DiabloFans

Build Guide

This guide was original written by Free on the Diablo 3 forum and under his permission I have taken over porting it to DiabloFans and maintaining it. A link to the Forum guide can be found in the Disclaimer section of this guide.

Introduction

Welcome to the Zodiac Whirlwind guide. This build guide explains in painstaking detail the Zodiac Whirlwind build, our strongest and most versatile Whirlwind build, for pushing solo Greater Rifts and speed-farming T16.

If you’re familiar with the Barb class, skip down to Part 1.

If you’re new to this build or the Barb class, or just trying it out for Season 19, please read the primer below.

Step 1: Read through this guide: [Guide] New + Returning Player's Guide (Season 19)

Step 2: Acquire the necessary gear.

Step 3: Read the rest of this guide. Pay close attention to how your gear is supposed to be rolled.

Step 4: If you’re playing in Season, Consult the Season-specific information in each entry.

For more information on where this build ranks compared to other Barb builds, check out this thread: Top 7 Solo + Group Barb Builds (Season 19)

Finally, here are some common abbreviations in case you’re new. If you see terminology throughout the guide that you don’t understand, please do a little research before you ask questions.

• WW = Whirlwind
• Wastes = Wrath of the Waste set
• Crimson’s = Captain Crimson’s set
• BK = Bul-Kathos’s Oath swords set
• IB = Istvan’s Paired Blades swords set
• PoC = Pride of Cassius Belt
• perma-IP = permanent (or nearly) uptime on Ignore Pain skill
• perma-Wrath = permanent (or nearly) uptime on Wrath of the Berserker skill
• Parthans = Ancient Parthan Defenders bracer
• Nems = Nemesis bracer
• Zodiac = Obisidian Ring of the Zodiac
• CoE = Convention of Elements ring
• dibs = damage increase by skills
• CHC = critical hit chance
• CHD = critical hit damage
• AD = Area Damage
• IAS = increased attack speed
• ASI = attack speed increased
• OS = open socket

Disclaimer

I do not own this build or any of its variants. This build, like any build, belongs to the community. Free was the original composer of this guide on the main Diablo 3 Forums. But several skilled players have helped me develop this build and the Whirlwind meta over the course of Eras 3, 4, and 5 and this build incorporates some of their ideas in various places. I’d like to credit the following people: Samir, Shiro, Kahle, Archael, Chainer, Rageamok, Shadow, King Ben, and Nubtro.

Questions? Read the guide and FAQ thoroughly before posting.

Corrections or additions? Let me know.

The original guide can be found here: Original WW Build Guide

Spin to win, baby.

Part 1: The Core Build

The Zodiac Whirlwind build is our strongest, most durable Whirlwind build, and, ranks among our top builds. But contrary to the name of the build, the real damage in this build comes the Rend skill. The core build, commonly referred to as the Physical BK build, is comprised of the Wrath of the Wastes and the Bul-Kathos’s Oath sets, while variants, discussed in later sections, use alternate weapons and elemental alignments.

Patch 2.6.7 introduced new affixes to certain legendary items, and several have been incorporated into the core build. As a result, there are several possible variations of the build. It remains to be seen which is the most powerful variant when optimized, but info for each variant is included in quotation blocks within this guide.

Requirements:

• 27.5% CDR (combined total from gear, diamond in helm, and Paragon)
• Complete Wrath of the Wastes and Bul-Katho’s Oath sword set
• Mortick’s Brace
• Band of Might
• Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac
• Mantle of Channeling
• Ambo’s Pride
• Lamentation
• Legendary Gems: Taeguk,, Bane of the Trapped, and Bane of Stricken

For the Crimson’s variant, you’ll want 50-60% CDR, 2 pieces of the Captain Crimson’s set, and the Ring of Royal Grandeur.

You may also want a set of Istvan’s Paired Blades

Essential Active Skills

Skill Calculator

While Zodiac Whirlwind offers some flexibility depending on your needs, the core build requires the following six skills on your bar.

