Claw barb guide

Rawrgh - Raging Tide
Rawrgh - Raging Tide Posts: 6,790 Arc User
edited January 2015 in Barbarian
Look at your barb.

Now look at me.

Now back to him

Now back to me.


Sadly, he isn't me, but if he stopped using lady's dual axes and switched to 5 aps w/ claws he could tank like me.


Look down, back up, where are you? You're in a TT with the barb your barb could tank like.

What's in your hand? Back at me, I have is an inventory with those nirvana crystals you love. Look back, the crystals are now gold mats.

Anything is possible when your barb tanks like a man and not a lady, I'm on a boat.






Note: this guide is not made to debate about the effectiveness of the claw barb. This is not made to convince people to switch to claw barb if they don't feel like they should. This guide is for two things mainly, to help people who do want to go claw build, and to present the pros and cons to people who are considering it. This is not to bash people who choose to follow another build. Also, I do not consider myself an "expert" or such of this build, but there are no other guides I know of so I decided to help out a bit.


Why should I go claw barb?

A barbarian built to use fist/claws has advantages that a barbarian built vit heavy or str heavy does not have. With the right gears your damage per second can be astronomically higher than a vit or str barbarian. You will be able to solo instances and in a squad you will help the boss go down faster. This is useful in instances such as twilight temple, nirvana, and city of abominations. You are able to score very high in the (now removed) nein quest event as well as the celestial tiger event. It also helps in tanking, If you are buffed with bloodpaint you are able to give yourself an additional source of healing, two infact as triple spark gives you 20% hp recovery, with 5.0 aps and 14k hp you can you can recover 2800 hp every 15 seconds. You also gain 3 seconds of invincibility during triple spark, which can be used to resist certain attacks such as powerful magic attacks, Illusion lords one shot skill (recommend you use AD though) and others.

So far so good but there are some disadvantages that need to be addressed.

You are sacrificing a very large amount of vitality in order to gain the dex required for claws. As a result your HP will drop significantly. Also, in situations where the claws are used, nirvana or TT, you will likely have 2 evasion ornaments, as a result your mdef will suffer. If your gears aren't good enough you may not be able to tank delta. TT3-3 may also be very complicated for you until you are able to improve your gear. To reach your old level of HP you will need to refine your gears much higher as well as use better shards.


Pros:
  • High DPS
  • High score in celestial tiger/more orbs in CoA
  • bloodpaint and triple spark healing
  • able to solo instances and farm very effectively
  • High spike damage in PvP due to high crit rate


Cons:
  • Lower HP
  • -interval gears are expensive
  • Needs higher refines
  • Most likely wont be able to pull a catapult in TW
  • PvP MAY be harder depending on the situation
  • Lower armageddon damage




When should I go claw build?

CLAW BARB IS AN ENDGAME BUILD!


I cannot stress that enough. The majority of the gears you need will not be available until 99/100, such as TT99 gears and nirvana legs. Until then it is recommended that you remain as a pure vit barbarian. By stating for claws early on you are just making it more difficult to farm your TT gears, complete your BHs, and tank FC. If you stat early you will merely make early game hard while not gaining any advantage in return as you will not have any -interval gears.


Now when you are at the level for claws, grab a restat note and remove enough points from vit and put them into dex so you are able to equip your claws. It is recommended that you at least have 2.86/3.33 by the time you switch, do not switch until you have some good claws/fists you'll be using for a while such as lunar claws, nirvana claws, TT100 fists. So the absolute earliest you could restat is at level 95 when you can have lunar cape, lunar claws, and TT90 gold wrists.


What gears will I need?



-interval gears of course. Although just to prevent any confusion I'll outline a simple build that you can follow to reach 5.0 aps.

http://pwcalc.ru/pwi/?char=2df53e1d4a8520ad

Now naturally there can be modifications made to still have high attack speed. This is just a basic outline, but what you'll want to make sure you have is


Lunar claws/TT100 fists/G13 Nirvana claws: -0.10
Nirvana legs: -0.05
TT99/Nirvana wrists: -0.10
Two piece of TT99 HA: -.05
Two piece of TT99 LA: -.05
Lunar trophy cape/Lunar cape: -.05

You can also get either Love Up and Down or Pan Gu, Creator tome for an additional -.05 if you do, you can choose to either enjoy having a base of 4.0, or remove one of the above -.05, for example you could ditch the two pieces of TT99 HA and go full nirvana, or you could exchange your -.10 weapon for a G15 nirvana weapon with -.05.



