would this build idea be sorta viable?

[Jastarn]

for barb past lives.

barb 8 wiz 6 bard 6

barb for PL hp fast movement and dr

wiz for vamp form+imp shrouding

bard for swashie enhs +music related buffs

basic idea is start with the 6 wiz for extend meta+quicken meta, then alterenate bard and barb for the rest.


this is just the skeleton of an idea, and advice would be welcome, but keep in mind that i would be doing it for the barb PL

[Munkenmo]

There is quite a lot of light damage in ddo, and sadly vampiric form is very often a guaranteed death sentence.

If you google pastlifenmo you may come across a druid based template that you could use for a barb pastlife.

[Jastarn]

I was thinking vamp form for the vampiric ability off of improved shrouding, and the vulnerability would provide an extra challenge to make gameplay interesting

[Munkenmo]

Fair enough then if that's the way you want to go.

Considering you're most likely going to take your last 2 barbarian levels at the very end, Consider going for a 7/7/6 split.

You won't be taking 19/20 till it's time to cap anyhow, getting level 7 for Wizard = Death Aura & Negative energy burst (or Ddoor for some of those quests where you really want it)

For free to play classes like you're suggesting past lives are prioritized in alphabetical order, so on a barbarian > bard > Wizard you'd still get a barb past life, but 7wiz provides much more healing potential.

[LordTigerDawn]

If you are doing it to heroic 20 then tr, you are trying to do so many things that will only come to fruition at lvl 20 so it is kinda pointless.

But I second... avoid vampire... it is nice to play until you get one shotted.

[Jastarn]

i'd use it in epics most likely, and I could use cloak of night to mitigate light damage a fair amount when i know its coming as well.

I agree on the 7 wizard part, but I kind of want 8 barb for the added DR and imp uncanny dodge, and 6 bard doesnt get me that much that is useful, so maybe 8/7/5?

also if there is a better option that SWF for my build idea im open to suggestions (would maybe acrobat rouge work? with stick?)

[Munkenmo]

i'd use it in epics most likely, and I could use cloak of night to mitigate light damage a fair amount when i know its coming as well.

I agree on the 7 wizard part, but I kind of want 8 barb for the added DR and imp uncanny dodge, and 6 bard doesnt get me that much that is useful, so maybe 8/7/5?

also if there is a better option that SWF for my build idea im open to suggestions (would maybe acrobat rouge work? with stick?)

6 bard = swashbuckler core 3:

Uncanny Dodge: Uncanny Dodge: You gain the Uncanny Dodge feat. Passive: Swashbuckling grants an additional 1% Doublestrike, 1% Doubleshot, and +1 Attack Damage

The DR from barb levels isn't worth taking into any consideration whatsoever in epic levels, heck with PRR it's barely worth taking into consideration in heroics.


8barb = +1 Rage, +1 uncanny dodge rank, +4hp (vs a bard level)

6bard = +1 uncanny dodge rank, +1 double strike, +1 damage +1% movement speed, +25sp

Personally I think you'll do much better on a build like this avoiding raging, and sticking with a 7/7/6 split.

[Jastarn]

good points. I was planning on avoiding raging for sure.

Other than bard, what are some good options for DPS? assuming no rage.

[Munkenmo]

also if there is a better option that SWF for my build idea im open to suggestions (would maybe acrobat rouge work? with stick?)

If you move away from SWF swashbuckling it's potentially a completely different build.

What exactly do you want:
Are you looking for the easiest barbarian past life possible?
The easiest Vampire form barbarian past life possible?

[Jastarn]

i'm looking for a good barb PL build, assuming all f2p races+classes and drow. This was just a build idea that came to me, so i'm submitting it for appraisal

[Munkenmo]

i'm looking for a good barb PL build, assuming all f2p races+classes and drow. This was just a build idea that came to me, so i'm submitting it for appraisal

Well to be entirely honest, I don't think this is a good build, Vampiric form is a trap, and trying to survive a life with it will be frustrating beyond belief.

I would be looking into cleric levels for positive self healing rather than Wizard.

There are a lot of life stealing mechanics in the barbarian trees now, on top of those, life shield on weapons and on armors proc seperately.

If you don't have druid I would advise looking into a human life stealing 6cleric / 7bard / 7barb with 1min extended haste, displace + a lot of positive healing amp for self sufficiency.

[unbongwah]

This wouldn't be ideal from a DPS perspective, but what about a TWF barb / bard / cleric or FvS build with both Ameliorating Strike and Sustaining Song?

[Jastarn]

That sounds interesting, but if I have bard levels doesnt it make the most sense to go swf?

[Enoach]

That sounds interesting, but if I have bard levels doesnt it make the most sense to go swf?

Warchanter has good synergy with Barbarian.

When making a build for simply going 1 to 20 you have to consider at what level you get certain powers. If you are not going to realize these powers until level 17/18 you have to understand that your character may not function as well as you like until that point.

So going something like a Barbarian/Cleric means you could start to realize powers like Ameliorating Strike as early as taking your 4th Cleric Level and have enough AP between levels 5 and 6 to purchase (you need to spend a minimum of 22 Points in War Priest to have Ameliorating Strike)

Going with too many classes means leveling order to realize the power might be a struggle. Sticking with two classes makes this easier.

I recommend the following if going for a barbarian life

Barbarian/Bard <- Take the Bard Levels earlier in the build and finish off adding in the barbarian levels.
Taking the first two levels as bard will give you access to abilities Boast (up to 100 Temp HP) and adding up to +30 Temp HP with Inspire Courage. That is a potential of +130 HP at lower levels will mean a lot less healing needed. This also gives you access to Enchant Weapon which means you can build a crafted weapon with damage only and ignore needing the +1 Enchantment. Weapon damage effects at low level are very powerful. So going 2 Bard, 1 Barbarian and then 4 more bard levels until you get Blur and Rage and access to Song of Heroism and it should cover your personal buffs while you take more Barbarian levels. You can decide if you want more Bard Levels but you will want to keep that at no more than 10.


Barbarian/Cleric <- Here it is an advantage to take 2 barbarian levels first as most healing is through cure serious potions during this time and also you need 22 AP to get the Ameliorating strike

In both cases I recommend going with increasing the number of rages over length. This will allow you to use rage as an Action Boost letting your other abilities like Ameliorating Strike be your primary healing source when you need to lay down the damage.

[unbongwah]

That sounds interesting, but if I have bard levels doesnt it make the most sense to go swf?

If you're going the Swashbuckler route, yes. But Ameliorating Strike can proc on both offhand strikes and doublestrikes; and I'm pretty sure you can get a higher offhand proc chance than doublestrike, which means TWF will still have more heals from AS.

My thinking was Sustaining Song provides a free HoT while AS provides in-combat heals; both will work while Raged, making them more useful to barb builds. You'll still want something for emergency heals, though, while AS is on CD: maybe cleric / FvS 6 for Unyielding Sovereignty; or just a fat stack of Silver Flame pots.

The bare minimum for this build is bard 4 / FvS or cleric 4, since SS and AS are both T4s. So you could do barb 12 / bard 4 / FvS 4; or 7/7/6; or some other combo I'm not thinking about.