I read allot “guides” but every guide seems to be nothing more then a parrot… that repeats the same old song over and over.
Yes I get it… a Grief Phase Blade is the BIS for almost everything melee/1h.
What I want to know is… what Unique Weapons are among the top weapons to look out for, and especially what do I need to look out for in a weapon while leveling up when playing a Barbarian on Berserk or a Paladin on Vengeance. Both skills seem quite similar in a few things though Berserk isn’t as picky as Vengeance when it comes to what is taken into consideration for the damage calculation.
I can’t speak to Berserk or Vengeance specifically, however when I play a Zealdin, as I level up, the 3 unique weapons that I look for when I get to Hell are (in this order): Nord’s Tenderizer, Azurewrath, Lightsaber. The BStar is also very good. The reason I choose Nord’s as my top pick there is because it attacks very fast, it adds a lot of cold damage, it adds a lot of attack rating, and it freezes target. The freezes target and AR is huge. I have found that Nord’s out damages the other 3 mentioned as well. As you already know, these can’t compare to Greif or even eBotd (with the cost of Lo runes right now it is way cheaper to make eBotd than Grief), and I know this is from my experience as a Zealdin, but hopefully they give you some ideas as to what to look for. Also, if this isn’t too helpful, MrLlamaSC has a few videos on the best unique weapons in each class that you might find helpful.
for Berserker you want a fast high dmg weapon, for vengeance it depends on your other skill points, as it is elemental dmg. If you go light a crescent moon pb might be a nice weapon.
Grief damage doesn’t apply to Vengeance, so it’s one of the few scenarios where Grief isn’t the best in slot weapon (assuming you’re a pure Avenger and not using it as a backup skill to Zeal or something).
EDIT: Lemme rephrase that. It applies to the physical damage portion of Vengeance but not the elemental portion.
Yeah, I know Zeal. You want something that has added Element/Magic damage, like the Azurewrath, the Lightsaber is also good if you can’t get the Azurewrath. Nord’s Tenderizer is the same thing, a ton Element Damage.
But the question was specifically about Berserk and Vengeance… mainly because in every guide all they do is point towards Grief and call it a day. But I would like to know… how can I farm Grief… on a Berserk Barbarian or a Vengeance Paladin… without resorting to make a Sorceress to farm it.
MrLlamaSC is just parroting what you can read in almost every other guide. The best fun is no one even bothers making a guide about a Vengeance/Conviction Paladin… though I played one in 2005 and enjoyed myself greatly. 75% chance to block, no enemy in the whole game you could not bash… the only downside was no aoe at all, lol. But 2 hitting everything that isn’t a Champion, Minion or Rare… is fun times.
High Damage you mean high EnhancedDamage% weapon? Like BotD 400% ED%?
For Vengeance it does not depend on my other skills. The only other thing you run with Vengeance is Conviction. Unless you try to make a Dream Paladin… but the road towards that is long, hard and with a ton stones. Sadly not Rune… stones. Pun intented.
Vengeance is bonus element damage, but while I understand the calculation, I would like to know which weapons other then Grief I should pursue. Maybe a Crescent Moon is not bad… once you take down the Immunity you can further reduce the lightning resistance, and that Static Field on Hit is also a plus.
Not really familiar with the usually midtier uniques for berserker barbs,
but something like a oath runeword. I guess even a IK hammer for starters.
as Zerker you dont care about defense, so 2hand is fine as long as you hit fast and hard. you dont want to stand in there as you dont leech, so you want to kill everything before it kills you. Else you would use conc.
Last time I played zerker was about 12 years ago and I used him as a CS toon while baalruns.
I did just mention 4 of them to you. I guess you could also look for the Stormlash, it adds Crushing Blow, but I’m sure it’s going to do the damage of the others, but I’ve never compared it. I know a lot of people like the Demon Limb for the Enchant.
Yeah… but you missed the question completely. If you take your time and read the title carefully… I am purely interested in the Barbarians Berserk skill and the Paladins Vengeance skill.
Zeal is a total different construction yard… it shares literally zero similarity to the 2 skills I was asking about. If you want to, you could say Zeal shares similarities with skills like the Amazons Fend & Strafe, the Druids Fury which all do multiple attacks on targets around the character… and if we want to stretch it further the Barbarians Double Swing & Frenzy also fall into this category since both do 2 attacks similar to the skills mentioned.
However all that was not the question. Also there are more then enough guides surrounding those skills and they are easier to get… you gain +Hit and +Damage on most of them and that’s about it. Berserk & Vengeance are both a little bit… shadier to grasp.
Anyway I didn’t intent to lambast you but you missed the mark two times.
