Make Barbarian Great for Patch 2.6

General Discussion
1

It’s saddening the Barbarian is receiving the short end of the stick with all these changes. For Patch 2.6, the developers should seriously consider the below recommendations to return the Barbarian to greatness….

Barbarian

  • Grim Ward - used on any corpse
  • War Cry - reduce mana cost to 0.60 per level and make skill unblockable
  • Concentrate - change Bash synergy to Shout, which complements this uniquely defensive build and increase Berserk synergy to 3% (up from 1%)
  • Berserk - need to always hit. Skill should not rely on attack rating (magic damage)
  • Iron Skin - add PDR of 0.5% per level (thematically able to absorb huge hits)
  • Taunt - will now taunt monsters in the immediate area (no longer single target)
  • Whirlwind - will now proc “on hit effects” and don’t apply diminishing returns to weapon IAS (only other equipment). This places more importance to weapon IAS, which harkens back to old mechanics
  • Frenzy - remove Taunt synergy and adjust the other synergies as follows:
    • Double Swing: +8% damage per level
    • Berserk: +3% magic damage per level
    • Increased Stamina: +6% damage and
      +0.4 seconds per level
  • Find Potion - increase drop chance for Rejuv Potions, add chance to find Throwing Potions, add new Double Throw synergy that adds damage for:
    • Strangling Gas Potions
    • Choking Gas Potions
    • Rancid Gas Potions
    • Fulminating Potions
    • Exploding Potions
    • Oil Potions
  • Increased Stamina - grants a passive increase to faster hit recovery per level
16 Likes
2

how about add the on hit modifiers into WW, because what’s the point of having Gavel of Pain for instance if the amp damage never goes off. Would give more weapon options than just the ones we have now.

4 Likes
3
  • straight up delete stun … useless pathetic excuse of a “skill” put whatever usefull there . I would go as far as adding a skill requiring holding a weapon with both hands , just as double swing /trow and frenzy req 2 weapons…

Buff 2 handers un general (i would go as far as 100% 2h damage a Cross the board and scale down). Losing a ton of mods and block chance should come with greater power. After that… make 2h ww posible to reach 4 fpa as it used to.

Heavier armor should have innate %DR. (Already coded in but innactive ) … significant DR to jautify investing that amount of stre in said armor.

I could Even gladly take a nerf to find item … the skill that currently Holds the barb down. Fix the barb , but more inoortantly … fix melee.

2 Likes
4

Agreed, the developers should replace Stun with a new skill “Barbaric Strike” that requires a 2H-weapon equipped and grants 1-2% Crushing Blow per level. It would be nice to see a skill in the Barbarian repertoire that is dedicated to 2H-weapons.

1 Like
5

New unique facet for melee, with melee splash damage and some other bonus could help melee build in clear speed a lot.

something like:

Obsidian Jewel

  • melee damage now splash
  • 25 % bonus attack rating
  • 15 % attack speed
2 Likes
6

Shouldn’t require a corpse. The amp effect should affect champion, elite, and Bosses as well…

4 Likes
7

Taunt should be AoE not single target

7 Likes
8

BotD still not triggers the poison nova when killing something with whirlwind would make him so much more fun to farm cows with.

1 Like
9

Fixed in OP.

  • Whirlwind - will now proc “on hit effects” and don’t apply diminishing returns to weapon IAS (only other equipment). This places more importance to weapon IAS, harkens back to old mechanics. Overall goal is to make 2H weapons viable
3 Likes
10

I think the “problem” with barbarian is he is so gear dependent he becomes unplayable. Take a look at older patches where barb was king. All he needed was mana and life leech which were easier to get then, lower level requirements, higher values and wasnt cut in nm and hell. And a decent weapon you could shop for.

Barbarian never got proper adjustments through all the patches. He was left behind without extreme gear hes barely viable.

2 Likes
11

Good suggestions

Also,

  • Combine all weapons masteries into a single weapons mastery skill, providing

    • The basic AR and damage bonus, plus distinct benefits for choosing specific weapons class, such as
      • Spears / Polearms gain +2 increased range ( up to 7 (5 is current max)) and additional enhanced damage
      • Blades gain additional open wounds chance
        • Daggers also gain increased IAS
      • Maces gain additional crushing blow chance
      • Axes gain additional deadly strike chance

  • Allow Proc on strike with war cry.

  • Increase war cry damage by 2-3x

  • Double Throw should function with single hand throwing (similar to strafe) to allow use of a shield.

  • Increase Damage of Double Throw by 2x

  • Increase Range of Throwing Daggers / Axes

  • Double throw / throwing mastery enhanced damage bonus should function with potions as well ( and potions need a big damage boost )

  • Leap attack needs a speed boost. It can be gained via synergy.

  • Barbarians need an overall AR boost

  • Add Weapon block skill for barbarian that functions when utilizing a weapon without shield (it should provides around max 50% block rather than 75%)

  • Increased speed needs a better speed bonus at higher levels

  • Natural Resistance needs a better speed bonus at higher levels

  • Increased stamina should be combined with increased speed.

5 Likes
12

Berserk would be desgustingly op if it always hit. Look no further than impale…

13

What, is the barb now an Assassin?

14

Looks at Paladin, nothing about the Barbarian is disgustingly op, even with these changes.

1 Like
15

isnt that the current status with grief? (excluding the 5% missing from the 95% cap)

1 Like
16

To make barb great the simple way i deffo will just have 1 tab weapon mastery none of this axe, swords,maces, polarms or whatever.
Increase overall damage by 25% on everthing.
Add auto damage reduction 25% so a barb can tank.
Add a skill where 10% chance of negating any attack and some elements get absorbed. This way the barb can tank too.
Throw potions significantly needs damage and upon throwing get one back if it hits crically like onnthe thorw barb.
Increase 2handed weapon significantly.
Increase block chance and fast hit recovery by 35%.
Finally the WW needs more AoE so it can hit 3 monsters wide.

For cosmetics when enchanted the fire weapon the ancient has that is what you will be carrying.

2 Likes
17

Sounds like you want a new game. I’m not holding my breath for D2R players to craft the game to their likeing.

What we all want is Diablo 2 THE GOOD EDITION.

18

Cant tell if you want a good barb or keave him the way he is.

1 Like
19

I don’t want a new game, I just want WW to not suck, singer barb more than a meme build, find potion actually useful, grim ward not gimmicky, more value for iron skin, etc.

20

That’s the case for all melee builds. Weapon damage scaling is horrible since 1.10 due to higher mob HP and physical resistance.

You literally need a 300%+ ED eth weapon or Grief to have a viable melee build whereas casters can do well in simple mid level caster gear like Spirt and Viper. Compound this with the fact that virtually all unique weapons are useless in hell…

4 Likes