Dexterity Barbarian

[Lucas]

I folks.

Do you think that a Dex Barb could work well?

I aim to get most possible AC, gaining not only AC on Constitution, but gaining too whit Dexterety.

This could work with a dual wielding build? Or with a rapier?

Thanks in advance

[Supply Slut]

Try it and let us know. That said you could always grab gloves if dexterity for extra AC, dex saves, and initiative rolls

[Kernest]

In BG3, unlike in regular DnD, Rage does give bonus damage to DEX weapon attacks, so what you'll want to do is pick a Barbarian subclass that doesn't have much use for its Bonus Action beyond activating Rage on turn 1.

In other words, avoid Berserker.

And also Wild Magic, but Wild Magic should be avoided under any circumstances anyways.

So just pick carefully the right Wildheart abilities.

Biggest downside here would be that you can't get Two-Weapon Fighting style unless you multiclass into 1 level of Fighter, for example, but any multiclass of fewer than 4 levels costs you a Feat/ASI.

[MattStriker]

Fighter 4/Barb 8 isn't a bad full feat multiclass. And if you think you can spare the feat, Half-Orc Champion 3/Wildheart 9 makes for a pretty silly crit build.

[The1Kobra]

Oh, DEX Barbarian is one of my favorite melee builds and what I respecced Karlach into.

I went with DEX berserker.
But I didn't go single class Barbarian, I went for Barbarian/Rogue. For an additional note: Reckless attack gives you advantage which will get you the bonus sneak attack dice for a nice chunk of extra damage per round.
6/6 or 5/7 Barbarian/Rogue works quite nicely.

Starting with Rogue gets you 1 more skill, Starting with Barbarian gets you medium armor proficiency. So there is a toss-up there.

Either way, I'm quite happy with how the build turned out in my playthrough.

[Kiyaya]

I did a build that was something like Fighter 6/Thief 4/Barb 2 using Dex Dual Wielding for my Tactician playthrough. Was quite fun.

[guard65]

Not in BG3, here is why.

Rage forces strength bonuses only. So if you have a Barbarian with a strength of 12 (+1) and a Dexterity of 20 (+5) using say dual short swords. Sadly this is what you get while raging, 1d6 +1(str) + 2(rage) for 1d6+3 damage. You loose everything by raging damage wise just to gain resistance on physical attacks.

[Kernest]

Originally posted by Kernest:

Biggest downside here would be that you can't get Two-Weapon Fighting style unless you multiclass into 1 level of Fighter, for example, but any multiclass of fewer than 4 levels costs you a Feat/ASI.

Slight correction there are the gloves that give you TWF style, but that then would come at a cost of not wearing any other gloves, including the bracers of defense (or whatever they were called) that you can get very early that give +2 AC if not wearing armour.

You can get the necklace from House of Hope to set your CON to 23, but that's a very late game item.

[Kernest]

Originally posted by guard65:

Not in BG3, here is why.

Rage forces strength bonuses only.

Inaccurate.

In DnD 5e you only get rage damage bonus to STR based attacks, but not so in BG3.

[Jairoe03]

Originally posted by Lucas:

I folks.

Do you think that a Dex Barb could work well?

I aim to get most possible AC, gaining not only AC on Constitution, but gaining too whit Dexterety.

This could work with a dual wielding build? Or with a rapier?

Thanks in advance

Define "work well". If you don't define it, you are going to get many differing opinions on it. What's the minimum requirement of "work well".

I can tell you off the bat, it's not going to perform comparable to a STR barbarian because there are certain things you give up that are fairly important like jump distance.

If you ask me, can a DEX barbarian be functional? I would say, yes, it can contribute to a battle in some way.

So, I imagine you are shooting somewhere between "is it at least not a complete waste" to "is there a possibility where DEX barb can be considered optimal". So, yeah I would like to answer something like this but feel the request is a bit too vague.

Also, whats the purpose to maximize AC on a barbarian?

[guard65]

Originally posted by Kernest:

In DnD 5e you only get rage damage bonus to STR based attacks, but not so in BG3.

True in 5e but in BG3 it forces strength bonus damage + rage to all weapons, even dexterity weapon get forced to strength bonus plus rage bonus. It is the reason I abandon my dual welding Rogue / Barbarian in this game.

[wendigo211]

If I were going for Dex barbarian, I would still go for GWM because of the Dancing Breeze[bg3.wiki]. That said, assuming you max dex (22) and wear the Amulet of Greater Health (23 con) and a +1 AC robe (like the Cloth of Authority) you could manage at best a 23 AC. Which is the same as you would get in the Armor of Agility with a 22 dex, and two more than you would get in Helldusk Armor.

[Lucas]

Thanks to all =)

I will try it... It's a promise, in some days i'll post an update.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Sexy Dexy 'Barian is an awesome build.

[Humpenstilzchen]

Why not both strenght and dexterity? These gloves make it possible:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3076773481

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Originally posted by Humpenstilzchen:

Why not both strenght and dexterity? These gloves make it possible:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3076773481

AND Constitution!