This is a fair point and one thought is if this forum allows for sub-topics? It would appear not unfortunately but that might be the best solution in the long run with these seasonal modifiers, that way for each season where the changes are so profound a sub-topic could be created with specific information for that season alone.
Perhaps in the meantime someone could start up a Season 19 specific WW thread to discuss gearing/strategies for the buff and how it impacts the build?
I don’t think anyone is dismissing anything. Instead, I think there are two important points to consider:
That second point is really important. The killstreaks are so strong that they’ll let highly un-optimized versions of the build clear far, far higher than they otherwise could. That is something to be addressed, and I’ve been adding more and more info into the guide to do exactly that, but please consider what I’m saying.
In non-Season, you have to fine-tune the build. You have to really double down on your gear, your rolls, and your play style.
In Season, those requirements and restrictions are greatly loosed. You can try different runes, use weird items, or do other things that won’t fly in non-Season because the killstreak bonus is going to carry you. The problem with this is that while I can check the leaderboards and note what the top clears are using, that doesn’t mean it’s optimized at all, much less optimized for Season 19.
In other words, the killstreak bonuses are so powerful that they make it hard to determine what being optimized in Season 19 even means. However, your points are already addressed in the OP.
The Core Zodiac build provides more DR and doesn’t need a ring slot for Grandeur. This is addressed in the OP.
Stone Gauntlets provide tons of mitigation for low-Paragon players who rely on the Season theme to deal damage. This is addressed in the OP.
Superstition is a fantastic passive to mitigate damage and keep Fury topped off for Berserker Rage. This is addressed in the OP.
Area Damage is procced by hard-cast Rends, so stacking it is a good idea. This is addressed in the OP.
Let’s not. Everything currently relevant to non-Season and Season 19 is alrady covered here. We have a comprehensive, evolving guide.
I would suggest 2-3 Life per Hit rolls, but it really depends on what you’re comfortable with and how high you’re pushing.
Great info, Justin. Thanks for the update! I checked the NA, EU, and AS leaderboards, but I don’t see any Barbs using anything other than Bloodbath or Lacerate, whether in Season or non-Season. Do you have more info?
I don’t think Ravage’s increased range will mean much compared to Bloodbath’s or Lacerate’s additional damage. Bloodlust is interesting. Why do some players consider it better to trigger the Season nuke? I assume you mean the angels?
To me, Bloodlust seems like a good way to go if you want to keep Into the Fray with the IB set. I’ll give it a spin in non-Season and let you know.
As for Lacerate, I disagree. Yes, Lacerate deals more Rend damage, but Bloodbath’s additional bleeds deal a ton of damage in density.
My non-season barb is very similar to yours: 2100 paragon, 21k mainstat. I also topped out at 124 before switching to season for now (missed a 125 by ~30 seconds; didn’t get around to doing much fishing).
I’ve taken a different approach, though. I run ww5, cc2, bk, and fot with coe, and no bom or ip. I use warcry/impunity for extra toughness and group with threatening shout rather than spear for an added toughness boost.
It’s interesting to see that both builds seem to have very similar effectiveness at our paragon.
As for Lacerate, I disagree. Yes, Lacerate deals more Rend damage, but Bloodbath’s additional bleeds deal a ton of damage in density.
Well, the issue becomes how much uptime do you get out of bloodbath? Lacerate does much more damage, and is practically a 21% multiplicative damage boost over the other runes with 100% uptime.
Bloodbath cannot stack higher than two, which means in many cases where you’re killing masses during CoE cycles; you’re “wasting” monster deaths on capped bloodbaths. And how often do singular monster deaths in high grifts for a sustained period of time occur?
Video is still processing, but should be visible soon.
Some notes on the clear:
Floor 1:
Floor 2:
Miscellanous Notes
I used the Core Zodiac Rend build (no Crimson’s) with Bloodbath. Flavor of Time gave me the clear, but I lost 500+ Strength to take it over my Hellfire.
Congrats Free!
Awesome effort.
Now you just need another 8K Paragon so you too can be OP 
Just checked you videos. Congrats! You did it. No lag No clear…lol
That’s right. Actually much better than lacerate.
For mobs die within 30 seconds, bloodbath is always the best choice.
BTW, a little trick on your clear. You can Hard cast 2-3times then WW for 0.5s then hard cast… I saw your taeguk buff disappears when you hard cast too many times.
