End-game Barb wdm setup Exploration share

In 2.5, we get a new barb class relic:

This lead me to think about wdm barb solution for end-game play (T10 lab, sam, deimoss, nithogur, etc)
After my try, I'd like to share 2 setup for barb. The most parts are same, only weapon choice is different. Let me link these items also my char link, and with some details explanation.
Char-link : https://median-xl.com/char/ovoovo

Setup

Helm:

Boarfrost

Boarfrost
Assault Helmet (Sacred)
Defense: (2238 - 2561) to (2449 - 2803)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 120
25% Chance to cast level 40 Ice Bolt Nova on Melee Attack
20% Attack Speed
Adds 63-125 Cold Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
-50% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+10 to Deathgaze
Weapon Physical Damage +90%
+(87 to 114)% Enhanced Defense
(21 to 25)% to Strength
Socketed (4)

/

Royal Circlet

Royal Circlet
Tiara (Sacred)
Defense: (1740 - 1957) to (1968 - 2214)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 392
Item Level: 105
+2 to All Skills
+50% Damage to Demons
+50% Damage to Undead
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
(21 to 25)% to All Attributes
Elemental Resists +(25 to 30)%
Physical Resist 5%
(21 to 25)% Magic Find
Socketed (4)

/

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)

Boarfrost

Boarfrost
Assault Helmet (Sacred)
Defense: (2238 - 2561) to (2449 - 2803)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 120
25% Chance to cast level 40 Ice Bolt Nova on Melee Attack
20% Attack Speed
Adds 63-125 Cold Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
-50% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+10 to Deathgaze
Weapon Physical Damage +90%
+(87 to 114)% Enhanced Defense
(21 to 25)% to Strength
Socketed (4)

is for cold pierce if you want to use Sam sword harbinger as your clear skill. I will explain further with some details below.

Royal Circlet

Royal Circlet
Tiara (Sacred)
Defense: (1740 - 1957) to (1968 - 2214)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 392
Item Level: 105
+2 to All Skills
+50% Damage to Demons
+50% Damage to Undead
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
(21 to 25)% to All Attributes
Elemental Resists +(25 to 30)%
Physical Resist 5%
(21 to 25)% Magic Find
Socketed (4)

is used for Sam sword setup but not use harbinger as clear skill. You can only use harbinger as a TP skill and use EQ as clear skill. With buff in 2.5 of tectonics, in end-game you can obtain like 17% + proc of SoR which is a decent dmg bonus.

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)

is used for

The King of Ents

The King of Ents
Labrys (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: (291 - 321) to (446 - 527)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 796
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Thunderfury
Treewarden Morph
+1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
50% Attack Speed
+(150 to 200) to Maximum Damage
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+(5 to 15) to Rend
+(50 to 100) Life after each Kill
Socketed (6)

setup which is pretty much similar as wdm bear. Or you can use

Endless Pride

Endless Pride
Cap (Sacred)
Defense: 1187 to 1201
Required Level: 120
Required Strength: 500
Item Level: 130
Restitution
(Based on Restore Percentage)
+2 to All Skills
+50% Bonus to Defense
Maximum Elemental Resists +3%
Cube with Heavenly Soul: Restore +20%
+4 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+2 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
Elemental Resists +10%
(1 to 50)% Magic Find
Socketed (4)

but personally I recommend

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)

more because in this barb setup you get 100%DS already so you don't need to use

Path of Brutality

Path of Brutality
Occult Effigy

Cube Reagent
Cube with Unique Ring/Amulet to Add Bonus
Transforms every +1 to All Skills to +3% Deadly Strike
Item Becomes (Your Class Only)
+10 Required Level

, so you get a lot of skills which make

Endless Pride

Endless Pride
Cap (Sacred)
Defense: 1187 to 1201
Required Level: 120
Required Strength: 500
Item Level: 130
Restitution
(Based on Restore Percentage)
+2 to All Skills
+50% Bonus to Defense
Maximum Elemental Resists +3%
Cube with Heavenly Soul: Restore +20%
+4 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+2 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
Elemental Resists +10%
(1 to 50)% Magic Find
Socketed (4)

is not so necessary, for

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)

you can also expect some nice corruption and more MO space.

