MF barb build
MF barb build by Sorcyone version 0.80 last updated 27 Apr 2005
1. INTRODUCTION
============
The Barbarian is one of the most durable characters in the game.
Unfortunately compared to other builds the barbarian is not regarded as effective in mass killing speed or in ability to wear high MF and still be a great killer.
Equiping a barbarian is also expensive.
I hope to show here how this can be done inexpensively using items no more expensive than an Ist rune.
With this build it is not hard to have over +400%MF and still have huge killing power with high survivability due to high life of over 4,000, huge defense over 13,000, 15%DR.
2. ASSUMPTIONS
===========
This is for the average player. I really don't care about those who can afford Enigma/BoTD etc. Besides dual wielding BoTD is risking a dupe poof!
This build can be put together with all self found items.
This is a PvM build for ladder but I can imagine it would be quite effective against casters.
3. STATS
=====
STRENGTH = enough to wield/wear without needing any strength from Arreats.
VITALITY = all here for a big fat baba.
DEXTERITY = BASE
ENERGY = BASE
I suggest base DEX since with Arreats +20 and Angelic +10 or Raven +20 you should be able to wield almost any Axe. Add in either Annihilis or a max dam + dex charm if needed.
Put your points into Vitality to help cope with no shield.
With top gear you could probably switch 100-200 points into strength instead for more damage.
4. SKILLS
======
Nothing new here.
BO 20
WW 20
Shout 20
Axe Mastery 20
Iron Skin 1
Natural Resistance 1+ depending on other gear, but basically you should max fire and light resistance see below. Light resistance is pretty clear why, fire you should max to protect against #3 danger for this build - undead stygian dolls explosion.
Battle Command 1
Find Item 1+
Howl 1
Taunt 1
Battle Cry 1
Bezerk 1
Concentrate 1
Increased Speed 1
Leap Attack 1
Prerequisites :
Increased Stamina 1
Find Potion 1
Bash 1
Leap 1
Stun 1
Total 96 which should be complete at level 85.
Max the first 4 skills in the order shown above.
I never found the need for War Cry. Howl when needed.
Some guides recommend 0 for increased speed to help concentrate WW damage. With this build there is no need since the damage is so huge and you have PMH. You want to be able to move quicker under WW. Also with no shield it is dangerous since being slower you will take more hits when WW though a pack.
Find Item is great but it has severe diminishing returns. 2 points is enough for me to get 47% on switch to echoing weapons at level 89. With high killing speed it becomes less worth the while horking. Of course you always hork champions and similar.
As an academic matter the highest possible Find Item is level 54 which yields 59% chance. This could be achieved with
3 Amulet +3 Warcries
6 Helm +3 Warcries +3 Find Item
2 Armour any +2
6 dual echoing weapons
2 SOJs
1 Arachnid Mesh
10 Warcry GCs
1 Annihilis
1 Battle Command
2 Skill Shrine
20 Find Item skill
---
54
Casting rate affects find item. This makes Tal items or dual hotos on switch attractive.
5. GEAR
====
The core of this build is dual wield Oath weapons and upped Skullder's Ire.
5.1 WEAPONS
-------
The best weapon combo would be some expensive runewords but as I stated I have put a limit on the cost of any single item.
One of the advantages of Oath is that it is not hard to make - you need a Mal rune and a 4 socket eth elite Axe. This is also kind of handy since the highest rune I have is a Mal.
You do want eth for the extra damage. Do not consider non eth. Since the charges cannot be restored in an eth item if you think the HoW/iron Golem charges are useful then think again. The HoW and IG will disappear every time you switch to your dual echoing weapons, and anyway there is no way HoW will compensate for the lesser damage you will have from an non eth weapon.
I quite like the Eth Oath Ettin Axe since it is usable from Level 52 and has requirements of low strength and dex reqs, and I have found 2 of them.
A good place to look for these elite items is the pits or scavenge Hell cow games.
Any unsocketed ethereal should be picked up and socketed using the cube formula :
1 Ral Rune + 1 Amn Rune + 1 Perfect Amethyst + Normal Weapon = Socketed Weapon of same type
and hope you get 4 sockets.
