TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction & Overview
The frenzy barb is one of the most efficient melee d2 builds. as it can kill any boss within seconds. Expensive runewords are necessary in order to deal really high damage, but budget options are available that are also viable ladder starters. In order to attack with Frenzy, you need to dual wield, which makes the character more vulnerable, compared to other barbarian builds. This can be offset by wearing a Last Wish runeword as your weapon, which will proc Fade. Damage dealt by Frenzy is purely physical, so you will need to put a point on Berserk in order to deal with magic immune monsters.
Movement speed is amazing with Frenzy. Each swing will increase your running and attacking speed. The only downside of the build is the lack of area damage, which makes it slightly slower than the best AEO builds for farming places like the Cow level, Chaos Sanctuary or Baal. The build can even be used for farming Ubers, as it can have close to 100% crushing blow, and will also deal massive amounts of physical damage. You should use an Act2 Nightmare Offensive Mercenary to gain it’s Might Aura, which will further increase your damage.
Frenzy Barbarian Pros and Cons
Pros
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Cons
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Frenzy Barbarian Gameplay
Playing solo: At the beginning of each game use Demon Limb to cast Enchant on yourself which adds 218% extra attack rating. Frenzy will kill most monsters almost immediately, as with good enough increased attack speed it delivers over 4 attacks per second. Your Crushing Blow and Deadly Strike chance will also be very high, making you able to kill high-life monsters quickly. Frenzy does not deal area damage, so at dense areas you will need to kill monsters one by one. However, you can run any magic find area, terror zone, superunique monster or act boss comfortably. Wearing an Enigma allows you to quickly teleport to bosses, especially if you have two Heart of the Oak runewords as switch weapons. However if you prefer slightly higher damage, you can use a Fortitude armor and still have incredible movement speed by running. There are a few physical immune monsters in the game, in order to deal with them you should rely on the Berserk skill and put a single point on it. Mana and Life sustenance should come from % life and mana steal items, especially rings.
Playing in a party: You can provide high level Battle Orders, Battle Command and Shout skills to your party, which will greatly increase their survivability. Your merc will provide Might aura, and in case you have a Pride on him, than Concentration aura aswell. If you decide to invest in a Last Wish weapon setup, you can use an Act1 Merc and equip her with Faith, so you provide both Might and Fanaticism aura to your party. You can also invest in a Beast runeword to provide Fanaticism aura to the party.
Playing Hardcore: Last Wish is definitely the weapon of choice if you want to improve your survivability, as it has a 6% chance to cast Level 11 Fade when struck, giving you 11% physical resist and 56% all resist. Wearing a Crown of Ages and a String of Ears belt is a must to reach 50% physical damage reduction, and you should also wear elemental damage absorption items and have at least 75% all resistances in order to survive elemental attacks. A guardian angel is optimal if you want to protect yourself against elemental damage. Make sure to overprotect yourself against curses and auras such as Lower Resist and Conviction, have additional resists even when you reach the 75% cap.
Frenzy Barbarian Breakpoints
Note: Each second in the game consists of 25 frames or “ticks”. Your breakpoints decide how many frames it will take until you can attack/cast a skill/recover from a hit/ block a new hit.
Faster Cast Rate
- In case you wear an enigma, aim for the 37%, 63%, or 105% breakpoints. 105% FCR allows you to teleport at 8 frames.
Faster Hit Recovery
- Having some Faster Hit Recovery on your gear is very beneficial. While at 0% you recover once every 9 frames, at 27% you will already recover at 6 frames. Aim for the 27%, 48% or 86% (4-frame) breakpoints.
Faster Block Rate
- You won’t need any FBR, as you will be dual-wielding.
Frenzy Barbarian Skills
Combat Skill Tree:
- 1 to Bash
- 20 to Double Swing
- 1 to Double Throw
- 20 to Frenzy
- 1 to Stun
- 1 to Concentrate
- 1 to Berserk
Warcries skill tree:
- 1 to Howl
- 1 to Shout
- 1 to Battle Orders
- 1 to Battle Command
- 20 to Taunt
Combat Masteries Skill Tree:
- 1 to your preferred weapon type’s mastery
- 1 to Iron Skin
- 1 to Natural Resistance
- 20 to Increased Stamina
- 1 to Increased Speed
Skill notes: Put your remaining points on Battle Orders if you aim for more survivability, or your weapon choice’s mastery if you aim for better offense. If you are a party player you could consider putting 20 points on Battle Orders instead of Increased Stamina, and put your remaining points on Shout.
If you play on Hardcore, make sure to max out Battle Orders, and you can potentially put a few points on Natural Resistance too for increased all resistance.
