Klup, the Barbarian Mercenary

[Raziel]

Serving under Qual-Kehk, the barbarian Klup began his life as a novice in the Harrogath guard. Year after year he trained diligently with his brethren, increasing his speed and skill with his weapon of preference. Year after year he stood faithfully on the high walls of the township, his eyes endlessly examining the slopes of Mount Arreat for any danger, one of the many whose job was to protect the Worldstone from all who approach it.

Klup had a distinction that set him apart from normal Barbarians. He was slightly more intelligent than the average stone. Citing this intelligence, Qual-Kehk assigned Klup the rank of Captain and saw to it that he led many patrols through the defenses, searching for any sign of incursion.



But the expected incursions ever came.

In time, Klup tired of his duties. Things had been too boring for too long. His patrols through the pallisades were of less and less interest to him; even the stories of old, spun by the council of elders, failed to keep him long around the campfire.

Eventually, Klup came to a realization - this place, this duty, was no longer where his heart was. The desire for combat, the thirst to test his steel and skill went unquenched as long as he remained here.

It was time to leave.

And so it was that Klup bade his old friends goodbye, packed his few possessions, and turned to leave - but at the gate, he was stopped by a familiar face: his younger brother, Klisk, who barred his way with bloodshot eyes.

"Mind if I tag along?"

Klup struggled to hide his surprise. His brother Klisk was not the most adventurous Barbarian ever born in Harrogath - nor was he any contender for the most intelligent. Nay, Klisk was the type whose unending desire to test his skill and steel ended at the practice post in the Barracks. To put it mildly, this was an unusual request.

"Are you sure you want to come?" Klup asked. Klisk grimaced in response, and cast a glance backwards, to where Anya stood, seemingly ignoring them, by the entrance to her small apothecary. Klup knew his younger brother had a 'thing' for the daughter of the council elders; based on the look in his eyes, Klup suspected that his brother had gotten a little drunk the night before and perhaps said something he shouldn't have.

Klup looked briefly in Qual-Kehk's direction - the senior man at arms was a study in predatory stillness. He might have been carved in stone. For a moment, across the central courtyard, their eyes met, and Qual-Kehk nodded slightly. The sentiment was simple: Take Klisk along. Now.

Klup sighed. "Alright." Klisk grinned, clapped his brother on the shoulder, and grabbed his pack. "So where are we going, anyway?" he asked enthusiastically.

"Adventuring," was all Klup said.

Klup, the Barbarian Mercenary (oh.. and his dumb brother, Klisk)



Klup the Barbarian Mercenary is exactly what his name suggests - a Barbarian Mercenary. His equipment and build are designed to emulate the look and feel of a Barbarian Mercenary as closely as possible. If you have trouble telling the two apart in the above shot, that's good, because that's exactly what I intend.

With that in mind, I will briefly outline Klup's equipment restrictions and his build in a moment. The goal of Klup is simple - solo Nightmare Difficulty. After Nightmare, Klup will be retired, as my time constraints - and my wife's patience - do not allow me to try my hand at Hell. Not that i'd really want to anyway.

Equipment Restrictions



Klup must remain as true to the Act 5 mercenary look and feel as possible. This places restrictions on three equipment slots. I will cover them in turn.

1. Helm.

This is a difficult slot to properly fill. The Barbarian Mercenary is actually wearing the Full Helm type. However, due to the strange way Full Helms are displayed on a Barbarian, it is impossible to make them appear anything but silver in color.

To properly attain the Barbarian Mercenary look and feel, Klup has been forced to compromise. He wears a Helm, socketed with a chipped topaz. This gives it a gold color that approximates what a true mercenary wears. It doesn't cover the face in quite the same way, but in a pinch, it's as close as I could get.

Any helm Klup wears MUST be a golden shade. In a pinch, a red shade (chipped ruby) works almost as well. The true helm color is closer to brown.

2. Armor.

After much wringing of hands, I discovered an oddity with Barbarian Mercs that I doubt very many have noticed - they change appearance from game to game. You can see this in the first two screenshots above. In the "story" image, Klisk (bottom right member of patrol) has two shoulder pads. In the second, title image, Klisk (top left, being hit) has only one shoulder pad! From game to game, the shoulder pad configuration changes, from none to one to two!