Congrats. Guess I should try 125 again, too, for the honor of the ww5 cc2 build. 
I cleared 113 on Season toon over the weekend.
WW6, with Istavans blades, and have been playing around with the passives.
But I have now incorporated Rage Flip into the build, OK, I’m converted, it makes a huge difference being able to group like that.
It brought me from high 13 minutes to about 10:30
Yeah, it fell off once or twice. I usually am more diligent about keeping up Taeguk when I hard-cast, but I got nervous when I saw it was a potential clear.
Some more weird notes about this clear:
With better gear and Augs, I could do 126, maybe 127 with really GG Pylons. Need to farm Bounties en masse 
Thanks!
I don’t think Crimson’s is worth it until you can afford to drop RoRG for COE. Until then, you’re better off with Core Zodiac + Band of Might and whatever weapons you prefer. At your Paragon, I think you’ll have more success with Core over Crimson’s.
But if you’re playing Season, it doesn’t matter what you use. In fact, most players are having more success with Core + Stone Gauntlets in the Cube.
Rage Flip is huge. You can see in the video where I make some GG pulls and within seconds I can group multiple screens of density. This makes taking advantage of Bloodbath and Oculus so much easier.
Honestly, Rage Flip is practically the beating heart of this build.
It is taking some getting used to which button to put it on, to make it work best for me, but I seem to be getting more used to it and it feels a bit smoother now.
Try Left Mouse and use Force Stand Still to pull. Feels amazing!
That’s exactly how I found it best to use
Wow! I took your advice on that one before you even typed it 
Just after some advice on what I should be focusing on next. bracers are a given i think. What about skills equipped? Currently I have knocked over 116 in 11min. I play harcore, so NoS is a must. Link to profile:
h ttps://us.diablo3.com/en/profile/Waz-11929/hero/116453133
if i try rage flip, what do i drop, war cry? I know i need to move from FC to ground stomp.
thanks in advance.
I would rerolled CHC to CHD in the amulet (you get CHC from WotB and Into the Fray).
Yes.
IMHO if you want to push high you need AD. But I’m not sure this is true for HC.
Grats on the clear Free.
Kinda wish i was playing non season to see what i can do at my current level. Also i will try your advice on the spear and put it on left mouse click.
Is it just me or does it sometime not pull mobs? Must be doing something wrong and i hate trying to pull through doors lol
I have seen some back and forth about the season buff here that I’d like to address, because I’d really love to get folks input on the best way to handle the buff.
On one hand, we have seen (I am not quoting directly and intentionally paraphrasing because I do not intend to call anyone out, but rather to help illuminate the two sides of the argument),
“the season buff makes everything different, and you can see people using different setups very successfully, so they must be the best setups”.
And on the other hand,
“The season buff is so crazy that it doesn’t matter what you use, you don’t need to optimize.”
Neither of these is really correct; the truth rather somewhere between the two. I.e.
“The season buff has a very large impact, and the correct way to optimize for its use is different than the way one would optimize absent the buff. While we’ve seen high clears in season, we do not know that those builds are the most optimal, because the analysis hasn’t been done yet.”
Is that fair enough? I would really like to have the discussion about the optimal way to use the season buff. While the options are covered in the OP, it’s not clear which of them work the best. Nor is it clear how one plans for particular tiers of the buff. It’s also not clear to me why some of those pushing are use more AD. If the buff is truly clearing the giant packs one can put together, what’s the benefit of AD? Would it be better to optimize for your RG fight after the buff does all the hard work for you? Or, is AD the only way to get the ball rolling?
This is the problem, and I address it here:
Broken down to its simplest form, here’s the S19 strategy:
That’s pretty much it. Pylons and killstreak bonuses are doing all the heavy lifting. And in 3 months, it’s all going to be irrelevant. Rax’s 138 clear video, in which he has only 2400 Paragon, makes this pretty clear.
So, yes, there are certain configurations that are more optimal at certain Paragon in Seasons, but all it really boil down to in terms of items and the player are mitigation and the ability to control killstreaks. You, the player, aren’t doing much damage except to some trash mobs now and again. You, the player, are really only there to accrue and manage the killstreak bonuses.
Obviously, this guide is here to help everyone, Season and non-Season alike. But we shouldn’t be taking Season 19 too seriously as it represents a drastic deviation from the true potential of builds–enough that there is, at present, several thousand Paragons of difference between Season and non-Season capability.