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Pick up the Focus and Restraint rings, because the Bastion of Will set has been buffed and it may make its way into Crusader builds. Craft yourself a really good Piro Marella shield, which cuts the Wrath cost of Shield Bash in half. Roland’s is focused on Shield Bash and Sweep Attack, but the latter is still underperforming as a skill, so focus on getting gear that will buff your Shield Bash damage. The 2.2 Crusader is all about the buffed Roland’s set and Shield Bash. The legendary gems you’ll want to have leveled are Pain Enhancer due to its physical damage, Taeguk because whirlwind will allow you to easily generate and maintain all your stacks, and Bane of the Trapped since as a melee character, its level 25 effect will affect all enemies you are hitting.
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The Bul-Kathos set of one-handed barbarian weapons has also been buffed, and while the set is not currently best for pushing the Greater Rift leaderboards, they may still make their way into the game, so hold onto them just in case. Lamentation, the barbarian belt that allows the Rend skill to stack twice, is something that may be worth holding onto as well, because the new 2.2 barbarian set focuses on both whirlwind and rend. If you’re currently running the standard Raekor barb build with physical damage, you’ll be able to hold onto a lot of your gear that adds to physical damage, because it seems physical will remain the element of choice for barbarians in 2.2. Start by working on acquiring your IK set pieces, as well as gear that adds to your whirlwind damage. A combination of these two sets seems to be what may be best for the 2.2 barbarian. The 2.2 Barbarian is all about bringing whirlwind back, thanks to a new set, as well as the improved Immortal King’s set. This information is based on how the patch is looking right now, but given we are getting very close to the release window, we likely will not be seeing massive changes. Note: The patch has not yet been finalized, so everything is still subject to change.
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Of course, you will ideally want ancient versions of every item and set we go over. While changes to legendary items in patch 2.2 will not be retroactive – that is to say, if you have a legendary item that is being changed in 2.2, the item you already possess in your inventory will not change at all – changes to set bonuses are retroactive, meaning you will not have to search for the set pieces all over again when the patch goes live. Most of your prep work will go into farming for pieces of certain sets that will be useful to your class. The patch is poised to add some variety to the current end-game content, so here are some tips for every class on how you can prepare to take advantage of the new strategies as soon as possible. Set to release in early April, Diablo 3’s patch 2.2 is just around the corner, and with it, the awesome new and improved class sets.
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