Did they ever fist the carnage bug for barbarian? I stopped playing awhile back after I beat the game.
strongest build in game is the "jolting touch barbarian". Jolting touch works with carnage, and there are three ways to get jolting touch
1. Azureith's Stilleto that procs jolting touch on crit. Can be bought very early in game from first town
2. Animancer's boots that give 3 casts of jolting touch on rest. Can be found very early in the game
3. craft a jolting touch scroll. You only need lvl 2 lore skill to cast it.
with the correct build, jolting touch does 78 to 107 points of damage, and it bouces twice for 64-88 dmg. So casting jolting touch with Barbarian's Carnage (either by critting with the dagger or using the spell) will cause you to use jolting touch versus everyone in range. So if 8 people are in range, it'll hit the 8 people, and then jump twice more for a total of 24 hits. This kills all mobs in one hit, even boss level mobs. Carnage also works with retaliate, and there are several armor pieces that give retaliation.
Because of this, you want a tanky & high damage barbarian with high accuracy. Most of your DPS will come from jolting touch, and anyone that hits you will be retaliated. You don't need high dex. Try to find a glove that gives accuracy. At the start of the fight, cast +acc on hero and -deflection on enemy (either by paralyze, prone, etc.).
Stats
Hearth Orlan for increasing crit chance
Mig 18 Con 8 Dex 4 Per 18 Int 12 Res 18
Abilities
Frenzy or Barbaric Yell for first skill (doesn't matter since you'll never use them)
Accurate Carnage
Savage Defiance
One Stands Alone
Brute Force
Threatening presence
Thick Skinned
Talents
Weapon and shield style
Weapon focus Ruffian (for +6 acc with the jolting-touch stiletto)
Vulnerable attack
Heart of the Storn (for +20% lightning dmg with jolting-touch)
Bull's will (for +10 willpower, we need to reduce the chance of being charmed)