- Oct 28, 2007
- 2,692
- 271
- 83
Patriarch Moral_Immortal: standard IK Whirler
Howdy, folks. I know it's not an overly interesting or creative build that I've made here. The reason I'm compiling all this is because this is the first solo character I've Mat/Patted since my restart nearly a year ago. Again, there's nothing all that special to this build, so no fancy intros or stories setting the scene. Just the pure, unadulterated, soft[not hard]core facts. ...With the exception of the following paragraph, I mean.
[highlight]The Inspiration:[/highlight]
It all started because of this pat thread from janooo made no more than two days ago. It reminded me that I had finished collecting all of the IK pieces recently. I'd had the set before my restart, too, but I never made use of it. I assumed that the complete set was best on a Whirlwind barbarian. My issue was that I have never been a big fan of WW. I'd tried creating one at least three times before now, but none made it any farther than ActI NM. And because every other barbarian I'd made up to now was either a dual wielder or utilized a shield. So in essence, I made three new accomplishments with this build: Pat a Whirlwind barb, use the full IK set, and get a two-hander to the finish line.
One number I want to share before we get to the nitty gritty: 48. This number represents how many real-world hours passed between character creation and the final screen with Deckard Cain's congratulations. After less than two full days, I have my first Pat. ...Collecting all the items was substantially greater, but... well, consider me bored I guess! D2 passes the time quite well, after all!
Now... on with the raw data!
[highlight]The Stats:[/highlight]
Patriarch Moral_Immortal, clvl 84
LCS fresh in town vs. LCS buffed with BC, BO, Shout, Might, & slvl5 Enchant
Life – 1,090 (2,289 after BO)
Mana – 109 (228 after BO)
Resists - 75/75/75/75
Stats (with gear):
Str: 190 (236)
Dex: 20 (50)
Vit: 150 (150)
Ene: 10 (10)
unused stat points: 145
Skills (with gear & including BC):
20 (+8) Whirlwind: 2,864 – 4,646 damage, 14,589 AR
20 (+8) Concentrate: 3,427 – 5,422 damage, 20,070 AR (potentially the highest I've ever had)
20 (+6) Mace Mastery
20 (+6) Battle Orders
1 (+6/8) in Bash, Leap, Stun, Leap Attack, Iron Skin, Natural Resistance, Howl, Find Potion, Shout, Find Item, & Battle Command
unused skill points: 4
Gear:
Weapon: Immortal King's Stone Crusher
Switch: None!
Armor: IK's Soul Cage
Helm: IK's Will
Gloves: IK's Forge
Belt: IK's Detail
Boots: IK's Pillar
Amulet: Angelic Wings
Ring1 & 2: Angelic Halos
Couldn't be simpler!
Charms (4x small): 8% ColdRes , +1 Str/6% ColdRes, 6% PoisonRes, +16 Mana (just filled out resists with charms I found, basically)
Merc: Kasim lvl84, ActII NM Offensive (Might)
Weapon: The Reaper's Toll (eth)
Helm: Vampire Gaze
Armor: Shaftshop
[highlight]The Journey:[/highlight]
At the start of normal, it's a mad rush for levels and stats. At clvl 9 I started using a Civerb's Cudgel and ran Raki until clvl 12. Then I twinked on the full Sigon's set, another first for me, and the Angelic jewelry combo (just one ring) but shortly thereafter I ditched the shield. Opted for a Shadowfang, my first two-hander, and never looked back. At clvl 19 I used the Chieftain, then at 24 it was Bonesnap, and finally at 29 it was Steeldriver... and this stayed on me for a looooong time. I put on a Manald Heal at clvl 18 and started using Concentrate as my main attack.
As the levels approached 30, I was alternating points between Concentrate and its synergy, Battle Orders. I hit Eldritch at about the same time I gained access to Whirlwind, then ran him dozens of times to get to clvl 41. After putting every point into Whirlwind it became my primary attack, however reluctant I was about it... I kept wanting to switch back to Concentrate. Shaftshop became my new armor, and I started tossing on whatever IK pieces I could when the level requirements allowed. I finished normal at clvl 45.
