Barbarians: They're All The Rage

I apologize for the title but its the best i could come up with. Anyway, having finished my Avenger write-up, I have decided to move on to the next class ahead of schedule so I can get everyone's favorite class done in a reasonable amount of time. So, in pretty much the same format: Barbarians.

Just What Is A Barbarian?

Have you never watched Conan or played Diablo 2? Barbarians, traditionally, are just like that in pen and paper RPGs. Big, muscle-bound warriors who use the powers of both anger and wearing nothing but a loincloth to overcome any obstacle. Who needs discipline when you can just get really mad? In 3.5 Barbarians were pretty much just that: angry, less disciplined fighters. In 4th Edition they have been altered a little to come in line with the rest of the primal classes. Barbarians are the primal power source's strikers, and their "Rage" is actually them calling primal spirits into their bodies. They wield big weapons, deal lots of damage, and inspire with their courage.

Mechanically Barbarians are can be a deceptively deep class. Some may dismiss them as simple glass cannons because of their armor proficiencies and ability score requirements, but there is more to it than that, and that will be the point of this write-up. Barbarians can give groups some really excellent bonuses and buffs, and learning when to use your daily powers is different for them than any other class. Their two builds play drastically different from each other, and riding the fence between kicking ass, and getting yours kicked is harder to do with them than one might think.

To help with their low defenses they get the class feature Barbarian Agility, which gives them a +1 bonus to both armor class and reflex. This bonus improves to +2 in paragon tier, and +3 in epic. The extra reflex defense is nice, especially if you are planning on using a sword or spear because you already have some investment in dexterity for just that reason and then you will probably have at least two decent defenses. Barbarians gain a flat +2 bonus to fortitude, and they have a lot of hit points, so don't be too afraid about throwing them into the fray. They can't deal any damage sitting on the sideline.

All Barbarian daily powers have the Rage keyword. Once you use them, they are not only an attack but a buff that lasts until the end of the encounter. While under the effect of these buffs you are considered to be "raging" and that confers benefits to other feats and powers, besides just the buff the rage itself gives you.

At fifth level Barbarians gain an ability called Rage Strike, which is a daily power that you must sacrifice one of your rages to use, though you must already be raging to use it. The higher level daily you sacrifice, the more damage Rage Strike does. The damage is usually ahead of the curve for a daily of that level, but it has no secondary effects, just damage. Because of this many people say they'll never use it but it is a great panic button if you get in over your head and need to burn a troublesome enemy down. You also can't benefit from two Barbarian daily powers fully at the same time anyway, and if you make it to an extended rest with a daily power still in reserves, that's a potential Rage Strike wasted. The solution is to not plan on using Rage Strike, but to recognize when its time to break it out.

Rampage is a passive ability that can grant barbarians further bursts of damage and it makes the "Mastery" feats in epic tier look very attractive. Whenever a Barbarian scores a critical hit with a Barbarian attack power, they get to make a melee basic attack as a free action. That attack does not even have to be against the same target, which is what makes it such a good feature.

Rageblood vs. Thaneborn

Much like the Avenger's Censure, Barbarians have a feature which requires you to make a choice between two different options. This choice will pretty much define your character's playstyle more than anything else you choose, and the gap in style here is larger than it was for the Avenger. The choice is your Feral Might class feature, and it comes down to what you want your character to focus on.

The Rageblood Vigor feature is the choice to make if you want to be all about the damage. You will also gain more temporary hit points, and be able to take hits better, but the main focus here is the damage. The Rageblood Vigor feature grants you an encounter power called Swift Charge, which is a free action triggered by reducing an enemy to zero hit points, and allows you to charge another enemy right then. The fact that it doesn't even use your immediate action for the turn makes it very useful, especially combined with powers that allow you to use them during charges in place of melee basic attacks. Encounter powers used as free actions? Sign me up.

