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War Cry Singer Barbarian Build for PD2

War Cry Singer Barbarian Build for PD2

One of the most unusual Barbarian builds in Project Diablo 2 which suprisingly does not use any Attack ability

War Cry
"Singer"
Barbarian Build

Updated for Season 2
 

Build notes:
May 27, 2021
-Build created

 

Build Overview

The "Singer" Barbarian is among the most unique and unusual builds in Project Diablo 2. Your character will not use any Attack Skills to deal damage but instead hit enemies with War Cry that benefits from multiple synergies and allows you to actually take down most of the enemies in the game. War Cries deal Physical damage so you don't have to worry about Immunities on most of the enemies, and farming your initial gear in Travincal or Maps, later on, is usually a piece of cake. You also gain increased benefits from all the other Warcries that offer massive offensive and defensive utility, making it a great build for team play as well. 

At the same time, as you mainly focus on the Warcries Skill Tree, you can get a lot of extra loot from Find Item with additional Skill levels. This makes it an amazing build for low-level gear farming, and it works just fine as a Starter build as well. Still, with end-game equipment, you should be able to deal with Uber Bosses and possibly even Diablo Clone (though we didn't get our gear to the level where it was within our reach)

You can also check our other Best Project Diablo 2 Builds 

 

 Pros  Cons
 High Physical AoE Damage allows you to smoothly farm most of the content  It's best to level up using a different Skillset and Items, for example, Double Throw
 High utility bonuses from Warcries and extra Loot   May not offer the excitement you normally expect from a Barbarian character - ruthlessly mauling things to the ground and such
 Great for teamplay thanks to tons of buffs with increased effectiveness  
 One of the most Unique playstyles for the Barbarian class   

 

Skills

ATTRIBUTES
  1. Strength - only what's needed to equip the recommended gear which most likely will be Arkaine's Valor with 165 Strength requirement
  2. Dexterity - only for gear requirements (possibly nothing will go here)
  3. Vitality - all of the remaining Points should go into Vitality
  4. Energy - do not any Points into Energy

COMBAT SKILLS

As mentioned previously, you are not going to use any of the skills here. You may want to take Leap however for extra mobility on Maps which should somewhat compensate for the lack of Enigma (it's still a viable option but it isn't our top recommendation for this build)

Skills:

  1. Bash [1/20] - prerequisite only
  2. Stun [1/20] - prerequisite only
  3. Leap [1/20] - used mainly for extra mobility and possibly to allow you to avoid big damage spikes  

COMBAT MASTERIES

You are looking to get all four Passive Skills from this Tree that actually benefits your character (as you are not using any weapons, the other ones have no effect on this build). You are going to spend just one Point in each of them, and have their effectiveness increases by +1 to All Skills on your Items 

Skills:

  1. Combat Reflexes [1/20]  - a Passive Skill that increases your Life, Stamina, and Faster Hit Recovery
  2. Iron Skin [1/20] - Iron Skin increases your Defense Rating, so again a very valuable Passive for this build
  3. Increased Speed [1/20] - increases Walk and Run Speed - again a Point well-spent
  4. Natural Resistance [1/20] - increases your Resistances to Elemental and Poison Damage, making it so much easier to cap the Resistances at 75
WARCRIES

The core Skill Tree for this particular build. You are literally going to take ALL of the Skills in this Tree, but with just the War Cry and its' synergies (at least some of them) are going to be maxed out. Picking up all the different types of Skills here, makes you an amazing team player with tons of bonuses

Skills:

