Stunning blow barbarian.

[jojojakes]

So I wanted to make a WF barbarian that stuns his enemies and then hacks them to peaces with his greataxe.

But I'm a total noob to barbarians, so I have 3 questions.

1: Is it acceptable to get the THF line on lvl 12, 15 and 18? Because I want my stunning blow on lower levels, but I need Power Attack and Cleave before I reach lvl 6 in order to get Frenzied Berserker. I could also get the THF line on lvl 9 and take Improved Critical after that.

2: Can you get a sufficient bonus for stunning blow when you're not using a weighted weapon? Because I don't think greataxes can be weighted.

3: What's the cooldown for Stunning Blow? Because if it's really short I can take Improved Critical later on.


Thanks in advance.

[dkyle]

1. Sure. The THF line isn't that great.
2. Probably, if you hit 70 STR or more. You might want one sometimes, especially for epics.
3. 15 seconds. I'd prioritize Imp Crit over the THF line, anyway.

[FrozenNova]

1) Yes.
2) Generally no in epic or shavarath unless you're specifically targetting low fort mobs.
3) Stuns arn't autocrits.
Other: Falchion is better than greataxe. Take imp crit at 9.

[jojojakes]

1) Yes.
2) Generally no in epic or shavarath unless you're specifically targetting low fort mobs.
3) Stuns arn't autocrits.
Other: Falchion is better than greataxe. Take imp crit at 9.

According to the ddowiki (http://ddowiki.com/page/Stunning_Blow) stunned enemies do grant crits.
And I already have a falchion fighter, so I wanted to try a greataxe.

But what about the DC? Opinions seem to be divided about that.

EDIT:
Also I'm a warforged, they can get enhancements for combat feats like Stunning Blow

[dkyle]

According to the ddowiki (http://ddowiki.com/page/Stunning_Blow) stunned enemies do grant crits.

Not anymore (as of U9). you get +50% extra damage vs them, as with all helplessness-inducing effects.

And I don't see that anywhere on that Wiki page that anyone can edit

But what about the DC? Opinions seem to be divided about that.

As much as you can get?

Get the most STR you can (because you'll want that anyway), and use a weighted weapon if you need to.


As for Falchion vs. Greataxe, Barbarians are not limited to using one weapon, as Kensais are. You can use both. Greataxe is better vs 100%, might be better against 50% fort bosses (but probably not if you have decent DPS), but Falchion is much better against most trash.

[FrozenNova]

The wiki is not often updated.
You won't realiably hit high fort epic trash without a weighted weapon.

[jojojakes]

Ah, if I can't crit stunned enemies then my idea is ruined anyway.

Thanks for the help guys.

[dkyle]

Ah, if I can't crit stunned enemies then my idea is ruined anyway.

Thanks for the help guys.

Why ruined?

Stunned mobs still don't hit back, and +50% damage is still significant.

Stunning Blow is a very common feat for Barbs.

[TheDjinnFor]

1: Is it acceptable to get the THF line on lvl 12, 15 and 18? Because I want my stunning blow on lower levels, but I need Power Attack and Cleave before I reach lvl 6 in order to get Frenzied Berserker. I could also get the THF line on lvl 9 and take Improved Critical after that.

Both the THF chain and the Frenzied Berzerker Prestige Enhancement are backloaded: 99% of the reason to take them is the third tier. GTHF gives you about 4 times the benefit of THF or ITHF alone. And FBIII is exactly twice as good as FBI and FBII combined.

So if you delay getting THF, you'll get the majority of your Barbarians power at lvl 18. Are you okay with this? Personally, I'd delay getting Stunning Blow till lvl 18, because most things die so fast before then that you're okay anyways.

2: Can you get a sufficient bonus for stunning blow when you're not using a weighted weapon? Because I don't think greataxes can be weighted.

You can switch from a weighted weapon back to a normal weapon though. Although as a Barb you'll switch pretty slow; it's not necessarily worth the DPS loss. Of course, if you just use it and *hope* you get the stun in anyways, it's not too bad.

40 is a nice baseline minimum. 50 is preferable.

Strength
18 base
+5 (level)
+7 (item)
+2 (ex)
+1 (ex)
+2 (ship buff)
+8 (mighty rage)
+4 (power rage)
+2 (rage spell)
+2 (yugoloth)
+3 (tome)
+2 (capstone)
+2 (madstone)
+2 (frenzy)
+4 (death frenzy)
+2 FB set
= 66 (+28 str mod)

10 +28 Str +2 enhancements = 40. Throw in a +10 item for 50, right where you want it.

