Barbarian Help Pls

So I rolled a Barbarian. Prior to D2R release, I played single player WW Barbarian, and it was…somewhat satisfying, but I switched to Frenzy on D2R BNet.

But I’m not sure what I’m doing to be fair.

Currently, my goal is the following talent tree:
Bash 20
Double Swing 20
Double Throw 1 as a pre-requisite
Frenzy 20
Sword Mastery 20 (Can switch to something else if I get different weapons, but so far, I’ve only found good swords).

Increased Stamina 1 (Seems optional, might drop)
Increased Speed 1 (Seems optional, might drop)

Howl 1 as a pre-requisite
Battle Command 1
Battle Orders 1
Shout 1

Iron Skin 1 as a pre-requisite
Natural Resistance 1+ as needed for Hell mode

I’ve seen several different build options, so I’m not sure if this is decent or not. I’ve seen Leap on builds, but frankly, I find Leap clunky an useless. But I’m not sure if this is a good point allocation or not.

Beyond that, I switched to Frenzy from WW because I found WW lackluster when it came to boss fights. Change my mind though…what is a good Barbarian build?

For reference, as Frenzy, my rotation is simply to hit Battle Command > Battle Orders > Shout, then tap Frenzy, and Double Swing away, refreshing Frenzy as needed (primary skill is Double Swing, and secondary rotates between the commands and then Frenzy).

Am I doing it wrong?

I maxed out battle orders, it’s a pretty big increase in life and I feel really squishy without it.
You also say you “tap” frenzy and switch to double swing, iirc frenzy needs a couple of swings before it reaches max stacks, if you’re only keeping 1 stack up you’re probably missing out on A LOT haha

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yeah, hold down frenzy for a few swings, then you can cycle it in once every few seconds once full stacks are up.

WW is great overall, but the build tends to utilize concentrate with crushing blow for bosses. It’s the tradeoff. WW has great crowd clearing, a bit slower on bosses (not by much at higher end though). Frenzy has faster boss times, slower group clearing.

Its a pick your poison thing. I prefer WW…it’s frustrating for me to spend more time in trash clears, and with good gear boss fights are just a bit slower overall.

But Frenzy/Dbl swing is easier to level with and less gear dependent. Slows down in late normal/nightmare though without decent gear. Both builds are melee and gear dependent ultimately.

Leap isn’t bad. It can help if your needing to give yourself some space. Leap attack is easier to work with if you just use it for bridging gaps, but lacks that knockback that leap is good for.

I tend to prefer leap on my WW builds since jumping in the middle of a pack can be deadly unless you have a second to get the WW going. So leap in, which knocks them back a few paces, then WW through.

Thanks for the replies. I’ve found out that I need to hold Frenzy a bit longer than I had…and that alone made a difference. I think at this point, it’s a gear-finding mission…which I’ve created a Sorceress for (and interestingly, she’s already 6 levels higher than my Barb). Hopefully I find some more gear and can move on some more.

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I do Frenzy/DblSwing Barbarian with WarAxe set. Upgrading works tremendous wonder prior to nightmare, and helps well into Nightmare. The Runeword Armor I use for the moment is “Myth” I think it’s (Hel,Amn,Nef in that order) and it gives health regen + 10, + 2 to barb skills, and +30 missile defense, and it can go a loong way.

However, if you plan to Runeword gear: You CANNOT upgrade that class of Armor, or Weapon. So you’ll need to find higher grade grey items(Not Ethereal) (Exceptional gear and Elite)

And you CANNOT runeword a Blue Item Socketed set, it must be Grey NOT Ethereal, either, unless the items you make are indestructable, or has ‘repair’ in it.

You can google “d2 upgrade gear” and you’ll find what you’re looking for. (I cannot post a link to it, sorry, Blizzard wont allow it)

Other solid options for rune armor:

  1. Smoke (Nef+Lum), +50 resist all and solid defenses. It will carry you through NM easily
  2. Lionheart (Hel+Lum+Fal) poor man’s melee armor. Nice blend of stats, defense, and resists.
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