Barbarians vs Rogues

[SimpleEnigma]

All the barbarian posts have me interesting in making a barbarian. However I notice there are a lot of build similarities between rogues and barbarians. They both seem to have a reputation of doing immense amounts of damage while being rather squishy. The main distinction I see between the two are rogues are superior at single target dps while barbarians bring a lot of AoE damage. What else helps distinguish these classes from each other?

[KDubya]

Rogues can start with level three Mechanics which saves a huge amount of skill points. Any class can get to level 10 or 11 in Mechanics but to get to 13 or above you need a Rogue. With White March II having a higher level cap the need for a Rogue will increase.

 

I prefer Rogues over Barbarians on PotD. Killing large groups of trash mobs are great for a Barbarian with Carnage but I don't find large groups of trash mobs overly threatening. A rogue, on the other hand, excels with killing one tough mob at a time.

 

Using Tall Grass a Rogue will have +18 accuracy over a Barbarian (base value & Reckless Assault) and a +20% hit to crit rate. A Rogue can and will prone most enemies one at a time while a Barbarian needs some debuffs and/or accuracy buffs to have a chance of getting Carnage prones.

 

Another advantage that Rogues have is more flexible stats. With all of their bonuses to damage a Rogue can easily drop. or at least not have to add, to Might. Also a Rogue can get by fine with only a four intellect (four is the lowest at which you can chain-prone someone with Tall Grass). This frees up a lot of stat points for Dexterity and Perception. A Barbarian wants high Might, Intellect, Perception and Dexterity. With their bonuses to endurance and health a good Con score really adds up but you are starved for points. Dumping Resolve makes a squishy class even squishier and exposes you to being frequently interrupted.

 

You can make a tanky rogue by dumping intellect and adding those points into a maxed Resolve. Add in weapon and shield style, Reckless Assault, and you have a deflection score around 70 - 80. Get a Reinforcing Exhortation and you are over a 100 and can stand in melee pretty well while you flank and spank. Getting engaged does not require you to activate Escape and run away. Devil of Caroc works well with this style.

[Heijoushin]

That pretty much sums it up. 

 

And since you have wizards for AoE, generally the rogue gets more love. 
Still, if you want a party that doesn't have to rest the whole time, the barb might be a better choice. 

[Wolken3156]

Barbarians have good synergy with casters since Threatening Presence and Barbaric Yell/Shout can make spells land much more easily. Barbarians also have much less micromanagement in comparison to Rogue. Typically you can just activate Frenzy and launch the Barbarian at the enemies and never really pay too much heed to him. Rogues will likely want to sneak around before combat, possibly lay traps and of course create flanks to maximize their damage output.

 

Barbarians also make surprisingly excellent tanks if you want to run something other than a Monk, Fighter or Paladin. They have solid DR and One Stands Alone makes them less likely to eat a Deflection penalty from being Flanked. Carnage also works excellently with weapons with on-hit effects. In particular ones that can Stun or lower defenses on hit. These are pretty potent especially with the attack speed bonus Frenzy provides.

 

Ultimately though, both classes are very strong. Just pick the one that you feel suits for play style best. While Rogues do have a slight advantage for reasons KDubya mentioned, it does boil down to whether you prefer a single target DPS or a AoE one.

[Boeroer]

If you don't like the fuzz to activate afflictions before hitting with a rogue the barb is better for you.

 

THe barb is especially good with weapons that have chance-based on-hit effects (like Grey Sleeper or Wodewys and stuff) or other weapons that have on-hit-effects like disprienting or interfering (White Spire, Vile Loner's Lance, Strike Hard, Lost Theyn's Reach and so on) because carnage works with them. Also interrupt builds are great because of carnage. He's more of a disabler then than a dps machine, but still very effective. And you don't have to rely on crits in this case.

 

The rogue however can turn a hefty fight into an easy one if he manages to kill the most threatening foes within seconds. I really like the new survival-bous for move speed (+2), Boots of Speed (+3) and Fast Runner on a melee rogue. Lets you sneak around in combat really really fast an reach the tough bugger very quickly without being knocked out on the way.