Created on 25th January 2019

Original Guide Previously at

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/d3/topic/20770947212

Fjord Cutter and Bracers of Destruction created in 2.6.7 were suggested by the community for this build at

http://barbarianbuffproposals.strikingly.com

Expected Changes and Tests in 2.6.7

Istvan’s blades will be replaced with Fjord Cutter and Echoing Fury/Sun Keeper/Pig Sticker/A Shield

New Bracers of destruction

D3 planner link that you can use: https://www.d3planner.com/569585686

Note that all three variations of the build can be found in the link above. Thanks to Basshead for these d3planner builds.

Leap with fire, unleash ice, obliterate all in the frozen hell

I-INTRODUCTION TO THE BUILD

This build is aimed at utilizing Seismic Slam-Permafrost as the main damage dealer. It utilizes 5 Pieces of Might of the Earth Set (MOTE), 2 Pieces of Immortal King Set or 2 Pieces of Crimson set for pushing purposes and Fjord Cutter and Echoing Fury (After 2.6.7) or 2 Pieces of Istvan’s Blades (Pre 2.6.7) combined through the Ring of the Royal Grandeur in the cube. I cleared 119 (CC Zodiac variety) with 1800 paragon, Sasguash cleared 112 with 1300 paragon. Someone in China cleared 118 with it. Felix cleared 124 (CC variety instead of IK) with 2200 paragon. Storm cleared 121 at 2150ish paragon (he utilized crimson instead of IK). Archael cleared 135 with CC variety replacing BoM with Zodiac and PoC with Mortics in cube. Currently, we don’t know its cap potential.

Note from the author:

This is probably the only guide that I will ever write but I love this build and have been playing a form of SS build since S4. The suggestions here are the outcomes of game play from many seasons. Of course, you can always find something to improve.

I am adding a build selection rubric considering there are couple of variations to choose from (details are at section XIV-Alternative Build Options)

Paragon Tier MOTE6P IK2P CC2P IB Fjord+Echo. Fury BoM Zodiac PoC Mortics Fury Shoul. Stats Low X X - X - X - - - X AD=IAS>STR or CdR Low-Mid X - X - X X - X - - CdR>AD>IAS or STR High X - X - X - X - X - CdR>AD>IAS or STR

Note: All build combinations use Fury of the Vanished Peak and Royal Ring in cube. The armor slot in the cube will be as shown in the table above.

II-NOTATIONS

AD: Area damage

CHC: Critical hit chance

CHD: Critical hit damage

IAS: Attack speed increase (sheet value)

SS: Seismic slam

MOTE: Might of the earth

IK: Immortal king set

CC: Craftable crimsons set

IB: Istvan’s blades

LpF: Life per fury spent

LpH: Life per hit

DR: Damage reduction

CdR: Cooldown reduction

CoE: Convention of elements

PoC: Pride of cassius belt

OROTZ: Obsidian ring of the zodiac

III-NEEDED WEARABLE ITEMS

5 Pieces of MOTE set Immortal King Belt and another armor piece from the immortal king set or Crimsons craftable set belt and another set armor piece. After 2.6.7 Fjord Cutter and Echoing Fury. Pre 2.6.7 Istvan’s Blades (Dual wield sword set) Bracers of Destruction Traveler’s Pledge and Compass Rose set Band of might (More defense) or Obsidian Ring of the Zodiac (Glass Cannon)

Note:

With patch 2.6.6 You can use 2P Crimsons craftable set instead of IK pieces. Find more details in Alternative Build Options section.

With patch 2.6.7 You can use Fjord Cutter and Echoing fury instead of Istvan’s Blades. Istvan’s blades are still a great place holder while obtaining good gear.

IV-NEEDED CUBE ITEMS

Fury of the Vanished Peak Fury of the ancients shoulder piece, or pride of cassius, or Mortics, or Bracers of Destruction (depends on your setup) Ring of the Royal Grandeur

V-STATS NEEDED ON ITEMS

In this build we are trying to maximize our attack speed and our area damage in IK variety while CdR and AD when CC is used instead of IK for pushing.

Therefore,

Helmet: STR / CHC / SS damage increase, Vitality Gem for IK variety. If 2P Crimson is used Diamond Gem. Boots: STR / VIT / All Res / SS damage increase Bracers: +X% Increased Cold Damage / CHC / LpH Gloves: CHC / CHD / AD / IAS for IK and CdR for CC variety. Rings: CHC / CHD / AD for IK or CdR for CC variety. Amulet: STR / +X% Increased Cold Damage / CHC / CHD (Elemental and STR can be swapped if a primal or ancient is used with a high STR value). Belt: STR / VIT / All Res / LpF for IK or % Life for CC variety Body armor and leggings: STR / VIT / All Res (or elite damage reduction) Both Swords: STR / IAS for IK or CdR for CC / AD Shoulders: STR / VIT / ALL RES for IK variant, CdR for CC variant / AD

Notes on secondary stats:

Crowd control reduction on amulet and helm is always beneficial in this build

% reduced melee and ranged damage reduction are favourable stats along with physical resistance

If you are not a very high paragon player, it is almost always better to use rubies in the chest and pants. If you are +3k, 4k paragon player, you can opt for diamonds instead.

