xxxkillerxxx
New member
Barb vs hammer thoughts
Since alot of people have obsolete crapbarbs with str/dex added it is time to do something useful with them while you rebuild with pure vita. Why not use them to kill hammers? While pure vita barbs with huge ar and life generally are more effective, the added str/dex can open up for some interesting and entertaining alternatives that allows you to pk some hammers much faster and the build is a backup anyway so don't whine.
Since you only duel hammerdins you'll never need more than 5.5k life (to tank 3 hammers from anyone) so charms will be cheap. I use 13-14max/ar gcs and max/ar/frw but just use whatever max/ar and ar charms you can get hold of. Try to get as much frw from charms as possible without cutting back on dmg/ar.
Basically what you want to do is to have the highest damage output possible so feel free to slap on dual griefs and fort (good thing runewords are free after reset). Use guillaumes ed/ias or arreats if you need the str/dex/ar. Hsarus belt+boots and ravens+hl are usually the best option vs run-of-the-mill hammers and dracs are obvious unless you like the slow+kb on clegs. Keep widow on switch since you don't need high bo (yes it's basically useless alot of the time but doesn't hurt in any way). Depending on how many points you wasted in str/dex you might be able to use shael/um/nef widow, angelics+widow etc etc. Use your brain. When I think of it harmony could work instead of widow, vigor sure would help you out of tight situations.
As much as I hate fort the damage it adds to dual grief barbs is ridiculous. The -50% psn res from griefs invites to going mass poison but it doesn't work vs anyone good (cleansing/antidote prebuf pretty much nullifies it). However, bramble+trangs gloves and dual deaths web on switch is hilarious vs alot of people. If they dont use cleansing they lose over 2k life pretty fast in hell difficulty, and if they dont have enough stacked res to counter -110 from switch they die even faster hehe. Of course this would be far more effective vs other chars but they're not as hard as pallies in the first place.
Vs good (not decent, good) hammers you'll often have to switch to enigma. Use guillaumes and keep demon limb and cta/doom on switch for enchant and hf kill/better life (so they cant kill you with base foh or hoto-smite) and apply normal tele/ww tactics. This is where your main barb is better most of the time since he can tank 4 hammers instead of 3, but on the flip side you have better damage and doom on switch here. Alot of older builds also have more leap and speed which helps.
Anyway the point of this build is to work around the demoralizing normal state where you can punish hammers forever and they still dont die, while minimizing the disadvantage with fort (mobility). Watch out for "wtf" and similar when people die in 2 wws hehe. It's also good for beginners who rely on fort+widow since you dont have to waste stash space on real barb and noone can say using fort once in a while isn't good fun
Since alot of people have obsolete crapbarbs with str/dex added it is time to do something useful with them while you rebuild with pure vita. Why not use them to kill hammers? While pure vita barbs with huge ar and life generally are more effective, the added str/dex can open up for some interesting and entertaining alternatives that allows you to pk some hammers much faster and the build is a backup anyway so don't whine.
Since you only duel hammerdins you'll never need more than 5.5k life (to tank 3 hammers from anyone) so charms will be cheap. I use 13-14max/ar gcs and max/ar/frw but just use whatever max/ar and ar charms you can get hold of. Try to get as much frw from charms as possible without cutting back on dmg/ar.
Basically what you want to do is to have the highest damage output possible so feel free to slap on dual griefs and fort (good thing runewords are free after reset). Use guillaumes ed/ias or arreats if you need the str/dex/ar. Hsarus belt+boots and ravens+hl are usually the best option vs run-of-the-mill hammers and dracs are obvious unless you like the slow+kb on clegs. Keep widow on switch since you don't need high bo (yes it's basically useless alot of the time but doesn't hurt in any way). Depending on how many points you wasted in str/dex you might be able to use shael/um/nef widow, angelics+widow etc etc. Use your brain. When I think of it harmony could work instead of widow, vigor sure would help you out of tight situations.
As much as I hate fort the damage it adds to dual grief barbs is ridiculous. The -50% psn res from griefs invites to going mass poison but it doesn't work vs anyone good (cleansing/antidote prebuf pretty much nullifies it). However, bramble+trangs gloves and dual deaths web on switch is hilarious vs alot of people. If they dont use cleansing they lose over 2k life pretty fast in hell difficulty, and if they dont have enough stacked res to counter -110 from switch they die even faster hehe. Of course this would be far more effective vs other chars but they're not as hard as pallies in the first place.
Vs good (not decent, good) hammers you'll often have to switch to enigma. Use guillaumes and keep demon limb and cta/doom on switch for enchant and hf kill/better life (so they cant kill you with base foh or hoto-smite) and apply normal tele/ww tactics. This is where your main barb is better most of the time since he can tank 4 hammers instead of 3, but on the flip side you have better damage and doom on switch here. Alot of older builds also have more leap and speed which helps.
Anyway the point of this build is to work around the demoralizing normal state where you can punish hammers forever and they still dont die, while minimizing the disadvantage with fort (mobility). Watch out for "wtf" and similar when people die in 2 wws hehe. It's also good for beginners who rely on fort+widow since you dont have to waste stash space on real barb and noone can say using fort once in a while isn't good fun
