Barb w/ fighter splash for mod 9

[Vengenance]

Go 16 Barb till mod is released. See if the capstone is really worth the 2 feats +1 str tactics line and5x day haste boost. Then make the decision.

In planning out my own barbarians feat line i dont knw if 2 Weapon fighting wf can afford NOT to take 2 lvls of fighter.

2wf
I2wf
G2wf
PA
I Crit
Cleave

= Your core 6.

Stunning blow
Khopesh
Toughness
Oversize


= Nearly essential Secondary 4.

Its the way you play ur barb i guess. I use stunning blow alot and find it amazing. I HAVE to have toughness to open up the cheaper enhancements as Hp equals ur ability to do dumb stuff. Khopesh nets in 10% more DPS than hvy picks and i refuse to use rapiers for dps on a barbarian. So for me the 2 lvls of fighter are mandatory regardless of the capstone. Oversize will likely be the one that misses out...unless im whiffing alot endgame because of all the PA enhancements. Im so glad they made cleave a necessary feat for barbarians now we have SOOOO much diversity!

I agree Barb straight to 16 is the safe play presently, and the importance of feats can just go down to personal choice. A good nerf proof barb at present would be to go straight 16 and start with at least 15 dex to allow you to go twf if you choose to later in the game.

As far as feats go, I place Stunning Blow ahead of Cleave, Khopesh is a nice to have but not necessary, toughness (you already have 500 hitpoints and after you craft a Shroud HP item who cares), Oversize (not necessary especially with Bards, GH, +2 to hit granted from spectral glooves or ring from hound), and even improved crit isn't essential once you have a mineral II weapon.

Depending on capstone, taking 2 levels of rogue for evasion may prove to be taking two levels of fighter.

[icculus]

I'm interested in creating a 2wf Barb with either 2 or 4 lvls of fighter.. I am trying to find out, if i take 4 lvl of fighter, i would miss out on when mod 9 comes and the lvl cap raises to 20.

As it is right now, aside from critical rage II, the Barb really gets maxed out on enhancements for DPS at lvl 12. What will the new module bring to barb at lvls 18 and 20? Should i splash 2 or 4 lvls fighter into the mix.. Not sure if anything super uber will come for lvl 20.


Last question, superior 2wf, the successor to Greater 2wf, how much dex will that require?

Thanks for the help guys!

-Asketes
Khyber Realm
Barb12/Ranger2/Fighter2

sTWF = DEX19

Some other things to consider... as mentioned Barb gets good class benefits right through Barb20, although WF do not need Tireless Rage, Trap Sense, DR and especially Might Rage all benefit pure Barbs. Further while the current Critical Rage is Barb11/Barb14 the new Barb PrE will be Barb6/12/18 so any more than Ftr2 prevents tier3 in those; however, it is worth keeping in mind that WF get Juggernaut which unfortuantely counts as their Barbarian PrE - so it maybe better to either look at a different race if you want to be a Barb or a different class if you want to be WF.

[Girevik]

...Plus "magical effects" to glancing blows on both my weapons.

Maybe I am misunderstanding something, but that doesn't make any sense to me. I was under the impression that only two-handed weapons generated glancing blows, therefore there would be no chance of any magical effects from "both" of your weapons when fighting with a two-weapon style.

Is there some way of generating a glancing blow with two-weapon fighting?

[Asketes]

no i just can't read XD

[Lorien_the_First_One]

One thing that is enthusing, is that no matter how long, or mighty the rage gets, the fatigue stays at just one minute.
if we were to get Tireless rage, WOW.... Although I doubt that will be implemented.

Why wouldn't it, its part of the rules. Plus its not game breaking, the WF have it already.

[Asketes]

how does warforged have tireless rage?

or do you mean warforged barbs?

If so i never knew that.


Since when does this game follow rule verbatim?

[Nick_RC]

I agree Barb straight to 16 is the safe play presently, and the importance of feats can just go down to personal choice. A good nerf proof barb at present would be to go straight 16 and start with at least 15 dex to allow you to go twf if you choose to later in the game.

