Shade's Max DPS build?

[p3n1x0r]

following this build and im starting to see something about weapon choice.

ive collected a nice collection of greataxes and swords from my other barb/fighter toons...theyre chaotic good, and ive saved some of the best holy/PG weapons

im seeing by going chaotic neutral....i cant use those sweet PG weapons....what to do?

ive got stuff thatll work still, and i figure by endgame he will have mostly GS, but im just like wow. i might reroll this toon as chaotic good.

whats the advantage of this alignment if i cant use my holy and PG weapons?

[Sweyn]

following this build and im starting to see something about weapon choice.

ive collected a nice collection of greataxes and swords from my other barb/fighter toons...theyre chaotic good, and ive saved some of the best holy/PG weapons

im seeing by going chaotic neutral....i cant use those sweet PG weapons....what to do?

ive got stuff thatll work still, and i figure by endgame he will have mostly GS, but im just like wow. i might reroll this toon as chaotic good.

whats the advantage of this alignment if i cant use my holy and PG weapons?

There are some good items in the game, specifically the Litany of the Dead and the Marilith Chain, that give you a negative level when you use them. Also, being True Neutral makes you immune to some alignment based spells. With GS being the best weapons out there, endgame not being able to use Pure Good is irrelevant. Endgame, Chaotic Good just offers very little.

[p3n1x0r]

im still not convinced or swayed.

so im going true neutral so a few items end game dont give me a neg level...vs taking a good trait so i can use some sweet weapons along the way....i mean what am i gonna be using against those orthons and devils in the devils battlefield....one of my toons has a holy greataxe all 3 tiers, and its bloody powerful against most everything ive come across

can i get some more input? please

[Sweyn]

im still not convinced or swayed.

so im going true neutral so a few items end game dont give me a neg level...vs taking a good trait so i can use some sweet weapons along the way....i mean what am i gonna be using against those orthons and devils in the devils battlefield....one of my toons has a holy greataxe all 3 tiers, and its bloody powerful against most everything ive come across

can i get some more input? please

You will still be able to use your Holy GS greataxe, alignment has nothing to do with it. IMO, you should build your toons for endgame; building a toon for lvling purposes, which you may only spend a few weeks on, seems silly considering you may spend months.. or even years at endgame, therefore, build your toons for endgame. There is a really small difference, kind of unnoticable, it really isn't game breaking what your alignment is. You just asked what the advantages were and I told you, there really is no more input needed

[Shade]

im still not convinced or swayed.

so im going true neutral so a few items end game dont give me a neg level...vs taking a good trait so i can use some sweet weapons along the way....i mean what am i gonna be using against those orthons and devils in the devils battlefield....one of my toons has a holy greataxe all 3 tiers, and its bloody powerful against most everything ive come across

can i get some more input? please

I think another very big thing is incoming damage.

As a barbarian, you will take allot of damage in certain areas, and if you select good as your alignment, well you could take ever more.. Which can be a problem.

A good example is the demon queen raid. She uses unholy swords - these only work on good aligned chars, so TN and CN barbs can tank her fine, while good ones take massive damage - possible more then they can handel.
Additionally the archers in there use unholy too. And she also cats unholy blight - which does work vs neutral, but you take significantly less damage from it.
Unholy blight is actaully quite a commonly cast spell by many enemies in the endgame.

And in teh desert in general - almost all undead archers use unholy bows.. 2d6 extra dmg on every arrow can add up.

DQ also uses anarchich true chaos weapons.. So chaoatic takes even less damage from her (tho TN only takes d6 from True chaos)

Im not away of any enemies that use axiomatic weapons, but I really havent played a chaotic character very much so there might be some. But if not, its the best defensive alignment as a few enemies do use true chaos.

And as far as weaponry goes..
TN and CN can use every good single end game weapon - including all good named, shroud GS and epic weapons (well two handers) in the game - you need CN for the epic chaosblade for a TWF khopesh build.
Anything good will also suffer a negative level with certain shroud weapon - uncommonly used types, anything you craft "unholy" onto. Doesn't matter much being you can opt to simply not craft unholy and select soemthing else, just a note.