Armor :

Arkaine's Valor

Arkaine's Valor
Splint Mail (Sacred)
Defense: (9532 - 10839) to (12577 - 14093)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 120
50% of Your Bonus to Defense Added as Vitality
+1 to All Skills
50% Hit Recovery
+(150 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+(3000 to 5000) Defense
Physical Resist 10%
Socketed (6)

Barb can snapshot bear stance also have other source bonus defense, making this armor become our best choice.

Rings :

Ripstar

Ripstar
Ring
Required Level: 60
Item Level: 60
+0.5625 to Maximum Damage (Based on Character Level)
+20 Life on Melee Attack

X2 for easy good corruption and lot of MO space. We dont need ias or ds from

Giant's Knuckle

Giant's Knuckle
Ring
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
20% Attack Speed
Adds 10-15 Damage
(5 to 10)% Life stolen per Hit
5% Deadly Strike
+25 Life Regenerated per Second
Physical Resist 5%

also pr is somehow useless for end-game.

Amulet:

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)%

good proc. nice dmg, also +3sk helps

Relic (Cherubim)

Relic
Required Level: 75
5% Life stolen per Hit
+(6 to 13) to Cherubim
(4 to 8)% to Strength

gloves/boots/belt : hono.

weapon:

Maleficence

Maleficence
Maleficence
Tyrannical Blade
One-Hand Damage: 399 to 450
Required Level: 125
Item Level: 110
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.14 per Strength)%
1% Chance to cast level 20 Orb of Annihilation on Striking
+200% Enhanced Damage
+50 to Harbinger
Lightning Resist -100%
(1 to 5)% Chance to Avoid Damage
+3% to Experience Gained

/

The King of Ents

The King of Ents
Labrys (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: (291 - 321) to (446 - 527)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 796
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Thunderfury
Treewarden Morph
+1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
50% Attack Speed
+(150 to 200) to Maximum Damage
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+(5 to 15) to Rend
+(50 to 100) Life after each Kill
Socketed (6)

shield (if you don't use

The King of Ents

The King of Ents
Labrys (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: (291 - 321) to (446 - 527)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 796
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Thunderfury
Treewarden Morph
+1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
50% Attack Speed
+(150 to 200) to Maximum Damage
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+(5 to 15) to Rend
+(50 to 100) Life after each Kill
Socketed (6)

) :

Titan's Blockade

Titan's Blockade
Barbarian Shields
'UmZolLew'
Runeword Level: 110
At least 1 Base Level in Runemaster: Maximum Poison Resist +4%
With 15 Base Levels in Runemaster: 10% Deadly Strike
40% Hit Recovery
Adds 15-25 Damage
Slows Attacker by 10%
+(130 to 150)% Enhanced Defense
+(1000 to 2000) Defense
(20 to 30)% to Strength
20% to Vitality
Maximum Mana +5%
Elemental Resists +35%

Playstyle-The King of Ents

The King of Ents

The King of Ents
Labrys (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: (291 - 321) to (446 - 527)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 796
Item Level: 120
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Thunderfury
Treewarden Morph
+1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
50% Attack Speed
+(150 to 200) to Maximum Damage
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
+(5 to 15) to Rend
+(50 to 100) Life after each Kill
Socketed (6)

setup is pretty much similar as bear. You need

Relic (Cherubim)

Relic
Required Level: 75
5% Life stolen per Hit
+(6 to 13) to Cherubim
(4 to 8)% to Strength

for clear. The overall dmg on Cherubim is higher than bear, and rend dmg is similar with using SoR for single target. As a barb compare to bear, you get more dodge, and better ias fpa, but lower HP. Overall the performance is pretty similar. One thing good to know is , tree warden hit box is larger than bear. this maybe annoying in some case , like sam fight.

