BM's stunning in Delta, like it or not?

Sakubatou - Sanctuary

This is just a personal "what do other barbs prefer, or am I the only one?" and since barb forums are dead I thought I'd throw it out there. Do you like BMs to stun right when you bring the mobs back to bb in Delta?

I pull delta by rounding up the mobs, invoke, roar, sprint my fuzzy *** back to bb. I then loop back to the center of the mobs and hit demon Bestial Rage then start my attacks Demon Sunder, ToP (depending on mob difficulty I may save it), Armageddon, Untamed Wrath, (back to tiger) surf... However sometimes I hit Bestial Rage right as the BM stun and get not chi. Now I can't use some of my skills that require chi and I have trouble keeping aggro. The BM, trying to help with aoe stuns, actually made it more likely that DDs will pull aggro and die.

As a BM I used to always stun as often as I could. One reason was to trying to get mobs to stay around the bb but thats a falicy since most ranged mobs don't stun and will still run. Once I started pulling on the barb I realized I didn't want my BMs stunning right away. Save it for (if) a DD pulls aggro or gets in danger. Now I'll ask my BMs not to stun for the first 15 seconds (until after my arma) or if playing on my BM I ask if the barb wants me to stun or does he want the chi from Bestial. Some BMs think I'm crazy when I ask this so I was wondering what other Barbs prefer.

Blaxton - Raging Tide

I always hit Bestial Rage immediately before or after Invoking at the pull or just before Roar, then sometimes I will Sunder out there too. Then back to BB, BM stuns>HF, I stand up Arma, Untamed Wrath (I got that from reading one of your posts c: Too stupid to come up with it myself), then Bestial Rage, then some combo of Sunder, Surf, Frighten, Auto-Attack spamming until everything is dead.

I don't get the sweet Demon Sunder perma-crit for Arma though... and I can see how a BM stunning right away would interrupt that combo. Even during FC pulls at lower levels... having a really good BM and good aoes lowered my repairs, but I'd have no chi for the next boss/pull. xD

Bobobejumbo - Raging Tide

Personally I Invoke, then Beastial Rage. Cast Roar then frighten, by then i'm at full chi. Then I sprint back to the BB slab.

If there are ranged mobs in the group i'll run beyond the BB slab and ask that the BM stun the ranged mobs in the Zhen location, then I'll bring the melee mobs back in.

This way the ranged mobs have now aggroed onto the seeker and not me, so i can Slam them into the vortex without having to chase their *****.

Redmenace - Heavens Tear

I've always just sat at the end of the lane, and waited for the mobs to arrive. Once the 3rd one starts hitting on me, I invoke, and then hit bestial rage. By the time invoke runs out, I usually have all the mobs on me (and 3 sparks from the hits via Rage). I'll Solid Shield if needed, and run the mobs back to the BB. Once they all come into a clot near BB (and at this point hopefully the BM stuns em while they're clumped up) I Roar, Sunder and Bramble Rage.

There's usually not much left after that in the first few levels, and I can usually keep aggro for a few hits after that on the entire group (until the mag classes throw down big AOE hits).

I auto attack in cat form with Bestial rage until I have 3 sparks again (and by that time my aggro has worn off and everyone else has 'em) - run back out to the head of the lane and await the next bunch.

Freaks some clerics out ("WTH - has he gone AFK?") but once I explain it goes smoothly.

R8, 17k hp (I have an extra R8 Egg-on-a-stick with HP shards in it, and some nice Magic rings with 12-14 vit in 'em for days like that)

RedMenace

MrSyko - Raging Tide

I invoke, roar, bestial rage, then sunder, and frighten before I even pull back to the squad. By the time I get back, I have enough chi to arma and still gain chi back after the bm stuns the mobs. Worst case scenario, I always have my apoth ready for that free 1.5 sparks.

