Nomad Barbarian

[Crash]

---

Nomad Barbarian

---

Introduction
In the past, there has been a lot of discussion of the Fortress skill, and a lot of memes about the Earthquake skill (truthfully, towards the end of Destruction, it still is a meme, but it's functional!) If anyone remembers way back when, you had a timerless Fortress and it was extremely strong. Flash forward to the present, and we have a balanced and timered skill, most often used as a support skill. However, this build laughs at that and aims to use it as a co-main skill instead of just a support to another main melee attack.

This guide will focus on a barbarian using a non-traditional weapon setup -- a traveling nomad barbarian with trusty wolves -- to utilize high amounts of dexterity for block, defense, and attack rating, while boosting damage with the inherent dexterity bonus applied on javelins. Majority of the damage output will come from physical weapon damage along with a 100% conversion of physical damage to fire damage in later parts of the game after this nomad discovers how to create fire (tldr, more physical damage is best).

*Disclaimer*
Consult the patch notes if you get confused about new areas or boss names. If you're still confused after reading the changelog and the information provided in this guide, then feel free to post your questions and comments.

This guide will not be as quick to clear all content, but it is unique and it works. If you don't mind waves of arrows and so many towers on your screen that sometimes your character isn't even visible (is that a bad thing to have full screen DPS application?), I'd suggest taking a look at this setup.

---

Pros
-Fortress is intended as a single-target skill (all arrows target the same enemy), but it can also work for area effect damage once you stack them.
-Sturdy character (max block eventually, good defense, decent %DR).
-Proc fests n' stuff.
-TU gear can comfortably do a large portion of the charms.

Cons
-Slightly slower than other steamrolling barb characters.
-Needs lots of AC's in the beginning for self and merc.
-Not extremely fast farmer in early stages, but towards later game (25 charms, 300+ signets, endgame skill plan), it's pretty quick.

---

Jump to Early Charms and Mid-Game Content

---

Jump to End-Game Content

---

Utilized Skills and Descriptions

---

Miscellaneous

Mark of the Wild
Buff that increases attack speed and all damage types.

---

Sword Tree

Earthquake
Releases a shockwave of debris from a melee swing.

---

Support Tree

Wolf Companion
Summons untargetable wolves that enable the Spirit Guide buff and apply Doom to enemies.

Ancient Blood
Increases max life, attack speed, and enables +1 max all skills per 4 points.

Fortress
Summons a ring of guard towers that shoot streams of arrows at a common target.

Spirit Guide
Passive skill that gives a huge defense, physical damage, and cast rate buff when you're within a range of any of your wolves of summoned spirits.

Mountain King
Passive skill that gives a huge amount of % All Attributes.

---

Stance Tree

Bear Stance
While active, largely increases defense and %DR.

Eagle Stance
While active, largely increases mana and life regeneration at the cost of attack speed.

Wolf Stance
While active, increases physical damage, hit recovery speed, run/walk speed, attack speed, and gives Crushing Blow.

---

Shaman Tree

Protector Spirit
Summon an ancient nephalem spirit that can cast Bloodlust on attack to boost the party's damage.

Shamanic Trance
Buff that grants Strength Factor and increased Mana Regeneration, as well as a lot of summoned spirit buffs to life and damage.

Spirit Walk
Passive that largely increases stance radius and can teleport the barbarian and minions to the target enemy.

---

Reward Tree

Runemaster
Passive that gives large amounts of defense per rune socketed -- re-equip items after death to enable buff properly.

Gladiator's Dominance
Passive that gives a huge amount of base block and faster block rate, as well as some Deadly Strike and applied magic dmg to the barb's ranged skills.

Immortal
Passive that grants avoid while standing still and gives faster hit recovery.

Thundergod
Buff that releases periodical Thunderslam stun novas.

---

Early Game

---

In the first few levels, just grab 1pt Lion Stance with Earthquake and follow the skillplan below until you're able to access your main skills (Wolf Stance/Fortress). Lion Stance will make you a bit squishier but nothing too insane -- it is Act 1 Hatred after all...

*Note* Pick up all apples, rings, amulets, and jewels that you find. They sell for a lot and will give you enough gold to buy potions, TPs, and Oil of Crafts to open Griswold's Treasure boxes.

I, personally, will save all of my apples until I hit Act 5 because they sell for 7.5k whereas all other acts sell for 5k or less.

---

Gear
Weapon:

Sudis Murale

Sudis Murale
Glaive (4)
Throw Damage: (9 - 10) to (28 - 34)
One-Hand Damage: (9 - 10) to (24 - 30)
Required Level: 7
Required Dexterity: 65
Item Level: 19
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
4% Chance to cast level 4 Fortress on Kill
+(11 to 15) to Maximum Damage
+(31 to 50)% Enhanced Damage
(1 to 2)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(21 to 25) to Strength
+(21 to 25) to Dexterity
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (2)
Throw Damage: (28 - 31) to (66 - 79)
One-Hand Damage: (20 - 22) to (49 - 60)
Required Level: 25
Required Dexterity: 99
Item Level: 36
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
5% Chance to cast level 10 Fortress on Kill
+(18 to 25) to Maximum Damage
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
(3 to 4)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(31 to 35) to Strength
+(31 to 35) to Dexterity
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (3)
Throw Damage: (66 - 73) to (148 - 168)
One-Hand Damage: (38 - 42) to (97 - 112)
Required Level: 44
Required Dexterity: 197
Item Level: 51
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
6% Chance to cast level 16 Fortress on Kill
+(36 to 45) to Maximum Damage
+(91 to 110)% Enhanced Damage
(5 to 6)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(41 to 45) to Strength
+(41 to 45) to Dexterity
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)
Throw Damage: (92 - 100) to (227 - 250)
One-Hand Damage: (53 - 57) to (154 - 171)
Required Level: 53
Required Dexterity: 391
Item Level: 85
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
7% Chance to cast level 19 Fortress on Kill
+(71 to 80) to Maximum Damage
+(121 to 140)% Enhanced Damage
(7 to 8)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(46 to 50) to Strength
+(46 to 50) to Dexterity
(46 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)

: Everything
Shield:

Banner of Duncraig

Banner of Duncraig
Kite Shield (4)
Defense: (138 - 157) to (266 - 305)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 5
Required Strength: 28
Required Dexterity: 59
Item Level: 10
1% Chance to cast level 1 Fortress on Melee Attack
2% Chance to cast level 1 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(18 to 35)% Enhanced Defense
+(9 to 15) to Strength
+(9 to 15) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(16 to 25)%
Cold Resist +(16 to 25)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (462 - 513) to (817 - 909)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 55
Required Dexterity: 87
Item Level: 36
2% Chance to cast level 5 Fortress on Melee Attack
3% Chance to cast level 5 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(52 to 69)% Enhanced Defense
+(23 to 29) to Strength
+(23 to 29) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(36 to 45)%
Cold Resist +(36 to 45)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1174 - 1274) to (2015 - 2188)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 40
Required Strength: 193
Required Dexterity: 183
Item Level: 51
3% Chance to cast level 9 Fortress on Melee Attack
4% Chance to cast level 9 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(87 to 103)% Enhanced Defense
+(37 to 43) to Strength
+(37 to 43) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(56 to 65)%
Cold Resist +(56 to 65)%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1744 - 1881) to (2982 - 3216)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 385
Required Dexterity: 378
Item Level: 85
4% Chance to cast level 11 Fortress on Melee Attack
4% Chance to cast level 11 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(104 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
+(44 to 50) to Strength
+(44 to 50) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(66 to 75)%
Cold Resist +(66 to 75)%
Socketed (4)

: Fortress/Bloodlust procs, +Str/Dex, decent defense
Armor:

Jitan's Kamon

Jitan's Kamon
Splint Mail (4)
Defense: (184 - 208) to (370 - 418)
Required Level: 6
Required Strength: 30
Item Level: 19
2% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds 2-4 Fire Damage
Adds 2-4 Lightning Damage
Adds 2-4 Cold Damage
+(24 to 40)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 2%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (592 - 656) to (1106 - 1225)
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 60
Item Level: 36
4% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds (4 to 8)-(8 to 15) Fire Damage
Adds (4 to 8)-(8 to 15) Lightning Damage
Adds (4 to 8)-(8 to 15) Cold Damage
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 3%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1466 - 1596) to (2663 - 2898)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 210
Item Level: 51
6% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds (16 to 30)-(31 to 45) Fire Damage
Adds (16 to 30)-(31 to 45) Lightning Damage
Adds (16 to 30)-(31 to 45) Cold Damage
+(92 to 109)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 4%
Socketed (5)
Defense: (2175 - 2352) to (3925 - 4244)
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 420
Item Level: 85
8% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds (31 to 60)-(81 to 120) Fire Damage
Adds (31 to 60)-(81 to 120) Lightning Damage
Adds (31 to 60)-(81 to 120) Cold Damage
+(109 to 126)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (6)

: Guard Tower proc, Fire/Cold/Light damage, %DR
Helm:

Thunderdome

Thunderdome
Assault Helmet (4)
Defense: (118 - 134) to (174 - 198)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 8
Required Strength: 30
Item Level: 19
2% Chance to cast level 10 Tempest on Kill
Adds 1-(3 to 5) Lightning Damage
-4% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+(41 to 60)% Enhanced Defense
(7 to 10)% to Strength
+3 Mana after each Kill
Socketed (2)
Defense: (391 - 435) to (542 - 602)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 60
Item Level: 36
2% Chance to cast level 20 Tempest on Kill
Adds 1-(9 to 18) Lightning Damage
-8% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+(71 to 90)% Enhanced Defense
(15 to 18)% to Strength
+5 Mana after each Kill
Socketed (2)
Defense: (952 - 1090) to (1294 - 1481)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 210
Item Level: 59
3% Chance to cast level 30 Tempest on Kill
Adds 1-(43 to 50) Lightning Damage
-12% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+(101 to 130)% Enhanced Defense
(23 to 26)% to Strength
+10 Mana after each Kill
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1631 - 1755) to (2201 - 2367)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 420
Item Level: 85
3% Chance to cast level 40 Tempest on Kill
Adds 1-(131 to 150) Lightning Damage
-16% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+(151 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
(27 to 30)% to Strength
+18 Mana after each Kill
Socketed (4)

: %Str, decent defense, Lightning Shield oskill - appearance matters
*Obtainable from Griswold's Treasure*
Gloves:

Featherclaw

: IAS, FRW, Dex, AR
Belt:

Deadfall

Deadfall
Heavy Belt (4)
Defense: (135 - 159) to (178 - 210)
Required Level: 7
Required Strength: 36
Item Level: 19
2% Chance to cast level 2 Shower of Rocks on Kill
1% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+(16 to 25) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(11 to 15)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (485 - 551) to (616 - 700)
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 62
Item Level: 36
2% Chance to cast level 4 Shower of Rocks on Kill
2% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+(36 to 45) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1270 - 1400) to (1595 - 1758)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 218
Item Level: 51
2% Chance to cast level 8 Shower of Rocks on Kill
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+(56 to 65) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(31 to 35)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1918 - 2095) to (2403 - 2626)
Required Level: 50
Required Strength: 436
Item Level: 85
2% Chance to cast level 12 Shower of Rocks on Kill
4% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(66 to 75) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(36 to 40)%
Socketed (2)

: SoR proc, %CB, Strength, Light res
*Obtainable from Griswold's Treasure*
Boots:

Lionpaw

Lionpaw
Chain Boots (4)
Defense: (49 - 54) to (71 - 78)
Required Level: 4
Required Strength: 29
Item Level: 10
(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: 31
(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: 51
(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: 77
(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)

-->

Craton

Craton
Boots
'UmLem'
Runeword Level: 58
1% Chance to cast level 7 Shower of Rocks on Melee Attack
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(21 to 25) to all Attributes
5% to Vitality
Elemental Resists +10%
Physical Damage Reduced by (16 to 20)
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
(1 to 10)% Gold Find
(1 to 10)% Magic Find
+(1 to 10) to Light Radius

: SoR proc, Attributes, Flat DR, TCD
Rings: Anything -->

Empyrean Band

Empyrean Band
Ring
Required Level: 40
Item Level: 40
1% Chance to cast level 18 Singularity on Kill
(3 to 5)% to All Attributes
Maximum Life +3%
Maximum Mana +10%
(5 to 15)% Gold Find

or

Ring of Truth

Ring of Truth
Ring
Required Level: 20
Item Level: 20
25% Block Speed
15% Hit Recovery
(31 to 50)% Bonus to Attack Rating
Slows Attacker by (3 to 5)%
(11 to 15)% Bonus to Defense
+2 to Light Radius

Amulet: Anything -->

Angel Heart

Angel Heart
Amulet
Required Level: 40
Item Level: 40
+(1 to 2) to All Skills
(5 to 10)% to Strength
(5 to 10)% to Dexterity
(15 to 25)% Bonus to Defense
+(3 to 5) to Light Radius

On Switch:
Weapons: Anything with +skills

► Notes, Sockets, and MOs

Be sure to use Oil of Luck to try for:
Amulet: +1 Skills
Armor/Helm/Gloves/Belt/Boots/Shield: 20%ED and/or 1%DR
Weapon: 20%ED and/or 100%AR

The reason we choose

Banner of Duncraig

Banner of Duncraig
Kite Shield (4)
Defense: (138 - 157) to (266 - 305)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 5
Required Strength: 28
Required Dexterity: 59
Item Level: 10
1% Chance to cast level 1 Fortress on Melee Attack
2% Chance to cast level 1 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(18 to 35)% Enhanced Defense
+(9 to 15) to Strength
+(9 to 15) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(16 to 25)%
Cold Resist +(16 to 25)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (462 - 513) to (817 - 909)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 55
Required Dexterity: 87
Item Level: 36
2% Chance to cast level 5 Fortress on Melee Attack
3% Chance to cast level 5 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(52 to 69)% Enhanced Defense
+(23 to 29) to Strength
+(23 to 29) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(36 to 45)%
Cold Resist +(36 to 45)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1174 - 1274) to (2015 - 2188)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 40
Required Strength: 193
Required Dexterity: 183
Item Level: 51
3% Chance to cast level 9 Fortress on Melee Attack
4% Chance to cast level 9 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(87 to 103)% Enhanced Defense
+(37 to 43) to Strength
+(37 to 43) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(56 to 65)%
Cold Resist +(56 to 65)%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1744 - 1881) to (2982 - 3216)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 385
Required Dexterity: 378
Item Level: 85
4% Chance to cast level 11 Fortress on Melee Attack
4% Chance to cast level 11 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(104 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
+(44 to 50) to Strength
+(44 to 50) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(66 to 75)%
Cold Resist +(66 to 75)%
Socketed (4)

over

Invictus

Invictus
Gilded Shield (4)
Defense: (293 - 346) to (598 - 705)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 14
Required Strength: 35
Item Level: 10
1% Chance to cast level 3 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(15 to 30)%
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+15 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 2%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (1029 - 1169) to (1897 - 2156)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 70
Item Level: 31
2% Chance to cast level 7 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(60 to 80)%
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+20 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 3%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (2644 - 2915) to (4760 - 5247)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 245
Item Level: 51
2% Chance to cast level 11 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(90 to 110)%
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+25 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 4%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (3984 - 4352) to (7140 - 7800)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 490
Item Level: 77
3% Chance to cast level 15 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(120 to 140)%
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+30 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (4)

for early game is because we are attacking in melee range much more often, and the procs can be more valuable through hatred and/or early Terror. Once the mid-game comes around in mid-late Terror, we will start looking for more survivability (Hatred is very easy) and will bump up to the standard barb shield.

