[Guide] Zodiac Rend (Season 20)

Here’s a failed 125 push:

2.2K Paragon, 18K main stat. Running Core Zodiac with IB A few noteworthy things:

  • Festering Floor 1, but not GG mobs, elites, or Pylon
  • Punk trees get what’s coming at 4.50
  • Bad elites on Floor 2
  • Traded Flavor for Hellfire for the Augments, but Flavor would have been a lock at the RG :frowning:
  • Took too much time grouping density on Floor 2 (lackluster mobs and elites)
  • Some GG pulls in the push

Will get 125 in the near future. At my Paragon and main stat, I’m really pushing what the build can do in non-Season. And for anyone who doesn’t think the Season theme is incredibly OP… :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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damn seeing that density, i need to up my game i thought i was getting the hang of it but that’s next level lol. Think the most ive gotten was maybe half that. Never really thought of pulling the whole map. will have try it.

And yeap the season theme is ridiculous, can make clearing so simple if done right. Rank 1 is a 143 in 13:13 with only 2600 paragon.

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I think you waited too long to pop the conduit pylon, you had extra progress globes there after spawning the RG, a minute sooner and you probably win. Also, your barb is dressed like a harlot, no wonder it didn’t work out.

Thanks. I try to make sure that I pull two to four screens worth of density before I actually engaged. if you got a great map and great mobs, it will definitely get you ahead of the timer.

Probably. Wanted to clear more trash out before I took it since I wasn’t using Flavor, but I should have taken it sooner.

FTFY

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Well, with a review like that, now I just have to watch it!

“Also, your barb is dressed like a gorgeous killing machine , no wonder it didn’t work out **this time but no doubt you will get it soon and also your transmogs are the best forever love you.”

Yes, that’s what I meant; definitely gorgeous. You will get it soon if you pull that conduit trigger a little sooner. Not sure what hellfire you have, but FoT is just a lot better, you get 3-4 pylons in a grift

What are your thoughts on the current (US) top season push builds? For reference:

Don’t use the Captain’s set
Stone Gauntlets in the cube
Passives are: Superstition (top 2 builds), Boon, Berserker Rage, Ruthless
Stacking Area Damage on multiple pieces

Season is a mess due to the Season killstreaks bonuses. You can go pretty far in terms of GR clears with very unoptimized gear, bit none of that is going to fly in non-Season.

More specific details about Season choices are in the OP.

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Without cubed Stone Gauntlets I die all the time im GR > 105

Only 125? But barbs are super OP and you should be doing solo 175 by now Free. Seriously, get good. :roll_eyes::joy::joy::joy:

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Hi Free,

May I provide some personal opinions on the Runes of Rend. (for hard cast rend in season, you may already seen hard cast dominate the season leaderboard).

Besides the bloodbath,

  1. Ravage has 18 yard radius which has 2.25* area of other runes. Ppl did 144 so far. Bloodbath has little effect on mobs in GR145+. I believe Ravage is much better than bloodbath in avg-good map. I did 135 with p1390 fire rend. 8min then spent 5:30s on Raizel.

  2. I also suggest barb try Bloodlust + In to the Fray. They tested this in 147, and believe this is the best combo to trigger the season nuke.

  3. Also they tested Lacerate in 146. They believe it is a bit better than bloodbath.

So actually, we have plenty of options for fishing.

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I believe there’s something wrong with your equipment or skills.

Apart from the added toughness, that passive allows for easy Spear spam.
I’m still using BK, so you think there would be plenty of rage to use skills: the reality is I still had problems using Rage Flip, until I tried Superstition.
So much better now.

The current seasonal leader in Europe cleared 145 with Bloodbath, though.
As Free said, probably season is skewed by the theme, but still, makes you think.

Two questions:

  1. Is anyone aware of the precise mechanics of wind shear and weapon master? I tried ambo/doombringer with ambo on main hand and WM feels less effective, especially without crimson even though it recovers 2 fury per hit instead of 1 per enemy struck. Apparently not the same thing?
  2. How much healing do you suggest in order to have wind shear and avoid StP? One LpH roll in weapon is ok but feels way less healing-y than blood funnell. Would another roll on bracers make a big difference?

Season tests don’t mean anything. Just because a rune is good at killing trash faster for triggering super strong Season effects doesn’t mean it’s actually better. Season effects are literally doing 80%+ of the damage now for Rend builds, and they render boss fights almost irrelevant because you can time a kill streak nuke around the boss.

For example Lacerate might be good for killing trash but it doesn’t provide extra bleeds like Bloodbath which deal extra damage to nearby Elites.

You can’t really compare things in Season.

It doesn’t actually matter if Barb, DH, Wiz, Sader all do 150 in season or which runes they used. This season’s theme is beyond broken and renders all runes almost irrelevant.

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Good luck on that 125 man! I hope you’ll nail it soon!
From watching the video man, with Crimsons and FoT you’d have smoked this rift.

Tried incrementally raising life on hit rolls (Max was loh on both IB wep, helm, bracers) to be able to use Into the Frey with IB. Swords to ploughshares with 2 loh rolls way better for healing than having 2 loh rolls on weps for survival. Am I missing something obvious?

Sure. Season and non season has big difference. I am actually talking about season.

Back to bloodbath. Based on test result, it at most double ur dps. Especially in season, it’s like a non season player Fish 150. These mobs can hardly provide 50%+ dps. It’s more like a 10-30% depends on mob types.

Back to non-season, I am not sure which rune is better or even which build is better. As different runes, builds require different play styles. But I encourage people to test new builds, not copy paste the leaderboard

If u don’t consider China server, yes.

If you really want a clear picture, check d.163 leaderboard. Currently, Songhe did 145 9:46 with hard cast bloodbath. Someone almost hit 147 with bloodlust +Intothe Fray.

weapon master: * proc chance=0.2
wind shear: = 1

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But if the post is going to be labeled “Season 19” these aren’t really valid responses. People are coming here for the season build(s). If the strategy for Season 19 is: stack damage reduction and let the season affix do the work for you, that needs to be reflected in the guide and it really doesn’t. One mention about Rampage not being that useful this season, and a couple mentions about Stone Gauntlets being used for low paragons which is clearly not accurate as the top of the leader boards are loaded with the builds I described. If the guide is going to be labeled “Season 19” it should have a section describing the actual season build(s) and why they are working the way they are working. Dismissing them out-of-hand is confusing.

And I’m not trying to disparage the guide or Free. This guide is fantastic and as a LQ barb making the transition to WW this season I’ve learned a ton. But I came here for Season 19 and when I asked about builds being used to top leaderboards the answer was “that’s not gonna fly in non-season.” Sweet, but I dgaf about non-season.

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