Nightmare's beginning was frustrating, to say the least. I'm often using skills/equipment that have sufficient power at this point, but I wasn't at all comfortable with WW. ...Or his gear. ...Or his resists, since if you averaged them all he wavered around zeros AND stayed that way through the majority of NM. Concerning WW, I had lots of learning experiences. First, I was at least halfway through NM before I realized off-weapon IAS has no effect on Whirlwind. Second, I learned very late (Pindleskin, in fact) that the attacks don't hit every monster in range on every attack chance, but rather that it attacks only one target in range at a time. Thank you to that first Frost charm I got at Pindle for showing me how WW works.. without it, I may not have ever figured it out. So it took me quite a long time to learn that pounding straight through the center of a pack over and over may not be the quickest way to dispatch foes.
And Steeldriver. Equipped it at clvl 29 and had it on until the Stone Crusher became available at clvl 76. Thing is, I didn't upgrade it because: a) I only have a single one, and b) I don't know what the clvl requirement is after being upped and I didn't want to screw myself over. AND, because I didn't look at IAS tables until ActIII, I also didn't socket a Shael into it for half the difficulty... very bad and stupid move, since with WW it gives 50% more attacks per second. I gimped myself terribly, and I wasn't enjoying the build at all. I'm pretty sure I ran /p1 throughout the first four acts of NM just because I wasn't comfortable with my safety or kill speed.
My first death came from... Coldwing? That bat creature that guards the stairs to Sewers 2 under Kurast, whatever his name is. I never saw his mods, but I'm quite certain he had a double elemental enchantment. He depleted my life midway through my first pass of WW. gg.
Ran Eldritch again until clvl 70. Ran Pindle until clvl 75 (sloooooow times) and gave the merc his eth Reaper's. After a few more runs, I did the Ancients for quick XP, then did more Pindle to hit clvl 76. ...And that's when EVERYTHING changed.
76 is the level requirement for both IKSCs, thus finishing the set. And the game become ridiculously simpler. CB, both forms of leech, DR, mad resists, high physical, elemental, and even magic damage all open up once the set is complete. Two Shaels in the Stone Crusher's open sockets hits the ogre maul's maximum WW breakpoint (8 hits per second, right?!) and a couple charms help the lagging cold & poison resists. The only issue left is AR, but the Angelic combo with dual rings fixes that up (between the IK and Angelic items, no gear slot is left open!). This character is missing NOTHING AT ALL (well, CBF, but I'm intentionally leaving it off this build)... and the Might merc proc'ing Decrepify makes his life even sweeter. Like I said ridiculously simple.
The endgame was... practically unremarkable, honestly. WW ripped most everything apart, and because he was so powerful I quested through the first three acts at /p3 for the first time ever. The only issues he ever had were unleechables and mana burners. The former wasn't even a big deal, since oftentimes there's some other enemy type nearby, so if you whirl through them once you get all your mana back. Quite often after I eliminated a majority of an unleechable pack, I just used Concentrate to wipe out the stragglers and conserve mana. Even PIs weren't much of a problem since the set bonus gives all that crazy elemental/magic damage. Decrepify helped my merc with PIs, but my barb barely noticed a change in damage. Mana burners, however, are much more problematic. Learning how to remain on the fringe of an enemy pack became vital knowledge; getting trapped in the middle was treacherous, to say the least. Switching back and forth between Concentrate and WW seemed to work most of the time, but when you run into a trio of burner unique packs with ghosts spaced around you just resort to Concentrate.
Nearly everything else was a cakewalk. Oh sure, I died a few times here and there. It's why I play softcore. ^_^ It took me a little while to notice that you can't use potions in the middle of a WW animation, so I died a couple times because I'm used to reacting when I should have acted preemptively. Hell Council got me once after getting cursed. Hell Ancients wiped me out the first time I tried, too... I didn't see any mods, but I'm guessing Talic was extra strong, extra fast, and stone skinned; two passes of his own WW took me down. My second attempt was a joke, though. And a LE/CE/FE gloam in the Throne Room killed me twice, thanks to my merc inexplicably running away mid-battle so his change of trajectory put me directly behind my merc and I got stun-locked by the piercing bolts.
Still. If I had a run count of how many potions I used in Hell, it's easily the least I've ever needed. Certainly less than fifty, but I'd actually guess as little as two dozen! And how's Baal, you ask? Deeds. And stingy. Compare my barb's defense to my old Fire Druid's.
