Full information on the Barbarian's Whirlwind skill information. <br>Information current as of February 2008, v1.11.<br>Back to the Barbarian[[ Combat Skills]] page.
==Whirlwind==
'''Required Level:''' 30<br />
'''Prerequisites''': Bash, Leap, Stun, Concentrate, Leap Attack<br />
* Many high level Barbarians choose Whirlwind as their main skill.* To best use Whirlwind, lead a group of monsters into a tight pack, then click past to the other side of the monsters. The Barbarian will fly through them damaging and destroying them very quickly.* Long Weapons such as Spears, and Polearms make Whirlwind even more effective as it will hit monsters in a wider radius.* Whirlwind consumes a lot of mana and puts you in close contact with monsters, so mana and life stealing weapons or items are necessary to use Whirlwind constantly, especially in Nightmare and Hell difficulties.* Watch out for Undead Horrors that cast Iron Maiden. If an Oblivion Knight casts Iron Maiden while you're in the middle of a Whirlwind, it can be instant death. Another danger to watch out for is Mana Burn monsters. Keep some Mana Potions handy to recover from lost Mana.* You cannot use potions or any inventory items while using Whirlwind.* Whirlwind does not work with: "On Attack", "On Striking", or "When You Kill an Enemy" item properties. * In Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Whirlwind is affected by weapon speed as follows. After you click to start your Whirlwind attack, the game checks for a hit on a target in range at the 4th and 8th animation frames (recall that the game runs at 25 frames per second). '''After the first two "free" hit-checks, the frames elapsed in-between subsequent hit-checks will depend on your weapon speed.''' Note: increased attack speed from items outside your weapon DOES NOT affect whirlwind - only the speed of the weapon itself counts. The dependence on weapon speed is obtained by subtracting your weapon's increased attack speed (IAS) to its base weapon speed and checking where the number you obtain fits in the following table: '''One-handed weapons'''<br /> Breakpoints: 15, 10, -10, -35.<br /> Number of frames in-between hit-checks after frame 8Details: 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 '''Two-handed weapons'''<br /> Breakpoints: 15, 0, -10, -30, -60.<br /> Number of frames in-between hit-checks after frame 8: 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4 Examples:#1 War pike of quickness (two-handed weapon)<br /> Base weapon speed: 20<br /> Weapon increased attack speed: 40<br /> Whirlwind speed: 20 - 40 = -20<br /> Breakpoint reached: -10<br /> Number of frames in-between checks: 8<br /> Hit-checks at frames 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, etc.<br /> #2 Falchion (one-handed weapon)<br /> Base weapon speed: 20<br /> Weapon increased attack speed: 0<br /> Whirlwind speed: 20 - 0 = 20<br /> Breakpoint reached: none<br /> Number of frames in-between checks: 12<br /> Hit-checks at frames: 4, 8, 20, 32, 44, etc.<br /> #3 Grandfather colossus blade with 'Shael' (one-handed weapon)<br /> Base weapon speed: 5<br /> Weapon increased attack speed: 20<br /> Whirlwind speed: 5 - 20 = -15<br /> Breakpoint reached: -10<br /> Number of frames in-between checks: 6<br /> Hit-checks at frames: 4, 8, 14, 20, 26, etc. Note: two-handed swords are treated as one-handed weapons for Whirlwind purposes, regardless of is the sword being held in one-handed or two-handed mode. The above calculation for Grandfather therefore holds for any way the sword is held. * Barbarians wielding weapons with slow Whirlwind speeds should try and keep their whirls very short, so as to take full advantage Tasmanian Devil of the 4th and 8th frame "free" hits. Hold down the Whirlwind button and hover the cursor just right after the place where the Whirlwind starts. The free hits are taken and almost immediately after itBarbarian skills, turning the Whirlwind stops. Then, since the Whirlwind button is still being pressed, a new Whirlwind starts and we get back the free hits of frames 4 and 8. Keep doing this in character into a triangular pattern. By using this technique you minimize the time under which your weapon slows down whirlwinds. This tactic is used by many Barbarians online and is nicknamed "The Dance of Death". This is because you keep spinning close to the target, not zigdeath-zagging in long lines back-and-forth. * When dual-wieldingdealer, both weapons try to score a hit against the target. In other words, the game does a hit-check for each weapon. Since both weapons are given the chance to score a hit, the damage done over time is roughly the sum capable of the damage passing through huge mobs and hitting dozens of both weapons, which is comparable to the damage done whirling targets with a two-handed weapon. The effect of weapon speed in dual-wielding Whirlwind is as follows. While a target is in range, one single use of the weapons' speed is constantly used to calculate the next hit-check frame. If there's no target in range, the game will alternate between weapon speeds to calculate the next hit-check frame. The best way to make sure you have maximum Whirlwind speed when dual-wielding is to use weapons that both reach the final breakpoint, like for instance a Lightsabre phase blade and a colossus blade with 40% IAS. * Whirlwind will not stop until you reached your destination (ground or a monster). If you clicked on a monster that flees, Whirlwind will not stop until you reached the monster, or the path becomes blocked by obstacles. It is possible to become stuck in Whirlwind over many screens. This is an issue, especially in hell difficulty, because it can lead you to unexplored areas with monsters. So try clicking on the ground but not on the monsters. Again, Whirlwind will not stop even in occasions that normally stop you. Stun attacks will have no effect, and knockback will not knock you back, even if your weapon breaks, it will be broken after Whirlwind ends. Whirlwind will not stop even if you take damage enough to kill you. You WILL die after the Whirlwind state ends. So it is possible to avoid death by a quick save and exitskill.
