Yeah , I suppose . So the argument is lets not optimize , just throw hardware at it . <| sep |> Well , yeah . Whirlwind is a level 30 skill and starts at 50 % damage , so on Normal you will have damage penalty for quite a while . In addition , it has no synergies , making it overall poor damage dealer against single targets . The skill ' s strength lies in crowd control and really nothing else . It has amazing reputation mostly because in early versions of Diablo 2 it was almost absurdly broken , but those times are long gone now . Also , make sure you understand the Whirlwind mechanicscombatskills . shtml # whirlwind , specifically whether you should do short or long whirlwinds . AR should not be a problem if you got 20 points in polearmor whatever your main weapon is mastery . I feel your pain about STR for gear , DEX for max block , rest VIT guides but that ' s just how it is . And if the guide does mention any items , they ' re all 0 . 1 % Hell Baal drops or absurdly rare runewords . Everyone writing guides simply assumes that you ' ll be playing Ladder where everything is infinitely more available because you can trade with other players , and that you will have separate character for MF runs . And that someone will run you through Normal and Nightmare too for good measure . Ugh . As a singleplayer . player you have no choice but either do the research yourself , or just limit yourself to NormalNM difficulty where your gear doesn ' t have to be toptier to finish the game . Fishymancer is a good way to learn the game too , and can MFmule for other characters .