Table of Contents
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I. Version History
II. Introduction
III. Skills
a) Warcries
b) Combat Masteries
c) Combat Skills
IV. Recommended Skill Allocation
V. Recommended Stat Distribution
VI. Equipment
VII. General Strategies
VIII. Boss Strategies
IX. Recognition
X. Contact Information
I. Version History
v. 1.00 - 08/19/2005 - Initial Information
v. 1.10 - 01/21/2006 - ASCII title added
II. Introduction
I think Leap Attack is cool. What more can I say. =D
Every Barbarian you see lately is virtually identical, and
the Dragoon is a little different. It's not as viable a
build to solo Hell difficulty with, but it's a hell of a lot
of fun on it's own. Dragoons use Leap Attack as their primary
mode of attack. It's a fun build with quite a lot of options.
It'll be a challenging ride, but the Dragoon can be a realistic
choice for someone looking for something a little different.
III. Skills
There are only two skills the Dragoon actually NEEDS to max,
so that leaves you with over fifty points to use as you
wish. I'll be outlining what I believe to be the best route,
but feel free to change the build to suit your own needs.
a) Warcries
The heart and soul of most Barbarians. The Dragoon utilizes
only a few Warcries, similar to other builds.
When used, it'll send all enemies in a small radius running
away in fear. This can be extremely useful for the Dragoon,
as this build has a very powerful attack, but lacks sufficient
crowd control. After using Howl, you can pick off stronger
enemies one by one with Leap Attack.
Final Decision: A single point will be sufficient.
It's a great stand alone skill, and also a prerequisite
for the other warcries we'll be using.
You can use it to search the body of a slain monster for a
potion. It has a low percentage of working, and considering
how easy it is to find potions, it's a pretty worthless skill.
Final Decision: Zero points. If you want to use Grim Ward, a
single point in this skill will suffice.
Causes a single monster to attack you, regardless of the
situation. Also reduces the target's damage and attack rating
by a negligible amount.
This can be a useful skill to lure a tough Unique Monster's
minions away and kill them off one by one. It's not something
you'll need to rely on either, though.
Final Decision: Either none or a single point, depending
on your playing style.
Doubles your defense for twenty seconds with a single point.
More points will give a larger defense bonus and a longer
duration. Handy, but not really need apart from being
a prerequisite for Battle Orders.
Final Decision: One point. If your Dragoon gets to the lofty
heights of level 90+, you may want to put a few more points
into this skill, as it is a synergy for Battle Orders. More
points into Shout will give Battle Orders a longer duration.
Similar to Find Potion, except it will find a random item with
an even lower precentage of success. There are magic find
Barbarians that utilize this skill to its utmost potential,
but the Dragoon has no use for it.
Final Decision: Zero points, or one if you want to use
Grim Ward.
Reduces the damage and defense of enemies in a small radius
by a fairly decent amount. This isn't a bad skill by any means,
but simply isn't as cost effective as other skills you could
be putting points into.
Raises your Health, Mana, and Stamina by a goodly amount
for a short amount of time.
This skill can be a godsend, and it's always nice to have
when playing multiplayer. The duration is small, but can
be raised with its synergies, Shout and Battle Command.
You can use this skill on a slain enemy to create a totem
that will ward off enemies. It has a small radius, but some
people absolutely swear by it. Grim Ward can be useful in
areas that are swarming with powerful melee enemies.
Final Decision: One point or none. Entirely up to you.
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War Cry
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Required level: 30
Description:
Damages and stuns enemies in a nearby radius.
There are builds that center around this skill, but it's
trivial for a Dragoon.
This is a fantastic stand alone skill. One point increases
your overall Stamina by 30%. You get it pretty early, so it'll
save you time not having to pause and rest. Any more points
into this skill is a waste, as the bonus is hardly noticed,
and you'll have enough stamina later on anyway.
Final Decision: A single point.
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Iron Skin
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Required level: 18
Description:
In the same vein as Increased Stamina, a point into this skill
raises your overall defense by 30%. More points will only raise
your defense by a small amount, so one point will be all
you'll need.
Increases your resistance level to the four elements by
a small amount with each point.
This can be extremely important in Hell, especially if your
equipment is lacking.
Final Decision: A single point should be enough. If you find
yourself struggling to keep your resistances up, you can
put more points into it as needed.
c) Combat Skills
The Dragoon's main skills come from this tree. There are
only several Combat Skills the Dragoon needs.
