Wardancer AKA leap/whirlwind barb

[Flayed One]

Wardancer AKA leap/whirlwind barb

Since I recently wasted my first 1.10+ highrune - ohm ( ) I need a break from my standart playing style and SC twinked characters... Decided to make untwinked HC themed barbarian - a wardancer.


Wardancers in the Warhammer Fantasy Battle setting are elven warriors(actually wood-elven) that dual-wielded swords. Their quick, spinning movements resembled dancing moves. Dance of Blades allowed them to avoid blows from their enemies while continously attacking. They also had talismanic tatoos making them somewhat resistant to magic.

I decided to make a character themed on these warriors(they are my favourites). Here is what I got:

Swords Dual Wielding Barb(obviously)
20 pts in leap
20 pts in whirlwind ("dance" will consist of short leaps + short whirls)
13 pts in natural resistance - 60% res all(talismanic tatoos)
15 pts in improved speed - 40% FR/W(fast movement)
20 pts in Sword Mastery (obviously)

that sums up to 94 pts
Any ideas how to make it a bit easier for me to keep him alive while still keeping him "as themed as possible"(for example all warcries are out...)?...:tongue: I would also be very gratefull for any suggestions about what weapons should I try to get and how(untwinked).

-edit- of course all other suggestions are welcome to:grin: .

 

[Sir Lister of Smeg]

Just a question, how did you waste it, making a runeword putting runes in the order? I'd not only triple, but also at least quadruple and quintuple check before using such a high rune.

But on topic, how do you intend to deal with Iron Maiden? Killing Steve Harris might work, but not in game, where I do notice the absence of Berserk, which I'm sure fits better with the theme.

Playing hardcore you can not allow yourself to die (as if you didn't know that). Now you're mentioning elves, which I tend to associate with bows, and I think having a bow on switch is a must already for the normal Chaos Sanctuary. A bit of freezing damage and knockback would be nice and obtainable assuming you find a nef rune to socket in a bow before then.
But as to finding things, how much untwinked do you intend to play, do you allow yourself to rerun areas? If the answer is yes, then you can run normal countess for a start to find some runes to make some low level rune words, and when you get to nightmare do the same thing again. If you do not rerun areas, you should of course still keep an eye out for runes, but chances are quite big it'll take a while before you can make anything, and in that case, just make sure you've got either a low physical/high (for normal) elemental damage weapon before the Chaos Sanctuary, or have a decent damage bow.

Anyway, collect all elemental damage charms you find, I do think you'll need those more than the resistance charms with the high natural resistance.
Crushing blow can help a lot as well, but I'm not sure whether it's returned by Iron Maiden. I wouldn't count on finding any of the uniques/sets with it, but a strength weapon is certainly within reach, and will have low enhanced damage which will be nice if crushing blow is not returned. Black cannot be made in swords and the other ones require high runes or again cannot be made in swords.

Of course if you do allow yourself to rerun areas, you might even start with running normal Corpsefire for a Rixot's Keen, but the odds might be bad, I can not check it now.

 

[jrlafrance]

I decided to make a character themed on these warriors(they are my favourites). Here is what I got:

Swords Dual Wielding Barb(obviously)
20 pts in leap
20 pts in whirlwind ("dance" will consist of short leaps + short whirls)
13 pts in natural resistance - 60% res all(talismanic tatoos)
15 pts in improved speed - 40% FR/W(fast movement)
20 pts in Sword Mastery (obviously)

that sums up to 94 pts

20 + 20 + 13 + 15 + 20 = 88 skill points spent + prerequisites (6) = 94 = clvl 82.

I don't see why you couldn't (wouldn't) put some points into at least Shout, to "go with the theme". I would also go with points into Battle Orders and Battle Command to help with survivability.

I've not played HC, but untwinked Frenzier seems almost doomed from the start. Good luck!

 

[pancakeman]

Maybe you could MP with a Singer, that would carry the theme. The Singer does his thing, and you dance to the music. Would be kinda neat to watch.

 

[MadMardigan]

A barb with no battle orders? Oh my, I'm intrigued. Everyone is always so centered around BO... go for it!

I'd say that the barb is too big and muscular for the wood elves, but aside from the assassin, it's the only class that can dual wield (though the wood elf blades do look a bit like katars... if you squint... a lot).

Good luck! I'll have to make a barb of some kind in full plate armour (green for Nurgle!) to represent the Hordes of Chaos then. You know, to stomp the Panzees into the ground.

Personally, I hate having to refresh BO so often, so my barbs tend to have lapses of nearly half-life. Good thing I don't have any barbs farther than act 2 NM!
~MM

 

[Online]

:thumbsup: Go for it ! I'd be interested in hearing how you do.

 

[Flayed One]

@SLoS - I wasted my Ohm by making a "chaos" runeword in a claw I got from a friend that turned out to be hacked. Of course I didn't make any backups... The worst thing is I was sure that I had no stashes from that time, and consequently that I must have found the claw myself... turn out otherwise... Oh well.. I got a lesson: Even if you're sure you're putting your high rune in self found item, back it up!...

My definition of untwinked goes like this:
-I can rerun areas
-I can mule off
-I cannot mule on(I can't use ATMA as an extended stash)

Right now Im using dual magical sabres... Ill probably run countess a few times to make "steel" sabres.

would two scimitars with the best topazes I can find be a good enough solution for Chaos Sanctuary?

@jrlafrance - It just doesn't sem right for a wardancer to shout loudly and proudly like barbs do - thats why its against theme. Thanks .

