======================================================================= ======================================================================= ****************************BARBARIAN GUIDE**************************** ======================================================================= ======================================================================= DIABLO 2 By Vincento firm1315@aol.com Last Updated June 23, 2001 ===Disclaimer=== If there is anyone out there that wants to put this FAQ on there site they must first e-mail me at firm1315@aol.com and ask me for permission. Then I will visit your site, and make a decision. I will e-mail you back telling you if you can put this FAQ on your site. Once on your site, you better not redistribute the FAQ without my permission. It stays on one page on one site. If I find out that it was redistributed, I will sue your sorry ass and I'll probably win. ===Version History=== June 20, 2001 5:26 P.M. V 1.0 - Completed Barbarian Guide. June 23, 2001 12:34 P.M. V 1.1 - Updated My Barbarian section NOTES - I started a new Barbarian and before I knew it, I was on level 46 with the best Barbarian I ever played. Check him out in section 6. June 23, 2001 5:40 P.M. V 1.2 - Added Disclaimer, fixed some random mistakes in some sections, and I added Act 1 Boss Walkthrough section for Barbarians! Tomorrow I'll add the walkthroughs for the other acts, so keep looking at my FAQ for an update. NOTES - God I hate when I do that. It seems I remembered to put the Disclaimer and Boss Walkthrough in right after I already submitted V 1.1 to GameFAQs.com, so I'm doing another version in a matter of 5 hours. June 24, 2001 9:23 P.M. V 1.3 - Finished the Boss Walkthrough for Barbarians! Check it out in section 5. June 26, 2001 10:09 P.M. V 1.4 - Polearms are for Barbs. Thanks for the email whoever sent it to me, I kind of forgot. ===Table of Contents=== 1. Introduction 2. Barbarian Skills a. Combat Masteries b. Combat Skills c. Warcries 3. Good Skills, and Bad Skills 4. What you should put Stat Points into 5. Boss Walkthrough a. Act I b. Act II c. Act III d. Act IV 6. General Tips and Comments 7. My Barbarian 8. Closing Statements _______________________________________________________________________ ===Section 1=== Introduction The Barbarian for Diablo 2 is a very good character to be. I think the Barbarian is the best character simply because it is so much fun to play with the Barbarian. Many people argue with me online saying that the Barbarian is the least fun to play, well they are wrong. Using certain skills and wiping out hoards of enemies is what I call fun and that's what you do with the Barbarian. If you have any questions regarding the Barbarian or anything in general about Diablo 2 email me at firm1315@aol.com. Enjoy! _______________________________________________________________________ ===Section 2=== Barbarian Skills PART A ==COMBAT MASTERIES== SKILL- Sword Mastery MINIMUM LEVEL- 1 MANA- 0 INFO/TIPS- Sword Mastery increases the attack and the damage of any Sword type weapon by a +%. I put the maximum of 20 skill points into my sword mastery and it helps a lot increasing the damage by 123% and the attack by 180%! Swords are usually the best weapons but it is your choice on which weapons to use. SKILL- Axe Mastery MINIMUM LEVEL- 1 MANA- 0 INFO/TIPS- Same thing as Sword Mastery only it works for all Axe type weapons. SKILL- Mace Mastery MINIMUM LEVEL- 1 MANA- 0 INFO/TIPS- Mace Mastery increases the damage of your Mace type weapon more than Axe or Sword Mastery does by 3%. SKILL- Spear Mastery MINIMUM LEVEL- 6 MANA- 0 INFO/TIPS- Don't even bother with this skill. Leave the spears for the Amazon. SKILL- Throwing Mastery MINIMUM LEVEL- 6 MANA- 0 INFO/TIPS- Again don't even bother. Leave the throwing job for Amazons. SKILL- Polearm Mastery MINIMUM LEVEL- 6 MANA- 0 INFO/TIPS- This can be good if you find a really good Polearm with Fast Attack Speed, or Very Fast Attack Speed. SKILL- Increased Stamina MINIMUM LEVEL- 12 MANA- 0 