IK Barb - WW or concentrate?

[Doodles]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

Now that I have all the pieces, I am building up a barb for the sole purpose
of letting him wear the IK set and doing Hell Maggot Lair for my
up-and-coming characters. My question is: max WW or Concentrate? I have
toyed with WW in SP for an IK Barb, and although it's been nerfed in 1.10,
it still seems viable...it has the added advantage of allowing the barb to
whirl through groups, rather than get surrounded. But Concentrate has
bigger bonuses. Thoughts?

 

[Jason]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

doodles wrote:
> Now that I have all the pieces, I am building up a barb for the sole
purpose
> of letting him wear the IK set and doing Hell Maggot Lair for my
> up-and-coming characters. My question is: max WW or Concentrate? I
have
> toyed with WW in SP for an IK Barb, and although it's been nerfed in
1.10,
> it still seems viable...it has the added advantage of allowing the
barb to
> whirl through groups, rather than get surrounded. But Concentrate
has
> bigger bonuses. Thoughts?

Since 1.10 I see WW as more of a support skill, and less of a main
attack. Basically I put 1-5 points in WW, and let my +skills bring it
up to 5-10. That's sufficient to handle groups for the most part,
especially when combined with battle cry. My main goal is to eliminate
the negative damage modifier, and turn WW into an area-of-affect
"normal" attack. The remaining 15+ points could go into concentrate.

-Jason

 

[Jason]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

doodles wrote:
> Max BO
> 1 pt Battle Command
> 1 pt Berserk
> 1 pt. shout
> 1 pt Bash
> 1 pt Leap
> 1 pt Stun
> 1 pt. Leap Attack
> 5 pts WW
> max Concentrate
> 1 pt Iron Skin
> 4 pts natural resistance
> 10 Points Mace Mastery
> 1 pt Increased Stamina
> 1 pt Increase Speed
> 1 pt Battle Cry
>
> This is a total of 70 allocated skill points, which should be done by
the
> time I am ready for the IK set. If I up the WW to 20, keeping
everything
> else the same, it would done by level 75, so I guess I could still
max WW.

Just beware that in hell almost every pack of monsters has a mana
burner. Since 1.1 the minions can burn mana too, even if the leader is
dead. That means that you will be unable to WW through much of hell. Be
prepared to deal with that.

I made a spear barb in SP a while back. He kicked ass in NM Act 5, but
when I got to hell the mana burners killed him! 20 pts WW, all wasted!
On the other hand, I had a frenzy barb in 1.09, with 10xWW and
10xFrenzy. When 1.1 came out he breezed through hell with no problems,
AND killed DClone three times - using dual Honored PhaseBlades at that!

-Jason

 

[Jason]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

chainbreaker wrote:
> As overpowered as the 1.10 IK set is you could probably get by
without any
> points anywhere. Why not try that?

That would probably work! With +900 AR, and over 500 elemental damage,
all a barb wold need is enough str to use the items, and maybe 200
vitality..., more vit if he were to go without BO.

-Jason

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

doodles wrote:
> Now that I have all the pieces, I am building up a barb for the sole
> purpose of letting him wear the IK set and doing Hell Maggot Lair for
> my up-and-coming characters. My question is: max WW or Concentrate?
> I have toyed with WW in SP for an IK Barb, and although it's been
> nerfed in 1.10, it still seems viable...it has the added advantage of
> allowing the barb to whirl through groups, rather than get
> surrounded. But Concentrate has bigger bonuses. Thoughts?

As overpowered as the 1.10 IK set is you could probably get by without any
points anywhere. Why not try that?

--
chainbreaker

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <yqmje.1074$Qi.296@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com>,
doodles <tomfulton53nospammer@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Now that I have all the pieces, I am building up a barb for the sole purpose
>of letting him wear the IK set and doing Hell Maggot Lair for my
>up-and-coming characters. My question is: max WW or Concentrate? I have
>toyed with WW in SP for an IK Barb, and although it's been nerfed in 1.10,
>it still seems viable...it has the added advantage of allowing the barb to
>whirl through groups, rather than get surrounded. But Concentrate has
>bigger bonuses. Thoughts?

