The TLDR 2H Barb

aerial wrote:Looking at patch notes, finally a lot of changes for earthshaker tree:

► Show Spoiler
Earthquake: weapon damage is now 80%/200%, up from 70%/140%
Shower of Rocks:
Rewrote the entire skill mechanics from the ground up
Will no longer do extra 20 hits per cast that don't carry any weapon damage modifiers (WPD bonus%, deadly strike etc.)
Visuals no longer exist on the server, improving performance
Reduced delay between rocks by 25%, as a result damage per attack has increased by 29%
Fixed tooltip error regarding physical resist reduction (claimed: 5%, actual: 10%)
Tectonics: has received a major overhaul
Removed scaling chance to proc Shower of Rocks
Shower of Rocks proc is now always 100%, with a reduced duration, as long as you have enough Power
Power is gained based on your total Strength and Weapon Physical Damage bonuses
When maxed, grants 1 power per 100 Strength and 1 power per 10% Weapon Physical Damage bonuses
If you have less than 60 power then the skill has no effect
With 60 power: trigger a Shower of Rocks with 12% of the original duration on every Earthquake
With 140 power: trigger a Shower of Rocks with 25% of the original duration on every Earthquake
Tectonics procs will now spawn in front of your character instead of on top of them for better coverage
Fixed a bug where sometimes the skill would do no damage or have no visuals
Aftermath:
Now requires Heart of Stone
Tooltip now shows magic damage gained
Heart of Stone: Crushing Blow doubled, Attack Rating increased by 50%

As far as Earthquake goes, significant buff, not sure if it needed it, it will be absolute steamroll for leveling with 200% aftershocks being spammed, from level 2. Heart of stone. AR bonus will be noticeable, crushing blow was high enough, shouldn't feel much different.
Main thing is SOR changes, and it is difficult to tell how it will perform without trying. From description it seems like it was adding lot of extra hits that were unaffected by damage modifiers, so removal of that, is compensated by reduced delay. Does this change makes it stronger or weaker in the end, hard to tell.
As for tectonics, instead of getting inconsistent proc chance, we get consistent procs (always), but weaker (short duration sor), but also scalable by strength and ewd, kind of double dip synergy, as these stats both add damage and with tectonics will also increase duration of procs. There is also new mechanic, that causes it to spawn on top of target, not our character, which could be fairly significant, depending how sor procs centered on barb were really hurting the dps, and "real life" dps where mobs are moving around.

Overall this looks fairly interesting, and should be stronger than before, also stronger in QOL sense, as procs will be more consistent, so aside from raw numerical power, build should feel better to play.

I ran this couple of patches ago with 1h, as 1h+shield was buffed some time ago to be 6fpa, and this helped to proc tectonics. Now with tectonics being 100% chance, there is no downside of using it with slower 2h axe. However problem still remains, shields are good, tons of defense, useful stats, there is
Gharaniq

Gharaniq
Barbarian Swords, Barbarian One-Handed Axes
Except Barbarian Two-Ha
'JahSilElq'
Runeword Level: 100
+(3 to 4) to Barbarian Skill Levels
Adds 5-10 Damage
Adds 120-115 Damage
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
Weapon Physical Damage +(60 to 80)%
+(81 to 100) to Strength
+(225 to 250) to Dexterity
5% Chance to Avoid Damage
really cheap high runeword, makes it difficult to compete for 2-handers.
I'd still do conquest helm + immortal combo to run over 50% avoid while standing still.
Angelic items could change things, depending how realistic it is to get good one, high new affix rolls, could be competitive to runewords.

Guide still good to follow then? Or are there some changes in skill point distribution, etc now?

Should be similar, you want max tectonic, so maybe less in mountain king, as you run out of points.
Also note, you get this passive @ 110, but you won't have enough power right away to proc sor, needs at least 60 for that. So it really starts coming online around level 115 with more strength from gear, and more points into the passive.
SOR does work with leech, but you are leeching primarily with earthquake those 200% wdm novas leech super hard.

aerial wrote:Should be similar, you want max tectonic, so maybe less in mountain king, as you run out of points.
Also note, you get this passive @ 110, but you won't have enough power right away to proc sor, needs at least 60 for that. So it really starts coming online around level 115 with more strength from gear, and more points into the passive.
SOR does work with leech, but you are leeching primarily with earthquake those 200% wdm novas leech super hard.