INFO/TIPS- This skill increases your maximum Stamina. It starts out by adding 30% to your Stamina and then with each skill point put into it the percent goes up 15%. If you run out of Stamina often, you should put a skill point into this skill. SKILL- Iron Skin MINIMUM LEVEL- 18 MANA- 0 INFO/TIPS- This skill increases your overall defensive rating. The skill starts out by adding 30% to your defense and increases by 10% with every skill point you put into it. SKILL- Increased Speed MINIMUM LEVEL- 24 MANA- 0 INFO/TIPS- This skill increases your Speed. Only put a maximum of 3 skill points into this skills because the more skill points you put in it, the less the percentage goes up. SKILL- Natural Resistance MINIMUM LEVEL- 30 MANA- 0 INFO/TIPS- You definitely will want to put skill points into this skill. Put no more than 5 skill points into it. If you put 5 in it, you'll have resistances +40%. PART B ==COMBAT SKILLS== SKILL- Bash MINIMUM LEVEL- 1 MANA- 2 INFO/TIPS- This is good to use throughout the game. It increases your damage your attack rating. Put no more than 2 skill points into this skill. If you have Mana stealing rings or a weapon, use this skill all the time instead of normal attack. SKILL- Leap MINIMUM LEVEL- 6 MANA- 2 INFO/TIPS- Not a very good skill to invest your skill points into. Only put one skill point into this skill just so you can use Leap Attack. SKILL- Double Swing MINIMUM LEVEL- 6 MANA- 2 INFO/TIPS- This is a great skill to invest a skill point into if you find two very good one-hand weapons. Only put one skill point maximum into this skill however. Regardless of what the weapons speed is, like a War Hammer that has slow attack speed, Double Swing is always fast. SKILL- Stun MINIMUM LEVEL- 12 MANA- 2 INFO/TIPS- The attack modifier goes up 5% for every skill point you put into it, but don't even bother. Only but one skill point into this. SKILL- Double Throw MINIMUM LEVEL- 12 MANA- 2 INFO/TIPS- Don't even waste your time on this skill unless you want to be a throwing Barb. SKILL- Leap Attack MINIMUM LEVEL- 18 MANA- 9 INFO/TIPS- This is a great skill for jumping out of trouble, or jumping into trouble. This skill does a good amount of damage so it is worth using for a while. SKILL- Concentrate MINIMUM LEVEL- 18 MANA- 2 INFO/TIPS- This skill allows your attack to not be interrupted. On top of that, it modifies attack, and defense. A pretty good skill for the Barb. SKILL- Frenzy MINIMUM LEVEL- 24 MANA- 2 INFO/TIPS- When you have this skill, after you hit an enemy, the attack speed goes up for your weapon. You may not want to waste skill points on this. SKILL- Whirlwind MINIMUM LEVEL- 30 MANA- starts at 25, goes up each higher level by 1 INFO/TIPS- This is the Barbarian's best skill. Use it as a crowd controller against many enemies, after level 7, the damage is greater than a normal attack. Invest your skill points into this skill. SKILL- Berserk MINIMUM LEVEL- 30 MANA- 5 INFO/TIPS- This adds Magic and increases your attack rating when used. The more skill points you put in it however, the less the duration of the skill will be. PART C ==WARCRIES== SKILL- Howl MINIMUM LEVEL- 1 MANA- 4 INFO/TIPS- This skill makes monsters run away. Not a good investment. SKILL- Find Potion MINIMUM LEVEL- 1 MANA- 2 INFO/TIPS- You may want to put one skill point into this skill so you can use it to find potions on corpses if you run out of potions. SKILL- Taunt MINIMUM LEVEL- 6 MANA- 3 INFO/TIPS- This skill makes monsters come and fight you. It also brings down the accuracy and damage of the target. Not a very good investment once again. SKILL- Shout MINIMUM LEVEL- 6 MANA- 6 INFO/TIPS- This skill increases the defense rating of your Barbarian for a duration of seconds. SKILL- Find Item MINIMUM LEVEL- 12 MANA- 7 INFO/TIPS- Use this skill if you need money to loot the corpses of enemies you have defeated. SKILL- Battlecry MINIMUM LEVEL- 18 MANA- 4 INFO/TIPS- This skill reduces the defensive rating of the enemies inside the radius of this skill. This skill also