Added Note Post Patch 2.6.6:

If you go with 2P crimsons set (CC), you want to max out the CdR stat followed by AD and IAS or RcR for defense.

VI-LEGENDARY GEMS

Bane of the trapped (SS permafrost will proc this always no matter how far, BIS)

Bane of the stricken (Without this RG fight will be an eternity long)

Zei’s Stone of Vengeance (More detail regarding the interaction between Zei’s, No Escape and Bloodshed will be explained later). With patch 2.6.7 there are more gem options for this 3rd gem. Whether you want to fight in melee distance or ranged, you can select Gogok instead of Zei’s.

VII-ACTIVE SKILLS

Diablo III Skill Calculator - Barbarian Build and customize the active skills, passive skills and skill rune variations for the Barbarian.

Call of the Ancients, Together as one rune if 2P IK is used (fury shoulders in cube). If 2P CC set is used, Fury of the Ancients.

War Cry, Veteran’s warning rune if 2P IK is used. Ignore pain, Ignorance is bliss or Ironhide if 2P CC is used.

Battle Rage, Bloodshed rune or Swords to ploughshares for extra healing

Wrath of the berserker, Insanity rune

Leap, death from above rune

Seismic slam, Permafrost rune

VIII-PASSIVE SKILLS

Ruthless (MUST)

Rampage (MUST)

No Escape (MUST)

Bloodthirst (Optional if you can regenerate life in some other way) Boon of Bulkathos if CC variety is used. If healing can be achieved in other ways, this 4th passive must be Boon of Bulkathos.

IX-FOLLOWER

Enchantress: Focused Mind for 3% Increased attack speed for a little more juice.

or

or Templar: Any configuration you like

X-HOW TO PLAY

When you start a rift, you follow your skill executions as follow from 1 to 4 (very straight forward build)

Pop Call of the Ancients: They will provide 50% DR and through the cubed fury of the ancients shoulders, they will build your fury. If you have a good deal of IAS in your stats, your ancients will attack very fast and build fury for you. Don’t forget to recast this skill at least once more right when you are at your highest attack speed (Berserker+Istvan 5 stacks+if speed pylon is used) as this skill snapshots your attack speed at the moment of casting. This will make the ancients hit faster and build fury faster. Pop War Cry: War cry will provide you 20% bonus armor and 30% dodge chance, a crucial amount of dodge chance to give you the chance to regenerate your life through hits, kills and LpF Pop Battle Rage: Bloodshed rune will sum all the huge crits dealt by your SS and translate those into damage explosions 20 yards around you (more will be explained about this later). Leap once: This is critical. When we leap we proc band of might, which provides us 80% DR for 8 seconds. Coincidentally, this duration matches with the armor bonus provided by the MOTE 4P bonus. Therefore, you leap once and then you slam for 7 seconds. Then you leap to a proper location again to deal the maximum damage. More explanation will be given later how far away you need to slam from.

Notes: You pop Wrath of the Berserker only at elite encounters and you try to utilize oculus procs as much as possible. Oculus procs always supersedes and takes priority over the slams from distance.

Note for CC Variety Gameplay:

As your CoA is not permanent, ignore pain is crucial in your survival so try to aim for +60% CdR. This amount of CdR provides significant uptime for your CoA, which builds constant fury for you.

XI-FROM HOW MANY YARDS SHOULD YOU SLAM?

The following case study is carried out on my SS setup:

Diablo III Tarasbulba Level 70 barbarian

I assumed my paragon to be 800 (higher paragon will amplify the damage significantly) and carried out a DPS analysis considering 4 cases:

Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 1 Mob 5 Mobs 10 Mobs 15 Mobs

As you can see in the graph here (2.6.6)

Patch 2.6.6 D3planner analysis

No Escape (active above 15 yards), Zeis (active at every 10 yards up to 50 yards) and Bloodshed (Active within 20 yards) interact and amplify the damage dealt between 15 and 19 yards. This is your fighting distance when you face a group of mobs, which gets ridiculously higher the more paragon you have. If you are fighting a single mob or a rift guardian without ads, you slam as far as 50 yards (somehow D3planner does not show the damage increase correctly considering Zei’s).

Please note that Zei, No Escape, Ruthless and Trapped are all multiplicative damage buffs within their own category. Therefore, they can amplify the damage output greatly if you can manage the distance properly.

Since there are various options to choose from (as outlined with the table on top), below are the simulated DPS analyses carried out on 20 mobs being hit from various distances.

BS-stands for Bloodshed

OPKS-stands for overpower killing spree (Zodiac versions have Mortics in cube not PoC, that is a typo. However, for simulated DPS mortics do not bring anything extra but only DR and LpF. So the figures are correct for the build. Note that Zodiac variety requires a high paragon value in order to give up the DR of BoM so at lower paragon values, it may be challenging to play. Then, one can go with the next best one based on this graph.