Why not Max Both?

My IK Barb has maxed BO, WW, Concentrate, and is close to maxing Mace
Mastery. Solo-ed all of Hell by himself, and no big problems with the
Maggot Lair...

Regards,

Patrick.

 

[Doodles]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"Jason" <marlaque@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1116608548.994905.77290@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

<snippers>

> Since 1.10 I see WW as more of a support skill, and less of a main
> attack. Basically I put 1-5 points in WW, and let my +skills bring it
> up to 5-10. That's sufficient to handle groups for the most part,
> especially when combined with battle cry. My main goal is to eliminate
> the negative damage modifier, and turn WW into an area-of-affect
> "normal" attack. The remaining 15+ points could go into concentrate.
>
> -Jason
>

I tend to agree. In particular, I can't see maxing WW, Concentrate and BO,
along with points in Mace Mastery. Your suggestion about getting it above 0
penalties makes sense, thanks.

 

[Doodles]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"Jason" <marlaque@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1116620259.109616.186070@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
<snip-a-rooni>
> Just beware that in hell almost every pack of monsters has a mana
> burner. Since 1.1 the minions can burn mana too, even if the leader is
> dead. That means that you will be unable to WW through much of hell. Be
> prepared to deal with that.
>
> I made a spear barb in SP a while back. He kicked ass in NM Act 5, but
> when I got to hell the mana burners killed him! 20 pts WW, all wasted!
> On the other hand, I had a frenzy barb in 1.09, with 10xWW and
> 10xFrenzy. When 1.1 came out he breezed through hell with no problems,
> AND killed DClone three times - using dual Honored PhaseBlades at that!
>
> -Jason
>

You know, I have never used Frenzy before...I'll have to try it out in SP.
I actually had a harder time with the Holy Freeze bosses than Mana Burners,
especially when they were extra fast. At least I can drink a purple pot to
get my mana back, but with Holy Freeze you have to kill the boss for relief.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <Zeqje.3278$VS6.2212@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com>,
doodles <tomfulton53nospammer@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>"Jason" <marlaque@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:1116608548.994905.77290@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
><snippers>
>
>> Since 1.10 I see WW as more of a support skill, and less of a main
>> attack. Basically I put 1-5 points in WW, and let my +skills bring it
>> up to 5-10. That's sufficient to handle groups for the most part,
>> especially when combined with battle cry. My main goal is to eliminate
>> the negative damage modifier, and turn WW into an area-of-affect
>> "normal" attack. The remaining 15+ points could go into concentrate.
>
>I tend to agree. In particular, I can't see maxing WW, Concentrate and BO,
>along with points in Mace Mastery. Your suggestion about getting it above 0
>penalties makes sense, thanks.

I'm not saying it's the only, or best, option, but it's at least a Hell
capable build. And since WW was my IK Barb's main attack, I wanted it to
do maximum (i.e. a positive damage modifier) damage, instead of 'almost as
much as a regular attack'...

So what are you going to put the points in you're not going to put in WW,
since I'm always interested in alternatives...?

Regards,

Patrick.

 

[Doodles]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"Patrick Vervoorn" <patrick.vervoorn@NOSPAM.perihelion.demon.nl> wrote in
message news:5f123$428e36c7$82a1d3bf$22610@news1.tudelft.nl...
> In article <Zeqje.3278$VS6.2212@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com>,
> doodles <tomfulton53nospammer@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >"Jason" <marlaque@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:1116608548.994905.77290@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> >
> ><snippers>
>
> I'm not saying it's the only, or best, option, but it's at least a Hell
> capable build. And since WW was my IK Barb's main attack, I wanted it to
> do maximum (i.e. a positive damage modifier) damage, instead of 'almost as
> much as a regular attack'...
>
> So what are you going to put the points in you're not going to put in WW,
> since I'm always interested in alternatives...?
>
> Regards,
>
> Patrick.

