Quick question: stat spread

[Dark Elf]

Intended to be a barbarian tank, so sword and board, yells instead of frenzy and all that jazz. God, I'm overthinking this, but here we go again: 

 

Barbarian. 

Meadow Human

Living Lands - Colonist

 

Might: 15

Constitution: 15

Dexterity: 10

Perception: 15

Intellect: 13

Resolve: 10

 

So, a fairly balanced attribute spread, as to not incur any significant weaknesses that may make the character unwieldy.

 

Might: Reasonably high to inflict decent damage (probably going for Weapon Focus: Knight because weapons like Edge of Reason and Sheathed in Autumn would seem to work well with this build, what with the draining effect and increased engagement, respectively). Also, to get a decent amount of healing from Veteran's Recovery.

 

Constitution: He's going to tank and take on enemies head on, so this is high to make him sturdy. I wonder, however...

 

Dexterity: ... if I should aim for 10 Con 15 Dex instead? Heck, being able to swing that sword or axe more often has its benefits, after all. 

 

Perception: High, because barbarians have lowish accuracy. Perhaps another argument for raising Dexterity - giving him Interrupting Blows could be a thing, after all. 

 

Intellect: Well, it increases Carnage radius. 

 

Resolve: Dumping it on a tank seems stupid. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by Dark Elf

[Jaheiras Witness]

It’s good. I would personally squeeze down DEX, PER and RES to get more points for MIG and INT especially.

 

DEX e.g. 7 - you have various abilities that negate recovery and DEX is possibly the weakest of all stats

 

PER e.g. 10 - accuracy should be fine, especially since Carnage ACC is +1 per level as it is ability. Priests as always can buff ACC quite easily

 

RES e.g. 8 - or leave as is, it’s concentration that really matters rather than the penalty to deflection.

 

That’s an additional 10 points to max MIG and INT, which are the real difference makers. Swing hard with a big carnage radius - that’s what the barbarian is for

 

So something like:

 

MIG 20/18

CON 15

DEX 7

PER 10

INT 18

RES 8/10

Edited July 23, 2018 by Jaheiras Witness

[Dark Elf]

Thank you! I take it that I don't really need the accuracy buff from high perception then, and that dexterity can be safely lowered (face it, he's going to rock heavy armour anyway). 

[Jaheiras Witness]

Of course +5 ACC from 15 PER would be very nice, it’s just not essential. Stats in PoE are all about choice, you have to sacrifice A to get B. It just depends on your priorities and how you will play the character. For example, if is between MIG and PER, do you want a character who hits harder/heals better/higher Fortitude or who is more accurate with weapons and abilities/better interrupt/better Reflex? The first is more durable, the second is more precise. Your vision of the character should decide that.

 

DEX is quite safe to lower. You could even go all the way down to 3 if you want and rely on the abilities that negate recovery rather than high DEX. But in play your DEX should nearly always be 2-6 points better anyway through food/bonuses so it’s never as bad as it seems.

[draego]

Check out this build by Boeroer. I did a main tank barb like what you describe with this build but i didnt go below 9 on any stat. So my stat spread was more

 

M : 15

C  : 9

D  : 9

P  : 15

I   : 15

R : 15

 

Barb gets plenty of health/endurance and there is plenty of healing with barb savage defiance and veterans recovery and items and gear and other companions. This build is kinda squishy in the first act but that is not because of constitution but because barb has low deflection to start but its fine later on. I stuck with medium shields and there are two medium later on Badgradr's Barricade and Dragon's Maw that boost your damage nicely.

 

Like Jaheiras mentioned these stats arent set in stone because they are not as important as the abilities and gear you pick. So if you want more con vs per that is fine also. I just didnt like dumping stats to much from a role playing point of view. But you can dump way more and be fine

Edited July 23, 2018 by draego

[Dark Elf]

Of course +5 ACC from 15 PER would be very nice, it’s just not essential. Stats in PoE are all about choice, you have to sacrifice A to get B. It just depends on your priorities and how you will play the character. For example, if is between MIG and PER, do you want a character who hits harder/heals better/higher Fortitude or who is more accurate with weapons and abilities/better interrupt/better Reflex? The first is more durable, the second is more precise. Your vision of the character should decide that.

 

DEX is quite safe to lower. You could even go all the way down to 3 if you want and rely on the abilities that negate recovery rather than high DEX. But in play your DEX should nearly always be 2-6 points better anyway through food/bonuses so it’s never as bad as it seems.

 

 

Okay, my thinking around the character is to utilize the fact that barbarians like to be surrounded - One Stands Alone, Carnage etc sees to that. The idea is therefore to make a tank who can also give enemies a sound beating. Hence, I was thinking decent Dexterity and Perception to reliable dish out damage (I mean, characters with maxed out Might but poor Perception hardly ever achieve anything better than grazing hits anyway, or so is my feeling). So that was how I thought - using shields, heavy armour, veteran's recovery and whatnot to be able to stand in the thick of it whilst dishing it out.