  1. Find Potion [1/20] - prerequisite only
  2. Find Item [1/20] - an amazing Skill for looting extra Items. It's the best when used when leveling up your character and lower Tier Hell farming (for example Travincal) but if you find it worth your time, you may as well use it at higher levels 
  3. Grim Ward [1/20] - places a Totem on the ground that increases your damage and Attack Rating. It requires a corpse to use. Just 1 Point here is enough
  4. Howl [1/20] - War Cry's synergy. It fears enemies, having them run away a short distance from your character which doesn't really have any use in actual combat, but the damage bonus to War Cry makes it mandatory to pick at least 1 Point (sadly we can't max out all the synergy Skills)
  5. War Cry [20/20] - obviously, you are looking to get all the 20 Points here. War Cry deals Physical damage to enemies and stuns them. Thanks to numerous synergies and greatly increases Skill Levels, it actually is a devastating damage dealer with decent AoE
  6. Shout [1/20] - Shout increases your defense Rating. That's another War Cry synergy Skill, but you should spend just 1 Point here
  7. Taunt [1/20] - another Skill that boosts the damage of your War Cry. You should put a mandatory single point in here
  8. Battle Cry [20/20] - another of the War Cry synergies. It also reduces the monster's Defense Rating and Physical Resistance, increasing your damage but has to be recast frequently so it's up to you if you want to use it during fights
  9. Battle Orders [X/20] - increases the max Life, Mana, and Stamina of you and your party. After you get all the other Skills, just dump all the excess Points into Battle Orders
  10. Battle Command [20/20] - Increases all current skill levels for you and your party. With this, you can get +Skills, which is MASSIVE (you get +1 Skill Level for every 10 base levels in this, so it's worth maxing it out). Moreover, Battle Command also increases your Damage. 

 

Items

For this Build, you want to maximize the level of your Warcry abilities in order to increase your DPS but also gain increased Passive benefits from this Tree. You also need to have 75 All Resistances, over 2,000 Life (it should be easily accessible without even focusing on increasing it from gear), and preferably the 105% Faster Cast Rate breakpoint. 

HELMETS

Shako (Harlequin Crest) - a great all-around Helmet for this build which grants +2 to All Skills, extra Life/Mana and Magic Find making it one of the most popular Helmets in the game

45

Defense: 98 to 141
Required Strength: 50
Durability: 12
Required Level: 62
+2 to All Skills
+1-99 to Life(1 per character level)
+1-99 to Mana(1 per character level)
Damage Reduced By 3-5% (varies)
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to All Attributes

[BiS] Halaberd's Reign (Conqueror Crown) - simply the best possible Helmet. It's an exclusive Barbarian class item that provides a lot of extra Bonuses to your Battle Cry, Battle Orders, and the extra Faster Hit Recovery and increased Defense rating greatly boosts your survivability

Halaberd's Reign

Defense: 384 to 432
Required Strength: 174
Durability: 50
Required Level: 77
+140-170% Enhanced Defense (varies)
Replenish Life +25-33 (varies)
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 to Barbarian Skill Levels
+2-3 Masteries (Barbarian Only) (varies)
+2-3 to Battle Cry (Barbarian Only) (varies)
+2-3 to Battle Orders (Barbarian Only) (varies)
+ (+9 per Character Level) 9-891 Attack Rating (Based On Character Level)
Physical Damage Reduced by 8-12% (varies)

WEAPONS

[BiS] Heart of the Oak (Rune Word) - the +3 to All Skills, high FCR, and Resistances make it a no-brainer and the best option is to dual-wield them. They are best socketed in Flails for low attribute requirements and consist of Ko • Vex • Pul • Thul Runes

HOTO

+3 To All Skills
+30% Faster Cast Rate
+75% Damage To Demons
+100 To Attack Rating Against Demons
Adds 3-14 Cold Damage, 3 sec. Duration (Normal)
7% Mana Stolen Per Hit
+10 To Dexterity
Replenish Life +20
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
All Resistances +20-30 (varies)
Level 14 Raven (60 Charges)
WEAPON SWAP

Blade of Ali Baba (Tulwar) - you should be dual-wielding Ali Babas on your weapon swap, and switch to them when working Items from corpses (that's how Finding Items with that Warcry is usually referred to within the Diablo 2 community). Since those are purely Magic Find items, socketed them both with Ists

Blade of Ali Baba

One-Hand Damage: (25-35) To (56-77)
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 70
Required Dexterity: 42
Durability: 32
+60-120% Enhanced Damage
+ (2.5 Per Character Level) 2-247 % Extra Gold From Monsters (Based On Character Level)
+ (1 Per Character Level) 1-99 % Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based On Character Level)
+15 To Mana
+5-15 To Dexterity
Socketed (2)

AMULETS

[BiS] Mara's Kaleidoscope - one of the best Amulets in the game with +2 to All Skills and Resistances

