Second season for me and I have gotten to GR 128 but lack the motivation to really grind more Paragon points (am at 1038) and/or better equipment.
After I found out a few weeks ago that there is a final node on the altar, I ran Visions until my first double-whatevertheyarecalledagaincantrecallatm happend. And funnily, just half an hour later, the second double drop happened.
Maybe I will continue running visions - but I have to admit it is a bit annoying/boring that quite a few end so early. OTOH it’s really easy and one doesn’t get to the harder parts and otoh the final chest drop is less exciting.
But Visions are the best if you want to go for whatevertheyarecalledagaincantrecallatm, right? Or would GRs be competetive thanks to the loot shower at the end?
Primal, that’s what they are called. Looked it up.
I’m not going to lie; the only time I run Visions is when I need crafting mats; otherwise, I just stick to Normal Nephilim Rifts to farm keys, then run Greater Nephilim Rifts to get my stat gems. Once I’ve gotten my ideal gear and stat gems put on all my gear, then I start working on progression. Alas, I only have so many Paragon, cause I was feeling stuck without them; hence, my post for tips, tricks, and hints… which proved to be VERY helpful. I am hoping next season I do NOT need to grind as many paragons and can get the 150 done earlier
Speed GRs are usually recommended because you gain both exp and loot (including primals and shards for gambling). Visions are great for other reasons. It shouldn’t be necessary to point out that primals often are overrated.
Legendaries/hour, ya, Visions are the best way to get them.
Definitely true in general, but it also matters what the player’s objective is. If a player wants to push LBs or grind paragon, GRs are the best way to do both. If a player simply wants to do loot hunting and forego LBs and paragon Visions are the best way to simply grind gear.
So it is confirmed; monk is BY FAR the most OP FOTS lol… I am not having even close to the same progress on a barbarian in FULL gear, proper stats, and gemmed fully LOL…
I am trying; I still think there is something I’ve missed… the latest thing I’ve tried is ONLY doing Orek’s Dream cause farming a lot of keys isn’t hard… however, I think in the mechanics of HOTA, I am missing something… OR maybe there’s a way to get 4 pylons? How are the guys in the VERY top getting it done in 6mins… I am almost 3k Paragon, with the right gear, stats, and gems… and can’t seem to finish a GR 147… shrug I am not mad, just know I’m not that terrible, even though I am casual and expect to grind Paragon to accomplish the 150s. But again, I just feel like I am missing something Key in the progression of GRs… other than FOTS, which panned out nicely with an 11m20s clear
Sometimes Orek’s may not be the answer. Orek’s Dream is very ideal if you have certain aspects of your build right; it will give you a large area to avoid, kite, topple and play around multiple Elite packs as long as you have the crowd control right. Sometimes your build won’t have enough mobility or crowd control to make the best of Orek’s Dream, and that’s fine. You just have to recognize some patterns to filter the ideal Greater Rift layouts for your build and watch some GR150 clear videos for hints.
Maybe you have made a mistake of; killing everything on your path while you supposed kite, didn’t group them together crowded enough, explored the spot of a potential Pylon spawn pre-emptively or can not position to deal damage due lacking some survival. There are too many variables to consider on a high tier clear.
We can not say anything before seeing how you play and I don’t have that kind of foresight either even if I see a video. I’ll check your record from leader boards because your profile showcase a WW-Rend WotW Barbarian as your only Seasonal Barbarian. I may give a suggestion or two by looking at your clear but take them as a grain of salt.
Edit: I have checked. I think the answer is obvious, you are lacking Area Damage on both of you dual wield weapons and perhaps gloves. I suggest Primal craft another with AD% and apply a new Crucible for desired weapon affix combination and augment them. For now, gloves seem fine until you find a better pick. If you think you have no time to augment each or lacking damage already, pick Echoing Fury as your off-hand as well.
Looking at the top 20 or so barbs for LoD HOTA, only like 1 has 3500 paragon-ish, the others are nearly 5k to 8k paragon. Compared to your sub 3k paragon, another 2k to 6k paragon is huge. It allows you to make different survivability choices with gear and passives for damage, and also allows you to be able to tank better.
