The TLDR 2H Barb

Few reasons. Daedalus is increasing returns so you wanna max it, no middle grounds here. There would be merit for going 1pt whirlwind so you can beat certain ubers easier (ureh/vizjun), but there is no need, ureh is much better to walk around after rework. This way you save few points.
Trading daedalus for ancient blood results in same or even more life.
Wolf companion is another increasing returns formula skill, so higher the base level = better, more bonus each level. So you want it supermaxed, and those extra max levels you get from AB are extra valuable. At same time it already was range synergy to fortress, so we already were almost half way there. Having 15 points into wolves is useless for damage they gonna add very little.

They are great synergy for build that doesnt have sick gear, that added damage is quite significant. You wouldn't pick them if you went lion stance smax, or neph spirit, but for bear, they really add a lot. They add same damage to every deathgaze axe, to every fortress arrow, amount of hits really adds up.
This version of barb deals significantly more damage than old because of it. You could kill boss like hell baal in 15min with this, while old would take well over 30, big difference.

Ah damn, that makes a whole lot of sense. Thanks for clarifying that, mate! Especially the part about increasing returns. Gonna supermax that skill asap!

aerial - consistent as ever after all these years thanks!

I'm using the TU Labrys for now, and fortress is doing such a negligible damage even with 20 points at places like dcows. Is it because I'm undergeared or am I missing something with how it works?

Ironpool wrote:I'm using the TU Labrys for now, and fortress is doing such a negligible damage even with 20 points at places like dcows. Is it because I'm undergeared or am I missing something with how it works?

No, it is quite bad in high density areas. It is mostly to be used vs bosses that you can't melee and to add dps vs single target. If you spread arrows vs too many enemies it isn't very good. Better against smaller packs.
You gonna like it in duncraig, for example finishing off balls, if there will be 3 stacks of it in small room.

Another noobish question. In your screen showing skill allocations numbers showed are hard points spend on a skill, right? ;_;

you must mouse over the skill to see how many hard points is there, it shows you current hard points/maximum possible hard points. Without mouse overing the skill you see total skill level with soft points (+skills from gear).

Exactly what I thought. Thanks buddy.

Hey Aerial,

Thank you for answering my questions earlier. I am really enjoying this build and have been sort of flying through, but I have been dying A LOT. For example, I died about 3 times to hell andarial (and couldn't even kill hell Smith without getting demolished by his amp).

I'm lvl 102, 6700 life, 57k def, and all res max (48% phys). I have TU4 on everything except for the wep and armor since str req. I'm not sure what else to do, or if it's normal to die so much to bosses in hell? I've only ever been to nm act 2 before this in this mod.

Thanks!

your defense is way too low, runemaster + bear stance + runes
good base chest piece with defense, you should have way more defense