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Heya. It's me again. I'm kinda greedy. I'm playing my game slowly with many builds. So far i have a Dragon Thrashed Chanter (Level 9), Stormcaller Ranger (Level 8 ). I wanted to build and try a new character which is Barbarian. I won't be abandoning my character i'll play whichever character i want depends on my mood (yeah i  sounds strange).

 

I have no experience with a Barbarian at all. I did google and check out some Barbarian build but i'm still unsure what i want and how i wanted to build one. It seems i can only choose either a hard hitting CC Barbarian or a Dexterous fast hitting Barb. I'm not sure which one is more fun to play.

 

Here's my starting character. Hope anyone can shed some light on the Stats distribution?

 

Mig - 20

Con - 9

Dex - 9

Per - 18

Int - 18

Res - 4

 

Meadow Folk, Living Land Colonists.

Ability: Barbaric Yell

 

Should i dump Dex  completely? Or should i dump Mig? If anyone be kind enough to suggest all possible Barbarian builds. I did saw a sword and shield Barb but i'm not looking for a tanky Barb. I can't decide between a 2H Barb or a DW Barb. Appreciate if someone can share some insights. Thanks!

Edited by Archaven
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A barbarian is quite simple to build. Pick up following starting stats:

 

Mig 19

Con 10

Dex 10

Per 10

Int 19

Res 10

 

A human is a good choice, but according to my experiece, a Boreal Dwarf also perfoms very well as a barb. There are a lot of nasty Wilders and especially Primordials who usually attack in packs, and such a barb would be a good surprise for them.

 

Barbaric Yell is an okay starting ability, but Frenzy is better througout the whole gameplay.

 

You can build this guy either 2-handed or dual-wield. For the first option I'd recommend Tallgrass, then Tidefall. The latter one is better with DW sabres, especially Bittercuts, and also Reaping Knives. Both variants inflict formidable amount of damage starting from mid-game and do a lot of kills.

Edited by Moneo
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@Archaven:

 

If I may do some self promotion, I just created a unique barbarian build - The Untank.

 

Step in and take a look to see if it is what you are looking for. I guarantee you that it is neither either a hard hitting CC Barbarian nor a Dexterous fast hitting Barb :)

 

Edit: In my zealousness, I seem to overlook that the build you saw was probably my build. The thing is for a build with dumped RES, there should be be other mechanics behind the build that can handle its low deflection score. Something like good endurance regen. Otherwise you might find the Barb to be a little too squishy.

Edited by mosspit
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A nice apporach is to use Novice's Suffering (fists). It makes carnage more powerful in the early to mid game because of its weird mechanics:

The base damage stays at 5-8 (which is quite low) and the bonus of Nov. Suff. comes on top. Because of this crits don't do a lot more damage than hits, but also grazes do nearly the same damage. For the same reason the -34% dmg malus and the -10 ACC malus of Carnage are suddenly not as bad anymore as they usually are in the early game.

 

You only need high MIG (it's the only thing that boosts the bonus damage of Novice's Suffering) - damage bonuses from talents like Savage Attack, Blooded and so on are not helpful, so you can focus on attack speed and other stuff like defense and DR stacking (Second Skin if MC, Thick Skinned, Blunting Belt). With Frenzy and Bloodlust you can achieve very high attack speed. Greater Frenzy gives you even more MIG.

There are some "Sandals of the Forgotten Friar" in the White March that'll give you +2 unarmed damage which works the same way as the bonus of NS. It's a good way to build a barb who can spare durgan steel and enchantment resources for other party members and still be good.

Grab some hatchets or spears as backup against crush immune foes.

 

 

If you want to use a two hander you can lower MIG a bit and put more points into DEX. Also make sure to use Blood Thirst then. I'd recommend Tall Grass, Hours of St. Rumbalt or Tidefall. Also make sure to bind the Redeemer to tha barb if he has Blood Thirst - this makes fights against vessels a joke.

 

For maximum damage with Heart of Fury you want to use a dual wielding setup with hard hitting weapons like sabres. But it's also ok to do it with fists or a two hander.

