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Hi everyone, Found it impossible to pass solo Barbarian PoTD - Caed Nua main hall cause of Spectre stunlock. Tried every build there may be. Reached level 5 - the maximum I could do through game content till Caed Nua. http://imgur.com/UM35sq0 As you can see there is almost maximum constitution and freeze damage reduction. Still Spectre stunlock and there is no way to deal with it. I've tried to raise deflection to 90 with small shield (+mastery), but it's the same stunlock. One handed mastery to hit them (they have Def.:71) - Animat from Bronze Horn Figurine dies after 10 seconds. - Fireball trap just tickles spectres. - Can't use scrolls, cause of stunlock. - Food applied. - Potions of Wizard Double / Mirrored Image almost useless too. - Potion of Bulwark Against the Elements just prolongs this suffering a bit. I've done this in v3.05.1186 with wizard (The Ultimate) and rogue... can't make it with barbarian though. http://steamcommunity.com/id/Perebor/ I can't find info regarding status "Stunned" - is it fortitude or will saveroll? Have anyone done this on these settings? (PoTD solo Barbarian) Any tips?

PotD, Full party. Not fully tested yet. The Trashman is pretty much...for clearing "trash mobs". Cleaving through groups of the various run of the mill monsters and bad guys that are in no short supply. He does this in particularly barbarian-like fashion - with an Axe! Named after Frank's wrestling pseudonym in 'Always Sunny in Philadelphia'. Short, hairy, ornery... kind of like an Orlan Barbarian? This character takes advantage of several changes in the 3.03 beta, which I've noted in bold below. This is not the most durable character to have on the front line, but it's an interesting alternative to the usual Tall Grass/Tidefall/Forgemaster's barbarian that I've stuck to. Luckily there are some items to take good advantage of a lower deflection frontliner. I also like the concept of a one handed weapon w/no shield, and axes in particular, it's just never been particularly appealing as a weapon choice in Pillars... until now. The damage output is actually pretty high due to annihilation, and as a crit-build, it doesn't actually rely too much on high accuracy. I considered a Rogue We Toki build in light of these changes but this just felt like the better way to go and takes advantage of more new stuff. I'm really enjoy Heart of Fury as Per-Encounter with this build, I must say - with We Toki it's almost like your Barbarian has Slicken Spell Mastery. Relative to a two hander build, this is less flexible and lower survivability. I can't sell it as some kind of new amazing build. Knight / One Handed simply doesn't cover as many great weapons(and no reach weapon to hide behind tankier melee), and We Toki is accessed in Act III vs. Act II. Edge of Reason gives you an almost-Tidefall option but is also acquired later. But it gets points for style, I think, combines disables with damage a bit better than anything else(although...Hours of Saint Rumbalt has prone and annihilation too...dammit), and I enjoy the animation far more than watching my barbarian prod things with a pike for carnage. Anyway, here's the build - Barbarian Race: Hearth Orlan - Highly recommend over anything else. Attributes: 15 Might 10 Constitution 10 Dexterity 20 Perception 15 Intellect 8 Resolve ~You can min/max further, to taste. Perception doesn't necessarily have to be this high, you're turning many hits into crits anyway - the +interrupt is still nice though. Abilities(Odd numbers) and Talents(Even numbers): Barbaric Yell One Handed Style - Now converts 15% of hits to crits as of 3.03 Savage Defiance Apprentice's Sneak Attack One Stands Alone - Now only requires nearby enemies, as opposed to engaged enemies Savage Attack Frenzy Accurate Carnage Threatening Presence Weapon Focus: Knight Heart of Fury - Now Per Encounter Stalwart Defiance Dragon Leap Interrupting Blows Echoing Shout - Now foe-only Beast Slayer, or Bloody Slaughter Skills: Survival 12 is great for rank II of accuracy/flank damage Gear: Weapon Set 1: We Toki Weapon Set 2: Edge of Reason Armor: Aloth's Leather ArmorBelt: Binding Rope Gloves: Gauntlets of Swift Action (or Pilferer's Grip if you don't have it) Boots: Shod-In-Faith Rings: Ring of Protection, Ring of Thorns Neck: Swaddling Sheet Head: Garodh's Chorus (or Maegfolc Skull)

New to PoE and I'm having a hard time figuring out which attributes are important for a barbarian. It seems like there is a lot of conflicting information about stats on the forums because they all support different builds and play-styles. Back in the day I would have just restarted a thousand times to try out all kinds of creations but I don't have the time or patience for that anymore. So if you don't mind, a little help to get me started would be much appreciated. This looks like a great game and I can't wait to dive in. So far I think I'm set on a pale-elf two-handed offtank barbarian on hard difficulty. Good damage but not as squishy as a rogue or cipher and his AoE will help with the extra number of enemies. I get that INT is important, but how much is too much? I mean, I don't think putting another 1 or 2 points into INT is worth it just to catch that one extra enemy in carnage, right? But where is the cut-off point? What is better for survivability, CON or RES? I've seen builds that dump CON in favor of RES but that just doesn't make sense. Why go through all that trouble to negate the barbarian's weak deflection when you can just play to their strength and go more CON for a larger health and endurance pool? But maybe I'm wrong. MIG, DEX, or PER? I've seen builds that will dump two and max one of these but they never say what play-style they are going for to support their logic. Seems like MIG is the obvious answer but maybe landing hits with PER or hitting more with DEX is more advantageous. I'm not really one for min/maxing, but which attribute can safely be lowered a bit?