Whirlwind: This is the build’s source of mobility, and healing or Fury generation. Unlike previous iterations of this build before 2.6.7, Whirlwind effectively deals no damage in the build.

Rune Choice:

• With the BK set: Bloodfunnel for healing
• With the IB set: Wind Shear for Fury generation

Ancient Spear: This skill allows you to manage and group density, as well as drag elites to new locations. Though tricky to control, mastery of this skill is essential to successful Greater Rift pushes.

Rune Choice:

• Rage Flip for grouping

Battle Rage: This skill provides a boost to our damage output.

Rune Choice:

• Into the Fray for boosting Rend’s damage
• Ferocity for speed-farming

Rend: This is the build’s main source of damage. Ambo’s Pride will apply Rend to enemies struck by Whirlwind, but if you don’t have this skill on the bar, your applied Rends will not have the added bonus of a rune effect.

Rune Choice:

• Bloodbath for optimal DPS (stronger in density)
• Lacerate for more consistent damage output (weaker in density)

Ground Stomp: We use this skill to assist in grouping tight clusters of density (to increase our CHC bonus from Into the Fray) and to proc Band of Might for damage reduction. Make sure to use this skill before your Band of Might bonus drops off. This skill is also very good at pulling mobs into Oculus circles to maximize your DPS output.

Rune Choice:

• Wrenching Smash for grouping

High-Paragon players that use Crimson’s may wish to drop Band of Might for Convention of Elements. If you opt for that setup, you may consider changing Ground Stomp to Ignore Pain with either Ignorance is Bliss or Iron Hide as your rune.

Wrath of the Berserker (Insanity): As a separate damage multiplier, this skill is a major booster shot to the build’s damage per second (DPS). It also boosts your toughness (Dodge) and movement speed. Since Mortick’s Brace gives us the effects of all runes, the rune you select doesn’t matter. Just make sure you keep this skill up 100% of the time for the extra healing and damage reduction.

Essential Passive Skills

Passives are key to a winning build. Discussed below are the essential passives needed to fully optimize your build.

• Rampage: This passive provides a huge boost to DPS and toughness through the rift, but won’t offer much against the RG unless the boss spawns lots of adds (hello, Saxtris!).
• Ruthless: When you’re pushing your personal best, you’ll want every second you can get to kill the RG and elites. This passive makes your job a heck of a lot easier.
• Brawler: Since this build performs best in density, you should be able to maintain the bonus from this passive 100% of the time.
• Boon of Bul-Kathos: This, along with careful management of cooldowns, will insure you have perma-Wrath.

Alternative Passive Skills

Whether through bad RNG, deficiencies in gear, or Hardcore play, you may be forced to take a different, optional passive.

• For Hardcore, swap Brawler for Nerves of Steel.
• If have have trouble maintaining Fury, swap Brawler to Weapons Master (with BK set) or Animosity (with IB set).

If you are having trouble mitigating incoming damage, swap Brawler to Superstition.

Gear

There are essentially two different ways to gear for this build. Here is a brief breakdown of each that highlights the major differences:

Core Zodiac Build:

• Armor set: Wrath of the Wastes
• Weapons: Bul-Katho’s Oath or Istvan’s Paired Blades
• Rings: Zodiac, Band of Might, Convention of Elements
• Cube: Ambo's, Mantle, Ring of Choice

Crimson’s Variant

• Armor sets: Wrath of the Wasters & Captain Crimson’s
• Weapons: Bul-Katho’s Oath or Istvan’s Paired Blades
• Rings: Zodiac, Band of Might, Ring of Royal Grandeur
• Cube: Ambo’s, Lamentation, Ring of Choice

The required rolls on gear depend on which variant of the build you choose to play. The information below assumes the Core Zodiac build as the default build, and additional notes, or changes or additions for the Crimson’s variant, are included in quotation blocks.

Though Ancient pieces are the goal, ideal rolls take precedence. Weapons are the exception. You absolutely must have Ancient weapons with the required rolls. Good secondary rolls are absolutely crucial for pushing top tiers. When there are multiple options for a roll on a affix slot, the worse roll is placed in parentheses.

