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herrhauptmann
2010-04-16, 11:23 PM
Well, I'm in a 4E Living Forgotten Realms game with a barbarian that reached level 3 in the most recent adventure. I didn't realize until the afternoon of the 16th that I had leveled, and I've got a game in about 12 hours.

Which level 3 encounter power would be best?
Human barbarian, rageblood
18str, 14 dex and con.

Feats: Improved Rageblood Vigor, Action Surge, Weapon Proficiency: Execution Axe.
At Wills: Howling Strike, Pressing Strike, Recuperating strike (might retrain it to something else later)
Encounter: Great Cleave
Daily: Macetail rage
Utility: Combat Sprint.

Only magic items I have currently, cloak of walking wounded, and acrobat boots (purchased outright, not a story award)

Currently do not own primal power, and the D&DI will not install on my computer, so I'm not even sure which powers have been nerfed or not.

Thanks

rayne_dragon
2010-04-16, 11:37 PM
A quick look on the WotC boards suggests Shatterbone Strike from PHB2 should do you good, and a quick search of the March errata came up empty. You shouldn't need DDI to know if a power's been nerfed as the latest errata is a free download.

Also, in case you want to look at advice for other levels, here's the link for the barbarian guide on the WotC forums: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19648686/Destruction_Manifest:_The_Barbarians_Handbook?pg=1

herrhauptmann
2010-04-17, 09:05 PM
Shatterbone's for thaneborne, mine is a rageblood. Thanks for the link, though I'm going to avoid powers which require a different class feature to use their full effect.
Used reckless rampage today, but since I just leveled (again), and gained a battlecrazed weapon (one that lets you nick yourself and count as bloodied for all purposes for a turn) as a story award, I might retrain to use bloodstrike.

Mooch
2010-04-17, 09:31 PM
brutal slam but you dont have primal power

blood strike and shatterbone are both pretty decent (PH2)

herrhauptmann
2010-04-17, 10:53 PM
brutal slam but you dont have primal power

blood strike and shatterbone are both pretty decent (PH2)

Any suggestions on a different at will power?
I had been tempted to retrain recuperating strike and pressing strike for something from Primal power. Howling strike is a necessity with all the charges I can do

Also today I realized just how awesome pressing strike is. That free "shift 2 squares" before attacking, is a blessing when you're dazed. And since we all spent about half the last battle dazed (paladin was dazed for most of it), we were having effectiveness issues.

Lo and behold: I stood from prone as my action. Action pointed to charge while bloodied. Killed enemy. Gained swift charge. Crit, and free basic. So over 60 points of damage in one turn while dazed.
Next few rounds, the nearest enemy had either just died, or shifted away to attack other PC's who were also dazed (rogue and hybrid paladin). And DM kept thinking his monsters were safe from me.
Kept finding ways to pop up and usually getting flanking too. He knew there was a shift, but forgot it was a shift 2 before the attack.
Then he thought the bloodied enemies were safe from me, because others were in the way, and I told him the power stated I could shift through others.
Then he thought the squishies were safe because they were behind other monsters. And I told him I could shift THROUGH enemy squares. At which point he demanded to see the power. :D

Finally had fun with that character. Spent 3 levels rarely rolling above an 8. Not a single lucky superstition or ingame reroll could save me initially, and I was actually getting tempted to just leave. Even my warlord and fighter were getting more damage per round, without the tendency to get gangraped by 5 monsters at once.
Then swapped out mini's, and suddenly I was only missing about 1 in 5.

tcrudisi
2010-04-18, 04:54 AM
Any suggestions on a different at will power?
I had been tempted to retrain recuperating strike and pressing strike for something from Primal power. Howling strike is a necessity with all the charges I can do.

Howling Strike and Pressing Strike are two incredibly good at-wills. It sounds like you finally had a chance to see what Pressing Strike really does; do not get rid of it.

Now, as for Recuperating Strike? I'm not so big on that one. It's okay, but I would only ever take it as my 3rd at-will and I doubt I would ever use it. Instead, I would sometimes use Howl of Fury. It's from Primal Power, but you don't need the character builder (use the compendium instead). Basically, it lets you do a normal attack against one monster then a blast 3 that includes that monster for a tiny amount of damage (but the first target doesn't take the extra damage). It's really good for clearing out some minions. It's also cool because you get to scream at stuff and kill it. I can just envision a barbarian yelling at something and the minions falling over from a heart attack.

