Goon Berserker Guide 1.1.5

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Guide

Post: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3457973&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=112#post411083900

Class Talents

Two-handed Weapons

  • Death Dance: The damage doesn't significantly increase with points invested. An excellent 1/5 for crowd clears, but not worth putting points in unless you have little else to do with them.
  • Berserker: As the links above note, using Berserker early is risky - the drop in defense and armor is a blow to an entirely melee class. However, after L15 or so, flip it on and try it out - the stun resistance and damage boost will be very helpful if you keep up your healing/invest some in Armor training. Skill scales well with levels - this should hit 5 before Dreadfel, most likely.
  • Warshout: One of your few crowd controls, and it's pretty effective! 3/5 this early for a good cone area, and 5/5 it later as the crowds ramp up.
  • Death Blow: Put a point into it; it turns into a massive Stamina drain at L4, which Berserkers don't deal with well, but having an assured critical hit for the Bloodthirst tree is great.

Two-handed Maiming

  • Stunning Blow: This skill is your bread and butter, your problem solver. Cheap, quick cooldown, powerful stun, and runs off Phys Power - which is the Berserker's primary stat! I recommend 4/5 in this quickly, so the stun lasts longer than it takes for the skill to go off cooldown. Against rares, uniques and bosses, this skill is hard to beat.
  • Sunder Armour: Not as impressive as you'll want it to be. Berserkers do one large hit, not multiple small ones; if you're needing to get past Armour, your best bet is to find an elemental weapon or one with damage conversion. 1/5 if you have to have it; I didn't invest any further in this tree on my clear.
  • Sunder Arms: You're not a dodging class. Accuracy reduction doesn't help. 1/5 if you have to have it, otherwise pass.
  • Blood Frenzy: Stamina drain is pretty damaging, and honestly? You don't have need of more Phys. Power. You have Berserker lategame, and earlygame this isn't really convenient to use. 0/5, don't even bother.

Combat Techniques

  • Rush: You are in possession of Rush with a base level of 1.3. This... basically means that lategame, you can get enough cooldown modifiers to get Rush to 0 cooldown. This, plus base Berserker damage? You'll be killing grunt mages very fast, which drastically improves your survivability. 1/5 early, get this to 5/5 over time (preferably by Halfling Ruins or Dreadfel).
  • Precise Strikes: The -10% attack speed hurts, but the +crit% and accuracy are insanely helpful. (A note: AM Berserkers want to hold off on this skill, most likely. They will probably raise Str/Wil first and then Dex, so it'll be a while before the bonuses are worth the -10% attack speed). Another eventual 5/5 - it synergises insanely well with the Bloodthirst tree.
  • Perfect Strikes: Didn't get the Withered Orbs from the Withering Thing, or the Spectral Blade? You'll want a point or two in this by Dreadfel to help deal with Dreads and Dreadmasters. It's... not very necessary past that point, though. 1/5, more if you like the accuracy buff. (Remember both Berserker and Precise Strikes boost Accuracy! You may not need this that often as a result.)
  • Blinding Speed: A great lategame way to bust down harder opponents, and pretty effective early as well. 5/5 when you can.

Combat Veteran

  • Quick Recovery: Vital to a Berserker's resource pool management. 1/5 early for the initial boost, 5/5 eventually.
  • Fast Metabolism: Useful, as a Berserker likes stacking healing and heal-mod items to keep health constantly accelerating, but... not a major priority. As much as you want/5.
  • Spell Shield: Good for walling magical status, if you don't have the infusions or equips to help out there. I did 0/5, but this is also entirely to taste.
  • Unending Frenzy: It... could be worse? But you kill things slower lategame which means the stamina payback isn't as helpful when you've expended relatively more. I also did 0/5 here. Maybe a build focused on Shattering Blows would see more use out of it.

Bloodthirst

  • Bloodbath: A great early 1/5 while your critical chance is still not great. Later on, when you have 50% or better chance, pumping this up to 5/5 is a great idea for the stamina regen and max HP buff alone.
  • Mortal Terror: This is basically one of the few immediate 5/5s I recommend, as soon as you can. +crit% and free dazes on big hits? Yeah. This is an excellent skill for any and all Berserkers.
  • Bloodrage: 1/5. Better than Blood Frenzy, but not by terribly much? After a point, any more Strength on a Berserker's overkill.
  • Unstoppable: 5/5 this. It can take a little bit, but... 5/5 this. This is the single greatest survival tool in the game. Being able to take seven turns without dying, and getting a fullheal if you managed to kill some support around you? Yeah. Abuse this in the Prides and anywhere else there's a group of enemies trying to hand you your ass.