Frenzy Barbarian Stat Points
Strength ► Just enough to be able to wear your items.
Dexterity ► Just enough to be able to wear your gear.
Vitality ► Allocate all your remaining points to it.
Energy ► Don’t allocate any points to it.
You can re-stat your character by the quest reward of Akara’s Act1 Den of Evil Quest, or by using Token of Absolution.
Mercenary
The best mercenary for this build is an Act2 Might aura one. Having Pride runeword on your merc will greatly boost your damage via the additional Concentration Aura.
If you make boss runs where you have to teleport long distances, having an Insight runeword on your merc can solve any mana issues.
Frenzy Barbarian Item setups
Ladder Starter Frenzy Barbarian Gear
Helm: Lore / Peasant Crown / Guillaume’s Face
Amulet: Angelic Wings
Weapon: Spirit / Wizardspike / Suicide Branch
Second Weapon: Lawbringer Sword / Crescent Moon Sword / Headstriker
Switch Weapon: Magic spear with +3 to warcries
Switch Second Weapon: Magic spear with +3 to warcries
Body Armor: Myth / Gloom / Stone / Treachery
Belt: String of Ears
Rings: Angelic Halo, Rare or crafted dual leech ring
Gloves: Venom Grip / Laying of Hands
Boots: Waterwalk / Rare boots with 30% FRW +resists
Charms: Any charm with +skill, max dmg/attack rating, life, resist or FHR will help
Notes: Switch to second weapons when casting Warcries.
Mercenary Gear
Helm: 3*Perfect Diamond socketed helm
Body Armor: Any useful rare body armor
Weapon: Insight Polearm
Advanced Frenzy Barbarian Gear
Helm: Arreat’s Face
Amulet: Highlord’s Wrath
Weapon: Grief phase blade / Death Colossus Sword or Colossus Blade
Second Weapon: Last Wish Sword /Grief phase blade
Switch Weapon: Heart of the Oak flail /Lacerator
Switch Second Weapon: Heart of the Oak flail /Lacerator
Body Armor: Enigma / Fortitude
Belt: String of Ears
Rings: Raven Frost/ Rare or Crafted dual leech ring
Gloves: Dracul’s Grasp
Boots: Gore Rider
Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire torch, max dmg/attack rating /life small or grand charms, allresist/life small charms
Mercenary Gear
Helm: Andariel’s Visage or Crown of Thieves (preferably ethereal, socketed with Ral/Um rune)
Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude or Treachery armor
Weapon: Pride in ethereal base (eth Thresher preferred)
Magic Find Frenzy Barbarian Gear
Helm: Harlequin Crest Shako (Socket it with Ist rune)
Amulet: Magic Amulet with 40-50% Magic Find
Weapon: Grief phase blade / Death Colossus Sword or Colossus Blade
Second Weapon: Grief phase blade / Death Colossus Sword or Colossus Blade
Switch Weapon: 2* Heart of the oak Flail
Body Armor: Enigma Mage Plate / Dusk Shroud/ Archon plate
Belt: Upgraded Goldwrap
Rings: Raven Frost, Dual leech rare or crafted ring
Gloves: Upgraded Chance Guards
Boots: War Traveler
Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire torch, Gheed’s Fortune, Small Charms with 7% Magic find (and also @all resistances if possible)
Notes: When teleporting, switch to the Heart of the Oak setup
Mercenary Gear
Helm: Andariel’s Visage or Crown of Thieves (preferably ethereal, socketed with Ral/Um rune)
Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude or Treachery armor
Weapon: Pride in ethereal base (eth Thresher preferred)
Hardcore Frenzy Barbarian Gear
Helm: Crown of Ages (Socket it with 2 Ber runes)
Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope
Weapon: Grief phase blade / Death Colossus Sword or Colossus Blade
Second Weapon: Last Wish Phase Blade
Switch Weapon: 3 to warcries spear
Second Switch Weapon: 3 to warcries spear
Body Armor: Fortitude Dusk Shroud / Archon Plate
Belt: String of Ears
Rings: Dual Leech rare or crafted ring, Raven Frost
Gloves: Dracul’s Grasp
Boots: Upgraded Hotspur
Charms: Annihilus, Hellfire torch, Gheed’s Fortune, Magic Small Charms (with +all resistances, or +life)
Notes: Aim to overprotect yourself for situations when you get cursed with spells such as Lower Resist and Amplify Damage or get under an effect of an aura such as Fanaticism or Conviction.
Mercenary Gear
Helm: Andariel’s Visage or Crown of Thieves (preferably ethereal, socketed with Ral/Um rune)
Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude or Treachery armor
Weapon: Pride in ethereal base (eth Thresher preferred)
