Anyone making a good use of Barbarian in 2.01?

[Torm51]

Seeing as Frenzy cant be casts unless the AI casts it (can you do without the AI? I heard you could activate it after you take a hit can you?) and the AI WILL cast it but it urks me cause sometimes its not exactly when I want it to.  Looking for some Barbarian experts.  Is 2handed or Duel wield better? I would say 2hander for heavy DR.  Also Con is HEAVILY recommended now for barb.  I get it they are front liner and get hit a lot but....a barb also needs Might, Dex, Int and Per...Barbarian is looking like Paladin where they can use every stat really...

 

I want a Barb NPC as its the only class in the game not presented by an NPC in the story..anyway to make it work with 2.01..

[Judicator]

Well, I just finished a playthrough with a Barbarian in 2.0 and it's still great. Perception helps a lot since it somewhat fixed the problem with the Barbarian's average accuracy. I don't think you need much Con, if at all, since Barbarians have the most Endurance of any class, and they're not really built for tanking. I dumped Res, and pumped Might, Dex, Int, and Per. At level 13 (well before I got into Twin Elms) my barb had dealt 200 000 damage. For comparison Eder had only dealth about 24 000 points of damage at that point.

[Torm51]

Well, I just finished a playthrough with a Barbarian in 2.0 and it's still great. Perception helps a lot since it somewhat fixed the problem with the Barbarian's average accuracy. I don't think you need much Con, if at all, since Barbarians have the most Endurance of any class, and they're not really built for tanking. I dumped Res, and pumped Might, Dex, Int, and Per. At level 13 (well before I got into Twin Elms) my barb had dealt 200 000 damage. For comparison Eder had only dealth about 24 000 points of damage at that point.

I have steam so 2.01 is what I have.  You cannot activate Frenzy unless the AI does it for you at the moment....but good to hear your success...as soon as this bug is fixed I will give it a shot.

[Nobear]

Well, I just finished a playthrough with a Barbarian in 2.0 and it's still great. Perception helps a lot since it somewhat fixed the problem with the Barbarian's average accuracy. I don't think you need much Con, if at all, since Barbarians have the most Endurance of any class, and they're not really built for tanking. I dumped Res, and pumped Might, Dex, Int, and Per. At level 13 (well before I got into Twin Elms) my barb had dealt 200 000 damage. For comparison Eder had only dealth about 24 000 points of damage at that point.

 

You don't get interrupted too much with dumped Res? Just curious. I wonder what my stats should look like if I were going to try soloing one on PoTD...

Edited September 8, 2015 by Nobear

[Torm51]

 

Well, I just finished a playthrough with a Barbarian in 2.0 and it's still great. Perception helps a lot since it somewhat fixed the problem with the Barbarian's average accuracy. I don't think you need much Con, if at all, since Barbarians have the most Endurance of any class, and they're not really built for tanking. I dumped Res, and pumped Might, Dex, Int, and Per. At level 13 (well before I got into Twin Elms) my barb had dealt 200 000 damage. For comparison Eder had only dealth about 24 000 points of damage at that point.

 

You don't get interrupted too much with dumped Res? Just curious. I wonder what my stats should look like if I were going to try soloing one on PoTD?

 

I just cant find any room for Resolve in a dpser.  Granted I want it cause I would hate to be interrupted but I mean...as a Barb you need Might, Dex, Int, Per and Res its too much.  Maybe just leave Dex at 10 and hit hard with 2 handers.  You just cant have everything.  Barb and Paladin suffer the most from attribute spreads I think.

[Nobear]

I just cant find any room for Resolve in a dpser.  Granted I want it cause I would hate to be interrupted but I mean...as a Barb you need Might, Dex, Int, Per and Res its too much.  Maybe just leave Dex at 10 and hit hard with 2 handers.  You just cant have everything.  Barb and Paladin suffer the most from attribute spreads I think.

 

Yeah, and then there's Con. I'd be tempted to go with 10 Con and 10 Res for soloing, but then I'd have to make some significant DPS or area sacrifices. I wonder if Int can be safely dropped to 10 for soloing. Would range of Carnage be less important for soloing than for a party, since enemies will bunch around you to an even greater degree, or would it still make a significant difference for hitting 2nd row enemies?

