Poison build viable for killing bosses?

Hi guys, my question is pretty straightforwards. Can a poison build kill bosses in a decent amount of time?
Anyone managed to do that? If yes, can you please share the build with us?
I don't really think it's viable, due to bosses huge health pool and how poison works, but wanted to hear others also.

Currently playing poison throw barb - and I can say he can kill bosses faster than any character i've played - shoot snake bite, run for a few sec and win.
Takes about 20-30 sec to kill baal in hell at level 120 with optimized gear.

Hey, that sounds great! Mind sharing with us a bit more about your build? What skills do you max?

Poison throw barb is ridiculosly strong for bossing, with very, very cheap gear.

2x

Raptor

Raptor
Throwing Axes
'ZodSurLemEl'
Runeword Level: 85
(Barbarian Only)
3% Chance to cast level 60 Thunder Slam on Kill
-19% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(6 to 11) to Snake Stance (Barbarian Only)
+3 to all Attributes
5% to Vitality
Maximum Life +3%
Regenerate Mana +15%
+115 Life after each Kill

, or maybe 2x

Sterrenvogel

Sterrenvogel
Throwing Axe (4)
Required Level: 1
Required Strength: 15
Item Level: 1
Innate Lightning Damage: (13.0% of Strength)
+1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
10% Movement Speed
+100 to Attack Rating
Adds (6 to 7)-(9 to 10) Lightning Damage
-(6 to 8)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+100 Defense
Socketed (1)
Required Level: 17
Required Strength: 36
Item Level: 31
Innate Lightning Damage: (20.0% of Strength)
+1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
15% Movement Speed
+250 to Attack Rating
Adds (20 to 21)-(30 to 31) Lightning Damage
-(11 to 13)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+250 Defense
Socketed (2)
Required Level: 36
Required Strength: 81
Item Level: 51
Innate Lightning Damage: (26.0% of Strength)
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
20% Movement Speed
+500 to Attack Rating
Adds (58 to 60)-(90 to 93) Lightning Damage
-(16 to 18)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+500 Defense
Socketed (2)
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 167
Item Level: 77
Innate Lightning Damage: (33.0% of Strength)
+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
25% Movement Speed
+1000 to Attack Rating
Adds (174 to 180)-(250 to 260) Lightning Damage
-(18 to 20)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+1000 Defense
Socketed (2)

is better for bossing

Slimedrool

Slimedrool
Jawbone Cap (4)
Defense: (34 - 37) to (50 - 55)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 3
Required Strength: 25
Item Level: 1
6% Chance to cast level 12 Harvest on Melee Attack
+1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
-(4 to 5)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
+10 Life after each Kill
10% to All Vendor Prices
Socketed (1)
Defense: (157 - 170) to (200 - 215)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 20
Required Strength: 50
Item Level: 31
9% Chance to cast level 20 Harvest on Melee Attack
+1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
-(8 to 9)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Defense
+25 Life after each Kill
10% to All Vendor Prices
Socketed (2)
Defense: (411 - 439) to (503 - 537)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 175
Item Level: 51
12% Chance to cast level 28 Harvest on Melee Attack
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
-(12 to 13)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
+40 Life after each Kill
10% to All Vendor Prices
Socketed (3)
Defense: (605 - 643) to (736 - 783)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 350
Item Level: 77
15% Chance to cast level 36 Harvest on Melee Attack
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
-(14 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
+60 Life after each Kill
10% to All Vendor Prices
Socketed (4)

/

Glowskull

Glowskull
Crown (4)
Defense: (164 - 187) to (248 - 281)
Required Level: 10
Required Strength: 26 to 29
Item Level: 19
+(6 to 8)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(4 to 6)% to Poison Spell Damage
-3% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(41 to 60)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(16 to 25)%
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(11 to 20)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (561 - 620) to (785 - 868)
Required Level: 28
Required Strength: 50 to 56
Item Level: 36
+(11 to 13)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(10 to 12)% to Poison Spell Damage
-6% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(81 to 100)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(36 to 45)%
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(16 to 25)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1272 - 1392) to (1754 - 1920)
Required Level: 46
Required Strength: 165 to 186
Item Level: 67
+(16 to 18)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(16 to 18)% to Poison Spell Damage
-9% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(101 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(56 to 65)%
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(21 to 30)%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1911 - 2076) to (2614 - 2839)
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 306 to 349
Item Level: 85
+(18 to 20)% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(18 to 20)% to Poison Spell Damage
-12% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(121 to 140)% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +(66 to 75)%
(41 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -(26 to 35)%
Socketed (4)

