Search the Community

This build was created for a collaboration with @Aestus who runs the Youtube channel Aestus_RPG. Here's the video where we talk about this and other builds. This is build 1 of 5 from that collaboration. ----------------------------------------- This build is mainly meant for inspiration. You don't need to follow it in detail to have fun. If you understand the key features - the basic idea what makes this build special - you can usually deviate from my non-core attribute-, skill-, gear- and ability selection and form the build to your own likings and ideas. I do not try to produce the most powerful uberbuilds (often those are the most boring to play in he long run) but to focus on having fun while playing. Usually that means the build is powerful - but it's not the main focus. If you like to read about my personal requirements for "fun to play" builds, you can jump to a list below this post ----------------------------------------- rancfre Ghostoo Cullywoot was born in Rauatai to human parents: a Berserker mom named Clawsine and a Helwalker Monk dad named Auamensh - who didn't really have the most healthy relationship as you can imagine... she losing her temper all the time while he enjoyed blows tis body and all that kerfuffle. But they tried for the kid's sake and somehow managed to raise Wrancfre. He learned the way of the Berserker as well as the path of the Helwalkers. Is parents drummed it into him (with swift flurries often) that one never couldn't cross those streams. At the age of 16 Wranfcfe still hadn't decided whose footsteps to follow. Everybody and their pets, animal companions and even conjured familiars told him he could not do both - because it is known that this foolishness would mean instant suicide. So he crossed the streams... "The power of pain So hard to sustain Cleaning my soul Frenzy on, very noisin' Love with spikes of pois'n Purge the soul Make wounds your gooooal!" - Wrancfre while bodyblowing some c0cky wizards - =================================== The Fountain of Woe =================================== Difficulty: PotD -------------------------------------------------------------- Solo: untested -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Ravager - Berserker/Helwalker -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Human (any subrace) -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Rauatai (or any) - Laborer (or any) -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats (w/o Berath's Blessings, ★=recommendation) MIG: 10 (do not go higher - so with +2 from BB and +1 from Human pick 7 base) CON: 19 (18 + 1 Rauatai) ★★ DEX: 14 PER: 18 ★ INT: 14 RES: 04 (3 + 1 Human) -------------------------------------------------------------- the unique icons for all passive abilities are part of the Community Patch mod Abilities | Skills | Proficiencies - (!=important, r=recommended) 01. Frenzy (!) + Force of Anguish (!) | Morning Star (!) + Pollaxe 02. Swift Strikes (!) | +1 Athletics (->4), +1 Intimidate (->2) 03. Blooded | +1 Athletics (->5), +1 Survival (->3) 04. Thick Skinned + Two-Handed Style | +1 Athletics (->6), +1 Intimidate (->3) | Pike 05. Barbaric Blow (r) | +1 Athletics (->7), +1 Insight (->2) 06. Long Stride | +1 Athletics (->8), +1 Insight (->3) 07. Bloodlust + Swift Flurry (!) | +1 Athletics (->9), +1 Intimidate (->4) 08. Efficient Anguish | +1 Athletics (->10), +1 Survival (->4) | Battle Axe 09. One Stands Alone | +1 Athletics (->11 ), +1 Bluff (->1) 10. Spirit Frenzy (!) + Duality of Mortal Presence (r) | +1 Athletics (->12), +1 Bluff (->2) 11. Bloody Slaughter | +1 Athletics (->13), +1 Bluff (->3) 12. Rooting Pain | +1 Athletics (-> 14), +1 Intimidate (->5) | Rod 13. Tough + Enervating Blows (!) | +1 Athletics (->15), +1 Survival (->5) 14. Leap | +1 Athletics (->16), +1 Insight (->4) 15. Barbaric Smash (r) | +1 Athletics (->17), +1 Bluff (->4) 16. Brute Force (!) + Turning Wheel (r) | +1 Athletics (->18), +1 Intimidate (->6) | Quarterstaff 17. Savage Defiance | +1 Athletics (->19), +1 Intimidate (->7) 18. Interrupting Blows | +1 Athletics (->20), +1 Survival (->6) 19. Blood Thirst (!) + Heartbeat Drumming (!) | +1 Athletics (->21), +1 Intimidate (->8) 20. Stalwart Defiance | +1 Athletics (->22), +1 Survival (->7) | Estoc --------------------------------------------------------------- Items (!=important, r=recommended) Weapon Set 1: Saru Sichr (! - +Paralytic, +Legendary) Weapon Set 2: Lord Darryn's Voulge Head: Death's Maw (r - for self-damage resistance) Back: Cloak of Greater Protection Neck: Amulet of Greater Health (r - or a +1 CON amulet like Cipher's Shackles) Armor: Devil of Caroc Breastplate (! +Legendary (a), +Devil's Due (r) - regaining health on crit, +Mechnical Mind (!) - remove Berserker Confusion) Waist: The Undying Burden (r - for self- damage resistance and more CON->health) Hands: Gauntlets of Greater Reliability (r - helps to graze enemies with very high defenses with Body Blows) Rings: Voidward (! - greater self-damage resistance), Ring of Prosperity's Fortune (helps with crits when rich) or Chamaeleon's Touch (+1 CON & +1 DEX) Boots: Boots of the Stone Pet: Abraham (not only speed but also +10 health on kill) or Socrates (+20 health on kill - recommended if Edér uses Abraham -> +30 health on kill) --------------------------------------------------------------- What is this build about: gaining wounds incredibly fast from Frenzy‘s self damage, paired with the Helwalker‘s rising MIG bonus (+1 per Wound) and the increased damage to self (+5% per Wound). together with the self damage you're not only gaining wounds faster than you can spend them but you also profit from Blooded (+25% dmg) as well as Fighting Spirit (humans’ passive ability, +7 ACC, +15% dmg) lowering enemies‘ fortitude defense a LOT on the fly with: Morning Star‘s modal „Body Blows“: -25 Spirit Frenzy (staggers): -10 (-5 MIG) Enervating Blows (weakens): -10 (-5 CON) targeting enemies' lowered Fortitude: first with special abilites like Force of Anguish/Efficient Anguish later with Brute Force: target Fortitude with all attacks that would target deflection instead (if Fortitude is lower) because of this, extreme accuracy is not required to deliver lots of critical hits (but of course it would still help, so please send buffs ) Force of Aguish pushes enemies into your Carnage AoE. Usually the initial target of your hits doesn't get affected by Carnage. With Force of Anguish it does! You push the enemy into Carnage