PhoenixGod's "Rage of the Maniac" Barbarian | Category: Diablo BlogSeptember-11-2014 10:00 AM PDT (10 years ago) |
Get ready to roar with unbridled Fury—the Barbarian is our next class feature and PhoenixGod#1842 is on fire with his Frenzy-focused build in this week’s Play Your Way! About the Build:The Barbarian is known for honing his primal anger into purely destructive forces of nature, bending the elements to his stubborn will and annihilating his enemies with the devastation that follows. While a typical build will cycle through the Fury resource to accomplish this, PhoenixGod has chosen to avoid spenders in his Rage of the Maniac build, instead making the most out of the Frenzy primary skill and roasting his enemies in the process.
Not just another Fire based build, PhoenixGod has a few powerful punches hidden up his sleeve (do . . . do Barbarians have sleeves?) and he makes use of proc and cooldown-based skills such as Overpower and Revenge. These often underappreciated skills have impressive results, delivering quite the wallop when paired with the Berserker Rage passive. Your Fury might not be used actively, but it’s certainly not going to waste! The Skills:The primary theme for this build is a whole lot of buffing and Fire damage. That keeps things simple and flexible, and leaves room for build variety if a different skill (or a build-changing Legendary) shifts your focus. Active Skills:
Passive Skills:
Alternative Skills:
The Items:Fire is a fairly dominant element with a lot of supporting Legendary options. That means the Rage of the Maniac build stands on its own and is super flexible in the gear you can equip. If you’re looking to refine your build with specific pieces, though, check out the suggested items below!
Recommended Items:
Complementary Items:
Recommended Legendary Gems:
Recommended Stats: Primarily, you’ll want to be focusing on +% Fire Damage to get the most out of the Rage of the Maniac build. Critical Hit Chance will lower the cooldown of Overpower, though you may consider straight up Cooldown Reduction to increase the uptime of Wrath of the Berserker. Finally, this build is about fast and furious hits, and Attack Speed will always be your friend here, though it’s lower on the totem pole of priority given that Frenzy provides a substantial amount already. Recommended Difficulty and Game Mode:PhoenixGod is currently tackling Torment III with ease in Normal mode, but anticipates jumping up a level or two with additional gear. With a nicely rolled Maximus, I was able to easily jump to the same difficulty with minimal other supporting gear pieces. It’s a strong, basic build, but it does lack some of the survivability necessary for comfortable play in Hardcore. Revenge encourages you to be smacked in the face, which is exactly what you don’t want when you only have one nephalem life to live. We’d recommend making some more adjustments for survivability or adding a good escape skill before trying this out with a Hardcore hero. Why We Like This Build:There’s plenty of reason to give the Rage of the Maniac build a go. Firstly, it’s accessible and has a relatively low point of entry. Just about any Barbarian can give this a try, and if you happen to have some Fire gear lying around, it just becomes that much more appealing!
It’s also a simple, easy to learn build that has plenty of support to make it even better. You don't need to worry about a spender, and options like Depth Diggers and Simplicity’s Strength make those Primary skills that much more appealing. If you’re looking for a less complex build for your Barbarian, this is an excellent starting point! Tell Us What You Think!Is your Barbarian furiously focused on fire? Do you use spenders, or focus on Primary skills like PhoenixGod? Are you playing your Barbarian in Season 1 and, if so, how has that changed your regular play style? Let us know in the comments! Got a build you want to share on Play Your Way? You can now submit your build using our new submission form! Got questions about what to submit? Follow the form instructions or check out our forum post for more information. As for next week, we’ll be taking up our sword and board and marching on Westmarch with the Crusader, so get those builds over to us and we’ll see you then! |