HealAmp Barbarian - Strimtom's take on a barbarian falconer

[Strimtom]

This character was designed to use the updated occult slayer tree, as well as the falconer tree for some shinanigans.

Video #1

Conclusion Video

Rating:
Tankyness: A+
Damage: C+ (Same as SWF artificer and TA rogue)

THE BUILD

HealAmp Barbarian
Barbarian 20
Chaotic Good Aasimar


Stats
. . . . . . . .28pt . . 32pt. . .34pt . . 36pt. . .Tome. . .Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ----. . .---- . . ----. . .---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 14. . . .14 . . . 14. . . .14 . . . +6 . . . 4: WIS
Dexterity . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . +6 . . . 8: WIS
Constitution. . 14. . . .16 . . . 16. . . .16 . . . +6 . . .12: WIS
Intelligence. . .8. . . . 8 . . . 10. . . .12 . . . +6 . . .16: WIS
Wisdom. . . . . 20. . . .20 . . . 20. . . .20 . . . +6 . . .20: WIS
Charisma. . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . .8. . . . 8 . . . +6 . . .24: WIS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28: WIS

Skills
. . . . . 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Listen. . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Intim . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Swim. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 23
Jump. . . 4. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. . . . . . . . .1 .18
UMD . . . 2. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. ½. 11½
Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ½. ½. ½. ½. 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 11
Haggle. . . .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .1 .1 .1 .1 .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ .½ . . 11
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .20. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6. 7. 7. 7. 7. 7. 7. 7. 7. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8


Feats

.1. . . . : Power Attack
.3. . . . : Cleave
.6. . . . : Completionist
.9. . . . : Improved Critical: Slashing
12. . . . : Two Handed Fighting
15. . . . : Improved Two Handed Fighting
18. . . . : Greater Two Handed Fighting
21 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic . : Great Cleave
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
27 Epic . : Epic Damage Reduction
28 Destiny: Mass Frog
29 Destiny: Dire Charge
30 Epic . : Great Ability: Wisdom
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea

.1 Aasimar: Bond of the Fallen


Enhancements (80+5 AP)

Occult Slayer (41 AP)

• Weapon Bond, Resistance, Elemental Defense, Blank Thoughts, Force Ward, Mind Over Magic
  1. Extend Rage III, Ear Smash III, Parrying Bond III
  2. Knockout III, Guarding Bond III
  3. Bond of Retribution, Arcane Encumberance III, Wisdom
  4. Vicious Strike I, Driving Force III, Wisdom
  5. Bond of Destruction, Occult Metalline, One Spirit III

Falconry (26 AP)

• Grey Owl, Wisdom, Well Rounded
  1. Practiced Accuracy II, Out in Nature III
  2. Killer Instinct I, Diving Strike I, Sprint Boost I
  3. Killer Instinct II, Strike for the Eyes: Strike I, Conditioning, Eyes of the Eagle
  4. Deadly Instinct III, No Mercy I, Coordinated Strike, Expose Weakness

Aasimar (18 AP)

• Stronger Bonds, Wisdom, Stronger Bonds II, Wisdom, Stronger Bonds III
  1. Fight the Wicked, Improved Recovery
  2. Fight the Wicked, Divine Purpose
  3. Fight the Wicked, Improved Recovery
  4. Divine Form, Improved Recovery

Leveling Guide

1. Aas0 Stronger Bonds; Aas1 Fight the Wicked; Aas1 Improved Recovery; Occ0 Weapon Bond; Occ1 Extend Rage I, II, III
2. Occ1 Ear Smash I; Occ2 Knockout I; Occ1 Ear Smash II; Occ2 Knockout II
3. Occ1 Ear Smash III; Occ2 Knockout III; Fal0 Grey Owl; Fal1 Out in Nature I
4. Fal1 Out in Nature II, III; Fal1 Practiced Accuracy I
5. Fal2 Killer Instinct I; Fal2 Diving Strike I; Fal2 Sprint Boost I
6. Fal0 Wisdom; Fal3 Killer Instinct II; Occ0 Resistance
7. Occ0 Elemental Defense; Occ1 Parrying Bond I, II, III
8. Occ2 Guarding Bond I, II, III
9. Occ3 Wisdom; Occ4 Driving Force I, II, III
10. Occ4 Wisdom; Occ3 Arcane Encumberance I, II
11. Occ3 Arcane Encumberance III; Occ3 Bond of Retribution; Occ4 Vicious Strike I
12. Occ0 Blank Thoughts; Occ5 Occult Metalline; Occ5 One Spirit I
13. Occ5 One Spirit II, III; Occ5 Bond of Destruction
14. Aas0 Wisdom; Aas0 Stronger Bonds II; Aas0 Wisdom
15. Aas2 Fight the Wicked; Aas2 Divine Purpose; Aas3 Fight the Wicked
16. Aas3 Improved Recovery; Aas0 Stronger Bonds III; Aas4 Divine Form
17. Aas4 Improved Recovery; Fal3 Strike for the Eyes: Strike I; Fal0 Well Rounded; Fal1 Practiced Accuracy II
18. Fal3 Conditioning; Fal3 Eyes of the Eagle
19. Fal4 Deadly Instinct I, II, III; Fal4 No Mercy I
20. Fal4 Coordinated Strike; Fal4 Expose Weakness; Occ0 Force Ward; Occ0 Mind Over Magic