Optional trees

(technically, Bloodthirst is optional, but...)

Superiority

  • Juggernaut: Expensive, but a great way for a Bulwark to handle melee threats, in theory. In practice, how much you need it depends on equipment luck. X/5.
  • Onslaught: 1/5 and move on. Competent for letting you weasel your way out of a really bad position if you're AM, I guess?
  • Battle Call: Either 1/5 if you're running for Shattering Strikes alone, or 5/5 if you wanna abuse this. Getting mages/archers right in your face for a Death Dance is an incredibly valid idea, but I prefer Rush.
  • Shattering Impact: If you're using this, 5/5. It isn't immediately obvious, but this skill does hit that target you landed the blow on with that damage, as well. Now, imagine Death Dance with this. Yeah. 5/5 to drop the stamina drain to something sane and to buff the damage some.

Warcries

  • Shattering Shout: 7 cooldown and a reasonable Stamina cost makes this the closest any melee dude will get to being a mage. If you're in this tree, I'd say 5/5 this eventually. Good crowd clear that amplifies well with Strength and with any/all physical damage boosters you pick up.
  • Second Wind: X/5. Great skill, especially as it's now %-based recovery. Allows you to use Unstoppable in an emergency or run Shattering Impacts for that much longer.
  • Battle Shout: 0 or 1/5. Doesn't scale as well as you might hope, and the bonus runs on raw talent level so you can't boost it with mastery-granting equipment.
  • Battle Cry: 0. You... really don't need more effective accuracy. You're going to hit, barring stealth/invis.

Everything else is basically in the realm of "gimmick choice".

Generics

Combat Training: 5 Thick Skin as soon as possible, X in Armor Training (if you're going AM, 1-3 points is valid; if you're not, 5 is probably best), 2-5 in Accuracy (your accuracy will be bananas lategame even with 1 point, but to get that far, you probably want at least 2, if not 3, points here), 5* Weapon Mastery (unless you're planning on Legacy of the Naloren, then just grab 2 or 3), no Dagger Mastery.

Conditioning: As much as you feel like in Vitality (5, probably, for non-AM; AM can't afford it, drop only one here), 1 in Daunting Presence (the bonuses don't scale well enough), 4 in Unflinching Resolve (Talent level 5 comes at 4/5, since the category is at 1.3. The fifth point is a matter of taste, but I don't find it necessary as you cover the five statuses at L4), and 1 in Adrenaline Surge for emergency situations.

Cunning/Survival: Your call, entirely. Charms Mastery is a good pickup for AMs, especially if you can get levels off Thieves. Normal Berserkers won't care much about any of this.

Prodigies

  • Flexible Combat is great for an additional free hit or hits with a lot of your attacks, and potentially could get nasty with Shattering Impacts? Not sure.
  • Legacy of the Naloren (get 5 free levels of Exotic Weapon Mastery, plus a very damn good artifact Trident if you keep Slasul alive after grabbing the prodigy)
  • Superpower (Especially for AM; +30% of your Wil as added damage is excellent, and AMs love the mindpower boost)
  • Draconic Body (Great for countering surprise attacks or lots of mages/archers/damage all at once)
  • Draconic Will (Good if you see the status coming - spotted an enemy Necromancer unique, e.g.)
  • Unbreakable Will (Pre-emptive mental status blocking's pretty solid if you need it.)
  • Garkul's Revenge (If you have both parts, this is incredibly good - 20% added damage to all humanoids basically means all the Prides -and- High Peak.)
  • Hidden Resources (Decent enough, and Unstoppable will qualify you for this.)
  • Spell Feedback (Awesome AM choice - gives a passive way to lock down boss mages!)
  • Never Stop Running: Great for dodging anything projectile-y, and you have the Stamina regen for it. (Thanks to Wahl Hara for pointing this out.)


Gimmick Options

  • Unsetting Sun is great if you can meet the damage requirements! Good luck doing so, though. (There are good Fire-element weapons endgame for non-AM Berserkers, which helps a ton.)
  • Corrupted Shell requires siding with the Grand Corruptor, which probably means having picked up Celestial/Light or, more attractively, Stone Alchemy (since it doesn't require Magic to use the skills, you can swap Mag+ equips on to learn them and then take them back off).
  • Arcane Might (Even more damage than Superpower... -if- you've been running tons of Magic. Not likely, though.)
  • Mental Tyranny (AMs might want this if they meet the requirements - getting a way around phys resistance is excellent. But since mind element damage has the flaw of getting a Mental Save check, this isn't a good idea for those without mindpower.)