*edit* Howl of Fury is even better in LFR when there's no guarantee you will have a controller, so being able to put damage on your main target and kill a few minions is an even better power.

herrhauptmann
2010-04-19, 12:48 AM
Thanks for the info. Recuperating strike seemed like it would be good with the temp hitpoints, but my con was too low to really give me large amounts of them. And with how bad I rolled my attacks for the first 3 levels, it was useless. Improved Rageblood vigor at least gives enough to essentially negate an attack.
Oddly, we don't seem to see too many minions in our LFR games anymore. But essentially dealing splash damage to my enemies seems more useful than 2 temp HP.
Blast 3 means every enemy within 3 squares of my target, right? (Haven't done a 4E wizard or sorc yet, so I'm a little unsure on blasts/bursts etc.)

final questions:
Is there a way to gain swift charge more than once an encounter? The last fight where I used pressing strike ad nauseum was great, but could've used more swift charging. :)
And if a person is dazed/blind and drops below 0 HP, do they continue to roll saving throws vs the effect while in negatives? Do the effects automatically go away in negatives?

tcrudisi
2010-04-19, 05:09 AM
Assume you are the o and your blast are the x's.
xxx
oxxx
xxx

or

oxxx
xxx
xxx

or

xxx
xxx
xxx
o

One of those x's must be the first monster you hit, as it must be included in the blast and it doesn't take the extra damage from the blast. But it could still potentially hit a couple more monsters, which is something: especially if they are minions.

mathewt
2010-04-19, 08:46 AM
I've got a just-recently level 7 LFR rageblood barbarian myself. I'd second tcrudisi's suggestion of Howl of Fury. 90% of the time I'm using Howling Strike, but having a minion popping ability can be really useful. Also, if you ever run into swarms, it's' great to have a power whose damage isn't being halved. It really saved my butt when playing a MYRE1-1 encounter where every enemy was a swarm...

I'll also have to second Mooch's suggestion of Brutal Slam from PP as the level 3 power. It's just plain fun. It's a 2W power that pushes the enemy 2 and does 1d8 damage to an enemy it lands adjacent to. So basically you hit someone so hard they go flying into one of their friends and hurt him. It's even more fun when you kill the original enemy...every DM I've used that power with has allowed me to fling the dead body at the other enemy...

Another bit of barbarian advice: equipment. I've got 4 pieces of equipment that are great for charging around (which I do a ton of too): Vanguard Weapon (+1d8 on successful charges using it), Badge of the Berserker (neck item whose property says that you don't provoke opportunity attacks while charging), Horned Helm (head item that gives +1d6 damage on a charge), and Boots of Adept Charging (shift one after completing charge). So a successful charge using Howling Strike nets 1[W] + 2d6 + 1d8 + STR . And of course, you can add in the usual melee item of Iron Armbands of Power for an extra +2 dmg... Makes Howling Strike hit like an encounter or daily power except at-will. All of those items except for the Vanguard Weapon are available as treasure bundles in LFR mods (and even Vanguard can be if you play a SPEC/QUES/etc type mod that lets you choose any weapon).

herrhauptmann
2010-04-19, 06:18 PM
Important things
-I used that Battlecrazed weapon, teh one which deals extra damage if you're bloodied, and lets you cut yourself to count as bloodied.
I liked using it when we found it in the mod, but it sort of goes against my Cloak of Walking wounded, which grants me 2 surges for my second wind.
-I do have the boots of the adept charger. That free shift was nice when I remembered to use it. But since it was my first module with the item, I kept forgetting.
-If I keep the battlecrazed weapon, then the helmet, or magical armor will be my next purchase. If not, I think I'll just buy a vicious weapon. High crit, AND vicious :D Get some magic armor if I can afford it too. (We usually play high, so I've got a fair bit of gold saved up)
-Which book is the vanguard weapon in?
I never thought of being able to clear swarms, that'll be awesome.

Inarius
2010-04-19, 09:37 PM
Another option for your third at will could be Devastating Strike, though its only a minor upgrade to howling strike while raging. Barring that I'd either take howl of Fury for minion clearing or keep Recuperating strike, its not really important though seeing how you got the two at wills I feel are the best.

