I'm a lvl 13 totem barb. I use a greataxe that does 1d6 bonus damage to celestial or fiend and 1d8 bonus damage to large creatures. 1/LR, I can misty step, blind, and compel duel. Pair that with 1 extra crit die from half-orc, 2 extra crit die from level 13 barb, and GWM, and it's sheer brutality. The most damage I've inflicted in a single hit was over 80–more HP than most members of my party have total.
I'm just curious what awesome weapons have my fellow barbs picked up along the way.
Currently, my Beast Barbarian's best weapons are his own claws. With an 18 Str plus Rage damage, he's putting out 3d6+18 slashing with those each turn.
Later on I'll multiclass into Spore Druid and bump that up to 6d6+18.
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The best weapon for a Barbarian depends on what your priorities are; the classic combo is greataxe and the Great Weapon Master feat, since with Reckless Attacks you can counteract the -5 hit penalty for +10 damage to put out some really solid damage if that's all you really care about. Some people will start out with a greatsword for the slightly better average damage, then switch to the greataxe when you get Brutal Criticals (or anything else that lets you roll an extra weapon dice as it's d12 rather than d6).
But if your priority is tanking/screening your party, you might consider a battleaxe or other versatile weapon so you can attack one handed for when you Grapple a target, as this gives you another way to keep enemies from moving away alongside Ancestral Guardian's Ancestral Protectors plus maybe the Sentinel Feat to stop two enemies dead and debuff another, effectively pinning down three at once. I've been playing a Barbarian/Fighter multiclass recently and been making a lot use of advantage on Grapple + Shove to essentially pin targets.
I've also run Barbarians with two-weapon fighting; it's not an especially optimal build, but your Rage damage counteracts most of the loss of damage on the bonus attack, and it's another way to get to three attacks after you've started Raging, and isn't a bad option if your build isn't likely to have many other bonus actions. Plus if you opt for weapons that you can also throw then you've usually got two ready most of the time, and if they're light, and can still draw a third ready for next round, opportunity attacks etc. It's just a shame that Reckless Attack doesn't work with thrown weapons.
And as JakOfAllTirades says, Path of the Beast can get by without any "proper" weapons at all (which again is potentially useful for grappling/tanking as you've always got both hands free if you need them, so with Sentinel you could grapple two and stop a third).
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JakOfAllTiradesNice! I always wanted to do a build using only natural weapons. I tried a monk that way, but his damage was too anemic for my liking at low levels.
Quote from Haravikk>>greataxe and the Great Weapon Master feat, since with Reckless Attacks you can counteract the -5 hit penalty for +10 damage to put out some really solid damage
My zealot barbarian has a flametongue greatsword! With GWM, he really doesn't struggle to get that bonus attack on a frequent basis. I regularly get up to ~100 DPR in tier 2, which is nuts!
My zealot barbarian has a flametongue greatsword! With GWM, he really doesn't struggle to get that bonus attack on a frequent basis. I regularly get up to ~100 DPR in tier 2, which is nuts!
Not even sure how you would be able to do that in tier 2?
Flametongue greatsword 2d6 + 2d6 or avg 14 damage, 28 on a crit. I will say +5 modifier for 20 STR and +3 for Rage, plus Great Weapon Master. So that's +18 damage for each hit. So that's 32 on average and 46 on an average crit. Then there's Divine Fury on your first attack for 1d6 + barbarian levels (I'll assume level 10), so that would be 8.5 average and 12 on a crit.
Throw in, if you crit, because of GWM you get yet another bonus action attack!
Are my guesses pretty close? Am I missing anything?
I'm not even going to try to figure it out with a particular AC, to get hit chance and therefor average dpr. You aren't saying that this will average 100 dpr, just that you can get 100 dpr! And after thinking about it...yeah, I can see it! If you have one crit and two hits, you will go over 100 total damage, pretty easily!
My zealot barbarian has a flametongue greatsword! With GWM, he really doesn't struggle to get that bonus attack on a frequent basis. I regularly get up to ~100 DPR in tier 2, which is nuts!
Not even sure how you would be able to do that in tier 2?
