FWI
Member!
FWI DID NOT WRITE, EDIT, OR REVISE ANY SECTION OF THIS GUIDE. THIS GUIDE HAS NOT BEEN EDITED, AND WAS POSTED WITH WRITTEN CONSENT OF ITS AUTHOR, Asian_Menace.
I: Introduction
a) pro’s and con’s
b) Why a singer?
c) The Method behind the Madness
II: Outlining the build
a) Skills
b) Stat points
c) More stat tables…
d) Leveling
III: Items
a) but i'm poor ...
IV: PvM
V: Dueling
a) sorceresses
b) necro
c) assasins
d) paladins
e) amazons
f) barbarians
g) druids
VI: Disclamer & Special Thanks
Introduction:
The singer is one of the most unusual characters in the game; I mean for god’s sake, it’s a caster barb! Utilizing the war cry tree, it achieves insane stun length, stacked resists, insanely high life, and a really fast teleport and cast rate!
Pro’s and Con’s
Pros
Stacked resists with basic equipment
Insane stun length
Faster cast rate that rivals a sorceress
Insane amounts of life
Not the most expensive dueler in comparison to other builds
Decimates casters as well as other builds short on FHR
It’s a freaking caster barb!
Cons
Requires a lot of mana
Isn’t a 1hit kill build
Requires sometimes 20+ hits to kill (But they will be immoble for the 20 hits
)
You will drink mana pots a lot
Item dependent
Very skill dependent
You may be disappointed by the damage
Does not fare well against melee characters (unless you’re Raz)
Why a singer?
Well, I have recently built a singer after getting horribly bored of many other characters. The singer, for me, is just a fun and exciting character to duel with! You also get worshiped in team play because of your level 45+ battle orders.
Now I have never liked melee barbs; all you do is hack and slash, not very exciting in my opinion. Also, after playing many elemental sorceresses, I have grown bored of them, and I’m sure many of you have fared the same.
The last and my personal favorite point is that you get the satisfaction of owning 20k dmg fireball and 50k damage lightning sorceresses with a CASTER BARB! And that makes me feel good every time.
The method behind the madness
So, in building a singer, we are attempting to create the perfect caster vs caster build. With this, we need a character that can stack resists, keep up with teleing, and STOP people from teleing. We also need a character that does not need to go through extreme gear switching to adapt to different elemental builds.
Much like trapper assassins, as well as raz’s bomber, this build aims to go after a much neglected part of character building, Faster Hit Recovery. A singer’s war cry doesn’t do much damage on its own; however, you can keep someone in a perpetual stun lock easily, ending the duel.
In a singer also lies versatility. You have the freedom to teleport out of any bad situation you may come across, and your utterly insane life gives you a huge safety when you make a mistake.
Also, here's a quote from raz, a good one IMO, outlining the basic singer:
Quote:
Originally Posted by RazieL
The Singer is perfectly straight forward: Vitality, War cry & Synergies, and Battle Orders. It is a pure skill build and the epitemy of "TECH".
Outlining the build:
Skills:
As with any character, a singer requires select skills to do your bidding. Of course, certain skills take priority over others. This is your priority:
1: War cry
2: Battle Orders (One may argue to max this last, but for party play, maxing 2nd or even first is a grea idea)
3: War cry Synergies
4: One point wonders
Now for you noobs out there, let me tell you a little about each skill:
1- Warcry – This is our main damage skill, which will reach extremely high levels; level 40+.
At level 20, it does a mere 177-188 without synergies. Pitiful damage really, but the 4.8 second Stun length offsets that a little. With all synergies at level 20, we do 690-736 damage, a big improvement. However, with all gear on, all + skills, and battle commands on, we will be doing 1656-1702 damage.
The above number is a level 42 warcry, and for level 42, it does not do a lot of damage, however, The singer barb is not based around damage, it is based around another bonus provided by warcry: stun. At level 42, we are stunning for 9.2 seconds, an utterly insane length.
