Totem Barb

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Image
INTRODUCTION:
Hello! Today I want to present a powerful, fun and unusual barbarian build. This is a variation of a battle-mage, which mixes up tankiness, insane sustainability, mobility, decent crowd control and high rainbow damage. Playstyle-wise, it might remind you of standard totem necromancer, but with much smoother and more enjoyable gameplay. Please keep in mind, this is a mini-guide to a different endgame build, not a walkthrough on how to complete all content with the cheapest equipment. Now let’s get started with more detailed stuff...

PROS:
    Very durable build. 1+ million defense, ~25k HP, 8 second regen from Eagle Stance and 30% avoid from Immortal.
    Crowd control. Proper use of Thunder Slam combined with Thundergod and Act 5 merc keeps the whole screen stunned for an impressive amount of time.
    Great rainbow damage. Path of Flames with the support of Frostclaw Totems and Hive will take care of monsters with any type of immunity.
    Very impressive farmer. This build destroys all mainstream farming spots (Dunc, Fauzt, Sewers, Triune, Toraja).
    Extraordinary & enjoyable character. It’s a pleasure to use this build — prebuffing eats some hotkeys — but it’s smooth and requires no gear switches.

CONS:
    Unplayable untwinked. You need certain mid-endgame items to make it work.
    Completely unsuitable for certain ubers.



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You might ask, “What’s the point of this? Farming some rare unique items just to play another totem build?!”
As I've already mentioned, they seem to be similar at first glance, but in reality, the biggest resemblance between them is the usage of Frostclaw Totems. Besides that, they are pretty unique in their own ways...

    Better mobility skill. Spirit Walk allows us to travel much faster than Bend the Shadows, requires less clicks to use, and it has no debuff effect. It does require 50 skillpoints into the summoner tree though, but it won’t hurt us at all, since we are maxing protector spirits anyway!
    Less resumonning. One of the most annoying things about Totem Necro is the constant resummoning of your army. Lucky for us, Totem Barb solves that issue. Instead of 60, Barb needs to worry about 15 minions (9 Spirits + 6 Totems), which is a ridiculous difference. Another crucial change is that in order to benefit from his minions, a Necromancer needs them to be alive. On the other hand, the Bloodlust buff from Barbarian Spirits stays active even if they died.
    Empty cube. Necromancers carry around multiple prebuff items. All we need for this Totem Barb is
    Sky Scorcher
    , which is optional as well.
    Barbarian is tankier. Not going to list the stats all over again. Difference in survivability between these two builds should be kinda obvious, but I still decided to mention it.
    Totem Barb has proc potential. Due to the fact that Barbarian kills most of the enemies by himself, it is possible to trigger "on kill" procs with Hive and "when slain” proc with PoF/Nova Charge.



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STAT POINTS:
    HALF VITALITY / HALF ENERGY [PoF 97-121k; Hive 103-161k; FCT 17-29k; ~20k health]
    FULL VITALITY [PoF 93-117k; Hive 99-155k; FCT 17-28k; ~25k health]
As you can see, half of the points into energy provide us with higher damage output and taking into account our uber skill choice, there is no reason to consider putting any points into strength. Luckily for us, charms, items, and the Mountain King passive are going to grant us enough strength to scale from strength factor efficiently. That being said, the most beneficial stat remains to be vitality because this is the only attribute which increases our health and damage at the same time. This becomes possible due to Hive's amazing passive effect, which adds 25% of our base vitality to energy. In the end, it's a matter of personal preference for how much hp is needed for comfortable gameplay. I usually choose full vitality setup just because durable builds fit my playstyle better and it's easier to SHIFT-CLICK one stat, rather than bumping 560 points into vitality manually. Those damage values include: 150 strentgh factor, best in slot gear, Elemental totem/BL/GOTW.

FEW TOOLTIPS:
Ignore Strength and Dexterity! Vitality is the most profitable attribute, because it raises our survivability & firepower at the same time. For reaching maximum potential, everyone should figure out a HP breakpoint, which allows them to forget about health-globe existence. After this point, going for even more HP feels like a waste.

SKILLPLAN:
MAX: Protector Spirit, Spirit Guide, Immortal.
SOME POINTS: 15pts Greater Manifestation, ~11 points Eagle Stance.
LEFTOVERS: Runemaster.
1-POINTERS Thunder Slam, obvious skills like Thundergod and Mountain King, pre-reqs.

