Diablo II/Barbarian: Difference between revisions

Combat Masteries provide an excellent combination for a small investment with just about any Barbarian. Investing just a single point in a weapon mastery will give a lot of extra damage when using that weapon. Increased Stamina, Increased Speed, Iron Skin, and Natural Resistance are all highly beneficial and worth a single point investment.

Taunt, Howl, and War Cry are good crowd control tools. Howl is the easiest form of crowd control available; spamming it will generally clear out any packs of monsters surrounding you. Taunt works the opposite way, drawing in a single monster, and is very good in combination with Howl, against ranged attackers, or to draw off attackers from a party member. Most, though not all, characters will want to invest a single point in each of these. War Cry on the other hand has more prerequisites and generally needs more than a single point of investment to really pay off, but stuns all enemies within a wide radius for a good length of time.

Leap Attack (with its prerequisite Leap) is another great utility skill worth a single point of investment. Leaping over rivers or into and out of combat with the Leap Attack ability will speed up your game and keep you from dying.

The Find * line of skills might be worth considering investing a single point. Find Potion's main benefit is the disposal of corpses. Find Item not only disposes of corpses but can aid you in finding items, depending on how much skills bonuses you can apply to it. Grim Ward is a tactical tool similar to Howl for crowd control, and with practice can become extremely good for that purpose.

Battle Orders, Shout, and Battle Command is another set of synergistic skills that form the basis of many characters. Investing 20 points in BO, 1-20 points in Shout, and just one point in Battle Command gives a lengthy duration on all three skills and high bonuses from Shout and BO. These are party-friendly skills that will make you welcome allies with just about anyone.

Finally, one drawback of most barbarian classes is that all damage comes straight from the equipped weapon and is almost all physical in nature. This makes Immune to Physical enemies near impossible to kill. Berserk converts all physical attack damage to magic damage, and so can work around both these problems. Once the three prerequisites are met, a single point in Berserk, especially if your build has the synergies Howl or Shout in it already, can be enough to deal with Immune to Physical enemies.

Characters[edit | edit source]

Concentrate[edit | edit source]

Main article: Diablo II/Concentrate Barbarian

A barbarian with a focus in Concentrate makes an extremely strong tank. With very high defense, an uninterruptible attack, a max-block shield, and the highest life of any character, this setup is superb for playing through the game solo or with help; it is probably the easiest character with which to win solo/untweaked on hardcore. The drawback is the relatively low damage output of concentrate, making the game slower than with many other classes. The basic build puts 20 points each into Battle Orders, Concentrate, Shout, and a weapon mastery.

Frenzy[edit | edit source]

Frenzy barbs are great duelers; they swing so fast that the competition cant hit back! The basic build puts 20 points into Frenzy with up to 20 into the synergies Taunt and Double Swing, augmented with your choice of secondary skills - such as the Battle Orders and Shout combination mentioned in the above section.

Throw[edit | edit source]

A pure "throwbarb" - focusing only on throwing weapons - may be tempting but is not an effective character build. Such a character is meant to give the player an extreme challenge.

Spartan[edit | edit source]

Main article: Diablo II/Spartan Barbarian

The basic premise of this build is to be a Spartan from the movie 300. To do this effectively, the barbarians must be throwbarbs. With those abilities they can effectively equip a javelin and a shield. This is a very weak character and not a viable build for solo play, but is a role-playing challenge for a group game.

