viable barb?

[Rygor]

viable barb?

Is there any barb that can actually play through HC and MF and kill things quickly? I remember back in the day when the WW barb could tear through crowds because mana leech and life leech still did the dirty work to the full extent in nm and hell .. but now x.x

Barbarians have always been my favorite characters, and I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions on a build that could survive and thrive in HC.

 

[The Cow King]

Sure there are, they are just very expensive.

Don't expect a barb that can kill fast and MF at the same time as a first build though. That wont happen.

 

[Master Zap]

all the barbs builds are viable, all you need to beat this game is skill and patience. That being said, I'd give 2 thumbs up for either a frenzy barb or a Bezerker. these at least provide a little variety on the realms, WW barbs are so over done IMO its not funny. whirl-n-hurl , nty

try the sticky's they are a great place to start found in the barb forum thread (at the top)

 

[SonOfRah]

It mostly comes down to your weapon. Rest of the gear isn't as important as the weapon.

My favorite has been the conc/zerker. It can survive anything that they game can throw at it, and still kills reasonably well in a solo hell game. More players mostly means you need a better weapon to kill quickly.

 

[Rygor]

What kind of mods should I be looking for on a weapon? leech and crushing blow or something? I've been wanting to make a frenzy barb forever .. I don't really mind if he has not too good equipment but i'd at least like to survive and maybe eventually run some bosses with him.

 

[oOmpie]

CB is mostly found elsewhere as far as I know. Can't think of too many affordable high-end weapons that have CB, but I'm not such a seasoned player, so who knows...

CB is very important though.

On a weapon I'd want IAS, Extra dmg, leech and perhaps poison or open wounds to prevent healing I guess. Not sure Open Wounds actually does that, tbh...

 

[MoUsE_WiZ]

The best MF spot for a barb is Nihlathak if you can gear for it. I did it with an SS+gbane, but gerkes+shaft is a cheap alternative that's pretty solid too. From there you NEED a pile of PDR, I forget the number but it's 40-50ish iirc, and then just standard barb gear. After the bane or gerkes you'll probably be looking at an amulet of life everlasting and maybe a couple sol runes. A dwarfstar helps with the CE damage, but isn't necessary.

I did it with conc with 1 pt in zerk because if you don't kill anything there are less CEs, so you just kind of leap into the crowd and start swinging.

The reason I did it with conc rather than zerk is that you're in the middle of a large crowd of monsters... 0 armour = lots of stunning... 289357 armour = little stunning = faster kill. The single point was mostly for when he was stone skin, make generous use of howl in those cases.

However the viability of MFing Nihl is dependant on the value of Dkeys. Right now I don't think there's much of a market for them, as I think anyone who can kill ubers can do their own running, but I could be wrong. Not to say you can't do Nihl runs for items in general... I got griffin/ss/tomb reaver/gul last season and I didn't do THAT many runs, but the keys are what makes it steady income like meph rather than bursty like pindle.

Or, of course, you can make keys valuable by doing the ubers yourself, but that requires more than just your baba ^^

 

[Rygor]

thanks guys, i appreciate the tips. ive been reading into a frenzy barb guide from v1.10 that claims you can take the baba through hell so it's given me some hope and a little bit more motivation. the items for him wont be easy to come by - but ill manage somehow!

 

[Master Zap]

when nithlik running , a barbs best friend is howl , leap and warcry..
CE doesnt work if you leap ontop of nithlik, howl the pack off you or warcry to stun them. Then you can focus on nithlik . That's how I do it on my zerker anyhow

 

[STINGER]

Keep in mind on a Barb that Weapon Mastery is just gravy......you dont need it at all early so if you dont already have exactly the gear you want to can easily start making any barb early and just not invest in mastery until you have your final weapons.

Frenzy Zerk FTW!!!

BTW, you get +3 in style if you go Scourges!!!

 

[MrKaxe]

BTW, you get +3 in style if you go Scourges!!!

Not only do they look cool but they are fast...only problem is the minimum damage...still...it's well worth it...

 

[Lord Penguin]

Barb in HC is one one the best chars to do if you dont have a second key(or arent into boing yourself with a char thats not meant to be able to do that). I havent played a barb in years and i have one now... i feel invincible in hell compared to the other stuff i was playing(and my pally was damn tanky). Just build it properly.. try not to spend any extra points in str and keep the dex at a bare minimum to what youre trying to acheive(ar, max block or 50% block).. dump everything else in life. You wont be dissapointed. Get at least 5 in natural resist too. Will make space for other kinds of gears.

 

[Rygor]

Hmm .. the only "dilema" im facing right now is what weapon to use for frenzy. Swords have high str & dex .. which means less life. maces and axes barely have any dex requirment (maces having the least) .. I'm leaning towards axes

 

[SneakAttack]

Is there any barb that can actually play through HC and MF and kill things quickly? I remember back in the day when the WW barb could tear through crowds because mana leech and life leech still did the dirty work to the full extent in nm and hell .. but now x.x

Barbarians have always been my favorite characters, and I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions on a build that could survive and thrive in HC.

Rygor... You don't happen to play world of warcraft on the US dragonmaw realm do you?