Flametongue greatsword 2d6 + 2d6 or avg 14 damage, 28 on a crit. I will say +5 modifier for 20 STR and +3 for Rage, plus Great Weapon Master. So that's +18 damage for each hit. So that's 32 on average and 46 on an average crit. Then there's Divine Fury on your first attack for 1d6 + barbarian levels (I'll assume level 10), so that would be 8.5 average and 12 on a crit.
Throw in, if you crit, because of GWM you get yet another bonus action attack!
Are my guesses pretty close? Am I missing anything?
I'm not even going to try to figure it out with a particular AC, to get hit chance and therefor average dpr. You aren't saying that this will average 100 dpr, just that you can get 100 dpr! And after thinking about it...yeah, I can see it! If you have one crit and two hits, you will go over 100 total damage, pretty easily!
Well, if you think about it, I'm easily batting 70 DPR with my first two hits, and in tier 2 many things have around that much HP. If not, I usually target something that's already been hurt and add to the focus fire. So, things are dropping with those two first hits and it allows me to grab a third hit via bonus action from GWM, thus going from 70ish DPR to ~100.
I regularly get up to ~100 DPR in tier 2, which is nuts!
That is nuts. I don't know what my DPR actually is. I never think to add it all up because combat and math sucks. I'll have to start paying attention to that.
My zealot barbarian has a flametongue greatsword! With GWM, he really doesn't struggle to get that bonus attack on a frequent basis. I regularly get up to ~100 DPR in tier 2, which is nuts!
Not even sure how you would be able to do that in tier 2?
Flametongue greatsword 2d6 + 2d6 or avg 14 damage, 28 on a crit. I will say +5 modifier for 20 STR and +3 for Rage, plus Great Weapon Master. So that's +18 damage for each hit. So that's 32 on average and 46 on an average crit. Then there's Divine Fury on your first attack for 1d6 + barbarian levels (I'll assume level 10), so that would be 8.5 average and 12 on a crit.
Throw in, if you crit, because of GWM you get yet another bonus action attack!
Are my guesses pretty close? Am I missing anything?
I'm not even going to try to figure it out with a particular AC, to get hit chance and therefor average dpr. You aren't saying that this will average 100 dpr, just that you can get 100 dpr! And after thinking about it...yeah, I can see it! If you have one crit and two hits, you will go over 100 total damage, pretty easily!
Well, if you think about it, I'm easily batting 70 DPR with my first two hits, and in tier 2 many things have around that much HP. If not, I usually target something that's already been hurt and add to the focus fire. So, things are dropping with those two first hits and it allows me to grab a third hit via bonus action from GWM, thus going from 70ish DPR to ~100.
You have a Belt of Giant Strength, too? In Adventurer's League, you can pick up one of those and you do AL.
In my long-running campaign I had a homebrew magic Greataxe that crit on a 19-20. That's all it did, but when combined with Reckless Attack and Brutal Critical I occasionally pulled off some OHKOs against some pretty nasty enemies.
In my long-running campaign I had a homebrew magic Greataxe that crit on a 19-20. That's all it did, but when combined with Reckless Attack and Brutal Critical I occasionally pulled off some OHKOs against some pretty nasty enemies.
Nice. In a Pathfinder campaign, I had an adamantine warhammer with expanded crit. I was surprised how often that came in handy.
I have a weapon my DM created (I think)... Its a Great Axe named "Angeris Blade" +2 weapon made from the wing fragment of an angel that gives me a 70% chance to return to 1hp if reduced to 0. I haven't had to use the special ability yet.
A way to instantly avoid death is an excellent feature. My barbarian is half orc so he started off with a similar ability. I haven’t had to use it even once, but it’s good to have. +2 weapons rock. Mine’s only a +1 but it does a lot of other things, so it’s fine.
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I'm a lvl 13 totem barb. I use a greataxe that does 1d6 bonus damage to celestial or fiend and 1d8 bonus damage to large creatures. 1/LR, I can misty step, blind, and compel duel. Pair that with 1 extra crit die from half-orc, 2 extra crit die from level 13 barb, and GWM, and it's sheer brutality. The most damage I've inflicted in a single hit was over 80–more HP than most members of my party have total.
I'm just curious what awesome weapons have my fellow barbs picked up along the way.
Currently, my Beast Barbarian's best weapons are his own claws. With an 18 Str plus Rage damage, he's putting out 3d6+18 slashing with those each turn.
Later on I'll multiclass into Spore Druid and bump that up to 6d6+18.
