1st time Barbarian

[CavernDragon]

As the title says, this is my 1st barb. I'm a loss as if somthing went wrong. I seem to get my ass handed to me durnig fights, Granted I can dish out a lot of dps. I am use to running a ranger/rog or caster so I'm just not sure i'm on the right track.

any advice would be great.


my current stats at lv 16
32 pt
WF (Neutral good)
Str 30
Dex 18
Con 30
Int 12
Wis 11
Cha 10

HP 536

AC 23
125 % Fort


Dr
5/magic
6/ -
1/ adamantine

Minos legens
Protection +4
upgraded Blademarks docent

[Rabscuttle]

A barb wins by killing the bad guy before the bad guy kills you. Up your damage output as much as possible and you don't have to worry much about survival through most quests. I like to park a hireling at the entrance (especially ones that know the deathward spell), fight for about ten minutes, call him to me to cast a heal or two, and leave him parked again. Lather Rinse Repeat. Some guard items will help a little, but you're past the part where they would really shine, unless you're talking about DT or GS quality guards. Start thinking about what slot you want to use for your HP item, and work on your blank now - once your weapon is finished with tier 1, build the hp item to tier 1. Weapon first though, you've already got a good store of HP.

Use haste potions, and rage potions. Always. You should have a stack of 100 each before you start your day's questing. Haste helps you not only swing faster, but get to your next mob faster. Between that and using rank 1 of sprint boost, you won't be "wasting" as much of your rages. You should be raged all the time, but frenzy is more situational - talk with your healer, or get to know your hireling. Hirelings are a lot cheaper and quicker than buying potions, also.

We are weapon dependent first - what are you swinging around? You'll notice a very nice DPS increase each time you upgrade your Min2 weapon. In the mean time, using appropriate bane weapons is a good choice, especially holy ones (no UMD)

Increasing your saves helps a lot, especially reflex save. Your AC doesn't matter anymore, you can (probably) get rid of your protection +4 item, and trade it for a resistance +4/5. Also, getting swap slot items for greater fire resistance, greater lightning resistance, and so on REALLY adds up. Using +20 resistance potions for when you are having multiple energy types hit you is a good fallback if you don't have have a caster friend with you.

Passive DR does not stack, so the 5/magic and 1/adamantine effectively aren't there, just 6/-. Get the enhancements to boost the passive DR a barbarian has, it isn't much - but it will add up over the course of a quest, especially vs archers or swarms of little pests.

Knowing what feats you used would help a bit more, but hopefully this is a start.

[cleavearms]

As the title says, this is my 1st barb. I'm a loss as if somthing went wrong. I seem to get my ass handed to me durnig fights, Granted I can dish out a lot of dps. I am use to running a ranger/rog or caster so I'm just not sure i'm on the right track.

any advice would be great.


my current stats at lv 16
32 pt
WF (Neutral good)
Str 30
Dex 18
Con 30
Int 12
Wis 11
Cha 10

HP 536

AC 23
125 % Fort



ok...this guy makes my barb look like a clown.
mh str is only 24. I thought i was doing well untill i hit lvl10 or so and everyone else's str and con were skyrocketing. I guess im a total noob.

Can someone try to explain to me where i went wrong and if i can fix it please?

[GhoulsTouch]

ok...this guy makes my barb look like a clown.
mh str is only 24. I thought i was doing well untill i hit lvl10 or so and everyone else's str and con were skyrocketing. I guess im a total noob.
Can someone try to explain to me where i went wrong and if i can fix it please?

You do have stat and hit point boosting items right? And you have been checking the auction house for better?
Alot of players have 32 point builds and buy tomes of supreme ability from the DDOstore so that also may be it right there.

[cleavearms]

best str boost item i have is +3, so i guess that is part of my problem. but i still dont get how 40+ is possible? what am i over looking? never read a tome, so that puts me at 28 at BEST unraged. what else am i overlooking?
did i screw my build and not realize it?

[Lehrman]

As the title says, this is my 1st barb. I'm a loss as if somthing went wrong. I seem to get my ass handed to me durnig fights, Granted I can dish out a lot of dps. I am use to running a ranger/rog or caster so I'm just not sure i'm on the right track.

any advice would be great.


my current stats at lv 16
32 pt
WF (Neutral good)
Str 30 (guessing 18 starting +2tome, +6item +4lvls--right on track. If this is your raged strength, TR as soon as you hit 20)
Dex 18 (nice for saves, but not mandatory unless you are a TWF barb)
Con 30 (guessing 20 starting, +6item, +2racial enhancement, +2 Barb enhancement or tome an some other combination of enhancements--right on track unless this is your raged total)
Int 12
Wis 11
Cha 10

HP 536 (seems about right for a pre-raged total. Make sure you have the toughness feat and racial/barbarian toughness enhancements for extra hps)

AC 23 (AC seems a bit high, you do not need protection gear since everything will hit you. If you are wearing prot items, swap them for something else beneficial like greater elemental resistance.)
125 % Fort


Dr
5/magic (bladesmark rocks, but look into getting a Docent of Defiance...it will hopefully get epic treatment when they get around to Abbot.)
6/ - (Go ahead and max your barbarian DR. I think you can hit 7 at lvl 16.)
1/ adamantine (ditch this, it will not stack with other Dr)

Minos legens
Protection +4 (ditch this)
upgraded Blademarks docent

Your build only needs minor tweeking, you did great for this being your first barbarian.