To best emulate this, a Barbarian must equip an armor that leaves his chest appearing bare, but gives him rudimentary shoulder pads. The only armors that suit this are Quilted Armor, Leather Armor and Hard Leather Armor (and their exceptional/elite counterparts). And, of course, nakedness. Klup can wear any armor in those categories as long as it is one of those base types - to preserve the proper look and feel, of course.

3. Weapon.

Yet another compromise. While Barbarian mercenaries are wielding what appears to be a battle sword, they are using a two handed weapon stance. As a compromise, Klup must wield two handed swords that appear to have a "fat" blade. This immediately rules out anything except giant swords and great swords (and their exceptional/elite counterparts - elites are Balrog and Colossus Blade, respectively).

At the present time, Klup is wielding Swordguard, the unique Executioner Sword.

Build Restrictions



1. Remain true to Barbarian playing style.

The only allowable offensive moves are Bash and Stun. Both should be maxed, as must sword mastery. A point is allowed in Berserk. My personal build is 20 in Bash and 15 in Stun. After 15, Stun starts to enter diminishing returns territory, and the stun length should be long enough.

There shall be no Leap and no Leap Attack. Walk everywhere. Try and get stuck on corners if you can manage it.

There shall be no Concentrate.

There shall be no Whirlwind.

2. NO WARCRIES. EVER. When was the last time you saw a Barbarian war cry?

Note: Personally, if I were to play this guy SERIOUSLY, rather than as a "can I do this" sort of experiment, I would make an exception for any warcry that affects both you and your mercenary equally. This means I would use Shout, BO, BCommand etc, because both get an "aura", and NOT use taunt, war cry, etc.

But in this case, I am playing Klup for the challenge, and he is going "pure Barbarian" - no cries at ALL :ph34r:

Alternative styles

You could build one of those cool axe/sword Barbs you see wandering in the Bloody Foothills. I'll leave it to you to figure out the restrictions of that :)

[Raziel]

A little "HOWTO" play:

This is the FUN part of the build! I'm doing this to have fun, right? B)

Here's some general rules I use.

1. Join games. Tag somebody that you are going to treat as your "master". Hang around them.

2. Never lead, until enemies are spotted. Then RUN into battle and start swinging.

3. Whenever you level..



4. Whenever your "master" stops walking, stand nearby. Then wander aimlessly from point to point, pausing for three or four seconds at each point, until they start moving again. Scurry to catch up.


If you play it right, eventually you'll find that it's all worthwhile ...

[Kartoffelsalat]

Good luck :)

I saw you in the AB channel the other day, you really did look like an act 5 merc.

[lfd]

Sheer brilliance. I'm looking forward to reading how Klup does ;-)

I'm slightly confused; you say your plan is to solo Nightmare difficulty, but from the last shot I gather you're joining public games and shadowing a player. Are you partying with them? Good luck finding a public Act 3 game ;-)

[Raziel]

The shadowing of players occured in Normal. Now that he's in Nightmare, Klup will be going solo.

FYI...

Klup's Equipment

Helm: Chipped-Topaz'd Helm
Armor: "Stealth" Quilted Armor ("Smoke" preferable, but unachievable right now.)
Gloves: Death's Gloves
Belt: Death's Sash
Boots: Gore Riders
Weapon: Swordguard
Amulet: Saracen's Chance
Ring: Cathan's + Manald Heal


Klup may be deleted shortly. If not, I will document his travels through Nightmare.

Gameplay Restrictions

Klup plays in Softcore Ladder, but it will be as if he was hardcore.

None of Klup's equipment has a level requirement over 50. He was level 50 upon entering Nightmare.

Klup must never die. Ideally, Klisk must never die as well. The latter will be likely impossible to achieve, due to Klisk's incredible stupidity and suicidal eagerness for battle.


Further updates on the adventuring duo will be done during work hours (by order of my wife).

[ryan4nayr]

Alternative styles

You could build one of those cool axe/sword Barbs you see wandering in the Bloody Foothills.  I'll leave it to you to figure out the restrictions of that :)

I love this theme :lol: But I am not so suicidal as you.

