Summon Barbarian

[Z0D42]

LINKS
SKILLS - STATS - GEAR - CRAFTING - LEVELING - UBERS - FARMING

Introduction

The summoner barbarian is very easy to level/gear up and probably one of the best farm chars to get started. Using minions as a shield which also deal damage from afar while you can keep away from danger, he excels at traveling speed and farming for gear. The only real downside to this build is it's capability of farming uber bosses. Most of them are possible and rather easy, but some of the level 120 and 125 ubers are quite difficult compared to other builds.

pros:
-good starter char and strong farmer
-fast/easy to level and play through the acts
-cheap to gear up

cons:
-not really a good uber boss killer
(I can currently do around 60% of them with pure summons)
-play style can be a bit boring for some people

utilized skills

► Show Spoiler

-spirit tree-
GuardianSpirit: main source of dmg and the only minion that has an aoe attack, max this skill

Defender Spirit: mostly functions as a tank and does well at that with just 1 point into it

Protector Spirit: uses bloodlust to buff the party and tanks most of the incoming dmg.
I level this to 25-30
Shamanic Trance: duration based buff that enhances minions depending on base strength and raises maximum minions by 1 for each 7 base levels, target will be 28 at lvl 140
Spirit Walk: travel/teleport skill,- starts with a high cooldown but has it reduced by 0.2s for each point you put into spirit skills and will reach 0 eventually. 1 point is enough


-support/stances-
Ancient Blood: increases life, attack speed and max skill levels,- mostly useful for the extra life. I choose to put only 1 point into it
Spirit Guide: increases our def and fcr when near a spirit. Good at lower levels when you are lacking fcr since it also boosts our def, I put 5-10 points into it for leveling. When you get to the late-end game 1 point is enough, as you want to prioritize bear stance for the %physical resistance Mountain King: raises all stats by a percentage. Great 1 pointer, everything above is a waste

Bear Stance: increases our defense and %phys res. and will be used for all difficult areas + some bosses. 10-15 for the early-mid game, 20-25 for late-end game, balance out 50% phys reduction with your gear
Wolf Stance: best offensive stance for us in my opinion,- adds attack speed, crushing blow, phys dmg and also gives a neat 40% move speed. I prefer to use this over lion stance as it adds about the same amount of effective dmg, but doesn't reduce our party's %phys res. Does great with 1 base skill. I try to use this as much as I can but you really need bear stance for some areas. It depends a lot on your gear, just try out where it works for youEagle Stance: mostly useful for some life/mana regen here and there, just not a great default stance as the attack speed penatly nerfs our minions dmg output by a lot.1 point


-reward tree-
Runemaster: passive that boosts total def for each rune equipped, which makes it very useful for stacking extra defense until you have the gear and jewels to utilize nephalems spirit. target around 10 points (You can go nephalems spirit right away if you already have the gear/jewels)
Nephalems Spirit: adds elemental dmg depending on base str/dex/vita, with str being most effective as it also applies to shamanic trance. Will reach 10k+ dmg per minion with late-end game gear and most charms. 15+ go in hereImmortal: great skill to get some extra dodge chance, also adds fhr. I target 15+ points

Thundergod: aura that periodically emits stun novas, good 1 pointer to get some aoe stun, which will help with reducing enemies ability to dmg you and your party

skill tree ~lvl100


skill tree ~lvl140

stat allocation

► Show Spoiler

The main choice to make here is between strength and vitality, energy is not needed as our gear will provide enough mana/regen and we don't spend so much anyways (can put a couple points in here for leveling), dexterity is similarly useless. There are different approaches to this, also depending on if you play this twinked or on hardcore. The main focus of this guide is to provide new players with a strong farming char, so they can experience most of the end-game content and farm gear to possibly equip another build/class.

With that being said this build doesn't really suffer from a lack of dmg, the main issue will be tanking mobs in certain areas, especially if you move only by teleporting. When I played this untwinked I went for Runemaster and max vita until level 130ish. The str I needed to use my gear did some work for shamanic trance and using mostly yul-runes and a bunch of minion dmg mos allowed me to farm duncraig/teganze at a decent pace with around 600k def and 15k life. Upon gearing up and switching to nephalems spirit I went for str only, def right now is about 270k at 14k life. Theoretically you could go nephalems spirit and full str as soon as you can enter teganze and just farm that place to level/gear up

early-mid game
strength: enough for gear
dexterity: 0
vitality: rest
energy: 0 - 20

late-end game
strength: most goes in here
dexterity: 0
vitality: 0 - as much as you want/need
energy: 0

breakpoints
faster cast rate: 75/125 - hit easily by spirit guide & some items
faster hit recovery: 86/200 - 86 is usually enough, almost hit by immortal
minion resistances: 75 - enough for most bosses and farming

gear progression

lvl 1-100
-amulet/rings: +skills with minion dmg/life and some stats/mf/res,

Der Nebelring

Der Nebelring
Ring
Required Level: 110
Item Level: 105
+(20 to 30)% to Summoned Minion Life
+15% to Summoned Minion Damage
+1000 Defense
+400 to Life
Physical Resist (4 to 6)%
+(40 to 50) Life after each Kill
+2 to Light Radius

if you can find one or get it cheap

-helm:

Spirit Teacher's Headdress

Spirit Teacher's Headdress
Avenger Guard (4)
Defense: (126 - 145) to (188 - 217)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 10
Required Strength: 27 to 28
Item Level: 17
+(16 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(9 to 10)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(24 to 43)% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana +(21 to 25)%
Elemental Resists +(11 to 15)%
Requirements -(11 to 15)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (441 - 492) to (618 - 689)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 28
Required Strength: 47 to 49
Item Level: 32
+(26 to 30)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(14 to 15)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(64 to 83)% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana +(31 to 35)%
Elemental Resists +(21 to 25)%
Requirements -(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1122 - 1226) to (1548 - 1692)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 46
Required Strength: 142 to 151
Item Level: 53
+(36 to 40)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(19 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(104 to 123)% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana +(41 to 45)%
Elemental Resists +(31 to 35)%
Requirements -(31 to 35)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1684 - 1827) to (2302 - 2498)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 262 to 280
Item Level: 90
+(41 to 45)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(21 to 23)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(124 to 143)% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana +(46 to 50)%
Elemental Resists +(36 to 40)%
Requirements -(36 to 40)%
Socketed (4)

gives some useful boni like 40 all res, minion stats and some mana regen, but furthermore it also increases our stance radius, which will become useful for some tougher bosses/areas.

Morthwyrtha

Morthwyrtha
Barbarian Helms
'IoSur'
Runeword Level: 75
+(3 to 4) to Barbarian Skill Levels
+1 to Maximum Barbarian Minions
+3 to Banish
+(16 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(50 to 75)% to Summoned Minion Attack Rating
Regenerate Mana +(6 to 10)%

extra minion dmg, +4 skills, max minions, very strong overall

The Protector

The Protector
Fanged Helm (Sacred)
Defense: (2628 - 2956) to (2779 - 3126)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 500
Item Level: 1
+(3 to 4) to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(21 to 25)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(31 to 50)% to Summoned Minion Attack Rating
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
(21 to 25)% to Vitality
Cold Resist +(41 to 50)%
(21 to 25)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)

Spirits of the Nephalem
(Barbarian Shaman Set)

is decent too

-armor:

The Guardian

The Guardian
Ring Mail (Sacred)
Defense: (5848 - 6579) to (6434 - 7238)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 550
Item Level: 1
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(16 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
(21 to 25)% to Strength
Fire Resist +(41 to 50)%
Poison Resist +(41 to 50)%
Socketed (6)

Spirits of the Nephalem
(Barbarian Shaman Set)

- use

Mirage

Mirage
Sorceress Crystal Swords
'ElqOhnVezLozGurXod'
Runeword Level: 120
+95 Magic Damage per 1% Deadly Strike
10% Chance to cast level 4 Time Strike on Striking
+(2 to 3) to All Skills
50% Combat Speeds
+(220 to 250) to Maximum Damage
+(180 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+75 to Dexterity
Maximum Block Chance +10%

, Griswolds armor or some craft before this

-weapon:

Uldyssian's Legion

Uldyssian's Legion
Bronze Sword (4)
One-Hand Damage: (8 - 9) to (9 - 11)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 9
Required Strength: 82
Item Level: 13
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.14 per Strength)%
+1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
15% Attack Speed
15% Cast Speed
+(24 to 40)% Enhanced Damage
+(3 to 5)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(6 to 8)% to Summoned Minion Damage
Maximum Mana +(21 to 25)%
Elemental Resists +(5 to 7)%
Socketed (2)
One-Hand Damage: (23 - 26) to (28 - 31)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 124
Item Level: 29
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.14 per Strength)%
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
25% Attack Speed
25% Cast Speed
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
+(9 to 11)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(11 to 13)% to Summoned Minion Damage
Maximum Mana +(31 to 35)%
Elemental Resists +(8 to 10)%
Socketed (4)
One-Hand Damage: (59 - 64) to (71 - 77)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 46
Required Strength: 244
Item Level: 50
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.14 per Strength)%
+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
35% Attack Speed
35% Cast Speed
+(92 to 109)% Enhanced Damage
+(15 to 17)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(16 to 18)% to Summoned Minion Damage
Maximum Mana +(41 to 45)%
Elemental Resists +(11 to 12)%
Socketed (5)
One-Hand Damage: (77 - 83) to (94 - 101)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 55
Required Strength: 482
Item Level: 86
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.14 per Strength)%
+(3 to 4) to Barbarian Skill Levels
40% Attack Speed
40% Cast Speed
+(109 to 126)% Enhanced Damage
+(18 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(19 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Damage
Maximum Mana +(46 to 50)%
Elemental Resists +(13 to 15)%
Socketed (6)

or

Khan

. Khan misses res and skills but has more stats and +1 minion

-shield:

