Updating Pure Barb. Need Advice.

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Hi guys,

So I'm back after a few years off of DDI and I've decided to run my 20 pure barb to get back into the swing of things. Builds don't get much simpler than a barbarian. Or so I thought.

So I've reset my APs and I'm pretty ok with that. Loving the self heals. I'm sure I've messed up somewhere but I can sort that as I learn.

What I kinda really need to know is the new (to me anyway) loot. I'm seeing some sort of damage bonuses on weapons and gear that I've never seen before. There seems to be something other than to-hit and STR bonus now.

Can someone clue me in on what melee need to have in order to be viable?

I'm seeing videos of 3100 per hit barbs and while I understand that'll be a capped player all super twinked I imagine my DPS should be higher. (At lvl 20 I'm hitting for <600 on the first floaty number with another 600+ damage from modifiers)

Does the big boost come AFTER 20 when you start to level epic? Does a huge boost come from gear? Is seeker still viable? What is the highest seeker item these days (I'm still using the bloodstone).

What is the highest + to stats on items nowadays? +10? On random loot. Raid gear must haves for barbs?

Thanks for any help.

[Eth]

1. Deadly items: Ranges from Deadly I to XI. Gives you +damage mod. Get one. There aren't many great named items with deadly on them.
Just check the auction house for random items. Comes on goggles, cloaks, rings, necklaces, headgear.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Deadly

2. Weapons: Drow weapons are min level 21 and a huge step up from anything that's below that. They increased the droprate on them so there may be more around. They are unbound, so check AH or ask some friends.
Barbs usually use Mauls (THF) or Picks/Warhammers (TWF) these days. There are no drow picks though.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Drow_Weapon_of_the_Weapon_Master

At level 22 you can also start crafting TF weapons, which are decent at that level too: http://ddowiki.com/page/Thunderforged
TF ingrediences except phlogistons are tradable, you can in theory craft a Tier 2 weapon (level 26) without even running the raids.

3. PDK commendations can cover you with some nice ML20 gear. They are really easy to get.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Category:Commendation:_Purple_Dragon_Knights_rewar d_items
You can get a +3 damage/hit bonus by upgrading the armor (check AH again for those, I usually sell those for cheap plat)

4. Frenzied Berserer set. If you happen to have one, great, use it. It's still awesome. Slot healing amp in the ring.

5. Improved deception. Greatly improves your survivability.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Golden_Guile is super easy to get.
Try to aim for this in the long run. http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Seal_of_House_Avithoul
Arguably best in slot from 21 all the way to cap.

6. Displacement clickies. If you have sufficient shroud mats to craft a couple tier 2s. 2 or 3 are enough for most things.
Smoke/Blur item if you don't have any.
Also this is nice for lvl 25+, but very rare: http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Ring_of_Shadows_(Level_25)

7. Healing amp. Use the PDK gloves + a ToD ring as mentioned and you are covered. One of the most important things for a barb.

8. Seeker is still good. The highest seeker item is +12. http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Consuming_Darkness_(Level_28)
There are also a couple of items with exceptional seeker: http://ddowiki.com/page/Category:Exceptional_Seeker_%2B5_items
The heroic Consuming darkness is not bad for level 20 (ml 19, seeker XIII).

9. Dodge. Dodge bonus is not a bonus to AC anymore, but a seperate check to completely avoid an attack (like Conceilment and Incorporeal, they all stack). Your max dodge is limited by your armor of choice (it's the same as the listed max Dex bonus on your armor).
Dodge doesn't stack with itself anymore, only the highest applies.
You are a barbarian, so you already have 6% inherent dodge. If your armors max dex bonus is higher than 6 you may want to get one dodge item.

10. FoM boots. Those are fairly easy to acquire (slayer area in 3BC) and an amazing upgrade to Kundarak boots. Very useful for a barb.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Orcish_Privateer_Boots

11. Haste. Sad times we live in. "Green means go." is long gone.
Cover alacrity yourself, don't expect to have an arcane to cover you in haste.
This thing is awesome all the way from level 14 to 25: http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Jorgundal%27s_Collar_(Level_14)
At 25 just upgrade to the epic version.
At level 27 you can select blinding speed as an epic feat. This also gives you permanent haste.
There are a couple other Speed XV items at level 26+ though, so depending on your setup this feat may not be necessary.

12. Doublestrike. It's a straight DPS upgrade, so get one item that covers doublestrike. This is the walmart item for that (100% drop in end reward list):
http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Skirmisher%27s_Bracers_(Level_26)

13. Ghostly. As mentioned earlier this stacks with Dodge and conceilment. Try to cover it.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Category:Ghostly_items
Maybe start with getting a ring of the stalker from cannith challenges.