decreases the amount of damage the enemy will give to you if he attacks you. SKILL- Battle Orders MINIMUM LEVEL- 24 MANA- 7 INFO/TIPS- This skill helps in Multiplayer because it increases the Life, Mana, and Stamina of you and your party for a small Mana cost and a somewhat long duration. SKILL- Grim Ward MINIMUM LEVEL- 24 MANA- 4 INFO/TIPS- This skill turns a corpse into a totem pole that scares away nearby enemies. SKILL- Warcry MINIMUM LEVEL- 30 MANA- Starts at 17 and goes up 1 per skill level INFO/TIPS- This skill damages and stuns nearby enemies. A pretty good investment in skill points if you are a Warcry Barbarian (a Barbarian who invests his skills in the Warcry area). SKILL- Battle Command MINIMUM LEVEL- 30 MANA- N/A INFO/TIPS- This skill increases all of the Barbarian's skill levels for a duration of seconds. This is extremely helpful in Multiplayer and gives the Barbarian a huge advantage. _______________________________________________________________________ ===Section 3=== Good Skills and Bad Skills There are some very good skills that you will want to invest skill points in for the Barbarian and then there are some very bad ones that you shouldn't waste your time with. GOOD COMBAT MASTERIES In my opinion all of the Combat Masteries except for one are good for the Barbarian. They are all extremely helpful in the game. Natural Resistance is imperative to have for Nightmare and Hell difficulties where your Resistances go down -20 and -50. With two skill points invested in Increased Stamina you will barely ever run out of Stamina and you will never have to stop and walk. Iron Skin is a huge plus with the defense bonus it gives you, and with Increased Speed the Barbarian is extremely fast and just cruises across sections with ease. GOOD COMBAT SKILLS Bash, Double Swing, Leap Attack, and Whirlwind are the skills that really help in fighting crowds. With a Mana stealing weapon or jewelry, you can use Bash or Double Swing instead of a normal attack. Leap Attack serves great for attacking and dishing out damage, moving around anywhere, and getting out of a crowd. Whirlwind is the best crowd controlling Skill in the game for any character. Once you get past level 7 with it, you will be practically invincible. GOOD WARCRIES Regrettably, there are no good Warcries for Single Player. For Multiplayer, Warcry and Battle Command will be very sweet and helpful. Those two skills are both descent in Single Player also, but you don't want to waste your skill points in them. BAD COMBAT MASTERIES The only bad Combat Mastery is Throwing Mastery. Who would want to be a throwing Barb?? BAD COMBAT SKILLS Frenzy can be a big waste, and Double Throw is just a pitiful excuse for a skill. The rest of the Combat Skills are pretty descent. Try to stick to Whirlwind, Bash, Leap Attack, and Double Swing though, they are the best Combat Skills you can put your points into. BAD WARCRIES All of the Warcries are pretty bad and you shouldn't really waste your time on them unless you are a big Multiplayer Guru. The main purpose for Warcries is Multiplayer play not Single Player. _______________________________________________________________________ ===Section 4=== What to put your Stats into With my Barbarian I will usually keep Strength the most powerful Stat, the Vitality a little weaker than strength, and then Dexterity just about the same as Vitality. YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER PUT ANY STAT POINTS INTO ENERGY BECAUSE IT IS THE BIGGEST WASTE IMAGINABLE. Here's how I will usually do my level ups: Strength: +2 Dexterity: +1 Vitality: +2 Energy: +0 Or Strength: +2 Dexterity: +2 Vitality: +1 Energy: +0 You always want to put at least 2 points into Strength, and you should always consider how much life you have, and what your percentage to hit monsters is. Your life goes up 4 every time you put one Stat point into Vitality, so always be thinking about how much life you have or how much life you need. Strength is important because without it, you