2- Battle Orders – This is the second ingredient that makes a singer so good. Battle orders is a warcry, so naturally, it will gain levels from all your equipment and GCs. With all gear on, as well as two warcry spears, you will have a level 48 battle orders, which increases life and mana by a whopping 176%, and it will last for 8 1/2 minutes. This will push your life easily over the 6k mark. If you were to use all perfect life GCs and perfect equipment, you would have 9k life.
3 – Warcry synergies – Duh, max them for more damage. You wont use these skills to often, but the effects of battle cry can have some good effects on opponents, by completely decimating their defense and damage.
4 – One point wonders – Ahh, there are a few we will be focusing on: Shout can triple your defense, increasing your survival rate against melee attackers, Iron skin even further increases your defense, and natural resists, increases your resistances, giving you stacked resists.
Stat points:
Some basic tables on the barbarian:
Starting Attributes Strength: 30
Dexterity: 20
Vitality: 25
Energy: 10
Hit Points: 55
Stamina: 92
Mana: 10
Each Character Level Life +2
Stamina +1
Mana +1
Attribute Point Effect 1 Vitality point gives 4 Life
1 Vitality point gives 1 Stamina
1 Energy point gives 1 Mana
Now according to the above, we can come to the following conclusion about life/mana on a barbarian:
Vitality = INSANE
Energy = NOOB
A common mistake in building singers is that people put over 200 into energy. This is totally unacceptable, as 200 into energy is only 200 mere mana, which is the equivilant to 3-4 warcry casts :/. So why in the world are you going to waste 200 into energy when you can turn that into a whopping 800 life?!?!?
So naturally, stats will play out as below:
Strength – Base (If you are using enigma)
Dexterity – Enough to use gear (enough to use your wizzies)
Vitality – ALL!!!! (You should have about 470 BASE when you are done)
Energy – none (With two wizzies, you’ll live…)
More stat tables…
Barb FHR table
9 frames = 0
8 Frames = 7
7 Frames = 15
6 Frames = 27
5 Frames = 48
4 Frames = 86
3 Frames = 200
This build will be trying to hit the 86 breakpoint, which is acceptable, and easily achieved.
Barb FCR table
13 Frames = 0
12 Frames = 9
11 Frames = 20
10 Frames = 37
9 Frames = 63
8 Frames = 105
7 Frames = 200
NOTE: Barb table is the exact same as a sorceress!!!
We will be going for the 8 Frame breakpoint, which is easily achieved without any equipment sacrifices whatsoever. One may opt to hit the 7 Frame breakpoint, which creates insane speed at the sacrifice of damage and other gear.
Leveling the character:
You will remain quite unactive in the early portions of the game. You will have no main attack other than a sub-par basic melee hit. You will find yourself frequently casting battle orders and shout for your party and sitting out the rest of the game.
When leveling, work on synergies for warcry and put one point in shout until you reach level 24. Once you hit level 24, max battle orders and put one point into warcry. NOTE: warcry will be too weak at this point to serve a purpose. It will be mainly used for stunning enemies so your party can finish them off.
Keep working on synergies and battle orders until you can equip your wizzies. Now, you will not have any giant mana problems, and you can proceed to max warcry. At this time, you may put one point into Iron skin and natural resists.
In terms of gear to use, equip anything that gives + skills until you hit some of the final gear choices.
Items
The singer is very item dependent, as warcry is very weak without + skills. I will list gear choices from best to worst. I will not list cheaper options, as this build is dependent on items to function well.
Weapons:
Dual Wizardspikes (Hel’d) – These will net you stacked resists, insane mana, and an inane 100% FCR. I hel’d mine, however, the superior choice is socketing each with a 15 resist/-15% requirements jewel, however, you may find them to be extremely expensive.
Dual Hotos – The +3 skills and resists are good, however, the lack of a substantial mana bonus is painful.
Helm:
Arreat’s Face – It took Raziel to knock some sense into me to use this. +2 skills, resists, strength/dex bonus, and the all important, 30% Faster Hit Recovery. Any barb without this is a sitting duck for mindblast and other spells. Socket it with an UM rune or shael rune for better effect.