[Boeroer]

If you want to put on Blunting Belt and Shod-in-Faith and combine it with draining weapons you don't need superhigh CON. In that case high iNT, MIG, PER and DEX is good. Savage Defiance will be good in cases when consecrated ground wears off and you don't drain a lot from enemies. The new mantle from the westmost house in Stalwart, White March that has "+2 enemies needed to flank" and spell holding Displaced Image is also really good for this since your defl. will jump up once you got critted AND together with OSA you will never get flanked. With this stats and items you can be a great damage dealercin the front line without going down a lot. But stats really depend on your playstyle and items. You could also plan a retaliation and debuffing tank barb with Battle Forged, Sura's Supper Plate and Hiro's Mantle or Coat of Ill Payment together with Blunding Belt or Woodskin Belt. Combine this with all abilities and talents that influence retaliation like Vulnarable Attack and so on and you have a long lasting tank that is happy when he gets hit because he will retaliate a lot with carnage. Here you need no DEX and PER at all because ret. always hits and you don't need to attack by yourself to much. Use Threatening Presence and Barb Yell to cause two afflictions while being the punching ball. Or build a disabler barb with an overbearing or stunning weapon. Mabec's Morning Star is great for this: even without critting, you will interrupt all the time for one second and if you crit, you will stun which leads to even more crits. In this case you don't need high MIG, but high DEX and INT and PER.

[Mechalibur]

You can still use frenzy, but you have to be adjacent to an enemy for it to work for some reason. It's a bit annoying, but still usable I guess.

[Torm51]

Ya or by taking a hit. Also barbaric yell only affects one dude. Unless it was a nerf and the tool tip didn't update.

[lameover]

You can run it with high INT and Firebrand flamesword Human Fireball.

[Boeroer]

Also nice - but you can't add ACC by enchanting. So at higher levels and/or difficulty you tend to miss a lot with it.

[Killyox]

Seeing as Frenzy cant be casts unless the AI casts it (can you do without the AI? I heard you could activate it after you take a hit can you?) and the AI WILL cast it but it urks me cause sometimes its not exactly when I want it to.  Looking for some Barbarian experts.  Is 2handed or Duel wield better? I would say 2hander for heavy DR.  Also Con is HEAVILY recommended now for barb.  I get it they are front liner and get hit a lot but....a barb also needs Might, Dex, Int and Per...Barbarian is looking like Paladin where they can use every stat really...

 

I want a Barb NPC as its the only class in the game not presented by an NPC in the story..anyway to make it work with 2.01..

Frenzy can be cast, you just need to be close to enemies

 

My barb along with my Wiz is pretty much MVP. Very tanky and very damaging. Definitely worth having (especially with Tall Grass pike). You also don't need all stats. Some will raise naturally through items. He also doesn't need dex.

 

Might, Con, Int and you're set tbh.

 

I use Fire Godlike barb with 2H with Soldier Weapon Focus, using Tall Grass pike atm.

 

At the beginning I raised Might as high as possible, same with con, then sub ~2 from per and res or con iirc and put in int what was left. I can post some screenshots later as not I kinda can't but he is awesome still in 2.0.1

 

Frenzy is enough for attack speed and other than that you can use +25% and +50% attack speed potions that with some survi last entire fights. Dex/Per is overrated for barb but don't go below 8. Int > Dex as it lets you cover more area with carnage, Barb Strike and also make Frenzy last longer as well as Knockdowns from Tall Grass. It also is 10x better than dex when you give him some Lore and make him cast spells like Paralyze (bigger area and duration) or pretty much anything else.

 

Might, Con, Int > rest by far. My barb with gear has ~21-22 Might, ~20 Con and 19 Int with gear+buff from rest in Caed Nua (my master white march armor is 12/12 so only got 1 int on it ) ~11-12 per and 10 res with 10 dex. I also gave him a ring that increases dmg done to Soul Vessels and Spirits by 20% since these I find the most annoying of all.

 

A word of warning, for the first 3 levels (on POTD) he isn't too strong but then picks up and obliterates stuff.

 

Later on Blind on enemies + Tall Grass + carnage aoe crits are nice combo for knockdowns in huge area (barbarian strike + tall grass is also effective)

Edited September 9, 2015 by Killyox

[SadBarb]

You could also plan a retaliation and debuffing tank barb with Battle Forged, Sura's Supper Plate and Hiro's Mantle or Coat of Ill Payment together with Blunding Belt or Woodskin Belt. Combine this with all abilities and talents that influence retaliation like Vulnarable Attack and so on and you have a long lasting tank that is happy when he gets hit because he will retaliate a lot with carnage.