won't be able to wear good armor or use good weapons. I almost always do the 2,1,2 with my Stat points but it depends on how much life I need, or if I need to have a better to hit percentage. _______________________________________________________________________ ===Section 5=== Boss Walkthrough For each higher difficulty, these bosses, along with all other unique monsters, gain another attribute, but that attribute is completely random so be careful. PART A - Act I Blood Raven (Burial Grounds) Special Attributes - Fire Arrow Normal - A quick and easy kill with Bash, and whatever sword/axe/mace you are using. Don't let her run away, always be near her and hacking away at her. Nightmare - If you're level 30, unleash Whirlwind on her ass, otherwise use Double Swing or Bash and hunt her down. Same strategy as in Normal. Hell - Whirlwind, Leap Attack are your favorites in this battle. Pretty easy. Rakanishu (Stony Field) Special Attributes - Lightning Enchanted, Extra Fast Normal - Great Bash target. Takes about 2 to 3 hits to kill him. Watch out for those sparks though, they can be deadly. Nightmare - Whirlwind is great. Kill him and his minions in two whirls! Pretty easy, but still those sparks are very deadly. Hell - Whirlwind again. God that's a good skill. He's pretty tough in hell though. Make sure you don't hit too many sparks, and don't underestimate his minions. Treehead Woodfist (Dark Wood) Special Attributes - Extra Strong, Extra Fast Normal - Take out his minions first, then use Bash, or Double Swing on him. Make sure he is alone, because a couple hits from him plus other monsters will kill you. Nightmare - Whirlwind to take out him and his minions. Same as in Normal. Hell - Whirlwind and Double Swing are the most effective in Hell. Leap Attack and Bash are just a little bit too slow. Griswold (Tristram) Special Attributes - Cursed Normal - Make sure he is alone and then hack away at him with Bash or Double Swing. Nightmare - Make sure he is alone. Leap Attack and Whirlwind are best in this battle. Hell - Amplify Damage will hurt a damn hell of a lot if you're not careful. He'll use it as soon as you run up to him so make sure you have potions. Whirlwind is nice and so is Double Swing. The Countess (The Forgotten Tower Lv. 5) Special Attributes - Fire Enchanted Normal - Bash and Double Swing. Let her minions come out of the door so you can kill them first, then go for the Countess. Nightmare - "Whirlwind everyone." That's my motto and it works here. Hell - Double Swing and Whirlwind work very well. The Smith (The Barracks) Special Attributes - Extra Strong Normal - Double Swing him and make sure he is alone. Also make sure you have plenty of potions. Nightmare - Same strategy as in Normal but use Whirlwind and Double Swing. Don't use Bash or Leap Attack. Bash is way too slow and when you're in the air with Leap Attack he'll swing, hit you and you'll probably die. Hell - Same thing as in Nightmare. Andariel (Boss of Act I, Catacombs Lv 4) Special Attribute - Poison Normal - First of all, make sure you have a little bit of Poison Resistance. Second, make sure you fight her alone so no other enemies are around you. Third, you should use either Bash, Double Swing, or Stun. A lot of people ask me why you should use Stun. I think that Stun worked pretty well. It paralyzed her for a litttle bit so that she couldn't use massive poison attack and it did a little bit of damage. You have to put one skill point into it anyway if you want Whirlwind later in the game. Nightmare - Try to get MAX Poison Resistance for this fight. Like in Normal difficulty try to get her alone. Double Swing and Whirlwind will wipe her out in no time flat. Hell - Same exact strategy as in Nightmare but you should make sure you have MAX Poison Resistance because her Poison Attacks are killer. PART B - Act II Radament (Sewers Lv. 3) Special Attributes - Extra Fast Normal - Lure all his minions far away from Radament and kill them so he can't revive them, then use Bash or Double Swing