[CLASS BUILD] The Golden Dragon (barbarian tank)

[Dalnor]

Thank you for that fast answer

 

No problem for the accuracy , i can make with hit since i play with the pnj ^^

 

What do you think of my stat points? should i put more in might but less in intell or stay like that? I'm a noob sorry .

 

I forgot to tell before but i play normal , maybe hard , i'm not ready for PoTG , and maybe i'll never be ^^

[Dalnor]

Finally , I go for :

 

MIG: 20
CON: 10
DEX: 03
PER: 10
INT: 16
RES: 19

 

Come for savage Land , for some rp concept of Dalnor Drengskapr , a character who follow me since so long ( usually not barbarian , but this barbarian is more like a fighter so good ^^ )

 

i think it'll be better than the one before , i'll let you know ,  but since i play in normal i think i shouldn't have so much trouble

[Dalnor]

Hello Boerer , again i come , i tried your build but i have a p^roblem... the health

 

With this build i litterally have less health than with your Chillfog build , how can you.... make it that my barbarian don't die ( 0 health ) in 2 fight?

 

Thenk you for an answer and maybe it'll be better when more lvl ^^

[Boeroer]

You can give him more CON in the early game and retrain later. As soon as you have most of the accuracy-debuffs (dazing, frightening and so on) and a decent deflection you can lower your CON. And it doesn't have to be 3. In the early game your deflection is quite low that you can't tank very well because of health issues.

 

Youc can also use potions of Infuse with Vital Essence to heal some health.

[Blades of Vanatar]

Give him the shod-in-faith boots until he hit level 7-8. It helps big time. After that he really gets Sturdy. One of my Favorite builds on this site.

[kolvanmaul]

Will this build work with boreal dwarf ?

[JerekKruger]

Will this build work with boreal dwarf ?

 

Can't see any reason why not. As far as I'm aware Boeroer chose Pale Elf because it fitted aesthetically, not because the build relied on the Pale Elf's racial bonuses. You'll lose a tiny bit of tankiness going Boreal Dwarf and gain a bit of damage dealing capability against two enemy types, but this won't make much of a difference overall.

[Boeroer]

Exactly.

[BulletDodgerN7]

Hello everyone , I'm the newest member on this forum , I wanted to ask a question regarded if this build , I did buy pillars of eternity on x box one , for a little while I try to create a main character and I was trying few types so far and I played until I reach act 2 , I played as a wizard , paladin , rogue and tried cipher but still I couldn't get a feeling that I'm needed in a party like main character should , that is why I created account here to ask other players that love roleplaying games like I do , and ask about guide or build to create a character to enjoy game, I was thinking about making main character a priest or tanky bear druid, could any one help me with attribute stats how to start game, I like to talk throu problems and quest and be in general good character with honest/diplomat/good in general person, so probly loads of resolve?

[hansvedic]

Love the concept and I love the stats, as I love a good conversationalist.

That being said, I think you really missed a great storytelling angle here with this build, Boeroer, by not making it a Wild Orlan, perhaps with a personality somewhat resembling a cross between Berserker Axinhed from 8-bit Theatre and the drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. One minute, you see a diminutive Orlan, the next he's (or she's) yelling in your face worse than your drill sergeant ever did...

 

Perhaps I just have a weird sense of humor.

Still, I like the backstory you wrote for this character... just not as much as the crazy Orlan in my head.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, you already did make a similar character in terms of your druid. No point doing the same character twice, I suppose. My bad. Anyways, I continue to greatly enjoy your builds.

Edited March 9, 2018 by hansvedic

[Boeroer]

Yeah... I wanted that "eastern" vibe with the character, as I explained on the first page of the thread (long time ago ). Wood Elf would have worked, too, and the racial isn't that bad either (Distant Advantage also works with Barbaric Yell and Echoing Shout and so on and the higher defense against range isn't too bad), but the Pale Elf looked more "golden":

 

 

 

[...]why pale Elf?

Because it's one of the races which can have a golden skin tone, it gives you elemental endurances (which is not bad for a tank) and I wanted to achieve a bit of an asian look (Golden Dragon [...])

 

And as you said I alredy had a grumpy Wild Orlan.

Edited March 9, 2018 by Boeroer

[Conman]

Do you think it would be possible to slightly adapt this build to get a celtic warrior sort of vibe? I'm thinking Cu Chulainn, the Irish mythological hero. Definitely a Barbarian, but possibly lighter armour and medium shield, something like this: https://img00.deviantart.net/5587/i/2013/362/3/7/cuchulain_by_el_grimlock-d6zr81q.jpg

 

"He is known for his terrifying battle frenzy, in which he becomes an unrecognizable monster who knows neither friend nor foe"

 

He traditionally in the stories uses a spear but I'd probably run an axe, as We Toki looks very cool and fits.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Conman

[Boeroer]

You can surely use other armor. The Golden Scales are only here for their optics.

In this case hide armor would look best I guess? Or, after looking at the image behind the link: a monk's outfit with a red cape maybe?

 

Aumaua can have blue stripes in their face.

 

This build uses a (or two) special bashing shields for proc effects with Carnage and Heart of Fury. You can use any other (bashing) shield that looks cool for you and this will not gimp your tankyness, but you might want to switch to a dual weapon set just for Heart of Fury and then switch back. For example use a medium round shield that looks a bit celtic (search for Scath Gwannek) with a spear (Cladhaliath is cool with a barb when using stunning and vicious) and switch to dual battle axes for the Heart of Swipe.

 

You can also just skip that and live with the fact that Heart of Fury does less damage with a normal shield or a shield that has no special proc on bash.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Boeroer

[Conman]

Those are some good tips on the gear and race, thanks!

