Max DPS TWF Build

[Shade]

Quick note for new players: TWF is the most difficult combat style to master, as well as get equiped for. As it requires twice as many weapons as THF and currently has less easy to aquire named weapons vs two handers as well. Also the actual fighting style itself can be a bit more difficult to master as you need to be much closer to your target to actually hit it, and attacking while moving effectively is more difficult to THF. So if your new to the game I do recommend you start out as a THF Barbarian, build up a good inventory of dwarven axes and perhaps get to 1750 favor to later create your TWF version.

So here it is: THE Frenzied Berserker Dwarf TWF DPS build.

This build works the same as my THF build only a few small changes to make it work for TWF. Still deserves a post as allot of people do miss a few key stats they need to make it work, so here it is.

TWF gets some nice benefits over THF like double stun, trip chances, and even triple now with the mod9.1 update. As well as more attacks per minuit resulting in good success with stat damaging weapons and vorpals. Overall DPS is a bit lower then THF at the maximum strength levels, but still extremely high.

Dwarf (+2 con, more hp, more rage, axe enhancements, awesome race)
Barbarian Level 16

Alignment: True Neutral or Chaotic Neutral. Minor advantages to each, with chaotic neutral being slightly better for weapon selection (can use weapons of true chaos), or true neutral for the option to use stability items. Either way be sure to go neutral as this will make you immune to unholy damage some monsters deal, and also let you use some of the most powerful endgame equipment without getting a negative level a good aligned character would get. Such as the littany of the dead which provides a nice boost to all stats, attack and damage or the Marilith chain which is one of the only armors in the game that can up your DPS - by granting you a seeker bonus. The downside to neutral is that you won't be able to use weapon of pure good, which are common at lower lvls.. However this build deals enough damage that an extra d6 means very little, and by endgame pure good weapons are not at all useful, so I highly recommend Neutral.

Stats:
(32 point build recommended, but playable with only 28 points)
Str 18 +5 level ups, 23, +6 item, 29, +1 tome, 30. +12 rage, 42, +6 double Frenzy = 48 - Max potential for mod 9 is over 70 strength - very temporary but quite possible.
Dex 15 - +5 item for 22, get the 1750 favor +2 dex tome to qualify for iTWF
Con 16 - +2 enhance, +6 item, 24 base, +11 rage, +2 rage potion = 37) (endgame: +3 tome + dual madstone = 48, +2 yugoloth = 50)
Int 8 (Doesn't matter)
Wis 10 (Will Save is important will be more so in the future)
Cha 6 (Not that important, tho 6 cha does mean you get helpless to cha damage from time to time)

28 Point Stats (not recommended but placed here to be more complete):
Str 17 - lose 1 here
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 8
Wis 9 - lose 1 here
Cha 6

Optimal End Game Hit points since this is important now (also exactly what I have now on my actual character):
240 - Pure Barb lvl20
20 - Heroic Durability
10 - Draconic Vitality (Gianthold Favor)
20 - Mions Legens (Toughness/Heavy Fort Hat)
30 - Greater False Life (Belt)
45 - Greensteel Item
20 - Yugoloth Potion Secret Effect
320 - 42 Con (+3 Tome - includes 140 points from rage + rage potion + yugoloth pot as this is a perma rage build)
= 705 Normal
----- (If Toughness Feat Selected)
23 - Toughness Feat
40 - 4 Toughness Enhancements
= 768 Feated
----- (Situational Buffs)
40 - Madstone Single Con +4 (46)
40 - Madstone Double Con +4 (50)
-----
= 848 Situational
----- (Ultimate maximum gear)
20 - +4 tome and +1 exception con, for 52 con
20 - +2 exceptional con put on a Tower of Despair Ring
----
= 888 Ultra Maximum Geared and Buffed

Keep in the mind the only tome required to make the build work well is the +2 dex tome you can get at 1750 favor or maybe before. The rest should be doable given some shroud raiding. I personally got +2 con and +2 dex for this guy in roughly 50 shroud 1-4 runs (less then 20 full completions).

Feats:
1 - Two Weapon Fighting
3 - Power Attack
6 - Cleave
9 - Improved critical: Slashing
12 - Improved Two Weapon Fighting
15 - Greater Two Weapon Fighting
18 - Toughness or Stunning Blow - Depends on your focus. Toughness is not needed for 95% of content.. But for the endgame raids, you will want it if you are gona be the main tank. Stunning Blow is an awesome feat for clearing trash if your a good twitch skilled player, it will really speed up many quests. Altho in the new shavarath areas, saves are often too high so it's a tough call. Personal preference really, either wll work.

Note Improved and Greater two weapon fighting actually requires 17 base dex, however tomes count towards this. So 15 base +2 tome will work, and you can get one as your 1750 favor tome, or before even as they come unbound too. As you may not get one by level12 - feel free to substitute something else in the mean time and respec later to fix it. You could instead take either lvl18 feat or both at lvl12 and 15, then at lvl18 respec before you lvl up to fix it, as you should really have the 1750 favor by lvl18 or at least enough coin to purchase one.

