OS vs Ravager Tier 5 enhancements

[GlassJaw]

I'm currently leveling a halfling that will ultimately be Bbn 18/Rog 2. Taking PA/C/GC/TWF/ITWF/GTWF/Imp Crit and using picks. I definitely want a mix of Occult Slayer and Ravager but I keep flip-flopping on which Tier 5 I want.

OS is nice but I'm torn on the bond mechanic. In some quests my bond gets to 200 and stays there but in other quests, you have to swap weapons constantly so I feel like I'm wasting a lot of APs when that happens.

Getting x5 crits with picks using Bond of Retribution/Destruction is nice but Ravager Critical Rage would expand my crit range by 2 all the time while raging. I would hate losing my T5 ability because I have to fight some oozes.

Thoughts?

[GlassJaw]

Sorry to see no replies but I think I mapped out my enhancement plan. Planning to go OS up to Blank Thoughts and maxing Kinetic Bond. Otherwise putting most of my points into Ravager for Tier 5 Critical Rage.

[JasonJi72]

I feel your pain my friend.

I am building a 12 Barbarian, 6 Ranger, 2 Rogue Elven Tempest. While my build is different from yours, I do understand the problem with weapon bond. How I am working around it is by having my 'swap' weapon in my off hand, but yeah... oozes and rusties always force me to break my bond. I think the lower bonds are worth taking OS for, but it takes too long to get your bond back for the top shelf abilities.

I originally planned on taking T-5 Occult Slayer, but I ran into the same prolem that you are having. Of course I have the added temptation of having manyshot by default with six ranger. I do love using exposing strike and ear smash though. Those two abilities work great together.

[Qhualor]

personally, not a fan of weapon bond. it has a long cool down and real easy to get 200 in a quest. you can even build it up before entering a quest. if the cool down was cut in half, I would think to use it more often, but with all the other clicky enhancements and whatnot it ends up being used when I remember it. I don't think its really worth the investment with a long cool down and a lot of times have to switch weapons, losing the stack. only reason why my barbs have it really is to get to extend rage.

[GlassJaw]

if the cool down was cut in half, I would think to use it more often, but with all the other clicky enhancements and whatnot it ends up being used when I remember it. I don't think its really worth the investment with a long cool down and a lot of times have to switch weapons, losing the stack. only reason why my barbs have it really is to get to extend rage.

Yeah I end up forgetting about the WB clicky most of the time. However, I do like Guarding and Parrying Bond as well as Kinetic Bond. Even with weapon swapping, it's not too difficult to get your bond back up to 50+. I just don't want my primary crit boosting enhancement to go away after a weapon swap.

[unbongwah]

I'm curious how this all works out for you, too. My initial impression is that Death Frenzy is still the best lvl 18 enh; but I can't decide if FB or Ravager has the better T5s. In theory Weapon Bond seems cool; but in practice...well, like everyone says, having an ability which resets every time you swap weapons isn't cool. :(

[GlassJaw]

I'm curious how this all works out for you, too. My initial impression is that Death Frenzy is still the best lvl 18 enh; but I can't decide if FB or Ravager has the better T5s. In theory Weapon Bond seems cool; but in practice...well, like everyone says, having an ability which resets every time you swap weapons isn't cool. :(

No doubt FB is the best for DPS. However, I solo a lot so I'm trying to find a nice balance between DPS and survivability. Here's my current plan:

Enhancement: Halfling - Halfling Luck (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Halfling - Dexterity (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Halfling - Halfling Luck (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Halfling - Dexterity (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Halfling - Halfling Luck (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Weapon Bond (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Resistance (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Elemental Defense (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Blank Thoughts (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Extend Rage (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Extend Rage (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Extend Rage (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Ear Smash (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Parrying Bond (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Parrying Bond (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Parrying Bond (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Uncanny Dodger (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Uncanny Dodger (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Uncanny Dodger (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Willpower Rage (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Knockout (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Guarding Bond (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Guarding Bond (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Guarding Bond (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Lessons of Travel (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Lessons of Travel (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Lessons of Travel (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Kinetic Bond (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Kinetic Bond (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Occult Slayer (Bar) - Kinetic Bond (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Furious Rage (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Pain Touch (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Demoralizing Success (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Pain Touch (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Subsiding Fury (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Ritual Scarring (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Ritual Scarring (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Ritual Scarring (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Barbarian Power Attack (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Barbarian Power Attack (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Barbarian Power Attack (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Cruel Cut (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Cruel Cut (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Cruel Cut (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Aura of Fear (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Aura of Fear (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Aura of Fear (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Slaughter (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Slaughter (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Slaughter (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Festering Wound (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Festering Wound (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Festering Wound (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Laughter (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Dismember (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Dismember (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Dismember (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Critical Rage (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Ravager (Bar) - Critical Rage (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Frenzied Berserker (Bar) - Die Hard (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Frenzied Berserker (Bar) - Toughness (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Frenzied Berserker (Bar) - Extra Rage (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Frenzied Berserker (Bar) - Extra Rage (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Frenzied Berserker (Bar) - Extra Rage (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Frenzied Berserker (Bar) - Athletics (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Frenzied Berserker (Bar) - Athletics (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Frenzied Berserker (Bar) - Athletics (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Frenzied Berserker (Bar) - Sprint Boost (Rank 1)