I also can’t see your gear. Your profile shows a Wastes build, so can’t comment on any gear issues.
As far as strategy goes, I am not regular barb player, so can’t give you any pointers on that.
Orek’s Dream GRs are better on average than any random map, but don’t be afraid to run a non-Orek’s GR. My rule is, if I get a Battlefields, FOM, or other solid big, dense map starting out, I will give it a go. If it is caves, Westmarch, or any of the other crap map starting out, insta-skip.
Sadly. Never done one. I have watched many though as I try to learn.
Read and tried some gear changes last night. I even tried a more dps heavy/less survivability setup that seemed to push OK, but no success as of yet.
Yes. I have been trying for the best/exact affixes with the primal crafting and crucibles… been trying for 10% dam/10% CDR/24% AE DMG… I just haven’t nailed the exacts yet. That said, is 24% AE DMG worth more than either of the other 2 10% stats?
In the Solo Season Barbarian (when you look in the game leaderboards; not the website), it shows that there is both a 1301paragon HOTA Barb that completed it @ #7 and a 1634paragon @ #24, 2x and 3x under my almost 3k that said, I am not in it for the places; just simply a 150 and move on… like I said, what are THEY doing with that low of paragon, that I am NOT
Yeah. You’d have to be logged in and check the leaderboards from in-game; I am currently at #27 with a completed 146.
Fair enough. When do you know to bail out and restart (other than Juggs and flying creatures) Maybe, First pylon isn’t ideal? etc…
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO TOOK THE TIME TO CHIME IN; like I said, I am just a casual trying to enjoy my barbarian. The FOTS Monk definitely showed its strength this season, but I want to enjoy doing it on a variety of toons. I am glad, nevertheless, I got to do it on at least one toon, even if the FOTS
Just saw your barb in the ladder. Why Axe of Sankis? With such a low speed you lose a lot of damage and most likely Berserker may have a cooldown, which is bad. Echoing Fury is the only choice, imo. War Cry is unnecessary, you can try Ground Stomp, it’s much easier than Ancient Spear.
As I remember, I did 150 solo at 3000 paragon or something ( EU hardcore ). You need an open map + Orek’s dream - the “diamond-shaped” field is probably the best one. Just start collecting, pulling mobs into a large crowd, counting on Conduit. If Conduit appears don’t take it - continue to collect mobs all over the map, killing trash as many as possible and pulling elites closer to Conduit. Take it when 6-7 elites are around and minimum trash ( better zero trash ). This lightning has damage limitations when affecting too many mobs. When RG appears don’t Hammer it immediately - use Whirlwind for 2-3 minutes to stack up Stricken then finish it with HotA ( same tactics with Power - Whirlwind first then take the pylon ).
UPD And Band of Might instead of Unity & CoE instead of Jordan. Band of Might works with Ground Stomp. You can check out #7 in the ladder, 1301 paragon. This is the build.
Not exactly but yes, 24 AD% is actually more valuable than 10 CdR% but can’t talk sure about extra +10% damage on an ORotZ based build. For a start, guide suggests a trifecta Echoing Fury but it’s optimized for 5k Paragon level so with your sub-3k plvl, it’s not an optimal approach either way. I say stick with main stat, AD% and make a choice between extra +10% damage or +7% IaS. Keep +10% damage on EF if you have it on the main hand too, otherwise pick 7% IaS.
If HotA changes hand with each cast to calculate the damage of the hit, it’s better to skip +10% dmg on one-hand for the sake of 24% AD, else get +10% dmg at both hands for stable damage output. Perhaps that’s not really necessary thanks to high ChC% of the build; yet if that require you to give away a total of 48% additional Area Damage from both weapons, then you have set your priorities wrong. No other attribute in the game increases your damage against mass crowds like Area Damage, as its benefits grow exponentially.
I think because it offers +20% fire skill damage, flat, and HotA is mainly a fire elemental build. Going by simple math however, that extra fire skill damage only increases overall damage by 12.5% on diminishing returns. Compared to that, Echoing Fury adds 15% more attack speed with only a single stack which could be more beneficial to make the most of Rampage passive and animation cancels.
