Brute - Which subclass for figher?

[Delgar]

I'm planning do make Brute character. I've seen that lots of ppl recommend devoted but I wonder if tactician would be a solid choice?

Also whats better with Brute Crushing Blow or Barbaric Smash ?

[Powerotti]

Devoted with morningstar is solid choice.

Tactican - when you have cipher in party, but you must be aware, to not get flanked or use flank prevent equipment (kapana taga, gipon prudensco)

I prefer black jacket. Fun to play when you debuff group with morningstar+clear out, then switch to Red hand to interrupt caster, switch again to lord darryn voulge for few hits and finally kill near dead enemies with oathbreaker+barbaric smash

[Enoch]

Yeah, Devoted and Blackjacket are both good.  I find the latter more fun, but that's me. 

What are you going with on the Barbarian side?  I haven't tried this, specifically, but I think a Blackjacket's free weapon-switching could be a neat way to deal with Berserker confusion-- keep Modwyr in a backup weapon slot, switch to it before activating Frenzy, then switch to your "real" weapon(s) for the rest of the fight.  Constant Recovery being weaker will do less to offset the self-damage, but that's a pretty minor drawback in my book. 

Does a Tactician's Discipline regeneration work on any interrupt?  If so, there is some really nice synergy there with Barbaric Roar's cheap Line-AoE knockdown-- in the right situation you can turn 1 Rage into lots of Discipline.  And the AoE Terrify from Spirit Tornado would be a nice way to get out of any situation where you are Flanked.  That said, it just doesn't feel right to me to have a Brute who has to be careful about flanking-- I've played with Brute Rekke (who is base-class on both sides) a fair bit, and Leaping into the thick of things is one of my favorite things to do with him. 

As for Barbaric Blow, it's an expensive enough ability that the refund-on-kill upgrade is where I'd go if investing in it.  It can be a fun finisher, particularly with a two-weapon Barbarian.  But, to me, it would be a low priority to fit into a build in the first case.  I'd rather spend Rage spamming Barbaric Roar, or using Lion's Sprint liberally for the ACC boost. 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Enoch

[Delgar]

I was thinking about going for all the crits I can have with figher and barbarian. 

BTW doesn't the requirment of having cipher for tactician defeat the puropose of tactician in the first place? Cipher can spam brilliant to party members anyway, no ?

[Powerotti]

Tactican resources refund works only when you interupt casting ability or spell. For brilliant tactican you need all enemies flanked, so fantom foes or chill fog is the simplest way. You can also use voulge bounded to barb, to apply desoriented on aoe, or knock down ability with WotEP. 

Modwyr switching is good way to block confusion. You can set AI to do it for you. Alternative is to use devil breastplate or captains banquett. 

When brilliant tactican triggers, is it overrides confusion? Or gets reduced to lower tier?

[Boeroer]

The difference is that a Tactician can become brilliant at lvl1 while a Cipher has to level a lot before he can even think about casting Ancestor's Memory (which is also expensive, so you need yo collect some focus first).

My Tactician/Barb would always bring Whispers of the Endless Paths with him. Not only is WotEP + Clear Out pretty bonkers in general, but Mule Kick in an AoE gets you back a multiple points of discipline (if you interrupt several enemies with one strike) but also flanks (via disoriented) several enemies so it's rel. easy to become brilliant even without a fellow Cipher or Wizard. 

Morning Star is one of the best weapon choices for a Brute. Since it can lower fortitude by 25 points and lots of the attack abilites of a brute target fortitude (Knockdown/Mule Kick, Clear Out e.g.) also see Brute Force. If you don't like to switch weapons around a lot then Devoted/Barb with Morningstar is indeed a good choice. Also because of solid base PEN (then even better with Devoted, may even get pushed further with a Berserker) and dual damage type.

My preferred method to remove Berserker's confusion is Devil of Caroc's Breastplate. It's a great piece of armor per se. But you can also simply eat a luminous lobster or similar food while resting which would make you immune until you rest again. Or use some Svef.

 

Edited August 15, 2019 by Boeroer