I know these poor fools are one of the most restrictive classes in the game, but surely they have some merit or else they wouldn't be a core subclass, right? Why does no one discuss the battlerager, are they viable, and do you have a story to tell of the rare battlerager that you or someone you know played?
Honestly, except for Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade, most of the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide content is overlooked. When's the last time you've heard people discuss or play the Purple Dragon Knight fighter archetype?
Anyway, assuming you have DM buy-in for easy access to spiked armor, I think Battleragers are viable at the lower levels.
The level 3 bonus action attack is decent. It doesn't scale well at higher levels though, unless the DM gives homebrewed magic spiked armor to keep up with magic weapons.
The level 6 temporary hit points are quite nice.
The level 10 feature is just ok, as it competes with your other bonus actions.
The level 14 feature is plain bad, especially at this level of play.
Another strike against the Battlerager is how it compares to other Barbarian paths when feats are allowed, which is unfortunate.
This IS the worst archetype for barbarian, HOWEVER, a case can be made for niche play. If you want to play an effective grappler you need to take the tavern brawler or (ugh grappler [Why did they make this feat so bad]) feats.
What Battlerager allows you to do (at level 5, without need for these bad feats) is when you make a grapple attack, if successful, they take 3 piercing damage you can then:
a) shove them prone and have advantage on your bonus action attack using your spikes or b) drag the first target to another, grapple that target apply 3 damage and then bonus action attack either one or c) use an attack and a bonus attack against the 1 grappled target.
Battlerager gives you more options to be an effective grappler without totally denying any damage you could deal, gets even better if you are raging as your bonus attack counts as a STR using attack so your rage damage stacks with it. It's a niche playstyle but very satisfying feeling like a burly barbarian who don't give no f*k$ when he wades into battle, grabs the nearest enemy and locks them down.
I would not recommend being a battlerager if you don't like grappling, such a bad subclass, it did not age well with the ones released in xanathars.
Thought up a silly build for Battlerager, but not sure how viable it would be.
7 Battlerager/ 6 Transmutation wizard at the minimum to do it.
You need mobile and charger as your feats.
ChargerPHB165
If you move at least 10 ft. in a straight line immediately before taking this bonus action, you either gain a +5 bonus to the attack's damage roll (if you chose to make a melee attack and hit) or push the target up to 10 ft. away from you (if you chose to shove and you succeed).
Charger: 1 Bonus Action
MobilePHB168
Your speed increases by 10 feet. When you use the Dash action, difficult terrain doesn't cost you extra movement on that turn. When you make a melee attack against a creature, you don't provoke opportunity attacks from that creature for the rest of the turn, whether you hit or not.
Base speed is 20 (dwarf), 10 from mobile, 10 from Battle rager, 10 from transmuters stone. so 50 altogether.
Long strider is a level 1 spell that last an hour, another 10 speed. 60 total.
Haste as a level 3to go onto this, 120 base speed.
If you happen to have Boots of speed you have 240 as your base walking speed. Combined with Mobile for dashing you run at 480 a turn.
Reckless raging for hit and run tactics with no threat of an attack of opportunity. So 3 attacks due to haste, and an extra attack on your bonus which could be an additional attack along with the bonus attack or armor hit on the drive by hits.
Honestly it is completely useless even for a hit and run gimick theme as any other class/race could take the same build and probably do it better. They would not need to be a dwarf, so the battle rager 10 speed could just be the 10 speed boost from a human, and they can still get in all the attacks past a spiky shoulder ram. If the spikes were a free hit that would be a different story. But outside of grapples as Jamric mentioned, not even a gimic Sonic build would be worth it as other classes/races could do the same thing and the fighter would do it even better.
TL:DR It sucks past grapples. Even their intro term of "Kuldjargh" lies about them as a basic Barbarian build is a better axe idiot than they are.
But I'll go on the opposite direction and say that a Battlerager has the potential to be the most durable barbarian of all, with lots of control over the battlefield.
1st - the bonus action attack with the spiked armor. That is outstanding, because it is INDEPENDENT of your regular action. You can ALWAYS take that attack, even if you take your action to dash and reach your foes. You can attack recklessly with you bonus action, and then take the dodge action to cancel the advantage against you. Plus, it is a bonus action attack that adds up both your STR and rage damage! That can scale pretty well.
2nd - attacking recklessly gives you temp HP - which would be lost rather soon if you were being attacked with advantage, but you are not: you are dodging and filling up your temp HP!
