I find it has a more realistic balance of mobility /healing and defense to go along w/ WW. THis will help you stay alive before you get decked out in gear. As you gear catches up you can switch out to a more offensive build IMO. THis build also focuses on getting stamina/health as high as possible as %total health heals obvioulsy do better with higher total health.
So i was looking at some posts/builds and i came up with an Alternative build focusing on maximizing damage during "earthquake time", in esence this is a BOSS KILLER build.
I called it the Super Shock Trooper Build, codenamed "Death Star":
Varient (same as below except uses weapon master w/ swords instead of unforgiving for extra 15% dmg, if you are comfortable with fury management - if you are having trouble surviving you can opt for a defensive passive)
negatives: less sustained damage during none "Death Star" Strike mode. SLightly less crit (-3% crit).
Positives: massive burst dps increase during "Death Star" Strike.
Explanation:
Passives:
1) kept brawler for max aoe dmg boost
2) kept unforgiving - this build relies on the player to generate/maintain 100 fury for "Death Star" Strike
3) changed out zerker rage for Boon - two abilities now rely on the passive (making it worth it) as well as the change to earthquake rune (see below)
Active Changes:
* remove battle shout
*added WotB w/ 100% dmg boost
*earthquake: changed rune to Giants Stride (8 seconds of stacking AOE that follows player @ 65% Weapon damage)
reasoning:
In previous build you maximize your burst damage with passives: 25% zerker rage + 30% battle rage
In new build damage is based off of activating WOTB followed by Earthquake: You now get 100% dmg boost from WoTB + Earthquake passive (additional 65% per second 520% over 8 seconds BEFORE modifiers). ALSO the 25% boost to attack speed allows you to cleave faster increasing dps by an additional 25% (before modifiers)
*This seems to be the only build that does not use "the Mountain's Call" rune for earthquake. THe reasoning is that you want to have WotB and Earthquake on the same cooldown. It allows you to pick a higher DPS rune for Earthquake and simultaniously keep those two abilities on the same CD rotation.
* Fury Generation: It is imperative that you have 100 fury before starting the "Death Star" Strike as both abilities will cost 50 fury each. Unforgiving will make sure this happens by never accidentally losing fury. In theory you could exchange unforgiving for weaponmaster or another rune if you find managing fury as none problematic.
"Death Star" Strike:
WotB + Earthquake
Application:
1) cast Warcry whenever available to maximize fury generation
2) Jump into enemy champion pack (4 second 300% armor buff).
3) enable WotB ( 15 second duration)
4) activate Earthquake
5) before 4 second 300% buff expires activate IP (lifetap rune)
6) During the following 5 seconds you should be theoretically invincible + doing incredible dps
7) At this point you should be 9-10 seconds into WotB- leap will be available in order to short leap (to get 4 more seconds of 300% armor) OR to get out of trouble (mobility).
Dmg stacking during "Death Star" Strike period
brawler: 30% (assuming you are fighitng champion pack of 3 or boss w/ additional mobs)
Wotb:25% haste + 100% dmg modifier
Earthquake: initial 2000% AOE DOT (pre mods) + 520% AOE DOT (pre mod) spread over 8 seconds
CLeave: now with 15% haste (allowing more swings during 8 second earthquake duration as well as 15 second WotB).
IP: Super self heal: (if IP mitigation wasnt enough) 20% of all the damage dealt is self healed, this should be able to outheal any incoming damage (assuming you have weapon appropriate for your difficulty level/area) .
THis process can be repeated every 90 seconds.
During downtime you will be missing zerker rage, but will still benefit from brawler buff and IP can be used for self healing 2x inbetween doing the "Death Star" Strike.
This version assumes that:
1) You are extremely well geared (to compensate for the lack of warcry buff)
2) You are highly skilled in tactics (this shoud be a given by the time you are in INFERNO and have farmed "top end gear"
The purpose of this build to maximize dps during "burst" mode (additional procs from revenge) as well as clearing trash to champion packs (same reasoning).
Thanks for the kudos;) I think IP gets ignored because of its short duration and lack of flash, but i think people are underestimating how long 5-7 seconds are in the heat of battle. I think it will be a much more common addition to builds once people actually play the game (especially on higher difficulties and HC).
I agree - in one of my builds I use a fair amount of defense actives/passives and Im tending to like ignore pain a bit more now (least in theory). 7 seconds is a long time; where I could take very little damage; what Im thinking atm is that ignore pain is probably better for solo play and threatening shout for group play ...
