HELLO EVERYONE
Here’s a draft for you all to peruse, critique, correct, etc. Please provide feedback.
Some of the text is lifted directly from Rage’s post–Rage, are you okay with that? If not, let me know and I’ll edit accordingly.
Thank you all for your contributions and input!
Introduction
In Patch 2.6.7a, Barbarians received several noteworthy buffs, and our most popular build became stronger than ever. But while one of our builds, Zodiac Rend, has risen to sit among the strongest in the game, our other builds and sets, including our brand new set, Horde of the Ninety Savages, lags far behind Rend and Wrath of the Wastes. Players who prefer HOTA or Furious Charge can still play those builds, but compared with Rend, they will clear far lower and farm much less efficiently, even with significantly more Paragon and better gear.
Goal
The goal of this proposal is to achieve better parity between Zodiac Rend and our other 5 major builds at similar Paragon levels. To better understand the builds for which we are requesting buffs and their relationship to Greater Rift conditions, here’s a brief breakdown followed by explanations:
| Build |
Set |
Build/Skill-Specific Supporting Legendaries |
Fishing Required |
| Pro Slam |
Might of the Earth |
Fjord Cutter, Bracers of Destruction |
Medium |
| Fire EQ |
Might of the Earth |
Blade of Tribes, Girdle of Giants, Lut Socks |
High |
| HOTA |
Immortal King’s Call |
Gavel of Judgment, Bracers of the First Men, Fury of the Ancients, Remorseless |
Medium |
| Vile Charge |
Immortal King’s Call + Legacy of Raekor |
Standoff, Vile Wards |
High |
| H90 Frenzy |
Horde of the Ninety Savages |
Bastion’s Revered, Undisputed Champion, Oathkeeper |
Low |
The relationship between builds, sets, and supporting legendaries is obvious. Outside of Legacy of Dreams/Nightmares builds, sets determine builds. Less obvious is the relationship between a build and the necessary investment in fishing required to successfully push end-game Greater Rifts, here labeled as “Fishing Required.”
A build’s required level of fishing is determined by its interaction with Greater Rift conditions. Builds with a high level of fishing required must hunt for very specific conditions (maps, mob types, elite affixes, and specific Rift Guardians) in order to achieve a successful clear, while builds with low fishing requirements can achieve success with more varying rift conditions.
A different way to put it is this: Builds with low fishing requirements are able to adapt to a large variet of rift conditions, while builds with high fishing requirements require the rift conditions to be tailored to their strengths.
Fishing and Clear Potential
Builds with high fishing requirements require a much greater investment in time and resources (GR keys) than builds with low fishing requirements. As a result, we want to see high fishing builds be capable of achieving higher maximum clears, and low fishing builds be capable of higher average clears. This allows our builds to excel at different game activities (speed-farming, bounties, and group play) while also being competitive for solo Greater Rift pushing. In other words, each and every build will feel powerful and rewarding to play, and each and every build will also feel uniquely suited to better average play or better fishing.
But, in order to know how much of a buff is needed, we need to know what level these builds can clear now. So let’s walk through the numbers, build by build.
Build Breakdowns
The following information presents the highest known clears by build, and suggests a buff based on a projected desired goal. All of this is weighed against Zodiac Rend’s current best clear at GR 148. In each breakdown, we offer the simplest and most direct suggestion for buffing a build’s damage output. Complications for certain builds are discussed in more detail.
H90 Frenzy
- Current higest clear: 139
- Target clear: 145
- Buff required: +4 GRs / +2x damage (1.17^4 = 1.87)
H90 Frenzy is a strong and versatile build, and requires little in the way of buffs. The +4 GRs / 2x damage needed by this build can come through a buff to H90(6).
Current H90(6) multiplier of 101x * 2.0 = 202x, i.e. H90(6) increased from 10000% to 20000%.
This gives H90 Frenzy the +4 GRs it needs.
Pro Slam
- Current higest clear: 138
- Target clear: 146
- Buff required: +6 GRs / +2.5x damage (1.17^6 = 2.56)
Buffs for this build are addressed by the increased damage of MOTE(6) discussed in the Fire EQ section below.
Fire EQ
- Current higest clear: 130
- Target clear: 148
- Buff required: +15 GRs / +10.5x damage (1.17^15 = 10.54)
The first +6 GRs / 2.5x damage can come from a direct buff to MOTE(6), as this will solve the issues of Pro-Slam as well.
Current MOTE(6) multiplier of 201x * 2.5 = 502.5, i.e. MOTE(6) increased from 20000% to 50000%.
Fire Leap still needs another +9 GRs, and the best way to achieve this is to update Blade of the Tribes. Currently, the damage bonus to the Earthquake skill on this item is in the dibs category, and is additive with various other bonuses, such as Threatening Shout: Falter and Battle Rage. When combined, these add up to around a 3.65x multiplier (100 Base + 200 Tribes + 25 Falter + 30 rolls on chest\shoulder + 10 Battle Rage).
