The TLDR 2H Barb

fr0gbug wrote:Would be super OP but Lion stance doesn't scale with total str, just base str -> bonus damage is hard capped at 3995 average magic possible bonus damage if I did my math right

True, my bad. But this only shows how bad lion stance is, because I really don't think it would be that op even if it scaled with total strength. It would be fair tradeoff.

vektson wrote:Wouldn't it be better to max Ancient Blood over taking Endurance not to mention the +skills Ancient Blood can get? I know Endurance is 1:1% unlike Ancients 1:0.5% life but we get the acc bonus with it. Working on my 125 charms and trying figure out my AR. Only got my Hell respec left and wondering if I can commit 100% strength on respec. Either way though great build and loving my first character

During my tests I didn't run into issues with AR, thats why i oped for putting points in endurance first. But feel free to even max ancient's blood, it won't make that much difference.

sujan2016 wrote:
Blind Anger
Blind Anger
Light Gauntlets (Sacred)
Defense: (1179 - 1447) to (1342 - 1647)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 600
Item Level: 105
8% Chance to cast level 13 Crucify on Melee Attack
+(0 to 1) to All Skills
(1 to 5)% Chance of Crushing Blow
Blinds Attacker +3
+(120 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
(11 to 15)% to All Attributes
Socketed (4)
is it a good item for this build?

Nothing special. Stats are ok, proc value is low because sor has cooldown (and for aoe earthquake vastly outperforms crucify proc). If blind was applied to what we hit then it would be amazing, but attacker means you nearly never see it.
Ofc it is better than visegrip.

PresidentLoki wrote:Is this or WW the only real builds for barbs? Why is there no summoner barb? Is it not viable late game? Sorry I’m new just started a few days ago

There are just these guides up, but doesn't mean there is no other build.
In fact if you look at realm ladder, characters that made it deeper into lab happen to be elemental barbs. It comes down to sustain via life on hit, max res bonus from conflux, clear speed isn't as important.
Both thrower and melee poison is totally playable, as well as summoner. Physical thrower should work too.

iwansquall wrote:When shrine crafting couple of gears, I noticed there are couple of interesting procs & oskill are still in the game.
As someone love proc, i was saddened that new passive effectively blocking fire/cold/lightning (im using set amulet for punisher proc lul)

And specific proc or oskill that worth mentioned here (aside from the mentioned weapon swap buff skill)?
I think i saw hammertime one time and couple of time strike.

*Im legit think that barb melee passive is super OP. super strong for just 1 point.

Issue with attack procs is, SOR has cooldown, procs have low value then, because you dont spam your attack. For clear you simply don't care, 2x big wdm nova from earthquake, it doesn't matter if you occasionally get extra stormblast or crucify here and there. You would want this vs single target, but there your main attack has cooldown.

Captcha wrote:Loss of Wolf's movement speed is the other factor? It would be a slow and clunky character without it.

Not if you need damage vs some specific boss, then you rather kill him 2x faster than care about slower walk speed. I'm not talking about spec for everything, just special case to boost damage against some annoying teleporting boss.

Hey, is there any guide or tips for Elemental Barb? I have been searching for it, but couldnt find anything.

How good is this as base crafted (without any effect used yet)?

Should I use it or stay with GRIEF?

Grief is almost always gonna be better than craft i think, overall stats are just better, and you still get 250 damage added.

aerial wrote:
Captcha wrote:Loss of Wolf's movement speed is the other factor? It would be a slow and clunky character without it.

Not if you need damage vs some specific boss, then you rather kill him 2x faster than care about slower walk speed. I'm not talking about spec for everything, just special case to boost damage against some annoying teleporting boss.

Ah. I didn't understand that to be the context of your question/thought. I thought you were asking if it were better to run the build in general with lion rather than wolf.

Hey aerial, I'm coming from Wulf's guide since he recommended me to check yours as my build is an earth/SoR barb.

Have several questions where I failed to see on the OP:
1. I'm almost 95, and I wield a Xansai two-handed. So what is the recommended weapon progression I should follow from now?
How should I decide upon whether I should stick one hander+shield or 2 hander? Wulf had recommended these 3 shields as best:

Snowstorm

Snowstorm
Bull Shield (Sacred)
Defense: (3466 - 3837) to (4194 - 4593)
Chance to Block: 1%
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 90
Required Strength: 500
Required Dexterity: 374
Item Level: 1
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
Adds 50-100 Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
+(500 to 1000) Defense
Maximum Cold Resist +1%
Cold Resist +(31 to 50)%
Socketed (4)

Mount Arreat
(Barbarian Earthshaker Set)

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)

,

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%

.
2. Is it not possible to 4fpa without wolf stance already with speed MOs? I'd like to hear why you preferred it over Lion stance?
3. Why do you not recommend maxing earthquake?
4. You don't recommend maxing Ancient Blood because of diminishing returns?
5. I've been using pax mystica, but would I still need 'Leap' for later?
6. I guess it is safe to use Wulf's item progression since he included sacreds and rws?

Thanks!