Area before Carnage dmg get rolled - so Carnage treats the enemy like any other who's in the AoE: raw dmg. This means that Force of Anguish with Carnage does extra raw damage to single targets which is great. using a multihit weapon and pair it with Swift Flurry and Heartbeat Drumming. A weapon such as the Morning Star Saru Sichr: it has 2 attack rolls, the normal physical pierce/crush roll and "Poison-Dipped", a DoT effect that rolls against Fortitude (what a nice coincidende). They both count as „proper“ melee attacks and they can both trigger Swift Flurry and HBD when they critically hit! The great thing about such multihit weapons (there are others such as the flail Sun & Moon or the Pike Wicked Beast) is: no matter which attack roll crits and triggers SF or HBD, those additional attacks roll twice again: the physical and the additonal one. Those can crit again and trigger another SF/HBD attacks and so on and so forth, creating a loop. This is a huge advantage over single hit weapons and raises the chance to cause a deadly loop of crits that can kill an enemy on the spot. Works best against low fortitude foes obviously. in addition to the Swift Flurry stuff the DoT of Saru Sichr is very powerful: the DoT stacks with itself - and every time you reapply the DoT you trigger a tick immediately which leads to a significant increase of dps (same as with Bleeding Cuts from Battle Axes or Deep Wounds). it also interrupts very reliably with not only Force of Anguish, but also Rooting Pain. Since you gain wounds so frequently you also trigger Rooting Pain frequently which interrupts bystanders (and damages them a bit) pair all that with Blood Thirst at the latest levels… essentially it is a debuffing+CC+damage-dealing build, best used for hunting down squishy but dangerous enemies. But is also very helpful against bosses due to the fast and reliable debuffing of Fortitude, which helps most party members to land spells a lot more easily etc. Issues: the self damage which gives you a lot of wounds also kills you quickly the self damage of Berserker’s Frenzy scales steeply with Power Level (unusual +2 per PL base dmg). This base damage gets boosted by MIG, the Helwalker’s increased self dmg percentage (remember +5% per wound), Blooded (+25%) and effects of items (such as Baubles of the Fin or a pet like Harley etc.). That's the main resaon to not raise your base MIG over 10. You will gain +15 MIG already from Frenzy and the Helwalker passive - you don't need more and you don't want more because it makes you go down more quickly. to avoid killing yourself you should def. raise CON, pick up items with CON and/or health bonuses. In addition pick “Tough” and wear an amulet of Greater Health. This makes the build surprisingly sturdy at the early levels bc. the self dmg is still low. also use items that give you resitance to damage (Undying Burden, Death's Maw, Voidward!) - they work very well to soften the self damage and make it manageable. This, together with the high health, balaces out the self damage at higher levels very well. unintuitively picking Iron Wheel is not a good solution. Even though it raises CON and AR and sounds lie a good idea: it doesn’t stack with Berserker’s Hardy (+5 CON and +2 AR) - so a lot of its effects would be wasted. Better to pick Turniung Wheel for more dmg and longer duration of buffs (such as Swift Flurry). get items that heal you up: Abraham (+10 health per kill) or Socrates (+20 health per kill) and the Devil of Caroc Breastplate (healing over time on crit - also useful against Confusion) This build profits a lot from a good healer in the party obviously. But raising Athletics like there's nothing else also helps. It heals you a great deal at 20+. Savage Defiance is better than going down in a pinch, too. Berserker’s Confusion is annoying and cannot be exploited with this build - so you want to get rid of it asap. You could do that with Enlightened Agony - but that’s wasting 2 ability points. Better to get Devil of Caroc Breastplate and enchant it. Or use food like Luminous Lobster. But since the Breastplate also heals on crit it’s the best pick imo. as long as you have to deal with Confusion do NOT pick Rooting Pain! It will interrupt yourself. Only pick Rooting Pain when you have enchanted the Breastplate properly (or got rid of Confusion otherwise) the DoT "Poison Dipped" of Saru-Sichr which produces that double-hit effect for SF/HBD does not work against poison-immune foes. Why is it fun? always wounds to spend and buff you up - alsmost never has to use auto-attacks right from the start. hits very well right away: Body Blows + Force of Enguish alone carry the build through early game alone - because Boy Blows is a "free" and big defense debuff/ACC buff right away. good weapon damage even without exploiting critical hits nice CC early on - especially satisfying when using it against casters an other annoying enemies later becomes even stronger with Spirit Frenzy and Enervating Blows, debuffing Fortitude even more with the introduction of SF and then Brute Force it makes another leap finalizing the fun ability collection with Heartbeat Drumming and Blood Thirst, who doesn't like crit chains + Blood Thirst, right? so it’s just works well from start to finish - which makes it enjoyable when a crit loop happens (and that's often if you focus on the right enemies) it’s just jawdropping I personally enjoy the challenge to keep it alive lots of crits, paired with the right voice (noble for me) results in lots of contagious laughter during battle - which is just so fun and is lightening my mood Hope you enjoy! Cheers!

