S/S Barb Guide v2.01 Author: Darius Version: 1.09 Page 1 Navigation Introduction Abbreviations Explanation of Tweaker/BvB Builds Statistics Skills Equipment Leveling Advice Dueling Class-specific Strategies Credits 1. Introduction Hi everyone, I'm Polish, my BN nick (and real name) is Darius and I play on the USWest Realm (I moved from Europe in April 2002). I've been posting for a couple of months on the diabloii.net barbarian forum and I duel with my barbs. I know that s/s barbs are extremely common now, they are heirs to the empty throne left by "old school" classic lancers. This guide and the whole barbarian build I'll elaborate on here might not be as inventive as guides written by my friends Phreek (throw barb), Nekkid (singing barb), PhiSig (hybrid) and JEB (javabarb) but I tried to make it as competent and interesting as I can. I thought about adding a hybrid/thrower build to my guide, since I also have these kinds of barbs on my account but I decided I'll postpone it until 1.10. For now, I'll focus on what I like best - pure melee. I don't duel with my s/s barb because everyone does. I do because I've always enjoyed playing this character class. I've tried out many different barb builds (dual wielders, lancers, basharians etc.) but the old good sword/shield Whirlwind barbarian has always been my favorite subclass. A barb won't be as fast at killing cows as LF javazons or Nova sorcs. However, in PvP, a well-developed and equipped barbarian can be very effective, a great all rounder and a real threat to any other class. Barbs also look great A final word here - I know the realms are crowded with PvP s/s barbs. Many of those players lack the knowledge and dueling exp though, they are just typical "mainstream" chars. This guide is intended to provide some knowledge and a bit more than just a list of standard items, skills and stats. The main idea was to go "beyond the obvious". Two main s/s builds, the so called tweaker and the STR-oriented BvBer are presented in this guide. I hope this guide serves you well, fellow barbs. 2. Abbreviations s/s - sword/shield PvP - Player vs Player BvB - barb vs barb IAS - Increased Attack Speed ED - Enhanced Damage BP - break point WW - Whirlwind SM - Sword Mastery BO - Battle Orders NR - Natural Resistance LA - Leap Attack ITD - Ignores Target's Defense CBF - Cannot Be Frozen AR - Attack Rating PDR - Physical Damage Reduction MDR - Magical Damage Reduction def - defense dmg - damage res - resists FHR - Faster Hit Recovery FBR - Faster Blocking Rate LL - Life Leech ML - Mana Leech FoH - Fist of Heavens (paladin skill) HF - Holy Freeze (paladin aura) IM - Iron Maiden (necromancer curse) LR - Lower Resists (necromancer curse) MS - Multi-Shot (bowazon skill) GA - Guided Arrow (bowazon skill) LF - Lightning Fury (javazon skill) TS - Thunder Storm (sorceress spell) FO - Frozen Orb (sorceress spell) LS - Lightning Sentry (assassin trap) WoF - Wake of Fire (assassin trap) MB - Mind Blast (assassin skill) DF - Dragon Flight (assassin skill) WW druid - werewolf druid (not Whirlwind :P) STR - Strength DEX - Dexterity VIT - Vitality ENR - Energy LS - Lightsabre DS - Deadly Strike CB - Crushing Blow OW - Open Wounds Abbreviations in magical weapon (here - sword) names: C - Cruel (prefix: 200-300% ED) CB - Colossus Blade (elite Great Sword) CS - Colossal Sword (elite Flamberge) BB - Balrog Blade (elite Giant Sword) F - Fury (runeword JahGulEth: 209% ED, 40% IAS, 6% LL, Eth, etc.) E - Ethereal Q - of Quickness (suffix: 40% IAS) S - of Swiftness (suffix: 30% IAS) E (at the end) - of Evisceration (suffix: up to +63 max dmg) 3. Explanation of Tweaker/BvB Builds Tweaker description This is an allround PvP barb. Dueling characters of all classes need high Vitality. The barb is no exception here, he can really benefit from high VIT since one point in VIT means about 8 additional HPs for the barbarian (with active maxed Battle Orders). That's why the general idea is to keep base Strength and Dexterity as low as possible and pump Vitality. A good CD2 barb could have more than 3000 life. A good D2X barb can easily reach 4000 life or more without the typical ultra-expensive vitabarb gear like (heavily duped) 1.08 Arkaine's Valor, 1.08 Grandfather, 1.08 Harlequin Crest or 1.08 Gerke's Sanctuary. That's a lot. Combined with high damage, speed and life leech the barb can be an almost unstoppable killing machine in the hands of a skilled player. The additional damage from STR increase is fairly neglectable (unless you push it to the extreme) and isn't worth sacrificing VIT. Only players interested in melee duels exclusively, mainly BvB, can try a STR-oriented build. From now on, every section of this guide will be divided into two subsections: tweaker and BvBer. Tweaker is your standard, allround dueling barb (the term was originally used in classic D2) - a barb with high speed and life, low base STR/DEX. What the hell is a BvB build? Well, a BvBer is a barb specialized in melee duels, especially killing other barbarians. Life is not the crucial stat in those matchups. It's all about leech and damage, folks. Many BvBers have life lower than 2500 or even 2000 which is laughable in comparison to a decent tweaker who will have at least twice as many hit points. It doesn't matter though - our "fragile" BvBer will still rip the tweaker apart because he has incomparably higher damage and leech that can refill his life orb in one-two whirls. If you want to specialize in barb vs barb dueling, this is a build for you. Important warning though - do NOT try to build a good BvBer if your resources are limited. This is probably the most expensive build in the whole D2 xpac so it's not suitable for beginners or less wealthy players. I know people who had to liquidate many other top-equipped chars in order to make a good BvBer so if your wallet is thin, stick to allround dueling. Hmm, you might ask what the major difference between tweakers and BvBers is. The most important one is that BvBers pump Strength instead of Vitality in order to achieve extreme damage and leech. Like I said above, life is secondary here. WARNING: Don't duel any ranged attackers or casters with a BvBer. This build is pretty much for melee dueling ONLY. Amazons, sorceresses, FoH/BH paladins, necromancers or trapassins are NOT suitable opponents for a BvBer - he'll be probably too slow and he'll die fast because of his low life. You should only duel barbs + melee subclasses with a STR barb: MA assassins, WW druids, Zeal/Smite/Charge paladins, etc. My friend keeps telling me that hybrids are the best barbs. Is it true? No, your friend is generalizing the whole issue in a rather narrow-minded manner. Hybrids are barbs that use sword/shield and two stacks of throwing weapons on weapon switch. They switch between those two configurations during the duel. My friend PhiSig was the first player who wrote a very good hybrid guide. I like hybrids as well - they are fun and really versatile characters. At high levels, they are very similar builds to melee s/s barbs, but with maxed Throwing Mastery and 1 point in Double Throw, plus just 1 point in Berserk. Having a ranged attack makes them excellent in duels vs sorcs for example (teleporting, heh) but on the whole, a good tweaker can be as