Kelstrom

Another thing about me getting at least 16 Perc is that i am not sure there is a companion with more than 14 Perc, which is critical for detecting traps or hidden stuff.

You know guys i was very happy when i tested my final build in the beta yesterday, and decided to go with 20 Might/10 Con/18 Dex/10 Per/10 Int/10 Resolve. Today however i had some time to check the forums and more specific the last patch notes (beta 4)... and we have an attribute cap of 35. So i guess i will go with 16 Might/16 Dex/16 Per, the rest 10.

The problem here is the threshold IMO. Isnt it better to just remove the threshold flat numbers and use percentages instead? Like for instance, the numbers are just for the sake of the idea. robes / clothing have 15% armor mitigation at most. Light armors have up to 30% medium up to 50-60% heavy (plates) up to 70%, even 80%? Or mixed mitigation based on damage type (piercing, slashing, elemental etc...) And then you have penetration bonuses- something like: estoc (highest pen a weapon can have) = 50% club (lowest pen a weapon can have) = 10% Then you have: estoc vs clothing: 50-10 = 100% damage done +40% extra damage club vs clothing: 10-15 = 95% damage done estoc vs plate: 50-80 = 70% damage done club vs plate: 10-80 = 30% damage done You can add some fluff to this system by making the penetration random, for instance estoc can do from 40-60% pen, club could be 5-20% pen. Then you can have skills/spells with bonus to pen or penalty to armor that have an actual effect even if its a 5%.

Could you put the DPS stats of them? hits/crits as well... I am kinda curious

Dual sceptre seems very good DPS combo or secptre/wand, where you dont need max dex to be effective. For instance with 0 dex dual sceptres have 0,7 speed and 1.3 recovery. The damage is nice for a 1h weapon + the modal gives 20% dmg and 2 pen. Also its range is 4m so a Ranger (sharpshooter) have "bonus penetration when attacking targets 4m or closer" - not sure how much the bonus is or if it works at all. Devoter is probably mandatory not only for the usual bonuses, but the life regen as well. A cipher is a good second class for the % dmg per hit.

Before the patch i started with barbarian using 1h spear to try and carnage stun with the crafted spear. Still need to do act2 to get it

Even if you kill the dragon at level 1 you need lvl10 mechanics for the sword.

Just wanted to add that Tidefall needs 10 mechanics to find. That is on POTD.

Sometimes the humor is good in this forum

These "substitutes" you mentioned will do about 10-20% of the DPS potential the barbarian can do. If you dont wanna baby sit your chars maybe switch to more easy difficulty. The barbarian can be made tanky enough to be a passive DPS machine, which can only use 1 active skill at the start of the battle and maybe another skill later. Since you have 2 tanks you dont need to baby sit the barb, put a heavy armor + slash/pierce DR belt and just right click on the enemy. If you are not lazy enough set frenzy to "Q" button and click it some times. If you think your barb will die, set salvage defiance to "W" and click it when low endurance. This is the best passive gameplay to DPS ratio you can get in the game. Cypher, rogue, monk, wizard, druid - these DPS classes require a lot more attention and die faster than tanky barb.

Yeah but the ranger only attacks 1 monster (1.5 if you count the semi-joke called pet)

Most of you guys talking theories here... But most of the time in game we have to deal with more than 1 enemy at a time. If you not solo then you should have a tank and supporters with your monk/barb so lets see the variants: 1. Enemy pack 7-8+ - tank goes to block 3-4 enemy, the others rush for your supporters (if its an open area). Barb in this situation will chase the rushers or help kill the ones stopped by the fighter in both situation the barb will hit more than 1 monster. The monk will do the same and if he gets lucky a monster could stop and fight him and get him wounds. But one monster may not be enough to generate wounds fast. The key here is monsters to prefer the monk instead the wizard/priest/other supporter, otherwise we have an auto-attacking monk 2. Small pack of strong monsters (trolls ogres and so on) - the fighter could engage all of them. Barb is free to go behind them and carnage at will. Monk will swing at one monster without a source for wounds. If the monk doesnt have Mortification of the Soul - he will just auto-attack. 3. Choke points. You know the scenario. Barb is free to use spear/staff - carnage at will. Monk could use ranged weapon or just auto-attack with staff/spear... All the variants exclude one stands alone/retaliate combo. The barb wins the DPS race.

The best way to deal with the Shades early is to use Durance second level spell Divine Mark - doing good fire damage and reducing the deflection - then focus one shade at a time.

Give him pike or Tidefall (the 2h sword with endurance leech). Get thick-skinned, accurate carnage and vulnerable attack. You got some not so worthed talents like greater frenzy, barbaric shout, barbaric blow. Use second chance items + Vengeful Defeat. Priority buffs from Durance - Inspiring Radiance + Devotions for the Faitfhul Also there are 4 patches now and no mention about One Stand Alone being bugged. No dev confirmation, at least i havent seen one. But since you have 2 tanks you cant utilize OSA properly so its not so big if you dont have it. You can just poke with spear behind the fighters.

My advice is to drop the 2h weapon. At lower levels the barbarians have a hard time hitting enemies and the carnage is even harder with -10 accuracy. Use a single spear until at least level 5 where you can get OSA (one stands alone). If you get the retaliate armor (sanguine armor) you can switch to any 2h weapon and use the barbarian as a tank. Also get Savage Defiance - very useful ability.

The kiting tactic is very effective in this game. Just use a hunting bow, then run and shoot.

Some of them are really helpful. If you want to do a solo run for instance, there is a moon godlike dude in Gilded Vale that can give you his plate armor

If you are doing normal/easy play you should focus on DPS party. The monsters are not so scary and you dont need a real min/maxed tank. For instance on my POTD run I went with a barbarian and made Eder into tank with all talents for that. But as soon as I got the reflect gear and restoration weapons I no longer required a tank. My barbarian started tanking and the other party members became auto-attack ranged DPS.

All offensive talents (modals) stack, but you can only use 1 defensive. You also cannot use 1 offensive and 1 defensive at the same time.

Can you hot key weapon swaps? I wasn't able to figure it out. They are already hotkeyed , on your characters action bar you can always switch between weapon sets just click on the weapon in action bar and other sets will pop up , thats the only proper way to play ranger use the damage boosts you get from class skills to deliver biggest damage possible with guns Since you mentioned it, i dont know how it is with you, but when i click on the action bar it switches between first weapon set and second, AND bare hands (a bug maybe?) - this is on every character and no they dont have a third weapon set unlocked.

The blooded ability is kinda confusing, because it activates as soon as combat starts.

Oh, my bad then.. i was thinking of the stiletto :D

koski, are you really going to disable the DPS potential of the barbarian by making him a semi-tank? Check the screenshot in this thread. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/76739-jolt-carnage/ This damage is done with 1 hit (1 swing) so you will have a barb and you wont use him to do that? There are at least 13 mobs and your barb will block 2 and the rest will just go around him and pwn your nukers. The fighter will stop 5 enemy and they will block the way for the other mobs.

Yep its a known combo, but it is only once per encounter.

Lol you make it sounds like the barbs are useless. They are useless if you make them glass cannons. Barbarians are DR tanks, not deflection. Most of their talents require them to go alone vs 2 or more monsters and juts pwn them. Support is key here as with every DPS class. Do you think that when a shadow teleports to your wizard/random cloth nuker and he will survive a few hits? The barb can survive more than that. All you need on the hardest fights is a that self-heal talent and maybe one heal from the paladin/priest. The fight will be over before you need to cast 2 heals.