Racial choice

(2.5/5 is "Average class/race combo", for reference.)

  • Cornac: 3.5/5. Gives easy access to Warcries/Superiority/AM Fungus without a fuss, and the EXP Modifier's definitely notable nowadays. Good AM choice due to it providing a sink for generic points and leveling up fast.
  • Higher: 3.5/5. The regen skill's really neat for AM Berserkers and the final skill is great for everyone. Still levels up fast, gets a better HP mod than Cornacs.
  • Shalore: 4.5/5. Weak start docks the 0.5 here, for me, but once it gets going... 5/5 the crit boost skill and Timeless for an insane Unstoppable-abusing monstrosity. Can't go AM/get stuff like Mobility from Zigur sacrifices (EDIT: Without hardcore chicanery), but doesn't care much.
  • Thalore: 4.5/5. Excellent choice - the third Thalore racial now gives, in conjunction with Thick Skin, 25% all res. This makes Berserkers - especially AM Berserkers who can really use the first skill - excellent choices. The EXP mod is the -0.5 dock here - while Shalore don't much care, Thalore Berserkers will find themselves walking into the final fight at L47 or so and possibly sweating bullets as a result.
  • Dwarf: 4.5/5. Great HP, you can likely get enough equipment to not get stressed by the randart merchant prices (due to keeping up Power is Money), and having a racial escape helps a ton. It's not really a dominant choice but it's a pretty effective one.
  • Yeek: 2/5. Well, your HP's average now! ... and the third racial lets you counteract Precise Strikes' disadvantage! ... and I guess it's a decent AM option due to being able to mind control+autokill people? It's still got that horrific start and the low durability melee guy syndrome, though.
  • Skeleton: 3.5/5. The EXP mod hurts a lot and losing wild infusions is a major blow, even with Conditioning and Resilient Bones. Spell status will hand you your ass more often that you'd like. This being said, highly durable, great healing+regen setup, Str+Dex is a great racial boost... If you can deal with status, this is an excellent option.
  • Ghoul: 2/5. That speed drop is painful, and it makes Precise Strikes even harsher to run. On the upside, you have enough HP to mock Atamathon's damage... until he doubleacts you. Doable but painful; the changes to Bloodbath make it a worse combo (pre-b38, Bloodbath also gave a heal mod% bonus, which could be abused p. easily and made this a more workable option).

Sample Build

A quick every-5-level skill point suggestion (presuming non-Cornac but also not factoring in racial trees, so Generics could look much different):

Stats: Strength, plus your choice of secondary. For the sake of this, presuming Con until Unflinching Resolve 4 is obtained, then switching to Dex. AM will want to go Str/Wil/Dex for most the game and use equipment to get their Con.

  • L1: Stunning Blow 2, Rush 1 / Weapons Mastery 1
  • L5: Stunning Blow 4, Rush 1, Quick Recovery 1, Berserker 2 / Weapon Mastery 2, Accuracy 2, Armor Training 2
  • L10: Unlock Bloodthirst. Rush 3, Berserker 5, War Shout 1 / (Do the Arena for two extra generics) Weapon Mastery 3, Accuracy 3, Armor Training 3, Vitality 1, Daunting Presence 1, Unflinching Resolve 1
  • L15: Bloodbath 1, Mortal Terror 2, Rush 4, War Shout 2, Death Blow 1 / Weapon Mastery 4, Unflinching Resolve 4
  • L20: Unlock whatever you want (infusion/rune point, Superiority, War Shout), Mortal Terror 5, War Shout 5 / Weapon Mastery 5, Thick Skin X, racials/Vitality/Adrenaline Surge/AM from here generics-wise.