SKILLS EXPLAINED:

ImageSPIRIT WALK
Teleports us to the target location and requires a enemy as a target. Best mobility skill in the game. In crowded areas like Vizjun/Fauztinville, it is possible to get that "tele sorc" feeling from classic Diablo 2. Spirit Walk is also one of the most important and fundamental skills for this build. Works ridiculously well with Path of Flames and Hive. Perfect ability for manipulating summons. Keep in mind that timerless spirit guide demands 50 skillpoints into summoner tree!

ImagePATH OF FLAMES
Creates a small pool of fire under the Barbarian’s feet whenever enemies get into melee range. Deals decent fire damage. Range is rather small, but due to the constant usage of spirit walk, we are almost always in the melee range anyway, and this allows us to reliably trigger our circle of destruction.
Accessible via
Nero
,
Elemental Band
Elemental Band
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+10% to Spell Damage
+1 to Path of Flames
+1 to Nova Charge
+1 to Lightning Arena
+1 to Hive
, and rare amulets (only in Chaos ladder).


ImageHIVE
Periodically creates clouds of plague around us. Deals poison damage and is ideal for clearing leftover monsters. Additional bonus adds 25% of our base vitality into energy, which increases our damage output even more.
Accessible via
Klaatu Barada Nikto
Klaatu Barada Nikto
Amulet

Required Level: 110
Item Level: 105
30% Enhanced Damage vs. Necrobots
10% Chance to cast level 40 Nova Bomb on Melee Attack
+2 to All Skills
25% Attack Speed
Adds 1-188 Lightning Damage
+650 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
Stun Attack
+(11 to 16) to Hive
Lightning Resist +(40 to 50)%
Poison Resist +(40 to 50)%
or
Elemental Band
Elemental Band
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+10% to Spell Damage
+1 to Path of Flames
+1 to Nova Charge
+1 to Lightning Arena
+1 to Hive
.


ImagePROTECTOR SPIRIT
Being average summons themselves, those Arreat Spirits provide a tremendous Bloodlust buff, which raises the damage of all of our spells/procs/minions/mercenary. Unlike most of the standard summoner-type barbarian builds, Totem Barb is using Protector Spirits only as a source of a buff, instead of relying on them as meatshields and sources of damage.

ImageFROSTCLAW TOTEM
Autonomous mystical turret with ridiculous single-target cold damage. Usually a totem used by Necromancer. It has a slow moving blue flame missile that multihits 25 times per second, which makes it a great boss-killer spell.
Accessible via
Ice Shank
.


ImageELEMENTAL TOTEM
Another totem which provides us free 200% spell damage boost. It has quite low HP compared to Frostclaw, therefore it requires more resummoning. I leave it up to you to decide if it's worth the effort to keep it alive, but 200% spell damage is no joke.
Acessible via
Wizard's Path
or
Blade of the Jitan
.


ImageVEIL KING
Powerful undead knight that turns hostile once he dies in combat. Deals area of effect damage and reanimates Veil Terrors upon killing an enemy. Low-risk/high-reward skill in our case due to the fact that Spirit Walk provides absolute control over his positioning, allowing us to keep this gory skeleton safe.
Accessible via
Shadowtwin
Shadowtwin
Fanged Helm (Sacred)

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


ImageNOVA CHARGE
Classic D2LoD novas as source of passive lightning spell damage casted automatically from the character’s position. Sweet addition to our setup, even though this skill gets outshined by PoF and Hive.
Accessible via
Elemental Band
Elemental Band
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+10% to Spell Damage
+1 to Path of Flames
+1 to Nova Charge
+1 to Lightning Arena
+1 to Hive
.


ImageLIGHTNING ARENA
Great situational crowd-control skill. Creates a large circular-shaped wall which briefly stuns every enemy who walks into it.
Accessible via
Elemental Band
Elemental Band
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+10% to Spell Damage
+1 to Path of Flames
+1 to Nova Charge
+1 to Lightning Arena
+1 to Hive
.


