DISCLAIMER:
This is property of KIRBIX (Sean D'Hoostelaere). This may be not be
reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not
be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance
written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any
public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
In plain English, this means that it is against the law for you to copy this
guide. If you want to print it out, that's fine, but I do not permit its use
anywhere on the web or for it to be used for anything profitable.
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|Table of Contents|
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I. Version History
II. What this guide is for (Potion-find barb? o_O? What The ****?)
III. Skills
a. Warcries
b. Combat Skills
c. Combat Masteries
d. Putting it all together
IV. Skill Allocation
V. Stat distribution
VI. Equipment
VII. How to USE it
VIII. Mercenary
IX. Contact Me
X. Credits
I. VERSION HISTORY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.0- first version; this was an idea of roos that needed to be tried.
2.0- I needed to fix the damage on the thunder maul... I was almost "mauled" for
not doing so.
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II. WHAT THIS GUIDE IS FOR (Potion-find barb? o_O? WHAT THE FUCK??)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have several guides, as you probably know- paladins, sorceresses... various
stuff for each character. Now, each of these guides shares something in common:
they're all specifically designed to kill quickly and effectively.
THIS guide, on the other hand, takes the game in a whole new direction. This
build is NOT designed to beat the game quickly and efficiently. Rather, this
is a build that focuses on an ability that is, frankly, the least battle-like
of ALL abilities.
Don't expect to get anything serious out of this build. It's a great way to
acquire full rejuvination potions and is LOTS of fun, but it's not a serious
build at all.
The goal of a potion-find barb is to find potions and items. However, not just
any potions or items; full rejuvination potions and rare items. This build is
designed to be powerful enough to take on the enemies up to mid-nightmare, so
that it's got access to some monsters that drop some halfway decent stuff. The
abilities that this barbarian uses are designed to wipe out entire floods of
enemies- find potion and find item need you to have lots of corpses, after all.
SO, we're making a build that has a powerful mass-killer: warcries.
:D I won't go into further detail- I'll save that for later. For now, let's go
over what he needs to make the build viable.
ONE THING TO KNOW: This build is not designed for new players. Those of you who
are not familiar with Diablo 2 will have no interest in this build. This is a
build designed for a player who wants to try something new, and HAS ENOUGH MONEY
WITH WHICH TO DO SO. I repeat- you need money, as you need near perfect
equipment to have any enjoyment out of it.
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III. SKILLS
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Barbarians have a variety of skills; some are useful, and some are not. As a
whole, they're all worth a point or two.
I'm only listing skills that are either used or are prerequisites. If you dont
EVER put a point there, they won't be listed.
IIIA. WARCRIES
###################
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Find Potion~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: Loot a corpse in the hope of finding a potion
This is the bread and butter of your build. Basically your barbarian has a
chance to fiddle with a corpse to get a potion out of it. There's a 60% chance
that it will be health, 30% chance of mana, and a 10% chance of a rejuvination
potion.
Adding points to find potion increases your chance of finding a potion....
Oddly enough, you're going to want 1 point here. Adding points is REALLY
pointless. It's far more thrifty to just let +skills do the work for you.
Terrible skill if you ask me... However, this build is based in warcries, and
howl is a synergy for your abilities; max it.
~~~~~~~
~~Shout~~
~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: Raise Party Defense
Great skill; very useful. However, it's not worth many points. With +skills,
you'll be quite capable. One prereq point.
~~~~~~~
~~Taunt~~
~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: Drive the enemies into an attacking frenzy
Another pointless skill, just like howl- and, just like howl, max it because
you need to synergize it with war cry.
20 points... blah
~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Find Item~~
~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 12
Effect: Check corpses for more items
Another core ability, just like find potion... once again, 1 point. While
it's important to get a high percentage, the percentage levels off at ABOUT
60%, no matter what. We're talking about approximately 5% difference for 19
extra points... I think not.
POWERFUL cry; a must for any barbarian. Extra health and mana are a must, and
the extra stamina... well, it's nice.
1 point; +skills will still make it ridiculously powerful.
~~~~~~~~~
~~War Cry~~
~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 30
Effect: Damage and stun your enemies
This is your attack spell; here it is. It requires lots of synergy points,
as well as lots of +skills, but once you get it powerful, it's POWERFUL. Lots
and lots of damage to entire crowds, as well as stunning them. A pain in the
neck to make good, and useless in hell- however, PERFECT for up through the
Nightmare difficulty.
20 points
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Battle Command~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 30
Effect: +1 to all skills
Great aura, but it doesn't get better w/ more points.
1 point here.