Queen of Glass

Queen of Glass
Ancient Armor (4)
Defense: (315 - 344) to (630 - 688)
Required Level: 11
Required Strength: 33 to 34
Item Level: 29
15% Cast Speed
-(6 to 8)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
+(76 to 125) to Mana
Lightning Resist +(21 to 25)%
Cold Resist +(21 to 25)%
Requirements -(11 to 15)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (899 - 969) to (1718 - 1852)
Required Level: 30
Required Strength: 57 to 60
Item Level: 40
25% Cast Speed
-(11 to 13)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Defense
+(176 to 225) to Mana
Lightning Resist +(31 to 35)%
Cold Resist +(31 to 35)%
Requirements -(21 to 25)%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (2084 - 2224) to (3911 - 4173)
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 175 to 186
Item Level: 67
35% Cast Speed
-(16 to 18)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
+(276 to 325) to Mana
Lightning Resist +(41 to 45)%
Cold Resist +(41 to 45)%
Requirements -(31 to 35)%
Socketed (5)
Defense: (3013 - 3202) to (5650 - 6005)
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 323 to 344
Item Level: 85
40% Cast Speed
-(18 to 20)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
+(326 to 375) to Mana
Lightning Resist +(46 to 50)%
Cold Resist +(46 to 50)%
Requirements -(36 to 40)%
Socketed (6)

Featherclaw

belt and boots just random shit shimmering crafts with nice poison pierce
whatever rings and amulets you can find with skills and/or poison pierce

socket no runes everywhere for easy pierce

max snake bite, gladiators dominance, snake stance, get 1 point in mountain king, 1 point stampede, immortal, and thundergod, put the rest of the points in ancients blood fore more skill lvls in snake bite and glad dominance. Use snake stance at all times, use stampede to clear, snake bite for bosses / poison absorbs

Thank you for the build! I will give it a try.

danielcanila wrote:Thank you for the build! I will give it a try.

In case it's not obvious, also get 1 pt in Immortal (almost free 10% avoid when standing still) and Thundergod (has wdm so it carries 25% snake stance damage screen-wide).

Since one of your smaxed skills is Glad's (not that many points needed to smax it), you may be able to smax Screaming Eagle and maybe put less in Ancient blood (only allocate in groups of 4 anyway). What's not obvious from the skill description from screaming eagle is that it's a debuff to enemies and you get 25 damage per level in the skill PER ELEMENT.

So if you have even 1 fire and 1 cold in each throw along with poison, that's 75 per skill level per hit while the target is debuffed. You could get 100 if you have a source of magic damage but that's not easy to do. Now...

This is PER HIT. So if you have a fast multihitting skill it will take a target down really fast. On the way to thunder slam you get 1 point in iceburst which is perfect for this. So if you are fighting a boss that has (a) poison immunity/absorb or (b) always gets into melee range... this approach is perfect. Just 1 hit with screaming eagle then iceburst until dead (which won't be long).

There's a lot of theorycrafting numbers on this in the latter pages of aerial's TLDR 2H Barb guide (see page 107 onwards). The only reason not to do this as a whole build is the lack of sustain (elemental throwing axe base with life spark?), possibly dual wielding them, but if you're primarily ranged using snake bite and stampede this is much less of a problem.

Oh and it's probably worth getting 1 point in each stance since they all have great utility (40% move speed, regen etc).

Hope this helps. You may need to play around with the exact numbers of skill point allocation to tune the perfect build.

better 6 pts in stampede because of the cooldown?

seems to be nice, but attacking with Shift (or whatever) and left mouse button i totaly dislike ... would be a good idea to give the possibilty to put stances on the left side :/

Putting 6 points in stampede to remove cd is pointless, since its just used to apply poison.

How exactly does this build scale damage? Does -elemental resist on enemy include poison? The docs say that poison skill/spell damage doesn't apply to missile attacks but I see a lot of throwbarbs on the ladder wearing

Cathedral

. Is that a mistake?

funfrock wrote:How exactly does this build scale damage? Does -elemental resist on enemy include poison? The docs say that poison skill/spell damage doesn't apply to missile attacks but I see a lot of throwbarbs on the ladder wearing
Cathedral
. Is that a mistake?

- Elemental res includes poison. Poison spell dmg is useless for wdm skills, Cathedral is only useful for its +poison skill duration. More you get the latter the easier time you have with certain bosses as you just wear them down.