Nice runs guys. This really is a fun season - if I actually pay attention to exploiting the buff in solo it can either make a run or shave significant amounts of time off a run.
I failed a 121 getting Vesalius as the RG and a fairly bad set of floors overall. Failed by about 30 seconds I’d say. Vesalius is one RG where sometimes I think my hits don’t hit like they should. He’s the only RG that gives me such problems in the IB push version.
Had a go at 116 seasonal, tried istavans with both gauntlets and mantle, couldn’t beat the timer either way. Wasn’t dying much, just linear maps and no density, and no pylons.
Went and sped some 90’s, open maps, pylons and density everywhere. Game spent two weeks trolling me on gear, now it’s trolling me on maps 
Had a go with BK swords, and rolled through in 12+ minutes. Seemed a lot easier to find the density with the extra movement speed.
Had a try at 117, about three quarters through progression, ahead on the timer, and my internet drops 
Now my net is trolling me. Was so annoyed I went and mowed the lawn
Hi, im NS barbarian and im playing with 4,3 paragon. After ~200 keys i clear’d 132 and this is very huge for me. At 132 i was able to dps elites and trash when physical rotation was on. A spider boss was spawned and its done. Sadly at 133 its a big wall, i cant dps even soft trash not to mention any elites.
I got habits already, im playing with W5/CC2/Demoralize and no spear. When i put spear on my bar i dont feel confident, its not very easy skill to use. I know i got “low” paragon as for tiers im playing but exp runs are not possible im my case, i just hate this and i just like pushing. So ill show my current barbarian who’s clear 132 and it looks very bad at 133:
.d3planner.com/272818254
I got enough cooldowns to spam all skils - demoralize / ip / wrath on cooldowns and its just perma. Is there any option i should try if i wanna have chance with this 133?
Im thinking about 48% area damage from swords (drop loh?), 20 gloves and shoulders, then i have to hard cast rends, i undsrstand it but - if i get AD setup should i hard cast rends only when Physical is on?
Also
I tried Ambo + Doom + Furnace and it was diseaster - cooldowns was so bad. My zodiac proc just bad and i was out of WotB a lot of time. What to do?
I know 132 is already insane for my paragon but i want +1 more, 132 setup just dont work (i open’d 100 rifts to prove this). Thanks in advance and sorry for bad english.
Cleared 125 @ 1850 paragon using CC2 and Istvans.
Took many keys, finally found circle Wooda with many Cultist summoners. GG map and mob, as for pylons there were no Power and no Conduit, just Speed during rift and Channelling on boss. Nvm bad pylons, the Map was super GG. Done 100% on one floor. RG was Voracity, not the best but def a manageable one.
Istvans, % damage on mh, AD on oh. Didn’t use Spear, used WC-Impunity to survive. All damage passives.
The monsters were good. May be they weren’t as good for WW as for SS and other builds but still good.
(I have zero experience in NS pushing with WW so take my words skeptically).
It seems you use the same strategy against all profitable monsters, while it must depend on a kind of monsters.
WW/Crimson/BK sounds like the best of both worlds. I’m going to give that a go .
Nice run!
I’m also running speed 105s at around the 2:45 mark with only 1500 paragon (Season Buff Powa).
They are non-season.
What are you using for grouping?
Congrats! GG maps like that are the dreams fishing is made of!
You should really go for Spear, though. It’s going to improve your grouping in every possible way.
Your gear is superb. Really, you’ll need to practice using Spear. It’s essential for those GG pulls. Otherwise, keep doing what you’re doing and fish, fish, fish. Congrats on the clear! You’re right on target for your Paragon!
Well, the lower attack speed means fewer Zodiac procs, so if you roll with Ambo’s + Doom, you need to more carefully manage cooldowns. TS isn’t helping since that eats a few procs. Again, Spear > Shout, especially since using Spear and hard-cast Rend will create Zodiac procs.
If I understand you correctly, yes, I hunt for mobs that offer good progression, then use Spear to group multiple screens together. From there, it’s just about DPS and knowing when to move on and pull elites, and how to manipulate Pylon spawns.
It’s good, but at your Paragon, I don’t think Crimson’s is worth it. If you’re going to push, Istvan’s is stronger than BK by a few tiers.
Correct – I’m on the NA servers only. If you decide to hop on there, let me know!
So, my quick look at your profile shows you’ve got maybe 17k mainstat? If that’s right, you’re overperforming compaired to the build I’m currently running which is doing 100’s in similar time at 10k mainstat. I had taken some of the above recommendation and started trying Focus/Restraint, and it is working very well. But, if I add 70% mainstat that only gets me to 103-104,
It’s a strange way to run ‘speeds’ because I feel like I’m moving incredibly slowly, but since literally everything dies when I move through it, I never need to stop, and I have nems, GRs still get done in <3 minutes.
So, I’m wondering if your setup is better. I will definitely test it out. As I see it, you’re actually losing some damage compared to my setup (I am using Mantle in cube instead of Mortic’s), trading F&R for CoE, which I see as a loss, but you get Furnace. I can see this potentially being necessary as one gets up in the 105+ range because elites, and the RG, will really be the thing slowing you down. So, I think your build absolutely makes sense.
The other possibility is that my F&R are just horrible, and upgrading them could easily buy me 10%+ damage.
I do have less move speed than my T16 build by a large margin, but I make up for it in raw damage, I’m able to insta-melt density, which leads to fast clear times. I wouldn’t even say this is an optimized setup, just the one I have had the most success with for speed GRs, I’m sure with some tuning I could go higher and faster (I could probably squeeze in more damage by switch to Rubies in gear and/or dropping Morticks in cube for Mantle, but I don’t like dying and prefer an easier and safer playstyle for my speeds).