Now one of the main questions is how should you go about getting the TT99 HA and LA bonuses. Any combination of gears that gets all 4 is effective, like having TT99 HA chest and boots, and LA belt and wrists. My recommendation is to get the HA wrist and chest, and to get the evasion necklace and belt. Now my reason for this is you are able to get higher HP from the higher refine bonuses on HA gears, and that you won't be using the LA ornaments for PvP. As such you can keep your full HA for PvP with mdef ornaments.



What? Why won't I be using them in PvP?


But? I see all those BMs running around with fists/claws in PvP and they do great!


The thing is, those are BMs. They have stuns, leaps, and cyclone heel. They have techniques for making their target stay in place while they attack them. If you participate in PvP you might OCCASIONALLY break out your claws for an irksome barb that just wont die, but 99% of the time you will have your axe/hammer out. This build is for PVE, and should stay as such.

PvP isn't out of the question though. You are still a beast in PvP, your armageddon can still hit very high, and you now have a much higher crit rate. With demon onslaught, some + crit gears, lvl 11 A/H mastery you can get up to 60% crit rate, and depending on your weapon that can stack with zerk/god of frenzy. You will be much squishier though, I suggest you keep a good amount of defense charms and apothecary on hand.


Other things recommend to get

So now you have 5.0 aps, there are a few things that you should get as well that can make your PvP/PvE life easier.


A charm. If you're soloing TTs or w/e then this can come in huge help. They are expensive but are worth the investment. I lose about 200k charm soloing TT3-2, but I get on average 3 minister stones worth 1.2mil each (on RT) as well as a chance for a sorcerrer's soul or an neck gold, both worth about 5mil each (on RT)

Defense charms. These are mostly for PvP. You'll find with the HP loss you need to be more careful in PvP/TW.

A new genie. Your focus with your genie has changed a bit. You don't need a boost to your aggro generating abilities (alpha male) and you'll need to focus on somethings you cant cover in a solo run that your cleric might have taken care of.

Recommended skills: Absolute domain, solid shield, adrenaline surge, cloud eruption, holy path, earthquake (you wont be using alacrity of the beast to cancel), earthflame, tree of protection (be careful of making yourself tick), fortify, and even others that I'll add when I think of.

Level 11 skills. Remember that having a 5.0 attack rate amplifys any bonuses you get to your attack.

Level 11 poison fang. I know I said lvl 11 skills but this one I definitely had to mention. It gives an extra 20% wood damage to your attack, and when you're using fist/claws this bonus is HUGE. This is what helps you keep up with the BMs and their fancy weapon mastery.


And now for the last part:

Why not just make a BM?

You will hear this a lot, and it is a valid question.

Yes, you lose out on marrows, sprints, stuns (although not too useful for instances such as TT/nirvana), and bell. Well there are a few advantages that you get over BMs such as:


Higher HP per vit, this will be especially noticeable if you decide to use vit stones.

Higher constant move speed, you move faster than a BM does since a BM's sprint only lasts a few seconds while yours doesn't end.

You never have to go looking for barb buffs, while a BM may have to go looking for a barb to buff him before he starts a TT solo, you don't have to worry about that. You also don't have to worry about the buffs running out.

Armageddon, hey PvP still exists and there's nothing like a good 20k + hit from armageddon.

Solid shield, this genie skill is godly for soloing TTs and for good reason. It has a short cooldown, low energy cost and with a good str genie can give up to 55-60% damage reduction during the duration.

Demon onslaught, just an epic skill, go up to a boss, triple spark, use onslaught (can be cancelled to save a few precious seconds) quickly switch to claws and attack, watch the bosses HP drop.

For the two people who PMed me:

  • Triple spark
  • Switch to axes
  • Click on beastial onslaught
  • Like, half a second later, click on claws

EDIT: Due to a recent patch this no longer works.


It will probably take a bit of practice to get the timing down

Less competition, events like nein quest and celestial tiger will all have several 5.0 aps BMs fighting to get high scores in their class, but for a claw barb there will be much less competition.

