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I have built my first ever barbarian as a "manaless barb" (so far). He (War.Pony) is running around in Nightmare, Act III and beginning to amass a small pile of extra skill points.
I have maxed Axe Mastery and Iron Skin and I have put 13 skill points into Natural Resistance.
I have a couple of questions.
First, should I go ahead and max Natural Resistance?
Second, what would be good additional skills? I have considered Battle Orders and Find Item.
Anyhow, if anyone has some good recommendations they would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Myztyk :)
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So you aren't using any combat skills I guess since they use mana. In this case, double swing past a certain level doesn't use mana. Also, if you get mana steal, a lot of combat skills could work pretty good.
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Other than the aforementioned Double Swing pumping, you really don't have much to put points into without going into mana-using skills. If you want to go purely mana-free, then you might as well finish raising Natural Resist.
On the other hand, if you're willing to go into Warcries, then you might as well max out Battle Orders and drop a point into Battle Command. More than one is unneccessary since it only gains duration from extra skill points, something it gets via synergy from its prerequisites anyway.
I'll point out that with your build as it is, you're dog meat versus any Physical Immune monster unless you have major elemental damage or Amplify Damage on your gear.
Still, this is a very interesting build concept, and one that would be worth a try sometime.
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Quote:First, should I go ahead and max Natural Resistance?
No, the diminishing returns on it make it pointless to put additional points in it. Most people stop around 5-9.
Quote:Second, what would be good additional skills? I have considered Battle Orders and Find Item.
If you've already maxed Iron Skin, then I'd suggest maxing Shout and picking up a Defiance merc (a2, norm/hell, defensive). Other than that, if you're not going to use any combat skills, go for Battle Orders and a 1 point Battle Command. You really should get an attack skill though, even a 1 point whirlwind is better than just hitting enemies with normal attacks, unless you're planning to get all your attack skills from runewords and/or uniques.
Alea Jacta Est - Caesar
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Unless your building a singer (war cry) barb you wouldn't want to put points in manna anyways. battle orders and 1 or 2 manna steel items will take care of a buba nicely.
find item will drain you pretty quickly but since you won't be fighting when you use it this isn't a big concern. ww is the only combat skill that manna consumption is a problem. I'd suggest concentrate,conviction.