Behind every successful Warlock, there's an angry mob.
The best weapon for a Barbarian depends on what your priorities are; the classic combo is greataxe and the Great Weapon Master feat, since with Reckless Attacks you can counteract the -5 hit penalty for +10 damage to put out some really solid damage if that's all you really care about. Some people will start out with a greatsword for the slightly better average damage, then switch to the greataxe when you get Brutal Criticals (or anything else that lets you roll an extra weapon dice as it's d12 rather than d6).
But if your priority is tanking/screening your party, you might consider a battleaxe or other versatile weapon so you can attack one handed for when you Grapple a target, as this gives you another way to keep enemies from moving away alongside Ancestral Guardian's Ancestral Protectors plus maybe the Sentinel Feat to stop two enemies dead and debuff another, effectively pinning down three at once. I've been playing a Barbarian/Fighter multiclass recently and been making a lot use of advantage on Grapple + Shove to essentially pin targets.
I've also run Barbarians with two-weapon fighting; it's not an especially optimal build, but your Rage damage counteracts most of the loss of damage on the bonus attack, and it's another way to get to three attacks after you've started Raging, and isn't a bad option if your build isn't likely to have many other bonus actions. Plus if you opt for weapons that you can also throw then you've usually got two ready most of the time, and if they're light, and can still draw a third ready for next round, opportunity attacks etc. It's just a shame that Reckless Attack doesn't work with thrown weapons.
And as JakOfAllTirades says, Path of the Beast can get by without any "proper" weapons at all (which again is potentially useful for grappling/tanking as you've always got both hands free if you need them, so with Sentinel you could grapple two and stop a third).
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I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
JakOfAllTiradesNice! I always wanted to do a build using only natural weapons. I tried a monk that way, but his damage was too anemic for my liking at low levels.
I favor Halberd with Polearm Master.
My party's Paladin uses the same combo. That extra attack is nice.
My zealot barbarian has a flametongue greatsword! With GWM, he really doesn't struggle to get that bonus attack on a frequent basis. I regularly get up to ~100 DPR in tier 2, which is nuts!
Not even sure how you would be able to do that in tier 2?
Flametongue greatsword 2d6 + 2d6 or avg 14 damage, 28 on a crit.
I will say +5 modifier for 20 STR and +3 for Rage, plus Great Weapon Master. So that's +18 damage for each hit.
So that's 32 on average and 46 on an average crit.
Then there's Divine Fury on your first attack for 1d6 + barbarian levels (I'll assume level 10), so that would be 8.5 average and 12 on a crit.
Throw in, if you crit, because of GWM you get yet another bonus action attack!
Are my guesses pretty close? Am I missing anything?
I'm not even going to try to figure it out with a particular AC, to get hit chance and therefor average dpr. You aren't saying that this will average 100 dpr, just that you can get 100 dpr! And after thinking about it...yeah, I can see it! If you have one crit and two hits, you will go over 100 total damage, pretty easily!
Well, if you think about it, I'm easily batting 70 DPR with my first two hits, and in tier 2 many things have around that much HP. If not, I usually target something that's already been hurt and add to the focus fire. So, things are dropping with those two first hits and it allows me to grab a third hit via bonus action from GWM, thus going from 70ish DPR to ~100.
That is nuts. I don't know what my DPR actually is. I never think to add it all up because combat and math sucks. I'll have to start paying attention to that.
You have a Belt of Giant Strength, too? In Adventurer's League, you can pick up one of those and you do AL.
In my long-running campaign I had a homebrew magic Greataxe that crit on a 19-20. That's all it did, but when combined with Reckless Attack and Brutal Critical I occasionally pulled off some OHKOs against some pretty nasty enemies.
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Nice. In a Pathfinder campaign, I had an adamantine warhammer with expanded crit. I was surprised how often that came in handy.
I have a weapon my DM created (I think)... Its a Great Axe named "Angeris Blade" +2 weapon made from the wing fragment of an angel that gives me a 70% chance to return to 1hp if reduced to 0. I haven't had to use the special ability yet.
A way to instantly avoid death is an excellent feature. My barbarian is half orc so he started off with a similar ability. I haven’t had to use it even once, but it’s good to have. +2 weapons rock. Mine’s only a +1 but it does a lot of other things, so it’s fine.