How to build a barbarian for POTD ?

[Yipikayey]

I am having trouble deciding how to build a barbarian for potd, as stats there are 4 stats i really want, but as a melee, it's quite risky to drop CON and RES. It's also very hard to find a not severely outdated guide. I read the nerdcommando steam guide, but it recomended lowering per to 3, and that feels like it was written before the Perception changes, it would start with 18 accuracy.

 

I am thinking  divine moon

 

Might 16

Con 3

Des 18

Perception 18

Int 20

Resolve 3

 

Then i am planning to get a plate armor as soon as possible. But still, i feel like he will be too squishy with the little con and resolve.

 

Other thing is, dual weild or 2 handed ? I am sure that a pike early game before i get the full plate will be better, but i am not sure about later on.

Edited November 8, 2015 by Yipikayey

[Ksajal]

Nerd Commando has an updated guide for White March:

 

(I am assuming you want an offensive barb). Edited November 8, 2015 by Ksajal

[Mocker22]

The only way you can get away with Con and Resolve that low is if you use a reach weapon (most likely Tall Grass) and make sure you are ALWAYS behind another tank. I wouldn't recommend it. You can def drop Per some.....there are a zillion ways to buff accuracy in this game.

 

As for weapons, as always Soldier focus is great. Tons of amazing greatswords, Tall Grass is good, etc. And most can be gotten really early. Lots of options though. Dual wield sabres or battle axes, both have very powerful options.

 

A main talent imo is the one that makes barb attack fortitude instead of deflection. Many good ways to debuff fort save or str/con and this can really help you land a lot more crits.

[Raven Darkholme]

I'd rather go for 10 IN, boom 10 points, also I#d rather go for less Might, than less PE, hitting average damage is better than not hitting.

[Anaeme]

For the barbarian I tend to focus on making his key ability,Carnage, as powerful as possible.

 

Might 21

Con 10

Dex 10

Perception 17

Int 10

Resolve 10

 

Take Accurate Carnage and Greater Frenzy and watch your barb dish damage.

 

Do not lower your Con

[Teioh_White]

That's a fine stat spread, really, just takes a bit more micro. Barb's get 25% more health than fighter/pld, so taking a 35% hit isn't the end of the world. Especially for a player, you can later buff that up 15% by feeding Durance to the blood pit and getting Gift of the Machine. And even though the actual endurance is a bit low, Savage Defiance will let you tap into Barbs large health reserves though. 

 

This is assuming, of course, you've got 3 other guys up front with the Barb, so he's not having to take on all comers. If you want to use as him as one of your tanks, can't afford to dump all over the Con and Res so much. Savage Defiance and some Armor will be plenty to keep a barb up from 1-2 things for a bit in the fight otherwise though.

 

As for what weapons to use, Tall Grass is always great. Reach weapons not only let you take off the Plate mail for a psedo dex boost, they also let you aim the Carnage's a bit better, to help squeeze in one more enemy. And Tall Grass with a little support from the casters will be passing around Prones easy peasy. Not as a good start as it used to be, of course, as Prone has a good deal of immunity to wade through now.

 

Other weapons, of course, mean the Barb will want some plate mail up front, but are still good considerations. Pure damage, of course, would be Purgatory+Resolution sabres, but always seems a bit of waste to not AoE CC with a barb. Favorite weapons for that choice is the Cladhaliath + Vile Loner's Lance, giving +10 acc to all of your hits, and some stuns. Mabec's Morning star is a good compromise between the two options, having the higher damage of a 2 hander, still has stun on crits, but also always does 1 sec interrupt on everything, at the least.

 

As for talents, pretty much the same it is for almost every class trying to do damage. For general talents, Focus, Weapon Style, Savage Attack, Sneak Attack, and Accurate carnage are the must haves. Vulnrable Attack is great early game, but you'll probably want to spec out it by Act 3-4. Last one or two are more self preference than anything.

 

For Barb talents, most aren't that great beyond the baseline Carnage, but some are...okay. I'd go Frenzy/Savage Defiance/Bloodlust/Threatening Presence/Venegful Defeat/Eye of the Storm/Dragon Leap. Savage Defiance and Bloodlust being the only two I might consider 'key'.

 

Level 1 has underwhelming -10 acc debuff for 20~ sec, or +0.12 mod + 20% speed for 20 sec, giving about...maybe the value of 2 free swings a fight. Neither is amazing, but I prefer Frenzy to frontline the damage a bit, and ideally any enemy in range of the Barbs yell is getting stuck under Carnage's thumb.