Destiny (24 AP)

Legendary Dreadnought

1. Legendary Tactics III, Extra Action Boost III, Constitution
2. Imp. Power Attack, Damage Boost III, Constitution
3. Haste Boost III
4. (none)
5. Advancing Blows, Devastating Critical
6. Master's Blitz

Twists of Fate (26 fate points)

1. Sense Weakness (Tier 4 Fury)
2. Damage Reduction (Tier 2 Fury)
3. Acute Instincts (Tier 2 Fury)
4. Primal Scream (Tier 1 Fury)

ENDGAME GEAR

Googles: Cannith Crafted Accuracy/Insightful Wisdom
Helmet: Executioners Helm
Necklace: Ward Inscribed Pendant
Trinket: Bloodrage Chrism
Cloak: Mysterious Cloak Level 21
Belt: Vistani Fighter Sash
Gloves: Molten Silver Gauntlets
Ring 1: Legendary Chieftain
Ring 2: Cursebane Ring
Boots: Flightfoot Greaves
Bracers: Lorefueled Packbanner
Chest: Coat of the Traveller

This gives you the Mists set bonus as well as the Crypt Raider Set

[Coffey]

Nice build good answer to reaper survivability.

Aasimar Tempest next?

[Zretch]

Are you doing two handed fighting primarily because glancing blows proc weapon bond? Would there be a DPS increase with two weapon fighting that may move the offense closer to a B while still having good "tankyness"?

[mikarddo]

I am curious.

Why haggle rather than search or spot? (with swap gear you can still get decent search)
Do you swap in a DC scepter when you use Mass Frog to up the DC?

[AndyJoshHall]

When I first read the guide and watched the videos I was instantly intrigued! - So much that I actually TRed into an Aasimar barbarian without realizing that I didn't own the Falconry tree yet. Luckily that was a quick fix, and I'm very happy I opted for getting the tree and not just do a strength-based build instead.

I'm now ready to eTR/rTR out of the HealAmp Barbarian, though if it wasn't Aasimar dependent, I would totally play it several more times for additional racial past lives.

In the end, it came out a little different than the guide; mainly, I didn't take the cleave feats, and I only put 13 action points in the falconry tree. Instead I went into the Frenzied Berserker tree for an additional 40% strikethrough (ended with 250% strikethrough chance). This also meant that I had 12 rages to play around with. I never once ran out of rages, even though I exited rage on the regular between fights for using clickies, using scrolls (mainly on other players since the self healing capability is difficult to understate) or drinking potions.

I went to level 30 twice, trying out both Divine Crusader, Legendary Dreadnought and Fury of the Wild. I must say, the second time around I mainly did Fury of the Wild, preferring that over Dreadnought for the Adrenaline. That ability gives you some awesome burst damage.

For my second trip to level 30, I took Perfect Two Weapon Fighting at level 28 instead of Mass Frog. I didn't have much success with Mass Frog, but it might come down to play style and training. Taking Perfect TWF landed me on 60% doublestrike without a quality item.

Ended up with 88 wisdom at level 30 in reaper mode while raged, but 10-12 more points is fairly easy to find, even without changing destiny (e.g. I only have a +6 tome to wisdom, I didn't have a festive augment for another +2, and I crafted a +7 insightful wisdom item; at this point in time +10 insightful is available from named loot).

Though you talked about the damage output lacking behind some other builds, I didn't feel terribly out-damaged, holding my own in most content in low to mid level reaper difficulty, and even topping the kill list now and then.

Overall a really, really good experience! Thank you so much for the guide. Keep up the good work.



Additional details for the interested:

I don't have a million racial and/or heroic past lives, though I am a heroic completionist. But I need to stress that this build works great even without it. I did it with only 1 racial action point. If you don't have access to the Completionist feat, I would take cleave for the extra AOE; you might even want to take it for leveling anyway and change i later.
At end game you will of course need to be geared out (doh), but for whatever reason I never actually ended up having any set bonuses (though I should probably have had at least the Crypt Raider Set, just never farmed it out - specifically looking at you *Legendary Coat of the Traveller* or better yet, Legendary Part of the Family, but those pieces simply didn't drop for me, because those I did farm for).
Instead, I ended up using what I had (as is so often the case) and opting for as much wisdom as I could reasonably pull together.
For example, not having access to the armor meant I could just a well use Legendary String of Ears in the neck slot for the +5 Quality Wisdom and Parrying +10, and then use the Radiant Ring of Tear Valaestas instead of Legendary Chieftain (which I actually used in the beginning before getting the minor artifact).

This is how I took my feats:

1. . . . . . : Power Attack
3. . . . . . : Completionist
6. . . . . . : Two Handed Fighting
9. . . . . . : Improved Critical: Slashing
12. . . . . : Improved Two Handed Fighting
15. . . . . : Greater Two Handed Fighting
18. . . . . : Toughness*
21 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic . : Epic Toughness*
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
27 Epic . : Epic Damage Reduction
28 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting*
29 Destiny: Dire Charge
30 Epic . : Great Ability: Wisdom
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea

1 Aasimar: Bond of the Fallen

*Different than Strimtom's guide.

Enhancements (80+1 AP)
Occult Slayer (42 AP)
Frenzied Berserker (14 AP)
Falconry (13 AP)
Aasimar (12 AP)