Playstyle-Maleficence

Maleficence

Maleficence
Maleficence
Tyrannical Blade
One-Hand Damage: 399 to 450
Required Level: 125
Item Level: 110
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.14 per Strength)%
1% Chance to cast level 20 Orb of Annihilation on Striking
+200% Enhanced Damage
+50 to Harbinger
Lightning Resist -100%
(1 to 5)% Chance to Avoid Damage
+3% to Experience Gained

setup is a little more complex but I like this more personally because I'm tired of bear play. We have 2 choice here : use / not use harbinger.

To use harbinger, you have to know some facts of this super-buggy skill because most information you get is not right. Tooltip, charsheet show, etc. All wrong. Here are some facts:

► Show Spoiler

If you want to use harbinger you have to stack some cold pierce which make

Boarfrost

Boarfrost
Assault Helmet (Sacred)
Defense: (2238 - 2561) to (2449 - 2803)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 120
25% Chance to cast level 40 Ice Bolt Nova on Melee Attack
20% Attack Speed
Adds 63-125 Cold Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
-50% to Enemy Cold Resistance
+10 to Deathgaze
Weapon Physical Damage +90%
+(87 to 114)% Enhanced Defense
(21 to 25)% to Strength
Socketed (4)

as our best choice. I get 80 cold pierce which is far from enough but I don't have enough time and resource to try to get more. Maybe you can use some hybrid setup ( add more dex point to use

Svalinn

Svalinn
Shields
'RhalLoOhn'
Runeword Level: 115
-1% to Enemy Elemental Resistances per 150 Dexterity
8% Chance to cast level 7 Life Spark when Blocking
1% Base Block Chance
15% Block Speed
20% Hit Recovery
+(151 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+(30 to 40) to all Attributes
(15 to 20)% to Dexterity
+200 to Life
Fire Resist +(20 to 25)%
Lightning Resist +(20 to 25)%
Cold Resist +(20 to 25)%
Poison Resist +(20 to 25)%
Fire Absorb (3 to 5)%
Physical Resist 5%

at the meantime you keep your str > dex+ vit). Extra dex also helps for AR since our cold dmg prevent us using heart of stone passive which lead some AR problem.
Although my cold pierce is not enough but still with this setup I can easily clear T9, not mention to scos or fautz. T10 is a little trouble because the mobs are a little sparse also a lot of phoboss spawn making us flying around style a little dangerous. Also considering element absorb in lab, the insufficient cold pierce makes the dmg a little lower compared to other playstyle.

If you don't want to bother with cold pierce and drop harbinger, you can use EQ as your clear skill too. This dmg performance is not bad. I tried to use this clear T10. Only problem is, the playstyle is a little awkward, you fly to mobs, change skill to EQ and attack. This is not straight forward and annoying.

Both cases for Maleficence you need a single target skill for boss, I recommend

Relic (Divine Judgment)

Relic
Required Level: 75
+(9 to 16) to Divine Judgment
+(21 to 25) to Strength
(2 to 4)% to Strength

. Or you can just swap to The King of Ents on off-hand to use rend.

That's all about my exploration for end-game barb. I drop GT because I feel tired of GT also GT get nerfed. But I think GT is still a decent skill to make use of new 100DS relic. Unfortunately, because my personal computer is too old, I can't record some videos to show the performance. But I did try all these setup so I can safely say all of them are doable. I used these to farm T10 and lvl up to 150.

During the exploration, at first the harbinger dmg makes my very confused ( I add heart of stones since harbinger shows its magic convert) ,also char sheet shown is not right. So I have some discussion and arguments with dev and mod. If anyone interested, here is some my own view on the whole harbinger buggy things:

► Show Spoiler

(If anyone doubts the validity of the following content and quotes, I can provide the corresponding screenshots)

Quote entirely : “are you trying to tell me and the others we are not playing the game when sio literally showed you that you are wrong”

Yes, I’m wrong indeed while do you know who tell me the wrong information? Sio.

