Build suggestions for 1.05 restart?

[wanderon]

Decided to set prior games aside for now - I have a few starts none of which has gone past Chapter 2 none has gone beyond level 3-ish of Endless Paths - so please post NO SPOILERS!!!! or if you absolutely must post one use spoiler tags for it. 

 

Here's the deal - I've decided this run will be one of the three classes not covered by Obsidian companions so either Barbarian, Rogue, or Monk and my preference is probably in that order (I have NEVER played a monk for any significant length of time in any RPG altho I did fool with one in the BB a little)

 

First preference is full party of Obsidian companions altho I might consider adding a custom rogue if my PC can't handle locks/traps.

 

PC should be built for very good RP options (dialoge choices)

 

No blatant exploits

 

Probably play on Normal maybe with ToI &/or expert.

 

 

[Xosmi]

Decided to set prior games aside for now - I have a few starts none of which has gone past Chapter 2 none has gone beyond level 3-ish of Endless Paths - so please post NO SPOILERS!!!! or if you absolutely must post one use spoiler tags for it. 

 

Here's the deal - I've decided this run will be one of the three classes not covered by Obsidian companions so either Barbarian, Rogue, or Monk and my preference is probably in that order (I have NEVER played a monk for any significant length of time in any RPG altho I did fool with one in the BB a little)

 

First preference is full party of Obsidian companions altho I might consider adding a custom rogue if my PC can't handle locks/traps.

 

PC should be built for very good RP options (dialoge choices)

 

No blatant exploits

 

Probably play on Normal maybe with ToI &/or expert.

 

Barbarian is a good way to go. 

You're going to want to put a lot/max points in int for their carnage aoe anyway, so that helps with dialogue, and depending on how you build it you can have high perception as well,(for a stun/interrupt build) which opens up even more dialogue options.

High might is also a staple, though isn't used as much during dialogue. 

Used to be you'd want to pump resolve on barbs as well, but with the latest patch, not so much anymore, so you'll not see much of the dialogue options revolving around charismatic/determinated options.

Race-wise, moon-godlike is probably the way to go, which should also add some small banters/interjections, so there's that.

[wanderon]

Just walked a Fire-godlike Barbarian through the prologue (normal/ ToI) - I was liking it until I got to the last big spider - finally dropped endurance below 50% to get the Battle-forged damage and from that point his endurance dropped like a stone  (stats = 18/10/10/13/14/13).

 

I've heard this gets better after level 5-ish and I suppose I could put a sword & board in one slot for him to switch to at that point and let the carnage/burn work -

 

He is still in scale armor atm also and I suspect I'll be putting him in plate or breastplate ASAP so there's some hope for him yet altho I hate giving up the helm slot 

[Xosmi]

Just walked a Fire-godlike Barbarian through the prologue (normal/ ToI) - I was liking it until I got to the last big spider - finally dropped endurance below 50% to get the Battle-forged damage and from that point his endurance dropped like a stone  (stats = 18/10/10/13/14/13).

 

I've heard this gets better after level 5-ish and I suppose I could put a sword & board in one slot for him to switch to at that point and let the carnage/burn work -

 

He is still in scale armor atm also and I suspect I'll be putting him in plate or breastplate ASAP so there's some hope for him yet altho I hate giving up the helm slot 

 

Yeah, imho the fire godlike passive really isn't worth it - barbarians have good damage output anyway, you'll get a lot more out of the healing you get from the moon godlike passive.

personally i used dual rapiers on my barb with a dex of only 10, using the attack speed boosts from abilities/talents and to make sure i was hitting fairly fast, focusing on int more then might (16 might, 18 int) i've allways felt that increasing the range of my attacks was more important then squeezing every last bit of damage on barbarians.

[wanderon]

Just played a dwarf rogue through the prologue where we encountered some new twists I had not seen before (Normal / ToI)-

 

Picked up Aloth and Eder and cleared Valenwood - all level 3 currently 

 

I went with fairly balanced stats (15/8/15/14/14/12)

weapon focus peasant - hunters bow and spear/hatchet atm

 

He got plenty of dialoge options - going to build another Barbarian tomorrow and take him through the same areas and decide which I like best I think. 

