Pillars of Eternity 2features a huge amount of character creation options including a wide assortment of races, classes, and subclasses, along with the ability to multiclass for further customization.
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InPillars of Eternity 2theBarbarianis a group fight master that specializes in taking on large groups of enemies with high mobility and powerful passive abilities, along with an excellent AOE damage source in the form of Carnage. This guide will break down the essentials of the class and offer advice for building a great Barbarian.
The Basics Of The Barbarian
The Barbarian class is a group combat specialist with easy access to AOEvia the Carnage ability. Carnage is a spell-like effect that triggers when they land a hit (grazes don’t count for triggering Carnage) and deals 33% of their weapon’s base damage in an AOE around them. Whether the AOE itself hits, grazes, or crits, it performs identically, and it is unaffected by weapon modifiers. The range of the AOE is increased by the Intellect stat, so this stat can be surprisingly useful.
Barbarians use Rage as their main resource in combat, which certain abilities will allow them to replenish even during combat. They lack defensive abilities and healing, so they need to rely heavily on party members and/or Second Wind. This makes the Athletics skill very important to Barbarians as it is their only easy method of self-healing, and thus it should be prioritized whenever possible.
Barbarians get an excellent selection of abilities to aid them in controlling enemy groups and dishing out damage to them, though many of their best abilities are unlocked later on.
Preferred Stats For Barbarians
Barbarians have four recommended stats, these being Might, Constitution, Dexterity, and Intellect. Barbarians additionally benefit greatly from Resolve for enhancing their deflection and will defense. In general, most Barbarian Builds will want to prioritize Might and Constitution, and then Resolve, without neglecting Dexterity or Intellect too much. Might for hitting hard and boosting fortitude defense, Constitution to give them a huge health pool to work with and further boost fortitude defense, Dexterity to attack faster and move further, and a bit of intelligence to raise the AOE of their Carnage ability. Resolve helps to enhance their defenses further as mentioned before.
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Regardless of subclass Might and Constitution are always the most important statsfor a Barbarian Build, since the Barbarian relies on being able to take plenty of hits while dishing out melee damage. Perception increases Accuracy, so it’s worth putting some points into that as well, and players who prefer accuracy to raw power might even consider prioritizing it over Might for more consistent damage.
Recommended Barbarian Subclasses
The Barbarian Class has four Subclasses, these being the Berserker, Corpse-Eater, Mage Slayer, and Fury Shaper. When it comes to picking the best subclass for the Barbarian, the best options available are the basic Barbarian (No-Subclass), the Berserker, and the Fury Shaper.
The Berserker Subclass upgrades the Strong and Fit inspirations given by the Barbarian’s Frenzy into Tenacious and Hardy. This means that, in addition to the usual benefits, the Berserker also gains +2 Penetration and +2 Armor Rating. It also adds a 30% hit-to-crit conversion effect to melee and carnage attacks while Frenzied. As a trade-off the Berserker becomes Confused while Frenzied, which reduces their intellect by 5 and makes all Carnage attacks into “Friend or Foe”, which can cause a lot of friendly fire without proper positioning. They also take raw damage over time while Frenzied and receive a -10 deflection penalty, and can’t see their own health while Frenzied.
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If building a Berserker it’s recommended to use Battle Axesto further boost crit damage, either one-handed to use the one-handed style to gain further hit-to-crit conversion, or dual wield to benefit from improved recovery time and wield two Battle Axes for fast attacking. As a note, remember that (possibly due to a bug) Carnage usually uses the damage of the weapon in the main hand when determining its damage, so keep the highest damage axe in that hand. Human is the ideal race for the Berserker, to take advantage of Fighting Spirit which can also help players spot when their health is getting low even when the bar itself is hidden.
The Fury Shaper subclass was added in 4.0and allows the Barbarian to use special abilities called “Wards.” These are stationary summons that provide benefits to all party members in range, but cause the Barbarian to take raw damage and suffer a -1 Power Level penalty if they are destroyed. Most of the time enemies won’t target Wards directly, but AOE attacks should be watched out for. Fury Shapers gain +10 accuracy against spirits in exchange for -15 will, but they gain all of their powerful Ward abilities by level 8 if single-classed. This makes them very versatile and a fantastic addition to any team.
Playing Barbarian without a subclass is also very effective, since their core abilities and lack of any additional drawbacks makes them very strong as AOE attackers.
Recommended Races
As mentioned above,Berserker subclass Barbarians benefit greatly from the Human race, which gains +7 accuracy and +15% damage when bloodied or near death, a valuable bonus that can be seen when the health bar is hidden to give players a rough idea of their health value. Humans also get +1 might and +1 resolve, which are excellent stats for the Barbarian regardless of their subclass.