to kill Radament. Nightmare - Same strategy as Normal except you should use Whirlwind, or Double Swing. Hell - This will be a pretty tough battle. Try Whirlwind as much as you can and make sure that you fight him alone, and that you keep him occupied. Fangskin (Claw Viper Temple Lv. 2) Special Attributes - Lightning Enchanted, Extra Fast Normal - Kill his minions first and then watch out for his sparks. Try using Double Swing. Nightmare - This can be tough depending on what random attribute he now has. Make sure he is completely alone and hack away at him with Double Swing or Whirlwind. Whirlwind is good for taking out his minions also. Hell - Same exact thing as in Nightmare only he will be tougher. Coldworm the Borrower (Maggot Lair Lv. 3) Special Attributes - Cold Enchanted, Magic Resistant All Difficulties - This is simple. Use whatever you want to just kill all it's minions and then go after her. She doesn't even attack. The Summoner (Arcane Sanctuary) Special Attributes - Extra Strong, Extra Fast Normal - Kill everyone around him and then about 2 Bash, or 1 Double Swing will kill him. Nightmare - One Leap Attack and he's dead. Hell - Leap Attack. That is some crap defense. Watch out for his massive fire wall attack when you get close to him. Duriel (Boss of Act II, Tal Rasha's Tomb) Special Attribute - Cold Normal - Make sure you have a good amount of Cold Resistance. When you get to him, just run up to him and start hacking away at him. Double Swing is your best bet here. Since he has no minions near him, this can be a pretty easy fight. Nightmare - Whirlwind is great. Make sure you have a lot of Cold Resist, and make sure you have some rejuvanation potions. Hell - This can be very hard. MAX Cold Resistance will help a lot, but it is not mandatory. PART C - Act III Witch Doctor Endugu (Flayer Dungeon Lv. 3) Special Attributes - Magic Resistant, Fire Enchanted Normal - Try to get him alone and then kill him first before you kill all of his minions. Double Swing and Bash are good, but Leap Attack is great, if you have it. Nightmare - Whirlwind Everyone. You may even want to get some fire resistance if you don't have any because this can be a hard fight. You may want to try taking out his minions before you take him out in Nightmare. Hell - I have not gotten this far in the game yet. Once I do, I will post the strategy right here. Battlemaid Sarina (Ruined Temple) Special Attributes - Extra Fast, Spectral Hit Normal - Get to those annoying Ghoul Lords and kill them first so you don't have to deal with those meteors. Next you should find a doorway and just hack away at them one by one. If not, then kill her minions first, and then kill her. Double Swing and Leap Attack are great here. Nightmare - Whirlwind everyone. Try to get them all in a big group, make sure you have full health, and then go right through them. Hell - I have not gotten this far in the game yet. Once I do, I will post the strategy right here. Sszark the Burning (Spider Cavern) Special Attributes - Extra Strong Cursed Normal - Kill his minions with Double Swing or Bash and then he should retreat, slowing you down with his annoying web. Just hunt him down. Nightmare - Same strategy as in Normal except you want to use Whirlwind to cut down the big group of spiders. Sszark will then run away so just hunt him down again. Hell - I have not gotten this far in the game yet. Once I do, I will post the strategy right here. All Council Members - Ismail Vilehand, Geleb Flamefinger, Toorc Icefist, Wyand Voidfinger, Maffer Dragonhand, Bremm Sparkfist (Travincal, Durance of Hate Lv.3) Special Attributes: Ismail Vilehand - Extra Fast, Cursed Geleb Flamefinger - Extra Strong, Fire Enchanted Toorc Icefist - Cold Enchanted, Stone Skin Wyand Voidfinger - Mana Burn, Teleportation Maffer Dragonhand - Extra Fast, Extra Strong, Teleportation Bremm Sparkfist - Lightning Enchanted, Aura Enchanted Normal - All these Council Members are the same. All you have to do is get them alone and just hack then down