Another Wwarhammer-inspired build - Khorne Berserker

[Ziindarax]

Firstly, kudos to Buffyanne, and his/her thread on the Witch Elf (seen here) for inspiring me to make a thread on this build. Also, kudos to Infiltrator on his Steel Shrine build for giving me an idea on how to slot the greensteel health items.


Like Buffyanne's build, I want to use Barbarian levels to accomplish the desired effect - be awesome while killing things. Unlike Buffyanne's build, the Khorne Berserker is not quite concerned about traps, or poison (being a servant, and implement of Khorne, one of the Chaos Deities in the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 universes [all related legal stuff belongs to their respective owners, it's not mine, don't sue me], the Khorne Berserker concerns him/herself with one thing, and one-thing only, killing things).


That being said, while it is tempting to go full barbarian, I am wanting, as always, more utility out of my builds. Divine Champion is the perfect destiny for this build because once you get it high enough, you regen hitpoints based on the CR of the mob you killed, which seems fairly consistent with the source material as these are unholy warriors who shrug off pain and injuries.

What will this build have?

Fast healing past life x3, fast healing from the Barbarian destiny twisted in as a t1, Sense Weakness as a t4, and brace for impact for a nice boost to saves. T5 barbarian metabolic rage and critical multiplier boosts will be nice, and crusade heals while conferring a damage buff. I am also aiming for Ameliorating strike, and getting heal as high as possible to get the health regained to a fairly high number.

I will be using ship buffs, planning on using out-dated ToD rings for healing amp 40 to go with the Iron Mitts/PDK gloves.

So my split is this - 12 barb, 4 fighter, 4 fvs.

THF/TWF chain, which ever is better (both paths suit a Khorne Berserker just fine) - if doing TWF, I will probably have the main-hand be a Thunderforged weapon, while the off-hand is a nightmare. Blood Rage would be cool, but I think it still messes with the barb rage..


Anyhow, Here's what my goals are, and I actually kinda need help with pulling off the build -

Self-healing, durable defense (as durable as my current life - who is sitting on, by level 28, 193 prr, 109 MRR), strong DPS. Alignment will be Chaotic Neutral (my first non-good build, so I will be able to use Vol Necklace/Epic Litany without penalty).

Races - Warforged would be good because they can attach weapons to themselves, which would be in line with Fantasy/Sci-fi Warhammer in that a Khorne Berserker sometimes had weapons attached to themselves, and also because mobs like to spam negative level spells entirely too often. Fleshies, on the other hand, would be a nice choice for unfettered healing amp.

Tree's - I need help squeezing a t5 frenzy, with at least one frenzied rage), occult slayer extended rage, Warpriest's mandatory 22 ap for ameliorating strike, and some of the fun stuff from ravager. I did a test barb build for 18 barb, 1 fighter, 1 fvs, and loved all that damage that was coming from a THF thunderforged weapon - the thing I did not like was his weak tolerance to stronger spells, and his proclivity to receiving negative levels.

Can someone help me shore up the weaknesses with the saves?

[Buffyanne]

Thanks for the mention of my Witch Elf. I have been trying out the barbarian trees on a L20 pure Barbarian in preparing the build. I have a couple thoughts for your Khorne Berzerker.

Races I would say you could go Human, Warforged or Half-Orc. The original Khorne Berserkers would be genetically modified World Eaters from the Rampager Squads. So in DDO game terms warped humans could be warforged or half-orc.

Khorne Berzerkers favorite weapons are chain axes so i would go with dwarven axes dual wielded if you went TWF or great axe if THF. The Headsman of Cellebos uses a two handed chain axe so either would be appropriate. I think dual swarven axes looks more intimidating personally. TF DPS as with maybe something like the Mountains Fist in offhand, that has 3 augment slots for procs and devotion augment.

Frenzy Berzerker really fits the Khorne theme, blood for the blood god, but I can tell you it has healing problems. Conversely, Ravager has almost no healing problems. Something to consider. It's too bad that Blood Tribute is lame because that would be perfect for the blood god.

I am not sure 4 fighter gives you much other than feats. None of the trees really fit the build. Kensai does get you free dwarf ax proficiency but feels a bit too zen for your purposes. You can't be raged in Stalwart defense stance. The Tempest tree from Ranger has some nice TWF abilities. Dance of Death is quite powerful now, but it costs a lot of points. Kinda brain storming here. The Storm's Eye capstone in Frenzy Berzerker really fits but then you're just basically playing a L20 Barbarian. Maybe a Grey Knight from Occult slayer is an easier dual class build to do?