Enhancements:
Enhancements: Type - Name Rank - (Cost)
First off Prereqs for Berserker:
[barbarian] - Damage Boost IV (10)
[barbarian] - Power Rage IV (10)
[barbarian] - Power Attack III (6)
[barbarian] - Frenzy Berserker I (4)
[barbarian] - Frenzy Berserker II (2)
[barbarian] - Frenzy Berserker III (2)
Now onto others:
[barbarian] - Sprint Boost I (2) (Get it early on, it rocks)
[barbarian] - Hardy Rage II (3) (Rank 3 generally not worth it)
[barbarian] - Extra Rage I (2) (Not sure this build can afford rank 2/3)
[barbarian] - Extend Rage IV (10)
[barbarian] - Improved Damage Reduction II (6)
[barbarian] - Constitution I (2)
[barbarian] - Might Capstone (2)
[dwarf] - Dwarven Spell Defense III (6)
[dwarf] - Dwarven Axe Damage II (6)
[dwarf] - Constituion I (2)
73 points spent if I added that right
--- Below depends on lvl18 feat:
Toughness:
[barbarian] - Toughness II (3)
[dwarf] - Toughness II (3)
If Stunning Blow selected:
[dwarf] - Tactics II (6)

1 point left for misc (Swap around you con/str enhancements depending on what + you have on your tome so as to even out the scores, and pick up higher ranks of extra rage or sprint boost with the points left over)

I will update the enhancements with a level by level guide and more details when I get more time.
Main thing is - get the rage enhancements early. Leave the power attack ones for later - as you need your to-hit bonuses at low lvl.. In general, only have 1-2 ranks of power attack by lvl10, 3 by lvl16, and don't get 4-6 until your lvl20 with some good raidgear to keep your to-hit bonuses up.

Tho you would want to modify this order somewhat depending on what equipment you acquire, for example if you had a str tome - modify power rage to keep your end str even, same for con/hearty rage, and if you get really high con like +6 item and +2 tome - you can then drop some extend rage and still end up perma raged and have a few more points for other things like more action boost.

Important Equipment to acquire by level12:
Dual +5 Dwarven Axes - This should be your main weapon set until you can get some nicer named items or greater banes, Do not mind the -4 to hit you will suffer using these - this build gains more then enough to hit anything in the game even with the penalty just fine, even with power attack on.
Bursting Dwarven axes (these rule at mid lvl especially if you use them on monsters with vulnerabilitis to those elements, you'll want to find at least +3 versions as to-hit bonus does matter at these levels)
Mithral Full plate (+3 is as good as +5 Full plate - just check your local auction house you should be able to get some early on - AC does have a impact at lower lvls)
Reavers Ring (fear immunity, very important)
Proof against poison item (I use a necklace or ring on this guy - cleric spell works as well)
Disease Immunity Item (belt of greater falise life on my guy, but a regular disease imunity will do until you can get one)
Fragment of the silver flame (dominate immunity)
Blindness Ward item (I use goggles, but any old set will do, ones with +spot are really nice tho)
Heavy Fortification Item (Either do black anvil mines, get your necklace or do the ochard, collect tapestries and get the minos legens helm - helm recommended)
Set of potions always: 100 haste, 100 rage, 100 lesser restore, 100 remove curse, couple remove fear, couple protection vs energy. Have these in a quick to access hotkey as you'll want to restore your rage and power it back up with a rage pot after each cycle.
Rage, shield, Divine favor,Divine power, haste clickes (these really increase your power during short boss battles, but cant be maintained to a long rage length - so there not a high priority)
Any other improved/greater resist cloaks/rings you can get. Otherwise ask the cleric, you need those buffs to do well.

Optimal equipment to attain by level 20 (none of this is needed for the build to work well, just some goals) :
Greater Bane Dwarven Axes - these are the best DPS for the end game and very optainable via auction house current, perhaps the most plentiful weapon on there.
+6 stat items, should have at least Str and Con, ideally wis too.
Raid loots to go for:
Titan Belt, Beareavement and Madstone Boots and a Greensteel accessory for +10-45 hitpoints. So try to do Shroud, Reaver and Titan often.
Ring of unknown origins - This is disease and poison immunity in 1 slot, nice item to free up spots.
Firestorm Greaves - Highly recommended if you want to be a strong tank in the shroud elite (lvl19 raid)
Shroud Weapons - Mineral Green Steel Dwarven Axes, Triple Holy/Ice/Fire Dwarven axes. These are extremely powerful weapons that will take you ages to aquire, but are well worth it once you can afford them. In the mean time until you get them, just go for Tier2's or Greater Banes.

You can of course swap Dwarven Axes for Heavy picks if you happen to have allot more and better picks (and subsequently IC: Slash for Pierce). But overall dwarven axes will be best for this build.

