Stacking Barbarian Warcries

[Occhidiangela]

I think the "Hell on seven perfect emeralds" might have been mine (although it was quite a lot more than seven  )  In any event the concept was firmly squelched by 1.09 and the crafting, affix pool and MDR nerfs

Yeah, loved the old crafts, and sorry about the misattribution. :o The discussion I refer to was on the previous version of the lounge, and I can't find it.

Anyway, to start with you should look at this explanation on skill-based physical damage reduction in 1.09:  http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/...46&t=11824
The gist is that Might adding +200% blows away your -50% Taunt (as you thought)

Yes, that also came up in the Taunt to slvl 47 thread.

  Berserk for its magical damage boost to Frenzy.  This is 1%, factored in amongst all your other percentages, like a single point of Strength is it not? Hardly seems worth it to me, I'd leave berzerk at one and use Frenzy on everything not PI

Well, if I put 10 points into Berserk, I get 10% magic damage to every attack I make. It also fits the theme : A trash talking, frenzied, crazy, Barbarian on too much caffeine. :) Variant scum influence there.

  Two other advantages: blood crafts and the fact that axes can get 5 sockets + cruel with the new recipes according to this post:

Thankee! :)  Good reminder.

 
"75% is a normal cap for players" applies, as far as I know, solely to items and resistance
Now lowered to 50% gear-based cap. From Icy's post at the AB, referenced above it looks like there has never been any cap on skill-based damage reduction.

So, if I pump Taunt, I get -49% damage, combined with, in theory, Rockstopper, Shaft and a String, I'd be in the -90%+ damage category, absent Might of Fanaticism auras, which are pretty common. Hmmmmmmmmm.

 
When they all crowd around me, I find that I can stack Battle Cry on top of Taunt
This is certainly a deliberate change. It doesn't necessarily mean that the damage reductions are additive although it might do (and is probably unintended if so)

It is a bit early to tell, however, last night with a normal diff leaper being allowed to hit me, I saw, with about 20 successful attacks per condition:

Normal attack: average about 16 damage
Taunt at slvl 6: no change. It should have been about 13 average. Hmmmm. Need to test some more.
Battle Cry: about 11-12 average damage
Stacked: hard to say, I was interrupted and had to work on making sure that each battle cry stack stayed before attack with taunt, seemed about 11-12 average.

I need to do runs with 100-200 hits per condition so that the numbers settle down.

I think I will try again in NM with a zombie. They move more slowly, easier to take notes. :) I have to let my rogue die, though, her knock back, a bit of poison, 1-40 Lightning, and 7-24 Cold (I gambled a great little circlet) are simply amazing, even in hell players 6 or 8. I can sometimes just stand there and watch her, with her three socketed hunter's bow. :o

Good luck to both you and Gnollguy, take it to the extreme and keep up posted.  Normal Baal should be able to drop both String and Rockstopper as well as the now incredible Butcher's Cleaver

It would be nice to find the axe, but I am not item obsessed. I am quite interested in whether or not the skills stack, though last I saw, Necro curses over write Battle Cry.

If Taunt and Battle Cry stack their -damage percentages, then King Of Pain would again be right:

"Items are for wimps!" :)