Edited by Boeroer

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Here are some basic types that are popular:

 

Retailation (Max Might, Con, Int, average perception, low resolve/dex). Fire godlike is good along with retailation items. Key ability is barbaric retailation. This guy starts weak, but is very strong after level 13 ability and late game equipment to compensate for the low dex and resolve. Also laughs at enemies using fortitude attacks while his frenzy is on. Very hard to kill all game, but also slow and easily interrupted. Great for soloing but Boring in a party where his survivabilty doesn’t shine.

 

Slice and Dice (Max Dex and Int, high might). This is best with small weapons and vulnerable attack, or Tidefall. He wants to hit, but doesn’t need to crit. Wounding weapons are good as well as DR-bypass. He has the best overall DPS you can get without being too frail.

 

Effect-on-crit (Max Perception, Dex, and Int. Even in rest). This one either uses on-crit effect weapons or interruption ones. Relying in carnage to deliver those effects.

 

The all rounder: (max Int, even with all other stats with resolve maybe slightly lower than others). A bit boring, but very solid. Barbarian likes all stats, so it can be very effective keeping them all 9+.

 

Now some general thoughts:

 

Dumping both dex and resolve is a bad idea; you will get interrupted constantly. If you dump resolve, go high Dex and vice-versa. Or keep them both balanced.

 

With barbarian, I like High DEX to counter balance two things that reduce your attack speed:

 

1) plate armor. With low natural deflection you will get hit often and hard; paricularly because the barb wants to be in the thick of things. Unless you are thematically against it, I recommend you suit up with the heaviest sheet of metal you can find.

 

2). Vulnerable attack. The soonest you can take this is level 4 and that is the perfect time to do so. DR-Bypass is particularly important for barbarians because it benefits all of the carnage hits. The carnage really needs it, particularly early on, In order to do any real damage. This is, of course, shines best with duelweilding.

 

For stats, they are all really useful to barbarian. Int is most important to keep pretty high regardless since otherwise carnage is useless and carnage is the main reason to pick barbarian.

 

Resolve is least important usually just because resolve in general is not that great unless going all out tank. Keep in mind that concentration will be a problem if dipped to minimum. If possible, compensate for this with items if you find any with + concentration or spells. Faster attack speed also seems to help at least make it less noticeable.

 

So how to raise dex? In my playthrough I think I did about your stats, but reduced perception to around 10-12 and a couple other stats like might, con, or int can be reduced a point or two if needed or keep dex around 15. It does mean crit weapons are out though and accuracy can be a problem early; maybe use a weapon with +accuracy or graze-to-hit or spells/abilities. The aspirants mark talent can reduce enemy deflection by 8.

 

Another option is dropping might to 10ish. Your fortitude will suffer some and self-healing suffers a bit, but that can be made up with high survival skill and frenzy.

Edited by Braven
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@Moneo

I have look at Dwarf before but I kinda like a taller character. I find it weird Elves are shorter in PoE. Aumaua too gigantic so i generally choose Human instead. Maybe i should have go with Aumaua instead. But those race bonuses does add flavors but somehow also restrict one's choices. I'm playing all my PT on POTD. With Per of 10.. i think i'm going to hit wind. Starting of the game with 18 Per i'm fightling like a baby.

 

@Mosspit

Thanks for the suggestion. I did check out your build. It looks really interesting. It's just that i wanted a DW and 2H build. Is there such a thing? I wante DW Warhammers and the other set using 2H Tidefall. Are there such a build? I wanted a fast hard hitting Barbarian but it seems i can only choose one. Either DW or 2H? That is why i couldn't decide.

 

@Boeroer

Not a big fan of Unarmed because of animations. I know everyone will defend Obsidian saying they are "indie". But Obsidian should really improve themselves on their animations. One of the best Unarmed animations were in Diablo 3. Obsidian animators should look at the Monk class in Diablo 3 how awesome are their animations and possibly what concept on the skills and talents on how cool a monk can be. Lower Might and pump Dex? Can you suggest me Stats distribution? 

 

@Braven

The reason why i have low Dex is because i read somewhere there's a skill that reset recovery if you down an enemy and that's why Dex can be dumped. As i mentioned i'm totally clueless about Barb that is why i'm starting one :). Do you mind sharing your Stats distribution? I'm going to redo my Barb.

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I found that I haven't needed much dexterity for barb in some of my runs because once you use HoF you will almost always trigger blood thirst and then proceed to gib enemy after enemy. But in some builds it would make sense such as if you wanted to make a fast attacking barb which focuses on interrupts. 

