Barbarian combat tactics

[djwood]

Playing a lvl 6 suli barbarian for the first time and I was wondering how does one play a Dps barbarian?

What would you do in different scenarios? (Fighting one enemy, fighting multiple enemies, etc)

[Elricaltovilla]

Barbarians are pretty straightforward. You want the biggest weapon you can get your hands on, power attack, and any other damage bonuses you can stack up, although as you level, getting the beast totem stuff becomes more important, because Greater Beast Totem (10th level) gives you Pounce.

Tactics wise, find the biggest (or closest) enemy, charge them and smack them as hard as you can. When you use your rage is a bit of a tactical choice, but more because of the number of 1/rage powers necessitating that you enter and exit your rage multiple times to get their best effect (these have been largely eliminated if you're using the Unchained Barbarian). Turning your rage off and on rapidly is called rage cycling, and there are a few tricks that make it possible. My favorite lower level one is to combine the rage power Internal Fortitude (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/barbarian/rage-powers/paizo---rage-powers/internal-fortitude-ex) and the flawed scarlet and green cabochon (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/wondrous-items/h-l/ioun-stones/scarlet-and-green-cabochon). This makes you sickened instead of fatigued, and then makes you immune to the sickened condition, allowing you to rage cycle as much as you want.

So your basic tactics are to rage, charge, dump as much damage as possible, turn off rage, repeat. By 10th level, you can rage cycle freely and get a full attack every time you charge, meaning you have maximum mobility and damage. Just pinball around exploding your enemies.