Defense Barbarians and stylebane

[tooshifty]

Sooo....im currently rolling a def barb. Its werebear spear human. Im trying to put things like barb la to actual use. I should get maybe 1900-2000def and proc in the 800s when im lucky. Hp I assume will reach about 5k and my wyrm dot should pop around 100-170ish. Werebear will give me better spear damage and much needed gm weapon powers.

Ive tested def barbs in the past and this weird combo seems the most optimal.

WHAT KIND of def barbs have yall tested with luck of at least being viable.


im on another innovation spree.

[Badmoon]

I dunno about "def" barbs. But I did a rogue UA con/int barb(hi napstar). It worked insanely well. Proccing KoPs with undead hunter and oblivion/truth procs. 7k hp, insanely high atr and stam. Almost impossible to die to another melee toon.

[tooshifty]

I dunno about "def" barbs. But I did a rogue UA con/int barb(hi napstar). It worked insanely well. Proccing KoPs with undead hunter and oblivion/truth procs. 7k hp, insanely high atr and stam. Almost impossible to die to another melee toon.

yup i have one called pinjin.

I'm talkin actuall Def barb here though. Rogue or Fighter. I want to know if anyone but me can make this madness viable.

[Mantis]

I don't know about "viable," but just from looking at weapon powers and such, I would go with throwing daggers, as they are the only weapons that barbs get access to that are dex based and have a decent atr cut (lvl 25 from throwing). You could go werebear or train blademaster feint/valkyr to get past defense. It sucks not getting a dex bonus from the rage, though.

[tooshifty]

I don't know about "viable," but just from looking at weapon powers and such, I would go with throwing daggers, as they are the only weapons that barbs get access to that are dex based and have a decent atr cut (lvl 25 from throwing). You could go werebear or train blademaster feint/valkyr to get past defense. It sucks not getting a dex bonus from the rage, though.

you sir forget about wereforms. This is the reason i will have a werebear wyrmslayer....for the 4 gm weapon powers. i will get back to yall when i test it...but as far as i can sense it gonna be a monster of a toon.

note yall disbelieve my inovation...but i claim to be the outright master of making toons that are super strong out of things people think are crap. At this point int SB the creation list is much smaller in this respect....but i have a good few builds i need to prove monsterouse.....this is just but one.

[BraveSirRobin]

Sooo....im currently rolling a def barb. Its werebear spear human. Im trying to put things like barb la to actual use. I should get maybe 1900-2000def and proc in the 800s when im lucky. Hp I assume will reach about 5k and my wyrm dot should pop around 100-170ish. Werebear will give me better spear damage and much needed gm weapon powers.

Ive tested def barbs in the past and this weird combo seems the most optimal.

WHAT KIND of def barbs have yall tested with luck of at least being viable.


im on another innovation spree.

I once made a dagger chucking bird proccer barb that I tried to get both decent melee and decent proc damage on. I dropped a 40 dex and a 40 int on it and used Morlochs of SomeProc 110% throwing daggers. I think I took UH but normally used a proc bot for DooVoo with it. It was okay but procs are just too damn unreliable for my tastes.

I finally got a chance to wear the green LA Barb armor (Orc skin?) on it but I was all o-stance.

[Steffa97]

Barbs SHOULD get UA/UA mastery at 20 rogue/10 fighter, I'd go with that. Beats spear's 5 rogue/15 fighter, and you shouldn't need a mastery rune. Frees up another disc, and you'll proc way faster. With your GM wereform powers you'll be fine. Go rogue IMO for access to vorg LA. Your defense in D-stance will be 2000+, not to mention the great HP pool.

Only thing is that you have to switch the usual barb playstyle. The barbarian's class defining power destroys what this toon is trying to do. Battle rage carries a -75% defense penalty iirc. It's either 50 or 75. Use it as an I.C.E. heal before you evac for example.

[tooshifty]

Barbs SHOULD get UA/UA mastery at 20 rogue/10 fighter, I'd go with that. Beats spear's 5 rogue/15 fighter, and you shouldn't need a mastery rune. Frees up another disc, and you'll proc way faster. With your GM wereform powers you'll be fine. Go rogue IMO for access to vorg LA. Your defense in D-stance will be 2000+, not to mention the great HP pool.

Only thing is that you have to switch the usual barb playstyle. The barbarian's class defining power destroys what this toon is trying to do. Battle rage carries a -75% defense penalty iirc. It's either 50 or 75. Use it as an I.C.E. heal before you evac for example.

yah im testing it with spear. UA is my fallback option. I may have to go to UA for the simple lack of a proper atr cut on the spear. The dot should more than make up for the lack off proc, and a drakespear is fast.