Sockets:
Weapon: 4x Perfect Rainbow Stones
Armor: 2x Perfect Amber, 2x Perfect Onyx, 1x Perfect Bloodstone, 1x Perfect Turquoise
Helm: 4x Io Runes (or Perfect Amethyst)
Gloves: Perfect Amber/Onyx/Bloodstone/Turquoise
Belt: Perfect Bloodstone/Turquoise
Boots: For now, any jewels to make the runeword. Later --> Ohm-craft jewels for max damage and flat life

Mystic Orbs:
All armors: %ED and %TCD, and leftover space will be flat Dexterity or Magic Find.
Weapon: %ED and life leech, and leftover space will be %AR.
Rings/Amulet: Flat DR and flat defense.
Boots: Proper runeword prep:

1.) Make the item into a superior base item.
2.) Use Oil of Renewal until you get 30-35%ED and zero/max sockets
3.) Use Oil of Luck for chance at 20% ED/1% DR. If this step fails, go back to Step 2 (We mostly want the 1% DR.)
4.) Once you get the successful Luck Oil, Add 5x 15% ED MOs.
5.) Socket your jewels (be sure to use Oil of Luck on each jewel first).
6.) Socket your rune in the last socket.

Merc Gear - Act 2 Shapeshifter
The Act 2 Shapeshifter merc is a super tank with extremely fast attack speed when he picks up our Wolf Stance aura and Wolf Companion buff. Make the best use out of his speed and survivability with the following setup:

Weapon:

Sea Summoner

Sea Summoner
Trident (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (6 - 7) to (9 - 11)
Required Level: 3
Required Strength: 18
Required Dexterity: 29
Item Level: 1
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
5% Chance to cast level 2 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
Adds (3 to 5)-(5 to 7) Cold Damage
+(24 to 40)% Enhanced Damage
Slow Target (3 to 5)%
+(16 to 25) to Dexterity
+20 Life Regenerated per Second
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (18 - 21) to (30 - 33)
Required Level: 21
Required Strength: 39
Required Dexterity: 53
Item Level: 31
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
6% Chance to cast level 6 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
Adds (13 to 18)-(21 to 25) Cold Damage
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
Slow Target (9 to 11)%
+(36 to 45) to Dexterity
+40 Life Regenerated per Second
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (38 - 41) to (63 - 68)
Required Level: 40
Required Strength: 88
Required Dexterity: 114
Item Level: 51
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
7% Chance to cast level 10 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
Adds (51 to 70)-(81 to 100) Cold Damage
+(92 to 109)% Enhanced Damage
Slow Target (15 to 17)%
+(56 to 65) to Dexterity
+60 Life Regenerated per Second
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (50 - 54) to (83 - 90)
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 180
Required Dexterity: 230
Item Level: 77
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
8% Chance to cast level 12 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
Adds (116 to 140)-(176 to 200) Cold Damage
+(109 to 126)% Enhanced Damage
Slow Target (18 to 20)%
+(66 to 75) to Dexterity
+75 Life Regenerated per Second
(41 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (6)

: Glacial Nova proc, slow target
Armor:

Werecat

Werecat
Breast Plate (4)
Defense: (203 - 224) to (379 - 422)
Required Level: 5
Required Strength: 30
Item Level: 10
5% Chance to cast level 1 Claw Tornado on Melee Attack
15% Attack Speed
4% Life stolen per Hit
+(24 to 40)% Enhanced Defense
+(41 to 50) Defense
+(11 to 20) to all Attributes
Physical Resist 3%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (622 - 681) to (1100 - 1207)
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 60
Item Level: 36
6% Chance to cast level 7 Claw Tornado on Melee Attack
30% Attack Speed
6% Life stolen per Hit
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
+(81 to 100) Defense
+(21 to 30) to all Attributes
Physical Resist 4%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1471 - 1589) to (2563 - 2777)
Required Level: 40
Required Strength: 210
Item Level: 51
7% Chance to cast level 13 Claw Tornado on Melee Attack
45% Attack Speed
8% Life stolen per Hit
+(92 to 109)% Enhanced Defense
+(131 to 150) Defense
+(31 to 40) to all Attributes
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (5)
Defense: (2168 - 2330) to (3757 - 4046)
Required Level: 50
Required Strength: 420
Item Level: 85
8% Chance to cast level 16 Claw Tornado on Melee Attack
60% Attack Speed
10% Life stolen per Hit
+(109 to 126)% Enhanced Defense
+(181 to 200) Defense
+(41 to 50) to all Attributes
Physical Resist 6%
Socketed (6)

: Claw Tornado proc, stats, IAS
Helm:

Lanterne Rouge

Lanterne Rouge
Great Helm (4)
Defense: (109 - 126) to (161 - 185)
Required Level: 8
Required Strength: 36
Item Level: 19
4% Chance to cast level 10 Flamefront on Melee Attack
10% Attack Speed
-3% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+(12 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
+15 Life Regenerated per Second
Socketed (1)
Defense: (388 - 430) to (536 - 594)
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 62
Item Level: 36
6% Chance to cast level 16 Flamefront on Melee Attack
20% Attack Speed
-6% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+(47 to 63)% Enhanced Defense
+20 Life Regenerated per Second
Socketed (3)
Defense: (990 - 1077) to (1343 - 1461)
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 218
Item Level: 59
8% Chance to cast level 22 Flamefront on Melee Attack
30% Attack Speed
-9% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+(81 to 97)% Enhanced Defense
+25 Life Regenerated per Second
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1481 - 1600) to (1999 - 2161)
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 436
Item Level: 85
10% Chance to cast level 28 Flamefront on Melee Attack
40% Attack Speed
-12% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+(98 to 114)% Enhanced Defense
+30 Life Regenerated per Second
Socketed (4)

: Not much to choose from for early game
Gloves:

Toorc's Gift

Toorc's Gift
Chain Gloves (4)
Defense: (26 - 30) to (47 - 54)
Required Level: 5
Required Strength: 28
Item Level: 10
2% Chance to cast level 1 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
5% Attack Speed
Stun Attack
+(12 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(11 to 15)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (155 - 172) to (211 - 234)
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 57
Item Level: 31
3% Chance to cast level 2 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
15% Attack Speed
Adds (11 to 15)-(16 to 25) Cold Damage
Stun Attack
+(47 to 63)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (434 - 472) to (573 - 624)
Required Level: 40
Required Strength: 201
Item Level: 51
4% Chance to cast level 3 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
25% Attack Speed
Adds (36 to 45)-(46 to 63) Cold Damage
Stun Attack
+(81 to 97)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(31 to 35)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (657 - 710) to (859 - 928)
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 402
Item Level: 77
5% Chance to cast level 3 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
30% Attack Speed
Adds (81 to 100)-(101 to 125) Cold Damage
Stun Attack
+(98 to 114)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(36 to 40)%
Socketed (4)

: Glacial Nova proc
Belt:

Deadfall

Deadfall
Heavy Belt (4)
Defense: (135 - 159) to (178 - 210)
Required Level: 7
Required Strength: 36
Item Level: 19
2% Chance to cast level 2 Shower of Rocks on Kill
1% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+(16 to 25) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(11 to 15)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (485 - 551) to (616 - 700)
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 62
Item Level: 36
2% Chance to cast level 4 Shower of Rocks on Kill
2% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+(36 to 45) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1270 - 1400) to (1595 - 1758)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 218
Item Level: 51
2% Chance to cast level 8 Shower of Rocks on Kill
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+(56 to 65) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(31 to 35)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1918 - 2095) to (2403 - 2626)
Required Level: 50
Required Strength: 436
Item Level: 85
2% Chance to cast level 12 Shower of Rocks on Kill
4% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(66 to 75) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(36 to 40)%
Socketed (2)

Boots:

Epicenter

Epicenter
Boots
'Ith'
Runeword Level: 18
0.0625% Chance of Crushing Blow (Based on Character Level)
+(4 to 15)% Enhanced Defense
+(40 to 60) to Life
Elemental Resists +(3 to 5)%

-->

Death Spur

Death Spur
Heavy Boots (4)
Defense: 27 to 39
Required Level: 3
Required Strength: 27
Item Level: 1
1% Chance to cast level 6 Spike Nova on Kill
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+0.09375 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
+(11 to 15) to Strength
+(11 to 15) to Dexterity
Socketed (1)
Defense: 109 to 141
Required Level: 20
Required Strength: 55
Item Level: 31
1% Chance to cast level 10 Spike Nova on Kill
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+0.15625 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
+(21 to 25) to Strength
+(21 to 25) to Dexterity
Socketed (2)
Defense: 248 to 310
Required Level: 38
Required Strength: 193
Item Level: 51
1% Chance to cast level 14 Spike Nova on Kill
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+0.21875 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
+(31 to 35) to Strength
+(31 to 35) to Dexterity
Socketed (3)
Defense: 346 to 427
Required Level: 46
Required Strength: 386
Item Level: 77
1% Chance to cast level 16 Spike Nova on Kill
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+0.25 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
+(36 to 40) to Strength
+(36 to 40) to Dexterity
Socketed (4)

: Spike Nova proc, stats
Amulet: Anything with Hymn proc

► Sockets, MOs, and Notes

Sockets:
Weapon: 6x Perfect Ruby --> 6x Zod Rune
All other pieces should use Perfect Bloodstones/Onyx/Turquoise/Ambers for your merc's max resist to be much more durable.

Mystic Orbs:
Weapon: Life on Attack
All armors: MO'd with %TCD or %ED
Amulet: Flat Defense, Flat DR, Poison Length Reduce or Resists

Notes:
-Mercs don't deal with durability on gear, so if you find eth TU6 items, use those. You'll optimize damage and defense with ethereal items. If the item is eth, disregard the part about MOs.

---

Stats
Strength: Enough for armors
Dexterity: Enough for weapon/shield, Leftovers go here too.
Vitality: None
Energy: None

*Note* Some of your gear will help you equip other pieces with their +attributes. Just make sure to keep an eye on your inventory when you die and pick your corpse up to ensure all items are equipped properly.

---

Skillplan
Max: Fortress, Wolf Companion
10-Point: Mountain King, Wolf Stance
1-Point: Earthquake, Spirit Walk, Shower of Rocks
Leftovers: Spirit Guide

---

Gameplay
Use your switch weapons with +skills to summon Wolf Companions and buff Shamanic Trance (barely does anything, but since we have it, may as well use it), swap back to main, activate Lightning Shield (just for the lols), use Fortress and then Earthquake on Fortress cooldown. In this early game portion, Earthquake will be much more your damage dealer (when your wolf's doom applies, your damage scales up a ton from that extra physical damage per hit), hence the reason we use Banner of Duncraig as the shield -- more Fortress procs and Bloodlust to help in between your timered Fortress skill casts, along with your Fortress/Guard Tower procs from your weapon/armor. In plain terms, lots of chaos and arrows.

Run through Hatred, be sure to do all of the extra quests that give you extra skills and stats (Den of Evil in Act 1, Radament in Act 2, Lam Esen's Tome and Jade Figurine in Act 3, Izual in act 4). Don't worry about getting your Class Charm,

Worldstone Orb

Worldstone Orb
(Barbarian Challenge Item)

(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 90
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Unlocks your Ennead Skill
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+25% to Summoned Minion Life
+1% to Runemaster Defense Bonus

, until after you defeat Hatred. It's not necessary for us right now and will be fairly slow for comfort til closer to lvl 60-65-ish. See the Ennead Challenge section further below for how to do this one most efficiently.

---

Challenges
Level Challenge 1 - Tran Athulua - Max Level: 50
Reward:

Elemental Prism

(upgraded with the Sunstones of Fire/Ice/Lightning)
Bonus: Completing the Anya quest in Act 5 will reward you with a Scroll of Resistance (+10% All Resist) -- Cube this with your Prism each difficulty that you complete the quest in -- +30% All Resists total.

This video only shows Skovos, Ice Priestess being completed to show how the challenge is done. Complete all three for the proper upgrade.

► Notes, Map, and Image

Location: Dry Hills --> Halls of Dead --> Island of Skartara --> Tran Athulua
As soon as you enter Island of Skartara, go south and west. Do not go up. That is a separate boss area. With Map Reveal, you can see where Tran Athulua is. The Pirate at beginning of Tran Athulua drops your Elemental Prism. Cube each Priestess's Sunstones with the Elemental Prism to gain the upgrades.

