TABLE OF CONTENTS
WW Barb Introduction & Overview
The Whirlwind Barb is one of the most popular characters in the game. It is just super easy and fun to play with, while being very useful for party members for its Battle Orders skill. The primary attacking skill is Whirlwind, while physical immune monsters can be dealt with via Berserk. The build is efficient even in budget versions, but best in slot items are quite expensive. The build is a viable ladder starter.
WW Barbs have great survivability, and in defensive gear they are close to being immortal. They can easily solo the entire game, however in 8player parties and against bosses they lack high damage. For magic finding there are much better builds available, but if you are willing to compromise on farming speed, you can also MF with a whirlwind barb. You should use an Act2 Nightmare Offensive Mercenary to gain it’s Might Aura, which will further increase your damage.
Whirlwind Barbarian Pros and Cons
Pros
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Cons
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Whirlwind Barbarian Gameplay
Playing solo: If you want to be able to solo the game, you will need to put at least one skill point on Berserk so you can kill monsters with Immunity. Increased speed, Whirlwind and Leap are useful skills to skip mobs and get to bosses quickly and safely, because of this the build is a very good ladder starter. At the beginning of each game use Demon Limb to cast Enchant on yourself which adds 218% extra attack rating. The build really excels at Terror Zone farming, but you can run any magic find area, 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. Mana and life sustenance should come from life and mana steal items, especially jewelry.
Playing in a party: In parties, members can take advantage of your high level Battle Orders, Shout and Battle Command skills alongside other warcry skills like Taunt or Battle Cry. Unless your party has a member with good survivability and teleportation, WW Barbs are the best fit to get to the Throne of Destruction in party baalruns. Using nightmare act2 merc with a Pride Runeword will provide you and the party with Might and Concentration auras that benefit the entire party’s physical damage immensely. You can also loot dead monsters with the Find Item skill, which can be very effective in an 8 player game.
Playing Hardcore: Depending on your gear setup, you can become almost immortal if you compromise on damage output. 6k life, 75% all resistances (or 90 in Guardian Angel), 50% Physical Damage Reduction, 75% Block Rate, up to 25k Defense and additional elemental damage absorptions are available. A Raven Frost ring can be useful to have Freeze Immunity, and with %life stolen per hit on your gear you can even forget about health potions.
Whirlwind 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
- In most cases you won’t need any FBR, as you will be dual-wielding. However if you like defensive play and wearing a Stormshield, some additional FBR might come handy. 20% FBR will grant you a 5 frame block, while 42% FBR allows for 4 frames.
Whirlwind Barbarian Skills
Combat Skill Tree:
- 1 to Bash
- 1 to Leap
- 1 to Stun
- 1 to Concentrate
- 1 to Berserk
- 20 to Whirlwind
Warcries skill tree:
- 1 to Howl
- 1 to Shout
- 20 to Battle Orders
- 1 to Battle Command
Combat Masteries Skill Tree:
- 20 to your preferred weapon type’s mastery
- 1 to Iron Skin
- 1 to Natural Resistance
- 1 to Increased Stamina
- 1 to Increased Speed
Skill notes: Put your remaining points on Shout or Iron Skin if you prefer higher defense. You can also put skill points on Find Item if you like corpsepicking. If you play on Hardcore, you can potentially put a few points on Natural Resistance too for increased all resistance.
Whirlwind Barbarian Stat Points
Strength ► Just enough to be able to wear your items.
Dexterity ► Just enough to be able to wear your gear when dual wielding, or enough to have 75% chance to block with a shield.
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.
Whirlwind Barbarian Item setups
Ladder Starter Whirlwind Barbarian Gear
Helm: Lore / Peasant Crown / Immortal King’s Helm
Amulet: Angelic Wings
Weapon: Oath runeword in an ethereal elite weapon
Second Weapon: Oath runeword in an ethereal elite weapon
Switch Weapon: Magic spear with +3 to warcries
Switch Second Weapon: Magic spear with +3 to warcries
Body Armor: Myth runeword in an elite armor
Belt: String of Ears
Rings: Angelic Halo, Rare or crafted dual leech ring / Raven Frost
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 Whirlwind Barbarian Gear
Helm: Arreat’s Face
Amulet: Highlord’s Wrath
Weapon: Grief phase blade
Second Weapon: Grief phase blade
Switch Weapon: Heart of the Oak flail
Switch Second Weapon: Heart of the Oak flail
Body Armor: Enigma / Fortitude in elite body armor
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 Whirlwind Barbarian Gear
Helm: Harlequin Crest Shako (Socket it with Ist rune)
Amulet: Magic Amulet with 40-50% Magic Find
Weapon: Grief phase blade
Second Weapon: Grief phase 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 Whirlwind Barbarian Gear
Helm: Crown of Ages (Socket it with 2 Ber runes)
Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope
Weapon: Grief phase blade
Shield: Stormshield (Socket it with Cham rune)
Switch Weapon: 3 to warcries spear
Second Switch Weapon: 3 to warcries spear
Body Armor: Fortitude Dusk Shroud / Archon Plate / Upgraded Guardian Angel, preferably Eth with Zod socket
Belt: String of Ears
Rings: 2*Dual Leech rare or crafted rings
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)