Hellforges: Ko/Fal :meh:
Never used any crowd control cries. The only things I had hotkeyed were BC, BO, Shout, WW, Find Item, and Town Portal (Concentrate looks like it's keyed on left click, but that was applicable for only thirty seconds until I realized WW can go right click). Ranged attackers posed little to no threat the entire time.
[highlight]Wrap-Up: [/highlight]
First, I have to give some true props to janooo. Without you, this build probably wouldn't have come to fruition. Your recent write-up of your own Titan IK WW barb got me curious and interested in both the set and the build. I didn't go Titan myself, but your build and gear selections were so logical I took the same basic approach you did. I may have played my character, but you built him for me.
Also, I have to give a lot of thanks to the SPF on this one. There's so much information that I've read about WW'ers over the years that I took to heart, especially since everyone starting doing Travincial runs for gold and runes. Without everyone, I probably would have put points into Increased Speed and made my barb harder to keep under control in battles. I probably would have sacrificed an Angelic ring for a Raven Frost thinking that being chilled would be a major detriment, and while I didn't know exactly WHY, I followed what you've suggested to many others. 99.9% of the time I loved CE monsters because WW still attacks at the same rate and the slower movement concentrates attacks in a single area for massive damage. Without you all, I probably would have screwed this character up pretty badly. The IK set made the character kinda fun, but without your collective advice I would have likely made him kinda not fun.
Plans for the character? Unknown. I'd like him to be an area/target runner, but I'm having issues coming up with places where he's comparatively strong. Pindle maybe... I could respec to take some points out of Concentrate and dump them into Find Item. I don't have any strong uniques nor have I collected any runes of consequence, so no Grief/Death/Oath/Death Cleavers in his future. This set is pretty much all he can use, which kind of limits him. Still, for the day when I find some of that stuff... this guy can come out of retirement and rip some dudes apart.
As I've said at the end of a different Pat thread before: verbose much? This is a standard twink build, and yet I managed to write out nearly four pages of single-spaced type. I think I started this write-up three hours ago...
Thanks for reading, folks! It's been a learning experience!
Howdy, folks. I know it's not an overly interesting or creative build that I've made here. The reason I'm compiling all this is because this is the first solo character I've Mat/Patted since my restart nearly a year ago. Again, there's nothing all that special to this build, so no fancy intros or stories setting the scene. Just the pure, unadulterated, soft[not hard]core facts. ...With the exception of the following paragraph, I mean.
[highlight]The Inspiration:[/highlight]
It all started because of this pat thread from janooo made no more than two days ago. It reminded me that I had finished collecting all of the IK pieces recently. I'd had the set before my restart, too, but I never made use of it. I assumed that the complete set was best on a Whirlwind barbarian. My issue was that I have never been a big fan of WW. I'd tried creating one at least three times before now, but none made it any farther than ActI NM. And because every other barbarian I'd made up to now was either a dual wielder or utilized a shield. So in essence, I made three new accomplishments with this build: Pat a Whirlwind barb, use the full IK set, and get a two-hander to the finish line.
One number I want to share before we get to the nitty gritty: 48. This number represents how many real-world hours passed between character creation and the final screen with Deckard Cain's congratulations. After less than two full days, I have my first Pat. ...Collecting all the items was substantially greater, but... well, consider me bored I guess! D2 passes the time quite well, after all!
Now... on with the raw data!
[highlight]The Stats:[/highlight]
Patriarch Moral_Immortal, clvl 84
LCS fresh in town vs. LCS buffed with BC, BO, Shout, Might, & slvl5 Enchant
Life – 1,090 (2,289 after BO)
Mana – 109 (228 after BO)
Resists - 75/75/75/75
Stats (with gear):
Str: 190 (236)
Dex: 20 (50)
Vit: 150 (150)
Ene: 10 (10)
unused stat points: 145
Skills (with gear & including BC):
20 (+8) Whirlwind: 2,864 – 4,646 damage, 14,589 AR
20 (+8) Concentrate: 3,427 – 5,422 damage, 20,070 AR (potentially the highest I've ever had)
20 (+6) Mace Mastery
20 (+6) Battle Orders
1 (+6/8) in Bash, Leap, Stun, Leap Attack, Iron Skin, Natural Resistance, Howl, Find Potion, Shout, Find Item, & Battle Command
unused skill points: 4
Gear:
Weapon: Immortal King's Stone Crusher
Switch: None!