Level Challenge 1 - Documentation

Here are screenshots of map layout with the marked locations of the priestesses (Credit to Rishab) and the completed LC1 charm:

---

If you haven't completed Hatred yet, go ahead and kill Baal, then go grab Wirt's Leg to clear Hatred Cows. A few runs here should put you at about lvl 60. These extra levels make a big difference in equipping gear and lowering the Fortress timer. Once you've done that, you can either go try Island of the Sunless Sea (Glacial Trail cave) to quickly get ~lvl 68, or just move forward into Terror. If you choose IotSS, be aware of Malic to the lower right path. He has slow-moving one-hit kill missiles.

By the time you're Lvl 65-72ish, Hatred K3KBA will be much more tolerable. Our next challenge is the Ennead Challenge:

Ennead Challenge - Max Level: 80
Reward: Ennead Skill Unlocked -- Immortal
Reward: Class Charm and Upgrade --

Worldstone Orb

Worldstone Orb
(Barbarian Challenge Item)

(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 90
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Unlocks your Ennead Skill
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+25% to Summoned Minion Life
+1% to Runemaster Defense Bonus

and +2 Barb Skills, 20% Minion Life, Poison Length Reduced by 33%

► Notes on Ennead Challenge

Goal: Collect your

Worldstone Orb

Worldstone Orb
(Barbarian Challenge Item)

(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 90
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Unlocks your Ennead Skill
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+25% to Summoned Minion Life
+1% to Runemaster Defense Bonus

from the necromancers in the corners of Kurast K3KBA and cube it with any jewel before you are Level 80.
Location: Kurast Docks --> Torajan Jungles (down and left from Alkor in town) --> K3KBA (first red portal you see)

This area be tricky because, normally, you have to kill the Shadowgate Totems to remove the skeletons' immunities in this area. The nice thing about barb is that we have access to Bear Stance, which will allow your physical damage to kill them, despite the shield being active (ignores physical resist of the undead). The unfortunate part is that Fortress cannot be cast while Bear Stance is active, so you'll need to do a bit more skill-switching to do this effectively.

Simply put: Use Fortress/Wolf, switch to Earthquake/Bear, wait for your Fortress timer to reset, swap back to Fortress/Wolf, repeat. I used Shower of Rocks to help reliably damage the small areas around the totems so I didn't have to keep re-aligning myself for Earthquake to hit the skeletons, but past this challenge, we won't be using it because it overrides our wolves' Doom.

Ennead Challenge - Documentation

There are four possible map rolls for Kurast K3KBA. All four maps use this layout of totems with slight adjustments. The only variation is which corner of the map you spawn at. The three Ennead Necromancers will be in the other three corners.



Simply cube any random jewel that you find with your class charm at or below Level 80 and your charm should read in green text:
Unlocks Your Ennead Skill

---

Proceed onto Terror and run through the difficulty, just the same as you did Hatred, orbing your gear and uptiering/respeccing stats as needed to equip your things. Some challenges pop up in Act 1 and Act 2 that are easily completed along the way:

---

Level Challenge 2 - Max Level: 90
Reward: Class Charm upgrade -- 5% Minion Life, 1% TCD per socketed rune

► Notes

Located in the Proving Grounds (Swampy Pit Level 3) in the Flayer Jungle on Terror difficulty. You have to kill the Death Projector at or below Level 90 to get a swirly effect. When this happens, cube any perfect gem with your Worldstone Orb within 30 seconds.

The Death Project is invulnerable to all damage unless he has at least one of the Death Mechanics near. The easiest/fastest thing to do is simply to lure them around in circles around the DP while you use Fortress. The Mechanics are untargetable, so Fortress will shoot straight through them and focus-fire on the DP.

If a Death Mechanic kills you or any minion, it heals the Death Projector, so ... don't get hit. Death Projector uses Death Spiral (clockwise pattern, starting ~4:00) every so often (and sometimes can spawn two), which is a one-hit kill, so avoid that.

As said above, get the swirly effect and cube any perfect gem with your class charm to get the reward.

---

From this point forward, there are no more level challenges that you need to be concerned about. You should have access to your Level 90 Uberskills around this time or coming up soon, so we will adjust the skillplan slightly.

Skillplan
Max: Wolf Companion
20-Point: Fortress
15-Point: Wolf Stance, Mountain King
8-Point: Runemaster
1-Point: Earthquake, Spirit Walk
Leftovers: Spirit Guide or Ancient Blood (every 4pts)

---

Veteran Tokens
Reward: Class Charm upgrade -- +1 to your class skills, +20% Experience Gain

► Descriptions and Images

There will be veteran monsters as you proceed through Terror and Destruction, one type for each respected Act. They come in packs of three usually, but have a small chance to spawn as an Elite mob. One monster from each pack will drop an Evil Eye of the ______ (whichever veteran monster it is). Get one of each eye and cube them all together with your Class Charm.

Act 1: Clawstorm Terror - Barracks/Jail Level 1-3 - Poison Immune, fairly tanky, uses Lorenado and can deal high poison damage.



Act 2: Fairy Witch - Canyon of the Magi - Fire Immune, dies quickly, spams Rain of FIre at longer range and Fire Cannonade when you get closer. You should be capped on resistances to make this tolerable.



Act 3: Glowing Blob - Travincal/Durance of Hate - Magic Immune, fairly tanky, uses Pounce, not threatening.



Act 4: Landmass - City of the Damned/River of Flame - Cold Immune, tankiest of the five veterans, uses Earthquake and Shower of Rocks. Wolf Doom will help take these guys down much more quickly, but don't be afraid to just lull around and let Fortress do the work.



Act 5: Bane Hunter - Worldstone Keep Levels 1-3 - Lightning Immune - Cat-like monsters (same as sorceress's Familiar), often go unnoticed because they blend in with shadows. If you see Bladestorm and Spiral Dance attacks, check the area for the Bane Hunters and/or for the evil eye.



Once you collect all 5 eyes, put them all in the cube with your class charm and transmute everything together for the reward:

---

---

Once you proceed through and complete Terror, you can hop back into Terror Cows and quickly hit lvl 120. Runemaster will help you tank some hits in melee range here if you swap out some of your res gems for Jah Runes or Resist Runes (Pul, Mal, Gul, Lo), and let you clear it somewhat efficiently for low-ish damage at this stage.

---

First Charms
At lvl 120, you'll be able to start picking up charms as you run through Destruction. The following ubers were all easily (mostly easily, obviously some can be a bit more difficult, but doable regardless) with our early game gear.
*Note* If there is no special preparations listed, then... logic. No special preparations are needed.

Butcher
Location: Inside the left-most house in Tristram
Reward:

The Butcher's Tooth

The Butcher's Tooth
Required Level: 105
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+10 to all Attributes
20% Magic Find
+1 to Light Radius
Horror Under Tristram (Heroic)
Difficulty Level: 120
Transmute in the cube after reaching Level 120

► Notes

This one was actually quite funny when I completed it the first time. The Doom (Hunter's Mark) from our wolves applies huge amounts of physical damage per hit. This works for spells as well. I had the Butcher Doom'd and looked away and died, and he stepped into a circle to lose his shield. The Singularity proc from our

Jitan's Kamon

Jitan's Kamon
Splint Mail (4)
Defense: (184 - 208) to (370 - 418)
Required Level: 6
Required Strength: 30
Item Level: 19
2% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds 2-4 Fire Damage
Adds 2-4 Lightning Damage
Adds 2-4 Cold Damage
+(24 to 40)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 2%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (592 - 656) to (1106 - 1225)
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 60
Item Level: 36
4% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds (4 to 8)-(8 to 15) Fire Damage
Adds (4 to 8)-(8 to 15) Lightning Damage
Adds (4 to 8)-(8 to 15) Cold Damage
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 3%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1466 - 1596) to (2663 - 2898)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 210
Item Level: 51
6% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds (16 to 30)-(31 to 45) Fire Damage
Adds (16 to 30)-(31 to 45) Lightning Damage
Adds (16 to 30)-(31 to 45) Cold Damage
+(92 to 109)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 4%
Socketed (5)
Defense: (2175 - 2352) to (3925 - 4244)
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 420
Item Level: 85
8% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds (31 to 60)-(81 to 120) Fire Damage
Adds (31 to 60)-(81 to 120) Lightning Damage
Adds (31 to 60)-(81 to 120) Cold Damage
+(109 to 126)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (6)

killed him so fast I didn't even see his HP drop (Singularity is a physical spell that hits a ton + the extra physical damage per hit from Doom).

The proper way to do this is to keep Fortress up every 3 seconds, and with Shamanic Trance, your 1-pt Protector Spirits will have some extra life to be able to cause the Butcher to spawn the red circles. Lure him around the room and into the circles when you can, and keep summoning Fortress and Spirits to distract him. Matter of time (or just do the accidental suicide-nuke method I happened to luckily do).

Infernal Machine
Location: Pit Lvl 2 (Tamoe Highlands)
Reward:

Optical Detector

Optical Detector
Required Level: 105
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Unlocks Mastery Skill: Tenacity
+5% to Summoned Minion Resistances
Elemental Resists +15%
Infernal Machine (Heroic)
Difficulty Level: 122
Transmute in the cube after reaching Level 122

► Notes

Just spam Fortress and kill things offscreen while your

Sudis Murale

Sudis Murale
Glaive (4)
Throw Damage: (9 - 10) to (28 - 34)
One-Hand Damage: (9 - 10) to (24 - 30)
Required Level: 7
Required Dexterity: 65
Item Level: 19
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
4% Chance to cast level 4 Fortress on Kill
+(11 to 15) to Maximum Damage
+(31 to 50)% Enhanced Damage
(1 to 2)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(21 to 25) to Strength
+(21 to 25) to Dexterity
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (2)
Throw Damage: (28 - 31) to (66 - 79)
One-Hand Damage: (20 - 22) to (49 - 60)
Required Level: 25
Required Dexterity: 99
Item Level: 36
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
5% Chance to cast level 10 Fortress on Kill
+(18 to 25) to Maximum Damage
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
(3 to 4)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(31 to 35) to Strength
+(31 to 35) to Dexterity
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (3)
Throw Damage: (66 - 73) to (148 - 168)
One-Hand Damage: (38 - 42) to (97 - 112)
Required Level: 44
Required Dexterity: 197
Item Level: 51
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
6% Chance to cast level 16 Fortress on Kill
+(36 to 45) to Maximum Damage
+(91 to 110)% Enhanced Damage
(5 to 6)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(41 to 45) to Strength
+(41 to 45) to Dexterity
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)
Throw Damage: (92 - 100) to (227 - 250)
One-Hand Damage: (53 - 57) to (154 - 171)
Required Level: 53
Required Dexterity: 391
Item Level: 85
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
7% Chance to cast level 19 Fortress on Kill
+(71 to 80) to Maximum Damage
+(121 to 140)% Enhanced Damage
(7 to 8)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(46 to 50) to Strength
+(46 to 50) to Dexterity
(46 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)

proc's more Fortresses (did you see the banner image at the top of the guide? That's this uber.)

Earthquake can help a bit in here, but it's not really necessary unless mobs get up close to you somehow. Line them up with a bit of kiting and hit them all with EQ while arrows fly.

The Binding of Baal
Location: Tal Rasha's Tomb (Dark Portal after killing Zoltun Kulle)
Reward:

Scroll of Kings

Scroll of Kings
Required Level: 110
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+10% to Spell Damage
20% to All Attributes

Preparation: Capped Resists (+max res and absorb will help as well)

► Notes

You'll morph into Baal for this one, as part of the lore. Just use Fortress and keep moving around (Baal morph hit recovery is horribly slow). Do your best to stick to corners to separate the mages as best as possible and just strafe around with Fortress and EQ. Once all of the Horadric Mages are dead, Tal Rasha's invulnerability shield will drop.

Death Projector
Location: Swampy Pit Lvl 3 (Flayer Jungle Waypoint)
Reward:

Laser Focus Crystal

Laser Focus Crystal
Required Level: 105
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Maximum Life +3%
Maximum Mana +10%
+10% to Experience Gained
Death Projector (Heroic)
Difficulty Level: 121
Transmute in the cube after reaching Level 121

► Notes

Same method as Level Challenge 2, but might take a few more seconds to kill.

Creature of Flame
Location: Dimensional Sanctum (Caldeum, middle right)
Reward:

Horazon's Focus

Horazon's Focus
Required Level: 110
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
(3 to 5)% Life stolen per Hit
(3 to 5)% Mana stolen per Hit
-50 Defense
+(21 to 25) to all Attributes

► Notes

The Astral Guardians here will hit you to give you a 100% avoid aura (will turn you blue and glowing) for a few seconds. That's the proper way to complete the uber, since that allows you to bypass the Creature of Flame's instakill beam. The problem is that Fortress will happily kill all of the Guardians, so just be nimble with your clicks and use Fortress while you dodge back and forth until the arrows shoot it down.

Khalimgrad
Location: Plains of Despair (Dark Portal after killing Izual)
Reward:

Zakarum's Ear

Zakarum's Ear
Required Level: 115
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
(6 to 10)% to All Attributes
+(6 to 15)% to Experience Gained
Heroic Library of Fate
Rewards: Angelic Items, Crafting Rares, Crafting Exclusive Uniques
Tramsmute with a Perfect Gem to open with Area Level 125
Tramsmute with 2 Angelic items to open with Area Level 130

► Notes

The holy grounds of Heaven are trying to keep you from being holy or some shit... I dunno. Kill the Ethereals and they'll release a giant white nova.
If this nova hits the Zakarum Avatars (big angel dudes), they'll lose their immunity shields and allow you to kill them. If you can't finish killing the Avatar while his shield is down, just lure a few more Ethereals over to him to break his shield again. It can be annoying, but do this until you get a 10% Attributes charm. Also in this area, down to the lower side, you'll find Imperius. If you kill him and use Dark Portal, that opens the way to the Judgment Day uberquest, but we will put that off for a later time.

