Diablo 2 Resurrected: Ladder 2 - War Cry Barbarian Build Guide

D2R Ladder 2 launched over a week ago and I've enjoyed playing through the changes. The Terror Zones and Sundering Charms have helped shake up the metas for builds and where to farm. A lot of players have enjoyed this because they were bored using the same cold sorc or hammerdin builds and farming the same areas for 20 years. 

Credit: Activision/Blizzard

As a result of these changes I felt compelled to play a build I've never played before in 20 years and that's when I came across the War Cry "singer" Barbarian. The Diablol youtube video inspired me to try this build for myself. I came across a build guide on maxroll.gg from macrobioboi. I'm not one for following others' builds blindly, but I mostly followed his guide with a few tweaks to meet my playstyle and here's what I came up with. 

For leveling you can follow his guide mostly to a T. It's the same leveling guide you'd see from any creator for any class. I will say I struggled mightily leveling a Barb. I had to join public games to get carried at multiple points because Barb is extremely weak at lower levels but others can at least benefit from your shouts. 

Always ensure you put enough points in strength and dexterity to equip your gear as you go, and don't lose track of the attributes your items are giving you because you could end up trying to swap gear and suddenly can't equip it because you're replacing something with strength on it. All other points go into vitality so you don't die often. 

Leveling/Budget Gear: 

• Helms: Nadir (Nef+Tir) then Lore (Ort+Sol) is typical progression for helm. If you get lucky and find a Barb specific helm with 2 sockets then Lore can carry you through the end game. I couldn't find a good socket base so I ran peasant's crown through Hell until I found an IK helm. 
• Chest: Use whatever you can find until you get a 2 open socket base to build Stealth (Tal+Eth). I always run Stealth while leveling any class, while continually upgrading it as I find new bases.
• Weapons: Use whatever melee you find for double swing while leveling. Once you swap to War Cry you need FCR gear. Dual Spirit (Tal+Thul+Ort+Amn) is your first goal once you switch to the main build. Since Barb can dual wield 2 handed weapons, you have way more options for early Spirit bases. I used 2 bastard swords, though the re-sell value is 0. 
• Gloves: Any gloves with defense, life, resists will do. Once you swap to War Cry you'll want Trang-Oul's Claws or similar FCR gloves. If survivability is a problem it's ok to use something with life and resists instead.
• Belt: Always try to to upgrade belts early and often from 4 to 6 to 9 to 12 potion slots. I got very lucky this ladder and got a Gloom's Trap in Nightmare, which carried me through Hell.
• Boots: run/walk speed, life, resists are always what you want on boots. Aldur's and Nat's both provide this if you're lucky. There's also plenty of yellows that can roll with good stats. I struggled this ladder and couldn't find good boots until I was almost through hell when some yellow demonhides dropped. 
• Jewelry: Rings and amulets wear whatever you can find. Prioritize life, resists, mana, attributes, and FCR. MF doesn't hurt either. You'll always want an amulet with +1-2 barb skills or +2-3 war cry.

End Game Gear: 

• Helm: If you don't find a GG Lore base with 3x +2-3 in it, then Shako is your next best option. Until you get Shako you can run Immortal King's Will Helm or Arreat's Face. I ran IK helm all ladder because I never found a good Lore base or a Shako. I put 2 Ptopazes in it for extra MF.
• Chest: There's several end game options before you get rich enough to afford an Enigma. I ran Stealth in a high defense base until I found a 3os diamond mail and built Myth (Hel+Amn+Nef). This gives +2 barb skills and I ran it through the end game just fine. Other options are Viper Magi for resists or Skullder's Ire for MF.
• Weapons: You'll want to transition from dual spirits to dual Heart of the Oaks (HotO) (Ko+Vex+Pul+Thul) once you can afford it. If survivability is a problem then run Ancients' Pledge (Ral+Ort+Tal) or Stormshield in your offhand but I found damage to be my limiting factor as I could survive just fine. Note the runes for Ancients' drop from freeing the soldiers in the frigid highlands in A5. For HotO base you want a 4os flail ideally and you're aiming for an all resists roll of 40. 
• Backbar: run dual ali-babas with MF jewels or ists in them. This will get you 400+ MF. Try to remember to swap to back bar before using your find item skill.
• Gloves: At ~120 FCR I found myself shouting my max mana within seconds so I transitioned away from Trang's gloves to Chance Guards. You can upgrade chancies twice to vambraces (Tal+Shael+Pdiamond then Lem+Ko+Pdiamond) for the extra defense. 
• Belt: While Arachnid Mesh is the best end game belt ever, I found myself preferring to be an MF barb so I used Goldwrap upgraded to a battle belt. 
• Boots: War Travelers are best in slot here. Until then you'll want rare boots with defense, run/walk, resists, energy/mana, life, and/or MF. I ran my yellow demonhides until war trav's dropped for me. Sandstorm Treks are also very good in end game if you don't want MF. 
• Jewelry: SoJ, Mara's, and Bul-Katho's are best in slot for just about every class but they are super rare and expensive. This ladder is the first time I ever had SoJ and Mara's drop for me in 20 years. Next best thing are rare or crafted jewelry with FCR, resists, life, mana, and attributes. I utilize jewelry to help max out my resists, FCR, MF, and anything else is a bonus. For amulet always ensure you have +1-2 barb/all skills or +2-3 war cry on it. 
• Charms: Same as any end game you want annihilus, torch, and gheed's. War Cry skillers are nice but not necessary. While leveling I usually try to utilize charms with FHR, life, all resist, single resist, or MF. 