3rd - I chose Dwarven Fortitude as my 4th level feat, increasing my CON to 18/+4 and now, when I attack recklessly and dodge, I get temp HP AND I SPEND A HIT DIE TO HEAL FOR 1d12+4.
4th - I played with a Duergar Battlerager. Sunlight Sensitivity is not a problem, because grapple is not affected by it. Instead of spending another attack to TRY to shove, I use the rules for lifting, jumping and fall damage: most creatures will be lifted while I spend just movement to high jump and bring the creature down: it will take fall damage for each 10ft (you'll always get 1d6 this way, free of attack) AND the creature lands prone. So now you have advantage on attacks against it, it has disadvantage on attacks against you AND it cannot stand up from prone because its movement is 0. It'll have to spend the action to try to free itself. Did it succeed? No problem. It didn't multiattack. :)
4th-and-a-half: remember this - you can always use your move to high jump and apply ANOTHER 1d6 of fall damage to your grappled foe, independent on the number of attacks!
5th - Is the creature too large or too heavy to be grappled or lifted (so I don't have to spend an action to shove it down)? I use my racial enlarge (instead of raging, but ensuring an extra 1d4 damage per attack and still getting advantage to that athletics check), doubling my carrying capacity to be able to grapple huge opponents and ippon even an ogre! :) If you feel like it, enrage after proning them, keeping them down but getting your sweet extra attack.
The battlerager has problems that your DM will have to work around - adding spikes to different (magical?) armors, depending on the armor for everything, poor scaling, inability to affect creatures only hurt by magic without someone casting spells on you or your DM allowing you to add spikes to magical armor that will count as magical damage... But I have played a lot of barbarians, and it has been the most durable by far. It demands a far greater understanding over the rules than any other barbarian so you can play it properly, but it has been the most fun and effective tank I had.
If your grappled opponent is taking fall damage, you're taking fall damage, unless you release the grapple - if you stay in a grapple the entire time, both of you must fall the same distance. Releasing the grapple would allow you some potentially clever maneuvers.
Grapple builds are fun, but battlerager is generally considered a poor approach to one. Duergar is an *excellent* race for one - a Duergar Rune Knight is very, very serious business.
I'm playing one now. Im having a blast RP-ing in battle and manhandeling enemies.
Mountain Dwarf, Battlerager 5/Battlemaster 3
Unarmed Fighting style gives me 1d8 or 1d6 and picked up an Insignia of Claws to give +1 Magic attack rolls and damage.
They take 3 piercing damage on successful grapples and 1d4 Bludgeoning every round they start grappled.
I picked up Grappling Stike, Trip Attack and Riposte as Maneuvers.
I start by rageing, run up to enemies, Trip Attack into grapple. They are now prone and Grappled (3 piercing damage). Next round I unleash the damage or drag them around. All in all it works like a charm. For hughe enemies my party's wizard casts the Enlarge/Reduce spell on me.
4th-and-a-half: remember this - you can always use your move to high jump and apply ANOTHER 1d6 of fall damage to your grappled foe, independent on the number of attacks!
I dont think this would work, unfortunately. A high jump will only get you upward a number of feet equal to 3+Str mod (maxes out at 8ft), and if it is a standing high jump the distance is halved (maxes out at 4ft). On top of that, moving a grapple creature halves your movement speed as well. Now, the DM might let you make an Athletics check to jump higher, but how much higher that is will depend on what the DM is willing to allow and isnt codified, per say.
You need to fall at least 10 feet to take fall damage, so this particular strategy (while a fun thought) probably wont work out this way without a consistent way to boost your jump distance.
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4th-and-a-half: remember this - you can always use your move to high jump and apply ANOTHER 1d6 of fall damage to your grappled foe, independent on the number of attacks!
I dont think this would work, unfortunately. A high jump will only get you upward a number of feet equal to 3+Str mod (maxes out at 8ft), and if it is a standing high jump the distance is halved (maxes out at 4ft). On top of that, moving a grapple creature halves your movement speed as well. Now, the DM might let you make an Athletics check to jump higher, but how much higher that is will depend on what the DM is willing to allow and isnt codified, per say.
You need to fall at least 10 feet to take fall damage, so this particular strategy (while a fun thought) probably wont work out this way without a consistent way to boost your jump distance.
Maybe they are picturing lifting the creature over their head and then jumping and throwing them to the ground. Mechanically this doesn't work however as moving the enemy from a ground level square to the square directly above you would require a Shove Aside to move the enemy to another square within your reach. Since the whole point is to use jumping to weaponize your movement I doubt this is what they had in mind.