Dwarves can also make good Barbarians due to their +1 racial bonuses to Might and Constitution, which are two of the Barbarian’s most important stats. Similarly, Aumana get a +2 racial bonus to Might that can be very valuable to Barbarians. Both races have access to racial abilities that boost resistance to certain types of afflictions as well, with Aumana able to resist strength afflictions and dwarves able to resist constitution afflictions, which can be very useful.
Recommended Weapons
Barbarians generally perform very well with two-handed weaponssuch as spears, staves, pollaxes, and pikes for increased AOE with Carnage and better reach in general, or greatswords and warhammers for heavy damage.
Barbarians can also handle themselves very well with one-handed weapons, either a single weapon or one in each hand. Battle Axes are especially good here for the boosted critical damage, and Stilettos can provide some extra penetration when dual wielding with a huge boost to recovery time. (Stilettos with dual wielding and Vulnerable attack can be a very potent combo) Maces are another great option here, using dual wielding to offset the recovery time penalty and breaking enemy armor.
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In terms of unique weapons, one powerful option is Tall Grass. This Pike converts an extra 10% of hits into crits and allows crits to inflict prone on enemies. The Hours of St. Rumbalt is another good choice, a Greatsword that can also cause crits to inflict prone and also boosts the critical damage multiplier by 0.5 for some more potent crits. Tidefall is another excellent Greatsword option, providing lifesteal equal to 20% of the damage dealt with it and inflicting damage over time equal to 25% of its damage.
Dual Wield builds will benefit from the Battle Axe We Toki, which can inflict prone on a crit and pairs well with Wodewys, another Battle Axe that casts Nature’s Mark on a critical hit (making enemies easier to hit by reducing their deflection and reflex) while allowing the wielder to cast Purge of Toxins three times per rest. It also grants them +20 defense against disease and poison attacks. Another good option for the second Battle Axe is Edge of Reason, which provides lifesteal equal to 20% of the damage it deals.
Rust’s Poignard also deserves mentioning as a unique Stiletto that inflicts prone and reduces defense on critical hits while also having a bonus damage over time effect when hitting flanked opponents.
Recommended Barbarian Abilities
When it comes to abilities, most builds will want to pick up Frenzy for the powerful action speed and stat boosts at the cost of a deflection penalty. This is especially true for the Berserker subclass, which directly enhances the Frenzy ability. While Barbaric Yell may seem unimpressive at first glance, it can be useful sometimes and upgrades into Barbaric Roar to inflict Prone and gain a wider AOE, making it very useful later on. Even further on, Driving Roar can push enemies back and deal crush damage for very little cost, and dazing shout can deal crush damage whilst dazing foes for the same cost,making these final upgrades worth the investmentin their more mediocre base form.
Bloodlust is an excellent passive that raises the Barbarian’s action speed after a kill, which can greatly enhance any Barbarian build. Bloodthirst is available later and provides instant recovery after a kill, helping Barbarians to work fast with even heavy weapons.
Blood Frenzy and Spirit Frenzy are both great choices for a Barbarian, allowing them to either inflict bleed on critical hits or add a chance for their attacks to stagger enemies while in Frenzy. These can both be very dangerous to a Barbarian’s foes, but Spirit Frenzy is a better choice for single-class Barbarians as it can be spread to multiple targets by Carnage. Later on, Spirit Tornado can add Freeze damage and the Terrify effect to Frenzy on activation for even more chaos. Multiclass Barbarians using spells that crit on multiple targets will benefit much more from Blood Frenzy and its upgrade Blood Storm.
Brute Force is also a good choice, as it allows Barbarians to target Fortitude defense rather than Deflection if Fortitude is lower. Since there’s plenty of options for lowering Fortitude defense and enemy rogues and casters tend to have mediocre Fortitude but very high Deflection,this can make the Barbarian into a tremendous mage killer.
Barbaric Blow is an excellent attack for boosting crit chance and enhancing the range of Carnage further, while also providing even more crit damage, and upgrading into Crushing Blow or Barbaric Smashwill provide an additional benefit when killing the target.Heart of Fury provides Barbarians with a stellar AOE attack that can also trigger Carnage, hitting each enemy in an area around them with their equipped weapon(s). These abilities are especially potent for dual wield builds.
Barbaric Retaliation is a good choice for players using Heavy Armor to offset the Barbarian’s low defenses, allowing them to unleash a full attack for free on anyone who lands a critical hit on them. This works well since Barbarians will inevitably get hit a lot wading into the thick of battle.
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfireis available for Windows, Mac, Linux, PS4, and Xbox One.
