Patriarch barras the Concentrate (and then Werewolf) Barb

[little birdy]

Another day, another character I'd like to share with you all.

If there are any Bravely Default fans out there on these boards, you might have guessed that my original idea for barras came from Barras Lehr, holder of the Monk Asterisk in Bravely Default. (Sidebar: If you like JRPGs with Job systems and haven't heard of Bravely Default, then check it out! It is really well done. My all-time favourite JRPG is easily Final Fantasy 5. Bravely Default is kind of like a modern, and in many ways improved, spiritual successor to earlier games with Job system like FF3 and FF5.)

Barras is a big, strong looking dude, similar to a Barb in D2. Some descriptions of a Monk:
- "With high HP and strong attack abilities, these contemplative combatants find inner peace by taking pieces out of enemies."
- "A brute-strength attacker!"

Also, Monks in Bravely Default have S-tier affinity for using Staves and Knuckles.

A contemplative combatant... a brute-strength attacker... good with staves... it sounded just like a Concentrate Barb with an 'Insight' Staff to me!

So, barras played through Normal and NM as an 'Insight' staff-wielding Concentrate Barb. Concentrate was the main attack, but to spice things up I mixed in Leap Attacks and Whirlwinds just for fun, and to make it easier to get around in some areas.

Early progress through Normal and NM are chronicled in my thread-of-doom starting here: https://www.purediablo.com/forums/t...-to-join-in-the-fun.21038/page-3#post-2720312

The gameplay started to get a bit tiring towards the end of NM. A little repetitive. At least I didn't restrict myself to only using Concentrate. That would have gotten boring even quicker.

As barras was almost ready to make the jump to Hell difficulty, my Fire Ball Sorc scored a Wolfhowl from Terrorized Andy. That was the perfect opportunity to mix things up. I ran NM TZs with barras to hit the level requirement, re-spec'd, and set off in Hell.

Wow, the Werewolf Barb is a speed demon. I absolutely blitzed my way through Hell. As usual, I completed all quests, but I didn't necessarily fully clear every area along the way. I played barras as a full-time Werewolf throughout Hell, and while I started finding the playstyle a bit tedious after a while, I still enjoyed it overall. I have loads of skill points to spare, so I willll re-think this guy a bit, and maybe only play him as a Werewolf situationally, so I can mix in Barb Combat Skills while not being a Werewolf.

Interesting finds along the way: Ist rune, Fleshripper... no good claw bases :-/

Stats and all that:

Patriarch barras - Level 83



STATS
Strength: 150 (191 w/ gear)
Dexterity: 145 (193)
Vitality: 205 (235)
Energy: 10 (25)
Life: 1419 (2782 w/ Battle Orders; 3566 w/ BO and Werewolf)
Mana: 305
Fire/Cold/Lightning/Poison res.: 75/20/46/34

SKILLS
Max: Battle Orders, Axe Mastery
1 pt: Battle Command, Increased Stamina, Increased Speed, Iron Skin, pre-reqs
5 pts: Natural Resistance
(43 skill points left to spend... I am undecided..!)

GEAR
Helm: Wolfhowl (+3 Warcries, +6 Feral Rage, +4 Lycanthropy, +6 Werewolf)
Weapon: Messerschmidt's Reaver unique Champion Axe
Switch: 2x Islestrike unique Twin Axes (I assume the +2 Druid skills on these axes applies when I switch to Werewolf... but honestly I don't know about that lol)
Armor: 'Fortitude' Archon Plate
Gloves: Laying of Hands
Belt: Nosferatu's Coil
Boots: Gore Rider
Amulet: Rare w/ +2 Warcries, +48 Life, +20 all res.
Rings: Raven Frost, Manald Heal
Charms: 2x Warcries skillers (one with +34 Life, one plain) and various charms found while questing (life, res., FHR, FRW, etc., etc.)

I selected Messerschmidt's Reaver because it is big and cool. And when else was I going to us it? I could have of course used various runewords... but I have a soft spot for unique items. Kind of wish I hadn't used 'Fortitude' on this guy, and instead another unique... but 'Fortitude' is a very nice choice. Oh well.

