Ignore Pain (Cooldown 30 Seconds): Reduce all damage taken by 65% for 5 seconds.
The most directly defensive thing in the Barbarian’s Defensive Skill list, Ignore Pain allows just that- and cuts incoming damage rather impressively. If you find yourself taking a lot more heat than you can withstand on a regular basis, you should consider picking up this skill. Also, if you’re about to fight a boss that brings no allies and the stun from Ground Stomp isn’t useful enough, you should probably pick this Skill.
Bravado (Cooldown 30 Seconds): Knockback all enemies within 12 yards and deal 50% weapon damage to them. Reduce all damage taken by 65% for 5 seconds.
Bravado gives you a way to get things off your back just as you start Ignore Pain- perhaps not the best way to start off this skill. If you’re really worried about things killing you the moment you reduce their damage by over half, you probably shouldn’t be fighting them anyways. Might be useful for protecting an ally by running up to them and then triggering it.
Iron Hide (Cooldown 30 Seconds): Reduce all damage taken by 65% for 7 seconds.
Iron Hide is a very useful Ignore Pain rune, expanding the length of time that the skill lasts for improved endurance. If it weren’t for the amazing utility of the later Ignore Pain runes, this would keep you golden for a long time- unfortunately for it, a lot of Barbarians are going to want the side effects a lot more than an extension of the main effect.
Ignorance is Bliss (Cooldown 30 Seconds): Reduce all damage taken by 65% for 5 seconds and gain 20% of the damage you deal as Life.
The first useful rider, and one that helps Ignore Pain deal with times of especially large damage- as well as letting you recoup from a position that incites you to use Ignore Pain in the first place, is Ignorance is Bliss. This handy little rune turns Ignore Pain into an amazing ‘panic button’ skill, emphasizing how much you really want to reserve Ignore Pain until you need it.
Mob Rule (Cooldown 30 Seconds): Reduce all damage taken by you and nearby allies by 65% for 5 seconds.
When you’re traveling in a party of three or four, it’s not unusual for the whole party to be near each other and still have more than once emergency situation at a time. Particularly handy if the rest of your party is squishy, Mob Rule is also useful when the enemies start pulling out prodigous area effect spells, or when your party runs across a group of Arcane or Bombardment champions.
Contempt for Weakness (Cooldown 30 Seconds): Reduce all damage taken by 65% for 5 seconds. 50% of that ignored damage is dealt back to the attacker.
Contempt for Weakness is an excellent option if you’re really good at drawing the attention away from your allies, or if you run without allies at all. It’s also a great way to make things even more ridiculous if you’re running with a lot of Thorns-type effects (damage to enemies that hit you). Even if you’re not, it’s a handy way to make sure that the thing that was just beating you into paste finds its position reversed.
