gear for the most part is the basics you all know and remember
jalals, gores, dungos angelics + 1 raven until jalals is chammed
gloves are laying of hands
obviously d torch and anni ( resists matter most)
but the big new changes for 2.4 … are
armor is now treachery (ias works 
)
weapon is now cranium basher but u can use ribcracker until 89
swap out act 2 merc for act 3 fire merc
give him flickering flame, +2 plague fireball ormus, and lidless
you lose the might aura and the pride from act 2 merc as well as the high ED on fort,but since u have 90% crushing blow it really doesn’t matter,
the enchant is a huge AR boost ( lvl 89 merc has lvl 37 enchant ( it would be 38 if my plague didn’t roll +1 instead of +2)
and there is a major skill change as well
now u put 1 point each wolf and grizzly
and use prebuff spirit’s ( hoto prebuff if u can afford it but thats excessive)
because cranium basher has such a high str req i recommend a -15% req jewel with 40 enhanced damage, that will lower the str req by 40 but you can also just show a hell in it for -20% req.
use prebuff on your summons
your merc will enchant them
they don’t do much physical damage but they tank REALLY well and they do good enough fire damage to kill physical immunes
and your merc fireball hits for about 3k
this allows u to have no immunes.
your merc and your pets will deal with physical immunes
and those annoying monsters that spawn things liek maggots and flesh spawners never spawn fire immunes so your merc fireballs melts through them easy allowing your fury to connect with the main targets much easier
skill points
max fury
max lycanthropy
max werewolf
max oak sage
1 point grizzly and each wolf
(unused pre-req skills are only raven and rabies)
rest of points go into feral rage
NOTICE feral rage skill description is bugged
here is how it actually works
for each “swing” of feral rage that connects you upgrade your spinny change ball by 1
the max amount of charges you can have is determined by the skill level of feral rage
at lvl 1 you can have max 3
at lvl 2 you can have max 4
all odd levels starting at lvl 3 will NOT add a max charge despite what the skill indicates’
every EVEN level. will add one max charge ( starting at lvl 2)
the correct life leech value for each lvl can be seen on the advanced stats tab
if feral rage misses ( due to attack rating miss) you wont get your next spinny orb or refresh spinny orb duration)
but for reference
it is
skill lvl 1 → 12 life leech (3 feral swings to to reach max life leech )
skill lvl 2 → 16 life leech (4 swings to to reach max life leech)
skill lvl 3 → 16 life leech (4 swings to to reach max life leech)
skill lvl 4 → 20 life leech (5 swings to to reach max life leech)
skill lvl 5 → 20 life leech (5 swings to to reach max life leech)
skill lvl 6 → 24 life leech (6 swings to to reach max life leech)
skill lvl 7 → 24 life leech (6swings to to reach max life leech)
skill lvl 8 → 28 life leech (7 swings to to reach max life leech)
you get the idea…
THE TOOLTIP IS WRONG!!!
you can verify this by looking at the advanced stats tab
also keep in mind that life leech works at 50% effectiveness in nightmare and 33% in hell
Total Leech = Total Physical Damage * (Leech%) * (Penalty) * (Drain Effectiveness)
and every monster has a leech value
if said monster leech value is zero… it cant be leeched from… ( you can view each leech value on the arreat summit
example http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/monsters/act5-baalsminion.shtml
for example minion of destruction has a drain value of 50 in hell
this means in hell if u have 100% life leech it becomes 33% because its hell and then 16.5% because minions have 50% leech value
pretty much every type of “skeleton” monster has no leech value. only monsters with “flesh” have one
nm and hell mephy also havw no leech value
and hell diablo has no leech value
you can use dracs “life tap” to steel from monsters with no leech
it grants 50% life leech with no reductions and ignores leech value and hell pentalty
if you wanted to do “pure phsyical” and go crazy high physical damage
you could grab highlords and swap jalals for g-face, put on the raven again put fort back on and go ebotd thundermaul and use the act 2 might and with pride again…
but thats way more expensive and u again deal with phsyical immunes.
but its an option if u dont mind having things immune to you.
you lose a ton of crushing blow and the abiltity to deal with physical immunes but gain tons of raw damage and have a high deadly strike chance to do double damage
FAQ
1 What items do i prioritize when leveling?
i would make sure you get your ribcracker asap, its going to be a long road before u can hit 89 and equip cranium basher, you can also easily get a +1 skills helm, +1 sigons shield and spirit sword for prebuff early
make sure you put 1 point in each wolf as they become available.
get CBF ( cannot be frozen) as soon as possible
dont be afraid to put some point into feral early if u need life leech getting it to lvl 4 or 6 is ok, but keep in mind that a better weapon means more damage which means more life leech, its going to be far more effective than adding points to feral
dont max oak before lycantropy
your oak is going to die a lot early on before its maxed
get werewolf to around lvl 6 early-ish for attack speed
but the main skill you will be maxing before you hit 30 is lycanthropy
dont bother putting enough str points for cranish basher…
once you hit 89 save one of your respec’s for it
when leveling just do enough str for gear and then pure vit
getting a bit of mana leech will make leveling easier, but since you will be respecing you can also consider putting a point in hunger, i dont personally like to do this
because hunger takes 3 mana to use so if u get hit by mana burn it wont help where as mana leech will help, especially if u are hit mid-fury your remaining fury of that fury hits will steal mana back
2: What are some good low levle gear peices before my main equipment
rib cracker is the most import thing u can get you will be using it as soon as u can equip it
dureils shell is VERY nice if u cant get a lem
for armor any + 1 skills helm is good for prebuff before u get jalals
for boots u can use “goblin toe” before gores
for gloves bloodfist is nice
i also like using low sets like
hsarus or sigons when leveling
or if your really lucky you can use death’s
as that has CBF and you can finally up the belt
getting angelic asap is going to help with attack rating
but you any sorce of cbf you can find… even if u have to drop something else
the only thing that you should prioritize over CBF is ribcracker.