Hi all. I like barbarians in all RPGs and this time after a long train of thought I have decided that in this game my first walkthrough will be with barbarian. A dwarf barbarian even, which is kind of funny, since they are always supposed to be tall and wide-shouldered melee killing machines. I want to ask questions about the basic stats first. 1. At the start of the game I was able to pick and I invested all in might and constitution. I am a dual wielder. Maybe I am wrong to not pick dex? 2. I am level 7 but I never got the chance to invest more points when levelling up - I would have went for dex. Why there are no points to distribute in new levels?? Am I missing something<? 3. How to correctly use items when I have to avoid the "S***, bonuses do not stack" problem?? Another thing: 4. Is it ok to use heavy armor on the dual wielding frenzy barb? Next question--- 5. what is the max level for any character in this game? Next problem for me is that I dont see the purpose behind character traits, mostly used in dialogues>>>> I go for stoic and clevel but what will it grant me? I got +3 stoic , so what...? THANKS A LOT.

Hi, First time poster. Loving this game as an old BG1 & 2 & IWD, etc. addict. I modified / made a few new portraits for my game and thought I'd share: http://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity/mods/128/? Brak

Duplicate - Sorry - Mod Please delete.

"Maybe I can't die - but I will not stop trying. The only antidote to mental suffering is physical pain!" Burl Marrax, about 500 years old, immortal and world-worn Vailian pirate, conquerer and colonist, cursed by a native shaman after mocking his religion... and slaughetering his tribe. Or the other way round. "Some kith kiss me, some kith hug me I think they're okay If they don't give me proper beating I just walk away. They can slap and they can smack But they can't see the light 'Cause the boy with the cold sharp blade Is always Mister Right. 'Cause I am living in a martyrial world And I am a martyrial Burl You know that we are living in a martyrial world And I am the material Burl." Burl Marrax in one of his rare happy moments, singing in the bathtub =================================== The Immortal Martyr =================================== Difficulty: PotD v. 3.02 -------------------------------------------------------------- Solo: ahahaha... no! -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Barbarian -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Ocean Folk -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Old Vailia - Colonist -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats: MIG: 19 CON: 03 DEX: 15 PER: 18 INT: 19 RES: 04 -------------------------------------------------------------- Skills: Stealth 1, Athl. 4, Lore 6, Mech. 0, Surv. 14 -------------------------------------------------------------- Talents (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important) Accurate Carnage ® Weapon Focus: Ruffian (!) Savage Attack Two Weapon Style ® Vulnerable Attack Bloody Slaughter Barbabric Blow ® Greater Frenzy The Merciless Hand ® Dungeon Delver ® Abilities Carnage (a) Fighting Spirit (a) Blooded (!) Frenzy ® Heart of Fury (!) One Stands Alone (!) Dragon Leap ® Barbaric Retaliation Threatening Presence Vengeful Defeat (!) --------------------------------------------------------------- Items (*=additional echantments by me; !=important, r=recommended): Weapon set 1: Purgatory(!) (*Legendary, *Burning Lash, *Durgan Refined) & Resolution(!)(*Legendary, *Shocking Lash, *Durgan Refined) Weapon Set 2: 2 * Club (*Exceptional, *Corrosive Lash, *Kith-Slaying) Boots: Boots of Stability or Boots of Speed Head: Rugged Wilderness Hat Armor: Robes of the Tidebringer (!)(*Durgan Reinforced, *PER +2) Neck: St. Borragia's Tears or Glanfathan Adraswen Belt: Belt of Chimes ® Rings:Gwyn's Band of Union ®, Ring of Wonder ® Hands: Celebrant's Gloves ® or Rabbit Fur Gloves Quick slots: Scrolls & Potions --------------------------------------------------------------- First of all: turn off Knockout Injuries! Seriously, this build is no fun with that. The thing is, this build is build around Vengeful Defeat, an ablitly that will give you a very powerful Full Attack - but only if your endurance drops to zero. Since most people try to avoid that, this ability seems to be a bit circumstantial. But what if you want to go down all the time - what if you want to play a character who's sick of life but can't die - wouldn't Vengeful Defeat be a great ability for this character? Or the other way round: isn't this a good excuse to abuse the heck out of Vengeful Defeat? Secondly: we need one or more party members who can revive in order to get the most out of this build. Sure, you can have items with second chance (and we will use those), but if you want to be revived more than once per encounter (and I recommend that), you need a paladin, priest or chanter. Or somebody who knows how to read revive scrolls. Because we want our hero to go down, we can dump CON and RES and don't even need to have a sore conscience about it - because it's proper roleplaying, that's what this is! All those points go into maxed MIG, PER and INT and the rest into DEX. You see - Burl had a lot of time to train and develop great stats - he had a lot of time to read and do crossword puzzles (hence his high INT), to slaughter some native tribes (high MIG), watch some hummingbirds make love (PER) and do some vaillian dancing (DEX). But he's so sick of life and he couldn't care less - so his RES is really bad and his CON also - because he drinks and eats all those unhealthy things that would give others diabetis, a heart attack and liver cirrhosis. But as I mentioned: he couoldn't care less. Now we have the perfect glass cannon. Time to explain how this works: the plan is to toss this guy into the middle of a mob and start swinging. Because of his abysmal deflection and low DR, most foes will immediately turn towards him. While he does good damage via carnage, he will get hit a lot. Because his Concentration is really bad he will get interrupted all the time, which is bad. I mean he couldn't care less as w know - but WE do care, so we put on the Belt of Chimes which gives us +25 concentration. We also put on the Celebrant's Gloves because those will not only increase the carnage area by 10% but also cast Holy Moly Meditation if we get hit a lot - which is another +30 concentration on top. Suddenly it's very hard to interrupt us - but our deflection is still awful - which is awesome! Because we want to use Vengeful defeat a lot, we can also take all those (normally) lackluster abilites and items that do something when our endurance drops under 50% or even when we co unconcious. That's also why I chose the human race: the bonus ACC will come in handy and I'll explain later why. So, pick up Blooded and so on. We want to accumulate a lot of such effects. The Martyr enchantment is very powerful: for 30 seconds you haste your friends - while dying and doing lots of damage. This is not "Behold the Martyr" - that paladin ability is a different thing. It ends when you revive the Martyr. The enchantment however triggers an AoE haste spell that lasts for 30 sec - it doesn't matter what hppens with the Martyr after it was cast. But "Behold the Martyr" can be of use with this build, too. Another nice effect is second chance + Holy Radiance (see the neck slot). Holy Radiance gets triggered after Second Chance - so you get healed a bit AFTER your second chance comback. And your fellows get healed too! Nice! The ring ist also great on this char. Not only does it boost our carnage AoE because of +4 INT, but also dazes enemies around you once your endurance drops below 80%. And who doesn't know that daze is a superpowerful debuff? I chose those two famous sabres because they combine high base damage with Annihilation. High base damage is good for carnage - and Annihilation is aweseome for Vengeful Defeat (and also Heart of Fury and Barbaric Blow). Those abilities not only do full attacks (hello dual sabres), but also give you more crits AND higher crit damage. If you are the main character and trigger HoF or Vengeful Defeat while standing in a mob of badly wounded enemies - with those fully enchanted sabres - you can get the following max crit damage multiplier: +0.5(crit)+0.5(Annihilation)+0.3(durgan steel)+0.3(Merciless Hand)+0.5(HoF or Vengeful Defeat bonus)+0.5(Bloody Slaughter)+0.1(Dungeon Delver)+0.1(Rabbit Fur Gloves) = 2.8 crit damage multiplier. Sadly, it doesn't really work as a multiplier - it seems it just works like any other damage bonus. So I assume it's more like +280% base damage. But hey - also not too bad. I enchanted those to legendary but it also works with exceptional or superb of course. Legendary just happened to fit exactly into the 14 enchantment points pool. Axes also work fine with this. Especially We Toki. And Hours of St. Rumbalt is also nice. the damage is lower because - you know - full attack and so on - but the prone effect makes up for that. Another very powerful option would be Firebrand - but it didn't fit the theme so I didn't try that. But I can imagine a fire godlike with that flaming sword and Vengeful Defeat. Those crits are the reason why I want to have a lot of ACC. This is done easily with camping bonuses. WIth the rugged wilderness hat you have 16 survival - which will give you +18 ACC against a chose creature type. ON top of that we have the hit-to-crit conversion of Vengeful Defeat (or HoF) that is 20%. +20% from durgan steel results in 40%. So a lot of crits will occur if you use those. Add some Fighting Spirit (human racial ability) and you're good! The best thing about VD (Vengeful Defeat) and HoF is that you do a full attack at all enemies in range. The range is your carnage area plus a little bonus. All those hits from the full attack trigger carnage. So the more enemies you can reach, the more damage every one of them will get. Damage's growing exponentially if you manage to hit 5 or six foes at once. If you have a priest in the gang you need to use Crowns of the Faithful. It can do so much for this Martyr Barb. Now you may inkle why I wanted to build a character around VD. If you go KO and are surrounded by enemies, your VD will be nearly as powerful as HoF. You will be like living bait: all the mobs will be drawn to you because you are such a squishy. Don't hesitate to cast a lot of AoE damage spells onto your Martyr. You will hit him of course, but also all those mobs around him. Be like King Edward Longshanks! And don't be silly because of frendly fire - this barb loves that! Just keep a reviver nearby for the time the second chance is used up. I can't emphasize this enough I guess: using this build as a decoy will make your life so much easier in hard fights like bounties and stuff. He can buy you some time while you buff/debuff. He's like a living CC effect that doesn't have to rely on ACC or doesn't have to overcome defenses. He's just there and draws enemies towards him. And while being punished for that he really can do some harm. One of he best spells with this is Pull of Eora: the foes will be drawn towards the barbarian and will be whirled around and form a really dense pack: great for your HoF and VD. And while they all try to smash the Martyr, they don't bother the rest of your party who can just fire away. Oh, and I nearly forgot: VD always triggers: if you are prone, stunned, petrified - doesn't matter. Once you go down, you will trigger WD. So your barb can do lots of damage even while disabled. "Thanks for knocking me unconcious dudes!" Another great spell for this is Baring Death's Door. It used to be a pretty useless spell for me - but with this char it's golden. If his health gets really low (will happen after some fights) that's not a reason to stop dying (aka resting)! Cast Barring Death's Door and see the magic! He jumps into the crowd with his 1 HP and *boom* Vengeful Defeat. You revive and *boom* Vengeful Defeat... and so on. Just don't revive when Barring Death'S Door wears off: then he becomes the mortal martyr. His dps drops a lot then if you ask me... I (once again) did the (upscaled) Nalrend quest with this guy for a last test. So that nobody can say this guy is just a funny toon but not playable (I did a whole playthrough with him by the way): two paladins and an invocation-based chanter only stood nearby and revived when he dropped. The bounty was over pretty fast (and Nalrend dead). I still had 1/3rd of health - despite the fact that I had a quadrizillion stings from Plague of Insects. Oh, speaking of bugs: Why don't ants go to curch? Because they are in...sects. Have a nice pray! p.s.: I guess a Fire Godlike barb with a retaliation item would cause even more harm while going down - but I'm a bit fed up with godlikes these days, so... Edit: Here are some impressions if you want to build this as a suicidal genie and as the eternal candle:

