Intro
This is the new type of barb. After the defeat at mount arreat some of the barbs fled, and some of the reached the South Sea, meeting the warriors of Askari also known as Amazons, master of throwing arts. /s
It's a really good endgame barb build focusing on the mid/short range attacks. It uses strong cold attack given by his kit and some of the gear, and exploiting the phisical damage Winter's Gambit projectiles deal additional crushing blow, leech (optional) and pierce. It clears high density relatively fast, deletes bosses and deals with ubers reasonably.
Enjoy the build as its very straight-forward
Stats
Strength - None
Dexterity - Nope
Vitality - Everything
Energy - Nope
Skills
1 Point :
Howl (Prerequisite)
Shout
Battle Orders
Battle Command
Throwing Mastery - 1 point will give 45%+ pierce in endgame, the rest will come from your gear
Shield Mastery - 1 point is enough
Iron Skin
Natural Resistance
25 Points :
Winter's Gambit - Piercing Physical/Cold projectiles that can pierce, proc, leech. Main Skill
Madawk's Fury - God Tier buff that boosts throwing weapons and gives additional Cold damage.
Chasm Break - Synergy, useable from time to time if you don't have gear.
Unstopable Force - Synergy, projectile too slow for my taste, so I left it last.
Gameplay
The loop is very simple.
Buff → Teleport → Winter's Gambit --> Win
Reposition fluidly to maximize your damage or target an elite, you will get used to the projectiles with time.
Being squishy a bit, don't try to tank everything. Bad Idea on ubers, know when to back off and when to greed out.
Gear and Breakpoints
Important BPs to reach
IAS - 22 (With level 15 fanaticism) - 9 Frames - Reaching these frames will make you a bit faster. They are not spectacular, but its good to have it.
FHR - 48 - You can try higher but here is a very comfortable spot. Don't try to stretch.
FCR - Not important - Push it if care, but it is a non factor.
FBR - 86 is ideal but hard to reach. Don't stretch if you can't
Weapon - Splinterfreeze (Unique)
Cold mastery, gives this weapon the edge over (Frostbite Shard). Uptier it, it matters for leech and gives a decent chunk of physical.
Upgrade with +511 Rainbow damage and 4x Cold upgrades.
Corrupt : +- All elemental damage
Off-Hand - Monarch (Crafted - 2 All Skills +- Elemental%)
Anything you get is good. Ideally some block if you aren't sure you gonna reach it, FBR is good, anything that can help with breakpoints, or some damage.
Sockets - Cold Facets
Upgrades - Max Res/ DR, if you don't care FBR
Corrupt : It's a costly craft, so get what you can if you dare.
Armor - Cold Comfort (Unique)
Pretty good +- cold armor.
Sockets - Cold Facets
Upgrades - Max Res
Corrupt - Life% is nice and simple to get.
Helm - Nightwing's Veil (Unique)
No brainer helm for cold builds.
Sockets - Cold Facets
Upgrades - Uncertain that cold skills upgrade work, I used All skill upgrade.
Corrupt - Don't need CBF so get whatever you can.
Gloves - Any Elite Base (Crafted - +1 All skills - Crushing blow/level)
Helps cap your pierce, much needed CB, OW for uber adventures.
Upgrades - 1x Pierce, 1x Open Wounds, 1x Crushing Blow
Corrupt - Crushing Blow
Boots - Stallion Hooves (Unique)
Too good to pass out. CB,DS,Dex,Max Damage. You won't beat it. For this class, Zero effect boots are completely out of the picture.
Upgrades - HP/Max Mana.
Corrupt - Get whatever you can.
Belt - Ecstacy of Ishtar (Unique)
Great help to capping pierce
Upgrades - DR/HP/MaxHP , choose what you need.
Corrupt - PDR/MDR
Amulet - (Crafted - 2 All Skills, +- Elemental Damage)
Expensive but can't be beat.
Corrupt - Whatever you can get on a good amu.
Upgrades - +1 Barb Skill , +2 Random Barb and pray
Rings - Fearie Ring / Jordan's Sigil
Fearie ring is hard to beat, but Jordan big number go boom. Hulk smash. Its rare as a unicorn so stick with Fearie until then.
Corrupt - PDR/MDR, Max Res
Upgrades - One of the rings has to have 2x Increased Attack Speed, to reach the break point. The other, you can cover whatever you currently need.
Charm Inventory
Crafted All skills Charms or Enhanced damage/Strenght/Dex Charms
Beacon and Soulstone
Life and Death, Remembrance of glory, Conclave of Elements, Queen's Call, Nightshade (optional)
Crafted ED/Stats charms will cover requirements,attack rating, give some cold damage and physical damage.
After that you can stack +1 All skill charms for maximum damage.
Hannah or Kyoko
Matriacal Bow (Faith) - To ease up your rough IAS bp
Quiver of Resistance Slaying
Sacred Armor (Fortitude)
Andariel Visage (4 Bers)
Laying of Hands
Zero Effect
Kashia's Ward
Dual Chiad Halo, or IAS for BP, or All Skill for minor Might boost. Your choice.
Amulet - Even mara is good, she is not a pretentious girl and will wear whatever you give her, show some love tho.
So A1 Merc is here for Fanaticism and LR proc, so yeah, moral support. Don't expect any damage.
Conclusion
I'm willing to give this barb build 10/10 just cause this class was neglected until now and its literally top tier compared to anything else.