In Memory of my first char in 2002 I leveled a barb - I am 69 now and run with 2 doombringers - a Dream-setup when I last played. I tried ww and frenz and both feels like cutting a coconut with a butterknife... yes it works but is it fun or effective?
Then I griefed up on ptr and even with Grief and whatever you can build for starting gear I dont have the feeling that bb is really playing with the big boys.
Am I just a bad player and miss the trick to make a baba shine or is it just a tier 3 class where the merc's kill speed is faster than the class?
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In Memory of my first char in 2002 I leveled a barb - I am 69 now and run with 2 doombringers - a Dream-setup when I last played. I tried ww and frenz and both feels like cutting a coconut with a butterknife... yes it works but is it fun or effective?
Then I griefed up on ptr and even with Grief and whatever you can build for starting gear I dont have the feeling that bb is really playing with the big boys.
Am I just a bad player and miss the trick to make a baba shine or is it just a tier 3 class where the merc's kill speed is faster than the class?
Description by Then I griefed up on ptr and even with Grief and whatever you can build for starting gear I dont have the feeling that bb is really playing with the big boys.
Am I just a bad player and miss the trick to make a baba shine or is it just a tier 3 class where the merc's kill speed is faster than the class?
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Can be used to make Runewords:
To enjoy playin a barb, you need to forget comparin barb gameplay to that of a sorc/hammer/java. Every build has its own fun - and its own purpose. If your goal is to slice mobs with swords - enjoy it without thinkin "my, but a sorc could sweep this pack in just 1 click, so meh". If your goal is to mass-kill and harvest as fast as possible - you simply don't choose a barb. Plain and simple.
If I want to swing the greataxe - i play greataxe barb, regardless of how fast/nice/slow/hard his gameplay is. If I want to roast mobs - I got a nice fc/armag Werebear. Sweep them with electricity? Sure - with infi-wieldin sorc of mine. And so on.
If I want to swing the greataxe - i play greataxe barb, regardless of how fast/nice/slow/hard his gameplay is. If I want to roast mobs - I got a nice fc/armag Werebear. Sweep them with electricity? Sure - with infi-wieldin sorc of mine. And so on.
free +1 skill, high HP, mana and def bonuses, high elemental resistances and bonus walking speed.
just your presence alone in a 8 player game is a lot better than relying on some toy called CTA.
even your merc loves you whenever you Shout.
don't forget that your AR grows inherently with levelling and smacking bosses is child's play at level 90+.
can't expect with all those goodies above to have the firepower of a glass cannon hero.
just your presence alone in a 8 player game is a lot better than relying on some toy called CTA.
even your merc loves you whenever you Shout.
don't forget that your AR grows inherently with levelling and smacking bosses is child's play at level 90+.
can't expect with all those goodies above to have the firepower of a glass cannon hero.
When you said you were 69, I thought 69 years old. I was thinking, damn, i wish my dad played D2.
Sadly you're right. D2 is hilariously unbalanced. Barbs are complete garbage.
Currently, there are two viable ways you can play a barbarian - Pitzerker and WW Travincal / Pindleskin. I wouldn't bother with anything else.
Not really, there is no better character for Pit / Travincal / Pindleskin runs (mostly because of Find Item and the ability to wield a 6 Isted PB).DarkStar668 wrote: 2 years ago Sadly you're right. D2 is hilariously unbalanced. Barbs are complete garbage.
Barbs are the closest thing to a tank that D2 has. Does D2 need a tank like other games? No. Is the barb a tank in the traditional sense (high damage intake, low damage output)? Also no.
Concur with Asha. Barbs are their own type of fun, and are useful for their purpose. Mowing down cows like wheat? Not really. Killing bosses? Yes. A break in the "one click and everything dies" gameplay? Definitely yes!
Concur with Asha. Barbs are their own type of fun, and are useful for their purpose. Mowing down cows like wheat? Not really. Killing bosses? Yes. A break in the "one click and everything dies" gameplay? Definitely yes!
At this point I have played my light sorc and Frenzy Travincal running barb almost equally. She has found Lo and unique items. He has amassed Wealth at an unbelievable rate, 1 Ber and 4 Jah runes among lots more. I enjoy trav runs. Occasionally he enjoys teleporting through Chaos. Despite a hopefully temporary but very long dry spell, he remains active. Hail, zarbarian.
Really boils down to your definition of "viable". Barbs are perfectly capable of clearing through hell with a number of different builds, including the glorious oldschool BotD CB Whirlwind approach without any Grief and such.
Is it fun? That's entirely subjective and nothing anyone can answer for you. I would say yes but plenty of people would say no.
Is it effective? Very, in the sense that you can clear pretty much everything and can do so without spending hours on every pack. And yet, absolutely not, in the sense that there's plenty of other characters/builds that can do the same thing significantly faster. However, that doesn't mean a barb isn't viable, it just means that besides their rather specific niche which they rule, they aren't exactly the top tier choice.