So, Patch 3.02 is here and we should not expect much evolution to current classes. That is not a bad news, because according to this topic, people are pretty satisfied with current status : https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/85366-class-balance/ Obsidian did a really nice job. However, according to the same topic, 2 little complaints are risen : - Casters (especially wizard and priest) seem to be a bit more powerful than the rest. Let's say that the limited ressource they have and consumables everybody can use tend to reduce the gap. - Rogue and Barbarian are usually said to be a bit UP. Not that much by the way. The reason behind these complaints about these 2 classes are usually : - Barbarians tend to be a bit one trick poney - Rogues have a short head for single target DPS, but no big gap that will justify their lack of other abilities. - Their high level abilities are not so great. They didn't get uber skill from WM I like Twin Arrows, Immolation, etc... Also, Obsidian did admit some abilities still need rework, such as Riposte on the link below (thanks Infinitron): https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/85045-riposte-rogue-viable-potd/page-2 I'm going to propose here some changes. I've tried to make them reflect not only my own opinion, but also other people views. (but yeah, that's subjective). These modifications take into account that Obsidian is currently very unlikey to make big changes to the classes. So I'm not invoking major rework. (at least I don’t think they are “major”.) I also tried to avoid changes on abilities which “could work”, even if not perfect. When answering the poll, keep in mind that it’s unlikely that Obsidian would rework all the named abilities. So don’t hesitate to make some priorities ! For example, I've limited my own anwsers to 5 wishes per class. OK, 5 per class might be too much, but that's my ideas so it's quite hard to disagree with them In this thread, you can find a short description of the proposed changes, but you can find deeper explanations about these changes in: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/85541-the-rogue-and-barbarian-polishing-thread/ (and you can also find reasons why I didn’t touch to other abilities). This thread was positive for me because I got mostly positive review . Don't hesitate if you have any questions or remarks. Thank you for answers and review !

Hey all its me again. Still haven't gotten through the game (I know, but I'm making steady progress!) and am already looking forward to my next character, a Barbarian Fire Godlike. I've crawled through the forums and haven't really seen much discussion on the class in a while, so I was wondering what anyone's advice would be for this kind of character (again please no spoilers). There have been quite the few patches since most of the discussions I've looked and, with mechanics still being my weakest subject, wanted to know if people have noticed some changes. Plus, to be honest, I took a break from the game for a while and am a bit rusty. Loving Act 2 though. Stat builds, talents, abilities, equipment, etc. would be wonderful. The goal here is run up, beat in some face, and (hopefully) light a lot of stuff on fire. Preferably through dual-wielding. After the initial discussion on peoples thoughts I'm perfectly good with this becoming a place for people to post and store their favorite Barbarian builds for easy reference for other users.