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==Whirlwind Function==
When using this skill, the Barbarian will spin in a straight line, to the point you target, unless the path is blocked by walls, chests, rocks, or other obstacles.
Potions may not be drunk while in-mid spin, so be cautious starting a Whirlwind without full health.
If you target a monster, the Barbarian will spin until he hits that monster. If the monster runs or flies away or teleports, the Barbarian can spin for a very long time, until he runs into an obstacle. This is not advised. Death can be avoided
Multiple spins can be performed in a row if you keep the mouse button depressed. When aiming this way, individual monsters will not be highlighted or targeted, so you can spin to exact points, regardless of what's between you and your destination.
Extremely fast foot speed can be a detriment with Whirlwind, since you might move too far per spin, while landing too few hit checks. In earlier versions of D2, being very slow, or even chilled, was a nice bonus when using Whirlwind, since Barbarian's movement speed was slowed, but his weapon hit just as quickly as usual. It was a lot of fun to spin to the edge of the screen while monsters walked along almost on top of the Barbarian, taking dozens of hits.
Dual Wielding. The hit-check alternates between the weapons, producing an overall result of damage about equal to the average of the two weapons. If one weapon is slower, the frame rate will be adversely effected, so it's best to use two weapons with the same frame break (see below), or else just go with a single weapon.
==Weapon Speed==
The concept of "frame breaks" are essential to understand when using Whirlwind. Diablo II runs at 25 frames per second. You may not see this many frames if your computer or net connection is slow, but the game will process its calculations at this speed regardless of your apparent FPS. Since the FPS is how things are calculated in Diablo II, functions such as weapon speed, spell casting speed, stun length, and more are counted in frames. If an effect is said to last for 2 seconds, that means it lasts for 50 frames.
Since weapons swing much faster than once a second, their speed is expressed in frames. A base weapon, on a given character, might swing in 9 frames. That means every 9 frames, your character will swing it once. Adding IAS (Increased Attack Speed) via magical modifiers or socketed jewels/Shael Runes, from your character's other equipment, via the Fanaticism Aura, etc, will increase the swing speed. Break points are a way of expressing how much IAS a character needs to swing one frame faster. For our hypothetical example of a 9 frame swing rate, 10 IAS might get it down to 8 frames, 40 IAS to 7 frames, 95 IAS to 6 frames, and so on. If you added 40 IAS, you'd swing at 7 frames, and would continue swinging at 7 frames until you met or exceeded 95 IAS. It's usually easy to speed most weapons by 2 or 3 frames. Each frame above that often requires an enormous amount of IAS, so much that a character must devote practically all of their equipment to boosting that modifier.
Many skills increase (or sometimes decrease) swing speed, and the frame rate boost (or penalty) of the skill must be factored into the other properties affecting your character's swing speed.
The quirk with Whirlwind, since the skill was reworked in v1.07 and then more substantially in v1.09, is that the frequency of hit checks while performing a Whirlwind stems from the Barbarian's weapon alone. IAS bonuses on other equipment, or even from Fanaticism, '''do not boost''' the number of hit checks in Whirlwind.
Every weapon gets two quick checks, at 4 and 8 frames after the Whirlwind begins. Hitting at 4 frames is exceptionally fast, faster than almost any other attack in the game, and so Whirlwind is worth using with any weapon, providing you use the skill correctly, by making lots of short spins. If you click way across the screen and start spinning with a slow weapon, you'll hit twice, quickly, and then quite slowly thereafter, while the monsters you are passing over will be pounding you mercilessly. On the other hand, if you have a very fast weapon, longer spins can work quite nicely. Also keep in mind that these are not guaranteed hits; your Barbarian's to/hit rating is checked, just as with any other attack.
Here's some sample frame rate information, courtesy of the [http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/skills/barbarian-combatskills.shtml#whirlwind Arreat Summit].