In addition to Swift Charge, Rageblood Vigor grants you a passive feature as well. Whenever you reduce an enemy to zero hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to your constitution modifier. This increases by five in paragon tier, and by five more in epic tier. This ability helps them take hits which they are definitely going to be doing a fair bit of.

The other Feral Might option is Thaneborn Triumph, which is the option you should take if you'd like to inspire your allies as well as just beat up the bad guys. Thaneborn Barbarians don't deal as much damage as their Rageblood counterparts, but they do give their group a lot more buffs, and in many groups this utility may be worth the trade-off in damage.

Instead of Swift Charge, you gain the Roar of Triumph encounter power. It is also a free action triggered by when you reduce an enemy to 0 hit points but it is instead a close burst 5 that automatically gives all enemies in the burst a -2 penalty to all defenses until the end of your next turn. In a striker-heavy team, this power can give a lot of help, and it opens up the opportunity for some well-timed dailies and encounters from your party over the course of the next round without spending anything but a free action on your part.

The passive feature for Thaneborn Triumph is a bonus given whenever you bloody an enemy. The next attack that enemy by you or an ally gets a bonus to its attack roll equal to your charisma modifier. Again this ability characterizes the difference between the two builds. Thaneborn Barbarians are still strikers, but they also have many leader-like abilities. I will go over the different strategies more in a later section.

Many powers have additional benefits depending on which Feral Might option you have chosen, but in general they are based on either giving small buffs to your allies and debuffs to your enemies for Thaneborn Triumph or dealing more damage and taking hits better for Rageblood Vigor.

Ability Scores

All Barbarian powers use strength to make their attacks, so it should be the primary focus of your build. It is also a requirement of most weapon feats, and these are something you could definitely go for later down the line in paragon and epic tiers. Your secondary ability score depends on your build choice.

Rageblood Barbarians use constitution as their secondary score, which gives you a nice hit point and healing surge boost, as well as helping many of the Rageblood type powers be more effective. The only downside is that this score, like strength, boost your fortitude defense, which means that your other defenses are going to take a hit because of it. However, both axe and hammer related feats require strength and constitution, which means it is much easier to qualify for weapon feats.

Thaneborn Barbarians use charisma as their secondary score which makes it harder for them to qualify for weapon feats since no weapon type uses it to qualify, but it benefits will defense, giving Thaneborn Barbarians a second high defense other than just fortitude. It is also gives them bonuses to many of their powers.

As for where to spend the rest of your points, I nominate dexterity. This will allow you to improve your AC without having to take any armor feats. You also need dexterity to qualify for sword or spear feats later on, and it helps your initiative, which is always good. You could also take constitution or charisma as a tertiary (assuming you took the other one of them as a secondary) to gain access to powers from the other build if you prefer, but at that point you should really think about taking the feats for heavy armor since you aren't getting much of an armor class bonus from your ability scores, if any at all.

Race Choices

The only races released in books that have perfect ability scores for Barbarians are Goliaths and Dragonborn. However, these are not the only races that make good Barbarians and some would argue they aren't even the most optimal choices. Dwarves, Half-Elves, Halflings, and Tieflings from the Player's Handbook, Drow and Genasi from the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, and Half-Orcs and Longtooth Shifters from the Player's Handbook 2. I will go over what all of these options bring to the table.

Goliaths, a new race detailed in Player's Handbook 2 get their ability score bonuses to strength and constitution making them ideal Rageblood Barbarians, though in truth either build will work fine for them. Both of their skill bonuses are in the Barbarian skill list, they get improved will saving throw and are roll twice when using the athletics skill, something you will probably be doing often. Their racial power gives you resist 5 to all damage (scales to 10 in paragon tier and 15 in epic tier) until the end of your next turn, which brings some added resilience to a class that could definitely use it. In almost every way the race and class have excellent synergy. It gets better when you look to feats. While Goliath Weapon Proficiency only helps if you don't plan on using a superior weapon (which is not something I recommend), Markings of the Victor is a feat that has great benefit to Barbarians. As a Barbarian you are going to drop dailies as early in a fight as possible to keep the benefit of the rage for as much of the encounter as possible, and Markings of the Victor lets you roll twice on the first attack of an encounter. With other classes, this is not going to be a daily all the time, but for a Barbarian it will be in many encounters, especially after you get to level 9 and have three daily powers. Markings of the Blessed is also good, granting you two rolls on your first saving throw. Barbarians become much less effective when hit with many status effects, so any feat that helps them save against such effects is very useful.