4th-and-a-half: remember this - you can always use your move to high jump and apply ANOTHER 1d6 of fall damage to your grappled foe, independent on the number of attacks!
I dont think this would work, unfortunately. A high jump will only get you upward a number of feet equal to 3+Str mod (maxes out at 8ft), and if it is a standing high jump the distance is halved (maxes out at 4ft). On top of that, moving a grapple creature halves your movement speed as well. Now, the DM might let you make an Athletics check to jump higher, but how much higher that is will depend on what the DM is willing to allow and isnt codified, per say.
You need to fall at least 10 feet to take fall damage, so this particular strategy (while a fun thought) probably wont work out this way without a consistent way to boost your jump distance.
Also even if you jump 10 feet high and the enemy fails their saving throw (if they're allowed one), they'd still only take half the damage not the whole 1d6.
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I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...
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I know these poor fools are one of the most restrictive classes in the game, but surely they have some merit or else they wouldn't be a core subclass, right? Why does no one discuss the battlerager, are they viable, and do you have a story to tell of the rare battlerager that you or someone you know played?
"The Epic Level Handbook wasn't that bad, guys.
Guys, pls."
Honestly, except for Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade, most of the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide content is overlooked. When's the last time you've heard people discuss or play the Purple Dragon Knight fighter archetype?
Anyway, assuming you have DM buy-in for easy access to spiked armor, I think Battleragers are viable at the lower levels.
Another strike against the Battlerager is how it compares to other Barbarian paths when feats are allowed, which is unfortunate.
Incoming Necro:
This IS the worst archetype for barbarian, HOWEVER, a case can be made for niche play.
If you want to play an effective grappler you need to take the tavern brawler or (ugh grappler [Why did they make this feat so bad]) feats.
What Battlerager allows you to do (at level 5, without need for these bad feats) is when you make a grapple attack, if successful, they take 3 piercing damage you can then:
a) shove them prone and have advantage on your bonus action attack using your spikes or
b) drag the first target to another, grapple that target apply 3 damage and then bonus action attack either one or
c) use an attack and a bonus attack against the 1 grappled target.
Battlerager gives you more options to be an effective grappler without totally denying any damage you could deal, gets even better if you are raging as your bonus attack counts as a STR using attack so your rage damage stacks with it. It's a niche playstyle but very satisfying feeling like a burly barbarian who don't give no f*k$ when he wades into battle, grabs the nearest enemy and locks them down.
I would not recommend being a battlerager if you don't like grappling, such a bad subclass, it did not age well with the ones released in xanathars.
Thought up a silly build for Battlerager, but not sure how viable it would be.
7 Battlerager/ 6 Transmutation wizard at the minimum to do it.
You need mobile and charger as your feats.
If you move at least 10 ft. in a straight line immediately before taking this bonus action, you either gain a +5 bonus to the attack's damage roll (if you chose to make a melee attack and hit) or push the target up to 10 ft. away from you (if you chose to shove and you succeed).
Your speed increases by 10 feet. When you use the Dash action, difficult terrain doesn't cost you extra movement on that turn. When you make a melee attack against a creature, you don't provoke opportunity attacks from that creature for the rest of the turn, whether you hit or not.
Base speed is 20 (dwarf), 10 from mobile, 10 from Battle rager, 10 from transmuters stone. so 50 altogether.
Long strider is a level 1 spell that last an hour, another 10 speed. 60 total.
Haste as a level 3to go onto this, 120 base speed.
If you happen to have Boots of speed you have 240 as your base walking speed. Combined with Mobile for dashing you run at 480 a turn.
Reckless raging for hit and run tactics with no threat of an attack of opportunity. So 3 attacks due to haste, and an extra attack on your bonus which could be an additional attack along with the bonus attack or armor hit on the drive by hits.
Honestly it is completely useless even for a hit and run gimick theme as any other class/race could take the same build and probably do it better. They would not need to be a dwarf, so the battle rager 10 speed could just be the 10 speed boost from a human, and they can still get in all the attacks past a spiky shoulder ram. If the spikes were a free hit that would be a different story. But outside of grapples as Jamric mentioned, not even a gimic Sonic build would be worth it as other classes/races could do the same thing and the fighter would do it even better.
TL:DR It sucks past grapples. Even their intro term of "Kuldjargh" lies about them as a basic Barbarian build is a better axe idiot than they are.
Just found this.
But I'll go on the opposite direction and say that a Battlerager has the potential to be the most durable barbarian of all, with lots of control over the battlefield.
