Patch 1.0.4 Preview: Barbarian

[swirly]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6923460/

I'm excited about the Whirlwind buff. The way Whirlwind is in D3 has always seemed overly fun to me, but it has just been hard to stick with. So I'm hoping it being buffed will make it to where I can justify keeping it around. I'm less, but still excited about the Bash boost. It seems to be the generator I keep wanting to use and so it being buffed will help. It just doesn't seem quite as excitement causing of an idea as the Whirlwind one though for some reason.

Overall I'd say that it'll be fun having more skills being strong, but there is something about these previews that is feeling a bit underwhelming as well. I think that it is just a numbers adjustment. Which will help, but it isn't exciting.

[Athenau]

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/blog/6923460/

I'm excited about the Whirlwind buff. The way Whirlwind is in D3 has always seemed overly fun to me, but it has just been hard to stick with. So I'm hoping it being buffed will make it to where I can justify keeping it around. I'm less, but still excited about the Bash boost. It seems to be the generator I keep wanting to use and so it being buffed will help. It just doesn't seem quite as excitement causing of an idea as the Whirlwind one though for some reason.

Overall I'd say that it'll be fun having more skills being strong, but there is something about these previews that is feeling a bit underwhelming as well. I think that it is just a numbers adjustment. Which will help, but it isn't exciting.

The rend buff seems really good for 2H builds. Rend/Bloodlust = 700% weapon damage/5 seconds and 9% (reduced to 1.8% in inferno) lifesteal. That's good enough to replace revenge on my bar. I never really liked revenge as a source of healing, as I don't like having my healing dependent on the RNG.

Still not terribly enthusiastic about bash, though it looks like it has potential in a WoTB sustain build (bash/onslaught + mighty weapon + weapon master = 8 + 3 + 3 = 14 fury per hit, if you can reach 1.8 attacks per second that's enough to get you the 25 fury/sec needed to maintain WoTB indefinitely).

[Concillian]

I don't like the straight buffing. The issue is that you need a certain amount of utility... Frenzy is attractive not only for the damage, but because between that and sidearm you get significantly more life on hit than any other generator except cleave when it hits lots of enemies. None of the listed buffs change this fact. It means people can play around with the others, but unless something else changes, like lifesteal becomes more available or gets a small buff, I think people will still come back to Frenzy strictly for the utility of it.

I do like fury spenders potentially making 2H more viable, I'm not sure how much it will help. Ultimately, LoH scaling is what kills 2H.
I did watch a stream of a guy using 2H in Act III inferno. He died a lot, but still killed stuff at an incredible rate. Earthquake is downright enormous spike damage and WoTB is good for every spec as well, he'd basically find a pack, pop these and destroy the whole screen, then find the next pack and run away until his cooldowns came back up. It worked, but was really glass cannon-ey. I think it will take a small buff to lifesteal to really make 2H on the same level as 1H.

[Athenau]

I must be some sort of freak then, because I made it through Act II inferno with a 2H build with no LOH at all, just some life regen and revenge. Act III is a brick wall, but that's because I'm undergeared and didn't feeling like grinding for better stuff, not because I'm using a 2-hander.

I think the importance of LOH is overstated.

Also, one important advantage of life steal is that it isn't scaled by a proc coefficient, or more accurately there's a global coefficient of 20% in Inferno. That's par for the course for most AoE skills, and lifesteal has the advantage of scaling with your damage. So with the new stronger lifesteal affixes on 2-handers, I can see lifesteal quickly becoming superior for 2H builds.

[Concillian]

I must be some sort of freak then, because I made it through Act II inferno with a 2H build with no LOH at all, just some life regen and revenge.

I didn't say it wasn't possible. The guy I saw streaming Act III had no LOH and no Lifesteal, he was using Furious charge and +xxxx life on health globe as his primary heals... but he also died quite a bit. He chewed through stuff quick enough it didn't really matter that he died, though.

Not at all viable in hardcore.

Also, one important advantage of life steal is that it isn't scaled by a proc coefficient, or more accurately there's a global coefficient of 20% in Inferno. That's par for the course for most AoE skills, and lifesteal has the advantage of scaling with your damage. So with the new stronger lifesteal affixes on 2-handers, I can see lifesteal quickly becoming superior for 2H builds.

On top of the life steal 20% coefficient, there is the availability of mods. 2H can currently get 3% on weapon and 3% on belt and 3% as a passive. Compare to 1H @ 1.8 speed with Frenzy with 1000 LoH (750 per hit) and you'd need 75k DPS to be equivalent... that's topped out on life steal, but far from topped out on LoH. You can accumulate LoH without spectacular DPS, but for Lifesteal, you're talking pretty great gear to get equivalent to a reasonable LoH amount. What's the equivalent at the 700 LoH I had when first geared at 60? It would take 9% life steal and 50k DPS to be equivalent... hardly starter inferno gear. LoH is valued because of it's gear values. If it had gear value like "does xxx damage when hit" then nobody would be using it.

You have to consider availability of the modifier too. If they're buffing modifiers on 2H weapons, then sure, It gets more interesting. I already said I thought they'd need to increase life steal to make it truly interesting, and it sounds like that's what they're doing

[Athenau]

On top of the life steal 20% coefficient, there is the availability of mods. 2H can currently get 3% on weapon and 3% on belt and 3% as a passive. Compare to 1H @ 1.8 speed with Frenzy with 1000 LoH (750 per hit) and you'd need 75k DPS to be equivalent... that's topped out on life steal, but far from topped out on LoH. You can accumulate LoH without spectacular DPS, but for Lifesteal, you're talking pretty great gear to get equivalent to a reasonable LoH amount. What's the equivalent at the 700 LoH I had when first geared at 60? It would take 9% life steal and 50k DPS to be equivalent... hardly starter inferno gear.

Right, which is why I specified AoE skills, not frenzy. Typically AoE skills have proc coefficients around 33%, though the barb's seems to be on the high side. 1000 LOH on a 33% proc skill is 333 life per hit. 3% lifesteal on 100k damage (easily achievable with 50k base damage per hit and a 2x multiplier from the skill) is 600 life per hit.

Compare some of the new buffed spenders with a base of 50k damage, 3% lifesteal and 1000 LOH:

Seismic Slam - crackling rift: 340% weapon damage, 1020 life stolen per hit, 500 life on hit
Hammer of the Ancients - 325% weapon damage, 975 life stolen per hit, 667 life on hit
Rend - 700% weapon damage (LOH only procs on the initial attack), 2100 life stolen per hit, 333 life on hit

And it's _much_ less expensive to get 3% lifesteal than it is to get 1000 LOH. 50k damage isn't unreasonable for a damage focused 2H build either.

Overall there are a lot of indirect changes that make lifesteal more attractive this patch. The increased efficacy of 2h weapons, the buffed fury spenders (which benefit 2-handers disproportionately since they're limited by fury rather than attack speed), and the increased availability of lifesteal on your weapon slot all combine to make lifesteal worth another look. At this point I don't think it's necessary to change the inferno scaling.