TopHatCat64
Well-known member
Patriarch Champ - 12k life Survival Wolf Barb
Patriarch Champ
Stats
Skills
20 Battle Orders
20 Natural Resistance
20 Shout
20 Iron Skin
20 Axe Mastery
3 Increased Speed
1 Battle Command
Fighting Gear
Prebuff Gear
Character Evolution
Champ was originally built as an experiment to see how high a life pool I could achieve (see old pat thread here). Once I surpassed 12,000 life, though, I started to question the real purpose of my character.
12,000 is a pretty number, but what does it actually mean in-game? With my old gear loadout, it meant that I was able to easily "eat" hits from normal, everyday monsters but it also meant that I took large chunks of damage - at a high rate - against even moderately troubling monster packs, let alone the notable outliers of monster difficulty. I was a thin coating of concrete over a flimsy balsa wood frame.
Not good.
Thus came the shift, as I re-geared from maximum life to maximum survivability.
My massive life pool was an excellent starting point because hit points are the most universal defensive stat in the sense that life "absorbs" every type of damage. To take things to the next level of indestructibility, I had to pack on gear that would protect that life pool from having to do ALL the heavy lifting against potent force multipliers like conviction and amp damage.
-
Gear Evolution
My gear underwent numerous iterations as I went through various stages of theorycrafting / wealth accumulation.
Main Weapon
A. Ribcracker w/ Shael - A fixture on many a melee build, Ribbie was cheap, fast, and effective. Ribbie's only drawback was that did not allow me to use an off-hand weapon.
B. Griswold's Redemption w/ 4 Shaels - Later on in my character's life, I decided to sacrifice damage for speed. I wasn't doing a lot of damage, even with Ribbie, so Grissy allowed for more crushing blow chances. Grissy is able to reach uniquely fast speeds (3fpa) for melee attackers.
C. Griswold's Redemption w/ 3 Shaels and 29% fire resist, +9 str rare jewel - Post shift, I was trying to find socket space for more resists. Taking away a shael and replacing it with a resist jewel dropped me down to 4fpa, but got me to max fire resist while effected by a monster's lvl 11 conviction
D. Zod-bugged Eth Runemaster w/ 3 Shaels, 26% lightning resist/ 15 ias jewel, Ber - And now we come full circle, and I realized that a Zod-bugged eth Runemaster offered 20 more damage per frame (and thus greater life leech) while allowing for added resists and crushing blow. RM is one frame slower at 5fpa.
Off-hand Weapon
A. Heart of the Oak Flail - For lack of a better option, I was swapping my second HotO between my weapon switches. I went with HotO largely for the boost to resist all, +3 skills helped boost up defense and damage a bit.
B. Eth Runemaster w/ resist jewels of hope - After some research, Runemaster struck me as a particularly attractive utility option. I was able to squeeze out more resists then HotO, had the added bonus of more BO'able life through jewels of hope, and CBF allowed me to swap out Ravenfrost for a rare ring.
C. Jeweler's shield of Colossus w/ 2 Jahs and 1 Cham - As my plans for maximum life continued, I realized a JSoC filled with 2 jah's and 1 cham offered the highest possible boost to BO-able life while still getting CBF out of my off-hand slot. Luckily, I had not committed the runes to this option before swapping in Stormshield.
D. Stormshield w/ Ber - My final choice for maximum survivability. SS offers the highest percentile damage reduction achievable from the shield slot. Only 14% blocking (an important consideration, since I never want to actually trigger my super slow block), cold and lightning resist help me overstack resists, defense per clvl is gravy.
Armor
A. Duress Archon Plate - Champ was originally built before 1.13 and its subsequent boost to rune drops. I had no patience for HF Rushing or LK's pre-1.13 drop rates, so I was making do with budget options. Duress was the logical choice since it's one of only two options for boosting crushing blow from the armor slot. All res and a nice boost to fast hit recovery helped my decision.
B. Fortitude Archon Plate - After 1.13, higher runes became a possibility, and Fortitude replaced Duress. Fort boasted more and better mods to boost overall survivability and damage: higher all res, life per clvl, ctc Chilling armor to boost defense, and of course, the big raw damage boost.
C. Shaftstop w/ Ber - After my paradigm shift from maximum life to maximum survivability, I swapped in Shaftstop. Shaftstop boasts the highest percentile damage reduction achievable from the armor slot and it has a big boost to bo-able life, to boot.