Mara's Kaleidoscope

Required Level: 67
+2 To All Skills
All Resistances +20-30 (varies)
+5 To All Attributes 

[Alternative] Rare/Magic Amulets with + Barbarian/Warcries Skills are also fully viable and in most cases cheaper alternatives - unless you get extra Stats like FCR they may become the BiS items

Amulet Amulet

Required Level: varies
In Magic Amulets, look for:
+3 to Warcries
Faster Cast Rate


In Rare Amulets, look for
+2 to Barbarian Skills
Faster Cast Rate
Resistances
Attributes 

ARMORS

[BiS] Arkaine's Valor (Balrog Skin) - the best possibly Armor which you should aim to have with +2 to All Skills. It also grants a TON of defensive bonuses including FHR, Vitality, and a high Damage reduction bonus

Arkaine's Valor

Defense: 1295 to 1450
Required Strength: 165
Durability: 30
Required Level: 85
+150-180% Enhanced Defense (varies)
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+1-2 to All Skills (varies)
Damage Reduced by 10-15 (varies)
+0.5 Vitality per Clvl


 

Enigma (Rune Word) - even with the recent nerfs it's still one of the best Armor options for nearly all non-Sorceress builds. The extra Teleport charges can greatly boost your mobility but its' high cost may make you look for a cheaper alternative. It's best to socket your Jah • Ith • Ber Runes in an Archon Plate with Increased Defenses (or just look for a completed RW with that base) for a high Defense/Requirements ratio

Enigma

+25% Faster Run/Walk
Blink Charges 3/3 [Recharges 1 per 6 sec]
+500-775 Defense (varies)
+(0.5*Clvl)-(0.75*Clvl) (varies) To Strength (Based On Character Level)
Increase Maximum Life 5%
Damage Reduced By 4%
15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+(0.5*Clvl)-(0.75*Clvl) % (varies) Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based On Character Level)

RINGS

Raven Frost - used primarily for the Cannot be Frozen affix which is basically mandatory in every build. If you don't have it in the form of a corrupted modifier on another piece of equipment, you will need to use Raven Frost

Bul-Kathos Wedding Band

Required Level: 45
+150-250 Attack Rating (varies)
15-45 Cold Damage
+15-20 Dexterity (varies)
+40 Mana
Cold Absorb 5-10% (varies)
Cannot be Frozen

The Stone of Jordan - the most Iconic Ring in Diablo 2. It adds +1 to All Skills and extra Mana which is always useful for builds that rely on spamming Skills for damage

The Stone of Jordan 

Required Level: 29
+1 to All Skills
Maximum Mana to 15-20%
Adds 1-120 Lightning Damage
+20-40 to Mana (varies) 

Wisp Projector - the best Ring DPS-wise. Not only it increases your Skill levels, but also adds Lightning Absorb (which in many cases is the deadliest of elements in PD2), and allows you to summon Heart of the Wolverine that increases your and your party damage and Attack Rating

Wisp Projector 

Required Level: 76
Lightning Absorb 4-6% (varies)
8-12% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+1-3 to Spirit of Barbs
+1-3 to Heart of the Wolverine
+1 To All Skills 

GLOVES

Magefist (Light Gauntlets) - used mainly for the high FCR. If you already have it at 105% you may as well get a Rare pair with more defensive bonuses or some Magic Find Gloves like Chance Guards

Magefist

Defense: 24 - 25
Required Strength: 45
Durability: 18
Required Level: 23
+20-30% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+10 Defense
+1 To Fire Skills
20% Faster Cast Rate
Regenerate Mana 10-25%
Adds 6-36 Fire Damage

Trang'Ouls Claws (Heavy Bracers) - an alternative to Magefist that also grants 20% Increased Faster Cast Rate. They also grant extra Cold Resist if you are lacking it

Tran Goul Gloves

Defense: 67-74 (varies)(Base Defense: 37-44)
Required Strength: 58
Durability: 16
Required Level: 45
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Cold Resist +30%
+30 Defense
+10-15% Poison Skill Damage (varies)
+2 To Curses (Necromancer Only)
+20 to Meteor (4 Items)

 