If your looking for a more detailed guide to gear, check out my definitive guide - gearing up section here:
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...75#post3533475

Skills:
Balance
Spot
Jump (Get this to about ~15-17 ranks and stop, that should put you at 40 while raged, which is the cap)
1 Rank of Tumble (sacrifce balance at hte early levels you won't need much)

Spot:
Crossclass skill, but very much worth it. Like the class video says, barbarians make good scouts.. And really, played correctly they do indeed, they are often best for running into stealthed enemies and traps if you don't have a rogue, and sometimes even if you do have a not so tough rough. So seeing the stealthed enemies is a huge asset. This works quite well if you get the FF/+spot item from like Co6. Youll also noticed the odd trap or secret door, even in high level quest. Even finding most of the trap boxes for the rogues lately as I got my spot up to 25 (well at mid levels).

Jump:
As a frontline combatant, your primary job is to run really fast and jump over the enemies frontline combatants.. To kill there clerics and wizards in the back ranks. So many barbarians don't realise how huge this is. Trust me, its HUGE.

Tumble:
Lets you move faster when under the effects of a bad spell like slow or that nasty white dragons ice freeze effect.

Balance:
Important for monsters that trip often. For the most part this DC is only 15 and easy to make, but it does scale slightly higher for bosses like the demon queen - hers is about DC20. Also important if you want to be good at PvP - other players trip DCs can be very high.

No intimidate? :
Your a low AC death dealer, you do not want agro, you want the enemy dead before he makes you dead.

Thoughts on the build now that I've played it a fair bit:
Barbarians are very powerful now, and in module6 with stunning blow we are just that much better. I have played this build allot now, fully capped for a long time and done every raid in the game on elite several times. He works extremely well as THE main melee tank/dps dealer in any group/raid. Dwarven axes are the most versatile 1handed weapon due to there top end base dmg and x3 crit multi - even the harder targets with heavy fort, red/purple named status will die quickly as you have the great base damage to rely on no other weapon can match. As well as having all the important mods like vorpal and wounding possible on dwarven axes for those special targets where it works well - not much considering this builds dps but a couple quests like running with the devils and shroud demand those weapons. Some might think a human build with khopesh might be better - but in my experience I find the difference is small enough that it just comes down to a matter of skill and survivability by far, besides that humans often do not have the hit points or saves it takes to handle the most difficult elite raids like shroud.

(Edited to change over to Frenzied Berserker for allot more DPS)

[Cambo]

Looks nice, but would like your feedback on possible modifications to suit me more.
How about Warforge for Resistance and power attack enhancements.
and 1 level of fighter to take khopesh ?
Could wear the docent of quickening for more mele output

[Impaqt]

Why take the Cross Class Spot when Listen dose the same thign and is not cross class?

Extremely close tothe build I posted earlier today.. Glad we're on the same page

[Shade]

Why take the Cross Class Spot when Listen dose the same thign and is not cross class?

Listen doesn'te quite do the same thing. Listen allows you to see the little red blops showing the monsters movement - in the heat of face paced combat sometimes you will miss those as there pretty small.

VS spot which is very obvious as its shows the whole monster just in a darker shade.

And beyond that - items to boost it, spots is much more accessible and tends to be a low enough DC that even as a cross class skill you will suceed 100% of the time anyways, generally about 20 skill is enough for 95% of the content.

Then spot is just much easiest to get high via items:
IE Listen boost in lootgen comes on hats. But the best hat to use by far is the minos legens, with some swaping for the helm of freewill when you need fear imunity.. So that makes using listen hats a tough setup.
Vs Spot - which comes on googles in lootgen, and some different slots in named/raidloot. Vs other googles, you don't tend to lose much - perhaps you have the sandstrom glasses for trueseeing, but then again the cleric or wizard can just cast that on you so you can have both. The other nice item with a spot bonus - which i use on my main barbarian is the Titan ring, +3 dodge AC and +13 spot, very nice combo.

Other great spot items:
Mumified bat (+5 spot, perm featherfal - decent mind lvl item, was really nice before it was nerfed from +7)
Kundarak Devling Googles - one of my first main spot items, blindness ward +10 spot, good for lvl10.. Upgrade to dream visor later as blindness ward isn't a big deal at max levels.
Dream Visor - Very cheap to buy on the AH and almost always there as its a common drop in a very popular quest, for +13 spot
Intricate Field Optics - A step up from the dream visor, much more rare and expensive, but secret door detection and +2 wisdom are nice bonuses.
Vs Listen items:
Mumified bat, +5 listen on this too
... and thats it. There really aren't any good high level static listen items which causes a problem as your limited to helms..

And the last thing it effects: DMText hints. I'd estimate there are more then double (Spot) hints in the game vs listen. In general listen just tells you what monsters might be in the next room - which most people know anyways.. Via spot which tells you about secret doors, traps and secret optional objectives.

So yea spot is definetely the way to go.

[Mad_Bombardier]

And beyond that - items to boost it, spots is much more accessible and tends to be a low enough DC that even as a cross class skill you will suceed 100% of the time anyways, generally about 20 skill is enough for 95% of the content.

Then spot is just much easiest to get high via items:

That was my conclusion, too. Spot comes on Goggles, which is for a melee build the most unused slot (unless you have the Sandstorm Goggles from the DQ). Listen only comes on Helms and Rings (with exception of Blacklace Blindfold from Delera's, Mummy Bat, and the Ioun Stone). So, you lose a valuable helm/ring slot and gain a useless goggle slot by choosing Listen. And no Barbarian worth his hide armor will sacrifice the Bloodstone for a Listen trinket.

8.5 cross class Spot + 11 item = 19.5 and Blindness Ward (BW goggles of Spot +11 are very common).
17 class ranks Listen + 0 item (due to slot issues) = 17
17 class ranks Listen + 7 item (Blacklace Blindfold) = 24 but no Blindess Ward and DEX-1 (not a bad option if you don't mind carrying a stack of pots).

[Illuminati]

Solid build, but meh for more dwarfarians =)

[LOUDRampart]

Dwarf (+2 con, more hp, more rage, axe enhacements, awesome race)
Barbarian Level 16
Alignment: Neutral Good or True Neutral. Minor advantages to each, with neutral good being slightly better for weapon selection, or true neutral for PvP and tanking some of the more deadly monsters which use unholy weapons.

(32 point build recommended, but playable with only 28 points)
Str 17 - +4 level ups, +6 item, +2 tome, for 29 Base, 40 Dual Raged, or 44 double madstone raged
Dex 17 - +2 tome at 1750 favor for 19 base, +5 item for 24 (Important because this because uses STWF which requies 19 base dex)
Con 16 - +2 enhance, +6 item, 24 base, +8 rage, +2 potion = 34) (endgame: +2 tome + dual madstone = 44)
Int 8 (Doesn't matter)
Wis 8 (Small negative, but this made up for by great enhancements - dwarven spell resistance)
Cha 6 (Not that important, tho 6 cha does mean you get helpless to cha damage from time to time)

Looks solid and similar to what I've been considering now that I've completed my THF Barbarian experiment.

Two things I'm interested in is:

First, listen instead of spot (I've collected some nice + listen non-hat items). I've been thinking of making a "throw away toon" just to experiment with listen and see what I think of it. I've never used listen and am curious.

Second, I've been playing with the idea of:
Str 17 (plus 1750 tome and 2 level ups)
Dex 16 (plus +1 tome at level 1 and 2 level ups to reach 19)
Con 17 (can always even this number up with a con tome for a few more xps, rage time, saves, etc)
Int 8
Wis 8
Cha 6


Seems for the mad xper, swiching up where the favor tome and level ups are used makes it so you won't have to be too concerned with the 1750 tome to help Dex before level 15 (my THF Barb just capped before the update with just over 1100 favor. I guess if I favor ground I could probably be much higher since I skipped a lot of low and mid-level quests. One advantage I see using the 1750 tome for dex is when a +3 or better str tome drops, you won't gimp two points of it because of the already used str favor tome. Of course I'm not lucky with tome drops, so I wouldn't count on finding one for my character )

[brshelton]

Shade I will start by saying your build is a good build. The problem people are having (I think) and myself are having is you put MAX DPS. That means Highest possible no holds barred tooth and nail **** em up. Here are two weapon comparisons. Duel Full Greensteel Khopeshes with Full upgrades win. Before you respond rudely keep in mind I favor your build over the human equivalent but max DPS it is not. These are Acid of Holy Burst Khopeshes.

First Comparison
Deathnipx2 VS Duel +4 Greater Bane Dwarven Axes with FULL Axe Enhancements and a Bloodstone
http://www.afterlifeguild.org/Thott/...ac=10&maxac=60
Deathnip Wins until about a 60 AC

Now forgetting Axes
Duel +5 Acid of Holy Burst Greensteel Khopeshes vs Duel Deathnip
i used the sneak attack field for the acid and holy damage average of 3 per a d6 for a total of 9 a hit

http://www.afterlifeguild.org/Thott/...ac=10&maxac=60

Math has been fixed

[Hadrian]

Sergod, check your parameters there.

In the first one the deathnip is doing ~140 damage per second and the dwarven axe is doing ~120.

In the second one, the khopesh is doing ~140 DPS and the deathnip is doing ~120

Shouldn't the deathnip be doing the same damage in both charts?

[brshelton]

Sergod, check your parameters there.

In the first one the deathnip is doing ~140 damage per second and the dwarven axe is doing ~120.

In the second one, the khopesh is doing ~140 DPS and the deathnip is doing ~120

Shouldn't the deathnip be doing the same damage in both charts?

I feel really stupid now. I know I am but thats beside the point... lol. I will check I swore I used the EXACT same parameters as I just hit modify but I am double checking and editing my original post with the correct one thank you for that Hadrian and presenting it politely and kindly unlike certain.....others.

