Do Barbarians suck now, or what?

[Gsara]

Barbs are the best damage in the game right now and also can fulfill a support role in groups. Crusaders are mediocre at best compared to any other class.

But, unless you are pushing high grifts, play what you want and have fun because that's what the game is about.

[Coldkil]

I'm definitely interested in what the above poster is asking as well. I would like to push GR60 solo, but I am struggling at 51 and I have all ancient pieces for the sets except for shoulders and 2H IK weapon/ one of the swords in the BK set.

All my Leg Gems are level 50 and im 390 Paragon...maybe it'll just come with paragon?

Farm paragons - one you reach 500 or so you'll be able to do it with no issue. 600 to be extra sure.

[Gsara]

I'm definitely interested in what the above poster is asking as well. I would like to push GR60 solo, but I am struggling at 51 and I have all ancient pieces for the sets except for shoulders and 2H IK weapon/ one of the swords in the BK set.

All my Leg Gems are level 50 and im 390 Paragon...maybe it'll just come with paragon?

Farm xp and get ancient barb weapons.
For easy mode, go wastes full WW build and stack cdr and att.speed where you can. You will clear 60+'s easily. Did a 64 easily with a fresh roled barb and handoffs from my brother, cube crafted my weapons.
HotA barbs are great and do hit like trucks, but they are squishy as hell. Basically smash it before it smashes you. Excellent for groups with monk support.
I havent tried a 6/2 rend barb yet.

[RuneDK]

Yea I figured paragons will help a lot. Right now I got to 52 solo dropping my IK set bonuses. picking up ignore pain and threatening shout(with the rune that increases damage taken). Also dropped my focus/restraint for a unity and CoE. Outside of the damage bonus my CoE rolled really well. Strength, CHC, CHD, and a socket with 153% damage bonus. Then I got another one to drop with no socket and int...I was bummed out but it will be amazing for my wizard.

Thanks for the help plan on getting more paragon before hitting 55+.

[jaber2]

1 to 70 is a waste of time, find someone to power level you and get into some 4 man rifts and bounties to gear up, use blood on gear

[Aori]

Just slapped together a barb, amulet and rings suck. I'm running 6waste/4ik rend+ww. With no ancient items I can do grift 50 solo, damage is a bit low but I can't die. I just run it to gear up right now in lower grifts or groups.

I don't have BK or full IK yet, however this is turning out to be a good alternative.

[Radio]

So basically we're back to the Jay Wilson era where Barbs and DHs get to have all the fun while the other classes are told to fuck off?

DHs are average at the moment, so no.

Standings are:

Monk/Barb > WD > Wiz/DH > Crusader

But even still, all classes are capable of pushing 60+ greater rifts, which means that all classes are viable.

[Kontinuum]

Barbarians are fine

[Deleted]

Which Barb spec do you find the most useful with very little to no ancient pieces?

6 wastes (WW) just does not feel strong enough after GR50, but it is my go to for normal rifts and bounties.

6 IK with Gravel was like slamming people with a semi-truck but I felt so squishy

6IK +2WW (Rend) feels awesome until I get to the boss or let my Gem stacks fall. I really struggle with fury on a rift boss that doesn't have adds to perform quicker charges on.

Farming <GR50 with close to 0 ancient items is just where you are supposed to be, maybe you can beat 55 with a lucky rift or something, but you won't farm it in a fun/safe manner.

You need well rolled ancients and paragon levels to be somewhat comfortable in 60+ solo imho.


as for what spec to play, WW is probably the strongest and easiest to play solo, but I dislike it's damage against packs and Rift Guardians... and I prefer to actually "clear" a rift and kill elites/rares. So Hota or Rend is better for me
And lets face it, 4.000.000.000+ (and upwards) crits from HotA are fun to look at
Unity+Guardians should give you more than enough toughness.

WW is sick for speed farming though!

[Bigbazz]

What I've found

HOTA - Weakest of the top 3 specs in solo play due to survival issues, strongest damage 1-3 target + Rift Boss damage.
Rend - Strongest Solo spec in terms of damage for clearing, and doesn't "require" extreme density Rifts to succeed.
WW - Easiest spec to play, great survival and the best mobility. requires extreme density Rifts to suceeed.

Rend is the easiest if you're doing 60 ish rifts because damage is very high with it and you don't need extreme gear or Paragon to meet the damage requirements, even if the Rift boss damage is not as high as Hota it's still superior to WW. WW though is much easier to survive with and so long as you have a high density Rift the damage is great. Even with low Rift Boss damage the Stricken gem eventually fixes that problem.

I wonder how it will look at the end of the season, given that WW spec has just cleared a 72 with a Rend barb in rank 2 on EU... I do wonder if the superior damage of Rend will eventually cause it to surpass Wastes, or if the current trend will continue.



I've 2 Barbarians, one for farming (Wastes/BK WW) and one for Greater Rifts (group play) which is HOTA... The biggest crit I've had to date without a Power Pylon I think was 62billion on Rift Guardian in a 66 rift, Hota hits hard as fuck.

[natrodamus]

Barbarians are fine

I am kinda surprised he pulled that off. The density seemed very low in quite a few of those hallways. He did luck out with getting ham though. I always pray I get that boss.

[Ichifails]

Ah D3 at launch, how I long for you.