1. Guide is around two-handers, so as item section states,

Wrathchild

Wrathchild
Labrys (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (19 - 23) to (39 - 57)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 12
Required Strength: 127
Item Level: 29
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Thunderfury
+1 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(16 to 30) to Maximum Damage
+(24 to 46)% Enhanced Damage
+(3 to 6) to Earthquake (Barbarian Only)
(2 to 3)% Chance of Crushing Blow
Slow Target (3 to 5)%
+6 Mana on Melee Attack
(21 to 25)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (2)
Two-Hand Damage: (64 - 72) to (115 - 138)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 183
Item Level: 40
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Thunderfury
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(46 to 60) to Maximum Damage
+(69 to 92)% Enhanced Damage
+(7 to 10) to Earthquake (Barbarian Only)
(4 to 6)% Chance of Crushing Blow
Slow Target (9 to 11)%
+10 Mana on Melee Attack
(31 to 35)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)
Two-Hand Damage: (159 - 175) to (245 - 277)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 52
Required Strength: 354
Item Level: 67
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Thunderfury
+3 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(76 to 90) to Maximum Damage
+(115 to 137)% Enhanced Damage
+(11 to 14) to Earthquake (Barbarian Only)
(7 to 9)% Chance of Crushing Blow
Slow Target (15 to 17)%
+15 Mana on Melee Attack
(41 to 45)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (5)
Two-Hand Damage: (190 - 208) to (326 - 367)
(Barbarian Only)
Required Level: 60
Required Strength: 696
Item Level: 85
Strength Damage Bonus: (0.16 per Strength)%
Thunderfury
+4 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+(91 to 110) to Maximum Damage
+(138 to 160)% Enhanced Damage
+(15 to 18) to Earthquake (Barbarian Only)
(10 to 12)% Chance of Crushing Blow
Slow Target (18 to 20)%
+20 Mana on Melee Attack
(46 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (6)

is your basic first item. If you insist on using sword, then id opt for Snowstorm as it adds so much extra damage.
2. You can't reach 4fpa with normal attacks, other than whirlwind. As stated under skill tree for Labrys attack speed fpa/ias - 10/63, 9/92, 8/147, 7/280, so maximum is 7fpa with 280 total ias (only wsm of weapon counts and total ias for the calculation, its standard not special case like whirlwind).
Here is some theory about lategame weapon choices and reasons.
3. Earthquake adds flat physical damage thats added after for example increased damage from strength. It will only use your skill ewd, so you get for example +300 damage *500 ewd (wolf stance + spirit guide), so it adds 1500 damage. Not nothing, but not that much, and it doesnt help your sor damage used for bosses. Also we have tons of crushing blow so for earthquake flat damage isn't that important, monsters get reduced hp by % thanks to cb. I just don't think its worth it, but feel free to experiment, its 10 points taken from something else, for just aoe farming, lets say duncraig runs, may be worth it, if you plan to do a lot of runs.
4. Ancient blood doesn't have diminishing returns, I leave it as optional. It is quite good for attack rating, you can for example not get endurance, and get half of life per point from ancients blood instead, but 50 attack rating flat per point. It is a choice, I didn't have issues with attack rating, but for very endgame this may be way to go, depending what is your AR for example against tanky scosglen monsters. 1+ means worth considering.
5. Leap is too good to not get, you avoid all damage during leap, its very useful, can power through very deadly mechanics leaping on target. Its well worth 1 point.
6. Windform is quite different, you want different things, you go with one handers, adding flat damage is more important, than for us if we have 600+ avg damage axe, these items for example such as ripstars are rather weak for us. I'd say some items are good for both builds, but there is also plenty that are different, so I would be careful, Your first mistake would be using that sword/shield as you started with.

Cheers for a quick return! However, I'd just updated my post before your input so I put it down below:

Gladiator's Dominance boosts for shield capacity and deadly strike. And I've been using Bear stance. Would that combination be a great alternative for those who opted in favouring shields? Or on the contrary, the total damage would be insufficient in favour of stacking defense?

On the last answer: Do you mean you don't see a good potential in combining one-hander (e.g.

Gharaniq

Gharaniq
Barbarian Swords, Barbarian One-Handed Axes
Except Barbarian Two-Ha
'JahSilElq'
Runeword Level: 100
+(3 to 4) to Barbarian Skill Levels
Adds 5-10 Damage
Adds 120-115 Damage
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
Weapon Physical Damage +(60 to 80)%
+(81 to 100) to Strength
+(225 to 250) to Dexterity
5% Chance to Avoid Damage

) with Snowstorm for example for endgame?

Two hander will do more damage especially with SOR, because attack speed is irrelevant (cooldown), so you care about most damage per hit.
It isn't huge difference, so both routes are playable.

Gladiator's dominance to get full value out of it, you need get bunch of dexterity to reach 50% block chance (cap). This doesn't mix well with strength stacking for enhanced damage bonus. So yes you do gain DS, but you lose strength. And even with 50% block you still should be tankier with runemaster as your defense reaches over million with that, rendering monsters in all ubers to have 5% chance to hit you (minimum amount).
Bear stance is a defensive option, and it is quite bit of a blow to damage, wolf stance grants tons of speeds, movement speed, about 400% enhanced weapon and and bunch of crushing blow. I think two hander with wolf stance > one hander with glad's dominance.

Keep in mind that for whirlwind, with how it works, using only weapon ias, it is much easier to hit speed cap without any ias on gear except weapons. This isn't the case for normal attacks, and then this gigantic bonus from wolf stance actually comes in very handy. You need 280 attack speed from all sources to reach max breakpoint with axe. Hitting that without wolf stance requires some serious effort and gear sacrifices.
Not that you absolutely need to hit that, it only matters for smoothness of clear (how fast can you move and spam earthquakes). For shower of rocks you pop every 2 seconds which is your primary single targer damage dealer, attack speed isn't as important.

First of all, kudos for the guide!

What cycles would you recommend cubing with Triune's talisman?