Any advice for a new player going through solo normal to hell on barbarian?

This is only my second time ever really dabbling with a community forum, but i fell in love with D2R and wanted to seek advice!


So im a new player to Diablo 2 with around 80 hours spread across a bunch of characters which didnt really make it much further than act 2. Though now with the barbarian i have finally found a class i enjoyed playing and have now reached the end of act 2 on NM with him.

Ive been reading a lot about all the different mechanics this game has to offer ( which has been a massive undertaking with how densely packed this game is ) but id like to ask some people that have proper know-how on where i should take my character and what i should look out for to make it through the rest of NM and then H.

For reference i am currently dual wielding swords with my primary skill being WW, with the

Gleamscythe

Tulwar unique and a Spirit

Crystal Sword.

Where should i take my barb from here and are the any runewords or base items i should be grinding for?

The

Tulwar looks good, but the Spirit is not really a weapon you melee with.

Try maybe one of these options (i use these mostly when leveling):

runewords/strength-t56.html (good overall imho the cheapest)
runewords/king-s-grace-t1186.html (only swords/sceptres)
runewords/black-t1182.html (knockback could be stressing but i like it for ww, makes it more safe)

But there are also other options which are more expensive so im not recommending you the ones where you have to rely on a

Ko or

Lem .
I think for WW it is recommended to use a 2hander.
So try to get something like a

Maul (Hammers /

Maul do additional damage to Undead , which get normally less physical damage from you).
If you havent the runes try killing

The Countess or you can gamble at the vendor for a rare

Maul at first.
Crushing Blow and high damage is important for you and life/mana leech (you can craft rings/amu therefor).
I remember when i went for my very first barbarian offline without runewords i pretty much hit the wall on nightmare act 3/4 and then again at the ancients in nm and hell.

Both weapons are bad for WW.
King's Grace is too weak for Hell difficulty.

Go for an Obedience two-hander (non-

Eth), ideally a

Thresher or

Mancatcher You probably have all the runes already or you can easily and cheaply trade for them and a base.

Later you might go for the Immortal King set, which is also cheap and drops often.

Welcome to diablo2.io

If you want to stick to WW you surely need some better weapons What level are you currently and are you using some guide?

If you play online non ladder and don't want to play solo self-found (and want to stick with Swords for WW) I can provide you with a few items for free. E.g.

2x

Dreadfang
1x

Shaftstop
1x

Laying of Hands
1x

Raven Frost
1x

Guillaume's Face

If you are interested, simply message me.

oOKIWIOo wrote: 3 hours ago

Welcome to diablo2.io

If you want to stick to WW you surely need some better weapons What level are you currently and are you using some guide?

If you play online non ladder and don't want to play solo self-found (and want to stick with Swords for WW) I can provide you with a few items for free. E.g.

2x

Dreadfang
1x

Shaftstop
1x

Laying of Hands
1x

Raven Frost
1x

Guillaume's Face

If you are interested, simply message me.

1

Dreadfang is enough to reliable proc Amp Damage. The other weapon should do much more damage.

Dreadfang really has the problem that its base damage is hardly competitive.

I still argue that an Obedience is the best budget option for a WW barb playing through hell. It does far more damage than one or two Dreadfangs even with Amp Damage.

mikelessar wrote: 2 hours ago

oOKIWIOo wrote: 3 hours ago

Welcome to diablo2.io

If you want to stick to WW you surely need some better weapons What level are you currently and are you using some guide?

If you play online non ladder and don't want to play solo self-found (and want to stick with Swords for WW) I can provide you with a few items for free. E.g.

2x

Dreadfang
1x

Shaftstop
1x

Laying of Hands
1x

Raven Frost
1x

Guillaume's Face

If you are interested, simply message me.

1

Dreadfang is enough to reliable proc Amp Damage.

But I still argue that an Obedience does far more damage than one or two Dreadfangs even with Amp Damage.

Sure, but don't underestimate the "style factor" (it surely is not for end game, but it should get you through hell)

Btw, I also have some

The Reaper's Toll to give away which might be an option, too.

oOKIWIOo wrote: 3 hours ago

Welcome to diablo2.io

If you want to stick to WW you surely need some better weapons What level are you currently and are you using some guide?

If you play online non ladder and don't want to play solo self-found (and want to stick with Swords for WW) I can provide you with a few items for free. E.g.

2x

Dreadfang
1x

Shaftstop
1x

Laying of Hands
1x

Raven Frost
1x

Guillaume's Face

If you are interested, simply message me.

Thank you for the warm welcome!

Im currently lvl 48 and i am noticing that my damage is somewhat falling off in the Sanctuary at the end of act 2.

As i am playing on non ladder online, i would greatly appreciate the

Raven Frost because being frozen has been my biggest issue at the moment as i am really lacking in resistances.

