Battle Cry

[phaedi]

hi

im trying to make a hc barb able to fight his way to the torch as alone as possible.
i want to use concentration as main attack,
shout and battle orders as protection (as well as a a2 merc with defiance),
and propably mace mastery in favour of the IK option.

means 80 skillpoints spent + some prerequisites.
what to do with the perhaps 15 - 20 points i think i will accumulate further reallistically? one in each of the 4 passive skills every barb learns to like, i assume.

i could put anything i get further into bash, going for the bigger dmg.

BUT i could also put points into some of the warcries more seldom used,
meaning grim ward and BATTLE CRY.

the latter sounds tempting: destroing your enemys defense ( which wil be quite a problem with my safety-first building) AND cutting their attack powers low.

i´d like to ask the wise :

a) does battlecry help against any kind of nonphysical attack

B) has battlecry any effect against bosses?

c, more general) would you vote for the IK set or for a big heap of custom stuff, like upgraded string, gorerider, metallgrid, and so on ?

thx in advance

[Baajikiil]

a) does battlecry help against any kind of nonphysical attack

As far as I can tell, it only affects a monsters physical attacks.

has battlecry any effect against bosses?

Yes. It both reduces their defense and melee damage.

c, more general) would you vote for the IK set or for a big heap of custom stuff, like upgraded string, gorerider, metallgrid, and so on ?

Well, the IK set *is* a pretty good, well rounded set. I'm not sure it's the best setup to fight the ubers with though. Meph's conviction has been confirmed to be
-125% all resists, and with the IK set on, your options to max your resists are limited.

Also, for soloing the ubers a fast attack in conjunction with lifetap(and crushing blow and open wounds) is pretty much a necessity. I've heard that double swing/frenzy barbs would have the best chance for a barb to solo tristram.

The main things are to first max those resists even with an extra -125%, then get some crushing blow to do the majority of your damage, get lifetap to keep yourself alive, and get open wounds or poison damage to stop their regen. Piece of cake :lol:

EDIT: Also, if you didn't notice, lifetap will overwrite battlecry. No battlecry on the ubers; lifetap is too essential. Battlecry is still great against normal enemies and act bosses though.

[phaedi]

Also, for soloing the ubers a fast attack in conjunction with lifetap(and crushing blow and open wounds) is pretty much a necessity.  I've heard that double swing/frenzy barbs would have the best chance for a barb to solo tristram.

okay, it seems that means gorerider and highlord, perhaps upped fleshrend.
why is lifetap tha important? are, say, 30 % lifeleech not enough?

seems like draculs is a must.

if warcry overwrites curses and viceversa than my planned delirium is pretty much pointless, isnt it?

[Andrew the Legit Single-Player]

why is lifetap tha important? are, say, 30 % lifeleech not enough?

Because the Ubers, like most Act Bosses in Hell difficulty,
are immune to life and mana steal effects.

Against these opponents, Lifetap is the only way
to leech back life with a melee attack.

[Baajikiil]

okay, it seems that means gorerider and highlord, perhaps upped fleshrend.
why is lifetap tha important? are, say, 30 % lifeleech not enough?

seems like draculs is a must.

if warcry overwrites curses and viceversa than my planned delirium is pretty much pointless, isnt it?
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Delirium's curses won't effect the ubers themselves, and would still be useful against their summons. It actually seems like a good choice to help with crowd control. Basically the plan is to isolate one uber at a time, and lock onto him with lifetap and a melee attack. Keep wailing away at that uber(thus keeping your life full from lifetap) until he dies. You must either have a build that can tank the summons while smacking away at the uber, or one with crowd control that can be applied at the same time as fighting the uber.

Draculs, an Exile sheild, a lifetap wand or a friendly necro is pretty much required. Uber Baal and Diablo are both leachable, but at a greatly reduced rate. Meph is unleachable completely. They dish out so much damage that even a couple of seconds not at full life is dangerous in HC. Lifetap and a quick attack helps negate the risk.

That's one of the reasons that smiters are ideal: a smiter hits rapidly and has a 95% hit rate with no regard to AR or blocking. Thus there is a constant stream of lifetapped health running to the smiter. Course, a solo smiter can't reach near the health cushion of a barb.

[phaedi]

Delirium's curses won't effect the ubers themselves, and would still be useful against their summons.  applied at the same time as fighting the uber.

does "does not affect" means, it wont overcast lifetap?

Draculs, an Exile sheild, a lifetap wand or a friendly necro is pretty much required.  Uber Baal and Diablo are both leachable, but at a greatly reduced rate.  Meph is unleachable completely.  They dish out so much damage that even a couple of seconds not at full life is dangerous in HC.  Lifetap and a quick attack helps negate the risk. 

would u think that an amazon , 30 points in the evasive, 15 in valkyrie, rest in charged strike / LF / synergies would stand a chance? (probably 2 deliriums neede for Crowd Control, one for merc one for herself...)
its at least the fastet damagedealer ever...

[Baajikiil]

does "does not affect" means, it wont overcast lifetap?

Yes. If a monster is immune to a specific curse, that curse is unable to overwrite any existing curses.

would u think that an amazon , 30 points in the evasive, 15 in valkyrie, rest in charged strike / LF / synergies would stand a chance? (probably 2 deliriums neede for Crowd Control, one for merc one for herself...)
its at least the fastet damagedealer ever...

I've heard those that say it's possible, but not a confirmed solo kill yet. The real issue is Meph. Meph spawns lightning immune, so he will be slow going. You will still need to have high physical damage +crushing blow +lifetap +enough AR to consistantly hit to take him down with a javie. He's the only stumbling block, the other Ubers go down just as fast as the clone to a good CS zon.