1.0.3 Inferno Barbarian Guide

[Zrave]

Patch 1.0.3 has drastically changed the game, to the point that most strategies that have been developed for barbarian are no longer optimal. The focus now is on DPS and clearing speed, not survivability.

First, I'll talk about the optimal farming strategy, and then the builds you can use to complete them. The Nephalem Valor Buff change means that bosses will drop less loot, while elite packs after the 5th will drop a lot more. This rewards a farming strategy that kills as many elite packs as possible in a single run. Therefore I recommend that your farming run consist of entire act farms, maximizing the proportion of elites that are killed with 5 stacks of valor.

Act 4 farming is bad because it is so short. There are only about 10 elite packs in the entire act so only a few will be killed after the 5th stack. Whimsyshire is also inefficient, first because it only has a few elite packs and also because of the magic find change; it does not affect clouds anymore (didn't get a single blue when I tried it.)

Therefore the best farming routes are full clears of acts 1, 2, or 3. Since a full clear involves killing about 30 elite packs and several bosses, it could take up to 2 hours to complete. In the interest of efficiency I recommend you farm the highest act you can while using a dps strategy. The drop rate change means that farming act 1 in 90 minutes using a dps strategy will be more rewarding than clearing act 2 in 3 hours using a tanking strategy. The most efficient farm in the game will be the fastest completion of act 3.

Survivability requirements have dropped drastically. I was able to drop my EHP in half while tripling my dps and still clear act 3 without too many issues. Currently I clear act 3 in about 2 hours, killing 30 or so elite packs and all 4 bosses, which translates to about 4 full backpacks of loot and 50-60 rares. My stats are 7k armor, 700 all resists, 60k hp, and 40k dps, further boosted by brawler and berserker rage.

I was able to get such a high DPS by stacking as much Crit hit chance and crit hit damage as I could. Currently at 46% and 289%, respectively!

Arcane enchanted seems to be the most deadly affix right now, especially when paired with affixes that constrain your movement.

I'll also share the build I use but first I want to talk about build diversity. It is no longer necessary to use a cookie cutter tank build, but you'll probably want Wrath of the Berserker with the Insanity rune and Revenge with Provocation, as they are our most powerful skills. You can satisfy the meager defensive requirements in any number of ways, whether using passives, high EHP gear, War Cry, Ignore Pain, or even using a shield. Yes, sword and board is no longer necessary, 2h and DW are just as viable!

I currently use:

Wrath of the Berserker(Insanity): Once you are over 30k dps you can kill act 3 packs within the 15s duration, which makes this skill amazing.

Revenge(Provocation): Very strong and reliable skill, gives you both sustain and strong aoe damage. Practically a requirement unless you are using a whirlwind or ranged build.

Ignore Pain(Ignorance is Bliss): I chose the lifesteal rune, even though it is nerfed in inferno, because my high dps gives good returns. When I pop Wrath of the berserker I do about 500k aoe dps, which means 4% lifesteal gives me back 20k hps! That's better than an extra 2 seconds duration.

Leap (Iron Impact): One mobility skill is a good idea, and leap doubles as a defensive cooldown. I also like that I can take shortcuts by leaping over gaps and walls.

Frenzy(Sidearm): Still the best single target dps skill for this build. Also provides some bonus aoe damage! Excellent for small packs and boss fights.

War Cry(Impunity): Still a great defensive option, I chose to keep it and replace my defensive passives because war cry is just so good

Passives:

Berserker Rage: I don't have any fury spenders so this is an easy 25% more damage.

Ruthlessness: Ties in well with the crit hit chance/damage build.

Brawler: Being surrounded by enemies is where I want to be. Massive 30% increase, but stops working as you kill a lot of stuff.

I want to replace Brawler with Weapons Master (Axe/Mace) because of the crit strategy and also because Brawler is useless against ranged elites. Just gotta find the right weapon!


TL;DR: Blow stuff up

[Chemikill]

Awesome guide, very keen to give it a try when I get home. Just a couple questions, I know you said sword and board is no longer necessary (hooray!), just curious as to whether you're using dual wield or 2h's? And if you've tried both, which do you prefer?

[PowerGamez]

Nice write up. This is the strat i'm going for as well and it seems to be going quite good for me to farm Act 2.

