I posted this in another thread, but I would like to bring it up for discussion separately. One barbarian that I have had a lot of fun with for PotD is the stun-lock or excessive status effect barbarian.
The idea is to have the barbarian use carnage to pile as many on-hit/crit status effects as possible on the enemy - stun and disorienting being the main ones, but also dazed - as well as using passive auras and effects from being hit, such as sickened, terrified and stuck.
Attributes:
- 10/8/16/18/18/8, or something thereabouts. We want accurate and fast carnage, over as large of an area as possible to proc those crits to shut the enemy down.
Race:
- Hearth Orlan, to get more crits. Could also bump perception further.
Key abilities:
- Threatening presence
- Brute force (more crits if you target the lower defense)
- Barbaric retaliation (does this proc dazed, stun and disorienting?)
- Frenzy
Talents:
- Accurate carnage
- Weapon focus (peasant or soldier, depending on weapon choice)
- Two weapon style
- Interruption (potentially)
- Apprentice's sneak attack (what with stun allowing it)
Weapons:
- Here there is a choice. There are two combinations of weapons that will give you disorienting (-5 to all defenses), and stunning. Either spears (CladhalĂath and Vile Loners Lance), or warhammers (Godansthunyr and Strike Hard).
- Each has its benefits - speed and two different damage types for the warhammers, and more accuracy from the spears
- Of note is that both Godansthunyr and Vile Loners Lance have bonuses to their interrupt values - which is a nice bonus
- Possible to mix and match, but then taking two weapons focus might be good - or take the weapon focus for the stunning weapon
Other equipment:
- Gauntlets: Glittering Gloves to apply dazed (maybe overkill with stun already - but why not?)
- Head: Executioner's Hood to apply a passive frightened effect in AoE
- Waist: Binding rope, so foes hitting you get stuck
- Potentially Sanguine plate and Shod-in-faith, but that is a great combo for most frontliners. Swaddling sheet could also work, for more synergy when being hit by a crit.
- Potentially additional retaliation items - assuming dazed, stun and disorienting triggers from retaliation strikes
Total status effects applied:
Applied as attacks:
- Disorienting - Vile Loners Lance / Strike Hard
- Stunning - Cladhialath / Godansthunyr
- Dazed - Glittering Gloves (including from Barbaric Retaliation, I believe)
Applied as passive AoE:
- Sickening - Threatening Presence
- Frightened - Executioner's Hood
Applied on being hit:
- Stuck - Binding Rope
Of course, durganize everything to get the speed up there, pile on a Dire Blessing, Devotions of the Faithful, and Frenzy. Crowns of the Faithful or other intellect buffs also work great - get the AoE larger.
Edit questions: Are there any more status effect items that could be piled on to this? Would more retaliation be beneficial - or does retaliation not proc the status effects?