Attributes: As always enough points into strength and dex to equip gear. Then put points 60/40 in vitality and energy. 

Typically you'd want all points in vitality but when I tried that I was completely mana starved with this build because War Cry takes so much mana and many casts to kill elites/bosses. By level 90 you should have base life ~1400 and base mana ~415 prior to BO.

Skills: 

Combat Masteries- put 1 point into stamina, speed, iron skin, and natural resistance. 

Combat skills- put 1 point into Leap. 

Warcries- Point 1 point into find potion, 1 point into find item, and 1 point into grim ward. Put 1 point into Shout and Battle Command. Max out War Cry, Battle Cry, Taunt, and Howl. Put all remaining points into Battle Orders.

Merc: 

I struggled using A2 merc because they are also a melee range, physical damage character. Instead I swapped to A1 bow merc (you can use fire but my friend was a fire sorc so I went with cold). 

For weapon you want to use an insight (Ral+Tir+Tal+Sol) in a 4os bow, matriarchal or grand matron being the best base options. 

For helm start with Nadir until you find something like Andariel's Visage, Crown of Thieves, or a 3os ethereal elite base (armet or demonhead or bone visage) to make Wisdom (Pul+Ith+Eld) in. I found an eth 3os bone visage and made Wisdom which is doing well.

For chest you can use anything with good defensive stats until you find a good elite ethereal base (wire fleece or diamond mail or great hauberk) to make either Treachery (Shael+Thul+Lem) or Smoke (Nef+Lum) in. I found an eth 2os wire fleece to make Smoke in. Duriel's shell is another good chest option.

Note: you'll want socket bases that require less than 150 strength.

For playthrough, magic finding, and trading guides please look at my past blog posts. They are largely unchanged but I want to fine tune a few things that go with this build and this ladder theme.

Barb rotation:

1) Every few minutes, pop your battle command-shout-battle orders in that order.

2) Utilize Leap to avoid groups of mobs as you can jump over them and knock them back. You can also jump gaps and walls in most areas. I use Leap like I would teleport. It can get you into combat and out of trouble if used properly.

3) When engaging in combat ensure your warcry buffs are up then start with battle cry to debuff all enemies around you. Spam war cry until you start to kill things. If you're in a tough area use a corpse to build a grim ward. This will slowly fear everything around you and also make them take more damage (very handy in cows or other packed areas).

4) Once everything is dead swap to your backbar and spam find item on corpses.

Note: ranged mobs are dangerous, especially those that deal physical damage like archers, so ensure you leap to those first and war cry them to stun them. Leap around from archer to archer spamming war cry if you have to.

Terror Zones: 

Target farm the TZ's. These areas are mostly level 90 in Hell and drop elite items. This is the most bang for your buck and you'll get lots of uniques, set items, and elite socket bases.

Sunder Charm: 

I actually tried to run the bone break physical charm and found myself getting destroyed by ranged enemies. Instead I took it off and just avoided physical immune mobs. 

Overall I give this build a B grade. I was able to easily farm keys, some lvl 80+ zones, and most TZ's but this is a very niche off-meta build, requiring very good gear to survive & deal damage. Sorc and Paladin completely destroy this build but it was a fun non-meta build to play. I was able to self find all my gear, as well as make trades to get a full Tal's set for my friend's sorc.