Weapons master is definitely on the table when i get a decent axe/mace.

2H are far to slow for me and I far prefer having a high dps 1H and a medium dps stat stick.

If you're using 2x 1H with sockets you can get 600 LoH or +100% crit damage quite easily.

I'm trying to find a some decent 1H Mace/Axe atm w/ Str, LoH, Crit Damage and a socket but all of them are up at 15M+.

[Deleted]

Great guide, thank you.

[calinass]

Thanks Zrave! Couple questions.
1) Where do you measure your EHP, and at what EHP (just a general number) do you think its safe to start farming Act 2 and 3, respectively?
2) I know everyone accepts frenzy with sidearm as the ultimate inferno primary, but why not cleave? Jesus, I mean I loved blowing through everything till inferno with cleave and rupture. Now everyone says frenzy. Why? What gains does this have if you have no life on hit? Even if it isnt rupture, lets say broadsweep, why is this not effective, or the top?

[Deleted]

Thanks Zrave! Couple questions.
1) Where do you measure your EHP, and at what EHP (just a general number) do you think its safe to start farming Act 2 and 3, respectively?
2) I know everyone accepts frenzy with sidearm as the ultimate inferno primary, but why not cleave? Jesus, I mean I loved blowing through everything till inferno with cleave and rupture. Now everyone says frenzy. Why? What gains does this have if you have no life on hit? Even if it isnt rupture, lets say broadsweep, why is this not effective, or the top?

I think the sole reason frenzy is so popular is the Loh aspect of it. Seeing as the proc rewards an additional LoH proc. Also frenzy is significantly better dps on single targets, which is / was a big problem for tanky barbs.

[Celidion]

Thanks Zrave! Couple questions.
1) Where do you measure your EHP, and at what EHP (just a general number) do you think its safe to start farming Act 2 and 3, respectively?
2) I know everyone accepts frenzy with sidearm as the ultimate inferno primary, but why not cleave? Jesus, I mean I loved blowing through everything till inferno with cleave and rupture. Now everyone says frenzy. Why? What gains does this have if you have no life on hit? Even if it isnt rupture, lets say broadsweep, why is this not effective, or the top?

No barbarian primary comes close to 75% IAS

[calinass]

No barbarian primary comes close to 75% IAS

Yes but what about aoe? frenzy with sidearm barely has any. if two targets are considered aoe..

[Deleted]

Yes but what about aoe? frenzy with sidearm barely has any. if two targets are considered aoe..

Revenge deals more than enough aoe.

[Starry101]

Thanks Zrave! Couple questions.
1) Where do you measure your EHP, and at what EHP (just a general number) do you think its safe to start farming Act 2 and 3, respectively?
2) I know everyone accepts frenzy with sidearm as the ultimate inferno primary, but why not cleave? Jesus, I mean I loved blowing through everything till inferno with cleave and rupture. Now everyone says frenzy. Why? What gains does this have if you have no life on hit? Even if it isnt rupture, lets say broadsweep, why is this not effective, or the top?

If you check out his YouTube channel, zravex, he has a EHP calculator tutorial.

[Darsithis]

Awesome guide, and gives me hope for surviving in hardcore inferno!

[Belmorn]

Nice guide again and I agree on most points with you.

I personally have charge - heal rune on my barb for two reasons :

1- it gives the heal / defensive cd that ignore pain gives as well more or less - only when you fight multiple mobs, but one mob on its own or even two is never a problem anyway.
2- it gives a break from jailor next to wrath which is nice on some occaisions , every time I faced jailor desecrate I was raging over it when I didnt have charge
3- it has half the CD of ignore pain so all in all more healing on difficult packs - this is situational ofcourse
4- it speeds things up. As you say you want to rush through the acts as fast as humanly possible and the only better mobility increase is sprint, but it doesnt have bonus 1 and 2 mentioned above.

[Celidion]

Yes but what about aoe? frenzy with sidearm barely has any. if two targets are considered aoe..

And besides, even if Revenge didn't have insane AoE, sidearm can go through a large amount of targets, doing insane damage because of the 75 IAS.