Helm (Wastes)

• Strength
• Vitality
• 6% CHC
• Socket: Diamond
• Secondaries: Physical/Lightning resist
• Augment: Strength

Shoulder (Wastes)

• Strength
• Vitality (low-Paragon) or 15% Rend damage (high-Paragon)
• All Resist
• 8% CDR
• Secondaries: Pickup radius or globe bonus
• Augment: Strength

Chest (Wastes)

• Strength
• Vitality
• All Resist or Life % (low-Paragon) or 15% Rend damage (high-Paragon)
• Sockets: Diamond
• Secondaries: Reduced melee dmg and reduced ranged dmg
• Augment: Strength

Glove (Wastes)

• Strength
• Vitality
• 10% CHC
• 50% CHD
• Secondaries: Stun on hit, Physical resist
• Augment: Strength

For the Crimson’s variant, roll Vitality to 8% CDR

Bracer (Mortick’s)

• 20% Elemental Damage
• Strength
• Vitality
• 6% CHC
• Secondaries: Physical/Lightning resist
• Augment: Strength

For Bloodbath, use Physical damage, and for Lacerate, use Lightning damage

If you opt to use the IB set, you may swap Vitality for Life per Hit to use Into the Fray on Battle Rage

Belt (Lamentation or Captain Crimson’s)

• Strength
• Vitality
• All Resist
• 15% Life (or Life per Fury)
• Secondaries: Increased pickup radius
• Augment: Strength

As a Mighty Belt, Lamentation can roll Life per Fury, which may benefit low-Paragon players

Pants (Wastes or Captain Crimson’s)

• Strength
• Vitality
• All Resist
• Sockets: Diamonds
• Secondaries: Globe bonus
• Augment: Strength

Boots (Wastes or Captain Crimson’s)

• Strength
• Vitality
• All Resist
• Armor
• Secondaries: Globe bonus
• Augment: Strength

Weapons (BK or IB)

• Strength
• Vitality (low-Paragon) or 10% damage (high-Paragon)
• 10% CDR
• Socket: Emerald
• Secondaries: Any except Chance to Fear on Hit
• Augment: Strength

If you prefer the IB set, you can substitute Vitality or 10% damage for Life per Hit on one sword in order to use Into the Fray on Battle Rage

Rings

• Strength
• 6% CHC
• 50% CHD
• Socket
• Secondaries: Physical/Lightning resist
• Augment: Strength

You may substitute Strength for CDR, Life per Hit, or another stat as needed

It is not advised to wear the Ring of Royal Grandeur as it always comes with sub-optimal stats

If you wear Convention of Elements, make sure the legendary affix is 190% or higher

If you opt to wear your Zodiac ring with the Crimson’s set, optimal stats will be CHC, CDR, and RCR

Amulet (Flavor of Time or Hellfire)

• 20% Elemental Damage
• 10% CHC
• 100% CHD
• Socket
• Secondaries: Physical/Lightning resist or Health Globe bonus
• Augment: Strength

Flavor of Time, when used in the Crimson’s variant, must roll with CDR

If you are unable to acquire 20% Elemental Damage, you may use Strength or Average Damage

Cube

The following items should be selected in the Cube. Remember that items with variable affix ranges will always use their maximum value in the Cube.

Weapon:

• Ambo’s Pride: This will automatically apply Rend via Whirlwind and detonate our Rends 1 second later.
• If you decide to equip Ambo’s, use Furnace in the Cube

Armor:

• Mantle of Channeling: If you wear Lamentation (such as in the Core Zodiac build), this item will award you additional damage and toughness.
• Lamentation: You will need this belt in the Cube if you opt for the Crimson’s variant.

Jewelry:

Ring: Use your worst ring, or the Ring of Royal Grandeur, in this Cube slot.

Gear Optimization

While the above section on gear presents the optimal rolls for each piece, the reality for many players is that you’re forced to compromise due to what is available at a given time. Many players also want to know which configuration is the strongest, or which configuration should be used at a given Paragon.

To make things easier, the table below outlines how to optimize the build as you progress.

