How to make an MF-barbarian

[[wcip]Angel]

Seeing as my mules were starting to fill up with all sorts of stuff, I thought I'd put some of it to use by making a new character. I always wanted to see how much magic find I could stack onto a single character, so the barbarian was a natural choice (seeing as my MF-sorc has about 650-700% MF)

But which skills should I choose. Obviously, I want to make use of the "find item"-skill; additionally, dual-wielding ali babas will give me even more MF. Another point, is that by making a dual-sword barbarian, I get to play around with the Bul Kathos-set which I acquired last week. But what other skills should I use? Frenzy? Berserk? I seem to remember whirlwind blows quite considerably when not using anything but a polearm, so I'm ruling that skill out immediately.

What about stats? Should I do do my barbarian what I did to my sorc - pumping vitality up to 300? Or should I go for more strength or dexterity?

Right now, I'm using the isenhart and iratha (-helm) set along with 2 cathan rings. At level 15, at the beginning of act2, I'm pretty much invulnerable. It's fun running around with low-level sets, but somewhere along the line I will need to ditch them, no? Come level 80-90 the Bul Kathos won't do enough damage I suspect. What are the best swords out there? Runewords, or uniques?

I'm not extraordinaly rich, but I have my fair share of stuff (every set except griswold and a large collection of runes, uniques and rares.) I could easily trade for any unique in the game, and with some luck most runes in the game. I don't see myself getting ahold of Enigma or Breath of the dying any time soon, but other than those two, I should be able to make anything.

The most important thing for me to know right now, is which skills to use. At level 15, I have 16 skill points and about 60 attribute points saved.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Edit: Yes, and I appreciate the irony of freeing up space in my mules in order to make a character which will fill them even more. :)

[-Tempus-]

my normal mf or goldfind build for D2C, LOD, SC & HC has always been
max a mastery
max an attack skill
max bo
max FI skill
1-5 NR
1 command
1 taunt
1 warcry (if i want to let my merc get last kill) if not no points in that line of skills
rest will go in to zerk

mastery: most of the time i'll use a 2hd weapon. on pole barbs i'll still use ali's while my merc gets the last hit, when i get the last hit or when i use my max FI skill.

attack skill: i'll use ww most of the time but a conc/zerk build can also work well. i dont like frenzy to mf since it takes many more points then ww and you need a ton of ias for a good attack speed. when ww all your ias will be on your weapon so you are free to use more mf items.

i max FI skill on my chars to get the most out of the build. when you have a +51% chance in that skill you to so many more 2nd drops then if you only have a few points base. the FI skill is best used on champ or higher class monsters since they will drop more then 1 item. doing highcouncil runs with a FI barb is a great way to get gold and items.

get str/dex to use weapon and rest should go into vit. if you know you will have items with +stats then you can keep your base stats lower then whats req for your weapon.

use a might merc since with a full mf setup your dmg wont be as high as it could be if using a full killing setup

if you can try and find a weapon with LL and ML on it. that way you can use items with higher mf that often dont have leech on them. if you can find 3 parts of tal's set (plate or amulet, belt/hat) you can get resist all and leech along with good mf.

[[wcip]Angel]

Hi!

Thanks for the input.

My only concern is, without using dual-wield, I will lose a lot of magic find (about 150% from a duel-ISTed ali baba.) I will also not be able to dualwield the unique rondel which gives + 4 to find item.

I realise choosing a polearm for my mastery would allow me to cause more damage, but it'd cut into my MF-count. Same with using parts of the tal rasha set. It'll give me *some* MF, but not max. A skullder's armor, MF-amulet, goldwrap/harlequin will give me more MF than the Tal Rasha-set up. I have the entire set, so I could certainly try it when my I reach the appropriate level requirement, but the point with making this barbarian is getting as close to the 1157%MF-cap as possible.

edit: It seems I can carry 2 swords simultaniously, without having the dual-wield-skill. I didn't know I could do that. With that in mind, I think it would be wiser to go for a polearm-barb and have dual-alibabas as the secondary attack, and two heart carvers in the inventoy for examining the corpses of Pindleskin and Shenk for any extra loot. I have a max enhanced dmg (240%)unique thresher I haven't put to use yet. I guess this weapon would do nicely.