Allows your Barbarian to leap a distance over obstacles
and enemies. When you land, you'll be given a small 'cushion'
in the form of knockback, executed against all enemies
near your landing point.
Leap is a synergy of Leap Attack, and is essential to
the Dragoon Build. Apart from raising Leap Attack's damage,
you'll be able to leap quite a distance at higher levels.
You'll also be able to leap through places with winding
terrain, like the Arcane Sanctuary and the jungles of
Act 3.
This lets you leap into the air, and strike an enemy when
you land.
Even though Leap Attack hits once, it's one of the highest
raw damage skills the Barbarian has at his disposal. With
both Leap and Leap Attack maxed, Leap Attack will do 870% your
normal damage, as well as adding 335% to your attack rating.
All that for only 9 mana a pop. =D
With enough + to skills equipment, it wouldn't be unrealistic
to have Leap Attack at 1000%+ damage.
Final Decision: The essential skill of a Dragoon. Max it.
Pretty much every Barbarian needs this skill to survive
Hell difficulty.
This skill uses magical damage instead of physical, and
allows you to defeat Physical Immunes.
Final Decision: One point is enough.
IV. Recommended Skill Allocation
There are two skills that absolutely must be maxed for the
Dragoon - Leap, and Leap Attack. Everything else can be
planned however you like.
I'll be listing the build I find most effective:
20 points in Leap Attack
20 points in Leap
20 points in Battle Orders
20 points in the Mastery of your choice
After these 80 points are spent, you can use the rest
of the points however you like.
Boosting Natural Resistance or the duration of your Battle
Orders would probably be the best bet for you.
V. Recommended Stat Distribution
Thankfully, the Dragoon's stats are fairly easy.
Strength should be just high enough to use your equipment.
Anywhere from 100-170 should suffice, depending on the
Mastery you chose, and the equipment you have at your
disposal.
Dexterity will be in a similar vein.
Leap Attack gives a 335% bonus to attack rating at
level 20, so you should only have to worry about
having enough for your equipment.
If you chose a Mastery that allows a shield, you'll
also have Max Block to worry about. Anywhere
from 100-200 should suffice.
Vitality. Every point not spent in Strength or Dexterity
goes here. It's quite simple.
Energy will be ignored completely, as you'll never
really have mana problems, especially later on.
VI. Equipment
Weapon:
This will be tricky, as it depends entirely
on the mastery you chose. Since the Dragoon reigns
supreme mostly in Nightmare, most mid level uniques
and runewords will be more than enough, especially
coupled with a fully synergized Leap Attack's massive
damage output.
Shield:
Also depends on whether you chose a weapon that allows
the use of a shield. A Stormshield socketed with a Perfect
Diamond is always a popular choice, considering it's not
too expensive and fairly easy to acquire.
The Sanctuary or Ancient's Pledge rune words can also
do well if you're strapped for resistances.
Helm:
Arreat's Face would be ideal, especially upgraded to
its elite form.
A Delirium made in a Barbarian helm with +3 to Battle
Orders is also a nice choice, as it'll give +2 to skills
and a chance to cast several curses as you strike.
Cheaper alternatives like Peasant Crown or even
Duskdeep can work for you if you're low on funds.
Armor:
Enigma or Chains of Honor would be ideal, but many
people aren't well off enough to get their hands
on one.
Stone, Gloom, and Smoke are also viable alternatives,
using much cheaper runes and still being somewhat
effective.
Belt:
Verdungo's Hearty Cord.
Faster hit recovery, 10-15% damage reduction, and
a hefty boost to vitality. Fairly easy to trade
for as well.
Gloves:
Dracul's Grasp / Steelrends.
Dracul's will give you a chance to cast Life Tap,
25% chance of Open Wounds, and a nice amount
of life leech.
Rends will increase your overall damage by quite a bit,
as well as adding 10% Crushing Blow and a small
boost to Strength.
Boots:
Goreriders. Hopefully upgraded.
Easy to acquire, and give Crushing Blow, Open
Wounds, and Deadly Strike.
They also don't require much strength to use.
Rings:
Lots of options here.
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band, Raven Frost, even
Dwarf Star can work out.
Rare rings with resists / dual leech are
optimal as well.
