Warforged barbaian, What plating, if any?

[ThorMan412]

I currently have adamantine plating, not sure if i should trade that for mithral, or just trade it for something live 2 handed fighting or whatever, or maybe keep it until higher lvls im only 3 atm the DR it gives me is useless, as i am a barb, and already have 2, I heard somewhere that barbs have special "bonuses" only while wearing light armor? any input would be appreciated

[Consumer]

Get rid of it entirely.

The DR it gives does not stack with the free Barb DR and makes it a waste of a feat.

[ThorMan412]

i knew it didnt stack, but without it ill really have only 9AC

[Consumer]

If you ever go over 30 AC on a Barb you should kill yourself.

[ThorMan412]

well, then what feat would be a good replacement?

[Consumer]

If your pure:

THF
Cleave
PA
IC:Slashing
ITHF
GTHF
Toughness/Stunning Blow

[ThorMan412]

thank you, but isnt 9AC bad even for a barb?

[Ambulance]

thank you, but isnt 9AC bad even for a barb?

define "bad" :)

As a barb, you shouln't be concerned about AC at all, because you're not going to get it high enough anyway. IT doesn't matter whether you have 9 AC or 20 AC, it won't make a difference. As a barb you can rely on your HP pool and DR, which is already high enough even at low lvl.

As a barb, it's your job to get hit :P

[ThorMan412]

ok, thank you

[breadstick]

Elaborating on the AC point...

When enemies try to hit you, they roll a 20 sided die + their attack bonus. This goes up against your AC.
So even if you have 20AC, an enemy will still hit you on roll of 2 (1 is auto-miss) if their attack bonus is 18 or more (and most enemies have a lot more than that). That's why 9 ac is effectively the same as 20 ac.

[C00LBR33Z3]

On my barbs, I try and get some decent gaurd items, with the low AC it works for additonal damage as I get hit

[jcTharin]

truly great barbs have negative AC

[articwarrior]

If you ever go over 30 AC on a Barb you should kill yourself.

that is unless you pull out a shield to DR block, which I do sometimes ^^

[ThorMan412]

thanx guys

[Forzah]

I've reached as high as 50 AC by swapping gear around.. but it was kinda gimped :D

[blitzschlag]

i like to have adamantine plating up until lvl 8. then i swap it out for toughness feat (with the free feat exchange).

with adamantine plating, house p dex buff and sof + barkskin pots you can have a permanent 28 ac raged. thats quite usefull up to lvl 8 (even 10). with lvl 8 your barbarian inherent damage reduction can be 5/- (if you taken both possible enhancements then) which is better than the dr 4/adamantine you can have as a warforged with lvl 8 (without extra feats that is).

so, early on, its ace to have. later on its a real waste

[Kriogen]

Barbarians main trick is Rage. When you Rage your AC goes down. Its counter productive for a barb to invest into AC. Must Rage, but Rage drops AC.

Your best defence is situational awareness (don't aggro too much and so on), Trip/Stun and kill as fast as you can. Offense is the best defence.

If you want high damage output and still have some/solid AC, then roll a Fighter, Monk, Paladin, etc. Anything but Barbarian.

[Dandonk]

Adamantine Body can give you (along with some other AC boosting items) a semi-decent AC until level 8-10. I've used this myself, and it works ok.
But there is a problem with this: You do not get into the barb way of moving/stunning/tripping/etc to mitigate incoming damage at low levels, and it might take a while to learn this at mid levels. (you might be uber player and know this method already - I didn't)

[SINIBYTE]

What about getting plating for flavor?

[Mourngrimm]

Adamantine Body can give you (along with some other AC boosting items) a semi-decent AC until level 8-10. I've used this myself, and it works ok.
But there is a problem with this: You do not get into the barb way of moving/stunning/tripping/etc to mitigate incoming damage at low levels, and it might take a while to learn this at mid levels. (you might be uber player and know this method already - I didn't)

I didn't know this either...1st Barbarian is a HOrc 2Hander VIP so I start at lvl 4 and I gave her a +2 BP. Looks cool! Just smashes stuff fast! Never used trip...I better get busy with trip training myself.

[kartos]

just so you'd know I saw pics of barb s with negative AC and 74 STR which means the strongest barbs have negative AC get used to it

[sweez]

that is unless you pull out a shield to DR block, which I do sometimes ^^

Blocking DR has absolutely nothing to do with AC.

[Khanyth]

What about getting plating for flavor?

http://www.mydigitallife.co.za/images/lolcats/flavor.jpg

I prefer lemon pepper, but some like chipotle

[Anneliese]

Personally, I would get Adamantine Plating and switch it out once the AC no longer helps you.


Possible feat distribution:

#1 Adamantine Body
#3 Power Attack
#6 Cleave
#9 Improved Crit

Then drop Adamantine Body between 9 and 12.

[ilgriffo]

At a first glance someone can argue how a warrior class can have such a low AC and fear it will be a great problem.
Barbarian players see the low AC as one less problem!
Take advantage of your low AC with guards items those kind of items seems to be created with the barb class in mind.

PS:
If you can swap feats take a Body till lv 8/10 then change it.

[kelemvelor]

Considering barbarians are already tight on feats. Why would you take a body feat which gives so little in return. In addition, the returns you get from it at higher levels are non-existent.

For WF barbarians at low levels. get Blademark's Docent from Sentinels Pack. While Invulnerability is debatable, Life Shield is definitely one of the big contenders for armor enhancement.