I would still gm the rage...its just it would be a last resort and i would then switch to off stance. I would have around 6k+ when i raged for sure so its still a good option, and with spear i still have the melee dmg buffed from it.

The idea is high def/high con high procs. and it should get more con than any def rogue can easy.

[Steffa97]

UA has no atr cut either.

[tooshifty]

shit...thats right Its SD that gets the ATR cut...

[mmmbeefy]

The trick with going bear on this is keeping up with your procs, your window of bear/fully procced is going to be relatively small.

Going aelfborn to access the elf MA and generally going high dex / mid con / mid int would probably be the most viable version of this, with throwing daggs. You'll definitely need the dex in order to get respectable def numbers, esp. sans shield or stackable def buff.

[Steffa97]

The trick with going bear on this is keeping up with your procs, your window of bear/fully procced is going to be relatively small.

Going aelfborn to access the elf MA and generally going high dex / mid con / mid int would probably be the most viable version of this, with throwing daggs. You'll definitely need the dex in order to get respectable def numbers, esp. sans shield or stackable def buff.

If he's going rogue the best option for defense would be LA because he can use vorg pieces.

[Ghromdur]

This intrigues me.

Its probably gimpish, but it is noteworthy for trying to be something other than a bird scout

[Steffa97]

This intrigues me.

Its probably gimpish, but it is noteworthy for trying to be something other than a bird scout

I've seen them in action and they're surprisingly good. You get a Barb's massive HP/level and HP/con bonuses along with toughness. Plus PR20 UA/UAM powers are the same as a Scout's. Only thing is your rage needs to be used when you're about to evac and you know you've lost a fight because it cuts defense by 75%.

[Mantis]

UA gets no atr cut, it's gimp. No one will ever struggle to hit a rogue with lol level 15 def stance.

[Steffa97]

UA gets no atr cut, it's gimp. No one will ever struggle to hit a rogue with lol level 15 def stance.

You can still achieve decent defense (it's 15% bonus defense vs 25% at GM) and I didn't say these were perfect. They have their weaknesses but IMO the trade off of a little extra defense for a LOT more HP is worth it for some. You should still be able to at least reach 1950 though using appropriate gear.

They're not the best in the game but they're not gimp.

[Mantis]

1950 Def is fine if you have an atr cut, but otherwise it will be far inferior to a con/resist variant. Defense is only useful if you can keep other toons from hitting you, and that's simply not going to happen without some way of debuffing your opponent's attack rating.

[Bole]

I plan to play with a 1h axe and shield barb, i did one years ago... I had fun with it.

[Bole]

I plan to play with a 1h axe and shield barb, i did one years ago... I had fun with it.

[Rucker]

Go throwing daggers if your going to do this, youll get an atr debuff from throwing.

[Steffa97]

Go throwing daggers if your going to do this, youll get an atr debuff from throwing.

Decent idea but I'm not sure if dagger unlocks throwing on barbs. If you do this you may need 80 axe to unlock throwing but this seems the best option besides no defense cut.

[Bruskie]

on live barbs are granted throwing. i am sure it is here as well. but i could be wrong.

[xilic]

any reason why you're going with a barb instead of a warrior? i mean going for a characteristic (def) where the profession's signature power has a massive def-cut as a side effect seems a bit conflicted.

[Badmoon]

barbarians get throwing free.
Throwing daggers sucks because not having a defcut is shit on a solo toon.
Throwing daggers only works well solo on a thief with crippling blow or a fun screw around toon like a mage assy or fury or something that can blind.

[xilic]

put a throwing mastery rune on a warrior and you get level 30 powers which beats out what you get for free on a barb.

i know that it's a pain to need a rune though.

[Steffa97]

I stand corrected- barbs are auto-granted throwing by the looks of it. I thought it only unlocked with pre-req 80 Axe for some reason.

[tooshifty]

any reason why you're going with a barb instead of a warrior? i mean going for a characteristic (def) where the profession's signature power has a massive def-cut as a side effect seems a bit conflicted.

Rogue is the reason for that.

spear im taking over throwing or ua because it makes rage more usefull with the crazy dps the toon will spew, and having 5000 plus hp is more thEn enough in that state.

if i make the toon again its ua for sure.

[Steffa97]

any reason why you're going with a barb instead of a warrior? i mean going for a characteristic (def) where the profession's signature power has a massive def-cut as a side effect seems a bit conflicted.

I dueled an UA defense barb and even with rage up, if dodge is high enough, you have a lot of HP/HP Recovery along with him dodging nearly half my attacks. The def cut sucks but it's not an end-all be-all to a fight if you only use it as a last resort.