Dragonborn get +2 Strength and +2 Charisma which puts them perfectly in-line with Thaneborn Barbarians, but in truth they are just as viable as Rageblood Barbarians too. In addition to Dragon Breath, which gives them some minion killing power, they also are more effective when bloodied, and have bigger healing surges due to their class features. Unfortunately, not many of their racial feats have use as a Barbarian. The standout exception is Dragonborn Frenzy, giving you +2 damage while bloodied. As a Barbarian you are likely to spend a fair amount of time bloodied, so this is a nice bonus, but not a totally necessary feat choice.

While Dwarves don't get a bonus to strength and their bonus to wisdom is largely wasted on Barbarians, they still make decent candidates for the Rageblood build. They get a +2 bonus to constitution, and can use their second wind as a minor action. Not having to stop with the hack n' slash to heal themselves is pretty useful for Barbarians, as is their resistance to push, pull, slide and knock prone effects. They also get Dwarven Weapon Training, which can help them become proficient with a Mordenkrad or Executioner's Axe, the Rageblood weapons of choice. In Paragon tier they can also get Dwarven Durability, gaining more healing surges and raising their surge value by their constitution. The one major downside is that Dwarves have a measly five speed, and that makes it tough to get to their opponents as fast as other races.

I put Half-Elves and not Humans on the list, and that may surprise some people, but let me explain the choice. Humans don't get two ability score bonuses, and in exchange get an additional feat, an additional at-will power, and an additional skill. Unfortunately, Barbarians really need their ability score points, have no need for three different at-wills, and their skill list is sub-par. Even though you get +1 to reflex, fortitude, and will as a human, that bonus doesn't scale very well, and the extra feat, while making you awesome at first level, quickly becomes unnecessary. Humans do have awesome racial feats, including Human Perseverence for +1 on saving throws and Action Surge for +3 on attacks after spending an action point, but Half-Elves can take these feats too, and their other bonuses are more useful to Barbarians. With bonuses to both constitution and charisma they can work equally well as either Rageblood or Thaneborn Barbarians and strength is a common ability score for attacks to key off of so there are plenty of excellent choices for your Dilettante powers. Standout choices differ depending on the build but Barbarians might take Righteous Brand from Clerics, Cleave, Brash Strike or Footwork Lure from Fighters, Valiant Strike from Paladins, Hit and Run from Rangers, Wolf Pack Tactics from Warlords, Guiding Strike or Warsong Strike from Bards (Thaneborn only), and Thorn Strike from Wardens. The only downside to Half-Elves is that you don't get a bonus to Strength, which puts an 18 either out of reach, or so costly that you won't be able to invest in dexterity at all, which means you'll have to spend valuable feat slots on armor proficiencies if you want a decent Armor Class.

