Diablo II Strategy Guide Info:
The Whirlwind Barbarian
An aggressive class, that’s why it is favored by many. For PvM there are various interesting and fun builds (frenzy barbs, berserkers, leapers, throwers and so on) while in PvP the best killing skill is WW (whirlwind), which this guide covers.
Skills
- Whirlwind: 20
- Battle Orders: 20
- Weapon Mastery: 20 (choose only one weapon mastery to receive full benefits)
- Shout: 10-20 (if you don’t want to use leap, max this one)
- Increased speed: 4-7 (this is important since FRW from skill don’t recieve diminishing returns, unlike frw from items)
- Natural resistance: How much here depends on resistances from other equipment. Level 9 is 52% resist all; that's nice to achieve with some bonuses from equipment. Higher than level 10 heavy diminishing returns set in.
- Leap: some still thinks there is no use for this skill in GM duels, since you wont be teleporting, but I find it useful against chars with low FHR, it is also usefull against meateor sorcs standing in their own fire or defensive wind druids. You don’t need to cover whole screen in GM duels so 14 skill points invested here should be enough.
One skill point wonders: Berserk, Battle command.
Stats
Strength: enough to use your armor/weapon. Plan this one correctly you don’t want to spend too much here. For example: Archon plate Duress (RW) needs 103 str + Draculas grasp gloves adds 10-15 str so with perfect str draculas you can have 118 str which is enough for Arreat's Face helm and with the +20 str from Arreats you can use a Berserker Axe with a runeword in it.
Dexterity: enough for your max block with your best available shield and dual angelics , you can put eld rune in your shield to increase you shields chance to block, that way you can save some stat points which can be put to vitality. Remember that when you gain lvls you will need more dexterity to reach max bock. So always keep an eye on your block in character screen when lvling and add some points in dexterity to maintain max block (with you best shield)
Vitality: all the rest.
Energy: None (having few charms with +mana is usually enough)
Items/Charms
Weapons
The most important item for a WW Barbarian. Good weapons are expensive and you need one to have success against other players. It's best to dual wield vs. casters and most melee opponents. Shield/weapon is usually needed only for barb vs barb duels, of course Grief (for RWM users) and Beast RW would be the most godly combination, but 2x Oath (RWM) can deliver almost the same punch + is more cheaper (mal highest) so via hf drops and countess runs its easily obtained.
Other options is Death cleaver/ nice high ed rare with at least 40 IAS to hit the last WW breakpoint.
Swords are also viable, but it's hard to find good damage with enough IAS to hit the last WW breakpoint.
On switch use 2x echoing knifes/spears (can be bought from hell Malah) with + 3 to warcrys in order to pre-buff your BO/Shout/Battle commands.
Shield
Stormshield is your best bet (eld rune for better block), Hell meph can drop it. Other options is Whitstan's Guard with Eld rune.
Armor
Use the lightest armor possible to avoid run speed penalties. Runewords like Duress (highest rune UM) or Fortitude (highest rune Lo) are good choices. I personally favor Duress for high OW, plus it is much more cheaper than Forty, Um rune can be easily found/cubed while running hell counttes. Other affordable armor options are Duriels shell and Shaftstop.
Headgear
Arreat's Face, the helm that has everything that barb needs (socketing options Um/resist jewel/ed jewel/shael). Other nice options are Vampire Gaze, Rockstopper, and the Harlequin Crest.
Gloves
Draculas grasp wins this one, for Open Wounds and +15 str. Using WW life tap never triggers so it becomes best GM gloves. Other good options is: blood glowes with nice mods, sexy rares with resist/strgh.
Boots
Gore riders should should be your end game boots (DS/OW/CB/30frw) extremely useful mods for barb. Other options: war travelers, Ik boots, triple res boots with 30 frw (you can keep these in stash if you have gore riders, more resist never hurts in some situations)
Belt
You should have few belts in your stash for diferent situations. Thundergods have str + max Light res and Light absorb usefull againt any lighting dealing character. Verdungos, against melee opponents, but strings of ears is nice option too. Crafted blood belt with mods like resists/str/high ow.
Jewelry
Angelic 2x rings and amulet against melee opponents, highlords and 2x ravens against opponents with low def like casters, rare rings with resistance/life/mana.
Cats eye is good option for those who lack faster run walk. You can also use teleport amulet if someone wants to play by BM rules, 22 teleport charges can last for one or even two duels if you use it wisely (using teleport only for attacks, not for moving around)
Charms
Use anything to help you increase your:
- Life (small sc’s with below mentioned mods is godly, but plain ones is good too)
- Attack rating (use Grand charms with AR if you have problems in this section)
- Resist (sc’s with single element is cheapest and easy obtainable) you probably wont be able to reach max res without godly gear/charms so dont worry much if resists is lowish in hell.
- Faster Run/Walk (SPF GM rules caped frw usage to 110, so if you lack good frw small charms with 3% frw is ideal for reaching that cap)