2.6.8+ Barb Buff Proposal II

Barbarian
1

Hey there, everyone!

Recently, a number of folk suggested that Rage and Free revive our Barb Buff Proposal project to help get Barbs even more buffs.

Well, I’m here to give you the good news: Rage and I were talking last night, and we’re going to be revising the Barb Buff Proposal in the near future. Though we will add a few new things, our focus will be on cutting down the lists and calculating new buff values on under-performing builds such as EQ and HOTA.

There’s a few things we need, of course.

Gasnick: We would very much like your assistance in integrating graphic design into our updated proposal. Rage and I got a huge kick out of your “Wild Table” posts during the last few weeks, and we could really use someone with your talents on the project.

Everyone else: Post your ideas, thoughts, and wishes in this thread, and help us generate the best possible proposal again! See below for more information on the new proposal’s focus!

Additions + Changes for Proposal II

Here’s what is currently on the docket for the upcoming second proposal. Anything on this list is fair game for suggestions, ideas, and discussion.

The 2.6.8+ Proposal II Dockett:
To keep the discussion focused on realistic goals, here are acceptable topics of discussion:

  • Buffs to existing items and multipliers
  • New affixes on existing items
  • Numerical adjustments to existing passive skills
  • Small, reasonable amendments to set bonuses

And here is what is off limits and completely unrealistic:

  • Changes to skills and core game mechanics
  • New skills and passives
  • Completely new items
  • Overhauls/radical changes to existing sets

If you prefer to approach it from a build- or skill-centric point of view, here are the builds open to discussion:

  • IK/LOD HOTA
  • Fire and Physical EQ
  • Primary skill builds
  • Viable pure Raekor builds
  • Boulder Toss and other miscellaneous skills
  • Passive skills

If you post a suggestion, please indicate which of these areas you’re addressing.

Anyway, Hadd: You posted the quote below in a different thread, and I wanted to respond to you here.

I mostly agree. I really love the Raekor set. I just don’t want to wall-charge or combine it with the IK set. So, one of the things we’re going to work on is getting a viable pure-Raekor build that uses Charge to deal AOE damage and build stacks, and Boulder Toss to deal some heavy-duty nuke damage.

The easiest way to do this is to greatly increase the multipliers on Skular’s Salvation and 300th Spear, and maybe to get some DR plugged into the Raekor set (or on another item).

Here’s an idea I’m throwing around for an item:

Enemies damaged by Furious Charge deal 50% decreased damage and take 150-200% increased damage from Ancient Spear for 5 seconds.

Well, that’s all for the moment, folks. Just know that Rage and Free are back on the job.

19 Likes
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Change frenzy to a channeled fury spender similar to DH’s rapid fire. The more you channel it the more damage it does. Brings back a classic Barb build from days old.

2 Likes
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300th Spear could give 3 or 2 additional ricochets with an increased multiplier.

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I think with Raekor receiving the proper treatment (pure Furious Charge build) IK will rise and shine as HotA focused build. It sounds about right. No more wall charging, no more exploits.

1 Like
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While that’s a cool idea, it’s completely unrealistic–I know this for a fact due to previous discussions with Nev about what the devs will and will not take seriously. I’ve amended the OP to reflect this.

Well, currently, 300th buffs Weapon Throw and Ancient Spear, so your ricochet idea would only buff one of those skills. That’s not bad, per se, but it is kinda lopsided. Maybe it would be better to approach that item with a direct buff to the multiplier.

I do, however, like your ricochet idea. Perhaps it fits better on a different item? How would it work?

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Also, Free, as I stated before: HotA feels very satisfying once you achieve high attack speed (through Frenzy charges from Echoing Fury + Pain Enhancer). It would be nice if the 6pc bonus could be changed to

  • 6000% increased damage while WotB and CotA active plus fury spenders have 50% increased attack speed.
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A change I’d like to see is with Fury. We are the only class that gets hindered in this way and it makes dying in a rift even more of a time loss. Barbs should start a Game/Rift/end Ghost mode after death with full Fury. The only fair alternative is for every other class to have to wait to regenerate it at their natural rate.

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I thought long and hard:

300th Spear: Against single target Weapon Throw attacks 100% faster.
I change the conpect.

So every attack vs single target stacks 10% IAS (up to 100%). As soon as an axe ricochets of said single target, the stacks begin to drops, like EW, Squirts,… ect

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I’d like to see Blade of the Tribes buffed a little so it’s no longer irrelevant. I’m ok with slam being better, but right now it’s waaaaay better. The mechanics of leapquake are solid, it just needs some tweaking. I’m thinking increase damage to 300% and make it orange text.