ImageSPIRIT GUIDE
Great passive which raises damage/total character defense/faster cast rate of our party whenever there is a spirit/wolf around. Usually this skill is being skipped because of incredibly low range and unreliability of wolves providing it. Proper usage of spirit walk allows us to keep this aura active even with one wolf being summoned, and considering we have another 9 Protector Spirits to spread the aura, it becomes an easy task to apply the buff permanently.

ImageIMMORTAL
Another passive skill, grants us ~30% avoid when standing still and constant 66% FHR. This is probably the best build to take advantage of this ability, since we are ALWAYS standing in order to travel with Spirit Walk. It might look weak compared to an Assassin's Perfect Being skill, but PB requires more points invested and if we take into account other sources of barbarian's tankiness, it becomes a very attractive skill to spec into (avoid is best stat endgame).

ImageGREATER MANIFISTATION
Allows us to reach a timerless Spirit Walk, which is essential for this build. Minion HP/damage boost is always welcome as well, but considering this will improve only spirits, it's not worth to put any extra points after reaching our cherished breakpoint of timerless SW.

ImageEAGLE STANCE
Incredible stance providing a fantastic heal (regenerates 100% life in 8 seconds) and decent mana regeneration. Sadly, it works only with 1/256th efficiency for our minions. The amount of points needed to reach the 8 second cap will vary depending on our items/charms. Overall, this is my favorite stance, but with most of the builds it becomes very difficult/unprofitable to optimize a setup around it, so using it as a main stance feels particularly satisfying.

ImageRUNEMASTER
In pair with Spirit Guide, this skill allows us to reach 1 million defense, which is incredible for a caster-type character. Runes become the only socketable option, but this is perfectly fine for us.

ImageTHUNDER SLAM
Combined with Thundergod and an A5 mercenary, this great crowd-control ability allows us to reliably stun hordes of enemies for an impressive duration. The only place I would say it's an absolute necessity to use this is Fauztinville, since it's very useful against Harpylisks and Necrobots. Outside of Fauzt, we are perfectly fine even without it, though there's not really a reason to ignore it.


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This guide offers two paths a cheap setup and a best-in-slot setup. The cheaper one is focused around getting PoF and Hive without the use of
Elemental Band
Elemental Band
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+10% to Spell Damage
+1 to Path of Flames
+1 to Nova Charge
+1 to Lightning Arena
+1 to Hive
, along with reaching reaching -100 fire/cold pierce. Second one, as expected, utilizes a destructive force of the rarest unique rings, amulets and UMO projects. Both setups can easily handle all areas listed in the UBERQUEST section, but due to the usage of really expensive and powerful item-choices, the BiS setup provides us with slightly faster killspeed and better crowd control.

BUDGET SETUP:
As written above, this spec is focused around getting PoF and Hive without
Elemental Band
Elemental Band
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+10% to Spell Damage
+1 to Path of Flames
+1 to Nova Charge
+1 to Lightning Arena
+1 to Hive
, while still reaching -100 fire/cold pierce in order to double our damage from PoF and FCT. BEWARE! We should resist from MO'ing anything besides boots and rings. The reasoning behind this is that our build is going to change drastically while going over to the BiS setup, but at the same time, many item choices are going to remain the same, we are just going to use different MO's on them.


MAIN WEAPON:
    Option 1 -
    Blade of the Jitan

    Becomes a viable option only if we are planning to take advantage of Elemental Totem's spell damage boost.
    USEFUL STATS: Elemental Totem oskill, 100% damage to protectors bloodlust.
    Option 2 -
    Uldyssian's Legion
    Uldyssian's Legion
    Bronze Sword (4)