@Pancakeman - Thats one of the most interesting conceptions Ive seen... Imagine a Troupe - a singer with three dancers... That would probably be awesome...

@MadMardigan - You're rgiht about assasing looking more like elves, but they can't dance... no WW and no leap...Thanks.

@Online - Thanks. Ill post updates once in a while then. Yesterday I got to stony fields. Nothing interesting happened:wink3: .

I have a few questions that bother me - Its the first time Im using leap. Why monsters do more then one hit recovery animation after being knockedback by leap? Also does anybody have an idea how to cover WW mana cost going untwinked?...

 

[Sir Lister of Smeg]

@SLoS - I wasted my Ohm by making a "chaos" runeword in a claw I got from a friend that turned out to be hacked. Of course I didn't make any backups... The worst thing is I was sure that I had no stashes from that time, and consequently that I must have found the claw myself... turn out otherwise... Oh well.. I got a lesson: Even if you're sure you're putting your high rune in self found item, back it up!...

My definition of untwinked goes like this:
-I can rerun areas
-I can mule off
-I cannot mule on(I can't use ATMA as an extended stash)

Right now Im using dual magical sabres... Ill probably run countess a few times to make "steel" sabres.

would two scimitars with the best topazes I can find be a good enough solution for Chaos Sanctuary?

@jrlafrance - It just doesn't sem right for a wardancer to shout loudly and proudly like barbs do - thats why its against theme. Thanks .

@Pancakeman - Thats one of the most interesting conceptions Ive seen... Imagine a Troupe - a singer with three dancers... That would probably be awesome...

@MadMardigan - You're rgiht about assasing looking more like elves, but they can't dance... no WW and no leap...Thanks.

@Online - Thanks. Ill post updates once in a while then. Yesterday I got to stony fields. Nothing interesting happened:wink3: .

I have a few questions that bother me - Its the first time Im using leap. Why monsters do more then one hit recovery animation after being knockedback by leap? Also does anybody have an idea how to cover WW mana cost going untwinked?...

Sorry about the ohm loss, and this is too nasty a way to learn the lesson about backing up.

Covering the mana cost: put insight on a merc, assuming you use the rwm and a merc. I felt I even needed that with my (needless to say twinked) IK whirlwinder.

Also, although leap will have the nice hit recovery effect, consider putting 1 point in leap attack, with the synergy from leap it will probably be a one hit kill on the first monster, what nicer way to start dancing? Jump into the middle of a pack using leap attack and start whirling. Okay leap might be safer thanks to it's hit recovery effect.

 

[kabal]

Leap knockback triggers double hit recovery frames. Against other players they're just stunned for twice the time, but monsters seem to actually go into the hit recovery animation twice in succession.

Best way to deal with mana costs untwinked is to drink mana pots between whirls. You can also do really long whirls through as many monsters as possible in order to get more hits per whirl, since WW costs the same mana regardless of how long it is. Doing that actually gimps your killing speed, so I'd just stick with the mana pots.

 

[Quickdeath]

I'd consider several points in Iron Skin -probably by dropping pts from either Increased Speed or Leap. You're in Hardcore dude, and you have no long life from BO - some investment in either Shout or Iron Skin will be helpful.

 

[Flayed One]

thanks for all your advice guys. For now just got to inner cloister waypoint. I know Im goin pretty slow, but first - I pay very close attention to everything, second - doing full clears without any attack skill is quite difficult. Right now Im using dual Two-Handed "steel" swords. They look awesome, but their damage got pretty low lately. High level leap is incredible though. Its defense capabilities are awesome.Seems to me that If I use leap often enough I shouldnt have any problem surviving. I can always put some points in Iron skin, although that would seem a bit against the theme. I guess Ill see when I encounter any problems with survivng. Now my only problem is killing speed which is incredibly low...

 

[Flayed One]

I just reached act 3. So far no real NDEs. I met some resistance at Arcane Sanctuary, but it was mostly due to monsters high hp/physical resistance. I had huge problems with those radament-like mummies in Tal Rashas Tombs. I got "ignore merc" bugged, so the hordes of skeletons attacked me instead of my merc. Fortunatly I realised that if I manage to trigger open wounds on them(4 hits is ussualy enough) They'll die. "Leap to the enemy--> 4 attacks--> leap to safety" tactic worked very well. lvl 10 leap is a great defensive/ofensive skill. I can't wait for whirlwind, because my killing speed is extremly slow. My damage is something like 25-55. Im using dual "Steel" crystal Swords right now. Also duriel dropped me nokazans - my ammy for now. Im looking for 2 sox long swords and later flamberges since I want to hit 4 frame WW. I have a few questions:

-are crystal swords unshoppable for some reason?
-is it possible to shop normal socketed long swords, or not?
-any tips?...:tongue:

 

[skoolbus1]

-are crystal swords unshoppable for some reason?
-is it possible to shop normal socketed long swords, or not?
-any tips?...:tongue:

- you can shop crystal swords, but it's a massive pain as ormus or drognan normally just has one, and they aren't any good compared to long/broad/all others, but they sure do look cool.
- fara should have them, if she doesnt, run into the sewers, run out and check again.
- I'm also just starting a HC frenzier, but I'll be maxing BO for sure, and most likely shout, but I would recommend holding off putting more than one point in increased speed last, and natural resist second to last. Scimitars with topazes should do the trick for chaos sanc though I'd still be really careful. I also want to know how well you do, a barb without BO, what will they think of next?

 

[Ed from Russia]

Why leap and not leap attack? The damage and AR bonus from LA are quite nice, for jumping on (non-moving) bosses.