Island of the Sunless Sea
Location: Glacial Trail
Reward:

Six Angel Bag

Six Angel Bag
Required Level: 105
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
(3 to 5)% Innate Elemental Damage
Fire Resist +(21 to 25)%
Lightning Resist +(21 to 25)%
Cold Resist +(21 to 25)%

► Notes and Map

If you did some leveling here in Hatred to bump up a few levels before starting Terror, you'll know what to expect. Malic is to the lower right path. Use Fortress and EQ to clear your way down, and hope for some reanimates to pop up near Malic. This will allow you to get in closer range of him with Fortress and EQ. Otherwise, just keep your distance and use Fortress to slowly chip away while you avoid the slow-moving instakill missiles. He will drop the Six Angel Bag.

Make your way back up to the top and follow the left path all the way down to fight Lucion (looks like Mephisto). He usually has some immunities, so if he happens to spawn Physical immune, then you'll just have to make a new game. He provides a shield aura to nearby enemies, but it's pretty easy to lure him or the enemies apart, allowing you to get in and blast him. Be aware of his Poison Nova -- you'll want your poison resist to be capped for this. Once he drops the Sunless Crystal Bird, cube it with your Six Angel Bag to upgrade it. Make sure you do this until you get a -5% pierce roll.

King Koth
Location: Arreat Summit (Dark Portal after killing Ancients)
Reward:

Sacred Worldstone Key

Sacred Worldstone Key
Required Level: 110
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Weapon Physical Damage +(25 to 30)%
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense

► Notes

Similar to the Tal Rasha fight, you'll morph into Diablo this time. But... Diablo is WAY more fun. Your attack speed is extremely fast in this morph. Hit recovery is still shitty, but Wolf Stance helps with that. Just use Fortress and super-speed EQ to clear the Bear Shamans until King Koth's shield drops. Watch out after Koth dies. He leaves a Hawk Talons trap that takes a few seconds to blow up and can do a bit of damage if you're on top of it.

Kurast 3000K BA
Location: Torajan Jungles (first red portal)
Reward:

Hammer of the Taan Judges

Hammer of the Taan Judges
Required Level: 115
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+1 to All Skills
+1 to Necromancer Skill Levels
+(21 to 25) Spell Focus
Weapon Physical Damage +0.1875% (Based on Character Level)

► Notes

Same method as your Ennead Challenge. The charm has a 1/6th drop rate, so this may take a few tries.

Lord Aldric Jitan
Location: Torajan Jungle (see map)
Reward:

Moon of the Spider

Moon of the Spider
By Richard Knaak

Required Level: 110
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+(21 to 25) Spell Focus
+1 to Jitan's Gate
Half Freeze Duration

Trophy: 25% EWD

► Notes and Map

Can be an annoying one because Jitan and his minions also use Fortresses and have Singularity on death (they're basically red-robed turban-wearing alter-egos of yourself). Just take it slow and lure one by one through the narrow paths.

More annoying for this uber is just getting to him with Forest Keepers. Since you don't have much of a high-damaging single target attack to knock down those Treewardens, you might be better off skipping past them and only concerning yourself with the one or two that are outside of Jitan's area, otherwise you'll spend an hour just walking to him.

Jitan guards the entrance to Astrogha's Web of Deceit, but we aren't nearly ready for that one yet, so don't worry too much about getting further than killing Jitan. Check out this map if you're unfamiliar with how to get to Jitan and Astrogha:

Tran Athulua
Location: Halls of the Dead --> Island of Skartara
Reward:

Sunstone of the Gods

Sunstone of the Gods
Required Level: 115
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
(3 to 5)% Innate Elemental Damage
Maximum Life +(3 to 5)%
Maximum Mana +(11 to 15)%

Trophy: 5% DR

► Notes

Same concept as Level Challenge 1 with an additional, annoying threat in Destruction. Each amazon has a 5% chance when killed to cast Arrowside, which will shoot a huge stream of arrows at you. Solution? Just be nimble and watch what you're doing.

Definitely take the few extra runs to get a 15% life charm (preferably 15/15 just cause why not?) and the trophy. If you're comfortable with the area, you can make this one of your early farming spots as well, though I found it to be a bit too slow for this stage. We will come back to it later with some newer gear to make it faster and more tolerable.

Cathedral of Light
Location: Inner Cloister --> Cathedral (Staircase in right room)
Reward:

Idol of Vanity

Idol of Vanity
Required Level: 115
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Unlocks Mastery Skill: Continuity
15% Combat Speeds

Trophy: 10% Minion Life/Damage

► Notes

Your primary target is the Crystal Ball in the lower center of this Cathedral because it provides a shield to all the other enemies in the area (Nuns of Vanity, two Cleric bosses, and the main boss, Inarius). The Crystal Ball can spawn with random immunities, so if it spawns with Physical Immunity, just remake the game.

The best tactic will be to lure as many of the nuns into the tiny entrance room as possible, then teleport down/left over the wall and keep Fortress spam and EQ in between the death spirals from the Crystal Ball. Once the Crystal Ball is dead, the rest of the enemies are trivial. For now, just grab the charm, and then we can come back later and grab the trophy (though it's not that much of a help unless you plan to switch to a summoner down the road).

Kabraxis, Thief of Hope
Location: Chaos Sanctuary (Dark Portal after Buyard Cholik -- top seal boss)
Reward:

Soul of Kabraxis

Soul of Kabraxis
Required Level: 120
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+1 to All Skills
Maximum Fire Resist +(2 to 3)%
Maximum Lightning Resist +(2 to 3)%
Maximum Cold Resist +(2 to 3)%
Maximum Poison Resist +(2 to 3)%

Trophy: 2% any random reanimate (including elites)
Preparation: Magic Resist can help, but not required

► Notes and Video

This one is actually incredibly easy with Fortress. Even 1-pt Fortress can do this without a single melee attack. All we are going to do is step back and forth or circle around him at about 1/2 screen range to avoid balefires. If you stray away too far or hide behind a pillar, he will pounce to you and summon more skeletons. You'll see some of that in the video and the optimal distance to stay within to avoid pouncing and mass skeleton spam. The more skeletons = the less arrows that hit Kabraxis.

Crushing Blow will chunk his HP down to 10% extremely quickly. Just stick it out and let the phys damage from your arrows finish the job. I did 2 runs prior to this video and they were both deathless, about 1.5 minutes each. Kabraxis has the Soulstealer affix, meaning every time he kills something, he will heal a few % of his HP back so... don't die!

---

---

Mid Game

---

As you make your way through Terror, keep a lookout for any sacred barb-specific helmet. You'll use that to craft to gain early access to Ancients' Hand to help with boss-killing. Charsi can imbue your item to make it rare for crafting -- just make sure you are at least Lvl 95 before imbuing for this since the imbue recipe is:

White Item + Imbue = Rare Item with ilvl of Character Level +4

On that note, you're going to want to start keeping an eye out for Fascinating Shrines and Weird Shrines, specifically (but any shrine will work for now as long as you get the oskill), as shrines can start dropping in Act 2. Hopefully with a bit of luck and/or trading/farming, you'll be able to gather up some pieces for the midgame gear:

---

Gear
Weapon:

Sudis Murale

Sudis Murale
Glaive (4)
Throw Damage: (9 - 10) to (28 - 34)
One-Hand Damage: (9 - 10) to (24 - 30)
Required Level: 7
Required Dexterity: 65
Item Level: 19
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
4% Chance to cast level 4 Fortress on Kill
+(11 to 15) to Maximum Damage
+(31 to 50)% Enhanced Damage
(1 to 2)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(21 to 25) to Strength
+(21 to 25) to Dexterity
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (2)
Throw Damage: (28 - 31) to (66 - 79)
One-Hand Damage: (20 - 22) to (49 - 60)
Required Level: 25
Required Dexterity: 99
Item Level: 36
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
5% Chance to cast level 10 Fortress on Kill
+(18 to 25) to Maximum Damage
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
(3 to 4)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(31 to 35) to Strength
+(31 to 35) to Dexterity
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (3)
Throw Damage: (66 - 73) to (148 - 168)
One-Hand Damage: (38 - 42) to (97 - 112)
Required Level: 44
Required Dexterity: 197
Item Level: 51
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
6% Chance to cast level 16 Fortress on Kill
+(36 to 45) to Maximum Damage
+(91 to 110)% Enhanced Damage
(5 to 6)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(41 to 45) to Strength
+(41 to 45) to Dexterity
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)
Throw Damage: (92 - 100) to (227 - 250)
One-Hand Damage: (53 - 57) to (154 - 171)
Required Level: 53
Required Dexterity: 391
Item Level: 85
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
7% Chance to cast level 19 Fortress on Kill
+(71 to 80) to Maximum Damage
+(121 to 140)% Enhanced Damage
(7 to 8)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(46 to 50) to Strength
+(46 to 50) to Dexterity
(46 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)

: Everything is still good here
Shield:

Invictus

Invictus
Gilded Shield (4)
Defense: (293 - 346) to (598 - 705)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 14
Required Strength: 35
Item Level: 10
1% Chance to cast level 3 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(15 to 30)%
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+15 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 2%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (1029 - 1169) to (1897 - 2156)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 70
Item Level: 31
2% Chance to cast level 7 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(60 to 80)%
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+20 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 3%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (2644 - 2915) to (4760 - 5247)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 245
Item Level: 51
2% Chance to cast level 11 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(90 to 110)%
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+25 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 4%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (3984 - 4352) to (7140 - 7800)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 490
Item Level: 77
3% Chance to cast level 15 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(120 to 140)%
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+30 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (4)

: %DR, Attributes, high defense, Gift of the Wild proc
Armor:

Jitan's Kamon

Jitan's Kamon
Splint Mail (4)
Defense: (184 - 208) to (370 - 418)
Required Level: 6
Required Strength: 30
Item Level: 19
2% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds 2-4 Fire Damage
Adds 2-4 Lightning Damage
Adds 2-4 Cold Damage
+(24 to 40)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 2%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (592 - 656) to (1106 - 1225)
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 60
Item Level: 36
4% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds (4 to 8)-(8 to 15) Fire Damage
Adds (4 to 8)-(8 to 15) Lightning Damage
Adds (4 to 8)-(8 to 15) Cold Damage
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 3%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1466 - 1596) to (2663 - 2898)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 210
Item Level: 51
6% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds (16 to 30)-(31 to 45) Fire Damage
Adds (16 to 30)-(31 to 45) Lightning Damage
Adds (16 to 30)-(31 to 45) Cold Damage
+(92 to 109)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 4%
Socketed (5)
Defense: (2175 - 2352) to (3925 - 4244)
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 420
Item Level: 85
8% Chance to cast level 1 Guard Tower on Kill
Adds (31 to 60)-(81 to 120) Fire Damage
Adds (31 to 60)-(81 to 120) Lightning Damage
Adds (31 to 60)-(81 to 120) Cold Damage
+(109 to 126)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (6)

: %DR and Guard Towers are hard to drop
Helm: Fascinating Craft Barb Helm: Ancients' Hand oskill, +skills, -Enemy Fire Res
Gloves:

Featherclaw

-->

Geleb's Greed

Geleb's Greed
Light Gauntlets (Sacred)
Defense: 1608 to 1830
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 115
1% Chance to cast level 37 Fire Fountain on Death Blow
+1 to All Skills
-15% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+(23 to 31) to Pyroblast
+200% Enhanced Defense
+5 Fire Absorb
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (4)

Curse of the Zakarum
(Zakarum Set)

: +skills, Fire pierce, %DR
Belt:

Deadfall

Deadfall
Heavy Belt (4)
Defense: (135 - 159) to (178 - 210)
Required Level: 7
Required Strength: 36
Item Level: 19
2% Chance to cast level 2 Shower of Rocks on Kill
1% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+(16 to 25) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(11 to 15)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (485 - 551) to (616 - 700)
Required Level: 24
Required Strength: 62
Item Level: 36
2% Chance to cast level 4 Shower of Rocks on Kill
2% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+(36 to 45) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1270 - 1400) to (1595 - 1758)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 218
Item Level: 51
2% Chance to cast level 8 Shower of Rocks on Kill
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+(56 to 65) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(31 to 35)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (1918 - 2095) to (2403 - 2626)
Required Level: 50
Required Strength: 436
Item Level: 85
2% Chance to cast level 12 Shower of Rocks on Kill
4% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+(66 to 75) to Strength
Lightning Resist +(36 to 40)%
Socketed (2)

: because deadfall.
Boots:

Craton

Craton
Boots
'UmLem'
Runeword Level: 58
1% Chance to cast level 7 Shower of Rocks on Melee Attack
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(21 to 25) to all Attributes
5% to Vitality
Elemental Resists +10%
Physical Damage Reduced by (16 to 20)
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
(1 to 10)% Gold Find
(1 to 10)% Magic Find
+(1 to 10) to Light Radius

: Still keep cause it's a nice set of boots
Rings: Rares: +skills, Fire pierce, Life leech/Magic Find (optional?)
Amulet: Rare: +skills, Fire pierce, Flat life, Flat DR

On Switch:
Weapon: Dual Wield any +5 barb skills barb-specific axe/sword.
Alternate Weapon: Weird Craft Glaive: Needs 18% Javelin on striking, %Slow Target, and high %ED/max damage

► Sockets, MOs, and Shrine Blessing

Sockets:
Most of our sockets will consist of runes at this point to gain the most out of Runemaster's defense bonus:
Weapons: Jah Runes
Gloves: Perfect Amber/Turquoise/Bloodstone/Onyx (some max res is helpful!)
Belt: Perfect Bloodstone/Turquoise (more max res for the more important damage types)
Helm: 4x Thai Runes --> Resists and Runemaster
Armor: PulMalJahGulLoJah --> Resists and defense/Runemaster

Mystic Orbs:
Same as early-game (slight tweak):
All armors will be MO'd with %ED and %TCD, and leftover space will be flat Dexterity or Magic Find.
Weapon will still be %ED and life leech, and leftover space will be %AR.
Rings/Amulet will primarily be Flat DR and Resists (if somehow you still need resists), or flat defense.