14. Stat bonuses. You can get +8 Str on items below lvl 20 already. http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Skirmisher%27s_Gloves_(Level_15)
+8 was the highest bonus up until U18 when cap was 25.
With U19 (Shadowfell) it went up to +11.
Epic Orchard loot has a lot of good loot that will cover +11 stats. http://ddowiki.com/page/Update_23_named_items

These are all items that are either easy to get yourself or fully tradable.
If you want to see what a setup for a capped toon looks like check
this: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/453857-Zoda-Pure-Zergbarian
or
this: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/457961-Barb-Equip-at-cap-with-new-bracers-cloak
or
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/458525-Redsonja-3-0-U25-TWF-Pure-Barb

You probably want items that cover you for a bit during epic TRs for now from level 20 to 28. At least getting 3 martial lives done for 9% stacking doublestrike is well worth it on any melee.

[Eryhn]

I wouldnt worry about comparing dps to fully capped, full Epic Destinies, lv28twink gear toons for now ;)

Roughly speaking a considerate amount of dps will become available as you progress through melee epic destinies and unlock some of the higher tiers there that give stuff like plus to crit range or add to melee power or give special stances that immensly up damage like i.e. in Legendary Dreadnaught Master's Blitz

That being said, gear does play an important part and as others have already suggested in the other thread you made, wiki is your friend there

http://ddowiki.com/page/Category:Minimum_level_20_items

Some of the easiest epic starter gear to get are the Eveningstar Commendation Trader items, (all lv20, all in that above list), though, in order to somewhat decently loot/farm the commendations you need for those access to first expansion Menace of the Underdark (MotU) is needed, as they drop in endchest of those quest chains or from King's Forest explorer area rares. Simmilarly, they can drop in endchests of Druid's Deep Quest Pack, and completing Druids Deep CHAIN gives you 3 commendations of your choice in chain endreward list every time. Another Explorer Area and Quests that can drop them is Highroad of Shadows, which btw, is heroic lv18 range and still well runable on a low geared lv20 toon on heroic hard or elite (in a group). Those might also net you some nice named ML18 items for roguish or dex/int based alts (though the xp running heroic hard/elite aint too great to level an epic toon)

Anyways, in terms of those, the Purple Dragon Set is what you'r prly looking for on a melee dps build.


if named items of the new style take time to garther, can also go with some lootgen for now. Preferably +7 stat things,

Lootgen must haves:
Deadly Item, the bonus goes directly to your dmg, so a Deadly 6/7 or so is quite the addition.
Speed Item, combines the old striding running speed thing with alacrity (if you happen to have some olde school alacrity 10% thing like the collar from TOR, or a crafted trinket or such, might as well go with that though and not worry about slotting the combined speed as long as you get your 30% running speed out of somewhere (theres a yellow augment for 30%striding ML20 too)

if you like running challenges, there are new ones in Eveningstar once you get there. Access to them comes with the MotU expansion, but if you dont have that can use your daily token there, too. Estar challenges armor is sub par, dont waste mats on it. Weapons *can* be sorta okish if you get a good combo but not too shiny compared to named mostly. One item in there of note is the cloak that bestows exceptional seeker...

speaking of which:
http://ddowiki.com/page/Category:Seeker_items

other things noteworthy to keep track of are your newish defense stats PRR /MRR for physical and magical resistance rating, you should try max those as much as you can via enhancements, and then atop of that look into getting a PRR item. Best in slot for that around lv20 is heroic guardian's ring ML19 which gives 24 PRR - it is an always appear in quest reward item from the 2nd expansion's stormhorns questline, drops on 5th quest of chain What goes up, which needs flagging by running quests 1-4. If you do get the expansion get that for sure, great item to re-use on epic TRs.

If that content is not available for the time being hunt down some Gianthold Relics to trade for a sapphire of defense ML20 to slot in a blue gear slot.

Eventually, you wanna look at named items from the Eveningstar quest chains in the ML22/ML23 range which offer some nice options.

Also, concerning weapons, you might have a Raiders Reward Box in your inventory? click it in invent to get 1 choice of raid weapons from the Caught in the Web Raid (which is the raid belonging to first expansion where you fight Lolths Belly button) - give some gooood thought to which you pick there, they are all nice pretty much but still ;)
http://ddowiki.com/page/Category:Caught_in_the_Web_loot

you could ask a guildy that has access to the Thunderforge from Ruins of Thunderholm pack to craft you a ML22 base weapon. these thunderforged things are basically standard crit profile, metaline and enhanced base dice (3.5 at 22 I think), and make for good alrounders if lacking superior crit profile stuff on level for the time being.

then for ML21 there are the drow *weapon* of the weaponmaster
http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Drow_Greataxe_of_the_Weapon_Master

as you can see they sport increased crit range, which makes them decent for up to CitW raid weapons...