1st - the bonus action attack with the spiked armor. That is outstanding, because it is INDEPENDENT of your regular action. You can ALWAYS take that attack, even if you take your action to dash and reach your foes. You can attack recklessly with you bonus action, and then take the dodge action to cancel the advantage against you. Plus, it is a bonus action attack that adds up both your STR and rage damage! That can scale pretty well.
2nd - attacking recklessly gives you temp HP - which would be lost rather soon if you were being attacked with advantage, but you are not: you are dodging and filling up your temp HP!
3rd - I chose Dwarven Fortitude as my 4th level feat, increasing my CON to 18/+4 and now, when I attack recklessly and dodge, I get temp HP AND I SPEND A HIT DIE TO HEAL FOR 1d12+4.
4th - I played with a Duergar Battlerager. Sunlight Sensitivity is not a problem, because grapple is not affected by it. Instead of spending another attack to TRY to shove, I use the rules for lifting, jumping and fall damage: most creatures will be lifted while I spend just movement to high jump and bring the creature down: it will take fall damage for each 10ft (you'll always get 1d6 this way, free of attack) AND the creature lands prone. So now you have advantage on attacks against it, it has disadvantage on attacks against you AND it cannot stand up from prone because its movement is 0. It'll have to spend the action to try to free itself. Did it succeed? No problem. It didn't multiattack. :)
4th-and-a-half: remember this - you can always use your move to high jump and apply ANOTHER 1d6 of fall damage to your grappled foe, independent on the number of attacks!
5th - Is the creature too large or too heavy to be grappled or lifted (so I don't have to spend an action to shove it down)? I use my racial enlarge (instead of raging, but ensuring an extra 1d4 damage per attack and still getting advantage to that athletics check), doubling my carrying capacity to be able to grapple huge opponents and ippon even an ogre! :) If you feel like it, enrage after proning them, keeping them down but getting your sweet extra attack.
The battlerager has problems that your DM will have to work around - adding spikes to different (magical?) armors, depending on the armor for everything, poor scaling, inability to affect creatures only hurt by magic without someone casting spells on you or your DM allowing you to add spikes to magical armor that will count as magical damage... But I have played a lot of barbarians, and it has been the most durable by far. It demands a far greater understanding over the rules than any other barbarian so you can play it properly, but it has been the most fun and effective tank I had.
If your grappled opponent is taking fall damage, you're taking fall damage, unless you release the grapple - if you stay in a grapple the entire time, both of you must fall the same distance. Releasing the grapple would allow you some potentially clever maneuvers.
Grapple builds are fun, but battlerager is generally considered a poor approach to one. Duergar is an *excellent* race for one - a Duergar Rune Knight is very, very serious business.
I'm playing one now. Im having a blast RP-ing in battle and manhandeling enemies.
Mountain Dwarf, Battlerager 5/Battlemaster 3
Unarmed Fighting style gives me 1d8 or 1d6 and picked up an Insignia of Claws to give +1 Magic attack rolls and damage.
They take 3 piercing damage on successful grapples and 1d4 Bludgeoning every round they start grappled.
I picked up Grappling Stike, Trip Attack and Riposte as Maneuvers.
I start by rageing, run up to enemies, Trip Attack into grapple. They are now prone and Grappled (3 piercing damage). Next round I unleash the damage or drag them around. All in all it works like a charm. For hughe enemies my party's wizard casts the Enlarge/Reduce spell on me.
I dont think this would work, unfortunately. A high jump will only get you upward a number of feet equal to 3+Str mod (maxes out at 8ft), and if it is a standing high jump the distance is halved (maxes out at 4ft). On top of that, moving a grapple creature halves your movement speed as well. Now, the DM might let you make an Athletics check to jump higher, but how much higher that is will depend on what the DM is willing to allow and isnt codified, per say.
You need to fall at least 10 feet to take fall damage, so this particular strategy (while a fun thought) probably wont work out this way without a consistent way to boost your jump distance.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Re-imagining unpopular subclasses as part of FIFY WotC. Let us know what you think of our changes!
Yeah, I am confused by this too. I can only guess that they have a magic item like Boots of Striding and Springing.
Maybe they are picturing lifting the creature over their head and then jumping and throwing them to the ground. Mechanically this doesn't work however as moving the enemy from a ground level square to the square directly above you would require a Shove Aside to move the enemy to another square within your reach. Since the whole point is to use jumping to weaponize your movement I doubt this is what they had in mind.
Also even if you jump 10 feet high and the enemy fails their saving throw (if they're allowed one), they'd still only take half the damage not the whole 1d6.
I've never encountered a forum where I got this many "talking to a wall" impressions as this one...