Imgur Chart

Many players also want to know which weapon set is better–Bul-Kathos’s Oath or Istvan’s Paired Blades. Here is a comparison of each.

Bul-Kathos’s Oath

• Access to Bloodfunnel
• Faster move and pull speeds
• Easy Fury generation
• Can take Into the Fray without Life per Hit rolls on gear

Istvan’s Paired Blades

• 30% damage multiplier
• 30% bonus to Armor
• Slower move and pull speed
• Less Fury generation
• Relies on Swords to Ploughs or Life per Hit for healing
• Can’t take Into the Fray without Life per Hit rolls on gear

On paper, it looks like Istvan’s Paired Blades will be the better weapon set for end-game pushes, but this has not been definitively proven. I advise players to use whichever weapon set they prefer.

Here are a few important thoughts to keep in mind when gearing your Barb:

Critical Hit Chance and Critical Hit Damage: These stats act as direct multipliers to Rend’s damage. Do not, under any circumstance, sacrifice these rolls for other stats. Your CHC and CHD should be roughly at a 1:10 ratio while all buffs are active, thus if your CHC is 50% while Wrath and Battle Rage are up, your CHD should be at 500%. See the FAQ for an excellent calculator to help determine how to achieve this ratio and when or where you should trade-off.

Attack Speed: Rend is not effected by attack speed. Do not stack this stat.

Vitality: Generally speaking, you want between 600k-850k Life. This isn’t a hard rule; many experienced players push with less. But if you’re new to the build or still learning its nuances, you want a bigger Life pool. Don’t be afraid to pump Paragon points into Vitality if necessary. There may also be times when you need to sacrifice a roll (such as All Resist on chest) for % Life, but that should only be done if there is absolutely no alternative.

CDR: This stat, in conjunction with the Boon of Bul-Kathos passive, the Zodiac ring procs, the diamond in your helm, your CDR in Paragon, and the Captain Crimson’s set bonuses will produce enough cooldown to maintain 100% uptime on Wrath of the Berserker. The Crimson’s variant also applies your sheet CDR as a multiplier to outgoing damage. Bear in mind that the amount of CDR we stack varies greatly between the Core Zodiac build and the Crimson’s variant.

Secondary Rolls: Physical resist goes a long way in making this build tougher. I recommend two or three Physical resist rolls, and, if possible, one Lightning resist roll. If you find that you rarely die during a rift, but get one-shotted by the RG, it means you’re missing Physical resists (or don’t have enough Life).

Mortick’s vs Parthans: Though no longer widely used in the build, the Ancient Parthan Defenders bracers are an excellent alternative to Mortick’s brace. While Mortick’s provides a more consistend (50%) source of damage reduction when Wrath is active, Parthans have no cap on their damage reduction. As a result, in good density, Parthans can make you practically invincible. Use Ground Stomp to proc Parthans, or acquire a secondary Freeze or Stun roll on your belt or weapon. Parthans will only proc from Freeze and Stun. Slow, knockback, chill, and immobilize do not proc Parthans.

Bracer Choice: There are three different bracers that you’ll want to use in this build. Each has a different purpose as described below:

• Nems: The best bracers for speed-farming T16 and low GRs (2-4 minute clears) once you have enough Paragon and Augments to survive incoming damage.
• Mortick’s: Your second best option for speed-farming T16 and low GRs is this item. It offers much more toughness and healing than Nems, but can’t compare to Parthans when pushing higher, end-game GRs. Think of this item as the second-best option for pushing GRs if you don’t have much Paragon or can’t get the secondary rolls necessary to proc Parthans. Just don’t be fooled by the hype–this item is likely not the best-in-slot bracer for pushing.
• Parthans: As noted above, this item is a good alternative to Mortick’s, particularly if you have not yet found a decent pair of the bracers. You can proc this item with Ground Stomp or a secondary Freeze or Stun roll on belt or weapons

Gear & Legendary Gems

Use rubies in your armor when speed-farming T16 or until incoming damage becomes a problem. After that, switch to diamonds.