If you happen to get an extremely good roll on your Glaive in this early stage, do not use any MO's on it. A high-rolled crafted glaive with the above-mentioned stats will be your end-game boss-killer. You'll want to save as much space as possible for 3x

Warbringer

Warbringer
Mystic Orb

Right-Click to Apply
3% Chance to cast level 5 Arrow on Striking
Adds 3-4 Damage
+10 Required Level

. More max damage and striking procs will leave you with a high physical damage glaive with 18% Javelin on Striking, 12% Arrow on striking, and a lot of DPS with Fortress and the 100% conversion to fire with Ancients' Hand.

Crafted Gear - Shrine Blessing
Once you craft the AH oskill on your helmet, you can add a second set of the bonuses of the shrine onto the item.The recipe is:

Honorific/Rare/Crafted Sacred item + Arcane Crystal + Shrine = item with Shrine Blessing and Shrine (-1 charge)

Here is an example of a decent/usable weapon boss-killer glaive with the Weird craft and blessing:

You'll notice that we've swapped our

Banner of Duncraig

Banner of Duncraig
Kite Shield (4)
Defense: (138 - 157) to (266 - 305)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 5
Required Strength: 28
Required Dexterity: 59
Item Level: 10
1% Chance to cast level 1 Fortress on Melee Attack
2% Chance to cast level 1 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(18 to 35)% Enhanced Defense
+(9 to 15) to Strength
+(9 to 15) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(16 to 25)%
Cold Resist +(16 to 25)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (462 - 513) to (817 - 909)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 55
Required Dexterity: 87
Item Level: 36
2% Chance to cast level 5 Fortress on Melee Attack
3% Chance to cast level 5 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(52 to 69)% Enhanced Defense
+(23 to 29) to Strength
+(23 to 29) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(36 to 45)%
Cold Resist +(36 to 45)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (1174 - 1274) to (2015 - 2188)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 40
Required Strength: 193
Required Dexterity: 183
Item Level: 51
3% Chance to cast level 9 Fortress on Melee Attack
4% Chance to cast level 9 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(87 to 103)% Enhanced Defense
+(37 to 43) to Strength
+(37 to 43) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(56 to 65)%
Cold Resist +(56 to 65)%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (1744 - 1881) to (2982 - 3216)
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 385
Required Dexterity: 378
Item Level: 85
4% Chance to cast level 11 Fortress on Melee Attack
4% Chance to cast level 11 Bloodlust on Melee Attack
+(104 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
+(44 to 50) to Strength
+(44 to 50) to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +(66 to 75)%
Cold Resist +(66 to 75)%
Socketed (4)

out for

Invictus

Invictus
Gilded Shield (4)
Defense: (293 - 346) to (598 - 705)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 14
Required Strength: 35
Item Level: 10
1% Chance to cast level 3 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(15 to 30)%
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Defense
+15 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 2%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (1029 - 1169) to (1897 - 2156)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 70
Item Level: 31
2% Chance to cast level 7 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(60 to 80)%
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Defense
+20 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 3%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (2644 - 2915) to (4760 - 5247)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 245
Item Level: 51
2% Chance to cast level 11 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(90 to 110)%
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Defense
+25 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 4%
Socketed (4)
Defense: (3984 - 4352) to (7140 - 7800)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 490
Item Level: 77
3% Chance to cast level 15 Gift of the Wild on Kill
Weapon Physical Damage +(120 to 140)%
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Defense
+30 to all Attributes
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (4)

finally. Why did we wait so long? Because Nomadbarb does whatever the fuck he wants and wanted to be different from the mainstream chars. With that said, he now uses the mainstream shields because his technology evolved and it helps him stay alive better. The kite shield was great in early game since you were primarily a melee barb, whereas now, you're using Fortress far more often and can drop some of those on attack procs for more survivability.

Merc Gear
Weapon:

Sea Summoner

Sea Summoner
Trident (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (6 - 7) to (9 - 11)
Required Level: 3
Required Strength: 18
Required Dexterity: 29
Item Level: 1
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
5% Chance to cast level 2 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
Adds (3 to 5)-(5 to 7) Cold Damage
+(24 to 40)% Enhanced Damage
Slow Target (3 to 5)%
+(16 to 25) to Dexterity
+20 Life Regenerated per Second
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (18 - 21) to (30 - 33)
Required Level: 21
Required Strength: 39
Required Dexterity: 53
Item Level: 31
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
6% Chance to cast level 6 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
Adds (13 to 18)-(21 to 25) Cold Damage
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
Slow Target (9 to 11)%
+(36 to 45) to Dexterity
+40 Life Regenerated per Second
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (38 - 41) to (63 - 68)
Required Level: 40
Required Strength: 88
Required Dexterity: 114
Item Level: 51
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
7% Chance to cast level 10 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
Adds (51 to 70)-(81 to 100) Cold Damage
+(92 to 109)% Enhanced Damage
Slow Target (15 to 17)%
+(56 to 65) to Dexterity
+60 Life Regenerated per Second
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (50 - 54) to (83 - 90)
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 180
Required Dexterity: 230
Item Level: 77
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
8% Chance to cast level 12 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
Adds (116 to 140)-(176 to 200) Cold Damage
+(109 to 126)% Enhanced Damage
Slow Target (18 to 20)%
+(66 to 75) to Dexterity
+75 Life Regenerated per Second
(41 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (6)

: Crowd Control still useful on this to drop it for anything else
Armor:

Dragonheart

Dragonheart
Body Armors
'OhmThulFal'
Runeword Level: 70
+2 to All Skills
30% Attack Speed
30% Cast Speed
30% Block Speed
45% Hit Recovery
+1.625% Enhanced Defense (Based on Character Level)
5% to Dexterity
+(550 to 650) to Life
Cold Resist +25%

: Huge defense and that's all that's important
Helm:

Witchhunter's Hood

Witchhunter's Hood
Cap (Sacred)
Defense: (2136 - 2611) to (2161 - 2642)
Required Level: 90
Required Strength: 250
Item Level: 1
+(80 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
10% to Strength
10% to Dexterity
Maximum Elemental Resists +1%
Elemental Resists +(31 to 40)%
Physical Resist 5%
(16 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -50%
Socketed (4)

Witchhunter's Attire
(Assassin Claw Set)

: Max Resist, %Str/Dex
Gloves:

Toorc's Gift

Toorc's Gift
Chain Gloves (4)
Defense: (26 - 30) to (47 - 54)
Required Level: 5
Required Strength: 28
Item Level: 10
2% Chance to cast level 1 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
5% Attack Speed
Stun Attack
+(12 to 29)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(11 to 15)%
Socketed (1)
Defense: (155 - 172) to (211 - 234)
Required Level: 22
Required Strength: 57
Item Level: 31
3% Chance to cast level 2 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
15% Attack Speed
Adds (11 to 15)-(16 to 25) Cold Damage
Stun Attack
+(47 to 63)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(21 to 25)%
Socketed (2)
Defense: (434 - 472) to (573 - 624)
Required Level: 40
Required Strength: 201
Item Level: 51
4% Chance to cast level 3 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
25% Attack Speed
Adds (36 to 45)-(46 to 63) Cold Damage
Stun Attack
+(81 to 97)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(31 to 35)%
Socketed (3)
Defense: (657 - 710) to (859 - 928)
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 402
Item Level: 77
5% Chance to cast level 3 Glacial Nova on Melee Attack
30% Attack Speed
Adds (81 to 100)-(101 to 125) Cold Damage
Stun Attack
+(98 to 114)% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +(36 to 40)%
Socketed (4)

-->

Rockslide

or

Nature's Grasp

Belt:

Truce

Truce
Belts
'Jah'
Runeword Level: 80
5% Combat Speeds
Stun Attack
Slows Attacker by 5%
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
Physical Resist 10%

: Huge defense -->

Marchosias' Hatred

Marchosias' Hatred
Heavy Belt (Sacred)
Defense: (3111 - 3455) to (3359 - 3731)
Required Level: 90
Required Strength: 625
Item Level: 1
5% Chance to cast level 3 Bladestorm on Melee Attack
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
Weapon Physical Damage +(55 to 60)%
+(144 to 171)% Enhanced Defense
(6 to 10)% to Strength
Socketed (2)

Marchosias' Essence
(Druid Werewolf Set)

Boots:

Hunter's Trackless Step

Hunter's Trackless Step
Heavy Boots (Sacred)
Defense: (1392 - 1740) to (1474 - 1842)
Required Level: 90
Required Strength: 550
Item Level: 1
+(0 to 1) to Barbarian Skill Levels
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
10% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(100 to 150)% Enhanced Defense
+(31 to 50) to Vitality
+15 Maximum Stamina
Physical Resist 5%
50% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)

Big Game Hunter
(Barbarian Warmonger Set)

or

Charge of the Goddess

or

Nephilim

Nephilim
Boots
'ZodThul'
Runeword Level: 85
+(144 to 171)% Enhanced Defense
+150 Defense
+50 to Strength
(21 to 25)% to Strength
+50 to Vitality
(21 to 25)% to Vitality
Cold Resist +25%
+15 Life after each Kill

Amulet: Rare: +Skills, Hymn proc, +Life/Flat DR

► Sockets, MOs, and Notes

Sockets:
Any runewords: Nih-crafted jewels for Life on Attack.
Weapon: 6x Zod Rune (or 3x Zod, 3x Ruby)
All other pieces should use Perfect Bloodstones/Onyx/Turquoise/Ambers for your merc's max resist to be much more durable.

Mystic Orbs:
Weapon: Life on Attack, Life on Kill, Attack Rating
All armors: MO'd with %TCD or %ED (see note below for Runeword Prep)
Amulet: Flat Defense, DR, or Resist

Notes:
-Mercs don't deal with durability on gear, so make everything eth that you can and don't worry about indestructible jewels. You'll optimize damage and defense with ethereal items. If the item is eth, disregard the part about MOs.
-For your Runewords, be sure to properly prepare the base items with Oil of Luck for 20% ED and 1% DR.
-See the early game section when we first made our Cham RW Boots for more info about properly preparing a base item for a runeword.

-Make the Kra RW armor in Sacred Gothic Plate/Full Plate Mail/Ancient Armor and Nih RW boots in Sacred Greaves for highest defense.

---

Stats
Strength: Enough to equip gear
Dexterity: Enough to equip gear and for a comfortable Attack Rating (~20-30k)
Vitality: All remaining
Energy: None

---

Gameplay
Gameplay will remain the same as we have been doing all game with just a few more additions:

1.) You'll have access to Ancients' Hand now (if you didn't already), which will destroy single targets and most enemies that aren't fire immune (and somehow, even fire immunes). The main issue with Ancients' Hand is that its 100% physical conversion to fire. In most cases, this is a great thing. What makes it bad is that you no longer deal physical damage with that skill, which means you can't leech with it. Luckily, we have a constant shitload of arrows flying all over the screen to help upkeep the sustain.

2.) Your pre-buffing will have to include some gear re-equips to make full use of Runemaster. When you die and pick up your corpse, switch to your +5 skill weapons and summon your wolves, use Shamanic Trance (again, doesn't do much but why not?), Thundergod (our new BRC skill -- see below for BRC Trials), and re-requip all your gear that has runes in it. And then switch back to your main gear. This will give you that extra +10 skill boost to your Runemaster bonuses.

---

Black Road Challenge
Reward: +150 Life/Mana, Unlocks BRC Skill (Thundergod)
The Black Road Challenge is a set of five trials aimed at impressing the demon, Kabraxis and gaining his powers. Each one has a different approach, as they'll cover different challenges and a new-to-this-build-so-far area, Fauztinville. All five of the trials are to be completed on Terror. These trials can be completed in any order, but I'll list them as I completed them:

Trial of Fear
Goal: Defeat the Butcher
Location: Inside the left-most house in Tristram

► Notes

Funny enough, we've done this on Destruction for the charm already, and that's harder to do. Do this the same way and it will be easier than the charm. Once you kill the Butcher, you'll get a swirly effect for 30 seconds. Cube your class charm by itself to complete the trial:

Trial of Fear Completed!

Trial of Greed
Goal: Collect money and be rich
Location: Anywhere

► Notes

Collect 666,666 gold in your inventory and cube your class charm by itself to complete the trial:

Trial of Greed Completed!
To easily stack up some gold, just do 2-3 runs of Terror Island of the Sunless Sea or sell some rare gear (sacreds with %ED seem to sell for the most).

Trial of Contrition
Goal: Defeat King Koth
Location: Arreat Summit (Dark Portal after killing Ancients)

► Notes

Again, same as the charm that we've already gotten from King Koth on Destruction, but this time, you'll get the swirly effect for 30 seconds. Cube your class charm by itself to complete the trial:

Trial of Contrition Completed!

Trial of Blood
Goal: Defeat Skovos, Ice Priestess and Lycander, Thunder Priestess within 30 seconds of eachother
Location: Halls of the Dead --> Island of Skartara --> Tran Athulua

► Notes and Map

You need to kill the ice and thunder priestesses together to gain both swirly effects in order to complete this trial. You may have to take this one slower rather than steamrolling and spamming Fortress. The main concept is to separate the Priestesses from the amazons, so you can lure the two of them together. If you look at the map below, you can see the path I take. Follow the white path from the entrance and clear out the large room where the arrow ends. Then, slowly lure and clear amazons to each side where the Priestesses are until you can lure Skovos and Lycander together.



