Gearing for epics?

[mtnlma]

So i recently hit 20 on my first toon and im wondering what kind of gear / hp should a pure barb be shooting for to be of use in epics?

[Forzah]

So i recently hit 20 on my first toon and im wondering what kind of gear / hp should a pure barb be shooting for to be of use in epics?

I don't think a barb needs any special gear for epics... they're pretty good even without named gear. Most of your damage comes from rage and frenzy/death frenzy. A stunning +10 weapon might be useful if you have stunning blow, or a pair of earthgrab picks if you are TWF. A seeker item (bloodstone) helps to increase your critical damage, which is important in epics. For health, try to get at least 550 before rage and you should be fine.

[Cam_Neely]

I'm by no means and extensive epic player but a basic list should include

1.) 700HP Raged
2.) +10 Stunning Maul for casters (a key set up to switch to this, SB, and switch back to your DPS is preferred)
3.) High End DPS Weapon(s) (MinII, LitII, golf bag of +5 situational weapon or something of the sort)
4.) Extensive Pot Collection
5.) Few Banked Mem pots to pass out if needed
6.) Half a brain, more the merrier
7.) Ability to hear voice chat and follow basic instructions
8.) 100% fort

[Consumer]

1.) 700HP Raged

It's nice to have HP this high but not necessary.

[Carpone]

Essentials:

1. MinII or LitII weapon.
2. Raise dead clicky (double positive Green Steel Maul).
3. Minos Legens.

Everything else is icing. Enjoy the new content!

[Cam_Neely]

It's nice to have HP this high but not necessary.

I reach more then that with no toughness feats and lightly geared (my first capped too), I think its 525 unraged. None of what I mentioned is necessary but as the OP posted its a good

hp should a pure barb be shooting for to be of use in epics?

Also

2. Raise dead clicky (double positive Green Steel Maul).

Seconded, cheap to build, and while not required often, its huge to pull that out in a bad situation.

[maddmatt70]

I trrd a barbarian a couple of times and all I had on epic was a +4 holyburst of iceburst greatsword, +6 stat items, gfl and a minos helm and I even used the korthos set to help my to-hit. I did just fine and in point of fact outkilled many players. Do yourself a favor and get a holyburst greataxe off the auction house if you do not have one already preferrably with a decent + to help your to-hit and slap an icy burst kit on there and that will get you a weapon which is significantly cheaper then a shroud item and close to as good. I think the icy games are still going on, but if they are not get a greataxe with some burst effects on it for auto-crits. The other thing to consider is a maul with a +10 to your stun dccs. If you plan to run epics alot on your barbarian I highly recommend picking up stunning blow and getting your hands on a decent stuner maul.

[mtnlma]

Thanks for the helpful replies everyone, got some guidelines now time to go put in some work!

[Humperdink]

To mirror what some of the others have said, I recently dusted an old WF barbarian off the shelf. He's an 18barb/2ftr Two Weapon Khopesh fighter. You didn't mention if you are a THF or TWF. For weaponry I specifically applied the Risia icy burst kits to two holy burst picks of maiming combined with +6 seeker from a Bloodstone. This puts out quite a bit of damage when monsters are held, stunned, turned to stone, etc and critical hit damage can be applied. You could even use something like a Holy or Shocking Burst of maiming in your main hand and a seeker +8 of pure good or maiming in your offhand, with an icy burst kit on both. So something like:

+5 holy icy burst heavy pick of maiming in main hand.
+2 icy burst seeker +8 of maiming in the offhand.

For elementals I have a +3 icy burst greataxe of greater elemental bane. For skeletons or other undead as needed I have a +5 holy maul of pure good. For my main weapons I use icy burst holy burst khopeshes of righteousness.

I wanted to make sure I had Stunning Blow so I could stun monsters as needed and put them into an auto-crit state. I'm using a +1 shocking burst warhammer of stunning +10 in my offhand when I attack.

Other things I did were to make sure the DC was high enough on my Stunning Blow that I could land it fairly effectively. I aimed for a DC of 45. I used the WF racial and Fighter tactics enhancements to Stunning Blow. If you spend 1 action point on Barbarian Intimidate you will get the ability to reduce the saving throws of all the monsters around you by -2 on a successful intimidate check (shaken). I have about a 40 intimidate which has worked so far on regular mobs. So this means that makes your stunning blow +2 better. It also helps if casters are throwing Mass Hold Monster as it reduces their saves for that and groups them together for the area of effect.

As far as defensive measures I tried to do things that I think make a good barb as far as making him easier to heal and less of a burden on the party:

-Hit points of course
-Even with no evasion I still shoot for a decent Reflex save with a 22 Dexterity. There can be a high amount of AoE damage in epics. Don't forget you can use your Improved Uncanny dodge boosts during big fights to add +6 to your reflex save for 30 seconds. And you get five clickies of it per rest. With party buffs and boosts going I've seen my Reflex go as high as about +37. That means incoming 300pt Meteor Swarms are only landing for 150pts of damage.
-Use equipment to help mitigate incoming damage. For fire I use the Firestorm Graeves. For electricity you can get the ring of Djinn.
-Get as much healing amp as is reasonable. For my Warforged I use equipment to get him up to about 99% healing rate of a fleshie.
-Heavy fortification

Hope this helps. The point was to show with a little thought and some moderately decent equipment you can participate in most Epics just fine.

[MikeyMang]

It's nice to have HP this high but not necessary.

It kinda is when Frenzying and losing 4-5 HPs per swing while getting hit by other things. But not completely.

[sirdanile]

It kinda is when Frenzying and losing 4-5 HPs per swing while getting hit by other things. But not completely.

I'm with consumer on this one, Slitmuno has 500 hp pre rage and 650ish raged, taking stunning blow instead of toughness helps out a lot more and he lives a lot longer than some barbs I know.