LLD101

[meth]

I'm thinking of making a bash barb or dbl swing (not sure if it will work well without a shield for block though)

anyway, the build is pretty basic:

military pick (2 jewels will contain -15req)
light plate (1 jewel will contain -15req)
deaths sash/glove
3os barb helm (1+shout , +bash/+axe mastery)
rare rings (same as usual)
rare ammy
vulpine shield of def. (2os)
gorefoot
14 * 14-15life / 8+ar lc's
3 * 12fhr / (cr or ar or def) gc's
3 * +1str/dex sc's

skills:
10bash
10axe mast

stats:
35str - (enough for light plate with -15req)
dex (enough for max block, anyone have a site for the calc/formula)
the rest vit

some questions though:
1) will it be possible to compete without a shield (dbl swing)
2) if i get a helm with +shout, should i put more into shout or is 1 good enough
3) will the gorefoot's help enough to get my mana back? or will i still need as much dtm as possible?

[diet_sushi]

Your gonna want a shield anyway i suggest a vbsod or a vulpine bone shield of deflecting i would find a 2-3+ Should barb helm and just precast shout

its impossible to have 10 in each skill since highest is 9 so your gonna have to put 2 into shout anyway

Leech doesnt work well enuff in duels anymore unless you have 100-200% mana leech i suggest either hotspurs or 15ar 10fhr 3+dex boots or anything close to those

Yes you might need a lot of dtm so try and get max/dtm jwls to get a good amount of dtm

[VoicesLLD]

vs anyone that uses a shield, youll die if you dont have one as well.

youll want atleast 25% DTM. 30-35% would be better.

your skill layout will be

9 bash
9 mastry
1 howl
1 shout

since you;re using a light plate, i wouldnt bother putting more into shout, as your armor is your primary source of defense, and light plate isnt very good compared to ancient plate or gothic. so just get a +3 shout and precast it. or if you get a +3 bash +3 mastry +3 shout helm, youll be in the money.

dont use gorefeet. they are never an option unless you are making a leap barb (why would anyone make a level 9 leap barb?). your only other choices are hotspurs, rare fhr/3dex/15ar boots, or hsraus boots.

-hsarus are out of the question because without the hsarus belt, you lose the nice +ar per clvl.
-hot spurs are nice, 5 less life than hsarus boots, but you gain massive fire resist, and a little bit of fire dmg.
-bash barbs need ALL the AR they can get. for that reason i suggest the fhr/3dex/15ar boots. the 3 dex will add atleast another 9 ar to a normal attack, but to bash, itll add even more. on top of that, 3 dex will save you 3 stats for vitality. essentially giving you 12 life on the boots as well. and even better, is the 10%FHR will allow you to ditch that last FHR GC you have to get that measly 3% FHR to gain the 27% bp. so i guess the boots save you another 30 life (room for 2 more 15 life lcs)

only use a vbsod if you get one with 2 sockets. otherwise use a pelta with a max/dtm jewel, until you manage to get a vbsod with 2 sockets. try to get 12% dtm base on the shield.

use +1 dex/4ar scs over +1str/4ar scs under your gcs. the dex will add to blocking and ar, as well as save life. str just adds to dmg (but you need more than +2) and saves life.

[meth]

oh yea, forgot that they can only go up to lvl 9
and the gorefoot ml wont help at all guess i have to start looking for those rare booties now

i have the dtm covered with all the jewels i have so far, but i still need to find some good -req jewels.

2 more questions though,
is it always better to have lower str and higher vit, would max/dtm/-req jewels in everything be good so your str would only have to be like 24-25
also, what is the dex i would need with a vbsod

[B[x]]

[meth]

ok, another question arising from b[x]'s post
would a shout prebuffer + 3os mask be better than a shout helm + 2os barb helm with +2-3 total to the 2 skills?

[B[x]]

if you can do it, go with a +shout prebuff helm and a 2 socket barb helm with +axe mastery/bash.

[meth]

ok, thanks guys

[VoicesLLD]

the extra 1 sockets worth of damage gains from a mask, would not compare to the extra ar/critical strike/dmg you get from +3 bash +3 mastry.

[Rampage]

Even finding a +3 Bash +3 Mastery helm in awful difficult. The best helm I have found so far is a +2Mace +2 Bash with 10FHR. That helm is soon to make it's debute on Redawgs new Mace Bash Barb. I have found two 3 socket Fanged Helms now. Neither have any skills on them and both are Ilvl 41. I am thinking that if they did have skills they would likely be too high for a Lvl 9 to use anyway. Like the guys said be happy with the 2 os Helm if you can get any combination of Shout-Bash-Masteries that is equal to 4 or more.
Barbs tend to get their damage from Str so do not be afraid to put points there. They won't be wasted. You can make a build that only needs 40 or less str and therefore has higher life but your damage will suffer too.

There are only 3 viable weapon choices for a barb IMO. 6os Superior Militarty pick, 5os Superior Flail and 5os Superior Flamberge. Each has it's advantages and diadvantages. I would not be afraid to use any of them if I found a great +3 Mastery helm of that type. Only the Sword should require the use of -15Req Jewels in the weapon itself.

I suggest trying very hard to get a 5/5 Ammy and 2/2 High AR rings if at all possible before you start placing stat points. At the very least get a 5 Str Ammy for him preferably with mana or DTM on it. Bash Barbs are very mana hungry but you can get by with around 50-60 mana if you have 25-30% DTM. Vulpine shield is the best way to get that along with the AMMY and a Max/DTM jewel or two. The Bone shield has the best block rate for it's Str requirements but it looks so ugly on a Barb...lol. I use a Vulpine Tower Shield of Dflection with two Max/-15Reg jewels because it looks cool. Hey if you can't win you gotta at least look good dying.

Gorefoot are not totally a waste. They are fast at 20RW and the leap thing can surprise some people. Plus it is nice for getting over bone walls. Uses up a lot of mana though. Best choise is the HotSpurs if you need to enhance your life and be fire immune or the rares as mentioned above. If is fairly easy to gamble 10FHR/3Dex boots but the ones with 10FHR/3DEX/15AR are a lot harder to get.

The real advantage of extra points in Shout is the additional duration of the spell more than the additional Defense it provides. (Although that is nice too). Because of the Barbs high defense and relatively low damage, duels tend to last long enough for +1 Shout to wear off. It is tough to stop hitting for a second and stand there vulnerable to Shout again but if you don't then you lowered defense could cost you a loss. Prebuffing is the best solution if you can do it.

My Barb is good but he has never consistently beaten the top 4 or 5 VLLDs on East. Of course, I have never tried moving all of my best gear to him and taking him out for a night on the town either. Good Luck with your build.

[kung.foo]

this might mean nothing to you, as I don't know if your the kind of person who fills his inventory with charms..but how the flying chicken are you going to prebuff with a helm ( if your inventory is full )
you'd have to cast your shout..run into town and switch helms before every duel..or somehow you could clear a space in your inventory..but that usually means sacrificing some necesary extra stats.

[VoicesLLD]

[meth]

how long does shout last, and how long do duels usually last?

[VoicesLLD]

http://www.d2items.com/skills.php

a level 1 shout with a +3 shout prebuff will last 50 seconds. duels will last generally less than that.

[Gg_UnKnown]

i'd imagine double swing barb would be a good anti caster build in vlld