I'm thinking about the Wilderness Barbs dual-wielding axes/swords combos, as hinted by a post in this AB thread:
http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/in...showtopic=31523

Are they using DSwing or Frenzy? I'm thinking the former, but not truly sure. Also mentioned is Leap Attack, which I'm sure many would find heretical to this theme.

I know I'm gonna have hysterical fun reading about your NM adventures :) I can't wait for 'em.

[Raziel]

^ If you read my AB thread, I suggest the exact same alternative build.

The barbs appear to be using double swing, and dual wielding a sword and an axe. Two masteries - ewww. Good news is, a double swing barb maxes bash anyway.

Also, they're wearing exceptional great/winged/spired helms. Which means Guilliame's Face is absolutely perfect for 'em.

Other than that.. no real difference. Easier to get the look and feel down.. but nastier on the skills, as you can only really use dswing, and you have to max two masteries. In retrospect, i'd try that instead. You can dual wield a zerker axe and a cryptic sword!

I dunno about Leap Attack. I've heard it's what those guys use, when you mod the game to be able to hire them. Personally, i'd avoid it, and try and look like the wandering Bloody Foothills barbs.

[Kartoffelsalat]

There are some of the wandering barbs who use two axes, so you'd just need one mastery.

[whereagles]

The RPG aspect of this idea is just great!

However, the "fun" factor could be limited. Double swing is entretaining at the beginning, but tends to get boring after a while. I would try it in hardcore, though. The fear of dying helps against boredom.

[Raziel]

There are some of the wandering barbs who use two axes, so you'd just need one mastery.

This might be a tall order, but if you could find me a screenshot i'd be really appreciative.

Look for the next update to Klup's adventures tomorrow! He killed Andariel last night.

[Raziel]

Our heroes had journeyed for at least a year, seeking adventure in the lands to the southwest of the native Barbarian ranges. Taking passage on a ship, they had crossed the narrowest point of the gulf of Westmarch, and ventured south along the coastline, seeking adventure wherever it lay, serving as Mercenaries where required, foraging alone where necessary.

In time they reached the southern city of Duncraig and from there, booked passage to Kingsport. It was in Kingsport that they had heard their first whispers of it - rumors of dark troubles in the land to the east, a land known as Khanduras. The king of the land, a man named Leoric, had been known for his benevolence... but the tales told of his corruption... honor sullied by some evil force beyond imagining.

"Horrible, they say," said the hardy sailor, a swarthy Captain who was clearly from across the Twin Seas. The bar they were seated in was one of the most disreputable establishments, a dive along the dockfront known for it's chain gangs and assaults. Only the clear warrior appearance of the Barbarians kept the pair safe. "Leoric, the king of Khanduras, dead. The land has been overrun by evil, they say. Beasts beyond imagining, swarming from all manner of dark caves and crevasses. I'd not want to be anywhere near there."

Klup looked at him over the frothing rim of his ale. "I don't suppose you'd want to take us."

The Captain nearly spat out his ale. "My oath I wouldn't! Even if I was so inclined - which i'm not, i'm sure you'll understand - it's barely along my route. I'm headed to the shining jewel - that's Lut Gholein, out in the east of Aranoch on the edge of the Seas. There'd be hell to pay if I were late."

"We can make it worth your while. We seek adventure, fame -"

"- and fortune!" Klisk burst in, banging his flagon down on the table.

"I don't doubt it," said the Captain, mild in the face of Klisk's eagerness for battle. "But truth be told, I doubt you could afford what i'd ask - the pair of you have little more than your swords and that loincloth to your names." He gestured to the short red cloth, barely covering the bulky thighs of each Barbarian. "Besides," he added, a twinkle in his eye, "I already have one such fair. I'm dropping on the southernmost coast - he'll have to journey north to the heart of the accursed land. I doubt he'll get there in time to do anything but mop up."

He rose, clearly intending to end the discussion - but Klup reached out and grabbed his hand. "How much did he pay you?"

"Enough. And you're not the first to ask - I had to turn down a Bard this morning. You'll have to find another willing to take you - or walk."

Klup growled, his frustration clearly showing. Here was an opportunity, a chance to earn fame and fortune like so many others - and it was being denied by a stiff necked sailor. "Guess we'll do just that. And should we ever meet again, i'd expect you to pay me what this.. what did you call him-?"

