Barbarian Build.

[fenlander]

I am looking to make a new player character and looking at the barbarian. Would like to go Dwarf barb with a two handed axe. ( although the game doesn't have two handed axes, so I guess poleaxe )

1) Are there any special poleaxes in the game I can find?

2) Why do Hatchets give a +5 bonus to deflection?

3) Is INT really important for a barbarian, I would of thought Resolve would of been a better choice?

4) Would like to stay light armour only. My Monk is using robes and has a deflection of 71 at the moment at level 11.
So my question is does base DR go up as you gain levels?

I am guessing my primary stats to be
Might
Con
Secondary
Dex
Resolve.

With Frenzy as my first skill choice.

Any thoughts or ideas on this style?

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

1) https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Pollaxe

2) Design decision.

3) Depends on difficulty setting. INT increases the area of your carnage attacks. If you want to attack from behind your frontliners, you will benefit from increased carnage range. If you want to survive between your frontliners, you don't strictly need raised INT, but hitting more enemies via carnage is what makes Barbarians worthwhile - in particular if causing status effects to multiple enemies. At higher difficulty, it's not easy to build frontliner barbarians with 2H/1H weapon.

4) Yes, with each level you receive a bonus to various values. On the character record, hover your mouse pointer over the values at the left side and display the popup box.


About your attributes choice, with a 2H barb I've had more fun with a focus on DEX, PER and INT. For a frontliner 1H, such as using the We Toki battle axe later, I've also not increased MIG and CON, because barbs come with "very high" base Endurance/Health already, can learn the class-neutral Veteran's Recovery talent and self-healing talents, and hitting multiple enemies is more important than increasing the damage a bit.

[fenlander]

Thank you for the reply, gave me some food for thought. I will take another look at my build. Not that far into the barb save yet so I can re-roll easy enough.

[mosspit]

Just to add

3. For carnage effectiveness, average int is good enough to affect adjacent targets. To affect beyond that (more than a body length away), you have to heavily invest in int which is not a great idea as you need stats elsewhere to be effective. Res is not that useful as Barb is tanky by virtue of their High Endurance and class specific healing, not due to their deflection. Of course, they will be quite weak before getting a few levels, and they cant tank as well against bosses as Pallys or Fighters

Carnage is awesome for propagating on-hit/on-crit effects, or pure dmg. Once Heart of Fury becomes available, they become very effective trash killers.

4. Characters receive a bonus to deflection, will, reflex and fortitude based on level. However, for your question on DR (Damage Reduction), they will not receive any bonuses directly based on levels. Generally you can increase DR by equipment or skills/talents.

[BALONEYPWNY]

I wouldn't worry about DEX - Bloodlust and Blood Thirst handle attack speed just fine. Also, higher INT will help keep Frenzy, Savage Defiance, and Veteran's Recovery going.

For light armor, Wayfarer's Hide is a hide armor boasting a whopping 11 DR. It even has the added bonus of looking Barbarian-ish...if you're going for that.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by BALONEYPWNY:

I wouldn't worry about DEX - Bloodlust and Blood Thirst handle attack speed just fine.

Their requirements are high, though - https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Bloodlust - which is a major hindrance for a slow 2H barb I've mentioned. Blood Thirst, level 7 onwards, is a bit better, but still requires the barb to kill an enemy first. Effectively, faster barbs with less MIG are more helpful.

[BALONEYPWNY]

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

Their requirements are high, though - https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Bloodlust - which is a major hindrance for a slow 2H barb I've mentioned. Blood Thirst, level 7 onwards, is a bit better, but still requires the barb to kill an enemy first. Effectively, faster barbs with less MIG are more helpful.

It's easy to get Bloodlust running with Heart of Fury though :)

In the early game, attack speed is definitely a problem but that's not a problem unique to Barbarians. By the time you come by Frenzy, Bloodlust, Blood Thirst, Durgan Steel, and a quality medium/light armor, the problem vanishes. At least that was my experience.

[fenlander]

What is Durgan Steel?

[BALONEYPWNY]

Enchanting material that increases attack speed on weapons, and reduces armor speed penalty when used on armor.

It requires The White March expansions.