Tips

  • Don't use the actual "Berserker" skill until you're higher level. You don't need the accuracy bonus early, and the -10 armor/defense (mostly the armor) can really hurt you more than is necessary. Stuns and pins suck, but that's what a physical wild infusion is for. Instead, use Precise Strikes and never turn it off ever.
  • Stunning blow actually scales really well with additional points - at 5/5 the stun is longer than the cooldown, which can really trivialise some enemies, including bosses.
  • Don't put more than one point in each of your attacking skills early (Sunder Armor, etc). In fact, a lot of the Berserker skills are best off at 1-2 points, including a couple of really important ones like Perfect Strike and Unending Frenzy.
  • The Bloodthirst tree is fucking amazing. Pick it up at level 10 with a Category point, Max Bloodbath and Mortal Terror early.
  • Warshout can and will save your neck constantly.
  • Don't ignore your defenses. Points in Thick Skin, Vitality and Armor Training with generics, and Spell Shield with extra class points.
  • This is just good knowledge for everyone, but don't be afraid to kite things; just because you're melee doesn't mean you can't bail out of a shitty situation with a teleport rune or phase door. Always have a potential escape route.

Post: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3457973&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=221#post424137031 

In the early game you want to max Rush and Fast Metabolism ASAP, prioritizing the latter. The health regen is incredible early on and while it doesn't scale, it still at least does something later.


Early game, try to get a physical/mental wild infusion, but if you can't find one, use a mental. You have Berserker for stuns already so you want something to break confusion. Ransack the shops for shielding runes, and if you can't find good ones get the best regeneration runes you can find. If you get some nice healing mod gear, healing runes are ok too. If you don't find a good shielding rune on your first shop you might have a bit of trouble, but if you do everything pre-dreadfell should be a wall in the park. Later in the game when you have unflinching resolve maxed you can drop your wild infusion and just go all out with the healing/shielding/regen.

For generics, you don't need many points in accuracy because you'll be getting it from the Berserker sustain, which is probably the 3rd or 4th thing you want to max, competing with Stunning Blow. You also get accuracy from Precise Strikes, so yeah, you don't need it at all. I maxed it late in the game because I ran out of stuff to put points into.

Max out Weapon and Armor training after Vitality and take Thick Skin every time you possibly can, and depending on your race you might want to put points into your racials too. Unflinching Resolve is extremely good, but you should be running a wild infusion during the early game and you'll have Berserker, which combined with gear can easily give you complete stun immunity. In fact, you should itemize for complete stun immunity as soon as you possibly can. Max out unflinching resolve once you've maxed out everything else that's important.

Stunning Blow is an 8 turn stun which resists based off physical power, meaning it doesn't get resisted often early game. It gets resisted a lot later in the game, but early on landing this ability is "free boss kill," so this is why I suggest maxing it so soon.

Death Dance, Warshout, Sunder Arms and Sunder Armor are all worth one point early, probably before you start maxing other stuff. As soon as you can spare the points, you want to max Death Dance and Warshout (Warshout is an aoe confusion that seems to always hit, it's very good.) Maxed Death Dance is the most fun I've had in Tome, once you get stacked crit you pretty much just walk up and 1 shot bosses/packs of enemies. Crits for over 2000 around level 25 are common. As you run out of things to put points into, throw them into your other damage moves.

Use your first category point on an extra infusion slot. Use your second on unlocking Bloodthirst. By this time your crit rate should be pretty high with Precise Strikes likely maxed out and you'll be able to keep Bloodbath stacked up nicely, which will fix any stamina problems and give you even more hp/regen. Mortal Terror has a nice effect and is another bunch of free crit. At this point, even without any crit gear, you'll have 37% just from talents and sustains which is pretty nice.

At level 30 take Steamroller for your prodigy. At this point it doesn't even matter what you do, you are literally god. Rush an enemy, kill it, rush another enemy, kill it, just repeat forever. You are invincible and you do ridiculous damage and teleport everywhere. The far east is easier than the west, and the west was pretty damn easy.

As far as gearing goes, I itemized for healing mod, health regen, resistances (both status and elemental), crit chance, and % physical damage. Healing mod is incredible especially early game, if you get a few nice early healing mod items it's like you have a regen infusion up permanently. But your #1 priority should be getting 100% stun resistance. I suggest avoiding elemental damage mods unless you can't get anything better, you're all about critting for huge damage and 1 shotting everything, and I found that stacking physical damage mods and getting the weapon with the highest raw damage on it was the best for this.

One thing I learned from my winner that Death Blow is pretty awful, the level 4 effect sounds like it's meant to make it hit for 274% weapon damage which would be incredible, but it actually does noticeably less damage than Death Dance. Avoid it.

As for Antimagic, I find runes far too valuable for Berserker to go antimagic - you do such incredible damage and post-level 30 you have limitless mobility, so the the buffer 2 shielding runes provides is more valuable than fungus/AM for the way I played. I don't need more regen, I need shields to keep me alive for the 2-3 turns it takes me to kill everything.

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