If the item is superior (you wish!) then you will have to use Larzuk. He will always give the maximum number of possible sockets so a Bezerker Axe will always get 6 sockets.
Oath 4 Socket Swords/Axes/Maces
Shael + Pul + Mal + Lum
30% Chance To Cast Level 20 Bone Spirit On Striking
Indestructible
+50% Increased Attack Speed
+210-340% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+75% Damage To Demons
+100 To Attack Rating Against Demons
Prevent Monster Heal
+10 To Energy
+10-15 Magic Absorb (varies)
Level 16 Heart Of Wolverine (20 Charges)
Level 17 Iron Golem (14 Charges)
Since you are WW the bone spirit is not so useful. Indestructible saves you from the hassle of repairing - which I currently find a real problem with Death Cleaver since the durability is so low - only 26.
The Damage and AR to Demons is nice especially for pit or Boss runs.
The Prevent Monster Heal is very useful. This opens up the alternative of using poison and swishing through whole packs initially.
Any 1H Axes and any sword or Mace will make lwbp.
Oath can be used from as low as level 49 (Mal rune) depending on weapon used.
Only the following 12 weapons can have ethereal Oath and be dual wielded by a barb. I present them in order of preference. Range 3 is nicest. Damage is a major consideration. Dex req is also a consideration. You need 2 weapons. You can mix weapons but you must stay in the same class since it is too costly to push 2 masteries.
So far I have found 4 socket eth: 2 Ettins and 1 BB. BB is the most popular since it is easy to find.
I recommend sticking to Axes since the swords have high dex reqs. But whatever you can get will decide which weapon class you choose.
I place the CB and HB lower because of the high dex req.
Note Scourge gets the +50% damage to Undead bonus for maces.
Phase Blade cannot be ethereal so it is rejected.
I found dual wielding Oath + Death Cleaver quite effective too. You get the PMH from Oath enhancing the Death Cleaver. It also is a nice filler until you can lay your hands on 2 Oath weapons. Upped Butchers Pupil (socket with 15IAS jewel or Shael) is an awesome weapon, and as are any of the elite 1H axes.
5.2 ALTERNATE SLOT
--------------
You will want dual echoing weapons on switch. Base dex means it's a bit harder to find ones you can wield. At a pinch you socket with Hel or -req jewel or Perfect amethysts.
If not then I suggest you socket with MF jewels or dual Ist as this will be useful when horking.
Up to Level 45 dual spirit swords is good. The extra fast cast makes buffing and horking very quick.
The ideal setup would be dual hoto. The 80% faster cast makes a massive difference with Find Item. You go from 13 to 9 frames, almost 50% faster. This is also one of the reasons to use Tal set items with a barb. Use 3 items then the belt and armour add 20% faster cast taking you from 13 to 11 frames.
5.3 NON-WEAPON
----------
Balanced MF Build at Level 88:
MF ITEM
24 Arreats upped (Ptopaz)
134 Skullders Ire upped (Ptopaz)
0 String of Ears upped
40 Chance Guards upped
0 Gore Rider upped
0 Highlords
0 Ravenfrost
0 dual leech ring or at least mana leech. With MF and faster cast would be nice.
204 charms
---
402 total MF
Note you can use Enigma instead of Skullders. You will lose about 48MF.
I use the ravenfrost for the AR, to keep moving fast, and I only have 15% cold resistance.
You should aim for about 300 MF at least 3% mana leech and 6% life leech.
For more MF :
50 Shako
30 Goldwrap/Tal Belt
25 Amulet +2 with MF, dual leech and faster cast or echoing with MF.
80 dual 40 MF rings
--
185 more
===
587 total MF
Cheaper gear :
Angelic Amulet
Angelic Rings x 2
Angelic Armour Ptopaz
IK items
Guilliames Face
Gheeds, plenty of AR + life, max dam, life and resist charms, some poison.
Angelic Armour is surprisingly good. If wearing 2 angelic rings + amulet the armour adds some nice properties :
+1 skills
+50 mana
+50 Fire resist
3 DR
+124 % Magic Find (50 each ring 24 Ptopaz)
368 defense
And it's damn cheap ! And you get these wonderful properties from level 12, well the ptopaz from level 15.