EDIT: Regarding F+R w/ Mess in cube, I’ve tried that setup and while powerful, as you push higher you will run into issues of not clearing trash fast enough to keep your cooldowns up, not to mention the RG can be a nightmare unless it spawns adds. I just find my current setup more comfortable to play (good survivability w/ good damage, and easy to manage cooldown).
Thanks!
I don’t have such MLG skill with grouping and pylons like You, brother. Thus I prefer raw power the Crimson variant provides, even at my low paragon. Power compensates for weaker grouping.
I think I will try to learn Spear, at least for renewed playstyle if nothing else.
I play’d whole time without AD, now i added 120 AD and clear’d 133 in 50 keys. I do insane damage from hard casts, i dont know if its me or not but hard rend deal incredible numbers when ambo rend seems silly. Im doing hard casts without even looking at rotation, just rend and ww alternate.
.d3planner.com/616605119
Still dont have Ancient Spear on bar, i have demoralize instead. Everything is still pretty chaotic but 133 solo with 4,3 paragon (60 euro rank) is fine for now.
I feel like I am totally missing something here on the Istvan’s being a better push set than BK. IB set has the 30% damage and armor…
BK has:
Better healing just from bloodfunnel
Extra rolls on weapons, no need for LPH - easily do CDR and AD on both
Into the Fray
Easier grouping, and just getting from place to place from the extra speed.
Fury never an issue.
Berserker Rage if wanted.
Boon is easier to drop (attk speed and just getting to monsters quicker procs orotz more)
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills…How is IB better? is the extra armor just too important to pass up in higher GRs? Effective damage would seem to favor BK set?
I got same feeling. I have right both sets and if i run ~130 without any AD then IB seems just stronger and StP heal looks more consistent on same content (maby its just placebo effect? 
)
All swords got right lines, gear also.
I dont feel damage from Into The Fray with BK’s in density but i feel damage bonus from IB’s.
Snd last thing - i dont belive 30% armor from IB’s is so much important but im not sure here.
I will run BK / Into the Fray / Blood Funnel + CC2 with ~120 AD at Tier 133 now and ill test if i can do damage from hard casts in same way like i do with IB’s.
Edit: I am bad at typing numbers
I checked this quick. If you have 23k mainstat and appropriate armor on gear, this is a 16% reduction in damage, or ~7-8 GR’s worth. So, if you are anywhere close to getting killed, it is a pretty giant buff. If your limitation is damage, of course, then it doesn’t help you at all.
(I originally said a 20% decrease - it’s a 20% increase in damage taken if you go from IB to non-IB, but it’s only a 16% decrease if you’re compairing to the non-IB damage).
Yes, the AD procs from hard-cast Rends deal massive damage because they’re calculated off the compressed Rend damage dealt in 1 second from Ambo’s (even though they aren’t dealt by Ambo’s). Hard-casting Rend in density is a crucial part of achieving success with this build. But trust me: Get good with Ancient Spear. It makes or breaks pushes.
Well, you aren’t really getting much more out of Crimson’s unless you trade Band for COE, and then you’re giving up a LOT of DR, which will make fishing much, much worse at your Paragon. Obviously, if you have good Crimson’s pieces and prefer to play that way, keep at it, especially if you’re having success, but I wouldn’t recommend using Crimson’s at that Paragon for anyone.
As for Spear, just put in some time to learn it and you’ll be fine!
That’s a great question. In simplest terms, the 30% multiplicative damage offered by the IB set beats anything the BK set brings to the table–on paper, anyway, and so far in practice.
Can the BK set make up for it? Well, with Into the Fray and GG density, you can achieve another 30% CHC, which is a direct multiplier to Rend’s damage. This puts the BK set on par with the IB set in terms of raw damage output, but only when in GG density. What happens is that density thins, you drag elites to the next location, and eventually you spawn the RG. Even if you get a good RG that spawns adds, you’re not likely to get 30 adds piled on top of you (maybe Hammy can do it?).
So, yes, BK + Into the Fray = the IB damage bonus but only in GG density.
As for the other perks, I agree: they are not to be overlooked.
On the flip side, while not game-breaking, 30% Armor is significant, particularly since it’s Armor and thus scales with Strength. As you gain more Paragon and main stat, that 30% is worth more and more. And again, anytime you’re out of GG density, IB’s damage bonus is much stronger in terms of DPS than the BK set, especially when you utilize hard-cast Rends to proc AD in density; this alone might outweight anything that BK + Into the Fray can bring to the tabel. This also means that you gain more benefit from a Power Pylon when using the IB set.
The real question is how far ahead is the IB set over the BK set, and we don’t yet have a clear answer. My personal estimation is between 2-4 GR tiers. It could be more, but it could be less.
Hope that helps.
Faster move speed > slower because faster re-positioning = faster pulls
Isn’t the Dust Devil proc rate dependent on tiles moved?
Where more movespeed means more tiles travelled,
which means more dust devils (and more aggro),
which means more rend applications within 9yds (regardless of WW ticks hitting),
which means more consistent damage.
No, it’s dependent on attack speed. And the Rends applied by Dust Devils can’t exceed the cap of 2 from Lamentation. As for aggro, that’s what Spear is for.
Wouldn’t worry about Dust Devils. They’re doing what they need to do, but they’re certainly not a factor in comparing BK to IB.