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Hi guys, thanks for checking out my topic. I'm a new player and I just picked up PoE last week. I've gotten to the first town and messed around a bit but I'm having a bit of restartitis since there's a lot in this game to consider. I'm a very "Plan my play through" type of person so I want to know what build, items, party members, etc that I'll be going for. I play like this because the worst feeling for me in a game is regretting that I didn't make a different choice. Here's an example: I start playing a fire based Paladin only to find out that Paladin's main abilities are blue fire, which doesn't mesh with the aesthetic I want (true story). So I'd like to take some advice from you veteran's if you're willing to give it, so that I can actually get into this game in earnest. The first challenge is the party members. I'm very partial to story companions in games like this, so I do not want custom companions. This is a challenge because I prefer my groups to be diverse (race, gender, class) and to make sense in terms of gameplay (Even mix or range/melee, tank, healer, etc). The companions I am interested in are Eder, Aloth, Hiravias, Sagani, Pallegina, Durance, and maybe Grieving Mother. I really like Eder's personality, and I enjoy those with unique aspects (Pallegina, Hiravias, Sagani). Aloth, GM, and Durance are all being considered more because I've been told that they are important to the story than for any other reason, although I do think it necessary to have wizard and healer type characters in my party. Note that if I leave out Durance or Aloth it will most likely be due to me replacing them as I'll get to in a moment. So I ask you guys, what do you think a reasonable party is for me? Are Aloth/Durance/GM important enough to keep around? Or can I leave them in my stronghold and occasionally talk to them to get the same value? The next challenge is my class, which I've been having a ton of trouble with. Paladins are my bread and butter, I play them in every game where they are an option, and the next closest option if they aren't. This is my first experience with a game that messed up paladins so badly for me that I'm being forced to go elsewhere. Blue fire when every other bit of fire is orange? All of their best gear is bright green? No spells? It seems like their only role is to be a tank support, but if they are up front tanking then the only person receiving support is the fighter, and if they are in back supporting the ranged then their tankiness is somewhat wasted. Paladins in this game just feel like a drunken thematic rainbow that has no solid direction. /rant With that in mind, you know that I want to play the closest thing to feeling like a paladin from other games as I can get. I've narrowed it down to Barbarian, Wizard or Priest. Note that I like spells, and I especially like Firebrand, so that will be a staple of my character. The ideas are as follows: Barbarian: Off-tank using Flames of Fair Rhian and Dragon's Maw, switching to Firebrand to deliver the pain when needed. Interested in the ring of combusting wounds and other spellbound items/armors since Barbarians lack spells entirely. I really like the orange ability effects of the barbarian and their AoE nature. However, as a paladin "main" I find I have a great distaste for being known as a barbarian, and I find it hard to shake that feeling. I see their icon of crude weapons crossing a blood red skull and I throw up in my mouth just a little. Wizard: Self-buffer melee build with nice spells and Firebrand, probably a scepter or something before I get in melee. I'm very mixed on Wizard because most of their spells I have no interest in using, but the ones I like give me vast amounts of pleasure. Citzals Martial Power in particular looks amazing. However, their reliance on "blue" buffs like DAoM, arcane shield, etc turn me off greatly. The more I look at this the more I think Aloth could pull off a blue ice themed build with the spirit lance much better (though his starter spells are rubbish). Priest: Not entirely sure, but something like Abydon's hammer for spells into Firebrand when I need to conserve spells or when I run out. Priest seems like the logical alternative to Paladin, but I have similar or perhaps even greater issues with them as the wizard. I don't like having a bunch of spells that I have no interest in casting. I suppose the benefit of priest is that most of their spells fit a single theme (unlike wizards with frost/fire/arcane/corrosive/etc) but still. I'm not really sure how good priests are at buffing themselves vs supporting the party, but I think it would be nice to play one so long as I'm not just a buff bot for everyone else. So what do you guys think? As a barbarian all the party members I'm interested can be used, and as a wizard/priest obviously Aloth/Durance are no good. What class do you think will sate my paladin lust best? Which party members do you think will work best both for that character and story wise? Thanks very much for any help. If you have questions for me I will do my best to answer. Edit: I'm playing on Hard by the way, I tried POTD but it was a little too much. Also, Mobile was unkind to me when I typed this, there might be auto correct errors.