There are a few aspects in the game that are a bit annoying when it comes to seeming inconsistent such as hatchets having a deflection bonus over swords, but I really do think that there needs to be a increased difference between tiny one handed weapons and large two handed weapons -- especially when it is tied to the Barbarian and the Carnage skill. Carnage is meant to represent the Barbarians large sweeping attacks, which in this game seems most effective built with two tiny stilettos. The developers really should make a change so that the carnage skill increases with the size of the weapon, or only applies to slash and crush weapons (which you could theoretically hit more than one person with). Hitting multiple targets with a single knife stab for a barb is immersion breaking. I would also like this change to be made to reduce the need for intelligence, as opposed to having to build the worlds smartest barbarian in order to max his damage. The armor piercing difference between large and small weapons should also be increased significantly. This should also apply to smaller bows. The fact I down a plate clad paladins with a few hits from my stilettos is stupid... it should require a special talent in the rouge tree to make knives more effective -- and shouldn't be the most effective weapon for an area of attack barbarian. My two cents.

Heya, So I've completed another enjoyable play through with a primary all caster party and it was fun, definitely got into the whole spell slinging thing. I'm thinking of doing it again, a fast run, but knowing most of the game fairly well, I can do completionist type campaigns pretty quick now. I don't find the game terribly difficult, but I enjoy casually playing so no Expert Mode (hey, I like maimed as an option!) and no Path of the Damned (though I'm tempted to attempt this with a well thought out party, just not yet, want to do a few more play throughs with different approaches to the game first). So I'm thinking of doing what I haven't done yet, and that's a melee based party. I'm also imposing that my character's choices are going to be cruel where possible, and likely kill anyone and anything I can get away with. Will probably steal as often as possible. Will choose aggressive stances in dialogue where cruel is not available. So melee... and cruel. No talking out of things. Just straight up horrible attitude. And I'd like to do it with martial characters since that's not my norm at all. Here's what I'm thinking (feel free to suggest something else!): PC, Paladin (Bleak Walker, Cruel) - Melee DPS (two hand, Mig, Int, Dex; Athletics & Lore) *** Faith & Conviction, Fighting Spirit, Lay on hands, Liberating Exhortation, Reviving Exhortation, Righteous Soul, Zealous Focus *** The Black Path, Critical Focus, Two hand style, Weapon Focus Adventurer Fighter - Primary Tank (Per, Res, Con and some Int; Althetics & Lore) *** Constant Recover, Defender, Knock Down, Vigorous Defense, Unbending *** Rapid Recovery, Wary Defender, Weapon & Shield Style, Superior Deflection Fighter - Melee DPS (two hand, estoc probably for DR; Mig, Int, Dex; Athletics & Lore) *** Armored Grace, Confident Aim, Constant Recovery, Knock Down (2), Fighting Spirit, Weapon Spec Adventurer *** Two hand style, Vulnerable Attack, Weapon Focus Adventurer, Weapon Mastery Adventurer Barbarian - Melee DPS (two hand, reach weapon, AOE; Mig, Int, Dex; Athletics & Lore) *** Blooded, Brute Force, Carnage, Fighting Spirit, Frenzy, One Stands Alone, Savage Defiance *** Barbaric Blow, Greater Frenzy, Accurate Carnage, Two hand style Rogue - Melee DPS (primary mechanic, condition & sneak attacks; Mig, Int, Dex; Mechanics & Lore) *** Crippling Strike, Deep Wounds, Dirty Fighting, Fighting Spirit, Reckless Assault, Sneak Attack, Withering Strike *** Backstab, Viscous Fighting, One-handed style, Bloody Slaughter From here, I'm wondering.... off-tank Priest or melee reach Priest? Or a 2nd Rogue? Interested in some thoughts. Very best,

Hey all, I'm curious if anyone has used a caster in some form, or many, through the course of the game (I've played through, spoilers are not a problem for me), using a lot of conditions, rather than just pure DPS. For example, is there utility in things like mass prone, mass blindness along with things like confuse late game, from a Wizard? I ask because I'm considering yet another play through, but this time, using a bunch of melee DPS characters, no real pure tanks, using a mix of fighters, rogues and barbarians with a wizard as support, with the ability to do lots of prone spells, blind spells, confuse, etc. Obviously meant for just a fun casual play through, not looking to be optimal, just seeing if it could work at all. I'm not sure how useful prone/blind/confuse is through the whole game when you put it in the context of a bunch of melee DPS characters. Thoughts? Very best,

A game breaking exploit occurs when your fire godlike has less than 50% endurance with his "increased damage feat" ... All around him, all enemy takes 20+ raw damage and just quickly die ... Does it occur for anyone else ? (not yet tested by myself, but done by my brother)

For a Barbarian using a 2h weapon with reach (pike or qs), how crucial is intellect's AoE modifier for Carnage? Do I really need the extra reach, or will he already be hitting anyone around him with an int of 10 (or 3? - though that should actually malus the reach, I guess?)

threatening presence on barbarian keeps activating while he is down and it keeps reactivating and deactivating spamming the combat log

I've been having a hard time deciding between dual wield and 2h for my barbarian. I've tried both and read a bit on these forums; seems to me that 2h is better when facing high DR opponents but dual wield is more effective against enemies with less DR. Basically I'm wondering if it is equally viable to get both weapon styles and switch weapons according to the situation, or to just get dual wield and vulnerable attack to deal with high DR. Does anyone have any thoughts as to which would be more effective, or if they are comparable?

