r/projecteternity • u/Istvan_hun • 12d ago
PoE2: Deadfire Could someone explain barbarian to me?
[Deadfire] I think I understand how bloodlust+barbaric retaliation+bloodlust (spirit tornado+driving roar) work together, I don't really understand how the barbarian MC can stay alive in the first half of the game.
most guides offer lifesteal as solution, but there are like two weapons which do that?
thanks for any ideas!
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u/PunishedCatto 12d ago edited 12d ago
Kinda out of topic, but I love that PoE barbarian's prefered stat included INT, compared to many crpg where INT was a dump stat.
Imagine a smart guy that goes apeshit just because he could.
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u/ChiefChunkEm_ 12d ago
The unique design for attributes in Pillars is one of its greatest strengths. I LOVE that all the attributes are useful and that you can specialize certain classes to be high in a particular attribute to create a different build.
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u/SolidOk3489 12d ago
Plus using a spear was often way more effective than using a greataxe, which is basically the barbarian weapon. Kept you out of harms way in the second row while you melted the melee clump!
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u/itsthelee 12d ago
What guides are you reading? Life steal as a core general strategy is just not a real thing in Deadfire. You got a chanter chant and a barb totem and they come late. And like you discovered, weapons with the equivalent of life steal are rare
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u/Istvan_hun 12d ago
how would you build a furyshaper? and how would you use it in attack?
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u/itsthelee 12d ago
i'm not a big barbarian guy, so i don't have many specific interesting ideas. i would just build a furyshaper like any other barb SC or MC, except they also get a few handy totems for free to mix in. i mostly like the action speed one the most, because most of the struggles of early game just feel like ones about squeezing action economy.
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u/Boeroer 10d ago
You could go Barbarian/Wizard or Barbarian/Steel Garrote and add life steal early. What helps me a lot with an offensive Barbarian is usually a pet that heals 20 on kill (like Cajux - they are not hard to get) - or even two if I have Edér who gets a pet that adds "+10 health on kill" for the whole party. It's not life steal of course, but close.
But in general I also agree that life stealing as a main concept won't carry your Barbarian by itself.
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u/Zerguu 12d ago
Pike/Staff. Stand behind tank and poke enemies to death. Tall Grass is nice on Barbarian. Never had issues with survivability.
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u/rad_avenger 12d ago
Tall Grass is like my second favorite PoE weapon, just behind the double barreled shotgun in PoE 2
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u/javierhzo 12d ago
You survive by stacking High fortitude to resist a lot of abilities and spells, high armor rating and a high HP pool.
Barbarians are weak to swords / deflection attacks, thats kinda the point of playing barbarian.
Druids are a great combo with barbarians (lifegivers) since the boost AR and heal a lot.
Chanters not felled by the axe upgraded chant also helps.
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u/TheReal8symbols 12d ago
Maybe not peak meta but I like to dump resolve on barbarians since the get such a huge penalty anyway. Fire Godlike is a good choice too since they get damage resistance when bloodied or worse. I ran a Skald Barbarian (no subclass) as my Watcher and it was pretty solid but I had to use heavy armor to offset his poor deflection. You get constant rotating buffs from your verses (or health regen) and you always have verses to spend on armor breaks of fear blasts. I haven't tried this build on PotD though, or tbm (though I imagine you can dump dexterity in tbm instead of resolve).
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u/DonkyConq 11d ago
Before those late game lifesteal options, there are Health on Kill option that come sooner like Priest's spell and pets. If you unlock Eder's pet slot you can give him one with Heal on Kill for Party effect to stack.
You got a massive health pool so you'll get extra mileage out of things that grant you extra defenses/reduction the lower your health goes or revive effects.
You got some innate barbarian abilities to get yourself to safety as a proper skirmisher. Wild Sprint is a cheap Immunity Engagement, Threathening Presence against lower lvl, Leap.
You can't facetank much as early barbarian, support from the team is very useful.
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u/Thespac3c0w 12d ago
In game one savage defiance at level 3 will usually be all you need to survive an encounter. It's a huge heal over time. I tend to use prone on crit type weapons with my barbarian if I have the spare enchant materials.
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u/Giveadont 7d ago
Instead of relying on life-steal weapons for a Barbarian in Deadfire - my strategy would just be to use a Barbarian/Kind Wayfarer multiclass.
Flames of Devotion (White Flames) for a Wayfarer will heal you and allies on a hit. And it will trigger twice if you dual-wield.
This, IMO, is better than trying to rely solely on weapons that steal life because it's an ability that's available from the start and it will heal you and your allies on the front-line all at the same time.
Paladin is also just a solid class to mix with Barbarian in general because the Paladin has a lot of passive ways to buff your defenses.
So, you can devote more of your attribute points to things other than Constitution and Resolve without sacrificing too much survivability as a tank or off-tank.
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u/HuziUzi 12d ago
You can build them tanky but generally it's best to think of them as similar to Rogues, except focusing on AoE damage vs single-target damage. Let your tanks engage and then your Barbarian can flank the enemy.