Building a barbarian

[TheKingofKewl]

Hi, I've been playing for about a week now and one of my characters is up to level 34, a barbarian. I just had a few questions.

1. When we finished baal the red portal was put practically off of the cliff and I wasn't able to go into it. Has this happened to anyone? I was only able to get the ending by saving & exiting.

2. My friend who had beaten the game said to wait for all the waves baal sent out first. If your strong enough can you beat him down beforehand?

3. I left some quests 'open' cause I don't know when to use them. They include the imbue an item quest in Act I; the socket an item quest in act V and the one I still don't quite understand yet the Personalize an item quest from Anya also in Act V. What does the Personalize quest mean is the quest and also when is best to IMBUE a weapon and SOCKET the other?

What weapon types are best to imbue and socket? I use Axes as a barbarian and sword and shield mainly as paladin. Are Super Socketable War Axes and War swords the way to go?


4. I was referring to a barbarian builde while making this character and have been following it pretty faithfully except holding off on one or two things till I checked in with you guys.

This is how my build is going. 18 in axes, 2 increased stamina and 1 Speed, I got about 7 in Iron Skin (told to max), I've got about 2 in resist all elements so far (he said he'd been playing along time and to put 5 points in this Skill). I also have 2 points in leap and I dunno weather to put more into it or some into leap attack or just to leave these stats alone. Now I have 2 points in Battle Orders which helps out some, he says to max this and that Battle Orders is not worth bothering with. Yet alot of people swear by this. What is the most useful War cry to max out? And what ones can stack?
The last one I remember is him saying to put 10 points in concentrate. I havnt put any into that yet but would like to if its good. thanks

Thanks for any questions you can answer :-)

[Chaostheory]

1. When we finished baal the red portal was put practically off of the cliff and I wasn't able to go into it. Has this happened to anyone? I was only able to get the ending by saving & exiting.
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Sometimes this thing happens to me too, it is only a little bug, doesn't really matter cause you can end the quest by saving & exiting

2. My friend who had beaten the game said to wait for all the waves baal sent out first. If your strong enough can you beat him down beforehand?
[right][snapback]92476[/snapback][/right]

hmm.. i am not sure what you are talking about..
wawes...? :huh:
If you mean the monster "wawes", tha baal sents, and you mean it is possible to beat baal when still in throne of destruction, your friend has just fooled you, there is no way to even damage Baal before entering the Worldstone Chamber.

3. I left some quests 'open' cause I don't know when to use them. They include the imbue an item quest in Act I; the socket an item quest in act V and the one I still don't quite understand yet the Personalize an item quest from Anya also in Act V. What does the Personalize quest mean is the quest and also when is best to IMBUE a weapon and SOCKET the other?
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Personalizing an item only makes your name appear infront of the item's name that you have personalized, for example: KingofKewl's War axe

When would i imbue a weapon... practicially never :P but i think u should wait untill u get to act5 and find a good exeptional or :P elite version of an item (non-magical of course)

Before using larzuk's "socket item" u should really think what u socket, cause u can only socket 3 times per char, i'd say that you wait untill you are really REALLY sure about what you socket...

4. I was referring to a barbarian builde while making this character and have been following it pretty faithfully except holding off on one or two things till I checked in with you guys.
 
This is how my build is going. 18 in axes, 2 increased stamina and 1 Speed, I got about 7 in Iron Skin (told to max), I've got about 2 in resist all elements so far (he said he'd been playing along time and to put 5 points in this Skill). I also have 2 points in leap and I dunno weather to put more into it or some into leap attack or just to leave these stats alone. Now I have 2 points in Battle Orders which helps out some, he says to max this and that Battle Orders is not worth bothering with. Yet alot of people swear by this. What is the most useful War cry to max out? And what ones can stack?
The last one I remember is him saying to put 10 points in concentrate. I havnt put any into that yet but would like to if its good. thanks

Thanks for any questions you can answer :-)
[right][snapback]92476[/snapback][/right]

I think all the Warcries you make (those that affect yourself) stack as long as the skill says, you can't "overwrite" them with another war cry,
if u use another it just stacks with the other war cry... (not sure)
The most useful war cry? I think it depends on what kind of baba you make, but overall my opinion is Battle orders...

