[Guide] Barbarian builds & tips

III. Main Stat Builds of the Barbarian

NOTE: All builds focus first on fulfilling weapon/armor requirements, then differentiate, based on how you spend the remaining status points.

• Choose the build best suited for your play style; and there’s no need to follow one build the whole way through.
  
• You can try a hybrid build first (to level quickly), then move toward a tank build at higher levels (to survive in dungeons/TW/PVP), and lastly add a little more Dex before you reach max level (for PKing).

A. Str-Based Damage Dealer
Armor: Heavy
VIT = 1 each level
STR = 3 each level
DEX = 1 each level

Comments: Levels quickly at low levels, but the low HP will kill you later. If you’re looking for high damage, you might as well be a Blademaster instead.

B. Hybrid
Armor: Light for magic opponents, Heavy for physical opponents
VIT = 1 each level
STR = 2.5 each level
DEX = 1.5 each level
(or 2 Vit / 5 Str / 3 Dex every two levels)

Comments: same comments as Build A, except that you will have a decent base accuracy and critical hit rate. Works well in PVP if you go with the Demon path at lv 89. Also, being able to switch from heavy to light armors will allow you to tank magic damage better than Build A. Still not as useful as a tanker build though.

C. Tanker (Recommended Build)
Armor: Heavy
VIT = all points left over
STR = follow equipment requirements
DEX = follow equipment requirements

Notes: Parties and Territory War factions love this type. Great for tanking bosses/mobs and as a catapult puller in TW, but don't expect to kill things as quickly as other classes until you're at a very high level. Once you get Armageddon lv 10 and very high HP, you’ll pwn in PvP, but that’s if you don’t miss. Using Blood Bath helps.

IV. Equipment

A. Accuracy Rings and Soul Gems

• All builds will benefit greatly with the Blood Bath skill lv. 10 (Reduces maximum HP and current HP by 16% to increase accuracy by 200% for 10 minutes) and +50% accuracy rings. Blood Bath easily solves the low accuracy problem. The +50% accuracy rings (can be used at Lv. 77?) are not a necessity, but it helps a lot in PVP at high levels, when you start to miss Archers and Blademasters most of the time.
  
  A note on the +50% accuracy rings (aka LingYun rings): LingYuns are almost worthless if the base accuracy of a Barbarian isn't at least moderately high. LingYuns don't benefit from Blood Bath at all, which is their biggest downside. However, they become irreplaceable once your Barbarian's base accuracy is high. Also, you won't be able to get these rings until around lv 70; and even then, they are quite expensive and rare.
  
• Also, if you get to lv 90, you can replace LingYun rings with HH 90 gold rings (each +30% accuracy and +2 % crit) for more damage. Works best with the Demon path because this path adds more critical hit rate to some skills and +100% more accuracy for Blood Bath.
  
• It’s best to slot accuracy gems on your weapons and HP gems for your armors. +Vit and +Dex bonuses are nice too. Some may choose to use Physical/Magic defense gems, but HP gems will make you much more well-rounded, and Armageddon and Beast King's Inspiration are better with higher HP.
  
• M.def jewelry to balance out the defenses when using heavy armor is also recommended. Hell, a top Werebeast/Barbarian player in PW-MY, has stated, in his view, that “heavy armor WB with magic defense jewelry is the best most balanced way to equip one's WB.”

B. Gear Requirements for Axes/Hammers and Heavy Armor:
lvl str dex excess
1 5 5 0
2 6 5 4
3 8 5 7
4 9 5 11
5 12 6 12
7 16 6 18
8 16 7 22
9 20 7 23
10 20 7 28
11 24 8 28
12 28 9 28
13 33 9 28
15 40 10 30
16 44 11 30
17 48 12 30
18 52 13 30
19 56 14 30
20 60 15 30
21 65 15 30
22 66 16 33
23 70 16 34
24 74 17 34
26 79 17 39
27 83 18 39
29 90 18 42
30 92 19 44
31 95 20 45
33 100 21 49
34 104 22 49
36 107 24 54
37 110 26 54
39 120 26 54
40 120 26 59
41 125 26 59
43 129 26 65
44 134 26 65
46 137 31 67
47 143 32 67
49 151 32 67
50 151 32 72
51 155 32 73
52 160 32 73
53 160 32 78
54 164 32 79
56 169 32 84
57 173 33 84
59 181 33 86
60 182 34 89
61 185 35 90
62 185 38 92
63 189 38 93
64 194 38 93
66 198 38 99
67 203 38 99
69 212 39 99
70 212 39 104
71 215 41 104
73 220 46 104
74 224 47 104
76 232 49 104
77 236 50 104
79 246 50 104
80 246 50 109
81 246 50 114
83 252 53 115
84 256 54 115
85 261 54 115
86 263 55 117
87 267 56 117
88 272 56 117
89 277 56 117
90 277 56 122
91 277 58 125
93 281 59 130
94 285 60 130
95 290 60 130
96 294 61 130
97 298 62 130
98 303 62 130
99 308 62 130
100 308 62 135
101 308 62 140
103 309 62 149
104 314 62 149
105 314 62 154

VI. Additional Tips - Read if you dare!

A. In-depth guide to Tanking - a Barbarian's #1 role in PVE parties
--The tips above are a little too brief, so I'll go more into detail here.