 

I have always found high might to be very nice for barb because of how much it can increase the healing you get from savage defiance. 

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@Mosspit

Thanks for the suggestion. I did check out your build. It looks really interesting. It's just that i wanted a DW and 2H build. Is there such a thing? I wante DW Warhammers and the other set using 2H Tidefall. Are there such a build? I wanted a fast hard hitting Barbarian but it seems i can only choose one. Either DW or 2H? That is why i couldn't decide.

Sure I dont see why not. The biggest determining factor is the talent selection so its either 2Handed or 2 Weapon style. Or even both if you feel like it. When I was creating my build, I did 2H in the early game with Firebrand, then transitted to DW and W/S.

 

On the other hand, there are not many situations where you would bother to use both. Other than burst via HoF. I mean you can only use 1 or the 2 style at any one time. So you would probably gravitate to 1 of those styles. If you can foresee which you like better, go ahead and focus on that.

 

In terms effectiveness, dual wield lends better to consistent CC due to natural speed bonuses and 2H for dmg due to the talent effects. Just as a guideline if you wanna to have a starting reference point. You can freely make a dps DW or a 2H CC barb due to the equipment variety. Its very flexible.

Edited by mosspit
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All are great ideas! I think i would like to go with  DW effect-on-crit build. With Frenzy, is it safe to say MIG can be lowered to 14? With Greater Frenze can get +6 MIG? But hat last for like 12secs. One of my gripe is that many of the cool abilities are only 1 per encounter. Are there any items that can increase it to at least 2 per encounter?

 

Building Barbarian seems like one of the most difficult one for me as i seems to want everything :p. Dual Sabers? But Against immunity, I'll need a pair of Warhammers? If let's say i have Resolution and enchant it with Corrode, does it deal dual damage? Or only the Damage from Corrode gets applied? I've been checking many Barbs builds posted here and i couldn't find one that i like yet. Most go with Sword & Shield. I have no idea why though.

 

On a separate question, regarding companions. Any way to regulate XP from swapped members? I'm not level 9 (almost 10) for my Ranger. Initially i have Kana, then i swapped him for GM for doing a quest. Then i realize when i get Kana back to my team, he has far more lesser XP than my rest of the existing team. I don't really like why Obsidian is doing this. It means i would not be able to swap other companions later.

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@Moneo

I have look at Dwarf before but I kinda like a taller character. I find it weird Elves are shorter in PoE. Aumaua too gigantic so i generally choose Human instead. Maybe i should have go with Aumaua instead. But those race bonuses does add flavors but somehow also restrict one's choices. I'm playing all my PT on POTD. With Per of 10.. i think i'm going to hit wind. Starting of the game with 18 Per i'm fightling like a baby.

 

Yeah, in the beginning of the game low Accuracy is rather an issue, especially with a barb. So I take WF: Soldier as the first talent. At 1 or 2 Fontprima you can loot a Fine Great Sword in Magran's Fork (a dead body in the Western part, near adra rock). At least, you can loot a Great Sword after killing Lurdana, one of her guards is armed with it. Also, I use a pally with Zealous Focus, so, it's up to +16 to barb's Accuracy in total. It's quite sufficient to pass through the beginning of the game easily.

 

And don't forget that probably the strongest foes in the beginning (apart from those spirits in the temple of Eotas) are Primordials (those Forest Lurkers lvl 7(!) in Black Meadow - you confront them at lvl 3, some Oozes in the Temple and those nasty mushrooms in the cave) and Wilders (some Trolls, Xaurips and Skuldrs including 3 Skuldr Kings in the Temple). So, having a Boreal Dwarf barb since the very beginning is quite handy.

 

This barb starts to shine after level 5-6, when you arm him with Tallgrass and pick 2H-style, One Stands Alone and Accurate Carnage (Savage Deiance at lvl 3 is mandatory, that's obvious). Starting from the mid-game, low accuracy is not an issue, for a barb, too. It becomes an issue in the very late game, when you confront bosses, but killing bosses is not the barb's main job anyways.

 

And what about their height... I find in funny that such a ridiculous midget with a giant sword in hands can devastate enemy's forces :)

Just don't roll a female. Female dwarves are ugly, especially in plate armours, they look like a stupid barrel mincing on tiny thin legs.

