Pure or splash fighter or other.

[Varashad]

A 2 splash of fighter is better for PUGs while pure is better for highly skilled, well geared static groups. I prefer the fighter splash simply because he has improved sunder, stunning blow, toughness, and all other nice feats. The haste boost is also useful.

To argue that its a "useless splash" is pure opinion. I feel that the +3 strength you get from going pure is less dps than the 8 haste boosts I'm packing. I don't know how many times I'll be in ToD, VoD, eVoN, etc, where having 8 damage and 8 haste boosts is frigging amazing. It means I don't have to conserve them; I just let em fly as I will.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter. You still need a nanny bot regardless of if you're pure or splashed.

[zeonardo]

2 bard for the banjo!

[Alternative]

Having tried both variants for quite some time, 18/2 with stunning blow and improved sunder is imo more fun to play. I'm yet to see a 18/2 barb being declined from a group for insufficient dps.

[mroks28]

18/2 all the way better sustainable dps like posted earlier you run out of dmg boosts then i got 8 more haste on my barb look him up mroks on orien if you think you can out dps then you should post your build here so we can have a good guide to follow if not then stop and look and realize 18/2 is better

[Cetus]

Just roll up a pure half elf fighter and all of you're problems are solved!

[Chai]

TR to a human barbarian. You can have the feats you want without sacrificng being pure to do so, plus heal amp, plus 10 damage boosts that you can use back to back to back, without having to wait for that silly cooldown in between each boost, plus far easier to build for silver flame pots due to no stat penalty.

[Thrudh]

No reason any longer to be 18/2 unless you just like having a little more HP (very little) and like having stunning blow.

Who doesn't like having stunning blow?

Have you ever USED stunning blow?

[Thrudh]

TR to a human barbarian. You can have the feats you want without sacrificng being pure to do so, plus heal amp, plus 10 damage boosts that you can use back to back to back, without having to wait for that silly cooldown in between each boost, plus far easier to build for silver flame pots due to no stat penalty.

Human barbarian is a very good build... But not max DPS, which is what the people who arguing "pure only" are arguing for.

Extra feat and the healing amp would appeal to me more than the extra 4% DPS a half-orc brings, but the 4% matters to some people.

[ChemE]

TR to a human barbarian. You can have the feats you want without sacrificng being pure to do so, plus heal amp, plus 10 damage boosts that you can use back to back to back, without having to wait for that silly cooldown in between each boost, plus far easier to build for silver flame pots due to no stat penalty.

This intrigues me. Why no stat penalty?

[Jsbeer]

This intrigues me. Why no stat penalty?

The poster is talking about the -2 penalties that Half-Orcs, Warforged or Dwarfs get for certain stats.

[Bacab]

I've tended to suggest:
TWF'ing: 18 barb/2 fighter
THF'ing: 20 barb

Though I'm not sure why anyone would roll a TWF'ing barb currently ...

2 Deathnips and Undying Gaze...best look in the game.

[Varashad]

18/2 all the way better sustainable dps like posted earlier you run out of dmg boosts then i got 8 more haste on my barb look him up mroks on orien if you think you can out dps then you should post your build here so we can have a good guide to follow if not then stop and look and realize 18/2 is better

Confirmed that Mroks is a super beast; respect his authority.