Shako – Lacks FHR, which hurts a lot. Other than that, the +2 skills, damage reduction, and insane mana/life bonuses are gravy.
Belt:
Arachnid Mesh – There is no substitute, the +1 skills is amazing, and the 20% FCR puts you at the 8 fps casting breakpoint.
Verdungo’s Hearty Chord – Good for the life and DR. Subpar to Arachs however…
Gloom’s Trap – Just for the mana. Use this as a last resourt.
Gloves:
Bloodfist – This is mainly for the FHR, however, the +40 life makes this good deal even better.
Frostburns – Just for the mana, however, it lacks important FHR.
Magefist/trang gloves – Mainly for the FCR, however, with Wizzies and Arachs, you will already have broken the all important 8 fps cast breakpoint, making the FCR worthless. However, if you are going for a 200 FCR singer (7 FPS breakpoing), you have to use one of these.
Boots:
Waterwalks – The + strength and dex make this boot reign king, however, the +65 life kicks all other boots of the cliff.
Sandstorm Treck – The + strength and dex mods are good, but instead of the +65 life waterwalks gives, these boots give FHR and nice poison resists. Better keep a pair of these in the stash.
Rings:
Stone of Jordan – Irriplacable for the +1 skill and the insane mana bonus
FCR/+ mana rings – If you are going for the 200FCR breakpoint, get one of these. If not, sojs are completely superior.
Bul-Kathos Wedding Band – You need mana provided by sojs more than the life provided by these. Use these as a last resourt.
Amulet:
Maras – Great for the +2 skills, +5 stats, and resists. Keep in stash against cold sorceresses who have that nasty Cold Mastery.
+3 Warcry ammy – I like to use this against everything but cold sorceresses. It makes for a good prebuff ammy as well. If it has +dex, mana, or FCR, all the better!
20% FCR ammy – Mandatory for the 200FCR build. If it has + skills on it, it makes it so much better!
Other +skill amulets work as well if they have decent mods.
Inventory:
Warcry Grand charms – Use a few FHR ones, preferably 3-4, and the rest can be lifers. If you aren’t that rich (like myself), use all plain
Anni – Duh… Stats, resists, and skills ^_^
Small charms – Small charms depend on preference. The best choice (although horribly expensive) is 9x 70/15’s. 20 life, 17 mana, or 5 resist Scs work fine as well.
But I’m poor
Well, for those unfortunate, there is another option, the 200% FCR option.
Have you ever seen a 200% FCR sorceress? Flying around the screen so fast that you can’t react? Well a singer can do this too, AT THE SAME SPEED!
Gear as follows:
Dual Wizzies (100% FCR)
Enigma OR Vipermagi OR Enigma (0-30% FCR)
Arachnids (20% FCR)
Trangs or Magefists (20% FCR)
FCR ammy (20% FCR)
FCR rings (20% FCR)
shako or FCR circlet (0-20% FCR)
Waterwalks (0% FCR)
Try to get as many GCs as you can get a hold of.
All this adds up to 230% FCR, so we can eliminate one item. If you are richer, use enigma instead of vipermagi for an insanely fast teleport. If you are poor, you may consider dropping Arachs or the FCR circlet.
With this build, you will be casting really fast, however, your damage will lack. Mana is needed to compensate for the lack of effectiveness of your spells
PvM
Once you are finished with the build, this character can stand in the middle of baal’s minions or the chaos sanctuary and never die. You will have over 6-7k life, and your warcry will stun monsters for 8-11 seconds.
However, because of the low damage, you won’t get too far on your own. You will be able to kill efficiently in normal and nightmare, however in the later acts of hell, your 2k warcry won’t get you very far without casting it an insane amount of times. In reality, you are more of a “party personâ€, because all of your skills save your allies from getting their asses kicked.
Your battle orders will increase life by 170%+, and hammerdins will jump with joy. Your warcry will let other melee characters hack and slash without worrying about getting chopped into bits. You are a tank for backfield casters, who are prone to attacks. People will love you!
