Help me out *** my halfling

[chewwook]

I'm building yet another halfling. i want a pure barbarian, one that will be built to take advantage of some nice pulls and trades (rapie and dagger of w/p), and piercing weapons in general with later level critical rages. I figure that the sneak attacks coming in the next mod will give some love to halfling crits (when they don't have aggro), which should more than overcome that puny point of strength difference.
I'm asking for suggestions on the build- which feats to take when, the opening stats in order to get all the right feats, etc etc. I use khopeshes on my other toons- I need a break from them on this one, so don't throw that one in there.

Thanks for your help!

[chewwook]

for the build, assume some nicer gear, but I have yet to get a bloodstone or scourge choker, try as i might. Aside form that, mith fp, str,con,dex items maxed, and if you have a proposal for a shoud item, post it.

[Blazer]

So a TWF piercing spec build I take it? Seems pretty straightforward to me, but then I don't have a barb.

1) TWF
3) PA (or Iron Will, switch to PA later when your will save is higher)
6) ITWF (will need a +1 DEX tome by now to qualify, but they're not hard to come by)
9) IC: Pierce
12) GTWF
15) OTWF (not sure if this is even necessary if you primarily plan on using rapier/dagger W/P combo)

STR 16 (16 pts)
DEX 16 (6 pts)
CON 16 (10 pts)
INT, WIS, CHA - all 8s

[wolfy42]

I don't know how you resist taking 2 rogue levels with a halfling barbarian, but I guess you can build it mainly the same way.

For my rogue 2/barbarian 14 build I went with:

Str 16 (16)
Dex 16 (06)
Con 15 (08)
Int 10 (02)
Wis/cha 08 (00).

I boosted all the important skills at lvl 1 rogue (balance/spot/hide/ms/tumble etc) and then waited to take level 2 rogue for awhile so I could keep them boosted. This can also allow a 28 point build to keep hide/ms maxed btw.

For a pure build you probably don't need the 10 int...and can snag another con (barbarian con III isn't really worth 6 ap anyway).

This means no starting boosts to all your other useful combat skills like jump,balance,spot tumble....so you may have to give up the whole super fast (stealth + barbarian movement boosts + lvl 1 rogue stealth movement boost) stealth killing machine.

You might consider ditching the 10% bonus dmg from THF btw and going with dragonmarks on your halfling barbarian (pure or otherwise). This certainly makes life easier late game, but eats up too many feats for the build to work well and have THF/ITHF/GTHF.

Cleave can handle spreading the damage out with only 1 feat used (or 2 with improved cleave) and in fact does far more to a group then GTHF. The difference is you don't do the extra 10% to an individual enemy...which sucks (But having full heals you can toss on yourself as a barbarian ....well that makes up for alot.

Favorite thing about halfling barbs (rangers too) is the speed they move around at. While it's the same speed as other barbarians....the halfling size makes it SEEM much faster hehe. I love halflings btw, they are my favorite race and the only race I have played every class with (least used amazingly for me has been drow).

I'd really suggest you consider the 2 rogue/14 barbarian though.....it's a blast to play with tons of versatility. While you can't keep up all the combat skills, the most important can be boosted fairly significantly and hide/move maxed for a stealthy killing machine. Nothing like being able to sneak into the middle of a group of dangerous enemies, kill the spellcasters quickly then zoom out before the rest can even get near you

[Taerdra]

The most optimized damage for a halfling barb is Barb 14/Rogue 2: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=137684. Pretty straightforward build -- the only trick is NOT to take your Rogue levels until at lvl 7.

[chewwook]

Thanks for the suggestions- after I saw the little engine that could and other similar builds, I decided to go with that build. i have some nice rogue weapons in the bank to help with that damage come mod 7. I hadn't considered this build since most of my character planning was done in mod 5 and before- I wouldn't consider the rogue levels before because of the barb crit enhancement needing a pure 14 barb.
Thanks!

[wolfy42]

OMG I didn't know someone had made a build about it.....of to read a new thread thanks!!

[wolfy42]

I did finally read that other build and I wanted to quickly make a few points here about changes I made.


First I took rogue at lvl 1 for all the nice bonus skill points. This gives you a nice natural balance a high enough hide/move silently to be useful throughout the game by swamping equipment quickly a maxed out jump AND UMD at every level and a high enough Open Locks to again work throughout most of the game with the appropriate equipment (and rogue skills boost 1).

Each barbarian lvl up max out jump and UMD. When you take your second rogue lvl you could max out Disarm Trap if you wanted to take it at first...but I personally went with balance.

Feat wise I went with dodge at lvl 1, Weapon focus slashing at lvl 3. At lvl 8 I switched out weapon focus slashing for skill focus UMD (reached 20 at that lvl with 11 base + 1 cha + 3 item + 3 SF + 2 rogue skill boost). This allowed me to use shield wands at will and CLW wands etc along with wear RR equipment etc.

2 rogue/14 barbarians don't get crit rage till lvl 14....making using 2 pickaxes not that effective till late game. Therefore you don't need to worry about getting GTWF by lvl 12.