I found my mistake. I forgot Crit Rage on the Pick in the Khopesh one. I must've used the crit parameters from when I was running numbers for Serg.

[Shade]

First Comparison
Deathnipx2 VS Duel +4 Greater Bane Dwarven Axes with FULL Axe Enhancements and a Bloodstone

Brshelton we already went over for like 20 something posts.. Your comparison is incorrect.
Here is the one most generally agreed upon - it shows they are dead even until high AC (+4 greater bane dwarven axes vs dual deathnips, using this exactly build with a bloodstone equipped) .. vs anything resistant or imune to criticals - the dwarven axes are better, and +5 greater bane obviosuly the dwarven axes will win in any and all cases.

Your greensteel comparison is entirely invalid for several reasons
A) Holy burst is not an effect that exists for crafted greensteel weapons.
B) Your math is done incorrect, you cannot use the sneak attack field for bonus dmg, you must put it in bonus damage.
C) You aren't explaining what, if any seeker bonus the khopesh is getting.

Anyways yes you are correct khopeshs provide a little bit more DPS then dwarven axes (heavy picks are NOT). However a lvl2 upgrade greensteel khopesh does not beat a greater bane (at the moment best you can get is holy + pure good burst, with the puregood part not stacking).. A level3 upgraded khopehs probably will beat a +2/3/4 greater bane vs holy vulnerable mobs depending on its final bonus. I really doubt they will make them better then +5 greater banes thats as that will basicly invalidate a bit section of lootgen loot.

Now certainly if you have allot of khopeshs and you wish to use them, you may take the khopesh feat on this build (either lvl1 and push back each feat a few lvls, or lvl15 instead of stunning blow) However I don't think thats a wise build decision overall, as stunning blow will make a much bigger difference then an xtra 5-10% dps and you can always find better dwarven axes as you level up.

This build is the MAX TWF Dps build that in my opinion still very well designed and a great overall build. Can you get higher? Yes certainly, you could go insane with warforged power attack III, khopeshs, etc, etc - but that will be a terrible build. haha here ill even post it just to show the idea of MAX POSSIBLE ignoring everything important is NOT a good idea.

[Borror0]

I really doubt they will make them better then +5 greater banes thats as that will basicly invalidate a bit section of lootgen loot.

Shade, you mgith have heard these arguments before, but forgive me to have not read the whole 10 pages yet. +5 Grt Bane? Hw common is that? When you consider you got to have two, for each creature type, I doubt you're going to acheive that. Besides, Grt Bane while TWF? Let me doubt you'll use it much. Take the number of Greataxe you got on Axer, times two. That's what it'll take.

Then, you'll have to switch from weapon to weapon, to make sure you got the right Greater Bane... yeah. Sounds good on paper, but not that good in reality. For the little margin +5 Greater Banes will give you, clearly not worth it. Much better to have 2-3 sets of general purposes weapon IMO. Yeah, of course, a few Greater Bane for harder to kill mobs (Contructs, Undeads, etc.), but beside that, I'm more an adept of general purpose weapons, mostly on a TWF.

[Hadrian]

+5 Grt Bane? Hw common is that? When you consider you got to have two, for each creature type, I doubt you're going to acheive that.

You pretty much have to include a good UMD score to be able to do this. +4/5 greater banes are going to have requirements of 22-24 if they're race restricted, and you'll find them RR more often than not. There are a lot of them floating around out there now, but I haven't seen any that I can think of that were not RR.

[Borror0]

There are a lot of them floating around out there now, but I haven't seen any that I can think of that were not RR.

Yeah maybe, but even there you need to have double of them...

[Shade]

Then, you'll have to switch from weapon to weapon, to make sure you got the right Greater Bane... yeah. Sounds good on paper, but not that good in reality. For the little margin +5 Greater Banes will give you, clearly not worth it. Much better to have 2-3 sets of general purposes weapon IMO. Yeah, of course, a few Greater Bane for harder to kill mobs (Contructs, Undeads, etc.), but beside that, I'm more an adept of general purpose weapons, mostly on a TWF.

Yea some players will prefer to keep it simple. I understand that. But thats something this build allows, its certainly flexible enough to just use a few high DPS weapons and still perform excellent. The idea that all greater banes are needed is very much wrong, its just what you need if you want to out-dps something else ultra rare that 99% of players won't get either like dual deathnips.

I mean right now i'd say trying to get at least a few sets is a good idea, namely these:
Undead - transmuting too ideally
Elemental
Giant
Construct - ideally adamant or transmuting

But right for high lvl content id say just a set of +4/5 transmuting dwarven axes would also serve anyone very well as a main dps weapon set. The other day i saw an amazing one drop too, +5 transmuting of destruction.. Like getting +10 to hit and bypassing any DR.. pretty sweet.