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-{{wip}}
+{{Header Nav|game=Diablo II}}
-{{All Game Nav|game=Diablo II}}
-==Pure Throwbarbs==
-Pure Throwbarbs are not effective, and by pure, focusing on using only throwable weapons and not building an effect character.  Note that pure throwbarbs are meant to give the player both an extreme challenge and a way to roleplay, much like the Spartan build.
-==Spartan==
+==Skills==
-The Spartan build is a group build, meaning it is pretty much required to have more than one friend also doing this build.  There are two reasons for it being a "group build": 1) to mimick the Spartans from the movie 300 and 2) this build has lower overall damage until very late in the game and each additional Spartan can have a different yell specialty.
+{{col|3|begin}}
+[[File:DII Screenshot Warcries.png|frame|left|'''[[../Warcries/]]''']]
+{{col|3}}
+[[File:DII Screenshot Combat Masteries.png|frame|left|'''[[../Combat Masteries/]]''']]
+{{col|3}}
+[[File:DII Screenshot Combat Skills (Barbarian).png|frame|left|'''[[../Combat Skills/]]''']]
+{{col|3|end}}
+{{col|3|begin}}
+# {{DII|Warcries|Howl}}
+# {{DII|Warcries|Find Potion}}
+# {{DII|Warcries|Taunt}}
+# {{DII|Warcries|Shout}}
+# {{DII|Warcries|Find Item}}
+# {{DII|Warcries|Battle Cry}}
+# {{DII|Warcries|Battle Orders}}
+# {{DII|Warcries|Grim Ward}}
+# {{DII|Warcries|War Cry}}
+# {{DII|Warcries|Battle Command}}
+{{col|3}}
+# {{DII|Combat Masteries|Sword Mastery}}
+# {{DII|Combat Masteries|Axe Mastery}}
+# {{DII|Combat Masteries|Mace Mastery}}
+# {{DII|Combat Masteries|Polearm Mastery}}
+# {{DII|Combat Masteries|Throwing Mastery}}
+# {{DII|Combat Masteries|Spear Mastery}}
+# {{DII|Combat Masteries|Increased Stamina}}
+# {{DII|Combat Masteries|Iron Skin}}
+# {{DII|Combat Masteries|Increased Speed}}
+# {{DII|Combat Masteries|Natural Resistance}}
+{{col|3}}
+# {{DII|Combat Skills (Barbarian)|Bash}}
+# {{DII|Combat Skills (Barbarian)|Leap}}
+# {{DII|Combat Skills (Barbarian)|Double Swing}}
+# {{DII|Combat Skills (Barbarian)|Stun}}
+# {{DII|Combat Skills (Barbarian)|Double Throw}}
+# {{DII|Combat Skills (Barbarian)|Leap Attack}}
+# {{DII|Combat Skills (Barbarian)|Concentrate}}
+# {{DII|Combat Skills (Barbarian)|Frenzy}}
+# {{DII|Combat Skills (Barbarian)|Whirlwind}}
+# {{DII|Combat Skills (Barbarian)|Berserk}}
+{{col|3|end}}
-The basic premise of this build is to be a Spartan from the movie 300.  To do this effectively, the barbarians must be throw barbs.  With those abilities they can effectively equip a javalin and a shield.
+Combat Masteries provide an excellent combination for a small investment with just about any Barbarian. Investing just a single point in a weapon mastery will give a lot of extra damage when using that weapon. Increased Stamina, Increased Speed, Iron Skin, and Natural Resistance are all highly beneficial and worth a single point investment.
-===Spartan Mantra===
+Taunt, Howl, and War Cry are good crowd control tools. Howl is the easiest form of crowd control available; spamming it will generally clear out any packs of monsters surrounding you. Taunt works the opposite way, drawing in a single monster, and is very good in combination with Howl, against ranged attackers, or to draw off attackers from a party member. Most, though not all, characters will want to invest a single point in each of these. War Cry on the other hand has more prerequisites and generally needs more than a single point of investment to really pay off, but stuns all enemies within a wide radius for a good length of time.
-#At all times you will want to play your Spartan group build as a team.  When you die, you died for a reason and must find a way around it.  If a mob or boss is too strong, leveling is the only answer.
-#No rushing, no outside help beyond your additional characters.  Rushing this group build takes away the challenge, you must fight your way to victory!  Outside help is allowed however, everyone loves low level item perks.  Weapons won't be of much use anyways since you'll be focusing on throwables.
-#Only throwable weapons, javalin and large shield are most honorable.  True Spartans are those who use only javalines and shields; preferably large shields.  Sadly this means they will be much weaker than most others.  If you want the greatest challenge, be a True Spartan!  To make the easiest type of Spartan build, focus on throwing axes.
-===Attributes===
+Leap Attack (with its prerequisite Leap) is another great utility skill worth a single point of investment. Leaping over rivers or into and out of combat with the Leap Attack ability will speed up your game and keep you from dying.