"He's a warrior monk."

"- what this monk paid you... Captain.."

"Meshif," said the swarthy man. "Captain Meshif, of the Hellfire. Fastest ship in the twin seas. And if you can walk to Lut Gholein and meet me, i'll pay you that fare."

"Done." Klup grinned.

Act 1 - The Rogue Encampment

"Not much of a place, is it?" Klisk grimaced.

Kashya's welcome confirmed that simple assessment. "Well, if you two were wandering in the west for the past year, why didn't you fools come to aid us when our troubles began?" she demanded angrily.

"We would have," Klup responded, "but Hellfire was in a rush and couldn't include us."

"What?"

Klup turned his back and walked away, leaving the battle-commander of the Rogues in confusion. It was Akara, the spiritual leader of the Rogues, who was the first to tell the pair how they could begin to aid the Sisters in their time of need: there was an evil gathering in a den outside the camp. The rogues needed help, or they would surely be overrun.

Klup called to his brother. They had a job to do.

[Raziel]

The Den of Evil

I suppose I could say at this point that Act 1 gets its names for the number of times Klup had to hit anything to kill it: ONE! As you can imagine, Act 1 wasn't a huge challenge - but what challenge there was, didn't take very long to find.

I actually spent a lot of my early time taking cool looking screenshots. Like this house invasion pair:


One.. two.. three.. GO!


Klup: Nobody's home. I was hoping we could save somebody.
Klisk: Where's the bathroom?

Back in reality, I found the Den in short order, and proceeded to cut and cleave my way through it. The Zombie in the shot below is Corpsefire:



I feel compelled to add a little tidbit at this point about Bash and Stun. Stun does not work on bosses - but Bash does, depending on their size. Both Corpsefire, and - you will see later, the Smith - are "small enough" to be bashed successfully. You can essentially keep them in perpetual hit recovery by spamming bash, almost exactly like a Smiteadin.

In this case it wasn't really necessary - Corpsefire went down fast like the rest of the Den of Evil - but it solidified a tactic I hope to use later on. Only the biggest, or if you prefer, "heaviest" heavies will resist Bash. Unfortunately, i'm betting that includes ALL act bosses - I know it includes Andariel ;)

The biggest problem is actually one that I screenshotted way up at the start of this thread. Ranged attackers! In the shot i'm speaking of, you can see a bunch of skeletal archers firing from behind the cover of a Pit Dog bosspack. This is extremely dangerous. Klup has no leap attack, no taunt, no howl.. no way to get to the archers except by pure butchery - and that shot is right at the entrance to the Den! The archers rip into you from relative safety, while you hew through meat trying to take 'em out! Klup nearly died as soon as his adventuring began!

It is for this reason I believe Klup will very-likely die as soon as he hits his first well-defended archer pack.

After clearing the Den recieving the reward from Akara (which was placed into Sword Mastery, bringing it to 11), Klup spoke again with Kashya, who was now furious for entirely different reasons. Their past discussion forgotten, the woman ranted about an old friend, Blood Raven, who had turned to the darkness. Sounds like a job for the Barbaric duo, doesn't it Klisk? Sure does, Klup!

Stopping briefly to obliterate a Wailing Beast bosspack..


Klisk: No bathroom in here either. Oh, and the furnace is broken.

.. the pair made a beeline for the Burial Grounds ..

More to come later. I simply don't have the time right now, i'm sorry to say.

[ryan4nayr]

Aside from the sparkly skel mages + hunchback monsters of Jails/Catacombs, I don't remember any hugely scary ranged monsters in A1. Can't wait for the rest of it!

[loked]

is realy nice to see a chalenge and fun build, i will try the sword/axe barb merc-type :D, i thing i know how to do the trick, hope he found a bathroom

[bigeyedbug]

Pure lunacy. I heartily approve.

[Raziel]

The two men crawled forward on their bellies, a remarkable achievement for such hulking, overmuscled and underdressed highlanders.

Klup peered though the shrubbery, using a crumbling stone wall to hide himself from sight on his left side. Through the leafy foliage he could see the rusting iron fence of the monastary, torn aside by some unspeakable force.. and beyond, graves beyond number, defiled.. the earth sundered to raise the dead.