But personally, yea I do carry every single greater bane on my THF barbarian. I have only 1 +5 .. greater ooze bane lol (btw its not race req heh).. A few select +4s, and the rest are either +3 or +1/2 transmuting for types that have DR...
Now certainly I cannot carry all these weapons at the same time as I have a ton of clickies and all the other gear too.. So what I do is just keep a full bank slot free just for greater banes and swap between quests when necessary.. Works fine for me.

Now it will definitely be more difficult having to acquire and carry twice as many.. But I'll figure something out.

And I wouldn't call a +5 greater bane a "little margin" .. I find even a +2 will make an incredible difference versus your standard +5 holy or whatever.. Especially versus non critable monsters such as elementals, constructs and undead.

[Borror0]

And I wouldn't call a +5 greater bane a "little margin"

If you compare it to a Tier 3 Green Steel Khopesh, yeah, little margin there.

[maddmatt70]

Shade, you mgith have heard these arguments before, but forgive me to have not read the whole 10 pages yet. +5 Grt Bane? Hw common is that? When you consider you got to have two, for each creature type, I doubt you're going to acheive that. Besides, Grt Bane while TWF? Let me doubt you'll use it much. Take the number of Greataxe you got on Axer, times two. That's what it'll take.

Then, you'll have to switch from weapon to weapon, to make sure you got the right Greater Bane... yeah. Sounds good on paper, but not that good in reality. For the little margin +5 Greater Banes will give you, clearly not worth it. Much better to have 2-3 sets of general purposes weapon IMO. Yeah, of course, a few Greater Bane for harder to kill mobs (Contructs, Undeads, etc.), but beside that, I'm more an adept of general purpose weapons, mostly on a TWF.

Borror, you would be surprised. The market for dwarven war axes isn't nearly what they are for khopeshes, greataxes, and rapiers.. It is alot easier to get nice dwarven war axes then it is to get rapiers and khopeshes.. The margin of dps also is significant for a dwarf with the axe attack and axe damage. I would actually look at a +4 flaming burst of greater bane or +2 wounding of greater bane which are the best greater bane weapons I have seen thus far although I am guessing somebody has pulled a +5 flaming burst of greater bane to make my high end comparison, but +2 holy greater bane and +4 flaming greater bane seem very acessible so I would consider those in my damage calculations...

This mod has less mixed mob dungeons then the last one. The best example of a mixed mob dungeon is the litany of the dead pre-raid which was not very greater bane friendly, but the current dungeons tend to be heavy in a couple of mobs per instance which is very easy to swap around for... Really greater banes are the way to go as they do the much more dps then a general weapon such as a green steel khopesh..

[Borror0]

Norg, I see your point but my argument was more based on all the amount of Greater Banes it'd take.

Sure, they are higher DPS. Yes, Dwarven Axes are the most common weapons on the AH. However, the amount of dwarven axes needed for this is insane. You'd probably want Ghost Touch of Greater Undead Bane, Greater Undead Bane, (Transmuting if possible) Greater Contruct Bane, (Transmuting if possible) Greater Evil Outsider Bane, Greater Human Bane, Greater Giant Bane, Greater Gnolll Bane and Greater Aberation Bane... and those are only the most common, you'll probably carry more... and it's 20 weapon right there.

Shade's argument is that it's very time consuming, but it's not that bad versus the time taken to gather such an amount of Greater Banes, because as a TWFer you'll have to get two of each, gets costy. Very costy.

Of course, I'm not going to deny the DPS from a +4 Flaming Greater Bane, but... let's compare, now, with the change to Good Burst and Good Blast. I'll go asuming that, over the update to day, Good Blast has got an Holy Burst portion added to its effect.. at worse, it'll be a 3,5 margin if it's a Good Burst effect instead.

+4 Flaming Dwarven axe of Greater Bane:

5,5 Base + 15 Str + 8 PA + 2 DAD + 9 Weapon = 39,5

(39,5 + 6 Seeker)*4/20*3 + 39,5*16/20 + 3,5 Flaming + 10,5 Greater Bane = 72,9 average


+5 Holy, Good Burst, Good Blast Khopesh:

5,5 Base + 15 Str + 8 PA +5 weapon = 33,5

(33,5*3 + 14 Good Burst + 14 Good Blast + 18 Seeker)*6/20 + 14 Good Blast*1/20 + 33,5*14/20 + 3,5 Pure Good +7 Holy + 7 Good Blast = 85,6 average

(85,6-72,9)/72,9*100%= 17,4% of improvement!!

Wow, this is sick... I hope I did a mistake somewhere... I'll also compare it to a non-Holy Green Steel weapon as some mobs aren't Evil.

+5 Frost, Acid Burst, Acid Blast Khopesh:

(33,5*3 + 11 Icy Burst + 11 Icy Blast + 18 Seeker)*6/20 + 14 Icy Blast*1/20 + 33,5*14/20 + 3,5 Frost +3,5 Icy Burst + 3,5 Icy Blast = 76,8 average

(76,8-72,9)/72,9*100%= 5,3% of improvement...