 

What does everyone like for weapon style and choices for Barb?

[Xosmi]

Just played a dwarf rogue through the prologue where we encountered some new twists I had not seen before (Normal / ToI)-

 

Picked up Aloth and Eder and cleared Valenwood - all level 3 currently 

 

I went with fairly balanced stats (15/8/15/14/14/12)

weapon focus peasant - hunters bow and spear/hatchet atm

 

He got plenty of dialoge options - going to build another Barbarian tomorrow and take him through the same areas and decide which I like best I think. 

 

What does everyone like for weapon style and choices for Barb?

 

Rogues are masters of single-target damage output, though barbarians outclass them in total damage output. 

You can build pretty solid rogues around using the Arquebus or Arbalest, and even the Blunderbus.

Because they are inherently squishy, a good option for melee rogues are pikes, giving you enough reach to stay behind your tanks.

 

After 1.05, barbarians really need a good armor penetration to make the most of their carnage, so Estoc's are a good choice. you'll also be able to pick up a pretty great one during the endless paths of od nua, so that's a plus. 

If you want to build a stun/interrupt build, there's only 2 specific weapons you can use, both with the "stunning" enchant on them (attacks stun on critical hits)

one being the Cladhaliat spear (google how to obtain this with the correct stats, i won't spoil it for you here), and the other being the Starcaller flail which is only available after starting act 3.

If you fancy dual wielding you can go with dual rapiers for extra accuracy, but after 1.05 i'd go with either stilettos or sabres, for DR bypass and extra damage respectively. they both get benefits from the ruffian weapon specialization, so you can have a set of both and switch between them as you like.

There's a stiletto with the Draining enchantment (20% of damage leeched as life) available on the endless paths lvl 1 - so you can get that really fast, which is great.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Xosmi

[AndreaColombo]

What changed in barbarians in 1.05?

[Evange]

You should try a Monk! They are so fun to play with!

[wanderon]

You should try a Monk! They are so fun to play with!

 

I did have some fun fooling with a couple monk builds in the beta but I'm still a long way from wanting one as my main PC 

[wanderon]

I think I've decided on an Island Aumaua rogue - balanced stats (16/8/14/14/14/12) -

 

He is currently wielding - Disappointer Pistol (opening volley) - hunters bow (if he stays in ranged mode) - Dagger or Spear & hatchet (melee option) - level 3 now so far took Blinding Strike, Crippling Strike, & Marksman - probably going to take Ruffian and adjust weapon slots accordingly. Wanted a character who could mix ranged and melee based on situation. 

 

Got some more dialogue choices I had not seen before in the prologue looks like I am going to have MANY speech options for this boy! - I am also very glad I turned off notifications of different dialogue options etc - surprises are nice!

 

I would turn on expert mode but my memory sucks and I would wander all over the map just trying to return to someplace I had already been - I just try to use the markers sparingly instead and generally not until I've cleared the whole map. 

 

Quite surprised how effective this terrible pistol has been early on too! (Perhaps because we are playing on normal)

 

We have gathered Aloth and Eder and will pick up Durance next - enemies beware! 

[Xosmi]

What changed in barbarians in 1.05?

One stands alone now "works as intended" which is a huge nerf compared to what it did before.

Used to add 20 damage to all hits (even grazes) instead of the intended +20%

One big con here is that carnage has a damage modifier of -0.34, so it does 34% less damage then your direct hit melee attacks, which amounts to a bit over 1/3rd of your damage.

On top of that, if you have low accuracy or the enemy just has high defenses, a lot of your hits will graze, adding another 50% damage penalty, for a whopping 84% total.

 

this means that you're going to see a huge drop in your damage output, especially compared to what it was before.

Also, to make effective use of carnage now, you're going to want to stack accuracy and/or getting DR bypass on your weapons.