Bezhukov

Does Verdict proc on any hit (including spells)? Will test.

I mean since you know what effects Serafen gets with Wild Mind you can plan ahead to get the most out of it while ameliorating the downsides. + 5 PLs for 3 secs means having Frenzy and Sprint up and access to Mind Blades. Blades crits also proc Raw bleeds from Blood Frenzy BTW. Good idea to take Spell Pen passive. - PLs for 3 secs means time to attack with your weapon. Full Focus refill makes Greater Focus passive better. Focus empty just means time to attack. Tier 3 Affliction all upside, Tier 3 Inspiration usually just cancels an Affliction. Easy to remove. + 1 Empower point encourages being liberal with your Empower usage (refilling Rage from Blows maybe). Can’t lose one you don’t have. Invisibility a pain but not gamebreaking. The nuke encourages keeping Serafen away from team where he belongs to trigger Bloodied and Lone Wolf items. Give him Shock AR and Deltro’s Helm and hit him with Tekehu’s Bolts and you’re good. Good place to set up Echo. Nuke’s gravy. That wasn’t so hard.

The thing about Eyestrike is that meleers typically have high Fort and Fort Blind is common elsewhere if you want it (Tekuhu/Aloth Chill Fog for instance). Nice thing about Phantom Foes apart from huge radius is that it gives you Flanked on meleers but targets Will. Rogue Blind is Reflex so if you can apply that AoE via Mortars or Blights it makes Phantom Foes less necessary, though its Flanked condition can’t be removed by Inspiration. Likewise targeting Fort on Casters/Ranged threats works well but hard to get benefit of Eyestrike AoE there which makes long cast time inefficient. I actually will run (Contemplative) Xoti out and punch them into melee range (where Tekehu’s Chill Fog Blinds them) after initial Dire Blessing since Monks have good mobility and her main attack targets Fort (and gets bonus Accuracy from Dance). More things for Witch Carnage to hit when it needs to refuel. Frenzy Ward preserves Stealth so is much quicker to get set up and Tenuous Grasp can be spammed with Community Patch and has nice duration. -3 PLs, -20 Will, -5 Deflection, and big malus to Hostile Duration/AoE (incloming and outgoing) on the biggest threat(s) makes Horrors less necessary. Again targeting Will vs melee threats is solid and there are other sources of Frighten/Terrify if you want it (Shaken from Tenuous Grasp gets the -3 PL already) including Ward obviously. Fractured Volition is good follow up due to long duration and ability to power thru Con Affliction Resistance. Weakened vs Will is relatively rare effect and DEX/CON is good fit with RES/INT debuff on Grasp. I don’t like the -damage modals on Witch because I want to get the most Focus I can out of the casting downtime and Club is Crush only which can end up underpen vs some foes. Barb that spends most its time attacking wants to be in thick of fight but Beguiler/Furyshaper wants to get back to casting. Iron Will at lvl 3 instead of Eyestrike makes up for Furyshaper downside since Cipher gets +15.

Tactical Barrage + Barbaric Blow Carnage will have plenty of impact, especially with Spell Disruption tacked on. It’s fun to play to the strengths and unique features of each class instead of away from them. Pretty sure Streetfighter can find a way to make it very relevant too. EDIT: welp did some research on Carnage and INT has no effect, nor does Sneak damage. Blow *does* give a much bigger radius, and obviously Action/Recovery speed effects trigger it more often, both important for Spell Disruption.

Meh You also lose the benefit of Blooded and the undocumented role I noted of having a low Deflection character in the thick of the fight to draw AI attention. Ghost Heart/Mage Slayer is a great combo since Evasive Roll is so much earlier (and cheaper) than Leap and it provides a much-needed source of Accuracy and Full Attacks (or Concussive Tranquilizer if two-handing). Few Ranger abilities are ranged only. One-weird tricks are fine for soloing but if you’re playing with a group might as well get the most out of each class and enjoy the synergies. I like Barb to set a Trap while Fighter starts combat with an explosive to turn on Frenzy from Stealth then Escape/Roll/Leap into the backlines and try to draw attention while rest of party buffs up. Free Pull of Eora. If party has a better trapper then Barb can open combat. Marked for the Hunt has 20 range so ideal for that.

Any Barb that isn't in melee is trying to be too cute/playing away from the strengths of the class. There are enough items that trigger when Bloodied to jump right into the fray, not coincidentally drawing attention away from the rest of the party which I think is the undocumented strength of the class. The downside of Frenzy can be an upside if it makes the Barb an AI target, especially when that target is a trap that becomes a far harder to damage when Bloodied. Pollaxe might be good to get some engagement if the fools who rushed in change their minds, and being alone even Wahai Poraga could be good. Both hits would trigger Carnage with all applying Spell Disruption, right? I'd probably go all-in with Streetfighter to use Escape for positioning, but straight-up Barb would get Leap soon enough along with the good passives and ability upgrades.

If I'm trying to get Bloodied I don't want extra armor (yet), and if I'm trying to stop casters I don't have time for potions (or waiting around for friendly buffs). Sounds like a good combo with Streetfighter played straight to get behind enemy lines ASAP using Escape. If the bad guys try to protect their casters then that's a pull without having to cast one. Spell Resistance probably doesn't apply to Greater Lay on Hands if you want to wuss out.

The point of Mage Slayer is to put the Barbarian himself at that distance, which is often too far/early for buffs to hit anyway, and in situations where scrolls/pots/life-saving spells are too slow. No friendly spells where there are no friends! Would be interesting in combination with Streetfighter played straight to get there immediately (via Escape), then using the abilities of both classes (and items) to survive/thrive in the midst of “unwanted” attention. Barb already has Brute Force to ignore most caster self-buffs. Can also go Ranger for Evasive Roll to get Quick as well, though that’s later than Escape, and Concussive Tranquilizer is a nice one. Charge from Fighter later still but also great.