with Bash or Double Swing. Never be fighting anymore than two of them at the same time. That red thing they do with their hands kills you extremely fast. You should always be on the look out for Hydra because these Council Members use it a lot. You also want to make sure you kill them all before you fight Mephisto. There are three in the Travincal and three in the Durance of Hate right before Mephisto. Fighting the Council Members and Mephisto at the same time will almost guarantee your death. Nightmare - Same strategy as in Normal. Use Double Swing and if there's a group of them together, use Whirlwind. These will be some pretty tough battles because they will have an extra attribute. Hell - I have not gotten this far in the game yet. Once I do, I will post the strategy right here. Mephisto (Boss of Act III, Durance of Hate Lv. 3) Special Attribute - Lightning Normal - Get a lot of Lightning Resist. Enter the fight with Leap Attack and just keep hacking away at the punk with Double Swing until he's a dead Lord of Hatred. Nightmare - You better have MAX Lightning Resistance cause you're gonna need it. Keep using Whirlwind back and forth or Double Swing. Watch your health and also watch the sparks. It shouldn't take too long to kill him. If you have MAX Lightning Resist, then his lightning attacks should not hurt you too much. Hell - I have not gotten this far in the game yet. Once I do, I will post the strategy right here. PART D - Act IV Izual (Plains of Dispair) Special Attribute - Cold Normal - Get him alone and then just hack away at him with Bash or Double Swing. Leap Attack is also good for avoiding his Frost Nova Attack. Nightmare - You should consider having some cold resistance. Whirlwind is great for getting rid of all the monsters around him. Once you get him alone, keep using Whirlwind on him. Hell - I have not gotten this far in the game yet. Once I do, I will post the strategy right here. Hephasto the Armorer (River of Flame) Special Attributes - Extra Strong, Cursed, Magic Resistant Normal - Make sure that he is alone when you fight him. Stay out of the air as well, i.e. avoid using moves like Leap Attack cause he'll hit you while you're in mid air and then you're screwed. Double Swing and Bash are yet again your best bets. Always be watching your health, because he does massive damage. Nightmare - Stick to the same strategy as in Normal only try using Whirlwind. You better have some loads of life as well, cause he does a whole lot of damage. Hell - I have not gotten this far in the game yet. Once I do, I will post the strategy right here. Infector of Souls (Chaos Sanctuary) Special Attributes - Extra Fast, Spectral Hit Normal - This will be an easy fight if you clear out the area. Kill his minions first and then hack him down with Double Swing or Bash. Beware, he is super fast. Nightmare - Again, make sure you are just fighting him and his minions. Stay in one area to fight them, and use Whirlwind when they group up. A good amount of Fire Resistance may be needed if you have trouble defeating him. Hell - I have not gotten this far in the game yet. Once I do, I will post the strategy right here. Lord de Seis (Chaos Sanctuary) Special Attributes - Extra Fast, Aura Enchanted, Thieving Normal - This is a very hard battle. Again, you must make sure that they are alone. Kill his minions first and then use Leap Attack on the Lord. It shouldn't take too many hits to kill him because he has pretty crappy life. Nightmare - This is much harder than in Normal. Try as hard as you can to avoid their magical attacks. Whirlwind is your best bet. Hell - I have not gotten this far in the game yet. Once I do, I will post the strategy right here. Grand Vizier of Chaos (Chaos Sanctuary) Special Attributes - Extra Fast, Thieving, Aura Enchanted Normal - Easy. Make sure they're alone. Double Swing and Bash. They do practically no damage. Nightmare - Same thing as in Normal. Use Whirlwind. Watch your health also. Don't get cornered. Hell - I have not gotten this