Incidently, here are some 'named' Khorne Berzerkers if they aren't taken in the game....

Kham the Betrayer
Akraghar
Roghrax Bloodhand
Headsman of Cellebos
Kossolax the Foresworn
Scyrak the Slaughterer
Zhufor
Urkrathos

[Elibolas]

Weird. I was thinking of a 12 Barb/4 FVS/4 Ranger build myself just a few days ago. Ranger was for the TWF feat, and the Positive healing enhancements of the DWS line.

I'd be interested to hear how your build is working out.

Elibolas

[Buffyanne]

I was looking at the Bladeforged character creation options today and they would really look good as Khorne Berzerkers. I don't know if you have a LR2 to get rid of the Pally levels or not. Put one of those in an epic red dragon docent and you are looking very much like a devotee of the blood god.

[1Soulless1]

You forgot Arabaal The Undefeated

and I'll leave this right here

[Ziindarax]

Thanks Buffyanne (and everyone else who took to commenting on my thread)! I took fighter 4 for the feats. Now, I went for bastard sword proficiency so I could use Nightmare in the off-hand to inflict negative levels, as well as to heal with every blow. With 150-ish amp (no Paladin past lives what-so-ever), I am healing for about 3 points a blow, and 7 on a critical, and speaking of critical hits, when I land one whilst in a rage, I can hit for a little over 1,000 points of damage (1.1k if I am using a special attack).

As far as augments go, I slotted 138 devotion on Nightmare (but I may consider trying the dwarven axe trick). Ameliorating strike frequently heals for about 378 a tick (and with Zeal of the Righteous [Zeal of the Berserker for our purposes, and role-play], I am landing up to three times per Ameliorating strike, which also makes me immune to rage wearing off). Greater Regen from Belt of Thoughtful Remembrance heals my character for 5 points of health every-so-often, while the maxed out Fast Healing from the barbarian tree adds a nice touch, and stacks with the Past-life version (curious note, the Past Life version of Fast Healing, when maxed out, would imply I am healing for 15 hit points plus 15 for every 5 levels, yet I am consistently only healing about 87 points of health per tick, at level 28).

As far as Metabolic Rage goes... I am healing for about 100 points of health per tick.


Damage-wise, most of my enemies seem to be falling before me with little trouble - and with ship buffs (I am wearing the Thunderforge bracers), my elemental resistance sits at 60 each. PRR/MRR are much weaker than characters built around damage resistance, so he's got 58% physical resistance, and 41% magical resistance. With ship buffs and best-in-slot items (currently abbot) in play, I am sitting on 55 fort 48 reflex, and 42 will. STR is at 45, and con 39, when I am not raging. Charisma is 23 and Dex 33., int is 17, and Wis 19.

The only thing that kinda worries me, even though it was on Epic Normal of TOEE, with mobs now throwing debuffs to your PRR, was how my guy almost got creamed on Epic Normal by a contingent of guards by the Fire Temple entrance, but besides that, he had no trouble staying north of 500 hitpoints. As soon as it loads, I am going to run some quick tests on Lammania (and maybe attempt to solo some Epic Elite quests once I unlock them to figure out how the build really holds up).

UPDATE 1:

This is not a pike build, while it is very powerful (and shredded Devils in Epic Elite Devil Assault), you CAN die very easily if you get cocky or arrogant (I died after the fourth or fifth wave). Crusade helps with keeping you alive during tougher battles, as long as you can kill mobs quickly.

Going to attempt another run, but this time, make more fuller use of my resources (didn't use everything I had at my disposal).


UPDATE 2:

Alright, here's my final ruling - after running Epic Elite Devil's Assault several times, I find that the build fails to complete it. It's not that his damage output isn't sufficient; he's killing the mobs quickly. Either I am not quite up-to-par with the button mashing or other active skills that one would need to master the build, or the build is just simply too squishy (and too soft) to survive the gigantic outpouring of mobs in later waves. It should be noted that I am not using Shadow Dragonplate, and the reason for that is a build is not all that great if it must depend on one destiny, or one item, to become great. Rather, it should be able to stand on it's own.

That being said, this build is more of a team-oriented build - get him into a team, and he'll do pretty well keeping himself, and others, alive. Additionally, I cannot truly call this a Khorne Berserker because of the frequency of magic procs, and his reliance upon them (thus making him more of a martial champion of Tzeentch (or a simple champion of Chaos as a whole). I chose EE Devil's Assault because the mobs come AT you, and in very large quantities, perhaps in larger quantities than in most quests (in most quests, he might do fine on his own, but I am choosing some of the hardest stuff because I want to see what this build is capable of under tight pressure [tons of mobs surrounding and butchering you. A build using Displacement will, naturally of course, be able to take out such mobs with ease, but this is an offense build).