Okay in another thread I got some advice about my barbarian, and after testing yesterday I cam e up with this Female Aumaua Barbarian. I want to use her as a DPS Barbarian fighting right beside or behind Edér with a Pike and Greatsword. Now during character creation I picked Barbaric Yell, and I got Carnage and Towering Physique automatically of course. And then in game I first picked Weapon Focus Soldier and on lvl 3 Frenzy. Now I checked this page ... http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Barbarian But even though it shows what those abilities do, I have no idea which ones are really useful ( Or a must. ) for a DPS Barbarian build. ( Okay Thick-Skinned is a dead give away that it would fit in. )

I've finally managed to kill the Adra Dragon solo. As the strategy could be used on any class, I thought I could share. You just need to set a trap right down the stairs, then as soon as the fight starts, just run towards the trap and melt him with a lightning spell (I was using the animancer's boots which grant Jolting Touch) No need to make a video about it, the screenshot it's self-explainatory :D Screenshot here

Hello people. I would like the community's help on a matter. I want to pick a class and i just can't decide which.I'm torn between a few because they each have some of my prefered playstyles. I like to use tactics and outwit my opponents. I liked the Shadow class from Dragon Age Origins.It has stealth,illusions,bombs and different poisons,basicly loads of fun. I tend to like summoning classes that are more active.Think WoW's warlock and Titan Quest's Spirit. I just want a fun,active and skillfull playstyle.So,that being said,i've reduced my classes to the following: 1.Rogue = in this game it feels too passive with no neat tricks and a few active abilities.You position and auto-attack. 2.Chanter = would've liked more dark and gritty summons but it's ok.It feels passive and it takes long to get them out.Most fights are finished by then. 3.Cipher = I play him melee with focus on illusions and deception.Almost no nukes.But it feels like i'm on the cipher band wagon with everybody and their grandma already there. Please help this poor wretched soul finally pick a class and finish the game(rerolled like 10-15 times)...

Hi, I noticed recently that blooded doesn't seem to activate on my barbarian when I drop below 50% endurance both with and without frenzy. I have a lvl 7 human barbarian with the following abilities and talents: Blooded Brute Force Carnage Fighting spirit Frenzy Savage Defiance Greater Frenzy Savage Attack Two-Handed Style Whenever I drop below 50% endurance with or without frenzy/Savage attack active I receive no bonuses to my damage and the the portrait doesn't display any of them as active. The combat log however notifies that Fighting spirit activates but the character sheet or portrait displays nothing about my barbarian having these buffs currently active. The issue can't be about overlapping ability/stats either because I am receiving no buffs whatsoever from any of these when my endurance drops below half, Can anyone explain?

