Whirlwind

A whirling dance of death that cuts a path through the legions of your enemies.

Whirlwind is the last Combat Skill of the Barbarian (level 30, requires Leap Attack and Concentrate). You point past your enemies and the Barbarian spins to that point, attacking whatever comes within reach on the way. It has no synergies and few numbers: a damage bonus of +30% at level 1 and +125% at level 20, an attack-rating bonus of +50% to +145%, and a mana cost that starts at 12.5 and rises half a point a level.

The numbers

The damage bonus is skills.txt Param1 (30) plus Param2 (5) a level: +30% at level 1, +125% at level 20, +175% at level 30. The attack-rating bonus is ToHit 50 plus LevToHit 5 a level: +50% at level 1, +145% at level 20. Both read lvl, so +skills from items count in full. The Basin's page keeps the original game's table beside the current one: there Whirlwind began at −50% damage and 0% attack rating at level 1; the current table wins.

Mana is 25 in 128ths (manashift 7), 12.5 at level 1, plus 0.5 a level (lvlmana 1, in the same 128ths): 14.5 at level 5, 22 at level 20, 27 at level 30. It is paid once per whirlwind, not per hit.

How it works

Every hit inside the spin is a normal weapon attack: Chance to Hit with the bonus above, weapon physical damage with the +% added to your other Enhanced Damage, and leech, Crushing Blow, Deadly Strike and Open Wounds on each. The Basin's page gives the engine's rules:

• Target a point beyond the enemies, not an enemy. Selecting a target already in melee range gives a single plain attack without Whirlwind's bonuses.
• While moving, the Barbarian periodically searches a 3 1/3-yard radius for targets; a target in the radius is only hit if it is also within the weapon's melee range, so weapon range matters: a range-adder 4 polearm or spear can reach any target in the radius, a range-adder 2 one-hander cannot always.
• Hit checks happen in the fourth and eighth frames of the animation, then at a rate set only by the weapon's speed modifier and the Increased Attack Speed on the weapon itself: no other attack-speed modifier changes the check frequency. Each check lets each weapon attack one target.
• Once the first attack is executed the whirlwind cannot be interrupted by Blocking, casting, hit recovery, knockback or stun; you cannot switch weapons, open the inventory, drink a potion or use another skill until it ends; no Chance to Cast of any kind fires; movement-speed modifiers still apply.
• A weapon at 0 durability does not break, and a Barbarian at 0 life does not die, until the whirlwind ends.

Whirlwind from an item with no hard points: the Basin's page says that if you level up while spinning you are stuck in the whirlwind, unable to move or attack, and only saving and leaving the game ends it.

With two weapons the Basin says the first check is made for the primary weapon and later checks for both, each weapon taking a separate target when two are available; it marks the detail as needing clarification.

Synergies and +skills

No synergies: Whirlwind has no dsc3 line and no synergy calc, nothing feeds it and it feeds nothing. Its damage and attack-rating lines read lvl, so +skills from items are worth exactly as much as hard points, 5% damage and 5% attack rating each. A weapon mastery adds its attack rating, damage and critical-hit chance to every hit with a weapon of its class.

Against players

A player's hit on another player is cut to 17% of its value (difficultylevels.txt PlayerDamagePercentVSPlayer) before anything else, see Player versus Player. Every hit in the spin is cut the same way; the Basin's page says nothing more about Whirlwind against players.

Build notes

• Level 20 is +125% damage and +145% attack rating for 22 mana a spin; a +skill is worth as much as a hard point, and there is no synergy to put points into instead.
• The weapon decides the hit rate: only the weapon's own speed modifier and IAS reach the breakpoints above, so off-weapon IAS does nothing for Whirlwind.
• The mana rises half a point a level with +skills included: a level 30 Whirlwind costs 27.