Barb Unarmored Defense vs Flawed Helldusk Medium Armor

[aquaricorn]

Wondering if there's really ever a time to trade in that immune to crit. You can certainly build a Barb (or Karlach specifically) to have high dex and con, geared with bracers of defense for +2 AC and cloth armor that boosts STR or CON. But the question is really is it worth it beyond the RP?

[zero]

no, gear gives effects, simple as.

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

No matter the gear effects - Barb with armor will always be wrong for me :P

[rubberducky102760]

Karlach wears the for real Helldusk Armor set like no other party member. Like a boss. The only thing I like more is her after party outfit, which is totally some kind of leather armor. Helldusk is simply too hot to put on any other character. The flawed set is kinda meh, by comparison, and I usually sell it off. But if what you're really talking about is whether or not to armor up a Barb, my answer is, why not? I armor Gale up too. I'm actually kind of an expert on armoring him up in ways that look distinctly wizardly. If it can be done, it should be. At least once.

[Sentient_Toaster]

Crit prevention is interesting for a barbarian if you're very frequently using Reckless Attack, since the expected crit chance against you is 9.75% when attackers have advantage rather than the base 5% on a straight roll.

[AokiYakumo]

Honestly, ice cold take here: Unarmored Defense on the Barbarian is ass.

It's SOOO much better to stick a medium armor set on one than anything else, gloves are HOTLY contested (seriously the Bracers of Defense have to compete with so many amazing glove options that it frankly looks pathetic in comparison, Sparkle Hands are found in the same local area and they can be outright BUSTED on the right build) with some of the best gloves in the game giving damage bonuses, condition stacking (Belligerent Sky Gloves and Luminous Gloves come to mind), skill advantage (Gloves of Thievery anyone?), attack bonuses (Legacy of the Masters from Dammon, those things are underrated), or any other wonderful buffs or utility; shields are shields so the ability to use one and stay nakey is honestly redundant, and several medium armor sets are some of the craziest in the game (Yuan-Ti Scale, Armor of Agility, Adamantine Scale, +2 Chain, etc.), AND half of the good ones ignore the Medium Armor DEX constraints regardless.

Only way it gets to really excel is if you give the BRB the greater health amulet while maxing DEX and taking the +2 from the Mirror of Loss and wielding Walking Fortress and Defender Flail, and guess what? It's not even the highest AC in the game (that honor goes to Swords BRD who can stack it past the 30s), and AC diminishes hard past 22+ (at that point you want disadvantage, which means Cloak of Displacement, but that gets redundant if you have someone with Blur, or a Radiant Orb CLC, or someone who can reliably blind targets). Worse? Armor of Agility does the same sh*t with just 20 DEX.

[dancing.in.the.web]

Originally posted by aquaricorn:

Wondering if there's really ever a time to trade in that immune to crit. You can certainly build a Barb (or Karlach specifically) to have high dex and con, geared with bracers of defense for +2 AC and cloth armor that boosts STR or CON. But the question is really is it worth it beyond the RP?

Flawed Helldusk is HEAVY Armor so it blocks some barb features.
You can use medium adamntine until act3 that is pretty good as anticrit.
But in act 3 there are lots of good non-armor cloths (like bonespike garb) and CON amulet from a house of Hope (It's the key item).
So you can respec attr at Withers dropping CON for DEX (and leaving STR at 22 with a pot traded for Astarion blood) and then using amulet from house of Hope to boost CON to 23.
You will have barb with AC over 20 (21 or 22 I don't remember) with no armor and tons of HP.