I will be testing this claim of team ability (as well as general ability to solo easier EE quests) later, when I get a chance.

Thanks for the mention of my Witch Elf. I have been trying out the barbarian trees on a L20 pure Barbarian in preparing the build. I have a couple thoughts for your Khorne Berzerker.

Races I would say you could go Human, Warforged or Half-Orc. The original Khorne Berserkers would be genetically modified World Eaters from the Rampager Squads. So in DDO game terms warped humans could be warforged or half-orc.

Khorne Berzerkers favorite weapons are chain axes so i would go with dwarven axes dual wielded if you went TWF or great axe if THF. The Headsman of Cellebos uses a two handed chain axe so either would be appropriate. I think dual swarven axes looks more intimidating personally. TF DPS as with maybe something like the Mountains Fist in offhand, that has 3 augment slots for procs and devotion augment.

Frenzy Berzerker really fits the Khorne theme, blood for the blood god, but I can tell you it has healing problems. Conversely, Ravager has almost no healing problems. Something to consider. It's too bad that Blood Tribute is lame because that would be perfect for the blood god.

I am not sure 4 fighter gives you much other than feats. None of the trees really fit the build. Kensai does get you free dwarf ax proficiency but feels a bit too zen for your purposes. You can't be raged in Stalwart defense stance. The Tempest tree from Ranger has some nice TWF abilities. Dance of Death is quite powerful now, but it costs a lot of points. Kinda brain storming here. The Storm's Eye capstone in Frenzy Berzerker really fits but then you're just basically playing a L20 Barbarian. Maybe a Grey Knight from Occult slayer is an easier dual class build to do?

Incidently, here are some 'named' Khorne Berzerkers if they aren't taken in the game....

Kham the Betrayer
Akraghar
Roghrax Bloodhand
Headsman of Cellebos
Kossolax the Foresworn
Scyrak the Slaughterer
Zhufor
Urkrathos

[Ziindarax]

I was looking at the Bladeforged character creation options today and they would really look good as Khorne Berzerkers. I don't know if you have a LR2 to get rid of the Pally levels or not. Put one of those in an epic red dragon docent and you are looking very much like a devotee of the blood god.

Yeah, with the Eight-pointed star for a hair-style going on - the only reason I recommend Human/PDK, or maybe Half-Orc (though they're not thematically accurate seeing as Orcs don't technically worship chaos) is because Bladeforged receive too steep a penalty to their healing amp, and this build does not really afford you any AP left over to spend on racials (even though the Bladeforged WOULD look cool!).


As for another person's suggestion on the dual-axes or some other weapon resembling the Chain axes/swords. I propose DDOstore Weapon Glamors of the Axe of Famine, or the Epic Spinal Tap. The Axe of Famine should work pretty well for the Warhammer theme, as it is fairly savage looking, and the Spinal Tap resembles a primitive Chain Sword. (note, I recommend using the REGULAR Spinal Tap for glamoring, as glamoring destroys the weapon, and you REALLY don't want to waste the epic versions for mere cosmetics, and the Axe of Famine is super easy to farm since they were made part of the triple-farm chain reward deal many updates ago that guaranteed a chain's item).

Anyways, with Triple Epic Completionist, this build is extraordinarily solid - the fourth twist could be used for Primal Scream, which gives a nice AOE burst damage, and a decent boost to damage and health. Not to mention, the double strike. Have Mastery over Life and Death, Fast Healing (or Colors if you prefer), Double Strike, and Arcane Enchant Weapon active. If you have Triple PDK/Morninglord lives, this works as well!

In any event, with sufficient farming, it's possible for the PRR to reach that of a specialized tank build (mitigating at least 60% incoming physical damage), and while it's not the ultimate build (no uber-high saves, no evasion, no specialized divine nukes, and scroll ability might just barely be enough to use a heal scroll semi-reliably... with a UMD Greensteel), it is extremely fun to play.

Dressing up as near as you can to a Chaos Warrior is optional (wondering what the TOEE plate armor looks like, and if it could be glamored over Shadow Dragonplate to get that aura of darkness from the Darth Maul-looking armor effect for maximum coolness (add in the golden Doom skull glamor for extra effect (or maybe the Glowing red/Purple Eye feature if you like the sight of characters without helms).

[unbongwah]

I was thinking of a 12 Barb/4 FVS/4 Ranger build myself just a few days ago.

You might want to check out Battleragers and the Bastard.