Iron Spiral Barbarian Guide (Skill plan & Gearing section updated)

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Tkorpi
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Gekko64 wrote:I see you're suggesting doom + ttad amulet for midgame, that's a bad choice because doom without hard points adds very little damage and it overrides hunter's mark from wolf companion anyway, also ttad only applies to direct melee hits which makes it pretty much useless. Lightning arena oskill otherwise is quite useful for crowd control

You are doing direct melee hits to the target you are hitting. Also red enemies that are marked with doom dies almost instantly so i dont think that damage output is so bad after all. but this is just my opinion :) probably TTAD is something you could give up and get lightning arena instead.

you should definitely put 1pt into spirit walk so that other players and your merc can benefit from your stance, unless you play with bear stance on realm then you can skip the spirit tree and save 5 pts

this is actually true since you want your A3 merc have shittons of defense when you are using Bear stance. will be adding this to guide.

if you go for bear there's no need to max it, 1pt gives 26% dr and each additional hard point only adds pitiful 1%dr so you can put some points if you have leftovers but just enough to get to 50% dr cap considering gear

1 point is enough for bear stance. i use maxed wolf stance since crushing blow with this build is insane and it also helps you to cap FHR breakpoint.

I tested bear but in the end decided to ditch it and just go for wolf stance, this way I can use fortress without switching and buff merc + other players. some life leech and/or laek and some dr% from gear provides enough survivability anyway. I'm using yaerius' simulacrum set ancient armor atm and I think it's gonna be hard to beat, very nice item 8-)

okay holy f****n s***t that armor is neat.
Yaerius' Simulacrum
Yaerius' Simulacrum
Breast Plate (Sacred)

Defense: (7484 - 8204) to (8504 - 9329)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 1
20% Cast Speed
+30% Damage to Vessel of Justice
+30% Damage to Vessel of Retribution
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+500 Defense
Physical Resist (5 to 10)%
+(50 to 100) Life after each Kill
(51 to 75)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (6)

Yaerius' Grey Omen
(Paladin Neutral Set)
will be adding this to guide also. very good option if you dont have LAEK source from elsewhere. thanks for pointing that out :)

imo smax wolf companion works very well with iron spiral mechanics, red enemies die instantly but physical immunes are a problem, especially because I decided to skip daedalus since it only applies to the barb and I prefer to buff the whole party if possible. for farming TA tho this build is insanely fast :shock:


Max wolfs vs Deadalus. i rly have to say that i disagree with this one. deadalus gives you AR so much that you dont need ignore target defense to your gear neccesarely. it also adds max life and gives lightning damage. wolfs just gives you extra dmg but i havent tested maxed wolfs yet. i could be wrong.

Up Thank you for comments
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Gekko64
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doom proc overrides hunter's mark from wolf companion, making it kinda useless if you only have a few points invested and actually harmful if you maxed WC. if you only have a few points in WC banish is definitely the superior choice as it helps in dealing with phys immunes.

ttad does add a bit of damage by doubling doom for your direct melee hit, but that's ultimately neglibile compared to how much you multihit with iron spiral, especially if you don't have maxed WC. the things you're looking for in a rare amulet for this build are the usual +skills, lightning arena and lightning pierce, especially if you max daedalus.

imo a3 merc is not an ideal choice for this build because he already has huge innate TCD and does not benefit from cb+ewd+ias from wolf stance/spirit guide and cant proc hunter's mark either. my pick is the shapeshifter who benefits hugely from those skills, especially ias since he can only get it from your stance or his weapon. a3 merc can be helpful to deal with phys immunes, but you can get the same effect with a properly geared a5 merc instead ( zod rw in barb helm + mal belt + TU scale mail makes him very helpful vs necrobots etc. )


daedalus AR is pitiful ( if you go for max block you already have enough AR anyway ) the selling point of the skill is huge flat life and light dmg. it's a good skill, but the flat life can be gotten from jewels and some vita after you hit max block and the light dmg can be gotten from stormblast when needed. it won't make a huge difference anyway because the thing that really hurts vs phys immunes is their immunity to cb that makes them insanely tanky compared to anything else. even with kraken stance and 2 maxed stances for synergy necrobots are still a roadbump for wdm characters :(

it's also worth noting that if you're going to smax daedalus, you should really try to get a lot of lightning pierce otherwise you lose efficiency
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Tkorpi wrote:
Gekko64 wrote:you should definitely put 1pt into spirit walk so that other players and your merc can benefit from your stance, unless you play with bear stance on realm then you can skip the spirit tree and save 5 pts

this is actually true since you want your A3 merc have shittons of defense when you are using Bear stance. will be adding this to guide.


Bear stance will also prevent an a3 merc from using any spells. You should either use a melee merc, not use bear stance, or not put a point in spirit walk.
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Gekko64
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bear stance does not prevent mercs from using ranged skills, but it can definitely be annoying if you're playing on realm with other people
caincake
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Really? I just assumed it does since it prevents guardian spirits from throwing axes and all that. My bad :/
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Gekko64
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I'm pretty sure I've seen mahitovec use guardian spirits and bear stance without issues
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Tkorpi
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good points gekko thank you!
Bear stance works just fine on A3 mercs. have to test other mercs aswell. im only using A3 merc cause it gets high defense witouth bear stance and can survive easily on fauzt even if im not using bear stance. only thing i rly want from him is kill physical immunes and proc headbanger thunderslams :P

I still speak towards maxing deadalus tho. Maybe just my opinion but it works and i have no regrets to advice other people to do so also :)
Edited by Tkorpi 6 years.
Jaxon
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i can confirm, that bearstance does not affect mercs or summones. they will get the buff but can still cast spells, use range attacks, etc.

used to have an a1 merc when playing through hc with my summoner barb and i have tested the a3 mercs. all the way with bear stance
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I see, thanks for clarifying. I may have jumped the gun without proper testing there...
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databer
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Good work Tkorpi!