'''One-handed weapons'''<br />
Breakpoints: 15, 10, -10, -35.<br />
Number of frames in-between hit-checks after frame 8: 12, 10, 8, 6, 4
'''Two-handed weapons'''<br />
Breakpoints: 15, 0, -10, -30, -60.<br />
Number of frames in-between hit-checks after frame 8: 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4
'''Examples #1:<br>'''
War pike of quickness (two-handed weapon)<br />
Base weapon speed: 20<br />
Weapon increased attack speed: 40<br />
Whirlwind speed: 20 - 40 = -20<br />
Breakpoint reached: -10<br />
Number of frames in-between checks: 8<br />
Hit-checks at frames 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, etc.<br />
'''Example #2:<br>'''
Falchion (one-handed weapon)<br />
Base weapon speed: 20<br />
Weapon increased attack speed: 0<br />
Whirlwind speed: 20 - 0 = 20<br />
Breakpoint reached: none<br />
Number of frames in-between checks: 12<br />
Hit-checks at frames: 4, 8, 20, 32, 44, etc.<br />
'''Example #3:'''<br>
Grandfather colossus blade with 'Shael' (one-handed weapon)<br />
Base weapon speed: 5<br />
Weapon increased attack speed: 20<br />
Whirlwind speed: 5 - 20 = -15<br />
Breakpoint reached: -10<br />
Number of frames in-between checks: 6<br />
Hit-checks at frames: 4, 8, 14, 20, 26, etc.
Note: All swords are treated as one-handed weapons when calculating Whirlwind, whether the Barbarian has the weapon equipped in one or two handed mode. The above calculation for Grandfather therefore holds for any way the sword is held.
"Moving, spinning, attacking". Here we have the Tasmanian Devil of the Barbarian's arsenal. On selecting a target or location, the Barbarian spins to that spot, hitting everything on the way with an uninterruptible attack. This is one of the most powerful skills in the game, so much so that Blizzard has nerfed it several times, and it's still very powerful.
The Barbarian is virtually invulnerable while doing this. Most monsters fail to hit the moving target, and he can hit everything he passes several times with each WW, scoring dozens of hits when spinning through a big crowd.==Strategy==
In D2X Whirlwind is weaker than in Take advantage of the past, but it's still very effective. Weapon speed is now a factor, the faster your weapon the more chances to hit you get while spinning. Faster is much better. Weapons two quick hits with more reach (Weapon range is listed for every weapon in our Items section.) have more chances to hit per target. Attack Rating is very important as wellWhirlwind, you want at least 75-80% to be most effectiveand make lots of short, and over 90% is extremely deadlyquick spins, usually giving an extra hit on every monster especially if you passhave a shower weapon.
Dual Wielding while WW'ing gives you 50% more The "dance of death." Target a spot just on the other side of a nearby monster. Once the Barbarian starts spinning, keep the mouse button depressed and move the cursor to/hit checksyour next targeted spot, just a couple of yards away from the first spot. Repeat this time and again, moving over the weapons used alternatesame monster repeatedly, often in square or triangle shapes. If one has much less durability (for example you have This technique is the best way to deal with a single target, such as a Gull for the magic find) that one will constantly be needing repairboss monster, and half it fully exploits the two quick hits every use of your hits will do much lower damageWhirlwind grants.
Some mana steal is required to use WW constantly. Barbarians do so much damage that not much leech is neededSince monsters pursue the moving Barbarian, but it depends on your weapon. Stopping in spinning across the middle leading edge of a mob with no mana to spin out is very bad, so always be prepared to drink a fast purple, good strategy. Make the monsters walk after you and try to aim your sweeps fully across they'll often stay right in the mob kill zone of monstersthe Whirlwind. You must have at least enough mana to do 2 WW's in Concentrate your hits on a rowfew monsters, or one miss will force you to Bash or Attack to leech back enough to spin again. rather than gaily spinning through the middle of Ideally you'll have 200+ mana, which isn't hard with any +mana stuff huge mob; multiple hits on your equipment and high level Battle Ordershalf a dozen monsters will kill them, and can miss several spins, due to de synch while a hit or poor AR, and keep going. Barbs do such high damage that generally 2 or 3 hits two on a WW is more than enough to fill their mana bulb completelytwenty monsters will just make them angry.
You can not drink a potion while in the middle of a WW, so if you Poison damage or "prevents monster heal" modifiers are very useful in trouble, you need to drink something when you stop. If you start a spin conjunction with low hit points you might die before you stopWhirlwind.
You need Using Whirlwind around Obsidian Knights is extremely dangerous, since a clear area to WW through. Sometimes your Barbarian single hit from Iron Maiden will move up and down stairs or around small corners, but usually he'll get stuck on a wall or rock, chest, urn, barrel, etc. Stopping result in the middle of a mob since you hit a chest is a bad thing, so learn to aim around such obstaclesinstant Barbarian death.