Beastial Rage, gives an amount of chi (5-8 depending on the level of the skill) whenever you take a hit, great for maintaining chi for perm spark on bosses that can keep you from perm sparking (TT3-x bosses, nirvana bosses)


Advise on which form to use when and differences in strategy

The general rule of thumb when using one form or another is to keep in mind the strength of both weapons. Fist/Claws are good for solo enemies with high HP (bosses, elite mobs) and Axes are good for groups of enemies as well as mobs with lower HP. Also remember that you can switch to tiger form if you are unable to tank something in normal form. If a boss proves too difficult you can always switch to tiger form. You'll sometimes find that a boss that you couldn't tank earlier is now possible, or even easy, now that you have 30% more hp, 60-80% more pdef, and access to frighten and invoke.

The main thing to remember is that your role is the same. You need to escort your squad to the boss, and then tank it and bring it down with as many people staying alive as possible. Your reactions to situations should be the same just executed in different manners. 90% of the time as long as everything goes well the layout of the run should be approximately -> run through the mobs, I advise tiger form for this in a squad, normal form if solo -> get to the boss, normal form if possible, after all it's what you restat for.


There are a few things to get adjusted to though.

You aren't able to use alacrity of the beast now. Get earthquake on your genie, and alternate using earthquake to cancel magic attacks and using triple spark to resist the damage from them.

Yes you build up WAY more aggro than a traditional barb, however this aggro takes a couple of seconds to register, which is enough time for a squishy to get killed. I suggest starting boss fights by running up in tiger form, using flesh ream, then switching to normal form, triple sparking, and killing the boss.

For bosses with random aggro, AE, every boss in 3-x now, etc. have holy path ready. Generally you'll have such high DPS that as soon as the boss resets aggro and targets someone in your squad you'll get aggro back before it even attacks, but sometimes if you aren't positioned correctly it'll run off and sometimes it will run off as you are sparking, you'll need to be able to holy path over to the boss in this case.




Well, that's the guide, hope you enjoyed it and potentially learned something.


Note: this is not to debate the build or to claim that one build is better than another.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
"My understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. When it comes to the pain, I'm like any other bloke - I don't want to know."
Post edited by Rawrgh - Raging Tide on
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Comments

  • ItsAWolf - Archosaur
    ItsAWolf - Archosaur Posts: 464 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Thanks for this guide, I had been under the (false) impression I'd need Pan Gu / Love Up and Down tome for 5 aps. After seeing your example gears I recalculated what I had done and realised I didn't round 0.225 -> 0.2 before taking the inverse b:shutup

    Things seem a lot easier to accomplish now... I'll prolly restat at 95 if i can manage to get the cape + deicides by then. The TT 90 gold wrists shouldn't be too hard. That would get me to 2.86 aps when demon sparked if I am correct?

    As i duo most of everything with my cleric wife already, it seems like a good idea to start with interval as soon as possible (95) to speed things up considerably, or would the loss of HP be a real problem at that level? I'll be sticking to my Pan Gu poleaxe till 100ish, so at least I can convert the str I'd need for TT 90 to vit, until I reach lvl 100 of course, but then I'll most likely have less HP problems than at 95.
  • Sakubatou - Sanctuary
    Sakubatou - Sanctuary Posts: 4,001 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    I appreciate the guide, but have a few comments.

    First off, going claw isn't difficult it just is unpopular, so I liked that you started out defending claw barbs stating both their flaws and gains.

    I was going to say "do people really need a guide for a build designed for 99+ chars? The answer is yes and no. In the age or oracle noobs and hypered FCC idiots alot of people get to lvl 90 and THEN try to learn their characters. This will help them, except these are the same people that are inactive in the forums and vastly undereducated about pwi.

    Wouldn't a BM guide do?

    I guess what I'd want to see added is since some general guidelines of how to play a fist barb since tiger form/axes will still be used 90% of the time in pve. Fists are mostly useful when you have one high hp mob standing in place, ie bosses. So suggesting when to use human form, when to use tiger form, and some ways a fist barb would handle some scenarios differently than traditional barb, since they have more options but less hp. I see you addressed that a bit already.

    Second thing I might suggest adding a word or two on is the differences between sage fist barbs and demon fist barbs.

    And lastly, good guide but I'm wondering if there will be many changes needed in a month when Genesis comes out. I don't put alot of stock in rumors, but the may tweak aps someway or another.

    Edit: I'm very tired and kind of skimmed it. I'll reread it again tomorrow and maybe post more.
    Seven 100+ characters leveled the hard way. Free to play. Mystic, Psychic, and Wizard left to level. b:victory
  • Rawrgh - Raging Tide
    Rawrgh - Raging Tide Posts: 6,790 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    I appreciate the guide, but have a few comments.