Guess well have to see how it works in practice. Ground stomp with the wrenching smash looks quite nice also (24 yard stun radius). But at least ignore px would help with archers and casters too.
Two important fact about playing in inferno:
1) diminishing returns: a 3 second stun in normal will not be 3 seconds in inferno. It might be 2 seconds, it might be 1 second, who knows, but it wont be nearly as attractive regardless.
2) Any CC wll actually be detrimental IF you add revenge to the build as it relies on getting hit (revenge is one of the main ways to add dps AND heal.
SO. Optimally you want to get hit as much as possible for as little damage as possible. If you add CC to the build then its bad in two ways.
A) You get hit less (when mobs are stunned they cant hit you) when they DO hit you its for more damage(as youre giving up mitigation abilities for cc), effectively making the revenge procs less efficient (as the % healed is less effective vs potential % damage done per hit).
By using mitigation abilities it allows you to maximize hits quantity while minimizing damage taken and maximizing procs/heals.
Bottom Line: Dodge/stuns/fears/any other CC/ demo shout (slower attack speed is also bad a it leads to less hits/minute). This also needs to be taken into consideration when picking your companion or co-op players (IF you are into min/maxing). **Unless you dont use revenge, in which case CC options can be viable.
The problem with DOA is that blues have stated that there will be diminishing returns on stuns/cc in harder difficulities. So DOA wont last 3 seconds one elite/champ mobs on inferno. 300% armor buff is 300% armor buff regardless of difficulty. Also if a mob is stunned then it isnt hitting you and therefore not procing revenge.
I find it that if your rely on stuns/dodge/cc then revenge is a poor choice of skills. If you want revenge then you should optimally build to get hit as much as possible for as little damage as possible (hence armor buffs and IP are king.
I did consider two changes though to this build to possibly optimize: http://us.battle.net...ikRT!gch!Yaabbb
1) IP re-reruned for Ignorance is blizz - 20% of dmg done healing is amazing , especially if you are cleaving + earthquake during the IP duration.
2) as revenge heals based off of % health (and it will be a consitant heal based of 30% proc rate) i changed warcry to Invigorate (10% more health + regen) great for survival.
in order to maximize fury generation i re-runed into reaping swing. +3 fury pre enemy hit is amazing. IF you hit a pack of 3 champions that 14 rage total per SWING. This allows us change passive to weapon master. So when fry is maxed (a good amount of time as we use no rage dump abilities) you will get not only the 25% zerkerrage buff but also the 15% weaponmaster buff for a higher POTENTIAL DPS. Granted this is a super high level/gear build as you will need a high end handed sword to work (Grandfather Sword anyone? .
I considered using BOON in this build, but i find that as its a shocktrooper build i want to maximize dmg during that 8 second "burst " period. boon will let you cast earthquake more, but realistically you will only use earthquake for rares/champions/elites. Even w/ boon on (75 second cd) no single none boss fight should last more then 75 seconds and i assume that in INFERNO you will have more then 30 seconds downtime between elites/champions so the difference that passive makes is marginal.
Enjoyed reading your reasoning for your build - and I agree with alot of your points as far as skill choice ...
- I also like cleave for a dual purpose attack (single target and multi-target)
- and agree that bul's passive is probably not needed
- and am a fan also of the leap iron hide
- And ... ignore pain; in one of my builds I was leaning toward this skill then others ... seems like a nice 'oh sh-' skill or just a simple skill you use to help extend your iron hide attack ...
Thanks for the kudos;) I think IP gets ignored because of its short duration and lack of flash, but i think people are underestimating how long 5-7 seconds are in the heat of battle. I think it will be a much more common addition to builds once people actually play the game (especially on higher difficulties and HC).
The problem with DOA is that blues have stated that there will be diminishing returns on stuns/cc in harder difficulities. So DOA wont last 3 seconds one elite/champ mobs on inferno. 300% armor buff is 300% armor buff regardless of difficulty. Also if a mob is stunned then it isnt hitting you and therefore not procing revenge.
I find it that if your rely on stuns/dodge/cc then revenge is a poor choice of skills. If you want revenge then you should optimally build to get hit as much as possible for as little damage as possible (hence armor buffs and IP are king.