Halflings are an odd choice for Barbarians, and one you probably won't find recommended by many others. Its not that Halflings emphasize the strengths of the Barbarian class particularly well, it is instead that they shore up the weaknesses better than almost any other option. The downside is that Halflings are small sized, which means they can't use two handed weapons which limits them to versatile weapons weilded two-handed. There are plenty of choices that work for this like Waraxes, Triple-headed Flails, Broadswords or Bastard Swords. Since Halfling really only works for Thaneborn Barbarians and you may as well make use of the dexterity bonus, I recommend the Bastard Sword or the Flail since their feats use dexterity. This hurts your damage a little, but the bonuses you get more than make up for it. You get +2 to armor class against opportunity attacks, which you will incur to remain mobile. You also get Second Chance forcing your enemies to try twice as hard the first time they attack you in an encounter. The feats make it even better, with Lost in the Crowd giving you +2 to AC whenever two medium size or larger enemies are adjacent, and Underfoot in paragon tier allowing you to move through the squares of large sized or larger creatures without provoking opportunity attacks. A Halfling Thaneborn Barbarian is probably the "safest" build for a Barbarian if you want all the fun without the fun without the tragically low defenses.

Tieflings only really work as Thaneborn Barbarians, and even then they are not a great choice, but they are passable, and if you think about the flavor, there's opportunity there for a really unique and memorable character. The charisma bonus is nice, and while not as useful as dexterity, their intelligence bonus does help their armor class. Fire resistance is nice since it is one of the most encountered damage types, and Bloodhunt will help you finish off bloodied foes. Infernal Wrath is pretty useful right from the start, but with the paragon tier feat Fiery Rebuke, adding 5+ one half your level fiery damage to the attack from Infernal Wrath is going to mean that the attack will add something like 15 extra damage. That is more than an orc's furious assault would add. It will be hard for a Tiefling Barbarian to get the weapon feats at the same level other races could, and the lack of a strength bonus hurts them, but Tieflings still make passable Barbarians.

Although I'm not sure how you would explain the existence of one, Drow make surprisingly good Thaneborn Barbarians. Their ability scores bonuses are the same as Halflings, but they are medium sized meaning a Fullblade is within the realm of possibility for them. They can get combat advantage easily with Darkfire, and Cloud of Darkness works well both offensively and defensively. Most of their useful feats just expand the capability of their racial powers, but all-in-all they are a good option.

Genasi make good Barbarians of either build. They are one of only four races that get a bonus to strength, and while Dexterity would be better, Intelligence helps their AC a little bit. I recommend choosing Earthsoul or Firesoul for your manifestation. Especially since Earthsoul gives you +1 to saving throws and fortitude, and its power can knock all adjacent enemies prone, and Firesoul gets you Reflex, fire resistance and the ability to strike back at an enemy who damages you. Again the downside is that it will be harder to get weapon feats with no bonus to dexterity or constitution, but combined with some of the more elemental themed Barbarian powers, the idea of a Genasi Barbarian is pretty damn cool.

Half-Orcs are another race that can be effective at either build. Their dexterity bonus influences their choice of weapons towards spears, flails or heavy blades if they choose Thaneborn, but I prefer them as Rageblood Barbarians due to a couple small synergies. The obvious one is that Furious Assault increases damage and Rageblood is the damage dealing build, but the +2 speed while charging Half-Orcs get opens up more possibilities with your Swift Charge power, and makes it useful even in wide open areas. As far as feats go the options aren't astounding, but Thirst for Battle remains one of the best racial feats there is, so I'd take advantage of of it.

Longtooth Shifters gain a bonus to strength which is always nice, but unfortunately their Wisdom bonus is largely useless except for giving you a +1 to your will defense. However, as a Rageblood Barbarian you are likely to become bloodied every encounter, and their racial power is really nice giving you +2 damage for the rest of the encounter afterward, and regeneration as long as you're bloodied. The Gorebrute Charge feat gives you +3 more damage on charge attacks while your shifting is active and in Paragon tier you can get 2 resist all during it with Beasthide Shifting as well.

Skills

You only get three choices and the list isn't that expansive. Also, of the eight choices, three of them key off of wisdom, which is an otherwise useless ability score for you. Make sure to take either Acrobatics or Athletics so that you can climb and jump easier. After that it is largely up to you, though my top three choices are Endurance, Heal and Intimidate. Perception is also a viable option, especially if you don't have a Ranger or Cleric in your party to be really good at it. Heal is nice because you don't have to be really good at it to make the easy check to stabilize fallen allies, and having that utility is always good. Endurance is a skill that doesn't come into use in every game and is often overlooked, and Intimidate is hard to use because of the penalty for using it against hostiles, but otherwise take what you think fits your character best.