    One-Hand Damage: (11 - 12) to (12 - 14)
    (Barbarian Only)
    Required Level: 9
    Required Strength: 82
    Item Level: 19
    Strength Damage Bonus: (0.14 per Strength)%
    +1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
    15% Attack Speed
    15% Cast Speed
    +(24 to 40)% Enhanced Damage
    +(3 to 5)% to Summoned Minion Life
    +(6 to 8)% to Summoned Minion Damage
    Maximum Mana +(21 to 25)%
    Elemental Resists +(5 to 7)%
    Socketed (2)
    One-Hand Damage: (28 - 31) to (33 - 36)
    (Barbarian Only)
    Required Level: 27
    Required Strength: 124
    Item Level: 40
    Strength Damage Bonus: (0.14 per Strength)%
    +2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
    25% Attack Speed
    25% Cast Speed
    +(58 to 75)% Enhanced Damage
    +(9 to 11)% to Summoned Minion Life
    +(11 to 13)% to Summoned Minion Damage
    Maximum Mana +(31 to 35)%
    Elemental Resists +(8 to 10)%
    Socketed (4)
    One-Hand Damage: (59 - 64) to (71 - 77)
    (Barbarian Only)
    Required Level: 46
    Required Strength: 244
    Item Level: 59
    Strength Damage Bonus: (0.14 per Strength)%
    +3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
    35% Attack Speed
    35% Cast Speed
    +(92 to 109)% Enhanced Damage
    +(15 to 17)% to Summoned Minion Life
    +(16 to 18)% to Summoned Minion Damage
    Maximum Mana +(41 to 45)%
    Elemental Resists +(11 to 12)%
    Socketed (5)
    One-Hand Damage: (77 - 83) to (94 - 101)
    (Barbarian Only)
    Required Level: 55
    Required Strength: 482
    Item Level: 85
    Strength Damage Bonus: (0.14 per Strength)%
    +(3 to 4) to Barbarian Skill Levels
    40% Attack Speed
    40% Cast Speed
    +(109 to 126)% Enhanced Damage
    +(18 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Life
    +(19 to 20)% to Summoned Minion Damage
    Maximum Mana +(46 to 50)%
    Elemental Resists +(13 to 15)%
    Socketed (6)

    A solid option for those, who find using elemental totem too distracting.
    USEFUL STATS: Barbarian skills, Minion HP, Double MO potential.
OFFHAND WEAPON:
Ice Shank

In addition of being the only source to get FCT, this sword grants us some extra damage and survivability.
USEFUL STATS: Frostclaw Totem oskill, 1 extra totem, Cold spell damage, Energy, 5 DR.
BODY ARMOR:
Laz's Chasuble

A common and really powerful armor for any summoner-type build.
USEFUL STATS: Minion life, Minion resists, 5 maximum resists, 5 DR.
HELM:
Shadowtwin
Shadowtwin
Fanged Helm (Sacred)

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

Veil King is a sweet addition to any summoner, especially for us, since our mobility allows him to stay reliably safe. Another stat really worth mentioning is ~35% minion resist, which becomes very crucial for our build, since we don't have spare MO space on any equipment parts and having low minion resists is a huge disadvantage in any area with elemental damage.
USEFUL STATS: Veil King oskill, Barbarian skills, Minion HP & Resists, Cold resist.
GLOVES:
Lamha Na Draoithe
Lamha Na Draoithe
Gauntlets (Sacred)

Defense: (1339 - 1506) to (1567 - 1763)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 625
Item Level: 120
+2 to All Skills
+150 Spell Focus
30% Cast Speed
+(16 to 20)% to Spell Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
+75 to Strength
-100 to Life
Elemental Resists +15%
Socketed (4)

With support of charms and Mountain King passive, these gloves provide us an incredible damage boost.
USEFUL STATS: Strength factor, 2 skills, Spell damage.
BELT:
Nero

Auhe rune might take some time to find, but thankfully for us, barbarian is one of the most efficient and budget Toraja farmers in the game.
USEFUL STATS: Path of Flames oskill, Fire spell damage.
BOOTS: Fascinating craft
It is possible to get up to 15% fire pierce by rolling and another 15% by blessing it. We should aim for at least a 27% pierce after blessing.
USEFUL STATS: ~35 Fire pierce and ~20 Cold pierce.
AMULET:
Klaatu Barada Nikto
Klaatu Barada Nikto
Amulet

Required Level: 110
Item Level: 105
30% Enhanced Damage vs. Necrobots
10% Chance to cast level 40 Nova Bomb on Melee Attack
+2 to All Skills
25% Attack Speed
Adds 1-188 Lightning Damage
+650 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
Stun Attack
+(11 to 16) to Hive
Lightning Resist +(40 to 50)%
Poison Resist +(40 to 50)%

Pretty poor option for a caster-type build, but sadly this is the only easy-to-get item providing the Hive oskill. Even though we are not going to have a good amount of poison pierce with this setup, we still want to get our hands on this ability as fast as possible due to the tremendous synergy between battle-mages and Hive's passive effect.
USEFUL STATS: Hive oskill, 2 skills.
RINGS:
    SLOT 1 - Rare
    We should try to get a ring with at least 15% innate fire pierce on it.
    USEFUL STATS: 1 skill, Fire pierce, Fire spell damage.
    SLOT 2 - Rare
    Goal remains the same for us, we need at least 15% cold pierce from this equipment part.
    USEFUL STATS: 1 skill, Cold spell pierce, Fire/Cold spell damage.
SOCKETS: Jah runes into body armor, Lum runes into everything else.
MYSTIC ORBS: Cube with boots and rings only! MO enough to reach -100 fire/cold pierce.

