The Barbarian Profession

What stats to pick?

50 Strength
10 Dexterity
10 Intellect

Due to the requirements to join the Barbarian class, this would be the best stat setup to begin with.

What skills to pick?

50 Healing
30 Mace Fighting/Swordsmanship/Fencing
30 Resisting Spells

Due to their armor restrictions and their melee oriented combat skills, survivability is very important to a Barbarian. Beginning with the Healing skill at 50 offers not just survivability but also less down time while training to join the Barbarian class.

Where to farm/hunt?

To begin with, you’ll want to make a little gold to obtain some armor and weapons and the best place to do this is in the fields just outside Britain. Once you have amassed enough gold to buy gear, you can visit Despise where you will be able to train in relative safety and collect even more gold for gear upgrades.

How to train skills and stats?

The best way to begin building both stats and skills would be to train on weak mobs, you’ll want to ensure that you are being attacked by multiple mobs while being able to keep yourself healed and alive. Another way to train once you’ve advanced a little is to find a sparring partner, just be sure not to spar within city limits else the guards may attack and kill you.

If you are solely interested in gaining strength, the first rule is to not let it drop a single point while training. The second is to get out in the fields and harvest and/or chop trees.

Barbarian guide

This guide will explain what a Barbarian’s role is while in a group or just soloing within a PvM setting and explore their strengths and weaknesses as a whole.

What Gear to use?

You may have discovered that Barbarians are restricted to what kind of gear they can wear. Let’s begin by rating a few gear combinations, these have been rated using a classic one to five star rating scale.

Cheapest Barbarian PvM Gear [Rating ✯]
Gear: Full vampire bone suit, preferably with a high defensive ring mail tunic.

Medium Barbarian PvM Gear [Rating ✯✯]
Gear: A suit mixed with high defensive ring mail tunic and equally divided Fire/Energy resisting armor parts for the rest.

Greater Barbarian PvM Gear [Rating ✯✯✯]
Gear: Full phoenix bone suit, preferably with a Royal plate helmet + cloud giant studded gorget/sandals.

High-end Barbarian PvM Gear [Rating ✯✯✯✯]
Gear: Full giant bone suit, preferably with Phoenix bone tunic + Cloud giant studded gorget/sandals.

Elite Barbarian PvM Gear [Rating ✯✯✯✯✯]
Gear: Full giant bone suit, preferably with dskull ring mail tunic or elite phoenix bone tunic + Cloud giant studded gorget/sandals.

What stats to keep?

You may have discovered that Barbarians are able to obtain the highest strength cap of any class, this offers not only pure damage through melee attacks but also translates into survivability. If you’d like a unique twist on the Barbarian, you may consider playing the class where your focus in stat priority is a little more dexterity oriented, but for the most part, players find strength the option to go with in terms of stat priority.

Strength Barbarian build [Rating ✯✯✯✯✯]
Dexterity Barbarian build [Rating ✯✯✯]
Intellect Barbarian build [Rating ✯]

Intellect Tip: Don’t prioritize this stat at all, it offers no benefits to speak of for the Barbarian class.

Dexterity Tip: Achieving 180 strength and 150 dexterity on a Barbarian is obtainable but it requires expensive, unique armor. This stat prioritization works well on low end caster mobs and if you’re in a group it is also a good build on higher end caster mobs. With this build however, one should note that there is a Risk vs. Gain ratio which does not seem to be balanced as one can not always expect to have access to the best strength granting armor nor have the blesses required at all times.

Best Dexterity Build: 135 base strength/110 base dexterity/20 base intellect

Strength Tip: Of the three stat builds for a Barbarian, this is the most common one used simply because it is the best of the three. This offers the Barbarian more survivability and more damage output which helps negate some of the draw back of being restricted to certain armor types.

Best Strength Build: 175 base strength/70 base dexterity/20 base intellect

General Stat Tips: You may have noticed that when tallying up the stat builds listed above, there is a difference of 5 between the total and the actual stat cap for the Barbarian class, this was intentional. As Barbarians tend to gain Intellect rather rapidly, that 5 stat point buffer offers a cushion so that you are not constantly having to drink Mana Vampires to drop your intellect. Once you reach that 25 intellect mark, you’ll need/want to drink a Mana Vampire as soon as you are able to else you may find yourself losing Strength or Dexterity.

Where to hunt with a group?

This is generally chosen as a whole by the group, if you find yourself unsure or hesitant as to what to expect, it is advised to ask for advice from your group as to what gear you will need to take along as well as what to expect.

How to hunt in a group?

As a Barbarian, the main role is to pull mobs toward the group and simply put, do what Barbarians do best and bash the mob’s face in. Be sure not to over pull a room or group of mobs, hunts can go from fun to annoying fairly quickly if you accidentally pull more than your group can handle.

How to pull monsters?

As mentioned previously, it is most important not to accidentally over pull mobs to your group. Something else to note is to be aware of your surroundings, you will find annoyances such as stalagmites and rocks which can be very dangerous if you are unable to maneuver around them.

How to hunt alone?

Being that the Barbarian is the second best PvM melee class due to their survivability and damage output, the best advice is to avoid hunting casters as a Barbarian. You’ll find yourself spending a lot of gold on Mana Vampire potions and the Cost vs. Gain is not justifiable when hunting these types of mobs.

Here’s some personal tips

• Barbarian’s can be excellent in a group when there is a combination of a Druid, Bard and Archer present, with at least this group make up, the group will be able to take down most mobs around the map.
• Once you’ve reached the heightened class, you’re able to choose three additional skills to raise above their cap, remember that the main focus for a Barbarian is survivability.

In closing, here are some of the pros and cons to the Barbarian class within a PvM setting.

Pros:
Excellent survivability
Good Damage Output

Cons:
Slow Attack Speed
Low Defenses
Minimal Range

Guide by Zaradon