MF PoleBarb V1.0
Author: Skitril |
Version: 1.09
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This is a guide about making a
Polearm Barbarian, a somewhat rarer version of the common barb you see nowadays. (So many swords...)
Anyway, it is based on the experience I've had with my very own polebarb, who was my first successful D2X barb. Level 91, and
still continues his MF duties to this day. Basically I picked poles not
because they are the best, but because they are somewhat underestimated and not used a lot. They are also tons of fun and look very cool. Also, this isn't intended as a PvP guide, more
of a successful PvM/Magic Find guide. I believe barbs are extremely well suited to the task of MF, as their "go anywhere, kill
anything" attitude and general durability put them head and shoulders above the other classes. Enjoy.
Why Polearms?
Polearms are not the best. However, they do have a nice combination of speed, damage and range. A very good mix of all weapons,
where your spear has the range, they lack speed, mauls have the damage but lack the range. A polearm is a nice mix. This is
balanced out by their horrid attribute requirements, the top line poles require pretty heavy investment into your Str/Dex,
something which the other listed weapons don't require.
Before I go on I'd like to point out that you only need to look at 2 poles. A
Great Pollax and Giant
Thresher. This is not to say the other poles suck, they do have their merits, however their range lets them down, making them on par or even worse off than
comparable-ranged weapons (for example most 2-Handed swords have range 3, however you can use a shield or even another sword to
gain additional benefits, that a polebarb cannot). Great Pollaxes and Giant Threshers allow you to do things that other poles
cannot.
Stat
Point Allocation
Generally a barb needs only to meet his requirements for his weapon and dump everything else into vitality. I'd suggest, however
that you hold off putting 188 str/140 dex straight away. This is because you won't be automatically using a Giant Thresher. The
alternative weapon of choice, the Great Pollax only requires 179 str, 99 dex.
So which is better, I hear you ask? There's actually not much difference.
GPollax
- Higher damage offsets slightly lower speed, lower requirements
GThresher - Lower damage but slightly faster speed, highest requirements (but look coolest).
Both have range 5 as well. So I suggest whichever you get your hands on first, distribute your stat points accordingly. Then dump
everything else into vitality. Barbs get a massive 4 HP's per vitality point and I for one think this should be exploited as much
as possible. Maybe I'm biased but putting one's faith in a large amount of HP's, would serve you much better than any other defensive
measures. Sure, high defence will help, but some monsters don't take your defence into account. Sure, Damage Reduced gear exists
but not everyone has this and it can be nullified (Amp damage). Also, pumping str for damage, and dex for AR is not recommended.
There are other ways which will be discussed later. Getting base requirements is plenty.
Energy should be left at base. There are ways to get a healthy mana supply and pumping energy is not the answer.
Also, some people ask what is the best way to distribute your stats. Some suggest 2-2-1, for example, putting 2 into your str/dex
and 1 into vitality until you meet your weapon requirements. I find it doesn't really matter, as long as you meet your stat
requirements. So the choice is yours.
Skill
Point Allocation
The obvious should be maxed,
Polearm mastery. Don't bother looking at the double swing side of the tree. There will be other guides for dual weapon barbs (Frenziers).
Instead, you're killing skills are
Whirlwind and Berserk. Polearms are especially suited to both skills. They have the speed, damage and range to pull it off. Keep in mind
Whirlwind is weapon speed dependant, IAS will affect this. (However, at present no-one knows the exact equation of how WW works. Preliminary tests from
fellow forum members seem to indicate that external IAS - IAS other than on the weapon - has NO EFFECT whatsoever on WW hits. If
anyone out there knows the WW - hit/IAS equation, please post on the barb forum, I'm sure most people there would appreciate it).
Max your Whirlwind. This will handle most monsters.
Berserk is subject of much debate. However I've used both level 1
Berserk and max Berserk. 1 is needed at least, for the physical immune monsters in the game. Berserk doesn't leech since it is a
physical attack, it converts all your damage to magical damage and adds a large damage and AR boost as well. Not many monsters in the game can stand up to it. A high damage pole and level 20
Berserk can often 1-2 hit kill most monsters even in hell mode 8 player games. However, many people still don't like it, for those,
just 1 point will suffice.
After that, pick the
Battle Orders war cry. And max it. Remember how barbs get massive life? This is the way to boost it. You can
easily achieve a 2500 HP barb. Another barb of mine has 5500 HP with
Battle Orders, and there are some out there with around the region of 7000 (!) HP's. All due to the
Battle Orders war cry. Also, it helps boost your mana level up, so you can sustain your whirlwinds.
And to top it off, it will help all your party members. Make friends easily; who doesn't like almost double your current HP/Mana levels?
And unlike some other HP boosters, this is practically permanent if you refresh it every now and then.
Some other skills deserve 1 point, all the prerequisites to the above skills. Another skill,
Natural Resistance, deserves 1-10, depending on your equipment. I find 5 is a nice level.
Increased Speed deserves 1. You aren't dueling (except in self defence) and running speed won't really matter. But a little passive
booster like this deserves 1.