Regardless of how you gear your build, you will use the following legendary gems:

• Taeguk: This gem provides damage and Armor.
• Bane of the Trapped: This gem provides damage.
• Bane of the Stricken: This gem provides a significant damage increase against the the Rift Guardian and lone elites.

Paragon Distribution

In the Core Zodiac build, max all Paragon categories all except RCR. If you’re running the Crimson’s variant, max out RCR.

D3planner of build with ideal rolls can be found here: WW Barb Ideal Rolls

Part 2: How the Build Works

This section explains how the build works, how we deal damage, and why density is so important to success in solo play.

Build Mechanics

There are several key mechanics at work in this build.

Whirlwind, Rend, and Ambo’s Pride: Thanks to Ambo’s, Rend is automatically applied to any monster struck by Whirlwind. The Wastes set bonuses and Lamentation provide the largest multipliers to Rend’s damage, and because Ambo’s also detonates Rends after a second, all of our damage is focused on applying stacks of Rend.

Zodiac Procs: As we attack with Whirlwind, we proc the Zodiac ring. This, in turn, lowers the cooldown on Wrath of the Berserker. Make sure you have enough CDR in the build to maintain perma-Wrath even when attacking a single enemy.

Healing: If we use the BK set for weapons, Bloodfunnel takes care of healing us. If we opt to use the IB set, we heal either through Swords to Ploughs on Battle Rage or Life per Hit rolls on gear. It should be noted that while Swords to Ploughs is subject to a proc coefficient, Bloodfunnel is not, and thus the latter skill is much better at healing us in density.

Density: While this build is no longer as dependent on density as previous iterations, collecting and engaging proper density is still crucial to successful Greater Rift attempts. By maximizing density, we:

• Maximize the application of Rend (DPS)
• Maximize the returns of Bloodfunnel, Swords to Ploughs, or Life per Hit (healing)
• Maximize resource generation (Fury)

Zodiac Whirlwind is, first and foremost, an AOE-centric build. As such, you want the maximum possible density in order to maximize damage output.

A Guide to Proper Density

As previously stated, density is key to this build. But how much density is enough? To get a better idea of proper density, let’s start by taking a look at this: https://i.imgur.com/5CkCmZ2.jpg

There are several things wrong with this. First off, I’m fighting in the middle of a long corridor, which is bad positioning. Worse, I’m fighting between two obstacles (the rocks on either side of me). That will make it twice as hard to pull stragglers with Rage Flip. But the biggest problem is that there’s not enough density. This is worth maybe 2-3% progression and not worth my time.

Now take a look at this: https://i.imgur.com/oRAFwBs.jpg

That’s better, right?

Nope! Oppressors are terrible mobs. But you will notice that I’m fighting at the T-intersection. Good positioning, terrible mobs, and still nowhere near enough density. This is worth about 1.5% progression and definitely not worth my time.

Finally, have a gander at this: https://i.imgur.com/b0Ma7p7.jpg

That’s better! First off, it’s Festering Woods–one of the three or four maps you’ll take seriously. Second, there’s some density there–about three screens worth, in fact. But is it good density? Well, yes and no. It has summoners, which spawn additional monsters (adds). Those are great. And the elite phantoms will follow me with little provocation if I can’t kill them there. The only problem is the shamans. They run around too much, so I’ll need to spend a lot of time pulling them back with Rage Flip. In addition, their minions aren’t worth much progression. All totaled, this density is worth about 5-8% progression. Kill it quick and drag the elites to a new intersection where I can gather another 2-4 screens worth of density.

Ideally, you don’t want to stop and fight for anything less than 8-10% progression worth of density unless you need less to spawn the RG.

Something to bear in mind: Sometimes, you’ll need to skip whole floors of a GR. Let’s say you get a great floor 1 – Festering Woods with grotesques, skeletons, and a three-pack Conduit. Awesome! Then you hit floor 2 and it’s an empty Westmarch with bad mobs. What do you do?

Skip it. Get to the exit as fast as you can. And pray for a good floor 3.