This was my MC for my first playthrough. I played on Veteran Upscaled with a party. I completed every quest that could be done honorably including all DLCs. I didn't side with any faction and I skipped the megabosses. The rest of the party: Caltris: A custom Illusionist/Rogue. Xoti: SC Priest of Gaun Eder: SC Warrior Aloth: SC Wizard Prelude: Before Fhorn, there was Will – an estoc-wielding warrior of great resolve. Will's godlike nature made him bear down in times of danger. Will was rocksteady and people all over the Dyrwood grew to rely on him. As a lord, he was just, honorable, and honest. Will's soul was ripped from his body by Eothas and he was resurrected as Fhorn. Bio: Fhorn is a nature godlike barbarian-berserker fighter. He is primarily a damage dealer but also off-tanks. Remnants of Will remain, but as Eder puts it, "Fhorn's got more bark." Others find Fhorn's constant motion distracting. He struggles to contain the energy boiling within him. His treatment by the gods has pushed him to the knife-edge of reason and his rages terrify everyone. As he descends into a battle frenzy, Fhorn chants a litany of Awareness to ward off confusion and madness. His friends breathe a sigh of relief. =================================== Like a Truck, Berserker! =================================== Difficulty: Veteran Upscaled with a Party -------------------------------------------------------------- Class: Brute (Berserker + Fighter) -------------------------------------------------------------- Race: Nature Godlike -------------------------------------------------------------- Background: Deadfire Archipelago – Explorer -------------------------------------------------------------- Stats (No Berath's Blessings): MIG: 15 CON: 12 DEX: 15 PER: 12 INT: 12 RES: 12 -------------------------------------------------------------- Important Skills: Athletics -------------------------------------------------------------- Abilities (a=auto, ®=recommended, !=important) PL1 Barbarian Carnage (a) Berserker (a) Frenzy (!) Blooded ® Arms Bearer ® Fighter Constant Recovery (a) Disciplined Barrage (!) PL2 Barbarian Barbaric Blow (!) Thick Skinned ® Fighter Fighter Stances (!) Two Handed Style (!) Determination ® Confident Aim ® PL3 Barbarian Wild Sprint (!) One Stands Alone ® Bloody Slaughter ® Fighter Tactical Barrage (!) Penetrating Strike (!) PL4 Barbarian Spirit Frenzy (!) Fighter Weapon Specialization ® PL5 Barbarian Barbaric Smash (!) Tough ® Interrupting Blows ® Fighter Mob Stance (!) Armored Grace (!) Unbending ® PL6 Barbarian Lion's Sprint ® Brute Force ® Fighter Clear Out (!) PL7 Barbarian Spirit Tornado (!) --------------------------------------------------------------- Weapon 1: Lord Darryn's Voulge - This weapon is a blast. Not amazing for single target but great for groups. Equip Boltcatchers and apply Storm Toxin for maximum shock value. Weapon 2: The Willbreaker (Make them Flinch, Unavoidable Demise) - A devastating weapon with nasty afflictions and upgrades to ensure they land. Weapon 3: Mechanical Marvel - Fhorn doesn’t do ranged much, but when he does, he prefers an Arbalest with a knockdown. Chest: Patinated Plate (Constant Rebound, Burnished Joints) Helmet: None Amulet: Strand of Favor - For the 10%. Trinket: I rest sparingly, so trinkets get switched out frequently. Cloak: Champion's Cape Gloves: Gatecrashers Ring: Etonia Signet Ring Ring: Ring of the Solitary Wanderer Belt: Ngati's Girdle Boots: Boots of Stone Pet: Epsilon – Less recovery time due to armor for Fhorn, increased stride for party ----------------------------------------------------------------- Offense: Fhorn opens with Tactical Barrage, Lion's Sprint, and Spirit Tornado (Disciplined Barrage, Wild Sprint, and Frenzy at low levels). Barrage cancels out Frenzy's confusion making Fhorn's friends happy. Fhorn is a melee off-tank who wades into the thickest part of the battle, placing as many enemies as possible in range of his carnage AoE and debuffs. With sprint, he's lightning quick, and can land a devastating attack anywhere on the battlefield. An ideal position is on a blob of enemies locked down by Eder. He makes a great hammer to Eder's anvil. He's not worried about stealing aggro, the more enemies focused on him, the faster he gets. Fhorn is most efficient when 3+ enemies are in front of him, but his mobility and interrupting attacks make him a deadly mage hunter too. Fhorn is mundane without an inspiration buff, but any of them will trigger his +1 power-level bonus. Barrage, Frenzy, and Sprint are all cheap inspirations, but Sprint's short duration makes it situational. In many fights, Fhorn can have three active inspirations and rotate between Penetrating Strikes and Barbaric Smashes. Clear Out is an expensive Full Attack knockback on everyone in range, which can be devastating and is also great for repositioning. For long fights, Fhorn conserves most of his resources for inspirations. Defense: Fhorn's best defense is a good offense, but Spirit Tornado terrifies surrounding enemies and Patinated Plate gives a 30% chance to stun attackers when they hit. In a crowd, there's usually a 1 or 2 unable to attack. Fhorn started out in light and medium armor, but it wasn’t enough. So he donned heavy armor and took armored grace. For half the game, he wore Reckless Brigandine. Eventually, he settled on Patinated Plate and was happy ever after. Unbending prolongs the inevitable, but its Xoti that keeps him running. Fhorn takes lots of damage and he's incentivized to make more enemies attack him. In a ~90-hour playthrough with permanent companions, he leads in total damage done (37%), damage taken (48%), and times knocked out (49). Afflictions: Spirit Frenzy staggers on attack (-5 Might, no engagement for 10s). The Morningstar proficiency subtracts -25 Fortitude on hit (Brute Force allows Fhorn’s attacks to target Fortitude or Deflection). Affinity for Being Surrounded: With Mob Stance, Fhorn gets -5% Recovery per threatened target and a killing blow triggers a free Full Attack on one enemy within range. One Stands Alone grants +20% melee damage when near two or more enemies. Ring of the Solitary Wanderer give -35% hostile effect duration when no allies are nearby. Hit and Crit: Lion’s Sprint add +15 Accuracy to the next attack. Will Breaker converts 25% of Misses to Grazes. Confident Aim converts 30% of Grazes to Hits. Willbreaker converts 10% of Hits to Crits. Frenzy converts 30% of Hits to Crits. Bloody Slaughter converts 20% of Hits to Crits on targets <= 25% health and adds +50% crit damage. Disclaimers: I respec'd Fhorn once around level 12, changing him from a dual-wielder to a 2-hand user. I also switched him from the Blood Frenzy track to Spirit Frenzy. He was too fragile at that point in the game, and I thought that Spirit frenzy would give him better survivability and team synergy. Making enemies cower and staggering loads of them is great for survival. Still, I won't deny that I missed melting foes with Blood Frenzy. The reason for the switch to 2-handers was two-fold. First, due to some poor luck or itemization, I hadn't found any axes or flails worth a damn at the time. The second reason was Modwyr. Major spoiler below if you don't already know about Modwyr. Also, the extra penetration from 2-handers and the morningstar's Fortitude debuff.