Altough i have found a pretty good

Mace just a minute ago, would this one be worth using?

Greys_Prey wrote: 3 hours ago

The

Tulwar looks good, but the Spirit is not really a weapon you melee with.

Try maybe one of these options (i use these mostly when leveling):

runewords/strength-t56.html (good overall imho the cheapest)
runewords/king-s-grace-t1186.html (only swords/sceptres)
runewords/black-t1182.html (knockback could be stressing but i like it for ww, makes it more safe)

But there are also other options which are more expensive so im not recommending you the ones where you have to rely on a

Ko or

Lem .
I think for WW it is recommended to use a 2hander.
So try to get something like a

Maul (Hammers /

Maul do additional damage to Undead , which get normally less physical damage from you).
If you havent the runes try killing

The Countess or you can gamble at the vendor for a rare

Maul at first.
Crushing Blow and high damage is important for you and life/mana leech (you can craft rings/amu therefor).
I remember when i went for my very first barbarian offline without runewords i pretty much hit the wall on nightmare act 3/4 and then again at the ancients in nm and hell.

Thank you for the advice!

I´ve primarly been going DW because thats what the most common recommendation was i saw online, but i will see if i can get a good

Mace to possibly go for a 2H build.

Another question i have though, because i couldnt find a concrete answer on it, does life on hit and mana on hit work with WW? Because i have seen mixed reponses to that question.

oOKIWIOo wrote: 2 hours ago

mikelessar wrote: 2 hours ago

oOKIWIOo wrote: 3 hours ago

Welcome to diablo2.io

If you want to stick to WW you surely need some better weapons What level are you currently and are you using some guide?

If you play online non ladder and don't want to play solo self-found (and want to stick with Swords for WW) I can provide you with a few items for free. E.g.

2x

Dreadfang
1x

Shaftstop
1x

Laying of Hands
1x

Raven Frost
1x

Guillaume's Face

If you are interested, simply message me.

1

Dreadfang is enough to reliable proc Amp Damage.

But I still argue that an Obedience does far more damage than one or two Dreadfangs even with Amp Damage.

Sure, but don't underestimate the "style factor" (it surely is not for end game, but it should get you through hell)

Btw, I also have some

The Reaper's Toll to give away which might be an option, too.

Killing demons in style is obviously the true end game

I would appreciate that

Scythe although i will have to tough it out until hell with what i have, because i used my respec relatively early into hell because my build was very rough as this is my first time playing through hell, so i needed to readjust my stat points to make it through act 1.

Although i am slowly getting my bearings now.

The Aldur's Weapon is an upgrade, yes.

But still:

Obedience ! (echo echo echo)

You spin and then you win

Obedience plus Hysteria/Treachery
on switch 2 Spirit swords

1 pt in

Berserk, every run starts with berserking trash mobs till u get

Enchant, buff lasts 10 min
p1 hell is no problem

MossKin wrote: 2 hours ago

Greys_Prey wrote: 3 hours ago

The

Tulwar looks good, but the Spirit is not really a weapon you melee with.

Try maybe one of these options (i use these mostly when leveling):

runewords/strength-t56.html (good overall imho the cheapest)
runewords/king-s-grace-t1186.html (only swords/sceptres)
runewords/black-t1182.html (knockback could be stressing but i like it for ww, makes it more safe)

But there are also other options which are more expensive so im not recommending you the ones where you have to rely on a

Ko or

Lem .
I think for WW it is recommended to use a 2hander.
So try to get something like a

Maul (Hammers /

Maul do additional damage to Undead , which get normally less physical damage from you).
If you havent the runes try killing

The Countess or you can gamble at the vendor for a rare

Maul at first.
Crushing Blow and high damage is important for you and life/mana leech (you can craft rings/amu therefor).
I remember when i went for my very first barbarian offline without runewords i pretty much hit the wall on nightmare act 3/4 and then again at the ancients in nm and hell.

Thank you for the advice!

I´ve primarly been going DW because thats what the most common recommendation was i saw online, but i will see if i can get a good

Mace to possibly go for a 2H build.

Another question i have though, because i couldnt find a concrete answer on it, does life on hit and mana on hit work with WW? Because i have seen mixed reponses to that question.

life and mana leech works very well with WW, or to say it this way: You need it in order to survive because you cant drink while whirling
But be sure to have good average damage and higher leech % (especially life) in order to work.
Leech works different depending on difficulty and mobs, if i recall correctly:
% is halved in nm and then again halved in hell.

I recommend to use something you can craft from the blood section to reach more leech (life) if you cant survive recipes/#filter=Crafted%20recipes that would be the "hard solo" way, but of course if you play online you can for sure get some free items from other players that have much better items for what you could craft on your own right now.

But be aware that Hysteria is ladder only. Do not try to make it in non ladder