efficient as a good hybrid. Hybrids cannot use Echoing weapons on switch so their life is lower. They often have lower dmg and LL than tweakers because of more IAS-oriented builds. Ranged attack makes them versatile but some people are too euphoric about hybrids, thinking that they win duels automatically. They are not superior BvBers either because a good tweaker can force them into melee. A hybrid has to be very careful against a melee barb, one harpoon too much and he'll be whirled off his guard, shieldless. Remember that good tweakers are extremely fast and desynch is an issue here so it's very risky for a hybrid to use his throwing weapons against a good melee barb. Conclusion - a hybrid is a great build but it's not really true that it's the best one. Every build has its strengths and weaknesses, unless your name is PhiSig of course 4. Statistics Strength Tweaker - 189 with items. You will never need more on a typical PvP sword barbarian. The top swords (Colossus Blades) require 189 STR, best PvP armors and shields a lot less. Base STR is 100% item-dependant so giving an exact amount would be quite pointless. With top gear and great STR boost even 90 base is possible but that would make our barb a very limited char in terms of versatility. An allrounder needs more STR because he'll be forced to modify his gear for some particular matchups, e.g. sorc duels and give up some of the STR boost he receives from let's say "antizon" dual stat items. 110-130 is safe and comfortable though, my own barb has 110 base STR and he's already on the verge of being limited to certain (not always useful) gear. BTW, don't be afraid of getting looted. A smart player will NEVER get popped. What situations should you avoid and how? 1. Make sure to pick up ONLY your corpse after you die, not a cracked sash for instance. It should be easy to distinguish 2. If your inventory is full, you rely on your Storm to equip your sword and you die with your Echoing weapons out, either rejoin the game immediately or socket your Echoing weapons with 3-4 Fal runes (+10 STR each). Otherwise, your sword that would have landed in your inv if you had room for it, will remain on your body. Since the game doesn't support two corpses, you will pop if you die. With Fal runes in Echoing weapons, it's not going to happen. Therefore, do yourself a favor, and follow my advice above. Pumping base stats high enough to be able to use all the equipment naked is not a good idea, you would have to sacrifice too much VIT. With 189 STR with items, you can reach even above 4k dmg (with great gear) and 4k life. How to calculate base STR? Subtract your total STR boost on your planned perfect equipment from 189. BvBer - as high as possible, shoot for 400+ with items. Why? Massive STR is your BvBer's main capital in melee duels. Strength increases damage and thus, also life leech. Those two stats - damage and LL are crucial for a BvB barb. While 200 or 250 STR don't really make a significant difference, a pure STR build with over 400 points in this attribute is the king of melee. Thanks to high STR and leech, you will often be able to refill your life orb in one single whirl, so life is secondary. Strength is your BvBer's main strength - um... wait, something is wrong with this awkward sentence Oh well, I'm sure you get the idea. Good BvBers reach 5-6k physical 1h dmg or even more. Impressive, eh? Dexterity Tweaker - 222 with items at clvl 99. Why so high? The answer is simple - because of the blocking formula. The formula is: [block on shield * (DEX - 15)] / (clvl * 2) The best dueling shield is 1.09 Stormshield, most barb duelers agree on that. It's really good: +30 STR, 35% PDR, good and fast block, some resists - plenty of great mods on it. Some barbs like 1.08 Gerke's Sanctuary which boosts VIT but Storm is incomparably better for PvP purposes since maxed PDR is important and fast blocking is crucial, especially vs zons. That's why I based my DEX calcualtion on block with Stormshield. Exactly 222 DEX is needed to maintain max block (75%) with Storm at clvl 99. Of course lower level barbs need less DEX, at clvl 90 it's 203 for example. Just use the formula and calculate the necessary amount for your barb. Is max blocking chance really useful in duels? Yes it is, every single % is important here since the bugged Eth rune negates your defense in melee and many chars use ITD skills (Smite, GA). All good PvP barbs have 75% block. What about base DEX? Well, it's again very item-dependant. 100-120 is usually enough but in order to make the barb versatile and flexible you might want 120-140, especially at levels 9x. Not a problem anyway, simply adjust your barb's DEX according to all dueling item combinations you use. My own tweaker has only 105 base DEX at lvl 90. BvBer - no difference to tweaker build here. Blocking is also crucial in barb vs barb duels so just read the paragraph above. Vitality Tweaker - all the rest. That's simple - once your STR and DEX (with item bonuses) are high enough to use your weapon and have max block with your shield, pump all the rest into Vitality. 3000 life with Battle Orders is... ahem, let's say decent, 4000 is really good (w/o vita-gear). Barbs are difficult to kill, they benefit a lot from high VIT. 1 point in VIT = 8-9 hit points with good slvl BO. Use it. BvBer - nothing or 50-70 if your charms are crap. I recommend 25 VIT though. Yes, you can survive with base Vitality if your charms and items are good enough. A well-equipped BvBer can reach ca. 2.8k life with very good charms but your goal is 2k life. With 2000 hit points, you won't die in one WW and you can leech everything back anyway. 2k life is a very decent amount. That's why I don't recommend pumping VIT. Every point pumped into Vitality means more (quite unnecessary) life and lower dmg because everything should go into STR. Try not to sacrifice Strength. If your gear isn't the best and you can't afford half decent charms, you shouldn't really make a BvBer, to be honest. My base VIT BvBer had ca. 2.1k life without "godly" charms so you should be fine as well. Energy Tweaker - 10. Leave it at the base level and never put any points into this stat. Some people new to barbs and the game in general might ask: What about Whirlwind's high mana cost? The answer is simple again - all you need is some mana leech. It doesn't have to be excessive, ca. 5% ML is more than enough if you have an appropriate high damage weapon. The more dmg you inflict, the more effective your leech is. Energy remains base, no question about that. BvBer - same as above. Any point put into ENR is a wasted point. Mana leech, dear barb. 5. Skills This is of course a Whirlwind barbarian. His main combat skill used for dueling is WW. The reason for that is apparent - WW is clearly the best PvP skill in the game, for a barb of course. Other skills might be very effective in PvM but WW is the undisputed king of duels. Swing attacks are in general less useful in PvP because a good opponent is difficult to hit with such an attack where you have to get close to him/her and swing your weapon. Those attacks can only easily hit immobile characters and need massive increased attack speed to land a hit even when e.g. the amazon stops for a moment to fire a Guided