Preamble – Why Warlock? Edit: I forgot to mention this guide is intended for Real Time with Pause mode. I haven't tried it in turn-based, but judging from the way action speed works in that mode, it's not going to perform as smoothly. Over the last few months, I’ve been condensing ideas on Warlock into a guide. Berserker/Wizard has been my favorite multi-class since Deadfire launched over a year ago and I hope this guide highlights its strengths while providing options for the player to tailor it to their preference. Warlock is a powerhouse multiclass, which offers solid damage through both martial and melee abilities, and superb flexibility via grimoires, Action Speed bonuses, and Berserker Frenzy (a wonderfully consolidated set of effects we’ll get into momentarily). It’s also pretty resilient with Barbarian passives and Illusion and Enchanting spells filling in defensive gaps. For me, the biggest allure is in the multi’s presentation and synergy: bursting down front-liners with a Fireball and then speeding through the gibs, axes unleashed, towards a hapless wizard; Leaping into a cluster of disabled, clumped foes followed up with Torrent of Flame; tagging a mid-liner with Ninagauth’s Death Ray and running havoc throughout the battlefield. There’s a lot of cool tricks you can pull off with this one, and at ~80 hours using the combo, I’m still finding new ways to play it. Warlock has a few caveats worth mentioning before committing to the multiclass, most of which stem from Berserker’s Frenzy variant, which confuses, damages, and obscures the user’s health while active. Countering these negative effects regularly can be a bit daunting for new players. The specific build I’m covering in this guide centers on Burn damage, which is ineffective in some areas of the game and can be a hassle in PoTD. There’re a few ways to build an effective Warlock from either side of the aisle: you could, for example, load up on Wizard buffs and go to town with Citzal’s Spirit Lance and Combusting Wounds or devote your rotations to casting with enhanced PEN and speed. This guide will focus on a hybrid of melee and magic (Berserker/Evoker) to capitalize on both classes’ strengths – and of course, the fiery flavor and fun of playing a character who teeters between scholar and savage. Berserker/X Berserker is our go-to Barbarian subclass for its Frenzy bonuses to PEN and AR (+2 each) and bonus Hit-to-Crit conversion (30%) with melee and Carnage attacks. Berserker Frenzy has a couple drawbacks, which are easy for a Wizard to counteract - we’ll get to that in the abilities section. For Wizard, the choices are obvious: basic Wizard, Blood Mage or Evoker. Here’s a few considerations: A generalist Wizard gains access to Combusting Wounds, which when combined with the character’s out-of-this-world Action Speed and Carnage, can deliver a lot of damage packets in quick succession. Pull of Eora is a fantastic tool for clustering enemies, and with the Upright Captain’s Belt, you can jump right into the fray. Personally, I’d rather stick these abilities on an ally so the Warlock can stay devoted to dealing damage. Admittedly, I haven’t gone on a full Blood Mage Warlock run yet but there’s some nice benefits here, particularly in longer battles, if you can handle the randomness and micro-management. You’d have to be careful with this option: Berserker Frenzy already ticks down your health, and the -15 penalty to all defenses vs Bloodied opponents can be rough on a front-liner; since this build centers on Wizard buffs, the sacrifice effect may end up recharging unwanted spell tiers. Overall, I think this can be a great option with enough attentiveness. Having completed the game on PoTD/upscaling with both Berserker/Evoker and /Wizard, I prefer Evoker for its raw PL bonus (+2) to Evocation-type spells and 15 percent chance to echo those spells (meaning more opportunities to quickly trigger Bloodlust and Blood Thirst!). Evoker’s 10 percent recovery penalty to Illusion and Enchanting spells is moot when (most) buffs from those schools have little to no recovery anyways. The subclass also loses out on Transmutation and Conjuration spells, limiting its utility somewhat. Evoker loses access to Citzal’s Spirit Lance: a powerful summoned weapon that, while not integral in this guide, is something to consider when building a Warlock. Insofar as progression goes, the Berserker/Evoker starts off strong and bursts out of the gate around level 7. Around the mid-levels it plateaus for a time before returning at level 19 when Blood Thirst and PL7 spells become available. Acquiring critical equipment pieces early on can be a huge help. One more thing: I use mods from time to time, and I generally play with a modded PoTD that changes enemy AR from +2 to +1 and defenses from +15 to +8 along with Deadly Deadfire to balance those tweaks. When applicable, I’ll recommend a mod to make the experience a touch smoother. Races Human and Death Godlike are natural picks if you decide to pick up Blooded and/or utilize Salvation of Time/Barring Death’s Door shenanigans. Both provide bonuses while under low health. Pale Elf is a good option for its extra AR versus Freeze and Burn damage. The Freeze bonus is especially nice if you want your Warlock to use unique leather armor (Miscreant’s Leathers, Fleshmender) since that armor class suffers a Freeze AR penalty. Nature Godlike offers an additional +1PL (we’ll be stacking a lot of these) while under Wellspring of Life. Warlock features all three Body inspirations. Mountain Dwarf, Coastal Aumaua, and Wood Elf respectively bring resistances to CON, STR, and DEX afflictions, and will prevent tier 1 afflictions: useful for keeping your buffs operational. These choices aren’t bad, but I feel Unflinching and/or resistance-enchanted items somewhat lessens their value. Starting Attributes I don’t like to min-max. Feel free to adjust these to your preference. RES is roundly considered a dump stat and defensive Illusion spells should make up for the loss. MIG: 12 (14 BB) (+1 Gift from the Machine, +1 Potion of Mataru’s Strength) Remember the self-damage from Berserker Frenzy will increase along with your MIG so we’ll keep it a little on the low side early on. If you don’t use BB and/or GFTM stats and/or dump RES, I’d recommend starting with 14 base. CON: 12 (14 BB) DEX: 15 (17 BB) (+1 Effigy’s Resentment: Devil of Caroc) PER: 15 (17 BB) INT: 15 (17 BB) RES: 8 (10 BB) Gift from the Machine (+1 MIG, +5% Health) Effigy’s Resentment: Devil of Caroc (+1 DEX, +1 PEN with weapons versus Kith) Skills Active: Athletics (major), others for party assist Passive: Any I like placing 10 points in Athletics and dole a few into Arcana for RP. Investing two points into Mechanics and Stealth for party assist is helpful, too. The passive skill is what you want to make of it. I prefer Intimidate for the aggressive RP and synergy with Casita Samita’s Legacy. History’s a fine choice for the Giftbearer’s Cloth. Culture and Background: Again, pick this based on your RP preference. I’m fond of Mercenary or Dissident. Gear Our gear choices will largely depend on how the party is filled out. Typically, we want effects that increase our PLs and spell damage. Weapons The Magran’s Favor and Sun and Moon combo has been talked about to death, and unsurprisingly, it fits a Warlock. Both are Legendary quality by default, saving you precious materials. Magran’s Favor (Battle Axe) Burning Burst: +15% melee damage as Burn, weapon kills deal AoE Burn damage Blazing Core: +2 Fire