Trigger their AI, but don't use any attacks. Your wolves will damage the priestesses a bit as you're luring, and you don't want to kill them too early, so be cautious. Once they're together, then blast them to gain both the red and blue swirly effects. Cube your class charm by itself to complete the trial:

Trial of Blood Completed!

Trial of Knowledge
Goal: Collect the brains of the five robot bosses
Location: Stony Tomb --> Fauztinville

► Notes and Map

Necrobots are physical immune and are annoying to kill with our build unless you've already gotten access to Ancients' Hand. Even so, you can skip most of them. Your high defense and ~20-25% DR will let you tank most things as you stroll through. Just put up your Fortresses as you go and blast away with EQ or AH to help clear some shit mobs and keep your leech working properly and possibly get a random decent rare ring or set item to sig. Follow the map and just skim through Fauztinville to each of the five bosses. There's no real reason to spend extra time here with our current gear and kill speed. The top right boss will require you to use Jitan's Gate to hop over and kill that boss, but the rest is pretty straightforward. Cube all five brains together with your class charm to complete the trial:

Trial of Knowledge Completed!

If you did all five trials in the order that I've listed them, your charm will instead read:

All Trials Completed!
If this is the case, all that's left to do is to cube your class charm with 2x Arcane Crystals to fully complete the Black Road Challenge and gain the charm bonuses as well as unlock your new skill, Thundergod.

---

Secondary/Midgame Charms
These charms technically could be done with a bit of luck in the previous section, but Ancients' Hand is pretty easy to craft. You don't even need a good roll of it, as long as you have the skill. It will make these next ones much more tolerable.

Lord Primus and Rathma Square
Location: Caldeum (Profane Cells --> Bastion of Triune --> Rathma Square)
Reward:

Spirit Trance Herb

Spirit Trance Herb
Required Level: 115
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
10% Attack Speed
10% Cast Speed
(21 to 150)% Bonus to Attack Rating
+(10 to 25) Life Regenerated per Second

Trophy: 10% Uninterruptible Attack

► Notes

Go to the very top left of Caldeum to the Profane Cells entrance. Once inside there, go down and left until you find the staircase up to Bastion of the Triune. As soon as you enter the Triune, take the staircase in front of you to enter Rathma Square. In this area, you will find Gore Crawlers that spit missiles at you that ignore your defense, so expect to be hit fairly often and fairly hard. The tricky part is to move quickly enough that you don't get flooded because the Gore Crawlers respawn after a few seconds, so keep your Fortresses up and rush to Lord Primus in the center of the map and blast him with Ancients' Hand.

I find it best to go straight to the right when you enter, as you can see the most clearly in that room. Set up your Fortresses and slowly move forward til you find the next wall, and Lord Primus should be pretty easy to spot and namelock with AH.

Akarat
Location: Torajan Jungle (see map)
Reward:

Visions of Akarat

Visions of Akarat
Required Level: 110
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+(201 to 250) Defense
+(21 to 25) to all Attributes

Trophy: 5% Life/Mana

► Notes and Map

Coming back to the Torajan Jungle is a bit more tolerable now with more defense and damage, as well as AH to help deal with Forest Keepers (though kill speed is still slow, it helps more than what you previously had been doing), if you choose to stop and kill them on the way.

Same goes for Akarat. We now have a single-target blast spell to help kill him before he regenerates and puts his shield back up. Follow the path I've marked in this map to get to him. I always find it more convenient to come from the top side of him, but that's just a personal preference. Easy charm to obtain.
Take a few runs to get a near-perfect roll.

Azmodan, Lord of Sin
Location: Chaos Sanctuary (Dark Portal after Ghom -- right seal boss)
Reward:

Azmodan's Heart

Azmodan's Heart
Required Level: 115
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Maximum Elemental Resists +2%
Elemental Resists +(11 to 20)%
-5% to All Vendor Prices

Trophy: +150 Life/Mana
Preparation: Perfect Bloodstones to get 90% Max Fire Resist

► Notes and Map

I found this one to be quite annoying, but I didn't prepare my Fire Res properly. You'll face a ton of elite monster mobs on the way over to Azmodan's long bridge and throne area. Once you get there, it's just a rinse and repeat uber at this stage of our character building. There will be invisible, untargetable Firebloods and Pit Lords that roll fire boulders and shit at you, as well as casting Apocalypse sometimes. Azmodan himself doesn't really do anything besides use Flamestrike (easy to see it coming -- i.e. don't stand in the target circle of it) and even that is on a steady timer, so you can count when it'll happen each time. Just keep using Fortress and hit him with AH as often as you can until you chip him down to dead. We will return at a later time when it is faster to complete to grab the trophy.

Duncraig and the Corrupted Abbey
Location: Cold Plains --> Subterranean Corridor
Reward:

Assur's Bane

and

Demonsbane

Demonsbane
By Robert Marks

Required Level: 120
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+(0 to 2) to Sorceress Skill Levels
+(0 to 2) to Paladin Skill Levels
+(0 to 2) to Necromancer Skill Levels
+(0 to 2) to Druid Skill Levels
+(0 to 2) to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(0 to 2) to Assassin Skill Levels
+(0 to 2) to Amazon Skill Levels
+15 Life Regenerated per Second

Trophy: 10% Overall Speed
Preparation: 90% Max Fire Res, ~400 Flat Fire Res (helps tank Assur much more easily)

► Notes and Map

Pain in the dick, really, but not as bad as you might imagine when you see Duncraig as an Impossible uberquest. The Slain Souls in here die fairly easily, but the Necromorbs are Physical-immune and... well.. they're dicks. They run away constantly, and AH is the only way to kill them efficiently. See the problem?

Slain Souls throw barrels that will have a traveling burning fuse of about 3-4 seconds before it explodes. The explosion will more than likely kill you instantly,
besides the small amount of avoid you get from your Ennead skill, so don't stand near them. You'll get a feel for the range and timing after a while, no big deal. Use Fortress and AH to plow through the mobs and search for the five Duncraig Generals (seen on the map below) to get their Sigils to cube with a Ring of the Five (which will be a mob drop, so keep an eye out for one). Once cubed, you'll get

Assur's Bane

, which gives you purify and is needed to kill Assur and a few other ubers to follow.

*Helpful hint* -- When teleporting into rooms, summoning your 1-pt Spirits can help briefly tank while you attack and clear a path to move from barrel explosions. On your first few runs to get a +2 Barb charm, expect death. It's tolerable.

Quov Tsin
Location: Caldeum (Dark Portal after Kentril Dumon -- see map)
Reward:

Silver Seal of Ureh

Silver Seal of Ureh
Required Level: 120
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+1 to All Skills
+(21 to 30) Spell Focus
+(11 to 13)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(11 to 15)% to Summoned Minion Resistances
+(11 to 20) to Strength
+(11 to 20) to Dexterity
+(11 to 20) to Vitality
+(11 to 20) to Energy

Trophy: 8% Spell Damage
Preparation: 150 Flat DR, 85-90% Max Fire/Cold/Lightning Resist

► Notes

This is just a patience test, even more so if you didn't do the above preparations in your gear. I happened to come across

Witchhunter's Hood

Witchhunter's Hood
Cap (Sacred)
Defense: (2136 - 2611) to (2161 - 2642)
Required Level: 90
Required Strength: 250
Item Level: 1
+(80 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
10% to Strength
10% to Dexterity
Maximum Elemental Resists +1%
Elemental Resists +(31 to 40)%
Physical Resist 5%
(16 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -50%
Socketed (4)

Witchhunter's Attire
(Assassin Claw Set)

in my charm-collecting. We don't need any defense for this uber, so if you have to swap all of your runes out for max resist gems, then do it.
No reason to suffer more than you need just cause you didn't want to spend 900 gold on an Oil of Disjunction!

To put it simply: use the walls to your advantage and keep strafing. You don't have to do anything but equip your Weird-crafted Glaive and use Fortress while you step back and forth or behind corners to avoid his beam as often as possible, while still letting arrows hit him. Takes about 5 minutes. No big deal. Similar to Kabraxis, he has the Soulstealer affix, so if he kills you, he will heal a bit. Solution? Stop dying.

Here is an example of a cheap armor you can easily find or craft to help put you up over your required Flat DR (with MO's on amulet/rings, and

Craton

Craton
Boots
'UmLem'
Runeword Level: 58
1% Chance to cast level 7 Shower of Rocks on Melee Attack
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(21 to 25) to all Attributes
5% to Vitality
Elemental Resists +10%
Physical Damage Reduced by (16 to 20)
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
(1 to 10)% Gold Find
(1 to 10)% Magic Find
+(1 to 10) to Light Radius

bonuses:

Belial, Lord of Lies
Location: Chaos Sanctuary (Dark Portal after Magdha, left seal boss)
Reward:

The Book of Lies

The Book of Lies
Required Level: 125
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+(100 to 500) to Life
+(50 to 250) to Mana

► Notes

Expect death. Repeated death.

The gold chests in Belial's area are traps (get it? Lord of Lies?) and release novas that burn your HP down to 1 and will take a few seconds to wear off before you can heal again. You can avoid them and step between the missiles if you're far enough away, but there's a ton and they keep respawning. Just plow through. Belial will pounce on you and summon Henchmen that spam Punishers at you. Do your best to lead him into a nice, tidy corner so your Towers can stack up and help clear Henchmen and damage him, while you focus fire (and most likely suicide) your AH on top of him. More fire pierce will make this easier, as well as making sure you're using your high-damage Glaive (I keeep forgetting to equip mine for these bosses ).

Pray for a good roll (400+ Life), otherwise, just ignore the roll, and come back later when its way faster to get a nice charm.

Baal on the Eve of Destruction
Location: Worldstone Chamber
Reward: Patriarch status? (and also access to the Cow Level)

► Notes

This will take a while because Baal never stands still, and he summons specters of the other Act Bosses, as well as Minions of Destruction when he feels threatened. You need to prioritize these summons and other act bosses if you see them because they will "empower" Baal and heal him a little bit or make him invulnerable until they're dead. Otherwise, just keep chipping away at him.

Fortress will make him teleport around quite frequently (he has a chance to teleport when damaged), but that's okay because it keeps you on the move to avoid standing in his black novas, which will hurt.. a lot. Keep using Fortress, keep chasing with Ancients' Hand, be mindful of the novas and summons. Took me about 15 minutes at this point with only -25% fire pierce.

Bull Prince Rodeo
Location: The Secret Cow Level
Reward:

Fool's Gold

Fool's Gold
Moo moo moo Moooo! Moo!

Required Level: 115
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+(0 to 38) to Strength
+(0 to 38) to Dexterity
+(0 to 38) to Vitality
+(0 to 38) to Energy
(11 to 15)% Bonus to Defense
-10% Gold Find
(16 to 20)% Magic Find

and 1/30th chance for Unique Mystic Orbs

► Notes

Just your normal Cows, but more incoming damage because of Destruction difficulty. Let your Fortress procs go to work, help clear with AH, and if you're lazy, let your reanimates help tank for you.

BPR will use Fowl Fight (mini-homing chickens) and Hoof Stomp (you can't miss this -- the large white knockback novas), and stand still, but teleport when you're not in melee range. The easiest method is to lure him to a corner of the wall, so that his stomps will knock you back into the wall without you moving at all, yet also not directly in the corner (since his Cow Rush can explode through the wall). Lure him to a nice corner, and stand about 1-2 steps below the wall to be safe. Fortress, AH, and Health Potions for an easy charm.

Juris Khan and the Kingdown of Shadow
Location: Caldeum --> Quov Tsin's area --> Red Portal below QT --> Ruins of Ureh (see notes)
Reward:

Eternal Bone Pile

Eternal Bone Pile
Required Level: 120
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+(1 to 2) to Sorceress Skill Levels
+(1 to 2) to Paladin Skill Levels
+(1 to 2) to Necromancer Skill Levels
+(1 to 2) to Druid Skill Levels
+(1 to 2) to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(1 to 2) to Assassin Skill Levels
+(1 to 2) to Amazon Skill Levels
10% Movement Speed

Trophy: +1 All Skills

► Notes and Map

Finding Ureh can normally be tricky, but here's the easiest way:
When you exit QT's area, you will appear next to a hut. Find the flagpole and banner around the hut, and run in the direction from the hut entrance towards the banner. You'll be looking for another hut (doesn't appear cleanly on the automap), so zig-zag down and back until you find it. Once inside, you'll see a huge area with untargetable zombie Citizens, Darkwardens (big, tanky guys that use Tremor on death, so don't kill them), and Punisher Turrets (self-explanatory). Do not run through the zombies. This will desync you since the game reads it as a collision and you're stuck in front of them, while visually you ran straight through. Just zig-zag your way down and through the huge "ruined city", avoiding contact. Use Jitan's Gate or TP to town if you get stuck.

Once you get to the long bridge at the bottom, it's a slow process of teleporting and waiting. Bear Stance can help somewhat with DR and defense, as well as minions to distract when you TP to town and back to teleport further (basically rinse and repeat that) towards Juris Khan. Smack him with AH, grab the charm (please do not lose your TP, for the love of Akarat) and pray for a +2 Barb.

Yes, I know you can equip a sword and use windform, but how would you use a javelin and shield if you're using a sword?

---

---

---

---

---

Still to come:
Listed in order I plan to complete them, roughly
5 Void Scrolls

Signet Farming to 500/Level up to 121.
Auhe Rune
Fauztinville for Bremmtown Upgrade
Xazax

End-Game Gear/Skill Plan

Astrogha
Zorun Tzin, Asshole Sorcerer
Uldyssian, Dark King
Archbishop Lazarus
Soul of Pride Ring and Rathma and the Void

---

---

---

Credits
Marco and SB, of course (and maybe Quirinus/Aahz too)
aerial for his already-published guide on how to do everything as a barb
ScarletEdge/HohoHaha for various barb-related questions
MXL 1.F9 for Timerless Fortress inspiration
Somnus, Szumigajowy, and crew for updated uberquest maps
Belial and Astrogha for being douchebags
Everyone else in Discord for donating their Unbe Coins to me (hint, hint)

---

---

[Crash]

We are going to see a respec in our skills and stats (assuming you've been able to pick up 150-200 sigs, roughly) now to obtain max block and still retain a decent amount of defense for upcoming ubers. You don't have to do this at the current step if you don't want, but I would certainly recommend it because the orange missiles from Primus' Messenger in the Triune uber can be blocked. This feels like an appropriate time to respec and start some more charms:

Stats
Strength: Enough for armors
Dexterity: Enough for max block (Should be about 2780, roughly)
Vitality: Leftovers
Energy: None

*Note* Some of your gear will help you equip other pieces with their +attributes. Just make sure to keep an eye on your inventory when you die and pick your corpse up to ensure all items are equipped properly.

