|
|
 - Planet Diablo - D2 Trading Post - Tomb of Knowledge - Email me |
Diablo II The goal of being a Barbarian is to be the toughest guy possible. You don't get pets, or thorns, or fancy spells to help. You only get yourself and have to be a savage. I put the majority of my skill points into combat mastery. I put points into swords and maces but wish I would have only put points into sword mastery. I got an awesome flamberge, a giant sword, off of Mephisto called the Doom Razor and picked up another flamberge called the Ghoul Gutter in the fourth chapter. Dual-wielding flamberges is awesome! They are meant to be two hand swords but to barbarians they can be used one handed. I hit for 41-90 with my main hand and 13-55 with my offhand, with attack ratings of 725 and 754 respectively. Ironskin is a must! I put 10 points into ironskin, almost doubling my defense, and wish I could have put more instead of messing with warcries. Warcries are for pussies. Most warcries are group oriented for one, which is pointless if playing a one player game. Secondly, warcries take A LOT of mana which means you'll have to waste level up points on energy if you want to use them. Dropping a point into Stamina and Speed combat skills helps too when they become available. Don't spend more than one point on either though, because you hit the point of diminishing return very quickly. If I would have hit level 30 I would have started investing all my points into the Resistance combat skill. Resistances are very important to a barbarian! I had to make up for it with equipment, otherwise casters would have cooked me alive. Starting in chapter 3, it becomes nearly impossible to advance as a barbarian without getting some resist gear. I considered it a fair trade off in equipment to drop 100 defense to make sure my Fire/Cold/Lightning resists were over 40. By the end of the game I was able to balance: 394 defense 274 hit points fire resist MAX cold resist 44 lightning resist 49 poison resist 18 immune to being frozen 75% recovery from poison fastest hit recovery I also loved the double swing line, upgrading to frenzy when it became available. Since putting extra points into double swing doesn't significantly help I only placed a couple points into it, saving points for combat skills and frenzy. Adding points to Frenzy helps immensely because it extends the time you are in a frenzy. I have 8 points in frenzy and it lasts 5 seconds. Plus, since its only 3 mana to use frenzy, and my sword regains one mana per kill... I usually break even on mana! For stats, I beat the game at level 27 with: 80 Strength 60 Dexterity 60 Vitality 20 Energy These stats served me very well. Strength effects how hard you hit and how heavy of weapons and armor you can use, so obviously its the most important stat to a barbarian. Dexterity effects your attack rating, or your chance to land a hit, and slightly raises your defense. Vitality effects your Hit Points, and barbarians need a lot of hit points. Energy effects your Mana, but keep in mind one point of Energy only raises a barbarian's mana by one. This makes Energy a very inefficient investment of points for a barbarian. |