PL, 15% of weapon Burn damage heals wielder Sun and Moon (Flail) Celestial Attunement (Day): +2 Fire PL during daylight hours Solar Excellence: 5% chance to repeat attacks after 0.5 sec with Fire attacks Golden Sun (Eothas): 25% Burn damage from weapon heals wielder Other choice weapons include Modwyr (immunity to INT afflictions), Slayer’s Claw (upgrades Tenacious into Energized, adding interrupts to weapon crits), Griffin’s Blade (+10% spell damage), and other assorted uniques you’ll find along the way. Amira’s Wing is an odd bird with a Wilting Wind per-rest cast. It’s a powerful spell for sure but it doesn’t seem to work with Doublecast (the spell is “activated” instead of “cast”). I’d pick it up for flavor since it’s a PL8 ability and Raw damage is always welcome. Head Horns of the Bleak Mother: +1 PER, resistance to RES afflictions (nice versus drakes and dragons), and +10 accuracy versus Beasts (great against cats, which have high Reflex or boars/bears and Fortitude) Thaos’ Headdress: +1 INT, +5 Will versus Mind afflictions in a 5m radius, +5 Accuracy and +10% damage (universal) against flanked enemies. This is the ideal piece since we’ll want to use PER afflictions to lower enemy defenses. Neck Wise Teeth Necklace: +1 INT, +1 History, +1 Insight Dragon Pendant: a DoT Fan of Flames and +1 to Slash and Burn AR Strand of Favor: get a little more juice (10%) out of your long-lasting buffs, -10% negative effect duration, +1 INT Elewys’ Locket and Charm of Bones include INT bonuses (+1 and +2) and 10 +ACC against spirits and vessels. Torso Casita Samita’s Legacy is my favorite armor for this build. I enjoy the extra Deflection with Intimidate, and the bonus (+5) to Will. It’s aesthetically pleasing, too. The Devil of Caroc Breastplate boasts resistance to INT afflictions, so it counters Frenzy’s Confused right out of the gate. It also offers -10% armor recovery, +2 Rage, and defensive reactive effects. It’s a superb choice if you have it in your world state. Miscreant’s Leathers and Fleshmender are both solid. Remember to increase your Freeze AR per leather armor’s inborn penalty. I haven’t tried it, but Contender’s Armor alleviates some recovery penalty based on Athletics. Cape Greater Deflection/Protection: +7 Deflection/+10 Protection Giftbearer’s Cloth: +1 Weapon and Quick Slot: ok for an extra slot for Amira’s Wing; Protection effect scales with History skill. Rekvu’s Scorched Cloak is an interesting choice that heals you for 10% of the Burn damage you would’ve taken so long as you have an injury. It has a niche appeal. Nemnok’s Cape is always there for Blooded/Fighting Spirit and Salvation of Time hijinks. Trinket Sea Weathered Grimoire Ninagauth’s Teachings Zandethus’ Dragon-Scale Grimoire Gloves Firethrower’s Gloves. Spend those Berath’s Blessings on the Port Maje vendor and grab these as soon as you can; never let go. Plus 2 DEX, 1 Arcana, and 1 Evocations is too good to pass up. Rings The Ring of Focused Flame (+10 ACC with Fire abilities) is a no-brainer. Make sure to swap it out before fighting enemies with high Burn AR. Voidward grants a 25% reduction in raw damage and +2 Corrode AR: useful for reducing Frenzy’s self-damage. Kuaru’s Prize: +5% damage with spells, +1 PER, +1 INT. Belt Upright Captain’s Belt: Another piece you’ll want to stick on and never remove. This one grants immunity to push and pull effects: outstanding when coupled with Pull of Eora and a good defense against Vine Lurkers and the like. The +1 CON and Concentration mesh well with the build. Boots Boots of the Stone: Unflinching devalues the boots’ resistance versus MIG afflictions slightly but it’s nice to have that effect unconditionally. The +1 Dex and +1 Resolve are alright. Pathfinder’s Boots: +5 Reflex, +1 DEX, +1 Athletics. Rahkan Field Boots: Offers a nice bursty teleport complete with a Full Attack; +2 Corrode AR. Pets Nalvi: +1 RES, party-wide armor recovery reduction Abraham: Single armor recovery reduction, party healing on kill Epsilon: Single armor recovery reduction, +10% party stride Otto Starcat: +1 PEN with Fire abilities, +5% Food Remember that food doesn’t stack with active effects and this multi has a wide spread of them. Look for bonuses to healing received, spell damage, AoE, and INT. Quick Slots You’ll want to use your quick slots on grimoires and the occasional scroll if you invest in Arcana. Glue some high tier healing potions to your last slot; antidotes are valuable versus dank spores and xaurip skirmishers. Abilities Before going into abilities, it’s important to consider which grimoires we’ll use and how they will veer our ability choices. Grimoires are flexible and for this build will be used solely for offensive spells. While there’s nothing wrong with choosing offensive spells on level up, I’d recommend picking universal buffs and swapping grimoires depending on the combat situation: you don’t want to be stuck with Fireballs against the Rathun. Our Barbarian points will be devoted to shoring up the multi’s speed, melee damage, and survivability; Wizard points will be allocated to buffs and offensive passives. With this foreknowledge in mind, the early experience can be a bit ropey and will largely be spent buffing and auto-attacking with an occasional Fan of Flames or Minoletta’s Minor Missiles tossed in. The starting tome, Weathered Grimoire, provides a few Evocations that’ll get us through Port Maje. I’d strongly recommend beelining to Neketaka and picking up our first important grimoire, Ninagauth’s Teachings, as soon as possible. Ninagauth’s will be our go-to book for most of the game since it’s packed with Evocations. Later, we can experiment with Zandethus’ Dragon-Scale Grimoire and Zandethus’ Draconic Fury (PL7), which add a PBAoE and unique offensive enchantment to the mix. It’s a bit expensive early on and I’d recommend holding off on this until at least level 13 when Torrent of Flame unlocks. Note that almost every spell in this tome is Burn-based (and many aren’t Evocations) and plan accordingly. Abilities PL0 As a Barbarian, we’ll gain access to Carnage, which applies a Raw-type AoE damage when hitting or critting an enemy with a melee attack, based on the amount of damage inflicted. The damage isn’t stellar, but it counts as a damage packet, meaning it will trigger stuff like Combusting Wounds. Evoker gives us +2 to PL with Evocation-keyworded spells along with the Doublecast passive, which adds a 15% chance to echo (recast) an Evocation spell after 0.3 seconds. Note that the effect triggers when the spell is cast and has no bearing on how many enemies are hit: it’s echoed all or nothing. Spells that channel such as Ninagauth’s Death Ray will simply be re-applied, though this can be useful if the first missed or grazed. Doublecast is unwieldly but when it triggers at just the right time it can quickly change the flow of battle, offering more opportunities for Barbarian passives to come online. PL1 – Starting Abilities Barbarian: Frenzy (Berserker) is the keystone of our build, providing a +25% bonus to Action Speed, Tenacious (+5 MIG, +2 PEN), Hardy (+5 CON, +2 AR), and a 30% hit-to-crit chance with melee attacks. The latter bonus is often dismissed when playing Warlock but I’m fond of sweeping up near dead enemies with melee attacks and Carnage so to each their own. On the downside, Frenzy reduces the user’s deflection by 10 so positioning off to the side or behind enemies is important, especially early on; Illusion spells and effects from party members can make up the difference. Berserker’s