[Guide] H90 Frenzy: A simple guide

Barbarian
325

@Rage : thank you very much for your answer and the tips about moving/targetting, which has been a real issue for me. You are right for the gear, I kind of already knew, but with your confirmation I definitely know now hehe.
As for the defensive passive, since I only tried 1 key, I thought it would be harder than that so I guess I will follow your guidance.

Edit : I’ve also read that having the skill placed on mouse 2 button could solve my problem since frenzy has a different behavior when it’s not on mouse 1. I haven’t tested yet though

@Meteorblade : I hope Spidey has brought a light smile on your face :stuck_out_tongue:
Also, nice shield you got there. It reminds me of the begining of the season when 3 primal pieces of might of the earth dropped for me. Like the game was telling me to play super saiyan blue ProSlam, but my ultra instinct got me back on the Frenzy track haha.

Thank you guys again :heart:

326

@Rage. Great guide. My favorite build this season. Per guide, I switched from primal mortick’s to APD and have much better survivability despite inferior stats. Will you take a look at my solo build on Jesta this season? I’ve hit the solo wall @ GR122. My best GR123 is 15:30. I can finish off RGs with 1 round of WOTB in under 30 seconds but I’ve been unable to reach 100% progression in less than 14:30. I do have 3k AZ but it has 10%Dmg and I rerolled 10% CDR.

Reading your guide, I can look for AS for my gloves, AS for my CR, and find a weapon with AS7% and CDR 10% to reach next breakpoint. Any other suggestions?

Thank you

327

Hey NetSmasher,

Hmm, I’m actually a bit surprised that the APDs are working out for you. Usually these are used alongside Azurewrath, which with its high freeze chance procs the APD buff often. You do have freeze on your EF… actually, I’m not sure if APDs work with Fear. I’ll have to look into that! If they don’t work with fear, then I think either swapping EF for AZ or going back to Mortick’s (or Vambraces) will be a better option for you.

Your gear is generally looking pretty good. I’m a little unclear about what stats the AZ you mention has… is it cold%-Dmg%-CDR? One issue you have is that you don’t have LpH on either weapon or on your bracers… but between the EF and OK on your character, and the AZ you describe, you don’t really have anywhere to put that LpH.

You’re correct about the gloves, CR, and OK you’re looking for-- all of those will be upgrades for you.

As for completing 123: this should definitely be doable for you. Unless you feel like you are dying a lot, you may want to consider dropping NoS for Rampage or Brawler (or if you stick with EF and carry it in your main hand, Weapons Master). Other than that, here are a few reminders for things to watch out for:

Make sure you’re popping Wrath only as your CoE element comes up. You drop a lot of damage if you miss this mark.

If you find yourself in very high density without an elite around, this is ok-- big trash pulls with good mob types (swarms, transformers, lacuni/phasebeast, etc) can give you a lot of progression.

If you keep using EF, try to prioritize density even more. If your stacks elapse, EF isn’t really doing you much good. So that means if you’ve gotten an elite down to half life, you want to try to drag him to some more density (or drag the density onto the eilte), so that you can keep up those EF stacks.

I hope that helps. Good luck!

Edit: I ran and recorded a couple of 123s with my Str reduced enough that I should have damage similar to yours. The first is with AZ / APDs, the second with EF / Vambraces. This might help you visualize some of the stuff I’m talking about. Probably worth watching at 2x speed: goes faster that way but you still get the general idea!

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328

Interesting^.

At higher GR Levels, would you say that this build is heavily reliant on CoE Ring?

I think I’ve hit a brick wall at GR117.

My results are very much the same with a) AZ + APD + CoE, and b) Aughilds + RoRG + Echo Fury.

329

Hi Rage,
Wow! Thank you for the detailed reply, analyses, and suggestions. The video was extremely helpful, as it highlights how 99% of my barb failing to clear 123 is operator error, and <1% is attributable to gear, mob type, affixes, maps, or anything else I can blame besides my player skills…

First evidence of that is despite reading your excellent guide, I still failed to pair APDs with AZ. So I took my AZ that has 19% cold, 10% damage, and 10% CDR, 3k sheet damage, and tried 10 times. No luck. I am not able to clear the rift in time for the rift guardian. I just cannot do enough damage in a timely manner. The lightning, frozen, poison, and fear forces me to disengage and lose time. I then swapped out Nerves of Steel for Rampage. The damage went up, but I still couldn’t finish as any misstep will lead to death, which makes me squishy, so that I instantly die upon ressurrection.
So I switched to my primal EF and Morticks, with life per hit on the bracer. On the 3rd key, I got the Adria map with bad mobs (lightning). However, I was able to use a Power pylon and a Conduit pylon to kill 1 elite pack and nearby trash each and managed to stay 1 min ahead. I popped Raziel with 55 seconds left, having just used WOTB to clear the last 1% of trash. He killed me with 20 seconds left (one and only death), but I finished with 7 seconds to spare!
Again, thank you for taking the time to help out this barb. The video was very helpful to pace myself, see the the strategy (when to pull mobs vs skip vs how to engage elites).
Liked and subscribed.
Thank you again!

