(no subject)
So, the Barb lives!
I used to level up characters on /players 8. Then I realised I should actually PUT 8 characters in the game so I'd get 7 extra hellforge and socket quest rewards every time! This means I have dozens of level 1-2 characters with socket quests waiting to be used and deleted. Amongst the legions of throwaways I found my new hero, FoA (brother of long since deleted, FoB, FoC, FoD, FoE, FoF and FoG, shame A was the only one left, some of those others have better names).
So, FoA gained XP like a champ in A1 as I set about clearing up the quest log. Early gear? Full Deaths, Caths ring+helm, Angelic ring, amulet + armor. Random move speed boots. Gained XP much faster than I expected (skipping much, level 17 in Tamoe, odd). At 18, swapped out one Death sword for a 6 socket war axe with +max jewels in it. That setup saw me to 36.
Things did slow down some trying to grind those last few levels to 36 but I probably spent more time hand-holding my level 2 Nightmare A2 offensive merc... they don't get more than 40 life until somewhere in the 20s, I guess that's some bad coding due to the fact you really shouldn't be getting them until you're much higher.
I started NM with that setup but it wasn't long before I grabbed a couple of Coldkills at 36, to see me to 39 where I planned to completely regear. At that point a couple of Butchers Pupils and Guillaumes Face were extremely welcome. Filled the rest of my slots with odds and ends, just trying to be a lttle beefier and allow me to use WW rather than just Double Swing (yeah, 40 levels of mostly Double Swing!).
Speaking of skills, put about 6 points into Double Swing, so it was free, 1 point in Axe Mastery, 1 in WW, the rest into the Shouts. Clearing up quests in Nightmare got me up into the 50s and that's when I did my first really considered regearing and a more rounded setup. Duriels Shell, Ravenfrost, Gore Rider, a dual leech ring along with an eth Ettin Axe Oath, a very strong setup for NM, no doubt.
I don't recall spending much time playing Barbs with Guils Face and Gores. In the past I'd be more likely to go Arreats+Travs, moving to Shako at end-game. Even before moving to Oath, I was fairly impressed with my ability to play at /players 8 in Nightmare and cut down enemies relatively quickly, Oath was welcome when it arrived, mind you. I guess the moral of the story is that at 4 frames per attack, 50% crushing blow isn't to be sneezed at, and 30% deadly strike isn't half bad, either.
Today I've worked through Hell, I had plenty of useful quests to clean up there (4 skill points, 20 life, 5 stats, Anya) and having skimped on survivability to that point, I wanted it all done. What was surprising was that my Nightmare setup was surprisingly effective at /players 1 in Hell. I really expected I'd have to do some levelling in NM in order to use better gear but apparently not. If I appreciated the Guil/Gore combo in NM, I'm loving it in Hell.
Anyway, now I'm rocking Grief, Enigma, Highlords and all that good stuff, capable of clearing the Chaos Sanctuary without any difficulty at all. Considering I'm only around level 75, my merc doesn't have Reapers, things feel pretty good.
--
Future? I need to really decide on a build.
What I thought I'd like to do is get 40% fast cast from some combination of 2 fcr rings, mages/trangs and Arachnid Mesh. It feels like that might be the fastest way to zip around the Chaos Sanc when I'm at the point of just wanting to kill off the elite packs, ensuring that my merc is following.
The problem with that is how much needs to be given up. Ghoulhide or Laying of Hands as gloves offer a lot more damage and either big FR or all the ML I need. And Crafted CB gloves could be a strong option too. Arachnid would replace String, which is a huge survivability piece. FCR rings are great in theory but in practice I don't have a good selection of them. Wearing Ravenfrost isn't essential (many would argue its a bad idea for a WW Barb), but if I choose to run rather than teleport it is useful, if my off-hand isn't Grief, it offers great attack rating, and everything except OKs in CS get slowed by cold damage.
I think, for now, my best solution will be Dual Wizzys in order to get to CS, but since I get good XP from ordinary mobs, I'll just run around the place and benefit from the overall stronger setup.
--
I have very little MF - just what Enigma offers, I've been too lazy to mule over a Gheeds yet (I need to, to buff gold piles, heh) - but the first run through CS happened to drop me an Arachnid Mesh, I think it may be just my 3rd in Single Player and it is a very good roll too. Like a sign I should use it, or something :-p
--
Stuff coming up...
Need to decide a build so I can find gear and respec to min-max.
Get merc to 75 too (will take about 10 minutes, max) so he can use Reapers Toll, and, err, get him to whatever level is required for Kira's (the only simple way for me to get him Cannot Be Frozen, as I don't have spare Chams).
Get an off-hand weapon - bound to involve trading. 99% certain it'll be Beast, I want a damn aura.
Mule over a Gheeds (I barely have enough gold to cover merc rezzes, though he should be crazily difficult to kill when he gets all his gear)
--
Totally mathy thing? The fact that I'm level 75, fighting level 85-88s (and Diablo who is, like... 90-something) means that despite Grief having ITD I'm still well under 90% chance to hit, I'm sure my Oath is shockingly bad.
Long term, ITD becomes less significant, most of my time grinding I'll be way in the 90s, and I guess that's why I'm comfortable going Beast vs Grief - thinking about the long game (not to mention that Diablo and Baal (if I ever run him) are immune to ITD.
