The Lion stance barb definitely needs attention. Chuck is too stubborn to admit that Boarfrost is a way better helm then Wandelkoning. He tried to say the ias was a key factor for using the helm until I brought up that Labrys only needs 58% to hit speed cap. He quickly removed that from his post and focused on other stats of the helm. Whats funny is at the very top of his first post of the compilation, Chuck explicitly says to use the speed calc for breakpoints and even links to the tools section but doesn't use it himself. I asked for ss of stat screen because I was interested in the build and was curious about how much life it had end game but Chuck ignored me.
1 point Runemaster is insufficient for a build that depends on defense, especially when Lion Stance has -25% dr penalty - Not including luck/blessed luck oils, the gear/charms put dr at 5%, this is assuming the Natasha armor has perfect 20% roll. Natasha has the defense of the other high level runeword armors but without the requirement of using jewels, which is a big deal for Runemaster. Putting only 1 point is a waste.
20 points in daedalus is a poor use of skill points, it adds less than 500 life and 250% ar, doesn't seem bad but for 20 points its too expensive. The added lightning damage is nice but its 1-6.5k not
flat dmg, too trivial to depend on. Daedalus is a nice 1 point skill, some of these should go to runemaster.
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 the superior helm for this build. The 100 cold pierce frees up orb space and meets one of the guidelines Chuck listed for the build. The helm also adds cold dmg, 150% ewd,(compared to 101-150 from wandel) cb and has a nova proc gets a nice boost from the cold stats on helm.
Nero
is ok but this seems like a slot to pick up some dr% - Fortress is a nice proc but won't show up often enough with a build thats geared so heavily towards killing everything with 1 shot. Path of flames would be better with Yaggai's + Ancient Hand spec.
Getting 100 light pierce shouldn't be an issue with charms + 50 from weapon and Natasha so orbing shouldn't be necessary. The drawback for Ice burst is that it travels half the distance as stormblast for 1 point invested. At least the weapon has 100% stormblast proc.
Gloves are good for the build. Rings are also ok but hard to find.
Earth Rouser
Earth Rouser
Ring
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 100
2% Chance to cast level 10 Shockwave on Melee Attack
5% Chance of Crushing Blow
Weapon Physical Damage +15%
(6 to 10)% to Strength
are cheap, have comparable stats and the proc is probably more useful. (Earthquake doesn't hit enough)
Another issue regarding defense in this build is life. Barb needs to be able to survive some hits and life is even more important since main stance is Lion. With so many points (700-800 suggested) into strength for damage, and trying to hit 95% chance to hit, there isn't a lot left for vitality. There needs to be some balance here. If it were a build focused on high risk/reward I could understand but none of the gear has any magic find so that argument is nil.
Whatever, Chuck doesn't value the opinions of those who question him or even those who offer advice to help better his gear suggestion compilation.