However, don’t let the low damage discourage you, you own in the realm of PvP, especially against gay casters!
I: Introduction
a) pro’s and con’s
b) Why a singer?
c) The Method behind the Madness
II: Outlining the build
a) Skills
b) Stat points
c) More stat tables…
d) Leveling
III: Items
a) but i'm poor ...
IV: PvM
V: Dueling
a) sorceresses
b) necro
c) assasins
d) paladins
e) amazons
f) barbarians
g) druids
VI: Disclamer & Special Thanks
Introduction:
The singer is one of the most unusual characters in the game; I mean for god’s sake, it’s a caster barb! Utilizing the war cry tree, it achieves insane stun length, stacked resists, insanely high life, and a really fast teleport and cast rate!
Pro’s and Con’s
Pros
Stacked resists with basic equipment
Insane stun length
Faster cast rate that rivals a sorceress
Insane amounts of life
Not the most expensive dueler in comparison to other builds
Decimates casters as well as other builds short on FHR
It’s a freaking caster barb!
Cons
Requires a lot of mana
Isn’t a 1hit kill build
Requires sometimes 20+ hits to kill (But they will be immoble for the 20 hits
)You will drink mana pots a lot
Item dependent
Very skill dependent
You may be disappointed by the damage
Does not fare well against melee characters (unless you’re Raz)
Why a singer?
Well, I have recently built a singer after getting horribly bored of many other characters. The singer, for me, is just a fun and exciting character to duel with! You also get worshiped in team play because of your level 45+ battle orders.
Now I have never liked melee barbs; all you do is hack and slash, not very exciting in my opinion. Also, after playing many elemental sorceresses, I have grown bored of them, and I’m sure many of you have fared the same.
The last and my personal favorite point is that you get the satisfaction of owning 20k dmg fireball and 50k damage lightning sorceresses with a CASTER BARB! And that makes me feel good every time.
The method behind the madness
So, in building a singer, we are attempting to create the perfect caster vs caster build. With this, we need a character that can stack resists, keep up with teleing, and STOP people from teleing. We also need a character that does not need to go through extreme gear switching to adapt to different elemental builds.
Much like trapper assassins, as well as raz’s bomber, this build aims to go after a much neglected part of character building, Faster Hit Recovery. A singer’s war cry doesn’t do much damage on its own; however, you can keep someone in a perpetual stun lock easily, ending the duel.
In a singer also lies versatility. You have the freedom to teleport out of any bad situation you may come across, and your utterly insane life gives you a huge safety when you make a mistake.
Also, here's a quote from raz, a good one IMO, outlining the basic singer:
Quote:
Originally Posted by RazieL
The Singer is perfectly straight forward: Vitality, War cry & Synergies, and Battle Orders. It is a pure skill build and the epitemy of "TECH".
Outlining the build:
Skills:
As with any character, a singer requires select skills to do your bidding. Of course, certain skills take priority over others. This is your priority:
1: War cry
2: Battle Orders (One may argue to max this last, but for party play, maxing 2nd or even first is a grea idea)
3: War cry Synergies
4: One point wonders
Now for you noobs out there, let me tell you a little about each skill:
1- Warcry – This is our main damage skill, which will reach extremely high levels; level 40+.
At level 20, it does a mere 177-188 without synergies. Pitiful damage really, but the 4.8 second Stun length offsets that a little. With all synergies at level 20, we do 690-736 damage, a big improvement. However, with all gear on, all + skills, and battle commands on, we will be doing 1656-1702 damage.
The above number is a level 42 warcry, and for level 42, it does not do a lot of damage, however, The singer barb is not based around damage, it is based around another bonus provided by warcry: stun. At level 42, we are stunning for 9.2 seconds, an utterly insane length.
2- Battle Orders – This is the second ingredient that makes a singer so good. Battle orders is a warcry, so naturally, it will gain levels from all your equipment and GCs. With all gear on, as well as two warcry spears, you will have a level 48 battle orders, which increases life and mana by a whopping 176%, and it will last for 8 1/2 minutes. This will push your life easily over the 6k mark. If you were to use all perfect life GCs and perfect equipment, you would have 9k life.