Firstly, I asked 2 developers, just as calm as I can, not so called “rant”, I just ask what wdm on this skill. Ben told me that it’s never 100%, maybe 25%-ish. Sio told me that she needs to dig deeper and after some time she told me its 36%. Since I believe in Sio and she did dig deeper, I take this 36% as true. For now, we all know that this is not true, the wdm is 100%. So, my standpoint is wrong, I admit. What worth to mention is, the truth comes to me only after 1 week. Until the very last day this “fight” or “discussion” I got the truth.

I never blame Sio or Ben for their wrong information, because I know how this skill buggy and without checking the source code it really hard to tell what happens underground. However I’m the one mocked by some dev teams and mods because this wrong standpoint, well at the whole time nobody gives me right information. Neither in game all descriptions are wrong, the tooltip is wrong, the character sheet is wrong. If you do not know the answer in advance, it is difficult to make the appropriate test to determine what the real situation is.

For now, its also really hard for me to testify my idea that this skill is not conversion to cold, but magic in old version. I know it is cold now, I did some test once Sio told me the truth. But before this, since I can’t get the old game version so there’s no possibility to do test on that. Because based on changelog, the wolf’s vanilla harbinger skill is change from magic to cold conversion from Sigma 1.3, which is 4 or 5 years from now. I just can’t get some old version game files to do test.

It seems that some administrators are very unhappy that I do not believe that the two skills are the same while if I got wrong information before why can’t I have doubt for next? If you want to use wolf’s changelog to prove me that I’m wrong, in logic you need also to prove wolf’s and sam sword’s harbinger is same. If dev teams really want to clear my doubts, just come to me nicely and tell me at least on design level these 2 skills should be same. Not from random mods who doesn’t have a character at all or only lvl 100-ish, when you even can’t equip this thing how I can believe you are the right person, especially after I already got wrong information from dev?

Maybe they really are the same at least on design level, but the skills are 2 different skills, the tooltip is different, the character sheet showing is different, the weapon base needed is different. Yes I’m the one who “rant for a week” while if this skill is always same as wolfs by some HashMap link to vanilla wolf harbinger, the tooltip bug exist for 5 years. There was a season on ladder all pala wear sam sword without stacking cold pierce at least after 1.3 version.

Maybe I should be doomed in hell because I “rant for a week“of a 5 years old bug on a false standpoint (wdm is 100 not 36). Entirely quote from Macro “(because why even test it? easier to go to devs and demand immediate hotfix instead of testing the claim you're making)” while as I mentioned this wrong standpoint is from dev team themselves. They just didn’t bring me right information. Even you, Marco, you don’t know the truth otherwise you won’t debate with me like “how shouldn’t us only use wdm as standard to evaluate a skill be good or bad”. Is it that you want all paterons to praise this game without raising any issues? At least I bring up this issue loudly, and we finally will get some fix in next version 2.6.

Finally, I would like to highlight that, all discussions are in a private channel where only paterons can come in. But I WAS BANNED FOR A WEEK because of this. Game is just game, not my life mission of course, neither the development is dev team’s source of income, they have their own work and life. I totally accept that. But wrong is wrong, right is right. Nothing can change this. I fully accept and apologize for my mistake but at meanwhile, if you’re not the double standard person, you should know who need also do same.

Good build & very detailed explanation :clap:

Cool, I tested Treewarden Morph with The King of Ents before this season started. I found it was actually a 7fpa rend and 5fpa Cherubim from my test. Not sure, correct me if Im wrong.

To be honest, I didnt play 5fpa Cherubim Treewarden barb from start of this ladder just because I didnt expect devs designed such a 100ds thing for barb this season. Without the new relic, even 5fpa Cherubim Treewarden barb is not very fast in lab farming, that is why I didnt have a plan to play it, until the new 100ds relic revealed to public. It changed the whole story, nice design!