[TheKingofKewl]

Sometimes this thing happens to me too, it is only a little bug, doesn't really matter cause you can end the quest by saving & exiting
hmm.. i am not sure what you are talking about..
wawes...? :huh:
If you mean the monster "wawes", tha baal sents, and you mean it is possible to beat baal when still in throne of destruction, your friend has just fooled you, there is no way to even damage Baal before entering the Worldstone Chamber.


I meant could you attack him while he's summoning minions to fight against you in waves, but as I play as I realise I couldn't.



Personalizing an item only makes your name appear infront of the item's name that you have personalized, for example: KingofKewl's War axe

When would i imbue a weapon... practicially never  :P but i think u should wait untill u get  to act5 and find a good exeptional or  :P  elite version of an item (non-magical of course)

well what are the best AXE types and the best Sword types? Is it in fact superior war axe and War Sword socketable? and should I put runes or gems in them?

Before using larzuk's "socket item" u should really think what u socket, cause u can only socket 3 times per char, i'd say that you wait untill you are really REALLY sure about what you socket... 
I think all the Warcries you make (those that affect yourself) stack as long as the skill says, you can't "overwrite" them with another war cry,
if u use another it just stacks with the other war cry... (not sure)
The most useful war cry? I think it depends on what kind of baba you make, but overall my opinion is Battle orders...

thanks i will try it with battle orders then
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[ShadowHM]

As to the the best axe types and swords available, check The Arreat Summit for the elite versions of the base types of weapon.

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/

You can socket any weapon, except throwing weapons and ones that already have a socket in them. Larzuk will give white items a varying number of sockets, depending on the quality level of that item. Item level is, IIRC, a function of what level of monster dropped it. Rare items (yellow), unique items (gold) and set items (green) will get one socket. Blue items (magic) will get one or two sockets as a random roll.

It can be very hard to figure out how many sockets a white item will get. Try using adeyke's calculator for this.

http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/resourc...apons.html

Your desired outcome should dictate what you use the socket quest for. Some use them for making the base item for a rune word. Some will put damage runes into a weapon; others will choose runes for speed or life leech. Occasionally gems will be useful too, depending on what you need.

As to when to socket, I tend to wait as long as possible, as the challenges of Hell sometimes give my characters surprises as to what they think they need, as well as providing the items to do it with.

[TheKingofKewl]

thank you both :)

So I guess since I'm looking for a two handed axe I'm looking for a Giant Axe or Great Axe socketable maybe with speed runes and lightening bonues and such. Maybe I could imbue a giant axe or something and see what unique it becomes. hmmm.

My guy is level 46 now, if you keep at it I've noticed you level pretty fast.
:-)

As to the the best axe types and swords available, check The Arreat Summit for the elite versions of the base types of weapon.

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/

You can socket any weapon, except throwing weapons and ones that already have a socket in them.  Larzuk will give white items a varying number of sockets, depending on the quality level of that item.    Item level is, IIRC, a function of what level of monster dropped it.  Rare items (yellow), unique items (gold) and set items (green) will get one socket.  Blue items (magic) will get one or two sockets as a random roll.

It can be very hard to figure out how many sockets a white item will get.  Try using adeyke's calculator for this.

http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/resourc...apons.html

Your desired outcome should dictate what you use the socket quest for.  Some use them for making the base item for a rune word.  Some will put damage runes into a weapon; others will choose runes for speed or life leech.  Occasionally gems will be useful too, depending on what you need.

As to when to socket, I tend to wait as long as possible, as the challenges of Hell sometimes give my characters surprises as to what they think they need, as well as providing the items to do it with.
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[Kruxx06]

So I guess since I'm looking for a two handed axe I'm looking for a Giant Axe or Great Axe socketable maybe with speed runes and lightening bonues and such. Maybe I could imbue a giant axe or something and see what unique it becomes. hmmm.

Normally if I'm looking for a socketed item, I will play until I find one on the ground. I normally use the socket quest to put a socket into a unique/set item that I find myself using for a little extra boost.

As far as the imbue quest goes, you get a rare item from it. (A Yellow colored item with random modifications on it) not a unique item. (A gold colored item with set modifications)