I did consider two changes though to this build to possibly optimize: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#bXikRT!gch!Yaabbb
1) IP re-reruned for Ignorance is blizz - 20% of dmg done healing is amazing , especially if you are cleaving + earthquake during the IP duration.
2) as revenge heals based off of % health (and it will be a consitant heal based of 30% proc rate) i changed warcry to Invigorate (10% more health + regen) great for survival.
in order to maximize fury generation i re-runed into reaping swing. +3 fury pre enemy hit is amazing. IF you hit a pack of 3 champions that 14 rage total per SWING. This allows us change passive to weapon master. So when fry is maxed (a good amount of time as we use no rage dump abilities) you will get not only the 25% zerkerrage buff but also the 15% weaponmaster buff for a higher POTENTIAL DPS. Granted this is a super high level/gear build as you will need a high end handed sword to work (Grandfather Sword anyone? .
I considered using BOON in this build, but i find that as its a shocktrooper build i want to maximize dmg during that 8 second "burst " period. boon will let you cast earthquake more, but realistically you will only use earthquake for rares/champions/elites. Even w/ boon on (75 second cd) no single none boss fight should last more then 75 seconds and i assume that in INFERNO you will have more then 30 seconds downtime between elites/champions so the difference that passive makes is marginal.
I think this would make sense, otherwise the passive is not that good.
THats exactly what i thought! i had initially said it seemed weak considering you want to spam shouts for fury generation and 1 percent per second is ok but not game changing, but if you could stack 2 or 3, it becomes much more powerful.
Ive been reading in peoples builds that they assume that casting multiple shoulds (i.e. warcry + battlecry) multiplies the effect of Inspiring pressense (i.e. 2x1% life regen totaling 2 percent per second).
Has anyone confirmed this or found a confirmation from blues? ive done some general searching but havent found anyting concrete other then peoples assumptions.
I still feel using Boon of Bul Kathos without all 3 2min cooldowns is a waste of the passive.
While you techincally get the "most" of bul kathos with 3 2 min cooldowns, i have yet seen a build that effectively uses all 3 abilities. It doesnt make useless though. Ive used it in builds using wotb +cotb and it could work in this build but im not sure if its the best choice option.
i have not played on inferno, but in beta normal there is a substancial diffulty increase between normal mobs and rares/elites+, im sure this will dramatically increase in inferno.
Currently as a cleaving barbarian in beta i can kill a whole group of normal mobs in about 2 swings (3 max) (using rupture rune). Rare packs (generally 3 or 4 mobs) take significanly more, probably equivolant of 6-8 swings if they are bundled up. This will be further made more difficult in inferno as the mobs will always be higher level then the player (suppoidly lvl 65 by end of inferno leading to a 5 level differential).
i could see "herding" working in the lower difficulty levels. When it comes to INFERNO it might be a bit risky to "round up" large groups. If you opt for the "bulkathos"passive i could see using earthquake for large "none elite groups", but realize your rage could decay significantly while you round up mobs (unless you get smacked up as you kite them).
IMO cleave should be powerful enough to mop up non-elites relatively easily (using ignore pain if you pull over your head) with an easy combo of leap in and cleave.
Ive had a tough time making a build around Boon Kathos, because i do agree that in order to justify using the passive spot then you would want to utilize at least 2/3 of the abilities listed.
Its a CRIT build that relies on having either WotB or CotA up as much as possible. It is also, unlike most builds, an avoidance build. WotB is counter intuitive because it works directly against the mechanic of the most widely used ability (just from my observations) which is revenge. THis build also has no jump in/out mechanic and instead relies on movement buff from either frenzy or WotB. Every ability is also runed to maximize fury generation in order to maximize duration of WotB. The main drawbacks is the lack of significant armor buffs (relying on avoidance) and lack of self healing procs from abilities. This build would most likely work best with fast dual weilding axes (to maximize the amount of fury generated during WotB and in turn hopefully add another 4-5 second duration to the effect).
CotA would work purely as damage spunges while WOTB is on CD so that you dont get gangbanged by mobs (the more targets they have to go after the less likely it wil be be you).
By my calculations you should be able to have a 20 second WotB followed by 20 second CotA. WIth the selected passives both will have a 90 second cooldown so it would effectively be 40 seconds w/ CotA/Wotb and then 45 seconds without it.