BOOTS

Sandstorm Trek (Scarabshell Boots) - the best pair in terms of defensive capabilities. They increase your Hit Recovery speed and grant a bunch of Strenght and Vitality. You can try getting Ethereal ones as they also repair their durability

Sandstorm Trek

Defense: 158 to 178
Kick Damage: 60 to 110
Required Strength: 91
Durability: 14
Required Level: 64
+140-170% Enhanced Defense (varies)
20% Faster Hit Recovery
30% Faster Run/Walk
Attacker Takes Damage of 680-740 (varies)
+1-99 to Maximum Stamina (+1 per Character Level)
+10-15 To Strength (varies)
+10-15 To Vitality (varies)
Poison Resist +40-70% (varies)
Repairs 1 Durability Every 10 Seconds

War Traveler's (Battle Boots) - another great pair of boots if you want to increases your Loot by boosting the Magic Find stat. They also provide decent Movement Speed and extra core attributes for your character

War Traveler's

Defense: 140 to 162
Kick Damage: 39 to 80
Required Strength: 94
Durability: 34
Required Level: 47
+160-200% Enhanced Defense (varies)
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance Of Open Wounds
15% Chance Of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
Requirements -25%
Attacker Takes Damage Of 5-10 (varies)
+20 Maximum Stamina

BELTS

[BiS] Arachnid Mesh (Spiderweb Sash) - no other Belt in the game even gets close to Arachnid Mesh for this Barbarian build. The extra Skills and FCR makes it truly the best in slot item

Arachnid Mesh

Defense: 119 to 138
Potion Slots: 16
Required Strength: 50
Durability: 12
Required Level: 80
+90-120% Enhanced Defense (varies)
Slows Target by 20%
+1 To All Skills
+10-20% Faster Cast Rate (varies)
Maximum Mana 5-10% (varies)
Level 3 Venom (31 Charges)

CHARMS

  1. Annihilus - the best Charm in the game which is mandatory (at least at some point) for every single build in the game. It grants a lot of Vitality, Resistances, and +1 to All Skills
  2. Gheed's Fortune - if you are looking to boost your MF stat that's the way to go. Even if you are not playing a purely MF character, it's always a great idea to use this Charm for some extra Loot
  3. Hellfire Torch - the best Large Charm which adds bonuses to all Skills for a random Class (obviously, get one for a Barbarian), Resistances, and Vitality
  4. Grand Charms - These should have +1 to Warcries. Fill your inventory with those. For the secondary stats, you can look for FHR, Life, or MF 
  5. Small Charms - can be used to get all the missing Resistances, and possibly extra Life and Magic Find stats

MERCENARY

We recommend picking up Act 2 Defiance Mercenary for extra damage mitigation bonuses. Depending on your playstyle and equipment, it may be primarily used for extra Mana Regen via Insight Aura on a Weapon

  1. Insight Rune Word in Ethereal Mancatcher - Insight provides extra Mana Regeneration and decent DPS. If you feel that you don't need that, you can also equip an Infinity Rune Word or some other high DPS Ethereal Spear to boost your Merc's DPS
  2. Fortitude Rune Word in Armor - makes your Mercenary nearly immortal. As a budget alternative, you can also use Duress or Stone Rune Words which, to some extent, also work fine
  3. Steelrend Gloves - for massive damage bonus and Crushing Blow. You can also use any other IAS/Life Steal Gloves
  4. Andariel's Visage - one of the best Helmet for A2 Mercs which boosts their Attack Speed and grants high Life Steal bonus
  5. String of Ears - used for their insane defensive bonuses
  6. Goblin Toe - if you have all the gear listed above, you shouldn't need any extra defenses on your Merc, so increasing his DPS with the bonuses offered by Goblin Toe boots is the way to go

 

END NOTE

This is the initial version of this Project Diablo 2 War Cry Barbarian build where we tried to include all of the important information on how to set up this character while keeping the guide as compact as possible. If we've missed something of importance, please let us know! 

If you have any Build requests, please post them in the Comments section below. We will be happy to cover your most requested builds in the future! Also, we hope that you have found this guide useful and informative. Also, we will be happy to receive constructive criticism that will help us improve our future work, so don't hesitate to give us your feedback. 

Pictures used in this article are the intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment.