Zealot Barbarian / War Cleric - When to dip cleric and how far?

[Remover of Obst]

Looking at making a Zealot Barbarian with some War Domain Cleric.

Most likely Half Orc (starting with 17 12 14 8 15 8).

I was planning on starting Barbarian and working in at least three levels of cleric for Spiritual Weapon and other second level non-concentration spells like Aid, Warding Bond and Protection from Poison.
Spiritual weapon is as close as I could get to dual wielding two great axes.

1. Should I grab Cleric 1 at level 6 after getting extra attack or is there a better time?

2. Is there anything else in the Barbarian level progression that I should get before going Cleric 2/3.

3. In your opinion, is it worth getting Cleric 5 or only if the party is low on healing/rez.

4. Should I plan to even out STR/WIS at Level 4 or go for Feats like Orcish Fury(+1 STR) at 4 and Observant(+1 WIS) later?
...Or just go Great Weapon Master at second ASI because it is that good.

5. Any other dips that I should consider (Fighter 2 or Ranger 3) or just keep going Barbarian 14/15 to become nigh unkillable.

6. Do you have a better word to replace 'Full' for Warchief Redbar the Full?

[PeteNutButter]

Dipping Cleric after extra attack seems fine. There isn't a big appeal to taking cleric beyond level 3-4. 3rd level slots don't help much if you plan on raging most tough fights. They can help out of combat of course, but that doesn't make you better at what you're good at.

Spiritual Weapon is decent, but means you aren't raging until your second turn. With your low Dex, that means you can take a lot of damage in those first 1-2 enemy rounds. IMO warding bond is the best thing from cleric 3 on this build, due to its long duration.

Zealot is probably the best streamlined barbarian subclass with a tiny bit of boosted damage every other level, making it not bad to continue in. It's higher level features are truly fantastic. If you get that high, though you might wish you went with Life Cleric, to Channel Divinity yourself out of dying.

After 3-4 levels of cleric a fighter and/or ranger dip (1-4 levels each) is totally viable. In practice these 1-4 level dips on barbarians tend to make tier 3 feel like less of a grind, picking up cool subclass abilities from the other classes. In the long run you might regret it, but who gets that far, especially when you're already MCing to miss out on capstone.

As for ASIs, you might want to get a 14 dex somehow. Orcish fury is a fine feat, but if you go with War cleric, you might as well have that bonus action attack 3 times per long rest.

[Man_Over_Game]

I'd say that dipping earlier than 5 would pay off a bit better. Not only can the utility save your rear when you need it in those early levels, but look at this level progression:

Level 5 dip:


1 Attack
1 Attack
1 Attack
1 Attack
2 Attack
2 Attack + 1 conditional attack
2 attack + 1 conditional attack

etc..

Vs a level 1 dip:


1 Attack
1 Attack + 1 conditional attack
1 Attack + 1 conditional attack
1 Attack + 1 conditional attack
1 Attack + 1 conditional attack
2 Attack + 1 conditional attack
2 attack + 1 conditional attack


Which seems better?

[Vogie]

I love the War cleric dip, as you can use Divine Fervor for a pseudo-rage if you need to do some attacks with ranged weapons.

If you only have one healer or person who can rez, going up to level 5 to grab revivify isn't a terrible idea. You can also consider weaponizing your reaction with a 6th level in cleric... but that would make Rage Beyond Death your capstone.

[Willie the Duck]

If you take GWM, having that second channel per SR by getting to sixth level is definitely not bad. Beyond that, you get Spirit Guardians and Crusader's Mantle (and just more spell slots, for that matter). At least consider it if you're already dipping 3+.

As to when, it depends on your party and your fighting style. Do you ever fight when not raging? If so, throwing around healing words when needed, or dropping Toll the Dead at range rather than switching to javelin or bow is quite useful.

[GlenSmash!]

I like it.

As has been pointed out a single level war cleric dip can pay off even early. Apart from that it would be best to get Dex to 14 for max AC in medium armor, and I would personally want to round that wisdom to 16 so I could have have 3 bonus action attacks.

[CTurbo]

I would go Barbarian 1, Cleric 1, and then Barbarian again until at least Barbarian 5 if not 6, then if you want you can take more Cleric levels. But yeah I'd grab a level of Cleric early for sure since it will have the biggest impact at lower levels.

[Vogie]

I would go Barbarian 1, Cleric 1, and then Barbarian again until at least Barbarian 5 if not 6, then if you want you can take more Cleric levels. But yeah I'd grab a level of Cleric early for sure since it will have the biggest impact at lower levels.

That'd be more of a thing based on your starting stats. If you're out the gate with 15+ Wisdom, sure. But if you were starting at 14 or less Wis (which would make sense on a Barb, as most of your stats would be Str, Con, & Dex), then you'll want to wait until you get some ASIs in before you start rollin' holy. Grabbing 1 level of Cleric for a single bonus action attack per long rest would be brutal.

[Willie the Duck]

That'd be more of a thing based on your starting stats. If you're out the gate with 15+ Wisdom, sure. But if you were starting at 14 or less Wis (which would make sense on a Barb, as most of your stats would be Str, Con, & Dex), then you'll want to wait until you get some ASIs in before you start rollin' holy. Grabbing 1 level of Cleric for a single bonus action attack per long rest would be brutal.

War cleric is never worth if simply for the Wis-bonus extra attacks per day. It is the cantrips, low-level spells (out of combat, for-non-rage-combats, or non-concentration, depending upon which you want to focus), and the channel divinity abilities that make the class dip-able (or playable straight, it actually isn't bad as a full-progression martial cleric build, Tempest is just so much fun).