Armor: IK's Soul Cage
Helm: IK's Will
Gloves: IK's Forge
Belt: IK's Detail
Boots: IK's Pillar
Amulet: Angelic Wings
Ring1 & 2: Angelic Halos
Couldn't be simpler!
Charms (4x small): 8% ColdRes , +1 Str/6% ColdRes, 6% PoisonRes, +16 Mana (just filled out resists with charms I found, basically)
Merc: Kasim lvl84, ActII NM Offensive (Might)
Weapon: The Reaper's Toll (eth)
Helm: Vampire Gaze
Armor: Shaftshop
[highlight]The Journey:[/highlight]
At the start of normal, it's a mad rush for levels and stats. At clvl 9 I started using a Civerb's Cudgel and ran Raki until clvl 12. Then I twinked on the full Sigon's set, another first for me, and the Angelic jewelry combo (just one ring) but shortly thereafter I ditched the shield. Opted for a Shadowfang, my first two-hander, and never looked back. At clvl 19 I used the Chieftain, then at 24 it was Bonesnap, and finally at 29 it was Steeldriver... and this stayed on me for a looooong time. I put on a Manald Heal at clvl 18 and started using Concentrate as my main attack.
As the levels approached 30, I was alternating points between Concentrate and its synergy, Battle Orders. I hit Eldritch at about the same time I gained access to Whirlwind, then ran him dozens of times to get to clvl 41. After putting every point into Whirlwind it became my primary attack, however reluctant I was about it... I kept wanting to switch back to Concentrate. Shaftshop became my new armor, and I started tossing on whatever IK pieces I could when the level requirements allowed. I finished normal at clvl 45.
Nightmare's beginning was frustrating, to say the least. I'm often using skills/equipment that have sufficient power at this point, but I wasn't at all comfortable with WW. ...Or his gear. ...Or his resists, since if you averaged them all he wavered around zeros AND stayed that way through the majority of NM. Concerning WW, I had lots of learning experiences. First, I was at least halfway through NM before I realized off-weapon IAS has no effect on Whirlwind. Second, I learned very late (Pindleskin, in fact) that the attacks don't hit every monster in range on every attack chance, but rather that it attacks only one target in range at a time. Thank you to that first Frost charm I got at Pindle for showing me how WW works.. without it, I may not have ever figured it out. So it took me quite a long time to learn that pounding straight through the center of a pack over and over may not be the quickest way to dispatch foes.
And Steeldriver. Equipped it at clvl 29 and had it on until the Stone Crusher became available at clvl 76. Thing is, I didn't upgrade it because: a) I only have a single one, and b) I don't know what the clvl requirement is after being upped and I didn't want to screw myself over. AND, because I didn't look at IAS tables until ActIII, I also didn't socket a Shael into it for half the difficulty... very bad and stupid move, since with WW it gives 50% more attacks per second. I gimped myself terribly, and I wasn't enjoying the build at all. I'm pretty sure I ran /p1 throughout the first four acts of NM just because I wasn't comfortable with my safety or kill speed.
My first death came from... Coldwing? That bat creature that guards the stairs to Sewers 2 under Kurast, whatever his name is. I never saw his mods, but I'm quite certain he had a double elemental enchantment. He depleted my life midway through my first pass of WW. gg.
Ran Eldritch again until clvl 70. Ran Pindle until clvl 75 (sloooooow times) and gave the merc his eth Reaper's. After a few more runs, I did the Ancients for quick XP, then did more Pindle to hit clvl 76. ...And that's when EVERYTHING changed.
76 is the level requirement for both IKSCs, thus finishing the set. And the game become ridiculously simpler. CB, both forms of leech, DR, mad resists, high physical, elemental, and even magic damage all open up once the set is complete. Two Shaels in the Stone Crusher's open sockets hits the ogre maul's maximum WW breakpoint (8 hits per second, right?!) and a couple charms help the lagging cold & poison resists. The only issue left is AR, but the Angelic combo with dual rings fixes that up (between the IK and Angelic items, no gear slot is left open!). This character is missing NOTHING AT ALL (well, CBF, but I'm intentionally leaving it off this build)... and the Might merc proc'ing Decrepify makes his life even sweeter. Like I said ridiculously simple.
