Braven

For the rogue, the problem is that they both provide the same buff of 20% melee damage and that part doesn't stack. Technically, you can have both active (and the negative parts, like the -5 accuracy penalty of Savage attack, is not suppressed). Imagine "same buff" modals don't stack, though I can't think of any others which are exactly the same like that. I have noticed some modals don't stack with activated abilities. For example, disciplined barrage doesn't stack with the gallant focus modal.

Athletics no longer influences fatigue. Still not a bad idea to have around 3-5 anyways since it is still cheap to invest at that point and the healing is helpful early. I have never seen a check that needs more than 5.

I have found stealth to be a pretty useless skill. You can start battle with a gun from stealth with no points invested. Even if they see you, you start with no recovery so your attack is not delayed by much. The only exception is for a rogue with backstab talent. For companions, I would invest mostly in survival and at least one point in athletics for second wind. If you want, you can put a few more point in athletics, but each point only adds 4 endurance to the healing so it is only a small benefit, but better than nothing. Have at least one character invest to 8 lore for scrolls. Another could go to 4-6 lore for the lower level scrolls.

They do have one, but it is 2/rest instead of per/encounter and is actual invisibility, so stealth skill doesn't matter for it.

The hardest part of POTD is ACT 1. At that point you don't have many sources of easy quests to level up before choosing to attempt harder encounters and also lack good items. I have had the most success with fighter because they are very hardy right from the very start with constant recovery and immediate access to healing multipliers. They can take a real beating and start off with the best accuracy and deflection too. Everything else they need is available right at the start of ACT 2 so their midgame is also good. With 6 item slots, a bunch of figurines, shod-in-faith, and double speed weapons, it doesn't really matter if there are more enemies per-encounter; you will still chop them up quick enough. The barrage ability is really helpful for landing Fire scrolls for encounters with phantoms and lighting ones for spiders. I found those the hardest since you can't attack them directly (phantoms because of stun and spiders because of their insane DR-bypass) Wizards are also good but requires spamming that +50/75 deflection talent every battle and using all spells.

I found Backstab in general to be really buggy with similar results. A second backstab also won't happen if you are interrupted at all, but otherwise often happens with normal dual weapon attacks (no ability used). Sometimes it doesn't happen though even if not interrupted and I also noticed that the time between attacks seem to not be a factor. While I still think it can be powerful, I wish it wasn't so buggy. The main turn off for me was that I couldn't stealth backstab anything that actually mattered, no matter how much stealth I had, at least with melee weapons). This was particularly the case in The White March and against kith. Also, so many major fights have a cutscene or a conversation before the battle which breaks stealth. While stealth backstab is great for random, weak wilderness enemies, it is useless for important battles. Also, I felt it was overkill often for them. Maybe with items that grant invisibility it could be more worthwhile in the late game.

Did you consider weapon lashes? I found that paladin and monk had more peak damage. I did a double purgatory saber monk with a bunch of stacking lashes effects and it did more single target DPS then a rogue (and had better survivaliblity). The downside is it takes some setup to get there. All classes have different advantages and drawbacks for DPS, so it is hard to give a clean cut answer. I am not sure I could say that any one class is clearly the best. Every one would have caveats.

I tried to make the level 4 invocation work for a single target interruption build since it gives +50 interrupt, but it still didn't seem to work well. It just takes too long to get going and not using dragon chant meant the minions were a problem (and the dragon). Barbarian just seems to work out better for interrupting since AOE is needed.

Defenses don't really matter that much because the best equipment currently benefits from low defenses. Also a little higher saving throw defenses is not going to save you from stun-lock. Instead you need to use distractions, like summons, or specific equipment. Fighter is great because most of their abilities are passive (and improved in recent patches). Even though accuracy and defense boosts are temporary, it turns out that doesn't matter and is actually kind of helpful because of this. You can start with lower defenses in order to trigger on-crit items, and then activate the buffs afterwards. By the time they expire with a high INT fighter, the hardest part of the battle has already ended and it is just cleanup. High accuracy is only needed early on to get knockdowns and scrolls to crit for 50% longer duration. The fact fighter abilities are passive or instant cast is great since action time with soloing is the most valuable resource. You can't lay on hands while prone, but you do get constant recovery and shod-in-faith healing, for example.