With base dex it's very easy to get over 4,000 life.
A good amulet would have +2 barb dual leech MF and fast cast. Crafting a caster amulet is not a bad idea.
5.3 Belt Slots
----------
Your belt has 16 slots.
Your belt should have 2 columns for full rejuvs, 1 column for super Mana potions, and 1 for 3 identify scrolls and 1 tp (town portal).
You need mana potions against mana burns otherwise you would just use Full Rejuves.
Placing scrolls in your belt allows you to have more charms instead of tomes.
Note if you pick up an identify scroll it will automatically add it to your belt but only if you have one already on your belt. And under the same proviso Shopkeepers will fill your belt column with a shift-right - the same as with potions. What I do is place tp scroll in top slot, identify scroll in bottom, then shift-right click will fill the remaining 2 slots with identify scrolls to fill the column.
5.4 Charms
------
Your inventory should have 31 squares for charms, 1 for keys, leaving 8 squares to pick up items.
Because of the base dex, this build is AR hungry. You should add charms with AR + life or AR + max dam.
Eg. using a 100 AR 20 life GC will save you 20 dex which equals 80 life.
You might want to raise your lighting resistance up a bit to at least 50%. Add in some 20 life charms, and as many MF charms as you can. The best charms for this are LC with 35 life and 6% MF. These are excellent value and much better than stacking 20 life and 7%MFSC. Only LC and GC can have both life and MF.
5.5 ALTERNATIVE GEAR
-----------------
Guilliame's Face. (30% FHR 15% Deadly 15 Strength 35% Crushing Blow !!!. the Crushing blow makes this a serious alternative to Arreats. I don't know why other guides do not mention this. It is especially attractive if you can't get a good weapon).
Shaftstop.
Wilhelm's Pride (5/5 leech 10% cold res and with Guilliame Face get +35 life) for the mana leech.
Now if you have gone as far as the helm and belt, then throw in Whitstan's Guard and Magnus' Skin for 80% MF and other nice full set properties.
Laying of Hands.
Metalgrid
Highlords
Atmas
War travellers - but you lose a lot of damage from gore IMO not worth it, you are better off filling up with MF sc even as low as 4% and keeping gore on.
Tal Armour + Belt + helm. The extra fast cast is useful for horking.
Tal Amulet + Belt + Amulet (yes! amulet for 65%MF 33% light resist 42 mana 50 life)
Skullders
Chance Guards
75/30 Nagels
Barb amulet with MF
Shako
Stealskull - the stats are bad but it fills the mana leech need.
IK Helm - again the stats are bad but it has the most MF.
Dual leech rings with AR and MF and faster cast.
Goldwrap - as with War travellers you will sacrifice too much just for 30MF, stick with the ears.
Wilhelm's Pride 5/5 leech belt to open up glove slot for Chancies.
5.6 MERC
----
Might merc of course. Suggested weapons :
up to level 75 - Kelpie Snare or Insight eth Partizan and later any Insight eth elite polearm.
from Level 75 - Reapers Toll.
A good alternative if you can find one is a big fast weapon with % chance to cast amp damage.
Endgame :
Reapers (Shael)
upped Gaze (IAS jewel)
upped Shaftstop (IAS/resist jewel or Um)
The extra speed on the Reapers makes a huge difference - triggering Decrepify earlier and more often. You will already have enough leech from the gaze and Reapers itself. IAS on a Thresher is very good value. From http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/weaponspeed.php?lang=english :
6. DANGERS
=======
1. Mana Burn. Bezerk away! Or Decrepify / Amp Damage from your Merc. Use mana potions (not rejuves) to trickle back your mana.
2. Iron Maiden. Bezerk away! or use very small whirls. Or howl and shown them your derriere. Blizzard should have given this the same reduction as in PvP. You will only encounter Iron Maiden in WSK and CS.
3. Undead Stygian Dolls. Since you have no block and their explosion ignores defense they can be a problem.
4. PI mana burns. Let your merc tank since he has no mana and Bezerk away! Or Decrepify / Amp Damage from your Merc and use long whirls.
