Whirlwind Rune Effects Video

[:1]From the very cool new videos about runestones, here's the Barb's.

• Crimson - Shoots bits of rock and gravel in every direction, dealing area effect damage.


• Indigo - Barbarian spawns smaller whirlwinds which deal direct damage.


• Obsidian - Provides the barbarian with immunity to immobilizing effects.


• Golden - Reduced Fury cost.


• Alabaster - Critical strikes confuse enemies, forcing them to attack their allies for a short time.

What's your favorite by looks? Which do you think will be most useful in various circumstances?

I like that all of them stay true to the WW style; lots of other skills have one or 2 runes that totally changes the function, but with WW I think it should remain a spinning chopping attack. Ironic!

That said, I like the Alabaster option; giving it some CC function and making it usable in slightly different circumstances. Obsidian is cool also, and I assume it's meant primarily for the Arena.|||I like Indigo. It adds a small range aspect, sorta like a Wind Druid, but I still get to WW.|||They're pretty clearly designed as to be useful for different builds and playstyles. PvP a lot? Go with Obsidian. Play 4 man PvM a bunch? Maybe Alabaster is what you want. I personally like the crimson effect a bunch and i'm sure this looks awesome in crowds with everything and everyone getting pummeled.|||Hm, Crimson vs. Indigo is largely a "hit less targets harder" vs. "hit more targets not as hard." Simple.

I agree that Obsidian is the obvious PvP rune.

Golden... well, it looks like it will be competing mostly with Crimson, so it will be a choice between "shorter duration for more damage" or "longer duration for less damage." Looks like something you would swap in and out depending on the quality of your current weapon - if you hit hard enough to kill your desired Whirlwind targets, you might want to switch out to Golden to Whirlwind longer. Though, I honestly don't think they will balance it tightly enough for such a choice to actually exist.

Alabaster is for Precision Barbarians to gain a strong measure of survivability. Not much use against trash enemies as we expect them to die to a crit, but it would allow you to safely whirl through elite melee enemies. I wonder if the confuse effect will work in PvP... Could make it an alternative to Obsidian.



I like, though honestly, I wish Golden was something more interesting than cost reduction. I really wanted to see a "deflect missiles while in whirlwind" skill rune, and it woulda been a much more fun choice.|||I think the Obsidian Rune looks best.

That said I quite like the Crimson ring of fire style. Does anyone know if the Crimson rune changes whirlwind to be a static skill? It didn't look like the Barb moved in the video, especially compared to the other rune effects.

Edit: I reckon that the Golden rune will be the PvP rune of choice, reduced Fury costs means more chances to Whirlwind. I'm guessing Barbs will have other ways to break out of CC stuff.|||Quote:








I wish Golden was something more interesting than cost reduction. I really wanted to see a "deflect missiles while in whirlwind" skill rune, and it woulda been a much more fun choice.




I agree that that would be an awesome version, but blizz promised people at least one more "gamey" rune per skill that kept the basic version's function and just improved it in some way like more damage or less cost... maybe with enough beta feedback they will change on of them to that or perhaps they will another type of rune in an expansion and that one can do the missle-reflection whirlwind...

But yeah these are all nice, although is it just me or does the crimson rune version look like he is staying in one place? Also how does having a higher rank improve the obsidian rune effect when it pure immunity to immobilizing things is hard to improve on? I will probably end up using indigo in pvm just because of its nice aoe mechanic and either obsidian or alabaster in pvp depending on whether or not confusion is a viable cc in the arena...

Also, that idle animation the barb does just before doing the golden version where he hocks a lugie is awesome... x]|||I think it will be one of two ways:

1. Immunity to full immobilization is constant, and higher ranks improve resistance to slows.

2. Immunity only comes from final skill rune rank.

Or a hybrid of the two.|||I liked them all with the exception of the crimson rune. I think the lava effect (or whatever it is) is too busy, and overwhelms the concept of the barb spinning in a furious circle.

Oh, and...


Quote:








Also, that idle animation the barb does just before doing the golden version where he hocks a lugie is awesome... x]




I couldn't disagree more, honestly. I actually came to this thread to point this out specifically. I like the the face wiping and spitting animation, but the snort doesn't sound badass. It just sounds like he has a sinus infection.|||Definitely Crimson or Indigo. AoE with either is a huge plus for a barbarian -- not having as many AoE damaging skills as other classes.

Not sure what skills I'm going to invest in at this point though. There might be something better than ol' WW... |||For the visuals, I think the three last ones and the unrunned skill are essentially the same with different colors. Perhaps some effects will be added when you hit ennemies. I like the effect. Now for the two "fancier" versions, I like them both but I prefer the indigo (the one with small whirlwinds) because, in my opinion, it fits the skill very well.

As far as utility is concerned, I would say that I also like the indigo. Whirlwind is a kind of AOE attack for the barb and it strengthen this aspect of the skill. At the same time it depends so much of what other skills you are using. If you are using other physical damage skills, the crimson rune could be interesting for having a different type of damage. The Obsidian could be interesting in PvP and also in Hardcore mode... So it seems difficult to discuss which rune will be the most useful without discussing the other skills the barb will be using.