-The best way to build the attributes of a Spartan is to put all five points into your choice each level.
-*'''Strength/Dexterity''': You'll be switching between Strength and Dexterity pretty regularly because Strength is necessary for your weapons and armor, and Dexterity is extremely vital for your weapon use but also attack rating which will help with your throws.
-*'''Vitality''': A small boost is necessary; a low life barb is not a good thing however as a Spartan your ranged attacks will used the most so dodging will be key compared to running head on into battle.
-*'''Energy''': Not required for this build, don't put any points into it, however energy boosting items can come in handy.  Only use energy items if nothing better can be used.
-===Skills===
+The Find * line of skills might be worth considering investing a single point. Find Potion's main benefit is the disposal of corpses. Find Item not only disposes of corpses but can aid you in finding items, depending on how much skills bonuses you can apply to it. Grim Ward is a tactical tool similar to Howl for crowd control, and with practice can become extremely good for that purpose.
-====Attacks====
-*'''Bash''': 1
-*'''Double Attack''':
-*'''Double Throw''': 1
-*'''Frenzy''':
-====Passives====
+Battle Orders, Shout, and Battle Command is another set of synergistic skills that form the basis of many characters. Investing 20 points in BO, 1-20 points in Shout, and just one point in Battle Command gives a lengthy duration on all three skills and high bonuses from Shout and BO. These are party-friendly skills that will make you welcome allies with just about anyone.
-*'''Axe Mastery''': 20 (If primary weapon is a Throwing-Axe)
-*'''Throwing Mastery''': 20
-*'''Increased Stamina''': 1
-*'''Increased Speed''': 1
-*'''Iron Skin''': 1
-*'''Natural Resistance''': 1
-====Warcries====
+Finally, one drawback of most barbarian classes is that all damage comes straight from the equipped weapon and is almost all physical in nature. This makes Immune to Physical enemies near impossible to kill. Berserk converts all physical attack damage to magic damage, and so can work around both these problems. Once the three prerequisites are met, a single point in Berserk, especially if your build has the synergies Howl or Shout in it already, can be enough to deal with Immune to Physical enemies.
-*'''Howl''': 1<br/>
-''Choose one of the following to max out:''
+==Characters==
-*'''Shout''' (20 + 1)
-*'''Battle Cry'''
+===Concentrate===
-*'''Battle Orders'''
+:Main article: [[Diablo II/Concentrate Barbarian]]
-*'''Battle Command'''
+A barbarian with a focus in Concentrate makes an extremely strong tank. With very high defense, an uninterruptible attack, a max-block shield, and the highest life of any character, this setup is superb for playing through the game solo or with help; it is probably the easiest character with which to win solo/untweaked on hardcore. The drawback is the relatively low damage output of concentrate, making the game slower than with many other classes. The basic build puts 20 points each into Battle Orders, Concentrate, Shout, and a weapon mastery.
+===Frenzy===
+Frenzy barbs are great duelers; they swing so fast that the competition cant hit back! The basic build puts 20 points into Frenzy with up to 20 into the synergies Taunt and Double Swing, augmented with your choice of secondary skills - such as the Battle Orders and Shout combination mentioned in the above section.
+===Throw===
+A pure "throwbarb" - focusing only on throwing weapons - may be tempting but is not an effective character build. Such a character is meant to give the player an extreme challenge.
+===Spartan===
+:Main article: [[Diablo II/Spartan Barbarian]]
+The basic premise of this build is to be a Spartan from the movie ''300''. To do this effectively, the barbarians must be throwbarbs. With those abilities they can effectively equip a javelin and a shield. This is a very weak character and not a viable build for solo play, but is a role-playing challenge for a group game.
+{{Footer Nav|game=Diablo II|prevpage=Bow and Crossbow Skills|nextpage=Warcries}}

Diablo II/Barbarian: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 04:49, 13 January 2022

Skills[edit | edit source]

Characters[edit | edit source]

Concentrate[edit | edit source]

Frenzy[edit | edit source]

Throw[edit | edit source]

Spartan[edit | edit source]

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