    First off, going claw isn't difficult it just is unpopular, so I liked that you started out defending claw barbs stating both their flaws and gains.

    I was going to say "do people really need a guide for a build designed for 99+ chars? The answer is yes and no. In the age or oracle noobs and hypered FCC idiots alot of people get to lvl 90 and THEN try to learn their characters. This will help them, except these are the same people that are inactive in the forums and vastly undereducated about pwi.

    Wouldn't a BM guide do?

    I guess what I'd want to see added is since some general guidelines of how to play a fist barb since tiger form/axes will still be used 90% of the time in pve. Fists are mostly useful when you have one high hp mob standing in place, ie bosses. So suggesting when to use human form, when to use tiger form, and some ways a fist barb would handle some scenarios differently than traditional barb, since they have more options but less hp. I see you addressed that a bit already.

    Second thing I might suggest adding a word or two on is the differences between sage fist barbs and demon fist barbs.

    And lastly, good guide but I'm wondering if there will be many changes needed in a month when Genesis comes out. I don't put alot of stock in rumors, but the may tweak aps someway or another.

    Edit: I'm very tired and kind of skimmed it. I'll reread it again tomorrow and maybe post more.


    Well for a BM such as yourself you've more than likely been planning for fists since day one. Most BMs build for it and use them at lower levels. Not so with a barb who, as I addressed, should stay pure vit axe build up until 99+.


    I wouldn't say 90% of the time in PvE, keep in mind that bosses make up 80% (guess) of the difficulty of PvE instances. Mobs in TT aren't very difficult, nirvana doesn't even have mobs. Delta is the only instance where the difficult part are the mobs, and there are already several guides to tanking delta, but I'll add a note about it.


    Wouldn't a BM guide do? Well there are differences between a barb way of playing a claw char and a BM way, which I've already elaborated on some. And, like I said, BMs are usually planning for it from very early on as oppossed to restatting at a high level.


    I'll try to add some info about when to use which form, and the differences. You're right it is different and I'll try to elaborate on it (such as not being able to cancel with alacrity)


    For the second part, sadly I don't have an experience as a sage fist barb, if any would like to offer some info then that would be great.

    I'm pretty sure it's been confirmed that genesis wont be tweaking aps.

    Thanks for the feedback.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "My understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. When it comes to the pain, I'm like any other bloke - I don't want to know."
  • Axelire - Heavens Tear
    Axelire - Heavens Tear Posts: 286 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Contentwise, very good coverage.

    Tips from my own experience, which are largely a matter of personal preference:

    This may seem overly conservative to some, but I'd recommend to re-stat when you're able to attain 4.0 sparked and 12k HP buffed and standing.

    Like you pointed out, there may be squishes in squad who pull aggro at the beginning of a boss fight before you can establish aggro control.

    - If you're running up to the boss or self-pulling/catching, flesh ream>devour>stand to DD. I like to throw in a devour to take advantage of the no-miss glitch(?), its also when other squad members spark and when the BM HF.

    - If someone else is pulling and you're catching, you can try a different method. Spark standing as the boss approaches, alpha male, DD.

    I went with the ornaments for my LA pieces, if I'm ever able to afford an interval tome, I'll swap them out. At the moment, I have 4 ornaments on hot keys depending on whether I'm in true form or not. Its not ideal and it takes some getting use to swapping in and out quickly so as not to slow you down.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • Rawrgh - Raging Tide
    Rawrgh - Raging Tide Posts: 6,790 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Thanks for this guide, I had been under the (false) impression I'd need Pan Gu / Love Up and Down tome for 5 aps. After seeing your example gears I recalculated what I had done and realised I didn't round 0.225 -> 0.2 before taking the inverse b:shutup

    Things seem a lot easier to accomplish now... I'll prolly restat at 95 if i can manage to get the cape + deicides by then. The TT 90 gold wrists shouldn't be too hard. That would get me to 2.86 aps when demon sparked if I am correct?

    As i duo most of everything with my cleric wife already, it seems like a good idea to start with interval as soon as possible (95) to speed things up considerably, or would the loss of HP be a real problem at that level? I'll be sticking to my Pan Gu poleaxe till 100ish, so at least I can convert the str I'd need for TT 90 to vit, until I reach lvl 100 of course, but then I'll most likely have less HP problems than at 95.
    You could restat at 95, TT3-3 probably wont be on your agenda from 95 to 99 anyways, although you'll have some difficulties tanking delta.

