Now that they announced the next season, I was thinking of making a Concentrate Barbarian.
What do you think of the idea of using the Beast runeword ?
Level 9 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped (+29% ias, +169% ed)
+40% Increased Attack Speed
+240-270% Enhanced Damage
+20% Chance of Crushing Blow
+25% Chance of Open Wounds
Also I was thinking of using a two handed weapon, but other guides suggest one-hand + shield.
Do you have any thoughts on that?
Thank you.
Concentrate adds another layer of %Defense when you’re using the skill. So, if you have Iron Skin and Shout already, Concentrate adds another additive %Defense boost and to maximize said boost, you’d roll a Sword/Board setup since the Shield would grant extra Defense and Damage mitigation via Block should something manage to get through. I wouldn’t recommend Beast simply because you can get that via Mercenary. BotD, Grief, Death, or something with good Deadly Strike/CB to maximize what damage you do in a 1-H setup is what I’d strive for.
The 2-H setup trades attack speed and defense(including block) for raw damage. BotD, Eternity, Oath, Death and Unbending Will are solid options, although I recommend Indestructible runewords for Ethereal base weapons. Some Unique options can be Ethereal Hone Sundan(Upped w/ Zod + w/e you want in the last 2 sockets), Ethereal Tomb Reaver(w/ Zod + w/e you want in last 2 sockets), Ethereal Reaper Toll(Zod) or Ethereal Kelpie(Upped with Zod). Might scoff at Kelpie but 75% Slow is insanely strong.
In that case I think I will give my mercenary a Faith for the fanaticism and go with a shield.
I liked Beast because it gives both CB and OW. But it is more expensive and the numbers aren’t very high. (Death 50CB)
I don’t really like Death, because it lacks IAS.
I will check the breakpoints with various weapons though and then decide.
The problem I have with giving fanaticism to my mercenary is when doing Ubers, they will not stay alive.
I wouldn’t use Concentrate on Ubers. The level difference alone makes that a moot point as they’ll still hit you reliably regardless of what your Defense Rating happens to be. Death may lack IAS but it’s the only runeword that can hit 100% Deadly Strike AND 100% Crushing Blow. Not even the super expensive Last Wish can do that. If you were to use Death on Ubers, it would have to be in a Frenzy setup with dual Angelics and even then, you’ll have issue hitting Uber Izual and Baal thanks to their Chilling Armor. It might be best to just not bother and use a different class(like Mosaic Assassin that trivializes it or Smiter).
Against normal bosses though, dual Death Barb with A1 Faith is straight up strong as hell.