---

Skillplan
Max: Wolf Companion
20-Point: Fortress
15-Point: Wolf Stance
1-Point: Spirit Walk, Mountain King, Gladiator's Dominance, Thundergod, Immortal, Earthquake
Leftovers: Spirit Guide

---

Gameplay
This generally stays the same as previously. Only difference really is that you'll be blocking most attacks rather than cranking up to a million defense and hoping not to get hit. The way it is now, you'll be looking at 75% Chance to Block and about 225k defense (10-15% chance to be hit, if the block fails), so in theory, you're a lot tankier now since you have two sources of defense checks against weapon damage and high resists and max resists against elemental damage. Nice.

Switch to your +5 barb skill weapons, summon wolves, buff with Thundergod and Shamanic Trance (no reason not to if you have it, despite it not doing much besides make you shiny), swap back to your main Glaive/Shield, and plow your way through. Earthquake is more useless at this point than Ancients Hand even with shit mobs since AH picks up a nice range buff with your charms' soft skill points, but I keep EQ on hand for certain areas that I notice it does better. Tran Athulua seems to go faster with EQ because of the wider spread and CB application for arrows to clean it up, or in places like leveling a friend in Terror or Hatred Cows, EQ wipes the floor and is mega-fortress-proc-chain.

---

Arihan and The Triune
Location: Caldeum --> Profane Cells --> Bastion of the Triune
Reward:

Lucion's Soulstone

and Cycles
Trophy: +50% Magic Find

► Notes and Map

Four main types of enemies: Kraken Guards, Primal Clays, Impaler Archons, and Temple Spires. Be sure you have 90% Max Cold resist and some absorb (Judgment Day Charm) for the Kraken Guards. They can hurt a lot if you're low on cold, and generally just.... don't stand in their attack. Primal Clays are just clay golems that can use Shower of Rocks. Impaler Archons can be annoying since they float around and shoot ranged physical spell damage missiles at you. Mostly annoying because every time you want to hit them with AH, they fly away and you're left chasing them. Just use Fortress and/or skip them as you go and hope they die behind you.

The real bitch here is Temple Spires. They cast Meteors in fours, and have a pretty wide activation range, meaning if you see the meteor attack indicator (pulsing orange circle at your feet), you should expect four meteors (sometimes more if you activate more spires as you're moving) at roughly 2-3 second intervals. Don't stand in the meteor circle. Simple. Clearing this map is all about being mobile, even if its in circles, as long as you're circling wide enough to avoid meteors. Don't stand in one place too long.

As for the boss fight, you'll get a Tome of Possession from the Vaca Loca Cow boss in the upper left of the map. This book acts as a charm that reduces your avoid by -100%, so keep it in your cube until you're ready for the boss. It also gives the Dire Charm oskill, which is how you complete this uber. You'll want to clear the entire map when the grassy area hits all the way down and right through Arihan's temple because you need to lure Arihan all the way back up to Primus (the untargetable Nihlathak guy). Once Arihan is near, you want to have the Tome of Possession in your inventory to gain the -100% avoid aura, and then use Dire Charm on Arihan. This will make him fight Primus, but also spread that -avoid aura to Arihan, which allows Primus to damage him. If you die, you must re-equip the book to regain the aura or else you will end up healing Arihan instead of letting him take damage. Primus shoots orange missiles that act as burn damage, so avoid getting hit by them. These missiles can be blocked and avoided, which is why we respecced for max block right before this, but don't stand there and expect to block it every time. Best to just walk away from it. Primus will continually summon bats and random enemies (sometimes spires). Just keep Fortress set up the whole time and do your best to stand opposite side of Arihan, with Primus in the middle. This will allow you to see Arihan and re-apply Dire Charm as soon as it wears off, and Primus will shoot his missiles in the opposite direction from you.

TL;DR annoying boss, don't get hit, keep charming Arihan and re-equipping book if you die.

Bartuc and The Legacy of Blood
Location: Torajan Jungle --> Chamber of Blood (see map)
Reward:

Legacy of Blood

Legacy of Blood
By Richard Knaak

Required Level: 115
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Unlocks Mastery Skill: Endurance
(3 to 5)% Life stolen per Hit
(3 to 5)% Mana stolen per Hit

Trophy: +15% TCD

► Notes and Map

Kabraxis' Soul - Charm Upgrade
Location: Chaos Sancuary --> Black Road
Reward: Charm Upgrade: +0-5% Max Resistances

► Notes and Map

Much more challenging than Kabraxis himself simply because it requires us to obtain a damage source for each elements. Ultra Earth and Ultra Fire are easy because we deal heavy fire damage and heavy physical damage without much effort. The others, though, are irritating mainly because its slow. And please, for the love of Akarat, stack your resistances to make the fight easy. You will want 90 max resist and 400-450 flat resist for the element you are trying to kill. This is easy. Just swap out your sockets with the proper gems or runes (Amber/Lo, Bloodstone/Pul, Onyx/Gul, Turquoise/Mal), otherwise you're in for some shit. If you have leftover skeletons, you can still use Earthquake and Bear Stance to kill them through shields.

Basically, each Ultra and mini-elementals, when spawned from the seal, are only able to take damage from their own element. Want to kill Ultra Ice? Need cold damage, etc. The Ultra Elementals are shielded by all damage until all of the nearby mini-elementals are dead. At that point, you'll have about four seconds until he summons a new mini.

Ultra Fire: uses Rain of Fire and Fire Cannonade when near. Mini-elementals use Flamefront and melee attacks. Just use Ancients Hand and Fortress (the small amount from Jitan's won't do much, but it always helps) and lure your way around to pick off the mini's, then blast the Ultra and pick up the Great Ruby.

Ultra Light: uses Thunderstone. Mini-elementals use Static Lance and melee attacks. I completed this by equipping two new items:

Black Dwarf

Black Dwarf
Amulet
Required Level: 110
Item Level: 105
+2 to All Skills
20% Cast Speed
20% Hit Recovery
+(15 to 25)% to Lightning Spell Damage
-(5 to 20)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+(15 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
-(5 to 20)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+(21 to 29) to Supernova
(30 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
-5 to Light Radius

(which ideally you have found in your farming efforts already) and a random Barbarian helm (rare/magic/crafted) with Kraken Stance. Ancients Hand is 100% conversion to fire, but that doesn't affect elemental damage, so you still hit with all of your lightning damage 25x per second with it, as well as Fortress. Clean up the mini's and grab the Great Topaz.

Ultra Ice: uses Hailstorm. Mini-elementals use Ice Lance and melee attacks. Again, using Black Dwarf and Kraken Stance, same concept, and be sure not to stand in Hailstorm. Pick up your Great Sapphire.

Ultra Earth: uses continuous Broadside and ATMG. Just circle around with your 25-30% DR, max block, healthy defense and use Fortress/AH on the mini's, and stay outside of the star circle with Fortress to kill the Ultra since Broadside will hurt if you step within range. Probably easiest of the five. Grab your Great Skull.

Ultra Magic: uses Death Spiral (same as Death Projector). Mini-elementals use Magic Missiles and melee attacks. This one is likely the most annoying of the five because where the fuck do we get magic damage? Balefire. You can find it on rare/crafted barbarian helms or bone helms/masks. Use Eagle Stance as your main for this one and Balefire to help slowly pick away at the mini's. The best method I discovered is to lure some around, then spam it into a pack and allow the Balefire spread to hit many at a time instead of killing one by one. This one took me a few deaths, but once you start clearing the initial mobs, it's much more tolerable. Another trick I used was to simply use my switch gear for dual-wield's cast rate, which is far superior to glaive/shield. Avoid the Death Spirals (they happen at constant timered intervals, so just pay attention), chip away at mobs with Balefire, and set yourself up with the Ultra for Balefire spam and Eagle Stance to help regen slightly. Grab your Great Rainbow.

Once you have all five gems, cube them all together with your Kabraxis charm for the upgrade. Sadly, this is heavily RNG. You want to aim for at least +3% to all max resist. If you get a shitty roll, you gotta go back and get a new Kabraxis Charm and recollect all of the Ultra Gems again for a new roll.

Judgment Day
Location: Plains of Despair --> Khalimgrad --> Diamond Gates
Reward:

Crystalline Flame Medallion

Crystalline Flame Medallion
Required Level: 120
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+1 to Summon Edyrem
Fire Absorb 5%
Lightning Absorb 5%
Cold Absorb 5%
Cube after Killing Imperius and Malthael
(Max: 1 minute from each other)

Trophy: +5% Attributes

► Notes

Judgment Day Upgrade
Reward: +1 Skills, +40 Attributes

► Notes

Yshari Sanctum
Location: Caldeum --> Spectre of Hatred or Yshari Sanctum
Reward:

The Ancient Repositories

The Ancient Repositories
Required Level: 125
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
+(0 to 1) to All Skills
(101 to 150)% Bonus to Attack Rating
+(11 to 15)% to Spell Damage
(6 to 10)% Chance of Crushing Blow
Fire Resist +(10 to 20)%
Lightning Resist +(10 to 20)%
Cold Resist +(10 to 20)%

► Notes and World Maps

Teganze and Terul
Location: Torajan Jungle --> Teganze (see map)
Reward:

Trader's Chest

and Elemental Essences/Primal Runestones

► Notes and Map

Viz'jun
Location: Kurast Bazaar --> Viz'Jun
Reward:

Cold Fusion Schematics

Cold Fusion Schematics
Required Level: 125
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
1% Chance to cast level 10 Time Strike on Striking
+(16 to 30) to Strength
+(16 to 30) to Dexterity
+(16 to 30) to Vitality
+(16 to 30) to Energy

Trophy: +5-20 Attributes

► Notes and Map

Toraja
Location: Torajan Jungle --> Teganze --> Ruins of Toraja (see map)
Reward: Crystalline Flame Medallion Upgrade (+1 max skill, +100 Replenish Life, +10% All Resist) and Toraja Great Runes (Krys, Auhe, Sha'ad)

► Notes and Map

---

---

End Game
This part of the game assumes you've completed all the listed content up until this point. We will put together the final set of gear and skill plan to help prep us for the final ubers: Astrogha, Xazax, Zorun Tzin, Uldyssian, Archbishop Lazarus, and The Void. This final gear set is not required to complete the final bosses, but since people request, these are the ultimate end game options for the build.

---

Gear
Weapon:

Sudis Murale

Sudis Murale
Glaive (4)
Throw Damage: (9 - 10) to (28 - 34)
One-Hand Damage: (9 - 10) to (24 - 30)
Required Level: 7
Required Dexterity: 65
Item Level: 19
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
4% Chance to cast level 4 Fortress on Kill
+(11 to 15) to Maximum Damage
+(31 to 50)% Enhanced Damage
(1 to 2)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(21 to 25) to Strength
+(21 to 25) to Dexterity
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (2)
Throw Damage: (28 - 31) to (66 - 79)
One-Hand Damage: (20 - 22) to (49 - 60)
Required Level: 25
Required Dexterity: 99
Item Level: 36
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
5% Chance to cast level 10 Fortress on Kill
+(18 to 25) to Maximum Damage
+(58 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
(3 to 4)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(31 to 35) to Strength
+(31 to 35) to Dexterity
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (3)
Throw Damage: (66 - 73) to (148 - 168)
One-Hand Damage: (38 - 42) to (97 - 112)
Required Level: 44
Required Dexterity: 197
Item Level: 51
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
6% Chance to cast level 16 Fortress on Kill
+(36 to 45) to Maximum Damage
+(91 to 110)% Enhanced Damage
(5 to 6)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(41 to 45) to Strength
+(41 to 45) to Dexterity
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)
Throw Damage: (92 - 100) to (227 - 250)
One-Hand Damage: (53 - 57) to (154 - 171)
Required Level: 53
Required Dexterity: 391
Item Level: 85
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
7% Chance to cast level 19 Fortress on Kill
+(71 to 80) to Maximum Damage
+(121 to 140)% Enhanced Damage
(7 to 8)% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(46 to 50) to Strength
+(46 to 50) to Dexterity
(46 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)

: Everything is still good here
Shield:

The Ancients' Legacy

The Ancients' Legacy
Gilded Shield (Sacred)
Defense: (15050 - 16085) to (17457 - 18740)
Chance to Block: 3%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 2450
Item Level: 120
+4 to Barbarian Skill Levels
2% Base Block Chance
40% Block Speed
Weapon Physical Damage +90%
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+5000 Defense
30% Bonus to Defense
Requirements +250%
Socketed (4)

or

Tonatiuh

Tonatiuh
Barbarian Shields
'IgnQor'
Runeword Level: 100
20% Chance to cast level 36 Flamefront on Melee Attack
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
Adds 63-438 Fire Damage
-(25 to 35)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
2% Deadly Strike
Weapon Physical Damage +(30 to 50)%
+(115 to 143)% Enhanced Defense
5% Chance to Avoid Damage

(or just keep Invictus)
Armor:

The Chained Mail

-->

Khazra Plate

Khazra Plate
Ancient Armor (Sacred)
Defense: (8603 - 9489) to (10651 - 11748)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 2310
Item Level: 120
Demon Blood Aura
You and Undead Minions: Maximum Life +6%
26.6 Yard Radius
+60% Damage to Demons
5% Chance of Crushing Blow
10% Deadly Strike
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
(20 to 25)% to Strength
(20 to 25)% to Vitality
Physical Resist 10%
Requirements +200%
Socketed (6)