Arrow, the necromancer stops to cast a Bone Spirit, etc. However, Berserk can be used in certain situations - more on that later. Concentrate deals low physical damage for a one hit attack and is therefore pretty useless. Frenzy is also a very bad dueling skill because it requires dual wielding, not leaving room for a shield. Shieldless barb = dead barb. Even if you want to activate Frenzy and then switch to s/s, its qualities are nothing compared to its disadvantages - it's another swing attack, it requires monsters to charge up on which is forbidden in serious duels and it has a very short duration. Leap Attack is a situational skill that can be used as a "mobility enhancement" in some duels but it's out of question as primary attack. Its bonuses are great on paper but LA is really easy to dodge and therefore useless in PvP as far as killing other chars is concerned. It also makes you prone to taking dmg from your opponent's attack so you should avoid using it. WW on the contrary is a good skill that has a "surface-covering" effect, that's why it can land multiple hits in one pass (up to 6 with a 2h sword) and it CAN hit. Berserk (with enough IAS and FR/W) is very useful vs zons and other chars because it deals huge, irresistible dmg. The only swing attack you might want on your barb is zerk. OK, here is a skill setup for a PvP s/s barb: Sword Mastery (SM) Tweaker: 20 - that's obvious. Criticals are bugged from what we know (based on tests, 1 point guarantees a critical strike on every hit) but you can never have too much dmg or AR. Every point spent here is a valuable one. Passive skills are barbs' main strength so use them. BvBer: 20 - reasons above. Whirlwind (WW) Tweaker: 20 - understandable as well. WW is your main combat skill, the primary attack. It's the king of PvP barb skills and also a very good exping skill in the cow level. It starts with some negative stats but it's still great. Its mana cost is irrelevant - some leech and you're OK. BvBer: 20 - see tweaker. Battle Orders (BO) Tweaker: 20 - a must for any barb build IMO. Doubling your life, mana and stamina (life being ofc the most important stat here) can't hurt. This warcry has no diminishing returns and all good barbs have maxed BO. Its duration is also nice, you need to recast it every 3 minutes approximately at high skill levels which is easy. How to use it? Cast it, heal yourself and then recast it - if you don't forget to recast BO, its full life boost will remain intact (no need for more healing). This is why it's so precious in duels. BvBer: 20 - reasons above again. STR barbs need high BO so maxing it is a MUST. Shout Tweaker: 1 - defense is quite useless now. In many duels barbs need no def at all. In allround PvP, most of your opponents will use magic/elemental attacks/ITD attacks. Examples: amazon's GA, paladin's Smite = ITD attacks; sorc's spells, assassin's traps, paladin's FoH and BH, necro's BS = magic or elemental dmg. Melee duels usually feature the bugged Eth rune (ITD in PvP). Shout is only a prereq for BO, nothing more in 1.09 allround dueling. I recommended maxing it in the previous version of my guide but I reconsidered - it's useless. Pumping Berserk and Inc. Speed is more reasonable. BvBer: 1-20 - maxed Shout potentially makes you "prepared for 1.10" because the Eth bug is likely to be fixed in the next patch and BvBers don't really have many skills worth pumping points into so it's your choice. In 1.09 BvB, defense boosters are unnecessary but defense could become a crucial BvB stat in 1.10. It might matter again in melee fights. Berserk Tweaker: 1-20 - dueling barbs CAN live without zerk, that's certain. Its use in PvP is limited and it's unnecessary for power-leveling (cows are not PI = physical immune monsters). However, Berserk makes a barb more versatile and with reasonable IAS it is possible to kill an amazon, a sorceress or another char with zerk. Since its damage is 100% magic, it's quite irresistible. PDR won't decrease zerk's damage so use it for one-two hit kills in duels. Iron Maiden or Thorns don't reflect this skill's damage. After months of dueling, I came to the conclusion that Berserk is a very underestimated skill in PvP. It's often more effective vs zons that WW. Some guys are really great WW dodgers but Berserk can still kill them - escaping the lock is extremely difficult if the barb is fast and has good IAS. I recommend pumping Berserk, it's worth it. All your remaining points should go into this skill. BvBer: 0-1 - while zerk is great for an allround dueler, it's quite useless for a BvBer. Using it against a barb in duel is close to suicide - it's a swing attack, it makes your defense drop to zero (although Eth does basically the same, heh) and it doesn't leech. You'll be standing there and trying to land a hit and your opponent will kill you with WW, leeching life. It might land some surprise hits if your opponent is lagging but don't count on it. Iron skin Tweaker: 1 - See Shout. Defense is completely useless in allround PvP and it will probably never become really useful. Only if you want to try some melee duels with your tweaker, without building a Strength barb for that, you can pump Skin but they are other skills that are more important so even in 1.10 it will be unlikely to become helpful. BvBer: 1-20 - same as Shout. Defense is useless in 1.09 BvB due to Eth but it might become very important for melee dueling in 1.10. A BvBer doesn't need excessive NR, Inc. Speed or Berserk so you can pump your defense boosters, it won't cripple your build. Natural Resistance (NR) Tweaker: 1-5 - in fact, my old lvl 99 PvP barb had just one single point here and he was doing fine. My new tweaker has 3 points in NR. It's easy to max all resistances in Nightmare difficulty where most tournaments and private duels take place. Item boosts, skill bonuses and 3x Anya quest easily max out all resists. In Hell it's a bit different but a good PvP barb will still have maxed resists when he needs them. Switching to "antisorc" gear socketed with Um runes is the best method. 5 pts are the absolute maximum an allround PvP barb needs here IMO. My nasty European PK barb had much higher NR but he was made primarily for dueling sorcs/zons at the same time in Hell games Saved points should be pumped into Berserk but if you are having trouble using zerk in PvP, 9 pts is the max amount I would ever consider putting into Nat Res. BvBer: 1-5 - same reasons as above. In serious BvB, only physical dmg is used so no need for resists at all. However, you want to be prepared for some poison using barbs so a few pts in NR won't be a waste. Increased Speed Tweaker: 5-12 - this skill has massive diminishing returns and there are numerous speed boosting items/charms available in D2X but its advantage is the fact that it adds to your base speed whereas item bonuses are based on that. That's why most allround PvP barbs have exactly 14 points in Inc. Speed with items, i.e. 10-12 base. Slvl 14 Increased Speed gives you 40% FR/W and after that you must spend two skill points for every percent of FR/W so it's not worth it. If your Inc. Speed is lvl 5 base, you should still be fast enough but since footspeed is absolutely crucial in so many duels, I recommend 14 points with items. For