I wish we could go back to the days when my Barbarian was forced to use nothing but ranged abilities lest he be one shot by Act 1 Inferno zombies.

All Rez yellow barb gear selling for 250E on the RMAH. I felt dirty.

[Crushima]

I'm kind of leveling a Barbarian and a Crusader in tandem with the new season on Expert. My Crusader can just ride the horsey into the middle of a pile of enemies and just spam hammers and everything explodes while my Barbarian can leap into a pile of enemies and die horribly. Both have relatively even equipment, but the Barbarian has a pair of legendary bracers that increase Hammer of the Ancients speed by 50% and damage by 200% while the Crusader doesn't have anything unique like that (both are using legendary weapons.)

I mean, I guess Crusader would be less potent if I wasn't spamming hammers and was instead using a different Wrath spender, so maybe it's just a matter of finding the gamebreaking combo with the Barbarian? Or does Barbarian really start to pop later than the Crusader?

You must be very new to the game and not know how to gear the barbarian or which spells to take when you're levelling.

A HOTA build with those bracers at low level should be way ahead of anything a Crusader can dream to do.

[mrpopos10]

What I've found

HOTA - Weakest of the top 3 specs in solo play due to survival issues, strongest damage 1-3 target + Rift Boss damage.
Rend - Strongest Solo spec in terms of damage for clearing, and doesn't "require" extreme density Rifts to succeed.
WW - Easiest spec to play, great survival and the best mobility. requires extreme density Rifts to suceeed.

Rend is the easiest if you're doing 60 ish rifts because damage is very high with it and you don't need extreme gear or Paragon to meet the damage requirements, even if the Rift boss damage is not as high as Hota it's still superior to WW. WW though is much easier to survive with and so long as you have a high density Rift the damage is great. Even with low Rift Boss damage the Stricken gem eventually fixes that problem.

I wonder how it will look at the end of the season, given that WW spec has just cleared a 72 with a Rend barb in rank 2 on EU... I do wonder if the superior damage of Rend will eventually cause it to surpass Wastes, or if the current trend will continue.



I've 2 Barbarians, one for farming (Wastes/BK WW) and one for Greater Rifts (group play) which is HOTA... The biggest crit I've had to date without a Power Pylon I think was 62billion on Rift Guardian in a 66 rift, Hota hits hard as fuck.

How do you reach that much damage? I am kind of a noob to the new stuff, only played vanilla a lot, and I have a HOTA barb now. I did rift 47 without a problem (hardcore solo) but my biggest crit is maybe 3.5 billion i guess maybe 4. I am not using the gem that gives you 25% to rift gaurdians but that still doesnt get you to 62 billion lol. I have fire dmg on my necklace, and bracers, not using strong arms, and I rolled off crit on my ik helm to dmg% to HOTA - using full iks, furnace in cube, an ancient weapon (one that gives % hota dmg)

Just to be clear, i am not insinuating you are a liar, i just am trying to figure out how to make my barb better.

[Bigbazz]

How do you reach that much damage? I am kind of a noob to the new stuff, only played vanilla a lot, and I have a HOTA barb now. I did rift 47 without a problem (hardcore solo) but my biggest crit is maybe 3.5 billion i guess maybe 4. I am not using the gem that gives you 25% to rift gaurdians but that still doesnt get you to 62 billion lol. I have fire dmg on my necklace, and bracers, not using strong arms, and I rolled off crit on my ik helm to dmg% to HOTA - using full iks, furnace in cube, an ancient weapon (one that gives % hota dmg)

Just to be clear, i am not insinuating you are a liar, i just am trying to figure out how to make my barb better.

Convention of Elements, Focus + Restraint + Bane of the Stricken gem. The gem gives you 25% to rift guardians + more damage with every hit (it's like 1.47% per hit or something), and then as the boss goes below 30% health I do 40% more damage from Ruthless.


My char - http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/B.../hero/64582355

[Gadzooks]

So basically we're back to the Jay Wilson era where Barbs and DHs get to have all the fun while the other classes are told to fuck off?

Only if you're trying to compete at the bleeding edge and top the charts. I'm having a blast with several classes at the moment.

[kaintk]

Which Barb spec do you find the most useful with very little to no ancient pieces?

6 wastes (WW) just does not feel strong enough after GR50, but it is my go to for normal rifts and bounties.

6 IK with Gravel was like slamming people with a semi-truck but I felt so squishy

6IK +2WW (Rend) feels awesome until I get to the boss or let my Gem stacks fall. I really struggle with fury on a rift boss that doesn't have adds to perform quicker charges on.

on europe the best barb is a WW spec 71 or 72 for the moment, ww is really big dps if you know how to build it and play it

Convention of Elements, Focus + Restraint + Bane of the Stricken gem. The gem gives you 25% to rift guardians + more damage with every hit (it's like 1.47% per hit or something), and then as the boss goes below 30% health I do 40% more damage from Ruthless.


My char - http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/B.../hero/64582355

if you play ww spec, dont forget to go for max area damage, area damage with the tornado is really a killer, but like he said, you need big density rift to succeed

[ofbeaton]

I'm going to agree and say that I had a hard time running HOTA, but switched to Rend and had a great time. Most of my gear is not ancient, around 600 paragon levels, but of course I have a ancient weapon! That is really the key to getting anywhere.