I'll tip you 25 TG to just go through and update the guide to 2.9 :eyes:. Should mostly be the same content just some extra notes.

hitting the 140 power breakpoint with a 2hander is even tougher. I think using invictus and a 1 hander whether its

Gharaniq

Gharaniq
Barbarian Swords, Barbarian One-Handed Axes
Except Barbarian Two-Ha
'JahSilElq'
Runeword Level: 100
+(3 to 4) to Barbarian Skill Levels
Adds 5-10 Damage
Adds 120-115 Damage
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
Weapon Physical Damage +(60 to 80)%
+(81 to 100) to Strength
+(225 to 250) to Dexterity
5% Chance to Avoid Damage

or an angelic sword will be much better than any crafted 2h, maybe it's better than

Gotterdammerung

Gotterdammerung
Great Axe (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: 496 to 673
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 5400
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Mega Impact
Thunderfury
Area Effect Attack
50% Attack Speed
Adds 250-400 Damage
+200% Enhanced Damage
Requirements +800%
Ragh nar Rook
Socketed (6)

too. Other gearing is pretty similar.

Yes, 2h seems to be difficult to justify.
From what I can see, 3 piece tundra set isn't half bad, axe has 100-150 flat, set bonus 125min, helm +25. Then for chest+belt use wolf druid set, another big strength bonus, very cheap and solid combo.

Compared to last version, builds definitely doing more single target, those sor procs are significant. Still annoing vs teleporting/kiting enemies, but thats to be expected.

As for angelics, getting 2h sword with that +200 min damage and enhanced damage% hybrid roll, and then crafting more min damage on, it, as min damage will be worth twice as much as max damage, because it increases both if min>max.
edit: nvm, that min damage roll is same affix group, so you need to go for +300 max damage suffix instead. Still a 400-500 damage as 1h, on weapon alone, pretty solid.

aerial wrote:Yes, 2h seems to be difficult to justify.
From what I can see, 3 piece tundra set isn't half bad, axe has 100-150 flat, set bonus 125min, helm +25. Then for chest+belt use wolf druid set, another big strength bonus, very cheap and solid combo.

Compared to last version, builds definitely doing more single target, those sor procs are significant. Still annoing vs teleporting/kiting enemies, but thats to be expected.

As for angelics, getting 2h sword with that +200 min damage and enhanced damage% hybrid roll, and then crafting more min damage on, it, as min damage will be worth twice as much as max damage, because it increases both if min>max.
edit: nvm, that min damage roll is same affix group, so you need to go for +300 max damage suffix instead. Still a 400-500 damage as 1h, on weapon alone, pretty solid.

I get that crafted great sword with 200-600 damage, but i changed it to graniaq RW becacause of large AR bonus, the damage numbers got a little lower, so it not a big deal sacrefice, on dummy i get about 80k max combined

Currently at level 130, not all sets available, full body TU, preparing to make angel handmade equipment

With Bloodthirst and Mighty Vigor nerf in a couple of consecutive patches, is it worth dumping 36+ points into throw tree for like 50% ish critical strike now?

Critical Strike and Deadly Strike roll independently but do not stack on the same roll right?

Started season with the EQ variation.
With OP's permission I might share my progression and what I've tried here and there.
Don't know if appropriate to highjack thread with redundant ramblings without asking first.

OverSky wrote:With Bloodthirst and Mighty Vigor nerf in a couple of consecutive patches, is it worth dumping 36+ points into throw tree for like 50% ish critical strike now?

Critical Strike and Deadly Strike roll independently but do not stack on the same roll right?

It will be difficult to reach that amount of critical chance total unless you invest in Gladiator's dominance & plan on replacing all sockets with 2% LL, 2% STR and flat STR.

Its exactly 41 skill points for a total of around 17% crit with endgame gear, 25% LL and an additional 200% WPD on wolf stance, at the cost of total life and AR, defense and WPD you would get from investing those points in Wolven Guide and Ancient Blood.