3 – Warcry synergies – Duh, max them for more damage. You wont use these skills to often, but the effects of battle cry can have some good effects on opponents, by completely decimating their defense and damage.
4 – One point wonders – Ahh, there are a few we will be focusing on: Shout can triple your defense, increasing your survival rate against melee attackers, Iron skin even further increases your defense, and natural resists, increases your resistances, giving you stacked resists.
Stat points:
Some basic tables on the barbarian:
Starting Attributes Strength: 30
Dexterity: 20
Vitality: 25
Energy: 10
Hit Points: 55
Stamina: 92
Mana: 10
Each Character Level Life +2
Stamina +1
Mana +1
Attribute Point Effect 1 Vitality point gives 4 Life
1 Vitality point gives 1 Stamina
1 Energy point gives 1 Mana
Now according to the above, we can come to the following conclusion about life/mana on a barbarian:
Vitality = INSANE
Energy = NOOB
A common mistake in building singers is that people put over 200 into energy. This is totally unacceptable, as 200 into energy is only 200 mere mana, which is the equivilant to 3-4 warcry casts :/. So why in the world are you going to waste 200 into energy when you can turn that into a whopping 800 life?!?!?
So naturally, stats will play out as below:
Strength – Base (If you are using enigma)
Dexterity – Enough to use gear (enough to use your wizzies)
Vitality – ALL!!!! (You should have about 470 BASE when you are done)
Energy – none (With two wizzies, you’ll live…)
More stat tables…
Barb FHR table
9 frames = 0
8 Frames = 7
7 Frames = 15
6 Frames = 27
5 Frames = 48
4 Frames = 86
3 Frames = 200
This build will be trying to hit the 86 breakpoint, which is acceptable, and easily achieved.
Barb FCR table
13 Frames = 0
12 Frames = 9
11 Frames = 20
10 Frames = 37
9 Frames = 63
8 Frames = 105
7 Frames = 200
NOTE: Barb table is the exact same as a sorceress!!!
We will be going for the 8 Frame breakpoint, which is easily achieved without any equipment sacrifices whatsoever. One may opt to hit the 7 Frame breakpoint, which creates insane speed at the sacrifice of damage and other gear.
Leveling the character:
You will remain quite unactive in the early portions of the game. You will have no main attack other than a sub-par basic melee hit. You will find yourself frequently casting battle orders and shout for your party and sitting out the rest of the game.
When leveling, work on synergies for warcry and put one point in shout until you reach level 24. Once you hit level 24, max battle orders and put one point into warcry. NOTE: warcry will be too weak at this point to serve a purpose. It will be mainly used for stunning enemies so your party can finish them off.
Keep working on synergies and battle orders until you can equip your wizzies. Now, you will not have any giant mana problems, and you can proceed to max warcry. At this time, you may put one point into Iron skin and natural resists.
In terms of gear to use, equip anything that gives + skills until you hit some of the final gear choices.
Items
The singer is very item dependent, as warcry is very weak without + skills. I will list gear choices from best to worst. I will not list cheaper options, as this build is dependent on items to function well.
Weapons:
Dual Wizardspikes (Hel’d) – These will net you stacked resists, insane mana, and an inane 100% FCR. I hel’d mine, however, the superior choice is socketing each with a 15 resist/-15% requirements jewel, however, you may find them to be extremely expensive.
Dual Hotos – The +3 skills and resists are good, however, the lack of a substantial mana bonus is painful.
Helm:
Arreat’s Face – It took Raziel to knock some sense into me to use this. +2 skills, resists, strength/dex bonus, and the all important, 30% Faster Hit Recovery. Any barb without this is a sitting duck for mindblast and other spells. Socket it with an UM rune or shael rune for better effect.
Shako – Lacks FHR, which hurts a lot. Other than that, the +2 skills, damage reduction, and insane mana/life bonuses are gravy.