Just out of curiosity (I'm still new to PoE and learning the ropes) what is a bash shield exactly?

 

I think this could be a very cool adaption of the Golden Dragon, maybe the Celtic Dragon, or Celtic Hound or something (Cu Chulainn was the "Hound of Ulster"!

 

Main equipment spear and shield, second set dual axes, though I may find myself using the axes often and switching to shield if I need to be a bit tankier... does that sound feasible?

Would you change any of the talents, or the stats at all to compensate for these changes?

 

Probably take weapon/shield talent then whatever weapon focus works for battle axes... I wonder if that would mean spear damage would be sub par?

Edited April 26, 2018 by Conman

[Boeroer]

Oops,I overlooked this, sorry.

 

A bashing shield is a shield that has the special enchantment "bash" which comes in qualities from I to III (or IV?) which only raises the damage. The bash is an offhand attack that alternates with the main hand. But it gets no bonus from dual wield info and Two Weapon Style. But it works with Full Attacks.

 

A bash is considered a active attack ability and thus gets +1 accuracy per char level which makes it's accuracy pretty good later in the game while it's not that great at the beginning.

 

The bash damage is crush and usually it's super low. Only special procs like on the Dragon's Maw or Badgradr's Barricade make it really worthwhile. But bash itself is better than no-bash when you have Full Attacks like Knockdown or rogues' strikes and so on. For auto-attacks it's pretty meh.

[Boeroer]

You could also use a sword + shield and two battle axes. Sword and axe share the same Weapon Focus. Spears have +5 ACC,so it's not that bad when not using Weapon Focus Peasant for spears.

[StormOwnz]

 

How would you level a character like this?  He seems awfully squishy until he gets a good number of those abilities.  Looks like a crapload of fun once you get them though.

He's not. With a large shield, barbaric yell and thick armor he's not too squishy at the beginning, even with 3 CON. I would also take Veteran's Recovery as the first talent. It's better than Constant Recovery (without Rapid Rec.) and adds a lot of endurance. I also pump survival to 8 in order to get +40% healing received. Since the deflection with a large shield and maxed RES is good you mostly catch grazes if you get hit at all. Thick armor will catch most of that damage and what remains as MIN damage will get healed by Veteran's Recovery. No, not squishy. Once you get Weapon and Shield Style (next talent I'd pick) you can easily take the role of the main tank.

 

You can start with higher CON of course and retrain later. Because later you def. don't need CON at all. Remember: with 3 CON a barb has quite the same endurance as a fighter with 10 CON. And a fighter with 10 CON and a shield is not squishy.

But I encountered no problem with 3 CON right from the start. Alse keep in mind that this was not a solo run. When soloing I would use more CON - mostly because of fortitude.

 

 

 

Boeroer how did you survive with 3 CON? Even if I give him 10+ CON my barb still gets ate up.

[Boeroer]

If you combine the barb's ACC lowering tools and for example a priest or paladin to buff his deflection it shouldn't make a difference if you have 3 or 10 CON since you shouldn't get hit in th first place.

 

The first few levels are a bit tough though if that is your only tanky frontliner. Because barbs have such crappy starting deflection - and your abilities that make up for this are not developed yet. The higher base endurance and health make no difference (even if you gave him 20 CON). The effects of CON are only useful and visible after some levels. I guess at lvl 6 it gets a lot easier once you have Weapon & Shield Style and Stalwart Defiance. Please note that the abilites/talents are not in the correct order. Maybe I should edit that. You'd pick Yell, Veteran's Recovery, Savage Defiance, Weapon & Shield Style, One Stands Alone and Stalwart Defiance if I remember correctly.

[gloomseeker]

Just wanted to drop by and thank you for sharing the build with the community. I was looking for some inspiration to build a character who would be both durable and fun to play (especially when it comes to covering dialogue checks) and this one fits the bill very nicely. 

 

I'm playing through the game to prepare for Deadfire and enjoying my tank of a Barbarian quite a lot (and I usually don't like tanks). 

 

Cheers Boeroer! 

[DeadMoney]

This was my build for my second playthrough of PoE1. It was so satisfying to play that I decided to use it (and not my own first build) for the DLCs - and now I'm trying to make the exact same guy in PoE2... which is harder than I thought, but still very fun.

[Boeroer]

Thanks guys for the nice feedback.

[draego]

Thanks guys for the nice feedback.

 

This was a very fun build. Do you think this build will translate to POE2? I did a build very similar with this but with variant weapons that focused on CC or Debuffs but i know in POE2 the on hit effects for carnage were removed. That alone seemed to kill my build being moved to POE2.

Edited May 15, 2018 by draego

[Boeroer]

I would have to check if there are any bashing shields that are worthwhile - and because Heart of Fury is PL 8 I would maybe use a single class barb. Or multiclass with Unbroken and substitute HoF with Cleaving Stance and Blood Thirst.

Or maybe Barb/Paladin.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Boeroer

[gloomseeker]

I would have to check if there are any bashing shields that are worthwhile - and because Heart of Fury is PL 8 I would maybe use a single class barb. Or multiclass with Unbroken and substitute HoF with Cleaving Stance and Blood Thirst.

Or maybe Barb/Paladin.

 

I'm going with Barbarian/Unbroken (level 8 at the moment) and it's fine but the lower constitution feels more of a liability than it did in the first game (first run for me so I don't have any of the blessings of Berath enabled and some of my choices may not be optimal plus I'm still looking for a really nice shield). With hindsight I'd probably keep constitution around 5 at the start of the game (I got my hand on an item with +2 in constitution and it does make a difference). 

[Rooksx]

Why is Badgradr's Barricade better offensively than Dragon's Maw? Less crush damage and Thrust of Tattered Veils is only once per encounter.