[NuurAbSaal]

I have a max enhanced dmg (240%)unique thresher I haven't put to use yet. I guess this weapon would do nicely.
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Reaper's Toll pwnz, err, is really good. -25% Reqs is great (more life) and decrepify, mmmmhhmmmm...
For some fun try it out on (or in conjunction with) a holy freeze merc, monsters (even bosses) will almost stop to move if decrepified and slowed. I found this to be a Good Thing™.

Some ideas on skills ( My last MF Barb was 1.09, so maybe some of the following is horribly outdated):
Have you thought about Bash + Synergies? It will take quite a few points and damage won't be super-high, but mana cost is low (2) and the knockback... Hmmm, does knockback work on bosses like Meph or Baal, I actually never tried. Maybe I oughta try a Bash Barb someday. This is getting less helpful by the line :( .
Depending on who you plan to farm, Concentrate could be an option, damage is pretty low but you would be a little less vulnerable, shieldless as you are. The "uninterruptability" is not only a great word to use in a sentence, but a nice bonus as well.
I would advise against using two Heart Carvers for their bonus to Find Item by the way, because you are trying to get as close to the max amount of MF possible so it would be "wrong" somehow (imho) to trade 222%+ (Alis + Ists at lvl51) of MF for a slightly better percentage on FI. YMMW.
I used an Act1 merc with some success in 1.09, their AI is still horrible, but against bosses they nevertheless tend to live a little longer than Act2 mercs.

Well, hope some of this helped, or at least inspired some ideas.
A wind druid makes a fun MFer as well, I might add :) .

Greetings

Nuur

[[wcip]Angel]

What I meant by wielding dual heart carvers, was that I equip them posthumously (Thanks Pete, for that piece of vocabulary) and *then* dig into the corpses. Or do I have to have the hear carvers equipped when the final kill is dealt? If that's the case, I'd rather be using 2 ali babas for the MF.

Seeing as barbs don't have teleport, I would focus my farming on pindleskin and the people around the first waypoint in act5 (Shenk and the other guy).

Btw, my lvl 91 sorc has an act2 freeze merc equipped with an ethereal 237% reaper's toll. (I know, I just can't stop bragging B) ). I guess I could go cold this time as well, but I think the added dmg from the merc's Might might (tihi) do me good.

[NuurAbSaal]

What I meant by wielding dual heart carvers, was that I equip them posthumously
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FI uses your currently equipped MF, so Ali Babas MF would only count if you have them equipped while you are horking. That's what I meant :) .

And my Merc's Reaper is ethereal as well :) :) :)
He was on the last ladder though...

Give me a call when your online (nuurabsaal to nuurabsaal5 on europe, remember? ;) ) and in the mood for some co-op, could be fun. And no hard feelings if you just want to level your Barbarian as fast as possible :).

Greetings

Nuur

[[wcip]Angel]

FI uses your currently equipped MF, so Ali Babas MF would only count if you have them equipped while you are horking. That's what I meant :) .
Nuur
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Don't you mean heart carvers? You said Ali Babas. I know the MF% is dependent on you actually wielding the items. For your 250%ali babas to factor in, they need to be causing the killing blow, or be in your primary attack if your merc does the killing blow.

I was just wondering if this applied to Find Item as well. Do you need to wear the find item-gear (dual heart carvers) when the lethal blow is dealt, or can you equip them after the carnage?

----

I'd love to play some co-op. Right now I'm lvl 22 and I'm about to start baal-running. I had to make a new account for this character (the others were full). It's "wcip_chars" and the name of the barbarian is wcip_MF. (Not terribly clever, I know, but there are no Buffy-characters that resemble a barbarian ;)

edit: Now I'm lvl 38. I've got 31 skill points and about 80 attribute points saved up :)

[NuurAbSaal]

Sorry for being unclear.

First: The MF on the items you are wearing at the time of monster death counts for the drop upon death. You knew this of course.

Second: The MF on the items you are wearing at the time of using the Find Item skill are used for a possible drop from Find Item.

Third: The Find Item percentage at the time you use the skill is used to calculate the drop chance. No need to "tag" a monster before it dies.

So by switching out two Ali Babas for two Heart Carvers you get an increased chance of a drop from Find Item but you also lower your MF for a possible drop from horking. Just think of using Find Item as making another kill :).

Unfortunately, events have occured since my last post that will severly shorten my time online for the next week, I'll still put you in my friends list, maybe we can work something out. When is your prefered playing time?
Oh and I mainly use nuurabsaal5 nowadays, since that's where all my current ladder chars are.