far in the game yet. Once I do, I will post the strategy right here. DIABLO (Boss of Act IV and Diablo 2, Chaos Sanctuary) Special Attribute - Fire Normal - The boss of the game! Have some Full Rejuvs ready because his fire lightning bolt thing is killer. It will just drain all of your health . As soon as he uses it and your health is about at zero, press the 1, or 2 or whatever hot key you have your Full Rejuv under in your belt. All his other moves are worthless if you have MAX Fire Resist. Try getting MAX Fire Resist and also try getting as much Lightning Resist as possible because his best move is a mixture of lightning and fire. Double Swing, Leap Attack, and Bash are your best moves for this battle. Nightmare - Same thing as in Normal only you should better have MAX Fire Resist and as much Lightning Resist as possible. Anything under 40 will be disastrous when you fight him. Whirlwind is great but beware, he has the best defense imaginable, so you won't hit him that much, you just have to stay patient. Use the Full Rejuv trick as well. Hell - I have not gotten this far in the game yet. Once I do, I will post the strategy right here. _______________________________________________________________________ ===Section 6=== General Tips and Comments 1) Many people ask me online what they should use as weapons. Well my advice would be to stick to Swords, Axes, or Maces. Decide in the early stages of the game what type of Barb you want to be. If you decide to be a Sword Barb then you will probably want to put 20 skill points into Sword Mastery. Never ever put 10 skill points in one weapon type mastery and then 10 more skill points in another weapon type mastery. Always stick to one weapon type mastery. 2) One great strategy for the Double Swing skill is to use two, slow Axe or Mace type weapons with it. Regardless of the speed of the weapon, like a slow War Hammer, Double Swing makes the weapons go fast. My friend has two awesome War Hammers and uses them with Double Swing and he absolutely destroys everything in a matter of seconds. 3) Having a lot of Life is key to the Barbarian. Without life, you will die a whole bunch of times in places like the Chaos Sanctuary. Always consider to put Stat points into Vitality since your Life will go up 4 points for each Stat point put into it. Mana is also important. You don't want to put any Stat points into Energy, but you do want Mana so you can use skills like Whirlwind. My advice to you is to try and find Mana stealing weapons or jewelry and hold on to them all the way through the game. 4) When you get level ups, you will always want to check your life out. If you die a lot, it's probably because you don't have enough life. A great way to avoid this is to but 2 stat points into Strength, 1 into Dexterity, and then 2 into Vitality. If you don't hit monsters enough switch Dexterity with Vitality and put 2 into Dexterity. 5) Warcries are a waste of time and skill points. If you want to have a successful Barbarian stick to Combat Masteries and Combat Skills for all your Skill Points. Trust me when you get to Hell and Nightmare there will be no need for Warcries. They're definitely a waste of time and skill points in Single Player. 6) A good strategy that I have found in this game with skills is that you should put at least 2 or 3 skill points into Bash and at least 1 skill point into Double Swing. Sometimes Bash is just to slow so you'll want to use Double Swing, and other times Double Swing just isn't as effective as Bash. You should also want to find two good weapons so that when you need to use Double Swing, you can use it. 7) Mana stealing itmes are your friends in this game if you're the Barbarian, your best friends. Always keep any of these items you find for the rest of the game. The Barbarian usually will never have very high Mana and once you get awesome, high Mana costing skills like Whirlwind, you're gonna need the Mana stealing. 