 

Level 3 has the Great Savage defiance, about 175 hp or so over 18 sec, make sure to grab this. Great thing to pop once an enemy has gotten around to the Barb, and will generally keep him out with crap beating on him for it's duration. Blooded has a place in some tank builds of Barb, but not useful as a DPS, without some wonky self injury plan. (which be risk as hell with 3 con/res.) Wild Spriint has some use, but generally you won't wanna strand Barb by themselves, and it's per rest nature makes it lackluster as a defensive mechanics.

 

Level 5 has Blood lust, 13% speed boost for 13% speed boost for 12 sec after getting two kills. Barb with it's AoE nature gets a decent number of kills, so this'll turn on a bit, but it's by no means up the majority of the time. It's competition is weak though. Brute Force lets Barb target Fort instead of Deflection....but most enemies have a higher Fort score than Deflect, and it's easier to debuff Deflect. One Stands Alone is a great Barb tank talent, but a really weak Dps one.

 

Level 7 has Threatening Presence, -10 to Fort/Will of everything around Barb. Was great pre 2.3 to help out the Debuffers. However, sickness has a ton of things immune to it now, greatly knocking down it's value. It's only competition is Thick-Skinned, +2 DT physical attacks, great for tanks. For DPS, I'd still go with Threatening Presence, unless for lore reasons you join the Crucible Knights. Then i'd just go with it and double stack the +2 DT for aggro pulls.

 

Level 9 isn't a great level either. Barbaric Shout gives a nice offensive debuff, but 2 per rest make it very bleh. Would've been a great per encounter. However, Vengeful Defeat isn't that great. Barb's strength lies in constant AoE; firing off a single one on death isn't super amazing. Taking anything here, even one of the older talents, will work out fine.

 

Level 11 has two decent choices. Eye of the Storm is nice, as it'll basically make the Barb immune to engagement. Few enough enemies can overcome it on level 11, almost none can on level 14. Take it, slap some movement increase on the Barb, and never worry about your squishy dps getting swarmed again. Heart of Fury is really lame with it's 1 per rest, but it's got the same sort of pressure cooker effect of Blast+Blight, or 1.X barb retaliation. If a lot of mobs are bunched up, it'll wreck them. It gives barb some sort of trick to play in this 'tough' fights, where normally it's a drag, as it's main strength is taking out the trash.

 

Level 13 has just once choice, Dragon Leap. It's not that amazing an ability, but it gives the Barb a tool it didn't have before, and by this choice, there isn't much else left to take. Either grab it for minor every down utility, or Heart of Fury for one big for the 'boss' fights.

[mosspit]

OP's stats distribution reminds me of the "suicidal" barb who rush in, get surrounded and get killed to activate Vengeful Defeat. Maybe equip a Ring of Wonder so you can do it again.

[PrimeJunta]

That looks very very very very squishy to me. Low CON and RES... ouch. You won't be able to take any hits at all, low RES means you'll be interrupted all the time and low CON means you'll go down really fast. I'm sure there's a way to play it but it's not going to be easy. Dumping them to pump DEX is kind of pointless as the heavy armor will cancel out the speed advantage.

 

Yeah max out INT for the carnage. I'd spread the other points a bit more evenly, maybe de-emphasize CON and MIG a bit, but it doesn't make a huge difference.

 

As to weapon focus, Soldier is the way to go: Tall Grass as your base weapon, Forgemaster's Gloves for ... special occasions.

 

The trick to playing a barb is setting things up so he doesn't get hit all that much. Ciphers, wizards, or priests pair up great with barbs as they can debuff or immobilize the mobs when the barb wades in and does his thing. Tank-and-spank works too but the rogue is a better hard-hitter for that tactic.

[theBalthazar]

Perfect distribution.

 

BUT... need micro and prone or/and stun.

 

Its complicated at the start but with prone level 2 (repulsing seal) of two priest : its ok.

 

Warning : A little mistake and the death come very fast.

 

With more level = break the game.

[Abbzug]

I'm doing my first PotD playthrough (somewhere in WM now) and using a barbie.  I went with an 18 might, 20 intellect start with everything else at base.  Character is not so squishy that it needs reach weapons, so it's been hard to settle on a weapon style with so many good ones available once you get into act 2.  DW doesn't really seem viable before you can get vulnerable attacks though, but afterwards it seems fine.  Not the best single target damage (that's what other party members are for) but damage done is way far ahead of anyone else on my team.

 

One thing I like about barbies is that they're very low bandwidth (though probably not as true if you dump stat con or res).  They have enough defenses that I don't really need to ever worry about him doing his job, which gives me more time to focus on the casters.  Buffs and debuffs obviously amplify his strength greatly, but they also help everyone else.