2 Likes
330

Why’d you delete your question about Strongarms? I saw it earlier but didn’t have time to answer.

I’ve seen people using them, mostly on the Asia server. A good pair can theoretically add up to around 12% damage, at times, though you are unlikely to see all of that benefit, all of the time. Ultimately, I think a defensive bracer is usually going to be better, since this build is a bit on the squishy side. I tried out the Strongarms myself, in a “push” setting, and just kept dying.

The CoE and Aughild setups are both good. I prefer the former, others the latter… but you can’t really go wrong either way, although you need to play a little bit differently to maximize the benefits of each.

I bet you can get above 117… you have, what, maybe 13.5k str? I bet you can go as far as 120 with some good maps and mobs.

No problem, man, let me know if you have any more questions. Actually, speaking of which:

When you die, you generally want to run away from density a little bit, towards a somewhat isolated mob. And while your character is still in “ghost mode”, you want to basically just mouse over that mob and hold down the key for Furious Charge. This ensures you get your BoM buff up right away. Cast War Cry and Battle Rage asap. Then, you want to get your 10 stacks of Frenzy by whacking that mob, which gives you that 60% defensive bonus. THEN you’re ready to charge back into density and resume murdering your enemies.

Well done on the 123 clear! And I’ll bet you can continue to progress further. Practice really helps a lot with this build. When I first cleared 123 myself, I found it pretty challenging, but after another month of playing the build (and without any major gear/augment/paragon upgrades) I ran 15 consecutive 123s without a failure.

Practice makes perfect!

Edit: An update: Jedizinid has done 139, on the NA server. 10.5k paragon.

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331

Thanks Rage. So I was running Strongarms with Unity, (dropped CoE). Unity equals no near deaths, so I could drop Nerves of Steel for Brawler or Rampage, then replace all the Diamond Gems with Ruby’s. While the tankiness of Unity is really nice and more aggressive, the overall damage is probably a tad lower than CoE or the Aughild set-up.

332

Definitely a good bit lower. CoE gives roughly 56.7% more damage, while Rubies + Strongarms would be about 23.2% - at most- at your paragon, and considerably less at higher paragon and in the course of actual gameplay. Toughness from Unity definitely comes in handy, though!

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333

Speaking about unity, since I had the chance to get a primal (crit chance, strength rolled to CHD, Elite dmg and crowd ctrl reduction), I decided to give it a shot for fun and it’s amazing how much tankier it makes us.
Damage wise though…meh

I also tried Strongarm, but since it is DIBS, I found it didn’t bring much (thx again Rage for this post : List of Multiplicative and Additive sources for Barb ). And it definitely felt weaker in terms of tankiness. Since I am not good at decrypting the calculations behind Diablo 3, I only talk about my feeling in game.

Also, in my quest of an elite hunter build (Aughild version) I wondered if I wouldn’t be better off with another passive than Rampage. I realized that I am not able to keep the buff up reliably.

I one key-ed GR125 but GR126 feels like hitting a wall (p 2050ish). Damage on normal monters was ok, but I loose too much time on elites. I usually complete the rift in 16 minutes. Maybe I am going the wrong way thinking that I can only focus blues and yellows. I guess I’m gonna have to adapt and stick to the guide with CoE and APD.

334

The other main damage options are Brawler, or, if using EF, Weapons Master (and make sure EF is in your main hand). All of these options have significant plusses and minuses.

WM of course can only be used with EF, and offers the lowest bonus (about +7% dmg).

Brawler is slightly better on damage (+8%) but requires having several enemies near you, i.e. useless for single target.

Rampage offers by far the largest max damage boost (+25%), but in a push, you definitely drop stacks quite frequently. It’ll really only make a big contribution with certain mob types, full of easy-to-kill trash (Boggits, Swarms, Ghost Combo, etc).

So yeah, there’s no perfect choice there.

Well, 125 is a very solid clear at that paragon, so if that’s as far as you go, that’s still good work.

If you really like Aughild I don’t know that you need to abandon it. 엔류 cleared 134 with that setup, with 3200 P and 26k str, which is super impressive. I would continue to elite hunt, though I think if you have some easy-to-kill trash mixed in with those elites, that will help you out (for oculus spawns + Rampage stacks, if you keep using that passive). Ultimately, when you get near the damage wall, you really kind of need a good map, with good mobs, plus a power and a conduit. A bit of fishing may be required.

All that said, certainly give the CoE setup a solid try, then go with whichever variant feels more comfortable to you.

335

Agree with Ramage stacking, you really have to commit to the mobs with Rampage.

Stupid question, but what is the main part of the build that procs the 2 Set Bonus; “You deal double damage to Feared, Frozen or Stunned enemies.” (Obviously the Freeze if you’re using AZ too).

336

It’s the freeze from AZ, or the fear from EF. Both of these can proc through the Bastion’s Revered chain, and effect multiple targets.

For single target, it’s also Frenzy’s “Smite” rune… but this only works on the enemy you are directly attacking- can’t proc through the chain.

