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Vessel of Hatred

I need some help deciding...

D

darkstarhub

New member
Mar 26, 2011
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...what to do with my Zod Rune. I’ve had it for quite some time now and I need to do something with it, as I have ogled it long enough. There is no point having it and not doing something with it.

I have a Barb leveled up and ready to gear out for end game. He is going to be a Frenzy build. My plan is to make a BotD in an Ethereal BA and a Death in an Ethereal BA. For swap it would be a Grief and Lawbringer Phase Blades.

I have searched and read many posts about what people have done with a Zod. I know a BA may not be the best choice if I want to use it on another class or build. One good thing with BotD and Death is there will be no repair costs involved on the weapons.

I seriously doubt I’ll ever find another Zod and I don’t think I could ever cube two Chams to make a Zod. I haven’t found a single Cham anyway this time around.

Anybody have a little advice before I reach the point of no return.
 
One of the best one-handed base weapons in the game seems like a good mix of effectiveness and versatility. Sure, making BotD in a spear might allow for an interesting spearazon at some point, but the BA can be used to good effect by a few classes. If I had a Zod, that's what I would go for.
 
Don’t do the BA. Death and eBoTD both go very nicely in Colossus Blades. Grief beats it in almost all cases as a one handed.

eBoTD Colossus Blade is a versatile weapon as it hits decent speed in Bear form, nice if you decide to make a Bearzon or something.
 
^This is true, I was considering revising my earlier answer to CB, but looks like max already said it.
 
The CB argument is pretty compelling, I have to admit. I don't think you can really go wrong either way, but the comment on Grief (almost) always being superior as a one-handed weapon wins me over. Changing my vote to CB too. Plus, those huge damage numbers are always fun to look at.
 
I made eBoTD berserker Axe (I already had a CB) for one reason - it is (one of?) the only single handed range 3 weapons to hit 5FPA in wolf form. In case PvP starts again...

But in all other cases I think Grief is better. Well unless you play vanilla of course...
 
darkstarhub said:
I have a Barb leveled up and ready to gear out for end game. He is going to be a Frenzy build. My plan is to make a BotD in an Ethereal BA and a Death in an Ethereal BA. For swap it would be a Grief and Lawbringer Phase Blades.
Click to expand...
Do you gear swap between characters? What other characters do you want to use it on? Or is this going to be solely for the frenzier?

Frenzy is pretty skill point intensive, can't really put points into both axe & sword mastery. I'd also vote for CB in that you can do a couple other fun,2 hand, builds with it, and that CB looks 9,000 times cooler then BA.

Once you play with 'Grief', it's hard playing with any other 1h melee weapon - they all feel so lack luster. :(

maxicek said:
I made eBoTD berserker Axe (I already had a CB) for one reason - it is (one of?) the only single handed range 3 weapons to hit 5FPA in wolf form. In case PvP starts again...

But in all other cases I think Grief is better. Well unless you play vanilla of course...
Click to expand...

My only SP BotD is in a BA, and was made specifically for a fury/rabies pvp druid. Never pvp'd with him, and in hindsight I don't know if it I'd do it again.
 
Thanks for the help guys. The last Frenzy Barb I made was before D3 came out actually(it doesn't seem like its been that long ago), and I used a Grief PB and Lawbringer in the offhand. And yes, I realize after reading your comments that going with BA's in the main and PB's for the switch is not a good idea simply for the Mastery points. I will definitely have to rethink that since Lawbringer cannot be made in a BA.
My reasoning with the BA's is just to make things a little different this time around. I have enough Runes to make another Grief in a BA and I could just go with a BotD and Grief combo and put something else on switch. I have some ethereal CB's(I know more than BA's, as I only have 2 of those, and planned to socket quest one to get 6 sockets and cross my fingers to get 5 in the other one, which is a huge long shot). CB's would look really cool for sure. Since this character is twinked I could use the weapons on another build for a completely different character class. Thats one of the reasons I wanted to get some input on alternative weapon bases. It really would be a shame to make a BotD and its use be severely limited. A Wolf Barb or Bear build of some kind would be fun to try out as well.

Hopefully my previous experience with a Grief wont make the BotD feel lackluster like @Zylo said. I have also played around with the thought of Fury since it does have some decent stats and +5 to Frenzy(plus its dmg roll is static). The thing is I only have one Jah Rune and that theoretically could be used for an Enigma if it would be a better fit for the armor, and I am sure most people would say it is. I used a CoH previously, and there is always Fortitude to throw in the mix. Dam you Blizzard for forcing me to make compelling choices!!!

Thanks again guys, I am starting to ramble. Its been a long day.
 
After some comparing, the CB's definitely look cooler for sure. Searching through my stash, I found these:

View attachment 11194 View attachment 11195

I have a few more plain ethereal CB's to work with as well. I could just make the BotD in the 6 socket ethereal CB I already have or use a socket quest on the Superior one, but I don't think the 7% ED is going to do much so it might be better just to save the socket quest for something else. I could play the game for another year and not find the base I would like to have for BotD, and I haven't time traveled either, but it is a very serious thought for something like this. Getting the 5 socket eth CB is not going to be easy either for Death, and could also benefit from a 1.07 base obviously.

I do have enough Runes to roll Death several times for a decent roll so that's good. I can also have a Grief/Lawbringer PB's in the switch going this route, but that would make me have to switch in Demon Limb for the Enchant buff. I could use Lava Gout for the Enchant buff, but LoH is what I was planning on using, as both have 20% IAS. I still have to make up my mind for the armor as well. These type of decisions are why I love the game so much though, and something which D3 sorely lacks (I have to get my jabs in on occasion!!).
 
socket quests shouldn't really be a concern, they're way easier to get than Zod runes
if you're alright with time travel, though, I think it'd be worthwhile to take the extra time out to rack some bases, the damage isn't necessarily that big of a difference but you're probably not making BotDs that often
 
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