I remember having a barb when I was a kid and I swear the standard was not using griefs. All the guides and videos I watch now suggest griefs, so I’m so confuesd. Can anyone explain if I was remembering things wrong or somethings changed ?
-I swear the norm was like eth breath of dying (axe) and a Beast on the other. Switch beast to doom for other situational use. Also use storm shield and an eth Botd 1hand sword(i think) for like against pvp bowzon or some other situational use.
PK was popular so I think the standards were set to be pvp ish gear that also do great in pvm. I could be wrong tho I was just a kid. But I don’t ever remember any barbs holding phase blades(griefs or not) at all, everyone was using dual axes or 1hsword/strom shield. I thought grief was mainly for paladin~
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I can’t exactly remember when the transition occurred, but when the new runewords were released with patch 1.09, ebotd weapons were sought after first before the ladder only items came up in patch 1.10, 2003.
It took a bit to catch on, but it was soon discovered that the +damage mod on Greif, and how it gained damage from other modifiers, was different and more powerful than any other single handed weapon, especially with ww.
Due to range and speed for ww, the common pvp weapon for barbs became the Greif Berserker Axe (BA). Arguably* the best pvp dual wielded combo was Greif-BA/Beast-BA due to the damage stack from fanaticism, AR and open wounds. There have been countless tests and discussions over the years about this.
*(vs greif/grief)
Greif in a phase blade is more pvm focused in my opinion, because it doesn’t break, which can be really annoying. It does have less range, but really of no consequence for pvm operation. Also, since Grief damage comes primarily from the +damage mod (and deadly strike), the min/max damage on the base weapon doesn’t make a huge difference overall. Base speed on a phase blade is very fast, so it 's flexible/useful for the other barb skills.
ebotd is still an awesome weapon. I like it personally due to the dual leech, which allows more flexibility with ring slots.
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Thinking back on it some more, I remember non-ladder well geared up bvb barbs using, ebotd colossus blades, eth zod Arreats, eth zod Arkaines Valor and stormshield. Then not long after fort/grief combos started stomping those builds.
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Ok so ebotd/beast was a thing right. Eventually somehow people discovered grief was good on barb then it transitioned into grief/beast? I see~
So ebotd/beast isn’t meta anymore but i remember it owns, how does it compare to grief/beasts tho assuming everything else is same. Is the dmg difference that big?
An average (375%ED) BOTD on a non-superior ethereal Berserker Axe (average damage 47.5, or 71.25 due to ethereal) does 338 damage.
An average grief (+370 damage) does 417 damage, including the Berserker Axe base.
But both Griefs need to roll 35% IAS or more, otherwise you can’t hit the last WW breakpoint with a Berserker Axe. You can hit it automatically by using phase blades, but then you have a higher dex requirement and lose range, making WW less practical (not an issue if you’re exclusively running Frenzy). BOTD also provides large amounts of dual leech, even on low rolls, whereas Grief does not. Finally, 2x BOTD gives you an extra 60 Str and Vit, making up some of the damage shortfall and giving you a ton of life.
You’re not going to have much trouble killing things with either one. Trash mobs will melt either way, while crushing blow is your main damage dealer against bosses. With dual leech and large amounts of +attributes, BOTD probably brings more to the table than Grief, allowing you to dedicate the rest of your gear to defences that keep you alive rather than trying to do even more damage.
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^
Thank, this info helps ALOT~
Grief pbs are for pve to eliminate repair costs and because you reach max ww ias w any roll grief.
Grief/beast BAs for pvp for range and efficiency but you have to roll 35% or higher ias to reach max ww with them.
Botd can still be useful against druids to
Leech from their summons but otherwise not so much.