Golden Fleece

Golden Fleece
Bull Shield (4)
Defense: (54 - 62) to (105 - 120)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 3
Required Strength: 25
Required Dexterity: 23
Item Level: 5
+1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
Enhanced Weapon Damage +(19 to 30)%
+(41 to 60)% Enhanced Defense
+(21 to 30) to Strength
Maximum Life +(1 to 2)%
Elemental Resists +(11 to 15)%
(5 to 10)% Magic Find
Socketed (1)
Defense: (217 - 241) to (343 - 381)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 21
Required Strength: 50
Required Dexterity: 34
Item Level: 24
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
Enhanced Weapon Damage +(43 to 54)%
+(71 to 90)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 40) to Strength
Maximum Life +(2 to 3)%
Elemental Resists +(21 to 25)%
(11 to 20)% Magic Find
Socketed (3)
Defense: (554 - 607) to (838 - 917)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 38
Required Strength: 175
Required Dexterity: 71
Item Level: 44
+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
Enhanced Weapon Damage +(67 to 78)%
+(101 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
+(41 to 50) to Strength
Maximum Life +(4 to 5)%
Elemental Resists +(31 to 35)%
(21 to 30)% Magic Find
Socketed (4)
Defense: (880 - 952) to (1319 - 1427)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 350
Required Dexterity: 149
Item Level: 78
+4 to Barbarian Skill Levels
Enhanced Weapon Damage +(79 to 90)%
+(131 to 150)% Enhanced Defense
+(51 to 60) to Strength
Maximum Life +(6 to 7)%
Elemental Resists +(36 to 40)%
(31 to 40)% Magic Find
Socketed (4)

or

Destiny

Destiny
Gilded Shield (Sacred)
Defense: (8868 - 9976) to (10992 - 12366)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 700
Item Level: 1
+2 to All Skills when using an Apple
+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(41 to 50)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(11 to 15)% to Summoned Minion Resistances
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
+2% to Runemaster Defense Bonus
Maximum Mana +15%
Regenerate Mana +(31 to 50)%
Socketed (4)

Spirits of the Nephalem
(Barbarian Shaman Set)

-gloves:

Kali

Kali
Gloves
'LumKo'
Runeword Level: 48
15% Chance to cast level 13 Seal of Fire on Kill
+2 to All Skills
+15% to Summoned Minion Resistances
-214 Defense
5% to Strength
Maximum Fire Resist +4%
Fire Resist +25%

or some honorific/crafted pair

-belt:

Moonwrap

Moonwrap
Sash (4)
Defense: (16 - 18) to (20 - 21)
Required Level: 1
Required Strength: 25
Item Level: 1
5% Cast Speed
+3% to Spell Damage
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +(11 to 15)%
Cold Resist +(11 to 15)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (119 - 129) to (131 - 141)
Required Level: 17
Required Strength: 50
Item Level: 20
15% Cast Speed
+9% to Spell Damage
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +(21 to 25)%
Cold Resist +(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (331 - 353) to (370 - 395)
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 125
Item Level: 41
25% Cast Speed
+15% to Spell Damage
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +(31 to 35)%
Cold Resist +(31 to 35)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (493 - 524) to (542 - 576)
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 250
Item Level: 72
30% Cast Speed
+20% to Spell Damage
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +(36 to 40)%
Cold Resist +(36 to 40)%
Socketed (2)

, honorific craft or

Red Vex' Sin

Red Vex' Sin
Light Belt (Sacred)
Defense: (2202 - 2752) to (2286 - 2857)
Required Level: 90
Required Strength: 275
Item Level: 1
-(14 to 20)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+(11 to 15)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(11 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Resistances
+(100 to 150)% Enhanced Defense
+(21 to 40) Life after each Kill
(40 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -50%
Socketed (2)

Red Vex' Embrace
(Amazon Blood Set)

until you can use a shrinecraft

-boots:

Lionpaw

Lionpaw
Chain Boots (4)
Defense: (49 - 54) to (71 - 78)
Required Level: 4
Required Strength: 29
Item Level: 7
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(18 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
+(7 to 10) to all Attributes
+(31 to 50) to Life
+(16 to 25) to Mana
(3 to 5)% Bonus to Defense
10% Gold Find
Socketed (1)
Defense: (203 - 218) to (267 - 288)
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 58
Item Level: 25
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(41 to 52)% Enhanced Defense
+(15 to 18) to all Attributes
+(71 to 90) to Life
+(36 to 45) to Mana
(9 to 11)% Bonus to Defense
15% Gold Find
Socketed (2)
Defense: (519 - 554) to (667 - 712)
Required Level: 39
Required Strength: 202
Item Level: 46
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(64 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
+(23 to 26) to all Attributes
+(111 to 130) to Life
+(56 to 65) to Mana
(15 to 17)% Bonus to Defense
20% Gold Find
Socketed (3)
Defense: (759 - 807) to (974 - 1036)
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 403
Item Level: 79
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(75 to 86)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 35) to all Attributes
+(131 to 150) to Life
+(66 to 75) to Mana
(18 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
25% Gold Find
Socketed (4)

or honorific/crafted pair



lvl 100-140
-amulet/rings: same as early-mid game. try to max out minion dmg, mf and +skills.

