Stay pure or splash 2 fighter in the mix ?

[updeharris]

I have justed started a barbarian for the first time and currently I am only L3. I started off by looking at Shades max DPS build, but then I got thinking, is it worth splashing 2 levels of fighter into the mix ?

It means I would lose the barb20 capstone, but in exchange I would be able to get 2 extra feats, and +1 strength from fighter strength enhancement and access to heavy armour (which I am guessing in higher levels is a waste of time as if I can't kill stuff quick enough AC wont save me anyway, but would be usefull while levelling up from 3 to 12 ? )

My barb is a dwarf so by splashing 2 early levels of fighter it would let me get power attack, toughness and stunning blow by level 4, which would in turn give me access to the racial / barb / fighter toughness enhancements to help bump buy hp pool up a bit in the lower levels.

I imgaine I would see a reduction in DPS by L20 but I haven't done any number crunching to see how significant the drop would be, I am guessing it would be a lot as the barb capstone gives you more DPS when raged due to extra strength ?

So I am at a point where I don't really know if the trade off of splashing 2 fighter levels is worth it. To all you experienced barbarian builders, what say you, is it worth the splash or should I just stay a pure wrecking machine ?

[Jacket]

Just a thought but are you doing THF or TWF? I would think TWF would have more call for the splash since you need a bunch of feats for it.

[Thechemicals]

18/2 is not something youll regret. The barbarian enhancements and feats are lacking so putting an extra 2 feats from fighter and the ability to get some of the fighter enhancements like haste boost are epic. A lvl 20 capstone barbarian is not superior to an 18/2 Barb.

[updeharris]

Just a thought but are you doing THF or TWF? I would think TWF would have more call for the splash since you need a bunch of feats for it.

Was going THF

but as I am still very low level its not too late for me to re-roll and start a twf version instead. If i went twf instead should i still stick out with a dwarf for the axe enhancements or would it be better to go human for the extra feat at L1 to fit in toughness and twf and then pick up Khopesh with the extra fighter splash feats ?

[Symar-FangofLloth]

If the mob can be crit, you have little to no miss chance, and you have burst/blast effects, Khopesh is superior.

Otherwise Dwarven Axe, with the +2/+2 enhancements, pulls ahead.

[Consumer]

Was going THF

but as I am still very low level its not too late for me to re-roll and start a twf version instead. If i went twf instead should i still stick out with a dwarf for the axe enhancements or would it be better to go human for the extra feat at L1 to fit in toughness and twf and then pick up Khopesh with the extra fighter splash feats ?

WF Khopesh would be the best but if you don't have WF unlocked stay Dwarf. With the two Fighter levels you may not need the extra feat from human depending on your feat choices.

[Jendrak]

18/2 is not something youll regret. The barbarian enhancements and feats are lacking so putting an extra 2 feats from fighter and the ability to get some of the fighter enhancements like haste boost are epic. A lvl 20 capstone barbarian is not superior to an 18/2 Barb.

Agreed the capstone by itself is not. However, you not just loseing the capstone. You also loseing the rage increase (Mighty rage I think) that barbs get at 20. So your actually loseing +4 str and +2 con which IS superior to an 18/2 IMO. Espically if your doing THF.

[Thrudh]

Agreed the capstone by itself is not. However, you not just loseing the capstone. You also loseing the rage increase (Mighty rage I think) that barbs get at 20. So your actually loseing +4 str and +2 con which IS superior to an 18/2 IMO. Espically if your doing THF.

+3 STR since fighter 2 gets +1 STR enhancement, but I'd say they are about equal... Both are very good builds. But I prefer the two feats and fighter Haste Boost

[redraider]

Both are good but there are only two ways to do it in my opinion.

Pure Barb goes THF and max Con, STR, all out DPS. 600 point crits are friggen awesome baby!

18/2 goes 13 Int (11 plus tome maybe) and grabs Combat expertise and Improved Trip. Improved trip on a raging THF Barb with a Greataxe is about the most fun you can have button mashing. With stunning blow (forget the THF feats now) you trip one, stun one, kill two. Everything but bosses. Orthons? Devils? No prob even in ToD.

[stoopid_cowboy]

I dont see much difference in 18/2 or pure.
On my 18/2 THFdwarf I constantly pull aggro in ToD and VoD. In part 2 of ToD regardless who is tanking, I usually end up with the aggro :D
The extra feats are nice, the fighter haste boosts are amazing! The only hard part, is you may have to wait until lvl 20 to get FB3.

As I always say, it's your toon, build it how you want!

yuda

[ddobard1]

With 2 levels of Fighter you gain 2 feats, and basically Fighter Haste Boost I, and Fighter Strenght I via enhancements. You loose Mighty Rage, Capstone, +1 DR/-, and +1 extra rage.
I feel that there are builds where 2 feats are an huge increase in effectiveness, and i am not saying these builds are the best ones in DPS or whatever!
So to undertake an objective assessment we have to specify the build. But i design several Barb builds where adding 2 Fighter levels i will get a more effective Character!