This strategy no longer applies to the latest version of Diablo II. It remains here for archival use only.
Introduction
What IS a "Singing Barbarian," you ask? By definition, a Barbarian using only the skills listed on the War Cries tree for party assistance and leveling. Having closely followed the skill changes in the 1.08 patch and Lord of Destruction Beta (most notably, the Hell difficulty 50% monster physical resistance penalty) I decided to experiment with the Barbarian class, and set out on a wild new tangent. This character guide will demonstrate the viability of an all War-Cries Barbarian, offer a cookbook approach to constructing your own, and offer possible improvements and pitfalls to avoid based on my own experience.
An Outdoor Concert; Festival Seating
Goals
I consider experimental character builds that are only Normal-difficulty-viable to be novelties; I would not waste my time OR yours with such an endeavor. Therefore, we will strive to:
Build a character viable in all three difficulties; Normal, Nightmare and Hell.
Build a character that is both valuable to his party, and can survive on his own.
Build a character that is viable WITHOUT the use of "uber-weapons", rares or uniques.
Starting Out
The process of building a successful War Cries Barbarian is possibly the most tedious I've ever experienced. But the payoff is well worth the wait. The tedium comes largely during leveling from 1-30 WITHOUT the use of a single skill point in a weapon mastery or skill on the Combat Skills tree. This is the only stage my character's existence where I "cheated" a bit - I equipped john_tesh with the Skewer of Krintiz saber (6-12, Ignore Target Defense, +10 Dex +10 Str 5% Mana Steal) and Goblin Toe Boots (25% Crushing Blow). I also placed one point in Bash, and used it as my primary attack skill, as it offers an excellent Attack Rating and Damage bonus at level 1.
Stat Point Assignment
Levels 1-2: Place 5 Stat points in Dexterity to meet Skewer 25 Dex requirements. Place 1 Skill point in Bash for levelling.
Substitute: If you do not have a Skewer of Krintiz, you can use nearly any weapon you can equip. Bash gives excellent AR/Damage bonus, and will see you through Act 2 quite comfortably even at level 1. The Skewer is ideal however, as it offers nice +Stat mods, is ITD, and does fairly decent damage for a level 2 character.
Levels 2-3+: Pump your level-up Stat points into Strength until you reach a natural 63 Strength. This is very important, for the following reasons:
1. Goblin Toe Boots require 50 Strength 2. Your War-Cry equipment (detailed later in this article) all require 41-60 Strength
Oh, the humanity. The leveling phase of building your Cry Barbarian will probably drive you bonkers. Do the following and you can't go wrong:
- Run Strength up to 60 points immediately, every level-up - Beyond 60 Strength points, Alternate between Energy and Vitality.
Your ultimate goal with Vitality is around 40-50 points by level 30; Energy should be pumped very single level above and beyond that.
Skill Point Assignment
At Level 3: Find Potion: Raise this skill to the 5-7th level range. It is extremely important later. ;)
At Level 6: Shout: 1 Skill point to work down the tree Leap: 1 Skill point to work down the tree
At Level 7: Howl: 1 Skill point to work down the tree
At Level 18: Battle Cry: 1 Skill point. This skill is extremely useful, and required to work down the tree Leap Attack: 1 Skill point. Leap Attack is very useful for escaping tricky situations, navigating certain maps more quickly, and is superior in range to the Leap skill.
At Level 24: Battle Orders: Pump every level-up Skill point into this from level 24 through 30. It is EXTREMELY important very shortly. Iron Skin: 1 skill point
At Level 30: Upon reaching Level 30, you should have between 14-16 saved-up Skill points. Invest them as follows: War Cry: 1 skill point Battle Command: 1 skill point Natural Resistance: 1 skill point
Beyond Level 30: You will still have a small allotment of unused Skill points (between 8-12 depending on how you have used them) - Every levelup from Level 31 on, place one point in both War Cry and Battle Orders until you have exhausted your reserve of Skill points. When you have no more unspent Skill points, spend all levelup Skill points on War Cry. Ultimately your goal is to reach Skill Level 20+ in BOTH War Cry and Battle Orders.
1,238 Mana?
On a BARB?!
Oh, the Humanity!