--
Having fun, clearly :)
I used to level up characters on /players 8. Then I realised I should actually PUT 8 characters in the game so I'd get 7 extra hellforge and socket quest rewards every time! This means I have dozens of level 1-2 characters with socket quests waiting to be used and deleted. Amongst the legions of throwaways I found my new hero, FoA (brother of long since deleted, FoB, FoC, FoD, FoE, FoF and FoG, shame A was the only one left, some of those others have better names).
So, FoA gained XP like a champ in A1 as I set about clearing up the quest log. Early gear? Full Deaths, Caths ring+helm, Angelic ring, amulet + armor. Random move speed boots. Gained XP much faster than I expected (skipping much, level 17 in Tamoe, odd). At 18, swapped out one Death sword for a 6 socket war axe with +max jewels in it. That setup saw me to 36.
Things did slow down some trying to grind those last few levels to 36 but I probably spent more time hand-holding my level 2 Nightmare A2 offensive merc... they don't get more than 40 life until somewhere in the 20s, I guess that's some bad coding due to the fact you really shouldn't be getting them until you're much higher.
I started NM with that setup but it wasn't long before I grabbed a couple of Coldkills at 36, to see me to 39 where I planned to completely regear. At that point a couple of Butchers Pupils and Guillaumes Face were extremely welcome. Filled the rest of my slots with odds and ends, just trying to be a lttle beefier and allow me to use WW rather than just Double Swing (yeah, 40 levels of mostly Double Swing!).
Speaking of skills, put about 6 points into Double Swing, so it was free, 1 point in Axe Mastery, 1 in WW, the rest into the Shouts. Clearing up quests in Nightmare got me up into the 50s and that's when I did my first really considered regearing and a more rounded setup. Duriels Shell, Ravenfrost, Gore Rider, a dual leech ring along with an eth Ettin Axe Oath, a very strong setup for NM, no doubt.
I don't recall spending much time playing Barbs with Guils Face and Gores. In the past I'd be more likely to go Arreats+Travs, moving to Shako at end-game. Even before moving to Oath, I was fairly impressed with my ability to play at /players 8 in Nightmare and cut down enemies relatively quickly, Oath was welcome when it arrived, mind you. I guess the moral of the story is that at 4 frames per attack, 50% crushing blow isn't to be sneezed at, and 30% deadly strike isn't half bad, either.
Today I've worked through Hell, I had plenty of useful quests to clean up there (4 skill points, 20 life, 5 stats, Anya) and having skimped on survivability to that point, I wanted it all done. What was surprising was that my Nightmare setup was surprisingly effective at /players 1 in Hell. I really expected I'd have to do some levelling in NM in order to use better gear but apparently not. If I appreciated the Guil/Gore combo in NM, I'm loving it in Hell.
Anyway, now I'm rocking Grief, Enigma, Highlords and all that good stuff, capable of clearing the Chaos Sanctuary without any difficulty at all. Considering I'm only around level 75, my merc doesn't have Reapers, things feel pretty good.
--
Future? I need to really decide on a build.
What I thought I'd like to do is get 40% fast cast from some combination of 2 fcr rings, mages/trangs and Arachnid Mesh. It feels like that might be the fastest way to zip around the Chaos Sanc when I'm at the point of just wanting to kill off the elite packs, ensuring that my merc is following.
The problem with that is how much needs to be given up. Ghoulhide or Laying of Hands as gloves offer a lot more damage and either big FR or all the ML I need. And Crafted CB gloves could be a strong option too. Arachnid would replace String, which is a huge survivability piece. FCR rings are great in theory but in practice I don't have a good selection of them. Wearing Ravenfrost isn't essential (many would argue its a bad idea for a WW Barb), but if I choose to run rather than teleport it is useful, if my off-hand isn't Grief, it offers great attack rating, and everything except OKs in CS get slowed by cold damage.
I think, for now, my best solution will be Dual Wizzys in order to get to CS, but since I get good XP from ordinary mobs, I'll just run around the place and benefit from the overall stronger setup.
--
I have very little MF - just what Enigma offers, I've been too lazy to mule over a Gheeds yet (I need to, to buff gold piles, heh) - but the first run through CS happened to drop me an Arachnid Mesh, I think it may be just my 3rd in Single Player and it is a very good roll too. Like a sign I should use it, or something :-p
--
Stuff coming up...
Need to decide a build so I can find gear and respec to min-max.
Get merc to 75 too (will take about 10 minutes, max) so he can use Reapers Toll, and, err, get him to whatever level is required for Kira's (the only simple way for me to get him Cannot Be Frozen, as I don't have spare Chams).
Get an off-hand weapon - bound to involve trading. 99% certain it'll be Beast, I want a damn aura.
Mule over a Gheeds (I barely have enough gold to cover merc rezzes, though he should be crazily difficult to kill when he gets all his gear)
--
Totally mathy thing? The fact that I'm level 75, fighting level 85-88s (and Diablo who is, like... 90-something) means that despite Grief having ITD I'm still well under 90% chance to hit, I'm sure my Oath is shockingly bad.
Long term, ITD becomes less significant, most of my time grinding I'll be way in the 90s, and I guess that's why I'm comfortable going Beast vs Grief - thinking about the long game (not to mention that Diablo and Baal (if I ever run him) are immune to ITD.
--
Having fun, clearly :)