Feats

Barbarians are a class that can get plenty of use out of the current feats, but I can tell will have many more options once Primal Power comes out. Right now you will still probably have to make some tough decisions though.

For defensive feats your options are kind of limited, but I do recommend Defensive Mobility so you have less to fear from opportunity attacks first and foremost. If you don't have a decent score in Dexterity or Intelligence to help your low AC, you are probably going to want to head for plate armor proficiency by the time you get to Paragon tier. Toughness is another feat I would aim to have no matter what, and Durability might be a necessity if there are a lot of encounters in between extended rests during your campaign. Timely Respite might be another option just because you don't have many other ways to get free saving throws, but if the leader in your party is doing a reasonable job feeding you saving throws you can skip that too.

When it comes to offensive feats there are similarities between the Barbarian and the Avenger. Since you are also a striker that uses his weapon to deal damage, you are probably going to want to grab some kind of superior weapon proficiency early. Unlike the Avenger though, polearms and spears are acceptable weapon choices so consider the greatspear amongst your choices. Others include a Fullblade, Mordenkrad, or Executioner's Axe. You also want to hit as often as possible so Weapon Expertise is pretty much a requirement. Weapon Focus and Blade Opportunist are two other options that bring entirely different strengths to the table, but depending on the specifics of your build, you could skip them entirely.

For utility you are going to want Improved Initiative if at all possible since your character is going to be charging into battle a lot, but there aren't many other great options. If the other melee characters are falling unconscious and you took heal as a trained skill, Combat Medic could be an option, but the better option is to tell your DM to tone down the encounters and quite being a sadist.

What a lot of your feat slots could be spent on though, are the Barbarians outstanding class specific feats. Deadly Rage grants +1 damage per tier as long as your raging, and it stacks with other feats that are similar because its bonus is untyped. As you gain more daily powers you'll spend more time raging, so don't grab it at level 1, wait until level 8 or 10 to pick up this feat so you can get more use out of it while you have it. Improved Rageblood Vigor gives you 5 extra temporary hit points whenever you trigger its passive feature, which is astoundingly good at low levels and at least decent all the way to level 30. Improved Roar of Triumph extends the burst radius of the power by your charisma modifier and gives you +2 damage while it lasts. Both are must-haves for their respective builds. The only heroic tier feat that's not that great is Rising Fury which gives you +2 damage for a turn after you kill an enemy. Better for Rageblood than Thaneborn, but not required for either.

Power Selection

Just as I did with Avengers, I will only be doing the level one and two powers, but if you want more leave me a comment and perhaps in the future I will do some extensions to these class write-ups that continue further in levels.

Starting with the At-Will Powers we have Devastating Strike. It is the most damaging at-will power that Barbarians have dealing 1[W]+1d8+Strength modifier damage. It does give any attacker a +2 bonus to attack rolls against you if you aren't raging though. This power is one of the only times I will honestly say a power just isn't very good. If you absolutely must squeeze every last point of damage you can out of your character you can take this power but otherwise I'd pass. You can add a second d8 to the damage at level 11 and a third at level 21.

Howling Strike changes out the d8s for d6s on the damage from Devastating Strike but doesn't have the horrendous downside. In addition it can be used in place of a basic melee attack when charging, and furthermore if you are raging you can move 2 extra squares as part of the charge. If you are a Half-Orc this means you can charge 10 squares with this power if you are raging. This power will likely be your bread and butter.