[pappo]

Wraiths and all other undead are immune to critical hits. So hitting them for 75-99 is insanely high =)

But yea 10 damage should be impossible unless your hitting a target with DR.
At lvl9 your str should be
18 +2 lvls = 20, +4 item = 24, +6 rage = 30, +2 rage pot = 32 (+11)
That's +16 dmg
Power attack +12 dmg
Axe dmg 1 +1 dmg
=+29 dmg, +3 greataxe =+32 dmg
Greataxe d12 , roll a 1.. = minimum dmg 33, maximum 44
Perhaps you forgot to toggle on power attack ,or rage ran out at a bad time.

My bad, you are right. I had my quest wrong. I did not mean against the undead, I meant against non-undead creatures. Thanks for showing how the damage is computed. I had never seen it laid out like that.

[Ollamas]

Hey i've been following the guide but im a little confused, what do you put the extra ability points on str? Also I made myself human what should I get from the humans specialties

[Shade]

Hey i've been following the guide but im a little confused, what do you put the extra ability points on str? Also I made myself human what should I get from the humans specialties

Yea all level up ability points into strength.

Being you cannot stack human dmg boost with barbarian, theres not much point in getting the versatiliy.
However you should get human adaptilbity, str and con. And max out human healing amp. The rest should be similar to my guide. Perhaps use left over points in more con/extend rage since you start lower.

[Carik]

Shade, do you recommend the Warforged: Two Handed Fighting enhancements?

[lemonarian]

Shade, do you recommend the Warforged: Two Handed Fighting enhancements?

Would be kinda hard to take 'em on a dwarf... Anyway, this enhancement line is bugged. Doesn't do anything for you at the moment.

[Carik]

Bleh - wrong thread!

Learn from my fail and don't have too many threads open at the same time!

[skyjuice]

With the THF chain getting some nerf-hate from Turb...think temporary feats to get would have to be Toughness and Stun blow.

[ImaginaryLogic]

I noted earlier on in this thread that someone was soloing stuff 3 levels above him on elite.... Yet i've followed this build quite closely, but can't seem to deal enough damage to solo something even 1 level above me.... is there something i'm doing wrong?

http://my.ddo.com/character/ghallanda/melanril/

[quityourjobs]

I noted earlier on in this thread that someone was soloing stuff 3 levels above him on elite.... Yet i've followed this build quite closely, but can't seem to deal enough damage to solo something even 1 level above me.... is there something i'm doing wrong?

http://my.ddo.com/character/ghallanda/melanril/

Um... maybe max out strength?

[Hydro]

Um... maybe max out strength?

Yeah a barbarian starting with less then 18 STR should not even be allowed...

[ImaginaryLogic]

Yeah a barbarian starting with less then 18 STR should not even be allowed...

i know i maxed it on creation, i think i got hit by a poison or something. but thanks for pointing it out.

[stoolcannon]

I noted earlier on in this thread that someone was soloing stuff 3 levels above him on elite.... Yet i've followed this build quite closely, but can't seem to deal enough damage to solo something even 1 level above me.... is there something i'm doing wrong?

http://my.ddo.com/character/ghallanda/melanril/

I've been running this build for a few days now and I can zerg pretty much anything up to level 9 without even stopping to think about what I'm doing. (I'm level 6)

Tips:

1. Pots - Keep 100 Cure moderate at this level (once higher get cure serious for combat situations and cure moderate for non combat - keeps price down)
1.1 Barkskin - Keep 100 at all times. Never run without it
1.2 Heroism never hurts
1.3 Haste Can't beat those extra swings
1.4 Remove curse
1.5 Neut Poison
1.6 Lesser Restoration
1.7 Rage - For normal areas where you don't really need the extra DPS (i.e non boss fights) or the rare case when you run out of rages