Edited by Moneo
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@Braven

The reason why i have low Dex is because i read somewhere there's a skill that reset recovery if you down an enemy and that's why Dex can be dumped. As i mentioned i'm totally clueless about Barb that is why i'm starting one :). Do you mind sharing your Stats distribution? I'm going to redo my Barb.

Ah, that could work. I skipped that ability since I already had near zero recovery with frenzy and dual-wield. ~10 dex can certainly work fine I think in retrospect; I don’t want to give the wrong impression. Your stats are actually quite good as is. Good stats for Heart of Fury and the ability you mentioned. For the abilities, high might and perception are great. Frenzy helps early too to get the kills coming.

 

I was thinking start of game auto-attacking (I typically retrain at somepoint after getting the late game abilities and durgan steel). I agree that dex is less important late game. Late game you can just nuke everything in 10 seconds in which case perception and might are best for an optimal Heart of Fury kill chain.

 

I guess the short answer is that there are many ways to play barb. Only thing that really matters is high int and at least average perception.

Edited by Braven
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@Braven

The reason why i have low Dex is because i read somewhere there's a skill that reset recovery if you down an enemy and that's why Dex can be dumped. As i mentioned i'm totally clueless about Barb that is why i'm starting one :). Do you mind sharing your Stats distribution? I'm going to redo my Barb.

Ah, that could work. I skipped that ability since I already had near zero recovery with frenzy and dual-wield. ~10 dex can certainly work fine I think in retrospect; I don’t want to give the wrong impression. Your stats are actually quite good as is. Good stats for Heart of Fury and the ability you mentioned. For the abilities, high might and perception are great. Frenzy helps early too to get the kills coming.

 

I was thinking start of game auto-attacking (Ibtypically retrain at somepoint after getting the late game abilities and durgan steel). I agree that dex is less important late game. Late game you can just nuke everything in 10 seconds in which case perception and might are best for an optimal Heart of Fury kill chain.

 

I guess the short answer is that there are many ways to play barb. Only thing that really matters is high int and at least average perception.

 

 

That's the Blood Thirst ability. While it adds quite a little to a DW barb, with a 2H barb, it not only could work, it just works. It can increase speed of such a barbarian drastically and adds DPS output. I recommend taking this ability as soon as at level 7.

 

Also, for a 2H barb, I'd recommend taking Bloody Slaughter talent somewhere at level 10. Yes, it triggers when a foe has <10% of health, and it seems quite underwhelming, but for this barb, it helps kill stealing mobs from other party members with Carnage hits (Carnage has dmg multiplier -0.34 anyways). Armed with slow and hard-hitting 2-hander, such a barb would be powered on kills. The more he kills, the more he kills. Looking at the progression of the number of kills in char's statistics page, I must admit, this works. For a DW barb, this talent is rather a garbage, of course.

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For me, Bloody Slaughter is a useless talent most of the time. It can be of some use for dragon killer specialists (not barb) or chars with very low damage per hit (low MIG, few dmg mods and fast, light weapons) and against foes with a lot of endurance but low defenses (trolls, ogres).

 

Most enemies, especially mobs that come in bigger numbers (where the barb excels), have not that much of endurance. <10% means that there's very little endurance left so that most of the time a normal hit or crit will finish the foe anyways. At lvl 10 you will already have some different dmg mods like One Stands Alone and enchantments, high MIG, maybe Savage Attack. I can't say how often Bloody Slaughter will lead to a quicker death (didn't run excessive tests), but I guess it's less than 5%.

 

If a target has 300 endurance (which is plenty!) then Bloody Slaughter will trigger at 30 endurance. Most barbs will do more than 30 damage with a normal two handed hit at lvl 30. So, especially for two handed builds it's garbage.

 

If you want to trigger Blood Thirst more often you can use Vulnerable Attack, Battle Forged, Barbaric and normal retaliation. Those also trigger Blood Thirst when they kill.

 

I can't say if DoTs trigger Blood Thirst. If not, then Tidefall may be a trap.

 

I would not recommend to dump DEX with a two handed build. Even though you will have Blood Thirst you don't want to be too slow. DEX also shortens your animation. You will not hit 0 recovery without Frenzy very soon with a two hander, so Blood Thirst will be of use for a very long time - until the end if you wear thick armor and don't use a speed weapon. And the killing that leads to 0 recovery swings will start sooner if you are not too slow. Not that you need 18 DEX or so, but don't dump it.