Another thing of note, suppose if you intend to run more than one alt, BTA items would be useful to you. in that regard, give a look to the epic ML24 three barrel cove gear (some dont need quest running and drop on rares in explorer area) there are some VERY handy items in there:

http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Iron_Mitts
http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Orcish_Privateer%27s_Boots

once you get there epic necro 4 offers quite OP ML27 BTA items, many of which are best in slot.( for mid level heroic alts, the heroic necro4 loot has been overhauled with augment slots and is also nice stuff ...)

so, sry for bit random musings, but there you go, some gear suggestions ;)

edit: meh, not only did eth ninja my post but also mention all the important stuff I forgot like dodge lol

[lyrecono]

welcome back

barbs look easy but due to gear, epic destiny and play style choices, builds may vary a bit.

2handed fighting still works wel though i see a few 2wf builds(due to the new gear) and even a bowbarian running around

seeker goes up to 11 (at lv 27) and a stacking exceptional seeker 5 for a total of 16

A lot of damage output from a barb comes from his epic destiny(ED) and something called melee power found here: (http://ddowiki.com/page/Melee_Power)

i would recommend reading the chapter on prr and mrr too (http://ddowiki.com/page/PRR)

Stats go up to 11 with a possible exceptional bonus of +4, example: (http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Mythic_Emerald_Gaze)
this is a (rare) quest item. though raid items aren't required for a barb, they really do help out on the harder difficulties.
If you want to stay out of raids, check out the temple of elemental evil, epic necro 4, epic gianthold (for leveling gear)

as for the str (to hit and damage) there are some items , class options and racial enhancements that will allow you to use other stats.
The dwarven (con to damage) barbarian was really popular, just keep in mind that some feats require a minimum str.
Besides str there are many other sources for damage, take a look at the end game gear of today. Enhancements to improve power attack and melee power help too.


Hi guys,

So I'm back after a few years off of DDI and I've decided to run my 20 pure barb to get back into the swing of things. Builds don't get much simpler than a barbarian. Or so I thought.

So I've reset my APs and I'm pretty ok with that. Loving the self heals. I'm sure I've messed up somewhere but I can sort that as I learn.

What I kinda really need to know is the new (to me anyway) loot. I'm seeing some sort of damage bonuses on weapons and gear that I've never seen before. There seems to be something other than to-hit and STR bonus now.

Can someone clue me in on what melee need to have in order to be viable?

I'm seeing videos of 3100 per hit barbs and while I understand that'll be a capped player all super twinked I imagine my DPS should be higher. (At lvl 20 I'm hitting for <600 on the first floaty number with another 600+ damage from modifiers)

Does the big boost come AFTER 20 when you start to level epic? Does a huge boost come from gear? Is seeker still viable? What is the highest seeker item these days (I'm still using the bloodstone).

What is the highest + to stats on items nowadays? +10? On random loot. Raid gear must haves for barbs?

Thanks for any help.

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Amazing posts guys. Thank you. I'll +1 every last one of you when I can.

I am reading the wiki...I'm having info overload ATM though. Right now I'm tackling monster manuals in the wiki..

Again, thanks guys. I really, really appreciate it.

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Hi again,

What does "this healing scales with 100% melee power" mean? To a returning player that sentence makes zero sense.

[Eth]

Hi again,

What does "this healing scales with 100% melee power" mean? To a returning player that sentence makes zero sense.

You can see your melee power in your character sheet by hovering your mouse over that small blue symbol.
Generally Melee Power directly increases your base damage. By how much is calculated with (MP+100)/100.

So let's say you have 75 MP. That means your base damage would get multiplied by (75+100)/100=1.75.

There are a couple of abilities with this phrasing "scales with melee power". If something scales 100% with melee power it basically works excactly like I just described for your base damage. In the example with 75MP this ability would get multiplied by 1.75.


There are some other abilities that have a higher scaling.
For example dismember from ravager tree would scale with 200% melee power. This would mean that your current melee power would be treated as if it was doubled for this specific ability.
So with 75 MP dismember would use 150 MP, giving you a multiplier of 2.5 for dismember only.

[Therrias]

Updating Pure Barb. Need Advice.

All you need to know is tier 5 in ravager, capstone in frenzied berserker.

