So, lots of builds have surfaced in regards to doing lots of damage while dual-weilding or using a big two-hander. Also, several builds have popped up in regards to being a "tank" for a group, using many taunting and vaccuum abilities to keep enemies off of your friends. What I haven't seen a lot of so far are builds focusing on a one handed weapon & shield intended for solo or group play with a pure focus on staying alive and making the most out of a one-handed weapon's damage at the same time.
Cleave (Broad Sweep)
This is the bread and butter damage and fury fuel of the build. Since it will be the workhorse against groups or single targets, crimson rune is chosen to keep damage high. Works good for just about everything.
Ground Stomp (Foot of the Mountain)
With this build you will constantly be in the thick of things, so having some stun control is very useful. Golden is chosen for the extra fury gain as you can expend a lot of fury very quickly with this build if you have to. Even against targets that cannot be stunned, it is a quick 40 fury every 12 seconds.
Weapon Throw (Mighty Throw)
Since the build is using a single one-handed weapon, it is important to make your damage abilities count. Crimson rune gives the high 462% damage with this ability. Being able to hit hard up close and far away is a great boon to this build. This will be your main fury dump against stronger foes and single targets.
Rend (Ravage)
In my opinion, a lot of people are overlooking Rend as a useful fury attack. It is a solid AOE attack that can be used to deal steady damage to many targets. It is also great against a single target because you can keep using other damaging attacks as it ticks. Indigo rune is chosen for more damage, but also more range (9 yards is not as far as it sounds in-game).
War Cry (Impunity)
More armor. More fury. A no brainer for this build. Obsidian rune is chosen for the massive resistance bonus. While Alabaster is also strong (more life + some regen), this build takes the Inspiring Presence passive for life regen already, and +80 to all resists is HUGE. Not only will it open up different gear choices for you in the harder difficulties, but extremely high resists will likely keep you alive longer than just having more life when it counts. This isn't D2 anymore where more life was > anything else.
Revenge (Provocation)
Finally, even with a lot of armor, blocking, and resists...nothing will stop you from getting hit. This build aims at taking as little damage as possible, but you will still get hit. Revenge is your extra survivabilty. It won't be used as a key AOE tool in this build as Rend + Cleave will easily outdamage it - it will be used for the life gain when needed. Golden could be used as well if the 10% activation proves to be enough. Testing will prove with one is ultimately more effective for healing.
Inspiring Presence
War Cry will be used often enough due to the rage generation with this build so this is strictly taken for the life regen which is more potent than it looks on paper. For longer battles, not having to focus on recasting War Cry will also prove useful.
Tough As Nails
A no brainer - more armor is less physical damage taken. Considering you can specifically gear for high armor items and shields, 100% can be a lot. Thorns effect is also useful, but effectiveness has yet to be proven.
Superstition
This is simple - 20% less damage from all magical damage is huge considering it is just a flat modifier. This is a low mobility build, so ranged attackers will hit you reasonably often and give you extra fury to hit them with more Weapon Throws.
Thoughts? It strays from the more traditional "tank" builds so far, but I think it looks like a useful and survivable "sword & board" build. I think Weapon Throw, Cleave, and Rend make the most of a one-handed weapon to still provide solid damage to both groups and single targets. The build does not focus on critical hits so you can use gear that isn't drenched in +precision (which is a big hole I see a lot of builds falling into - not exactly a "bad" thing, but it is something to consider).
I like the concept. If I have a concern, it's that you don't have AOE. Cleave doesn't hit that many targets, and doesn't do great damage to secondary targets either. Maybe consider Hammer of Seismic Slam for the rage dump?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
So, I present the following build:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#ceWVgU!ceW!ZbZYcY
Cleave (Broad Sweep)
This is the bread and butter damage and fury fuel of the build. Since it will be the workhorse against groups or single targets, crimson rune is chosen to keep damage high. Works good for just about everything.
Ground Stomp (Foot of the Mountain)
With this build you will constantly be in the thick of things, so having some stun control is very useful. Golden is chosen for the extra fury gain as you can expend a lot of fury very quickly with this build if you have to. Even against targets that cannot be stunned, it is a quick 40 fury every 12 seconds.
Weapon Throw (Mighty Throw)
Since the build is using a single one-handed weapon, it is important to make your damage abilities count. Crimson rune gives the high 462% damage with this ability. Being able to hit hard up close and far away is a great boon to this build. This will be your main fury dump against stronger foes and single targets.
Rend (Ravage)
In my opinion, a lot of people are overlooking Rend as a useful fury attack. It is a solid AOE attack that can be used to deal steady damage to many targets. It is also great against a single target because you can keep using other damaging attacks as it ticks. Indigo rune is chosen for more damage, but also more range (9 yards is not as far as it sounds in-game).
War Cry (Impunity)
More armor. More fury. A no brainer for this build. Obsidian rune is chosen for the massive resistance bonus. While Alabaster is also strong (more life + some regen), this build takes the Inspiring Presence passive for life regen already, and +80 to all resists is HUGE. Not only will it open up different gear choices for you in the harder difficulties, but extremely high resists will likely keep you alive longer than just having more life when it counts. This isn't D2 anymore where more life was > anything else.
Revenge (Provocation)
Finally, even with a lot of armor, blocking, and resists...nothing will stop you from getting hit. This build aims at taking as little damage as possible, but you will still get hit. Revenge is your extra survivabilty. It won't be used as a key AOE tool in this build as Rend + Cleave will easily outdamage it - it will be used for the life gain when needed. Golden could be used as well if the 10% activation proves to be enough. Testing will prove with one is ultimately more effective for healing.
Inspiring Presence
War Cry will be used often enough due to the rage generation with this build so this is strictly taken for the life regen which is more potent than it looks on paper. For longer battles, not having to focus on recasting War Cry will also prove useful.
Tough As Nails
A no brainer - more armor is less physical damage taken. Considering you can specifically gear for high armor items and shields, 100% can be a lot. Thorns effect is also useful, but effectiveness has yet to be proven.
Superstition
This is simple - 20% less damage from all magical damage is huge considering it is just a flat modifier. This is a low mobility build, so ranged attackers will hit you reasonably often and give you extra fury to hit them with more Weapon Throws.
Thoughts? It strays from the more traditional "tank" builds so far, but I think it looks like a useful and survivable "sword & board" build. I think Weapon Throw, Cleave, and Rend make the most of a one-handed weapon to still provide solid damage to both groups and single targets. The build does not focus on critical hits so you can use gear that isn't drenched in +precision (which is a big hole I see a lot of builds falling into - not exactly a "bad" thing, but it is something to consider).