Poison Whirlwind Barb; A Comprehensive Guide (with 135 uber gear)

Find a handful of guides and walkthroughs here!
Suprfli6
Dark Huntress
12 | 2
Update: I am an idiot and didn't realize I had to actually cast Snake Stance, I was just leaving it on my mouse button and thought that would activate it. My damage jumped enormously and things are smooth now. That also means I wasn't casting a stance when I was a summon barb either lol.
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Baler
Dark Huntress
14 | 0
Just wanted to Vouch this build still works great in 2.3

Max out snake stance asap
PeterHatEater
Bone Archer
78 | 20
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This build is great fun. Amazing clear speed, easy to play and easy to gear. Downside is low single target damage. I've been able to kill Phoboss' and Anomalies in high labs though, so it's not terrible at that either.

To add skill levels to snake stance for snap shot there are a few other (and some simple) ways that were unmentioned.
1. Get a corrupted wormhole with +2 Barb skills
2. Get a Warcry relic (+1 Barb skills)
3. Get a trophied Void charm (+1 skills)
4. Get a +4 Awakening armour

In labs, there are a few options for viable weapons.
The 5 viable weapons are (I've discovered):
Piranha Swarm
Piranha Swarm
Flying Knife (Sacred)

Throw Damage: 59 to 61
One-Hand Damage: 38 to 39
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 473
Item Level: 120
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
Scorpion Blade: Always Explodes, Max Range -25%
+(4 to 7) to Assassin Skill Levels
+99% to Poison Spell Damage
Regenerate Mana +50%
Maximum Elemental Resists +2%
+150 Life after each Kill
50% Magic Find
Socketed (2)

Demhe

Demhe
Maces, Scepters
Except Hammers

'ZodLew'
Runeword Level: 110
25% Chance to cast level 35 Infected Roots on Melee Attack
+(126 to 250) to Maximum Damage
Stun Attack
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+(39 to 45)% to Cold Spell Damage
-(39 to 45)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+(39 to 45)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(39 to 45)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
20% to Vitality
+(51 to 125) Mana on Striking
+15 Life after each Kill

Grotesque Bite
Grotesque Bite
Hand Axe (Sacred)

One-Hand Damage: 37 to 39
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 376
Item Level: 105
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Strength)%
+25% to Experience Gained Until Level 120
+15% Physical Resist After Level 120
100% Chance to cast level 40 Harvest on Melee Attack
+(2 to 3) to All Skills
50% Attack Speed
+(20 to 30)% to Poison Spell Damage
Maximum Poison Resist +4%
+100 Life on Melee Attack
Socketed (3)

Dawn
Dawn
Weapons

'Zol'
Runeword Level: 100
10% Chance to cast level 32 Celerity on Kill
45% Hit Recovery
(301 to 500)% Bonus to Attack Rating
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
75% to Strength
75% to Dexterity
35% to Vitality
75% to Energy
+80 to Mana
60% Gold Find
+(2 to 4) to Light Radius

Blacktongue
Blacktongue
Flamberge (Sacred)

One-Hand Damage: (101 - 119) to (110 - 130)
Two-Hand Damage: (165 - 195) to (169 - 200)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength:
300
Item Level: 105
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
15% Chance to cast level 44 Rotting Flesh on Melee Attack
+25% Bonus to Poison Skill Duration
+(120 to 160)% Enhanced Damage
+(40 to 60)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(20 to 35)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(14 to 20) to Amatoxin
Slow Target 15%
Maximum Poison Resist +(1 to 2)%
Requirements -50%
Socketed (6)


Good to have on switch:
Berserrker
Berserrker
Backsword (Sacred)

One-Hand Damage: (130 - 144) to (138 - 153)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 526
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
1% Chance to cast level 2 Gift of Inner Fire on Striking
+(2 to 3) to All Skills
+(18 to 24)% Bonus Damage to Bloodlust
+(18 to 24)% Bonus Damage to Mark of the Wild
60% Attack Speed
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+1 to Bloodlust
+1 to Gift of the Wild
Socketed (3)

Crafted Mammen Axe with +24 to Mark of the Wild. For prebuffing.

Piranha is amazing for the insane poison spell damage and +2 max resists. I normally use this as my offhand.
Demhe is really good for the huge pierce, extra jewel sockets and 20% vitality. I generally use this for labs up to 9/10 and swap to it for the lab bosses (need to cap pierce).
Grotesque Bite is usually reserved for labs 9 and 10 because of the orange text (15% physical resist). If you're lucky enough to snap up a
Relic (Shadow Refuge)
then you can forego this item. It's also good in lower labs with lots of necro bots. You can easily switch between this and Demhe if you're about to charge into a pack of nerco bots.
Dawn is good for similar reasons to Demhe. 35% vitality, Celerity on kill and massive attack rating.
Blacktongue is amazing for damage when paired with Piranha, but doesn't stack up defensively against the others. This plus Dawn can work well if you have a Shadow Refuge relic.

Remember to use oil of conjuration on all your weapons. There is a chance to roll 10% spell damage.

You also want to keep an eye out for any relic that gives poison spell damage, pierce or defensive stats.
Txoroa
Abomination
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is poison or tri beam better for ubers? im having some issues with bosses as poison barb
Siosilvar
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Txoroa wrote:is poison or tri beam better for ubers? im having some issues with bosses as poison barb


Trinity Beam should have much better single target damage.
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PizzaGater
Banned
652 | 9
Txoroa wrote:is poison or tri beam better for ubers? im having some issues with bosses as poison barb


this skill on WW barb is possible ? how ?
CorralTheTroops
Gravedigger
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PizzaGater wrote:
Txoroa wrote:is poison or tri beam better for ubers? im having some issues with bosses as poison barb


this skill on WW barb is possible ? how ?


Vizjerei Fury
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PizzaGater
Banned
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CorralTheTroops wrote:
PizzaGater wrote:
Txoroa wrote:is poison or tri beam better for ubers? im having some issues with bosses as poison barb


this skill on WW barb is possible ? how ?


Vizjerei Fury


Oh i See.
Still collecting the basic gear and I read that you should have 2 switch, one with + skills for snake stance and another one for mark of the wild prebuff
thats a lot of preparation for 2 mins buffs (-:

Other than that I enjoy the ww psn barb, could make all 115 ubers (except vanity i'm still dying there) with very crap gear such as T4 pike etc.
countblacula
Skeleton
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Have they fixed WW's clunkyness? Played a fewed seasons ago and WW felt absolutely terrible
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magz_
Balrog
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countblacula wrote:Have they fixed WW's clunkyness? Played a fewed seasons ago and WW felt absolutely terrible

Depends on if you've played since 2.0.
Ww was updated with a new mechanic called "gale force" which basically makes up for most of it's short comings.
If this isn't new to you and you still thought it was clunky, then unfortunately you're out of luck. It does still functionally work the way it used to, where it's not a channeled skill. ;)

I'm sure devs would love to add improved WW code from the mod that pulled that off if they could get a hold of it/figure it out.
It's probably low on the prio list because it's already a very good build base. Ww is functionally the best melee proccer in the game.