Wand/Stave Barb

LordMay

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Mar 6, 2005
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Wand/Stave Barb

Normally I would put this in the barb forum but I don't need a bunch of people telling me I need this gear and these charms and what not. Back when I used to be a member of cattle.net I saw a few barbs using wands as weapons. I never actually fought with them but I'm pretty sure the wands were there main weapons. I dismissed it at the time but now I'm quite interested in the idea. Are wands and staves viable as weapons. Unfortunatly I know nothing of the "build" but this is what I can speculate:

1. Too often I've found wands/staves with godly mods that would go great on a melee weapon. With this build I could actually use these weapons to some affect.

2. Mace mastery works with both so the damage shouldn't be too pitifull ( nevermind I'm sure it will) Does strength rw work with wands? Conc seems like a good way to go since BO is a synergy for it. I guess I'll have a might merc but even then I don't know if a wand or staff (excluding ribby and other uniques) exists that could even get me to 300 damage which brings me to...

3. After looking at this thread taunt and battle cry would atleast keep me alive and maxed the would be good synergies for warcry. A singer seems like a decent idea but I don't know how they play and I want the weapons to be at the center of the build.

I don't really have any other ideas. Normally I find barbs to be rather boring but this idea really interests me and I'd love to hear what you guys think.
 
I've seen a build where a Passion staff was used on a Barb. It would save you the point in Zerk, and give you the option of using Zeal.

Edit: I just realized that the blind/flee mods on passion will probably overwrite your Battle Cry, so you would need to keep that in mind.

Another thing to keep in mind for both wands and staves is the hit power crafting recipe. It's dirt cheap, and adds 35-60% Enhanced Damage. Since (non unique, non runeword) wands and staves can't normally get the best damage mods, this could really help.
 
The wand holding Babas are usually Singers (dual Wizardspikes), but I've seen people play Drummers before (wands do the killing :x). I have no idea how WW Wand Babas or Frenzy Wand Babas would work out, but I do have a Singer...

Basically, your mana drains fast with too much +Skills, and without too much +Skills, your damage kinda sucks. Also, it takes longer to kill monsters, but in return, groups usually die all at once. It's pretty fun once you get a decent load of mana though. :D

But it seems you want to make something melee, so I have no idea how well it would work. By the way, yes, Strength works.
 
Yeah a ribcracker is about the best you can find. Upgrade it, and there isnt many 2 handed weapons that beat it.
 
I don't have a ribby and even if I did I'm playing all my chars untwinked atm and I'm not sure when that will change.
 
LordMay said:
1. Too often I've found wands/staves with godly mods that would go great on a melee weapon. With this build I could actually use these weapons to some affect.
Ugh huh? Wands and Staves can't get any ED suffixes and wands have low base damage, so you can't have any physical damage worth to mention from them. The exceptions are runewords in staves and Ribcracker.
High elemental damage often spawns on wands, so you can use some rare wand instead of gimmershred, though I think it would be only viable on Convictor (pala using zeal and Conviction), not on barbarian.
 
corax made untwink guardian use nothing but the "leg". I don't see any reason why it cannot be done with frenzy barb. It will be hard, but very possible.
 
DeathMaster said:
corax made untwink guardian use nothing but the "leg". I don't see any reason why it cannot be done with frenzy barb. It will be hard, but very possible.

I'm sure that in single player anything is possible with enough patience. He is currently just an idea but I would like to make him. If I do I'll test him in sc to see what the play style is like.
 
DeathMaster said:
corax made untwink guardian use nothing but the "leg". I don't see any reason why it cannot be done with frenzy barb. It will be hard, but very possible.
FB did it with a Frenzy barb. You gotta change some stuff up in ATMA before you can duel-wield the legs
 
Sounds like a wierd build my favorite :p

To answer your questions:
1. Forget melee physical damage even with ED% which you really can't get the low starting physical damage in wands/staves is too low for the ED% to take much effect.

2. Strength does NOT work in wands nor staves. I use to have a barb that could punch for 1600+ damage over 2 seconds. So there are other ways to get damage than you really think, I suggest working on charms for damage and your strength.

3. If you want weapons to be your build stick with double swing and frenzy. you need to stay focused on what you want, hard builds become impossible when you start breaking your own rules, PS if you don't believe me check out my passive barb build that made it to Hell Act 1 before it got halted.

4. If you really want to play I would first start by working out a plan for skills then just start playing the likelyhood is you will make 2-10 restarts do to skills before you get through normal. You have to develop your own playstyle or you will not fair well.

5. I need a challenge and have D2Lod back on my labtop sounds like a plan, I will start by punching until I get a wand then we will see how it fairs.
 
Glad to see someone else is ineterested. My wand barb is still on the list but I'd like to hear how your experience goes.
 
Feceset said:
FB did it with a Frenzy barb. You gotta change some stuff up in ATMA before you can duel-wield the legs
Farting Bob did a lot of things, including get banned for hacking items. I wouldn't be too impressed by any of his 'achievements'.
 
pharaoh said:
Farting Bob did a lot of things, including get banned for hacking items. I wouldn't be too impressed by any of his 'achievements'.

But he still had some achievements, some are hard to get.

dual leg barb is no where easy.

corax did better. He made guardian by a melee sin use nothing but the "leg".
 
Remember that some wands have very high elemental damage mods. By wielding (or dual-wielding) wands a Barb can attack and kill a PI monster. (of course, one point in Beszerk works fine as well.) Elemental charms, and equipment mods for damage would be the way to go for a wand Barb.

This seems to suggest good ideas for tournaments - all characters must equip a wand and use it in their attacks. Or a Cross-bow tournament. Hmmm. :scratch:
 
hijack:

How useful are throwing potions? Do they have any potential in later stages of the game? One thing that comes to mind is if their damage can be affected by any kind of skill, maybe fire mastery? Can anyone shed some light on these forgotten (or maybe I'm wrong, maybe people use them) items?

Speaking of tourneys, how about a throwing potions only tourney... :lol:

/hijack
 
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