7. GAMEPLAY
========
DUAL WIELDING
-------------
Some minor facts I have observed.
1. Concentrate will only use one weapon. The weapon picked is the first one wielded so if you remove a weapon, for example to charge up with demon limb, remove the weaker. Similarly when doing quests such as hellforge you will need to wield the Hammer then pick and drop back in your other weapon or it will keep saying "impossible" because it will be trying to use the first wielded weapon.
2. I have observed by watching duration decrease WW will always use one weapon about twice as often as the other. I was should have but did not determine if this was just always left hand weapon or first weapon as above with Bezerk. I noticed this while leveling use 2 identical Aldurs, and am unable to confirm more since Oath does not lose duration. Hence you should always make sure your better of 2 weapons is left hand and placed in first until someone confirms which is the case.
3. Dual wielding does awesome damage ! Much more than single. You also get affects such as crushing blow triggered more often. Hence items like Guilliames Face actually compete with Arreats.
Places to MF in order of preference :
Travincal Council
Pit
Pindle
Eldritch
Shenk
WSK all levels + Throne of Destruction
Ruined Fane (In Kurast Causeway)
Disused Reliquary (In Kurast Causeway)
River of Flame
Mausoleum
Ancient Tunnels (under Lost City)
Chaos Sanctum - I don't do due to Oblivion Knights
MF barb build by Sorcyone version 0.80 last updated 27 Apr 2005
1. INTRODUCTION
============
The Barbarian is one of the most durable characters in the game.
Unfortunately compared to other builds the barbarian is not regarded as effective in mass killing speed or in ability to wear high MF and still be a great killer.
Equiping a barbarian is also expensive.
I hope to show here how this can be done inexpensively using items no more expensive than an Ist rune.
With this build it is not hard to have over +400%MF and still have huge killing power with high survivability due to high life of over 4,000, huge defense over 13,000, 15%DR.
2. ASSUMPTIONS
===========
This is for the average player. I really don't care about those who can afford Enigma/BoTD etc. Besides dual wielding BoTD is risking a dupe poof!
This build can be put together with all self found items.
This is a PvM build for ladder but I can imagine it would be quite effective against casters.
3. STATS
=====
STRENGTH = enough to wield/wear without needing any strength from Arreats.
VITALITY = all here for a big fat baba.
DEXTERITY = BASE
ENERGY = BASE
I suggest base DEX since with Arreats +20 and Angelic +10 or Raven +20 you should be able to wield almost any Axe. Add in either Annihilis or a max dam + dex charm if needed.
Put your points into Vitality to help cope with no shield.
With top gear you could probably switch 100-200 points into strength instead for more damage.
4. SKILLS
======
Nothing new here.
BO 20
WW 20
Shout 20
Axe Mastery 20
Iron Skin 1
Natural Resistance 1+ depending on other gear, but basically you should max fire and light resistance see below. Light resistance is pretty clear why, fire you should max to protect against #3 danger for this build - undead stygian dolls explosion.
Battle Command 1
Find Item 1+
Howl 1
Taunt 1
Battle Cry 1
Bezerk 1
Concentrate 1
Increased Speed 1
Leap Attack 1
Prerequisites :
Increased Stamina 1
Find Potion 1
Bash 1
Leap 1
Stun 1
Total 96 which should be complete at level 85.
Max the first 4 skills in the order shown above.
I never found the need for War Cry. Howl when needed.
Some guides recommend 0 for increased speed to help concentrate WW damage. With this build there is no need since the damage is so huge and you have PMH. You want to be able to move quicker under WW. Also with no shield it is dangerous since being slower you will take more hits when WW though a pack.
Find Item is great but it has severe diminishing returns. 2 points is enough for me to get 47% on switch to echoing weapons at level 89. With high killing speed it becomes less worth the while horking. Of course you always hork champions and similar.