version of Frenzy adds more penalties, which should be addressed before we continue this guide. While under Frenzy (Berserker), the character suffers raw self-damage over time and their health is obscured (numeric values are replaced by question marks and the portrait is blanketed in fire). As I mentioned in the stats section, the self-damage on Berserker Frenzy is governed by MIG and PL. Balancing these modifiers to maintain powerful damage while keeping yourself alive can be tricky so pay close attention to the character’s well-being. There’s a couple ways to circumvent the Health concealment component by keeping an eye on the UI: the color of the question mark representing current Health (green->yellow->orange->dark red); effects that trigger at 50 percent Health (Bloodied, Fighting Spirit, Llengrath’s Safeguard); and auto-pause. The unique ring Voidward reduces raw damage taken by 25 percent. Berserker Frenzy’s worst impediment (at least in non-cheese builds) is its built-in Confused affliction, which lowers INT by 5 and forces all abilities to target friend and foe. As you can guess, this is a big no-no! There’s many ways to prevent or remove this effect (Modwyr sword, Devil of Caroc armor, luminous lobster/Captain’s Banquets/Wael’s Wind, Svef) and you should experiment with them to your liking. Ophiuchus prefers using the spell Infuse with Vital Essence, accessed at level 4 - feel free to wallop boars and wurms and ignore Eder’s complaints. Wizard: Pick Fleet Feet for the Quick Inspiration (+5 Dex and +100% movement speed) and +20 Defense while disengaging. Both effects will help you reposition during battle and rush to enemy back-liners. Fleet Feet lasts a solid 30 seconds by default, making it longer lasting (though weaker) than Barbarian’s Wild Sprint. PL1 Our choices here are limited but the full suite Frenzy provides makes up for this lackluster PL. Pick up Blooded (+25% damage while Bloodied or Near Death; works with spells) on the Barbarian side and a Wizard spell. I’d recommend Spirit Shield (+3 AR, Concentration) early on, then maybe dump it for Fast Runner (+15% Stride, +5 defense vs Disengagement attacks). Barbaric Yell (AoE Shaken for 20 seconds base) is a decent ability early on that can also be swapped out later. Eldritch Aim confers the Aware inspiration (+5 Per, 50% grazes-to-hits) but doesn’t last very long; I’d rather have a friendly Priest with Dire Blessing. Grimoire: Fleet Feet is something we’ll want on all the time and longer fights might require two casts. As a PL1 ability, Fan of Flames scales nicely with PL, and being a conal AoE, makes it a good choice for a multi that can reposition quickly and take some hits up close. PL2 PL2 is where we start to delve into core physical mechanics with Barbarian and finally gain a spell to counteract Frenzy’s Confusion. I’d pick up staples Two-Weapon Style (-15% Recovery Time while dual-wielding) and Thick Skinned for a passive +1 AR versus physical types of damage. I like using Crushing Blow as a flashy melee finisher but the nerf to full attacks while duel wielding sours it and it requires a two-point ability investment to be decent. I use Deadfire Tweaks to change Barbaric Blow’s Rage cost from 2 to 1, making it closer to equivalent martial attacks. By default, Accurate Carnage is not so hot (+5 to Carnage ACC), but Deadfire Tweaks improves the ability, changing it to +8 Accuracy, +15% Area of Effect, and +10% damage. It’s a change that adds value to a bland passive without being overpowered. For our solitary Wizard point, we’ll roll with Infuse with Vital Essence, which bestows the Fit (+5 CON) and Smart (+5 INT) inspirations. We take this spell to counter-act Berserker Frenzy’s Confused status and increase our opening buffing sequence. Cast Infuse, followed by Fleet Feet, a defensive spell (if needed), and Frenzy to get the most value out of the short-lived INT bonus. You can also follow up Frenzy with a second Infuse to increase the AoE of your Evocations and Carnage. This buff chain is easy to set up in the AI manager. Grimoire: Infuse with Vital Essence will typically be the only spell we cast at this level. Versus trash encounters, and when positioned correctly, Ray of Fire is an alright Evocation that allows us to attack or cast other spells while it ticks (superb when paired with Combusting Wounds). If you use an alternate means to prevent Confusion, pick up Mirrored Image for added Deflection. PL3 Power level 3 is where the meat of Berserker/Evoker comes together with core passives and spells. One Stands Alone (+20% melee damage when next to two enemies, +1 enemies needed to flank) and Bloody Slaughter (20% hits-to-crits and +50% crit damage versus foes Near Death) adds some oomph to our mop up. Bloodlust (+20% Action Speed for 10 base seconds on enemy kill) is a key ability in this build for obvious reasons. Defensive passives Combat Focus (1 Concentration) and Bull’s Will (+10 Will) are there if you want them. Llengrath’s Displaced Image is an alright choice for a time, but you’ll probably want to save those casts for your offensive grimoire. Grimoire: Fireball is one of our core damage dealers. It’s a simple spell with no real tricks or conditions. Have your party lower enemy Reflex (DEX and PER afflictions, Flail modal) and AR (Expose Vulnerabilities, The Shield Cracks) for maximum effect. Disabling enemy movement (tanking, Immobilize, Pull of Eora) is critical. Ninagauth’s Death Ray, exclusive to Ninagauth’s Teachings, is a stellar option when fighting heavy armored enemies as the beam deals Raw damage. Functionally, it works like a foe-only Ray of Fire: anchor it on a target and use good positioning to hit a cluster of foes. This one targets Fortitude so come prepared (MIG and CON afflictions, Morning Star modal). You can use Minoletta’s Bounding Missiles (found in your starter Weathered Grimoire) for situations where Burn damage is ineffective. Admittedly, I haven’t tried this one in a while so I can’t vouch its effectiveness in 5.0. PL4 This power level doesn’t offer a huge leap forward and is more focused on utility and defense. Spirit Frenzy adds a buff to all attacks (weapons, spells, scrolls, explosives, you name it) that inflicts Staggered (-5 MIG, can’t engage): a useful, easily accessible tool for lowering Fortitude. Unflinching grants resistances to all three Body afflictions if the Warlock’s health is at 51% or above: useful for freeing up equipment slots and preventing Tenacious, Hardy, and Quick from being dispelled by tier 1 afflictions. This is the one time we’ll pick an Evocation while leveling up and choose Minoletta’s Concussive Missiles. Ninagauth’s single Evocation at this spell level is Shadowflame and (later) Zandethus’ only offers Flame Shield (an ok ability that gels with Fire and Evocation PLs but you typically don’t want to get hit). At end game, with bonuses to Evocation PLs, this spell will fire six crush-based, AoE projectiles. Scion of Flame is a must for +1 PEN to Fire abilities. Spell Shaping is alright, but I’d only use it with the Deadfire Combat Tweaks mod. Grimoire: Ninagauth’s Shadowflame is the big Evocation here, and while it doesn’t measure up to its predecessor in PoE 1, its extra range and bonus Stun Paralyze effect are decent. Plus, it looks cool so who can argue with that? It’s a slow spell so consider casting it while under Bloodlust and Blood Thirst. PL5 PL5 is bland compared to others. I’d allocate most of these points to older PL abilities. Tough (+2 hp per level; +40 hp at