Guide BUILD - Wolf Barb

Introduction
This is a guide for a Werewolf Barb. The unique helm Wolfhowl makes this possible: Wolfhowl. This build is a focused on high life and high survivability. In wolf form as a barb you only have one attack other than basic: Feral Rage. This creates a lot of flexibility in your skill distribution as no combat skills are needed or usable in wolf form. This is a pretty simple build considering it doesn't require much, if any, hot key switching or skill changing. Just buff, cast wolf and start ripping apart the enemies. One important thing to note is that even though the barb can dual-wield, in wolf form only the main hand weapon will attack. This means the off-hand is purely a utility slot, such as shield or secondary weapon with useful mods not including damage.

Breakpoints
FHR Frames
This is based off werewolf FHR breakpoints, not barb
0% 7
9% 6
20% 5
42% 4 - Aim for this
86% 3
280% 2

IAS
The IAS calculation in wolf form is different than normal barb attacks, therefore this calculator is your best resource to determine your breakpoints: Calc
Just make sure you select 'Werewolf' after Barbarian and 'Feral Rage' for skill.

Stats
I went with a 2H weapon so I needed no dex for block. If you are using shield, adjust for max block

Str: Enough for gear (My highest is Wolfhowl @ 129)
Dex: Enough for gear
Vit: Everything else
Ene: None

Skills
Warcries
Howl: 1 for prereq
Battle Command: 1
Battle Orders: Max
Shout: Max

Combat Masteries
Increased Stamina: 1
Natural Resistance: 1
Iron Skin: Max
Weapon Mastery (whatever class you use): Max
Increased Speed: Whatever you have left (I did this for extra FRW because I had no tele)

Combat Skills
Leap: 1 (to get over obstacles and such without tele)

Gear
Wolfhowl is needed for this build, look to find the highest stats you can because there is a lot of variables. 3/6/6/6 is what you want, the rest of stats are just bonuses.

Helm - Wolfhowl
Can't make this build without it
Gloves - Anything
This is pretty open, I use crafted with IAS/LL/CB/Str/Life but Dracs, Steelrends, anything really will work
Belt - Verdungo's
I use this for the high +Vit and DR, the FHR and Life Rep are useful as well
Boots - Gores
30FRW, CB, OW, DS all good for this build
Armor - Fortitude
The +dmg and resist is very useful. Treachery and Duress both have their uses here as well
Weapon - Eth Up'd Hone Sundan
This is up to you, 1H/shield, 1H/1H and 2H all work here. You can use Beast for Fanat aura and +Lycan but I had an almost perf eth Sundan laying around I wanted to use.
Off-Hand Weapon: Doom/Azurewrath/Lawbringer
If you choose to go 1H/1H look for an off-hander that adds a useful aura like either of these
Shield - Stormshield
If you decide to go with a shield, the DR and block % is good
Rings - Ravenfrost / BK
You need CBF as usual, and the BK is helpful with a little extra life and +skill. Feral Rage is very mana cheap and offers LL itself so a leech ring isn't necessary. You can also use Wisp Projector for Oak Sage or HoW if you want.
Amulet - Highlord's / Mara's
I use Mara's and I'm at 73@resist with final build. It depends on what you need to finish your gear
Weapon Switch - CTA/Spirit
Max barb can gain from CTA is 3, so the +6 BO this setup offers is nice before the wolf cast. Alternatively you could use Lacerator on switch for CTC amp damage, this will give a huge boost against bosses.

Inventory
Torch and Anni as usual
Max/Ar charms
Psn/Ele dmg charms
Skillers just aren't as useful, so look for charms that add damage, psn/ele is helpful against PI mobs.

Merc
I chose to go with A2 Might merc with Obedience for the extra damage. This build will struggle with PI mobs so either A5 Lawbringer or A2 with Reaper's Toll will help with this. You can also go with A1 Faith merc or A2 Pride if you want to spend more on this build.

Strategy
Cast BC, BO, Shout and switch to wolf form. Feral Rage is the only skill you can use so just keep spamming it, the FRW+LL from it is nice and will make you a speed demon. There isn't much strategy involved here, just kill everything you see. You should have such high life, defense and LL that you won't get hurt much. PI mobs are your biggest issue, if you don't have a way to break the immunity or some ele damage, just skip them and move on. For bosses, I recommend using Lacerator until amp damage casts, or use a merc with a CTC decrepify weapon.

Conclusion
This build is simple and easy to play, with very high survivability. It can struggle to do high damage if you don't have decent gear, but it will tank it's way thru anywhere in hell. There's a lot of flexibility with gear, weapons, etc. Wolfhowl is easy to find (trav drops a lot) and the barb's combat mastery skills offer a chance to make up for the lack of damage or resist depending on your gear.

 

Excellent job on this amazing guide!

 

Hi thanks for the guide. I'll try it one day for sure (after the rift sin hehe)
Just a question : the hone sundan damage aren't too low ?
I know there CB and i think you reach good ias whit it ?
Tell me more plz about the damage output like versus a Diablo

Thanks for the guide and your answer.

 

Another good guide from you, Timmy. Definitely worth trying this build.

Have you tested Grandfather as weapon option?

Cheers.

 

The damage is decent, here's some screens of the the output. The inventory is basically all 100psn sc and 175 lc, nothing major. I'm considering putting 3 x ohm in the Sundan, which should put the damage at low-end botd level.

Yes, my first spec of this build used GF and SS. It was good also, but I ended up finding another GF and wanted to make a frenzy barb that used both. I had a botd warpike on this guy also, which was incredibly strong, but it's since been moved to my WW/leap attack barb.

 

I am not sure that grief pb will be better for this build, but also can be used for a single weapon, I played with my wolfbarb like a uber runner before with grief equipped. Grief is for sure the fastest weapon with decent dmg.Of course u can use a caduceus for more fpa but dmg is unusable