Ancient Spear

Ancient Spear is a Fury Generating Barbarian skill unlocked at Level 22. The Barbarian fires a mystical spear to snare his foes and haul them back into melee range.

This skill is commonly referred to[1] as "Ancient Harpoon" for fairly obvious functional reasons. Spears are not barbed and do not have ropes or chains attached to them. Harpoons, on the other hand, are barbed and tethered, since they are used to reel in aquatic life forms. Why Blizzard didn't just call the skill "harpoon" isn't known; perhaps they didn't like the maritime connotation, since the Barbarians are not seafaring folk in the official game lore?

Background

Ancient Spear in action

The Barbarian throws an ancient spear that sinks into his foes, and he pulls them into his blades.

Skill Effects

The following is a very quick list. See the Ancient Spear rune effects page for a more thorough summary of rune effects, or any of the individual rune pages for numbers, screenshots, blue quotes, and much more.

Icon	Skill	Description

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[[{{{name}}}]] Might

9

{{{desc}}}

Rage Flip

[e] Enemies hit with Ancient Spear will be tossed in the opposite direction and damage is increased to 143% weapon damage.

Harpoon

[e] Pierce through multiple enemies in a straight line and drag them all back.

Skirmish

[e] Increases Fury gain to 38.

Grappling Hooks

[e] Throw 8 spears. Each spear will pull back the enemy that it hits.

Siphon

[e] Gain Life equal to 700% of the damage inflicted.

Note: Information is based on a level 60 character and rank 7 runestones.

Skill Design

Spear in flight.

Ancient Spear first appeared at BlizzCon 2010.

The skill is a ranged attack that spears enemies and pulls them into melee range, where the Barbarian, should he react quickly enough, can chop them to bits.

This skill is highly viable in the Battle Arena where slippery ranged attacking Wizards and Witch Doctors are in desperate need of some "Get over here!" as far as the Barbarian is concerned.

The skill can also be used effectively in PvM, ideally on back row attackers like archers or shaman, who the Barbarian wants to kill but can not reach through their defending meat shields. Enemies all the way to the edge of the visible screen can be skewered and pulled in, when targeted accurately.

Synergies

The following Barbarian passives provide a benefit to Ancient Spear, runed or not:

• Bloodthirst - The Barbarian gains life based on the amount of damage he deals always.
• Weapons Master - Provides a damage bonus when the Barbarian is wielding a sword or dagger.
• Berserker Rage - Inflicts additional damage while the Barbarian is at maximum Fury.
• No Escape - Increases the damage of Ancient Spear and generates Fury.
• Brawler - Increases the Barbarian's damage when he is swarmed.

Development

Ancient Spear made its first public appearance at BlizzCon 2010, where Wyatt Cheng briefly discussed its development:

We knew that he needed a ranged attack so here is an example of Ancient Spear. We don't want to turn the Barbarian into a ranged class so this is something that feels very appropriate for him. We want to sell the theme that he's strong, he's tough, he's melee so we had to come up with something that felt appropriate for that.

Flux found it difficult to use in the Battle Arena:[2]

...Ancient Harpoon for ranged attacks (though I never actually saw this successfully used, since hitting moving targets was tough)...

He did, however, suggest that it could be useful against Wizards who rely too much on Disintegrate.

Skill tiers were removed for the July 2011 Press Event, and Ancient Spear became a level 21 skill.

Media

Ancient Spear can be seen in action on video here:

• Gameplay: Blizzcon 2010 (in the Arena)
• Video: Blizzcon 2010 Rune Effects
• Video: August 2011 Barbarian Skill Animations

You can find pictures in the Diablo III screenshot and picture gallery:

• Diablo III screenshots and pictures
• Ancient Spear specific gallery contents

• 

  Barb firing spear.

• 

  The spearhead and chain.

• 

  A wild shot, flashes off the screen.

• 

  A confused Barb nearly skewers his red team Wizard teammate.

References

• BlizzCon 2010 PvP Hands-on Report
• 15 More Minutes of Arena Ninja-Cam from BlizzCon -- Incgamers 10th Jan 2011
• Zediono's translation of JudgeHype's pre-beta report -- IncGamers 1st Aug 2011
• Barbarian Active Skills -- Diablo III 13th Sep 2011

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer primary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer secondary

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer corpses

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer bloodandbone

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer reanimation

Template:Skill navbox Necromancer curses