

Re: Untwinked Concentrate Build for New Ladder

For the early levels, anything with decent damage will do. However, by the time you hit hell difficulty, you're really going to need at least some crushing blow on your weapon. Open Wounds and Prevent Monster Heal are not nearly as necessary, as you can mimic their effects with a few poison charms in your inventory.

I think the biggest problem you'll have is finding a weapon with decent base damage. The battle orders synergy does help, but without a decent weapon you'll really see your killing speed start to drop on hell difficulty (in normal and nightmare, any decent damage weapon will work).

 

[Noite Escura]

Re: Untwinked Concentrate Build for New Ladder

Won't you need decent speed on weapon too? Concentrate is rather slow. Slower than normal attack methinks?

 

[MYK]

Re: Untwinked Concentrate Build for New Ladder

Won't you need decent speed on weapon too? Concentrate is rather slow. Slower than normal attack methinks?

It's not terribly slow. It's normal attack speed.

Consider that a nice Frenzy goes something like 5 FPA*. So, once twice every 10 frames you're attacking. With concentrate, you'll probably top out around a 10 frame attack. The trade-off is damage/defense.

*Not totally sure on that, but it should be either 5 FPA or 5.5. No where near my speed calcs; I can't check fo sho.