Help me make a Brawler in POE1!

[Frog Man]

I'm decided on making a Brawler in deadfire (barb/monk) who cleaves rows of foes with his fists + carnage.

 

My question, can you guys help me make a non-monk class (preferably barb) that uses novice suffering in POE1? Is this viable for the whole game on POTD?

Edited July 19, 2017 by derrick4372

[Boeroer]

Yes, it is! Especially a barb works great with Nov. Suffering.

 

Just don't take any dmg-mods like Savage Attack or Blooded and so on. Those only raise the base damage of weapons and Nov. Suffering leaves the tiny base damage of fists (5- untouched but gives you a huge damage bonus that is not influenced by those dmg mods. This also means that crits don't do so much for your damage.

 

On the upside: grazes will nearly do the same damage as hits or crits. And carnage has a -34% DMG malus. But -34% of 5-8 isn't so bad. At the same time Carnage suffers from a -10 ACC malus at the start of the game which leads to a lot of grazes. But again: since a graze with fists doesn't gimp your damage as much as with normal weapon it's not that noticeable that Carnage has some serious handicaps in the early game.

 

Nov. Suffering gets boosted by MIG though. So your goal should be to have very high MIG. High INT is always good for carnage of course. And with high MIG and INT I would always pick Veteran's Recovery.

 

Then take Weapon Focus Peasant, Two Weapon Style. As I said skip all the DMG mods, also Apprentice's Sneak Attack.

 

You can take some defensive talents like Bear's Fortitude at some point because you skip the dmg related ones. Maybe in this case even Greater Frenzy is viable, because of the higher MIG.

 

Abilities like Frenzy, Bloodlust and Blood Thirst are great. Even One Stands alone can still be viable because of the defensive part (more foes needed to flank you) - if you get flanked a lot.

 

Search for the Sandals of the Forgotten Friar (bounty in WM I, Durgan's Battery map).

 

Armor depends on your playstyle. If you want to run into the thick of it then thicker armor. If you like to flank then thinner. Everything that speeds you up is nice (Gauntlets of Swift Action for example).

 

Also everything that raises MIG.