level 20) is always welcome. Leap is a long-range teleport and Daze source. Its Rage cost (2) and hefty recovery time make it ineffective as a consistent mobility tool but it’s nice to have in a pinch. Leaping into a CCed group of enemies and following with Torrent of Flame is good fun. Grimoire: Speaking of Torrent of Flame, this is a spicy damaging spell nestled in both of our key grimoires. It synergizes well with Warlock’s good positioning through Fleet Feet and Leap: engage melee enemies with a tank, cluster casters and archers with an allied Pull of Eora, lay down some Reflex-lowering effects, and cast this tough customer between both groups. And if Doublecast triggers? Whoo boy. Zandethus’ contains Llengrath’s Safeguard: an amazing defensive spell that knocks back nearby foes and increases all defenses by 20 and AR by 5 when the user drops to 50 percent Health. It’s a fun one to mix into spell and attack rotations, especially with Blooded, Fighting Spirit, and the like. PL6 PL6 is also a bit lackluster for our build and we can use these levels on early abilities. Improved Critical is a +10% boost to crit damage, which applies to all sources. The Community Patch mod alters this value to 15, which is a welcome change. I haven’t tried Minoletta’s Piercing Burst much. It functions like Torrent of Flame but deals Pierce damage instead of Burn and has a high base PEN at 15. I’d slot it if you have a spare ability point. Arcane Reflection from Zandethus’. It’s not great but we don’t have much to work with at this PL. PL7 Now we’re in the final stretch. Thanks for staying with me. PL7 is where Warlock’s greatness really begins the shine. Was it worth the wait? That’s up to you. Blood Thirst is the ultimate ability in our arsenal. After killing a foe, the character receives a temporary buff that completely waves recovery on the next action. This power bestows us with huge momentum, allowing us to quickly breach through enemy groups. While Blood Thirst is active, make sure to gauge your options carefully: using a 0 Recovery buff will eat it the same as 3 second Torrent of Flame. Blood Thirst comes late in the game, so I hope you own Deadfire’s fine DLC trilogy: you want enough content left to experience its greatness. Pick up Accurate Empower (+10 ACC on empowered ability) to supercharge your arcane arsenal. An empowered, Doublecast Fireball is a thing of beauty. Grimoire: After a lull in Evocations, our offensive magic returns full swing with two Evocations and a spicy Enchantment. Delayed Fireball doesn’t get a lot of love for good reasons but when used under Stealth, it can be chained with a normal Fireball for a quick spike (have your tank start combat so you’re nice and buffed). Rarely, this combo can Doublecast, resulting in four Fireballs. It’s fun but niche and is included in both Ninagauth’s and Zandethus’. Ninagauth’s Killing Bolt, as you can ascertain, is contained in Ninagauth’s. It dishes out high raw damage to a single target, and if the foe is killed, summons an allied Spectre. The shadowy bolt is a nice flavor spell for Warlock and synergizes with our on-kill effects. Be aware that it targets Fortitude. Lastly, we have Zandethus’ Draconic Fury, which empowers our physical attacks: something we haven’t focused on in a while. It adds a +15% Burning and Slash Lash to melee and a nebulous chance to inflict Terrify when an enemy melee attacks the caster. Unlike our other buffs, this Enchantment has a hefty base recovery at 4.5. I’d recommend working it into your buff sequence (Infuse -> Fleet Feet -> Fury -> Frenzy) while Stealthed. Party Comp Considerations For party members, I suggest: A tank with high reflex and good engagement. Built sturdy enough, it can withstand your Warlock’s offensive salvo. Bonus points if it’s a Paladin with Shared Flames (Burn lashes on your spells, which also apply to Doublecasts!). Double bonus points if it’s a Herald with Fyr’s Burn lash (weapons only, though). A good tank should also be able to soak incoming Arcane Dampeners from enemy Wizards. A healer that can support the Warlock when the going gets rough. This build has fair Athletics but doesn’t use Stalwart Defiance or its upgrades. Herald is a natural. Priest is worthwhile for Dire Blessing, Barring Death’s Door, Salvation of Time, and a slew of other abilities. A single class Wizard or Blood Mage is superb at crowd control and lowering enemy defenses: Miasma of Dull-Mindedness, Expose Vulnerabilities, and both Reflex afflictions through Chill Fog/Curse of Blackened Sight and Ghost Blades/Curse of the Adragan. Like I mentioned throughout this guide, Combusting Wounds and Pull of Eora add a great deal of value. Tekehu can serve a similar purpose as a Druid/Chanter. Close I didn’t intend to be so verbose, but I ended up subclassing as Nalpazca while writing and just went with it. You dig? Groodalicious. Thanks for reading. I hope this guide has been totally copashesy.

The Imperial Fanatic This is another thematic build (so not 100% min/max). It ends up being tank enough to just run into the fray (with support) and most of boss fights were WAY easier than they should have been because of the amount of crits I could pump out with Last Word silencing the mobs. I just wanted to make a Warrior Priest and this was the result. It was a really fun toon to play that was resistant to every affliction and I even got the party efficient enough that I could let my custom AI run almost all the fights (with a little micro for consumables and empowers). Last word locking down Concelhaut for the whole fight was HILARIOUS Game Version: 2.0 Difficulty: PotD (+all Upscale, no mods) Solo: Untested Race: Human Class: Fanatic [berserker/Bleakwalker] Home: The Living Lands Background: Explorer Stats: (not including blessings) Mig: 20 Con: 10 Dex: 16 Per: 16 Int: 12 Res: 4 Skills: Active: Split Alchemy : Athletics Passive: History Abilities: Frenzy FoD Sworn enemy Deep faith Blooded Thick skin Zealous aura Two weapon style Divine purpose One stands alone Eternal Devotion Bloodlust Sworn rival Blood frenzy Exalted focus Mental fortress Inspired path Interrupting blows Scion of flame Iron gut or Clear head (based on which enchant you put on DoC BP) Righteous Soul Brute force Virtuous Triumph Barbaric blow Barbaric smash Retribution Bloodthirst Equipment Main weapon: Magran’s favor + Last Word (used lastword + bardatto’s until I could get Resounding call, double hammer so win on looks, until I could get the axe) Backup weapons: Glacierbane + Last Word Heaven’s Cacophony Charm of Bones Devil of Caroc BP (plan the resistance to complement ability choice) Ring of greater regen Ring of Focused Flame Boots of the stone The Giftbearer’s Cloth Boltcatchers Gwyn’s bridal garter Pet: Nalvi (Used Abraham until I got Nalvi)