The endgame was... practically unremarkable, honestly. WW ripped most everything apart, and because he was so powerful I quested through the first three acts at /p3 for the first time ever. The only issues he ever had were unleechables and mana burners. The former wasn't even a big deal, since oftentimes there's some other enemy type nearby, so if you whirl through them once you get all your mana back. Quite often after I eliminated a majority of an unleechable pack, I just used Concentrate to wipe out the stragglers and conserve mana. Even PIs weren't much of a problem since the set bonus gives all that crazy elemental/magic damage. Decrepify helped my merc with PIs, but my barb barely noticed a change in damage. Mana burners, however, are much more problematic. Learning how to remain on the fringe of an enemy pack became vital knowledge; getting trapped in the middle was treacherous, to say the least. Switching back and forth between Concentrate and WW seemed to work most of the time, but when you run into a trio of burner unique packs with ghosts spaced around you just resort to Concentrate.
Nearly everything else was a cakewalk. Oh sure, I died a few times here and there. It's why I play softcore. ^_^ It took me a little while to notice that you can't use potions in the middle of a WW animation, so I died a couple times because I'm used to reacting when I should have acted preemptively. Hell Council got me once after getting cursed. Hell Ancients wiped me out the first time I tried, too... I didn't see any mods, but I'm guessing Talic was extra strong, extra fast, and stone skinned; two passes of his own WW took me down. My second attempt was a joke, though. And a LE/CE/FE gloam in the Throne Room killed me twice, thanks to my merc inexplicably running away mid-battle so his change of trajectory put me directly behind my merc and I got stun-locked by the piercing bolts.
Still. If I had a run count of how many potions I used in Hell, it's easily the least I've ever needed. Certainly less than fifty, but I'd actually guess as little as two dozen! And how's Baal, you ask? Deeds. And stingy. Compare my barb's defense to my old Fire Druid's.
Hellforges: Ko/Fal :meh:
Never used any crowd control cries. The only things I had hotkeyed were BC, BO, Shout, WW, Find Item, and Town Portal (Concentrate looks like it's keyed on left click, but that was applicable for only thirty seconds until I realized WW can go right click). Ranged attackers posed little to no threat the entire time.
[highlight]Wrap-Up: [/highlight]
First, I have to give some true props to janooo. Without you, this build probably wouldn't have come to fruition. Your recent write-up of your own Titan IK WW barb got me curious and interested in both the set and the build. I didn't go Titan myself, but your build and gear selections were so logical I took the same basic approach you did. I may have played my character, but you built him for me.
Also, I have to give a lot of thanks to the SPF on this one. There's so much information that I've read about WW'ers over the years that I took to heart, especially since everyone starting doing Travincial runs for gold and runes. Without everyone, I probably would have put points into Increased Speed and made my barb harder to keep under control in battles. I probably would have sacrificed an Angelic ring for a Raven Frost thinking that being chilled would be a major detriment, and while I didn't know exactly WHY, I followed what you've suggested to many others. 99.9% of the time I loved CE monsters because WW still attacks at the same rate and the slower movement concentrates attacks in a single area for massive damage. Without you all, I probably would have screwed this character up pretty badly. The IK set made the character kinda fun, but without your collective advice I would have likely made him kinda not fun.
Plans for the character? Unknown. I'd like him to be an area/target runner, but I'm having issues coming up with places where he's comparatively strong. Pindle maybe... I could respec to take some points out of Concentrate and dump them into Find Item. I don't have any strong uniques nor have I collected any runes of consequence, so no Grief/Death/Oath/Death Cleavers in his future. This set is pretty much all he can use, which kind of limits him. Still, for the day when I find some of that stuff... this guy can come out of retirement and rip some dudes apart.
As I've said at the end of a different Pat thread before: verbose much? This is a standard twink build, and yet I managed to write out nearly four pages of single-spaced type. I think I started this write-up three hours ago...
Thanks for reading, folks! It's been a learning experience!
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