For Season 3, I urge the developers to buff the underperforming Concentrate Barbarian by changing the Bash synergy to Shout (w/ modest bump in damage from 5% to 7%) and increase Berserk synergy from 1% to 3%. From the word itself, Concentrate seems like a skill that should always hit and retains class fantasy. Lastly, the skill should be able to reach 7 frames per attack, which would drastically improve the viablity in pvm. The proposed changes are summarized below…
Concentrate
- Shout: +7% Damage per level
- Battle Orders: +10% Damage per level
- Berserk: +3% Magic Damage per level
- Attack rating removed and skill now always hits the target
- Increase max attack FPS from 9 to 7, with 8 FPS being new easy-to-achieve norm
In the end, with all the class balance changes in Patch 2.4 that expanded character build diversity, it’s saddening Concentrate was left in the dust and is really a lost opportunity to empower players to be creative with building a Concentrate Barbarian.
6 Likes
Sounds good. Too bad it wont ever happen.
2 Likes
I think the Devs should consider adding a cleave mechanic to underperforming single target melee attacks. There is very little incentive to use them right now over WW, Zeal or Fury unless they give really useful utility.
4 Likes
Yeah I mean Conc in theory has that utility with the defense bonus, especially if OP’s always hit suggestion happened. Unfortunately in practice defense isn’t super meaningful (at least in PVM) and single target can be a pain for sure.
2 Likes
They did a slew of balance changes in 2.4. I’m hoping they consider a few more tweaks to underperforming skills in a future Season.
In theory, but I don’t ever worry about defence in PVM. Something in the realm of Berserk is what I’m talking about, it helps you get around physical immunes so even 1 point in it is useful.
Conc being like smite would be useful for two handed boss builds
1 Like
Except cleave would make those skills better than ww or zeal because they aren’t aoe skills. They are ST attacks that just attack really fast.
The only diff in d2r is that ww hits twice, 1 for each weapon if dw. So in a sense it’s already better than frenzy because of that.
Even with all that buffs, it would still be bad 
While you hammer away 2 monsters, a Java will annihilate the entire screen 3 times.
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My version of cleave would be up to 2 adjacent enemies next to your primary target
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I’ll take what I can get 
, but it would atleast move the needle in the right direction for Conc Barbs. I think the premise is sound, but may need some number tweaks.
And as JPRG74 mentioned above, Conc being like smite would be useful for 2H boss builds.
I would be tempted to give cleave to Concentrate and always hit to Berserk. Might make Berserk too OP for pvp though…
1 Like
Reading the lore about Concentrate, what about giving it also %OW per level in addition to the proposed buffs in OP? Seems like it would fit the fantasy…
Concentrate
“A Barbarian trained in this skill learns how to focus his strength into a single blow that cuts through the guard of an enemy and slices through their armor.”
2 Likes
Made some edits for completeness.
Concentrate
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Have Concentrate do +1-20% damage with each successful attack/hit (based on char level and/or skill level/synergy level) and cap it at +40-60% damage
(e.g.,
successful attack 1 = normal dmg from all synergies, weap, and items, buffs, etc
successful attack 2 = additional +20% dmg,
successful attack 3 = additional +40% dmg
successful attack 4 = additional +60% dmg
Successful attack 5 = additional +60% dmg
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Have synergy be Shout instead of Bash as you mentioned.
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Increase max attack FPS from 9 to 7, with 8 FPS being the new easy-to-achieve norm.
Beserk
- Have Beserk skill drop defense to -75%, instead of -100%
- Increase max attack FPS from 9 to 7, with 8 FPS being the new easy-to-achieve norm.
- Increase amount of attack rating given per skill point in Beserk
Side note: Remember when the synergy for Beserk was “Shout”? How did they let this go on for so long? It’s the stupidest synergy combo of all time.
1 Like
Completely agree with this change and added to OP for developer consideration.
Given the lore always hit on Concentrate makes sense, maybe cleave on Berserk then.
1 Like
That could work.
However, another approach to consider is Concentrate always hits, Berserk remains the same, and Stun is replaced by Cleave, which requires a 2H-weapon equipped and would hit up to 2 adjacent enemies next to your primary target as you mentioned previously. This way, we can replace Stun, which is utterly useless.
It would be nice to see a skill in the Barbarian repertoire that is dedicated to 2H-weapons.
Yea so that already makes it better than zeal or ww or fury
Depends on situation. In mobs you can probably get more out of a cleaving attack but it doesn’t do anything in single target. Zeal is good with both single target and mobs.
Or replace Stun with Cleave. Have more points increase number of enemies hit or increase the swept angle of the attack depending on if mechanics are setup to hit all enemies in given arc or x number of enemies.
1 Like