A howling immortal one-man-army that smashes everything in its path with high Hit-to-Crit conversion. "Sir! The third cohort has been repeled, they suffered heavy casualties! Should we send the cavalry?" "Send the cavalry, the fourth, the fifth, the bloody reserves too! The enemy has us clearly outnumbered!" "...Sir, it's just one man." "what." "With a Morningstar, Sir." https://imgur.com/a/bi7qvIL Until now, Barbarian has been a luckluster class to me, lacking the other martial classes high accuracy, and with not enough sustain to fulfill its role like it did in PoE1. Not to mention lack of any obvious CC. However, the Morningstar modal completely changed my mind: in combination with Brute Force and Might afflictions, one can effectively increase their Accuracy by +35, by lowering the enemies Fortitude of that much. Note that the modal, while having a -25% damage penalty, can be turned off after scoring the first hit, as it persists for ~12s, and then on again. Morningstars are underrepresented - the only two unique ones are Saru-Sichr and The Willbreaker. While the fomer is quite unimpressive, The Willbreaker has the following perks: - 10% attack speed - 10% Hit to Crit - High raw damage over time on Resolve affliction ridden enemies (in this build, we will reach about 90 raw damage over 20s, by just hitting things. RIP deep wounds) - 10% Chance to Shaken on Hit Combine the former with the 30% Hit-to-Crit from Berserker, and another 25% from Intuitive, and we get to a nice ~53% Hit-to-Crit. And that's why we turn at the Devoted subclass, which adds more penetration on top of Tenacious, and additional Crit damage, all the same without losing in versatility, as Morningstars have good damage combination (Pierce/Crush). The issue of self inflicted damage during Frenzy is addressed through spamming of Unbending Shield, Ring of Greater Regeneration, and last but not least, Devil's Due upgrade from The Devil of Caroc's Breastplate (incidentally coming with the Intellect Affliction Resistance we need), which provides healing on scoring Crits. Top this with a Voidward (-25% Raw damage, necessary because at high level and Might Frenzy ends up dealing about 30raw/3s), and you obtain a self-sustaining unstoppable killer. I've tested this character in successfully clearing the Drowned Barrows, Nemnok included. I strongly believe this build is suitable for solo'ing PotD, even though it will suffer A LOT before getting its core ability, i.e. Brute Force, i.e. lvl 16. But again, in this game one can reach that level without much fighting. Here's the build. Race Class Culture and Background Attributes Skills Abilities Equipment

Hello, i am trying a solo Marauder build - Berserker / Trickster and i have encountered quite serious problem. My frenzy make me confused and that causes Ryngrim's Repulsive Visage to terrfy me as well. I have resitance to resolve affliction which reduces the terrify to frightened but still. Is there any way to negate the confusion or be immune to resolve afflictions completely? I mean tools available to this class combo. This is solo playtrough. Svef and Captains banquet give only resistance to resolve afflictions, not immunity. Which doesnt solve my problem unfortunately. Thank you for your tips.

Has anyone run a multiclass modwyr berserker? If so, what was your second class? What did you think of it? What would you do differently? Even if you haven't run one, what doth your theorycrafting unveil to thou? I'm curious to hear folks' thoughts on the matter.

I've been theory crafting alot waiting for the release later today (is it 18 o'clock yet?) and I've narrowed my Watcher down to being a Berserker or a Fanatic (Bleak Walker/Berserker). however i can't get a feel for how sustainable the Berserker is on his own, especially since if I pure Berserker it, I have far less fixed idea of what armor and weapons(s) he will be using... Fanatic on the other hand, I know will be in full armor and dual wielding to offset the recovery penalty (I'm very heavily inspired by the Carbide Chainsaw build elsewhere on this forum here)... I know I won't play a pure Paladin because Pallegina will be a mainstay in my party and I'd end up creating those 2 almost identical if I did. Basic question then is, how fragile is the Berserker? If I multi Class, I will be getting (and upgrading) Frenzy, Barbaric Blow, Flames of Devotion, Sworn Enemy and Zelous Aura... rest will be passives that enhance first, damage and then defense as needed. Mental fortress on level 10 alone is a very strong benifit of the multi class... however another thing I have a hard time theory crafting is Class Resources, will I even have enough to make use of those 5 abilities in a single combat? Attached is a picture of how I imagine the Berserker and Fanatic Builds will roughly be leveled, all input is greatly appriciated as i sit in my chair for another 6½ hours jumping up and down, slowly destroying the back and seat ^_^

Has anyone else tried out this combination? I personally think it's insane. This guy gets insanely buffed without ever having to take damage from an enemy making him a great mid/back line fighter. Shattered Pillar Monks are sort of the answer for monks that don't want to get hit, but Berserker circumvents the need to create wounds from enemy attacks. Also, unlike in PoE1, you don't a mage to cause friendly fire to stack your wounds. You also don't have to run into melee, run out taking disengage penalties, and then begin your damage. Background Human - Living Lands - Whatever I'm not your dad. Human because you put yourself below 50% with Frenzy and kick off the 15% damage and it kind of fits the whole Frenzy theme. Notes on Stats: 20 Might (This allows for 30 might with 10 self inflicted wounds from the Berserker's Frenzy. That's an extra 30% damage (60% total) according to the sheet from might alone.) The rest is up to you depending on what you want, but I originally went for 18 Constitution and then 10 in everything else. I tend not to min/max (especially now since the game calls me infirm for doing so), but you could dump int to avoid cleaving your melee with friendly fire carnage. The tank provided took the cleaves fine and I'm sure with a proper tank they won't worry about the carnage hits too much. You could also dump resolve if you want to use this build with reach weapons or The Long Pain. Notes on Gear: Unsure so far, but it seems you could build this however you want. One thing I noticed is, with proficient weapons you have a lot more accuracy and hit a lot more often than with fists since there isn't an unarmed proficiency. I liked using the Dragoon's Leap Boots (Bounding Boots?) and jumping into the back line and RAVAGING mages. The problem is after you leap you stand there like a doofus for a while. The safer you are the lighter armor you can wear. Pretty simple. Notes on Talents: Since I used him as a "behind enemy lines" type, I chose anything that made him run fast and also took Force of Anguish in order to CC mages. If you intend on using this from the friendly mid/back line then you probably could skip the movement speed/disengage talents. Bloodied works well here as well. I believe it's an another 15% (25%? I should have have looked this up before posting) damage that you create for yourself. Lesser Wounds is obviously great here since you stack wounds faster with less Frenzy casts. I took accurate carnage as well. The worst part about the build is listening to your tank and rogue complain that you're hitting them 3 times a second. Notes on Gameplay: Start with Frenzy, Auto attack everything (including your friends) to death. When Frenzy runs out, cast Frenzy again. When all your Frenzies are exhausted, cast Swift Strikes. Guess when your health is too low and heal using Athletics or whatever. Use CC or whatever as needed. Finally a non-micro heavy monk. This is my first post and not really a guide by any measure. Just something I tried out and had fun with and wanted to see if you guys had any thoughts on it. P.S. - Please don't nerf. I'm making this guy in PoE1 for my "cannon" play-through. Thanks in advance. P.S.S - If you read this Boeroer, you're the reason I have rerollitis. I hope it keeps you up at night. Edit: Just adding stuff as I think of it.