JerekKruger

It was partly a joke, but also my experience back when I played WoW was of very aggressive forums which would flat out tell you you were an idiot if you didn't use the best build, and even casual raid guilds often requiring their members use said builds or risk being barred from raiding. If you're used to that mindset, and you come into a game like PoE which is superficially similar to an MMO, you might naturally look for the best builds. Of course I could be reading too much into it. I have been known to do so.

I understand the experience imbalance. I'd prefer it if experience were global i.e. all present and future companions had the same experience totals all the time. Like I said, I don't mind what other people do, I just don't like doing it myself.

I blame MMOs.

That I can understand. Random stat distributions are obnoxious outside of certain rogue like type games. Also your character is literally a half-god in the BG series, so it doesn't seem to unfair for them to have amazing stats. To be honest I don't care all that much about Steam achievements most the time, but if I am going to chase them I want to do them "properly" i.e. without mods and ideally without exploits.

It allows you to circumvent one of the things which usually invalidates achievements. To be fair it's very minor but still. EDIT: I should add I am not judging others. I couldn't care less about how other people get their achievements, and if using a mod is more fun than not that's great. This is just a personal preference for getting my own achievements.

Well, in the 3.04 patch Sabres damage is going down, so the difference will get larger. Also two-handers can, on certain classes, reach 0 recovery (or close enough that it makes almost no difference), and once you reach this point, the extra speed from dual wielding counts for naught (attack speed doesn't help you beyond 0 recovery). Finally remember to include damage reduction in your calculation: suppose a one-hander does 10 damage and a two-hander does 11 damage, that's just a 10% boost, but if the target has 8DR then the one-hander does 2 damage and the two-hander does 3 damage, which is now a 50% boost. But yes, in many cases using two one-handed weapons is better, particularly for classes who have lots of full attack abilities and/or can't get close to 0 recovery naturally. All I'd say is that PoE isn't so difficult as to make optimisation matter, so if like the idea of using a two-handed sword then I'll do it even if it's a little less optimal and I'll still beat the game.

2: Barbarians are perfectly viable using a two-handed weapon or a weapon and shield. Sure, full attacks benefit more from dual wielding, but unless you absolutely must min-max it's not that important. Even if you do feel obliged to go two-weapon style there's plenty of one handed weapons that are perfectly Barbariany: axes and warhammers spring to mind. As for Vengeful Defeat: Boeroer has a build based around making the most of the ability, but most of Boeroer's builds are about finding weird ways to play a class. I'm about to start a Barbarian PotD playthrough and I have no intention of taking Vengeful Defeat. 3: I can understand that, if you want to focus on doing melee damage with your weapon, then Chanters aren't for you. 4: I don't know which accounts about Paladins sucking you've been reading, because Paladins don't suck at all. They're great tanks, more than good enough to main tank the game if designed to; they good buffers, not as good as Priests sure, but they can be good buffers whilst also being great tanks which Priests cannot; finally at high levels, with Sacred Immolation, they do brilliant damage. Sure, at lower levels they're not going to be topping the damage charts, they'll still contribute (particularly with a two-handed or two one-handers when using Flames of Devotion). 5: That's a shame, Monks are great fun and fit your desire for a non-Fighter melee class who does damage with weapons. I say this as someone who has no idea what otaku or waifu means, and who isn't particularly Japanophile. One thing I am sure you already know, but in case you don't: all Monk abilities work with weapons and armour just as well as without. A Monk in full plate and wielding a greatsword works fine. As for a solution to your problem, I think you're focussing too much on min-maxing/being optimal. Sure, Rogues are weakest class in the game, but a Rogue main character with the story companions can still certainly beat PotD. Similarly it's not like a two-handed Barbarian is bad, they're just not going to benefit quite as much from full attack abilities. Honestly, outside of solo PotD this game is easy enough that I prefer to avoid absolute min-maxing in favour of a bit of challenge and role-playing reasons. Also I'll second Raven Darkholme's suggestion of a melee Cipher (you can focus on their self buffs if you really don't want to be a "spell caster"). On top of this, Wizards can be built as a really good pure melee class with summoned weapons and self buffs, and another non-obvious melee choice is a pet Ranger.

Huh, that seems a bit dodgy.

Thanks for the answers everyone. They're very helpful. I think I'll do my obligatory overly long character creation at some point tonight and get started with this play through.

Indeed, you'll need to look up console commands, and do a little bit of simply arithmetic to make sure you reassign the right number of attributes etc. I assume mods also invalidate achievements, so if you're okay with the console I'd recommend that as the easiest method.

Very helpful, thanks Jojobobo. In particular, your conviction about Blood Thirst tells me it's a very good ability, which was hard to tell by just looking at the description. One question, you mentioned Sanguine Plate. The proc doesn't stack with the Barbarian's own Frenzy right? I assume the advantage is just being able to get more than one Frenzy per fight. If it does stack that's... kinda insane.

