Current “mix”

[painkiller3]

What is the current optimal barbarian mix? 41 for ravages capstone, 31 for all the damage resist goodies from occult slayer and then whatever’s leftover in racial? I’m thinking about going for a THF aasimar scourge and am hoping to get to cap by the time Sharn drops

[ifumoveudie]

Any Str based barbarian should be in FB, not ravager. The only time i dip into ravager is if I am running a dwarf TYWA build, otherwise, FB is your main selling point. I ran an Aasimar barbarian a life or two ago, and I maybe dipped into Ravager like 8 points or so, the rest was in FB and Aasimar racial.

[C-Dog]

41 for ravages capstone, 31 for all the damage resist goodies from occult slayer...

Yeah, the Barbarian Power Attack bonus is money at low levels, and Earsmash (and maybe Knockout?) are great to have in your back pocket against casters/etc., but all the temporary hitpoints/self-healing from FB is where a Barb makes his money on that side of the coin. Meanwhile, offense is king - focus on killing them before they kill you, the rest is gravy.

[Hjarki]

Any Str based barbarian should be in FB, not ravager. The only time i dip into ravager is if I am running a dwarf TYWA build, otherwise, FB is your main selling point. I ran an Aasimar barbarian a life or two ago, and I maybe dipped into Ravager like 8 points or so, the rest was in FB and Aasimar racial.

I think Occult Slayer T5 is actually better than FB T5 due to the better critical effects (and Metalline, I suppose) for a pure Barbarian.

Where FB really shines is in multi-class builds where you're getting the +threat range from somewhere else - something like a 12/5/3 Barbarian/Cleric/Bard.

[Hobgoblin]

I think Occult Slayer T5 is actually better than FB T5 due to the better critical effects (and Metalline, I suppose) for a pure Barbarian.

Where FB really shines is in multi-class builds where you're getting the +threat range from somewhere else - something like a 12/5/3 Barbarian/Cleric/Bard.

Can you elaborate? I haven't looked at oc since before they changed it. Also I f I'm find rav lackluster unless u r going for the cores and/or t5

[Hjarki]

Can you elaborate? I haven't looked at oc since before they changed it. Also I f I'm find rav lackluster unless u r going for the cores and/or t5

I find Ravager lackluster as well. I think people get excited about the Ravager capstone, but it's not like you have endless Rages to burn on a death effect and the rest of the tree is uninspiring.

Occult Slayer and Frenzied Berserker have the same critical performance on a conventional weapon. On a 19-20/x3 weapon, Occult Slayer is better because it grants +1/+1 threat/multiplier and 19-20/x+1. Occult Slayer also has the ability to launch a +[w] +1/+1 threat/multiplier attack every 3 seconds (which can work nicely with Fury of the Wild if you want to go that route).

Where you see Frenzied Berserker really pay off is with builds like 8/6/6 Druid/Barbarian/Cleric where you can use a Maul for 16-18/x5 19-20/x7 (2.15) in LD or 12/5/3 Barbarian/Cleric/Bard where you can use a Hand Axe/Buckler for 15-18/x5 19-20/x8 (2.45) main hand and 19-20/x8 (1.65) on Shield Bash.

However, I'm also not particularly enthused by THF Barbarians. The classic "cleave everything" everything approach really starts to falter when it's too difficult to stay alive in the middle of a pack of enemies and you're just comparing single target performance with glancing blows.

[korgzz_bloodaxe]

I think the "standard" for a pure is still 41 points into FB and take the capstone but without taking the T5's and then either ravager t5's or OS t5's. Ravager is better if you do a lot of solo (like me) meanwhile OS is better for a lot of the endgame raids. I can still solo r4-5's pretty comfortably at cap with Ravager so it is still "okay".

[Sydril]

41 Occult Slayer
31 Frenzied Berserker
8 Vistani (Haste boost)