-helm:

Shadowtwin

Shadowtwin
Fanged Helm (Sacred)
Defense: (2978 - 3285) to (3149 - 3474)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 500
Item Level: 105
Summon Two Ancient Spirits per Cast
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(41 to 50)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(31 to 40)% to Summoned Minion Resistances
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +40%
Socketed (4)

allows us to summon a high level Veil King, who has an aoe attack that does decent dmg with all the buffs he gets. He also has a chance to reanimate enemies he kills as veil terror and is a good tank for farming.

Morthwyrtha

Morthwyrtha
Barbarian Helms
'IoSur'
Runeword Level: 75
+(3 to 4) to Barbarian Skill Levels
+1 to Maximum Barbarian Minions
+3 to Banish
+(16 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(50 to 75)% to Summoned Minion Attack Rating
Regenerate Mana +(6 to 10)%

is still really strong overall. Another option is

Lilith's Legion

Lilith's Legion
Avenger Guard (Sacred)
Defense: (3691 - 4041) to (4067 - 4455)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 625
Item Level: 120
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
150% Bonus to Attack Rating
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+300 Defense
20% to Strength
10% to Vitality
Physical Resist 10%
2% Reanimate as: Random Monster
(30 to 60)% Gold Find
50% Magic Find
Socketed (4)

which doesn't add much dmg but has high mf and %phys res. A crafted helm with +skills, high minion stats and mf is good too.

-armor:

Goetia Plate

Goetia Plate
Full Plate Mail (Sacred)
Defense: (8467 - 9339) to (10376 - 11445)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 700
Item Level: 120
+3 to All Skills
+1 to Maximum Necromancer Minions
+(151 to 200)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(51 to 75)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+100 Life Regenerated per Second
+750 to Life
+375 to Mana
-4 to Light Radius
Socketed (6)

+3, huge minion stats and life/mana & regen, lacks mf but best in slot armor all things considered.

The Guardian

The Guardian
Ring Mail (Sacred)
Defense: (5848 - 6579) to (6434 - 7238)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 550
Item Level: 1
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(16 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
(21 to 25)% to Strength
Fire Resist +(41 to 50)%
Poison Resist +(41 to 50)%
Socketed (6)

Spirits of the Nephalem
(Barbarian Shaman Set)

is still good. Again a craft with high stats/mf also works.

-weapon:

Gladiator's Rage

Gladiator's Rage
Spatha (Sacred)
One-Hand Damage: 46 to 48
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 500
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.14 per Strength)%
4% Chance to cast level 16 Bloodlust when Struck
+(2 to 4) to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(1 to 2) to Maximum Barbarian Minions
40% Cast Speed
+(50 to 75)% to Summoned Minion Life
+50% to Summoned Minion Damage
+50% to Summoned Minion Resistances
(10 to 30)% Gold Find
(10 to 30)% Magic Find
+(3 to 5) to Light Radius
Socketed (3)

best weapon for us. Has huge boni and also some mf on it,- try to get a +2 minion one.
You can stack more mf by going with crafted weapons and even more if you use 2 weapons instead of a shield, but it can make the build rather squishy. Another offhand to consider if you happen to find it is

Colliding Fury

, but I wouldn't recommend using it as a long term solution for farming.
-shield:

Toraja's Champion

Toraja's Champion
Gilded Shield (Sacred)
Defense: (7944 - 8978) to (9847 - 11129)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 700
Item Level: 105
+(2 to 3) to Barbarian Skill Levels
+2 to Maximum Barbarian Minions
+(30 to 38)% Damage to Protector Spirit Bloodlust
40% Cast Speed
+(21 to 25)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(115 to 143)% Enhanced Defense
+500 to Life
+250 to Mana
Elemental Resists +10%
+10 Life on Striking
+(6 to 7) Mana on Striking
Socketed (4)

high def, +2minions, big dmg bonus to bloodlust and more

-gloves: A good crafted pair is my personal favorite for this slot.

Lorekeeper

Lorekeeper
Light Gauntlets (Sacred)
Defense: (1018 - 1179) to (1159 - 1342)
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 300
Item Level: 120
+3 to All Skills
20% Combat Speeds
+(5 to 10) to Firedance
+(90 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana +(40 to 60)%
Requirements -50%
Socketed (4)

is a good SU, it just doesn't add much for farming except the +skills. firedancer is mostly useful for bosses and we don't need that much mana regen for farming

-belt: shrinecraft with +2 barb, high minion stats, mf.