[Eth]

And since you asked about blood strength, it is kind of a funny one, beause MP basically increases your healing the same way healing amp does for blood strength.

Blood strength's healing is calculated with Barblevel/2 * MP multiplier * hamp multiplier.

So for a pure barb your base healing is 10.
MP multiplier as mentioned is (MP+100)/100.

Healing amp was also changed a couple updates ago. There are higher bonuses now, but it also uses a different formular now, which is (healing amp+100)/100.
You can see your current healing amp by hovering with your mouse over your hitpoints in the character sheet.


So as an example - a pure barb with 180 melee power and 175 healing amp would get:
(20/2) * ((180+100)/100) * ((175+100)/100) = 77
So you'd get healed for 77 HP everytime blood strength procs.

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Thanks guys.

Still a little confused by all this. Melee power, PRR, MRR, dodge, double strike, etcetcetc They're all new to me.

So, is it worth taking heavy armor on a barb for the PRR? Does the PRR from heavy make a difference? Would it be better to try and up my DR rather than my PRR?

Some (if not all) seem to be gear dependent. So, are they all important? Should I focus on two or three and ignore others?

Is a good double strike % worth trying to cram into a slot somewhere? In my day (shakes fist) we had seeker and that bloody well did you and you'd LIKE IT! Nowadays we seems to have a bajillion things I need to put onto gloves.

I ran Tor EE with a capped barn and he was saying his MP (melee power) while raged was 68, I looked at mine last night on my lvl 24 and I was 70 or 71. What's a good number? Bearing in mind my loot is 6 years old and I'm in no way uberl33t. Can these numbers to above 100?

And that said, what ARE uberl33t numbers?

[unbongwah]

Still a little confused by all this. Melee power, PRR, MRR, dodge, double strike, etcetcetc They're all new to me.
The wiki sees all, knows all...more or less. ;)

http://ddowiki.com/page/Melee_Power
http://ddowiki.com/page/Physical_Resistance_Rating
http://ddowiki.com/page/Magical_Resistance_Rating
http://ddowiki.com/page/Dodge_bonus
http://ddowiki.com/page/Doublestrike
http://ddowiki.com/page/Glancing_blows

But the tl;dr summary of each:

Similar to Spellpower, Melee Power increases your melee DPS: +1 Melee Power equals +1% to your base DPS. Ranged Power is the same but for ranged / thrown weapons instead, ofc. [You will see some abilities which say something like "benefits from 200% Melee Power," which simply means it gets double the usual MP bonus.]
PRR & MRR provide damage reduction to physical and magical dmg, respectively, and stack with any DR you have.
Dodge bonus is a flat % chance of avoiding being hit by a physical atk. This bonus is constrained by the Max DEX Bonus (MDB) of your armor; e.g., if you have Dodge bonus of 10% but your armor has MDB 8, you will only receive 8% Dodge effect. Everyone also has a max Dodge cap of 25%, although there are enhancements which boost it higher. EDIT: the +50% Dodge bonus from the 20-sec. Imp Uncanny Dodge clickie ignores both your MDB and your Dodge cap.
Doublestrike is a % chance of making an extra atk with every regular atk. Note that doublestrike doesn't proc on Cleave atks.



So, is it worth taking heavy armor on a barb for the PRR? Does the PRR from heavy make a difference? Would it be better to try and up my DR rather than my PRR?
The short answer is: med armor is good enough for leveling a barb, since they get +10 PRR in med armor from Gtr Rage feat at lvl 11, which puts med almost on par with heavy. When you get to level cap, that's when you have to ask yourself if you want to spend a feat to take hvy armor prof. for one very simple reason: Shadow Guardian (http://ddowiki.com/page/Thunder-Forged#Flawless_version_upgrade) is currently the only source for DR/30 (the next-best DR is 15, IIRC, so it's a huge improvement) and it's only available on hvy armor.

Is a good double strike % worth trying to cram into a slot somewhere? In my day (shakes fist) we had seeker and that bloody well did you and you'd LIKE IT! Nowadays we seems to have a bajillion things I need to put onto gloves.
Apart from maxing your STR, ofc, there are basically 4 DPS boosts you want: Deadly, Seeker, doublestrike, and Speed or Melee Alacrity. For the last one, you also have the option of taking Blinding Speed at lvl 27, though it's really just a convenience / filler feat. Or accept a crippling Haste pot addiction! ;)

[Bloodskittle]

In the Harder Content Blood Strength often isn't enough to keep you alive all by itself so for this I would recommend either twisting consecration and consecrated ground (tier 2 and tier 3 from Divine Crusader) or developing a drinking habit because Silver Flame Potions are your friend and can heal as high as 1100 (with 3 pally PL and Full hamp gear).