337

Hi Rage,

I have been using IK HOTA as RG killer in off meta group pushes with my friends (WD & DH as DPS, and a heal monk), but to little success (GR118 highest clear). I feel like I’m pulling everyone back with my lack of damage.

So I’ve been contemplating whether to roll a H90 Frenzy build or a zBarb. What would be your recommendation?

Thanks!

338

Hey w4nk,

For off-metas, H90 can do a pretty good job of killing the RG. I’ve got a section in the OP about specialized RGK setups, but if that seems like too much trouble to you, then the plain-old “main” build can get the job done as well.

That said, a zBarb will be welcome in nearly any party. So if you want to maximize the number of groups you can play with, or level up your gems to 150, or grind a ton of paragon, then zbarb is the obvious choice.

If you’re not concerned about any of that stuff, then I’d go with the Frenzy RGK.

339

A new question - I’ve got another azurewrath that has AS 7%, CDR 10% but 16% cold skill. Does it better than my current one? Thanks.

https://www.d3planner.com/274608204

340

Your current one is better.

341

Hello Rage: I have a question about AS and CDR.
I currently have 10% CDR on each of my weapons, 8CDR on my SHD, and 8CDR on my COE. With diamond in my helm, that gets me to 46% CDR, 1% shy of doing WOTB 2 cold cycles on, 1 cold cycle off. With my GLO that has 8% CDR, I can get my CDR to 50.23% which works. However, doing that means I can only have 7% AS on my AZ and 7% on my CR. If I put 7 AS on my GLO, then I’m back to 46% CDR total. Am I missing something or do I need to find quadfecta gloves with CC/CD/CDR8/AS7 to have both the better Frenzy breakpoints AND optimal WOTB sync with cold? Try as I might, I can’t seem to find the optimal combination of gear to get 3 AS7 stats and 47+% CDR. Thank you.

342

Hey NetSmasher,

So for CDR, you need 5 total rolls, plus the diamond in your helm and paragon. Several of those rolls on gear can be a bit off of perfect. For instance, if you had a 9% roll on each weapon, and 3 7% rolls on other gear, this would put you at 47.55%, which is enough.

For AS, keep in mind that rolls on weapons and rolls on armor are not the same! If you look carefully at a speed roll on a weapon, you’ll see that it’s called “Increases Attack Speed by X%”. On armor, it instead says “Attack Speed Increased by X%”.

The way it works is this: rolls on weapons apply only to that weapon, and act as a separate multiplier. So if you have a mighty weapon with a base 1.30 aps rate, and you get a 7% roll on it, it’s increased to 1.39 (1.30 * 1.07 = 1.391). But that roll on your OK won’t speed up the attack of your AZ.

All the rolls on your armor are then added together before being treated as a separate multiplier. So, if you have a 7% roll on your gloves, and another on a ring, plus 10% in paragon, and 15% from dual wielding, then this adds up to 7 + 7 + 10 + 15 = 39%.

So now, your attack with your MW that had a 7% roll on it is going to be 1.39 * 1.39 = 1.9321, shown as 1.93 on your character sheet. And if in the other hand you have a sword, with a base 1.40 aps, this will move up to 1.40 * 1.39 = 1.946, shown as 1.95 on your character sheet.

Anyway, to get around to actually answering your question: YES, to have both better Frenzy breakpoints and WOTB sync, you need to find quadfecta gloves. They don’t need to have perfect rolls, though. Mine have only 6% AS (and aren’t ancient), and this is fine. Even 5% is fine, as you only need to get to 12% total AS rolls on your armor. And even if both your gloves and a ring had only 5%, you can still take the Enchantress, whose “Focused Mind” ability adds 3%.

Also: you don’t really want AS on your AZ. It doesn’t help you, as it doesn’t get you to the next breakpoint. AS on OK = good, AS on AZ = useless.

So, to recap, in an ideal situation, you want:

5 rolls of CDR, not all need to be perfect
AS roll on OK
2 rolls of AS on armor (neither needs to be perfect)

For you in particular, until you find quad gloves, you’ll have to choose between having the right amount of CDR and the right amount of AS. Keep in mind, too, that if you don’t have that 2nd AS roll on your armor, then the 1st one isn’t doing you any good either, and you’d be better off with AD or damage range in that spot. And if you fall below the 46.67% CDR breakpoint, then the same thing is true for those CDR rolls: If you’re missing one of them, then two other rolls aren’t doing you much good, and you’d be better off with different rolls in those spots.

I know that’s confusing… let me know if you need more clarification.

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343

Hi Rage

So helpful. I didn’t know difference between AS on sword vs mace vs mighty weapon.

So I think I will focus on CDR first as I have the gear. I will keep searching for OK with 7 AS and 10 CDR first before switching to quadfecta gloves.

I assume in off meta group the AS from BBV will push my AS into next breakpoint .

Thank you and I’ll keep pushing!

Thank you

344

Re: BBV:

Yeah, that’s 15% AS, and will definitely get you there!