Barbarian Sword combinations

So, I’d like a little input from the community on y’alls preferences for

Frenzy barbarian dual wield weapons. Additionally I’d also appreciate if folks would mention their favorite merc. Looking for some general input and expansion to the conversation would be great.

I’m currently rocking a 40/400 Grief PB, full time, main hand, but my second sword swaps between many options and I’ve yet to find my favorite combination. They all seem to offer something a little different, from CB to high magic damage/undead killer.

Few things about my character, I swap between Enigma and Fortitude on occasion, it just depends on what I’m doing and how I’m wanting to play. I also do not currently use a

Bone Break on this character, maybe I should?

Berserk works fine but can leave me vulnerable. And as far as merc, I’m currently using an act 1 Faith lvl15

Fanaticism merc but considering swapping to a dual wield Last Wish act 5 merc (currently using that with my Fury Druid and it’s working great). Lastly, I can prebuff with

Demon Limb for lvl 23

Enchant, so AR is not really an issue with any weapons it seems.

So again, main hand, I always have my 40/400 Grief equipped, but 2nd hand, these are my options:

1) 40/393 Grief (Great damage but not my favorite, maybe it should be but I like a little diversity)
2) 268ed/13 Sanctuary

Azurewrath w/

Shael (Great for any undead or physical immune, but the knock back against undead is annoying)
3) 359ed/70 Last Wish PB (Love the

Life Tap proc and CB especially on bosses. But overall, even with the Might aura, it just doesn’t kill as fast as I’d like against pack mobs. Great survivability)
4) 381ed eBotD CB (All around great option, good survivability and good damage)
5) 373ed eDeath CS (Just rolled it, was concerned about the attack speed but that doesn’t seem to matter. Very good sword)
6) 286ed

Fleshripper w/

Shael (Surprisingly fun option, way more powerful than the base damage reads)

So thoughts, recommendations, and what does your

Frenzy Barbarian look like?

I recently conducted a similar survey, you can find it here:

forums/combo-weapon-for-frenzy-barb-t1424608.html

My tiers list (main / offmain):
1. Last Wish + Beast (

Berserker Axe)
2. Last Wish + Grief (sword on

Phase Blade)
3. Death + Grief (on

Colossus Blade)
4. Beast + Doom (on

Berserker Axe)

as for Mark, I am satisfied with the Arab with Pride and Defense aura

Grief in

Zweihander base, looks good and is quite fast, coupled with

Colossus Sword

Eth/

Colossus Blade with Death/Last Wish
forget ugly blue sticks, make your barb look badass with appropriate big swords

you don't need

Shael in any off hand weapon. if your faster weapon is on main hand, 2nd weapon does not contribute to

Frenzy breakpoints.

+1 for

Zweihander, handsomest

Blade 4 a barb...

2x Grief is always the best IMO when I test out different options.

And for merc, hard to beat A5 merc with 2x Last Wish (Lvl 34 Might aura + Lifetap FTW), Chains of Honor and

Helm of your choice (I like

Stealskull to help hit a few breakpoints + 50% MF, but GFace might be better if you don't care about the MF).

I really like Grief for damage and Lawbringer for the

Decrepify. Extra 50% damage and it makes it much safer in HC

I appreciate the input. Looks like Bass’s thread was asking virtually the same question as I. Thanks for linking that. And thank you for the information regarding IAS on off-hand weapons. I feel like I read that somewhere but didn’t believe the source.

I’m liking my newly rolled eDeath CS, probably my favorite off-hand sword at the moment. I know that dual Grief is “best” but it’s just not my favorite.

And certainly wanting to switch to A5 merc, at least try it. I will probably need to equip Enigma exclusively to position him, versus my A1 merc who can just tag-along and still do ranged attacks. I see that you’ve recommended CoH over Fortitude on a merc and you use

Stealskull/GFace over Andy’s? Interesting. I do like

Stealskull but most all my of my merc’s use Fortitude/Andy’s. That’s just my preference. With A5 Merc I use Arreat’s Face.

This worked for me the most situation (with WW and of course

Berserk for single attack):

2. Last Wish + Grief (sword on

Phase Blade)