As far as feats go, I place Stunning Blow ahead of Cleave, Khopesh is a nice to have but not necessary, toughness (you already have 500 hitpoints and after you craft a Shroud HP item who cares), Oversize (not necessary especially with Bards, GH, +2 to hit granted from spectral glooves or ring from hound), and even improved crit isn't essential once you have a mineral II weapon.

Depending on capstone, taking 2 levels of rogue for evasion may prove to be taking two levels of fighter.

Cleave is a Feat requirement for Frenzied Bezerker I wish it wasnt because with such few feats all barbs are gonna look pretty much the same.

If ur playing a FB ur playing for dps so khopesh is necessary in my opinion anyway. Stunning blow's a must, and as a warforged with max PA enhancements(one of the main reasons to go this race) without oversize ur looking at -15 to hit. Oversize is probably the one il leave out but it all depends on the mobs ac at cap.

Toughness has and always will be a big debate. I personally like the hit points because it lets me go further and longer without receiving a heal. I can completely see why alot of people see it as unnecessary however.

As too improved crit...well to be honest Lightning strike is the dps option (excluding tri fire/ice on susceptible targets) for anything with dr17 or less. Again my Rationale is if ur playing dps go the dps route. Min 2s a great overall weapon but often isnt the DPS option. Id say for the starting out barb GO mineral 2 tho as its a great coverall weapon and if u want to further invest go lightning 2 after that, and the tri fire/ice after that.

So much of it is hypothetical atm as you pointed out Steve, until we know the capstone, mobs ac etc etc its hard to say one way or the other. I echo what Veng says tho about the safe bet being 16 barb at present cap with the necessary dex too fill out 2wf if needed.

N

[mgoldb2]

if we were to get Tireless rage, WOW.... Although I doubt that will be implemented.

I see no reason they would not implemented it. Most barbs don't spend much time fatigue anyway. just pop one lesser restore potion and it gone.

[Asketes]

I merely meant that in a fight between just me and a mob, it can be critical (if there is a gimpy or no healer present) that I must switch my str guards to ceaseless toil manacles, activate them, switch back to str gloves, hit rage and then start swinging again.. that's like 2-4 seconds im getting wacked and not wacking back!

Now i am not complaining about the current system one bit. every plus may or may not have a drawback. Tireless rage would just be something very interesting to invest in, in my opinion!

Either way i'm, thus far, impressed and enjoy playing barb.

Oh yeah, what is AC again. hehe


----

NICK:

tri fire or tri ice?

Why do you say those as a step up from lighting II?
Aren't most raid bosses, trash immune or highly resistant to that type of elemental damage?

Maybe i misunderstand.

[Nick_RC]

NICK:

tri fire or tri ice?

Why do you say those as a step up from lighting II?
Aren't most raid bosses, trash immune or highly resistant to that type of elemental damage?

Maybe i misunderstand.

Sry should have clarified. Tri Fire and Tri Ice on fire and ice vulnerable targets ( think frost giants for fire and final room of enter the kobold for ice) will give substantial dps increase over Twin lightning. Is it excessive? Worth the larges? Depends on what you have, and what that dps gain is worth to you. All the little +'s add up.

Similarly I have anti fire and ice Dragontouch docents coupled with anti fire and ice guard bracers. DPS is an artform that encompasses more than a weapon and is more difficult to master and requires more thought than just using w/p.

As to immunitites - yup most are thats why you have ur mineral 2's for dr 17+ and lightning 2's for those under that. The Tri Fire and Ice are luxuries if you think of it in terms of commodities.

Barbarians = DPS. And every little bit of DPS counts.

N

[Asketes]

I guess i see Min2's as just GS transmuters... aren't effective against raid bosses dr of 5..


i'd like to see more pos pos pos.. or pos shock shock...

Pos x3 (holy good burst good blast)
pos shock x2 (holy shock burst shock blast)

just my opinion though


OR vorpal GS FTW.. hehe

[Asketes]

What does everyone else think?

[Line-dog]

What does everyone else think?

My Barb was originally intended to be be 18Barb / 2Rogue. However, I'm not sure I will be able to resist the siren's call of 6 levels of fighter to get me 4 more feats and all of the fighter enhancements that opens up including Kensai I and +2 strength (always-on). With 12 levels of Barb I may already have enough rages/rest.