"Let's go to the Golden Dragon and ask for protection." "Why should we go to a fancy exotic restaurant? How are they supposed to... Ahhh - THAT Golden Dragon! Right!" - Two shop owners who got bullied by thugs - Menu of the day: Appetizer: a fresh shout served with an echo First course: fiercest barbarian yelly Main course: sliced heart of fury with a taste of hunt Dessert: sweet minor fatigue, served with a bit of anger - Menu card of The Golden Dragon - The Golden Dragon is the wild, unconventional, but also posh counterpart to a usual bodyguard – distinguished by his frightening and threatening presense and his recklessness and his predilection to substitute raw aggression for discipline, but also by his showy style and his bravado. Lacking the accuracy and strong deflection of a fighter, the Golden Dragon makes up for this through intimidation, savagery and abilities tailored for repelling groups of enemies. The Golden Dragon is a challenge to deal with on a battlefield, though he is vulnerable if his nice shiny armor gets splattered with gore too much. The Golden Dragon loves to show off and uses illeism - usually referring to himself as "The Golden Dragon". Some say this man wasn't even born, but created by two animancers who realized their ideas of a perfect bodyguard... =================================== The Golden Dragon =================================== Difficulty: PotD v. 3.03 -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Barbarian -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Pale Elf -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Old Vailia - Colonist -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats (character creation): MIG: 18 CON: 03 DEX: 04 PER: 16 INT: 19 RES: 18 -------------------------------------------------------------- Skills: Stealth 0, Athl. 4, Lore 6, Mech. 0, Surv. 14 -------------------------------------------------------------- Abilities (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important) Elemental Endurance (a) Barbaric Yell (!) Heart of Fury (!) Threatening Presence One Stands Alone ® Dragon Leap (!) Savage Defiance (!) Thick-Skinned Echoing Shout ® Talents Veteran's Recovery (!) Weapon & Shield Style (!) Stalwart Defiance ® Superior Deflection ® Spirit of Decay Weapon Focus: Ruffian Accurate Carnage Bear's Fortitude ® --------------------------------------------------------------- Items (*=additional echantments by me; !=important, r=recommended): Weapon set 1: Bittercut (*legendary, *corrosive lash, *durgan refined) & Dragon's Maw Weapon Set 2: Captain Viccolo's Anger (*corrosive lash) & Little Savior Boots: Fenwalkers Head: Liripipe of Thinking Armor: The Golden Scales (*Durgan Reinforced) Neck: Cloak of Comfort Belt: Binding Rope Rings: Ring of Deflection, Ring of Protection Hands: Siegebreaker Gauntlets Quick slots: stuff ----------------------------------------------------------------- First of all - the basic idea for this build popped out of Jojobobo's head in a threat about barb tanks some months ago. We discussed some things and afte a while agreed that I would post the build (if it's viable) while he wanted to follow some different build ideas in detail (look at his Silver flash chanter build!). So, thanks Jojobobo for all the input! Your ideas proved to be very viable: this was the best main tank I ever played so far. Some people may know that I absolutely loath those pure tanks who can only soak damage and do nothing else - well, this is not one of those. Thanks to Heart of Fury and Bittercut, ombined with certain bashing shields, this "tank" did TWICE as much damage as my dps wizard in the same party - while being VERY sturdy even with dumped CON (more on that later). The main idea of this build is not only to stack defenses, but also to debuff enemies' ACC values. This not only helps our barbarian to tank better, but it's also benefical for our whole party's survival. Although he's slow, he should also be able to dish out good damage per hit. This is important for carnage and esp. later for HoF (attack speed doesn't matter there). When thinking about lowering enemies' ACC, things like dazing (-10 ACC and also -2 PER which leads to -12 ACC overall), frightened (-10 ACC) and so on come to mind. A barbarian can lower enemies' ACC in an AoE with abilities like shouts & leap, via items with auras, via spell binding or scrolls and also via carnage: ACC debuffing abilities: - Barbarian Yell frightens in a faily big AoE (-10 ACC) - Barbarian Shout terrifies in a really huge AoE (-20 ACC) - Dragon Leap dazes in an AoE which size is comparable to carnage's (-12 ACC) - Echoing Shout dazes in a ridiculously long AoE line (-12 ACC) - Threatening Presence causes sickened in a quite small AoE when you don't move. PER gets reduced. (-1 ACC) ACC debuffing via carnage: - Glittering Gauntlets daze on hit (-10 ACC) - Captain Viccolo's Anger causes Minor Fatigue on hit (-10 ACC) - Lost Thayn's Reach causes interfering on hit (-5 ACC) ACC debuffing via aura: - Executioner's Hood's Intimidating Presence causes frightened in a quite small AoE and has reduced ACC (-10 ACC) - Redfield's Harbinger aura causes -3 ACC in a quite small AoE (-3 ACC) ACC debuffing via spells/scrolls: - Elryn's Jacket has a spell chance of Eyestrike that blinds (-29 ACC) - Stuck via Binding Web or Binding Rope (-5 ACC) - Forgotten Tear of the Beloved has a daze spell chance (-10 ACC) Maybe I forgot something. Of course you could also use a weapon with overbearig or stun to lower enemies ACC to 0 if you crit - because disabled foes can't hit you. Based on this, I developed the barb you see above. Of course not all the things I mentioned above stack. So I tried to develop a char which isn't too micro-intense, can stack a good amount of ACC debuffs without too much fuzz, who is sturdy and - maybe most important - looks nice. At the same time there are only two bashing shields that are good with carnage & HoF: Badgradr's Barricade and Dragon's Maw. This limits the style options significantly I'd say. Here you see the outcomings. Let's talk about how I do encounters with him at lvl 16: 1.: The barb enters combat and then casts Echoing Shout, prefarably if a priest buffed his ACC. Enemies who run towards him get damaged and dazed: -12 ACC. 2.: The barb casts Stalwart Defiance - I know, why start healing right from the start? Well, because it also gives you +10 to all defenses and the start of the combat usually is the time where a main tank needs defenses the most. Think about the opening salves of Lagufaeth, wizards and stuff. His defeses are now +10. 