-
Now that the major pieces of gear were set, I got to work finalizing my remaining gear slots to maximize my tanking abilities against worst case scenario monster packs. How did I define a WCSMP? Here's how I broke them down:
Worst case scenario for physical damage monsters
Monster type: Frenzytaurs, Archers, Dolls
Unique monster mods: Cursed, Aura-enchanted with Might/Fanaticism, Extra Strong
Additional considerations: Decrepify being cast by Baal or Oblivion Knights
Gear to neutralize: -89% damage reduction
- Ber'd Stormshield (-43% dr)
- Ber'd Shaftstop (-38% dr)
- Ber'd Wolfhowl (-8% dr)
Against WCSMP, you're not going to negate ALL the damage. It's more a matter of reducing it to a manageable rate. Damage reduction % was the key mod against physical damage monsters. Against normal monsters, DR% is useful, but less effective then integer PDR. Against the hardest hitters, it's the opposite, with DR% being much more effective against the highest damage attacks. With -89% damage reduction, I reduce Decrepify to -39% damage (instead of +50% damage) and reduce being Cursed to +11% damage (instead of +100% damage).
Worst case scenario for elemental damage monsters
Monster type: Gloams, Council Members
Unique monster mods: Aura-enchanted with Conviction, Lightning Enchanted for Gloams or Fire Enchanted for Council members, Spectral Hit
Gear to neutralize: 225% fire resist, 230% cold resist, 235% lightning resist (Runemaster and Thundergod's Vigor boost max resist)
- Lvl 23 Natural Resistance (69% resist all)
- Mara's (29% resist all)
- Runemaster (26% lightning resist)
- Stormshield (60% cold resist, 25% lightning resist)
- Rare ring (15% fire resist, 17% lightning resist)
- Rare ring (27% lightning resist)
- Rare boots (40% fire resist, 37% lightning resist)
- Charms (the remainder)
The maximum level for monster conviction is lvl 11. That's -80% fire/cold/lightning resist. To negate it, I chose to overstack my resists. If anyone is wondering why I'm always looking for resist charms w/ life, this is why. Without my resists sitting in the negative, Conviction-enchanted monsters are much less scary.
As an added measure to combat Gloams, I swapped Thundergod's Vigor into my belt slot. T-God's has the dual benefit of boosting my max lightning resist AND adding integer lightning absorb. As a side note, poison is not affected by conviction but I have that maxed as well.
-
Co-op Considerations and Concluding Thoughts
Champ was definitely built with co-op in mind. As you might expect from a dedicated tank, my gear is heavily slanted towards defense. Consequently, I suffer from low damage and AR. I can do my part against bosses with my high attack speed and crushing blow, otherwise, I'm rarely going to get kills. I work best when teamed up with squishier characters that can unleash torrents of damage. Glass cannon bowazons, budget sorcs, trappers, etc...
My ultimate goal for this character is to never have to retreat from any scenario I encounter. Anytime I do, it means that I expose my teammates to damage that I should be much better equipped to take. I can't let that happen.
::Cue the heroic music, incoming clouds, and end credits::
Patriarch Champ
Stats
Code:
Lvl 95
Feral rage damage: 1359-2621
AR: 2816
5 fpa
Life (in wolf form): 12036
Resists: 75/80/85/75
Defense: 22794
5 frame fhr
Str: 66 | Dex: 20 | Vit: 474Skills
20 Battle Orders
20 Natural Resistance
20 Shout
20 Iron Skin
20 Axe Mastery
3 Increased Speed
1 Battle Command
Fighting Gear
Code:
Wolfhowl 'Ber'
Mara's
Zod-bugged Eth Runemaster 'Ber Shael Shael Shael res jewel of ias'
Shaftstop 'Ber'
Stormshield 'Ber'
Blood Clutches crafted gloves*
Thundergod's Vigor
Wraith Tread rare boots*
Order Knot rare ring*
Bitter Finger rare ring*
Switch: 'Heart of the Oak' Flail / 'Heart of the Oak' Flail
28 resist sc's w/ 20 life | 2 resist sc's w/ 5fhr
Might Merc: Reaper's | 'Fortitude' Archon | Guillame's
Wolfhowl
Fury Visor
Defense: 359
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 79
Required Strength: 129
Fingerprint: 0xe027162
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Warcry Skills (Barbarian Only)
+6 to Werewolf
+6 to Lycanthropy
+3 to Feral Rage
+138% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Strength
+14 to Dexterity
+15 to Vitality
Damage Reduced by 8%
Level 15 Summon Dire Wolf (18/18 Charges) 1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ber Rune
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0xc6d42166
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
All Stats +5
All Resistances +29
Rune Master
Ettin Axe
One Hand Damage: 164 - 332
Indestructible
Required Level: 72
Required Strength: 135
Required Dexterity: 35
Fingerprint: 0xf1691b1e
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+75% Increased Attack Speed
236% Enhanced Damage
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
+5% to Maximum Cold Resist
Lightning Resist +26%
Cannot Be Frozen Ethereal