Sometimes, you’ll get a great floor 1 only to have floors 2-7 ruin your push. It happens. A lot. Whirlwind is a very fishy build and it needs serious density.

Skip it. Get to the exit as fast as you can. And pray for a good floor 3.

Part 3: Pushing Greater Rifts

Once you have your build optimized, it’s time to start pushing solo Greater Rifts. The following is a step-by-step guide on how to push Greater Rifts and maximize your chance for a successful clear.

1. Evaluate the Map and Mobs: The first floor of your GR can tell you a lot, including whether or not want to push any further. Generally speaking, good first floor maps include anything with dense amounts of skeletons, zombies, grotesques, and the zombies or summoners who make more zombies or minions. Stellar maps are either large Spires and Arreat Craters, Festering Woods, or Battlefields of Eternity and include the above mob types plus Phase Beasts, Maggot Lords, Swarms, and Anarchs. If you get a good first or second floor and can keep even with the time or get ahead, proceed to the third floor. Otherwise, quit and remake to get a new rift.
2. Drag density to a good spot on the map: Try to find a T-tile, intersection, or large open area that allows you to maximize your AOE damage. Whenever possible, try to gather 2-4 screens of density together at a time.
3. Whirlwind and Rend all available monsters: Keep your buffs up. When density thins, drag your elites (via Rage Flip) the next intersection and repeat the process until you kill some elites.
4. When the RG shows up, spin to win: The best RGs to fight spawn additional monsters (referred to as adds). Trust me–you want bosses that spawn adds, because adds Blood Funnel, and reduce your cooldowns via Zodiac procs. Saxtris and Hamelin are the very best RGs to fight, but be very careful with the latter; Hammy’s rat swarms can deal tons of damage, so killing him is about dodging the swarms and letting Stricken do the work.
• If you’ve got less than 1 minute (or less) on your timer and no Power or Conduit pylon in sight, leave game and make a new rift. Speaking of Pylons, if possible, save a Power for the boss. Conduits should be used to clear elites from the rift, particularly in density. For more information on Pylons, see below.
• Be careful with bosses who use hard-hitting Physical attacks. If you don’t have lots of Physical resist stacked on gear, you may get one-shotted. When exactly this occurs depends on several factors including Paragon, main stat, and overall toughness. This is why pumping Paragon points into Vitality is a good idea, particularly if you’re pushing the limits of what a given Paragon and main stat range can accomplish in terms of GR tiers.

Pylons

Proper Pylon management is an essential part of pushing GRs. Below is an edited explanation of how Pylons spawn in GRs courtesy of S4v4ge, a long-standing Barbarian veteran and expert.

Pylons are Progression-Based:

• Pylons are progression-based. There is a small chance that you’ll spawn one right at the start of a GR even if you have little to no progression, but this is rare.
• On average, you can assume that you require 20% progression between pylon spawns. Each purple progress orb is worth 1%, so yellows will grant 4% while blues will grant 3%. This is in addition to the progress gained for killing trash. Note that progression granted by trash varies by mob type.
• Progression needed is measured from the spawn time of your previous pylon, not from the time when you last used a pylon. This is why you can get a pylon immediately after a juicy Conduit.
• The last possible opportunity to spawn a pylon is at 99% progression. You can get one a little early if your previous pylon spawn was at 50-60%, but if you had 3 pylons already with your third at 70%, the 4th will only spawn (if it spawns at all) at 99%.

Pylons Spawns are Limited

• In any given GR, you will not spawn all five possible pylons. No matter how carefully you play, 4 is all you will get.
• Pylons have fairly defined spawn points on each map.
• If you have 90% progression and have spawned a Power or Conduit Pylon at the entrance to the next floor of the GR, you can manipulate the odds in your favor by saving the Pylon and surrounding trash, going to the next floor to gain gaining your 99% progression, then returning to the previous floor to gain the necessary 1%. This will leave the Conduit for the RG!

You can assume 20/40/60% GR progression as your Pylon spawn points. If you get one at 80%, you will not get one at 99%. If you avoid the spawn locations of pylons around 80, you may get one further down the road, closer to the RG fight.