instance, if your only skill boost on items is +2 on Arreat's, go for slvl 12 base Inc. Speed. What's the difference between Inc. Speed and FR/W on items? Why do I need high ISpeed? Here we go. This is the formula for FR/W bonus on items: Effective gear FR/W bonus = (120 * FR/W on items) / (120 + FR/W on items) = x Skill FR/W bonus = y Total FR/W = 1 + x/100 + y/100 Now, let's assume two barbs have 100% FR/W but one of them has 40% from skill (lvl 14 ISpeed) and 60% from items (boots, charms) and the other one has 25% from skill (lvl 4 ISpeed) and 75% from items. Let's calculate their total effective FR/W. BARB 1: (120 * 60) / (120 + 60) = 40% items; 40% skill. Total FR/W = 1 + 0.4 + 0.4 = 1.8 = 180% effective R/W BARB 2: (120 * 75) / (120 + 75) = 46% items; 25% skill Total FR/W = 1 + 0.46 + 0.25 = 1.71 = 171% effective R/W As you can see, FR/W from skills (Inc. Speed for barbs) is more valuable than FR/W on items like charms, boots or amulets. BvBer: 1-12 - well, if you want to duel hybrids, pump it just like on a tweaker. Top BvBers with good charms and high Inc. Speed can be very fast, without sacrificing too much life. If they can catch a hybrid off guard (with his javs out), he's dead. If they can force tge hybrid into melee, he's dead as well. It might be difficult though so most BvBers focus on pure melee dueling. For them, Inc. Speed is not needed at all but it's always nice to have 1-5 pts in this skill, for general mobility purposes (e.g. running away and recasting cries). Footspeed is not an important factor in melee combat of course so it's your call. Battle Command Tweaker: 1 - most PvP barbs have one point here and they use it mainly to boost their BO. This warcry's duration is really short so the global skill boost is irrelevant. Note that if you forget to recast BC before recasting BO your life will drop to the level before BO which is of course deadly in a duel. This affects mostly unexperienced duelers. If you feel that you won't forget casting BC, go ahead This is a very underestimated skill. Casting BC takes a mere fraction of a second and if BO is worth maxing, then this one single point in BC (being your lvl 21 base BO) is valuable as well. I don't know why so many duelers neglect it. They probably only notice the short and useless global skill boost, without seeing the REAL meaning of BC which is the BO boost. BvBer: 1 - reasons above. BvBers need life so it's even more valuable for them than for tweakers. + all the prereqs 1 point each - obvious thing Why no Battle Cry and War Cry? The reason is simple - they are inefficient in duels. WC has ridiculous dmg and its stun is very ineffective - you only see your opponent go into hit recovery animation but he won't be stunned for a few seconds like monsters in PvM. Besides, casting it is a pure waste of time. If you get close enough e.g. to a zon to cast it, you should be whirling or zerking instead. Battle Cry lowers your opponent's damage and defense. Also pretty useless though. It could be only useful vs other barbs but the radius is so small that using this warcry is a waste of time just like casting WC - your opponent will whirl through you and you should be whirling through him instead of casting Battle Cry. Dmg penalty in PvP is 1/4 anyway and as for defense - well, now we have Eth. In 1.10, Battle Cry could become an option IF it gets a larger radius. I have tested those skills and they simply don't work well in duels. My advice - forget them both. Here are examples of good skill setups at clvl 90 (all skills base): Tweaker SM 20 WW 20 BO 20 Berserk 14 B. Command 1 Inc. Speed 12 NR 5 + prereqs 1 each BvBer SM 20 WW 20 BO 20 Shout 20 Iron Skin 11 B. Command 1 Inc. Speed 1 NR 1 + prereqs 1 each Note that the above BvBer layout is melee ONLY and defense-oriented with 1.10 in mind. For pure but more versatile 1.09 barb vs barb dueling, you can pump Inc. Speed and NR instead of Shout/Skin (the setup will become similar to tweaker, except for Berserk). 6. Equipment That's important, even crucial. Whether we like it or not, PvP is a battle of equipment in D2X. Our barbs are probably the most gear-dependant class out there. The best, optimal dueling stuff is expensive. I realize that and I also realize the fact that not everyone has mules full of SoJ (Stones of Jordan, unique rings and currency on most realms) and can afford all those "godly" items. That's why I'll provide some alternatives, relatively affordable equipment that can be used by a decent dueler. Despite this, we have to accept that "underequipped" barbs will never be top PvPers. Even a skilled, smart guy playing a flawlessly developed PvP barb who wears bad items is likely to lose to a mediocre dueler equipped with great PvP stuff. It's sad but true... What's the deal with IAS and WW? WW does NOT obey the standard IAS/fps rules. First off, only IAS on your weapon affects your WW hit rate. It means that external IAS on gloves, belts, shields, armors, helms and amulets will NOT improve your WW efficiency. According to our current knowledge, WW is based on the so called break points. BPs are weapon speeds that allow you to land more hits per spin with WW. The last (and highest) break point enables you to land (weapon range +3) hits per one whirl on a single, defenseless, immobile opponent. Example: a two-handed sword can hit up to 6 times per WW because it has a range of 3. The break points are: -10 and -35 for 1h weapons and -10, -30 and -60 for 2h weapons. Note that the above values are NOT IAS amounts, they are weapon speeds. For example, a Colossus Blade with weapon speed 5 must have 40% IAS on it to reach the second 1h BP. 5 - 40 = -35 Lower weapon speed value means a FASTER weapon. Example: CB (speed 5) is faster than CS (speed 10). CB needs 40% IAS to reach the BP, CS needs more, namely 45% IAS. The inventor (or first poster) of this break point theory was Abinn, a former member of diabloii.net forums. One thing still remains a mystery though - some people swear that socketing weapons with IAS jewels or Shael runes DOES affect their WW hit rate even "between the break points". However, don't bother with it. A good dueling sword must be at -35 weapon speed anyway. What's the deal with Eth rune? You don't need it in allround PvP (see dueling section) but in BvB, this rune is very important. The displayed stat says "-25% target's defense" but the rune doesn't subtract 1/4 from your opponent's def. It sets his def at -25% (negative value), e.g. 10 000 -> -2500. That's why it acts like ITD in duels which is an obvious bug. Note that genuine ITD (Jah rune) is disabled in PvP. What are the different top PvP gear setups? Your goal is to reach max PDR in duels, it's crucial vs physical dmg opponents. The PDR cap is 75% so there are several possibilities to reach it with different sets of items: any String of Ears (10-15%) + Stormshield (35%) + Shaftstop (30%), perfect String (15%) + Storm (35%) + 1.08 Vampire Gaze (25%) + Valor/ED armor/Lionheart/G. Angel (Angel vs sorcs mainly), String (12-15%) + Storm (35%) + 1.09 17-20% PDR Gaze with Ber rune (25-28%), perfect String (15%) + Storm with Ber (43%) + Arreat's with Ber (8%) + Valor with Ber (8%) = 74% total, almost max. For tweakers, I suggest using String, Storm, Arreat's