I've been testing a lot of combinations lately and i gotta say... this combo ends the fight in a few secs even in hard mode. Here are the reasons and a detailed guide: Class Overview Priests Priests give melee characters huge buffs. I'm not even going to talk about the spells here, as you probably noticed priest has the best buff spells in the game. Especially one buff i noticed is.. the accuracy bonus talent on holy radiance (1/encounter) The funny thing with this ability is you can cast it outside the combat and start the fight with an accuracy bonus for 15+seconds and cast it once more during the combat. As far as i know you cannot cast other buff spells outside the combat! This alone will give you +5 accuracy on all your party for pretty much the whole fight, and accuracy is probably the most important thing in this game: it lets you hit the opponents and crit if you roll high. Monks Monks have huge dps with swift strikes ability + two weapon talent +weapon focus talent + high dexterity. But another reason why monk is op is you can send the dangerous targets away and knock em down with 'force of anguish' ability. The target will stay out of combat for 10+ seconds! He's basically dead. This is not only effective but it's insanely fun. The most fun class i've played in the game so far. Later they also get stunning hits, which also adds more to the crowd control potential of the class, which is why i prefer monks over let's say... rogues. All the crowd control abilities will reduce the enemies' overall damage output and keep your frontline safe and sound. Barbarians Barbarians currently have the best total melee dps output in the game. Here are the reasons why: First: Frenzy. It gives you a very large attack speed bonus, might(more percentage based damage bonus) and constitution (+6 on each when upgraded, 6 might means %18 more damage.) Let's say you have a barbarian with 18 starting might, you'll have 24 might once you activate the frenzy, without any other buffs or gear, this gives you %42 damage bonus in total. Your attacks will easily bypass the DR of the enemy. Second: Brute Force/threatening presence passive ability combo. As you might have noticed, barbarians start the game with average accuracy. (-10 less accuracy than the best value) But wait till you hear these: This combo increases your accuracy against most enemies in the game, since they often have a weaker fortitude than deflection. ( you can check the bestiary, especially all sorts of casters, shades, phantoms - really annoying creatures- creatures that are similar to rogues with high reflexes and generally physically weak built enemies have lower fortitude ) Also threatening presence lowers their fortitude by 20. That is 20 more accuracy in most cases guys... OP. Also keep in mind that fortitude debuff will allow your monk to disable opponents properly, since monk ability checks are made against fortitude. Third: Blooded passive ability. It increases your damage by a HUGE amount once your hp is below %50. There's no bigger increase to damage in this game. Once you go below %50 hp, the fight will probably end. Fourth: Carnage. This gives you a PERCENTAGE based aoe damage on your attacks. You might want to focus on that percentage part, because this means damage is not static (the information in prima guide is wrong). You can test it if you want, most of the time it deals about %60 percent of the primary attack. Which means it'll also bypass damage reduction of the enemy in most cases. Increase your int a little bit (something between 12-14 works best) to gain more advantage from the aoe. Fifth: Barbaric Blow. It depends on chance but this ability may sometimes crit(%30 hits are converted into crits), and it is a full attack (means if you are dual wielding, you hit with both weapons), it has both a +crit damage multiplier and +damage bonus. It'll kill most enemies if it crits. What makes this worth picking is that it is a talent (will not interfere with your ability progression) and it is per encounter! All these points mentioned above makes barbarian a better dps than rogues, as rogues need to backstab/sneak attack to increase their damage output, and a simple difference is rogues can't deal aoe damage with their hits. Tactics First of all, you'll need a tank for this to work. Either paladins or fighters work well, but you might want to pick a +engagement bonus talent for paladin. I prefer fighters since they get defender and endurance regen for free. Send him to engage first with defender mode (+2 engagement limit, many defensive bonuses when upgraded including the awesome +15 deflection bonus). Then send in your monk and try to tank one enemy with him for wounds. You can also get the talent 'mortification of the soul' to get wounds and start swift strike and disabling right away. Then send your barbarian in, activate rage and start slaughtering. Try to take down the most dangerous enemy first, for example if an enemy has blind spell (creatures like shadows) it'll mess up your frontline. Take him down fast. Always cast holy radiance with your priest before the fight, as mentioned above. Then start buffing your party, especially your front line. Most of the time in hard difficulty you won't even need the buffs, just use them for tough fights. Cast holy radiance once more if the fight lasts long. Stats Abilities, talents and gear are more important in this game than stats but there's no reason to go for a high defensive stat on a melee dps. Therefore, arrange the stats on both your monk and barbarian towards an offensive play. That is high might and dexterity, medium constitution and intelligence, low perception and resolve. Intelligence will give you bonuses on the duration of your abilities, constitution will keep you alive. Trust me on this they do not need to be tanky, since a single tank works well in this game and we'll increase the defensive stats of monk and barbarian with equipment. In %100 of time if your monk and barbarian keeps dies it's due to a positioning mistake and not because of their stats. That being said, you might want to make your monk just a little bit more defensive than the barbarian (+1 or +2 on perception and/or resolve), because he needs wounds to use his abilities and also barbarians have a little more hp/endurance. Skills It's kind of obvious if you know about the fatigue mechanics but, have at least 2 points on athletics on all your melee characters, and even on the casters too. Trust me you do not want to have the fatigue debuff. Take mechanic skill either on your main character or someone else. These two skills are the most important ones in the game. Gear Tank Armor: Obviously, have your tank wear all the defensive items and increase his defenses as much as you can. Always wear a shield and enchant it if you can. It is really important that he stays alive for first few rounds, which is not that difficult. Monk Armor: Give your monk a light or no armor. There are really good light armors that only have %15 recovery debuff. (check the armor 'Vengiatta Rugia on prima guide for example, wow!) Enchant his armor. Enchanting the armor on your monk should be your first priority. You can also wear plain clothes (no attack speed penalty at all!) and still enchant it for DR and stat bonuses. Isn't that sweet? Weapon: Go for two weapon fighting. Use your fists early game but you might want to switch later on to a weapon of your choice, because you can enchant weapons but not fists. Get the weapon focus peasant for an accuracy bonus(hatchet, spear, quarter staff, hunting bow, unarmed) or something else if you don't care about unarmed. Hatchets give deflection bonus and staves have reach bonus so you can use the doorway tactic with staves. (attacking from behind while your tank blocks all the enemies in a doorway, or a narrow corridor). Accuracy is important, keep that in mind. Barbarian Armor: Give him either light or medium armor and enchant it. (an example: check 'saint's war' in prima guide, it gives you second chance, perfectly synergizes with barbarian class) Weapon: Use two weapons or a two handed weapon. Get the talent that suits your choice. Two weapons will probably have better dps overall since you get interrupted with slow attacks a lot, but two handed weapons deal more damage per hit, making your aoe attacks more effective against enemies with damage reduction. Estocs might be a good choice for two handed, since they give DR penetration, really important for hard fights. Two handed swords will also work. Take the weapon focus for your desired weapons, again, accuracy is really important. Here's an important note: If you are a good tactician and you can have your barbarian attack without getting interrupted by the enemy, GO FOR TWO HANDED WEAPONS! You'll bypass the enemy DR more effectively and it is the only thing that keeps them alive! Yes you can penetrate that huge dragon's thick scales too! LOL Supporting Spells I will not go into detail in this section, but spells that augment the fortitude, deflection and accuracy are really helpful. For example the blind spell in this game is really overpowered because it lowers both deflection and accuracy of the targets by a large amount, making them vulnerable to your attacks and it keeps your party alive due to the accuracy debuff. There are two blind spells on wizard in levels 1 and 2. The level one spell attacks fortitude and level 2 spell attacks will, so it won't miss if you cast the right one. (tough melee creatures have low will while weaker ones such as casters have low fortitude). Also spells that debuff the enemy's damage reduction are huge. The only thing that keeps the monsters alive are defenses and damage reduction, and once you get passed those the fight ends in a blink. Another good debuff is 'sickened' or anything that lowers fortitude. It'll allow your barbarian to hit and crit easily since he attacks the enemy's fortitude if it's lower (considering you have the talent 'Brute Force', I really suggest getting it on your barbarian!). Lowering fortitude will also allow those great disable abilities on your monk and fighter to work properly.