    If you're going to restat at 95 I recommend that you make sure that you unlock the fourth (and last) OHT map before restating.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "My understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. When it comes to the pain, I'm like any other bloke - I don't want to know."
  • MrSyko - Raging Tide
    MrSyko - Raging Tide Posts: 515 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Great guide.

    I've been planning for dex for a while.

    My only issue is that I'm coming from vit build, so I try to keep as much hp as possible. The build I'm going for is about 4.36 aps sparked (which I'm told rounds up to 5 anyway). I'll be using Gorenox Vanity for a few reasons...

    - The dex requirement is lower than Deicides and lets me have a higher base vit.

    - The bonus of the Gorenox to recover 5% HP seems more appealing than the bonus on Deicides to lower max hp of the target.

    - The price of Gorenox is roughly half that of a basic set of Deicides.

    - Yes, Deicides give a vit bonus, but Gorenox give a str bonus, which helps in having more attack power to make up for lost -int.

    The only down side of the Gorenox I can think of is this:

    - Less -int on the fists than if I get Deicides.

    - Deicides have higher attack power.
  • Rawrgh - Raging Tide
    Rawrgh - Raging Tide Posts: 6,790 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Great guide.

    I've been planning for dex for a while.

    My only issue is that I'm coming from vit build, so I try to keep as much hp as possible. The build I'm going for is about 4.36 aps sparked (which I'm told rounds up to 5 anyway). I'll be using Gorenox Vanity for a few reasons...

    - The dex requirement is lower than Deicides and lets me have a higher base vit.

    - The bonus of the Gorenox to recover 5% HP seems more appealing than the bonus on Deicides to lower max hp of the target.

    - The price of Gorenox is roughly half that of a basic set of Deicides.

    - Yes, Deicides give a vit bonus, but Gorenox give a str bonus, which helps in having more attack power to make up for lost -int.

    The only down side of the Gorenox I can think of is this:

    - Less -int on the fists than if I get Deicides.

    - Deicides have higher attack power.
    Another disadvantage: you'll have to either get Love: Up and Down or Pan Gu, Creater, which will run about 250mil and 150mil respectively.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "My understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. When it comes to the pain, I'm like any other bloke - I don't want to know."
  • Knownase - Heavens Tear
    Knownase - Heavens Tear Posts: 6,959 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Nice sticky.


    b:victory
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    b:flowerHave a Techno Rave Flower!b:flower

    -Self-Proclaimed TW commentator of HT-
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    -You gained +10 coolness points for viewing this signature-
    -Master of Coffee-
  • Sakubatou - Sanctuary
    Sakubatou - Sanctuary Posts: 4,001 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Newest sticky! Grats.

    To cover some of my early responses. I have planned my barb build for fists since low levels. The goal was tankability with axe dmg build but to be able to use a single medium reset note to get to fists. My barb is lvl 98 so I was trying to give barb feedback to a barb guide.

    And the "why not use a bm guide" was mostly just me being a smartass. Most the interval/fist questions can be found there, but a barbs perspective is unique because they have to try to be available to tank and utilize kitty form.

    Maybe 90% was an exageration, and it depends on playstyle, but a majority of even a claw barbs life is spent in tiger form with axes.

    Maybe we can culminate a forum thread full of knowledge on different playstyle between demon fist barbs and sage fist barbs.

    And again. Grats on the sticky, good job.
    Seven 100+ characters leveled the hard way. Free to play. Mystic, Psychic, and Wizard left to level. b:victory
  • Fist_Mama - Harshlands
    Fist_Mama - Harshlands Posts: 237 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    great guide i have a barb and im leveling it slowly but i was just planning on using the gear from my bm but you say use the accuarcy onies which i dont have i have the HA ornies but would this be ok for a barb? http://pwcalc.ru/pwi/?char=1e996e4eb1189d23

    i just put the items in it but it has vit stones on the nirvana gear and some sapphire gems here and there but i can reshard some of it to fit a barb but do i need another accouracy ring? cause i noticed my barb misses alot
  • Rawrgh - Raging Tide
    Rawrgh - Raging Tide Posts: 6,790 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    http://pwcalc.ru/pwi/?char=f3382f4db52e1840

    This is with the items refined to +6 with your build.

    http://pwcalc.ru/pwi/?char=7bb365896ce334e2

    This is with full HA while using the two evasion ornaments with same refines. As you can see you actually get more pdef as well as HP, with a slight reduction in mdef.