and Shaft. This setup gives very nice stat boosts, max PDR, good life and other useful stats. If you have a legit 1.08 Gaze though, you might want to try Gaze + Lionheart/ED armor or Valor instead of Arreat's/Shaft. This rig is very flexible, since you can change your armors, depending on your opponents. However, if we do the math, it doesn't really offer a considerable advantage over the standard Arreat's/Shaft setup. I don't really recommend the last rig because so many Ber runes make your dmg drop significantly (no ED jewels in items). What about 1.08 Arreat's Face? It's good for hybrids because its 15% target's defense mod makes hitting opponents with javs easier, but to be honest, a standard tweaker doesn't need any form of ITD. 1.09 Arreat's has better mods, only defense negation and max dmg boost are useful on old AF. As for BvB, old Gaze + ED armor all the way. That's simply the best setup in terms of dmg and leech. Some guys use 1.08 Arreat's in BvB but this rig is simply inferior to the one mentioned above. Note that there is a situation where the Shaft/Storm/String/Gaze setup is useful. PDR is capped at 75% but over 100% PDR prevents you from being amped which might be very helpful in Team vs Team fights (vs teams featuring a necro) and also against cheapozons with Atma's Scarab. Might come in handy in melee duels where dumb barbs try to amp you with Gavel of Pain. However, your build has to be flexible enough to use Gaze with Shaft so Arreat's STR and DEX optimization is out of question if you want to be "amp proof". My EQ efficiency rating: 1/5 - mediocre (if you don't have any better gear...) 2/5 - decent (quite a viable low-end, usually cheap or not PvP-optimized option) 3/5 - good (standard PvP item with nice mods or situational usefulness) 4/5 - great (a perfect PvP item with great stats) 5/5 - godly (ultra-rare, incredibly expensive, pretty much unattainable) Swords Ethereal Cruel swords (Balrog, Col Blade, Col Sword) with -35 weapon speed. Swords like ECCBQ or ECBBQ socketed with Zod and Eth are the perfect BvB swords where Eth is needed. They are also fantastic tweaker swords but tweakers can also use ECBBQ/ECCBQ socketed with a 40% ED/+15 max dmg jewel and Zod. The highest dmg -35 speed sword would be an ECCSQ (or ECCSS) socketed with Zod and 40% ED/IAS jewel. The swords mentioned above have incredible damage (over 440 1h max is possible with Eth) and top speed but finding such a sword is close to impossible, trading for a legit sword like that is also flat out impossible. No one would want to get rid of an item like that and probably get duped SoJs or anything else for it. I know people who do have legit weapons like that, so don't feel totally hopeless Rating: 5/5 High percent CCBQ socketed with two 40% ED/+15 max dmg jewels and Eth (for BvB) or three 40% ED/+15 max jewels (for general PvP); CCSQ/CCSS socketed with 40% ED/+15 max dmg jewel, 40% ED/IAS jewel and Eth (BvB) or two 40% ED/+15 max dmg jewels and 40% ED/IAS jewel (general PvP) - these swords rock. Massive dmg (up to over 340 1h on an ethed CCBQ) because of the Cruel prefix and ED jewels or Ohm runes inside, IAS maxing out WW speed, BvB versions with ITD due to bugged Eth - all those properties make them fantastic dueling swords. Some things to consider: 1. Ethed versions of CCBQ/CCSQ have a bugged rune inside which is likely to be fixed in v1.10. If you can get your hands on such a baby, I don't recommend socketing it with Eth, unless you play BvB and don't worry about the patch. 2. A legit sword like this is quite impossible to trade for. If you can create one with the 3 chipped gems + sword recipe, that's great. If you wanna trade for one, be prepared to buy a dupe. Rating: 4-4.5/5 High percent CCSE socketed with three 40% ED/IAS jewels. Thanks to the Evisceration suffix, this sword is potentially the best non-ethereal tweaker sword for allround dueling. A perfect one would have 432 max 1h dmg which is close to godly ethereals. It has no Eth inside though, since it needs 45% IAS to reach the break point. Fantastic tweaker weapon, not suitable for BvB, unless you have 1.08 Arreat's. Rating: 4.5/5 EFBB - if you are a rich guy, if you don't want to trade for dupes and if you play BvB, this is a sword for you. Ethereal Fury rocks: 71 - 349 1h dmg (pretty low min but max dmg higher than on perfect ethed CCBQ), 6% LL, 66% OW, 2nd BP speed and Eth rune inside. Killer blade, especially for BvB purposes. Great damage, ITD and leech plus the underestimated Open Wounds mod which cannot be resisted in any way (psn res and PDR don't affect it) so it's the equivalent of ca. 1300 physical dmg at lvl 90 (332 dmg at lvl 90 * 4 seconds = 1328)! Impressive mods on the sword but it looks like one of those lame Ith swords in the game so you'll have to prove the newbs wrong Besides, if you duel BvB, the sword will lose like 2 durability per dueling evening, maybe more. Max durab on a non-superior EFBB is 26 and Jah runes are expensive... Rating: 4.5/5 FBB/FCB - Fury swords are very popular dueling weapons out there. The little non-ethereal brother of the beast described above. Same stats as EFBB but much lower dmg of course (under 240 max 1h). Nice non-disappearing (heh, even if duped) swords - quite easy to obtain. Not even close to the best dueling blades but really decent. If only Fury's dmg was higher... Rating: 3/5 Mid and low-end Cruels with -35 speed, e.g. good percent CCBs Shael/Shael/Eth (for BvB) or Shael/Shael/[ED jewel/Ohm/Amn] (for allround dueling) - some of the most popular affordable magical swords on the realms. They usually lack LL, any additional valuable mods and their dmg is average but they're fast and often have ITD. Besides, they're quite cheap. With some luck you can create such a sword yourself using the chipped recipe and socket it with appropriate runes/jewels. Two Shaels are almost always necessary, since most of those swords (usually CCBs) don't have an IAS suffix and 3 ED/IAS jewels are simply too expensive for them. Rating: 2-3.5/5 Lightsabre - well, it has low physical dmg and range (harder to aim WWs and fewer hits per spin) but it's damn fast and its magical/elemental dmg is helpful vs PDR chars (although it CAN be countered as well). Note that LS's ITD doesn't work in duels - "genuine" ITD from items/Jah rune is not supposed to work in PvP, it's a game feature. LS is also a great antilightning weapon (25% absorb) - the factor which raises its overall rating. Like my friend Skit said, good sword to practice precise whirls with. Since its swing is incredibly fast, it also works fine as Berserk weapon vs zons and other chars. Socket the blue lil' sword with Amn for dual leech bceause any dmg-enhancing options are pointless. Phase Blades simply have very low physical dmg. Extra IAS is useless as well since the sword is freaking fast anyway. Eth for BvB... although it's not really a good BvB weapon. Rating: 2.5/5 Grandfather - "the king of all swords" is not a top PvP weapon. It has great allround bonuses, nice AR boost (just great on 1.08 GF) and sensational max dmg but it lacks speed. Socketing the sword with Shael or an ED/IAS jewel will make it hit the first 1h break point, the second one is out of Grandpa's reach. 