Hardcore Barbarian advice

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Xena1985

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Hardcore Barbarian advice

I'm about to bite the bullet and make a HC Barb. I need some suggestions on builds as there are many options. The key operative word here is unkillable and killing efficiency :). I've tried hardcore before but with classes that simply had too little life (Pala and Necro :/)

Stats:

STR- enough for items
Dex - enough for 75%
vit - Everything else

Build:

20 in Shout, BO, Battlecry, and Concentrate. 1 in the prereq's and anything usefull. Mastery in swords or maces with whatevers is left


Gear:

Arreats - Sol
Stormshield - Sol
Verdungo's
Arkaine's Valor OR Gladiators Bane - Sol
Ammy - (Prismatic) of Life everlasting ?? - 30% RA 25 DR
Rings - Lifeleech + Resistance. 1 raven frost if I use Arkaine's
boots- Gore riders
gloves- LoH

Weapon: I've got an Azurewrath but I'm not sure about using it in this build due to a lack of CB. 15% from the gores isn't all that hot, BUT this is still a sweet weapon. with the Sanctuary Aura and LoH I would rock undead and demons. Another option would obviously be stormlash, but I don't have it and it would take me a while to save up for it.

Switch: prebuff with demon limb

Let me know what you guys think, and whether or not I'm being excessive with the defensive aspects of this build. Another option is to utilize the IK set but that leaves me with no shield which might be too dangerous for HC ??
 
Re: Hardcore Barbarian advice

Make sure to have at least 120% res all before venturing hc. As for Fishy and Pally, if built right the hp is very manageable. But I will say this, -----> swing yourself over to the Hardcore Forum, you'll find everything you need. Oh and if you do decide to stay HC...

Welcome to the family....
 
Re: Hardcore Barbarian advice

I will have hardcore projects. I've been playing in HC in all but name. Normal chars, but If they die, which is very rare, I often abandon the project or rebuild. My main problem is being careless because I know I'm not playing hardcore persay. with my kickasin for example I will fight the council n the way to meph even when amped and when under the conviction aura (hell). All logic would say be careful go to town get he amp removed ect. accidents sometims therefore happen :nod: . I won't abadon the kickassin since she's my main MF char, but my newb level 20 necro for example was killed by being caged in the teleport while fighting diablo. I literally had 15 seconds to save and exit when diablo wasn't attacking me. Yet, out of frustration, I beat the cage with my cracked wand until diablo turned his attention to me. I killed diablo, but lost heart and abandoned that necro. I'm hoping that by playing HC, I'll have the motivation to stay sharp and make prudent decisions even if they mean for example reclearing the path to diablo

Back on topic however, I do have 2 specific questions;

Am I really doing overkill with an Iron build 20k def, max block, 50% reduced damage, 50-60 PDR, and 3000 life or so ?? My worry is that the char will suffer from a lack of raw offence and kill speed

2nd question I've noticed that most guides state warcry > > battlecry and that battle cry is a 1 point wonder. The question is what's so hot about warcry ?? the damage seems poor, mana cost is excessive, and the stun lenght is utter crap in hell. you would have to spam WC to keep a crowd stunned, when you stop most enemies would return pretty instantly back to normal. This is a Barb not a Sorc. killing things by spaming a warcry seems like doing shame to the class. BC on the other hand lasts forever and works on bosses so it's more of a tactical spell. What am missing here ?? I trust the collective wisdom of the guides and forum, yet things don't add up
 
Re: Hardcore Barbarian advice

im starting to sound like a broken record huh??

yes the key to WC success is spaming, works for hdins dont it?
facts about Wc
yes it does poopoo dmg
yes it uses way way to much mana
yes it is blockable/dodgeable
will it kill in 8player hell, eventualy, with insightmerc and many many manapots
will it kill bosses...not on yer life, i have extreamly hight wc lvl(50 all the singer talk made me reassemble) lots and lots of mana, i still dont hurt even mephisto
Main killer is yer merc
Warcry barbs(singers) are a blast to play, wouldnt suggest it HC tho and wasting points to gettit unless you are going full out singer