DEX is always good, really. The only characters I leave it low for are super defense tanks (large shield, sit in doorways and around for special abilities, not swinging weapons. Often chanter or paladin is best for this). Attacking super fast is best if you also can reduce DR to nothing most of the time. Particularly if using fast weapons like rapier/dagger. This makes the 3 DR-bypass gloves, devil effigy, DR reduction Mage/chanter spells, fighter sundering blow, and vulnerable attack much more powerful. I like using a shield best when used with the soulbound dagger (since it can't be copied and the main damage is firebug making DR-bypass a little less important) or if you have another plan for the wax. It can also be used to copy per/rest quick slot items which is probably a better deal overall. I like dual wielding for interrupt barbarians, since they can copy one of the interrupt weapons, or just use two different ones. Mosquito rapier is particularly nice with DR-bypass stacking since the bypass applies to carnage and is the only fast weapon with high interrupt. It also provides healing which is good since you will have bad health needing maxed out Int/dex/per. Dual weapons is also always best in the early/mid game since it is the easiest way to increase speed before you have all of the speed hosting items.

You don't need to use a shield with bash. Though it is harder to reach zero recovery with a single weapon, it will attack just as often as two weapons if you do. The advantage is the huge shield deflection (and reflex) boost and enchantments and not having to use the wax. A legendary little savior, for example, provides 34 deflection/reflex and 5 will/fort, as well as +50 defense when prone/stunned. I would say that is worth 20% attack speed that can be found elsewhere. The main disadvantage is that full attack abilities are less good. Also, you lose the multicative benefits of double speed weapons. There is no "speed enchantment" for shields making it hard to reach the high speeds without full commitment. Some classes might not be able to do it at all.

One problem with using the Dragon-maw shield is that it will reduce your attack speed since you can't apply Durgan steel to it. With sword/shield, you need all the attack speed you can get. Does blood thirst stack with frenzy?

Yep, those are the weapons. I would wear heavy armor (early game) since barbarian deflection is terrible making crits common and you don't yet have the endurance to take a prolonged beating. It is not zero recovery in that case (without Durgan/other items) but it is not very noticeable with high dex. High attack speed will make a much bigger difference than anything else until the late game. Heavy hitting weapons like sabers are only good late game when you have Durgan and tons of damage modifiers making higher base damage shine.

You can try the shield and see. It was still bugged and not working when I played, but that sounds really good and would help diversify. Also would be really good with the barbarian full attack abilities. The speed weapons are The March dagger (copperlane district quest) and a rapier (buyable in the brothal). Both can be had at the very start of act 2 with no fighting and allow zero-recovery, even with vulnerable attack (which I highly recommend with them since they are fast but weak weapons).

Firebug can do crazy damage with the right build. The key is zero-recovery and wearing a shield (without bash) to maximum its procs. One weapon is just as good as two weapons if you can attack fast enough. It is basically the same as if you copied it and you get the added benefits of a shield as a bonus. It is just a little harder to get zero recovery because you can't take two-weapon fighting. One nice thing about firebug is that it doesn't depend on class abilities or talents to be good (except scion of flame). I like it with barbarians and melee wizards the best. Both don't have full attack abilities, damage modifiers, or lashes which make dual sabers better. Wizards also benefit from Scion of Flame and can easy increase attack speed with a third level spell and barbarians can proc. the firebug with carnage and also have good class abilities for increasing speed. Wizards generally want a (small) shield anyways when spell casting. Firebug can do hundreds of damage since it bounces all around and has a large base damage. Early game, double speed weapons is best since it won't be until late game where you can use other weapons fast enough. Two can be obtained early in the game without fighting.