-->

Natasha's Legacy (Xis)

Helm: Fascinating Craft Barb Helm: Ancients' Hand oskill, +Skills, -Enemy fire, Flat DR, Spike Nova proc,
Gloves:

Geleb's Greed

Geleb's Greed
Light Gauntlets (Sacred)
Defense: 1608 to 1830
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 115
1% Chance to cast level 37 Fire Fountain on Death Blow
+1 to All Skills
-15% to Enemy Fire Resistance
+(23 to 31) to Pyroblast
+200% Enhanced Defense
+5 Fire Absorb
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (4)

Curse of the Zakarum
(Zakarum Set)

-->

Gulag's Frenzy

Belt:

Nero

: Fortress proc, Path of Flames oskill
Boots:

Akarat's Trek

Akarat's Trek
Light Plated Boots (Sacred)
Defense: (1960 - 2352) to (2170 - 2604)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 625
Item Level: 120
2% Chance to cast level 30 Hammertime on Melee Attack
2% Chance to cast level 30 Thunder Wave on Melee Attack
2% Chance to cast level 30 Thunder Hammer Nova on Melee Attack
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(15 to 20) to Charged Strike
Weapon Physical Damage +(60 to 90)%
+(150 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
10% to All Attributes
+10 to Light Radius
Socketed (4)

-->

Lifecrusher

Lifecrusher
Boots
'MhalChamUm'
Runeword Level: 110
30% Hit Recovery
0.125% Chance of Crushing Blow (Based on Character Level)
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
(5 to 10)% to All Attributes
Maximum Life +(7 to 10)%
Maximum Elemental Resists +1%
Elemental Resists +(15 to 25)%

-->

Knight's Grace

Knight's Grace
Greaves (Sacred)
Defense: (2232 - 2481) to (2519 - 2799)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 780
Item Level: 120
2% Chance to cast level 35 Knife Throw on Striking
+1 to All Skills
25% Attack Speed
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
Adds 10-25 Damage
+(170 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+(15 to 25) to all Attributes
Physical Resist 5%
Requirements +20%
Socketed (4)

Rings: Rares: +skills, Fire pierce, Life leech -->

Bad Mood Ring

+

Ballantine's 1827

Amulet: Rare: +Skills, -Enemy fire, Hymn proc, +Life/Flat DR -->

Dyers Eve

Dyers Eve
Amulet
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
5% Chance to cast level 5 Time Strike on Striking
+2 to All Skills
Adds 15-20 Damage
5% Life stolen per Hit
Elemental Resists +10%
Physical Resist (1 to 10)%

or

Beads of the Snake Queen

Beads of the Snake Queen
Amulet
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
4% Chance to cast level 33 Scorpion Blade on Kill
Adds 5-10 Damage
Stun Attack
+(200 to 500) Defense
(20 to 25)% to Strength
(20 to 25)% to Dexterity
+100 Life after each Kill

On Switch:
Weapon: Dual Wield any +5 Barb Skills/Mark of the Wild oskill Hammerhead Axe or

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)

Alternate Weapon:

Ashenwind

or

Emberstorm

or keep Midgame Weird Craft -->

Night's Embrace

Night's Embrace
Glaive (Sacred)
Throw Damage: (172 - 216) to (306 - 408)
One-Hand Damage: (110 - 138) to (229 - 312)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 496
Item Level: 105
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.11 per Dexterity)%
Eviscerate: +2 Projectiles
5% Chance to cast level 26 Burning Veil on Kill
+(1 to 2) to All Skills
+(100 to 150) to Maximum Damage
+200% Damage to Demons
+(140 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
10% Chance of Crushing Blow
(15 to 25)% to All Attributes
Socketed (4)

: High physical damage, -Enemy fire, %Avoid, %Slow

► Sockets, MOs, Shrine Blessing, and Notes

Sockets:
Most of our sockets will be crafted jewels now since we don't need runes anymore. Use Ohm-crafted jewels for max damage, Tir-crafted jewels for magic find, or On-crafted jewels for life after kill. Other affixes you'll want to look for are 2% dexterity (or 1% all attributes), +40-50 life, and/or 6-10 Magic Find.
Your weapon should still carry Jah Runes.

Mystic Orbs:
Weapon:

Warbringer

Warbringer
Mystic Orb

Right-Click to Apply
3% Chance to cast level 5 Arrow on Striking
Adds 3-4 Damage
+10 Required Level

UMOs for the arrow procs and max damage
Alternate Weapon: Life on Attack
All armors: MO'd with %TCD or %ED
Rings/Amulet: Flat Defense or Flat DR

Crafted Gear - Shrine Blessing
Once you craft a really strong AH oskill Barb Helmet with the above stats, you'll want to shrine bless it for more shrine bonuses.The recipe is:

Honorific/Rare/Crafted Sacred item + Arcane Crystal + Shrine = item with Shrine Blessing and Shrine (-1 charge)

Notes:
-For your Runewords, be sure to properly prepare the base items with Oil of Luck for 20% ED and 1% DR.
-Do not MO your armor if you're making a Natasha RW. Xis rune requires lvl 121, and any MO's will tack onto that requirement. See the early game section when we first made our Cham RW Boots for more info about properly preparing a base item for a runeword.
-If you're using Invictus still, then don't use MotW axes on switch since the Invictus proc will override the buff.

Merc Gear
Weapon:

Shark (Xis)

Armor:

Marchosias' Might

Marchosias' Might
Full Plate Mail (Sacred)
Defense: (8595 - 9436) to (10308 - 11338)
Required Level: 90
Required Strength: 1400
Item Level: 1
5% Chance to cast level 3 Bladestorm on Melee Attack
+50 to Maximum Damage
+(144 to 171)% Enhanced Defense
+1000 Defense
+(151 to 200) to Strength
(6 to 10)% to Strength
Requirements +100%
Socketed (6)

Marchosias' Essence
(Druid Werewolf Set)

--> Ethereal

Natasha's Legacy (Xis)

Helm:

Aiden's Lament

or

Eidolon

Eidolon
Helms
'QorSil'
Runeword Level: 100
+2 to All Skills
10% Combat Speeds
Adds 3-5 Damage
Adds 7-15 Damage
5% Deadly Strike
+(144 to 171)% Enhanced Defense
(20 to 25)% to All Attributes
Elemental Resists +(35 to 40)%
(25 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
+4 to Light Radius

Gloves:

Centuria Insectorum

Belt:

Marchosias' Hatred

Marchosias' Hatred
Heavy Belt (Sacred)
Defense: (3111 - 3455) to (3359 - 3731)
Required Level: 90
Required Strength: 625
Item Level: 1
5% Chance to cast level 3 Bladestorm on Melee Attack
3% Chance of Crushing Blow
Weapon Physical Damage +(55 to 60)%
+(144 to 171)% Enhanced Defense
(6 to 10)% to Strength
Socketed (2)

Marchosias' Essence
(Druid Werewolf Set)

-->

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)

Boots:

Akarat's Trek

Akarat's Trek
Light Plated Boots (Sacred)
Defense: (1960 - 2352) to (2170 - 2604)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 625
Item Level: 120
2% Chance to cast level 30 Hammertime on Melee Attack
2% Chance to cast level 30 Thunder Wave on Melee Attack
2% Chance to cast level 30 Thunder Hammer Nova on Melee Attack
(10 to 40)% Movement Speed
+(15 to 20) to Charged Strike
Weapon Physical Damage +(60 to 90)%
+(150 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
10% to All Attributes
+10 to Light Radius
Socketed (4)

Amulet: Rare: +Skills, Hymn proc, +Life/Flat DR -->

Dyers Eve

Dyers Eve
Amulet
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
5% Chance to cast level 5 Time Strike on Striking
+2 to All Skills
Adds 15-20 Damage
5% Life stolen per Hit
Elemental Resists +10%
Physical Resist (1 to 10)%

► Sockets, MOs, and Notes

Sockets:
All runewords should use Nih-crafted jewels for Life on Attack.
All other pieces should use Perfect Bloodstones/Onyx/Turquoise/Ambers for your merc's max resist to be much more durable.

Mystic Orbs:
Weapon: None (Xis RW requires 121)
All armors: MO'd with %TCD or %ED
Rings/Amulet: Flat Defense or Flat DR

Notes:
-Mercs don't deal with durability on gear, so make everything eth that you can and don't worry about indestructible jewels. You'll optimize damage and defense with ethereal items. If the item is eth, disregard the part about MOs.
-For your Runewords, be sure to properly prepare the base items with Oil of Luck for 20% ED and 1% DR.
-Do not MO your armor if you're making a Natasha RW. Xis rune requires lvl 121, and any MO's will tack onto that requirement. See the early game section when we first made our Cham RW Boots for more info about properly preparing a base item for a runeword.

Make your TalXis RW in a Sacred Pike for highest damage, Natasha RW in a Gothic Plate/Full Plate Mail/Ancient Armor for highest defense.

---

Skillplan
35-Point: Wolf Companion
20-Point: Fortress, Ancient Blood
15-Point: Wolf Stance
1-Point: Earthquake, Spirit Walk, Gladiator's Dominance, Immortal, Thundergod
Leftovers: Spirit Guide (Should be about 30 points)

---

Gameplay
Depending on what you're doing, you'll need to equip different weapons. Farming? Sudis Murale. Heroic/Boss killing? Night's Embrace/Ashenwind.

Using weapon switch, buff with MotW/Thundergod/Shamanic Trance/Path of Flames and summon your Wolf Companions. Switch back to your main gear, and Fortress/AH steamroll your way through mobs and bosses. For areas like K3K, use Earthquake and Bear Stance (merc should clean most of it really fast as well with his physical damage) on toggle-switch. Use 1-pt Eagle Stance in situations that you might need regen for (shouldn't be often besides specifically mentioned boss fights).

[ScarletEdge]

[Anonymous:]

So, is it basically fortress into AH + fortress as support ? Seems like there are very few cases where fortress outshines other skills, but in general farming spots like K3K, TA, Duncraig, Fauzt - other skills work better. Am i right ?

[aerial]

With fortress one thing that seems to increase its effectiveness at clearing trash is when you can stop them from moving, so mixing in thunderslam. That ensures for that stun period all arrows hit something. Other sources of stun like freeze from glacial nova procs has same effect but obviously worse since high % of enemies is immune to freeze effect, plus cold immunes.
Thats what I noticed while playing fortress.
Probably getting lot of slow would have similar results, at certain point of movement slow they always get hit by arrows, because of their hitbox size.

Generally the whole package of bear stance + runemaster on barb plus adding switch fortress as ranged damage/ow tool vs certain situations is extremely solid, and basically thats on what my guide is based on. You get very chunky stats for very little gear and stat investment.

[Gekko64]

looking pretty good, will be interesting to see how it fares in the endgame

couple things I've noticed:

TU bronze shield would be better than banner of duncraig for earlygame

perfect rainbow stones are way better than jah runes for the weapon

[ScarletEdge]

perfect rainbow stones are way better than jah runes for the weapon

I think p rainbow stones were omitted since the build already has enough CB with the use of high level wolf stance on top of other sources.

[Muilpeer]

perfect rainbow stones are way better than jah runes for the weapon

I think p rainbow stones were omitted since the build already has enough CB with the use of high level wolf stance on top of other sources.

I assume he was talking about early game.

Might try this one out again. I made a fortress barb years ago when it was untimered, had a blast back then! After the timer was added focused on other interesting builds but would like to try this again

And come on 1,5 minute Kabraxis? I wanna try that! (should be easy as my barb already has far more charms than the attempt that was videotaped).

Btw, I found a

Cat's Pounce

, does Cascade help with this build? I haven't really seen it proc yet I believe but I don't know what Cascade should look like.

[heamn]

Btw, I found a

Cat's Pounce

, does Cascade help with this build? I haven't really seen it proc yet I believe but I don't know what Cascade should look like.

Cascade is bowa druid skill, auto seek target and cast arrow, but lvl 3 cascade has a very small auto seek radius, best work with multi hit melee range

[Crash]

Fortress is a single-target skill by nature since all arrows focus on one target at a time, but it gains the AoE effect when fortress procs and new casts stack up and the whole screen is covered in arrows while mobs run around through them. It's a mix of AH, Fortress, and EQ. I still use EQ for farming since the aoe is much nicer and kill speed is fairly comparable to AH when considering range and damage.

It's not really meant as a farming character, but later game, it can do just that without too much difficulty. So far TA and Duncraig are pretty comfortable. Haven't bothered with Fauzt since I have no reason to go in there, as I don't need any of those Great Runes.

@gekko I chose kite shield just cause... no one uses it. I used to grab that bronze shield for sewer leveling for the psn/fire resist, but I preferred the kite shield overall for early game til Invictus is more necessary. I used Rainbows in early game weapon, but swapped out for Jah when I got Runemaster. Wolf stance is broken right now (SB already knows and will fix) because the skill icon shows something like 1/2 the crushing blow that it actually gives (d2stats confirmed), but even without that extra 10-15% CB, you hit so often that it won't make much a difference, so I went with Jah for defense and damage to convert or apply.

@aerial pretty much yea, but I wanted to utilize a javelin style and max fortress, along the lines of an active, lazy barb (contradictory, yes) that doesn't have a fuckload of skill swapping like some barbs do. Just EQ, Fortress, AH later on, and a stance. Once I got Thundergod, the procs and fortresses are enough to clean in between casts so I don't bother with switching to Tslam for extra stun. It's a good thought, but I found it unnecessary unless you seriously want to maximize your stun with skill switching.

@muilpeer yea like heamn said, it's got some cool procs, but the low lvl on them means it won't have many arrows proc'ing off from it. You can test it, but I don't think it'll be all that useful.