So, let's just say these mobs all live and 1shot you after IP and quake are down... I would not bank on this build homie! =)
The strategy is that if its clear that these mobs will survive IP and quake, then you jump out before the timer runs out. You could in theory jump a short distance and it should buy you 4 more seconds of survivability (40% armor buff from warcry +15 percent sorc buff + 300 % leap). If they are still alive after this then they are truely tough SOBS and you roll the dice....stay in and kill them before they kill you or run/kite until cooldowns are available. Or if you feel the fight will go on longer, jump out further, regroup, and strike when ready with cooldowns.
Also as a note: this is NOT a hardcore build, so death will happen. If were to believe what blizzard says, everyone will die a lot in inferno, including builds that stack defensive buffs and sword/board because they wont be able to dps fast enough at some point and get over zealous then get swarmed/killed. Playing optimally in inferno will be all about having a good kill time to death ratio. Plus, as mentioned at the beginning of this thread, the idea is to optimize the use of Earthquake in this build. I could easily disect this build competely, but then it wouldnt be an earthquake build anymore. If you dont like earthquake, then this is not the build youre looking for:)
Ive been looking at making some potential alterations, but im not sure what the best direction would be.
Concerning passives the only one that i could see changing would be unforgiving. Unfortunately, the problem is that berzerker rage is all or nothing. you could be at 99/100 rage and BOOM youre missing 25% dmg. What passive ability can/would make up for losing the berzerker rage buff 25% to 50 percent of the time?
Some of you have said that the build does not do enough damage w/ not enough dps tools, but is that truely accurate? Cleave may be one ability, but its one ability that you can spam at will for frontal AOE @ up to 254.67% of weapon damage (an aternative is rupture for even more aoe, but that would lower single target dps for bosses and unique single monsters). Most spammable "dump" abilities dont come close to 254% aoe. Revenge is reactive so comparing it is apples to oranges and if i did get it i dont know what to give up? Overpower has the weakness of having a 15 second cooldown (and is truely best utilized in a crit build). THe other dumps HotA, rend, SS, dont compare from a pure dps standpoint and would be useless in a "zerker rage" build. Not saying they are bad skills, but they simply shine in a none zerker rage build.
Concerning pacing and earthquake cooldown:
My assumption is that in inferno you will have to be much more tactical and blindly bullrushing every group wont be optimal. The truely DANGEROUS encounters will be champion packs, so the goal is to have a champion pack no sooner then every 105 seconds (105 seconds goes by rather fast especially in inferno where most mobs wont die in one or two hits).
concerning removing ignore pain: I simply do not see a way where a build could maximize earthquake in iNFERNO w/o ignore pain. standing still in inferno w/o either stacking shield/defensive buffs or cc will be suicide. It allows you to have an effective rotation of 7 seconds of relative dmg immunity followed by 23 seconds of vulnerability (not bad for a shock trooper build).
ALSO if you can minimize movement for 7 seconds you can maximize dps (any time you move you are potentially giving up opportunities to attack). Lets say you can cleave 8 times in 8 seconds (assuming easy calculation of 1 swing per second with a big 2 hander) you are able to dish out roughly 3265% aoe dmg from earthquake + 2037.36% frontal aoe dmg from cleave before you become vulnerable to serious dmg. This totals to 5302.36% weapon damage in 8 seconds AOE or 662.8% weapon dmg aoe per second.
I respect the viewpoints of those that like to rely on revenge/overpower heal procs to stay alive, but this build would suffer from it. A lack of a dedicated healing ability does concern me, but this build lives by using a shock trooper mentality. jump in, burst dps for 8 seconds (w/ or w/o earthquake) and then (heres the key) JUMP OUT before your defensive procs wear off (upon landing you get another 300% armor buff for 4 seconds if you need to escape/regroup). Also take into account that the enchantress will be adding a 15% armor buff + slow effect + hex + aoe 15% dmg boost (situational) that will stack with all other dmg boosts + mass hex (situational again, but when mobs are hexed they are doing 0% dmg to me).
In evaluating what abilties to "replace" im having a hard time. cleave needs to stay as its the main dps ability (although re-runing to rupture is a possiblity. But will it truely caculate to superior dps as it procs only upon death?). leap adds crutial mobility (and that 300% armor buff cant be understated). Battlerage's 30% dmg boost (and to a lesser degree crit buff) is hard to replace, Warcry's 40 percent armor buff helps make up for a lack of a dedicated armor buff passive. and ignore pain/earthquake are the foundation of this build, take out ignore pain and you can say good bye to surviving standing in the earthquake area for 8 seconds on inferno - especially when opting for a 2 hander vs 1h/shield (or other tougher packs even when not using earthquake).