Yeah. It seems like Vengeance only benefits from on-weapon * On-weapon ED% and +min/+max damage… the latter can be on charms and/or other worn gear.
But no +XXX damage like Grief has it or like it is on certain other gear.
Researching more, and playing around with a Character Planner… you are right partly. Yes a fast weapon, yes high damage as in high Enhanced Damage %, yes Crushing Blow also yes Open Wounds.
But no… no Deadly Strike as it would only double the meager physical damage portion you do. It still is useful… but I would not choose a particular weapon because Deadly Strike is on it.
The interesting thing is, trying out Breath of the Dying a Berserker Axe actually beats a Phase Blade.
I tried that out, actually that Crescent Moon is also a good choice. But… funnily not in a Phase Blade… again a Berserker Axe beats it. It has something to do with the Berserkers Axe’s max damage.
It seems like for Vengeance you want a weapon with max Enhanced Damage % and a Berserker Axe is the ideal choice for Runewords. Literally anything that adds 200% ED% like Breath of the Dying, Call to Arms, Crescent Moon, Death, Doom, Eternity… the list goes on. Literally the whole list is usable… as long as the Enhanced Damage % is high.
You just have to stay away from anything that adds +XX Damage be it physical like Grief does it or be it Magical of any Element.
The Barbarians Berserk is allot less picky about that, as long as it is Physical it takes it, so Grief is fair game as is Breath of the Dying and many others.
Well Deadly Strike would still work with Vengeance, since there is some physical damage you do and Deadly Strike is like Static Field, it reduces the HP directly by a %.
But reading the Diablofandom Wiki one thing they do not say is, does Vengeance increase bonus element damage that might be on the weapon, like if the weapon has like +50-200 Cold Damage…
Even though grief isn’t the right choice for either, the Paladin and Barbarian are the two best high rune farmers in the game. They are very good at council runs. Given, you would be a different spec than your end goal, but you wouldn’t need to make a sorc to farm the runes.
For melee I find having crushing blow is usually great. Like a day and night difference before and after. I tend to prioritize getting some so long as the skill you’re using for main damage output procs weapon effects like CB.
I did read it and understood exactly what you said. However you are talking about unique weapons here leveling to your final best in slot weapon. None of the unique weapons are going to be good enough to be game breaking enough to be that build specific between Vengeance and Zeal. Berserk stands out because you might be able to use a 2 handed instead of a 1 handed. The reality of the situation is that with these unique weapons, there are simply better weapons than others, and the 4 or 5 that I mentioned are simply better than the rest, regardless of the skill you are going to use.
I thought of the PB because of the speed, please share the info about crescent moon BA if you try it. Maybe with synergies to the lightning dmg aspect it might be one of the best choices for non lightning immunes. Never played vengeance, but might be interested.
Maybe I wrote it confusing. What I wanted to say was good is Crushing Blow and Open Wounds… both do not take into account the actual damage you did… and since Vengeance does do some physical damage you can get Crushing Blow and Open Wounds to peocc.
However… Deadly Strike only doubles the physical damage done… since Vengeance does mostly elemental damage… doubling the physical portion isn’t the best of things. That’s why I would not go for a weapon because there is Deadly Strike on it.
But… Deadly Strike *does work with Vengeance… but just with the Physical Portion of it.
You might be right for Berserk that all you need to do is go for the highest Enhanced Damage % weapon you can get a hold of.
However I read different Wiki’s about Vengeance and according to them Vengeance is totally different then Berserk. First Vengeance does not take any bonus damage from strength into account… pure base weapon damage including whatever Enhanced Damage % is on it… but it does not take any Enhanced Damage % from other gear into account.
Since this skill confuses me, especially which weapon to look out for… that’s why I asked here.
The thing with Vengeance is, since you specc 20 Into Conviction… there are no Lightning Immunes. They might still have 99% Lightning Resistance… but not Immune anymore. Crescent Moon also reduces Lightning Resistance by -35%… as I understand it this would affect enemies once the Immunity is broken with Conviction… so not 99% Lighting Resistance anymore… more like 64% at most.
The question is now, does Static Field’s effect get reduced by resistances? If not that be good.
The thing is, according to maxroll’s character planner a Berserker Axe would be the better target then a Phase Blade for a Crescent Moon because the Axe would provide more max damage. How often that Static Field would procc… considering that you only hit one enemy and this is no Zeal… probably not allot. A Sorceress spamming Static Field is a total different ballpark I would guess.
static is a bonus, the -35% + 200ed are the useful stuff on it. Else you maybe wanna try oath in an eth BA as “cheaper” solution to botd and compare it with cresent moon. Static would only really benefit you in big groups or at bosses in p8.