Whether or not the fun you have with it (or not) outweighs (that lack of) being the best at whatever it is you choose to do is ultimately a personal call and very much subject to your own very biased opinion. And that remains true for every char and every build.
Given, if you're the kind of person who just goes "I play whatever is meta and ignore the rest" then yeah, for most purposes, a barb isn't for you. But if everyone took that approach, we also wouldn't have a single summon druid or such nonsense in the game. So..a subjective choice it is and remains.
Is it fun? That's entirely subjective and nothing anyone can answer for you. I would say yes but plenty of people would say no.
Is it effective? Very, in the sense that you can clear pretty much everything and can do so without spending hours on every pack. And yet, absolutely not, in the sense that there's plenty of other characters/builds that can do the same thing significantly faster. However, that doesn't mean a barb isn't viable, it just means that besides their rather specific niche which they rule, they aren't exactly the top tier choice.
Whether or not the fun you have with it (or not) outweighs (that lack of) being the best at whatever it is you choose to do is ultimately a personal call and very much subject to your own very biased opinion. And that remains true for every char and every build.
Given, if you're the kind of person who just goes "I play whatever is meta and ignore the rest" then yeah, for most purposes, a barb isn't for you. But if everyone took that approach, we also wouldn't have a single summon druid or such nonsense in the game. So..a subjective choice it is and remains.
Yelled at a corpse and got a Jah, so I say they're sweet.
How long did it take you to stop laughing/screaming for joy after that happened? I bet at least 5 minutes.
Safe to say I was very happy I mute myself during work meetings because not only was I stoked to the drop but it happened in bnet P1.Leaker416 wrote: 2 years agoHow long did it take you to stop laughing/screaming for joy after that happened? I bet at least 5 minutes.
My fav build to play is a Grief/ Eth balrog Oath WW barb. I use Fortitude for damage instead of Enigma and suppliment speed with 1pt into Frenzy. 1pt into berzerk for physical immunes (merc has reapers but its too slow to wait for decrep. it's slower than teleporting around with sorc, but it kills everything very fast still, and kills while still moving so in terms of kills/min and overall speed of runs its kind of a wash because nothing walls him. he casually farms Chaos and wsk (including Baal) with basically no chance of dying ever and gets 50%+ more drops because of ability to switch to mf weapons and hork. he did suck until i got Grief and wasn't able to 1shot trav council members consistently until Fortitude (or Laying of Hands if you're only doing trav). It's nice to be able to spin through big packs of glooms/burning souls etc without having to worry at all. also farms effectively with or without merc. can't do cows very quickly though if that's your thing.
Barb is my favorite class and and I have been playing him from the start when I bought a d2r. And honestly leveling through the game was painful and dissapointing but after a two months of playing I have 91 lvl barb and it's very satisfying to realize what progress was made. Despite I wanted to make dual Grief frienzy In result I've got a dual hammers build that turned out occasionally. Schaefer's Hammer in combo with Lawbringer Legendary Mallet allows to clear every area. Two griefs/Grief+BotD would be more efficient but I find my combo more fun. And also I would recomend to make Fortitude first, it makes barb less depending from weapons as I see. Play more, get stronger and have fun anyway.
Mid-level gear can be had for cheap by trade or in random free gear games. I tried big damage/decent speed 2handers and they still feel really clunky to me. The problem with these is it's hard to find a max-for- Whirlwind attack speed 2hander, and any IAS on gloves or other armor doesn't affect WW attack speed. I used maces for mid-levels until i got a Lo for Grief then respecd to swords. Another option would be to use singer barb once the patch comes out, it should be pretty viable all the way through hell.Anonemous wrote: 2 years ago I have a Grief ready and an Eth balrog ready to go. Just need to farm a Fortitude and level up my Horker. I'm just wondering if it's better to spec in polearms for lvls 30-60 then respec to swords because I don't have any mid lvl gear but I do have Insight polearms and others.
Barbs are extremely effective at generic PvP at high level. When you see a level 97+ holding Ondals in a public Baal game, it’s almost always a barb, since their level is even more important than AR in the chance to hit calcs, especially for PvP.
Huh?
9 out of 10 leechers stand around with an Ondal's just for the XP bonus. That's not a Barb thing.
Yeah, I’m saying Barb is a class that needs to be taken to very high level. Part of the gameplay of a Barb or Zon is the gradual increase in chance to hit, as high as you can stand to go! I’ll probably stop at 97 on my Zon.Schnorki wrote: 2 years agoHuh?
9 out of 10 leechers stand around with an Ondal's just for the XP bonus. That's not a Barb thing.
Most of the time, the person holding the Ondals is a Barb. It’s a respectable class to have at high level.
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