Lilith's Temptation

Lilith's Temptation
Plated Belt (Sacred)
Defense: (3680 - 4089) to (4031 - 4479)
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 105
3% Chance to cast level 2 Time Strike on Striking
+(170 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
-100 to Life
(60 to 100)% Magic Find
Requirements -100%
Socketed (2)

is considerable as a belt but it doesn't provide anything besides the high mf. I prefer a crafted pair here

-boots: tainted craft with minion dmg/ar/life and mf

*you can inspect my current gear here: armory

mystic orbs-crafting-sockets-merc

mystic orbs: In the early-mid game it can be hard to stack enough resists on our minions, because the items we can get/wear now don't provide much. I ended up putting minion res mos on most parts of my gear, which helped a lot to keep them alive. After this I dumped minion dmg/life more or less equally and the rest were def/mf & some mana regen mos (make sure you get at least some mana regen on your gear, like 25% on one piece should do). For the late game we want to prioritize minion dmg and mf since we are a farm char.
early-mid game: minion res/minion dmg/minion life/magic find
late-end game: magic find/minion dmg/minion res(up to breakpoint)/minion life/def

jewel-crafting: around level 120 you will likely spec out of runemaster and get nephalems spirit. In preparation for this you want to start crafting your own minion jewels. There are unique ones you can buy like

Katamari

Katamari
Jewel
Required Level: 30
Item Level: 40
Can be Inserted into Socketed Items
+5% to Summoned Minion Life
+5% to Summoned Minion Damage
+5% to Summoned Minion Resistances
+5 Life after each Kill

, but you will need a lot of them and can craft better ones, especially if you want to stack mf.
[Tir=mf, Kur=minion dmg] Tir runes are most useful for us, don't reroll jewels below lvl 80
cube recipe: jewel + arcane shard + rune + oil of craft = adds rune specific roll + random stats

shrine-crafting: once we reach the late game and ubers you will want to craft some items, which will boost our dmg & def by a lot. Craft gloves/belt/boots with tainted shrines, blessed with tainted (minion ar/dmg) or magical(minion life/res).
Use high def bases: gauntlets, greaves, plated belt, try to roll + 2skills on belt.
crafting recipe: rare sacred item + shrine = rolls item with shrine boni
blessing recipe: rare/crafted/honorific sacred item + shrine + 2x arcane crystal = add shrine boni roll

sockets: We will use tal/lah runes and gems for the most part until hell. You will want to work on replacing gems with runes once you get Runemaster. I mostly used yul runes in the end to max out minion dmg.

merc: I am currently using A5 merc. He does decent dmg with ancients hand and gift of the wild makes our minions even stronger. He also has a stun nova ability that works together with thundergod to stun enemies quite a lot. Your ability to teleport & the army of minions help to keep him alive. A3 Blood mage is also a good choice for some heal and more elemental dmg. A1 Ranger or Priestress can be good too.
His current gear:

Trang-Oul's Breath

Trang-Oul's Breath
Mask (Sacred)
Defense: (1316 - 2256) to (1405 - 2409)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 105
Dragon Breath: Reduces Weapon Physical Damage by 25%
+(1 to 2) to All Skills
+(15 to 40)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(40 to 140)% Enhanced Defense
+250 to Mana
Maximum Fire Resist +(1 to 2)%
Maximum Cold Resist +(1 to 2)%
Socketed (4)

Shrill Sacrament

Shrill Sacrament
Chain Boots (Sacred)
Defense: (1625 - 1995) to (1762 - 2162)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 575
Item Level: 105
Exorcism: +50% Total Damage
10% Chance to cast level 20 Nightmare on Melee Attack
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(10 to 30)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(9 to 13) to Exorcism
+(120 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
(15 to 25)% to Vitality
+(40 to 100) Life after each Demon Kill
Socketed (4)

Dragon Tail

Dragon Tail
Plated Belt (4)
Defense: (206 - 232) to (277 - 312)
Required Level: 10
Required Strength: 34
Item Level: 16
5% Chance to cast level 6 Seal of Fire on Melee Attack
15% Attack Speed
Adds (3 to 5)-(6 to 8) Fire Damage
Stun Attack
+(51 to 70)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +(16 to 25)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (640 - 708) to (828 - 916)
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 68
Item Level: 32
6% Chance to cast level 14 Seal of Fire on Melee Attack
25% Attack Speed
Adds (8 to 13)-(13 to 20) Fire Damage
Stun Attack
+(81 to 100)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +(36 to 45)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1519 - 1656) to (1928 - 2102)
Required Level: 44
Required Strength: 236
Item Level: 52
7% Chance to cast level 20 Seal of Fire on Melee Attack
35% Attack Speed
Adds (25 to 35)-(40 to 55) Fire Damage
Stun Attack
+(111 to 130)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +(56 to 65)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (2366 - 2553) to (2993 - 3229)
Required Level: 52
Required Strength: 472
Item Level: 87
8% Chance to cast level 24 Seal of Fire on Melee Attack
40% Attack Speed
Adds (81 to 100)-(121 to 160) Fire Damage
Stun Attack
+(141 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +(66 to 75)%
Socketed (2)

