Berserker Barbarian

[iamdanthemanstan]

Berserker Barbarian

I really haven't seen any berserker barbarian guides since 1.11. It seems like it could be an effective build with an 835% bonus to magic damage, does anyone play one or know of a guide?

 

[Damric1]

I had a really nice one in 1.10. The only change would be you can use a Hellfire Torch in 1.11. Here is a sort of mini-guide I did. I wish they would stickie this cuz it's helpful.

http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=348209

 

[sirwhere]

Here's an insta-guide to zerk babo

1. Skills: 20 zerk, 20 warcry, 20 mastery, rest 1 pt wonders and synergies

2. Equip:
Gui's helm
Forti armor
Grief zweihander
Phoenix monarch or Stormshield
Laying gloves
Gore boots
Highlord amulet
Ravenfrost ring
Prayer or might merc with pride
Torch, life and resists charms

3. Tactics: stun, whack whack whack, stun, drink potion.

There. You should do fine with it

 

[Zalcitabine]

Things to remember when using berserk:

1- Since the skill boost such an important enhanced damage when synergized, it's much more important to have the highest possible damage weapon instead of adding sources of off-weapon ed like Phoenix (if you don't believe me just do the maths). So go for a big 2-handed weapon in PvM for sure.

2- It's better to work on the berserk synergies (10% ed/point spend) than on your weapon mastery (5% ed/point spent). You don't really need the ar boost from the mastery and the critical strike will be high enough with only one point spent + skill items.

3- You won't have any shield so you need to use your crowd control warcries in an intelligent way. War cry is the best i think, but howl and taunt can be useful too.

I would go like this, skill-wise:
20 Berserk
20 Battle order
20 Shout
20 Howl
10 Warcry
1+ in Weapon mastery
1 in Natural resist, increased speed, increased stamina and iron skin.

 

[Arkardo]

2- It's better to work on the berserk synergies (10% ed/point spend) than on your weapon mastery (5% ed/point spent). You don't really need the ar boost from the mastery and the critical strike will be high enough with only one point spent + skill items.

I don't remember where I read it, but Weapon Mastery is applied at the very end of the damage calculation, on top of all the other damage and therefore has a big impact on the total damage. Not sure if this is true, though...

 

[Zalcitabine]

Damage from weapon mastery is added to the enhanced damage from berserk and all the other sources like off-weapon ed (fortitude) and strength.

It is worth the same, not more not less. So 150ish ed from it is quite little compared to the 835ed of a level 20 fully synergized berserk.

Check here

 

[SSoG]

Damage from weapon mastery is added to the enhanced damage from berserk and all the other sources like off-weapon ed (fortitude) and strength.

It is worth the same, not more not less. So 150ish ed from it is quite little compared to the 835ed of a level 20 fully synergized berserk.

Check here

True, but the Critical Strike is calculated at the end, so 21% can be quite significant. If you have 958% ED (maxed Berserk, Mastery), then the 21% critical strike (from Mastery) will add as much damage-over-time as another 222% ED.

Basic comparison, assuming you deal 100 average weapon damage per swing and have no other sources of ED.

Maxed Berserk, 2 maxed synergies, 1 point mastery:
991.9 damage per hit

Maxed Berserk, 1 maxed synergy, maxed Weapon Mastery, 1 point in second synergy (requires exact same number of skill points):
1050.3 damage per hit

Keep in mind that Mastery also adds an AR bonus, to boot.

If you have *ANY* additional off-weapon sources of ED (Fortitude, Phoenix, Might Merc, Strength), that will further skew the comparison in favor of Mastery. If you have any deadly strike, that'll skew the comparison in favor of the synergies (although again, remember that Mastery also provides an AR boost). Also, a lot of +skills will skew the comparison in favor of the synergies. Still, for the vast majority of Berserk rigs, getting at least 10 points in a Weapon Mastery will offer a far greater benefit than putting those 10 points into synergies (and, thanks to the AR, I usually max mastery).

 

[jakotaco]

Berserkers takes some considerations... In the perfect world you would like having max Berserk, Howl, Shout, Mastery, War Cry, BO and some more passives... but that would take 120+ skill points to accomplish...

What would you recommend as a balanced setup at around lvl 85 or something realistic to achieve? Spread points or go 1pt cry/bo? or skip a synergy?

 

[Zalcitabine]

Spending only 1 point in weapon mastery and letting the + skills do the work is something you couldn't do in Classic but in LoD having something like 8 + skill on a barbarian isn't too difficult with common gear:

Torch +3
Annihilus +1
Battle Order +1
Arreats +2
Highlords +1

Add enigma to that and you have +10 points, which grant you a level 11 mastery with 17% critical strike, which isn't too far from 21 and you save 19 skill points.

Most barbs will also try to stock on some gear with +deadly strike like Gores and Highlords, so a difference of 3-4% in critical strike will matter even less.

As for the attack rating boost, imho it is completely irrelevant with a skill like berserk that once maxed will grant near 400% ar boost (4 x more than ww!). Equipping your character with a couple of ar charms will do a much more beneficial effect.

10+ points spent in Mastery are needed if playing a Classic berserker but in LoD i wouldn't put more than one ever, even on an untwinked character.

Of course for another build like a thrower it would be a completely different mattter.

 

[iamdanthemanstan]

Could some one answer a few questions for me? First, can someone explain the exact mechanics of how Berserk works? Second, do you think that a Berserk Barb requires some points in energy? Third, how item dependent do you think this type of Barb would be? Thanks.

 

[OneFromBeyond]

This Barb is item dependent, but requires no points in energy. Berserk causes you to do entirely magic damage (no physical) and a lot of it with a big weapon, but your defense gets reset to 0 for a period of time (approximately one second).

The nice thing about Berserk is that there are very few Magic Immune monsters (and no end guys that are). On the whole, a very playable build and probably a good choice for a non twinked character.

*OneFromBeyond

 

[Morathi1]

read Nightfish's HC Untwinked Berserker Bard guide. it is really really well written and tells you how to survive every situation, plus it provides weapon choices ect... take a look at it.

 

[BBN Man]

i actually just made a frenzy barb and even with one point in beserk(comes out to like 13 from +skills) the damage is good. i can get like 7k zerk dmg even from one point

 

[Zalcitabine]

That's probably because you invested some points in shout.

That's what you call a one point wonder.

 

[Jedouard]

Re: Berserker Barbarian

Accidental post.