BEST IN SLOT SETUP:
This set of items allows us to unleash the maximum potential of this battle-mage. -100% quad-pierce from equipment and ridiculous %Spell damage boost from Bloodlust/GOTW/Elemental Totem allow us to squeeze a maximum profit out of the oskills provided by
Elemental Band
Elemental Band
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+10% to Spell Damage
+1 to Path of Flames
+1 to Nova Charge
+1 to Lightning Arena
+1 to Hive
. This ring makes the largest difference between those two setups. Jewelry + charms provide us 90/90/90/80 elemental pierce. To get the -100% quad-pierce cap, we are going to use mystic orbs. Use leftover MO space as you please.


MAIN WEAPON:
The Might of the Ancients

This great sword is raising our firepower and the tankiness of our summons.
USEFUL STATS: Barbarian skills, Fire spell damage, Minion HP, 100% damage to protectors bloodlust.
OFFHAND WEAPON:
Ice Shank

Due to the same reason as before.
HELM:
Shadowtwin
Shadowtwin
Fanged Helm (Sacred)

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

Due to the same reason as before.
BODY ARMOR:
Goetia Plate
Goetia Plate
Full Plate Mail (Sacred)

Defense: (8467 - 9339) to (10376 - 11445)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 700
Item Level: 120
+3 to All Skills
+1 to Maximum Necromancer Minions
+(151 to 200)% to Summoned Minion Life
+(51 to 75)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+150 Life Regenerated per Second
+750 to Life
+375 to Mana
-4 to Light Radius
Socketed (6)

Not much to say, this is the best armor possible for any summoner build.
USEFUL STATS: 3 skills, Minion HP, Life.
GLOVES:
Lamha Na Draoithe
Lamha Na Draoithe
Gauntlets (Sacred)

Defense: (1339 - 1506) to (1567 - 1763)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 625
Item Level: 120
+2 to All Skills
+150 Spell Focus
30% Cast Speed
+(16 to 20)% to Spell Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
+75 to Strength
-100 to Life
Elemental Resists +15%
Socketed (4)

Due to the same reason as before.
BELT:
    OPTION 1 -
    Ashaera's Armor
    Ashaera's Armor
    Belt (Sacred)

    Defense: 1687 to 1760
    Required Level: 100
    Required Strength: 575
    Item Level: 105
    +(21 to 25) Spell Focus
    +(11 to 15)% to Spell Damage
    +500 Defense
    (11 to 15)% to Energy
    Elemental Resists +(10 to 15)%
    Physical Resist 10%
    Socketed (2)

    Defensive choice.
    USEFUL STATS: 10 DR, Spell damage, Energy factor, Energy.
    OPTION 2 -
    Lunar Eclipse
    Lunar Eclipse
    Light Belt (Sacred)

    Defense: (2091 - 2422) to (2171 - 2514)
    Required Level: 100
    Required Strength: 550
    Item Level: 120
    +2 to All Skills
    +(51 to 60) Spell Focus
    25% Cast Speed
    30% Hit Recovery
    +(10 to 15)% to Spell Damage
    +(90 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
    +(40 to 50) to Energy
    +100 to Life
    Elemental Resists +15%
    +5 to Light Radius
    Socketed (2)

    The question we should ask ourselves is if we prefer 10% DR over 2 skills or not. I haven't found Lunar Eclipse this ladder, so I ended up using the first option.
    USEFUL STATS: Skills, Spell damage, Energy factor, Flat energy.
BOOTS:
Wizard's Path

Using these boots allows us to get rid of
Blade of the Jitan
and still have access to the ridiculous spell damage boost from an Elemental Totem.
USEFUL STATS: Elemental Totem oskill, 1 skill, Spell damage, Flat energy.
AMULET:
Quov Tsin's Talisman
Quov Tsin's Talisman
Amulet