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IIIB. COMBAT SKILLS
#####################
~~~~~~~~
~~ Bash ~~
~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: damages enemies and pushes them back
Cheap and effective, but overall not a powerful skill. 1 point prereq
~~~~~~~~
~~ Leap ~~
~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 6
Effect: Jump up! and land, pushing enemies back
Great skill to move around with. Put a point here and utilize it from time to
time.
~~~~~~~~
~~ Stun ~~
~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 12
Effect: Stuns your enemies for a long period of time
Yea... it stuns them. YAY... :yawn: Just use War Cry.
1 point as a prerequisite.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~Concentrate~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 18
Effect: Focus and get a bonus to your attack and defense ratings.
Good attack skill, but not as good when you're pumping so many points into
cries.
1 point as a prerequisite.
~~~~~~~~~
~~Berserk~~
~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 30
Effect: at the loss of defense, do massive magical damage to your foe
This is an awesome ability for your barbarian. Recieving giant boosts in
damage from your war cries, it will successfully demolish anything in your
path. When you're trying to take down tough enemies and/or bosses, this is the
way to go.
Obviously you don't need the magic damage, but war cries are so weak... berserk
gives a quick-kill method for things like super uniques and act bosses.
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IIIC. COMBAT MASTERIES
#########################
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ace Mastery~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Level: 1
Effect: increased damage and attack rating for all maces
Why mace mastery? Well, you're going to be using a huge mace- the thunder maul.
That's right, you heard me- the thunder maul. Why, you ask? It's got the
highest damage AND can hold the last wish rune word.
1 point and let +skills carry you home.
While not being particularly useful, it's a prerequisite for another skill that
is quite useful. It's also innate, which means you never have to think about it
once you have the point; it applies automatically.
o_O. This ability kicks ass. With +skills, it's an automatic... oh, 50%? Since
you're not going into hell, this means you always have a really REALLY good
resistance amount. 1 point, and let skills do the rest.
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IIID. PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
###############################
Now, it's time to look at where to put what:
The find-potion barb is a singer barbarian in build, so you need to get war cry
and all of its respective synergies maxed.
20 Howl
20 Taunt
20 Battle Cry
20 War Cry
This is the bulk of your build, and will be your quick killer. That leaves you
with only 30 more points to spend...
==
1 Find Potion
1 Find Item
>_> Duh- you're building a barb to get potions and items; you need these.
These abilities will help with the basics of your barbarian. Leap gives you the
ability to move quickly, while the 4 bonus abilities only make your barbarian
that much beter. As for mace mastery, since you're weilding a mace, mace mastery
is the only option that's plausible.
==
1 Battle Orders
1 Shout
1 Battle Command
These three auras will kick some ass when used in conjunction. +defense, +health
and +skills... HELLO? HELL, YES, that's useful!
==
1 point concentration
1 point bash
1 point stun
These are the prerequisites for berserk
==
All other points will go into Berserk, as berserk synergizes with the cries for
massive damage.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
NOW, here's the kicker; what order do you allocate?
Let's assume now that you're not attempting to do much in the way of actually
TRYING the game with this character. You've had several characters before, and
now you're just getting a rush to level 85, or something of that nature. That
gives you 97 points off the bat. If we get all your abilities except the war
cries and berserk, you use up a total of 14 points, meaning you get 83 to
spend. Well, that's easy- 20 into the 4 cries and 3 into berserk. Frankly,
the sole fact that you're level 85 should make nightmare a joke, but just in
case, you'll have a kickass war cry and a hefty berserk with almost 500% magic
damage. o_O!
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V. STAT DISTRIBUTION
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\ /\ /
Strength
/ \/ \
You're a barbarian; you ARE strength. However, the game has changed; now,
the primary purpose of strength is to wear equipment. As a barbarian, you will
have the strongest weapon of all- the thunder maul. You need 255 strength to
wield it, and your equipment will provide 80 of it; do the math, and that's 175
strength that you need to get on your own.
\ / \ /
Dexterity
/ \ / \
Like with strength, you need as much dexterity as is necessary to equip
everything. 75 is required for wizardspike... so, get 75!
\ /\ /
Vitality
/ \/ \
The most important of the stats- place every extra point into vitality. You'll
need the life, I guarantee it- not to mention that with battle orders, you'll
get a definite bang for your buck.
\ /\ /
Energy
/ \/ \
NO POINTS IN ENERGY. It's a total waste when you're a barbarian... vitality
gives such better returns.
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VI. EQUIPMENT
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This build is designed to have perfect equipment to optimize its usage. Skip the
garbage low stuff and cut to the chase, eh? I'll explain why at the very end
instead of doing it piece by piece.
