Furious Frenzy Baba Planned - Equipment Questions Ahead
Hello. About to dabble a bit with my first barb in years. This guy, as the title mentions, will be a Frenzy Barb. I'll be using the guides of Spankeh, Ash, and Grimborn (on another site) to deal out some "serious smacky-face" to monsters.
Some things to keep in mind: I'm somewhat limited on wealth, with many of my nice items tied up on other chars and self-found, not huge on trading as much as I used to (but I can always hit the trading circuit, doesn't bother me), and runes up to Mal - Gul probably in my grasp with Tower/Forge runs. I've been having some good luck lately with drops on MF runs, so Ums, Puls, Lems, etc. and lots of nice white socketables come my way. I will be upgrading his equipment as I continue to gain wealth. This will be a PvM-only build. I don't do PvP.
I'm planning to go with a more defensive Frenzier, as mentioned in Spankeh's guide. I think I'll be using Decrepify as my main curse, so this means that I'll be using a "Lawbringer" Phase Blade in my off hand, at least in one switchable setup. Now, I have some weapon combo questions for you experienced Frenzy Barbs and your play experiences:
1. I've heard that "Crescent Moon" phase blades can kick some butt on a Frenzy Barb, because he can trigger lots of Static and cripple packs fast even before he touches most of them. A CM + Law setup, however, seems like it would be low on raw physical damage output. Will this be a liability in Hell? Or would it be better to have dual CMs to get double Static action going? (I know this wouldn't be good against Lightning Immunes, so I'd have to have a weapon switch for them if using dual CMs.) I'm worried a bit about leech + survivability if my physical damage is low, and PBs are not known for physical damage unless worded with "Grief." "Crescent Moon" has the advantage of being extremely cheap. I could make them right away, as I already have the PBs and runes.
2. Another one I'm thinking of is ethereal Oath Cryptic Sword + Law. I have the ethereal sword already, and a few runs and/or trading should net me the Mal and Pul I need to make it. A good roll on Oath should give me decent damage for a cheap price.
3. Kingslayer + Law. I bagged myself another Cryptic Sword last night on a MF run, which I could socket and once I have the runes make one of these. While the damage isn't as high on this as an eth Oath would be, it has several mods that interest me: 33% Crushing Blow, 50% Open Wounds, PVMH, etc. All in all, a decent sword, I think, for the runes.
4. I found a Crystal Sword with over 310-315% ED and nice mods from a while back. However, it doesn't have on-weapon IAS, from what I remember. I could up this with the Cube recipes and make it into a rare PB. Would this be worth it?
Eventually, I hope to cube and make a "Grief" PB for this guy. (This'll take a while, unless I get really lucky.)
Or...
Should I get myself some Dracs and go with the Life Tap route, dropping the "Lawbringer" PB from the equation, and going with some combo of the above weapons? Like getting Static from "Crescent Moon" and serious damage from "Oath"? Or adding Atma's Scarab to the equation and going for as much raw damage as I can muster, and try to stay alive with extra leech + PDR?
For armor, I was thinking of "Duress" in an Archon Plate. CB, Open Wounds, cold damage, resists, etc. I think I'm sold for the price. I could also make a "Stone" armor, but I don't think the mods are as useful on a Frenzy Barb as "Duress" would be. Ideal would be "Fort" or "CoH" but considering I cube and find most of my runes and trade for low ones (like Lem, Pul, Um, etc.), I don't think I'll be at that stage for quite a while. Are there any other cheap or viable armors I should consider?
Sorry, I know I'm asking a lot of questions and forgive my inexperience. I feel like a stranger in a strange land when it comes to Barbs.
Hello. About to dabble a bit with my first barb in years. This guy, as the title mentions, will be a Frenzy Barb. I'll be using the guides of Spankeh, Ash, and Grimborn (on another site) to deal out some "serious smacky-face" to monsters.
Some things to keep in mind: I'm somewhat limited on wealth, with many of my nice items tied up on other chars and self-found, not huge on trading as much as I used to (but I can always hit the trading circuit, doesn't bother me), and runes up to Mal - Gul probably in my grasp with Tower/Forge runs. I've been having some good luck lately with drops on MF runs, so Ums, Puls, Lems, etc. and lots of nice white socketables come my way. I will be upgrading his equipment as I continue to gain wealth. This will be a PvM-only build. I don't do PvP.
I'm planning to go with a more defensive Frenzier, as mentioned in Spankeh's guide. I think I'll be using Decrepify as my main curse, so this means that I'll be using a "Lawbringer" Phase Blade in my off hand, at least in one switchable setup. Now, I have some weapon combo questions for you experienced Frenzy Barbs and your play experiences:
1. I've heard that "Crescent Moon" phase blades can kick some butt on a Frenzy Barb, because he can trigger lots of Static and cripple packs fast even before he touches most of them. A CM + Law setup, however, seems like it would be low on raw physical damage output. Will this be a liability in Hell? Or would it be better to have dual CMs to get double Static action going? (I know this wouldn't be good against Lightning Immunes, so I'd have to have a weapon switch for them if using dual CMs.) I'm worried a bit about leech + survivability if my physical damage is low, and PBs are not known for physical damage unless worded with "Grief." "Crescent Moon" has the advantage of being extremely cheap. I could make them right away, as I already have the PBs and runes.
2. Another one I'm thinking of is ethereal Oath Cryptic Sword + Law. I have the ethereal sword already, and a few runs and/or trading should net me the Mal and Pul I need to make it. A good roll on Oath should give me decent damage for a cheap price.
3. Kingslayer + Law. I bagged myself another Cryptic Sword last night on a MF run, which I could socket and once I have the runes make one of these. While the damage isn't as high on this as an eth Oath would be, it has several mods that interest me: 33% Crushing Blow, 50% Open Wounds, PVMH, etc. All in all, a decent sword, I think, for the runes.
4. I found a Crystal Sword with over 310-315% ED and nice mods from a while back. However, it doesn't have on-weapon IAS, from what I remember. I could up this with the Cube recipes and make it into a rare PB. Would this be worth it?
Eventually, I hope to cube and make a "Grief" PB for this guy. (This'll take a while, unless I get really lucky.)
Or...
Should I get myself some Dracs and go with the Life Tap route, dropping the "Lawbringer" PB from the equation, and going with some combo of the above weapons? Like getting Static from "Crescent Moon" and serious damage from "Oath"? Or adding Atma's Scarab to the equation and going for as much raw damage as I can muster, and try to stay alive with extra leech + PDR?
For armor, I was thinking of "Duress" in an Archon Plate. CB, Open Wounds, cold damage, resists, etc. I think I'm sold for the price. I could also make a "Stone" armor, but I don't think the mods are as useful on a Frenzy Barb as "Duress" would be. Ideal would be "Fort" or "CoH" but considering I cube and find most of my runes and trade for low ones (like Lem, Pul, Um, etc.), I don't think I'll be at that stage for quite a while. Are there any other cheap or viable armors I should consider?
Sorry, I know I'm asking a lot of questions and forgive my inexperience. I feel like a stranger in a strange land when it comes to Barbs.