    When I did a PvP build the HA build had better pdef and HP, a little bit lower mdef but the more the mdef ornaments were refined the smaller the gap got.


    It should be an effective build, not optimal, but effective. It really depends on whether or not you want to go and refarm TT99 wrists/boots.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "My understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. When it comes to the pain, I'm like any other bloke - I don't want to know."
  • Furries - Dreamweaver
    Furries - Dreamweaver Posts: 966 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    I have a few issues with this guide...

    Yes it is a guide and yes it does do a good job of explaining how to build a claw barb.

    the issue i have is... well this is likely to have more negative consequences than positive.

    the good part is that those who want to build claw can find this guide easily.

    the bad part is. this is stickied. which means every barb who reads this section of the forum will see "Claw barb guide".

    the fact of the matter is 5 APS is an unintentional exploit of the game. Everyone knows this, yes PWI allows it, but the fact is this isn't something that should be promoted.

    5APS is fine if your REALLY want to go that route. but i would HIGHLY discourage people from doing so.

    a 5 APS barb ins't going to hold aggro from a 5 APS bm or sin... so going 5 APS yourself doesnt fix the problem with you losing aggro to 5 other aps people anyways. Stop trying to be what your not.

    And most of all DON'T play the game as a rush to endgame...
    Endgame isn't where the fun is...

    PLAYING the game.. Leveling... doing quests. bh's

    thats where the fun is.
    if people get it in their head that:
    "Once i hit 99 i can change my build"
    they will miss out of everything the game has.

    be the best you can be at EACH lvl.

    killing lvl 80s with a lvl 60 is a lot more fun than killing lvl 90's with a lvl 100.
    Killing level 80's with a lvl 60 is a lot more fun than killing level 90's with a level 100.
  • Korsov - Heavens Tear
    Korsov - Heavens Tear Posts: 87 Arc User
    edited February 2011

    a 5 APS barb ins't going to hold aggro from a 5 APS bm or sin... so going 5 APS yourself doesnt fix the problem with you losing aggro to 5 other aps people anyways. Stop trying to be what your not.

    This depends on gear. For the most part, it's very hard to hold agro off a 5.0 sin. However, I know both 5.0 bms that I can hold agro off of as well as 5.0 bms that I can't hold agro off of. A 5.0 barb can throw devour or penetrate armor at the start of a fight to get 100% accuracy and if you have demon onslaught, cancel it at the start of every 3 spark for epic crit chance for 6 sec. Add in poison fang and a 5.0 barb can hold off a 5.0 bm, it just depends on how each one is geared.

    Also, going 5.0 on a barb is not all about holding agro again. 5.0 barbs are great for farming squads and it also allows me to solo quite a few things that I had no chance of soloing before. I think maybe you misunderstand that going 5.0 (at least for me) is not about some sort of ego thing where I wanted to be able to hold agro again.
  • Rawrgh - Raging Tide
    Rawrgh - Raging Tide Posts: 6,790 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    I have a few issues with this guide...

    Yes it is a guide and yes it does do a good job of explaining how to build a claw barb.

    the issue i have is... well this is likely to have more negative consequences than positive.

    the good part is that those who want to build claw can find this guide easily.

    the bad part is. this is stickied. which means every barb who reads this section of the forum will see "Claw barb guide".

    the fact of the matter is 5 APS is an unintentional exploit of the game. Everyone knows this, yes PWI allows it, but the fact is this isn't something that should be promoted.

    5APS is fine if your REALLY want to go that route. but i would HIGHLY discourage people from doing so.

    Are you like, not able to read?
    Note: this guide is not made to debate about the effectiveness of the claw barb. This is not made to convince people to switch to claw barb if they don't feel like they should. This guide is for two things mainly, to help people who do want to go claw build, and to present the pros and cons to people who are considering it.
    a 5 APS barb ins't going to hold aggro from a 5 APS bm or sin... so going 5 APS yourself doesnt fix the problem with you losing aggro to 5 other aps people anyways. Stop trying to be what your not.


    Hi my name is Furries, I've absolutely never played a claw barb before but I'm going to claim that they cannot compete with a 5 APS BM in DPS, and I'm going to claim that with no experience, with no calculations, with no logic, just something I feel is right.
    Why not just make a BM?

    You will hear this a lot, and it is a valid question.