[PowerGamez]

A few things i've noticed today:

-Attack speed is based off your MH only. So have a fast 1H (1.3-1.4) MH and slow stat stick in OH is really nice.
-Weapons Master passive reflects on whatever you're using in your MH (i.e. nice 1.3 speed axe in MH for +10% crit)
-100str/dex/int is ~7% weapon dps. So a 600 dps weap with 300str is equivalent to a 730 dps weap with 0 str
-1% crit chance ~ 3.5% crit damage for low level (20%CC/100%CDmg) but varies with both amounts

[calinass]

A few things i've noticed today:

-Attack speed is based off your MH only. So have a fast 1H (1.3-1.4) MH and slow stat stick in OH is really nice.
-Weapons Master passive reflects on whatever you're using in your MH (i.e. nice 1.3 speed axe in MH for +10% crit)
-100str/dex/int is ~7% weapon dps. So a 600 dps weap with 300str is equivalent to a 730 dps weap with 0 str
-1% crit chance ~ 3.5% crit damage for low level (20%CC/100%CDmg) but varies with both amounts

Where did you get 7% from? Is this on all levels or only at 60?

[PowerGamez]

60.

It will vary depending on your total stats, crit, IAS and what not but that was for someone with ~1250 primary stat, 15% crit, 50% crit dmg, 15% IAS (minimum DW Barb stats). This is based on a few iterations using Armada gamings DPS Calculator.

http://armadagaming.com/dpscalculator.php

Amazing tool and huge thanks to Armada Gaming. Learn how to use it and you'll be picking up amazing stuff on the AH in no time.

[Zrave]

I've been tinkering with my build further.

Currently I'm using Overpower with the Crushing Advance rune. It is good for two hidden reasons: First, the damage that is reflected is actually a damage reduction. Instead of 100 to you, it's 70 to you and 30 to them. Second, each tick of reflected damage also triggers life on hit. The coefficient is small, but standing in molten (super fast ticks) I was able to regen 4k hp per second!

I dropped War Cry for it, but I think most of you are probably better off changing something else. Especially if you play in groups!

Also, I removed Brawler for Superstition. Brawler is weak against ranged packs and that's mostly what gives me trouble. Meanwhile, I was a little bit too squishy without War Cry, so adding Superstition was the perfect fit. I feel pretty good now during the farm, and I die about 5-10 times over 90 minutes on a full clear of Act 3. (Buffed stats: 450 all resist, 6.2k armor, 60k hp, 60k dps without wrath)

[ultimar235]

I'd say it's not a great guide to be honest. You can't have 60k hp and 60k dps without some insane gear which most people won't have. With good gear you can mess about and pick some random abilities to replace core ones (War Cry) like you've clearly shown (Overpower..).

If your gear isn't great the best strat is still EQ + WoTB build with Groundstomp (or leap) or a tank build.

[Belmorn]

Well the guy is often doing 1 Million challenges to show others what you can do with a tight , achievable budget.

Im interesting to see how he fares in act III with a low budget as well as I believe he stated his goal will be next to do it with more dps, Im at the point where I roflstomp 95% of the elites/rares in act II, yet for act III I need to go more tanky since if I go all out dps I just die too much. This is in dps spec with about 28k dps with a full rage bar, my gear isnt bad at all, it just isnt remotely close enough to start ignoring resists etc to make act III a better time investment than act II. Once you get at a certain amount of damage you can pull out, you can lower your resists etc to get even more damage , which means you can lower it more etc etc.

I tried the overpower spec, but with around 30% crit, it wasnt really giving me the results I wanted with it, still had to wait nearly full cooldown way too often for it to be up again , I didnt watch your stream constantly, could you press overpower the moment your reflect damage buff was gone again ?

[Aliessil]

I've been tinkering with my build further.

Currently I'm using Overpower with the Crushing Advance rune. It is good for two hidden reasons: First, the damage that is reflected is actually a damage reduction. Instead of 100 to you, it's 70 to you and 30 to them. Second, each tick of reflected damage also triggers life on hit. The coefficient is small, but standing in molten (super fast ticks) I was able to regen 4k hp per second!

Working on the same principle as this, how about using Ignore Pain with the Contempt for Weakness rune? That's basically a 32.5% damage reflect which lasts for 5secs, compared to Overpower's 30% for 4secs.

It could also be interesting seeing if they stack! :-D