Diablo II/Concentrate Barbarian

A barbarian based on the synergistic combination of concentrate with battle orders brings several very good things to the table. The focus is to maximize the character's survivability, usually at the cost of damage output. This starts with defense: while the difference between low and middling defense may not be much (5% misses versus 30%), with extremely high defense enemies begin to miss most of their hits (up to 95%) and the damage taken goes way down. Second is a shield with max blocking, providing an additional 75% of enemy misses. Any possible physical damage reduction is a bonus. With all the above and the highest possible hit points of any character, a player with this setup is a virtual tank that can survive most situations alone or in a party.

Variations
While some minor variations in the build are mentioned in the sections below, the suggestions in this section will have a more widespread impact and are not covered in the individual sections.

The biggest change most players will consider is playing without a shield, allowing use of a 2-handed weapon for greater damage. The cost is the character will lose the 75% blocking a shield provides as well as any side bonuses received from having an extra piece of equipment. Without a shield you need only base dexterity, allowing greater vitality and even more hit points; however two-handed weapons generally require more strength investment as well and without the dexterity you may find your attack rate is too low and missing becomes a problem. All in all, as this build is focused on survivability playing without a shield is not recommended.

Stat points
The base stat setup is as follows:
 * Strength: enough for items
 * Dexterity: enough for max blocking
 * Energy: base (nothing)
 * Vitality: everything else

Strength
While strength does provide a bonus to damage, like with most characters it's not worth investing in other than for equipping items. Planning ahead on this can be tricky as you may not know how many strength bonuses you'll be getting. Anywhere from 120-156 base strength by level 85 can suffice here, just make sure you don't underinvest

Skill points
The base skill setup is as follows: That's a total of 92 points, completing the skill part of the build at level 80. Several variations are possible within this, as well as several places for additional points.
 * 20 points in Battle Orders
 * 20 points in Concentrate
 * 20 points in Shout
 * 20 points in Weapon Mastery
 * 1 point in warcries Howl, Taunt, Battle Command
 * 1 point in masteries Increased Stamina, Increased Speed, Ironskin, Natural Resistance
 * 1 point in combat skills Bash, Stun, Leap, Leap Attack, Berserk

The general skill progression is to get 1 point in everything as soon as possible. Max out battle orders first, then concentrate, then shout, and weapon mastery last.

Battle Orders
Though the build is called a "Concentrate Barbarian", it is really Battle Orders (BO) that's at the heart of the while setup. You should max this out first to 20 points; it actually gives a bigger bonus to damage than investing in concentrate does. At level 20 (ignoring +skills) it provides +92% life/mana for the whole party for nearly 4 minutes (synergized by Shout), +100 seconds Shout duration, +100 seconds Battle Command duration, and +200% Concentrate damage.

Concentrate
Concentrate gives the build its name and is the primary attack. Once the canonical build is completed and it receives synergies it will provide +494% damage, +250% attack, and +290% defense. The damage is low compared to most other skills and it receives no attack speed bonuses, but as a part of this build it works extremely well. The fact that it's uninterruptable is a big tactical bonus in many fights, and a huge aid to survivability. Though concentrate provides no synergies to other skills, you should max it out second after Battle Orders.

Shout
Shout is an underappreciated skill that's an integral part to this build. At level 20 it provides +290% defense for the whole party for nearly 4 minutes (synergized by BO), +100 seconds BO duration, +100 seconds Battle Command duration, and +200% berserk damage. Put 20 full points into shout, after BO and Concentrate have both been maxed out.