Pressing Strike doesn't deal as much damage as either of the abilities normally, but it allows you to shift 2 squares before the attack and you can even shift through an enemy's space with with it. You also deal 1d6 extra damage if you are raging but this portion of the damage doesn't scale up with level. This is a good power. It can let you close a small gap to a monster initially, avoid opportunity attacks, or gain flanking position with an ally. It is another solid at-will choice.

The last at-will is Recuperating Strike which doesn't have any extra die added to the damage but it does give you temporary hit points equal to your constitution modifier if you hit, and five more than that if you are raging when you do it. For a Rageblood Barbarian its hard not to take this power, but Thaneborn builds are unlikely to have the constitution for it to be really useful. If you are a Rageblood build it will be hard to pick between this and Pressing Strike, but I think I'd base it off of my party's composition. If you are needed to give flanking situations to a rogue so he can get his sneak attack damage or if you have a warlord you need to stay close to so he can feed you extra attacks, then forgo this power, but otherwise I'd say this edges Pressing Strike out, and you can always take Defensive Mobility as a feat to help mitigate the opportunity attacks.

Your first encounter power option is Avalanche Strike, the most damaging of the bunch at 3[W] damage to a single target. It deals extra damage equal to your constitution modifier if you chose Rageblood Vigor, but the problem with it is that whether you hit or miss, anyone who attacks you gets +4 on their roles until the start of your next turn. I would say the consequence far outweighs the benefit in this situation. While it would be good if you could guarantee you'd only get attacked once, chances are that leaving yourself open like this is going to put you in a world of hurt before your next turn. I would probably never take this as my level one encounter power.

Bloodletting is another single target attack but it only deals 2[W] damage. You do get to add your constitution modifier to damage if the target is bloodied though. This is a possibility for Rageblood Barbarians, but not a necessity. If you really want to focus on the single-target damage this is probably the power to take, but if you want more variety there is another option.

And that option is Great Cleave, a close burst 1 that deals 1[W], but gets a bonus point of damage for each enemy adjacent to you. This is probably my choice for a Rageblood Barbarian, even though their constitution doesn't give it any benefit. Being next to multiple enemies is a situation more likely to occur every battle at 1st level than fighting a monster who's bloodied but still needs to be targeted with a 2[W] damage attack.

The last option, and the only one tailored towards Thaneborn builds specifically is Vault The Fallen. It targets one or two creatures, and you can shift one square between the attacks. It deals 1[W] to each, but you get 1d6 bonus damage on the attacks as well. If you have taken Thaneborn Triumph you can shift your charisma modifier squares between the attacks, which makes it infinitely more useful. I can't fathom the number of times I've played a striker and been torn between finishing a near dead enemy off and going to help an ally with a monster they were having trouble with. This power is built for those situations specifically and either it or Great Cleave work fine for a Thaneborn Barbarian's level one encounter power.

Daily powers are where Barbarians really stand out from the crowd, and almost none of their daily powers are totally useless. All four of the level one options have their benefits, and it largely depends on your playstyle for what power will work best for you.

Bloodhunt Rage hits for 3[W] on a single target, half damage on a miss, and while you are under the effects of the rage you can add your constitution modififer if either you or your target is bloodied. While this is more consistently giving you its rage bonus than some of the other options, it's my least favorite just because its bonus isn't anything special.

Macetail's Rage is another close burst 1 attack, again for 1[W] to each target, though this one deals half damage on a miss. In addition, you gain temporary hit points equal to your strength every time you hit with an attack until the rage ends. This is a great bonus that you can theoretically apply every turn and since its based on strength, its one of only a few opportunities for a Thaneborn Barbarian to get a decent number of temporary hit points at all. It would probably be redundant to choose both this and Great Cleave though, unless your party was really hurting for area attacks.

Rage Drake's Frenzy is another 3[W] single target attack. It gains a +2 bonus if the target is bloodied, and it deals half damage on a miss. Its rage is my favorite for a Rageblood Barbarian, and it gives you a melee basic attack whenever you reduce an enemy to zero hit points. Combined with Swift Charge this can add a lot of auxiliary damage. Unfortunately its rage benefit is lost against a solo monster, and greatly diminished against elites since it will be more difficult to kill them.