Amulet:
Mara's Kaleidoscope would be ideal, but cheaper
alternatives like Saracen's Chance can be great
alternatives. Even a Nokozan Relic can help
if you're in dire need of some fire resist.
VII. General Strategies
To be honest, the Dragoon's strategy is quite simple.
Hit and run is the name of the game, especially later
in the game when crowds become more and more common.
Leap Attack has an enormous damage output, but hits
only a single opponent.
You'll have to utilize both Leap and Leap Attack to
their fullest to overcome some areas. Leap will let
you get in and out of the fray, and knockback enemies
to give you a chance to fly into Leap Attack.
When you're in the air, nothing can hurt you, and
you need to use that fact to your advantage.
As long as you don't get mobbed, you should be able
to hold your ground and get past most enemies.
Skills like Howl and Taunt can allow you to
manipulate enemy movements and let you strike
desired targets at will.
VIII. Boss Strategies
The name says it all
We'll describe how to take on each boss with our Dragoon,
with tips for each difficulty.
You won't have too much trouble with Andariel, especially
early on. If you chose the Spear or Polearm Mastery, you'll
take her down with normal attacks incredibly quickly. As long
as you guzzle an Antidote before hand, her poison won't be
too bad.
On higher difficulties, you'll have Leap Attack to make up
for her increased capabilities. It'll be easy to use
a mercenary to distract her while you clobber her health
away with leap attack.
If she starts damaging you too much, or your merc is killed,
just TP back to town, health up / resurrect your merc, and
jump back into the fray.
Pretty much every encounter with Duriel goes down the same way.
His freezing ability combined with his high movement speed
makes Leap Attack difficult to use properly, so you'll be
left to fend for yourself.
On Normal, normal attacks will be enough so long as you
have average defenses. Heal when necessary, and he'll
drop pretty quickly.
On Nightmare / Hell, you'll have Berserk and a more useful
Mercenary and better equipment. As long as you don't let him
stunlock you, you should take the win easily.
Normal and Nightmare Council won't trouble you too much; you
can use the same strategy as most characters and simply lure
them away one by one and slaughter them with your strongest
skills, in our case, Leap Attack. These guys are high on
offense, but lacking in Health and defense, so your Leap
Attack should make short work of them, provided you stay
away from Hydra and getting ganged up on.
Hell difficulty is another story. You'll have to try to
lure them away, but their attacks are much more damaging.
This isn't to say it's impossible, but you'd probably
be best off getting some help from a friend or in
a public game for this one.
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The nice thing about encountering Mephisto with any Barbarian
is that you can just leap across the moat and not have to deal
with the Council members close by him.
Provided you don't awaken any of the Blood Lords above Mephisto,
he's a breeze for a good Dragoon on any difficulty.
His Lightning attacks and Frost Ball are easy to leap around,
and there is a lot of space to maneuver with Leap Attack.
If he's damaging you too much, you can leap back across the moat,
use Leap Attack from there, and then leap back to safety.
It'll take awhile, but he'll succumb to the awesome might of your
Leap Attack eventually.
One of the easier bosses for a Dragoon to take care of.
He's pretty much the same on every difficulty.
The only thing you really have to worry about is his massively
powerful Lightning Hose. This will basically kill you in seconds
on any difficulty. Luckily, it's easy to dodge, and can't hit you
if you're in transit with Leap. =D
Stick to a combo of using Leap Attack to close the distance, and
Berserk when he's not using his Lightning Hose.
One he gestures that he's going to use it, Leap away, and Leap
Attack back in. He'll fall in no time.
I'll never understand why Blizzard decided the last boss
should be such a defensive one.
Any build that moves around a lot really can't be killed by
Baal, only annoyed.
He'll knock you back, freeze you, and burn your mana away, but
he'll never really be able to hurt you.
You'll use a similar strategy to the one you used against Diablo,
except you won't have to bother dodging any powerful attacks.
The combo of Leap Attack and Berserk will take him out after awhile,
provided you ignore the double he makes of himself and concentrate
solely on the real Baal.
IX. Recognition
- El Sabotender, for being my special little guy
- Diamond Angel99 ... you broke my heart, man, but whatever...
- awksamurai <3 <3 <3
- Blizzard, of course, releasing patches even now to maximize
both our gaming and purchasing experience
X. Contact Information
If you find any errors, or have something to say, let me know at:
AUNAOyo@gmail.com