The only thing i could see changing would be going back to passives as mentioned earlier. brawler and berzerker rage seem no brainers for any aoe build that does not do rage dumps so unforgiving is, again, the only potential candidate for replacement. But this also guarantees that there will be time where my barb will be rage starved. Cleave is not a faster rage builder (as compared with frenzy). leap helps a little, but warcry's boost is 66% negated by having to recast battle rage. So whatever passive i chose would have to make up for the loss of berzerker rage being up 100% of the time.
For dps: maybe Weaponmaster? If you have an awesome 2handed sword like the Grandfather then possibly the 15% constant dmg boost could make up for the partial downtime on zerker rage (assuming your BIS is a 2H sword is a toss up though)? And when you have rage maxed you would get an ADDITIONAL 15% dmg boost versus my current build. That COULD word in theory.
For survival: If im having trouble surviving then bloodthirst would work, but dps would drop meaning you can dish out less in that critical 8 second burst of dmg. I could also go tough as nails as most traditional builds go, but again youre sacrificing 15-25% dps depending on max rage uptime.
The final option would be Boon of Bul-kathos that would let me earthquake every 75 seconds. I generally dont like passives that only effect one skill, but it would allow you to earthquake almost once every minute.
on a side note, i believe the enchantress would be the optimal companion for solo play. 15 percent armor buff + slow, + 15 percent dmg multiplier and the ability to mass hex groups would outweigh the healing ability of the templar.
devs have stated that there is a hard cap on dmg mitigation/avoidance (which makes sense), not sure on diminishing return rate or just a literal cap. Regardless, if youre approaching the cap then youre fine. With the barbarians built in 30% base mitigation + 65% ignore pain youre bound to hit the cap which im assuming will be somewhere between 75 and 85 percent.
With any build that is built for inferno play there will be a tradeoff. If you try and make the iron tank build you will sacrifice dps and slow kill rate. If you go glass canon build then you will die more often (and hence lose kills/minute rate as well.)
The point is that this should be a viable build if you LIKE earthquake and want to take advantage of it. How effective will only be seen through practicle application upon release. Although it is nice to see what people think on the forums beforehand:)
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My WW build is :
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WhXSkV!gWb!ccacbc
I find it has a more realistic balance of mobility /healing and defense to go along w/ WW. THis will help you stay alive before you get decked out in gear. As you gear catches up you can switch out to a more offensive build IMO. THis build also focuses on getting stamina/health as high as possible as %total health heals obvioulsy do better with higher total health.
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I called it the Super Shock Trooper Build, codenamed "Death Star":
http://us.battle.net...kPRT!gSh!YabZba
Varient (same as below except uses weapon master w/ swords instead of unforgiving for extra 15% dmg, if you are comfortable with fury management - if you are having trouble surviving you can opt for a defensive passive)
http://us.battle.net...kPRT!gSY!YabZba
Here are the changes:
negatives: less sustained damage during none "Death Star" Strike mode. SLightly less crit (-3% crit).
Positives: massive burst dps increase during "Death Star" Strike.
Explanation:
Passives:
1) kept brawler for max aoe dmg boost
2) kept unforgiving - this build relies on the player to generate/maintain 100 fury for "Death Star" Strike
3) changed out zerker rage for Boon - two abilities now rely on the passive (making it worth it) as well as the change to earthquake rune (see below)
Active Changes:
* remove battle shout
*added WotB w/ 100% dmg boost
*earthquake: changed rune to Giants Stride (8 seconds of stacking AOE that follows player @ 65% Weapon damage)
reasoning:
In previous build you maximize your burst damage with passives: 25% zerker rage + 30% battle rage
In new build damage is based off of activating WOTB followed by Earthquake: You now get 100% dmg boost from WoTB + Earthquake passive (additional 65% per second 520% over 8 seconds BEFORE modifiers). ALSO the 25% boost to attack speed allows you to cleave faster increasing dps by an additional 25% (before modifiers)
*This seems to be the only build that does not use "the Mountain's Call" rune for earthquake. THe reasoning is that you want to have WotB and Earthquake on the same cooldown. It allows you to pick a higher DPS rune for Earthquake and simultaniously keep those two abilities on the same CD rotation.