Thanks for the answers Raven Darkholme. I thought Thick-Skinned had been buffed to +3, though that's still not great I'll admit.

No sorry, Raven is one-handed. As Boeroer says, Whispers of Yenwood is a good anti-spirit weapon that's one handed.

So is Ydwen's I'm afraid.

I imagine 2wf = two-weapon fighting. Is a certain hammer not as good as St. Ydwen's Redeemer? Admittedly it comes a lot later but still.

Back in the mists of time, when I was still young and idealistic and PoE was still in beta, I looked at all the classes available in the game and decided I wanted to play a Barbarian. Upon release I promptly created a Barbarian and started playing the game and quickly got frustrated at how often I died and soon rerolled as a Cipher. Since then I've never really used a Barbarian. When Maneha was added in WM2 I tried her out, but she came so late in the game that she felt like a downgrade compared to all my existing companions and I didn't keep her around for long. With the changes to Barbarians in 3.03, I've decided it's time for a Barbaric Watcher play through. The fact I have used the Barbarian less than any other class in the game means I am not really familiar with their abilities, and it's not clear to me what is good and what is not. As such I have a list of questions about them that I am hoping you guys can help me with. (i) Frenzy seems very powerful, but also a little suicidal at lower levels. Would I be right in thinking it might be best to wait till later to pick it up? (ii) Barbaric Yell vs. Barbaric Shout: so the latter is almost a complete upgrade on the former. The only downside is the fact it's per rest rather than per encounter. Should I take Yell then respec into Shout later (I don't usually like respeccing but I'd be willing to do it just for this change), keep both, take neither? (iii) I can't work out whether Blooded is good or not. I don't know how often a Barbarian is going to be below 50% health and whether it's safe to stay there. (iv) Savage Defiance on the other hand seems very good, particularly with the talent upgrade. Is this something all (most) Barbarians should take or just tankier ones? (v) Bloodlust and Blood Thirst: I find it hard to judge how often these are likely to be up and therefore how good they are. Thoughts? (vi) Is Thick-Skinned worth it? (vii) Is Eye of the Storm worth it? I don't know how often a Barbarian needs to worry about being engaged? (viii) Finally, with the changes to Echoing Shout, is it now considered good? Additional information specific to the Barbarian build I am thinking of: I am probably going to go one-handed weapon and shield, eventually using the Dragon's Maw Shield because I am a sucker for soulbound items.

Okay so more specifically, I think (at least originally) Rogues were supposed to be non-mystical/magical. Shadow Step is kinda mystical, but apart from that every single one of their abilities is basically physical. Remove of relax that restriction and I agree that Rogues could have a load of cool powers, including things like you've suggested.

What's a direballs Rogue? I really wish I liked Rogues more, cause I love the fact that Devil is so unique, but I rarely use them.

I feel like Obsidian couldn't find a way to make Rogues fit their archetype (super high single target damage glass cannon) that also worked in their ruleset. I also wonder whether there was less enthusiasm for Rogues in Obsidian because their abilities just seem dull compared other classes. When I look at the list of abilities for Monks and Barbarians I get excited, but when I look at the Rogue's list I just don't care. I hope that if PoE2 has a Rogue class* they redesign it in some way to make it more fun. As for Ranger I feel that they are saved by Stormcaller and the usefulness of their pet as a disposable tank. Also ever since I took the Adra Dragon from lightly wounded to dead with Sagani alone (run away, take a shot, graze, run away, take a shot, graze, repeat) I can't hate on her. *I know suggesting that an RPG not have a Rogue class is blasphemy, but when the stealth, lock picking and trap detecting skills aren't tied to the Rogue class, it's not really clear why a Rogue should be different from, say, a different Fighter build.

Ah, I had a mod installed which didn't allow permanent death so perhaps it also applied to this case. Whilst said mod might seem like easy mode, honestly I'd just reload if a character permanently died so it was simply there to save me time. In BG1 I remember getting Minsc to drink a potion of glass eyes then solo clear that Basilisk map quite easily.

Maybe I'll try it on my next play through instead of going to Stalwart at level 6ish. Then again, I am not sure I can cope with Lagufaeth being tougher. God I hate Lagufaeth.

How different is upscaled WM1?

Weren't the Basilisks deadly primarily because of they stoned the Bhaalspawn it was instant game over. I don't remember your characters being prone to taking more damage when stoned (though I might be wrong).

The only disappointing thing about Citzal's Spirit Lance is the higher level summoned weapons not being even better. That and the fact you can never get it per rest I guess. EDIT: dual Bittercuts is really nice on Devil of Caroc as well, since the -20 poison resist is, you know, somewhat offset by her poison immunity.

If PoE2 has a naval theme, and if there's drowning, I expect the petrification debuff to provide immunity to drowning!