The TLDR 2H Barb

aerial wrote:Original build from the guide is still very viable, not changing it right now.

I played screaming eagle version as test run to around 120.
What puts me off is how shitty melee is in lab, owned by all the ranged enemies.
It definitely has potential for super lategame if you can start stacking all best gear. It is however even slower at farming than classic build from this thread, because how many actions it requires performing.
Atm im messing around with whirlwind build (which was idea of RollsRoyce user, which I give credits to).

Idea of windform spec is as follows:
You whirlwind around with area effect attack rolled on crystal sword (or later from su armors for minmax endgame). You spread snake stance damage + windform (it also adds poison) via whirlwind aoe hits to crowds. That damage is affected by your skill levels and pierce, same as any other poison weapon damage build such as snake stance thrower. We have lower wdm (I belive AOE from weapons hits for 50% wdm), but we deal both snake stance + windform damage.
Another advantage is duration, snake stance gets just snake stance duration, ww+snake stacks addsthe duration (and whatever single source, or/and amatoxin oskill). So we can get really nice 10+ seconds duration.
For single target if we add spelldmg mods on gear, they work with direct windform hit (not via aoe). is it better than snake bite? probably not, for sure harder to pull off because spell damage is needed, unlike snake bite skill that just feeds off skill levels and gladiators dominance added damage synergy.
Another nice little bonus is fact that immortal passive is always active during ww (game counts it as standing still).

Character is quite nice, because we get sustain from ww life on striking mod (triggered by AOE, so all these targets tick it, not just single monsters windform can hit at any given time directly). For many annoying ubers where it is easy to get body blocked (such as jday for example), whirllwind allows easily to control position and deliver that lethal hit. Same goes for stuff like kabraxis or xazax, whirlwind makes you immune to stun, can't be interrupted, so landing hit is really easy.
Overall fun little build, I'm curious how far I can get it.

This sounds very interresting - i'd like to know how it goes!
I am currently playing snake thrower, but hitting a brick wall at fauzt due to lack of defense and PR.

aerial wrote:Original build from the guide is still very viable, not changing it right now.

I played screaming eagle version as test run to around 120.
What puts me off is how shitty melee is in lab, owned by all the ranged enemies.
It definitely has potential for super lategame if you can start stacking all best gear. It is however even slower at farming than classic build from this thread, because how many actions it requires performing.
Atm im messing around with whirlwind build (which was idea of RollsRoyce user, which I give credits to).

Idea of windform spec is as follows:
You whirlwind around with area effect attack rolled on crystal sword (or later from su armors for minmax endgame). You spread snake stance damage + windform (it also adds poison) via whirlwind aoe hits to crowds. That damage is affected by your skill levels and pierce, same as any other poison weapon damage build such as snake stance thrower. We have lower wdm (I belive AOE from weapons hits for 50% wdm), but we deal both snake stance + windform damage.
Another advantage is duration, snake stance gets just snake stance duration, ww+snake stacks addsthe duration (and whatever single source, or/and amatoxin oskill). So we can get really nice 10+ seconds duration.
For single target if we add spelldmg mods on gear, they work with direct windform hit (not via aoe). is it better than snake bite? probably not, for sure harder to pull off because spell damage is needed, unlike snake bite skill that just feeds off skill levels and gladiators dominance added damage synergy.
Another nice little bonus is fact that immortal passive is always active during ww (game counts it as standing still).

Character is quite nice, because we get sustain from ww life on striking mod (triggered by AOE, so all these targets tick it, not just single monsters windform can hit at any given time directly). For many annoying ubers where it is easy to get body blocked (such as jday for example), whirllwind allows easily to control position and deliver that lethal hit. Same goes for stuff like kabraxis or xazax, whirlwind makes you immune to stun, can't be interrupted, so landing hit is really easy.
Overall fun little build, I'm curious how far I can get it.

It's all ok but why not using BH for even more pierce and heal since you not rely much on phys WDM and penalty won't do anything that will hurt?

Costs lot of points, adds really annoying life drain that lasts long, and life on hit is pretty shit, it goes only to about 400-500 per hit (less than hymn for example).
I assume you are asking this regarding screaming eagle build not windform.

I find that life drain penalty really annoying as I often stop to do other things, reply chat and so on. This constantly drains you all the way to 1hp.

i am not an expert.But why a crystal sword with whirlwind?

they can roll area effect attack (whirlwind procs it because it is same as wdm nova on attack).

Thanks to the advice, my barb became Lv110.
Resistance and defensive power have also risen considerably and I have broken through to hell act4.

I'm not quite proficient with basic builds yet, I am interested in this (screaming eagle) build.
Should I refer to p106-107?
I'm weak in English and unfamiliar with the median xl system, so please give me some advice...

Sure you can try that, but it has its flaws as I said. You will deal more single target damage, but overall clear feels bit worse, mainly to the fact that you need to cast screaming eagle before attacking anything, sometimes several times per screen depending how it lands. Another inconvenience is lack of life leech (because you don't deal any physical damage), which is quite annoying for farming. You will have to use potions a lot.

Oh, I see.
No life drain and cast eagle anytime are harder than basic build.
But i feel this build has romance.
Is there anything I have in addition to the sacred items?
Which Throwing axe is the best?

I am level 125 atm.
As for the weapon, obviously it must be a crafted throwing axe with at least +5-6 skills and banish proc, ideally paired with another good proc. -Enemy res is a nice bonus to have as well.
This build definitely doesn't need any SU or extremely expensive items to be very strong, thats a huge advantage for sure. Currently I am farming Teganze for some XIS runes to try to roll Natasha's (which seems like bis item for the build) but its extremely strong even when clad in tiered uniques so no need to worry about farming that much.

Its a very fun build when you just want to enjoy the game and beat most content without extreme investments. In high end gear it should be very strong as well and perfectly capable of steamrolling 135 level content. In my crappy gear now I have 20k life (with only 70 signets eaten) and around 600k defense with 40%DR, feels very strong. Big plus is that if you gear your merc correctly he is very difficult to kill and benefits of the same damage bonus as you do as long as he hits cursed monsters, therefore basically doubling your killspeed.
For the downsides there is really no way of healing other than life spark and its not a very good farmer as you need to curse the screen first. However, it might be the tankiest char ever in late game - has incredible vitality scalling, possible to reach max block, decent defense and possibly a crane stance for 20% avoid on top of that. That's my impressions so far, obviously I can be wrong on some of that.

Does windform get better with attack speed? Been trying that out and it's just so miserable on left click. Maybe I'm just spoiled by d3/poe whirlwinds. Also do you think runemaster is still the go-to for that, or gladiator's with block stack? And how about more investment into immortal if windform does actually keep the "standing still" benefit?