If the prot item is neck, try to get a Jorgundal's collar for those times when you need alacrity and will not get hasted (The Devil you Know raid [ToD]) or Shintao necklace with ring for extra hitroll and damage once lvl 18 (The Devil you Know raid [ToD]). If the prot item is on a cloak, then get yourself an elemental resistance cloak or a resistance 4 cloak. If its on a ring, get yourself a Ring of the Djinn, or elemental resist ring, or resistance ring, or reaver's ring and swap as needed--eventually both of your ring slots will be taken up with ToD rings.

Your primary feats should be:
Power Attack
Cleave
Toughness
If THF then add the 3 feats for the THF line.
If TWF then add the 3 feats for the TWF line.
This leaves one feat free. Some people go with stunning blow others with improved crit. The first will lead to auto crits, so its probably the best one overall--even more so since the MinII weapons are keen.

[Chai]

ok...this guy makes my barb look like a clown.
mh str is only 24. I thought i was doing well untill i hit lvl10 or so and everyone else's str and con were skyrocketing. I guess im a total noob.

Can someone try to explain to me where i went wrong and if i can fix it please?

Max out str. Start with 18 and every fourth level where you get a point, put it into str. DDO is a min maxer game, and as such, the most effective toons are min maxed for the role they play in groups. A barbarians is damage. Any time you can up your damage, that is a win.

Defense is more of a playstyle thing, and not always a stat, for barbarians. Moving out of flanks, and having high HP, are your two best friends.

[cleavearms]

thanx for the advice guys. one more question.

For lvl14 what would the best (or better) str and con items be? And where?
Other than the AH of course...

[Lehrman]

best str boost item i have is +3, so i guess that is part of my problem. but i still dont get how 40+ is possible? what am i over looking? never read a tome, so that puts me at 28 at BEST unraged. what else am i overlooking?
did i screw my build and not realize it?

At lvl 10 you can have...

18 starting strength
+2 lvls
+4 Item (Linen handwraps are a fixed reward in Delera's chain even though the reward list si randomly generated.)
+2 Tome (Not likely to have one unless you have high level alts or bought one, but this is not mandatory)
------------
26 base str at lvl 10
+2 rage potion
+6 Rage (4 rage feat, 2 power rage enancement)
------------
34 Str
+2 Frenzy (Situational at your lvl--usually boss fight at end)
-----------
36 max str at lvl 10

If the 24 strength you mentioned is the base, then you are in good shape.

18 Con (assuming a race other than WF/Dwarf...halfling or human maybe?)
04 Item
02 Tome
02 Enhancment
----------
26
+2 rage potion
+6 Rage (Rage feat, rage con enhancment)
----------
34 Con --WF and Dwarves can have 38 with 20 starting con and racial con enhancement.

MAX lvl 20 Str Barb=
18 Starting
5 lvling
4 tome--ToD raid
7 item--epic items
3 exceptional str +1/+2--Tod Ring crafting
1 Litany--Abbot Raid
12 (rage+power Rage enhancement line)
2 Capstone
2 Frenzied BerzerkerIII ToD belt/ring combo
2 Yugoloth Potion--Amrath Favor
6 titan Cookies--christmas festival or AH
2 Rage Spell
4 Double Madstone Raged--Reaver raid
2 DDO Store Stacking STR potions
2 Frenzy
4 Death Frenzy
--------------
76 Str--there are also collectibles you can turn in, but IDK if they stack with DDO pots. Humans can get 1 more point of STR, and if they ever put in half-orcs (hopefully mod 6) that should be a race that starts with +2str. Scourge choker can add up to 6 mroe strength on a temporary basis. Past life:barbarian for 4 more as well. so that puts the max Str up around 86-90.

Link that will help.

http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=2406442&postcount=1

[Lehrman]

thanx for the advice guys. one more question.

For lvl14 what would the best (or better) str and con items be? And where?
Other than the AH of course...

+6 stat gear is available without racial restrictions at lvl 13
+5 @ 11
+4 @ 9
+3 @ 7
+2 @ 5
+1 @ 1

You can get twinked +stat gear that is 2 levels lower randomly and sometimes not so randomly from the chain quests like tangleroot or deleras.

[cleavearms]

lehrman, you're my hero.
so i guess im not as screwed as i thought, just needed some direction.
I have all the rage and frenzy enhancements i can get to this point...Was just to noobish to realize how much it actually did for me. thanx again bro!

[Lehrman]

lehrman, you're my hero.
so i guess im not as screwed as i thought, just needed some direction.
I have all the rage and frenzy enhancements i can get to this point...Was just to noobish to realize how much it actually did for me. thanx again bro!

NE time:)

[CavernDragon]

Thank you all for the great advice.

http://my.ddo.com/character/argonnessen/twotontank/

Raged he is at 38 str and 38 con.
Weapon is 1st ter: GS great ax, (completed) 2nd ter: ready to go just need shard same w/ 3rd, (end is MinII)
GS Goggles in the works for extra hp's

Tough lv 3
&
WF Tough lv 3

Power Att next feat.

Again thank you for the advice,