2. Your gear needs work. At level 6 you should have a +2 str item (Bracers are a good candidate for now and inexpensive at around 2k in the AH) and if possible get some +3 mithril plate. AC wont matter later in the game but right now it's handy for leveling and zerging on solo. For instance, on normal I can run the delaras chain with a hireling cleric in about 40 mins and almost nothing but casters can damage me significantly (Archers hit me for 1-2 damage max) and I am able to keep frenzy up at all times. I very rarely even touch my heal pots unless the hireling gets left behind from sprint boost. You should also be able to get a +2 con item and a Voice of the Master to boost your saves a bit

3. For delaras if you can find it, get yourself a +1 shock maul and a +1 holy dwarven axe and switch out. Holy axe for Ghostly skeletons cuts through them like butter and the maul wrecks everything else. If you could find a holy maul you would never need to switch (the reason I mention this is Delara's is fantastic XP and you need a carnifex anyway). I'm switching out less often now though and just letting Frenzy take care of the damage for me. Still takes an extra hit or so but it's less annoying than switching axe/hammer during combat every room

4. Start hitting slayers in your level range. I can kill over 100 in Searing Heights in under 30 minutes and you'll get explorers are rares along the way. Decent ROI for XP and basic loot. Three Barrel is another great area although it's more spread out so takes longer to find stuff to kill

5. You should be able to get a +1 or +2 bursting greataxe at level 6. Check the AH regularly and you'll find one for a low price. I got a +2 flaming burst for 5k to replace my starter axe

6. Once you get carnifex the damage starts to get silly. I crit often and in an area like Searing Heights very few monsters can take more than 1-2 swings and cleave + frenzy really helps bring mobs down fast.

7. If you're strapped for cash and have a character at level 9 or above start doing Spectral Glove runs. I know some folks will think I'm nuts for selling mine but they went on the AH for 750k in a 2 day auction. I got a 2nd set to replace them for my pali within a couple of weeks so its a good way to get yourself off to a good start with cash so you can afford pots and other gear to level new toons.

8. Make friends with a haggle-bot. Really keeps the price of pots affordable

9. This should go without saying but kill casters first. Surprisingly a lot of people don't seem to realize this very basic tactic. Melee combatants have nothing for you but since you're not going to be running with resists at this level the casters can hurt you quickly.

I'm still very new to the game with only about 2 months behind me so far but the above tactics work well for pretty much any toon with the exception of the gear.

Special thanks to Shade for taking the time out to write-up this fantastic build. I've got a capped paladin, level 12 Wizard, Level 7 Rogue and lvl 6 barb and this is by far the most fun to run. I run with other level 9 barbs and barb TR's who cant keep up with my kill count and still take more damage than I do (thanks for a small focus on AC during the early part of the game - AC = 26 with Barkskin while raged).

First post btw so **** all over me appropriately.

[TheFl0w]

Gawd, love the barbarian

I got 1 question about gear mentioned in the build. This was said to get:

Intro: Mithral Full plate (Hard to get, but even +3 is as good as +5 Full plate, and while armor class tends not to be a very important stat of a barbarian, it can help you allot if you are low lvl and new to the game still learning how to dodge and earn enough coin for potions)

But as far as i can see, barbarian dwarfs aren't proficient. Isn't that a problem?

Cheers,

Flow

[Riekan]

Mithril fullplate is medium armor, so barbarians are proficient with it. I usually run with mith fullplate until around level 8 or 10 and then switch to something like a robe of heavy fortification or something else where the extra benefit outweighs the minimal AC your getting from plate. Then, once you get into the higher levels, switch to your dragonscale, or dragontouched, or Marilith Chain, or whatever you're running for end game.

[stoolcannon]

Just hit level 14 and I'm still having an absolute blast with this build.

I've been 1st in kills in literally every single quest I've run so far with one exception. Yesterday I took 2nd to a level 18 dark monk in Ritual Sacrifice.

This build does enough DPS that I entered vale at level 12 with my trusty hireling and wiped the entire zone in about 45 minutes.

I couldn't come close to that on my paladin at level 12 nor my wizard (of course now at level 18 my wizard is pretty unstoppable just about everywhere - hireling or no).

This build isn't overly complex and it relies largely on player skill to be truly effective but it truly does stand the test of time. I love it.

I'l be TRing my paladin into a half orc following pretty similar guidelines to this build as soon as the new update comes out.