Code:
Find Item
Mana Cost: 7
Level 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
%Find 13 19 24 29 32 35 37 39 41 42 44 45 46 47 47 49 49 50 50 51
Level 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
%Find 51 52 52 53 53 53 54 54 55 55 55 55 56 56 56 56 56 57 57 57
Level 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
%Find 57 57 57 57 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 59As an academic matter the highest possible Find Item is level 54 which yields 59% chance. This could be achieved with
3 Amulet +3 Warcries
6 Helm +3 Warcries +3 Find Item
2 Armour any +2
6 dual echoing weapons
2 SOJs
1 Arachnid Mesh
10 Warcry GCs
1 Annihilis
1 Battle Command
2 Skill Shrine
20 Find Item skill
---
54
Casting rate affects find item. This makes Tal items or dual hotos on switch attractive.
Code:
casting rates :
Frames FCR
13 0
12 9
11 20
10 37
9 63
8 105
7 2005. GEAR
====
The core of this build is dual wield Oath weapons and upped Skullder's Ire.
5.1 WEAPONS
-------
The best weapon combo would be some expensive runewords but as I stated I have put a limit on the cost of any single item.
One of the advantages of Oath is that it is not hard to make - you need a Mal rune and a 4 socket eth elite Axe. This is also kind of handy since the highest rune I have is a Mal.
You do want eth for the extra damage. Do not consider non eth. Since the charges cannot be restored in an eth item if you think the HoW/iron Golem charges are useful then think again. The HoW and IG will disappear every time you switch to your dual echoing weapons, and anyway there is no way HoW will compensate for the lesser damage you will have from an non eth weapon.
I quite like the Eth Oath Ettin Axe since it is usable from Level 52 and has requirements of low strength and dex reqs, and I have found 2 of them.
A good place to look for these elite items is the pits or scavenge Hell cow games.
Any unsocketed ethereal should be picked up and socketed using the cube formula :
1 Ral Rune + 1 Amn Rune + 1 Perfect Amethyst + Normal Weapon = Socketed Weapon of same type
and hope you get 4 sockets.
If the item is superior (you wish!) then you will have to use Larzuk. He will always give the maximum number of possible sockets so a Bezerker Axe will always get 6 sockets.
Oath 4 Socket Swords/Axes/Maces
Shael + Pul + Mal + Lum
30% Chance To Cast Level 20 Bone Spirit On Striking
Indestructible
+50% Increased Attack Speed
+210-340% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+75% Damage To Demons
+100 To Attack Rating Against Demons
Prevent Monster Heal
+10 To Energy
+10-15 Magic Absorb (varies)
Level 16 Heart Of Wolverine (20 Charges)
Level 17 Iron Golem (14 Charges)
Since you are WW the bone spirit is not so useful. Indestructible saves you from the hassle of repairing - which I currently find a real problem with Death Cleaver since the durability is so low - only 26.
The Damage and AR to Demons is nice especially for pit or Boss runs.
The Prevent Monster Heal is very useful. This opens up the alternative of using poison and swishing through whole packs initially.
Any 1H Axes and any sword or Mace will make lwbp.
Oath can be used from as low as level 49 (Mal rune) depending on weapon used.
Only the following 12 weapons can have ethereal Oath and be dual wielded by a barb. I present them in order of preference. Range 3 is nicest. Damage is a major consideration. Dex req is also a consideration. You need 2 weapons. You can mix weapons but you must stay in the same class since it is too costly to push 2 masteries.
Code:
WEAPON DAMAGE SOCKS RANGE LEV STR DEX
Berserker Axe 47.5 6 3 64 128 49
Colossus Sword 48 5 3 60 172 85
Balrog Blade 45 4 3 53 175 77
Ettin Axe 49.5 5 2 52 135 35
Small Crescent 49 4 2 45 105 73
Colossus Blade 45 6 3 63 179 100
Scourge 41.5 5 3 57 115 67
Highland Blade 42 4 3 49 161 94
Champion Sword 39 4 3 57 153 93
Cryptic Sword 41 4 2 61 89 99
War Spike 39 6 2 59 123 44
Conquest Sword 45 4 1 58 132 102So far I have found 4 socket eth: 2 Ettins and 1 BB. BB is the most popular since it is easy to find.
I recommend sticking to Axes since the swords have high dex reqs. But whatever you can get will decide which weapon class you choose.
I place the CB and HB lower because of the high dex req.
Note Scourge gets the +50% damage to Undead bonus for maces.