* Fury Generation: It is imperative that you have 100 fury before starting the "Death Star" Strike as both abilities will cost 50 fury each. Unforgiving will make sure this happens by never accidentally losing fury. In theory you could exchange unforgiving for weaponmaster or another rune if you find managing fury as none problematic.
"Death Star" Strike:
WotB + Earthquake
Application:
1) cast Warcry whenever available to maximize fury generation
2) Jump into enemy champion pack (4 second 300% armor buff).
3) enable WotB ( 15 second duration)
4) activate Earthquake
5) before 4 second 300% buff expires activate IP (lifetap rune)
6) During the following 5 seconds you should be theoretically invincible + doing incredible dps
7) At this point you should be 9-10 seconds into WotB- leap will be available in order to short leap (to get 4 more seconds of 300% armor) OR to get out of trouble (mobility).
Dmg stacking during "Death Star" Strike period
brawler: 30% (assuming you are fighitng champion pack of 3 or boss w/ additional mobs)
Wotb:25% haste + 100% dmg modifier
Earthquake: initial 2000% AOE DOT (pre mods) + 520% AOE DOT (pre mod) spread over 8 seconds
CLeave: now with 15% haste (allowing more swings during 8 second earthquake duration as well as 15 second WotB).
IP: Super self heal: (if IP mitigation wasnt enough) 20% of all the damage dealt is self healed, this should be able to outheal any incoming damage (assuming you have weapon appropriate for your difficulty level/area) .
THis process can be repeated every 90 seconds.
During downtime you will be missing zerker rage, but will still benefit from brawler buff and IP can be used for self healing 2x inbetween doing the "Death Star" Strike.
TOP GEAR VERSION:
http://us.battle.net...VPRT!gSY!YacZba
This version assumes that:
1) You are extremely well geared (to compensate for the lack of warcry buff)
2) You are highly skilled in tactics (this shoud be a given by the time you are in INFERNO and have farmed "top end gear"
The purpose of this build to maximize dps during "burst" mode (additional procs from revenge) as well as clearing trash to champion packs (same reasoning).
THoughts ?
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Two important fact about playing in inferno:
1) diminishing returns: a 3 second stun in normal will not be 3 seconds in inferno. It might be 2 seconds, it might be 1 second, who knows, but it wont be nearly as attractive regardless.
2) Any CC wll actually be detrimental IF you add revenge to the build as it relies on getting hit (revenge is one of the main ways to add dps AND heal.
SO. Optimally you want to get hit as much as possible for as little damage as possible. If you add CC to the build then its bad in two ways.
A) You get hit less (when mobs are stunned they cant hit you)
By using mitigation abilities it allows you to maximize hits quantity while minimizing damage taken and maximizing procs/heals.
Bottom Line: Dodge/stuns/fears/any other CC/ demo shout (slower attack speed is also bad a it leads to less hits/minute). This also needs to be taken into consideration when picking your companion or co-op players (IF you are into min/maxing). **Unless you dont use revenge, in which case CC options can be viable.
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Thanks for the kudos;) I think IP gets ignored because of its short duration and lack of flash, but i think people are underestimating how long 5-7 seconds are in the heat of battle. I think it will be a much more common addition to builds once people actually play the game (especially on higher difficulties and HC).
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I find it that if your rely on stuns/dodge/cc then revenge is a poor choice of skills. If you want revenge then you should optimally build to get hit as much as possible for as little damage as possible (hence armor buffs and IP are king.
I did consider two changes though to this build to possibly optimize:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#bXikRT!gch!Yaabbb
1) IP re-reruned for Ignorance is blizz - 20% of dmg done healing is amazing , especially if you are cleaving + earthquake during the IP duration.
2) as revenge heals based off of % health (and it will be a consitant heal based of 30% proc rate) i changed warcry to Invigorate (10% more health + regen) great for survival.
the OTHER option i was thinking was for a build w/o unforgiving:
http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#bXikRT!gcY!Zaabbb
in order to maximize fury generation i re-runed into reaping swing. +3 fury pre enemy hit is amazing. IF you hit a pack of 3 champions that 14 rage total per SWING. This allows us change passive to weapon master. So when fry is maxed (a good amount of time as we use no rage dump abilities) you will get not only the 25% zerkerrage buff but also the 15% weaponmaster buff for a higher POTENTIAL DPS. Granted this is a super high level/gear build as you will need a high end handed sword to work (Grandfather Sword anyone?