Legendary Dreadnought is generally the preferred Epic Destiny for Barbarians because blitz gives +70 Melee power when at 10 stacks, this makes it much easier to stay alive due to the MP scaling your Blood Strength procs.

[Beherit_Baphomar]

In the Harder Content Blood Strength often isn't enough to keep you alive all by itself so for this I would recommend either twisting consecration and consecrated ground (tier 2 and tier 3 from Divine Crusader) or developing a drinking habit because Silver Flame Potions are your friend and can heal as high as 1100 (with 3 pally PL and Full hamp gear).

Legendary Dreadnought is generally the preferred Epic Destiny for Barbarians because blitz gives +70 Melee power when at 10 stacks, this makes it much easier to stay alive due to the MP scaling your Blood Strength procs.

Hi there.

Thanks for this. I wasn't sure SF pots were still viable end game. I think my guy is 80 favor or so away from them. So that's what I'll be farming tonight.

I've capped out Fury of the Wild (I think it's called) and I thought that was where I wanted to stay.

But you're saying legendary dreadnought is better? I'll have a look at that tonight.

While we're on the subject can someone tell me how epic destines work once you've capped one? Should I then start another? And I'll lose everything I have in FotW except the twist of fate point I've unlocked?

I looked at the others but none of them really looked that exciting so I've just been playing FotW capped.

[Bloodskittle]

Hi there.

Thanks for this. I wasn't sure SF pots were still viable end game. I think my guy is 80 favor or so away from them. So that's what I'll be farming tonight.

I've capped out Fury of the Wild (I think it's called) and I thought that was where I wanted to stay.

But you're saying legendary dreadnought is better? I'll have a look at that tonight.

While we're on the subject can someone tell me how epic destines work once you've capped one? Should I then start another? And I'll lose everything I have in FotW except the twist of fate point I've unlocked?

I looked at the others but none of them really looked that exciting so I've just been playing FotW capped.

Dreadnought is definitely the best tree for a Barbarian if you can keep Masters Blitz up, some people like Divine Crusader more because its a little more restrained and a little easier to stay alive (its much worse DPS though). The issue with using Blitz is that it forces you to Zerg a bit which for some people can mean it forces you to run into a room you weren't ready for and then die :P

FotW is not great for anyone except archers really...

I strongly suggest getting all of your EDs to level 5 before settling down, this will give you a proper number of fate points to enhance your Barbarian with. Some good twists to consider are: Grim Precision (Shadowdancer, Hail of Blows (Grandmaster of Flowers), Sense weakness (Fotw) there are of course other good twist options but those are just 3 to consider.

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Jeez. Looks like I totally screwed the pooch on EDs.

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Dreadnought is definitely the best tree for a Barbarian if you can keep Masters Blitz up, some people like Divine Crusader more because its a little more restrained and a little easier to stay alive (its much worse DPS though). The issue with using Blitz is that it forces you to Zerg a bit which for some people can mean it forces you to run into a room you weren't ready for and then die :P

FotW is not great for anyone except archers really...

I strongly suggest getting all of your EDs to level 5 before settling down, this will give you a proper number of fate points to enhance your Barbarian with. Some good twists to consider are: Grim Precision (Shadowdancer, Hail of Blows (Grandmaster of Flowers), Sense weakness (Fotw) there are of course other good twist options but those are just 3 to consider.

According to wiki you can only take LD if you're a fighter, rogue or monk. I've none of those things.

[unbongwah]

I've capped out Fury of the Wild (I think it's called) and I thought that was where I wanted to stay.
Even if you wanted FotW to be your final / primary ED, there's a huge incentive to leveling other EDs, namely to acquire Twists of Fate, which allow you add ("Twist") abilities from other EDs into your active ED. The downside is it's very time-consuming to level all your EDs; and even more time consuming to ER your toon (http://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Reincarnation) repeatedly to acquire EPLs and add more Fate pts.

But you're saying legendary dreadnought is better?
Master's Blitz adds a frankly ridiculous amount of extra DPS when it's fully charged (+70 Ranged / Melee Power); and unlike every other Epic Moment which have fixed durations, you can keep Blitz going almost indefinitely as long as there are more targets for you to hit. So it's a favorite for most melee (and ranged) toons, particularly if you're using one of the weapons which benefit from LD's special abilities: e.g., axes with Headman's Chop or mauls / warhammers b/c Pulverizer stacks with Ravager Crit Rage and Imp Crit Blunt feat.