**HELMET**
\Harlequin Crest (unique shako)
/Defense:98-141
\+2 To All Skills
/+1-148 To Life (Based On Character Level)
\+1-148 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
/Damage Reduced By 10%
\50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
/+2 To All Attributes
**ARMOR**
/Enigma (3-socket armor) Jah+Ith+Ber
\+2 To All Skills
/+45% Faster Run/Walk
\+1 To Teleport
/+750-775 Defense
\+0-74 To Strength (Based On Character Level)
/Increase Maximum Life 5%
\Damage Reduced By 8%
/+14 Life After Each Kill
\15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
/+1-99% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
\(Based On Character Level)
**BOOTS**
\War Traveler (unique battle boots)
/Defense:120-139
\+150-190% Enhanced Defense
/25% Faster Run/Walk
\+10 To Vitality
/+10 To Strength
\Adds 15-25 Damage
/40% Slower Stamina Drain
\Attacker Takes Damage Of 5-10
/30-50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
**BELT**
\Arachnid Mesh (unique spiderweb sash)
/defense:119-138
\+90-120% Enhanced Defense
/Slows Target By 10%
\+1 To All Skills
/+20% Faster Cast Rate
\Increases Maximum Mana 5%
/Level 3 Venom (11 Charges)
**WEAPON SET 1 (used for warcries)**
/Socket a Flail with Heart of the Oak- Ko+Vex+Pul+Thul
\+3 To All Skills
/+40% Faster Cast Rate
\+75% Damage To Demons
/+100 To Attack Rating Against Demons
\Adds 3-14 Cold Damage, 3 sec. Duration (Normal)
/7% Mana Stolen Per Hit
\+10 To Dexterity
/Replenish Life +20
\Increase Maximum Mana 15%
/All Resistances +30-40 (varies)
\Level 4 Oak Sage (25 Charges)
/Level 14 Raven (60 Charges)
\+50% Damage To Undead
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
\Wizardspike (Unique Bone Knife)
/Damage: 23 to 49
\+2-198 To Mana (Based On Character Level)
/50% Faster Cast Rate
\Regenerate Mana 15%
/Increase Maximum Mana 15%
\All Resistances +75
/Indestructible
**WEAPON SET 2 (Used with Berserk)**
\Socket a Thunder Maul with Last Wish- Jah+Mal+Jah+Sur+Jah+Ber
/6% Chance To Cast Level 11 Fade When Struck
\10% Chance To Cast Level 18 Life Tap On Striking
/20% Chance To Cast Level 20 Charged Bolt On Attack
\Level 17 Might Aura When Equipped
/+330-375% Enhanced Damage
\Ignore Target's Defense
/60-70% Chance of Crushing Blow
\Prevent Monster Heal
/Hit Blinds Target
\+0.5-49.5% Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
**JEWELRY**
\Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band (unique ring) x2
/+1 To All Skill Levels
\+0-49 To Life (Based On Character Level)
/3-5% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
\+50 Maximum Stamina
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
\Mara's Kaleidoscope (unique amulet)
/+2 To All Skill Levels
\All Resistances +20-30
/+5 To All Attributes
OK, so here's the rundown- Faster Cast Rate allows you to spam the war cry, so
with your total Faster Cast Rate of 110%, you'll hit the second to last FCR
breakpoint for some massively fast spammage. You should EASILY wipe out your
foes with your eyes closed.
All in all, you have +12 to all skills. If you're using a hellfire torch and
an anni, you'll get +16 to all skills. 7 Warcry grand charms gives you +23
to find potion, find item, and your war cry attack. Seeing as you're planning
to stick to Normal and Nightmare, you will be the SHIT out of anything that gets
in your way.
Total + resistances? Well over a hundred- you could probably go into hell with
maximum resistance.
You get a total of +70% mana, which on top of the +250 that you'll get from
your items, as well as battle orders... Yea, you'll have enough. If you wanted
to get into technicalities, you have just under a thousand mana. Now, that's
only 20 castings of war cry, but seeing as you're using find potion on every
corpse, and seeing as you get mana potions more often than you get full
rejuvination potions, you'll always be able to pick up the dozens of mana
potions you come across in the game.
This setup is killer for a war cry barbarian, and you'll find tons of potions
and items with this baby. However, be sure to deck it out like this; I don't
hold myself liable if you get your ass kicked when you don't use what I tell
you to use. I can't stress enough that this build isn't tested to work without
the best scenario possible, so once again: THIS IS FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN AFFORD
EVERYTHING THAT I SUGGEST.