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Ambergris Jewel of Fervor
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Shael Rune
Blood Clutches
Sharkskin Gloves
Defense: 38
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 73
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0xacfbf472
Item Level: 89
Version: Expansion 1.10+
2% Life stolen per hit
10% Chance of Crushing Blow
+13 to Strength
+14 to Dexterity
+18 to Life
+32 to Mana
Poison Resist +5%
Wraith Tread
Mesh Boots
Defense: 65
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 25
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x3d675273
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
12% Chance to cast level 4 Charged Bolt when struck
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
+45% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +37%
Fire Resist +40%
67% Extra Gold from Monsters
Order Knot
Ring
Required Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x5adb2d1d
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+8 to Minimum Damage
+19 to Strength
+25 to Life
Lightning Resist +27%
Poison Resist +6%
+2 to Light Radius
Bitter Finger
Ring
Required Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x7be158e6
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
2% Mana stolen per hit
+18 to Strength
+16 Maximum Stamina
Lightning Resist +17%
Fire Resist +15%
Half Freeze DurationPrebuff Gear
Code:
For Battle Orders
+3 BO 'Delirium' Fanged Helm
Echoing amulet
'Heart of the Oak' Flail
'Enigma' Breast Plate
'Heart of the Oak' Flail
Arachnid's Mesh
Beta BKWB
BKWB
10 War Cry skillers
For Werewolf
Wolfhowl
Mara's
'Heart of the Oak' Flail
'Enigma' Breast Plate
'Heart of the Oak' Flail
Arachnid's Mesh
Beta BKWB
BKWBCharacter Evolution
Champ was originally built as an experiment to see how high a life pool I could achieve (see old pat thread here). Once I surpassed 12,000 life, though, I started to question the real purpose of my character.
12,000 is a pretty number, but what does it actually mean in-game? With my old gear loadout, it meant that I was able to easily "eat" hits from normal, everyday monsters but it also meant that I took large chunks of damage - at a high rate - against even moderately troubling monster packs, let alone the notable outliers of monster difficulty. I was a thin coating of concrete over a flimsy balsa wood frame.
Not good.
Thus came the shift, as I re-geared from maximum life to maximum survivability.
My massive life pool was an excellent starting point because hit points are the most universal defensive stat in the sense that life "absorbs" every type of damage. To take things to the next level of indestructibility, I had to pack on gear that would protect that life pool from having to do ALL the heavy lifting against potent force multipliers like conviction and amp damage.
-
Gear Evolution
My gear underwent numerous iterations as I went through various stages of theorycrafting / wealth accumulation.
Main Weapon
A. Ribcracker w/ Shael - A fixture on many a melee build, Ribbie was cheap, fast, and effective. Ribbie's only drawback was that did not allow me to use an off-hand weapon.
B. Griswold's Redemption w/ 4 Shaels - Later on in my character's life, I decided to sacrifice damage for speed. I wasn't doing a lot of damage, even with Ribbie, so Grissy allowed for more crushing blow chances. Grissy is able to reach uniquely fast speeds (3fpa) for melee attackers.
C. Griswold's Redemption w/ 3 Shaels and 29% fire resist, +9 str rare jewel - Post shift, I was trying to find socket space for more resists. Taking away a shael and replacing it with a resist jewel dropped me down to 4fpa, but got me to max fire resist while effected by a monster's lvl 11 conviction
D. Zod-bugged Eth Runemaster w/ 3 Shaels, 26% lightning resist/ 15 ias jewel, Ber - And now we come full circle, and I realized that a Zod-bugged eth Runemaster offered 20 more damage per frame (and thus greater life leech) while allowing for added resists and crushing blow. RM is one frame slower at 5fpa.
Off-hand Weapon
A. Heart of the Oak Flail - For lack of a better option, I was swapping my second HotO between my weapon switches. I went with HotO largely for the boost to resist all, +3 skills helped boost up defense and damage a bit.
B. Eth Runemaster w/ resist jewels of hope - After some research, Runemaster struck me as a particularly attractive utility option. I was able to squeeze out more resists then HotO, had the added bonus of more BO'able life through jewels of hope, and CBF allowed me to swap out Ravenfrost for a rare ring.
C. Jeweler's shield of Colossus w/ 2 Jahs and 1 Cham - As my plans for maximum life continued, I realized a JSoC filled with 2 jah's and 1 cham offered the highest possible boost to BO-able life while still getting CBF out of my off-hand slot. Luckily, I had not committed the runes to this option before swapping in Stormshield.