[Clatterfist]

Just to give you a heads up regarding your current plan: Fury is a competence bonus and therefore does not stack with Deadly or Accuracy items, which can go to higher bonus levels and are constantly on. So, enhancements like Subsiding Fury and Laughter are pointless and should be skipped. I know it's kind of unfortunate that this means that Ravager core enhancements stop having value past level 12, but it'll save you a few points. I think you did the right thing in choosing Ravager's T5 over Occult Slayer's: Occult Slayer's is very defensive, and while Ravager's may be horribly narrow, Critical Rage is perfect for pick-type weapons.

As for positives, I found both Ear Smash and Cruel Cut to be amazing attacks. I Like Pain is also rather spiffy, and the survivability enhancements in Occult Slayer add up to a decent package. One enhancement that I didn't think looked great on paper, but which has been amazingly helpful to me in practice, is Arcane Encumberence. I'd recommending spending some point in that if you decide to follow my advice and save some. Should you be looking to free up more points, my experience is that Slaughter isn't that good, and may also be bugged on level three: it sounds like a big deal, but it's not up very often and the [W] damage loses a lot of significance compared to added damage as you get more bonuses. You might get better results with your pick's strong crit potential, but I found it fairly skippable.

Good luck with your Barbarian, I hope it all works out for you.

[GlassJaw]

Thanks for the reply Clatter. Good stuff. I've started to confirm on my own some of your findings.


Fury is a competence bonus and therefore does not stack with Deadly or Accuracy items, which can go to higher bonus levels and are constantly on. So, enhancements like Subsiding Fury and Laughter are pointless and should be skipped. I know it's kind of unfortunate that this means that Ravager core enhancements stop having value past level 12, but it'll save you a few points.

Wow, I can't believe I missed that. Good catch.


As for positives, I found both Ear Smash and Cruel Cut to be amazing attacks. I Like Pain is also rather spiffy, and the survivability enhancements in Occult Slayer add up to a decent package. One enhancement that I didn't think looked great on paper, but which has been amazingly helpful to me in practice, is Arcane Encumberence.

Agreed on Ear Smash and Cruel Cut. I'm going to look into Arcane Encumbrance again. I just started running Elite GH quests and you can get swarmed by casters pretty easily. Anything to put them on their butt more often would definitely help.

I also like Parrying Bond and Guarding Bond. It's not too difficult to build up your bond so they kick in, even if you have to weapon swap.


Should you be looking to free up more points, my experience is that Slaughter isn't that good, and may also be bugged on level three: it sounds like a big deal, but it's not up very often and the [W] damage loses a lot of significance compared to added damage as you get more bonuses. You might get better results with your pick's strong crit potential, but I found it fairly skippable.

I've invested in Slaughter but I haven't seen the return on investment either. The cooldown is so long that I tend to forget about it. Mobs jump around so much now that it's easy to waste it by simply missing your target.

I'm going to drop it but I'll need to put point somewhere else to meet the 30 AP req for Crit Rage. Heck, even more Con and Hardy Rage would be useful.

Thanks!

[Enguebert]

Agreed on Ear Smash and Cruel Cut. I'm going to look into Arcane Encumbrance again.
I also like Parrying Bond and Guarding Bond. It's not too difficult to build up your bond so they kick in, even if you have to weapon swap.


I have reset my enhancement on my rogue 2/ranger6/barb 8 (going for barb 12) TWF hobbit
And with Ear Smash+knock Out and Arcane Encumbrance (tested, it works, i have seen gnoll caster falling on their ass while i was away !), casters are way easier to deal.

And yes, building up 12 PRR is nice (it stack with PRR from ranger tempest and prr from armor)