So, we need to go from the equivalent of 365 damage to 1500 damage (i.e. +9 GRs. 1.17^9 * 365 = 1499)
Blade of The Tribes should have its bonus set aside as a separate multiplier, and it should be made extractable in the cube. If this is done, the remaining dibs bonus will amount to a 1.65x multiplier. Since we needed to get to 1500 damage, 1500 / 1.65 = 909
So, we need Tribes to have a +800% multiplier, multiplicative.
This gives Fire Leapquake the full +15 GRs it needs.
IK HOTA
- Current higest clear: 133
- Target clear: 146
- Buff required: +10 GRs / +5x damage (1.17^10 = 4.81)
The first +2 GRs this build needs are addressed by the increased damage of IK(6) discussed in the Vile Charge section below.
The remaining +8 GRs needed can come in the form of a buff to Remorseless.
Current Remorseless multiplier of 3.5x * 1.17^8 = 12.29, i.e. Remorseless needs a bonus of +1100%
This will give IK HOTA the full +10 GRs it needs.
Vile Charge
- Current higest clear: 135
- Target clear: 148
- Buff required: +12 GRs / +6.5x damage (1.17^12 = 6.58)
The first +2 GRs worth of damage can come from a direct buff to IK(6), as this applies some needed buffing to IK HOTA as well.
Current IK(6) multiplier of 41x * 1.17^2 = 56x, i.e. IK(6) increased from 4000% to 5500%.
Vile Charge still needs another +10 GRs, which can come in the form of a large buff to Standoff.
This item currently gives a bonus of about 550% damage (500% of bonus move speed * 110%, the amount VC Barbs generally operate with).
So we need to get from 650 to (650 * (1.17^10)) = 3124
Meaning Standoff needs to give a bonus of about +3000% damage, i.e 2700% of bonus movement speed (27 * 110 = 2970).
This gives Vile Charge the full +12 GRs it needs.
Summary of Buffs
-
MOTE(6): increased from 20000% to 50000%.
-
IK(6): increased from 4000% to 5500%.
-
H90(6): increased from 10000% to 20000%.
-
Blade of the Tribes: Legendary power made extractable in the cube, made a separate multiplier, and increased from +200% to +800%.
-
Standoff: multiplier increased from “500% of bonus movement speed” to “2700% of bonus movement speed”.
-
Remorseless: multiplier increased from +250% to +1100%.
Supporting Legendaries
Many Barbarian-specific supporting legendaries remain outdated and useless at every level of play. We request buffs to the following items to make them more attractive to players who seek to play builds that deviate from traditional set-based skill and item designations.
- Dread Iron
- The Three Hundredth Spear
- Skular’s Salvation
- Blade of the Warlord
- Dishonored Legacy
- Arreat’s Law
- Saffron Wrap
A Legacy of Problems
Out of all our sets, only the Legacy of Raekor is unable to create a pure (all 6 set pieces equipped, no Ring of Royal Grandeur) build. The only pure-Raekor build that has ever achieved notable success was R6 HOTA, a HOTA-based build that exploited wall-charging to deal large amounts of burst damage in a very small window of time. While popular for a brief time, this build was not well received due to its fickle play style and for the way it made obsolete IK HOTA, a build much beloved in the Barbarian community.
The problem with the Legacy of Raekor is two-fold:
- On its own, it’s 4-piece bonus cannot make Furious Charge a meaningful damage-dealing skill (hence why Vile Charge relies on IK6’s damage multiplier)
- It’s 6-piece bonus is a global multiplier for Fury-spending attacks
The second point above is noteworthy; buffing Raekor’s damage multiplier threatens to make it the best set for every and any Fury-spending attack (commonly referred to as spenders), but buffing the 4-piece bonus could, when combined with the IK set, make Vile Charge ludicrously powerful and unbalanced.
Right now, the Legacy of Raekor has no distinct identity, and no distinct build. It is for these reasons that we ask for either a set overhaul or for buffs t o various supporting legendaries in order to make a pure Raekor build fun, powerful, and viable. One popular suggestion in the Barbarian community, one that also seems to align with the original intent for the set, is for substantial buffs to Skular’s Salvation and The Three Hundredth Spear to make Boulder Toss into a powerful nuke–a skill that deals a single instance of massive damage. This could also be achieved by changing the 6-piece set multiplier from all Fury-spending attacks to Boulder Toss; in combination with large buffs to Skular’s and Three Hundredth, a powerful Charge+Boulder Toss build could become viable.
Conclusion
We hope that the requests outlined above lead to better parity between major Barbarian builds, and we hope that many more players find fun and exciting ways to enjoy the class’s unique skill set.