2 Likes
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Hi Free, long time no see

Would still like Blade of the Tribes and Dread Iron to get their damage bonuses rolled into their “Legendary effect” and be proper multipliers to damage dealt

Lut Socks being either rolled into the Might of the Earth set, or have the effect moved into a rune for Leap Slam and Lut Socks enable the rune? It’s a core gameplay piece for this set to the point where it won’t work as intended without it.

1 Like
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Like others have mentioned, I’d like to see a Frenzy or generator build.

How about a stacking mechanic where the more dmg output you are doing, the more dmg your character takes (think squirts necklace - sorta). This is on theme with the “fantasy” of the Frenzy barbarian, and could potentially lead to some interesting gearing decisions to balance out the effect.

They could build in a sort of “sated” effect where your character cannot benefit from the stacking buff for x amount of time - I believe this exists in some form already with Shenlongs.

12

Interesting! I see what you mean about the attack speed, but adding 50% to the IK set isn’t going to be the buff HOTA builds need. Really, I think it’s very easy to fix HOTA for IK or LOD, and it’s as simple as increasing the multiplier on either Gavel or Remorseless–or both. I’m hesitant to lean into buffing Gavel, because then you buff R6 HOTA automatically.

That’s a fair point, but that kind of change is just not realistic at the moment.

That’s an excellent point! That item hearkens back to the day when Weapon Throw wasn’t a Primary skill, so changing the entire affix (like Fjord) would be ideal. What kind of an affix do you suggest?

I don’t think Skular’s should be the sole multiplier for Ancient Spear, but that’s a different problem altogether.

Great suggestions. That’s a nice, simple way to buff EQ builds without the need to farm lots and lots of new items.

Some folks really dig this idea, but I’m really opposed to it. Hear me out.

Lut Socks is a class- and build-specific supporting legendary that provides a unique and interesting bit of utility to a highly-mobile build. Yeah, it’s essential to an EQ build, but it’s also really unique, and changes to skills and runes are off the table. I’m all for buffing EQ builds, but I don’t want to see Lut Socks rolled into the MOTE set, because they’re doing what we want our supporting legendaries to do!

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300% will not be enough, bro, it will add 3 GRs at best, but MotE is 10 GR behind next patch buffed Rend. You want to make it 600-800% to be in the 135-140 tier.

2 Likes
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That’s why I suggested a direct 6pc damage buff aswell (6000%). If Raekor gets a rework where it is all about FC or Boulder Toss the change won’t affect R6 HotA, it will put IK HotA in the fight with Zodiac.

15

Yeah, for the time being, I think the simplest way to buff IK/LOD HOTA and prevent Raekor silliness is to:

  • Increase HOTA-specific multipliers (Remoresless)
  • Buff/reiterate Charge/BT legendaries for a pure Raekor build

I don’t want to diss folks who like Vile Charge and/or R6 HOTA, but I think we can probably all agree that strong, fun builds that don’t require wall-charging are better than those that do.

1 Like
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Tell me about it. This thing is an aberration. I get it our bro barbs use it to make it to the leaderboards, but it’s just shameful a build has to resort on something like this to function properly.

There are already R6 HotA using CotA and remorseless, or am I wrong?

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You’re not wrong, and once Fjord Cutter bug is patched, R6 Hota’s best setup is remorseless + burning axe of sankis.

1 Like
18

So, Free… Buffing Remorseless ain’t helping IK HotA without buffing R6. Our best bet is IK itself. Let’s remember that if Blizzard fix wall charging R6 will prob fall some GRs, so it’s a build standing in the edge already. I say: let the IK/LoD do the hammer, Raekor do the charge and drop the rock

19

This is probably far fetched, but my dream affix for 300th would be an affix that read “Return to Sender”: When an axe fails to find a receiver at 20 yards, it returns to sender. If the sender is no longer there, then the axe disappears at location of that sender. This would serve as small boost for STD.

Or just the original of more ricochets, 3 preferably.

20

I also am a huge fan of HotA and would like to see it get some more love, but I’m glad it got some attention in 2.6.7!
I would really like to see a change that made wearing GoJ and cubing Remorseless viable/bis just for the thematic aspect of barbs using huge MW but I’m not sure how to do it without either an entire MW overhaul or adding danage/HotA ias to primaries like Blade of the tribes.

Since EF falls off somewhat during RG and has the fearing annoyance, getting more aps without it, or enough damage to not miss the aps is also appealing to me.

In another thread I mentioned a bonus that might convert EF’s fear to a pull/taunt, but not sure it makes sense to waste a leg power just to modify another legendary items primary rolls.

Something like ancients casting HotA when you do (and doing your damage) might also be a cool way to increase AoE, but their AI is such that it might just be annoying.

1 Like