Required Level: 110
Item Level: 110
15% Innate Elemental Damage
-(20 to 30)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances

This rare/wonderful amulet helps us to reach -100 elemental pierce.
USEFUL STATS: -35 Quad pierce.
RINGS:
    SLOT 1 -
    Elemental Band
    Elemental Band
    Ring

    Required Level: 100
    Item Level: 120
    +10% to Spell Damage
    +1 to Path of Flames
    +1 to Nova Charge
    +1 to Lightning Arena
    +1 to Hive

    Core item of the build, grants us all crucial oskills and spares us from using
    Nero
    /
    Klaatu Barada Nikto
    Klaatu Barada Nikto
    Amulet

    Required Level: 110
    Item Level: 105
    30% Enhanced Damage vs. Necrobots
    10% Chance to cast level 40 Nova Bomb on Melee Attack
    +2 to All Skills
    25% Attack Speed
    Adds 1-188 Lightning Damage
    +650 Poison Damage over 2 seconds
    Stun Attack
    +(11 to 16) to Hive
    Lightning Resist +(40 to 50)%
    Poison Resist +(40 to 50)%
    . Sadly this ring is very rare, so finding one might take a while.
    USEFUL STATS: PoF/Hive/LA/NC oskills, Spell damage.
    ► SCREENSHOT

    SLOT 2 - Lotteried
    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
    with 8x Endless Light UMOs on it.
    Another powerful source of %Elemental pierce. The combination of this ring, QT's Talisman, and charms allows us to reach -100% quad pierce and still have enough item-slots to stack an impressive amount of %Spell damage and provide enough defensive stats for our minions to make gameplay enjoyable and smooth.
    USEFUL STATS: 1 skill, Attributes, Health, Elemental pierce, TCD, Flat defense.
    ► SCREENSHOT
SOCKETS: Jah runes into body armor, Lum runes into everything else.
MYSTIC ORBS: Use orb space for reaching -100 elemental pierce. My barbarian used 10 Endless Light UMOs in total (8 on
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
and 2 on
Elemental Band
Elemental Band
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+10% to Spell Damage
+1 to Path of Flames
+1 to Nova Charge
+1 to Lightning Arena
+1 to Hive
.)

MERCENARY:
► MERCENARY GEAR



Image
PREBUFF ORDER:
    Re-equip items to apply Runemaster buff.
    Buff from weapon on switch (
    Sky Scorcher
    , for example).
    Apply GOTW/BL from your minions.
    Summon 1 Elemental Totem.
    Cast Hive TWICE.
    Summon 5 Frostclaw Totems.
    Cast Path of Flames, Nova Charge, Lightning Arena.
    Summon Veil King, Wolf Companion.
    Choose uber & destroy it.



UBERQUESTS
I am only going to describe ubers that make sense to complete with this build. As mentioned earlier, this is a guide that doesn’t focus on getting all charms. It’s about destroying those that align with the build's strengths. Keep in mind that the -100% quad-pierce of this build is a good fundamental that allows us to switch between different oskills if needed and offers a huge variability, but usually its much easier to 1-shot everything with a crafted Labrys or
Yaggai's Sagaris
Yaggai's Sagaris
Labrys (Sacred)

Two-Hand Damage: (441 - 471) to (496 - 527)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 796
Item Level: 105
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Thunderfury
50% Chance to cast level 16 Stormblast on Melee Attack
50% Attack Speed
Adds 150-200 Damage
-35% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+100 to Strength
+100 to Vitality
Elemental Resists +(10 to 20)%
+250 Life on Melee Attack
Socketed (6)
(but that's outside this build).