@#$@#$@#@$@#@$@#@$@#@$
>_> by the way, that's all for the weapon set 1. Weapon set 2 is designed to
be a boss killer. Thunder Maul with Last Wish is UNREAL; incredible CB and
ridiculous damage; you will thrash anything that gets in your way.
I wish I could explain the damage formula. Unfortunately, it is ridiculously
complex and long. However, here's a final number for you to toy with- 14,000 per
swing. In Nightmare, there's not a single enemy, boss or otherwise, that you're
not going to slaughter in a heartbeat.
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VII. HOW TO USE IT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, now that you've endured all of my talk, it's time to give you an overview of
how this things gonna go down.
WarCry kills lots of enemies, and it does it fast. You won't have mana issues
because:
A) You're level 85
B) You have 70% extra mana by way of equipment, and another 104% extra from
battle orders, which more than doubles your mana.
C) Find potion yields tons of mana potions as well as rejuvination potions. If
you find yourself running low on mana, you simply pick up a mana potion and
chug it.
As for berserk, the thunder maul will rip enemies in half, with high CB and
high damage (36,000!)... yea, most bosses won't know what hit them.
Now, I've sort of left find potion and find item go to the wayside; don't get me
wrong- they're still dead useful. I suppose it's time to lay down what this
build is going to do.
WHY THE HELL DID I JUST WASTE MY TIME? WHAT AM I DOING WITH THIS, ANYWAY?
***************************************************************************
You will take your barbarian to an area infested with enemies on the normal or
nightmare difficulty- the act 4 river of flame, the act 5 frozen tundra, and
most especially, the cow level.
Using war cry, you will demolish the enemies quickly. They will die, and will
naturally drop their items. From there, you use find potion and/or find item
(Up to you based on what you're looking for) on all of the corpses. With a 10%
chance to find a full rejuvination potion, you'll easily pick up an entire
inventory of full rejuvs in no time flat, and if you're using find item, you
get another shot at picking up rares, sets, and uniques.
The MAIN purpose of this build is to find potions. The idea behind this was to
get an entire inventory of Full Rejuvination potions, trade them off to a mule,
and you can then sell the mule. Let's say you have a full inventory AND
stash of these things- we're talking about 96 slots (with a horadric cube.)
That's a lot of full rejuvination potions.
Of course, some people have noticed that you really can't sell a character very
well... so, you sell full rejuvination potions for perfect gems, which you can
EASILY turn into rarer items. 96 perfect gems translates into an ist, more or
less. 10 minutes of walking around the cow level guarantees an ist for you,
in theory... >_> I admit, it's not quite that effective, but it's damn near
it!
And, of course, you can use find item on super uniques and bosses to get another
shot at finding some rarer items, but generally speaking, you're looking for
potions.
NOW, with the recent 1.11 quest (another FAQ altogether; read up if you're in
the dark), it was suggested that this build be made in conjunction with a
smiter and a lightning sorceress. The smiter and lightning sorc can quickly
run the 3 keys, kill the bosses, and your find-potion barb can supply them
with all the potions they need. People who churn hellfire torches may find
this is a quick way to restock your full rejuvs. It's a well-oiled machine to
finish chaos tristram over... and over... and over.
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VIII. MERCENARY
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The mercenary really doesn't need to do much except not dying. Some thinking was
done for this one- what's your mercenary going to do? You DON'T want holy freeze
as you need every single corpse, and you already have might...
The solution? An act 1 rogue merc using fire arrows.
"..what are you, high?"
"Faith" is an incredibly good runeword, and it's in a bow. Level 12-15 fanat
will be immensely powerful, especially on top of your might. Give your merc
a faith bow, and she serves a useful purpose.
Beyond that, just give her high defense so she doesn't die; I leave her armor
choices for you to decide. Guardian Angel and Andariels Visage are always
winners, so you might want to give them a shot.
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IX. CONTACT ME
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Busy as I am, writing all of this stuff, I still am always open to comments,
questions and suggestions. If you want to contact me, my email address is
kirbix@gmail.com, and I answer questions quickly and promptly, most of the time.
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X. CREDITS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roos- This thing was his brainchild. He said one day that he thought a barbarian
that specializes in potion finding would be useful... I think he was joking,
but whether he was or not, it's here today because of his idea.
Wolfy- This guy's a freakin' genius when it comes to building a character. Roos
and I sort of messed with the idea of this build, but Wolfy was the one who
gave it definite shape and made it useful.
Arreat Summit- Best D2 Website on the internet, except maybe gameFAQs
GameFAQs, CjayC- My favorite gaming website is, was, and always will be GF.
I always enjoy writing for you guys, and I hope this place lasts for many
years to come.