3.: Then he yells his finest yell and causes frighten all around him in a big AoE. Best thing, again, would be to yell after your ACC got buffed by a fellow priest or so. The enemies' ACC is debuffed by additional 10 points. 3.: He jumps into the place with Dreagon Leap where he will hit most enemies with his HoF. If there were enemies without dazing, now they usually are dazed and even more damaged. 4.: He triggers HoF with Bittercut + Dragon's Maw, dealing tons of damage with the high dmage of bittercut and Taste of the Hunt from Dragon's Maw, not only diond raw damage but also completely healing (if even neccessary). Most of the time this means death for all enemies in range. It's awesome. 5.: If enemnies survived, he switches to "full tank mode" with Captein Viccolo's Anger & Little Savior and causes Minor Fatigue via carnage while buffing his and fellows' defenses via herald enchantment: -10 ACC of enemies, +5 to all our defenses, add. +5 to deflection. If you want, you can take Brbaric Shout, too. It#s a very strong debuff and totally fits the theme, I also had it for some time. But I realized I seldomly used it because usually the yell was enough. It doesn't stack with frightened and is per rest - so thought I'd take something else instead. All the debuffs and defense buffs stack, meaning we will have the equivalent of up to +47 points to all defenses - on top of your already great deflection and other defenses (which are balanced). This can be buffed further by any deflection or defense buff: the things the barb does stack with everything which is a great plus. So, for example a Circle of Defense would lead to +62 to all defenses (if you add up ACC debuffs and defense buffs). YOu could even buff deflection further with Shields for the Faithful - stacks! This is also the reason why I could easily dump CON to 3: you seldomly get hit. And even if: survival bonus (+60% healing) combined with Veteran's Recovery and Taste of the Hunt lead to full endurance all the time. And even with 5 CON (3 base + items) this barb has as much endurance as a fighter with 10 CON. Of course the early game is a more challanging this way. And sure, fortitude is a bit low - that's why I took Bear's Fortitude so that my defenses may be balanced. Of course you will meet enemies that are immune to dazing of frightening - but it's not very common that enemies are immune to both. And even then those encounters are not the toughest ones, so it doesn't matter at all. By the time you get HoF you can have Badgradr's Barricade, which works perfectly well with this build. In fact I'd say for offense it's even better than the Dragon's Maw - so it's a matter of taste. Down below I will also add a variant of this build with Badgrad'r Barricade. I took it until I got Dragon's Maw. Before the WHite March I used a large shield without bash with a common sabre - and thanks to the high PER it worked quite well for me. Because Dragon's Maw has this special look, for me the only armor that fits to it are the Golden Scales. And since now everything's golden, I had to put on th Liripipe of Thinking, because it's the only headgear with an enchantment that looks cool with this outfit. Of course there are better helmets out there - but I can't play when I must always fear that the dyrwooden style militia may arrest me because of fashion crimes. --- Variant A: The Golden Dragon with Godansthunyr ------------------------------------------------------------------ When using Godansthunyr, you can skip Spirit of Decay and take Vulnerable Attack instead. It also works well with HoF and it looks really badass with the shield and armor. Variant B: Veildancer ---------------------------- When using Badgradr's Barricade until the end things get difficult with your outfit. You can either use a generic armor that can be dyed (crucible knights' plate looks nice) or you choose the monk's robes from the Abbot of the Abbey of the Fallen Moon. It's ok to have lower DR. Thick Skinned + Second Skin will give you +5 to physical damage and you will be faster. It's a bit more dps and a bit less sturdyness (while still being very sturdy). You could swap a bit MIG for CON if you want, but I tried it with the original stats and it works fine. Too bad there are only unenchatned helmets that look cool with this outfit - but on the other hand: the game is so easy later on that you can favour style over power, right? This doesn't look as a golden dragon at all - hence the alternative name. Also: Bittercut's green stain doesn't look so great with all that turquoise, so I took Resolution instead which also works really well - with Thrust of Tattered Veils you'll do crush damage, so the singe damage type isn't too bad. And annihilation with HoF is nice of course. Here you can also skip Spirit of Decay and use Vulnerable Attack or something else you like - Penetrating SHot works with Thirst of Tattered Veils without slowing you down in melee - this can also be a good pick. Or Gallant's Focus maybe?

Duplicate - Sorry - Mod Please delete.

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

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)

"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

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)...

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

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?

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.

Title. And does anyone know what the actual numbers on carnage are? (half damage, -5 Acc, etc?)

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?

I'm early in my play stage, I've pretty much settled on Barbarian. In most of my RPGs, I reroll a lot just to see what class best fits my play style. For my first playthrough, I intend on only using pre-made NPC companions. Now I'm looking at what weapon setup to use, 2handed or dual wield. What is your favorite and why? Thanks