In Diablo III Ultimate Evil Edition being a Barbarian usually means you’ll be the tank of the party (the guy who soaks up the damage and attention of enemies). Being the first line of defence, you’ll want to be sure you have the best armour possible to ensure your foes don’t get a good crack at the rest of your party. Here, we’ll take a look at the best possible way to suit up your Barbarian.
Protecting your head is a good idea in any walk of life, let alone when you have all sorts of evil creatures wanting to bash it in. Andariel’s Visage will protect your noggin efficiently whilst giving you a whole heap of bonuses to boot. You can start searching for this helm at level 60, and wearing it will give a very nice 5-6% boost to your attack speed. You’ll also gain a generous +150-200 poison resistance and a chance on every hit to release a Poison Nova that deals 100–130% weapon damage as Poison to enemies within 10 yards. In addition, the helm will grant you a further 15-20% damage increase on one of the following skills – Physical, Lightning, Cold, Fire, Arcane, Poison or Holy. To make Andariel’s Visage even more desirable, a healthy boost to one of your Strength, Intelligence or Dexterity stats will be included, as well as one more random magical property. The only drawback of wearing this helm is that you’ll take somewhere between 5-10% more fire damage, so be careful if you know you’ll be entering an area where you’ll have fireballs raining down on you.
Spires of the Earth are the best bet to protect your Barbarian’s shoulders. You’ll have to be level 70 before you can begin searching for this armor, but the effects are worth it. Your Strength, Intelligence or Dexterity will be increased by 416-500 points, you’ll also gain 71-80 or 91-100 resistance to all elements in addition to 4 random magical properties. Spires of the Earth are actually part of a whole set of armor. If you wear 2 pieces from the ‘of the Earth’ set, Spires of the Earth will grant you an additional power or reducing your Earthquake cooldown by 2 seconds every time you kill an enemy with it. If you go for the whole set, you’ll also be able to cause an earthquake every time you land after using leap. The other pieces of armor in this set are Eyes of the Earth (Helm), Pull of the Earth (Gloves) and Weight of the Earth (Pants).
Whilst you may not associate big hulking Barbarian’s with shiny trinkets, they do in fact have a slot in Diablo III Ultimate Evil Edition to equip an amulet. Ouroboros will increase your critical hit chance by 6-6.5%, grant you 4 random magical properties and give you a healthy increase to Strength, Intelligence or Dexterity. If you aren’t quite at level 60 which is required to find Ouroboros, the Haunt of Vaxo amulet could be the one for you. It drops from level 31 upwards and comes packaged with a very nice ability that will summons shadow clones to your aid when you stun an enemy, once per 30 seconds. In addition you’ll also gain a boost to the usual Strength, Intelligence or Dexterity, three random magical properties and a guaranteed critical hit chance increase.
Immortal King’s Eternal Reign is a piece of chest armor that far outstrips its competition. 4 random magic properties, 3 empty sockets and the obligatory increase to one of Strength, Intelligence or Dexterity is only half of the story. Like Spires of the Earth, this is also part of a set of armor that will net you some very nice set bonuses. Wearing two pieces of the set will grant you +100 resistance to all elements and +10 maximum fury only for Barbarians. Increasing the number to three will also give you two more barbarian only effects; fury generation increased by 2 and gain 500 life per fury spent. Add a further fourth piece to your Barbarian and your Call of the Ancients ability will no longer have a set time until it ends, the ancients will stay with you until they are defeated.
Your barbarian will need a tight grip around the hefty arsenal of weapons available to him, so protecting his hands is vital. The Immortal King’s Irons are a good place to start when looking at gloves. Not only do they work in a set with the Immortal King’s Eternal Reign mentioned previously, but they have some pretty nice bonuses in their own right too. You can start searching for them at level 60 and they will bag you an increase to one of the 3 normal stats (Strength, Intelligence or Dexterity), 4 random magic properties and a critical hit chance increase in addition to the set advantages mentioned previously. Pull of the Earth gloves are also a good bet on their own or as a set with the Spires of the Earth mentioned before.
Bracers are next on the list when suiting up your Barbarian and Strongarm Bracers are the first we’ll take a look at. At a level 60+ drop, you can expect some nice bonuses and they do not disappoint. Knocking back your enemies with your barbarian can be a lifesaver at times, and with these bracers equipped enemies that are hit by a knockback will be 20-30% more susceptible to damage for 5 seconds when they land. A critical hit chance increase, an increase to one of Strength, Dexterity or Intelligence, a guaranteed increase to Vitality (one increase is better than the other) and two more random magical properties round off a very nice piece of armor. If you are looking for something a little more protective for your barbarian however, the Reaper’s Wraps may be what you desire. In addition to a whopping eight random magical properties, you’ll also gain at least 25% more health from health globes when dropped by your enemies. Unlike the Strongarm Bracers that will come as a drop from an enemy, the Reaper’s Wraps will require you to find the plan for them, enabling the blacksmith to craft them and you’ll also need to be level 70.
The Ring of Royal Granduer should be top of your list when looking at rings to equip in Diablo 3 UEE. 2 random magical properties, a guaranteed life per hit boost, guaranteed attack speed increase and a boost to one of the normal 3 properties in addition to reducing the number of items in a set needed for stat boosts by one make it the go to ring. You can start searching for this as early as level 12, but the higher the level you are, the more desirable the ring becomes as it scales with your character’s level.
Choosing a belt and pants for your barbarian should be a straightforward choice. The Immortal King’s Tribal Binding belt and Weight of the Earth pants will not only give you the set bonuses described before, but each come with a plethora of their own bonuses too. Combine these with the Immortal King’s Stride boots and your barbarian will be hacking its way through enemies with ease.
Have you got any Hints and Tips for using the Barbarian Class in Diablo 3 Ultimate Evil Edition? Let us know in the comments below!
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