Longpole

I am just now jumping onboard the Diablo II gravy train :) Sorry I'm late


After playing WoW, Guild Wars, NWN, the BG games, and the Elder Scrolls games... I wanted something new. Someone recommended to me Diablo II. So.. I decided to give it a shot.

I must say I am thoroughly impressed :) The graphics may be simple.. but, I am one for content and replayability than eye candy. And D2 has it.

Anyhow.. played Single Player through once on Normal.. decided to create a character on Bnet and use it through Normal, NM, and Hell etc.

...Now.. I have always been fond of Polearms, for as long as I can remember. Although WoW's selection of them were pitiful, I still liked them. Maybe I'm overcompensating for something? Probably.

My question to you all is... are Polearms viable for a Barbarian in PvP environment? I would prefer it to be viable vs all classes but if not.. BvB would be most likely what I'd like to focus on.

PvM is always fun, but.. PvP is always something extra Besides.. without PvM, you wouldn't get the gear you need to PvP :)

Anyhow... any answers?


Is there a viable build using Polearms for PvP (preferablly BvA , but.. BvB if I have to absolutely choose)? And if so.. what Polearms would yall recommend?



Thanks in Advance...

wm_hunter

The only real viable build I could think of is a lightning merc using Insight itself, instead of on the Merc. This leaves it open for them to glitch a merc instead of needed an act 2 merc for the infinity.

I don't often make Barbs, so there might be a build I am not aware of.

FraterPerdurabo

You can actually make a Barb with a Polearm, such as eBOTD Warpike or Ghost Spear (I think that's what they are made in), but they suck. The only difference is that in BvB, the other barb with his Berserker Axe is going to have the edge. Polearms are hopelessly slow and have bad damage (usually a huge damage gap between min. and max. dam as well).

Sorry, but the one drawback in Diablo is the lack of original builds. You should really go for Berserker Axe instead of some polearm. Also, Diablo is all about frames. There are 25 frames in 1 second, and that's how your speeds are calculated, i.e. my Druid has 172%faster hit recovery, meaning that it will take him 5 frames to recover, meaning that he can recover from 5 hits in 1 second.

All of this may sound really confusing in the beginning, but if you need any help with any specific build or character that you are going to make, don't hesitate to post or PM me. I'll be glad to explain the nuances of Diablo to you.

Longpole

That's very frustrating

It seems that in games, the Polearms are crap.

Maybe I can just use a really big two-handed axe and pretend in my mind lol.....

Well, I guess barring the Barb, is there any class out there that can use a Polearm effectively? Or are they just one of those weapons that are "good, but not as efficient as...", therefore gimping yourself just by using that weapon instead of axe/sword/mace?

Thank you for taking the time to answer some of my questions... It's just hard for me to swollow the inability to use Polearms lol. I'm a Polearm fanboy.

Just some offtopic questions real quick... is there a color heirarchy in D2, or is it just blue, then yellow (magical), and then green(set) items? Also.. attack speed. I hate the generalized verbatim "slow" "very slow" "normal" "fast" etc. Are there specific numeric values that coincide with these very bland descriptions?

Anyhow... continuing my hunt for a successful Polearm build :)

FraterPerdurabo

Ok, there is one build that I can think of that uses Polearms, namely a sorceress. However, the thing is that they don't actually hit with them...

Item colors normal - white, yellow - rare, green - set, golden - unique, auburn - crafted. Of course, you can change those.

Yes, attack speed is calculated in frames. Paladin IAS breakpoints are 30% (11 frames), 38% (10 frames), 54% (9 frames), 84% (8 frames).

Each weapon has their own attack speed, for example Phase Blade has -30, meaning that you will need to have 54%IAS from the rest of your equipment to reach the 84%IAS breakpoint. Now, if you made Breath of the Dying runeword (60%IAS) in that Phase Blade, you will have reached the 84%IAS breakpoint (30 from Phase Blade, 60% from runeword). 25 frames per second, you will be hitting slightly more than 3 times each second. Also, there is no such thing as imbetween frames, so 38%IAS will be exactly as fast as 53%IAS.

Longpole

Hmm..

I stumbled across a polearm WW build. It seemed to work for PvM, as some have said. I found this link:

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=209713

Maybe I should just do this. I'd rather have a Polearm build, than a successful PvP build. Can't have everything, eh? :)

FraterPerdurabo

Eh, that thread was created back in 2004. I really do not suggest it, it's not fun (at least not for me). But whatever, make that build, and ask around if you want to change to a build that's good at killing. By the way, barbs are the worst characters for PvM in Diablo, even with amazing equipment, so don't expect much.

Longpole

lol.. more bad news.

What a discouraging evening this has turned out to be

FraterPerdurabo

Count it as a step away from shitty, non-efficient builds

wm_hunter

Again if you are really in love with Polearms go with an Infinity sorc... but there really are not any other builds that are even half-decent using Polearms.

L4E

uh.. arent pure charge pallys pretty good with like, ebotd ghost spear or war pike? insane dmg, good speed? thats more or less pvp to me...