8) I urge you Barbarians out there not to use Spears, or anything that has to do with throwing weapons. That stuff is for the Amazons and should stay with the Amazons. I can sense some hate mail from Amazons coming my way, nothing personal. _______________________________________________________________________ ===Section 7=== My Barbarian These are my exact current stats on my Barbarian. STATS Lord Linkrape: Level 46 Experience: 32,183,175 Next Level: 35,344,686 Strength: 168 Dexterity: 94 Vitality: 109 Energy: 10 BASH Damage: 192 - 555 WHIRLWIND Damage: 197 - 578 BASH Attack Rating: 2125 (91%) WHIRLWIND Attack Rating: 2454 (91%) Defense: 1160 Life: 633 Mana: 68 Stamina: 296 Fire Resist: 23 Cold Resist: 53 Lightning Resist: MAX Poison Resist: 35 SKILLS **Note that these skills have pretty many skill points into them because of my Amulet that is +1 to Barbarian Skills. Combat Masteries Sword Mastery: 21 Axe Mastery: 0 Mace Mastery: 0 Polearm Mastery: 0 Spear Mastery: 0 Throwing Mastery: 0 Increased Stamina: 3 Iron Skin: 4 Increased Speed: 2 Natural Resistances: 4 Combat Skills Bash: 4 Leap: 2 Double Swing: 2 Stun: 2 Double Throw: 0 Leap Attack: 2 Concentrate: 2 Frenzy: 0 Whirlwind: 18 Berserk: 0 I have no Skill Points into Warcries Inventory NAME- Demon Bite TYPE- Rune Sword (Rare) ONE HAND DAMAGE- 30 to 119 DURABILITY- 44 REQUIRED STRENGTH- 103 REQUIRED DEXTERITY- 79 REQUIRED LEVEL- 26 SWORD CLASS- Very Fast Attack Speed EFFECTS- 10% Mana Stolen Per Hit Enhanced Damage Adds 4-9 Cold Damage +161 to Attack Rating Increased Attack Speed NAME- Skull Hood TYPE- Basinet (Rare) DEFENSE- 129 DURABILITY- 30 REQUIRED STRENGTH- 82 REQUIRED LEVEL- 27 EFFECTS- Enhanced Defense Fastest Hit Recovery +38 to Life +2 to Minimum Damage NAME- Bitter Talisman TYPE- Amulet (Rare) REQUIRED LEVEL- 22 EFFECTS- +1 to Light Radius +1 to Barbarian Skills +26 to Mana +45 to Life +21% Better Chance of Getting Magical Item NAME- Blessed Templar Coat of the Colussus TYPE- Templar Coat (Magical) DEFENSE- 445 DURABILITY- 60 REQUIRED STRENGTH- 118 REQUIRED LEVEL- 25 EFFECTS- Enhanced Defense +53 to Life NAME- Grim Shield of the Ox TYPE- Grim Shield (Magical) DEFENSE- 111 CHANCE TO BLOCK- 35% DURABILITY- 40 REQUIRED STRENGTH- 58 REQUIRED LEVEL- 35 EFFECTS- +7 to Strength NAME- Bloodfist TYPE- Heavy Gloves (Unique) DEFENSE- 5 DURABILITY- 70 EFFECTS- +40 to Life Fastest Hit Recovery +5 to Minimum Damage NAME- Ghoul Spiral TYPE- Ring (Rare) REQUIRED LEVEL- 18 EFFECTS- Half Freeze Duration 7% Mana Stolen +27 to Mana +36 to Life Lightning Resist 43% Poison Resist 35% NAME- Skull Band TYPE- Ring (Rare) REQUIRED LEVEL- 46 EFFECTS- +3 to Light Radius Poison Resist 15% Cold Resist 63% Lightning Resist 15% Fire Resist 15% +149 to Attack Rating +11 to Strength +3 to Minimum Damage NAME- Gale Lash TYPE- Plated Belt (Rare) DEFENSE- 9 DURABILITY- 24 REQUIRED STRENGTH- 60 REQUIRED LEVEL- 22 EFFECTS- Poison Length Reduced by 25% Cold Resist 5% +17 to Strength +108% Extra Gold from Monsters NAME- Glyph Shank TYPE- Greaves (Rare) DEFENSE- 13 DURABILITY- 24 REQUIRED STRENGTH- 70 REQUIRED LEVEL- 35 EFFECTS- Fastest Run/Walk Lightning Resist 36% Fire Resist 23% +7 to Strength +22% Better Chance of Getting Magical Item Check this awesome armor out that I imbued. It's in my stash now because I don't have enough Strength to use it though. NAME- Loath Shroud TYPE- Ornate Plate (Rare) DEFENSE- 730 DURABILITY- 60 REQUIRED STRENGTH- 170 REQUIRED LEVEL- 25 EFFECTS- Fastest Hit Recovery +1 to Light Radius Enhanced Defense Cold Resist 21% Fire Resist 16% +31 to Life _______________________________________________________________________ ===Section 8=== Closing Statements I hope this FAQ answered any questions anyone had about their Barbarian. Right now GameFAQs.com is the only site that has permission to put this FAQ up on their website. Special Thanks: Blizzard GameFAQs.com Please e-mail me at firm1315@aol.com with any comments or suggestions to make my FAQ better. If they are good suggestions, I'll add you to the Special Thanks List. Copyright 2001 firm1315@aol.com Last Updated June 23, 2001