tldr: make war cry mana cost similar to other “spammable” skills like lightning, fire ball, blessed hammer.
The reason no one is making war cry barbs is because of the extreme mana costs of the skill. The huge cost was probably set because it’s a level 30 skill. The mana cost should reflect how the skill is used instead of what level it is. Let’s compare it to frozen orb. It’s also a level 30 skill and has a similar mana cost to war cry (44 mana at level 40 vs 49 of lvl 40 war cry) but it has all those projectiles that make the mana cost justified.
War cry is used much more like “spammable” skills e.g. lightning, blessed hammer, fire ball etc. and should therefore have a mana cost similar to those skills. In my opinion it should have the same low mana cost as blessed hammer. A war cry barb would never be able to compete with the damage output or clear speed of a hammerdin or a sorceress anyways but it would still make it less of a pain to play and increase build diversity.
Below are some examples of mana costs:
lvl 40 war cry: 49 mana
lvl 40 frozen orb: 44 mana
lvl 40 lightning: 27.5 mana
lvl 40 fire ball: 24.5 mana
lvl 40 blessed hammer: 14.7 mana (lol)
(edited the post to make it a bit easier to read)
15 Likes
i 100% agree! the dmg buff is nice (think I could have been around 60-100% to make a real difference) but WE NEED a mana change at least cut it in half.
3 Likes
So true. The 30% damage increase is also abysmal. While it is a start, it doesn’t do much for the very low damage war cry is doing.
And you hit the nail on the head with the mana cost. They halved the mana cost for some zon skills but should do the same for war cry.
4 Likes
Mana cost is crazy high …also make it unblockable , i cant belive skills like dragon talon and claw are unblockable but war cry is …
3 Likes
10000000000000% Agreed
and dragon talon has attack rating btw LOL what a joke!!! doesnt miss or get blocked and hits faster LOL
this REALLLLY needs to be unblockable in pvp, if they are worried about the stun being too much just put diminishing returns on it or something.
Or dont up the dmg just Change the damage to magical idk anything is better than it being blocked 75% of the time haha, 100 warcries 75 of them blocked OOF outta belt pots by then as well btw haha
or 75% block + amazon avoidances = 100 warcries 5 land lmao its just pathetic truthfully.
i made a post on this as well that imo has some valid points.
Warcry Buff? Or false hopes - PTR Feedback - Diablo 2 Resurrected Forums (blizzard.com)
2 Likes
I disagree with the above. Singer barbs should remain a niche build for ppl who don’t like the meta. The buff they are getting is warranted, but a Sanctuary full of Singer barbs is not the Sanctuary for me.
1 Like
to each their own i suppose. i just think the 30% damage is a joke 200 warcries to kill baal instead will take what 140? likely more? just seems a bit silly.
and to have 1 build for a barb? when every other class has multiples that are viable in pvm/pvp?
“and to have 1 build for a barb? when every other class has multiples that are viable in pvm/pvp?”
This I agree with. The combat tree is full of interesting underutilized skills that should eventually be translated into viable builds. Buff concentrate, buff bash, buff double swing, buff stun, buff ww. Any/all would be cool to see over time.
But warcry is a level 30 skill…bash double swing stun conc arent and its still all melee.
it SHOULD be better than the above listed and possibly on par with WW in my opinion. My barb is using just about the best items on d2r for a singer at the moment and its SO underwhelming. even in pvm its terrible
btw using 9 45life lifers rest of my scs are 20/11’s and 1 20/16 mana 20/20 torch n anni with 2 barb 3 bo 3 wc rare helm crafted caster 20% fcr high mana all res ammy etc around 7.5-7.6k hp max block setup.
1 Like
Warcry is level 30 because its original use case was aoe stun - it was intended to be a powerful utility skill. FCR warcry builds look/sound terrible, and don’t fit the class fantasy.
That said I do think it’s an interesting option for ppl who like weird or not often seen builds.
Id have to disagree with the notion that it doesnt fit the class fantasy.
it doesnt HAVE to be a niche build if they just removed it being able to be BLOCKED in pvp how does one go about blocking “Sound”? or a “Spell”? it and i “think” shockwave? are the ONLY 2 blockable spells in the game but yet 2.4 is bringing armageddon into non blockable physical skill? and Nado is a non blockable physical skill just seems off honestly. and i think blizz devs could make tremendous improvements to its viability in pvp instances.
I’ve got good news for you. You’ll never see singer barbs in sanctuary because the damage in p8 is beyond bad. Because of this it will always be a niche/solo build.
and talking about class fantasy and silliness: nothing looks more silly than a fistpumping paladin with tiny hammers flying around it 
1 Like
100% agree i’ve put it in my PTR report, the buff is nice, makes it usable now, the mana is STOOOOOOPID EXPENSIVE for no good reason, its not exactly over powered compared to most other builds in the game.
should be like 30 mana.
1 Like
more like 20 mana! even hammers have mana cost lower than 15
2 Likes
Completely agree, its frustrating that the entire community is asking for a mana cost reduction for War Cry and it falls on deaf ears.
It’s disgusting how cheap Blessed Hammers is compared to War Cry. Blizzard, how can you call this balanced?
Blizzard, please further reduce the mana cost of War Cry to 0.60 per level to improve cost-effectiveness.
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