By the way: scrolls and spell bindings also trigger Blood Thirst if you kill with a spell.

 

Redeemer's vessel destruction ability also triggers Blood Thirst. It's a very powerful combination

Edited by Boeroer

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The uselessness of Bloody Slaughter is discussed here quite widely, I just want to introduce another point of view. In some situations, it might be useful. I'm running such a barb at the moment, and I can assure you, that number of kills raises after taking this talent. If during the beginning and mid-game my best killer was a fast-hitting monk, and the barb was more than 100 frags worse, by lvl 14 the barb excells in the number of kills.

 

About barb's hits. Don't forget, that most barb's hits with weapon are not "normal" hits, they are Carnage hits, which means -0.34 dmg multiplier malus. And after that reduction dmg must overcome target's DR. So... Practically, Carnage crits with Bloody Slaughter inflict 30-45 dmg, more or less (according to the numbers appearing on the screen)... You can estimate non-crit damage according to that.

 

Perhaps, I should make a class build guide for my barb, I like it and it's very powerful build. BTW, I use following talent distribution:

 

2 - WF: Soldier

4 - 2H style

6 - Accurate Carnage

8 - Apprentice Sneak Attack

10 - Bloody Slaugher

12 - Barbaric Blow (or can swap with lvl 10)

14 - Vulnerable Attack (by that lvl we have attack speed boosters, so it won't hinder our barb as much)

16 - Interrupting Blows or something alike.

 

When I want to arm my barb with Reaping Knives, I just take DW style at lvl 14 (Vulnerable Attack is useless with the Knives anyways) and Savage Attack at lvl 16. Note that both Savage Attack and Vulnerable Attack not only boost you, but also hinder, whereas with Bloody Slaughter you spend your talent point for only boosting.

 

And yes, kills with Tidefall's DoT DO trigger Blood Thirst and those on-kill effects from Mourning Gloves and Tempered Helm. So...

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With Accurate Carnage (and not following an on-crit build) I would always pick Savage Attack in the later levels (before that I would take Two Handed Style - it's clearly better than Apprentice's Sneak Attack - which I would also take later on). Carnage will have higher accuracy than your main attack by lvl 6 already and the +20% damage are quite nice with a two hander.

 

Each of those talents is better than Bloody Slaughter.

 

With Blood Thirst you'd want to raise your damage per hit as high as possible. Some goes for (Barbaric) Retaliation, Heart of Fury, Vengeful Defeat and Barabric Blow (which I would not use with a two hander).

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Well, I judge according to my experience. I run such a barb with Bloody Slaughter, and I can say, that his "Total damage done" is not only the highest, but it's 1.5x higher than the same rate of my second best damage dealer, the DPS monk. Of course, one can swap Bloody Slaughter for Savage Attack, but, I suppose, this won't change the picture drastically. This barb is the best also in "Most crits done" and "Most kills", the only rating where he's not the best is "Highest single target damage", where my cipher takes the prize (I don't run a rogue).

 

So, this way is viable and quite effective. I think, for such a build, Bloody Slaughter is rather equal to Savage Attack, thus, in this case, that's the matter of preference. I like my barb to have the highest possible Acc, even though he doesn't use on-crit weapons. Barbs in PoE suffer from mediocre Accuracy, and +5 Acc means you have plain +5% chance to inflict graze/hit/crit, which also adds some amount of damage, not to mention higher chances to interrupt (which is not crucial, but also helpful). BTW, I don't know if Savage Attack also decreases Accuracy of Threatening Presense.

 

Also, that's the matter of balance. I think, one should balance barbarians in PoE, thus I don't min-max my barb. I max Might and Int and take 10 in other stats, this works pretty well. Of course, one can dump stats (preferably Res) or swap one talent for another, but why fix something which works as is?

 

UPD: I think, Savage Attack is more crucial for a DW barb in order to boost his single-hit damage to overcome high DR.

Edited by Moneo
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Bloody Slaughter adds 50% base damage to a crit if the target is below 10% endurance. Even if 100% of all your attacks are crits that means that it only adds 50% base damage in 10% of all attacks. 13.5 * 0.5 = 6.75 * 0.1 = 0.675 points of damage per attack on average. Savage Attack will add 2.7 damage per attack (and will reduce ACC).