Belt:
Arachnid Mesh – There is no substitute, the +1 skills is amazing, and the 20% FCR puts you at the 8 fps casting breakpoint.
Verdungo’s Hearty Chord – Good for the life and DR. Subpar to Arachs however…
Gloom’s Trap – Just for the mana. Use this as a last resourt.
Gloves:
Bloodfist – This is mainly for the FHR, however, the +40 life makes this good deal even better.
Frostburns – Just for the mana, however, it lacks important FHR.
Magefist/trang gloves – Mainly for the FCR, however, with Wizzies and Arachs, you will already have broken the all important 8 fps cast breakpoint, making the FCR worthless. However, if you are going for a 200 FCR singer (7 FPS breakpoing
), you have to use one of these.Boots:
Waterwalks – The + strength and dex make this boot reign king, however, the +65 life kicks all other boots of the cliff.
Sandstorm Treck – The + strength and dex mods are good, but instead of the +65 life waterwalks gives, these boots give FHR and nice poison resists. Better keep a pair of these in the stash.
Rings:
Stone of Jordan – Irriplacable for the +1 skill and the insane mana bonus
FCR/+ mana rings – If you are going for the 200FCR breakpoint, get one of these. If not, sojs are completely superior.
Bul-Kathos Wedding Band – You need mana provided by sojs more than the life provided by these. Use these as a last resourt.
Amulet:
Maras – Great for the +2 skills, +5 stats, and resists. Keep in stash against cold sorceresses who have that nasty Cold Mastery.
+3 Warcry ammy – I like to use this against everything but cold sorceresses. It makes for a good prebuff ammy as well. If it has +dex, mana, or FCR, all the better!
20% FCR ammy – Mandatory for the 200FCR build. If it has + skills on it, it makes it so much better!
Other +skill amulets work as well if they have decent mods.
Inventory:
Warcry Grand charms – Use a few FHR ones, preferably 3-4, and the rest can be lifers. If you aren’t that rich (like myself), use all plain
Anni – Duh… Stats, resists, and skills ^_^
Small charms – Small charms depend on preference. The best choice (although horribly expensive) is 9x 70/15’s. 20 life, 17 mana, or 5 resist Scs work fine as well.
But I’m poor
Well, for those unfortunate, there is another option, the 200% FCR option.
Have you ever seen a 200% FCR sorceress? Flying around the screen so fast that you can’t react? Well a singer can do this too, AT THE SAME SPEED!
Gear as follows:
Dual Wizzies (100% FCR)
Enigma OR Vipermagi OR Enigma (0-30% FCR)
Arachnids (20% FCR)
Trangs or Magefists (20% FCR)
FCR ammy (20% FCR)
FCR rings (20% FCR)
shako or FCR circlet (0-20% FCR)
Waterwalks (0% FCR)
Try to get as many GCs as you can get a hold of.
All this adds up to 230% FCR, so we can eliminate one item. If you are richer, use enigma instead of vipermagi for an insanely fast teleport. If you are poor, you may consider dropping Arachs or the FCR circlet.
With this build, you will be casting really fast, however, your damage will lack. Mana is needed to compensate for the lack of effectiveness of your spells
PvM
Once you are finished with the build, this character can stand in the middle of baal’s minions or the chaos sanctuary and never die. You will have over 6-7k life, and your warcry will stun monsters for 8-11 seconds.
However, because of the low damage, you won’t get too far on your own. You will be able to kill efficiently in normal and nightmare, however in the later acts of hell, your 2k warcry won’t get you very far without casting it an insane amount of times. In reality, you are more of a “party personâ€, because all of your skills save your allies from getting their asses kicked.
Your battle orders will increase life by 170%+, and hammerdins will jump with joy. Your warcry will let other melee characters hack and slash without worrying about getting chopped into bits. You are a tank for backfield casters, who are prone to attacks. People will love you!
However, don’t let the low damage discourage you, you own in the realm of PvP, especially against gay casters!