Cinadide's Bender

Cinadide's Bender
Gauntlets (Sacred)
Defense: (1339 - 1506) to (1567 - 1763)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 625
Item Level: 1
20% Attack Speed
40% Hit Recovery
Adds 35-70 Magic Damage
Adds 50-100 Fire Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 50) to Strength
(16 to 25)% Magic Find
Socketed (4)

Cinadide's Craft
(Paladin Honor Set)

Qarak's Will

Qarak's Will
Giant Sword (Sacred)
One-Hand Damage: (150 - 163) to (233 - 246)
Two-Hand Damage: (206 - 225) to (285 - 305)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 480
Item Level: 105
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
15% Chance to cast level 34 Spike Nova on Melee Attack
6% Chance to cast level 40 Pentagram on Melee Attack
10% Chance to cast level 36 Bloodlust on Kill
+(30 to 60)% Bonus Damage to Bloodlust
Adds 50-125 Damage
Adds 84-167 Fire Damage
+(26 to 38)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Damage
+(100 to 250) Life after each Kill
5% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (4)

(take note that his gear is not optimized and there is still room for improvement:

Wolverine Skin

Wolverine Skin
Plate Mail (Sacred)
Defense: (6374 - 7171) to (7485 - 8421)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 312
Item Level: 120
15% Chance to cast level 20 Crucify on Melee Attack
+(1 to 2) to All Skills
50% Hit Recovery
+40 to Maximum Damage
(10 to 15)% Life stolen per Hit
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
+(50 to 100) to Strength
+(50 to 100) to Dexterity
+25 Life Regenerated per Second
50% Magic Find
Requirements -50%
Socketed (6)

The Grandfather

The Grandfather
Great Sword (Sacred)
One-Hand Damage: (219 - 254) to (336 - 396)
Two-Hand Damage: (312 - 347) to (423 - 483)
Required Level: 120
Required Strength: 1340
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
+400% Deadly Strike
-5% Deadly Strike per 1% Attack Speed
Adds (75 to 110)-(180 to 240) Damage
(150 to 300)% Bonus to Attack Rating
+200% Enhanced Damage
+(30 to 40) to Ancients' Hand
+50 to all Attributes
Maximum Life +(5 to 7)%
Requirements +100%
Socketed (6)

and

Rebel (Xis)

for example)

level progression

lvl 1-50
The first ~20 levels can be a bit slow if you just put points into spirit skills, luckily earthquake is a really strong 1 pointer and makes leveling much faster at the early stages. You technically don't have to do it and can just rely on spirit skills from the start, but to me it's worth it. You should get wolf stance and spirit guide as soon as you can and put a point into bear stance every couple levels. Progression through normal should overall be rather quick and easy with some random stuff you find along your way. A2 stony tomb and grubbers are good to get some money quickly and Mephisto is the first decent spot to farm arcane crystals, if you run into resistance and want to make some tiered uniques to power up. The 3 most important slots are: weapon, helm and shield.
unique recipe: item base+2arcane crystals+oil of enhancement = returns item as unique
uptier recipe: unique item+random rune+arcane crystal = returns item with increased stats up to T4
The first challenge of median at Baal in norm should also be easy for you with those 3 uniques, check the 115 challenge[1] to see where the 3 bosses are located in Tran Athulua.



lvl 50-100
The only important thing to mention in nightmare is the kurast 3k ennead challenge, which will be available to you at level 80 and can be accessed after killing Mephisto in nightmare. check 115 challenge[1] to see where the 3 Necromancers are located.
Diablo and the seal guardians aren't much of a threat, just might take some resummoning since minions can die quickly to some of the spells.
Same goes for Baal, he is easy but it might take some time and resets to kill him and he can delete you and your minions in an instant with his "defile" spell, indicated by a black circle on the ground. Watch out for that and be ready to retreat back to town if your minions die. Hell should then feel more or less the same as nightmare, upgrade uniques and mos on your gear if you feel too weak and make sure to stack max resists for hell.



lvl 100+
At lvl 105 you should be near a4 in hell and can start farming the uber areas.
Island of sunless sea: I like to farm this for gold & fast xp from 105 to 110.
hell cows: fast xp from 110 to 115 until we can farm k3k, can drop some items too.
Kurast 3K: farm this until lvl 120 for crafting bases/mats, also good for some gear and signets/gold. prioritize totems when they are nearby.

uber challenges

► Show Spoiler

A while ago I made a comprehensive uber list based on the original work from aerial,-just restructured it a bit and added a bunch of info i felt was missing. Unfortunately the ToS don't support external links and im too lazy to convert it from excel into web format, but i can upload it as a picture i guess. It includes info about rewards and pathways to all the ubers.

open in new tab or download for better visibility

playstyle & tactics
In general if you are doing ubers at the required lvl and/or with mostly early-mid game gear and feel like you are taking too much dmg to telestomp, you should try equipping