3: What's the cooldown for Stunning Blow? Because if it's really short I can take Improved Critical later on.

15 seconds. Take Improved Critical at level 9 anyways; stun/trip is not always worth using at very low levels.

[dkyle]

6 seconds. Take Improved Critical at level 9 anyways; stun/trip is not always worth using at very low levels.

Stunning Blow is 15 seconds. Stunning Fist is 6 seconds.

[TheDjinnFor]

Stunning Blow is 15 seconds. Stunning Fist is 6 seconds.

Yeah I saw that as I was reviewing it to throw in a DC breakdown.

[smithj_2020]

yea, stunning blow is worth it...I have a barb right now run around raged with 66 str, get it to 70+ with cookies, stun works all time in epics....

Dont worry bout THF line, kinda sucks and not worth it, use those for something else.

[TheDjinnFor]

yea, stunning blow is worth it...I have a barb right now run around raged with 66 str, get it to 70+ with cookies, stun works all time in epics....

Dont worry bout THF line, kinda sucks and not worth it, use those for something else.

Glancing blows make up about 20% of your DPS as a Barbarian.

[Thrudh]

So if you delay getting THF, you'll get the majority of your Barbarians power at lvl 18. Are you okay with this? Personally, I'd delay getting Stunning Blow till lvl 18, because most things die so fast before then that you're okay anyways.

I disagree with this... Stunning Blow is hugely useful in the mid-levels and end-levels. I would not want to wait until 18 to get Stunning Blow.

[CrushingInklings]

Glancing blows make up about 20% of your DPS as a Barbarian.

And while leveling you are moving so much while swinging that Glancing blows are negated most of the time. No reason at all to take it until later levels.

[Thrudh]

And while leveling you are moving so much while swinging that Glancing blows are negated most of the time. No reason at all to take it until later levels.

Excellent point.. The only time I stand still is when hitting raid bosses, which doesn't happen a lot until level 17.

[CrushingInklings]

So I wanted to make a WF barbarian that stuns his enemies and then hacks them to peaces with his greataxe.

But I'm a total noob to barbarians, so I have 3 questions.

1: Is it acceptable to get the THF line on lvl 12, 15 and 18? Because I want my stunning blow on lower levels, but I need Power Attack and Cleave before I reach lvl 6 in order to get Frenzied Berserker. I could also get the THF line on lvl 9 and take Improved Critical after that.

2: Can you get a sufficient bonus for stunning blow when you're not using a weighted weapon? Because I don't think greataxes can be weighted.

3: What's the cooldown for Stunning Blow? Because if it's really short I can take Improved Critical later on.


Thanks in advance.

Not sure what you long term plans are but you can take two levels of fighter at 2nd and 4th for two extra feats. The fighter haste boost enhancement is really nice for leveling and the second level of fighter also grants you the chance to take +1 str enhancement to help make up for the lost cap stone.

1 toughness
2 stunning blow
3 power attack
4 quickdraw
6 cleave
9 Imp Crit
12 THF
15 ITHF
18 GTWF

[Gratch]

I wanted to make a fast leveling, stunning barbarian... though not really for epics. Just to crank out a TR barbo life. In retrospect I maybe should have gone with barb 12/bard 8 for faster leveling.

I went with: Ftr6 Warhammer Kensai 1, 14 Barb FB 2. Warforged.
By going TWF, I'm able to burden the off-hand with the stunning weapon effect. The +2 static fighter strength enhancements somewhat even out losing some barb rage strength.

To help with stunning DC's I have:
Past Life Ftr: +1
Ftr Strategy Stunning Blow 2 enh: +2
Wfged Tactics 2 enh: +2
Offhand Holy Burst Warhammer of Stunning +10: +10
Kensei 1: +1

Plus I like having both fighter haste boost and barbo sprint boost. Too bad they lock each other out.

[jojojakes]

Wow, every thread on this forum changes into a big discussion :P

But after seeing this I have another little question.
Do stunned enemies grant sneak attacks?

I wanted to try this build (http://ddo-daily.com/roguebarian-by-krythan) and I saw he took stunning blow, then I thought that if stunned enemies don't grant crits then maybe they don't grant sneak attacks.

Thanks in advance.

[sirgog]

When levelling, the TWF feats are better than people have said so far in this thread.

At least on Normal difficulty, in most quests you can aggro 10+ mobs at once (maybe even 20+), jump over them all and turn around (so you face almost all of them) and stand still and whack at one of them. You'll get glancing blows on many of the other ones - that damage adds up fast.


Edit: Oh and that Cleave feat you were forced to take - yeah, it's good in this situation too.