My current thinking is this (hard points shown):

Max BO
1 pt Battle Command
1 pt Berserk
1 pt. shout
1 pt Bash
1 pt Leap
1 pt Stun
1 pt. Leap Attack
5 pts WW
max Concentrate
1 pt Iron Skin
4 pts natural resistance
10 Points Mace Mastery
1 pt Increased Stamina
1 pt Increase Speed
1 pt Battle Cry

This is a total of 70 allocated skill points, which should be done by the
time I am ready for the IK set. If I up the WW to 20, keeping everything
else the same, it would done by level 75, so I guess I could still max WW.

In trying this out in SP, I liked the damage WW gave me when it was
maxed...and IIRC, it was level 30 after skillers.

Thanks for your advice, everyone.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

"doodles" <tomfulton53nospammer@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:yqmje.1074$Qi.296@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com...
> Now that I have all the pieces, I am building up a barb for the sole
purpose
> of letting him wear the IK set and doing Hell Maggot Lair for my
> up-and-coming characters. My question is: max WW or Concentrate? I have
> toyed with WW in SP for an IK Barb, and although it's been nerfed in 1.10,
> it still seems viable...it has the added advantage of allowing the barb to
> whirl through groups, rather than get surrounded. But Concentrate has
> bigger bonuses. Thoughts?
>
>
My Ik barb has Maxed whirl, Bo, Mace mastery and Shout. he solos the game
with out battering an eye lid. mana burn is a bit of a pain but the ik set
has 10 mana steal so you only need to hit them once or twice and enough mana
is back and after 1 whirl my mana ball is full
About a week ago I took down the clone with a 1 point concentrate only took
about 3 minuites and cost me 8 full rejuves. only because he did not have
his dwarf star ring or it would have been even less
All my barbs have 1 point in find piotion and every second body give a full
rejuve makes staying alive very easy

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

Jason wrote:
> chainbreaker wrote:
>> As overpowered as the 1.10 IK set is you could probably get by
>> without any points anywhere. Why not try that?
>
> That would probably work! With +900 AR, and over 500 elemental damage,
> all a barb wold need is enough str to use the items, and maybe 200
> vitality..., more vit if he were to go without BO.
>
> -Jason

Well, I was talking more about skill points, but if you were to do a
completely minimalist theme . . . It's too early in the morning for me to
think about setting the ground rules for a minimalist IK barb, but I'm sure
there are some potential ideas floating around out there.

--
chainbreaker

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.diablo2 (More info?)

In article <WMrje.1528$H24.763@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com>,
doodles <tomfulton53nospammer@hotmail.com> wrote:
>"Jason" <marlaque@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:1116620259.109616.186070@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
><snip-a-rooni>
>> Just beware that in hell almost every pack of monsters has a mana
>> burner. Since 1.1 the minions can burn mana too, even if the leader is
>> dead. That means that you will be unable to WW through much of hell. Be
>> prepared to deal with that.

I could WW through most of Hell just fine. And even if you end up in the
middle of a pack of mana burners (which you shouldn't let happen, so you
WW along the edges of packs), switch to concentrate, or lacking mana, a
regular attack, leech some mana back, and WW the Hell out of there. With
the life bonus of the full IK set, maxed BO and the maxed resists due to
the IK set and the +skills on Natural Resists, you'll be just fine.

At least, that's my impression.

[snip]

>You know, I have never used Frenzy before...I'll have to try it out in SP.
>I actually had a harder time with the Holy Freeze bosses than Mana Burners,
>especially when they were extra fast. At least I can drink a purple pot to
>get my mana back, but with Holy Freeze you have to kill the boss for relief.

I finished Hell without Cannot Be Frozen, but indeed HF is nasty. So
another mandatory item for the IK Barb is a Raven Frost.

So that leaves you, gear-wise, with 1 free ring and 1 free amulet slot.

Rather easy build due to that...

Patrick.