I think the shield choice depends on the situation and progression in game. If facing prone/stun, use the one from endless paths (along with hide armor with stacking benefits). For ranged attackers, the one from twin elms. Little savior is good for general purpose use. Black Sanctuary is good, but hard to get, so very late, late game. Ideally, you would start off dual weapons and switch to sword/shield half way through the game. I feel like the higher attack speed is more useful in the early/mid game before you get Durgan steel and firebug. At the start of WM2 is when I switched. Also, there are two great early speed weapons, combined with vulnerable attack, has the highest damage in the early game for quick zero recovery. Keep in mind that bashing shields will effectively reduce the attack speed of the firebug dagger in half, thus reducing firebug procs by 50%. As a result, the bash shield effects needs to be better than the dagger to be worth using.

The level 2 vampiric shield power is good for melee. Provides 25 deflection. I recommend the usual high might/INT combined with regeneration equipment (shod in faith, veterans recovery, healing multipliers, etc). Those help survivaliblity without harming attacking power. Perception is also good since most powers target enemy defenses and it is hard to otherwise raise spell accuracy.

It is because of the on-being-crit/hit items that I never bother with high deflection anymore.

Yeah, I have found it hard actually getting minor quests if the stronghold is upgraded quickly. My current playthrough, I haven't found any yet and now likely will never. Binding rope is an average quest and a good alternative to belt of chimes. "Stuck" status it inflicts effectively raises accuracy by 20, by lowering enemy deflection. If surrounded, it typically inflicts all enemies, albeit only once per battle (but high INT should increase the duration a bit). Maybe that could be used to justify lowering perception and raising resolve.

Keep in mind that greater frenzy does not work with the frenzy granted by Sanguine, so it will probably be largely wasted. I do highly recommend veterans recovery, particularly with your stats. If you drop resolve, you will need to find one or more of the rare concentration items or you will get interrupted constantly and that will really hurt your attack speed. Or maybe there is a spell, if in party. I think priest has one. But it would need to be cast a lot. It happens even more than you might think since enemy critical hits give a 25 bonus to their ability to interrupt. I recommend hunting for the belt of chimes if you plan to keep resolve under 10. It is a minor stronghold quest, but you will need to save/reload to get it reliably. It also means not being able to wear other belts, of which there are some very nice ones. Otherwise, keep it around 10. Like others said, you will still get crit a lot since barbarians have low base deflection and you are not using a shield.

It jumps. I have also seen it bounce back and forth between two enemies, so it isn't limited to one hit per enemy. How much it jumps seems to vary. Sometimes it jumps all over the place and sometimes it doesn't jump at all. The fact it often jumps multiple times is why it is so damaging. Much better than other weapon proc effects, in my opinion. Vent pick can't hold a candle to it.

The bashing shield would probably work very well with carnage in your build. I have never tried it, but it looks fun. However, the disadvantage of that is it requires a critical hit which means you probably want max Perception and accuracy. I always found it hard finding a stat to drop with barbarian which is part of the reason I came up with this build. Resolve and Perception seemed like the easiest two to live without. With 26 DEX, you will hit a lot more often, even with zero attack recovery, because it speeds up the animation time of each strike. I really like that +4 PER cape, particularly because of the +2 survival. I cut it from this build in favor of swaddling cloth because overwhelming wave is really power and it is available early.

It is at the very start of WM2 and is very easy to upgrade to max. Check the temple after it has been changed to a weapon smithy. I generally like having builds that are good with early game equipment too. This one is too, I just didn't list all the early game items I would get. I would start off with march steel dagger and the speed rapier you can buy in Defiance Bay. Then, get spell-tongue in White March, part one. With vulnerable attack, they will still be very strong for damage because you attack so fast and bypass much of the enemy DR. Check out my Glass Tsunami build for early game item advice. I would use the same weapons and early game equipment that build uses. I'm glad you enjoyed my bio. I think that explains well why this barbarian has low perception and resolve.