 

Ok I just made an account to pass this information. Carnage does apparently no longer proc with retaliation attacks. It used to and I do not know when the change to this mechanics was made. I hope it was accidentally because I loved my retaliation barb and now it is no longer viable imho. Additionally Hiro's mantle does not stack with other retaliation items (it never did to my knowledge).

[Boeroer]

No, but Sura's Supper Plate does, since it's a weapon. Weapon enchantments always stack with other equipment's enchantments. Very sad that they nerfed the rataliation/carnage combo. But I discovered a new combo that's hilarious - but may be a bug: fetch the unique rapier Spelltongue that steals benefical effects and attack speed feom enemies and put it on your barb. In the second weapon slot you put some nice weapon that packs a punch or procs prone or stun or does high interrupt. Now walk to a group of enemies and poke them once with Spelltongue. With carnage you will steal attack speed from all surrounding enemies for a looong time (usually for over 60 sec), now switch to your other weapon and go crazy. I don't know why, but instead of +10% attack speed you will get +90% attack speed and that's so ridiculous. I use Mabec's Morning Star for stunning and disabling and with this trick I can basically do every encounter without the rest of my party because all enemies get stunlocked even if I don't crit because of the strong interrupt. Must be a bug.

Edited September 11, 2015 by Boeroer

[Torm51]

ya its a confirmed bug.

[Boeroer]

Funny though.

[id3a]

Hi, I have some questions regarding this class:
 

1. Does Weapon Focus (+6 Acc) mitigates the carnage 10 Acc penalty?
   If this is true then with accurate carnage ability (+5 Acc) I get  +1 Acc bonus, right?
2. As far as I know, carnage is only effective if another character casts a Foe AoE defflection debuff. Is this the true trick to make carnage a powerfull abilitie?
3. Does carnage bypasses enemies DR?

[Boeroer]

The ACC bonus from weapon focus also applies to carnage. I think the carnage attacks have -10 ACC compared to your primary attack. Accurate carnage will lower that malus to -5. That's good enough. I'm using a barb in PotD and I'm doing Crägholt at the moment and my carnage like always hits. Try to get some gloves of accuracy and a superb weapon asap and max your PER, then you don't need anybody or anything to debuff the foes deflection.

[Boeroer]

Carnage uses the DR bypass of your primary attack. So things like rending and vulnarable attack also apply to carnage. To be honest: everything does. Also draining and afflictions, making draining and wounding weapons so valuable for a Barb. That's why barbs love Tidefall: superb, wounding, draining and early to get.

Edited September 17, 2015 by Boeroer

[hilfazer]

Stand behind Darcozzi Paladini to get +30 accuracy (+10 Inspiring Liberation, +10 Shame or Glory, +10 Coordinated Attacks) and obliterate.

[id3a]

wow!  So Carnage is indeed a top-notch ability!

 

[Ymarsakar]

No, but Sura's Supper Plate does, since it's a weapon. Weapon enchantments always stack with other equipment's enchantments. Very sad that they nerfed the rataliation/carnage combo. But I discovered a new combo that's hilarious - but may be a bug: fetch the unique rapier Spelltongue that steals benefical effects and attack speed feom enemies and put it on your barb. In the second weapon slot you put some nice weapon that packs a punch or procs prone or stun or does high interrupt. Now walk to a group of enemies and poke them once with Spelltongue. With carnage you will steal attack speed from all surrounding enemies for a looong time (usually for over 60 sec), now switch to your other weapon and go crazy. I don't know why, but instead of +10% attack speed you will get +90% attack speed and that's so ridiculous. I use Mabec's Morning Star for stunning and disabling and with this trick I can basically do every encounter without the rest of my party because all enemies get stunlocked even if I don't crit because of the strong interrupt. Must be a bug.

 

The ranger and the wizard can stack up to near 100% attack speed, and when naked you should see what happens when their weapons start hitting.

 

But I think the wizard with citzal's lance aoe is probably closest to the Human fireball barbarian aoe.

[Boeroer]

Stand behind Darcozzi Paladini to get +30 accuracy (+10 Inspiring Liberation, +10 Shame or Glory, +10 Coordinated Attacks) and obliterate.

You can add a priest with painful interdiction and use threatening presence and brute force. That way enemies suffer -30 will and fortitude which, combined with the things said above, kind of results in +60 ACC. Also great synergy effects with ciphers and mental binding (targets will) and amplified wave (fort).