Spirit Teacher's Headdress

Spirit Teacher's Headdress
Avenger Guard (4)
Defense: (126 - 145) to (188 - 217)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 10
Required Strength: 27 to 28
Item Level: 17
+(16 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(9 to 10)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(24 to 43)% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana +(21 to 25)%
Elemental Resists +(11 to 15)%
Requirements -(11 to 15)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (441 - 492) to (618 - 689)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 28
Required Strength: 47 to 49
Item Level: 32
+(26 to 30)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(14 to 15)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(64 to 83)% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana +(31 to 35)%
Elemental Resists +(21 to 25)%
Requirements -(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1122 - 1226) to (1548 - 1692)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 46
Required Strength: 142 to 151
Item Level: 53
+(36 to 40)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(19 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(104 to 123)% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana +(41 to 45)%
Elemental Resists +(31 to 35)%
Requirements -(31 to 35)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1684 - 1827) to (2302 - 2498)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 262 to 280
Item Level: 90
+(41 to 45)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(21 to 23)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(124 to 143)% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana +(46 to 50)%
Elemental Resists +(36 to 40)%
Requirements -(36 to 40)%
Socketed (4)

or

The Defender

The Defender
Long Sword (Sacred)
One-Hand Damage: (139 - 187) to (185 - 244)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 270
Item Level: 105
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Strength)%
+100% Bonus Fire Damage to Retaliate
Adds (40 to 70)-(80 to 120) Damage
(50 to 100)% Bonus to Attack Rating
5% Life stolen per Hit
+(120 to 160)% Enhanced Damage
+(10 to 20) to Retaliate
(10 to 20)% to Strength
Physical Resist 5%
Requirements -50%
Socketed (6)

, so your minions profit from your stances while you stay further away and dodge dmg/resummon. You should also get used to town portal out if your minions suddenly get rekt by some aoe, because it often takes too long to resummon everything during a fight. Use Jitans gate to get your minions or yourself out of danger. Another thing you can do is use left-click for summoning so you can keep stances up permanently during a fight (im usually too lazy for this). Footage of ubers done mostly in very basic gear can be found below. Open the spoilers for some extra info about the corresponding challenges.

lvl105 ubers

► Show Spoiler

The Butcher: teleport onto him then step to the side and avoid the flaming wall that moves across the room
Optical detector: can help to clear the room a bit before teleporting onto it
Death projector: avoid the beams and mobs (follow or cross beams) minions also tank them a bit
6 Angels: stay in bear stance and use teleport for moving

lvl110 ubers

► Show Spoiler

ubers are done with same gear/inventory as lvl105 ones, only one that can be a little difficult of these is Jitan, but we can lame him a bit.
Creature of flame: can just telestomp it in wolf stance, resummon a bit if it manages to kill minions before it dies.
Tal Rasha: need to kill all other mages before you can dmg him
Jitan: guard towers can do some hefty dmg, you will need to play this a bit slowly depending on how strong you are. hes easy once you killed his Guardsmen. You can make the guard towers vanish by going town briefly if they stack too much.
King Koth: just like Jitan he is easy once the room is rather clear, kill the other ancients first.

lvl115 ubers[1]

► Show Spoiler

When I made this I realized that I was a bit overleveld on the 105-110 uber footage, so I decided to do these without gloves/boots/belt and some charms from 105-110 missing. It shows that you should have an even easier time at this point and the ones before should also be equally easy with basic gear and lvl 105-110 when you can attempt them.
Kurast 3000: kill the totems first, they buff nearby mobs
Buyard Cholik: can be annoying to lure him in the fire circle and you got to be a bit careful with incoming dmg but hes not hard for us
Lord Primus: clear some of the mobs near his area and then tele onto him in wolf stance
Tran Athulua; use bear stance here and teleport around a lot to help keeping your minions alive. Jitans gate is useful for shortcuts

lvl115 ubers[2]

► Show Spoiler

Bull prince and Azmodan is where things start getting a little rough. You can see I did the first 3 challenges in same gear as in part 1 and included footage of what a fight would look like against Azmodan/Bull Prince with that gear, so you can see how much more difficult they are compared to the others.
The kills of those 2 were then done with my current farming char, which shows that with some better gear and nephalems spirit these fights become a lot easier. The boni that those charms provide are also not that important, so you are likely better off farming some gear first before you kill them.
Inarius: stay away from him and mobs inside the room
Bartuc: he can only be damaged when he casts a certain spell, try to avoid staying close to his golems and keep casting minions on him.
Zakarum's Avatars most danger in that place comes from the poison spires. Some avatars can be hard to kill with low gear if you are unlucky
Azmodan if you are strong enough you can stomp him, otherwise cast minions from afar and avoid his spells
Bull Prince hardest fight yet, the walls are decent cover from the cows and his aoe stun. Use left click for summoning, so you can keep wolf stance up all time. This boss is mostly a gear-check, he will be much easier once you get nephalems spirit and some late-end game gear.