Phase Blade cannot be ethereal so it is rejected.
I found dual wielding Oath + Death Cleaver quite effective too. You get the PMH from Oath enhancing the Death Cleaver. It also is a nice filler until you can lay your hands on 2 Oath weapons. Upped Butchers Pupil (socket with 15IAS jewel or Shael) is an awesome weapon, and as are any of the elite 1H axes.
5.2 ALTERNATE SLOT
--------------
You will want dual echoing weapons on switch. Base dex means it's a bit harder to find ones you can wield. At a pinch you socket with Hel or -req jewel or Perfect amethysts.
If not then I suggest you socket with MF jewels or dual Ist as this will be useful when horking.
Up to Level 45 dual spirit swords is good. The extra fast cast makes buffing and horking very quick.
The ideal setup would be dual hoto. The 80% faster cast makes a massive difference with Find Item. You go from 13 to 9 frames, almost 50% faster. This is also one of the reasons to use Tal set items with a barb. Use 3 items then the belt and armour add 20% faster cast taking you from 13 to 11 frames.
5.3 NON-WEAPON
----------
Balanced MF Build at Level 88:
MF ITEM
24 Arreats upped (Ptopaz)
134 Skullders Ire upped (Ptopaz)
0 String of Ears upped
40 Chance Guards upped
0 Gore Rider upped
0 Highlords
0 Ravenfrost
0 dual leech ring or at least mana leech. With MF and faster cast would be nice.
204 charms
---
402 total MF
Note you can use Enigma instead of Skullders. You will lose about 48MF.
I use the ravenfrost for the AR, to keep moving fast, and I only have 15% cold resistance.
You should aim for about 300 MF at least 3% mana leech and 6% life leech.
For more MF :
50 Shako
30 Goldwrap/Tal Belt
25 Amulet +2 with MF, dual leech and faster cast or echoing with MF.
80 dual 40 MF rings
--
185 more
===
587 total MF
Cheaper gear :
Angelic Amulet
Angelic Rings x 2
Angelic Armour Ptopaz
IK items
Guilliames Face
Gheeds, plenty of AR + life, max dam, life and resist charms, some poison.
Angelic Armour is surprisingly good. If wearing 2 angelic rings + amulet the armour adds some nice properties :
+1 skills
+50 mana
+50 Fire resist
3 DR
+124 % Magic Find (50 each ring 24 Ptopaz)
368 defense
And it's damn cheap ! And you get these wonderful properties from level 12, well the ptopaz from level 15.
With base dex it's very easy to get over 4,000 life.
A good amulet would have +2 barb dual leech MF and fast cast. Crafting a caster amulet is not a bad idea.
5.3 Belt Slots
----------
Your belt has 16 slots.
Your belt should have 2 columns for full rejuvs, 1 column for super Mana potions, and 1 for 3 identify scrolls and 1 tp (town portal).
You need mana potions against mana burns otherwise you would just use Full Rejuves.
Placing scrolls in your belt allows you to have more charms instead of tomes.
Note if you pick up an identify scroll it will automatically add it to your belt but only if you have one already on your belt. And under the same proviso Shopkeepers will fill your belt column with a shift-right - the same as with potions. What I do is place tp scroll in top slot, identify scroll in bottom, then shift-right click will fill the remaining 2 slots with identify scrolls to fill the column.
5.4 Charms
------
Your inventory should have 31 squares for charms, 1 for keys, leaving 8 squares to pick up items.
Because of the base dex, this build is AR hungry. You should add charms with AR + life or AR + max dam.
Eg. using a 100 AR 20 life GC will save you 20 dex which equals 80 life.
You might want to raise your lighting resistance up a bit to at least 50%. Add in some 20 life charms, and as many MF charms as you can. The best charms for this are LC with 35 life and 6% MF. These are excellent value and much better than stacking 20 life and 7%MFSC. Only LC and GC can have both life and MF.
5.5 ALTERNATIVE GEAR
-----------------
Guilliame's Face. (30% FHR 15% Deadly 15 Strength 35% Crushing Blow !!!. the Crushing blow makes this a serious alternative to Arreats. I don't know why other guides do not mention this. It is especially attractive if you can't get a good weapon).
