Skaldic Rage substituted for Barbarian Rage?

[arminius]

I left the game in late 2017, and am dipping my toe back in the water now. At the time I had a character that I loved very much, a 2/6/12 Bard/Barbarian/Ranger.

This was due to Rangers being too squishy at a time when PRR and massive hit point totals began to dominate all. Barbarian made for an interesting multiclass to boost damage and durability, but Rage was a problem because it blocks spell casting and other things that a Ranger might want to do. Did it also block Rejuvenation Cocoon? I can't remember. I only remember that at the time Cocoon was a primary consideration/twist for just about every character.

I had come across Skaldic Rage in the Warchanter tree and, at the time, it satisfied all the Barbarian requirements for "when Raging" effects in the enhancements and epic destiny abilities without actually being "real rage" and blocking things like casting or performing int skills.

Has that been "fixed," to where the system ignores Skaldic Rage for "when Raging" effects? Reading up I am seeing that there was a fix in 2018 that made Skaldic and Barbarian rages not stack, as intended. Did that break the "when Raging" effects as well?

This character was a great deal of fun to play, and was very survivable and dealt a lot of damage, so I was looking to play the build in the upcoming hardcore season. However, if it is pointless now because of a Skaldic Rage change, I'd rather know in advance. Please advise, thanks!

EDIT: after testing it on heroic and epic, the answer appears to be: it does not count for While Raged effects in heroic, but it does count for While Raged effects in Epic Destinies, like Fury's Tunnel Vision.

[Tobril]

Skaldic rage uses a bard song and has a 30 second cooldown. It lasts as long as your other active songs. (which is a long time, ~20-30 minutes depending on enhancements)

You can still cast spells.

It doesn't trigger Blood Feast.

[unbongwah]

Did it also block Rejuvenation Cocoon?

Barbarian Rage did/does block SLAs like Cocoon, but it doesn't block other abilities like Aasimar's Healing Hands or Consecration+Sacred Ground.

Has that been "fixed," to where the system ignores Skaldic Rage for "when Raging" effects?

Yes. Skaldic Rage was intended as an alternative to barbarian Rage - one which doesn't block spellcasting - but there were weird bugs like how it benefited from barbarian enhancements to Rage etc. Those are long gone now, AFAIK.

On the plus side, SSG also "de-coupled" some of the barbarian DPS bonuses from Rage so they will work while un-Raged, e.g., the crit bonuses in the tier-5s. Speaking of which, the Berserker and Occult Slayer crit bonuses are a lot better than they used to be so there are viable alternatives to Critical Rage now.

[Fivetigers33]

I just tested this the other day and Skaldic Rage DID NOT trigger Power Rage (+3 STR while raging) in the Frenzied Berserker tree.

Based on that I assumed (could be wrong) that it also wont trigger Raging Strength on the Charune minor artifact.

[Kebtid]

I just tested this the other day and Skaldic Rage DID NOT trigger Power Rage (+3 STR while raging) in the Frenzied Berserker tree.

Based on that I assumed (could be wrong) that it also wont trigger Raging Strength on the Charune minor artifact.

Charunes 3 str does not work at all currently.

[arminius]

All my tests show that that effect, that it would trigger "when raged" effects, appears to have been fixed so that it doesn't work anymore.

I am on my second life on HCL with this character, 12/6/2 Tempest Ranger/Barbarian/Bard. It is fun to play, whether Skaldic Rage triggers rage effects or not. Ranger I think really benefits from the HP and light armor/no shield defensive benefits from Frenzied Berserker and Occult Slayer. I really like Blood Tribute on HCL of course, and things like Knockout, Guarding Bond, and Arcane Encumbrance from Occult Slayer are nice defensive effects. Frenzy on a TWF Tempest puts a lot of damage downrange.

That leaves two levels open, and Bard is as good as any I guess. It mostly boils down to the + strength from Skaldic Rage, but it's a good benefit that always stacks and doesn't block Int skills or spells/scrolls/cocoon. I'm not sure of a better use of those 2 levels, I thought about Fighter of course, but Ranger already has Haste boost and Barb has running boost, and the extra feat is nice but because Tempests' most critical feats are autogranted; they aren't feat starved. Rogue maybe, but just wasn't feeling jazzed about it.

[arminius]

Surprise! It does not appear to count vs While Raged... enhancements, but it does count against While Raged... Epic Destiny abilities like Tunnel Vision. I finally started going through epics to have a chance to test it.