D. Stormshield w/ Ber - My final choice for maximum survivability. SS offers the highest percentile damage reduction achievable from the shield slot. Only 14% blocking (an important consideration, since I never want to actually trigger my super slow block), cold and lightning resist help me overstack resists, defense per clvl is gravy.
Armor
A. Duress Archon Plate - Champ was originally built before 1.13 and its subsequent boost to rune drops. I had no patience for HF Rushing or LK's pre-1.13 drop rates, so I was making do with budget options. Duress was the logical choice since it's one of only two options for boosting crushing blow from the armor slot. All res and a nice boost to fast hit recovery helped my decision.
B. Fortitude Archon Plate - After 1.13, higher runes became a possibility, and Fortitude replaced Duress. Fort boasted more and better mods to boost overall survivability and damage: higher all res, life per clvl, ctc Chilling armor to boost defense, and of course, the big raw damage boost.
C. Shaftstop w/ Ber - After my paradigm shift from maximum life to maximum survivability, I swapped in Shaftstop. Shaftstop boasts the highest percentile damage reduction achievable from the armor slot and it has a big boost to bo-able life, to boot.
-
Now that the major pieces of gear were set, I got to work finalizing my remaining gear slots to maximize my tanking abilities against worst case scenario monster packs. How did I define a WCSMP? Here's how I broke them down:
Worst case scenario for physical damage monsters
Monster type: Frenzytaurs, Archers, Dolls
Unique monster mods: Cursed, Aura-enchanted with Might/Fanaticism, Extra Strong
Additional considerations: Decrepify being cast by Baal or Oblivion Knights
Gear to neutralize: -89% damage reduction
- Ber'd Stormshield (-43% dr)
- Ber'd Shaftstop (-38% dr)
- Ber'd Wolfhowl (-8% dr)
Against WCSMP, you're not going to negate ALL the damage. It's more a matter of reducing it to a manageable rate. Damage reduction % was the key mod against physical damage monsters. Against normal monsters, DR% is useful, but less effective then integer PDR. Against the hardest hitters, it's the opposite, with DR% being much more effective against the highest damage attacks. With -89% damage reduction, I reduce Decrepify to -39% damage (instead of +50% damage) and reduce being Cursed to +11% damage (instead of +100% damage).
Worst case scenario for elemental damage monsters
Monster type: Gloams, Council Members
Unique monster mods: Aura-enchanted with Conviction, Lightning Enchanted for Gloams or Fire Enchanted for Council members, Spectral Hit
Gear to neutralize: 225% fire resist, 230% cold resist, 235% lightning resist (Runemaster and Thundergod's Vigor boost max resist)
- Lvl 23 Natural Resistance (69% resist all)
- Mara's (29% resist all)
- Runemaster (26% lightning resist)
- Stormshield (60% cold resist, 25% lightning resist)
- Rare ring (15% fire resist, 17% lightning resist)
- Rare ring (27% lightning resist)
- Rare boots (40% fire resist, 37% lightning resist)
- Charms (the remainder)
The maximum level for monster conviction is lvl 11. That's -80% fire/cold/lightning resist. To negate it, I chose to overstack my resists. If anyone is wondering why I'm always looking for resist charms w/ life, this is why. Without my resists sitting in the negative, Conviction-enchanted monsters are much less scary.
As an added measure to combat Gloams, I swapped Thundergod's Vigor into my belt slot. T-God's has the dual benefit of boosting my max lightning resist AND adding integer lightning absorb. As a side note, poison is not affected by conviction but I have that maxed as well.
-
Co-op Considerations and Concluding Thoughts
Champ was definitely built with co-op in mind. As you might expect from a dedicated tank, my gear is heavily slanted towards defense. Consequently, I suffer from low damage and AR. I can do my part against bosses with my high attack speed and crushing blow, otherwise, I'm rarely going to get kills. I work best when teamed up with squishier characters that can unleash torrents of damage. Glass cannon bowazons, budget sorcs, trappers, etc...
My ultimate goal for this character is to never have to retreat from any scenario I encounter. Anytime I do, it means that I expose my teammates to damage that I should be much better equipped to take. I can't let that happen.
::Cue the heroic music, incoming clouds, and end credits::
Last edited:
. Without you, this would not have been possible. 
. It would have a little less %reduction, and you'd loose out on received lightning damage because of dropping TGods, but with Decrep you'd probably entirely cut out the damage received from most monsters altogether. You have a ton more style-points with all those Bers and (virtual) immunity to Gloams though.