The Hired Help

Let’s talk follower meta. My preferred approach is to avoid items that cause CC on monsters, period. This insures that when you need to relocate, monster CC resistance isn’t capped and they’ll be pulled with Rage Flip. For that reason, I avoid Thunderfury, Blinding Sand, Freeze of Deflection, Ess of Johan, Eu Jang Do, and Wyrdward. However, if you’re experiencing problems with Rift Guardians, try using some of these items to stun of freeze them temporarily.

The Templar seems to be the better follower. That said, depending on which follower you select, you should have the following skills selected:

Templar

• Heal (restores Life)
• Inspire (Fury generation)

Enchantress

• Missile Ward (toughness)
• Focused Mind (attack speed)

If possible, do not select skills at levels/skill slots not indicated above. Every unnecessary skill will slow down your follower’s essential skill casts.

Regardless of which follower either way, here are the required items:

• Oculus Ring (absolutely essential – pull density into these bubbles for max DPS)
• Sun Keeper (with diamond or ruby–some minimal help with elite damage)
• Immortal Token (so your follower cannot die)

I highly recommend giving your follower a Flavor of Time or other amulet with CDR and Attack Speed. As for rolls on follower gear, focus on CDR, IAS and AS, and Increased Elite Damage for your follower.

Common Problems

Listed below are some common problems people have with the build. If you’re experiencing one of these problems, read through the solution. If that fails to fix the problem, post with questions. Whenever possible, take screenshots and be as specific as possible.

Dying During Rift

Cause: This is normally caused by trying to tank too much incoming damage or messing with too many nasty mob/elite types. Another cause is that you’re not fighting in enough density. You may have forgotten to keep Wrath active 100% of the time, forgotten to proc Band of Might, or tried to remove Band of Might from the build too early.

Solution: Try to acquire additional Physical resist rolls. Avoid monsters that deal massive burst damage (Pain Mongers and Dark Berserkers, for example). Make sure to fight in lots of density (remember, at least a screen or two worth of mobs is the minimum – we do not fight lone elites or sparse groups of trash). Make sure you have diamonds in your armor pieces. Make sure you have 750-850k Life.

Dying Vs RG

Cause: Depending on your main stat, gear, and setup, you may not be able to tank some RG attacks, especially those that deal significant melee burst damage.

Solution: Increase your Vitality in Paragon to get 750-850k Life. Make sure Wrath and Band of Might are active 100% of the time. Try to acquire more Augments and Physical resist rolls on gear.

Can’t Keep Perma-Wrath

Cause: This is normally the result of failing to properly manage cooldowns.

Solution: Only use Ground Stomp to proc Band of Might or pull mobs into Oculus circles. If you’re running short on Zodiac procs, use a few hard-cast Rends for additional procs.

Running out of Fury

Cause: This is normally the result of failing to fight in density. Could also be the result of bad, empty maps.

Solution: If you’re using the BK set, drop the Brawler passive for Weapons Master passive. If you’re using the IB set, swap Brawler for Animosity. Don’t spam Rage Flip too often, and be selective when you use hard-cast Rends.

Greater Rift Tiers, Paragon, and Augmentation

At some point, you’ll hit a wall and will fail to clear a particular Greater Rift tier over and over. Welcome to the Greater Rift Fishing game.

GR Fishing, also referred to as I Hate This Game, is inevitable. At some point, every build will encounter this painful part of the game. This is because of the scaling nature of Greater Rifts and the fact that the game hates you. To minimize frustrations, let’s talk about how to prepare for success.

Paragon is one of the single-most important factors in successful Greater Rift clears. While it’s not set in stone, here’s a conservative guide of how much paragon is needed for solo pushes with absolutely no augmentation on gear:

• Paragon 400-700 = tiers 1-100
• Paragon 701-1000 = tiers 100-110
• Paragon 1001-1500 = tiers 110-115
• Paragon 1501-2000 = tiers 115-120
• Paragon 2001-2500 = tiers 120-125
• Paragon 2501-3000 = tiers 125-130
• Paragon 3001-4000 = tiers 130-135+

So how does augmentation factor into this?

