Throw Barb Questions!

[Dimmu Borgir]

Throw Barb Questions!

Alright, this is mainly based off of something I saw back in the day in 1.09. I was leeching in a Cow level, and some Barb comes in and starts smacking Cows to build up Frenzy... then he dashes away and starts hurling spears like a MACHINE gun.

To this date, I have never seen a character kill Cows that fast save for a Sorc with dual Dreams, however the Sorc was in Nightmare wheras this Barb was dropping Cows in seconds flat in Hell.

So I have a few questions:

Is Frenzy coupled with Double Throw still viable? I have this idea to get two really fast weapons with huge attack rating (Off the top of my head, two Scourges with the Fool's mod if that can spawn on them) simply for the purpose of building up Frenzy, switching to some throwing weapons and mowing monsters down.

Would this work? More questions:

What are the "best" throwing spears to use for this sort of build?

Does leech from Life Steal or Life Tap work with throwing weapons?

Does crushing blow work with throwing weapons?

From the above questions would a Throw Barb be able to solo the Ubers? If not, what is holding him back?

Can throwing weapons spawn with sockets, and / or have runewords on them?

If the above question is yes, would throwing weapons classify as "missile" weapons (for the specific runewords)?

What are the optimum skill point allocations? I know every Barb "needs" Battle Orders, but as for the other stuff, is 20 in Frenzy a good idea (i.e. will it increase the duration / attack speed)? Should I also make him Frenzy-killable or just use it to supplement Double Throw?

Thanks for answering my questions, I'm probably going to test this build out sometime soon.

 

[JME]

I'm not an expert on throwing barbs but I'll try to help...

Is Frenzy coupled with Double Throw still viable?

From your description of the cows encounter I'd have to say yes, although I'm doubtful as to that level of effectiveness. I would use any two fast weapons to build up speed and switch to throwing javs/knives after frenzy. If you are wealthy, beast coupled with another nice zerk would do the trick nicely to build up your frenzy. If not, cheap substitutes will work, you'll just be less effective while building your speed.

What are the "best" throwing spears to use for this sort of build?

For weapons I think eth warshrikes and gimmersheds (for py immunes could work well). As for javs (I don't think there are any unique throwing spears so only rare ones would be viable) I'm thinking eth demons arch or upped scalper.

I took this from the stickied throwing guide, old, but still applies:
"weapons

Here you have a choice to make, either you can use javelins and have a larger range, but in my opinion slightly worse mods or axes, this is where you choice based on your style of play. Both have advantages.

Axes

Gimmershred for pvm the elemental damage is so very useful, along with some increaded attack speed.

Lacerator for pvp fast amp damage and open wounds.
Warshrike you can get insane speeds with these. P

Plus you get deadly strike and piercing attack. Although the damage isn’t as great as the other two axes.

Blood axes can have some very nice mods, + the base ones (35-60% enhanced damage)(1-4% life leach)(10-20 life)

Ethereal Gimmershred is bad because it does not replenish quantity, but if you are willing to wait for the lacerator to replenish every now and again, then ethereal versions are more than viable

If you want to be able to kill then there aren’t really any more options. So if you are going for a cheap build then the highest damage things you can find probably your best bet is upgraded scalper

Javalins

Demon’s Arch there is some nice elemental damage on these and some life leach, plus it has replenish quantity so an eth version is viable to use.

Wraith flight this weapon has nice damage but the base attack speed is too slow in my opinion.

Pvm and PvP Gargoyles bite has too low damage in comparison to the axes although it does have replenish quantity so an ethereal version could be nice, although I would prefer an ethereal Lacerator instead of an ethereal gargoyles bite"

Does leech from Life Steal or Life Tap work with throwing weapons?

I'm pretty sure they do.

Does crushing blow work with throwing weapons?

Yes, and it works like this:
From arreat summit:
"Crushing Blow
This is a chance of reducing a monster's health by X% in a single blow.

-Default: 1/4th
-vs. Players: 1/10th
-vs. Hirelings: 1/10th
-vs. Champions, Uniques, Bosses: 1/8th
-with missile weapons, default: 1/8th
-with missile weapons, vs. Players: 1/20th
-with missile weapons, vs Hirelings: 1/20th
-with missile weapons, vs Champions, Uniques, Bosses: 1/16th "

From the above questions would a Throw Barb be able to solo the Ubers? If not, what is holding him back?

Probably not, due to diminished capability on leech and crushing blow with throwing weapons.

Can throwing weapons spawn with sockets, and / or have runewords on them?

Never

If the above question is yes, would throwing weapons classify as "missile" weapons (for the specific runewords)?

I believe so since the rules of crushing blow tend to apply. However, no sockets=no runewords

 

[sirpoopsalot]

just an FYI, spears/jav's travel farther than knives, which travel farther than axes - in other words, the range on Gimmershred's is less than it would be on a Demon's Arch

For cows, I'd probably choose Lacerator's as the Frenzy/starter weapons (i.e. trigger Amp while building Frenzy up), and then switch over to a pair of Wraith Flight's for decent damage - although as JME mentioned, Wraithflights are kindof slow. Warshrikes are sweet too, IMO.

Also, FYI: http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/elite/ujavelins.shtml