Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

[smips]

Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

I'm sure that nearly everyone here has read about the council being a potential HR hot spot in the newest patch. Currently, I'm working on a barb to test this out(level 50, about to start NM). I've begun to give my end game gear a thought and I'm a little caught up on what my weapons should be. After looking through some of the Pat threads, it seems that Frenzy is a popular skill for goldfind barbs running council. It makes sense to me to use it since you're focusing on a few specific enemies, and not large crowds.

So basically my question comes down to 'What weapons work well with Frenzy?" I'm certain that 'Grief' is a good fit and I plan to use mine. I'm currently a Vex short of making a 'Death', which might be a good secondhand weapon. So what's everyone's thoughts? And let's keep the "Death to 1.13" talk to a minimum.

 

[sirpoopsalot]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

What base type did you make your Grief in - axe or sword?

Grief + XXX seems like the best bet, but I've never been particularly impressed with the non-runeword options for swords (some are ok, but not stellar). Still, Grief is so strong on its own that it can compensate for a less-than-optimum second weapon. And there seem to be some better unique-axes for use (Death Cleaver & RuneMaster probably, maybe an upgraded Butcher's Pupil), if that's what your grief-base is.

Oath or Crescent Moon can make adequate weapons (of either type) if you can't afford Death yet, and for swords they're probably what I'd lean towards choosing (Doombringer, Grandfather, or even Bul-Katho's Sacred Charge would be my other probable choices).

And although I like Frenzyers, I don't know if they're necessarily the best choice for Travincial runs. You can get more hits-per-second with a whirler, and you're able to avoid Cannot-Be-Frozen better (i.e. Ravenfrost isn't 'required' for a whirler, while it almost is for the Frenzyer). However, the Frenzyer has the advantage of chance-to-cast attacks working (which makes me want to revisit my Stormlash/Schaeffer's barb on higher settings), so you can better utilize things like Dracul's Grasp.

Actually, if you decide not to go with the Grief, it may open up mace-types as a viable choice too. There are some pretty decent options between scepters, maces & hammers (and you'd get style points).


By the way, keep in mind that even with improved odds it's still going to take a fair bit of luck & dedication to get HR's from the council. I'm at about 2000 runs with my GF'er, and my best rune so far is a Fal... not exactly a good output for the time I've put in (but the Gold and MF are why I'm there anyways).

 

[smips]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

I made my 'Grief' in a Phase Blade. I agree with you about the non-RW options though; most of them aren't very good. Does WW work well with 'Grief'? I have the most experience with WW and would really prefer to use it, I just figured Frenzy might be better. I understand there's still going to be a bit of dedication with council running, but I've been looking for an excuse to make a character for some goldfinding as well, so I can kill two birds with one stone.

 

[Rhone]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

I haven't made a character specifically for gold-finding/Travincial-running, but my understanding is that Whirlwind is usually preferred over Frenzy for that task. The advantage of Frenzy is that it has synergies that can be pumped to jack up its damage... but the point of using a Barb for gold-finding is Find Item, which doesn't leave you much room for putting points in Frenzy synergies.

Also, I wouldn't characterize WW as being specifically better against large groups. It certainly helps you remain mobile within large groups so you don't get surrounded, but larger groups don't increase its damage potential (like they do for, say, Blizzard or Lightning Fury). Whether it's 1 enemy or a big group, you're still essentially wacking stuff once (or twice if using 1h weapons) every 4 frames at best.

Edit: The fact that WW keeps you moving is, IMO, another advantage for Travincial-running--with those hydras spewing fire at you, the last thing you want to be doing is standing still.

 

[TheDoctor]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

I currently use WW with 2x DC. Those are more than sufficent at least for me.

For grief....I suggest you look at Fabian's Pat post. Really informative and he even posted a video.Clicky!

 

[sirpoopsalot]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

I just finished editing my original post to have a little more options & ideas, so you might want to re-read (if you didn't notice).

And I agree with Rhone's assessment that whirl is typically more popular for GF - and possibly "better" than Frenzy for the task (though both can obviously work).

 

[Arkardo]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

I'll share my approach to this. I'm creating a titan whirler for Travincal, and he's using an upped Shael'd Ribcracker (281%), with Guillame's Face and Gorerider for 100% CB. Laying of Hands for another 350% ED vs demons. I can't imagine them living long, even on higher player settings. Even though it's a titan barb, dual Dwarfstars provide 30% fire absorb and something like 25-30 MDR on top of that, and yet another 15 or so from String of Ears. I might consider swapping Guillame's for Vampire Gaze for an additional 15(?) MDR. Also, I'm not sure whether 8% ll from String will suffice, so I might swap a Dwarfstar out. Unless, of course, I use Vampire Gaze.

P.S. this isn't a 'true' titan, as I need extra dex for the upped Ribcracker, and I think I'll use dual Heartcarvers as well, not sure though.