Still pretty good if you take into account that you also get Crushing Wave for approximatively 240 damage every 20 swing!! So, in conclusion, the new Green Steel weapons out-DPS any RR ML 16 weapons (which +4 Flaming Greater Banes are). That is given my assumptions are right (ie Good Blast and Icy Blast now adding another Icy Burst/ Holy Burst effect on the weapon.), I hope my calculations are right.. otherwise this is sick.

Of course, I'm assuming all barbarians hit on a 2, otherwise the Greater Bane will take the lead.

Even if my calculation end up being wrong, I'd be surprised to see a wide margin between the two. For the benefit of not having to switch weapons every minute, it'd be worth it.

[thisgamesull]

post removed for you're own safety

[FluffyCalico]

Quick note for new players: TWF is the most difficult combat style to master, as well as get equiped for. As it requires twice as many weapons as THF and currently has less easy to aquire named weapons vs two handers as well. Also the actual fighting style itself can be a bit more difficult to master as you need to be much closer to your target to actually hit it, and attacking while moving effectively is more difficult to THF. So if your new to the game I do recommend you start out as a THF Barbarian, build up a good inventory of dwarven axes and perhaps get to 1750 favor to later create your TWF version.

This build works the same as my THF build only a few small changes to make it work for TWF. Still deserves a post as allot of people do miss a few key stats they need to make it work, so here it is.

TWF gets a large boost in dps. perhaps matching THF single target DPS in module6, so this guide takes that into account and is designed with module6/level16 in mind.

Dwarf (+2 con, more hp, more rage, axe enhacements, awesome race)
Barbarian Level 16
Alignment: Neutral Good or True Neutral. Minor advantages to each, with neutral good being slightly better for weapon selection, or true neutral for PvP and tanking some of the more deadly monsters which use unholy weapons.

(32 point build recommended, but playable with only 28 points)
Str 17 - +4 level ups, +6 item, +2 tome, for 29 Base, 40 Dual Raged, or 44 double madstone raged
Dex 17 - +2 tome at 1750 favor for 19 base, +5 item for 24 (Important because this because uses STWF which requies 19 base dex)
Con 16 - +2 enhance, +6 item, 24 base, +8 rage, +2 potion = 34) (endgame: +2 tome + dual madstone = 44)
Int 8 (Doesn't matter)
Wis 8 (Small negative, but this made up for by great enhancements - dwarven spell resistance)
Cha 6 (Not that important, tho 6 cha does mean you get helpless to cha damage from time to time)

28 Point Stats:
Str 16 - lose 1 here
Dex 17 - Have to keep 17 dex to meet prereq
Con 15 - lose 1 here
Int 8
Wis 8
Cha 6

Keep in the mind the only tome required to make the build work is the +2 dex tome you need to get at 1750 favor before level15. The rest should be doable given heavy raiding, but are not required for this build to perform well.

Feats:
1 - Two Weapon Fighting
3 - Power Attack
6 - Improved Two Weapon Fighting
9 - Improved critical (This can be slash or pierce depending on your favourite weapons, but I recommend slash overall)
12 - Greater Two Weapon Fighting
15 - Stunning Blow. For now anyways. Superior Two Weapon Fighting was not put in mod6. So if/when it is, swap to it.

Enhancements:
Rank - Progression
Level 1
1 - 1 [barbarian] - Damage Reduction Boost I
2 - 2 [dwarf] - Spell Defense I
4 - 4 [dwarf] - Axe Damage I
Level 2
6 - 5 [barbarian] - Extend Rage I
7 - 6 [barbarian] - Extra Rage I
9 - 8 [dwarf] - Constitution (Dwarven) I
Level 3
11 - 9 [barbarian] - Power Rage I
12 - 10 [barbarian] - Hardy Rage I
14 - 12 [barbarian] - Damage Reduction Boost II
Level 4
17 - 14 [dwarf] - Spell Defense II
19 - 16 [barbarian] - Extend Rage II
Level 5
21 - 17 [barbarian] - Sprint Boost I
22 - 18 [barbarian] - Willpower I
24 - 20 [barbarian] - Power Rage II
Level 6
29 - 24 [dwarf] - Axe Damage II
Level 7
33 - 27 [barbarian] - Damage Reduction Boost III
Level 8
37 - 30 [barbarian] - Extend Rage III
Level 9
41 - 33 [dwarf] - Spell Defense III
Level 10
46 - 37 [barbarian] - Damage Reduction Boost IV
Level 11
51 - 41 [barbarian] - Extend Rage IV
53 - 43 [barbarian] - Critical Rage I
Level 12
56 - 45 [barbarian] - Extra Rage II
58 - 47 [barbarian] - Hardy Rage II
Level 13
62 - 50 [barbarian] - Power Rage III
Level 14
67 - 54 [barbarian] - Critical Rage II
69 - 56 [dwarf] - Axe Attack I
Level 15
72 - 58 [barbarian] - Constitution I
73 - 59 [barbarian] - Power Attack I
Level 16
76 - 61 [barbarian] - Power Attack II
79 - 64 [barbarian] - Power Attack III

Tho you would want to modify this order somewhat depending on what equipment you aquire, for example if you had a str tome - modify power rage to keep your end str even, same for con/hearty rage, and if you get really high con like +6 item and +2 tome - you can then drop some extend rage and still end up perma raged and have a few more points for other things like more action boost.