Jeez. Looks like I totally screwed the pooch on EDs.
It's fine: the good news about EDs is if you really want to max out your toon's power, you'll want to level them all anyway, so you'll be spending a lot of time on them regardless; and the bad news about EDs is if you really want to max out your toon's power, you'll want to level them all anyway, so you'll be spending a lot of time on them regardless. :rolleyes:

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Ok. Spoke to a helpful guy in chat ingame and he says I need to take Shiradi to get to LD.

I am so gimped...

[Qhualor]

Hi there.

Thanks for this. I wasn't sure SF pots were still viable end game. I think my guy is 80 favor or so away from them. So that's what I'll be farming tonight.

I've capped out Fury of the Wild (I think it's called) and I thought that was where I wanted to stay.

But you're saying legendary dreadnought is better? I'll have a look at that tonight.

While we're on the subject can someone tell me how epic destines work once you've capped one? Should I then start another? And I'll lose everything I have in FotW except the twist of fate point I've unlocked?

I looked at the others but none of them really looked that exciting so I've just been playing FotW capped.

I still use SF pots on my barbs. they are still quite viable but the penalties still suck.

FOTW is a great destiny for a barb. others will say LD and it is also a great destiny for a barb, but it can be tough to maintain Blitz consistently through a quest which is the major draw for the destiny power. neither is a bad choice. its just more what you prefer.

it sucks I know and there are ways to ease the grind, but for some nice power boosts you will want to earn fate points to twist from other destinies. you can either do just enough to twist what you want or max all destinies for max twists and in case you want to do epic past lives. you wont be able to play in FOTW while leveling in other destinies and wont lose any progress.

[Qhualor]

Ok. Spoke to a helpful guy in chat ingame and he says I need to take Shiradi to get to LD.

I am so gimped...

if you bring up you ED map you can see the what destinies need to be unlocked to open the next one. when the dots are highlighted fully from one destiny to the next it means you can switch destiny and play in that one.

[unbongwah]

FOTW is a great destiny for a barb. others will say LD and it is also a great destiny for a barb, but it can be tough to maintain Blitz consistently through a quest which is the major draw for the destiny power.
I would say FotW has better burst DPS while LD has better sustained DPS if you can keep Blitz going; this is easier to manage in some quests than others.

TBH, I think it's way OP for Blitz to be continuous rather than having a fixed or max duration like all the other Epic Moments; but if you thought people screamed bloody murder the last time Blitz was nerfed... :rolleyes:

[Bloodskittle]

I would say FotW has better burst DPS while LD has better sustained DPS if you can keep Blitz going; this is easier to manage in some quests than others.

TBH, I think it's way OP for Blitz to be continuous rather than having a fixed or max duration like all the other Epic Moments; but if you thought people screamed bloody murder the last time Blitz was nerfed... :rolleyes:

I would actually disagree that FOTW is better burst DPS, yes you will see bigger damage numbers of singular hits, but they're exactly that singular hits so if you rank a burst over say, 5-10 seconds Dreadnought is still ahead, the best melee burst "Epic Moment" is Zeal of the Righteous because of the +50% doublestrike on top of +50 Melee power

[Qhualor]

I would actually disagree that FOTW is better burst DPS, yes you will see bigger damage numbers of singular hits, but they're exactly that singular hits so if you rank a burst over say, 5-10 seconds Dreadnought is still ahead, the best melee burst "Epic Moment" is Zeal of the Righteous because of the +50% doublestrike on top of +50 Melee power

FOTW is better for boosting glancing blows and really good for spike damage.

Zeal of the Righteous isn't an Epic Moment. the 50 stacks decay 1 every 3 seconds for basically doublestrike and melee power. compare that to Adrenaline Overload where your next attack is 400% and crit range increased by 16 and it takes a big chunk out of a mobs hp in one swing. Zeal would be better for some TWF melees and gain better benefits from DC. ive never thought DC was anything more than a decent destiny for a barb, even a TWF.

[Eth]

Ok. Spoke to a helpful guy in chat ingame and he says I need to take Shiradi to get to LD.

I am so gimped...

Welcome to the wonderful world of leveling off destinies. A flawed system that we complained about for years, that was never properly adressed.

I wished I could give any helpful advise, but there isn't much more than "Suck it up." or TR into a build that's strong for that destiny (usually not worth it , capping a destiny is "just 2 million XP").

You can also buy a key of destiny from the DDO store to skip leveling one destiny, but I would highly recommend leveling all of your destinies somewhat.
Every 3 level in a destiny gives you one fate point, which you can use to unlock more and better tiers for your twists of fate.