Shaftstop.
Wilhelm's Pride (5/5 leech 10% cold res and with Guilliame Face get +35 life) for the mana leech.
Now if you have gone as far as the helm and belt, then throw in Whitstan's Guard and Magnus' Skin for 80% MF and other nice full set properties.
Laying of Hands.
Metalgrid
Highlords
Atmas
War travellers - but you lose a lot of damage from gore IMO not worth it, you are better off filling up with MF sc even as low as 4% and keeping gore on.
Tal Armour + Belt + helm. The extra fast cast is useful for horking.
Tal Amulet + Belt + Amulet (yes! amulet for 65%MF 33% light resist 42 mana 50 life)
Skullders
Chance Guards
75/30 Nagels
Barb amulet with MF
Shako
Stealskull - the stats are bad but it fills the mana leech need.
IK Helm - again the stats are bad but it has the most MF.
Dual leech rings with AR and MF and faster cast.
Goldwrap - as with War travellers you will sacrifice too much just for 30MF, stick with the ears.
Wilhelm's Pride 5/5 leech belt to open up glove slot for Chancies.
5.6 MERC
----
Might merc of course. Suggested weapons :
up to level 75 - Kelpie Snare or Insight eth Partizan and later any Insight eth elite polearm.
from Level 75 - Reapers Toll.
A good alternative if you can find one is a big fast weapon with % chance to cast amp damage.
Endgame :
Reapers (Shael)
upped Gaze (IAS jewel)
upped Shaftstop (IAS/resist jewel or Um)
The extra speed on the Reapers makes a huge difference - triggering Decrepify earlier and more often. You will already have enough leech from the gaze and Reapers itself. IAS on a Thresher is very good value. From http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/weaponspeed.php?lang=english :
Code:
Weapon Thresher / Drescher Skill Jab
IAS Frames Attacks per second
0 % 7.5 3.3
8 % 7 3.5
22 % 6.5 3.8
44 % 6 4.1
75 % 5.5 4.5
142 % 5 56. DANGERS
=======
1. Mana Burn. Bezerk away! Or Decrepify / Amp Damage from your Merc. Use mana potions (not rejuves) to trickle back your mana.
2. Iron Maiden. Bezerk away! or use very small whirls. Or howl and shown them your derriere. Blizzard should have given this the same reduction as in PvP. You will only encounter Iron Maiden in WSK and CS.
3. Undead Stygian Dolls. Since you have no block and their explosion ignores defense they can be a problem.
4. PI mana burns. Let your merc tank since he has no mana and Bezerk away! Or Decrepify / Amp Damage from your Merc and use long whirls.
7. GAMEPLAY
========
DUAL WIELDING
-------------
Some minor facts I have observed.
1. Concentrate will only use one weapon. The weapon picked is the first one wielded so if you remove a weapon, for example to charge up with demon limb, remove the weaker. Similarly when doing quests such as hellforge you will need to wield the Hammer then pick and drop back in your other weapon or it will keep saying "impossible" because it will be trying to use the first wielded weapon.
2. I have observed by watching duration decrease WW will always use one weapon about twice as often as the other. I was should have but did not determine if this was just always left hand weapon or first weapon as above with Bezerk. I noticed this while leveling use 2 identical Aldurs, and am unable to confirm more since Oath does not lose duration. Hence you should always make sure your better of 2 weapons is left hand and placed in first until someone confirms which is the case.
3. Dual wielding does awesome damage ! Much more than single. You also get affects such as crushing blow triggered more often. Hence items like Guilliames Face actually compete with Arreats.
Places to MF in order of preference :
Travincal Council
Pit
Pindle
Eldritch
Shenk
WSK all levels + Throne of Destruction
Ruined Fane (In Kurast Causeway)
Disused Reliquary (In Kurast Causeway)
River of Flame
Mausoleum
Ancient Tunnels (under Lost City)
Chaos Sanctum - I don't do due to Oblivion Knights
I have some questions though : 
Ah i see how pmh makesit so that a slower r/w is not very desireable wth going shieldless as well 
Good job writer and cheers!