For your level 3 encounter I'd take Blood Strike since you have a Battlecrazed weapon. If you replace that weapon though I'd take Shatterbone or Daring Charge. Even though they give bonuses for Thaneborne, they are probably the better options if you're only using PHB2 and not PP.

Sir Homeslice
2010-04-19, 10:14 PM
Oh god Devastating Strike is such utter irredeemable garbage. In exchange for one more point of damage on average, you can grant your attackers a +2 bonus to attack rolls. Unless you're raging. But taking up an At-Will slot with Devastating Strike is such a terrible idea when you have Pressing Strike or Howling Strike.

P.S: If you don't have access to Primal Power, I like Blade Sweep for Rageblood Barbarians.
P.P.S: Vanguard Weapons are in Adventurer's Vault.
P.P.P.S: Battlecrazed Weapon and Cloak of the Walking Wounded can work together, just use the Battlecrazed Weapon until you're almost out of it, then go for the Cloak of the Walking Wounded.
P.P.P.P.S: If you're using a Mordenkrad, get Adventurer's Vault 2 somehow and pick yourself up an Avalanche Hammer. It's a level 4/9/etc. enchant that goes on Hammers that lets you deal +1[w] damage on a charge, making it deal like, 8 more average damage as opposed to the Vanguard's 4.5. Also the crit is 1d10 per enchantment bonus and knocks prone.

herrhauptmann
2010-04-20, 12:26 AM
P.P.P.P.S: If you're using a Mordenkrad, get Adventurer's Vault 2 somehow and pick yourself up an Avalanche Hammer. It's a level 4/9/etc. enchant that goes on Hammers that lets you deal +1[w] damage on a charge, making it deal like, 8 more average damage as opposed to the Vanguard's 4.5. Also the crit is 1d10 per enchantment bonus and knocks prone.
Personally I don't like to remain bloodied for long periods of time, my melee strikers tend to remain unhurt, up until the DM focus fires on me, dropping me from near full to negatives within a round. Hence the walking wounded cloak.
Avalanche mordenkrad looks good, but I can't stack the avalanche power with howling strike. It's gotta be a melee basic.
However, that extra [w] damage is superior to the extra damage from howling strike (1d6 heroic, 2d6 paragon, 3d6 epic) until I hit epic.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but ignoring crits, is the mordenkrad equal or better than the execution axe? 2d6 brutal 1 vs 1d12 brutal 2. My reading of the mordenkrad says that I reroll any 1 that comes up on rolling damage, I reroll. Making my minimum damage 4. While the execution axe has a minimum of 3.

Gah, decisions!
Still retraining to use the mord, would make my charges 4d6, brutal 1. Minimum 8. Sticking with ex axe, 1d12 brutal 2 +1d6, minimum 4.

Crit on a charge,
mordenkrad: 4d6=24.
ex axe: 2d12+1d6 = 24+1d6
The avalanche hammer will get a 1d10 per plus. Most other magic weapons are 1d6, though the vicious is a 1d12.

Mando Knight
2010-04-20, 12:32 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but ignoring crits, is the mordenkrad equal or better than the execution axe?

Mordenkrad is generally better unless you're a crit-fishing Avenger (which also likes the Fullblade for a touch of accuracy and Heavy Blade -ness), especially when you're running high-[W] powers, when the extra average point of damage from Brutal and double-dice comes in handy.

herrhauptmann
2010-04-20, 01:42 AM
Mordenkrad is generally better unless you're a crit-fishing Avenger (which also likes the Fullblade for a touch of accuracy and Heavy Blade -ness), especially when you're running high-[W] powers, when the extra average point of damage from Brutal and double-dice comes in handy.
Great, just needed to bounce my math off of someone. Granted, once I shift into different magic weapons, particularly ones that axe or hammer only, it gets a bit more situational to tell which weapons+magic is better.

Now I just gotta check with the LFR group to ensure I'm allowed to purchase from AV2. I remember LG had some ridiculous rules along those lines, unless you had special certification which let you pull from non-core before level X.

Maybe I can convince someone to run a myrealms adventure which lets us buy our level or lower.