Behind him, Klisk muttered something he must have learnt from the more unruly members of the Harrogath guardsmen during their off duty.

"Well, brother? What do you think?" Klup asked, barely turning his head. Through the leaves, shambling figures moved through the growing darkness as night fell.

"I say we attack. Front on. Right now. Before the last daylight leaves and we're stuck in this graveyard with these things."

"We haven't even SEEN this Blood Raven fellow yet. How do we even know he's in there? We could go and chop up those corpses and it could be a waste of time."

"Frontal attack. Glad you agree, brother."

"Wait a minute. I didn't agree to anything.. Klisk-"

"YEAAARRRGGHH!" Klisk was already running, sword in hand, howling like a banshee through the gap in the fence, bringing his blade around in a devastating bash to cleave the closest zombie in two.

Klup sighed, picked up his sword and stood, shrugging off the shrubbery, drawing breath to yell a few choice obscenities at his brother, when..

"JOIN MY ARMY OF THE DEAD!!!" The chilling, echoing howl could only be Blood Raven.

Klisk's cry sounded tame by comparison. "Undead stink!"

"Why yes," answered the echoing voice contritely, "they do. Perhaps you should join and we can work on the odor problem together?"

"Makes me wish I had BO," muttered Klup as he let out his pent up breath, joining his brother in the fray.



Blood Raven wasn't particularly tough, actually. The biggest annoyance was, in actuality, Klisk.. who went off and busied himself chopping up some undead instead of concentrating on the real problem.

The above shot is me bashing Blood Raven. Stun didn't really work on her, but I was able to Bash her back a considerable distance, as evidenced by the trail of blood. I got lucky and procced Open Wounds pretty much with my first hit. From there I just kept bashing away, knocking her away from her support crew of undead, and she went down in under 10 hits.

After Blood Raven died, Klup and Klisk exited the monastary graveyard ASAP. Night was falling. I had already explored most of the way to the Stony Field, so I rushed on ahead into that area in the hope of finding the waypoint before it got too dark. (In reality, my wife was asking me to do something, so I was looking for a good "stopping point" for Klup's game.)



I found the waypoint near a boss-pack of skeletal warriors and flying bat things in the Stony Field. Fortunately, it had turned pitch dark in game time, so I decided to play it "realistic" and return to town for the night.

So I used my waypoint to go back to town and get the reward from Kashya (utterly useless by the way).. and managed to capture two shots of interest...


Klup browses Charsi's wares while Klisk tries to chat up the impressionable young blacksmith.

After browsing the blacksmith's wares, Klup headed over to confer with Akara as to their next task.



They had another job to do. But first.. it was time for a good night's rest!

I would write more, but i'm on a laptop and only have a few "prepared" (read: cropped) images to post. More to come..

[Stolb3rg]

This is a classic idea Wow this could be like a book Tee hee. Good luck fopr thr future tho espically at chaos Sanct. I cant wait to see whats next...

[Sir Goatscelot]

Fun times :lol: I tried this a few months back but converted him when I found the Szabis set :P As for equipment, I have found Dusk Keep the correct colour and look. You can always upgrade also. A Smoke dusk shroud will also fit the build as well helping with hit rec and resists. If you really want to make it viable longer you could add some knockback and slow with clegs and siggards lol. Also I think Vile Husk fits the theme also. Amp could not be all that bad lol. But I understand that you are trying to theme as best you can I and I respect that B) Early on I found that good old Grey Form looks great till you can get spirit shrould then smoke.

Keep it up! It would be great to get a few guys together and make sort of an Barb Merc squad or something :D

*me runs off to start new barb merc build*

[Seta Sojiro]

Genius, pure genius. *nods in approval and respect* ^_^

[Kartoffelsalat]

There are some of the wandering barbs who use two axes, so you'd just need one mastery. 

This might be a tall order, but if you could find me a screenshot i'd be really appreciative.

I've been looking for the two-axed NPCs and have yet to find one. I might have been seeing things the last time I saw one :unsure: . I got a screenshot of a two-sworded one, which would avoid the mastery issue just as effectively.