VIZJUN

Impressive durability and abusive mobility of Spirit Walk allows us to reach MCS in ~15 seconds without any real risk of dying.
REASONS TO FARM: Good CFS roll, MCS Trophy for charm, MCS Trophy for Sleep charm (if you decide it's best for you).
► GAMEPLAY



DUNCRAIG

The quick movement with Spirit Walk keeps us, the merc, and our units alive by preventing their AI to walk into barrel explosions and die. Socket enough Lum Runes (also boosts Runemaster skill) to have at least 400% Magic Find (my personal, optimal preference) to get maximum profit of each run. I wouldn’t recommend to use Lightning Arena oskill in this area because preventing Slain Souls from coming close will slow down our killspeed.
REASONS TO FARM: Sacred Uniques, Sets, Arcane crystals.
► GAMEPLAY



FAUZTINVILLE

There is no point in using totems here - they die too quickly and would require constant recasting. We replace our FCT hotkey with Thunder Slam and try to hit the perfect timing with Thundergod and the mercenary’s Thunder Slam to permastun hordes of monsters. Lightning Arena becomes a great solution for kiting/controlling monsters like Necrobots and Harpylisks.
REASONS TO FARM: Shrines, Unique/rare jewelery, UMOs.
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TORAJA

The screenwide stun from Thundergod and mercenary in combination with Lightning Arena is very useful to keep Edyrems alive and allows them to apply their debuff more frequently. Teleporting on top of the enemies as well as the movement speed bonus from Wolf Stance speeds up the process of removing their shields.
REASONS TO FARM: Auhe, Sha’ad, Krys.
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SEWERS

Summoning totems before entering is required because there are no corpses to summon them in the level. Using Spirit Walk and not having to walk and pay attention to the path layouts in this area makes this uber a lot more enjoyable. Definitely one of the fastest sewers farmers out there, maybe only lacking behind wolf druid.
REASONS TO FARM: Skull 1, Xis runes.
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TRIUNE

It takes more effort to keep our minions alive because of the one-shot mechanics used in this area, so it’s up to you if you want to use Veil King here or not. I would not recommend it, but that doesn't mean you can't. As for every character, you need to clear the area before picking up the loot or you will likely die to a meteor. This is the most unforgiving place to farm. Practicing/noticing patterns will reduce your chance to die, but it is kinda impossible to avoid death completely.
REASONS TO FARM: Cycles.
► GAMEPLAY



SECRET COW LEVEL

Can be done with your eyes closed. Fast movement and high killspeed makes reaching 121 or higher a breeze, and the risk of dying is pretty low because of tankiness as well as the ability to skip past BPR with Spirit Walk if he happens to pop up.
REASONS TO FARM: Experience.
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Image
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Jaedong, for translating, formatting, helping and overall being a huge support in creation of this guide.
LHawkins1, for translating the text into human language.
Metalistas, Kent, Evik, DeaTh, Vampyra, Kyromyr, Zimbabwa, Gekko64 for helping to reach the max potential of this build.
Kiki22vu for inspiring me to play barbarian.
MXL TEAM for keeping this amazing project alive!
Edited by mahitovec 6 years.
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Heathen
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I can't cookie yet, but this guide is beautiful.
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gg ez
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Nice formatting, easy to read, short and sweet. gj mahi.
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Wtf an interesting (for me) barb build.
Cookied, gg ez.
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thank you all for kind words!
if you guys noticed any typos, feel free to report them here
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good guide and rly good presentation. only thing i would change is the word fire to flame in frostclaw totem description to avoid confusion

i want to ask because in merc gear it mentions shower of rocks or balefire for the weapon but in video it shows punisher barrage proc so i assume the merc is using that proc instead, is that not a good option because its not listed?
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void wrote:good guide and rly good presentation. only thing i would change is the word fire to flame in frostclaw totem description to avoid confusion

i want to ask because in merc gear it mentions shower of rocks or balefire for the weapon but in video it shows punisher barrage proc so i assume the merc is using that proc instead, is that not a good option because its not listed?

fixed, thanks!

Reason why i didnt mention punisher barrage is that i expect them to be removed, after CHAOS season ends. For the same reason i said no word about CHAOS GLOVES. In case those item features travel into a next season, im definetly going to add them aswell.

PWNisher barrage is absolute destrucion as you can see in videos :P
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mahitovec wrote:Reason why i didnt mention punisher barrage is that i expect them to be removed, after CHAOS season ends. For the same reason i said no word about CHAOS GLOVES. In case those item features travel into a next season, im definetly going to add them aswell.

not trying to be a dick but if you keep out punisher barrage and chaos gloves because they are a feature of chaos season then you should also keep out path of flames on amulet

also, Dianetics found barbar_an typo but since he doenst say it here i will http://i.imgur.com/HxBURyv.jpg lol
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Nice formatting, cookied!
PS Zaebok!