LLD101

[Educated]

Ok Ive heard alot about vlld and I figured I'd give it a try. I've decided on a bash barb, im going to use Sigon's with a 6 socket crystal sword filled with 9 max dmg jewels and Ar rings n such. if i did any thing wrong plz lemme know.
Tyvm

[T_Maldo]

skills?

also, go for a mili pick instead of crystal sword.

[Captain Crunch]

sigons isnt the best choice at lvl 9. the shield takes 75 str to use, which means your gunna be low on life. u can barely even get enuff stat points at lvl 9 to use it

[krajee]

You could always think about using a flamberge.

a flamberge needs 49dex, 41 with -15reqs; 70str
sigons gloves/boots gives you the needed ias.
having 70 str allows you to use either a pure +max gothic, or a -30 ancient.
this is very jewelery dependant though, as you will spend quite a few stat points.

oh yea, the reason for the flamberge is range.

[Moos3d]

You could use Hel on some sigon parts.

[Educated]

yea that was the plan to socket sigs with sum hels so i could wear with less str. (about 60) a militry pick does less dmg and has a shorter range. as for skillz 9 bash 9 sword mastery 1 howl and 1 shout

[VoicesLLD]

think of it this way.

less dmg + higher speed vs a little bit more dmg + slower speed.

if you;re hitting faster and doing a little bit less damage, youll over all do more damage in the end. you;re asking for help, so you might want to consider it. there are many of us here that have made these chars before, so we know what we talk about.

also, there is a vlld bash barb guide in the "Everything to do with vlld" sticky.

[Educated]

Well tyvm guys ill try to figure out what to do now lol. but i still dunno what kinda rings and ammy to use. i was thinking Nagels cause the vlld barb sticky says that AR is very important.

TYVM

Jit-Boy

[VoicesLLD]

[Chewie]

Using sigons is not a good idea, b/c of the str req. But if you insist, use a -req jewel instead of wasting a hel. Military pick > crystal sword. Overall, a bash barb is extremely difficult to make. I've made many vlld's, and this is so far the hardest, and he's my worst vlld char right now.

[Educated]

ok so lemme add all of this up.

1) Nagels are ok since I don't have any good rare rings yet. ( )
2)Sigon's is a realy bad choice because of the str require.
3) the Pick wins over the sword.
4) my skills were a good choice since no said any thing about them.( )

If this information is incorrect in any way please let me know.
Because i am very excited about this barb

[Chewie]

depends on how eager you are to have the build finished. Nagels are ok for a first lld, for sure, but you'll be losing a lot of life by using them instead of other things. I'd even take +2/55 ar rings instead of nagels. Currently, my bash barb isn't complete. He's using a plain +2 str ring, and a +2/5x ar ring.

[VoicesLLD]

sacrifising 8 life (thats how much +2 stats equals on a barb) is more than worth it to achieve 20 more ar. for bash barbs, if you dont have the ar, you;re going to lose every time. given the choice between a +2stat/55ar rare ring, or a 75ar nagel, id choose the nagel. if it were 65ar/2dex, i might choose the rare. but IMO, 55ar is jsut too low for a ring.

another thing they need alot of is DTM%. you need atleast 20%.

[Chewie]

I just dueled a lvl 9 bash barb who gave me a run for my money, and I was using my best dueler. He used sigons gloves/boots/shield/helm, deaths belt, jeweled pick, and a jeweled ancient armor (he used a 12max/-req jewel in the ancient along with plain 9's...wtf). He said he had 400 life, 1k defense, 1900 ar, 450 dmg, and 60 mana. Makes me think there might be a different approach to bash barbs.

[Rampage]

Yeah I have seen a Bash Barb build on East just like that.

Sigons pieces give 30ias/10str/100def/+1 skills/Mana/FRW/Life

Ancient armor gives that max damage.

I have:
Axe Bash Barb that uses a Military Pick with 6 sockets
Sword Barb that uses 1 socket Cleglaws sword or 5 Socket Superior Flamberge
Mace Barb that uses 5 socket Superior Flail

Weapon speed for all those weapons is -10 and i would have to say that they are all just about as equally effective.

Bash Barbs are hard to make really good. The skill layout that you have selected is the most common. However, there are other possiblities. You may want to try going more defense and putting more points into shout, Another neat trick is to prebuff shout to better effect. You can actually add +5 by using a +3 shout helm, Berzerker Armor and Sigons shield. It is a bit of a hassle though because you have to put your prebuff gear on then run out of town and shout then run back to your stash to switch back to your normal armor and helm. Shout last plenty long to do this with the prebuff but it is just inconvenient. Make sure you plan for mana because Bash Barbs are the second worst mana pigs out there. Damage to mana jewels and a Vulpine shield of Deflection of some kind are one solution. The sigons shield with a DTM/-15 and the sigons helm is another solution. If you go with Sigons try to find a ring or ammy that has 1/2 freeze duration as one of it's mods because you won't have the Can't be frozen mod that Death Sash offers.

Do not be afraid to use some strength on the Barb because that is where he gets his damage but if you use too much it will drastically cut into the points you have avaiable for life.

You have a good start there for a first time VLLDer but do not expect to beat the guys that have been at this for months or years with this build. It will own the pubbies but will lose to upper level VLLD builds. Good Luck and enjoy.