 

[Pijus1]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

@Arkardo: Although your setup leaves little room for goldfind, I commend you on the Titan part

My own 1.12 whirler use 2xOath BB's, since I don't have grief. I found it quite hard to equip a phase blade on him, since he has too little dex. A 1-handed oath should work well with a PB though, since both require more dex and less strenght.

 

[Arkardo]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

@Arkardo: Although your setup leaves little room for goldfind, I commend you on the Titan part

My own 1.12 whirler use 2xOath BB's, since I don't have grief. I found it quite hard to equip a phase blade on him, since he has too little dex. A 1-handed oath should work well with a PB though, since both require more dex and less strenght.

Yeah, I'm really only doing it for the r00ns ^^. Though depending on how well I do, I might put on some more gf/mf. I think my armor will be Fortitude, but if my killing speed and survivability is high enough, I'll use Wealth. Also, I might swap one or both of the Heart Carvers for Ali Baba's.

 

[Belthazor]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

Since we're on this topic: How suitable is an IK barb for this task? I've just started a barb for council runs in 1.13 (once it's final), but I have absolutely no experience with barbs, so I'm not really sure how to equip them. I only know that he won't need a lot of GF, as I'll be doing these runs mainly for runes and items. Any setup you can recommend that doesn't include Grief, Death, Death Cleaver, Oath (don't have the base for that yet) or Fortitude?

Edit: Also, I've been somewhat intrigued by the idea of using a polearm on him (Obedience, probably). Good idea or not?

 

[Thomh]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

IK barb should be fine if you`re running for items and runes. I plan to do so myself since the survivability wearing that set is simply astonishing. There is no need for resist charms, so you can easily fix AR and damage by adding a ton of Sharp/Fine charms. It`s a little awful to lose Highlord`s wrath for some amulet with teleport charges, but it probably has to be done

 

[Kimppi]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

Don't forget the "Freezes target" on the gloves though. Shatters a huge amount of corpses

 

[Low Key]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

Don't forget the "Freezes target" on the gloves though. Shatters a huge amount of corpses

This is a huge pain if you plan to rely on Horking to any amount. And the fact is, if you want to stay competitive with normal Sorcs and whatnot, you need to hork.

This is one of the primary reasons why I decided against a Full IK barb as an efficient MF option a long time ago. Some parts of the set are still golden, though.

 

[Thomh]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

This is one of the primary reasons why I decided against a Full IK barb as an efficient MF option a long time ago. Some parts of the set are still golden, though.

Very true that the corpse shattering is pure evil, and it will make him quite a bit less effective when running council. But survivability might be a huge issue (and HC is evil that way) if the Hydra`s get beefed up.

As for the statement above, he isn`t that bad Actually IK barbs might just become decent runners in the WSK with the new patch. Probably not top tier, but if one prefer sturdiness at the expense of a little drop in kill speed.
All in all I agree, though. IK barbs can`t compete when it comes to effectivity

And sorry for being slightly OT.

 

[RIP]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

Very true that the corpse shattering is pure evil, and it will make him quite a bit less effective when running council. But survivability might be a huge issue (and HC is evil that way) if the Hydra`s get beefed up.

As for the statement above, he isn`t that bad Actually IK barbs might just become decent runners in the WSK with the new patch. Probably not top tier, but if one prefer sturdiness at the expense of a little drop in kill speed.
All in all I agree, though. IK barbs can`t compete when it comes to effectivity

And sorry for being slightly OT.

They are not so bad overall, considering Your previous results from Summer MFO and hopefully my fifth place from MF Pentha :thumbsup:

 

[Fabian]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

About Death, I haven't been impressed by it. When I had Grief + Oath, I made a Death (all in eth 1.07 bases), and tried it over Oath. I didn't like it, Oath felt better to me.

Keep in mind though that my setup was geared towards gold finding, so with a more normal setting, Death might perform differently (though I don't know how exactly).

 

[Belthazor]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

OK, guess the IK set is off my list then. Since this thread is about weapons and I don't wanna hijack it too much, I'll try to restrict my questions to weapons. As mentioned before, I don't have access to the likes of Grief, Death and Death Cleaver. So I looked through the possible runewords and my items to find some suitable weapons. I could make a Beast Berserker Axe, and I have the runes (not the base items yet, was thinking about another Berserker Axe or Ettin Axe here, ethereal of course) for Oath. Would these make a good combo for a WW barb? The only downside I see is the lack of life leech.

 

[smips]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

Thanks for the responses everyone, you'll given me some good ideas .

@ Fabian and Pijus: Does 'Oath' work well? I thought that the lack of CB on 'Grief' and 'Oath' would be a bad idea. I have an 'Oath' made in an eth Cryptic Sword.

 

[Arkardo]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

Not to hijack this thread, but what Sorceress build would do best to do Counsil runs? I'm guessing Meteorb?
I assumed Barbs would be the fastest, with their horking and natural safety and all, but now I wonder...

 

[Kimppi]

Re: Weapons for a Travincal running Barb

Arkardo, something with cold as main, I'd imagine. The different members have a natural immunity to fire/lightning. Toorc is always cold immune though.