Equipment of Choice
You have two goals in choosing equipment for your Bard Barbarian; Mana, and Mana Recovery. Several of the items I will list below are somewhat exclusive, and difficult for the casual player to obtain; However I have listed substitute items that will work nearly as well.
A Blue Chapeau
The style-conscious Singing Barbarian will be wearing Blue to the beach this summer. Blue, as in +Mana. Start with a double-perfect Sapphire cap, or Skull cap. Ultimately you want to use either a triple-perfect socketed Sapphire hat of any type, or a socketed Expansion Tarnhelm with perfect Sapphire(s) in it. I have tested hats with two perfect Skulls in it (+10 Life Regen, +38% Mana regen) as well as Howltusk Helm, and found larger amounts of Mana to be far superior in the long run.
Substitute: NONE.
Amulet
Civerb's Icon. A fairly common, cheaply traded Set amulet. +4 to Life regen, +40% Mana regen. At Level 41, Nightmare Act3 difficulty I am still using this, and have found it to be superior to nearly every alternative.
Substitute: Any "Wyrm's" amulet, or other adding considerable +mana.
Body Armor
Heavenly Garb. Defense 216, +25% Mana Regen, 10% Prismatic Resistances. Stacked with Civerb's Icon, you'll be absolutely amazed how quickly you can recover mana without drinking potions at higher levels.
Substitute: Very high +mana rare/magic armor
Weapons: A Barb Called Wanda
I am presently using dual Umes' Lament. +40 Mana each, 20% Faster Cast each. Umes are actually NOT ideal for our Singing Bardarian - I highly recommend surfing the Acts 2 & 3 mages (Drognan and Omrus) for Wyrm's/Magus prefix/suffix 20% Fastest Cast+Mana wands, in Hell difficulty, with a level 70+ character (See, your polearm/lance barbarian isn't TOTALLY useless now!) It is quite possible, with a little bit of luck, to find bone wands, yew wands, and scepters with +60-70 Mana EACH and 20% Fastest Cast. The +2 Necromancer Skills on Umes makes them a pricey trade item, and they are quite worthless to our Singing Barbarian.
Substitute: Wyrm's/ of the Magus magic wands.
Mittens
Frostburn Gauntlets are strongly recommended - The +40% Maximum Mana is a powerful multiplier at higher levels. I'm hesitant to recommend a substitute for these gauntlets, as their +% Mana becomes crucial at higher levels. And NO - As we previously learned with our double-perfect skull hat, Mana Recovery% items are inferior to +Mana items; This rules Magefist RIGHT out. :P
Substitute: NONE.
Baron of The Rings
john_tesh is presently using two "Stone Of Jordan" rings. (+20 Mana, +25% Max Mana, +1 Skill each) While beyond the reach of the casual player, they offer awesome % Mana multipliers and the +2 Skill points don't hurt either.
Substitute: As with Frostburn Gauntlets, the +Mana % here is what we're really after. Very high +Mana rings may work for you.
Something to Hold Your Pants Up
Well, we need a belt, don't we? Unfortunately, in this category I will only recommend one of two unique items. Fortunately, both trade fairly cheaply - You won't need to give away your brothers' Cubic-Zirconium Encrusted Vorpal Executioner Sword of The Godly Llama King to get my recommended belts.
Option 2: NightSmoke Belt 50% Damage taken goes to Mana, 10% Prismatic Resistances, +20 Mana, Damage reduced by 2
The debate rages on between these two. I haven't decided yet myself, and I've worn both off and on for 41 levels! In the end, I feel Lenymo is marginally superior. The reason: Believe it or not, but War-Cry Barbarians rarely get hit. The Stun effect is so powerful, nothing within it's field of effect ever touches me. Even some Super-Unique bosses (Lord De Seis, for example, and the Infector of Souls) can be stunned if standing 1 square away! (Adjacent to player)
Substitute: NONE.
It's Gotta Be The Shoes!
30% Faster Run/Walk, +Mana shoes are highly desired. These can come in any variation you find or trade them; Rare, Magic, either way It's All Good. Add resists for icing on the cake.
Substitute: Vidala's Fetlocks, Treads of C'Thon will give you speed, but no mana.