Also capping one or two destinies in a sphere (capping means reaching max xp in the destiny, not just level 5) unlocks some epic destiny feat choices which you can't take otherwise.
http://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Destiny_Feats

[unbongwah]

Welcome to the wonderful world of leveling off destinies. A flawed system that we complained about for years, that was never properly adressed.
Who is the more foolish: the ones who invent the grind - or the ones who follow it? :cool:

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Hello again,

So I've gotten my lil barb his Thunderforged Greataxe and it looks pretty cool. Some great axes always looked so ridiculous to me. That one I'm using now, Cleaver, is horrendous. It's not an axe it's a frickin tulip on a stick. But I digress...

So, Thunderforged great axe. Now, this stuff seems pretty easy to craft, first question would be tier one and two are both done at the same forge I crafted my blank? Or do I need to go somewhere else?

Ingredients I am going to assume drop in the raid. May have to get off the AH till I can get raiding again.

Is there any go-to upgrades here like there were for greensteel? (Min and lit). I like the look of the neg energy damage, although I'm not sure what that is exactly but it sounds like it won't be resisted like fire or cold damage would. I'm thinking good all rounder here.

Do these really become +11 and +12 weapons on upgrade?

And as for tier 3 what is the problem with this? I hear the grind is pretty far fetched. Where do I get the ing for tier 3?

Thanks in advance guys.

Oh, one more thing.

When soloing my self healing while raged is amazing. No problems whatsoever. Rarely will I panic and chug a silver flame pot. But I groups I swear my self healing is switching off. Fightfightfight....lose health....stand around and watch my HP bar and watch for the green numbers coming up...nothing.

Is there something I'm missing with this self healing?? Soloing I'll see green numbers anywhere from 47 to 59ish every few seconds plus a bigger self heal once in a sausage. In groups all I see is the self heal every 60 seconds.

[Qhualor]

When soloing my self healing while raged is amazing. No problems whatsoever. Rarely will I panic and chug a silver flame pot. But I groups I swear my self healing is switching off. Fightfightfight....lose health....stand around and watch my HP bar and watch for the green numbers coming up...nothing.

Is there something I'm missing with this self healing?? Soloing I'll see green numbers anywhere from 47 to 59ish every few seconds plus a bigger self heal once in a sausage. In groups all I see is the self heal every 60 seconds.

depends which T5 self healing you have. sounds like you have Blood Strength which only heals on a 12% chance. it looks like you are also a Two Handed Fighter so that's tougher to heal faster than if you were a Two Weapon Fighter.

[Eth]

When soloing my self healing while raged is amazing. No problems whatsoever. Rarely will I panic and chug a silver flame pot. But I groups I swear my self healing is switching off. Fightfightfight....lose health....stand around and watch my HP bar and watch for the green numbers coming up...nothing.

Is there something I'm missing with this self healing?? Soloing I'll see green numbers anywhere from 47 to 59ish every few seconds plus a bigger self heal once in a sausage. In groups all I see is the self heal every 60 seconds.

Blood strength:
Each time you kill an opponent you are healed for 20 hit points.

The killing blow heal is twice as much as the 12% proc (base HP healed being 20 instead of 10).
In a group you will obviously see this proc less, because you will get less killing blows than solo.

[Wipey]

I just watched a video of twf guy getting 110 - 340 procs from Blood strength.
So is that the best self healing in the game or what.

[Bloodskittle]

Hello again,

So I've gotten my lil barb his Thunderforged Greataxe and it looks pretty cool.

Is there something I'm missing with this self healing?? Soloing I'll see green numbers anywhere from 47 to 59ish every few seconds plus a bigger self heal once in a sausage. In groups all I see is the self heal every 60 seconds.

So two things here, first of all Great-axes are a bit meh atm as far as crit profile is concerned, in Legendary Dreadnought you'll be much better off with a Maul.

That being said it actually sounds as though for grouping at least you don't have the DPS anyway to be running dreadnought so here is my other suggestion, while solo use LD because it is superior in almost everyway, however for grouping I suggest using Divine crusader.

Divine Crusader has an ability similar to the Blood Strength proc, on kill of monsters with stacks of purification you will heal = to their CR or something along those lines, the point is really this; While Blood Strength requires that YOU are the one to kill the enemy should you wish to heal, in divine crusader so long as the enemy has stacks of purification when ANYONE kills them you will be healed.

Also Divine Crusader gives consecration which is a healing ability that you may use while raged that increases damage by 10% but most importantly, you get to use it whenever you like rather than hoping for it to proc as it is with Blood Strength.