Sakubatou - Sanctuary

MrSyko - Raging Tide wrote: »

I invoke, roar, bestial rage, then sunder, and frighten before I even pull back to the squad. By the time I get back, I have enough chi to arma and still gain chi back after the bm stuns the mobs. Worst case scenario, I always have my apoth ready for that free 1.5 sparks.

That'll help you lock down aggro, but it really cuts into the time you have to kill the mobs. A barb spending 30 seconds to pull and get a head start on aggro while 4 DDs do nothing but wait for him to bring the mobs back can really hurt the squad in the later levels when you aren't always finished killing before the next wave. 3 mins between waves and you're spending 1/6 of it establishing aggro. I can see the plus and the down sides there.

Bobobejumbo - Raging Tide

Sakubatou - Sanctuary wrote: »

That'll help you lock down aggro, but it really cuts into the time you have to kill the mobs. A barb spending 30 seconds to pull and get a head start on aggro while 4 DDs do nothing but wait for him to bring the mobs back can really hurt the squad in the later levels when you aren't always finished killing before the next wave. 3 mins between waves and you're spending 1/6 of it establishing aggro. I can see the plus and the down sides there.

Isn't it 2 mins between waves... b:question

MrSyko - Raging Tide

Sakubatou - Sanctuary wrote: »

That'll help you lock down aggro, but it really cuts into the time you have to kill the mobs. A barb spending 30 seconds to pull and get a head start on aggro while 4 DDs do nothing but wait for him to bring the mobs back can really hurt the squad in the later levels when you aren't always finished killing before the next wave. 3 mins between waves and you're spending 1/6 of it establishing aggro. I can see the plus and the down sides there.

You bring up a valid point, but I only run with people I know and trust. All the 100+ people I run delta with are geared well enough that those mobs die very fast. Worst case scenario is maybe 2-3 mobs left before next wave.

P.S - I get agro in less than 30 seconds b:surrender

XylolyX - Heavens Tear

My combo is pretty similar to the rest, I guess.

I am usually at full chi bar at all times so I usually wait until the first two mobs are hitting me, then I run to the middle of the mobs, invoke, Bestial rage, frighten, Sunder, surf, run to the group...by that time Sunder is cooled off so I Sunder again.

I rarely use roar as it's ridiculous to reset aggro after I've already Sundered and frightened. It's a great chi builder if the mobs aren't hitting me fast enough tho, or if I've forgotten to hit bestial rage.


Dangit, forgot to answer the original question:

Yes, I like it when the BM stuns mobs. It doesn't bother me at all as it buys the other DD some casting time, or the aoe DD some time to target "increased life" mobs or "magic resistance" mobs (which is what I cast my BoA onto when I'm archering in there.)

Sakubatou - Sanctuary

Bobobejumbo - Raging Tide wrote: »

Isn't it 2 mins between waves... b:question

You ish right. My main timer, honestly, is a friend I run with has her fashion change with the waves and I thought it was on a 3 minute timer but its a 2 minute wardrobe change lol.

On my BM I use Bolt cd as my timer, on my barb vacs make a good timer. Thought those were both 180 seconds but couldn't remember. I see its 2 minutes now.

Bobobejumbo - Raging Tide

Sakubatou - Sanctuary wrote: »

You ish right. My main timer, honestly, is a friend I run with has her fashion change with the waves and I thought it was on a 3 minute timer but its a 2 minute wardrobe change lol.

On my BM I use Bolt cd as my timer, on my barb vacs make a good timer. Thought those were both 180 seconds but couldn't remember. I see its 2 minutes now.

I track the quest in there and on the last 10% or so of HP on that waves boss I keep an eye on it. So when he dies my brain says "odd numbers, 23 seconds" or "even numbers, 52 seconds", according to what the time is (odd and even being the minutes place on the timer and seconds being well, what the seconds place was at when boss died lol)

This way I know when it's time to break away from some of the later waves that still have stragglers and prepare for the next bunch.