1.08 GF is very rare, it has lower dmg but sensational AR and life boosts. Almost all GFs on the market (and ALL 1.08 GFs) are dupes BTW. Grandpa is not a great dueling sword and it's terrible for BvB but if someone says that it's completely useless for PvP purposes, he's exaggerating. In fact, due to its nice overall mods and great dmg, GF is quite a decent tweaker sword. Socket it with an ED/IAS jewel. Rating: 2.5/5 Doombringer - I mention this sword because an elite unique weapon deserves it Doom has some really nice mods on it: LL, nice life and AR bonuses but it's a bit too slow for really effective dueling. Even with a Shael rune inside it cannot reach the -35 WW speed break point. Its min dmg is great but its max dmg is pretty low. On the whole, a decent sword but not the best option, especially considering its pretty high price. Socket it with an ED/max jewel or Ohm. Amn is also an option. Rating: 2/5 Other low-end options like Honor swords, some rare swords (an imbued ethereal sword could be quite impressive but I've never seen such a baby) and low lvl swords like Bloodletter. Rating: 1-2/5 Armor Jeweler's elite light armor of the Whale (4 socket +100 life Archon Plate for example) - socketed with four 40% ED/+15 max dmg (or similar) jewels. Some life and massive damage on it. Like I said above, BvB is all about leech and damage so this is a fantastic, perfect armor for barb vs barb duels. Perfect ED/max jewels are heavily duped and very expensive though, just like premade armors, e.g. Lacquered Plate 160/60 max +100 life on West. Making such an armor isn't cheap but like I said - BvB is for the wealthy. BTW, if you don't care about defense (possibly for 1.10) and want to use the armor on your melee BvBer only (it can be used on Gaze/Storm tweaker as well in some duels), it doesn't have to be elite (def doesn't matter in 1.09) and it doesn't have to be light (footspeed is not important in pure melee duels). Rating: 4-5/5 1.08 Arkaine's Valor - the perfect tweaker armor to be used with 1.08 Gaze. FHR, +2 skills, high defense (irrelevant in 1.09) and simply incredible life boost. In BvB duels it's inferior to ED/max armors but having 6.5-7k life or more can't be a bad thing in allround dueling. The major disadvantage of this armor is the fact that it's flat out impossible to get a legit one. The market is flooded with dupes. No one would want to sell a legit old Valor anyway, it would be priceless. Socket it with a perfect 40% ED/+15 max dmg jewel. Rating: 5/5 1.09 Arkaine's Valor - FHR, skills, defense and a nice (but far from godly) life bonus. A pretty good armor for the "Gaze rig" but nothing too exciting. In fact, I think that cheaper Lionheart is very comparable, if not better. Still a decent allrounder armor. Socket: see above (doesn't have to be perfect here). Rating: 3/5 Shaftstop - definitely the most popular PvP armor. Pretty low def, a modest life bonus BUT 30% PDR - this mod makes Shaft so common among duelers. It can be used in a combo with Arreat's, String and Storm to reach the maximum PDR in duels. An affordable, good tweaker armor. Ugly though :P Socket: ED/max jewel. Rating: 4/5 Lionheart armors (preferably light elite - with STR req below 189) - a very nice allround armor with resists, some ED, life and great stat boosts. If it had +2 skills, it would be by miles better than .09 Valor. It's still very good for tweakers using the Gaze rig though. Rating: 3.5-4/5 Guardian Angel - THE antisorc armor, especially for Hell duels. The blocking bonuses on it are secondary, the most important stat is +15 to all max resists. Great thing to have 90-95% res and some absorb It works great vs all attackers that deal elemental dmg, i.e. sorcs, FoHdins, trapassins, LF javazons. It's a "situational item". Use it when you need the max resist boost. Socket with Um (pure antisorc item). Rating: 3/5 Low-end options like Gladiator's Bane (FHR, CBF, MDR/PDR - not percent), Duriel's Shell, some rares, Stealth, etc. Rating: 1-2.5/5 Note on socketing - ED jewels with other nice stats are the best choice for armors since resists are easy to get elsewhere. The expensive Ber runes are good for people who don't have max PDR from mods on items (not really a recommended setup). Shields 1.09 Stormshield - the best PvP shield available in the game; PDR, high and fast blocking, STR bonus, some resists, great defense - great stats on a shield. For a good dueler, there are no other options. Stormshield is simply perfect. Quite easy to trade for but not the cheapest item in the game. Socket: just like armor, resists are easy to get elsewhere so go for a nice ED/max jewel. Ber rune only if you don't have maxed PDR from item mods. Shael is pointless because it won't make Storm reach the next FBR (Faster Blocking Rate) break point anyway. Rating: 4/5 1.08 Stormshield - for tweakers, 1.09 version is much better. Why? 1.09 Storm is a Monarch - STR req 156. 1.08 Storm is an Aegis - STR req 219. Besides, it's heavy so it incurs 10% speed penalty. However, it's the best BvB shield. Strength barbs don't have to worry about its high STR req and 1.08 Storm's block is 74%, 2% higher than on 1.09 SS. At lvl 99, it means 6 less DEX required to maintain max block (216 vs 222). Those 6 points can be pumped into STR Major disadvantage: all 1.08 Storms offered in the trade channels are dupes. Socket: 40/15 max jewel all the way. Rating: 4/5 1.08 Gerke's Sanctuary - some people might use it in melee duels but IMO, this shield is pretty useless. It has a nice VIT boost but no PDR or other really useful stats. Besides, it blocks damn slow so you'll be very prone to block-lock if you use it in allround PvP. It's also heavy which means 10% speed penalty. Socket: Shael for 4 fps block or ED/max jewel. Rating: 2/5 Whitstan's Guard - this shield from the Orphan's Call set has fantastic blocking - the best in the game. 75% on item is what you have on your screens guys but Whit's real block is 92%! It means that you can reach max (75%) block chance with this shield with a lot less pts in DEX. Its block is also fast - a very good cheap shield for lower levels/poorer players. Socket: ED/max jewel is too expensive for it. A plain half decent ED jewel is more reasonable. Rating: 2.5/5 Blackoak Shield - cold absorb, great DEX boost and other stats. A good antisorc item. Socket: Um (pure antisorc item IMO). Rating: 2/5 >low-end shields like Moser's Blessed Circle (sockets, res), Tiamat's Rebuke (elemental dmg), Lidless Wall (skills, no speed penalty), Sigon's Guard (skills, good block chance), etc. - Storm is by miles better and Whitstan's is IMO the best low budget shield but as temporary low-mid level solutions, they can be quite decent. Rating: 1-1.5/5 Helms 1.09 Arreat's Face - great dueling helm for tweakers, usually used in a combo with Shaft, Storm and String; AR, all res, STR/DEX, skills, good def, FHR, LL - superb allround mods on it. It's definitely the most common PvP barb helm on the realms. Socket: ED/max jewel of course Rating: 4/5 1.08 Arreat's Face - it lacks most of 1.09 AF's nice mods but it's a very good PvP helm for... throwers and hybrids. So if you wanna get those points in TM and DT and toss some sticks, this is a helm for you. It has two unique mods: +0.5 max dmg per lvl (can add quite a bit at high clvls) and the best mod: 15% (yes, 15%, not -15%) target's defense. It acts almost like ITD in duels so it's similar to Eth rune (but not as effective) AND it works with throwing weapons! Melee barbs don't really need it though because 1.09 AF has better allround mods, 1.08 Gaze rig is clearly better in BvB and ITD is not necessary at all in allround PvP. Barbs have a good hit rate anyway. Warning: almost all .08 Faces offered in trade channels are dupes. Socket: ED/max or ED/IAS jewel (hybrids). Rating: 3.5/5 1.08 Vampire Gaze - also used by tweakers with Valor, ED armor or Lionheart but it's the best and greatest BvB helm you can imagine. 