Patch 2.6.6 D3 Planner analysis

XII-SOME TIPS FOR KEY ELEMENTS OF GAMEPLAY

When you are fighting a single enemy, you may occasionally run into fury problem. In these cases, try to receive some damage from them as long as you can regen it. This will help build your fury to kick starts your slams.

As another fury build alternative (if there is no poison pool etc), you can leap on the single mob and slam a bit this will build your fury fast. Then you can leap away to shoot your slams.

For rift guardians with adds, fury is not a problem as those mobs will hit you no matter what. This will build your fury.

Apart from these tips, your ancients should provide you with a good enough fury regen

You can only survive if you can slam fast enough and spend fury fast enough.

You want resource course reduction in your paragon to be able to slam more. However, this will nerf your LpF healing. As a result, you need as much IAS as possible.

You can only survive if you leap at every 8 seconds. You forget this and you are dead.

When running from one mob group to next (if your leap is on cooldown), Traveler Pledge and Compass Rose will provide you 50% DR while moving so this brings another DR layer for alternative situations.

Note that 4P bonus of the MOTE set is a DR that scales with more main stat (STR). Therefore, we are trying to capitalize on that. As a result, higher STR means higher damage and higher DR.

Also as a final tip, this build requires a slow game play style. You leap from mob group to mob group while slamming backwards. This will make the mobs follow you and work like a crowd control. Also, you need to watch for Arcanes, frozens and other explosive damage that can kill you. You evade these as much as possible so you need to be engaged in the gameplay (pretty fun when you get used to it).

XIII-SAMPLE GAME PLAY FOOTAGE

You can see a sample game play after Patch 2.6.6 here. The first is my MOTE 6-IK2-Istvans character (more user friendly build for beginners), the second is Storm’s MOTE6-CC2-Istvans build (more pushing oriented build, need more experience and skill). The 3rd Archael’s 128 clear with MOTE6-CC2-Istvans Zodiac replacing BoM and Mortics replacing PoC in cube.

2.6.6 Mote 6-IK2-Istvans

2.6.6 Storm’s Mote 6-CC2-Istvans variety

Video made private

2.6.6 Archael’s 128 clear MOTE6-CC2-Istvans-Zodiac Replacing BoM and Mortics replacing PoC in cube

2.6.7 MOTE6-CC2-Fjord Cutter-Echoing Fury-Pro-Slam-Maxed CdR with Gogok instead of Zei and BoM instead of Zodiac, 80% uptime, GR120 (1st test video with imperfect gear)

So leap 16 yards away and keep slamming bois.

XIV-ALTERNATIVE BUILD OPTIONS

Ultimately, people may opt for Frostburn instead of Fury of the Ancients shoulder in the cube (or Lut socks and Earthen might as alternative fury build tools). I found that Fury of the Ancients shoulder is the most consistent option.

High CdR variants for pushing Some other setups might be derived from the main setup through high CdR values and Pride of Cassius belt used in conjunction with Ignore Pain-Ignorance is bliss/or iron hide. In one alternative (Pre 2.6.6), you could drop royal ring and use CoE instead with the same skillset except instead of WC, you use IP. With patch 2.6.6, there is an even stronger high CdR variant: Royal ring and Crimsons craftable set belt and pants may be utilized (PoC in cube). Instead of bloodthirst, boon of bulkathos can be used. For CoA rune fury of the ancients should be used. High CdR will facilitate permanent ignore pain while crimson set translates the CdR to damage multi. with RcR to damage reduction. This option cleared 121 at 2100 paragon. However, this variety has fury starvation problem occasionally and downtime for CoA and WotB. It has higher DPS potential but it has moments of vulnerability than the main build. This can be adressed as Archael’s modification: Replacing BoM with Zodiac and PoC with Mortics in cube. Currently, this version cleared 128 with almost permanent berserker and CoA. Definitely not a first time user friendly but a go to for pushing.

Some, especially Hardcore players , may choose to utilize IK boulder breaker instead of Istvan Blades to have permanent Wrath of the Berserker. This is also a solid build almost the same as this build. However, at higher grift levels, slow hitting IKBB will not regen your life as fast as needed. This will be remedied with cubing Mortics bracers instead of fury of ancients shoulder piece in cube. Then, you have to select Fury of ancients rune for CoA rune. Mortics will provide equal toughness values while providing significant LpF needed for MOTE6-IK4 with IKBB. As a result of added LpF, you can choose another passive instead of bloodthirst (Nerves of steel for hardcore or tough as nail for even more armor)

If you are comfortable for your healing, you can replace WarCry with Overpower / Killing Spree for extra 8% critical hit chance, this will give you about 10% increased damage (Reference: Nubtro). Or you can replace battle rage / Bloodshed with OP-Killing Spree if you want to fight from as far as possible without needing to gauge your distance. I will be trying this variant later on

XV-REFERENCES

I don’t own this build. It is nothing new and similar builds have been used by players such as:

-Nubtro

-Henry

-CC123

-Serro

-Siladil

-Blackarrows

-Sasguash

-Storm

-Felix

-Ulmaguest/Archael

-And many other players that I cannot remember. We can update the reference list further later on.