Lastly, for the longer term plan, put some points into
Find Item. Find Item is great. Another reason why Barbarians are better
suited to MF runs. 1-5 is good, you can get a Heart Carver unique rondel to boost it up a lot. Put it on your secondary weapon switch
so that when you Find Item, you will get a large boost. Also, remember that FI now stacks with your MF gear, so there is a very good
chance of getting a second drop. It has paid off for me, I've gotten a Trang Oul's girth from FI once. I'm sure others out there
have similar success stories.
So eventually you'll end up as
20 Mastery
20 WW
20 Battle Orders
1-20 into berserk
1 into speed
5 into natural resists
1-10 into Find Item
And that should keep you busy for a while. A
Barbarian has excellent defence boosting skills, but they aren't as useful for this guy,
so I've elected not to pump them. Defence to be effective is basically all-or-nothing, plus in hell mode you'll probably end up using
Berserk a lot, which means a lot of the time your defence = zero. And the other
war cries, while useful, simply don't suit this variant as much as others.
Items
The only essential "must-have" item you need for this guy is his polearm. Namely, Cruel Great Pollax, or Cruel Giant Thresher.
Why? Well I believe in the school of thought that "Damage is King". Killing power is based on damage. Leech is based on damage.
And the Cruel mod is the best way to go for damage. There are 2 ways to do this - (hopefully with another character).
Once you are level 70 or so, shop at
Larzuk in hell mode for one. Be sure to load up on gold, fill your stash. Take the wp, talk to
him, check his inventory, rinse and repeat. Boring, yes, but well worth it. You might try trading for one, but they are kind of rare,
nowhere near as common as say, cruel elite swords.
The other is to grab any GPollax/GThresher and 3 perfect gems. Transmute with the horadric cube as this rerolls the mod. Keep on trying
until Cruel pops up. This might cost you some perfect gems, but they aren't too hard to come by.
Whenever you end up with one, hope and pray Larzuk gives you 2 sockets. It doesn't matter on what difficulty he does it, it's like flipping
a coin, a random chance of getting 1 or 2 sockets. I wish you good luck in getting 2 !
(I do not recommend the unique Giant Thresher, Stormspire, unless you are a collector. It is EXTREMELY rare so you might have to
trade a LOT for it, and its mods aren't particularly good). Socket it with Shael runes, or for the more well off, Enhanced Damage + IAS jewels. "Damage is King", but also remember "Speed Kills" :)
Right now I'm using a more MF rig of equipment:
Weapon - Personalised Cruel Giant Thresher of the Wraith, with 1 ED -15 req jewel and 1 free socket. Total 325% E.D, for 488 damage, -15% req and 6% mana leech
On weapon tab #2 I have a heart carver and a gull dagger for Find Item.
Helm - StealSkull Helm with PTopaz (The ideal MF helm, with dual leech, hit recovery, IAS and potentially 50% magic find. I like this better then the Harlequin Crest Shako. However, you can get by easily with a Tarnhelm with a PTopaz, or a 3 PTopaz helm. Even Immortal Kings helm +PTopaz can
work too).
Armour - Skullder's Ire armour v1.08, but I was using 4 Topaz armour for a long time. Another alternative is the "Wealth" runeowrd.
Belt - Goldwrap belt (cheap and good)
Boots - Wartraveller boots (however you can get a nice cheap combo with Tancred's Amulet and Boots, which give 78% MF. Or 3 pieces of Sigons
set, gloves boots, and belt which give 50% MF on the boots and 10% lifesteal among other things). Nice rare boots with faster run, resistances
and MF also work fine.
Gloves - Laying of Hands - simply because all act bosses are demons. Makes things go faster. No use wearing 500 MF if you cannot kill. Otherwise
a nice % Chance Guards work fine. Rare gloves with leech, resist and MF are also good.
Rings/Amulets - This is up to you whether you want to put MF gear here. You can use these lots for MF equipment, leeching gear or resistance boosters.
Otherwise, good general PvM gear with items that boost your HP's/mana, give you leech, resists, and hit recovery are good. Also, Damage Reduced (DR) gear
such as Vampire Gaze, Shaftstop and String of Ears can provide EXCELLENT protection against physical attackers. In the same
vein, resists and "Absorb" items such as Ravenfrost and Rising Sun to name a few, are good protection against elemental
attackers. If you get enough, elemental attacks can heal you...
On leech - it is ok to get by with 10% life leech and 7% mana leech or so. Mana leech is less important compared to life leech
but I wouldn't go out of the way to get extra life leech. 15-20% is a good number, however I find you can go lower.
And last thing for equipment - Charms.
Charms can fill some spots that your equipment might not be able to. Remember don't pump dex for AR and str for damage before. This is because
charms can do them. There are AR charms, and damage adding charms (which will boost your damage much more than pumping str), and lastly MF charms.
You can also get resistance adding charms, or if you are into more life or mana, you can get some charms that boost these as
well. So don't neglect your charms, as they can boost your character more than what your barb is wearing.
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