Killing Them Softly With Your Song: Playing your Singing Barbarian
The Singing Barbarian is remarkably easy to play. There are three basic steps, and it's easier than falling down. (This comes easier to some than others)
Upon leaving town, don't forget to "Buff" - Cast Battle Command, Battle Orders, and Shout in that order. I have mine hotkeyed to F1, F2, F3 left to right. This way you are pumping your skill levels, increasing your life/mana, and increasing your defense - All at +1 skill level. Your party will love your Battle Orders, particularly as it's extremely high level. Sorceresses, Necromancers, and Druids will enjoy the nearly doubled Mana, and who doesn't like increased health and defense? :)
This brings us to the Three Steps:
Step One; There Is No Step 1. Spot Monsters; Leap- Attack them.
Step Two: Tap your War Cry hotkey and HOLD your "cast" button for it WHILE in Leap-Attack flight. You land and almost immediately begin your War Cry.
Step Three; Hold your War-Cry button. Nothing can hit you. Everything will be stunned. Your Stun is not resistable, cannot be blocked, and if you are one square adjacent to Super-Unique Bosses, will stun THEM as well. If you need to, you can hit Mana or Rejuvenation potions WHILE doing your War-Cry.
The Aftermath; Three very dead goats. This took approximately three seconds. About the time it takes a Melee Paladin or Barbarian to kill one. This example was performed in a five-player 1.08 Nightmare skill game, with level 14 War Cry.
Notes, Observations
I can't quite remember how long It's been since I played a character that was this much fun. And the looks I get while playing it, and the comments, are half the fun. This character is extremely viable. Presently, at level 14 War Cry, it takes me anywhere from 10-12 "casts" to kill a large group of monsters in 8 player Nightmare difficulty. If that sounds excessive, note that I cast three times per second, so it's taking me about 4-5 seconds to eliminate groups. (Barbarian Cries ARE NOT AFFECTED BY SPELL TIMERS! Let me repeat this: ALL BARBARIAN WAR CRIES REMAIN UNAFFECTED BY SPELL TIMERS.
Some other things to consider: I never get hit. Oh, I get nicked every now and then, but not often. The monster stun is brutally effective. Only ranged attackers hit me. But not for long; I usually Leap-Cry groups of archers and doom mages first; the Melee monsters in the area follow me to their own demise.
Some Numbers:
Level 14 War Cry: 104-114 Damage Per Cast
Three casts per second; 312-342 Damage per Second
19 Mana per Cast, I have 1252 Mana with lvl 14 Battle Orders
I regenerate 15-20 mana per second, depending on my equipped items
I can cast 65 times for 6,760-7,410 damage before drinking a potion; 3.8 second Stun per cast
Level 23 War Cry (2 Stones, + Tarn) does 174-184 per cast
There is no monster resistance to War Cry
Only Mephisto, Diablo and Baal cannot be stunned
I will add downloadable video to this report soon, and make these video clips available to any interested parties.
Credits & Thank-Yous
Thanks to my stress-test Diablo 2 buddy Dave "VVS-Jadeite" for enduring countless rambling and brainstorming sessions in my neverending quest to find new and unusual viable characters, and for loaning me SOJ's and the very nice rare boots shown on the Equipment page.
Thanks to Deus from the Clan Zonation channel for loaning me the dual Ume's Lament, and assisting me with many, many level-up runs.
Sirian and Spiderdrake of the Lurker Lounge's expansion beta forum; They always post quality articles, some of which I have been too critical of recently. Salute.
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Strategy 
Beyond Level 30:
Step One; There Is No Step 1. Spot Monsters; Leap- Attack them.
Step Two: Tap your War Cry hotkey and HOLD your "cast" button for it WHILE in Leap-Attack flight. You land and almost immediately begin your War Cry.
Step Three; Hold your War-Cry button. Nothing can hit you. Everything will be stunned. Your Stun is not resistable, cannot be blocked, and if you are one square adjacent to Super-Unique Bosses, will stun THEM as well. If you need to, you can hit Mana or Rejuvenation potions WHILE doing your War-Cry.
The Aftermath; Three very dead goats. This took approximately three seconds. About the time it takes a Melee Paladin or Barbarian to kill one. This example was performed in a five-player 1.08 Nightmare skill game, with level 14 War Cry.