25% PDR and great dual 8% leech are the strengths of this heavily duped and still expensive helm. With Storm and String, you reach max PDR so you're free to use a powerful ED/max armor which will boost your all-important BvB damage. Socket: ED/max jewel, if you have a legit 1.08 Gaze, don't socket it with imperfect crap Rating: 5/5 1.09 Vampire Gaze - a poorer version of the Gaze; 15-20% PDR, 6-8% LL and 6-8% ML. Costs less than the old one but is much worse, unfortunately. Even if leech and PDR are perfect, you still lose 5% PDR in comparison to old Gaze which means that you will have 70% PDR in duels with Gaze + Lionheart/Valor/ED armor + Storm + String (not a great idea) or you'll be forced to socket the helm with an expensive Ber rune instead of an ED/max jewel. That will lower your damage of course. Rating: 3.5/5 1.08 Harlequin Crest - I didn't give the shako a very high rating because it is a great PvM/MF helm but not so godly in PvP. It lacks PDR and leech and its huge life boost and +2 skills are a little less valuable IMO. Those 40% don't scale with BO, I must say I'm a bit skeptical about all +xx% life bonuses in general. Just my personal opinion but I wouldn't trade for this heavily duped helm as a PvP-oriented player. Rating: 3/5 Other options like Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest (dual leech, life, res - nice low budget helm), 1.09 Harlequin Crest (low PDR, skills), Crown of Thieves (LL, life, DEX), Stealskull (dual leech, FHR, IAS - useless with WW), Blackhorn's Face (lightning absorb), Peasant Crown (FR/W, dual stat, skills), Rockstopper (low PDR, res, some VIT), Natalya's Totem (dual stat, res), +2 barb rares etc. Rating: 1-2.5/5 Gloves Immortal King's Forge - good def (heh, yea, I know...) and nice +20 STR/DEX boost; very popular PvP tweaker gauntlets that allow us to keep base STR and DEX a bit lower. Their boost is equal to ca. 350 life with good BO and that's quite a bit. Rating: 4/5 Crafted Blood gloves - they can be really good, gloves like 6% LL dual stat with decent life would be really fantastic BvB gloves. Those gloves are sweet for BvBers because of their leech but tweakers don't need excessive LL so they usually wear IK's or rare gloves. Warning! Some of them are dupes, e.g. Shadow Grip on USWest (6% LL, 9 STR, 6 DEX, 19 life). Rating: 4-5/5 Rare dual stat life gloves - great tweaker gloves, stat boosts a bit lower than on IK's but life on them can make them even better than IK's if you do the math (examples: Spirit Grip or Beast Knuckle on West - anyone got them in LoD?). Extremely rare though. Rating: 4-4.5/5 Venom Grip - nice PvP gloves with poison res, +max poison res and LL (plus some poison dmg). If they were dual stat gloves, they would be awesome. Still very nice gloves for tweakers who duel psn users and BvBers because of their leech. Rating: 3.5/5 Sigon's Gage - not as versatile as IK's but decent for BvB duels in combination with Sigon's boots. 10% LL can't hurt. However, you will have to ditch Wartravs which will lower your damage. Heh... IAS is unfortunately useless for WW but it works with Berserk. Good low budget gloves and boots. Rating: 3/5 Hellmouth - just good fire absorbing gloves for Hydra sorc duels. Rating: 2/5 >other options like M'Avina's Icy Clutch (dual stat but worse than IK's), Magnus' Skin (some AR and useless IAS), Sander's Taboo (some life and useless IAS), etc. Note that I didn't mention any gloves with IAS and good PvM stats because they are not useful in duels (like e.g. Lava Gout or Laying of Hands). Rating: 1-2/5 Boots Wartraveler - yep, they are not only great MF boots but also a very good dueling item. Dual stat boots with good def and FR/W which add quite a bit of dmg. This damage can reach more than 200 on tweakers and over 300 on BvBers. The best melee barb boots in the game, IMHO. Rating: 4/5 Dual stat classic rare boots with resists and good FR/W - they are great boots, especially for tweakers. Their stat boosts are higher than on Wartravs but they don't add dmg which is why I still prefer Wartraveler. Anyway, nice boots, e.g. Wraith Spur or Storm Track on West. Rating: 4/5 Waterwalk - decent FR/W, nice life and DEX boosts. A good option. Maybe the best low cost boots you should use before getting Wartravs. The stat/life boost on perfect Waterwalk is very close to its equivalent on many classic rares but they're incomparably cheaper. Rating: 3.5/5 Sander's Riprap - dual stat boots with max FR/W. The boost is better than on IK's and Aldur's. Nice low cost option. Rating: 3/5 Aldur's Advance - life and dmg goes to mana plus highest FR/W. Good boots, comparable to IK's and Sander's. Rating: 3/5 Immortal King's Pillar - nice boots with 40% speed, some life and AR as well as good defense. Moderate partial set AR bonus if used together with IK's gloves (for non-Eth barbs). Rating: 3/5 Sigon's Sabot - used in a combo with Sigon's gloves. See gloves: Sigon's Gage Rating: 3/5 Other options like low-end classic or high-end LoD rares (heh), Natalya's Soul (dual res, max FR/W - good antisorc boots), etc. Rating: 1-2/5 What about Gore Rider? Only newbie barbs use them :P They believe GR are the best PvP boots because of criticals. Deadly Strike doesn't work on barbs though, with just one single point in a weapon mastery a barb ALWAYS inflicts double damage. That makes DS useless since it doesn't give you the chance to inflict quadruple dmg. CB doesn't work and 10% chance for OW isn't worth crap. Don't be a n00blar and leave those boots to pallies or druids, at least in 1.09 Belts String of Ears - the best PvP belt for barbs. No question about that. PDR + LL + good defense (ahem) + MDR. Very juicy mods - the best version is either 15% PDR/8% LL/15 MDR or 1.08. No wonder it's so popular. Also really cheap now. Rating: 4/5 Thundergod's Vigor - THE belt for sorc duels. Great dual stat item with lightning absorb which helps against TS/Nova sorcs, LF javazons, LS assassins and FoH paladins. It's probably the best belt out there for duels vs casters. Rating: 3.5/5 Snowclash - another antisorc belt, this time with cold absorb. If her FO hurts more than TS, equip this one Rating: 3/5 Nosferatu's Coil - well, LL and STR boost are good mods, IAS helps with Berserk but slowdown is usually considered cheap, even on barbs. Rarely used because SoE is better anyway (no PDR on Nosferatu). Rating: 3/5 Other low-end options like Immortal King's Detail (STR, resists), M'avina's Tenet (FR/W on belt - wow, also ML), Credendum (dual stat, resists), Wilhelm's Pride (dual leech), Bladebuckle (dual stat FHR), some classic rares, etc. - "poor man's selection". Rating: 