I don't say that it's crucial, it just outright better than Bloody Slaughter. I'd say any talent is, even Rhymer's Summon. ;)

 

And that doesn't take into account that a normal hit or crit would most likely kill the foe who's under 10% anyway. Also, foes will seldomly get reduced to exactly 10% and then Bloody Slaughter triggers. Most of the time they will get reduced from let's say 20% or 15% to 8%, 6% or 5%.

 

Your experience with a barb who uses Bloody Slaughter is only of limited significance if you can't compare it with a similar barbarian who doesn't use it. Who can say if your performance (your crits/kills and so on) wouldn't be the same without Bloody Slaughter?

Edited by Boeroer

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The idea of Bloody Slaughter is nice, but the 10% is just bad. Death's Usher triggers at 25% endurance - that's a better value to make Bloody Slaughter worthwhile. To make it great I'd say it should trigger at 40% at least, maybe 50%.

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Man, I don't state that this talent is crucial for my build. I just think it's not so awful as you try to paint it. Of course, Rhymer's Summon is worse, 'cause Bloody Slaughter triggers just by autoattacking in most of the battles :)

 

Bloody Slaughter is here not for plain damage, but for more comfortable kill stealing via Carnage hits, 'cause Blood Thirst hastens 2H barb and boosts DPS. Of course, plain damage bonus is miserable, no question. But here I try to land more hits via negating weapon recovery, not to boost damage a bit with every hit. A finishing hit that triggers Blood Thirst is more crucial than other hits made.

 

I only want to point out that taking Bloody Slaughter is viable in such a situation.

 

ATM I'm running a party very similar to my previous one, with a similar barb. Now it's almost al lvl 12. So, I can swap Bloody Slaughter for Savage Attack, for example, and we'll see, what can we get. I think, the result would be quite similar, though.

Edited by Moneo
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Thanks for all the great suggestion. I'm still stucked at character creation as there's no way to respec character attributes. Or is there? At this point i'm more concerned in stats distribution. 

 

@Boeroer

What is the recommended DEX in your opinion? I didn't really dump DEX. I just have it at 9. Is 14 DEX sufficient? 

 

Mig - ? (16 base wIth Greater Frenzy it will get to 22? and some gearing maybe 24?)

Con - ? (Since Barb has highest Health/Endurance per level gain can we dump this? Is it fine with 3?))

Dex - ?  (It has no penalty on action speed at 10. Maxing it to 18 yields only +24% action speed. Are there any Barb builds that max this?)

Per - ? (Playing in POTD starting with max Per of 18 is still hitting like baby. For crit build Barb this is one of the most important stats?)

Int - ? (Is 16 Int sufficient for starting Barb?)

Res - ? (Since i'm mostly min maxing, this is only stats i can dump for maxing other high priority stats)

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You can retrain at every merchant/inn. While doing this you can also reallocate stats. This also works with hirelings but not the official companions.

 

You have 78 points to spend. If you dump CON (I don't recommend this) and RES you can put everything else at 18.

 

Barbs tend to be very squishy at the beginning but grow sturdier with every level because of their huge bonuses to endurance and health. If you dump CON then you take this advantage away. I wouldn't go under 10 with a dual wielding approach. You want to get close. And if you do get close you will get attacked because of your abysmal deflection.

 

Having very low RES and low DEX, combined with the longer attack animation and recovery of two handers or heavy one handers, will get you interrupted a lot in the beginning. It is not a big problem if you mainly flank, but if you want to engage more than one enemy at a time you will have problems. DEX at 10 when dual wielding will be ok though.

 

Keep in mind that DEX is a multiplicative damage tool while MIG is only additive. Also,the 24% speed bonus will get applied to animation AND recovery while all other speed bonuses like Frenzy and so on only affect recovery. With heavy one handers or two handers, which have a lot longer animation phase than light weapons, the difference between low and high DEX is very visible.

 

You could do it like this:

MIG: 17

CON: 14

DEX: 10

PER: 17

INT: 17

RES: 03

 

It is normal that you graze and miss a lot in the early game. Barbs start with only mediocre accuracy and on top of that Carnage has a penalty of -10 ACC. You can use a single one handed weapon in the early game to deal with this.