I considered using BOON in this build, but i find that as its a shocktrooper build i want to maximize dmg during that 8 second "burst " period. boon will let you cast earthquake more, but realistically you will only use earthquake for rares/champions/elites. Even w/ boon on (75 second cd) no single none boss fight should last more then 75 seconds and i assume that in INFERNO you will have more then 30 seconds downtime between elites/champions so the difference that passive makes is marginal.
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THats exactly what i thought! i had initially said it seemed weak considering you want to spam shouts for fury generation and 1 percent per second is ok but not game changing, but if you could stack 2 or 3, it becomes much more powerful.
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Has anyone confirmed this or found a confirmation from blues? ive done some general searching but havent found anyting concrete other then peoples assumptions.
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Currently as a cleaving barbarian in beta i can kill a whole group of normal mobs in about 2 swings (3 max) (using rupture rune). Rare packs (generally 3 or 4 mobs) take significanly more, probably equivolant of 6-8 swings if they are bundled up. This will be further made more difficult in inferno as the mobs will always be higher level then the player (suppoidly lvl 65 by end of inferno leading to a 5 level differential).
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IMO cleave should be powerful enough to mop up non-elites relatively easily (using ignore pain if you pull over your head) with an easy combo of leap in and cleave.
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I came up with the following build:
http://us.battle.net...ikjP!ZYS!bYYYZc
Its a CRIT build that relies on having either WotB or CotA up as much as possible. It is also, unlike most builds, an avoidance build. WotB is counter intuitive because it works directly against the mechanic of the most widely used ability (just from my observations) which is revenge. THis build also has no jump in/out mechanic and instead relies on movement buff from either frenzy or WotB. Every ability is also runed to maximize fury generation in order to maximize duration of WotB. The main drawbacks is the lack of significant armor buffs (relying on avoidance) and lack of self healing procs from abilities. This build would most likely work best with fast dual weilding axes (to maximize the amount of fury generated during WotB and in turn hopefully add another 4-5 second duration to the effect).
CotA would work purely as damage spunges while WOTB is on CD so that you dont get gangbanged by mobs (the more targets they have to go after the less likely it wil be be you).
By my calculations you should be able to have a 20 second WotB followed by 20 second CotA. WIth the selected passives both will have a 90 second cooldown so it would effectively be 40 seconds w/ CotA/Wotb and then 45 seconds without it.
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The strategy is that if its clear that these mobs will survive IP and quake, then you jump out before the timer runs out. You could in theory jump a short distance and it should buy you 4 more seconds of survivability (40% armor buff from warcry +15 percent sorc buff + 300 % leap). If they are still alive after this then they are truely tough SOBS and you roll the dice....stay in and kill them before they kill you or run/kite until cooldowns are available. Or if you feel the fight will go on longer, jump out further, regroup, and strike when ready with cooldowns.
Also as a note: this is NOT a hardcore build, so death will happen. If were to believe what blizzard says, everyone will die a lot in inferno, including builds that stack defensive buffs and sword/board because they wont be able to dps fast enough at some point and get over zealous then get swarmed/killed. Playing optimally in inferno will be all about having a good kill time to death ratio. Plus, as mentioned at the beginning of this thread, the idea is to optimize the use of Earthquake in this build. I could easily disect this build competely, but then it wouldnt be an earthquake build anymore. If you dont like earthquake, then this is not the build youre looking for:)
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Ive been looking at making some potential alterations, but im not sure what the best direction would be.
Concerning passives the only one that i could see changing would be unforgiving. Unfortunately, the problem is that berzerker rage is all or nothing. you could be at 99/100 rage and BOOM youre missing 25% dmg. What passive ability can/would make up for losing the berzerker rage buff 25% to 50 percent of the time?
Some of you have said that the build does not do enough damage w/ not enough dps tools, but is that truely accurate? Cleave may be one ability, but its one ability that you can spam at will for frontal AOE @ up to 254.67% of weapon damage (an aternative is rupture for even more aoe, but that would lower single target dps for bosses and unique single monsters). Most spammable "dump" abilities dont come close to 254% aoe. Revenge is reactive so comparing it is apples to oranges and if i did get it i dont know what to give up? Overpower has the weakness of having a 15 second cooldown (and is truely best utilized in a crit build). THe other dumps HotA, rend, SS, dont compare from a pure dps standpoint and would be useless in a "zerker rage" build. Not saying they are bad skills, but they simply shine in a none zerker rage build.