Important Equipment to aquire by level12:
Dual +5 Dwarven Axes - This should be your main weapon set until you can get some nicer named items or greater banes, Do not mind the -4 to hit you will suffer using these - this build gains more then enough to hit anything in the game even with the penalty just fine, even with power attack on.
Bursting Dwarven Axess (these rule at mid lvl especially if you use them on monsters with vulnerabilitis to those elements, you'll want to find at least +3 versions as to-hit bonus does matter at these levels)
Mithral Fullplate (+3 is as good as +5 Full plate - just check your local auction house you should be able to get some early on)
Important equipment to attain by level 12:
Reavers Ring (fear imunity, very important on a moderate willsave char)
Fragment of the silver flame (dominate imunity)
Proof against poison item (belt usualy works good)
Disease Imunity Item (belt again, mummy rot sucks)
Blindness Ward item (I use the dragon googles, but any old set will do, ones with +spot are really nice tho)
+4 Strength gloves (might wanna replace the deleras ones if possible to keep your dex up)
Heavy Fortification Item (Do black anvil mines, collect some ore, get your necklace or do the ochard, collect tapestries and get the minos legens helm)
Set of potions always: 100 haste, 100 rage, 100 lesser restore, 100 remove curse, couple remove fear, couple protection vs energy. Have these in a quick to access hotkey as youll want to restore your rage and power it back up with a rage pot after each cycle.
Rage, Sheild, Devine favor,Devine power, haste clickes (these really increase your power during short boss battles, but cant be maintained to a long rage length - so there not a high priority)
By level 14:
Greater Bane Dwarven Axes (these are the best DPS for the end game lvl14++)
+6 stat items, should have at least Str and Con, ideally wis too. Recommend black dragon helm for dex to free up other slots.
Some raid loot, hard to say you should have it by then, but you could have at least 1 or 2 helpfull items. Reaver stuffs pretty easy to get currently. Top items you will want to strive for are Titan Belt, Beareavement and Madstone Boots. So try to do Reaver and Titan as often as possible.

You can ofcourse swap Dwarven Axes for Heavy picks if you happen to have allot more and better picks. But overall dwarven axes will be best for this build.

Any other improved/greater resist cloaks/rings you can get. Otherwise ask the cleric, you need those buffs to do well.

Skills:
Balance
Spot
Jump (Get this to about ~15-17 ranks and stop, that should put you at 40 while raged, which is the cap)
1 Rank of Tumble (sacrifce balance at hte early levels you won't need much)

Spot:
Crossclass skill, but very much worth it. Like the class video says, barbarians make good scouts.. And really, played correctly they do indeed, they are often best for running into stealthed enemies and traps if you don't have a rogue, and sometimes even if you do have a not so tough rough. So seeing the stealthed enemies is a huge asset. This works quite well if you get the FF/+spot item from like Co6. Youll also noticed the odd trap or secret door, even in high level quest. Even finding most of the trap boxes for the rogues lately as I got my spot up to 25 (well at mid levels).

Jump:
As a frontline combatant, your primary job is to run really fast and jump over the enemies frontline combatants.. To kill there clerics and wizards in the back ranks. So many barbarians don't realise how huge this is. Trust me, its HUGE.

Tumble:
Lets you move faster when under the effects of a bad spell like slow or that nasty white dragons ice freeze effect.

Balance:
Important for monsters that trip often. For the most part this DC is only 15 and easy to make, but it does scale slightly higher for bosses lik the demon queen - hers is about DC20. Also important if you want to be good at PvP - other players trip DCs can be very high.

No intimidate? :
Your a low AC deathdealer, you do not want agro, you want the enemy dead before he makes you dead.

Thoughts on the build at lvl14-16 in module 5 vs 6:
Barbarians are very powerful now, and in module6 with superior TWF we will just be that much better. I've only played this build for a week now so I don't have a ton to say about it other then it works pretty much the same as my old THF version. Overall I think the single target DPS will match my THF given the most powerful weapons, and in cases where you need to use weapons like vorpals it may outpace it.

Oh and for those who like numbers:

Expected overall attack progression at level16 max buffed with the best possible gear:
+40/40/40/40/45/45/50/50/50/50/50 - Yes that is 5 attacks in a row at +50 to hit - you will not miss not having oversized TWF. Well it's 9 hits for now until you can get superior TWF which adds the 10th hit.

Pretty intense to-hit score given the massive -8 penalty you get for power attack eh.. But definetely attainable.

(Updated for module 6 release)

I see one major issue. Tomes do not make you meet feat requirements. At least they aren't supposed to maybe ddo has messed it up to where they do not sure.