Remember that past 800 paragon, 1 paragon point equals 5 points of Strength, and 5 points of Strength equals 5% increased damage. This means that 300 Strength through augmentation is equal to 60 paragon levels above paragon 800. So, if you’re paragon 800 and you augment all 13 pieces of gear with 300 Strength, you are, for all intents and purposes, paragon 1580. This is called Effective Paragon, a slightly wordy way of summing up the value of someone’s main stat.

What does this mean?

It means that main stat, not the actual Paragon level, is what you need to look at when studying a clear or trying to determine your chances of success.

Yes, Paragon is important–it boosts your Life through Vitality, for example–but main stat contributes directly to damage. Assuming your gear is great and you have considerable skill with the build, here are some current conservative estimates:

Main Stat Range

• 10-12k – GR 80-110
• 12-14k – GR 110-120
• 14-18k – GR 120-130
• 18-20k – GR 130-135
• 20-25k+ – GR 135+

Personally, I recommend you push as high as you can for as long as possible with zero Augmentations.

Part 4: Speed Farming Toments & Fun Alternatives

Discussed below are the changes you’ll make to the build to speed-farm Bounties and Nephalem Rifts in Torments 1-16. This also works well for speed-farming low-tier GRs. Please note that the build is flexible. Don’t like how it’s put together? Change it!

A note about T16: If you can speed through GR 75 with these builds, you can speed through T16. However, it should be noted that in Seasonal play, speed-farming T16 will required correctly rolled gear and Augments.

Speed-Farm Build

Gear

• Swap bracer to Nemesis
• Swap Band of Might to Skull Grasp, Avarice Band, or Stone of Jordan
• Make sure to use the Bul-Kathos’s Oath set
• Stack Lightning elemental damage on bracer and amulet

Legendary Gems

• Swap Bane of Stricken to Gogok

Active Skills

• Swap Ancient Spear for Ignore Pain (Bravado)
• Swap Ground Stomp for Sprint (Marathon)
• Use the Hurricane rune on Whirlwind
• Use the Lacerate rune on Rend
• High-Paragon players may opt to use the Ferocity rune on Battle Rage

Passive Skills

• Swap Boon of Bul-Kathos for Weapons Master
• If you feel squishy, swap Brawler for Nerves of Steel
• High-Paragon players may opt to swap Ruthless for Pound of Flesh

LoN Alternatives

Prefer to run fun, weird LoN Whirlwind builds for speed-farming? Try these. But be warned–they may not work well above T13.

Hot Magma (a Fire EQ, Avalanche, Whirlwind build): http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/20742595138

The Windsh1tter (a Physical Whirlwind/Overpower build): http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/20742935662?page=1

Group Play Options

Due to our Rend buffs in 2.6.7, Zodiac Whirlwind can now function as a DPS alternative in group Greater Rift speed-experience runs--better known as "Rat-Runs."

To do that, make the following modifications:

Gear

• One Barb should have Nemesis bracers
• One Barb should use the Core Zodiac build with Chilanik’s Chain either worn or in the Cube
• Swap Band of Might or Convention of Elements to Avarice Band or Stone of Jordan
• Make sure to use the Bul-Kathos’s Oath set
• Stack Physical elemental damage on bracer and amulet

Legendary Gems

• Swap Bane of Stricken to Gogok

Active Skills

• One Barb must swap Ancient Spear for Ignore Pain (Mob Rules)
• One Barb must swap Swap Ground Stomp for War Cry (Hardened Wrath)
• One Barb should swap Ground Stomp for Sprint (Forced March)
• Use the Hurricane rune on Whirlwind
• Use the Bloodbath rune on Rend
• Use the Into the Fray rune on Battle Rage

Passive Skills

• Swap Boon of Bul-Kathos for Weapons Master
• Swap Brawler for Nerves of Steel
• High-Paragon players may opt to swap Ruthless for Pound of Flesh

Part 5. FAQ

An indepth FAQ can be found in the original guide link referenced in the Disclaimer section above.