Swift Panther Rage, the last option is again a 3[W] single target attack that deals half damage on a miss. Its rage gives you +2 speed and lets you shift two squares as a move action. This is a really great option for either Rageblood or Thaneborn barbarians who's parties use a lot of positioning. You would take it for a lot of the same reasons you might take Pressing Strike.

Once you level and gain a utility power, you again have four choices. Combat Sprint lets you move your speed +4 and you get a +4 bonus to defenses against the opportunity attacks. It is an encounter power, which is great, except that it doesn't seem like the kind of power you could use every encounter. How often do you need to run betwixt several enemies? It's probably not that infrequent, but unless your DM has a penchant for tiny rooms, it's probably not that frequent either. Regardless, as a Thaneborn Barbarian its almost your only real solid option.

Primal Vitality is a daily power and grants temporary hit points equal to one-half your level plus your constitution modifier. If you are raging you get to add your constitution modifier again. This can be a lot of temporary hit points, but the build that benefits from it, Rageblood, has plenty of other ways to gain the same effects.

Stonebreaker gives you a +5 bonus to strength checks to break objects for a turn, and you deal double damage to those objects. Great for breaking down locked doors down, but locked doors usually mean that there is a key of some kind around and keys don't take up a power slot on your character.

Tiger's Leap is a jump enhancer, allowing you to jump as though you had a running start and without the cap of your normal speed with regards to said jump. It definitely has its uses, but I doubt this kind of situation comes up in the majority of encounters for most players.

Multiclassing

Barbarians can multiclass to a number of classes effectively though you will probably not want to trade out your daily powers since Barbarians have some of the best there are. Options include Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Warlock, Warlord, Bard, Sorcerer, and Warden. Some of these grant you limited ranged attack power, others boost your abilities as an off-tank, but all are viable.

Combat Strategies

As where Avengers brought an enemy out from the chaos of battle to kill them one on one, Barbarians throw themselves into the fray. The real general skill of Barbarians is to learn how to mitigate the number of attacks against them. Don't be so reckless that you are using up most of your leader's healing powers because no amount of damage dealing is worth that. You also need to ration out your daily powers for your encounters, but that becomes easier the higher level you become. Aside from that general strategy, here are some specific things to think about.

Rageblood Barbarians can use a minion as a quick heal. If you know minions are in the fight be sure to use them as a surefire trigger of Rageblood Vigor, and possibly even to close a gap with Swift Charge after you kill one. Thaneborn Barbarians are probably less excited about minions, though they can be used to trigger Roar of Triumph.

Status effects are going to cause you problems if your leader doesn't help you mitigate them. Daze, Stun, Weaken and Dominate all cripple your character's effectiveness, and if you become dominated it is easy for you to deal a hefty sum of damage to one of your allies as well. Try to avoid fighting these monsters if at all possible.

Warlords can grant attacks to their allies, and no ally is better at this than a Barbarian, especially a Rageblood Barbarian. With big two-handed weapons you can hit much harder than any warlord could themselves, so you will be a warlord's preferred partner in crime.

Many people seem to think that Thaneborn Barbarians are worse than Rageblood Barbarians, but this simply isn't the truth. Remember that even though you are a striker, this is a cooperative game, and the boosts Thaneborn Barbarians can offer you with many of their abilities could very well cause more damage overall when you take the rest of your party into account. Don't get so caught up in dealing tons of damage that you don't see the utility in your class as well.

Unlike Avengers, Barbarians can work fairly well as a character for a new player. Although it is easy for them to become overwhelmed, the sheer amount of damage they do will make them fun for new players, and if they read this guide or any comparable guide they might even be able to make a fairly well built one without any help at the table.