Braven always wanted to be a knight when he grew up. He studied really hard, practiced with swords, worked out daily, and dreamed of the day he could ride off in glory on a faithful steed slaying dragons. However, he had one big problem; he failed the knighthood eye exam. He was both near-sighted and far-sighted in a world without bifocals. He was also very clumsy and accident-prone. He nearly burned down the local library by flailing around and knocking down candles. In fact, he has a hard time just targeting one person while practicing swordplay and tends to hit everyone around him. After his confidence and resolve was shattered from being denied the knighthood, he shouted a great, barbaric cry of fury and, with a gleam of fire in his eyes, set out to seek his own glory in the wilds. Premise of build: A barbarian build with low perception and resolve, extreme endurance regeneration and massive AOE damage thanks to firebug. The goal is maximum speed to proc "firebug" and "spelltongue" as quickly as possible. Because of various speed boosts, we still reach zero recovery and max DEX for the fastest possible attacking. Since there are lots of ways to increase accuracy (and we are not going for critical hits), the low perception doesn't really matter. Race: Human or Dwarf seem best to me. Human's fighting spirit lasts a long time and helps accuracy/damage. Dwarf has great situational accuracy. Background: Colonist Starting Stats: STR: 19 (needed for healing and firebug damage) CON: 11 DEX: 19 (the quicker we can hit enemies, the more firebugs we can trigger.) PER: 4 INT: 18 (carnage range and healing duration) RES: 5 Ending Stats (with rest bonus): STR: 24 (+1 Heritage, +4 skull helmet) CON: 12 (+1 boon) DEX: 26 (+3 rest, +3 ring, +1 effigy-devil) PER: 6 (+2 armor enchant) INT: 22 (+4 ring) RES: 5 DR-Bypass: 9 (+5 vulnerable, +3 armband, +1 effigy) Survival: 14 (for +60% healing multiplier) (9 base, +2 colonist, +2 barbarian, + 1 boon) If soloing, you can still get to 9 mechanics. 11/13 with gloves and rest bonus if needed to open a chest. Weapons: The Unlabored Blade (firebug) and Spelltongue with fire lash (increased duration, attack speed) Early Game: Use +speed rapier and dagger available at start of Act 2 since they are also noble weapons. Armor: Maneha's Armor (Has important 25% healing multiplier and allows for zero attack recovery). Equipment: Head: Maegfolc Skull Hat (+4 might and unbending) Cape: Swaddling sheet (Stun on being Crit) Hands: Riona's Armband (DR-bypass helps a lot with all the small hits we do) Rings: +4 Int Ring (helps carnage and accuracy with instill doubt and blessing) and +3 Dex ring (also helps reflex/prone/stun defense) Boots: Shod-in-Faith (massive endurance regeneration) Belt: Belt of Chimes (massive concentration boost, compensates for low resolve) Ability/Talents: 1. Frenzy (big speed boost) 2. Weapon Focus - Noble 3. Savage Defiance (great source of endurance regeneration, extendable with spell tongue) 4. Veteran's Recovery (also extendable with spell tongue) 5. One Stands Alone 6. Vulnerable Attack 7. Brute Force (Also helps firebug accuracy since it targets deflection) 8. Two-Weapon Style 9. Threatening Presence (lowers enemy fort by 14) 10. One-handed weapon style (now helps dual weapons and spells like firebug) 11. Heart of Fury 12. Accurate Carnage 13. Barbaric Retaliation 14. Greater Frenzy 15. Thick-Skinned 16. Scion of Flame By end game, you are just spitting out fireballs everywhere and are basically unkillable with super high endurance regeneration caused by the spell-tongue extended healing. ALTERNATE BUILD for even more firebug power and added defense: - Switch out talents related to dual weilding in favor of sword/shield. Use guantlets of swift action. - In weapon set one, have spelltongue and small shield and start off a battle with it to increase attack speed, debuff enemy speed. - In weapon set two, have firebug and another small shield. Switch to this after a couple swings with spelltongue. Now, you don't have to split your weapon hits with spelltongue which is no longer really needed and you will proc firebug twice as often. ---- Special thanks to the Boerer's Time Bandit Barbarian build, which this drew heavy inspiration from.

Being a tank and being a damage dealer are not mutually exclusive. I think fighters are best speced aggressively and can still tank optimally. The dagger was my preferred weapon with fighter. With zero attack recovery and a single weapon (no other weapon stealing action time), it procs firebug constantly. Each firebug hit does around 80 damage and bounces five times... So hundreds of damage in total. Fighters can even reach zero recovery with plate and holding a shield with that dagger, thanks to armored grace, a stacking speed bonus no other class gets. Fighters can both have the best defenses and highest damage in your party if built correctly.