So until you become king of the kill scorecard by gearing up your barbarian properly, try this out cos it should help you stay alive.

Also Zeal of the Righteous (from divine crusader) is not an ability to be laughed, when you proc it and really until it gets down to some 30-35 stacks it will be better DPS than 10 stack blitz.

[Beherit_Baphomar]

Aaaaahhhh. Self heal when you kill a mob. I see. There's the problem then.

Well, no biggie, my barbarian wasn't Axer but he knows how to kill. Or he did. Once we get the Viagra back into his system and blow the cobwebs off he'll be ok.

And mauls you say...Isn't it funny how the game changes? Never would anyone touch a maul before. Hell, barbarians weren't too popular either.

But for TF? What upgrades do we want here or is it really a case of they're all pretty much as good as each other and just to go with what you like the sound of?

[Eth]

I just watched a video of twf guy getting 110 - 340 procs from Blood strength.
So is that the best self healing in the game or what.

To get 110 the product of your healing amp and MP multiplier has to equal 11, which means about 3.31 in each.

A pure barb in LD could get the following MP:
24 from epic levels
15 from LD cores
70 from blitz
25 from frenzied berserker
12 from a quadruple crazy strike
30 from action boost MP
10 from Laughter
5 from Dismember
20 from ToEE set bonus
30 from ToEE Mysterious altar (I think it was 30 at least, might be wrong)
4 from ToEE weapon
4 from ToEE armor (don't have that stuff myself, some people say upgrades to +4 doesn't work atm?)
---
249

lol, we reached "old" blitz values already.


Anyway with 249 MP you would need 215 healing amp to reach 110 from a blood strength tick.

60 + 40 +45 equipment
30 pally past lifes
10 guild buff
60 ravager enhancements
30 fb enhancements
---
275

So yes, you can reach that.

249 MP and 275 HAmp would equal 131 HP ticks from blood strength. Killing blow would be double that... 262.


340 sounds unlikely for blood strength and is probably related to golem's heart (which should hit for 75 - 450 with the above healing amp).

[Bloodskittle]

But for TF? What upgrades do we want here or is it really a case of they're all pretty much as good as each other and just to go with what you like the sound of?

Most people generally try and craft at least two Thunderforged weapons. Being that you're a THF I'll do a break down for you.

1st weapon, the Trash beater:

T1 Touch of Flames (20-60 fire damage on hit)
T2 Dragons Edge (35% fortification Bypass + additional Bleed damage on critical hits)
T3 Mortal Fear (see below)

2nd weapon, the Boss beater:

T1 1st degree burns (10-30 fire damage on hit, additionally applies stacks of vulnerability to the enemy each stack is equal to 1% additional damage with a maximum of 20 stacks)
T2 Dragons Edge
T3 Draconic Re-invigoration or Crippling Flames

Draconic reinvigoration returns actions boosts, which allows more time spent with action boosts.
Crippling flames on the other hand deals around 300ish fire Damage on Confirmed critical hits with a 5% chance to apply negative levels (negative levels do not work on red or purple names).
Mortal fear has a 5% chance to cut the enemies hit points in half, in LD on a helpless mob this becomes 100% of the enemies hit points effectively an insta kill, Mortal fear does not work on red or purple names.

The reason to take Touch of flames on the trash weapon is that most trash will not survive long enough for the vulnerability to take effect.
1st Degree burns' vulnerability debuff increases all incoming sources of damage to the enemy including for you allies and for this reason is ideal on red name enemies with piles of hp.

[Eth]

And mauls you say...Isn't it funny how the game changes? Never would anyone touch a maul before. Hell, barbarians weren't too popular either.


TF Maul is the best if you stay in legendary dreadnaught. This is solely because of pulverizer. For other destinies Mauls are not the ideal weapon.
Since you have most of your destinies not leveled, you should take that into consideration.

The good ole ESOS, Cleaver or Drow Greataxe will serve you well.
Long term TF Mauls are definitely the best option if you want to settle down in LD.

[Wipey]

340 sounds unlikely for blood strength and is probably related to golem's heart (which should hit for 75 - 450 with the above healing amp).
I stand corrected - watched it again and it was Golem's proc. Video linky (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVVisbM2b3A)
Thanks for the math.

[Eth]

I stand corrected - watched it again and it was Golem's proc. Video linky (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVVisbM2b3A)
Thanks for the math.

Just realised I missed the new +6 MP from TWF feats and +2 each from now stackable weapon focus feats. So that's another 6 to 16 MP. Not that it matters much. High MP is high.