Aight, checked your build in game, and, as Jack says above, you are using Axe of Sankis over Echoing Fury. EF would make a big difference as it increases your attack speed dramatically and be much better than the 20% fire damage you get from the Sankis. That alone might be enough to get you over the hump.
Other things I saw gear-wise (although they are tough rolls):
Getting the quad on your Stone gauntlets, missing AD
getting a SOJ where you can roll the str off
AS, AD, CDR on your remorseless (you have % damage instead of AD)
trifecta squirts (missing fire damage)
missing crit damage on unity
then the obvious, closer to perfect numbers and higher augments than 125
Getting all the correct rolls on some of those pieces are near impossible (quad Stone Gauntlets are not easy). I would focus on getting a good EF. As I said, I don’t have a ton of experience on this build, but, with prior experience with EF in other builds, I think that should be your first focus rather than any of the other gear slots (seeing as a lot of builds at 150 actually have worse rolls than yours).
When I am pushing the upper limits, I will usually bail if I get a speed and/or channeling pylon first (build dependent of course). Ya, map layouts, mob types, and elite affixes are the big ones.
Like I said, maps are probably the biggest factor in whether I dump the GR right away. Pretty much the only ones I try, when pushing the utter limit, outside of an Orek’s is FoM, Battlefields, and that big desert map. All 3 of those you can get close to 100% or sometimes even 100% on just the 1 map.
Was to be a bit tankier (with all my Paragon points into STR and the %FireDMG, which I didn’t realize was flat; thought it was a multiplier)
noted. I also had the axe to prevent the “fearing” of the EF; seemed easier to group the mobs up
Can totally do this, I have the primal ancient dropped ring for this as well!
How do I tell? (once it’s revealed? or is there a way before then?
And if not, leave?
Noted. Thanks!
THIS RIGHT HERE; I have definitely messed this up! TYVM for this Tip!
What is UPD?
Band of Might, will be doing this with Wrenching Smash with Ground Stomp!
And again, I thought elemental damage was a multiplier, so I was stacking it where I could; still guess I’m not sure why COE over %FireDamage gear?
Noted. Will start focusing on these upgrades!
Good deal!
Cool will be switching to EF!
AGAIN, SO MANY THANKS! I am really trying to understand the GR climb/progression better and want to try it on various toons, but I gotta at least go with what I find easiest to play as a casual to start!
Higher burst damage and as I have read over at maxroll the tenth shockwave from Sanctified HotA benefit from Physical elemental cycle of CoE to scorch everything out of Fire cycle.
A small drawback, EF will not be consistent against Rift Guardians without no additional spawns in their fight. Try Echoing Fury but then I also suggest you to try 2-handed variation with Gavel of Judgment equipped and Remorseless at the Cube. You will deal less damage per second compared to the peak of dual wield EF setup, but the damage output will be consistent and higher than no Echoing Fury stacks at the start of combat.
You don’t have to pull very large groups to chew through with a 2-hander because Ruthless will be more efficient with higher average damage. So hopefully, equipping GoJ reduces the time you need on your wind-up phase and can be an alternative for timing CoE cycles more consistently at low density areas. Give it a go if EF failed, which I think it will be better because it’s proven but compare and see for yourself.
No Conduit = leave This is part of fishing. I don’t really know how to clear 150 on LoD barb without Conduit. This requires an unrealistic combination of valuable mobs and high mob density. Love this build, and to a large extent because it’s super beginner friendly - I haven’t played barb for years and never played high grifts on barb, and yet was able to clear 150 solo more or less easily this season - but like many AoE/AD based builds HotA has a weak single target damage and can’t destroy elites in seconds like monk Raiment of a 1000 storms.
I wouldn’t waste time spinning my wheels with the Gavel equipped and Remorseless in the cube. For most all cases, cubing a 2h and equipping a weapon/OH or dual wielding is superior to a 2h equipped and 1h in the cube. Most the time you see a build using a 2h, it is because there is another 2h in the cube and those are the 2 weapons buffing the build. Couple of Wiz Meteor builds are this way.
If you don’t see it in the top 200 clears, there is probably a good reason you don’t see it in the top 200 clears.
that said, I am not in it for the places; just simply a 150 and move on… like I said, what are THEY doing with that low of paragon, that I am NOT