So I've been having tons of fun playing almost non-stop with a Cipher as my main and only story companions on hard for a while now. And it's been exactly that, hard! (God I hate shades so much!) Also, combat is slow with lots of pausing to cast spells and abilities. So just for the fun of it, I started an all-barbarian moongoddwarf party - you know, for roleplaying reasons (still playing on Hard) The idea was this: I get killed whenever I happen to get my dps swarmed or I somehow lose positioning. What if that tactic works if it's MY tactic as well? Can I create a sufficiently "perfect storm" group and just out-dps the enemies? If I kill them before they kill me, shouldn't it work? Aaaand it does! Remarkably well in fact. Granted I've only just hit level 5 and I'm well aware this might change when I start encountering tougher monsters which will crit my pitiful defenses more, but so far it's been a blast! So I made them all exactly the same: Mgt - 19 (yay damage!) Con - 3 (who am I kidding, I'm not going to last long, might as well hit hard) Dex - 19 (yay damage!) Per - 14 (yay interrupt and a tiny bit of deflection for what it's worth!) Int - 15 (yay rage!) Res - 8 (well I don't want to get interrupted aaaall the time!) Talents so far in this order: Frenzy, Barbaric Blow, Greater Frenzy, One Stands Alone I actually thought it wouldn't work all that well, but the raw damage this group output simply turns everything into bloodspatter in seconds. Nothing so far has been able to even touch me! All of my group wears very light armors (Hides and Leather) and wields damage-heavy weapons. No shields or hatchets or anything like that. And it's amazing. I massacred a certain early fortress at level 3! I just pointed my dwarven army of pikes and greatswords towards the guards, and watched them all go "sploosh". I laugh in the face of shades and ghosts. Trolls tremble before my onslaught, and even the Animata at the docks became a heap of scrap as my group (aka The Blenders) smashed through them! I just started at the endless dungeon (or whatever it's called - not at home atm), and I'm curious to see how far I can get before being turned back. I'm not playing Ironman mode, but I might as well had because I haven't died once! Not even come close (which is more or less exactly the opposite of my "real" party). It might not last forever, but right now it's a world of fun! I just wanted to share this as I'm having too much fun with this game at the moment :D

After spending a lot of time struggling on what to play as the main character, I finally decided that I'm going for either a barbarian or monk because I don't want to overlap any NPC, and I don't like rogues. I want to build some sort of striker, probably wielding a 2hander. Are mons any good with 2h weapons? What stats are important for these two? I'll be playing on Hard

What are your thoughts on a barbarian nature godlike? Wellspring of life grants the following bonuses when below 50% endurance: +3 might +2 con +2 dex Combined with frenzy (further stat boosts) and bloodied (50% damage increase below half endurance), damage would be pretty potent when below 50% endurance. Has anyone tried this combination yet?

I made a Nature Godlike / Barbarian to see how much of a monster I could make him with Frenzy + Wellspring of life. I don't know when it started happening, but Wellspring of life stopped activating. I have a feeling it either started with when I got Blooded (x1.2 damage when below 50% endurance) or Enhanced Frenzy (Frenzy now grants +6 might, +6 const 'may not be correct numbers') When I drop below 50% endurance, it will only activate Bloodied. I dont know if it's intentional to stop abuse of stupidly high stats, as I'd be getting ~25 Might ~20 Constitution ~22 Dexterity Bloodied x1.2 But rather, when I'm frenzied and below 50% health I only have 22 Might 18 Constitution 22 Dexterity Bloodied x1.2 damage Any idea why this is happening? I havent had enough time to make sure this happens every time I drop below half, but It seems to be happening without fail.