1-2/5 Amulets Classic rare +2 barb LL dual stat amulets or dual leech single stat ones - some of them are really fantastic (especially for leech-thirsty BvBers) and pretty expensive. Life leech, skills, massive STR/DEX boosts, life or resists - great amulets. Example: probably the best PvP barb ammy on the realms, Shadow Necklace on USWest (+2 barb, +18 STR, +18 DEX, 4% LL, +17 AR). Rating: 4-5/5 Cat's Eye - very good ammy for speed-intensive duels (e.g. zons). FR/W, IAS (useless with WW but great for Berserk) and huge DEX bonus - good tweaker-oriented stats indeed. Sometimes it's better than "godly" classic dupes. Rating: 4/5 Crafted Blood amulets - I've seen a couple of nice ones, if you get a good ammy with +2 skills, FR/W, leech and stats it can be fantastic. Very hard to roll though, most of them are decent at best. Rating: 3-4.5/5 Crescent Moon - a decent and affordable amulet for BvB. Dual leech - juicy... If you duel many barbs and cannot afford a classic dupe, go for CMoon or Etlich. Rating: 3/5 Eye of Etlich - skills and pretty high LL. Decent cheap alternative for BvBers. Rating: 3/5 Mara's Kaleidoscope - stat boosts, skills and resists. Might be a good PvM ammy but in PvP it's clearly inferior to top amulets. For caster duels I prefer speed on Cat's (res should be maxed anyway), for melee duels Mara's lacks crucial leech... Rating: 2.5/5 Rising Sun - well, fire absorb for Hydra sorcs. Both versions, 1.08 (ouch) and 1.09 are quite BM (bad manner) Rating: 2.5/5 Other options like Saracen's Chance (stats, resists), Mahim Oak’s Curio (stats, resists), non-leeching classic rares, etc. Rating: 1-2/5 What about Highlord's Wrath? If you read the paragraph about Gore Rider boots, you know why Highlord's isn't really useful either. The 1.08 version with FR/W is decent but otherwise it's a very overrated ammy. +1 skills isn't too impressive, DS doesn't work on barbs and IAS is useless with WW. Cat's owns Highlord's. Rings Crafted Blood rings - best BvB rings because of high leech. If you get a ring with 10-11% LL, dual stat with decent life, you crafted a godly and very expensive item. People are ready to pay insane amounts of Stones for them. Excellent not only for BvB duels but also for tweakers who can use them in a combo with Ravenfrost (if they have ML elsewhere). Warning: there are some well-known dupes around, e.g. Grim Hold on West (11% LL, +15 STR, +14 DEX, +12 life, +18 mana). Rating: 3-5/5 Classic rare dual leech rings with e.g. DEX, AR and resists - very useful rings especially for Arreat's users without ML on gear. They are extremely popular and common because most well-equipped tweakers use them. Example: Raven Spiral on USWest (7% ML, 6% LL, +15 all res, +13 DEX, +148 AR,...). Rating: 3.5-4/5 Ravenfrost - AR, massive DEX and cold absorb. THE antisorc ring with a mod that's necessary in many duels (Cannot Be Frozen). Don't duel a cold dmg zon/sorc without this mod Because of CBF, I give this ring a high rating. It's simply needed in many duels. Cham in armor or shield is also possible to get CBF but it means sacrificing dmg (no ED jewel). The stat boost on Raven is nice as well (+20 DEX max) so the only thing you lose in comparison to Cham-based gear (dual stat LL ring instead of Raven) is potential leech which is no biggie for a tweaker. Not needed in BvB because being chilled doesn't affect WW hit rate and speed is useless in melee duels. Rating: 4/5 Classic rare LL dual stat rings with AR or other stats - really nice rings. Leech, stats, resists are all very useful. For BvB purposes, their leech is a bit too low. Most Arreat's/Shaft tweakers need dual leech on jewelry so the rings I'm talking about now are not nearly as popular as dual leechers. Example: Bitter Hold on West (6% LL, +14 DEX, +12 STR, dual res, +139 AR). Rating: 3-3.5/5 Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band - decent ring with skills, nice life boost and LL. Very nice option if you can't afford or don't want to buy CD2 dupes. Rating: 2.5/5 Other rings like mid classic rares, top D2X rares (heh), Manald Heal (ML), Dwarf Star (fire absorb) and other cheap jewelry for less wealthy players. BTW, don't use SoJs on barbs Rating: 1-2/5 Charms Fine Small Charms of Vita - very nice life boost on a small charm plus some AR and max dmg. Very useful for tweakers (in combo with Fine SCs of Inertia) and simply great for BvBers. A good BvBer's inventory should be filled with 40 charms like that (preferably 3 max/18+ life). Too bad those charms are extremely expensive now. Many people want them - maybe my humble guide contributed to this situation just a little bit as well Rating: 4-5/5 Fine Small Charms of Inertia - great tweaker charms with max dmg and FR/W on them. Also expensive but not as costly as Fine of Vita. Every allround barb should use them in a combo with Fine SCs of Vita (like 20/20). Rating: 3-4.5/5 Sharp Grand (or Large) charms of Vita - AR and max dmg boosts + extra max dmg or life. Decent charms for BvB, especially for barbs with pretty high life who can sacrifice some HPs for even more dmg. Rating: 3-4/5 Shimmering Small Charms of Vita/Inertia - all res charms with second mod, perfect for sorc duels in Hell if you're lacking resists (or for huge, stacked res vs FO sorcs and FoH pallies :P). Rating: 3/5 Sounding Grand Charms of Vita - warcries and life, great way to reach very high amount of HPs. Not really 1v1 charms but if you use many of them in TvT (team vs team duels), your team mates will love you Rating: 2-4/5 Pestilent Small Charms of Vita/Inertia/Anthrax - very good poison dmg (particularly effective in Hell) and life/speed boost or even more poison, heh. Excessive psn is considered cheap and barbs shouldn't use it IMO. Still, some of them are good for public PK games. Rating: 3-4/5 Other charms like plain speed/max dmg/life/FHR/res charms - note that those charms are much cheaper than all the top versions mentioned above. BTW, Combat skill charms are pretty useless even with 2nd mod (+1 WW and Berserk, 3 inv slots, lol), Masteries are better but not really great either. Pure Warcry charms without extra mods are pretty low-end as well. Rating: 1-2/5 Weapon Switch Two Echoing (+3 warcries) weapons are very good here, just switch to your warcry weapons, cast BCommand, cast BO and switch back to primary gear. Many PvP barbs use this setup. Shop Larzuk in Hell for Echoing 1h weapons. You can socket them with Fal runes (+10 STR) in order to prevent your barb from popping if he dies with weapon switch on and full inventory. It's useful for tweakers who rely on their Storms to equip their swords. Notes on Equipment Rare jewels can be potentially great (+max/min dmg and other nice mods for example) but since most rare jewels are real crap with 3 pitiful stats on them, I consider rare good jewels really RARE You could theoretically get some godly crafted items in 1.08, a bit better than 1.09 perfect crafted gear. However, crafting 1.08 items is obviously not possible anymore and I don't know anyone who ended up with godly stats on 1.08 crafted items anyway. Next : Dueling and Class-Specific Strategies 0 Please log in to post... Please log in. Use your Diii.net Forum account. Username: Remember me? Password: Want to register?     Lost password?