[CLASS BUILD] The accident-prone squire

[Erstarrung]

Thank you for your reply, @Braven!
 

Also, there are two great early speed weapons, combined with vulnerable attack, has the highest damage in the early game for quick zero recovery.

Which two "early speed weapons" do you refer to?
 

Keep in mind that bashing shields will effectively reduce the attack speed of the firebug dagger in half, thus reducing firebug procs by 50%. As a result, the bash shield effects needs to be better than the dagger to be worth using.

Hm... With the Dragon's Maw Shield, we would basically gain 1 free Ability (replacing Savage Defiance), Bash 4, and a 25% chance to cast Taste of the Hunt on Hit/Critical Hit...

Would you say that this would be worth reducing the attack speed of the Unlabored Blade in half?

[Braven]

You can try the shield and see. It was still bugged and not working when I played, but that sounds really good and would help diversify. Also would be really good with the barbarian full attack abilities.

 

The speed weapons are The March dagger (copperlane district quest) and a rapier (buyable in the brothal). Both can be had at the very start of act 2 with no fighting and allow zero-recovery, even with vulnerable attack (which I highly recommend with them since they are fast but weak weapons).

Edited April 30, 2016 by Braven

[Boeroer]

Taste of the Hunt with carnage is very good. It's totally worth it. You will gain a lot of survivability because you heal all the time and you will also do raw damage with it. You will loose a bit dps because Firebug will be triggered less often - but I think it's a good trade. 

 

Unlabored Blade + Dragon's Maw is indeed ony of the best combinations I tested on a barb. You should consider taking Blood Thirst. Once you kill an enemy (which happens often because of Firebug + Taste of the Hunt) you will have no recovery. Didn't test it myself, but it seems to be a smart way to speed you up.

 

Edit: Oh, and Braven meant "Sword of Daenysis" from Vincent Dwellier (Club of Prestigious and Refined Gentlemen, Salty Mast, Ondra's Gift) and "March Steel Dagger" from Gordy (just don't give him the Dagger at the end of the Quest, Southwest Copperlane). Both have the speed enchantment and use the same Weapon Focus (Noble). With Dual Wielding, those Weapons and Frenzy you will have no recovery with Vulnerable Attack and Padded Armor. If you later use Durgan Steel on the weapons and armor you can even wear plate armor without recovery.

Edited April 30, 2016 by Boeroer

[Braven]

Yep, those are the weapons. I would wear heavy armor (early game) since barbarian deflection is terrible making crits common and you don't yet have the endurance to take a prolonged beating. It is not zero recovery in that case (without Durgan/other items) but it is not very noticeable with high dex. High attack speed will make a much bigger difference than anything else until the late game. Heavy hitting weapons like sabers are only good late game when you have Durgan and tons of damage modifiers making higher base damage shine.

Edited May 1, 2016 by Braven

[Braven]

One problem with using the Dragon-maw shield is that it will reduce your attack speed since you can't apply Durgan steel to it. With sword/shield, you need all the attack speed you can get.

 

Does blood thirst stack with frenzy?

[Boeroer]

Blood Thirst resets your recovery to zero after a kill. It works independently from your recovery. I tried it with Firebrand and Bloody Slaughter - it's nice if you are slow but hit very hard. Also works with scrolls and so on.

 

So, a good way to trigger it often is to lower the endurance of enemies with an AoE spell and then send the barb with Unlabored Blade and Dragon's Maw. Since the maw's doing raw DoT with Taste of the Hunt (while also healing you) and Firebug is doing a lot of damage you should kill things in quick succession. Bloody Slaughter will make sure that enemies with low endurance will die quickly. You can combine this with on kill items (Tempered Helm, Mourning Gloves and such) and with Bloodlust (+20% speed after 2 kills) - which indeed stacks with frenzy.

Edited May 5, 2016 by Boeroer

[bigwillystyle]

Does Firebug trigger Blood Thirst?  That would be amazing.

 

My barbarian running Firebrand + Blood Thirst continues to go strong into Craigholdt.  Needs a Priest (or a certain type of Paladin) but very damaging.  Cleave, cleave, cleave!!

[Boeroer]

Sure. Blood Thirst gets triggered when you kill an enemy. It doesn't matter how you kill him. Scrolls, spells from items, weapon attacks - it all works. St. Ydwen's Redeemer on vessels with Blood Thirst is really great.
What I'm not 100% sure of is if it also triggers if you kill somebody with an DoT effect like wounding (Tidefall or Drawn in Spring) or Insect Swarm or something like that. 

Edited May 6, 2016 by Boeroer

[gzuppl]

This build caught my interest immediately - thanks Braven.

 

Now i read around a bit trying to find out whether the last patches potentially made it less attractive and one thing still seems weird to me. Does One-Handed Style actually work in this dual wielding scenario? I could not find any confirmation for this nor any other build using both those talents. Can any of the more veteran players of this game please clarify whether they work together?

[peddroelm]

...Now i read around a bit trying to find out whether the last patches potentially made it less attractive ..

 

yesterday's quick fix 

 

".. and adjusting one item (nerf  .) We are dropping the proc chance of 'The Unlabored Blades' Firebug from 10% to 3%. .."

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/90146-304-hotfix/?do=findComment&comment=1859441

Edited November 12, 2016 by peddroelm

[gzuppl]

 

...Now i read around a bit trying to find out whether the last patches potentially made it less attractive ..

 

yesterday's quick fix 

 

".. and adjusting one item (nerf  .) We are dropping the proc chance of 'The Unlabored Blades' Firebug from 10% to 3%. .."

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/90146-304-hotfix/?do=findComment&comment=1859441

 

 

Q.Q. Thanks for the quick reply - seems like it doesnt make too much sense anymore to wait for this item. Its a shame as i really liked its design.

[Braven]

Yeah, this build is no longer so good on patch 3.04. One handed style no longer works. I actually found my fighter build to be more effective. Even with the barbarian buffs, I think fighter is better overall. Just is so unkillable and high damage with speed weapons combined with massive DR bypass. I have been contemplating a tankier version of the fighter that only minimally lowers DPS. Something to help avoid disable threats (stuns, etc)

Edited November 19, 2016 by Braven

[Boeroer]

Actually, a barb with Heart of Fury has no match when it comes to dps. It can be boring, true, but of all the high level abilites HoF is one of the (if not the) best. Add Veteran's Recovery to a barb and he's as sturdy as a fighter after some levels.

[Kinjos]

Does this build no longer work? I was interested in her

[Boeroer]

It still works.