Spamming Flesh Ream definitely is the #1 rule for tanking. Just remember that your Chi will run out if you keep spamming Flesh Ream continuously without also adding in extra attacks/skills (Frighten, Alacrity of the Beast, and Surf Impact for example) that do not consume Chi. This becomes more important later on (lv 60+), when you need to build up your Chi to use highly useful skills such as Invoke the Spirit and Sunder (requires 2 Spark each). Keep Beastial Rage activated while tanking to help build up Chi.

And whenever you need to aggro multiple mobs quickly, use Roar (aka Talk is cheap), then spam Flesh Ream on each. You will lose aggro more easily if you do not spam Flesh Ream after every few attacks. Max Flesh Ream and Roar to make your job easier.

I hardly ever use Devour because it requires a lot of Chi (nearly twice as much as Flesh Ream), and Flesh Ream is better at keeping aggro. Plus, the physical defense reduction from Devour only lasts 10 seconds on regular mobs and even less on bosses. If you really like using Devour, just use it once in awhile - whenever the mob's physical defense needs to be reduced. If there are no physical attack dealers in your party, then there's no point using Devour.

The main focuses while tanking are: Gaining Chi, Maintaining Aggro, and Staying Alive. Let your party members handle the damage dealing/killing. If there's no need for a tank, change back to humanoid form and join in on the mass destruction.

B. Tanking Magic Bosses - Use Alacrity of the Beast To Cancel Their Ultimate Attack

Using Alacrity of the Beast is an important part of tanking. If you are able to cancel the boss's skills, especially the AoEs, then you can save your party from certain death .

Timing Alacrity of the Beast to cancel the boss's skills does take a bit of practice. The general idea is to use it immediately when you see that the boss stops attacking and a casting aura appears underneath the boss. Some bosses, such as the Myriadial Wyvern in FB 51, do not have a casting aura, yet you can cancel the skill. All bosses have a set attack pattern they follow every time. A boss's casting time varies, so you may have to time Alacrity of the Beast before you notice the boss casting.

Figure that out, as well as how the boss moves before/during/after it's casting skill, to time your attacks. And remember, using Alacrity of the Beast too early or too late will not cancel the boss's skill. You've only got a couple seconds or even 1 second to cancel it successfully. A common mistake is when you're in the middle of another skill animation when the boss starts casting. You'll be too late to cancel with Alacrity of the Beast. So you need to be prepared to use Alacrity of the Beast before the boss begins casting, while also making sure that you don't use it too soon.

Anyways, here's an example:
The 3rd boss of FB51, Myriadial Wyvern - it attacks 5 times before it uses it's AoE/cursing skill. So use Alacrity of the Beast after it does 5 normal attacks. The normal attacks look like headbutts and slaps, while the AoE/cursing skill looks like a stomp. So your goal is to prevent the boss from stomping :P .

Usually, the boss uses its casting spell after the cooldown time of Alacrity of the Beast. So this makes it possible to cancel every casting skill that the boss uses. There are some exceptions though, like the bosses that cast continuously (such as that Herc Trioc boss in FB39) or re-casts very quickly (like the HH 1-1 squad drum boss when it's at 5-10% HP). Those are either impossible or very difficult to cancel..

Also, mobs like to use their casting spell continuously if you have some distance between you and the mob. So a nice way to set up your timing for Alacrity of the Beast is to stop a few meters away from the mob, then see if it begins casting. If it does, immediately run up to it and cast Alacrity of the Beast. Now you'll know that the mob will cast again when the cooldown time of Alacrity of the Beast is over, so get ready for the next cancel when the cooldown is almost up!

Apocalypse - Lost City wrote: »

After 6X, Alacrity of Beast becomes a pertinent part of any HH or FB party. One thing to note is that you SHOULD NOT level Alacrity over lvl7. Example, Lord of Percussion(Drum God), uses his AoE, or in solo mode his hard hitter, every 10 secs. lvl7 Alacrity of Beast cools down at 9.5 secs. Perfect set up for AoE intercept, now not every boss follows this pattern, but keeping it at lvl7 will give you a great feel on when to hit them. I think we all understand that each boss, for the most part, has a tell, but sometimes you may be just a little late, so keeping track of Alacrity cool down is a great measure of most AoE's.

bulletofdoom wrote: »

can u help i made my char stats 32str and vit 16 and dex16 is there a way that i can make him tanker(lvl12)

Well, the tanker build is just following the Gear Requirements for Dual Axes and Heavy Armor, with the remaining points going into Vitality. Check out the 2nd post of the guide for more details. Your stats are fine. Just focus more on your Str and Vit, less on Dex.

Thanks for the comments! b:pleased
Roar is the AoE aggro skill that is also called "Talk is cheap." You can get it at lv 34. Also, I did mention to max Axe & Hammer Mastery in the guide.