    Yes, you lose out on marrows, sprints, stuns (although not too useful for instances such as TT/nirvana), and bell. Well there are a few advantages that you get over BMs such as:


    Higher HP per vit, this will be especially noticeable if you decide to use vit stones.

    Higher constant move speed, you move faster than a BM does since a BM's sprint only lasts a few seconds while yours doesn't end.

    You never have to go looking for barb buffs, while a BM may have to go looking for a barb to buff him before he starts a TT solo, you don't have to worry about that. You also don't have to worry about the buffs running out.

    Armageddon, hey PvP still exists and there's nothing like a good 20k + hit from armageddon.

    Solid shield, this genie skill is godly for soloing TTs and for good reason. It has a short cooldown, low energy cost and with a good str genie can give up to 55-60% damage reduction during the duration.

    Demon onslaught, just an epic skill, go up to a boss, triple spark, use onslaught (can be cancelled to save a few precious seconds) quickly switch to claws and attack, watch the bosses HP drop.

    Less competition, events like nein quest and celestial tiger will all have several 5.0 aps BMs fighting to get high scores in their class, but for a claw barb there will be much less competition.

    Beastial Rage, gives an amount of chi (5-8 depending on the level of the skill) whenever you take a hit, great for maintaining chi for perm spark on bosses that can keep you from perm sparking (TT3-x bosses, nirvana bosses)
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "My understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. When it comes to the pain, I'm like any other bloke - I don't want to know."
  • Vikapov - Sanctuary
    Vikapov - Sanctuary Posts: 27 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    I have a 5.0 demon barb and bm on same account.
    Barb is more vit build and has like 5k+ more hp and bm is strenght build.
    Same gear on same account offcourse. And i like playing barb more b:pleased
    Its so nice to down a mob with all crits XD
    Bm is more powerfull but squishy in same gear, i think if i restat the vitpoints to strenght on barb they will have the same damage not sure tho, anyone knows?

    I personaly think bm is better in squad farming and barb better in solo.
    For bh's they practicaly the same.

    I think this sticky is very good for new player barbs or barbs in the 80's who wanna switch to fists/claws. U will prolly fail horribly in squads when u go claws from the start, causing many ppl to QQ about fail clawbarbs XD (like in situations u go in with claws and cant hold aggro or they think your hp is far too low)

    Anyways nice sticky b:victory
  • appleyard
    appleyard Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Nice guide!:D

    I have 5aps claw barb with tt100 fists and I freaking love it. I'd never go back to traditional axe barb. Never imagined before that barb could be one of the best DDs in pve. Also running instances with 2 or 3 man squad bring a lot of coin. It's just awesome. go claw barbs b:victory
  • MrSyko - Raging Tide
    MrSyko - Raging Tide Posts: 515 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Another disadvantage: you'll have to either get Love: Up and Down or Pan Gu, Creater, which will run about 250mil and 150mil respectively.

    I wasn't gonna go for 5 aps. If I don't get an -int tome, then I'm still ~4 aps which I'm happy with. Also a lot cheaper to skip the tome. b:surrender
  • SQUISHKASS - Sanctuary
    SQUISHKASS - Sanctuary Posts: 269 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    I have a 5.0 demon barb and bm on same account.
    Barb is more vit build and has like 5k+ more hp and bm is strenght build.
    Same gear on same account offcourse. And i like playing barb more b:pleased
    Its so nice to down a mob with all crits XD
    Bm is more powerfull but squishy in same gear, i think if i restat the vitpoints to strenght on barb they will have the same damage not sure tho, anyone knows?

    I personaly think bm is better in squad farming and barb better in solo.
    For bh's they practicaly the same.

    I think this sticky is very good for new player barbs or barbs in the 80's who wanna switch to fists/claws. U will prolly fail horribly in squads when u go claws from the start, causing many ppl to QQ about fail clawbarbs XD (like in situations u go in with claws and cant hold aggro or they think your hp is far too low)

    Anyways nice sticky b:victory

    b:angry Skipping work eh?

    About restating just use the pwi calculator to compare approx dmg.
  • Man - Raging Tide
    Man - Raging Tide Posts: 1,410 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    I'm a claw barb ;) who has been beating all bms in celestial tiger event scorewise. Here are my comments.

    The Vit you lose pumping dext will be about 2k / 4k in tiger, not a scientific estimate.