Singer benifits
SUPER BO(mine lvl 50!!!)
Sick life
Stupid fast run/walk
nasty rez(with hoto and wizzy setups..i use both)

on to battlecry
This skill is a 1 point wonder IMO, it works in pvp and pvm(nerffed in pvp and can only reduce deff by 50%) this skill allown makes mobs in hell just that less frightening (bosses who arent stunned)
 
Re: Hardcore Barbarian advice

Heya,

Hardcore barbs can be really fun because with the right gear, you can wade into otherwise `death zones' where other players flee, and you can walk in hearty and laughing. I'm talking about PDR barbs. Not your typical % DR types. But physical damage reduction by a number.

What am I talking about? Here's a Berserker Barb in hell. Watch him tank frenzy taurs and lister's group, while AMP'd, and take no damage. Mean while, he's a zerker, and can kill them just as easy with no defense, just solid PDR and blocking. Again, look at the health bulb. He regenerates life as fast as he takes the pittly damage from them, if any damage (mods: physical damage reduced by XX, such as... 25~43 for example; other mods: replenish life +20, etc). And yes, this is on the realm. USEast.

Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF-Vf_Fa6Es

Gear for example is not the typical stuff, but rather, blue items. That's right. Mostly magical stuff. Mixed with some uniques. And then whatever weapon you like. I'm using an Oath scourge here. The real meat of the gear is the rest. Armor is jeweler's of amicae with 4x sol runes in it. Circlet is Kira's with a Sol in it. Shield is Gerke's, with a Sol in it. Rings are twin Nature's Peace. Ammy is of Everlasting (25 pdr). Gloves/Belt/Boots are all Safty crafts with 4 PDR each, and resists/life. Low torch in inventory for the resists.

If you have a character who can get gold and shop in Hell and gamble the ammy. Just buy the uniques & sol runes if you don't have them, they're not that expensive as they're common. Then the weapon is up to you. Simple to build if you have some patience. Ultimately retarded powerful since they just don't die (only thing to watch for: poison, so take an antidote, problem solved).

Note: BattleCry doubles the effectiveness of your PDR in this setup.

Cheers,
 
Re: Hardcore Barbarian advice

ive alays wondered about how pdr works, i did a bunch of research and found most out but does Bc dubble it bc it reduces monster dmg?
 
Re: Hardcore Barbarian advice

I know all about PDR vs DR%. In fact I saw a video on you tube showing the barb tank standing around getting pounded by listers group and taking next to no dmg. I want to take the best elements of that build and combine them with more classical items so I have a powerfull ofence as well. Jewler's of amicae is rare as hell and I doubt I'll ever get it, so I wanted to replace that with Arkaines' for the life, skills, and defence.

The point is that with the setup I mentioned I would have 60-70 PDR as apposed to say 150. The 60-70 is achieved with ocnventional items allowing for a more balanced char, more resists, Easy %DR with SS which is also important, and better killing power. The question is am I still more or less immortal wih 60-70 as apposed to 150 or so ?? and with having 60-70 is it important for max block, %DR, and high defence. Is there any of the above I can skim in favour of more offence and quicker killing power. I'll simply be bored with a barb that can survive for 30 minutes against listers group while I'm AFK getting lunch, but takes 10 minutes to kill that pack

@Kordova I'm not a big fan of being a support char for the merc :) You've answered my question regarding BC. I'll take a rain check on that one. The Merc will be supporting me not the other way around. I'll also look into Oath for a cheap weapon I can aquire a mal rune and below quite easly :smug:
 
Re: Hardcore Barbarian advice

Kordova said:
ive alays wondered about how pdr works, i did a bunch of research and found most out but does Bc dubble it bc it reduces monster dmg?
Click to expand...

Heya,

Yeap. Anything that reduces a monster's damage will make your PDR (physical PDR, not the % base) a lot more potent. So battlecry reducing their damage output by 25% at level 1. If they do 200 damage per swing, it's reduced by 25%, and then your PDR will reduce it when you take damage.

You can do the same with things like Decrep, Weaken, etc. It alters the damage they deal, instead of the damage you take.

Cheers,



 
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