Lvl 9 is taken up with improve crit. Lvl 12 ITWF and lvl 15 GTWF.

lvl 1,3,6 are free to use and should include SF UMD.

Early on I like to take Dodge and weapon focus slashing (since I still use THF till 15).

AC btw is very high through mid game and decent end game as well (for a barbarian) without sacrificing much damage at all.

Shield spell usage is superior to drinking shield of faith potions and does not require a cleric/mage to buff you (still great to get blurs or displacements though).

This also gives you more time to get your +1 dex tome that you will need for this character making it far easier for a new player (28 point build) to meet the requirements.

In addition by the time you switch to pickaxes you will already have a 18-20 crit range and in 1 more lvl you'll hit the 17-20 max crit range where they really shine.

[Taerdra]

Interesting points. My build was specifically built around DPS. If that's the way you decide to go, you need to get each and every TWF as early as possible. The Rogue level at 1 delays ITWF or Imp Crit until lvl 12. Huge mistake in my opinion for a barb.

Moreover, I don't think the skill points are worth that at all esp when you're getting them for UMD anyway. Rogue at 7 and 8 has more than enough skill points to catch you up. You will be very disappointed in your damage if you wait until lvl 12 to get ITWF imo.

Lastly, Dodge and WF: Slash are both HORRIBLE (sorry) feat choices for a Barbarian and you will have to switch one out later to take TWF and then progress down the tree (I couldn't see where that fit in in wolfy's description).

I do agree however with wolfy's point about picks. They may not be the optimal choice until you get Crit Rage I. I would go with rapiers or rapier/ss until that point and maybe beyond depending on what your loot pulls are.

[wolfy42]

I did switch out WF Slashing at lvl 8 for SF UMD, until that point it seemed like the best option (I guess I could have gone with Power Atack instead, but truth be told I ended up fighting with a shield half the time at lower lvls since my AC was able to get so high)

Dodge is switched out later for TWF

I realize that getting GTWF at 15 instead of 12 blows...but to me ITWF by itself isn't worth it (still only get 1 extra attack while moving at that point per 2 swings, and no extra attack for the first swing till GTWF).

The advantage of this build actually lets you have quite a few skills boosted to a usable level.

Hide/Move silently is very useful to have throughout the game especially with barbarian speed boosts. With the intitial poitns invested + Halfling bonus and +15 hide/MS items you can stealth quite well end game.

You get the extra points to invest in tumble so you can use it when needed (solid fog etc) and end game you still can end up with the same feats.

I can see waiting on the Rogue levels though if you don't care about hide/move silently at all. Thing is it's ahalfling with flanking bonuses etc and to me having a decent hide/move silently was important. That was partially just because it's my characters theme (stealthy halfling of mass destruction hehe).

Waiting till lvl 7-8 to take rogue levels is a great weay to speed up getting your TWF feats and yes, using rapiers etc at lvl 12 makes sense (when improved crit would make a large difference).

I'm not sure of the dmg difference between THF and 2wf with raipiers though. 2 handed sword should be comparable to rapier dmg in most ways at that point (not as large of a crit range, but hits through DR better etc). It's late game when you have crit rage 1 and 2 that 2wf really shines for the barbarian in my opinion. Lvl 14 gets you crit rage 1, lvl 16 crit rage 2...so lvl 15 seems like a fine place to switch from THF to TWF to me.

Anyway I also suggest snagging UMD which wasn't mentioned in the build I read. Maxed out UMD can reach quite high (mid 30's) without super specialized equipment. Nothing like being able to heal yourself with wands/scrolls and raise dead team members back to life at will as a barbarian with over 500 max hp, evasion with a very high reflex save (I take the halfling reflex enhancements as well) and still maintain a very high DPS late game.

Also should mention that primary hand heavy pick offhand rapier works well end game since your rapier can have effects (only gets half strength bonus anyway) and your pick does the most dmg from crits. Crit multiplier of 2 isn't that much of a loss on your offhand since it only gets 1/2 the strength bonus applied. Both are pierce so they get the same improved crit bonus.

Anyway halflings are my favorite by far race to play (mainly due to their size....to me the game seems made for characters of a halflings hieght). I love WF but their size is a big turn off for me.

Halfling barbarians compensate for the strength penalty easily with rage mid to late game, have an easy time reaching the required dex for GTWF (even possible to reach 19 for STWF but not worth it in my opinion to use another feat for it). AC is much easier to keep up through the low-mid levels with a halfling barbarian making leveling them up to when they really become fun (very high DPS) much easier.

Finally even now halflings get nice bonuses to sneak attacks and stealth abilitys, which works great in combo with a barbarian. Once the new halfling changes go into effect the halfling barbarian is probably going to become very popular (Sadly). I havn't seen any others on my server and I kinda like feeling unique (even if from this board I obviously am not!).

[Cowdenicus]

for the build, assume some nicer gear, but I have yet to get a bloodstone or scourge choker, try as i might. Aside form that, mith fp, str,con,dex items maxed, and if you have a proposal for a shoud item, post it.

Spuds, if you ever want to go bloodstone farming, send me a tell.