Also, I really like that amulet

MERCENARY
Annor - Level 82 Rogue (Freezing Arrow)
Bow: 'Mist' Matriarchal Bow (w/ +3 Bow skills)
Helm: Valkyrie Wing
Armor: 'Lionheart' Wyrmhide

She was very tanky and helped a lot! Level 17 Freezing Arrow and level 35 Cold Arrow froze every non-Cold Immune monster around me. And I let her tackle all the physical immunes (as long as they were not dual CI and PI). All I had to do was stand there slapping at the PI's, tanking hits, while she mowed them down with Cold and Freezing Arrows. 'Mist' is a fantastic runeword. Also, the Concentration aura it provides fit very nicely with the original theme of 'Insight' and Concentrate for barras.

Thanks for reading!

 

[LouB]

Yeah, another wolfbarb!!! It's hard to mess one up as all those unused skill points demonstrate.

You need +all skills like Hoto and Spirit to get a boost on the werewolf skills. To double check, I just put a pair of Islestrikes on ARGH and my werewolf skill remains at 10 while with Hoto and Spirit on switch it jumps to 15. It's also why I went with Chains of Honor over Fortitude for armor.

Barb echoing items will increase your BO and shout, but will not do anything for your druid skills. The same for your amulet.

 

[little birdy]

What a fool I've been Oh well. I knew all the other gear had no effect on Werewolf/Lycanthropy/Feral Rage... but I assumed the +2 Druid skills on the Islestrikes would apply since WW/Lycanthropy/Feral Rage are of course Druid skills. Guess that only works when the character is a Druid. I should instead give this guy a couple of 'Spirit' swords for the weapon switch.

 

[PhineasB]

Great character. I love seeing the different merc approaches in D2R with new runewords and tweaks. Very cool to see A1 Rogue that sounds like such a great complement to the build, rather than standard A2 polearm merc.

 

[SirName]

Nice work. Awesome that you put Messerschmidts to use! I think uniques are cool but often a bit hard to justify. More often than not just for being oh so slow.

 

[little birdy]

I decided to dust off barras the Wolfbarb this weekend, and I’ve been having fun with him again.

I started out by making some rune words that I’ve been meaning to make for a while now, just never got around to it. This seemed like a fun place to start testing them out.

The main attraction: an ethereal ‘Death’ Berserker Axe. This could also see some use with my Bladesin someday in the future, but she performs quite well as-is with Nat’s set. I think I did quite well on the ED roll at 381% (in a possible range of 300 to 385).


For the off-hand, I made ‘Beast’. Also in a Berserker Axe. Luck wasn’t with me in this one, as I rolled an anti-perfect 240% ED. The Strength roll was near perfect though.


‘Death’ hits hard, and fast with the addition of ‘Beast’. It feels more effective than the 2H axes I was using before (Messerschmidt’s and then Executioner’s Justice).

I also gave barras Verdungo’s belt since I got one from Terrorized Andy last week, and at level 85 he got Gladiator’s Bane armour. (His ‘Fortitude’ armour that was used while questing has long since been returned to artemia the Multishot Bowazon. ‘Lionheart’ was the fallback option.)

In think he looks cool wearing G. Bane, but there is still experimenting left to do. Leviathan or Arkaine’s Valour seem like solid options. And of course there is always ‘Fortitude’ as a very strong option. If I go that route then it will be a shared armour between Wolfbarb and Bowazon.

 

[LouB]

My wolfbarb used Grief and Doom to Pat. I tried Beast, but found I like the Holy Freeze from Doom better. I then switched to Grief and a Phoenix shield which is even better. From my Fury wolves I think the best 2 hand weapon would be Oath in an Eth Sliver-edged Axe or a Shaeled Upped Ribby..

 

[little birdy]

'Doom' is something I would seriously consider for the second weapon slot, but I'm short a Lo to make it so it's not an option right now.

'Phoenix' is of course also very interesting, but I can't imagine ever actually making it unless I get very lucky with rune drops.

They're both something to dream on, anyways. Not just for this character either. 'Doom' would definitely see usage with my Blizzard Sorc, and 'Phoenix' with my Fire Ball Sorc.