Hope this cleared it up.

Greetings

Nuur

[[wcip]Angel]

Second: The MF on the items you are wearing at the time of using the Find Item skill are used for a possible drop from Find Item.

Third: The Find Item percentage at the time you use the skill is used to calculate the drop chance. No need to "tag" a monster before it dies.

Nuur
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Ahhh! Now I understand. So I really don't need the heart carvers, seeing as I'll have to have my ali babas equipped when FI'ing the corpses anyway.

Don't sweat the co-op. I can manage alone :) It's no big deal.

[-Tempus-]

using 2 heartcarvers works great if you dont have any points in FI skill. this works well on a barb build that isnt setup to mf all the time.

if the barb has 1 point base in FI then using 2 echoing items works best since you dont need to have more items in your stash.

for a barb that will mf or goldfind all the time its best to max the FI skill since you are then free to use 2 gulls, 2 ali's, 2 6 lem weapons, 2 6 ist weapons on the switch. even with +skill mf builds its still a good to max FI skill since you can get way more drops that way.

a barb needs leech so does a merc. thats why its harder to make a good mf barb that can kill and still get the max mf.

tals's plate/hat/belt gives you 216%mf after you socket it with 2 p topaz. + 10/10 leech + 40% resist + the other stats.

goldwrap+shako+ire 250% at lev 98 little more mf but not as many good stats for a melee build

my main mf barbs in d2c and lod are pole barbs. since there is no weapon switch in d2c i have to change the weapon after i kill the thing i want to FI. i'll use 2 gulls or 2 uniq war swords (100%gf)

my lod mf barb can get ~1100% mf (barb+merc) the merc has the shako + ire while the barb uses 3 parts of tals + other mf items. on his switch he has 2 ist ali's

there are different ways of doing mf with a barb/merc.
1. have your ali's out while your merc kills and the barb FI the dead as the merc kills stuff.
2. use your killing weapon to take monsters down to little life then switch to ali's while you or the merc get the last hit. then FI the dead
3. use your killing weapon to kill stuff fast then use the ali's to FI the dead.

remember that the FI % is the chance a monster will drop a 2nd time. if they do then your mf and goldfind is used to see what you will get. often when i run the highcouncil i'll get 6-7 of them to drop a 2nd time

[bernard shakey]

just a quick note about shenk. he ,like all the other quest giving monsters, cant be horcked

[ldw]

If you are mixing and matching equipment you may want to consider the IK set helm.
Previously it was well below par but in 1.10 it has 2 sockets in addition to its normal stats. Thus it could be used to boots MF with topazes.

[Guest]

Well, your two weapons should be 2 sock ali babas with ists in them, armor as skullders 3 sock with ist, boots as war travs, gloves as chance guards, helm, well it can be a socketed/ist runed tarnhelm, a magic 3 sock mf helm with ists, and some other stuff. rings as nagelrings, and the best mf amulets you can get are just random magic/rare ones you find on monsters. Those are even better than unique amulets.

For your skills, put points into the casual warcries (battle orders/command,shout) but your offensive skills should be whirlwind and leap attack. You will not do much damage due to your weak ali babas, so you need lots of damage mods. And leap attack Does incredible damage at higher levels, and beside leap attack whirlwind is the best choice. Also put points into the synergies for whirlwind/leap attack. Also put points into sword mastery.

For your secondary weapon set, use some powerful weapons (preferrably swords, because you will have sword mastery) like grandfather, doombringer, flamebellow, or a good runeword. When fighting bosses, use your powerful weapons to soften up the boss, then finish him off with your ali babas so their mf kicks in.

[adeyke]

Well, your two weapons should be 2 sock ali babas with ists in them, armor as skullders 3 sock with ist, boots as war travs, gloves as chance guards, helm, well it can be a socketed/ist runed tarnhelm, a magic 3 sock mf helm with ists, and some other stuff. rings as nagelrings, and the best mf amulets you can get are just random magic/rare ones you find on monsters. Those are even better than unique amulets.
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What do you mean by "armor as skullders 3 sock with ist?"

As for putting Ists in helms and armours, well, it's stupid. Unless those runes are duped, in which case it's cheating. A perfect topaz will give 24% MF there, just a single percent less than an Ist, but is many, many times easier to get.