And with the new relic and Gale Force buffed from 1 to 3 times per attack, Whirlwind barb also good this season and u can also swap to The King of Ents on off-hand or just use DJ.

Nice job with the Maleficence setup part, never come up with trying it this ladder. I did plan to build around harbinger from Maleficence on superbeast last ladder, but thanks to devs giving Pal such a strong relic, it failed.

cnlnjzfjb wrote:Cool, I tested Treewarden Morph with The King of Ents before this season started. I found it was actually a 7fpa rend and 5fpa Cherubim from my test. Not sure, correct me if Im wrong.

To be honest, I didnt play 5fpa Cherubim Treewarden barb from start of this ladder just because I didnt expect devs designed such a 100ds thing for barb this season. Without the new relic, even 5fpa Cherubim Treewarden barb is not very fast in lab farming, that is why I didnt have a plan to play it, until the new 100ds relic revealed to public. It changed the whole story, nice design!

And with the new relic and Gale Force buffed from 1 to 3 times per attack, Whirlwind barb also good this season and u can also swap to The King of Ents on off-hand or just use DJ.

Nice job with the Maleficence setup part, never come up with trying it before.

yeah cheru and rend fpa is diff. caz it use different attack animation. Later maybe I will do some calculation on exactly how fast it get. But apparently cheru tree is faster than rend.

RyougiShiki wrote:yeah cheru and rend fpa is diff. caz it use different attack animation. Later maybe I will do some calculation on exactly how fast it get. But apparently cheru tree is faster than rend.

Nice job. It seems like a 5fpa cheru from my test.

And btw, I have to say, 100ds for barb permanently while 40% attr for pal during just 20 seconds, fair enough, right？Nice job, devs! Definitely make me wanna play a pally than barb next ladder.

This is an awesome build, it kind of blows me away. I havent made a barbarian yet-really im normally a paladin only. But this kind of has me wanting to try something i havent done before. I like how it uses Maleficence. I've tried incorporating that with my current build this season, but now Im certain on the build that I can use it with.

Thanks for the guide sir!!

cnlnjzfjb wrote:
RyougiShiki wrote:yeah cheru and rend fpa is diff. caz it use different attack animation. Later maybe I will do some calculation on exactly how fast it get. But apparently cheru tree is faster than rend.

Nice job. It seems like a 5fpa cheru from my test.

And btw, I have to say, 100ds for barb permanently while 40% attr for pal during just 20 seconds, fair enough, right？Nice job, devs! Definitely make me wanna play a pally than barb next ladder.

well I can explain in detail why I said so in CN channel...

40% aa is a trap.. only useful if you want to play AzureGT. the important thing is , 7f-5f morph. so you get 1.4x dmg , as 40% dmg boost it's same as barb's 100ds. the only issue is. Holymelee pal itself is a little below avg performance.

RyougiShiki wrote:well I can explain in detail why I said so in CN channel...

40% aa is a trap.. only useful if you want to play AzureGT. the important thing is , 7f-5f morph. so you get 1.4x dmg , as 40% dmg boost it's same as barb's 100ds. the only issue is. Holymelee pal itself is a little below avg performance.

If GT not nerfed this season, it should be definitely more dmg doing holy Azure GT with the relic than unholy Azure GT before, if only the 20 secs playstyle not bothers much.

However, with the nerf of GT, solitude and 2 UMO limit this season, while lab mobs ele resist stays the same, hard to say. I can figure out it can still sweep T10, but I guess it will be hard to do 5/6 pillar Dei.

And that 20 secs thing... Just successfully persuades me away from pal, esp when I see the new relic for barb

Vids? I want to try one!

Great post man; this is really informative. Maybe worthwhile to use it to tackle Deimoss/Nitho for my char

Feels bad to get banned man; I wish the source for the mod was available somewhere so I can look at it instead of having to ask mods/devs and interacting with people like walking on glass...