Technique: You can WW constantly while keeping Playing on the realms the exact location of the right click depressed, just move your mouse aroundmonster is never clear, with lag and each time one WW finishesdesynch, another one will start immediately, aiming towards wherever so you are pointing at that timecan't be entirely precise. It's best good to aim for a locationrun up and Bash or Berserk the target one time, rather than a particular monster. As long as you keep to get an exact fix on the right click down, location before you can target anywhere and move to start spinning around it, even right on top of monsters.
If you target On very difficulty packs, especially if there is a boss monster or player that runswith Mana Burn, you will sometimes want to do longer spins. You can't be interrupted mid-spin after them until , but you can be swarmed when you stop, and hit a wall or chest or something that stops youtoo fast to start another one. It's possible to travel multiple screensBarbs can take tremendous damage while they are spinning, but get it all back with leech, as long as they keep hitting everything on the way, before you reach an obstacle. This is usually badworks with Mana Burn as well, since you might run into far can be hit and mana burned to nothing, and refill the mana bulb with the next few hits as the spin continues. A single Mana Burn boss can be more monsters trouble than you want active at a time. It's very bad in PvP, since the target you are after will run faster than you move in WWmob, and if they have a ranged attack they it can keep just ahead of you be easier to stand still and kill you easily. Always try to target an open spot on the groundit with Bash, Stun, not a monster or playerBerzerk.
On big packs you tend to get more hits in if you go across the edges of it, rather than right through the middle. A good way to work this is to go back and forth in straight lines, but steadily moving away from the mob, as they walk towards you. You'll spin across the leading edge repeatedly, cutting them to bits while taking hardly any attacks yourself. Try to concentrate your hits on a few monsters, rather than hitting each of the 20 or 30 monsters in a mob once. You are better off hitting half a dozen monsters 6 or 8 times each and killing them than hitting twenty monsters 3 times each and killing nothing, while they heal back your damage.
Some poison damage is mandatory, with the longest duration you can find. You want to prevent healing, the damage from poison is inconsequential compared to the massive WW physical damage. One or two poison charms should suffice.==Other Notes==
For solo targetsIn early versions of Diablo II, such as bossesthe Barbarian was virtually invulnerable while in mid-Whirlwind, you should move in short back and forth spins, or better yet do small triangles or squares around the outside of the monster. Passing right next to a target could hit many more times per Whirlwind than is better than moving directly over it; you get more to/hit checks skimmingnow possible. Playing on the realms the exact location of the monster is never clearUnlike in those early days, this skill must be now used with lag and desynch, so you can't be entirely precise. It's good to run up some caution and Bash or Berserk the target one time, to get an exact fix on the location before you start spinning around itforethought.
Try not to overshoot your target, spinning to the edge of the screen and then having to come back is Whirlwind has a waste of time. Most monsters will move right into your spinningheavy mana cost, so rather than aiming past them, aim across their motion, and they'll walk into be sure your spin, damage and will follow you a step or two % leech are sufficient to refill the mana bulb on each spin as you pass over them. If there is a mixed mob, with some running monsters and some melee attackers, you should spin after the runners, since the melee ones will move after you, right into your weapon.
Being hit with cold is not a bad thing. You'll move a little slower Long Weapons such as you spin, staying on top of each monster longerSpears, and getting Polearms make Whirlwind even more hits. Less footspeed is actually useful while WW'ing. Most Barbs notice this clearly when fighting Izual, since if he gets you with a Frost Nova effective as you spin towards him, and follows you as you move past, you'll get around triple the hits you normally would on a single pass. Of course it will hit monsters have in a better chance of hitting you as well if you move over them slowlywider radius.
Whirlwind does not work with: "On very difficulty packsAttack", especially if there is a boss monster with Mana Burn"On Striking", you want to do longer spins. or "When You can't be interrupted mid-spin, but you can be swarmed when you stop, and hit too fast to start another one. Barbs can take tremendous damage while they are spinning, but get it all back with leech, as long as they keep hitting. This works with Mana Burn as well, you can be hit and sucked dry, but then hit several times as you keep moving on that spin, and refill your mana enough to keep going. Often a single Mana Burn monster will require you to stop WW and kill it with Bash, or at least mix in a lot of Bashes to keep getting back enough mana to WW againKill an Enemy" item properties.
Most Barbs max out WW, or at least get it to 10 or 15 for the AR and the damage bonuses. Generally you want to get WW to 6 or 8, to get out of the negative damage, then max out your weapon mastery first, since it helps with every attack, then max out WW if you want more damage. Higher Attack Rating can help more than bigger damage.
[[category:Barbarian]]
