Hey, jumping in the conversation again. Finally farmed a bit on my barb yesterday and here are my findings (on MP10, Act 1):

- Yes agreed with @ninjax, Hota build requires better mit, hp, and life regen compared to Whirlwind, as well as being smarter with positioning.
- A bit late to share, but the HOTA/Rend build I'm using currently (check my profile, I would replace Forced March with RLTW or Marathon) works well for killing elites/Ubers and also for soloing because I can keep up WOTB indefinitely, but it does not work as well in groups to keep WOTB.
- Also I am with @ecocd on using the WW/HOTA build, especially in groups (over WW/Rend) because 1) it does a better job killing off elites (I use Smash rune) and 2) it's easier to sustain WOTB (HOTA can proc fury with ToC, but I don't think Rend can proc fury). However, if i were doing solo runs, I would still prefer the skorn ww/rend combo and skipping select elite packs.

I made a build that is virtually unstoppable upwards of MP7 and MP8 and I can do up to MP10 albeit slowly. I use Hammer on my left click because I have -5 Maras, -2 Soj and -5 IK Boulder Breaker.

I generate 4 fury per second (2 IK 5 set bonus, and 2 from passive) and my Hammer currently costs me 20 - 12(+4) so only four fury per cast, thus I can spam hammer for a while.

Gear:
Helm: IK Helm with high strength (mine has reduce control impairing effects for pvp purposes)
Amulet: Maras with -5 hammer cost (wish mine had crit dmg/chance/attack speed or even one of those mods, maybe someday)
Ring 1: Hellfire
Ring 2: SOJ -2 reduce (If you can find a p one power to you but its tough.
Belt: IK (make sure it has P leech/fury)
Wep: IK Boulderbreaker (-5 hammer, 154% crit dmg wish they had a socket quest because Skorn is still better I just like being unique)
Boots: IK Str/Vit
Gloves: Trifecta Crafted
Shoulders: Crafted (Do vitality)

With this build I hit for 600-1,000,000+ every single time because my fury is almost always full even without any fury generator other than war cry with impunity. I don't even have to use into the fray so I get more damage from marauders rage. I love my barb now, he used to suck when I did a unique freeze barb with double whirlwind and azurewrath but you need damage to win in pvp so hammer it is!

@thegoldenflash Welcome to Diablohub! Nice first post. I must admit, I am intruiged by your build, would love to put something like this together.

Can you keep wrath up?

I made a build with a boatload of IAS, it worked pretty well but like you MP10 was tough. You can't clear fast enough with new mob density, and you're not skirting the edges like WW so you have to take hits. It was totally sweet with CM wiz though.

I would always run out of fury on ubers tho which was the main reason I wanted to try this build.

I haven't played it for a while as I'm playing rend/ww with full IK at the mo but it might be better now I have some cash to spend.

Thanks @nuhertz I just wanted to share my build since the servers were down earlier.

@ninjax I don't use thrive on chaos, but it does work just fine with into the fray on, some people like to have less reduce than me but I can spam Battlerage if I need to dump fury. I actually prefer to use insanity and only on Elites because my hammer with marauders rage is strong enough to two shot any whites pretty much up to MP8.

My build/gear: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/profile/BrianGoudy-1540/hero/25626686

I'm not the best but I think I am doing pretty damn good.

Also, obviously my paper dps is low at 75k and my crit chance is too but remember that my fury is almost always full and hammer gets 1% crit chance per 5 fury and I'm usually sitting at 125+ fury so (25% chance extra almost always) in wrath I hit for 1.5 million plus with all my buffs going.

@thegoldenflash Your strategy is similar to mine, but we seem to have ended up with quite different builds.

I also use hammer as my main attack.

Have you tried swapping out Unforgiving for Weapons master? You generate 2 Fury/s.
Weapons master (along with Boulderbreaker) will generate 3fury /hit.

@Bort Yes, similar, but still distinctly different, which is actually kinda cool. I like your gear, especially the wep, never seen someone use that before. Also even though skull grasp gets you reduced hammer cost, I wouldn't sacrifice damage you could get from a trifecta (atk spd, cc, cd) ring with vit/str/AR or a vitality hellfire (sadly my best rolled hellfire has been a strength one but I will make a vita one soon.

Because with -5 maras, -4 ring (which you have and I envy you for lol mine is now -3) and -5 from wep puts you at -14(+potentially 2-4 per second with Unforgiving/IK final set bonus). If you use weapons master as you suggested I do you could even reduce that number needed further. Especially since you want to maintain wrath whereas I use Insanity as my elite killer.

@thegoldenflash
Hehe, yeah, I mentioned the weapon somewhere higher up in this thread. I still think it's quite underrated and unknown. And as you can see it has similar attributes to Skorn. (without the bleed). Raw damage is on the low side, but I still like it.


I actually have a -Mara as well. Currently swapped it out for a higher DPS amulet, but have it as an option.
I did run the build on -18 Hammer (with +3 fury from the passive) at some point, but the DPS sacrificed was a bit too high.

I mostly play monk, so I think I have maybe one or two bad Str Hellfire rings.

Wrath and Insanity gets swapped out on a regular basis. I like both equally. :)


My main problem is that I have extremely low HP on that barb. But I don't play the barb often enough to justify buying fancy gear at the moment.