lvl120 ubers

► Show Spoiler

Judgement day: not as bad as bull prince but harder than cholik. Be careful with the aoe attacks. malthael usually casts his first aoe spell at the start of the fight, so trigger it by walking around a bit before teleporting onto him. Then step to the side and avoid spells. Imperius is a bit easier you can just teleport onto him and move to the side. Make sure to loot fast and get out of there once they die.
Assur: try to clear the room as good as you can before you deal with him. Use minions as bait and wolf stance for extra frw.
Lucion: minions are not too useful here from my experience. I ended up stacking a lot of frw and just kept luring him around after clearing all the other mobs. It takes a while to kill him but with 80%+ frw it's overall not that hard.
Athulua: She can be tough if you do her with low gear/lvl. It's prob better to save her until you get some late-end game gear but if you do her with mostly TU's you need to resummon and reset a lot. It's not really hard just takes while then. with late-end game gear you can just stomp her.

magic find & farming

One important thing to note about farming and magic find in particular are the diminishing returns mf suffers, that really start to kick in around the 500-700 mark.

I tried to visually enhance this effect that applies especially to unique drops, which are most desirable/valuable. As you can see effective magic find doesn't raise linearly, but in a curve and unique drops have the steepest curve. One exception from this rule are magic items, which scale linearly. Mf also doesn't increase the quantity of items dropped, only the chance to get a higher quality (magic instead of normal, rare instead of magic etc.)
You just need to find a value you feel comfortable with. 400-500mf is easily enough to find items, stacking 400% more will still help but can take a long time and effort. More elaborate info: median mf

► Show Spoiler

example: 200mf = 111% effective chance increase for unique to drop, 600mf= 176% effective chance increase for unique to drop. So adding 400%mf adds 65% effective mf, which amounts to a 58,6% higher drop chance over 200mf.
By the same accounting method: 600mf = 176emf, 1000mf = 200emf, so this time 400mf more adds 24emf, which is only an increase of 13,6% over 600mf. Obviously this equation doesn't consider clearspeed, which can suffer by stacking so much mf.

Teganze: this place is really laid back to farm for us, just teleport from pack to pack and try to avoid their projectiles a bit while doing so. Be careful not to move too much by walking when you loot, because those projectiles do a lot of dmg if they hit you.
You can use wolf stance here.


Duncraig: use bear stance here and pay attention to the barrels. From my experience not much can happen except the occasional hit if u teleport about half a screen every 1-2 seconds. It can get rough if u do something like p8 runs but solo its pretty easy.


Fauztinville/Bremmtown: Fauz is easy as well, the necrobots are kinda tanky for us, just ignore them for the most part. For Bremmtown you will want to advance carefully. Use Jitans gate and be ready to teleport close to you when you walk,-only make small steps

[a321333]

have video sample?

[Z0D42]

have video sample?

currently not but i might add some in the future.
what would you like to see?

[a321333]

have video sample?

currently not but i might add some in the future.
what would you like to see?

like some ubers video

and....i need more items obrs and junes sugguts

tks

[Fenric]

How much minion resistance do you need in Hell? I didn't see it listed.

Edit: I guess it's capped at 75? I put a few too many resist jewels then. My d2stats says 84% minion resist. I had a really rough time with Horazon, the fire just melts all summons instantly. They have 300% life and 430% damage according to d2stats. I hope it will be better as I go on.

[Ruubel]

need 75, check dstats program

[Z0D42]

How much minion resistance do you need in Hell? I didn't see it listed.

Edit: I guess it's capped at 75? I put a few too many resist jewels then. My d2stats says 84% minion resist. I had a really rough time with Horazon, the fire just melts all summons instantly. They have 300% life and 430% damage according to d2stats. I hope it will be better as I go on.

Some aoe spells from bosses can do alot of dmg and kill minions quite fast, im not sure if you can do much against that. I have about same %minion life in d2stats and it seems to be well enough for farming the end game areas. You are probably lacking base str/levels, which boost it by quite alot.

I honestly wasn't sure about the minion res. I did some search for it but best I could find is info from old median xl threads. Tried some Teganze testing and 75% seems to be correct. Not sure if you want to overstack minion resists. Again its kinda hard to find info on this but some mobs/bosses do have spells/abilities that lower or pierce resistances.(mythal), uber quest -the binding of baal-"Beware the Horadrim's fire and lightning spells, empowered with ancient metamagic to bypass up to 30% of your resistances, Tal Rasha able to bypass 40%."

I will make a breakpoint section (kind of missing anyways) and list the 75% there for now since our focus is on farming and i remember doing most of the bosses with around 75%.

edit: not sure if your 300% minion life is with shamanic trance active

[Buzul]

@zod42 can u Post screens from your d2stats i‘m interessting how much vita u have skilled and a Notarmory would be Perfect of your Char
(https://tsw.vn.cz)

[Z0D42]

@zod42 can u Post screens from your d2stats i‘m interessting how much vita u have skilled and a Notarmory would be Perfect of your Char
(https://tsw.vn.cz)

sure


https://tsw.vn.cz/acc/char.php?name=Koetnir

[Buzul]

Perfect thx a lot

€ i‘m not allowed to See your Char. Can u make it Public?