    So if you plan on having 20k standing up anyway, it won't make too much of a difference. You lose hp, but gain Evasion, Critical hit, and Accuracy. The more hp you have the more evasion is effective i think.

    you can't use skills with claws, however you can do tricks like
    1. Sparking
    2. channeling bestial onslaught (+35% crit)
    3. Canceling the skill by switching to claw from axe.
    4. Enjoy 6 seconds of +35% crit, especially when coordinated with frenzy, heavens flame subsea etc.

    If targets want to sit still for you in pvp by all means use claws on them. Used with great effectiveness on assassins, tanks who want to sit still, anyone who thinks they can tank a demon spark etc. They wont be your bread and butter, but they will be your dps when other things fail.

    Then there is a trick to get into white tiger form with claws. Making you the best tank in the game. 5 aps + increased tiger health and defense makes you an unstoppable force to pve bosses. People tell me this is illegal though b:question

    I'd get at least 2.33+ sparked before you restat to this. 2.86 aps and you can almost be perm sparked.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • Rawrgh - Raging Tide
    Rawrgh - Raging Tide Posts: 6,790 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Then there is a trick to get into white tiger form with claws. Making you the best tank in the game. 5 aps + increased tiger health and defense makes you an unstoppable force to pve bosses. People tell me this is illegal though b:question


    There's a reason it wasn't mentioned, don't want someone to complain that they got banned because of this.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "My understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. When it comes to the pain, I'm like any other bloke - I don't want to know."
  • Furries - Dreamweaver
    Furries - Dreamweaver Posts: 966 Arc User
    edited February 2011

    Then there is a trick to get into white tiger form with claws. Making you the best tank in the game. 5 aps + increased tiger health and defense makes you an unstoppable force to pve bosses. People tell me this is illegal though b:question

    hell if i was able to use go kitty form and use devour with claws. i would be claw barb too...

    fact is i cant. i cant use any skills with claws. And i already have a fist bm who can so... yeah
    Killing level 80's with a lvl 60 is a lot more fun than killing level 90's with a level 100.
  • appleyard
    appleyard Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    like you need skills to dd/tank a boss huh?
  • Rawrgh - Raging Tide
    Rawrgh - Raging Tide Posts: 6,790 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    hell if i was able to use go kitty form and use devour with claws. i would be claw barb too...

    fact is i cant. i cant use any skills with claws. And i already have a fist bm who can so... yeah




    Then you are an idiot.


    As for me, I'll enjoy being able to use beastial rage and demon beastial onslaught.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "My understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. When it comes to the pain, I'm like any other bloke - I don't want to know."
  • Baalbak - Dreamweaver
    Baalbak - Dreamweaver Posts: 1,624 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    - edit: comment removed -
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Retired..
  • OMarvelous - Sanctuary
    OMarvelous - Sanctuary Posts: 339 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    Congrats on the stickage, nice guide.
  • Xnastyx - Lost City
    Xnastyx - Lost City Posts: 71 Arc User
    edited February 2011
    As a claw/fist barb myself, thats been out of the game for about a month due to bordum. was wondering if any other barbs know anything about this new up-coming gear in the next expansion. would start playing again if i could better my barb more...
  • Rawrgh - Raging Tide
    Rawrgh - Raging Tide Posts: 6,790 Arc User
    edited March 2011
    As a claw/fist barb myself, thats been out of the game for about a month due to bordum. was wondering if any other barbs know anything about this new up-coming gear in the next expansion. would start playing again if i could better my barb more...
    It sucks, it's overpriced and isn't even that good.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "My understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. When it comes to the pain, I'm like any other bloke - I don't want to know."
  • Emauryg - Dreamweaver
    Emauryg - Dreamweaver Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited March 2011
    I was wondering what is the quickest way to get the claw gear without using cash ?
  • Rabidmonky - Archosaur
    Rabidmonky - Archosaur Posts: 6 Arc User
    edited March 2011
    So, I'm trying to get the gear I will need for better aps, and I'm not seeing the - interval on any of the gear anymore. Am I missing something, or did PWI remove this because the 5.0 barb was almost 'cheating'?
  • Rawrgh - Raging Tide
    Rawrgh - Raging Tide Posts: 6,790 Arc User
    edited March 2011
    Huh?


    TT99 wirsts, two peices of TT99 HA and LA, nirvana legs, lunar claws, and lunar cape will still give 5.0 aps. The items still have - interval listed on them.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    "My understanding of women only goes as far as the pleasure. When it comes to the pain, I'm like any other bloke - I don't want to know."