Concerning pacing and earthquake cooldown:
My assumption is that in inferno you will have to be much more tactical and blindly bullrushing every group wont be optimal. The truely DANGEROUS encounters will be champion packs, so the goal is to have a champion pack no sooner then every 105 seconds (105 seconds goes by rather fast especially in inferno where most mobs wont die in one or two hits).
concerning removing ignore pain: I simply do not see a way where a build could maximize earthquake in iNFERNO w/o ignore pain. standing still in inferno w/o either stacking shield/defensive buffs or cc will be suicide. It allows you to have an effective rotation of 7 seconds of relative dmg immunity followed by 23 seconds of vulnerability (not bad for a shock trooper build).
ALSO if you can minimize movement for 7 seconds you can maximize dps (any time you move you are potentially giving up opportunities to attack). Lets say you can cleave 8 times in 8 seconds (assuming easy calculation of 1 swing per second with a big 2 hander) you are able to dish out roughly 3265% aoe dmg from earthquake + 2037.36% frontal aoe dmg from cleave before you become vulnerable to serious dmg. This totals to 5302.36% weapon damage in 8 seconds AOE or 662.8% weapon dmg aoe per second.
I respect the viewpoints of those that like to rely on revenge/overpower heal procs to stay alive, but this build would suffer from it. A lack of a dedicated healing ability does concern me, but this build lives by using a shock trooper mentality. jump in, burst dps for 8 seconds (w/ or w/o earthquake) and then (heres the key) JUMP OUT before your defensive procs wear off (upon landing you get another 300% armor buff for 4 seconds if you need to escape/regroup). Also take into account that the enchantress will be adding a 15% armor buff + slow effect + hex + aoe 15% dmg boost (situational) that will stack with all other dmg boosts + mass hex (situational again, but when mobs are hexed they are doing 0% dmg to me).
In evaluating what abilties to "replace" im having a hard time. cleave needs to stay as its the main dps ability (although re-runing to rupture is a possiblity. But will it truely caculate to superior dps as it procs only upon death?). leap adds crutial mobility (and that 300% armor buff cant be understated). Battlerage's 30% dmg boost (and to a lesser degree crit buff) is hard to replace, Warcry's 40 percent armor buff helps make up for a lack of a dedicated armor buff passive. and ignore pain/earthquake are the foundation of this build, take out ignore pain and you can say good bye to surviving standing in the earthquake area for 8 seconds on inferno - especially when opting for a 2 hander vs 1h/shield (or other tougher packs even when not using earthquake).
The only thing i could see changing would be going back to passives as mentioned earlier. brawler and berzerker rage seem no brainers for any aoe build that does not do rage dumps so unforgiving is, again, the only potential candidate for replacement. But this also guarantees that there will be time where my barb will be rage starved. Cleave is not a faster rage builder (as compared with frenzy). leap helps a little, but warcry's boost is 66% negated by having to recast battle rage. So whatever passive i chose would have to make up for the loss of berzerker rage being up 100% of the time.
For dps: maybe Weaponmaster? If you have an awesome 2handed sword like the Grandfather then possibly the 15% constant dmg boost could make up for the partial downtime on zerker rage (assuming your BIS is a 2H sword is a toss up though)? And when you have rage maxed you would get an ADDITIONAL 15% dmg boost versus my current build. That COULD word in theory.
For survival: If im having trouble surviving then bloodthirst would work, but dps would drop meaning you can dish out less in that critical 8 second burst of dmg. I could also go tough as nails as most traditional builds go, but again youre sacrificing 15-25% dps depending on max rage uptime.
The final option would be Boon of Bul-kathos that would let me earthquake every 75 seconds. I generally dont like passives that only effect one skill, but it would allow you to earthquake almost once every minute.
Thoughts?
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With any build that is built for inferno play there will be a tradeoff. If you try and make the iron tank build you will sacrifice dps and slow kill rate. If you go glass canon build then you will die more often (and hence lose kills/minute rate as well.)
I'm sure there will be plenty of viable builds, in fact this may not even be my build in the end (my other build is http://us.battle.net/d3/en/calculator/barbarian#WhSXkV!VgW!cbZaac ).
The point is that this should be a viable build if you LIKE earthquake and want to take advantage of it. How effective will only be seen through practicle application upon release. Although it is nice to see what people think on the forums beforehand:)