With every level Carnage gets +1 extra accuracy. If you take Accurate Carnage your Carnage accuracy will be the same as your normal accuracy at lvl 5 already. So, hitting stuff becomes easier with every level. At level 16 Carnage will have +11 ACC compared with normal attacks.

 

Still, since you want to rely on crits I would put a lot of points into PER, yes.

 

And while you are at it, you can combine the effect-on-crit approach with an interrupting approach. Both like high PER. For this I like war hammers because they are not only a good pick for Heart of Fury, but also have two damage types and most importantly: there's two uniques with increased interrupts time AND one of them is stunning (Godansthunyr) while the other is annihilating (Shatterstar). This is a great combo. But getting Godansthunyr will take some time. Before that the interrupting approach is a good substitute for stunning - and you can get Shatterstar very early.

 

I personally would go for two handers with an on-crit build and buy the Temaperacl first and later buy Hours of St. Rumbalt. Mainly because you can get them a lot earlier than the one handed weapons which stun/prone on crit. And Rumbalt has a great enchantments combo that works very well with crits (and Blood Thirst). Doing crits with a durganize Rumbalt if you also took Merciless Hand is very satisfying.

 

Of course you can do both: use a two hander for auto-attacks but switch to DW when executing Heart of Fury. But then forget the interrupting.

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It is possible to get both stunning and prone on crit using one-handers. There is an axe that can cause prone (buyable in Twin Elms). Do the prone and stunning ones suppress each other or stack debuffs? If they stack their debuffs, it could be nice for getting repeat followup critical hits. For a rogue, they could use the dual types in theory for deathblows without any additional affliction sources. Sadly, you would need to take two weapon focus talents, though.

 

Two weapons works better eventually for a “stun lock” build over two handers for two reasons:

 

1) Faster attack speed means more hits that could crit, increasing stun rate. The starcaller flail is particularly good for this since it is a “fast” one hander.

 

2) Only one-handed stunning weapons have +accuracy enchantments. The Spear one has the +5 accuracy bonus and can be further custimized with coordinating attacks or Valient for even more accuracy. Sure, you are limited to pierce damage, but DR does not affect stun chance or duration while accuracy does.

 

The main advantages of two-handers for stunning are (much) earlier availabilty and better damage output against higher DR enemies. Also they don’t need wax or two talents to avoid the “weapon focus” issue when duel-weilding.

Edited by Braven
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I have a genuine question why most build go with MIG? I'm thinking of a low MIG build (since we have Greater Frenzy). I'm going towards the Crit build (Probably stun). Is that a good choice? Since DEX and PER is so crucial for a crit build and i think 17 Int is also crucial (From 16 -> 17 nett a 12% gain in AOE).

 

MIG - 10

CON - 10

DEX - 20

PER - 18

INT - 17

RES - 3

 

Is 10 MIG viable for HoSR? or I should go with 20 MIG and 10 DEX? I'm really bad in making decision.

Edited by Archaven
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I like high MIG and INT because I always use Veteran's Recovery and/or Savage Defiance. High MIG also counters the -34% damage malus from Carnage a bit.

 

Stun suppresses prone. It's of little use to combine We Toki with a stunning weapon like Cladhaliath except for the times you meet foes who are immune to one of those afflictions.

The combo Wodewys + We Toki or Shatterstar + Godansthunyr is more useful in my opinion. I would also try a single handed Cladhaliath with Stunning + Vicious. +17 ACC and 15% hit to crit is nice if you're looking for AoE stuns. Dual Wielding with a spear just looks stupid. ;)

 

10 MIG can work, but it will take some time to stack some other damage bonuses so that the lack of MIG gets less obvious. So in the early game you damage per hit will be meh if Frenzy runs out. Later on - with more crits and other damage mods - you don't feel it any more and DEX will be more important.

A lot of DEX also helps with the lengthy animation of Frenzy. ;)

Deadfire Community Patch: Nexus Mods

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@Boeroer

I think i'm going to go with your suggested stats and refine it abit:

 

MIG: 18
CON: 10
DEX: 12
PER: 18
INT: 17
RES: 03

 

Remaning +2 ATTR points do you think it's beneficial to dump it to DEX?. Also by the way, anyone knows about concealment? When i'm on Frenzy i didn't notice my HP. Can you actually die because you didn't know the remaining HP?

Edited by Archaven
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